True Knowledge of Self

Counter Pillar: Unity -part 1

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Dwayne Lemon, Lance Wilbur

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Series Code: TKS

Program Code: TKS000035A


00:28 Hello, I'm Dwayne. And I'm Lance.
00:30 And we like to welcome you to another episode of TKS,
00:33 A True Knowledge of Self,
00:35 where we get to know ourselves from a biblical perspective.
00:38 Now in previous episode,
00:39 especially our last couple of episodes,
00:41 we've been dealing with the principle of peace.
00:43 We looked at the Bible and we saw what true peace is.
00:48 And we've been talking about this
00:50 in kind of contrasting
00:51 some of these main cornerstones of hip-hop culture
00:55 which are love, peace, unity, and safely having fun.
01:00 In today's episode, we're gonna be talking about unity.
01:02 But when we consider
01:04 what we've discussed in the past
01:05 and talk about peace,
01:07 we understood that peace was something
01:08 that only God could provide.
01:10 And what we're finding here is a trend.
01:12 All of the things that we need,
01:13 all of the things that are necessary for proper
01:17 and fruitful human existence come from God
01:21 because they originate with God.
01:22 So this is something that God wants us to have,
01:24 these are things that God wants us to have.
01:26 And when we looked at peace,
01:27 we understood that it comes from Him.
01:29 And our response to God's giving of peace
01:34 is a life of consistent,
01:37 obedience, and servitude,
01:39 essentially love for God and keeping His commandments.
01:41 We understood that those...
01:43 That lifestyle of faithfulness and obedience
01:46 actually produces peace.
01:48 Not only for us
01:49 but also that lifestyle will produce peace
01:53 towards those from even our enemies.
01:55 Now we wanna spend most of our attention
01:57 dealing with the subject of the unity
01:59 as the next step, if you will in this progression
02:02 in dealing with the principles of hip-hop culture.
02:05 And we wanna look at it from a true perspective.
02:07 However, the biblical unity
02:10 that we're going to be discussing
02:12 is going to constantly be juxtaposed in scripture
02:15 with a counterfeit unity.
02:17 Now, Dwayne, there's always,
02:19 as we've seen time and time again,
02:21 there's always truth, genuine, and counterfeit.
02:24 And in fact that is the kind of the foundation
02:26 of Satan's government
02:28 is this idea of hate, lies, and counterfeit.
02:33 So one thing we know about our counterfeit is it,
02:35 it is almost the perfect representation of the truth,
02:38 almost a perfect representation of the truth.
02:41 The truth comes first and then the counterfeit
02:44 and the deception comes after.
02:46 But in order for it to truly work
02:47 and be effective as a deception,
02:49 it has to resemble the truth almost perfectly.
02:54 And so when we talk about unity,
02:55 we're gonna get into biblical unity,
02:57 what it is, how it functions,
02:58 and what God's desire is.
03:00 But we wanna look at this idea of counterfeit unity.
03:04 It's something a term called ecumenism.
03:07 What are we dealing with?
03:08 What are we talking about
03:09 when we use the term ecumenism?
03:11 Well, I appreciate that question, sir,
03:12 because that is a point
03:13 that we have to identify in our study.
03:15 It's like every other thing,
03:17 there's true love, there's false love,
03:18 there's true peace, there's false peace.
03:21 And then of course, there's true unity
03:22 but then there is false unity.
03:24 And you hit the nail on the head
03:26 because there is a movement
03:28 that existed many, many years ago
03:31 that still is being perpetuated
03:33 throughout society today called ecumenism.
03:36 And ecumenism can manifest itself
03:37 in just about any type of organization.
03:39 It can be in a Christian realm,
03:41 but it also can in certain ways be manifested in other realms,
03:45 in other cultures, in other religions,
03:46 even hip-hop culture.
03:48 But what really is ecumenism at the end of the day,
03:51 I'm gonna go ahead and just simply read it
03:52 from the dictionary.
