Christian Pastors Debate Bad Bunny Half Time Show!? | Live Free with Josh Howerton

This right here is what keeps more people from sharing Christ with anybody than anything else. If somebody feels like it's their responsibility to do everything, they're not going to do anything. Assimilation and celebration of your cultural heritage are not mutually exclusive. You can confuse proximity to the Father with intimacy with the Father. My highest allegiance and identity is not the country I was born in. It is the person whom I was born again through. Well, hey, welcome back to another episode of the Live Free Podcast. My name is Carlos Aras, and I'm here with Pastor Josh Houghton and Paul Cunningham I'm coming to you from Lake Point Church in Dallas, Texas. Yeah, we are. Yes, we are. And today we're going to have a great episode. I'm excited. We're going to be talking about, does the Bible teach predestination? We're going to be addressing some common objections to that. We're going to be getting practical on how to lead people to Christ. Practical, practical. And we're going to get a little spicy. We're going to be reacting to the reactions of the Bad Bunny versus Kid Rock Super Bowl performances. What is going on right now? Did you not watch VeggieTales as a kid? I did not, but my son does today. What is that? It's the Bunny song. Oh. Bunny song. Maybe my son would know what that is. It'll be fun, man. It'll be fun. I liked it. I liked it. It's going to get, it's going to get, we're going to talk about Bunny. Yes. Which I hear Pastor Paul Cunningham is a big fan. Of course he is. He's from the Pacific Northwest. Wow. God's fired already. A few minutes left. His Scottish roots are really bad. His Scottish half-hour is definitely bad. He represents my people. Hey, Carlos, we broke a live-free record this week. Come on. Listen, toss that up there. Toss that up there. We got it. Boom. Wait, no, the other one. The other one. There we go. Number two, bro. Number two. Come on. Yeah, so this is number two on iTunes, Religion and Spirituality. We love, Terri Lee Cobble is a friend of the pod. That's right. We finally got her. Let's go. We fought for like four hours. Two seconds. Don't know if I'll ever be able to overcome Father Mike's good lookingness. Dude, his good looks. But we're going to try. We're going to try. I feel like Seinfeld. Newman. Father Mike. We can't get him. We love Father Mike. Hey, if you are listening to this and you're part of the Live Free Nation and you ever come visit us in person to any of our physical locations, We have a gift for you. Just come say hi. Come find us at our first-time guest tent and let us know that you're coming from the Live Free Podcast. And we want to give you a gift. We want to give you a free hat. We had James and Patience fly in from Georgia this last weekend. Shout out. Thank you for visiting, guys. I got to pray with them. That was awesome. I love it. That was awesome. We hear some other pastors are actually listening to the Live Free Podcast. Okay, so I'll redact names to protect the guilty. But I hung out with a bunch of pastors this week. So a bunch of pastors flew in here. I hosted a bunch of guys, and then I flew and hung out. So, dude, here's what I'm realizing is these guys were explaining to me that the pod is helping them. So, like, really quick, let me explain. If you're a pastor that's listening, let me help you understand how you can use this to help you. This is what these guys were explaining to me. because we kind of step into some things on the pod that can be a little difficult to talk about, but guys realize they need to disciple their churches into it. So what they were explaining is they were like, man, tons of people in our church are listening to you guys' stuff. And it's like in the military when somebody lays down suppressive fire, where it's like they'll lay down suppressive fire so the enemy's got to duck, and then the troops on their side can advance under the suppressive fire. These guys were explaining that like, hey, man, you guys are giving us the ability to step forward into things because so many of our people are listening. That you guys are discipling them in some things that might be a little difficult for me to do in the pulpit at first. I don't know how to talk about it. They'll hear it from you, and then it's giving me the ability to advance. So, man, shout out. One way that you may be able to use this thing is point people to the pod, and then they start listening. You start getting unity in your church on some of these things, and then if they ever get mad at us, you can be like, oh, those idiots. I don't agree with everything. That's amazing. There you go, man. I love it. Well, hey, every single week we have a hat giveaway as well. So if you're on YouTube or Spotify, you can comment hat to participate in this week's giveaway. Last week's winner was David Helton on YouTube, I believe. This is what he had to say because we asked people, Pastor Josh, if people preferred Whataburger or In-N-Out. And David Helton said, Whataburger is for sure better than In-N-Out. However, he said the Rockwell Whataburger isn't always the best location. How dare he? So I have an apology to make and a gift to give. All right. Oh, did you bring me a hamburger with cheese and ketchup? No. So my social media was bombarded this week with people saying we've done you wrong. And listen, last week you covered with Allie Best really well, by the way, that there is toxic empathy, but there's also good empathy. Oh, wow. As I had many people sending in messages like, we ambushed you and we set you up. I did begin to put myself in your shoes where if I was given the burger that I really loved more, but it was stripped of everything good and didn't have anything good on it, I would have not felt great about that. And so I've brought you two things. First, I brought you the slice of cheese that Whataburger forgot to put on. He had that thing ready. That's a crap cheese square. That's literally cheese product. It is. Okay, listen. Whataburger didn't actually give it to me. The point of this is that they left this off in our defense a little bit, which, by the way, I hear is a pretty typical Whataburger experience. Stop. I verified that. You didn't get their best burger, but you did get the best burger. I verified that. But, hey, really to say we're sorry for feeling like we set you up, I gave you a Whataburger gift card. Oh, man. You can use it to get whatever burger you most love. There you go. I'm using this today. So that's my way of saying sorry that it looks like we set you up bad. probably not using on that jana you're welcome uh hey one more thing if you are like man i have not won yet we actually have an online store for our live free hat as well go to livefree.shop or text hat to 20411 and to find our daily bible reading plan plus the weekly sermon plus an early release of the weekly live free podcast on sundays plus our discipleship guide that you can use with If you're a life group, you can download the Lake Point Church app, text the word app to 20411 or go to Apple and Google Play Store. Pastor Josh, how are you, man? I'm very good. How do you feel about your wild bird? Listen, I'm excited to talk about Bad Bunny's Super Bowl reaction. I'm excited. I'm excited, especially, you know, your perspective, El Salvadorian, some of the reactions I didn't think were great. Bad Bunny's my cousin. I'm kidding. That's not true. That's not true. Amazing. But before. You racist. We'll go there quick today. We'll talk about it. You can come around. We'll talk about it. Hey, let's talk Luke chapter 15. Pastor Mike preached. Crushed. Crushed, man. So we finished the boot camp series with a disciple goes after one more like Jesus. So here's what we did. And let me cover the passage real quick and then deep dive a couple things. There's one thing in here that's especially legit. So Luke chapter 15, and I want to read it because a lot of people do not understand the context of Luke chapter 15. So a lot of people know, hey man, parable of the prodigal son. We know that. But a lot of people don't know the context Jesus is speaking into. It's very, very significant that Luke chapter 15 begins with this verse. This sets up literally everything in Luke 15. If you don't understand this, you don't understand Luke 15. So it begins 15 verse 1. Now, the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to him, and the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, this man receives sinners and eats with them. Then the very next verse says, so he told them this parable. Now, that's really important. I do just want to point this out. It's very interesting that throughout the Gospels, you will constantly see people who are demon-possessed. As soon as they see Jesus, they run up to him and they're like, son of man, have mercy on it. I do just want to point this out, man. It's a warning for church people. In the Bible, the people with thousands of demons recognize Jesus, but the people who know thousands of Bible verses don't. That is a warning to all of us because you've got Pharisees right here who had memorized the Pentateuch, knew their Bible forward and backwards, and they don't recognize Jesus. Warning. Now, what Jesus does is he, in Luke 15, he tells a succession of three rapid-fire parables. Interesting, a lot of people miss this. And notice they are escalating in their losses. So first he tells the one about the lost sheep. The shepherd leaves the 99 to save the one. So one out of 99. Then he tells the story of the widow, no, of the wife, the woman, who loses one coin. One out of ten. So one out of ten. And then he tells the parable of the lost son, lost sheep, lost coin, lost son. And so think about this, one out of 99 sheep, one out of 10 coins, one out of two sons. So what he's doing is there's a level of escalating losses to increase the urgency. So just let me do one quick thing on each of these that like most Christians will miss on this thing. First of all, evangelistically, we're going to circle back to this here in a second because I want to get like super practical. Almost every Christian has lost people in their life that they want to know Jesus. They just don't know how. So we're going to get like super practical couple tips on this thing. But I do want to point this out. So like my friend Sean Sears pointed this out to me. So you get the lost sheep. Think about this. The sheep is lost through negligence. This is really important. So the shepherd didn't do his job. Sheep's lost through negligence. Then you got a lost coin. The coin is lost through no fault of its own. Somebody didn't do – they lost it. Then you've got a lost son. He's lost because of willful rebellion. Dude, this is really important, man. People are the exact same way. Some people are lost because of negligence, man. Some people, they had a bad parent or they had a bad pastor. They didn't do their job. Lost because of negligence. Some people, it's not even their fault in one sense. You know what I'm saying, what I'm not saying. And in one sense, it's like, man, it's partly actually somebody else's fault. A Christian hurt you. Somebody with the Jesus name tag on did something from Team Satan. Lost partly because of somebody else's fault. And then some people are lost because of willful rebellion. Here's the big idea. Jesus is saying, hey, man, it doesn't matter why you're lost. I just want you found. Okay, that's huge. Now, a couple things people miss on this. Number one, people do not understand just how intertwined the Old Testament is with the New Testament. So when Jesus tells the parable of the shepherd that goes after the one lost sheep, first of all, that's where at Lake Point we get our one more language. So I'll just say this over and over. Like, dude, people look at a church like Lake Point and they're like, oh, these people, they're just all about the numbers and reaching thousands of people and da, da, da, da. You guys know this because you're in the meetings. We have literally never set a growth goal since I've been at Lake Point. Like literally never even once. We're not about reaching tens of thousands of people. Here's what we are about. We're about every disciple of Jesus Christ being used to reach one more. Real quick, when I get that objection sometimes interacting with people, and I get, yeah, it can feel like sometimes it is just so impersonal. But to your point, we don't make it that when we're talking about it. So we're not getting these conversations with someone like, hey, well, hey, let's make a deal. If you'll write down the name of one person who you don't want to see come to know Jesus, we'll stop talking about it. There you go. That's right. That's right. That's right. You're talking about making it personal. It's like saying, hey, great. If you will let us know the name of someone you're great with spending and turning apart from God. We'll stop trying to reach him. We'll start trying to reach him. We'll stop trying to reach him. And then usually that shuts the conversation pretty quickly. So it's like, no. Because the idea of reaching one more person who is a real person with a real name. That's right. So a couple things on this. One, when he tells, a lot of people know, when Jesus tells the parable of