Participants: Dwayne Lemon, Lance Wilbur
Series Code: TKS
Program Code: TKS000030A
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00:30 Hello, I'm Dwayne.
00:31 And I'm Lance, and we like to welcome you 00:33 to another episode of TKS, a True Knowledge of Self, 00:36 where we get to know ourselves from a biblical perspective. 00:40 Now, in today's episode, we're going to be dealing 00:42 with the foundational principle of God's government. 00:46 However, as we've been discussing 00:48 and contrasting the principles of hip-hop culture 00:50 with the principles of Christian culture, 00:52 we want to make note of where we are thus far. 00:56 We looked at a passage in scripture 2 Peter 1:4-7. 01:01 And we looked at what we referred to as Peter's ladder. 01:03 In Peter's ladder there are approximately eight steps, 01:06 eight rounds, and they are as follows, 01:08 Faith, Virtue, Knowledge, Temperance, Patience, 01:12 Godliness, and Brotherly Kindness and lastly Love. 01:17 What we're going to refer to often 01:18 as the foundation of God's government 01:20 and the foundation of Christian living in lifestyle. 01:24 Now, we're going to start with a clip in just a brief moment 01:28 because we've been talking a lot about individuals 01:31 and the thought leaders and the ideologues in hip-hop 01:34 and how they are representing the culture to the masses. 01:40 And we mentioned an individual by the name of KRS-One 01:43 and we're going to look at a clip 01:45 in which he outlines the very things 01:48 we've been discussing and highlighting, 01:50 so, you can see it firsthand. 01:51 This is in reference-- the scene is a tribute 01:56 that was done to Afrika Bambaataa 01:58 who is referred to as the godfather of hip-hop. 02:02 And KRS-One is introducing him. 02:04 We mentioned it before, but we want to show you the clip 02:05 because we want to hear these things firsthand. 02:08 So let's go to the clip. 02:11 KRS-One. 02:15 Home rap, original rap. 02:21 Some people believe 02:22 that hip-hop and rap music are the same. 02:25 They are not. 02:27 Rap is something we do. 02:29 Hip-hop... 02:32 is something we live. 02:34 And the living of hip-hop encourages our community 02:37 to seek peace, love, unity, and safely having fun. 02:43 These principles are the cornerstones 02:46 of our international hip-hop culture. 02:49 I am honored tonight to pay tribute 02:53 to the godfather of hip-hop Afrika Bambaataa. 02:57 Afrika Bambaataa speaks to the streets, 03:00 because he came from the streets. 03:03 Down with the Black Spades of the Bronx, 03:05 he rose from sickness, hatred, ignorance, and poverty 03:09 to become hip-hop's leading voice 03:12 for health, love, awareness and wealth. 03:15 Afrika Bambaataa's work to preserve 03:18 and unify hip-hop has influenced my work 03:22 with Stop the Violence Movement 03:24 as well as the Temple of Hip-Hop. 03:27 Our work to preserve and decriminalize 03:30 hip-hop's public image continues. 03:32 He is the keeper of peace and culture. 03:37 I say, "I am hip-hop. 03:39 This man is hip-hop culture. 03:43 This is the story of Afrika Bambaataa. 03:47 Now, Dwayne, there's a lot in there 03:50 that can be discussed, 03:51 but we want to just focus on his declaration 03:55 if you will of those cornerstones 03:57 of what you called the international hip-hop culture 03:59 is that peace, love, unity and safely having fun, right. 04:04 He referred to Bambaataa as the godfather of hip-hop. 04:06 He referred to him as the keeper 04:07 of peace and culture. 04:09 And so, this is not something that, you know, 04:13 we're just making up, this is not something 04:15 that we may be focusing on too much 04:17 and putting too much emphasis on. 04:18 This is, these are fundamental principles of hip-hop. 04:22 And when we look at that, 04:24 notice that the love element 04:28 really is what kind of holds everything together. 04:31 We're going to talk more about the other side 04:33 where the knowledge, wisdom and over standing, 04:36 we'll get into that later. 04:37 But the love is what they are professing. 04:42 And obviously, this love will produce 04:44 unity and peace and all these things, 04:46 but we know that as we looked at Peter's ladder, 04:51 love is also highlighted. 04:52 That's right. 04:54 And love is also considered the foundation of Christian 04:57 the true culture, the Biblical culture. 