03:54 And here's what it states,
03:55 it says, "Of or pertaining to a movement,
03:58 ecumenical movement,
04:00 especially among Protestant groups since the 1800s,
04:04 aimed at achieving universal Christian unity
04:08 and church union through international
04:11 interdenominational organizations
04:13 that cooperate on matters of mutual concern.
04:17 And this is a very important point
04:19 is that it's a call to unity.
04:23 But they're uniting upon things that they hold in common.
04:27 You know, the things that they have
04:28 mutual concerns about.
04:29 So in other words,
04:31 you know, if we just look that
04:32 at from the Christian realm right now,
04:34 if you say, we believe that people need to love Jesus.
04:39 Then every other denomination, every other organization says,
04:43 "Yeah, let's join together and work together."
04:46 Because even though we have all of these differences
04:49 one toward another,
04:50 the one thing we do have in common
04:51 is we believe people need to learn about Jesus
04:53 and love Him.
04:55 And therefore it causes a union to come together.
04:58 The problem is, it's a false union,
05:01 it really cannot last, it cannot truly exist
05:04 without a surrender
05:06 or a relinquishing of original position
05:09 that each organization held.
05:10 And a perfect example is Protestantism
05:13 and Roman Catholicism,
05:15 they cannot go together,
05:16 because Protestantism was literally birthed
05:19 as a result of protesting against the dogmas
05:22 that were being taught through Rome.
05:23 So a Protestant and Roman Catholic,
05:25 or the Protestant movement and a Roman Catholic movement,
05:28 in truth they could never truly unite
05:31 because their reasons for existence
05:34 was that there was an issue
05:36 that existed that obviously was an offense to God
05:38 and caused the Protestant movement to say,
05:40 "We cannot be united with the church of Rome."
05:42 Well, if an individual says,
05:44 well, let's put all of that aside.
05:47 An example, in Roman Catholicism,
05:49 it is taught that Mary is a Co-Mediatrix of Christ.
05:53 In Protestant Christianity,
05:56 we believe that there is one mediator
05:59 between God and man,
06:00 and that is the Man Christ Jesus.
06:01 Now that's biblical,
06:03 you can't find in the Bible where Mary is a Co-Mediatrix
06:05 but you can find in the Bible
06:07 that there is one mediator between God and man.
06:09 So the Protestants generally hold
06:10 the biblical position where the Roman Catholic Church
06:13 would hold more of a traditional position.
06:16 What ecumenism says is, let's not worry about that.
06:19 Let's just keep doing that.
06:20 Let's just keep doing what we do here.
06:22 But because of the fact
06:23 that we believe that people need to learn about Jesus,
06:25 let's unite nevertheless.
06:27 The problem is,
06:29 the Bible tells us in the Book of Amos,
06:31 "Can two walk together, lest they be agreed?"
06:34 And what's the answer?
06:36 The answer is no.
06:37 And therefore, we cannot have true unity
06:39 because one is an offense to God,
06:41 where the other is not.
06:43 It's kind of like Cain and Abel.
06:44 They both had,
06:46 you know, if you will they both had one goal
06:47 which was to worship God.
06:50 Cain, he came with the best of his fruits
06:53 or what have you,
06:55 or he at least came with some fruits.
06:56 He didn't actually come with the best,
06:58 he just came with some fruits and vegetables.
06:59 But Abel, he came with what God required.
07:02 Hebrews 9:22 says,
07:04 "Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins."
07:06 So Abel came with an animal,
07:09 both of them came to God,
07:11 both of them came to worship God
07:14 and both of them presented offerings.
07:16 Now under the spirit of ecumenism,
07:18 you would think, "Well, God should've accepted both."
07:20 Yeah. But we know the Bible account.
07:21 The Bible tells us Cain's offering was rejected,
07:25 Abel's offering was accepted.
07:27 God does not endorse the spirit of ecumenism.
07:30 It is against His words,
07:31 because it says,
07:33 we can overlook by our own mindsets and choices.
07:36 We can overlook what God has said,
07:38 and we can just say,
07:39 because we agree on this point, let's just go forward anyhow.
07:43 In fact, Revelation 13 brings out a picture like this.
07:45 It's about those who are gonna fall under
07:47 what's called the Mark of the Beast.