the lost sheep, he's actually calling back to a very specific Old Testament passage. And he's essentially what he's doing is he's saying this is actually a claim to Jesus being God, but it's veiled. So Ezekiel 34 says this six or 800 years before Jesus. God says, therefore, you shepherds hear the word of the Lord. As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because my flock lacks a shepherd and so has been plundered and become food for all the wild animals. And because my shepherds did not search for my flock, but cared for themselves rather than my flock. Therefore, you shepherds hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says. I am against the shepherds and I will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths and it will no longer be food for them. Now watch, check this out. For this is what the sovereign Lord says. I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. Then fast forward and Jesus is saying, do you know what I'm like? I'm like a shepherd where the 99 were good, but one was lost. And he's saying, I'm the fulfillment to the Ezekiel 34 prophecy. Someday there's going to come a shepherd who will chase after the one that was lost. He's going, I'm him. I'm him. Okay, so you got that. That's awesome. Then you got the parable of the lost coin. Okay, you got a woman who loses. You got 10 coins. She loses one. Now, this is just a little Bible nerd thing. It's kind of interesting. I ran across this this week in study. Can we go ahead and toss that up, Trinity? So what you got right here is a lot of people are like, hey, man, why was the – why is she freaking out over one lost drachma? Because the drachma really – how much – wasn't that – About a day's wage. Yeah, it's like – It's a shame, but it's not like you're not going to obsess over finding it after a while. That's right. So what a lot of Bible commentators say, especially Jewish Bible commentators, is so in this culture, traditional Jewish culture, what they would do is when a woman got married, obviously she would bring a dowry into the marriage. So that's like if you don't know that that's like where her the family she came from would invest sometimes money, sometimes land into her. And then she would bring that into the marriage. So this is actually cool. Why? Why 10 coins? Why 10 coins? Well, in traditional Jewish culture, she may have been wearing something like this. This is a drachma dowry headdress. And guess what it would have on it? Ten coins. Ten drachmas. Ten coins. That's what that is right there. And so a lot of people are like, man, the reason Jesus tells the parable where she's freaking out, I've got to find a coin, I've got to find a coin, is it's part of her wedding dowry headdress. And she lost one, and she's like, I've got to go find it. So I just – I find that interesting. Wow, interesting. Now, this is my favorite one. There's so much, dude, in the parable of the prodigal son. There's a lot. There's a whole lot. You guys cover what I miss, and then we'll move on, and we'll talk about Calvinism. It's going to be great. So everybody knows the story. The recap is dude comes to his dad, and he's like, hey, dad, can I have my inheritance? Which, by the way, in Jewish culture, that would have essentially him being like, dad, I kind of wish you were dead already. So the loving father essentially goes, you know what? Yep, you can. And he goes away into a lost, far country. And he's there. And he ends up in the pig slop. Obviously, all of us know pigs, ceremonial unclean Jewish people don't have anything to do with pigs. He ends up in the pig slop. There's a verse in there nobody ever pays attention to, by the way. It says nobody would do anything for him. I'm just going to pause and say that. Nobody ever, nobody ever pays attention to that verse. It says nobody would do anything for him. Heads up. there's a lot of people who are lost simply because no Christians will do anything for him. Oh, bro. So it says that. All right. So then he comes back. And I love it. I don't know why, man, I get emotional what he's talking about. He comes back, and if you read the thing, I think I get emotional because every Christian who's ever been saved, when you read that passage, you remember when that was you. So he's come back, and if you read it, he's like rehearsing his little I'm sorry speech. He's like, damn, I'm sorry. I send against you and the family, and I'm no longer worthy to be your son. Can I just be a servant or a slave in your house? And he's rehearsing the whole thing. And then, you know, he gets to that spot in the parable where he crests like the top of the hill coming down to his little family farm. And as soon as he crests the top of it, you know, what he sees is that his dad is sitting there on the porch. Yeah, I'm just going to contextualize it. sitting on his little rocking chair that he pulled out from the kitchen years ago when his son left. And every single day what the dad was doing is he would go out and he'd sit on that rocking chair and look towards the horizon just waiting, waiting for the day that his lost son would come home. And then if you remember it, as soon as the dad sees him, and this is the part that I don't think people understand why did Jesus tell the parable this way. As soon as the dad sees it, you know, he's just overcome with emotion and he starts running. And you probably heard this in sermons before. In Jewish cultures, like dignified men, they didn't run. Like it kind of be like if one of my kids was like, dad, could you put on my princess dress and go to Walmart with me? I'd be like, nope, sure can't because I'm a dude. We'll talk about that later, bad bunny. no sure can't because dignified men don't do that in our culture you know and the dad what he what he would have had to do is he would have had to like take his little toga little robe and he would have to pull it up like a little like literally like a jewish toddler would do when they were going out to play and he would have had to tie it up above his like up on his thighs and i was just like heads up like grown grown men don't like to show off their thighs i'm just gonna i sure don't So and then he just starts running towards his son. And, dude, if you read it, it's so great because the son thinks the dad is running at him for one reason. I'm going to talk about this in a second a lot of people don't know. He thinks the dad is running at him for one reason. And the dad, so he goes into his I'm sorry speech. Hey, dad, I'm so sorry. I sinned against you and the family, and I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. And the dad interrupts him and doesn't even let him finish the I'm sorry speech. And he gives this big old hug, and he puts a robe on him and puts a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. That's really important. I'm coming back to that in a second. And he says, kill the fattened calf. Now, a lot of people don't know a Jewish dude that heard this parable would have gone – like there's a layer we don't know. So in traditional Jewish cultures, they had something. It was called a kezazah ceremony. There's a Bible scholar I ran across this week who was talking about this. In a Kezazah ceremony, what a Jewish family or village would do is if somebody left their home and disrespected the family, especially if they became a traitor to the Jewish people, and then they tried to return, then the Jewish villagers, they would enact this Kezazah ceremony. And what they do is in front of the guy that betrayed the family, they would bring a big clay pot. And in front – they were a very visual culture. And they would break the pottery in front of the individual person. And it was a symbol that they were saying essentially like we are breaking fellowship with – you are not welcome here. You have broken respect and fellowship with the community. We are breaking respect and fellowship with you. And it was a way of them casting them out of acceptance in society there. Now, here's the big idea. Check this out. Guess where the Kezazah ceremony would happen? On the outskirts of the village. Wow. All right. Now, check this out. If you're asking the question, man, so why does the dad get up and start running at his son as soon as his son reaches the outskirts of the village? The verse actually says this It says while he was still a long way off His father saw him and was filled with compassion for him And he ran, some translations say raced To his son Threw his arms around him and kissed him Well who's he racing? He's trying to get there Before the people from the village start this Kezazah ceremony To cast him out And he's going, and listen, remember what I said at the very beginning of this. Jesus, all these Pharisees see Jesus hanging out with, watch this, traitors to the kingdom of God. And the Pharisees are like, cast them out, Jesus. Don't have anything to do with these jokers. You get, show them, Jesus. Show them. Judgment, hellfire, brimstone. And Jesus is saying, you hypocrites, you Pharisees. He's like, you people, you're trying to cast these people out of our kingdom. And what he's doing is he's like, I'm the father who's going to beat you to the punch. And all the people that you're trying to condemn, I'm going to run to and I'm going to embrace before you get a chance to cast them out. And the father's preempting the condemnation ceremony so he can enact, watch this, a salvation and acceptance ceremony. And then he does this thing. I'll say this and I'm done. And he throws. This is so significant, dude. Just theologically significant. So he puts a robe on him, right? This sinful son, shamed, puts a robe on him. All right, now fast forward to the book of Revelation. And when all the sons of the kingdom of God are accepted into the kingdom, what's it say? They're covered in white robes. The father's wrapped him in a robe of his righteousness. Then he puts a ring on his finger. And a ring would have been like a symbol of the family authority, right? Now fast forward to the book of Revelation. Guess what we're going to do? we will reign with him. So he's still got all the family authority. Then he puts, it says he puts sandals on his feet. This is actually kind of significant. In this culture, Jewish culture, sons would always be gifted sandals. Slaves wouldn't. Wow. So he's going, hey man, you're a son of the house. You ain't no slave in this house. For we have not been given a spirit of fear to fall back again into slavery, but we have been given a spirit of sonship by which we cry, Abba, Father. And then he goes, kill the fattened calf. Oh, and then you fast forward, obviously, to the book of Revelation. And guess what's on the throne? A slain lamb killed for us. And guess what's happening around that throne? A big party. The wedding supper of the lamb. Boom. Guys going, this is my heart, man. This is my heart. So he's going, hey, man, we're going. The son of man did not come condemn the world, but to save the world through him. All right, so there you go. That's amazing. I know, dude. And it ends with irony in that the older brother is outside. So actually the lost son is the older brother at the end of it. And so he's talking again to Pharisees, and so that's the ironic thing is they think that they're the ones that are in when actually they're the ones that are out. You're the lost son. You're the lost one. You're the lost son. It's interesting, too, because through this story, we read basically like the two sons, one, they're both lost. So it's not really the one lost son is the two lost sons, but they're more similar than people think. If you think about it, both sons wanted the father's stuff more than the father. The younger son said, I want your inheritance. The older son said, you never gave me a goat. Both sons were distant from the father. The younger son was physically distant. He left. The older son was emotionally distant. There was no intimacy. Both sons misunderstood their identity. The younger son came back saying, I will be your servant. Basically, he saw himself potentially as an employee. The older son says, I have been slaving for you. He saw himself as a slave. Dude, I've never noticed that. Even with the father. I forgot that, dude. Both sons saw their relationship with their father as transactional. The younger son said, if I leave and take your stuff, then I'll be happy. The older son said, if I obey, I should get rewarded and get your stuff. Both were lost. younger son was lost in immorality. The older son was lost in his morality. And so the father seeks both. And so, man, I would say this as I read through this. Obviously, we are, you know, we're church people. We were part of the church. But we need to be careful that we are not like the older son. More often than not, we need to be mindful. And so if you're listening to this and maybe you're like, well, I'm a Christian. And yes, we talk about reaching one more. But then you also want to be careful not to become the older son. If you are lacking joy as you follow Jesus, you might be the older son. If you received grace patience and forgiveness from God but you struggle to offer that same grace and forgiveness to other people you might be the older son If you upset that things are not going your way and somebody that is quote unquote a worse sinner