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Dr. Jim Garlow is a lifelong pastor who most recently served in San Diego, California, and now leads Well Versed, a ministry dedicated to bringing biblical
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Biblical Preaching vs. Cultural Silence 0:11 Well, I welcome you to chapter 8, chapter 8 of the book, reversed from culturally woke to biblically awake. Now we're on a topic today I feel so intense0:22 about. It's called woke churches. I know that sounds like an oxymoron. How could a church be woke? You're correct. It can't be. If if0:34 it's woke, it's not truly a church. So we have to make a distinction between what we call a church and what is the true ekklesia. The issue is, whether or0:46 not a church is willing to be fully engaged in all of the scripture. What do I mean by that? I had a guy say to me, Jim, I'm not political0:58 like you. I said to him, my issue with you is not that you're not political. My issue with you is that you're not biblical. I said, let me1:10 explain what I mean. If if I were a slave in 18 50 in America, would I want my slave owner to go to your church1:22 or to to to Jim's church, my church? The answer is my church. Because I would speak out on the evil of racism as manifested in slavery because slavery is not right.1:34 Or if I were the baby in a womb of a 14 year old girl, scared little girl, who lived close to planned parenthood. As that embryo, as that baby within that girl, would1:46 I want that little girl to go to your church? I said to him. Or to Jim's church? Answer is Jim's church. Why? Because I would speak out on the issue of abortion and I1:58 would do everything I possibly could to save that baby. I'm ordained in a denomination called the Wesleyan denomination. It was founded in 18 43. Named after John Wesley of England, who'd actually2:10 founded what was the movement called Methodism. The Wesleyan denomination was founded when the Methodist church decided in its 18 36 general conference that we weren't allowed2:22 people were not allowed to speak out on the issue of slavery any longer. Why? It was too divisive. They wanna divide people 1 from another. And so the slavery issue, it came up south versus north.2:33 And as a result, they said, let's not discuss it anymore. And a group of Methodist pastors said, we will not be silenced. We will most assuredly discuss it because slavery is wrong. It is2:45 evil. And so they were thrown out or they walked out of the Methodist denomination, and they founded in 18 43 what they then called the Wesleyan Methodist Connection of America, now known as the2:57 Wesleyan Church. What was the issue of the day? Slavery. And the new Wesleyan denomination said we will stand against it. In fact, some of our earliest pastors were actually tarred and feathered in3:09 the South. And in fact, 1 of our laymen named Micaiah McPherson, he was literally hung. He was an abolitionist. He was against slavery. He was literally hung. Now they they they3:21 cut him down a little bit too early, and he managed to survive, barely survive that horrible experience. In fact, there was a statement, a phrase that was used in 1 particular South Carolina county3:32 at the time. We need this rope to hang another Wesleyan. There's what's called Freedom's Chapel. It's been preserved. It had bullet holes in the side of it. It was a Wesleyan church abolitionist3:45 for freeing the slaves in South Carolina. The the door of the church in Leado, Indiana been preserved. Bullet holes in it. It was a radical abolitionist church, a Wesleyan church,3:57 standing for freeing the slaves. In fact, our earliest churches were a day's journey apart, a part of the Underground Railroad smuggling the slaves out of the South into the4:09 North. So I asked my friend who said to me, said, Jim, you're too political. I said, Let me ask you, are those Westlings, early Westlings, were they political or were they4:21 biblical? The answer is they were biblical. We have confused, we don't even know for sure what biblical preaching is even about anymore. I say this with deep conviction4:33 because I've pastored for 4 and a half decades, and I felt strongly about the application of scripture to every aspect of life. Not just personal life, not just4:44 family life, not just congregational life, but God is so good, he provided in the word of God the biblical principles for civil governance and how a nation is4:56 supposed to function. And how are people supposed to know how to vote? How are legislators supposed to know how to legislate unless they hear from the pulpit what the word of5:08 God has to say, the biblical principles of governance, how a nation is supposed to function. Sometimes I've had someone say to me, well, Jim, we're not like you. You're you're into5:20 politics. We just preach Jesus. I said, let me just be very clear. I don't just preach Jesus, I preach what Jesus preached. What did he preach? He preached the5:32 kingdom. What does a kingdom have? A king. What does a king over? Answer everything. In fact, some people, I think, under the5:43 Great Commission in their Bible reads like this. Go into all the world except government. Go into all