07:48 And the Bible makes it clear in the Revelation 14:9-11,
07:53 it says, "If any man worship the beast and his image,
07:55 and receive his mark in his forehead,
07:56 or in his hand,
07:58 the same shall drink of the wine
07:59 of the wrath of God,
08:00 which is poured out without mixture
08:02 into the cup of his indignation,
08:03 and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone
08:05 in the presence of the holy angels,
08:06 and in the presence of the Lamb.
08:08 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever,
08:10 and they have no rest day or night,
08:12 who worshipped the beast and his image,
08:13 and whosoever receives the mark of his name."
08:15 That is a very clear definite statement.
08:18 Do not receive the mark of the beast,
08:19 otherwise you will receive the wrath of God.
08:23 Well, Satan works through the beast's power.
08:25 And in Revelation 13, it says in verse 16,
08:28 "And he causeth all,
08:30 both small and great, rich and poor,
08:34 free and bond,
08:35 to receive a mark in their right hand,
08:38 or in their foreheads."
08:40 There will be a group of people,
08:41 made up of all different facets of society
08:44 that will unite.
08:46 They are going to come together
08:48 but they're going to receive something called,
08:50 the mark of the beast.
08:51 They will appear united
08:53 but they are in a false unity
08:55 that was lead out by Satan himself.
08:58 It is because of this that it's not enough to say,
09:00 we need to unify.
09:02 It's how do we unify?
09:03 What are we unifying about?
09:05 What is it that we are saying we're in agreement about?
09:08 And how then does that get accomplished or established?
09:11 And this is the question again that we have to put out
09:13 towards hip-hop culture
09:15 when it says, we believe in love, peace, and unity,
09:18 and safely having fun.
09:20 All right, again, sounds great.
09:22 Buts spell it out, how does it work?
09:25 Show me the details, make it plain,
09:27 how can it be practical?
09:28 And this is where the line will be divided
09:30 between God's plan and man's plan.
09:33 So this is why it's important for us
09:35 again to really look at the subject of unity,
09:39 beautiful as it is.
09:40 But we need to know there is a false unity,
09:43 the same way there was a false peace,
09:44 and the same way there's false love.
09:46 And we don't want the false
09:47 because it leads to destruction.
09:49 We want the truth
09:50 because that's what leads to life.
09:52 So in other words,
09:53 the idea, the desire to come together,
09:55 it's not a problem,
09:57 we should come together. Sure.
09:58 But not at the expense of the truth.
09:59 That's right.
10:01 We need to come together under the banner of truth,
10:02 under the stand that God outlines.
10:04 That is correct.
10:05 So ultimately when we talk about unity,
10:07 what is true unity?
10:09 What is God's desire?
10:11 God's desire.
10:12 Now when we think about God's desire,
10:14 I believe Jesus spells it out beautifully in John 13.
10:17 In John 13, the Bible tells us in verse 35,
10:22 it's kind of like what I firmly believe God wants
10:25 and is needed in our world today.
10:27 It says in John 13,
10:29 and we are considering verse 35,
10:32 and this is what Jesus said,
10:34 "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples,
10:39 if ye have love one to another."
10:44 So the Bible's very clear
10:45 that there is a way that people can demonstrate
10:48 Christ likeness or Christianity if you will.
10:51 Lot of people are calling themselves
10:53 the disciples of Christ.
10:54 A lot of people are saying
10:56 they are the representatives of God
10:57 in hip-hop culture,
10:58 in various church groups,
11:00 and of course, other religious groups.
11:02 Many people are saying,
11:03 "Hey, we are the representatives of God."
11:05 Well, Jesus says,
11:07 one of the signs is that it will be unity.
11:10 So this is one of the things Christ shows here.
11:12 He says, "You have to have love one to another."
11:15 Now somebody says, love, unity, are they the same?
11:18 Well, they definitely work together,
11:20 but they're not exactly the same.
11:21 But why do I say unity?
11:23 It's because the word love in John 13:35,
11:26 it comes from the Greek word agape,
11:28 which deals with a godly love,
11:30 this very unconditional type of love.