04:59 But also the question remains, 05:02 because they're going to say love, 05:03 we're going to say love, the Bible says love. 05:05 Everybody saying love and talking about 05:07 peace and love and unity. 05:08 But really, if we're going to take it, 05:10 you know and deal with love first. 05:12 What is love? 05:14 And this is a good question 05:15 because we are living in a society today, 05:19 where a lot of words, a lot of terminologies 05:23 are absolutely open to private interpretation. 05:27 An individual can literally say he loves his wife. 05:30 But if she does not prepare his food for him 05:32 in a timely manner, he can beat her. 05:34 But at the same time, he will still tell her 05:36 that he loves her. 05:37 An individual can say that they love their brothers. 05:40 But once that brother does something 05:42 that crosses their temper, 05:44 they can put forth an act of violence, 05:46 yet say they still love that person. 05:48 Love is an incredibly beautiful word 05:50 that is birthed from the heart of God, 05:52 but at the same time it is something 05:55 that unfortunately is being used 05:57 in a very perverse manner. 05:58 So, when somebody listens to, you know, KRS-One and he says, 06:02 "Hey, here are the cornerstones of hip-hop culture, 06:05 love, peace, unity, safely having fun." 06:08 Well, these terms in and of themselves 06:10 are absolutely innocent and beautiful, 06:11 they're beautiful, who doesn't want love, 06:13 peace, unity and to safely have fun. 06:16 The problem is who interprets that 06:19 as it relates to application. 06:21 How do I apply these principles? 06:23 What really is love as you're asking? 06:25 So, we have to now see where the line is drawn 06:28 between open interpretation verses biblical interpretation. 06:32 So, when we look at the idea of what is love 06:35 or the question of what is love? 06:36 The answer is very simple, 06:38 and it's found in the Book of 1 John Chapter 4. 06:40 So, when we go to the book of I John Chapter 4, 06:42 the Bible tells us what is love very clearly. 06:45 It doesn't ask the question in such a manner 06:47 but it definitely tells us what it is nevertheless. 06:51 It's in 1 John Chapter 4 that it states in verse 8. 06:55 The Bible says, "He that loveth not knoweth not God, 07:00 for God is love." 07:03 Yes 07:04 Literally God considers Himself the embodiment of love. 07:09 And therefore the same way, that God has no beginning, 07:12 love has no beginning. 07:13 Love has existed as long as God has existed 07:16 which is basically throughout all eternity. 07:19 And, because of this fact when an individual 07:22 wants to understand love, we can't go to humanity, 07:25 because humanity is very fickle. 07:26 There's lots of different interpretation and applications. 07:29 But I'm thankful that the Bible lets us know 07:31 that God says in Malachi 3:6. 07:33 "I am the Lord and I change not." 07:35 So, God is consistent. 07:37 And that's what we need in our world. 07:38 That's what I believe we need in our lives, in our homes 07:40 is we need more consistency. 07:42 And God is the foundation of consistency 07:44 in all aspects of godly virtue. 07:47 We're talking about love and the answer to the question 07:50 of what is love is God Himself. 07:52 God says, "You want to know what love is? 07:53 You take a real close look at me. 07:55 You look at my character." 07:56 In fact, one day Moses, he said, 08:00 "Lord, I beseech thee, show me Your glory." 08:02 I want to see your glory. And this is in Exodus 33:18. 08:06 Well, in verse 19 God responds by saying, 08:09 "I'll show you my goodness and I'll proclaim my name." 08:12 And then in Exodus 34:5-7, the Bible goes on to say that 08:17 "God came down in the midst of the cloud 08:19 and stood with him Moses there and said, 08:22 'The Lord, the Lord God." 08:24 ' And then he goes through this incredible list. 08:26 He says, merciful, gracious, longsuffering, 08:30 abundant in goodness and truth, 08:31 keeping mercy for thousands, 08:33 forgiving iniquity in transgression and sin. 08:35 And that will by no means clearing the guilty, 08:37 visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children 08:39 unto the third and fourth generation. 08:41 God literally revealed His character. 