text stringlengths 7 443 |
|---|
[731.22 --> 734.98] You want to step up and follow Jesus at work, but you realize there's this really powerful |
[734.98 --> 735.38] current. |
[735.50 --> 737.54] This culture is like, ah, don't talk about Jesus. |
[737.90 --> 738.92] Don't be doing these things. |
[738.98 --> 739.54] Don't live this way. |
[739.60 --> 740.82] Just go with the flow. |
[740.82 --> 745.30] And whether you're in the classroom or the cubicle or the couch at home about to watch |
[745.30 --> 749.36] TV, the power of the culture around us is great. |
[750.32 --> 753.46] And the earlier you realize that, the better as a follower of Jesus. |
[755.12 --> 756.76] But that's only two of the powers. |
[756.84 --> 757.98] Now we get to the third power. |
[758.08 --> 761.58] This is the one that North Americans do not like to talk about. |
[761.68 --> 762.52] It makes us awkward. |
[762.74 --> 764.60] It's like taking the train to crazy town. |
[765.62 --> 765.96] Satan. |
[766.86 --> 767.18] Right? |
[768.26 --> 769.46] Let's talk about this. |
[769.46 --> 773.32] Ephesians 2, it says, as for you, you were dead in your sins and transgressions in which |
[773.32 --> 774.06] you used to live. |
[774.26 --> 776.76] When you followed the ways of the world, what does he say next? |
[777.46 --> 780.94] And the ruler of the kingdom of the air. |
[782.48 --> 784.34] That is Satan. |
[785.42 --> 790.04] What Paul is trying to say is that there is a spiritual being who is opposed to God, who |
[790.04 --> 794.32] has influence and control in this world, the power to influence our lives, our cultures. |
[794.32 --> 801.02] He rules over demonic forces that also operate and influence us, and it's destructive in this |
[801.02 --> 801.40] world. |
[802.44 --> 804.72] In Matthew, Satan is called the prince of demons. |
[805.66 --> 809.04] In Corinthians, he's called the god, lower G, of this world. |
[809.76 --> 813.54] Jesus himself in John 12 says that he is the ruler of this world. |
[813.70 --> 816.90] In John 8, he calls Satan the father of lies. |
[816.90 --> 820.00] And in 2 John, he is the great deceiver. |
[820.00 --> 828.96] And maybe it's just worth saying, just because it's strange to our modern ears does not make |
[828.96 --> 829.70] this untrue. |
[830.74 --> 833.70] In fact, I felt like I got rebuked by a few people between the services. |
[833.84 --> 837.44] After the 9 a.m. service, I had a woman from Uganda, I had someone from the Philippines, |
[837.78 --> 841.94] someone from Malaysia, and on speaking on behalf of a friend, all say to me, why do Christians |
[841.94 --> 843.94] in North America not talk about Satan? |
[844.50 --> 846.26] I was like, well, it's awkward. |
[846.26 --> 848.10] We don't know what to do with things we can't see. |
[848.22 --> 850.12] We live in a modern society. |
[850.90 --> 854.18] And they were delighted that we're going to be talking about Satan for the next two weeks. |
[854.58 --> 859.24] But I will say to those of us who grew up in Canada, and maybe if you're struggling with |
[859.24 --> 862.50] your faith, you want to make sense of what Christianity is all about, can you just bear |
[862.50 --> 863.08] with us? |
[864.34 --> 868.22] We enter into the wrestling with us, because there's some really important stuff here that |
[868.22 --> 871.84] we don't want to overlook, and it's in the scriptures, and we need to grapple with |
[871.84 --> 872.04] it. |
[872.62 --> 875.88] And maybe I'll just say a bit of my own experience. |
[876.26 --> 877.84] I'm grappling with some of this stuff. |
[878.22 --> 883.16] A number of years ago, when I was still a youth pastor, we went every once a month to |
[883.16 --> 884.24] Night Shift Street Ministries. |
[884.36 --> 885.76] Do you know where Night Shift is? |
