In all things Christians must uphold Scripture alone as the primary authority for determining our views. This also applies to the hot-button issues of “race” and racism. We find in scripture certain specific passages that define the concepts of race and ethnicity and we must compare them with, and use them to evaluate, common misunderstandings and attempt to bring God-honoring clarity. As we tackle these issues, both past and present, with repentant and hopeful hearts we need to grasp God’s vision for Kingdom unity, which is not based upon our skin, but the One who delivers us from sin!

Thank you for the privilege, Scott, to be here. I can say one thing about my friend Scott, as he rarely gives me the easy jobs. And I stand before you today a bit humbled at this privilege of attempting, by God's grace, to help families navigate this issue of racism and to respond prayerfully to such a difficult issue in God's way. So if you have your Bibles, would you open them with me please to Acts chapter 17. Acts chapter 17, in kind of old school, Would you stand as we read God's Word and and we'll take some time and just kind of talk it through and see see where we land Responding to racism God's way acts chapter 17 I'll read verse from verse 22 down through verse 28, and we will give attention then to the Word of God by the Spirit of God that we might leave this place differently from the way that we came in.

Reading from the King James Version of the Holy Scriptures, the Bible says, Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill and said, ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription to the unknown God, whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you, God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands, neither is worshipped with men's hands as though he needed anything, being he giveth to all life and breath and all things, and hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation, that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him and find him, though he be not far from every one of us. For in him, we live and move and have our being as certain also of your own poets have said, for we are also his offspring.

Let us pray. Eternal God, our Father, we come to you this afternoon in desperate need of thee. We declare that thou art God and besides thee there are no other gods. Indeed, from everlasting to everlasting, you're king and God alone and we bless your holy and righteous name. We confess our wickedness and our sinfulness.

We confess that there are times where we are hard of hearing. We confess that sometimes we think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think and we ask for thy forgiveness. We pray in the name of Jesus that over these next few moments, Lord, you would speak good and precious and helpful and healing and holy things to your people, that the families represented here and the families that might hear this message literally around the world would be encouraged and would know how to navigate such treacherous waters as men who would oppress other men. We bless you, we thank you, and we declare our need for you. In Jesus' name, amen.

Please take your seats. Thank you for your attention. Well, as I said, I didn't necessarily draw the easy straw here at this conference, and I've been joking for the last couple of days I wonder why Scott put this one last either he put it last for you all to show up or he he put it last that everyone would leave and they wouldn't have to worry about it I couldn't quite figure out which one it is I still don't know But you're here and you're here at a time and for a time such as this where we really do need to talk about this issue in light of God's sufficient word. So let me start by saying, Friends, that this is actually a very difficult topic. It doesn't matter what color you are, it doesn't matter the texture of your hair, it doesn't matter, this is a very hard topic.

It's hard for everyone. It's hard for the older, it's hard for the younger, it's hard for the darker, it's hard for the lighter, it's hard for the northerner, it's hard for the southerner, it's hard for the Christian, It's hard for the non-christian our country and indeed our world's historic and sometimes horrific treatment of people based on the way that they look instead of the truth that we're all made in the image of God is complicated and sometimes downright discouraging to study much less to teach on For example in preparation for this sermon. I just so happened to look at a 2019 Pew Research Center study that declared that black people at a rate of some 71% would describe race relations in our country as bad compared to 56% of white people. In that same study, at a rate of some 84% versus 58%, black people declared that the legacy of slavery has positioned blacks negatively to a very fair amount, again, at the rate of 84% to some 58%. If you track through it a little further, you would see a very wide disparity amongst the ethnicities in such matters as dealing with the police or criminal justice or hiring and salary and pay or being able to get a loan from a mortgage company.

And the reason why I bring these things up today is to give some, I believe, neglected sense of just how painful this issue actually is. I think sometimes in the bubble in which we live, we can begin to think that all is well, but beloved, all is not well, and I submit to you that it will take spirit-filled believers anchored to the word of God to navigate through this in a way that honors God. And so I'd like to give you a couple of disclaimers, a couple of statements so you don't take me the wrong way as we walk through this together over the next few moments. Statement number one, I aim this afternoon to give you more than conservative talking points. I'm conservative.