than you is probably looking like he having a quote unquote a better life and you hate that, you might be the older son. And then the last thing, if you care more about winning arguments more than winning souls, you might be the older son. That's a watch out. And if anything, it can be more dangerous because you can confuse proximity to the Father with intimacy with the Father. That's right, dude. And that's what can easily happen. Don't get me wrong. We want people in the church. We want people in there. But if you're not careful of those kind of behaviors and attitudes that you're just like are seeping up, you can fool yourself and think, oh, I go to church. I'm in. I'm a pretty good person. When it's like, give proximity to God, but you don't have intimacy with God. Because if you did, those kinds of behaviors and attitudes would not show themselves. And, dude, what this is saying, this gets this transition when we start talking about, okay, man, I want to reach lots of people. How do I do it? But to Paul's point, what these three rapid-fire parables are saying, hey, man, here's how you know. Here's how you know if you've ventured into the Pharisee thing and, man, you've got proximity to the Father but not enemies. Here's how you know. What's your attitude towards lost people? There's your litmus test. Are you sitting around and, like, honestly, it's like I'm against you. It's okay to be against ideologies. That's fine. Well, of course we are. We're going to talk about that today. Yeah, that's right. We're going to talk about that. But if your heart towards them is not the Father's heart, amen, for the Son of Man did not come into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him. Your litmus test for where your heart's at is what's your heart towards lost people. Sorry, that just hit me like a ton of bricks for some reason. I think it's just a good reminder, especially what we're going to hit in the second half of the pod, is that people – we can so easily forget that. Like when God sees Bad Bunny or Kid Rock or anyone else, his heart is that they are a lost child that he wants to come home. And against your point, not just total place for us to talk against ideologies or conflation of bad ideas. But we just got to remember that these are people who are created in the image of God and who God wants to save. That's right, man. Yeah. That's right. Well, let's get practical about it then. If somebody's asking, great, man. I got some one more in my life. help me help me do what I need to do so that they can come home well okay let me let me say a couple things and then y'all chip in we're gonna get real practical so first of all man one of the biggest mistakes I feel like people make is this is what keeps more people from this right here is what keeps more people from sharing Christ with anybody than anything else if you so let me say it and explain it if you feel like you got to do everything you're not going to do anything this is really important man if somebody feels like it's their responsibility to do everything They're not going to do anything. So this is a vintage Steve Stroop, my predecessor illustration, and it totally changed the way that I approach evangelism. Stroop would always say he's an OG and he's an evangelist at heart. He would always say, hey, man, every person you meet is somewhere on a spectrum from 10 steps away from Christ to zero steps. And the zero is obviously the point of salvation. What happens to most people, man, is they think, they're like, oh, man, I can't do evangelism because I can't figure out how to get them from where they're at to praying the sinner's prayer in one conversation. So they're like, oh, what am I going to do? I don't know what to do. I don't got a spiel. Well, the point is, what's really interesting, if you read your Bible, there's two types of conversion stories. You got Paul conversions and you got Peter conversions. We know exactly when the apostle Paul was converted. This very light switch. He's on the road to Tarsus, bright light, knocks him off his horse, boom, who are you, Lord? Get saved. You know exactly the moment. But then, dude, honestly, you got a lot of Peter conversions. It's like theologians, there is rabid debate over when is the moment that Peter became a Christian. Is it when Jesus called him? Is it when he actually demonstrated repentance? Is it at the end of the Gospel of John when it's clear he actually understood the Gospel? Is it when he finally demonstrated very deep repentance after Jesus restored him from salvation? Is it when he was filled with the Spirit in John 20? Honestly, people don't know. Most salvations for almost everybody, they're more like dimmer switch than light switch. And your job is not to get them from where they're at all the way to point zero in one conversation. Your job is just to take them from wherever they are just one step closer. That's great. So the question – this will change everything. If you just start asking the question, okay, this person is six steps away from Jesus. My goal is not to get them to zero. I'm just trying to get them to five. Well, then, hey, man, this is – evangelism is a team sport. This is the body of Christ. And if all of us are moving to get people from six to five, and another person is going to get them from five to three, Another person is going to get them from three to two. And then somebody is going to invite them to church. And then there's a small group of people who have this spiritual – all of us are called to evangelism. There's a small group of people who have this spiritual gift of evangelism that are really good at closing the sale. Like honestly, that's a gift God's given. I'm good at closing the sale. And so somebody is going to invite them to church. They're going to hear somebody like me. Give them a gospel presentation they can understand. Boom, they're going to get saved. But you just got to understand it's a team sport. That's a good distinction. Pastor Josh, so what you're saying is even if you don't have the gift of evangelism, you're still called to evangelize. You are commanded. You are called to and commanded to. Acts 1A, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses. That's right. Witnesses. Okay. Let me just say a couple other quick things, and I want you all to get practical because both of you guys are evangelistic men. And everybody's listening. We got friends, family, coworkers. We got kids, parents who want to see you get saved. This is how. Dude, the other thing I would say is you're never going to hit a target you didn't draw. So like at Lake Point, that's why we do is a little one more cards. It's like, hey, man, all I'm asking you to do is who's the one person close to you, farthest from God, stick their name on that card. And what I do, I did it this morning. I got a name on a card. It's on the bathroom mirror where I brush my teeth. And every single time I see it, I pray for God to give me a chance to show that person the love of Christ that day. And a lot of times it's a text. A lot of times it's like, let me send you something, that kind of thing. Now let me pause because I want to go through a quick little acronym. But before I do it, what do you guys got? Let's get super practical. Somebody's listening like, I want to help somebody know Christ. I got no idea how. What should I do? I'll tell you for me. Actually, you go first, Paul. Okay. I think you're going to hit some of this in the acronym, so I'm sorry if I still said it earlier. Are you doing less? No. Okay. No, I usually give three things. Share your life, share your story, share the gospel. Share your life is a good starting point. It's the idea of, man, if I'm going to want to see someone come to know Jesus, I should probably actually just be spending time around those people. Some of this is you're already doing things where you're around lost people. It could be at the games that your kids are playing. It could be your neighbors. It could be a lot of things. And so just think about where are the environments you're in, and then to your question, it's like, hey, who is someone close to me but far from God? And then just sharing your life with them, getting to know them, getting to know their story, asking them questions. because even like when I'm asking them questions, I'm beginning to think through, because this is the idea of sharing my story, like what are they going through? What areas or struggle are they in? And that's where I'm going to begin to think, hey, how can I bring Jesus into the conversations? And it says, hey, can I be honest? Here's how Jesus has helped me in that. Here's how I've experienced that kind of a thing as well. And so I tell people just with that then is like once you identify who that is, your name is a few things I like to do is I like to set an alarm on my phone Just in every day I pray for him because it's so easy to get forgetful. I actually think in addition to not knowing how, one of the reasons people just practically don't share the gospel or try to get people closer to Jesus is frankly just because they forget. I think it's one of Satan's best strategies is just to get you distracted. So an alarm on my phone is a great way to say, hey, I'm praying for so-and-so at the same time every day. So that's a good framework for me. It's like I want to share my life with them. I just want to get to know them and have them get to know me. and then I'm going to share my story with them bit by bit. And when I say that, I don't mean, oh, here's a 30-minute version. I more mean when I say that if they're having trouble with their kids, say, hey, I've had some trouble with my kids too. And that humanizes me. I don't have everything perfect. I don't have everything together. And then I'll be like, hey, can I share what's up to me? And then that's when I'll try to weave in something in terms of how God has helped me with my kids. And they're like, hey, would you like to learn more? And then that can go on. Let me pause and just give a comment on what you're saying. It's like what Paul's saying right here, because if you're listening to what needs to happen right now, I'd encourage you literally right now, visualize in your heart the person that is lost that you want to see saved. Yes. Right now. Visualize that. Like get their face in your head. What Paul's saying on like, hey, man, you having trouble with your kids? Me too, man. I had that too. Here's how God helped me. So this is how people get saved. Let me go back to the 1 through 10 analogy. Here's how people get saved, dude. I've seen this. We see thousands of people get saved at Lake Point. Here's how they get saved. So it starts, they're 10 steps away. They hate Christians. They hate Christianity. Then they're working with a Christian, and some dude was brave enough to come out of the closet for Jesus at work. And it's not that he's walking around giving tracks out. Yeah. Million-dollar bills. You know, it's a little track. All it is is they knew he was a Christian, and he was kind, honest, and hardworking. And all of a sudden they're like, huh. Yeah. Like I was kind of not an a-hole. And I thought they were all jerks And then, so here's what happened Is that person just went from a 10 to an 8 Yes Okay, then, now they're Paul's friend at work And then they're having trouble with their kids And then Paul just, they get to know Paul He's their friend And Paul just slips in, dude, me too, man And at some point you're like, hey dude You don't gotta say yes Do you mind if I just pray for you? And you didn't share a plan of salvation with him But here's what just happened Then they went from a 6 to a 3 Yes. That's what he's talking about right here. It's just those little things. Now, keep going. I was literally going to share the story of Rosaria Butterfield. I'm going to do a brief thing. Total stud, by the way. She's amazing. Amazing. But brief thing is, I mean, at one point she was an atheist feminist lesbian. That's right. Teaching at an Ivy League school, I think. Yeah, at an Ivy League school. So I'd say she was probably at the 10, on the 10 scale. And so she had written this article just bashing evangelicals. And she got this letter, though, inviting her to a home of a pastor. So she, oh, this could be a good piece for my next hit piece kind of thing. She went in thinking, oh, he's going to tell me all the 50 reasons why I'm stupid and wrong. He's going to try to share the gospel with me. And what happened is they had a good meal. They asked her about her story. Got to know her. They did converse a little bit, but she just said, man, they were thoughtful. They didn't assume. They asked a lot of questions. But she was actually just shocked because they never tried to invite her to church. shared the gospel that first time. They met her where she was. Now, again, that's an aberration. Not everyone is that. Not everyone starts at a 10. But to your point, she moved from a 10, probably to a nine that night. And it took a couple of years, but actually through that friendship, she eventually comes to faith. It's just a good personal example of that. So it's actually you hit one thing, one other practical thing that I'll give to you, Carlos. I always love to just do this is like, hey, man, how can I be praying for you? And that can