08:44 All of these virtues that we just looked at 08:46 is basically a conglomerate of this one word called love. 08:50 So, when you think of love, we have to look at God, 08:53 and God wanted it like that. 08:54 He purposed it to be like that, because the Lord knew 08:57 that there was going to be a perversion 08:59 of this beautiful principle called love. 09:02 So, the answer to the question is simple. 09:04 What is love? God is love. 09:06 Yes, yes. 09:07 So, that is very, very simple 09:11 and very, very clear and very, very practical. 09:14 What we have to do now is kind of, 09:15 you know, flesh that out of way. 09:17 Because we did look at brotherly kindness 09:19 for example yesterday and we saw that 09:21 brotherly kindness, it was literally showing love 09:25 to those around us to fellow humanity, 09:28 and in fact to the extent of laying down 09:30 our lives for our friends, right? 09:33 So, let's take this principle of God being love, 09:38 the embodiment of love, the eternal principle of love. 09:43 And you know, make this practical. 09:45 How then does love apply to, you know, humanity? 09:49 How are we supposed to respond to this reality 09:51 that God is love? 09:52 Now, I believe this is a very powerful question 09:54 especially as we are doing a contrast 09:57 between hip-hop culture, 10:00 and also looking at Christian culture, 10:02 and seeing do they blend 10:03 or are they adverse one to another? 10:05 Yeah 10:06 And, you will see that, I did a research, 10:08 I literally started to look up everything 10:10 that has ever been stated 10:13 as relates to hip-hop culture's interpretation of love. 10:17 I mean, I Googled, I Yahooed, 10:18 I mean we did all sorts of research 10:21 just to look to see, 10:22 do they have a definite statement on what love is? 10:25 And what was interesting is the answer was no. 10:27 There was no statement that was a definite statement 10:31 made by hip-hop culture by which it can say, 10:34 "Well, this is what love is." 10:35 Now, that already is problematic 10:38 because you cannot say, a cornerstone of a movement 10:42 is something called love, but yet you don't define 10:44 what it is unless it's deliberate. 10:47 Meaning, I am allowed to interpret love the way I want, 10:52 you are allowed to interpret love the way you want. 10:55 And we can both be right 10:56 even though we might contradict each other. 10:58 Yes. Well, that's called confusion. 10:59 And the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 14:33, it say, 11:04 "God is not the author of confusion 11:06 but of peace as in all churches." 11:07 So, God's desire is not for confusion, 11:10 there is an institute of confusion 11:12 that exists today called Babylon. 11:14 And the Bible makes it clear, 11:15 Babylon was birthed from Genesis 11, 11:17 a place of confusion and it is interesting 11:21 that even hip-hop culture and I'm not saying 11:23 hip-hop culture is Babylon. 11:24 But I am saying that it is demonstrating 11:26 a characteristic of Babylon which is confusion 11:30 and not being definite 11:31 on something they claim is a cornerstone. 11:34 That's problematic. 11:35 Now, God, He says, listen I'm going to show you 11:37 what love is, and I'm going to show you as clear as day. 11:39 And then I may even show you how to apply it. 11:41 And this is found in the book of, 11:43 the most perhaps popular Bible verse 11:45 of all of Christianity no matter 11:48 what the denomination is and that is John 3:16. 11:51 You want to know what love is. 11:53 The Bible tells us clearly in John 3:16. 11:55 It says, "For God so loved the world, 11:59 that He gave His only begotten Son 12:02 that whosoever believeth in Him 12:04 should not perish, but have everlasting life." 12:07 I mentioned in a previous episode 12:08 something very important, because we got to understand 12:10 the magnitude of love. 12:12 God says, "I gave My Son so that sinners not saints, 12:17 but sinners can have an opportunity 12:20 to have salvation if they accept 12:22 the atonement that was given through My Son." 12:24 Well, when you look at that word begotten, 12:27 in that Greek language begotten means, 12:29 the only one of its kind. 12:32 In other words, God's love was so strong for men, 12:35 He was willing to give His best. 12:38 He didn't give His worst, He didn't give His mediocre, 12:40 He gave His absolute best, His prized possession if you will. 12:44 And He was willing to say, 12:46 "I'm going to let go off my best. 12:47 And I'm going to go ahead and let my best come down 12:50 and die the death you're supposed to die, 12:53 so, that you can have the life He was supposed to have." 12:56 It spelled out real nice in Romans 5:2 12:58 and I want to bring that one out. 12:59 In Romans the 5th Chapter, 13:01 the Bible continues to build on this. 13:03 So, when I think of an application of love, 13:05 I'm looking at it here. 13:06 The Bible says in Romans 5:8. 