But that's not enough. I believe this conference is designed to be redemptive. And so what I want to do today is give you something that will help redeem some of the culture. I was particularly interested in the choosing of the word navigating through cultural chaos, and that's precisely what I aim to achieve this afternoon, giving you just a few thoughts and a few principles from the word of God that will help you navigate these very treacherous waters. And so this is more than conservative talking points or liberal or any of that.

To me these are things that flow right out of the heart of our God. Number two, again thinking in our tribe is sometimes to either or. Scripture gives us the big what, and we've already read it, the punchline up front, there is only one race human. Say, amen, if you can. There's only one race human, and we'll talk about that.

That's the big what. But a neglected area, I think, sometimes, is understanding that scripture also addresses the how, not just the what, how we are to treat one another. And that brings me to statement number three, and I've already kind of mentioned it. This is a painful topic for many people. For many people, their whole lives revolve around slights in this area, either real or perceived, and it's important if we're gonna teach our families to navigate these waters then to recognize just how painful these things are.

Number four, these are just scriptural considerations that I present to you as one Berean to another. I am not an expert nor do I speak for all people of my skin shade, okay? But these are things that I think are important to submit and I give them to you today again from a brother to my brothers and to my sisters to consider. But number five, please don't mistake anything that I'll say today as critical race theory or victimology or to some degree even social justice because that's not the train I'm riding on this afternoon. What I wanna do is teach us how to navigate these waters in a way that honors God, which was my assignment.

And then number six, I'm primarily addressing these issues from the country in which I live and the context in which I live, the Western American versus other parts of the world kind of an experience. And so just keep that in mind, however, I hope that the principles that we lay out for you today will translate for you no matter where you are in life, where you live. And I have two simple goals. One, that we'd be healed by Christ in this area, and two, that those who are awaiting that healing and are still struggling will be loved on by his people in a way that's commensurate with the love of Christ. And that's it, very simple.

And so in our text, we find this unashamed announcement from the Apostle Paul to the men of Athens as it relates to many biblical truths, but not the least of which, for our purposes today, is the biblical truth of what race is and isn't. As the apostles stood in the midst of Mars Hill addressing the men of Athens and declaring unto them the truths of God's holy word. He declared that from one man, God created all the nations throughout the whole of the earth, and that he decided beforehand when they should rise and when they should fall, and he determined their boundaries. Perhaps this was Paul's way of placing all of his hearers under the authority of the word of God, under the authority of the one true God, bringing them away from the unknown God that they were worshiping and helping them to understand that the God that they don't know is the God that created them. And Paul's desire was to present to them the one true God, the God of the Bible, and eventually, if you read a little further, he also presents to them his son Jesus Christ and commands them to repent.

And so that's our context. But for us, we are lifting from this context, this afternoon, this truth, that there literally is only one race, one race, one race, one race of people and that is the big what. That is the thing that in my mind should obliterate racism right from the start. Okay that's the big what. In other words all men and all women regardless of their skin tone or their hair texture, come from one man, Adam.

Brother Jason read it for us just a few moments ago from Genesis chapter 1, verses 26 through 28. And God said, let us make man in our image and after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his image, man or mankind in his own image and in the image of God, he created him. Male and female created he them. And God blessed them and said unto them, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Because of God's mercy, when mankind decided that he would rebel against God, his heart being evil and wicked continually, God sending a flood to wipe man out except for Noah's family, the Bible declares in Genesis Chapter nine, verses 18 through 19, And the sons of Noah that went forth from the ark were Shem and Ham and Japheth and Ham is the father of Canaan. And these are the three sons of Noah. And of them was the whole earth overspread. And so the truth of the matter is we're all related. Look to the person beside you and say, hey cousin, how you doing?

Because that's the truth of the matter, the truth of the matter. And it would be biblically accurate to say that we all came from Adam and Eve and we all came off the ark. God created one race of men, male and female, and he did so from one blood. And this truth, beloved, is an old truth. It's a precious truth.

It's a holy truth. But in our day, sometimes it seems revelatory considering all the confusion of our times. And this truth should, by the blood of Christ, shatter racism and make a mockery of the devil's vile attempt to divide men by small, external biological differences. But if it were only that easy, if it were only that simple. We don't have to go into the secular world to look.