happen a lot of ways. It can be like if you're out to eat at dinner with your waiter, But it can also just be like, hey, my family and I like to pray for different people specifically every night. Is there anything I'm going to be praying for you for? And in my experience, 99 times out of 100, they're like, oh, yeah, definitely. Even lost people love it. Even lost people love it. They love it, dude. They love it. And it's just that is one very practical thing I tell people to do if they don't know anything else to do. Yeah, I mean, you guys said it. I've heard it said before. People inside the church read the Bible. People outside the church read your life. There's a verse, 2 Corinthians 3, verse 2 to 3. You yourselves are our letter known and read by all, a letter from Christ. And so I think, again, it's like, you know, are people seeing your life and are they asking, man, whatever it is you have, how do I get it? Right. And how do you treat your wife? How do you treat your husband? How your kids relate to you? How you run your businesses? How much joy do you seem to have? Those things are weird in our culture. And so when you see somebody who's actually living a life that, you know, is, you know, in some ways attractive and full of the joy of the Lord, people should be drawn to you and be like, man, this person, how do I get whatever it is? And then that's where you have an opportunity. Oh, let me tell about my faith. That's right. Thank you. Just one more piece of advice. One thing is, I think you were hitting this earlier is to be like, well, man, I just, I'm not very eloquent. I don't know how to present the actual gospel really well. And I think one, I would encourage everybody to learn how to do that. There's so many resources out there now, especially on the internet that I don't think that's any longer an excuse, at least that you I can't try to learn. But I will say to your point, some people just have a more natural gift of evangelism. And in the New Testament, in order to interact with those people, you had to see them face to face. But now because of digital and social media, like, for example, if my neighbor or someone is struggling with kids, like, hey, my pastor preached an amazing sermon on kids. You're manifesting that to you. Yeah, this really helped me. Exactly. Like, this really helps me manifest in this. You're like, yeah, if it's going to help me with my kids, for sure. And, like, that's just another end. It's getting them a little bit closer. And then with that, it's one of the reasons why we just encourage people to invite people to church. We definitely want every Christian to be sharing Jesus on their own. But part of that is we bring them to places where people have that spiritual gift and where maybe someone else can say it better than we can. There was actually on this, and I'll throw it back to you, Pastor Josh. This is going to sound weird, but it was just so interesting. There was a church in the Philippines, massive church. At the time I met the pastor, it was 60,000 plus people. And at some of the locations, because at each of the locations, a person would preach live. So it wasn't video. But there were some places where the person was a really great teacher but did not do a good job landing the plane and actually presenting the gospel. And at those locations, the person would finish teaching, and then someone else who was an incredible evangelist would come up and actually deliver it. I say that to say even though that sounds weird and we don't do it here, I hope that's an encouragement to say, hey, even people who are paid pastors don't necessarily have that specific gift. And the recognition was, hey, let's get them to somebody who has it. That's all. So here's a – let me get like super practical. Please bless us. I'm going to. Here's the – me and Jana have an acronym we heard years ago from old Dave Ferguson. And we've just adopted this as a family. And listen, Matt, I'm just telling you, whether it's a prodigal son, a kid you got or a neighbor or a coworker, I'm just telling you, Matt, this thing works. I'm just telling you, dude, this thing works. In fact, I'm going to shout out some people that we were able to lead to Christ doing this. So he just said, hey, dude, here's all you got to do, bless. Just think of the acronym BLESS. So number one B, begin with prayer. And dude, let me just say, man, you will not lead people to Christ without this. Because the primary problem they have is not intellectual, it's spiritual. The New Testament says, dude, you got to get this, man. The New Testament says the God of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Their primary problem is not intellectual. It's spiritual. So you have to assault heaven praying for God to pull the scales off their eyes. So you start there. In fact, I tossed up on Instagram two days ago like, hey, we're going to talk about evangelism on a pod. If you were led to Christ by somebody else, give me the thing that was the biggest thing. There's like, I don't know, hundreds and hundreds of responses. The number one thing people said is they prayed for me. So these are people when they were lost, they were like, number one thing, they prayed for me. So begin with prayer. Number two, listen. Good. Let me get up here. B, yeah. Listen, listen. So here's what I'd say. I'm going to give a little hack on this. If you get, here's your goal, get three questions deep. So we live, in our culture, we live in like a very surface deal. Like, how you doing? Fine. How you doing? Fine. Okay, cool, man. I'm on. And guys especially are like that. if you're a christian that learns wherever you're at to get three questions deep with somebody so here's here's how it looks like carlos how you doing today man i'm doing pretty good he's gonna role play it i'm ready here okay so you know you ask the guy at work like hey man how you doing he's like pretty good and you oh okay that's question number one you go let me get a second oh man just pretty good hey dude do you mind me asking uh what's going on he's like oh man, you know, just having a little trouble at home. Then you get third question deep. Hey, dude, do you mind me asking like, what kind of trouble are you having at home? Man, me and my son are not doing good right now. Here's what you're going to notice. If you get three questions deep with somebody, what's going to happen is you're going to find the wound in their life. And that's the spot where the great physician is going to meet them. So if you just practice this, discipline yourself to get three questions deep. Now, let me just say one thing on this. Tons of people got prodigal kids. So the L, B is blessed, L is listen. Here's what you got to watch out for. If you got prodigal kids, here's what I'd say. Listen more than you talk. So what I would say is love them very, very well. Give yourself permission once a year. Let's say they only come in a few times a year. you see him at thanks thanksgiving give yourself permission one time per year to have a very direct like hey man how are you doing with jesus i'd say maybe pray ask the holy spirit maybe limit yourself to once a year and then the rest of the time spend the time listening okay so begin listen e i'm gonna do the others quicker b-l-e is eat okay we know jesus in the gospel is constantly he's He's either going to a meal, he's at a meal, or he's leaving a meal. Okay. So the reason for this is people don't understand how this works. People's relationships change before their faith changes. Almost always. So when their friends change, that's when their faith begins to change. So it's like, man, just eat with them. Like invite them into your life, do the thing. Okay. B-L-E-S is serve. Serve. Just find ways, like little ways to care for a man. Like bless them. We get, you know, there's a girl, her name's Ophelia. Shout out Ophelia. That was our one more for a long time. And we pray, I was like five or six years she was our one more. And honestly, man, she went through a real hard time in her life. Jan and I, like, we're sending her a little bottle of wine. We're sending her gift cards for books, Amazon. She loved to read. We were sending her a little prepaid visa cards to help with babysitting. She's going through a tough time. And it's like, man, we just want you to know we love you, man. And then last, B-L-E-S, the last one is after serve, then you share. So that's the big idea, man. No secret agent Christians. Come out of the closet for Jesus. Everybody needs to know that, all that stuff. In fact, ask yourself this question. If tomorrow, tomorrow this is an oppressive, persecuting country, and you are on trial, somebody has accused you of being a Christian, ask yourself the question, would there be enough public evidence for them to convict you? Wow. Good. Can I add one more? I feel like often people want to share, but there's a little bit of fear. Yes. And maybe you're intimidated or I guess you're like, oh, but what if I just don't know what to say? and I would say pray for yourself pray for boldness that's great pray for courage I know I've been in many situations where like I know the Holy Spirit is like yo talk to them that's right or say something now that's right and I'm like I want to but like and then and then I didn't do it and I pray for courage and boldness every single day that I may you know when it when it is appropriate and when the Holy Spirit says go that I go that's right uh yeah dude so let me let me finish with this and let's talk about Calvinism. So the, um, when you share, you are usually doing things that are way more significant than you realize they are. So dude, I screenshot of this. It was over 10 years ago and pull out that one, the Mitch Comstock. So there's a guy, my church in Nashville that was a rabid evangelist. He was, he was, I think he was a into computer programming. He was like an it guy. So, you know, had a bit of a Dilbert vibe kind of thing. And he was like one of my favorite church members. Mitch, tragically, a few years ago, he died of cancer very young. And so I'm very glad I have this. We went over to their house and he had three, I think, young boys and just just a good dude. Well, I think it was right or before he died. I saw somebody post on his Facebook page this and I screenshot it and I've kept it for years. So this lady, I blurred out their faces. Her name was Andrea. She posted on his page, said, did you go to Wright State University? Were you in FCA? Now at this time, Mitch is in his late forties. And he said, yes, I did. I went to FCA some. I was more involved in Campus Crusade. And I went to several BSU events many long years ago. Dude, check this out. This is so great. She posts. Now think about this. This is 20 years after he was in college. And this wife posts, you gave a Bible. No, no. You gave a He was raised Catholic. He credits that moment to his salvation. We wanted to sincerely thank you. We have been married for 21 years now, and we are raising a Christian family. God is faithful, and you were faithful to him. Dude, that seed he planted was in the ground for 21 years, and he never knew. In fact, I guarantee he didn't even remember handing that guy a little Bible or a little tract. And 21 years later, because he was willing to share, somebody and their whole family is going to be in heaven because of him. You never know the power of you planting a seed. You never know that. So good. Man, well, we've got to keep going here because we've got some other things to discuss. But I have a question. does the bible teach predestination and if so why do evangelism yeah so here's why i bring this up anytime you talk about evangelism people pop so chad g paul t is going to talk about this real quick the question people have and we've been getting this a lot in comment sections of the pod is you know what about predestination because when you talk about evangelism people are like well but if you believe in predestination then what's the purpose of evangelism so so chad g paul t does the but we're gonna do this real quick this could be a whole pod so this is Does the Bible teach predestination? I'm going to give my thoughts on this too. If so, what's the purpose of evangelism? But before you answer it, we have three memes that I want to show you. Are you serious? I'm not kidding. A Calvinist is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he was predestined to. Gandalf says amazing. Number two, predestination and election are mentioned 30 times in the Bible. Must mean free will. Okay, okay. Number three, when an Armenian sees the word predestined in Scripture. What say you? What I say is, where was Patrick Stewart's undershirt? That might have been the deepest, widest v-neck of all time. The old chest lettuce. I don't know that I can even go on after that. I know we've got to get to Bad Bunny so we can make this quick and easy. Yes, it does. It does. Honestly. All right, let's pray. Let's move on. Bad Bunny in the Super Bowl. Can I preempt this? Yes, please do. Let me preempt this real quick. The answer is yes. And we're going to talk about and answer some objections real quick. This is in terms of what is theologians called theological triage. This is a second or third tier issue. And here's what we mean on this. You can tell who are the immature