13:09 "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, 13:14 while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." 13:17 I mean, He was willing to literally lose out 13:20 and give up His life for sinners. 13:24 People who were living a wicked lifestyle, 13:27 knowing that the majority are not going to accept it, 13:32 yet He was still willing to do it. 13:34 And the reason why is because in Luke 15:7. 13:37 It says, "All heaven rejoices even over one sinner 13:40 that repents." 13:42 So, in the mind of Christ, He says, 13:43 if even one person accepts what I've done, 13:44 it was worth it to do it. 13:46 So, when I think of what is love or an application of love, 13:48 it is in the idea of giving in the spirit of sacrifice 13:54 for the salvation of individuals 13:57 who don't deserve it. 13:59 So, it's not, it's not negotiable. 14:01 In other words, God is not in a situation 14:04 where He is saying, "I am love 14:05 and yet I am not willing to go this far, 14:07 there's a line, there's a limitations to my love." 14:10 There are no limitations. 14:11 There are no situations in which God is going to say, 14:14 I don't love. That's right. 14:15 Because God loves, there are things as we, 14:17 you know, eventually going to get to that God hates. 14:21 Oh, yeah. 14:22 There are things that God hates. 14:23 So, a principle, a character does not mean 14:26 that there aren't things that are contrary to that, 14:27 that can't co-exist with it. 14:29 And that's something also 14:30 that we're going to bring out later on, 14:32 there is no yin yang principle from a biblical perspective. 14:36 There is no coexistence, co, 14:39 you know, eternal existence 14:40 of bad and good, light and darkness. 14:43 God is light. 14:45 And there is no darkness in Him. 14:46 No darkness, that's it. 14:48 So, there's no living contradiction. 14:49 Right. 14:51 So, you can't go on later on and say, 14:53 "Oh well, all of us are going to constantly have 14:55 this living contradiction good and bad, evil." 14:58 And that's going to go on for eternity, that's not the case. 14:59 Now, is there an example you know, a practical example 15:02 that we can look at from the Bible 15:04 that kind of articulate this principle. 15:06 We see that God so loved that He gave. 15:08 And we say well, that's you know, 15:10 easy for God to do as God. 15:12 How does that translate to us, now living in this world? 15:16 Well, I'm going to make it even more practical 15:18 because I'm going to connect some of these points 15:19 that we're going to look at through Scripture. 15:21 And I'm going to connect it 15:22 to some even the social injustices 15:24 that we see happening today. 15:26 And some of the things happening 15:27 in our world at large 15:28 that really need to be addressed. 15:30 So, here it is that when we think of love, 15:32 there's no way, you can get away from the cross of Calvary. 15:35 Because, this is literally the clearest picture 15:38 and demonstration of God's love for humanity. 15:40 Loving people who are unlovable, 15:42 loving people who are unworthy of that love, 15:44 but that love supersedes where the person is now, 15:48 but is still demonstrated toward them 15:50 for what they can be if that love is received. 15:53 This is something that God 15:54 was trying to introduce to our minds. 15:55 But then after Christ left this example for humanity. 16:00 Notice what he says in 1 John 3:16, 16:03 it's very interesting text because sometimes we say, 16:05 "Well, thank God, Jesus laid down His life 16:07 that others may be saved and appreciate that." 16:11 But I know that that's not where God, 16:12 what God wants me to do. 16:14 But if you look at 1 John 3:16 the Bible says, 16:17 "Hereby perceive we the love of God." 16:20 It says, "Because he laid down his life for us 16:24 and when we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." 16:30 So, God actually says, 16:32 "The story of Christ on Calvary 16:35 was not just the story of what Christ did for us." 16:39 But it actually was a lesson book 16:41 of what he want's us to be willing to do for humanity. 