[886.08 --> 888.04] Down by King George, an amazing ministry. |
[888.70 --> 892.58] We'd go there once a month, and we always overlapped with a group of Trinity Western students. |
[892.78 --> 894.76] Shout out to our TWU students who were here this morning. |
[895.66 --> 900.10] And there was one particular student named Brittany, who was there every week, loved the law. |
[900.10 --> 904.04] I mean, she was such a generous, thoughtful, kind, compassionate woman. |
[904.04 --> 908.54] And she would journal her encounters and her conversations and send those out to those |
[908.54 --> 909.22] of us who were serving. |
[909.28 --> 913.30] And I want to read for you one of her journal entries that just really got me thinking and |
[913.30 --> 914.94] wrestling, and I wanted you to hear what she wrote. |
[915.60 --> 916.62] This is what she says. |
[916.62 --> 920.30] After walking down the street, I approached a lady. |
[921.06 --> 925.26] She mentioned that she had done coke 10 minutes before I had got there, and we were witnessing |
[925.26 --> 926.26] the effects of it. |
[927.10 --> 930.20] She was throwing cookies we gave her in the air and trying to kick them. |
[930.92 --> 932.56] I could barely understand her. |
[933.38 --> 937.52] She explained that she had been in recovery for 12 months, but had just relapsed a couple |
[937.52 --> 940.74] weeks ago and spent $1,200 on drugs in two hours. |
[940.74 --> 946.04] She tried to convince herself that she was fine, but then her face shifted to a helpless |
[946.04 --> 946.62] cry. |
[947.66 --> 949.58] She wrapped her arms around me and wept. |
[950.68 --> 953.86] Through the tears, she said, it's bad. |
[954.54 --> 958.00] I feel like I'm in chains and the devil likes it. |
[958.72 --> 959.96] It's like his playground. |
[960.58 --> 962.58] It's the devil's playground out here. |
[963.42 --> 964.52] My friends are dying. |
[965.34 --> 966.60] I'm going to die. |
[966.86 --> 970.48] I feel like I'm being pulled so hard in two directions. |
[971.40 --> 972.12] It's scary. |
[972.80 --> 977.20] The devil has me, and I don't know how to get out. |
[979.44 --> 982.26] What would you say to her in that conversation? |
[984.22 --> 988.66] And maybe in your mind, you're doing what many Canadians would be tempted to do, writing |
[988.66 --> 993.20] these words off as sort of the scattered thoughts of a person who's high on drugs, and that would |
[993.20 --> 994.70] be an easy thing to do. |
[994.70 --> 1004.06] But maybe, as Brittany suggests, these are the piercing words of someone who knows and |
[1004.06 --> 1008.46] experiences the profound temptation of the evil one. |
[1008.46 --> 1013.96] That there is a devil who is opposed to the way of God and his interest in the world, whether |
[1013.96 --> 1019.18] you acknowledge it or not, is to push us as far away from the light of Jesus Christ as |
[1019.18 --> 1019.60] possible. |
[1020.04 --> 1024.82] To pull us into darkness and despair as deeply as possible. |
[1024.82 --> 1027.06] And to destroy our lives. |
[1028.50 --> 1033.76] And again, just because it's strange to talk about this does not make it untrue. |
[1035.02 --> 1039.40] Maybe it's worth quoting Kaiser Sose from the movie The Usual Suspects. |
[1039.78 --> 1041.02] Some of you know what I'm going to say. |
[1042.16 --> 1047.22] He says, the greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world he didn't exist. |
[1047.22 --> 1052.12] And if you want to read more about this, there is a book by C.S. Lewis, a fairly famous book |
[1052.12 --> 1053.12] called The Screwtape Letters. |
[1053.44 --> 1059.18] And I commend it to you because he very creatively and punchy ways opens up how might Satan operate |
[1059.18 --> 1060.76] in a culture that doesn't believe he exists. |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.