the world except politics. Don't have anything to do with politics.5:56 Politics is dirty. Well, the reason it's dirty is because all the clean people stay out of it way too long. My encouragement is for every 1 of us to understand that God loves us so much,6:08 He provided a book for us. And that book is the Bible. And He is so caring, so loving, He's so knowledgeable that he lays out how governance, biblical government,6:20 is supposed to function. God didn't write the Bible and then go, oh, man. I forgot about that whole government issue. I sure wish I would have remembered that. Now let's take a look at what it's6:32 like in present American Christianity. There are roughly 320000 Protestant churches. There's another 20000 Catholic churches, but I don't have the stats on that. So let's6:44 just talk about specifically 320000 approximately Protestant churches in America. Of those approximately we don't know the exact number now because COVID has impacted some and closed6:56 some doors, unfortunately. And new churches are also being formed. Of the 320000 churches in America, what percentage of those are not preaching the word of God? They wouldStats on Silent Churches & Historical Boldness 7:08 be called liberal or left wing churches. The answer is probably around 72 percent. These figures come from George Barna's early studies. Now that means there's about 28 percent7:20 that are actually following scripture and actually preach the Word of God. How many is that? Well, approximately 100000. So that looks like good news. At least there's 100000 potentially.7:32 But you ask ask yourself the question, how many of those churches or those pastors have distinctly biblical worldviews? In other words, they apply scripture to every aspect7:44 of life, including the governmental. The number of that is not known for sure. We do know that 63 percent of pastors7:56 in America, according to George Barna, do not have a biblical worldview. That means 37 percent or so actually do. That would be a little over a8:08 3rd of American pastors actually have a biblical worldview. That's why you have to be careful what church you attend. Let me be blunt. Just cut in here. If you're going8:20 to a church where the pastor does not preach the Word of God, he does not preach the whole counsel of God, he's not willing to stand for the truth of God,8:32 you need to consider going to another church. Here's some statistics that alarm you even more. 90 percent of pastors agree that the Bible speaks to the social,8:44 cultural, political issues of the day. But when asked in the survey, will you speak out on what the Bible says about those cultural, social, political issues? 908:56 percent I'm rounding it off here. 90 percent said, no, we will not. Let that soak in for a 2nd. 90 percent of pastors agreed that the Bible speaks to the9:07 social cultural issues of the day, but when asked, will you speak out on them? They said, no, we will not. 1 of my good friends is David Barton. David Barton is America's historian. David9:19 Barton has the largest personally owned collection of writings of our founding fathers before the year 18 12. Probably 160, maybe9:30 180000 documents he has in his library there in Texas. I was with him 1 occasion and I said, what did the preach because he has the actual, scripts of the actual preaching, the9:42 transcripts of what preachers preached about in that era. I said, what did the preachers preach about back in that time? His answer to me was everything. What do I mean by9:53 everything? Every issue that came before the people. The preacher preached from the word of God. What does it have to say about that? There was a controversy over building10:05 canals in the east east coast. Canals. So they had a theology of canal building. There was a controversy over the issue of of railroads. They had a theology of railroads. You say, well, isn't that pressing it a bit? No.10:16 If the word of God lays out some fundamental principles, praise God, they had the courage to speak out on those particular issues. Now we go to churches where pastors are afraid to say the a10:28 word, abortion. They're afraid to say the h word, homosexuality. They're afraid to say the transgender word, t word, transgenderism. They're afraid to say the m10:40 word, even. In some particular cases, They won't even mention the actual definition of marriage and refer to it. If you win people to Christ by the proclamation of a message that I'm10:51 gonna call Christian lite, then guess what you produce? You produced a little bit of Christianese, but not a fully devoted, serious follower11:04 of Jesus Christ. Let me tell you 1 of the tests for any church, and this is not always pleasant to do, but it's important to do. 1 of the tests for any church is to ask the11:15 pastor to what extent does he preach on the cultural, biblical, social issues of the day? To what extent does he look at the news of that day and give11:27 people guidance from the word of God? God is so good. The whole thesis of my book reversed. God is so good. He cares so much about community life, governmental life, that he11:39 actually included in the scriptures the principles and the insights and the life