16:45 And it's not that we die for people's sin. 16:48 Christ already did that, He's the Lamb of God 16:49 that takes away the sin of the world. 16:51 But now, we must be willing to go and tell that story 16:54 even if it did mean possibly the peril of my own life. 16:58 Now, watch this, I'm gonna show you something here, 17:01 and this is going to have to be contrasted 17:03 with some things we see happening in hip-hop culture 17:05 that I have to confess is absolutely disappointing. 17:08 When you and I consider the book of 2 Samuel Chapter 12, 17:11 I want you to watch this. 17:13 This is now, taking this counsel of 1 John 3:16 17:18 where it talks about we must love to the point 17:21 that we're willing to lay down our lives 17:22 even for the brethren. 17:24 Well, I want you to take a look at this. 17:25 In the Book of 2 Samuel, 17:27 we're going to look at Chapter 12. 17:29 And I want you to see something the Bible says, 17:31 as we consider verses 1 to 7. 17:34 This is the story of Nathan going to David. 17:36 David, the king has made 17:39 a horrific and very sinful decision 17:41 which was to sleep with another man's wife 17:44 and ultimately to have him killed. 17:47 So, he committed adultery and murder. 17:48 Well, Nathan, the prophet now is inspired by God 17:52 to give a message to David. 17:54 Nathan had to understand, what I'm about to do. 17:57 If David chose to be an ungodly king, 18:01 he could literally have my head for this. 18:03 Nathan had to love David enough to tell David the truth, 18:06 even though he knew 18:08 this would be at the peril of my own life. 18:09 And so, the Bible says a 2 Samuel 12:1-7. 18:13 "And the Lord sent Nathan unto David. 18:15 And he came unto him, and said unto him, 18:17 There were two men in one city, 18:19 the one rich, and the other poor. 18:21 The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds: 18:23 But the poor man had nothing, 18:24 save one little ewe lamb, 18:26 which he had bought and nourished up: 18:28 and it grew up together with him, 18:29 and with his children, 18:31 it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, 18:34 and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. 18:37 And there came a traveler unto the rich man, 18:39 and he spared to take of his own flock 18:41 and of his own herd, 18:43 to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him, 18:46 but took the poor man's lamb, 18:48 and dressed it for the man that was come to him. 18:51 And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, 18:54 and he said to Nathan, As the Lord liveth, 18:57 the man that hath done this thing 18:59 shall surely die: 19:00 And he shall restore the lamb four fold, 19:02 because he did this thing, and because he had no pity. 19:06 And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. 19:11 Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, 19:13 I anointed thee king over Israel, 19:15 and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul, 19:17 And I gave thee thy master's house, 19:18 and thy master's wives into thy bosom, 19:20 and gave thee the house of Israel 19:22 and of the house of Judah, 19:24 and if that had been too little, 19:26 I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. 19:29 Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, 19:32 to do evil in his sight? 19:34 Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, 19:36 and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, 19:38 and hast slain him with the sword 19:40 of the children of Ammon. 19:42 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house, 19:46 because thou hast despised me, 19:48 and hast taken the wife of Uriah 19:49 the Hittite to be thy wife." 19:51 Nathan had to literally show David his hypocrisy. 19:54 Nathan had to go to the king who was anointed by God. 19:57 And he had to go to him and love him enough, 19:59 to give him God's message. 20:00 And to say, "David, you are a sinner. 20:02 You have done wrong." 20:04 Now, this could have cost him his life. 20:05 But love caused him not to consider that. 20:08 Love moved the fear, 20:09 and caused him to tell the truth, 20:11 even though it could be at the peril of his own life. 20:13 Now, here's what's interesting. 20:15 Nathan did not die as a result of giving this message. 20:18 What happen? David was humbled. 