We can look right in our own camp. We can look in church history and we'll find if we have the courage to do so, that church history is littered with the sins concerning the loss of this fundamental truth. Time does not allow a thorough study, nor am I an expert on these issues, but it would not take much researching to find instances where our spiritual forebears stumbled greatly in this area and sadly left us spiritual hurdles to overcome even to today. And although I hesitate to give examples because achieving balance and historical nuance on this subject has proved for most to be extremely challenging. It is no secret that some American colonists and early American churches either supported slavery or owned slaves.

That some of our spiritual heroes own slaves even if they repented later in life, that in the Revolutionary Civil War, Reconstruction Era, and the Jim Crow South, many Christians that looked like me were not allowed to worship with people who looked primarily like you, That the world's largest Baptist denomination essentially formed based on its support of slavery. That many African American churches and denominations formed primarily because they were not fully accepted into the body of Christ. These are just truths. That even to this day, black preaching and worship styles and songs are often called into question or relegated as uncouth, inferior, improper, unbiblical, not based on theological content, but based on voice inflection and musical arrangement. And this radiates the idea, remember, we're going to navigating, so you need to stay with me for a moment, but this radiates the idea that some cultures are intrinsically better than others.

When the truth is, as I've learned from my mentor, Scott Brown, all cultures are at war with God. It's also true, sadly, that many of us only need to visit the lives of our grandparents or great-grandparents to find examples of what I just mentioned. Just 70 years ago, I would have had to drink from a different water fountain. And of course, as we know, racism is an equal opportunity sin. Some of the most racist people I've ever met were people who look just like me, unwilling or unable to forgive and more than willing to charge the sins of the grandfathers and fathers to the sons.

Yes, beloved, this is a difficult subject. Because we are sinners, thankfully saved by grace, it's not that difficult to perpetuate the sins of the past, if not outwardly, then most certainly inwardly. And as a result of all these things, division and distrust has thrived in our country and even in our churches, which is the one that breaks my heart, that even in the church, there are seeds of these things that are allowed to sprout and grow. The devil laughs as Christian brothers and sisters fail again and again at empathizing, at loving one another, and walking in the light of Christ's holy truth. But there is, thank God, hope.

Second Corinthians chapter five and verses 17 through 19 declare, therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away and behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God who have reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation, to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. And that's where I wanna go with you this afternoon. I don't have an answer for what to do with social justice.

As Scott said, it takes a long time to unpack in parts. But I do know that we're called to go love people. I don't know exactly how to deal with certain circumstances, but I do know that there's a God-honoring and biblical way to deal with all people, regardless of what they look like. And I know this, racism is a sin like any other, and it exists in our hearts like any other sin, therefore it must be dealt with like any other sin. So I'd like to walk you through this very thorny issue by attempting to answer four questions.

Question one, what is race? Question two, what is racism? Question three, what are some common perceptions about race and racism? And question four, how should Christians respond to race and racism biblically? That's what we're here to find out.

So what is race? When we think about race, we think about skin color typically, hair texture as I said, facial features, speech inflection, musical preferences, you know you think that, right? And other small biological and culturally communicated attributes. That's what we tend to think about. We think about the biology.

We also think about the culture. In popular parlance, race is incompletely defined, in my opinion, at least as a social construct consisting primarily of power structures and cultural and political and economic influence, hence the popular ideas of whiteness versus blackness and the very popular these days, white privilege. Biblically, however, there is only one race, as our text declares, human race should be defined simply as the descendants of Adam and Eve. And from one man, Adam, God again created the human race made in his image. And so why do we look so different?

Our differences can be explained through the dispersion of men after the Tower of Babel and the confusion of languages of man by God and the development within the subsequent people groups of cultural distinctions based on geography, language, traditions that would arise over time and very small genetic variations based on environment and parental DNA. The Answers in Genesis website says, if one were to take any two people anywhere in the world, scientists have found that the basic genetic differences between these two people would typically be around .2%, even if they came from the same people group. But these so-called racial characteristics that people think are major differences, i.e. Skin color and eye shape, account for only .012% of human biological variation. In other words, we're all human.