stories that help us understand how to respond to every situation we're facing today. Ask a pastor, is he willing to11:51 preach on the word abortion? He doesn't have to focus or obsess on it, but he needs to call people to truth and accountability in that. Does he speak on the issue of homosexuality and transgenderism? YouTest Your Church & When to Leave 12:02 may say, Jim, why do you keep going back to that? Because those are the areas of compromise. Will he outline the biblical understanding of marriage? Is he uncompromising on those areas? Heard about a pastor12:15 who said and this gets bizarre. A prominent, well known pastor who said we should have what he called pronoun hospitality. What's that? That means if a man12:26 needs wants to he says my pronouns are she and her, then you go along with that. If somebody says my pronouns are them, then you go along with that. That's not pronoun12:38 hospitality. That's stupidity. Or worse, that is sin. Find a pastor that's willing to stand. Now what do you do if you're in a church, you've been in a church for a while, you love your12:50 congregation, you love the people, you love your pastor, but he's a compromiser. What do you do? You 1st of all, you talk to him or her. You talk to them and walk through the issues.13:02 Now if you don't make any progress, then you pray and fast. Without entering into gossip, pull in about 3 or 4 other people to pray and fast with with13:14 you for the pastor. Frankly, for the pastor to repent, to come to his senses and to come to his awareness. If after going through that process and take your time, don't have a critical spirit,13:26 don't become angry, don't become belligerent, but be firm and be loving and say, this is what the word of God teaches. Will you teach on this? Is there any reason why you would not?13:38 Now if your pastor is not preaching on those issues, I wanna assure you, he's not preaching on them on purpose. And then if, as a last resort, leave that congregation. I13:50 really don't like telling people to do that. I'm not a fan of that. I'm not a fan of church hopping at all. I think it's very harmful in America, the amount of church hopping. I hear people say, well, I go to 3 churches.13:59 Really? You're tied to all 3, so 10 percent 10 percent term you get 30 percent of your income? That's a nice way of saying I don't belong to anything. I go what I want to. And I don't believe it's advisable for people to14:10 stay at home and watch online. That is not incarnational flesh to flesh ministry. You can't represent Jesus to people when you're staying at home in your pajamas watching on a screen in your kitchen. So14:22 being a part of a fellowship, being supportive of the pastor, being an encouragement to the pastor. Pastoring is hard enough as it is. I don't wanna add more problems to a pastor. I pastored forever. I care deeply about14:34 the pastors of America. But the pastors of America must stand. Do not support a pastor who will not stand on the social, cultural, political issues of the day. Why? Because14:46 the word of God stands. Go through this book and look at every 1 of the topics of the day. See the scriptural principles involved. Maybe give this book to your pastor. Ask him if he would consider reading it.14:58 Pray for him. Fast for him. Do whatever he can to encourage him in the right direction in a nice, appropriate way. And then, quite frankly, at the end of that, if he or she15:10 will not conform to God's word, then for the sake of your soul, you need to find another church. It pains me to say that because I don't like saying that. I15:21 don't like people leaving a church fellowship and going off for another. But the fact is if the truth is not being taught, the full truth is not being taught, I have a15:33 question whether or not that's true the true ekklesia or not. And for the sake of your soul, for the sake of your family, you need to find a church that speaks the15:45 whole counsel of God. We're trying to go from being culturally woke to biblically awake.Prayer for Awake Churches 15:53 Let us pray for our churches. Father, may they preach the word of God without apology and devote themselves to your life living in16:05 you with prayer and your word. That our churches will truly worship god in spirit and in truth, and our leaders will serve humbly16:17 as godly examples to all. We pray that the church will labor and strive to present everyone mature in Christ and that more workers would be raised at more laborers to16:29 the harvest to serve you in your kingdom. We pray that our leaders equip the saints for the work of the ministry, that the church does not lose its 1st love, and that we will trust you, Lord16:41 Jesus, to build your church here on earth. In Jesus' name, amen.16:48 We hope you enjoyed the video. Thank you so much for watching. Hey, don't forget to check out this discussion questions that are attached. Have a fun time studying, and we will see you in the next chapter.In this video 0:00 Biblical Preaching vs. Cultural Silence7:00 Stats on Silent Churches & Historical Boldness12:00 Test Your Church & When to Leave15:48 Prayer for Awake Churches
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