20:20 And David was willing to receive the message. 20:22 And as David said, 20:23 "Fourfold this man should be punished." 20:25 Davis household fourfold was punished. 20:27 And he lost his children. 20:29 But here's what's interesting. 20:32 While this story kind of ends good as it relates to the one 20:35 who had to bear the news of pointing out sin 20:38 and calling it by its right name. 20:40 There's another story in the Bible 20:42 where it didn't work out that way. 20:43 And this one is in Mark the 6th Chapter, 20:45 it's just verses 17 and 18. 20:47 But, this one is now the story of John the Baptist. 20:50 John the Baptist, 20:51 he knew that the king was living in a sinful life 20:55 because he took his brother's wife which is called adultery. 20:59 And John the Baptist had to love the king enough 21:03 to tell him the truth, 21:04 even if it meant the peril of his own life. 21:07 And here it is that John's love was so powerful, 21:09 that he told the king the truth. 21:11 And the story goes like this 21:12 as it relates to what happened next. 21:15 It says in Mark 6:17, 18. 21:18 It says, "For Herod himself have sent forth 21:21 and laid hold upon John 21:22 and bound him in prison for Herodias' sake, 21:25 his brother Philip's wife: For he had married her. 21:28 For John had said unto Herod, 21:29 it is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife." 21:33 John pointed out to a king that he was living in sin. 21:38 And it did cost him his life, 21:39 because John the Baptist was beheaded. 21:41 But that did not stop John from telling the truth. 21:44 John had to be able to take a stand 21:46 because that's what love does. 21:48 Love causes you to not consider your own self. 21:51 Not to consider your money, your income. 21:54 Not to consider even your own life. 21:56 You got to love people enough to tell them the truth, 21:58 because it's not just the example of Nathan, 22:00 it's not just the example of John the Baptist, 22:02 it was none other than the example of Jesus. 22:05 And how do we see this? 22:06 John the 7th Chapter. 22:08 This is an aspect of Jesus 22:09 that a lot of people don't consider 22:11 but it's the truth anyhow. 22:12 And the Bible says in John Chapter 7 22:14 when Jesus was talking with his brothers, 22:15 and they were encouraging him to go to the feast 22:17 and Jesus answered by saying in verse 6. 22:20 "Then said Jesus unto them, my time is not yet come: 22:23 But your time is always ready. 22:26 The world cannot hate you: 22:28 But me it hateth, because I testify of it, 22:32 that the works thereof are evil." 22:35 Jesus had a ministry, not a moment, 22:39 a ministry of pointing out evil. 22:43 Calling people and telling them what sin was 22:46 and making it plain 22:48 and loving them enough to do it, 22:49 even though He knew it's gonna put me on cross, 22:51 but this what love is. 22:53 So, love is not emotion, 22:56 love is not something that can be here and then be gone. 22:58 Love is a principle. That's right. 23:00 It's an eternal principle. 23:01 Now, we know God is love. 23:03 And we see an example of human beings living on the earth, 23:06 exhibiting this godly divine supernatural love. 23:10 The question is, we know that is not in us, 23:13 it doesn't come naturally. 23:14 So, where does it come from? How do we get it? 23:17 Well, that love has to come 23:19 from none other than God Himself. 23:21 And the reason we know, this is because 23:23 in Romans the 5th Chapter, here's what the Bible says. 23:26 In Romans Chapter 5, 23:28 I want you to see what the text says now 23:29 as we consider verses 1 to 5. 23:32 it says, "Therefore being justified by faith, 23:35 we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 23:39 By whom also we have access by faith 23:41 into this grace wherein we stand. 23:43 And rejoice in hope of the glory of God 23:46 and not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: 23:49 knowing that tribulation work is patience: 23:51 And patience, experience. 23:53 And experience, hope: 23:54 and hope make it not ashame, 23:56 because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts 24:01 by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." 24:04 I can't love independent of God. 24:08 It's impossible. 24:09 If God is saying, listen, 24:11 "I am love, I am the embodiment of love. 24:13 If you want to love you got to come to me, 24:16 because I'm the source of it." 24:17 It's kind of like somebody saying, 24:19 "I want to, I want to give somebody an Apple product, 24:21 I want to give somebody an Android product." 