We're all human. So biblically Speaking then, men weren't divided by pigment and hair, but by geography and family lineage and more to the central message of scripture, what they believed about God. Our differences are more cultural than biological. The only reason many people think these differences are major is because they've been brought up, sometimes with sinful and wicked ways, but they've been brought up in a culture that has taught them to see differences in this manner. As far as race being a social construct, I submit this label is not helpful to healing.

The truth is that abuses of power come from the sinful heart of man and happen regardless of skin color. Around the world, people oppress other people of the same family or tribe, skin tone, ethnic heritage, language or nationality. Oftentimes, oppression comes based on age or history or scent or faith or political affiliation. Our country knows a little something about that one. Sometimes it seems like people oppress other people for no other, no real reason at all, and beloved, that's just demonic.

And this happens around the world on pretty much every continent. In Africa, blacks oppress blacks. In Europe, people that look amazingly alike, oppressed people that look amazingly like them. These aren't issues of skin. They are issues of sin.

They are issues of rebellion against the law of God, which declares very clearly that man is made in God's image and again and again in the law of God that you shall not oppress. Again and again in the law of God. And so that's race. Race simply defined biblically is just the descendants of Adam and Eve. But what is racism?

Well racism is a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences, quote unquote, produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. Now, we've already put the word of God on what race is, and so that definition by its very nature is inaccurate, but we'll just go with it for the purposes of what we're, of what we're talking about today. Basically, racism is thinking that your tribe is better than another tribe. Your people are better than another people. Admittedly, there have always been those, and there will probably always be those, who look down upon people that look or talk or sing differently from them.

But beloved, that shouldn't happen in the church. We're the people of God, And we know better. The foundation of modern racism, however, is often thought to begin with Charles Darwin. And I've heard Scott teach on this before, and he was so right. In truth, in the mid 1800s, Darwin popularized the unbiblical concept of evolution to the world.

Among other things, Darwin believed that man evolved from monkeys and that different races of man evolved slower or faster based on the kind of monkey they came from with the Caucasian race evolving the fastest and the brown skin races evolving the slowest. The whole thing is based on something ridiculous. The full title of his book on the origin of species is actually on the origin of species by means of natural selection or the preservation of favored races in the struggle for life. In another work called The Descent of Man, Darwin theorized that man, having evolved from apes, had continued evolving as various races with some races more developed than others, and so he classified his own white race as more advanced than the quote lower organisms unquote such as pygmies and called different people groups savage and low and degraded. This belief is the foundation in many people's views of Western racism that blacks and whites, for example, again, focusing on that one narrow area just for the purpose of time, but that blacks and whites, for example, are nearly ontologically different or different in our very nature, not just our culture, and has been used to justify some of the worst atrocities this world has ever seen.

And If you think a person is nearly a different species than you, or if you think he only counts as 3 5ths of a man, it becomes easier to degrade and humiliate him. So let me declare the truth of God's word again. There is only one race. There is only one blood from whom God created, from which God created all men. Amen.

So what are some common perceptions? I'm going somewhere with this so stay with me. What are some common perceptions about race and racism? Well, you'll meet a spectrum. The goal of this conference is to teach our families how to navigate through all of this chaos out there, and so this is on purpose.

I want you to understand this. You'll meet, your children will meet, you will meet different people from different perspectives in this chaotic culture. For example, you'll encounter those who believe that our visible differences denote almost ontological differences, as I said. That we're truly different people, almost like, again, a different species. That is why you'll hear terms thrown about in certain circles about crossbreeding and protecting the bloodline.

Beloved, that's foolishness. There's only one blood. But it's so common, I wanna mention it, because you need to be able to navigate through all of this. You've got to protect the bloodline. What does that mean?

We've all come from one blood. You'll encounter many people who still grieve or who are angry about America's past, including the great sins of slavery and forced segregation and even desegregation. You'll meet those who see every slight, every mistake or unfortunate incident as involving racism. Indeed, there are those whose entire worldview revolves around perceived and sometimes real injustices. And this is where we need to apply the law of God.