Christians by who causes church wars over this. Yes. And here's why I say this. So theologians for centuries have divided doctrines of Christianity into three tiers. First-tier issues are issues where it's more important to be right than to be together. Hello, there are some issues that are worth dividing a church over. The Apostle Paul even acknowledges some doctrines are more important than others in 1 Corinthians 15 when he says, For I delivered to you as of first importance. And then he lists things like that Christ died in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was raised, that he's coming again. So these are issues where it's more important to be right than to be together. Second tier issues are issues where it's more important to be together than to be right, but it might be a little uncomfortable. That's like, hey, man, we practice baptism by immersion. If you're a paedo-baptist, you believe in baptizing babies, it's going to be uncomfortable, but we're all on team Jesus. Third tier issues are issues where it's more important to be right than to be together, and very frankly, it shouldn't be uncomfortable. Yeah. This is stuff like, dude, eschatological views. Yeah. You know, when's Jesus coming back? In what order are the events going to happen? Age of the earth. Like if you're dividing churches over that, we literally the apostle Paul says, warn a divisive person once, then warn them again. Yeah. Then have nothing to do with them, knowing that they are warped and sinful. So let me tell me. I know I'm talking to it. Let me tell a story and then it's all yours. Well, hey, Live Free Nation, let me share something we are really excited about. Marriage Weekend is happening this coming weekend February 21st and 22nd at Lake Point Church And by the way this is not just another event you attend and forget about by Monday This is an investment in one of the most significant things in your life, and that is your marriage. And so if you are married, this is your opportunity to strengthen what God has entrusted to you. If you are engaged or dating, this is where you build it right before you build it wrong. And if you're single, lean in because the best marriages are built long before the wedding day. And so we're not just talking about inspiration. We're giving you tools, real, practical, biblical wisdom you can actually use because strong families don't drift into health. They're built with courage and obedience. And so February 21st and 22nd at any of our physical locations or through Church Online, Marriage Weekend at Lake Point Church. Fight for your family. Fight for your marriage. We will see you there. So can I talk about a story when two great theologians had beef? We will allow it. That never happened? Okay, so story. Recent story, two great theologians in America had beef. All right. What? Yes. That happens? Never happens. Okay, but it'll surprise you. This is going to surprise you. So obviously, rewind a few decades. You got two guys that are very prominent American theologians. You've got – and they come down on the exact opposite sides of this specific issue. You've got – on this issue, the theological camps are known as Calvinism and Arminianism. So on the one hand, you've got Billy Graham, who was in general viewed as an Arminian, high free will guy. On the other hand, you had a dude named R.C. Sproul, who was like the figurehead of Calvinism. If you ever want to read about it, I would recommend reading R.C. Sproul on Predestination. He's very helpful. These dudes, people assumed, had serious beef. So this actually happened in Nashville where I was living. R.C. Sproul comes into Nashville, and he's talking – he's giving lectures on predestination and free will. And then he does a Q&A, and according to reports, in the Q&A, somebody raises their hand, and they ask the question, Dr. Sproul, you and Billy Graham have a vehement disagreement on this doctrine. And they say, Dr. Sproul, do you believe that you will see Billy Graham in heaven? And there's this big, long, tense silence, and he leans into the microphone, and R.C. Sproul says, no. And then he just lets it sit like that. And then after about five seconds, what I'm told he did is he said no. Because when we get to heaven, Billy Graham will be so near the throne of God, and I shall be so far. I will not have any chance. Of seeing Billy Graham. Now, here's a big idea, man. There are some things, doctrines, that are worth dividing over. But listen, don't divide Christians that Jesus died to unite in unnecessary things. Yes. I like to say on this one, then I'll jump into a more in-depth answer, though we'll still keep it brief. We can do a deep dive another time. But on this issue and other things like eschatology, I should only know where you stand when we're having conversations like this. That's good. Or maybe if we're happy to preach that week on a passage of scripture where it's mentioned. But in general, I should know where you stand when I look at you from afar. If anything, I should be a little confused. Like I should see you like sharing the gospel and doing all these practical things for each people for Jesus. Like, oh, obviously they're an Arminian. But then when I hear you pray, I should hear you saying things like, God, would you change their hearts? Would you open their hearts? I was like, dude, is he schizophrenic? Is he Calvinist now? And I should be confused when I look at you from afar. But I surely know where you stand. We're just having conversations like these in person. And we can passionately disagree. But to your point, it doesn't mean we have to divide. You can disagree without dividing. Give us the quick biblical case here. So we would say yes, because the Bible clearly teaches it. Ephesians 1, 4 through 5, he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, having predestined us according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. Romans 8, 29 through 30, for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. Acts 13, 48, as many as were appointed, or you could say elected, to eternal life believed. Yeah, a lot of people missed that one, by the way. It's a massive one. So Paul preaches, and this shows us the relationship between evangelism and preestination. Paul preaches and it says, I just want to verbally highlight it, and all who were appointed to eternal life believed. Why did they believe? In part because they were appointed to eternal life. Now, that raises questions. We're going to get to those in a second. Keep going, Paul. So if you are a Christian, you have to believe in predestination because it is in the Bible. Don't take a pair of scissors to get it out. If this is not your thing, a Calvinist thing, this is a Bible thing. So actually, briefly, we have a slide that will put up an order of salvation. Of course you do. Of course we do. Is this order of salutis? It is. It is, yeah. If you want to sound fancy to your friends and neighbors, say order of salutis. It's Latin. It's Latin for order of salvation. Yeah, order of salvation. And these are things that are in the Bible, either explicitly or implicitly, that all Christians have to believe in because they are literally in the Bible. Now, where Christians do differ is really actually just on two things, which I think, by the way, is a really helpful reminder of why we shouldn't divide on this, because we really just disagree on two things. One is the order of regeneration and conversion. And the other, which is big here, is what is the basis of predestination? So if you're a Christian, you have to believe in predestination in some way because it is explicitly in the Bible. So the question becomes, well, what is the basis for predestination? Two big views. One is that election is conditional, often known as the Arminian position. What they would say is, hey, God foresees the future. He sees those who are going to respond positively in faith and put their faith in Jesus. And then he seals them and he elects those people. So their election is conditional. So, yeah, he predestined them, but based on his foreknowledge of what they would do. And there's the second view, unconditional election, sometimes referred to as Calvinism or Reformed theology, which is he does not elect them from eternity based on anything they do, but simply based on what God did, his decision. That's why it's unconditional. He simply chooses that they would come to salvation in him. I would land in the unconditional election camp. Obviously, again, we could do so much more of a deep dive. The whole books and volumes have been written on this, but here's a few reasons why. Number one, if you're reading Romans 9 straight through, it's hard to come to any other conclusion whatsoever. I don't think you can, man. It's going to be a little bit of a longer excerpt, but you mind if I read it? Because I think people need to hear it who are wrestling with this. Romans 9, 10 through 18. This is actually an excerpt from Romans 9. And not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, which would include things like placing their faith in anything, In order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls, she was told the older will serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By the way, on that as an excerpt, I've never heard an Arminian be accused of unfairness or injustice. Something to consider when wrestling with that. I never thought about that. I've only heard one camp usually accused of unfairness or injustice, and that's exactly the premise that Paul now has to counteract. By no means, for he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So it then does not depend on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy. And then skipping down a few verses, he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. So that's one big thing, Romans 9. A second big thing is often people who are more Arminian, who are more conditional election, would point to the idea of, hey, foreknowledge. It says those he foreknew, he also predestined. A couple of big problems with that. Number one is that often that idea of foreknowing and knowledge has to do not with knowledge of future events, although it sometimes can, but the idea of God setting his love on a particular group of people. So like, for example, Amos 3.2, you speaking of Israel, his chosen people, you only have I known of all the families on earth. Well, that can't be just general knowledge. He knows everybody. It's the idea of he put his covenantal relationship love and chose them. And then also in Romans 11.2, God uses foreknow for that exact same idea, too. Romans 11.2. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. And again, in context, that simply can't mean the idea of, oh, he knew that they were going to respond. What were they responding to? His choice to elect them as his people. So is there a few big reasons why? I would be a person who says I believe it is unconditional election, not conditional election. And so we don't have to put the back up on the screen. But where this matters, then when we talk about the idea of regeneration or conversion, regeneration is the idea of being born again, The idea of the Holy Spirit has to make you alive. Ephesians 2 says we are dead in our sins before Christ. And then the Holy Spirit then has to make us alive. Consistently, when you look in Scripture, that is something that comes before conversion, not after conversion. I have a list of verses if we need to, but I don't think we have time. We're trying to make it a little bit fast. So now the five million objections and questions. I am going to do something. I'll just do it. Actually, let me just go at it. Yeah. But Paul, doesn't the Bible specifically say that God wants all men to be saved, 1 Thessalonians, and that God takes no delight in the death of the wicked? Yes. You heretic. Goodness, I know. So a few things here. Number one, and it says something similar. 