11:32 And it's beautiful to know that the desire of Christ
11:35 was that we His disciples
11:37 would have that kind of love one toward another.
11:39 But then the Bible says
11:41 something that I believe
11:42 does add the unity component to it.
11:44 But it's found in Philippians 2,
11:46 so I'm gonna compare that.
11:47 So in John 13:35, the Bible says,
11:50 "This is how people shall know you are My disciples
11:52 when you have love one to another.
11:55 But then when we look at Philippians 2 now,
11:58 you see that the Bible also spells something else out
12:01 that we would do well to consider.
12:02 It says in verse 1,
12:05 "If there be therefore any consolation in Christ,
12:09 if any comfort of love,
12:11 if any fellowship of the Spirit,
12:14 if any bowels and mercies,
12:16 fulfil ye my joy,
12:18 that ye be likeminded,
12:21 having the same love,
12:25 being of one accord, of one mind."
12:29 So notice in John 13:35,
12:31 Jesus is simply speaking to His disciples.
12:32 He says, listen, this is how people are gonna know
12:34 you're my disciples,
12:36 you gotta have love one for another.
12:38 This is how they will know,
12:39 they'll see through your interactions
12:40 with each other
12:42 that these are children of the Most High God.
12:45 Now God magnifies this point in Philippians 2,
12:49 by saying actually,
12:50 "I want you to have the same love."
12:54 The same love,
12:55 so the love you have is not gonna be degreed
12:57 where you have one kind of love
12:59 and I have a different kind of love.
13:00 God's desire is that we have the same love
13:02 which produces us being of one accord
13:06 of one mind.
13:08 Now that's unity. That's unity.
13:10 This is what Christ wants.
13:13 If we have the same love one toward another,
13:15 we shall be unified.
13:17 And that's why we say that love is the foundation.
13:19 Love is the foundation
13:20 of all of these wonderful virtues
13:22 and from that we can experience every other blessing
13:25 that comes in its string.
13:27 So God wants to make it clear.
13:29 True unity is when individuals can be likeminded,
13:32 when they can be of one accord,
13:34 when they could be of one mind.
13:36 It doesn't mean we lose our individuality,
13:38 you know, I'm still Dwayne, you're still Lance,
13:40 and we are very different.
13:42 Nevertheless, there are some things
13:44 that we do hold in common
13:46 and this is where it is very, very important
13:48 that we have a right understanding
13:50 of what God wants to accomplish.
13:51 So there's actually, again the desire to have this.
13:55 It's something that I believe God places in the human heart.
13:59 So we all should want it,
14:01 and so when hip-hop culture cries for it or strives for it,
14:05 that's an honorable thing.
14:07 Absolutely.
14:08 The problem is the means by which you're going about it.
14:10 Correct.
14:12 The conclusions that you are drawing
14:13 or the lack of conclusions that you're drawing,
14:15 and the lack of power that you're giving,
14:17 that you're communicating to the people,
14:19 you're not directing them to God
14:21 for to obtain it. Correct.
14:22 In other words, you're saying, we need to do this,
14:25 and that's the end of the story.
14:27 Sounds great.
14:28 Everybody would agree with that we need to do that.
14:29 But how do you do it?
14:31 We can't, we've tried, we can't, it's not working.
14:33 So you're not directing them
14:34 to the only one that can supply them
14:36 with what they need.
14:37 And in fact the Bible even shares another verse
14:39 that you're gonna share with us
14:41 that talks about the absolute beauty
14:43 and the picture of what unity would look like.
14:46 Absolutely.
14:48 And you know, I like this
14:49 because once we can reconcile with the fact,
14:53 I cannot produce what God wants independent of God.
14:56 John 15:5, "Without me you can do nothing."
15:00 This is the point that Christ is trying so hard
15:03 to bring across to our hearts.
15:04 You see, before there was KRS-One,
15:06 Afrika Bambaataa,
15:08 before there was Dwayne or Lance,
15:09 before there was Martin Luther King, or Malcolm X,
15:11 there was a whole string of human beings,
15:14 people that insincerity wanted to promote unity,
15:18 love, and peace, and many of these other things.