You'll meet those who agree that things have improved, but that there's still racism in America, and that racism is, you'll hear these words, that racism is institutional, which means it's woven into main areas like finance or education or government and intersectional, that all of these areas work together to oppress a certain ethnicity. Very generally speaking, this is also known as critical race theory. You will meet folks who know that biases exist, and in the heart of every person, those biases may exist, but by God's grace, they strive to love everyone equally, and they are willing to call right right and wrong wrong when they see it. And finally, every once in a while, you will meet those people whose heads are so in the clouds that they think that there's no problem at all. And that's not true either.

So what do we do with all of this? How do we respond biblically to these things? Well, I have five areas that I'd like to give you. I pray that you make note of them and at least consider them because they're very important and they'll help your family navigate. Again, I don't have enough time, nor do I have the knowledge to figure out how to fix it all, but I do know how we can respond in a way that honors God.

First of all, realize again that racism is a sin, like any other sin. The Bible declares in Titus 2 11, for the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. Hallelujah, all men. And so recognize that racism is a sin. It is unlawful.

The Bible says that sin is transgression of the law in 1 John 3, 4, and that's precisely what this. This is transgression. It is looking at another image bearer in a way that God did not intend. The answer to this sin like any other is repentance and holding fast to Christ and his glorious gospel. Broken and transformed hearts before our holy God is the only true antidote to racism.

Knowing and believing that Christ died for all kinds of men, that he was buried for all kinds of men, and that he rose from the dead for all kinds of men, that he ascended to the right hand of the Father and makes intercession for all kinds of men, ought to put our racist notions to shame. That he calls all types of men to himself, that's always the beginning place to healing. Always the beginning place to healing. Racism is a sin. It's a sin.

Number two, examine your own heart before the Lord. Do you really believe what the scriptures declare concerning your fellow image bearers? Have you allowed any racist attitudes to grow in you. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 11 verse 28 and also 2 Corinthians 13 and verse five that we should make a practice of examining ourselves and examining our hearts. In chapter 11 of 1 Corinthians, the context is the Lord's table.

And in 2 Corinthians chapter 13, the context is examining whether or not you're in the faith. But I think those are excellent times to examine yourselves, period, when you're before the Lord's table and when you're in prayer. So examine yourselves and really determine whether or not you look at that person differently because their skin is lighter or darker or because of whatever distinction we want to. It seems to be human nature to want to divide ourselves by biological and cultural differences. You know, I was talking with Clarence, he had to leave, I was talking with him a little bit earlier today and he was making note of one particular time where he was at a reform conference and he spoke and brother walked up to him and said, hey, where did you learn to articulate?

And Clarence just kind of looked back at him and I'm not going to tell you everything he said but what do you mean where did I learn to articulate? What does that mean? You know, it's amazing how these little small things, no matter who you are, no matter what you look like, it's amazing how these little small things can filter in, or how we can begin to see our culture as somehow better or more holy than another culture. I mean, you know, by way of example, if you'll permit me, You know, we all grew up, if you grew up in church, you grew up on Amazing Grace. When you, some of you may have grown up and it was amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.

How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. The rest like me. We're lobbing stuff at each other. Oh, you're showing off. Oh, you don't have any passion.

Same words. It's amazing, right? And I submit to you, beloved, that if we're not careful, this doesn't, I'm not making a blank statement, but if we're not careful, when we allow these things to separate believers when we shouldn't separate. It's okay to have your own culture and that's cool, but just guard against thinking it's somehow better. Because that filters out.

There's an impartation that says, you know, it's one thing to say, hey, we want to be, we want people who look differently to be a part of who we are, and then on the other hand, kind of, you know, but you, that's somehow ungodly. So we need to examine our hearts. Most sincere believers wouldn't want to think that we have these tendencies down on the inside of us, but the Lord has a way of revealing these things. Most of us can admit that we are sometimes tempted to lie, cheat, or steal, covet or lust. Why are we so shy about admitting that sometimes, at times, we are tempted to see ourselves or our culture as better?

I believe the default position of humility before the Lord our God should be, Lord, if there is any in me, any bias in me, I acknowledge it now as sin. Please heal me and help me to walk in love towards my brothers and my sisters in Christ. See, that's how you navigate. You navigate, first of all, by recognizing that this is sinful. Secondly to examine your own heart and teach your children to examine.