1 Timothy 2.4, God desires all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. Oh, you're good. And come to a knowledge of the truth. People often forget then to read 2 Timothy, which says that God may perhaps grant them repentance. Listen to this. Leading to a knowledge of the truth. Almost the exact same phrasing. So to that point, if we have to say if God wants all people to do that and it says that God can grant repentance, then why doesn't he? Why doesn't he? So then that leads to the question of this sense of we often distinguish a couple things in this conversation. Number one would be the idea of God's moral will or his revealed will. This is huge. If you're listening, listen close right here. It's a really important distinction. Let's actually take it off of this conversation of election predestination. Let's take it to a specific event. Did God say thou shalt not murder? Of course. Of course. That's his moral will, his revealed will. And yet the Bible clearly says that the murder of his son was part of his plan. It literally doesn't. It's for. Yeah. It's for it literally. Predestined. It's his predestined. And even this is, I'll go to say, and I should have said this earlier. When we're talking about this, we still have to maintain this tension that the Bible does. and we can never lose the tension. God is 100% sovereign. We are 100% responsible. We are not robots. We are responsible. Acts 4 holds it side by side. It says that the Jews and Gentiles conspired against Jesus, which involved his death. And by the way, that was a sin. And it was one thing that the entire early part of Acts caused them to repent of. And yet in that same exact sentence, it says, and they did what your predetermined hand and plan led them to do. It's a both and. It's not an either or. But like that's an example where you'd say, hey, was it God's will for anyone to murder one? No. But yet was it part of God's will to have that happen? Yes. Yes. And so in one sense, we would say, man, of course, God desires everyone to submit to faith in a line. But somehow as part of his what's called his hidden will or his will of decree or his plan, it is somehow not a part of that as well. Yeah. So like let me click on this and let's go to the next objection. So Deuteronomy – here's what you need to get, man. Deuteronomy 29, 29, it says the secret things belong to the Lord, but the things that are revealed belong to us and our children. Okay. The sovereign hidden will of God. God has planned how history is going to unfold. That's like you can't – there can't even be an eschatology in the book of Revelation unless God is in control of the future. Okay. So the hidden will of God, that's a secret thing that belongs to the Lord. Who, you know, who God is going to save and all that. That's a hidden thing. but then the things that are revealed belong to us our children what's been revealed go share the gospel with everybody that's good that's right man why don't you focus on your job let god focus on his job and just like do the sides of the streets so charles spurgeon was asked one time hey man how do you reconcile divine sovereignty and human responsibility or free will and his response was i don't reconcile friends because i don't gotta understand it man i and let me just say this is where people get all tripped up is they start taking all the verses about divine sovereignty and they like um they almost use them to negate all the verses about human responsibility or free will or they take all the verses over here and use them to negate the verses over here hey man just have the humility to go dude if god is the size of the pacific ocean and my mind's the size of a coke can there's gonna be some things that don't fit yeah and here's what i know god's gonna save people and the predestination is a thing it's in the bible yeah and here's what i also know i'm supposed to get out there and share the gospel with everybody i can and the more times I share it and more people are going to get saved. And that's where even on this, we're going to go into the injustice question next. I don't know how much time I got. Yeah. It's not fair. Yeah, it's not fair that he would some and not others. We all need a vote. Thanks. The reason the reason I brought that up is because one point I was going to make is that actually when I really begin pressing my Arminian brothers and sisters, I say, hey, you and I actually believe almost the exact same thing. I'm just willing to apply it to all things. You're not. And so here's a few things. So let's say you're you're an Armenian. OK, and that's what we'd be having this conversation, because usually I do two things in talking about the unfair, the unfairness objection. One would be, hey, was it unfair and unjust for God to punish David for the census that the Bible says God incited David to take? Yeah, this is if you're on a super theology nerd, we're talking about is compatibilism. Yeah. Yeah. So there's one part of it, and we probably don't have time to get in there. But you'll get these verses like that where one account will show things from the divine perspective, and it will specifically say that God incited David to take a census that was sinful. Yeah. And then the other, that's 1 Kings and Samuel. It's Kings and Samuel, I think. It says Satan did it. It says Satan did it. Well, you know. Well, Rehoboam, was it bad for Rehoboam? And again, I'm going to pretend you're a minion. Was it bad for Rehoboam to listen to the foolish counselors that are his agents? Of course, yes. And yet it says that it was a turn of events brought about by the Lord. That's right. And then usually what I would do here is just follow me for a second. I'd say, hey, you've got, I think, at least three main options. You can say that, hey, that's not how God normally works. I'm like, yes, but your argument is it's unjust if he did it. So are you telling me that God is only unjust 1% of the time? Because that's a problem. That's a problem. And they're like, no, I don't like that option. I'm like, okay. Option two is you could say, well, I just don't believe that part of the Bible. I think it was added in. I don't think it was made up. Oh, so now you believe the Bible is theirs. Also not a good option. So here's where I go with them. I'm like, okay, here's an option. You can believe, and you're going to say it's a mystery. I can't fully explain it. That somehow they did, the people that did those things, did exactly what they wanted to do. And yet God also had them do exactly what he wanted them to do. In the same way that when we wrote scripture, the authors used all their grammar, all the things that they wanted to say. And yet it was also what the Holy Spirit wanted to say. They say, hey, what they wanted to do, they did, and yet what God wanted to happen, happened. I'm like, yes, I like that. And I'm like, awesome. I hate to break it to you. That's exactly what Calvinist belief is. Yeah, that's right. Except we just extend it to all things, period. And so that's one thing I usually say is, hey, the injustice and unfairness part, that's not a Calvinism issue. That's a Christian issue. Not that God is unfair. We don't believe he is. But these wrestlings that we have, actually, we all have to answer those questions. And that's why I brought up those examples. The second thing, honestly, and people don't usually like this answer. is that Paul addresses this in Romans 9. He does. And when he addresses the issue of unfairness, you know what his response is? Who are you, the clay, to say the part of what he can and can't do? And so I think we do have to remember there is total room for us to ask questions and total room for us to wrestle with questions about God. But in the Bible, there does seem to be this pattern that when we begin to question God's character of why he does not do certain things, God lays the hammer down. Like you go to the book of Job. And Job is fine to ask questions, but he starts to get over the line with those questions. And God, you're unjust. And basically, I want to put you on trial. And God shows up and dresses him down for a few. Now, he restores him, so he doesn't leave him there. But same thing here is Paul actually anticipates this objection. You know what Paul doesn't do? He doesn't spend 10 minutes. Well, let me go into a philosophical conversation around free will and how it solves this thing. He just says, hey, man, it's a mystery. Who are you to tell God what he can and cannot do? So people don't like that answer, but it's the biblical answer. So the question that people have is, let me say this, and then let's move on and talk about Bad Bunny and Get Rock and Super Bowl. The question that people end up with is, well, dude, if that's true, then why should I share the gospel with anybody? God already knows he's going to get saved. Let me say a couple things here, and then if you want to put a bow on it, you all can. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'll be honest, man. If everybody's around Lake Point, you know, like I am rabidly evangelistic. We baptized 3,100 people last year. I'm constantly doing invitations, all things. Here's the deal. We do evangelism, A, because we're commanded to, and B, because God says when we do it, it's going to work. It's like I don't really need anything else. Again, the secret things belong to the Lord. I'm going to let God do his job. That's right. I'm going to do my job. I'm going to do my job. Here's what I would say that people don't understand. From the depths of my soul, I cannot tell you how true this is for me. I am considerably more confident when I do evangelism because I believe this doctrine. And here's what I mean. Check this out. The example I always give is in Acts 18. Paul has just got stoned. The rock's not puffer pass. He's just got stoned. And the Holy Spirit comes to him. And what he says to Paul in Acts 18 is he says, I'm going to read it. Do not be afraid. Keep on speaking. Do not be silent. Check this out. Verse 10. for I am with you and no one is going to attack you and harm you. Why? Because I have many people in this city. Now here's what's really interesting. At this point, almost no one is saved in the city. So what almost every Bible scholar thinks this messenger, the Holy Spirit is saying to Paul, he's just saying, man, you keep going. I've already decided I'm going to save a whole bunch of people in this city. So you know when you step out and you preach, it's going to work. Why? because I can save him, but I want to. And I promise it can happen. So here's the deal, man. The analogy that you need to have in your head is that this is an OG sermon illustration. So you got verses that say things like chosen from before the foundations of the earth. And then you got verses like in Revelation, whosoever will may come. So what somebody said is, imagine that you're walking past heaven and you see a big doorway into heaven. And on the outside of it, you see a sign that says, whosoever will may come. And you see it and you're like, I'm in. I want it. It says it's as if as soon as you walk through that door, you look back up over your shoulder. And on the backside of the doorway, it says chosen from before the foundations of the earth. And both are true. Yes. Whosoever will may come, and whoever comes, chosen from before the foundations of the earth. I don't got to understand it for it to be true. It's in the Bible. Amen. And I think with that, then we can get to it. It's like God ordains the means, not just the ends. It's like Romans 9, Romans 11, you get the ends. But in Romans 10 is where we get how they believe in him of whom they've never heard. So Paul didn't divorce these things, so we shouldn't either. And then an illustration I like is I'm like, hey, just go out to a graveyard and start convincing people to raise from the dead. Yeah, that's right. Come up with a 10-minute really good thing with a lot of analogies. Another point of that is if Ephesians 2 says that those apart from Christ are dead in their sins. Actually, if I'm sharing, because it connects us to evangelism, what we shared earlier. If I'm sharing the gospel with someone, but I believe this person is dead in their sins, there's nothing I can say good enough that way. I need someone who can raise the dead to do that. Well, guess what? I know a God who can raise the dead to do that. Yeah, you and I can change somebody's mind. Only God can change his soul. That's right. And he's really good at it. Praise the Lord. Well, now that Pastor Paul has told us that Bad Bunny and Kid Rock were predestined to play at the Super Bowl this year, let's talk about that. All right. We had a really good discussion on this before the pod. Let's bring it into the pod. So what we're going to do, essentially we're going to react to the reactions. We're going to react to the reactions on the Super Bowl because there was a lot of confusion on this thing. Carlos, you want to set it up? Take us where you want to do it. Well, first of all, let me just address the elephant in the room. You know, obviously, like, there's a lot of things that have been said because of Bad Bunny playing in the Super Bowl. And one of the main things that have been said is, man, a lot of people are upset that they did not understand Bad Bunny because he's speaking Spanish. And they're like, well, I don't speak Spanish. And I just, you know, I don't understand. Here's what I would say. I'm a fluent Spanish speaker. I don't even understand what he said. Honestly, like, he's a mumble rapper. Like he just like, that's what he does. And so you're not alone. If that's you, that's okay. I didn't understand it either. So just so you know, we have a video that we want to react to. It's probably the first one. Which one? This is Megyn Kelly. Oh, Megyn Kelly. That's right. Coming in hot. Okay, so let me set this up. This is how I think a lot of people felt, and I understand why, but she's wrong. So I think she's wrong. So let's go ahead and do it. I'm sorry, Pierce, but to get up there and perform the whole show in Spanish is a middle finger to the rest of America. Who gives a damn that we have 40 million Spanish speakers in the United States? We have 310 million who don't speak a lick of Spanish. This is supposed to be a unifying event for the country, not for the Latinos, not for one small group, but for the country. We don't need a black national anthem. We don't need a Spanish-speaking, non-English performing performer, and we don't need an ICE or America hater featured as our primetime entertainment. All right. You can pause right there. So let me just say – first of all, can I just say something that you guys may