15:20 And yet, from so many centuries ago,
15:24 up until today,
15:25 you almost have to be deaf, dumb, and blind
15:27 not to see how true the Bible is.
15:29 And what does the Bible say?
15:31 It says in 2 Timothy 3,
15:32 I want you to consider this because this is the point
15:35 that God wants to get across to our hearts.
15:37 And once it gets across,
15:39 then hopefully we can do some things right.
15:40 The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 3:1,
15:44 "This know also,
15:47 that in the last days perilous times shall come."
15:51 So Bible is making it clear, in the last days,
15:53 it's gonna be some bad situations going on.
15:55 Why? Notice.
15:57 It says, "For men shall be lovers of their own selves,
16:01 covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers,
16:05 disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
16:09 without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers,
16:14 incontinent, fierce,
16:16 despisers of those that are good,
16:18 traitors, heady, highminded,
16:21 lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God,
16:24 and then it says, having a form of godliness,
16:27 but denying the power thereof: from such turn away."
16:30 The Bible literally paints a horrific picture
16:33 of not even what the world would look like
16:35 but even at the religious institutions,
16:37 the churches and what they would look like.
16:39 The Bible actually says, it's gonna be horrible
16:41 because all of these things are gonna be rising up
16:43 in the hearts of people,
16:45 they're gonna be traitors,
16:46 they're gonna be heady, highminded,
16:47 lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.
16:49 But they'll have a form of godliness.
16:51 In other words, this lip service,
16:52 this thing about you are God, you are this, you are that.
16:57 Anybody can say that, anyone can talk that.
16:59 But at the end of the day,
17:00 your behavior tells who you are.
17:02 And this is the question, are we getting better
17:05 or are we getting worse
17:07 since we had so many thought leaders
17:09 all throughout the years that have been promoting
17:11 and teaching lots of concepts and different things.
17:14 But the question is, what has it produced now
17:17 in this time in our earth's history in society?
17:20 Well, the Bible tells us,
17:22 it says in verse 12 of 2 Timothy 3,
17:28 "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus
17:31 shall suffer persecution,
17:32 but evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse,
17:38 deceiving, and being deceived."
17:40 The Bible says things are gonna get worse.
17:42 People are gonna continue to get worse.
17:44 Are we living in that society?
17:45 Do we see these things happening today?
17:47 Absolutely. Absolutely.
17:48 Things are getting worse.
17:50 In other words, it is not enough
17:52 to simply give people lip service.
17:54 It is not enough to just say, "Hey, do this.
17:57 Hey, do that.
17:58 Do this or you need to be this. We need to unify."
18:01 It all sounds great.
18:03 But we are testifying through our behavior
18:06 and through the clear landscape of society
18:08 that I need a power outside of myself
18:13 in order to accomplish
18:14 what we have been admonished to accomplish
18:16 literally for hundreds of years,
18:17 through various thought leaders,
18:19 through various people even today.
18:21 So when I look at hip-hop culture which says,
18:23 "Hey, folks, we need to have love, peace, and unity."
18:27 It sounds great but the problem is, how?
18:30 Where are we gonna get this from?
18:32 And the Bible doesn't show us a point of confusion,
18:35 it shows us a beautiful clear answer.
18:37 It's in Ephesians 4, now watch this.
18:40 In Ephesians 4, somebody says, well, I want to get true unity,
18:43 I want real unity."
18:45 No problem, I want it too
18:46 but I'm thankful, I know where to go.
18:48 And here's what the Bible says,
18:49 it says in Ephesians 4:1,
18:54 "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord,
18:56 beseech you that ye walk worthy
18:58 of the vocation wherewith ye are called
19:00 with all lowliness and meekness,
19:02 with longsuffering,
19:03 forbearing one another in love
19:05 endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit
19:10 in the bond of peace."
19:12 So notice, they are endeavoring to keep unity,
19:16 but it's the unity of the spirit.
19:20 The only way I can have true unity
19:22 is through the spirit of God that dwells in me.
19:26 As I am empowered by God's spirit.