My wife and I, hey we're black folks and we find ourselves having to correct our children and say, you know, we walked into an environment the other day and one of our children said something like, oh, this is ghetto. And at first I kind of agreed and went, yeah, it is. And then we're driving along and then I went, wait a minute. And I turned and went, why'd you say that was ghetto? And one of my children, I'm not gonna say which one, one of my children was like, well, based on how the people looked and I went that's me I did that I put that in her and I had to say no no baby no this is this is daddy's this is a fault of mine this is this is the sin of mine and you don't you don't just judge people like that just based on how they look.

You don't know who they are. They could be new believers, they could be old believers with a different understanding. And they're growing into some things. And I had to check myself because that filtered into my own family based upon my own poor teaching. Number three, so the first one was realize that racism is a sin and let's teach our children that.

Secondly, let's examine our own hearts and let's go on ahead and do that real work of examination because the truth is we all have it. Again, this isn't just black and white in America. This is, this is, you know, in World War II, it was just littered with death and carnage, with people fighting each other that looked just like each other. So it wasn't, it's not just melanin, right? It's evil, it's sin in us, and we need to search our hearts so that we can navigate well in this environment.

Number three is see people as individuals. And our text kinda does this. The Apostle Paul walks up and these guys, they're obviously pagan, they're worshipping an unknown God. They're people who love to do some new thing here or there. And he walks up and he starts right where they are.

And he begins to introduce them to God. And he gets all the way to calling them to repent and believe in Jesus a little bit later. But he didn't just judge them, all these pagans, and walk away from them. He walked right up and he began to communicate the holy truths of God's word. And I think sometimes we're kind of all guilty at just stamping somebody something and beating our breast and saying, thank you, Lord, that that's not me.

To see people as individuals with unique experiences and doctrinal understandings, right or wrong, and to start where they are, cultural pressures, biases, and sin struggles that have impacted their view of race. In other words, don't assume the brother and sister in the Lord who looks different from you has been totally healed in this area and show mercy. Also, don't assume they aren't healed either. Just take each person as they come and minister grace to them as they hear you. It's no different than any other sin that fallen man endures.

We would never say, don't worry about that domestic violence stuff. It's all under the blood. It might be, but that person, that hurt and pain still lingers. We would never say, don't worry about pornography. We would obviously put it under the blood, but then we'd put systems and checks in place to ensure that there's accountability.

We never say, hey, yeah, your husband cheated on you, no biggie, you know, the Lord's good. Well, he is good, but we would minister grace to that wife, would we not? Yes, the blood is our answer, but We must minister with enough grace so that people can hear us. Because the truth is, as I said, this is still very painful for people, for many people, not all. And I'm not immune.

Quick sea story. You know, I was coming to this very conference, I may have told you this before, but I was coming to this very conference a couple years ago. And I was on a dark country road with my family. And of course I was with my family so that helped a lot. But I was with my family and I mean, there are literally no lights anywhere.

This was way in the sticks coming on 58 headed this way. And going down a hill a little bit too fast, at least that's my story and I'm sticking to it. And I get lit up from behind, woo, and God walks up, you know, officer walks up to the car and all the stuff, I mean, it's going through my head, oh my goodness, I am out in the middle of nowhere, Lord! What am I gonna do here, you know? And all is flying through my head and he walks up to the car I mean, I'm just telling you this story.

No, he walks up the car. He kind of goes Evening going kind of fast down that hill there aren't you I'm going Lord in the name of Jesus father I Just thank you for your mercy and grace I'm being so it's just true story and he says could you could you reach in your back pocket there reach get your get your Wallet and stuff and and I say okay I'm gonna reach in my back pocket and get my wallet and stuff and he said you're gonna reach back there and get it I said I'm gonna reach back there and get it Hey, I'm still reaching. You see my hand? Yeah, I see your hand. You know, this is real.

I mean, We live in a fallen world. Okay, we live in a fallen culture, and we need to teach our children how to navigate. And I'm just saying that there are some of us who may have wrong theology on social justice and wrong theology on this and wrong theology on that and we got to get to a point that we can help them have right theology but please in the mercies of God show the love of Christ as you do so please see them as individuals because a lot of it is just coming from pain. It's just coming from pain. Number four, that leaves me number four and I'm almost done, empathize.