disagree with and we disagree? That's fine. I understand why she feels that way. In fact, I understand why and I know why she feels that way. So first of all, I'll give an example of this. people tend to view things through the lens of what problem they're trying to solve. That's just, you know, as a leader, what I've noticed that. And what a lot of Americans, especially white Americans, what they've done is they've watched like for the last, probably since about 2015 is when the woke thing really took off. And basically whenever, you know, you kind of felt this during those years. When everybody's talking diversity, diversity, diversity, D, I, D, I, D, I, that kind of thing. What they're really saying is not white people. As awkward as that is to say, that's what it means. What it really means is we need less white men. That's how intersectionality works. For everything that you are that is not white and a man, that's good. And then if you are especially white, cisgender, heterosexual, male, Christian, conservative, you're Darth Vader. So that's like what everybody's feeling. So then I think you have some of that going on. I'll show you another thing. Now I'm going to disagree with her here in a second. So what I'm doing is I'm saying I understand why she feels that way, but I think she's wrong. I'll give you another example. Play that thing. So this is just one example of this. Play that thing. You see the intersectionality vibe kind of come out, and sometimes people will just kind of go mask off, and they'll say what's actually happening out loud. And it's like, holy Moses. Play that deal. So this is a state representative, a guy named Gene Wu. This went mega viral this week. This is why I think people like Megyn Kelly feels how she feels. Go and play that thing. I always tell people the day the Latino, African-American, Asian, and other communities realize that they share the same oppressor. Plus, guess who the oppressor is? White, Christian men. That's who it is. And you're going to see it in the rest of what he says. Is the day we start winning. Because we are the majority in this country now. We are – we have the ability to take over this country and to do what is needed for everyone and to make things fair. But the problem is our communities are divided. They're completely divided. Yeah, you can take it. And I talk about it. So, I mean, honestly, you discern it. He's like – where he's going is – and there are people. It is undeniable. There are people, particularly on the progressive side of things, who have actually enacted a strategy to flood the zone with mass migration and then go amnesty. It's kind of what happened in California. Actually, a lot of people know this under Reagan. A lot of people don't know California was a red state. Reagan enacted amnesty at scale, and ever since then, boom, it's been blue ever since. so what you got you know if you're hearing that and you're seeing that and you're like man it kind of feels like this again people tend to view things through the lens of the problem they're trying to solve and i think somebody like megan kelly on the conservative side of things so then she sees you know this it a hispanic deal and the whole thing in Spanish She viewing it through the lens she trying to solve And she like this was a middle finger Now what I say is no it wasn And the reason I say that and people may disagree with me and that's fine. So I honestly, man, here's what's happening. The NFL is trying to expand their market share to Hispanic markets. They're trying to get more eyeballs like any other business. And you can disagree with the strategy, whether that, whether or not that was the best thing to do. But what they're trying to do is get more Hispanic people watching the NFL so they can make more money. That's what businesses do. They're trying to go international. At the end of the day, Bad Bunny is, you know, top, like, five in the world. Like, he's huge. Is he really? Like, he's massive. He's, like, over 100 million monthly listeners. He's worldwide. He's not Pitbull. Jeez. Mr. Worldwide. But, you know, if you got it, you got it. That's okay. Clearly, this is not the, you know, it's okay. But, yeah, so he's huge. So it's a business. The nickelback of pop music. The nickelback of pop music. I'll let you decide whether that's a good or bad. Man, I don't know, man. So here's the thing that you've got to watch out for if you're a Christian. I want to keep going back to this, man. You've got to decide, am I a Christian conservative or am I a conservative Christian? And here's a watch out I'm going to give. Okay? So you've got to decide, does your conservative trump your Christian or does your Christian trump your conservative? Now, I'm going to say something. A lot of people, they don't like it, but it's just this is reality. There is simply not a way, I don't think, to read the Bible in our current American kind of political schema and not understand that in general the publicly stated policies of the left and the publicly stated policy proposals of the right have possessed a significant moral asymmetry. So Christian ethics translated into public policy is going to look more – it's going to put you more on the right than it is on the left. So Christians should be in the modern political schema. Christians should be conservative. Honestly, I'm just going to say it. They should. They should be conservative in the modern political schema. But you've got to decide, okay, now that I know that, which one trumps the other one? Whenever modern American political conservatism is at odds with Christian ethics, which one wins? Do I check my Christianity to stick with the conservatism or what we are is we're on team Jesus? And whenever those things conflict with each other, am I like, hey, man, dude, am I still kind of leaning conservative? Is that where I fit? Yeah, it is. But I'm a Christian before I'm conservative. So my Christianity trumps the conservatism. The conservatism doesn't trump my Christianity. Yes. Keep going. Let's have more. Other thoughts? Is that the whole clip? I think that's the whole clip, right? I have some thoughts about it. Yeah, it's a whole thought. Before we move on to the other clip, I just want to say the whole thing. Oh, it's supposed to unify the country. Yeah, yeah. Every year, you know what people argue over the most is whether they liked or disliked the halftime show, no matter who was singing. And by the way, I think like a quarter of the ones over the past 20 years have people been from like the UK and other places. And so I'm just saying, I just laughed when I heard that. I'm like, dude, everyone is going to disagree on it at some point. And so, yeah, that was just a funny thought. You know, one, I get it. It's social media. I understand, you know, the more extreme, the more clicks you get. And, you know, I'm sure if we were to have a conversation with her, she could clarify what she actually means by everything. You know, that's one. Two, I would just say, you know, this year's Super Bowl, the reason why a lot of Hispanics obviously liked it is because it was in many ways a celebration of a lot of elements, not all, but a lot of elements, as we will see, of Hispanic culture. So if you think about it, in the last couple of years, who played the Super Bowl in the halftime show? It was Kendrick Lamar, Usher, Rihanna, Dr. Dre, and Snoop Dogg. We saw a celebration of black culture. I was there for the Snoop Dogg. I was at that Super Bowl. It was Snoop, 50 Cent, Eminem. That's right. Mary J. Blige. Mary J. Blige. I felt like it was like I was back in high school is what it felt like. And so, you know, again, there are cultural elements that were celebrated because it's, again, in this case, black culture. This year, it was Hispanic culture. It was Latino culture. And part of Hispanic culture is obviously speaking Spanish. And so here's what I would say, too. I mean, speaking to her, she nodded to this. But the Hispanics are the biggest minority group in the U.S. That's a fact. There's actually more Hispanic people than black people in the U.S. Black people is like 14 percent. uh in it's actually projected that by 2050 one out of three people will be hispanic it's just you know and so i'm not saying everybody has to like this i'm just saying this is what is uh and most hispanics today in the u.s are actually u.s born hispanics and so this is literally like all they know it's just and so for you know some people get nervous about this because uh they think well you know foreigners uh and one more thing for people that say that bad bunny is a foreigner, actually, that bunny is from Puerto Rico. And again, some people don't know this, but if you're from Puerto Rico, you're a U.S. citizen. People born in Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens by birth since the Jones Act of 1917. Unlike, for example, Rihanna, who is from Barbados, unlike The Weeknd, who is Canadian, unlike Shakira, who is Colombian, unlike Coldplay, who is from the U.K., we actually had an American citizen play the Super Bowl this year. I see what you did there. And so, again, I'm not saying that you have to like it. I'm just saying this is what is. And here's what I would say, you know, because I understand the concern when you see a bunch of flags. You know, I would say for especially the vast majority of Hispanic population in the U.S. who are U.S.-born Hispanics, these are not people who hate America and want to replace it with their own culture. These are people who love America and, listen to this, are also grateful for their Latino heritage that comes with a strong emphasis on Christian faith, marriage, family, community. Traditional family, biblically defined family. Traditional family, community. And we can debate as to what this looks like practically, but assimilation and heritage are not mutually exclusive. Say that one more time. That's really important. Assimilation and celebration of your cultural heritage are not mutually exclusive. And so that means that I can love – in fact, if you're a Christian, you are to seek the welfare of your city, of your country. And so we want to assimilate in this country, and we are excited to celebrate our cultural heritage. And that's salsa. That's some of the elements that you saw in the show. That's why I think a lot of Hispanics are like, man, that was amazing in that sense. That's right. So I'm going to say some like – let me do some like un-PC things, and then we'll just see if we edit it out. so like so like again so i want to acknowledge why people feel like she feels you know i think because somebody like megan kelly she's a little older than me i think what some americans are feeling is because of some of the mass migration i think what they're feeling is like honestly like a loss of place where they're like dude like man it's like i love my country and you know the country i grew up in like you know part of that cultural heritage that we have is like just It's speaking English and it's American culture, that kind of thing. And so then they're looking around at some of the downstream effects of mass migration, particularly mass illegal immigration. They're going, man, I kind of feel like I lost my country. And let me just say, heads up, it's okay for Americans to want America to feel American. There's nothing wrong with that. Now, on the other hand, what you've got to watch out for is, again, you can't let the conservative trump the Christian. And what you can't do is start letting that translate into like a dislike of all other cultures and opposition to that. The other thing I would say, and this is the really un-PC part, and you guys can disagree with this, and you can be like, I disavowed Josh Auerton. So honestly, dude, you're talking about assimilation. Here's what I think is happening a little bit more on the political right is people are seeing some of the mass migration, and then they're seeing – this is a little awkward to say, but I'll just sort of say it. Like they'll see especially mass migration from Muslim countries and people who are very committed Muslims, especially like very conservative Muslims. And in general, one, there's some incompatibilities with committed Islam, like actual committed Islam and American culture. There are some aspects of that that we've talked about before on the pod. I don't need to go there. That they are – honestly, they're a bit of irreconcilable differences. and people will see that and they'll be like they'll say things like this and again i'm putting words in somebody else's mouth oh these foreigners we're not as all these foreigners are not assimilating that kind of thing let me just say for some subsets of people who are coming to this country that's true yes for some subsets it is true but what a lot of people i think don't understand if you listen you know where you're not in dallas you may not understand this as much as that we're around is, hey man, like in general, zoomed out and making generalizations in general, zoomed out, dude, his Hispanics, Hispanic people that immigrate here is totally different than like committed Muslims who are walking in the country and going, you know, we want to do. We want to take over Dearborn, Michigan. We want to rename all the streets into Arabic names. We want to establish