19:28 It's kind of like the Zechariah 4:6 principle,
19:31 "Not by might, nor by power,
19:33 but by God's spirit, saith the Lord."
19:36 It's gonna take more than just simple intellectual knowledge.
19:38 It's gonna take more than simply wherewithal.
19:41 It's gonna take a submission
19:43 to a power source outside of ourselves
19:45 which the Bible is referring to here as God's Holy Spirit.
19:48 And this is how we are enabled to do God's will
19:52 and to have true unity, the same love
19:55 and to be of one accord with brethren.
19:57 So this is something that's very, very clear
19:59 that the Bible is showing.
20:01 Now here's another point.
20:03 If we are to be unified in the spirit,
20:05 that means the spirit is the one that leads us,
20:07 we don't lead the spirit, right?
20:09 Well, then let's think about this, John 16:13.
20:13 In John 16:13 now,
20:17 this is what the Bible says,
20:18 "Howbeit when He, the spirit of truth, is come,"
20:23 "He will guide you into all truth:
20:26 for He shall not speak of Himself,
20:28 but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak:
20:30 and He will show you things to come."
20:32 Notice that in Ephesians 4,
20:35 "We are to endeavor to strive for unity of the spirit."
20:39 Then in John 16, the Bible says,
20:42 the spirit of truth.
20:44 True unity comes from truth, not lies.
20:48 Lies have no place with God, lies does not work with God.
20:53 In fact, remember one time, Jesus said something
20:55 when He was talking to His disciples.
20:57 Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life."
21:01 "No man comes unto the Father but by me."
21:03 So Jesus is not just the embodiment of love,
21:05 He's the embodiment of truth, right?
21:07 Yes. Well, watch this, 1 John 2:21.
21:11 It's kind of like this text
21:12 just keep downloading in my brain.
21:14 So you know, indulge me, please.
21:16 Well, here it is that the Bible says
21:17 in 1 John 2:21, watch this.
21:22 It says, "I have not written unto you
21:23 because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it,
21:26 and that no lie is of the truth."
21:31 So no lie is connected the truth,
21:33 Christ is the truth, so no lie connects to Christ.
21:37 The Bible, "Sanctify them through thy truth:
21:39 thy word is truth."
21:40 So no lie can be connected with scripture.
21:43 If people want to be unified,
21:45 it can only happen under God's spirit
21:49 and it must be according to God's truth.
21:52 If I'm teaching you
21:53 that Christianity is not necessary,
21:55 that Christ is not necessary,
21:58 that the Bible is not necessary,
22:00 then you don't have to look to Jesus,
22:01 you can look to yourself and you can create the unity
22:05 as thought leaders are teaching in hip-hop culture,
22:07 then what is happening
22:08 is whether they've realized it or not,
22:10 they're lying to those precious youth,
22:12 and they are not going to bring those people into unity,
22:15 no matter how hard they try.
22:17 And I mean, essentially, that's where it boils down to.
22:19 You cannot call for something that is divine and holy,
22:23 and then reject the author
22:25 of that which is divine and holy.
22:28 So you have a situation where individuals
22:30 are calling for unity in this case.
22:32 And yet, they at the same time is saying that,
22:36 "Well, there's no man up in the sky."
22:39 You know, that's all false, so that's a lie.
22:41 Well, to call good evil,
22:44 and evil good is exactly would say in there, right?
22:47 That's right.
22:49 And so it's been promulgated through today's society,
22:51 it's a deception.
22:52 And when you do this,
22:54 what is it, what message does it send out?
22:56 Well, I'm God, I can choose whatever I wanna choose.
22:59 So I can from...
23:02 in one hand I can, you know, encourage people to,
23:06 you know, be in good health, and be fit,
23:09 and fight against the diseases that are taken,
23:11 you know, many individuals in hip-hop culture,
23:14 you know, have gone down suffering from diabetes,
23:17 gone down from heart disease, heart attacks,
23:20 and suffering from MS, and all these other things
23:22 that are directly associated with lifestyle in many cases.
23:25 And so there is an undercurrent
23:27 of the hip-hop community that's saying,
23:30 "Well, we need to make some changes.