24:23 We're going to have to go to Apple to get that product. 24:25 You gonna have to go to 24:27 wherever the Android products are made to get that product. 24:29 You've got to go to the source, the source supplies you 24:32 and then you're able to take the supply 24:34 and give it to whomever you choose. 24:35 So, it is with God, God says listen, "I am love. 24:38 You can't love outside of me. 24:41 You can act it out. 24:42 You can maybe do some portions of it. 24:45 But you will sooner or later find out its limitations." 24:50 So, God makes it clear. 24:51 I am love and the only way 24:53 that you can have the kind of love 24:55 that I'm talking about, you got to come to me, 24:57 and through my spirit, 24:58 I'm going to put it within your heart. 25:00 Right, so, even though it is going to be put in us, 25:04 we don't look inside in order to get it. 25:07 We have to go get it from God and he will put it in us, 25:09 but it's not innately intrinsically inside of us. 25:12 That's correct. And that is the point. 25:14 If you and I are going to tell somebody 25:16 that the cornerstone of hip-hop culture 25:20 or any culture or any movement, 25:22 and one of those cornerstones 25:24 is this beautiful foundation of love. 25:26 Then the question is, well, how do people get this? 25:28 How do they conjure it up? 25:30 Because it is not something that is natural within us, 25:32 it is not innately within us. 25:35 In fact, we studied in Jeremiah 17 25:37 that the Bible makes it clear. 25:39 It tells us that our hearts are deceitful above all things 25:42 and desperately wicked, who can know it? 25:44 Jeremiah 13:23, 25:46 "Can the Ethiopian change a skin. 25:48 Can the leopard change a spot? 25:49 Well, how then can you do good 25:51 when you're accustomed to doing evil." 25:53 So, we have a nature that is anti-God. 25:56 We naturally do not want to do what God says. 26:00 We naturally cannot keep God's law. 26:02 And Romans the 8th Chapter spells it out, 26:04 "The carnal mind is at enmity with God 26:07 and cannot honor Him or His law." 26:09 And enmity means hatred. 26:11 So, what is natural is that we have a hatred for God. 26:13 So, that means what is natural that we have a hatred for love. 26:16 We have a natural hatred for love, 26:18 true love, biblical love. 26:20 But we can take it, we can pervert it, 26:22 and we can twist it, 26:24 and make it our own interpretation, 26:26 and then exercise it the way we want to. 26:28 Right. And that is always destructive. 26:31 I mean, it's absolutely always destructive. 26:32 When we take something that God has created for our good 26:36 and we pervert it, you know, 26:37 change that which is true into that 26:39 which is not true perversion. 26:41 When we pervert it, it always leads to destruction. 26:44 It always leads to breaking down. 26:46 So, if you know, they're looking 26:48 if hip-hop is looking to be the solution to the disunity. 26:52 That being the solution to the violence, 26:54 to stop the violence, 26:55 it's completely unable to do so, 26:58 in fact, it contributes to the violence, 27:01 it contributes to the degradation of society, 27:03 because it's taking something that God has made 27:05 and perverting it and using it only in human power. 27:09 So, I want to encourage you 27:12 to come back for our next episode, 27:14 because we're going to continue 27:16 to flesh out this principle of love, 27:19 the foundation of God's government, 27:21 the foundation of all truth and reality. 27:24 And you know, 27:26 purportedly the foundation of hip-hop culture as well. 27:30 We have to see something 27:32 that is going to actually effect change, 27:35 lasting change, real change in the human heart. 27:38 If our hearts are not changed, 27:41 then it's going to be impossible for us to go 27:43 and change the communities in this world that we live in. 27:46 We know that God has a solution for all of our problems. 27:49 And I want to remind you to bring a friend, return, 27:53 and be enriched by what had God has in store for us 27:56 and remember as Proverbs 2:6 says, 28:00 "It is the Lord that gives wisdom. 28:03 And out of his mouth 28:05 comes knowledge and understanding." 28:08 God bless, and I hope to see you again. |
Revised 2016-03-28