Empathize here. 1 Peter 3.8, finally, be ye all of one mind having compassion of one another, love as brethren, be pitiful. I love that in King James be pitiful be courteous I don't mean patronize I mean empathize I don't mean call fall for the cultural extremes concerning privilege Because as I said, I'm a pretty conservative guy but just recognize that there were times historically where the standards and perceptions were just a little different in that for many this hurt lingers and the devil uses it to stir up distrust and divide the people of God it's tempting to throw your hands up and say you know forget it This will never work and these folks who have these grievances will never be happy and they'll never be pleased. But my advice would be to speak out and live out God's truth, to guard against being flippant. If anything, lean toward being transparent, honest, loving, and patient in Jesus.

And I believe that would translate regardless of where you are and regardless of what situation in which you find yourself. Just recognize that our national legacy, although wonderful in so many ways, has created a sad situation where some must be aware of their skin color in almost every environment whether they want to be or not. Just keep that in mind. Scriptures declare very clearly in Galatians 6 to, bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. So that's it, just empathize and go okay, here's the truth and while you're coming to that truth, I'm just gonna love you and I hope you love me.

And teach our families to navigate in the middle of all that. And that leads me to my final point. It's not very deep, but here it is. Just love people. Just love people.

Love them in Jesus. Love them through Jesus. Love them by sharing the message of Jesus. Love them with a great, the greatest commandment kind of love burning in your hearts. Deuteronomy 10 verses 12 through 13 says, and now Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to fear the Lord thy God and to walk in all of his ways and to love him and to serve the Lord thy God with all of thy heart and with all of thy soul and to keep the commandments of the Lord and his statutes which I command thee this day for thy good.

Let's love God like that And then let's love others out of that love that we have for God. Mark 12 verses 29 through 31 says, And Jesus answered him, the first of all of the commandments is hero Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind and with all thy strength, for this is the first commandment, and the second is like, namely this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as myself. Brother Anthony did a wonderful job with helping us understand who our neighbor actually is. Beloved, your neighbor may look a little differently from you, but I guarantee you they have the same concerns about health and life and family and children if they're a Christian. They have the same love for Christ as you.

And so love them. The Bible says there is none other commandment greater than these. And so yeah, we have issues that we're going to have to deal with, but we need to figure out how to navigate why those things are going on. Pulling away doesn't work because that's not godly. Being arrogant doesn't work because that's not godly.

Saying, get over it doesn't work because that's not godly when someone's suffering. Love them. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. John 15, verses 12 through 13.

First John three, verses 23 through 24. And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. He that keepeth his commandment dwelleth in him and he in him or dwelleth in him and he in him and hereby we know that he abideth in us by the spirit which he hath given us. Friends, if you forget everything else I said today, remember this, there's only one race, and as a part of that one race, if you're a Christian, go love each other. If you forget everything else, there's only one race, human, right?

And within that human race, there's only two kinds of people, sheep and goats, right? But there's only one race human and Within if you're a Christian just go love people real hard go love them And yes, there's all these things in here But if you have this one and you have this one, your family will be able to navigate this particular chaos in a way that honors God. Let us rejoice that one day this sin, like all other, will be done away with. The Bible declares in Revelation 21 verses 1 through 5, And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for that first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people. And God himself shall be with them and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain for the former things have passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, behold, I make all things new.

And he said unto me, write, for these words are true and faithful. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you this afternoon again for this conference and putting this conference in the heart of your servants. We thank you, oh Lord, that you have revived us again, and you've been so kind and merciful to point in godly directions, showing us how to navigate the culture of chaos in which we find ourselves.

Oh Lord, I pray that we leave this conference with love in our hearts, determined to love people the way that you have commanded. Determined, oh Lord, to hold to your truth regardless of what comes and to love people while we do it. Oh Lord, heal us in this area. Help brothers and sisters to know that they are actually brothers and sisters. Heal our nation in this area.

Don't allow people who are essentially the same to continue to battle one another with such vitriol, anger, hatred, but rather, let your gospel be preached, your word be declared, and let your people set the example. We love you and thank you in advance. In Jesus' name, amen.