23:31 We need to, you know, improve our health situation."
23:34 But at the same time, then we're talking about,
23:36 you know, drinking, and smoking,
23:38 and that's part of natural, you know, naturally having fun.
23:41 These are things that come from nature,
23:42 therefore they're good for us to consume.
23:44 So you know, it's an idea on one hand
23:47 that we need to pay attention to certain things
23:48 but the deception and the lie that no,
23:50 we can indulge in these things.
23:52 So again, it's impossible to achieve unity
23:58 without acknowledging the truth.
24:01 And if you reject the truth,
24:02 and when we talked about knowledge,
24:04 the rejection of knowledge in Hosea 4,
24:08 "The rejection of knowledge leads to destruction."
24:11 Right.
24:12 And so when the words go out,
24:14 you know, they stop the violence movement
24:16 and the self destruction,
24:17 you know, you're headed for self destruction.
24:19 Well, you're headed for self destruction
24:21 by rejecting knowledge and rejecting the truth.
24:24 Not necessarily by getting involved in crime,
24:26 and all these things.
24:28 The very lifestyle choices you're making
24:29 and the idea that intellectually
24:30 you're rejecting your creator
24:32 is what's leading to your destruction,
24:34 because you have no power to abstain from the things
24:38 that are destroying yourself and your community.
24:39 That's right.
24:41 And, you know, we have to accept
24:43 the fact that humanity has a limit.
24:45 Human nature has a limit.
24:46 There are powers that be, the one thing I will say
24:49 that I agree with the points that are brought out
24:53 fairly forcefully through hip-hop culture,
24:55 but God brought it out before they did,
24:57 but nevertheless they are echoes of this is,
25:00 there are social injustices.
25:02 It's not that it's fabricated, there are disadvantages,
25:05 there is a lot of the cooking of the books
25:07 in people in the back, and there's money manipulation,
25:10 there are people being used and manipulated,
25:15 and there are things happening in society
25:17 they try to keep certain societies down,
25:19 and things of that nature.
25:20 I can see that, I can go in certain neighborhoods,
25:22 and I don't see a billboard promoting Guinness Stout
25:25 and all these other horrific, you know, substances.
25:28 But I can go to other neighborhoods
25:29 and I can see those things there.
25:30 Why is it? You know, or what have you?
25:33 There's a lot of things that are happening in society
25:36 whether be in the judicial system
25:37 or otherwise that definitely is worthy of reform.
25:41 There's no question about that.
25:42 And what we have to realize
25:44 is that humanity does have a limit.
25:46 There does come a point in time
25:48 where our human nature is gonna be capped off.
25:51 And whatever is naturally in us will come out.
25:54 And this is the reason why we are constantly
25:57 pointing individuals back
25:58 to the power source being Jesus Christ
26:01 and the power of His Holy Spirit
26:02 to enable us to demonstrate the principles of true unity
26:07 even during those times of life
26:09 when the precious of life begin to crush us
26:12 and come upon us as a true and heavy way.
26:15 Friends, I believe that,
26:16 you know, God is trying to make a point to our hearts.
26:20 Point by point, principle by principle,
26:22 and that's why we've been studying these things out
26:25 succinctly, very carefully, looking at true love,
26:28 looking at true peace, studying now true unity.
26:31 And even though we haven't really gotten into the concepts
26:34 that really spell out unity in a practical way.
26:37 We're gonna be doing that in our next episode.
26:39 And I trust that the Lord is gonna bless us.
26:41 And I just hope that you stay tuned,
26:43 continue to study,
26:45 review the verses that we have shared.
26:46 Pray and ask God
26:48 to bring these truths home to your heart
26:50 and watch what the Lord would do for you
26:52 and through you for others.
26:54 Until then we look forward to seeing you at our next time
26:56 when we come together.
26:58 And please, remember the words of Proverbs 2:6 that tells us,
27:01 "It is the Lord that gives us wisdom
27:02 and out of His mouth
27:04 comes knowledge and understanding."
27:06 God bless.


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Revised 2017-06-29