Sharia courts in the city. We want to take down your churches and erect minarets. And and then we actually want to prosecute people who want to mess with it. Like they're actually trying to impose a fundamentally incompatible culture on top of they want to like honestly take over and dominate. That's part of what we always say is progressivism. Progressivism is a religion masquerading as a political ideology. Islam is a political ideology masquerading as a religion. And so and so then people what they'll do is they'll with an imprecision and be like, all these foreigners. Well, bro, if you know anything about Hispanic people who legally immigrate, they love this country. And there's a difference because a lot of, like when, let's say Somalians, you take the thing in Minneapolis. When committed Somali Muslims come, their culture is built on top of Islam. So their values arise from Islam. So their culture is built on top of Islam, which creates cultural incompatibilities. What you'll notice is that Hispanic people that come, again, generalities, Hispanic cultures are very much built on top of Christianity, whether that's Catholicism, Protestantism, or charismatic Protestantism. It's a very thoroughly Christian, which is why there is considerably more cultural compatibilism between the two. and they walk in the country going like dude i love this country proud to be an american all the things you want to show your picture uh that's right yeah so now i'm just gonna say this when i i've been a u.s citizen now for i think six or seven years i was born in el salvador came to the u.s like 15 16 years ago i became a u.s citizen and i was very happy about it and i want to show you it so show me the first photo so here's the photo of like everybody's swearing in the people and you know in the seats are basically becoming u.s citizens uh where is this uh this is uh Michigan? No, Dallas. He went to college in Michigan. That's right. So zoom in. Trinity, one more. Okay, so keep zooming in. Another one. Keep one more. Okay. That's me. That right there, it tells you how happy I am and how grateful I am. Listen, but here's how I see it, bro. That God brought me here. Yes. To bless people and to be a blessing and to be blessed, but also to be a blessing. And so, that's the joy of the Lord. Just saying, praise the Lord. All this to say, yes, I agree. Latin America is like strongly Christian, strongly traditional family values. And we, you know, again, it's very different than the conversation with the Muslim. Well, and just to just to be like blunt, while we're talking about political binaries, like very conservative values. Yeah. In general, very conservative value, family, gender, marriage, sexuality, religion, all the things. So like as a different application, what you said earlier to assimilation and heritage, just an example to kind of hopefully even for some people who still aren't getting it. Like, man, when Irish people came over here, massive, massive resistance. Like go watch Gangs of New York. Actually, be careful. Don't watch that unless you're a grown adult. But like, man, massively against Irish people. And yet they over time they assimilated, became a part of the culture. And yet now we celebrate St. Patrick's Day in places like Chicago. They put up Irish flags. They, you know, literally make the river green and everything like that. So it's an example of how you can hold on to your heritage while also assimilating with the culture. It doesn't have to be an either or. It can be a both and. I was going to summarize what I'm hearing so far, but do you want to weigh in on that real fast? No. Well, I was going to go ahead and finish. The thing is, to summarize it so far, because I know there's other angles we want to hit, really what both of you have said is we've got to be really careful not to conflate things that are legitimately worrisome and bad with things that are not that, and we conflate them and make them the same thing. So to the point is like that we identify someone giving a performance at the halftime of the Super Bowl in Spanish and think that is a manifestation of this other thing that is bad. So we can critique this thing and go against this thing. But that doesn't mean that everything is one and the same as that. It's pretty much what we've been saying so far. That's right. Yeah. And I think you've voiced what some people feel and it's legit. I would say when people out there will say things like, you know, I hate Spanish or – Speak English. Yeah. Or like foreigners are here to invade because there is a flag from some other country in the context of the Super Bowl, celebrating Latino heritage. What a lot of people here that are Hispanics is, especially the vast majority of them who were actually born here, they're here in, man, you don't want me here. But this is where I was born. I love this country. And I love this country. I went through the whole process. Yeah. It took me years and thousands of dollars to become a citizen. And is it because I just speak a different language? And so, again, I'm sure that a lot of these voices, they don't necessarily believe that or mean that, but that's what people hear. And so I think there's something about, hey, let's try to be precise with what you're trying to communicate and what you actually believe. So I want to go back to something you said earlier. This is very insightful and apply it because this is one that will trip Christians up. So you're talking about, hey, man, you said something very wise. You said assimilation and celebration of cultural heritage are not mutually exclusive. So let me take that to the example of you're watching a Super Bowl halftime show. By the way, I didn't. I watched the TPUSA thing. I'll talk about it here in a second. You're watching that, and you see all these flags of other countries. And I think some people see that, and they immediately think, oh, they're here in America and benefiting from America, and they're more loyal to the other country than they are the one that they're receiving benefits from. Actually, no, that's not necessarily what that means. Hey, if you're here and you're a citizen, you're receiving – benefiting from the country, yeah, yeah. If you're a citizen of the country, your primary allegiance needs to be that country. Yes, it does. But just because you're celebrating the heritage from which you came doesn't mean that your loyalty is to that country over and above the one that you're a citizen of. Again, to go back to what Carlos said, assimilation and celebration of cultural heritage are not mutually exclusive. I think that's a big thing. We have a screenshot because there's another side to this Super Bowl that I think we should address. This next thing is why I didn't watch the halftime show. I was going to show the Washington Post. Yeah, that's the one. Okay. So this is what it says. The Washington Post said, in general, I love that they start there. This is like mostly peaceful protest. I love it. I love it. In general, Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show had the kind of wholesome, traditional family values that would fit right in with some of the more sentimental commercials that appeared during the game. I beg your finest pardon. Speaking of white culture, I beg your finest pardon. But a foreign white culture is in your school. That's right. That's right. That's right. Across the pond. So I have some thoughts, but I want to let you go first. Well, again, I'll just go back to I beg your finest puppy. We have very different definitions of traditional family values. Show that first picture. I almost want to censor it. First of all, you got two dudes grinding up against each other. It's disgusting. Take it down. You got this. It's like, again, just like I don't want my 11-year-old daughter seeing that. I guess that doesn't feel very traditional family values. Then I'm just going to read to you the English translation of what was sung by Bad Bunny. Now, for words that I refuse to say on a podcast or in my personal life, by the way, I'll just use the letter they start with. So this is what was sung. My D is being chased, and I want you to hide it. Grab it like a bonga. I don't know what that is. she took a pill that made her I'm not going to say that word either she I feel really weird right now in the Audi not in the Honda if I give it to you don't call me because this is not to make you love me if your boyfriend doesn't I'm not even going to say that he better off he really is a bad bunny he's a very very naughty bunny very strong not super traditional yeah yeah and again this is where like there's a little bit of a you know just disagreements amongst uh hispanic christians because people are like oh yeah bad bunny he's hispanic i feel represented and then other people are like christians are like well it's bad bunny uh doing bad bunny things like what you just read um and i would say this again there's a difference between things that represent latino culture and things that denigrate demean hurt and actually destroys Latino culture. There's a sign that the theological message from the event was this, Trinity, can you pull it up? The only thing more powerful than hate is love. And again, man, here's what I would say in a show where you have two men grinding, women twerking by an artist who is known for promoting blatant promiscuity, vulgarity, homosexuality, transgenderism, drunkenness, and more. And then you go ahead and you say the only thing more powerful than hate is love. And I get emotional about this because I think it really deceives a lot of people. Here's what I would say. Hey, bro, what you're doing literally contradicts what you're saying. Promiscuity is not love. Denigration of women is not love. Glorifying a hyper-sexualized lifestyle, including to teenagers, especially to the culture that I was raised in, is not love. Confusing a generation about what it means to be a man or a woman is not love. encouraging even a spirit of lawlessness is not love. Anything that contradicts the word of God is not love. And so I would say for people that are maybe used to listening to TikTok influencers about how they've redefined love, we need to go back to the word of God and see what God says about love. I actually agree. The one only thing more powerful than hate is love. First John 3, 16, by this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. God defines love, and his name is Jesus. Do not settle for a counterfeit false version of what love is. Preach! Well done. So good. And so my warning, or my gentle warning, or watch out to especially Hispanic people seeing their flag and blessing a full event, saying, yes, that's us. I would say, man, it's okay. And it's fine to celebrate and identify with your culture, your heritage, your flag, our family values, our sense of community. It's a beautiful thing. It's not okay to identify with things that are inconsistent with your highest identity. And that's a Jesus follower. That's a Christian. And so my highest allegiance and identity is not the country I was born in. It is the person whom I was born again through. That's right. That's Jesus. Oh, that's good. Say it one more time. Say it one more time. My highest allegiance and identity is not the country that I was born in. It is the person whom I was born again through. Breach. And that's Jesus. And that's going to change everything. Breach. And that last line you said, by the way, applies to every single Christian in the world. That's right, dude. And that's the whole point you were making earlier, is that the difference between a conservative Christian and a Christian conservative. That's right. It's like what we just said applies to everyone. And you were speaking, obviously, specifically into Hispanic Latino culture, but it's the same thing for any culture. So when you're talking about previous artists' places that would glorify stuff that was also moral, they're basically taking something that is not good and attaching to what actually is good, and that taints it, is pretty much what you're trying to say. And so, yeah. I've got a final thought. Come on, man. Can we land it? Come on. Because we're talking about evangelism. And I would say some people think Bad Bunny is actually closer to becoming a Christian than others might think. Again, Latin American culture is very Christian. So I'm sure he's been exposed to the gospel. I'm sure he has family members that are praying for him. I'm sure. I think he's close. And in fact, there's a video. We don't have it here. We don't need to play it. But there's a video that right before his performance, he's like praying or kind of doing this. God, this is for you. And so here's what I would say for anybody, not just white or Hispanic or black or whatever people, condemning him in a way that is, man, I would never do that. You know, I would say, man, pray for him. Pray for Bad Bunny. And there was a video. Trinity, can you pull that video? So before you play it, Daddy Yankee, for people that don't know, is like the biggest name. I can't, you know, he's like the biggest artist in Latin America, also known for super dirty music. He has a song called Gasolina, again, super dirty. I'm not even going to try to sing it. But he became a Christian and his life was radically changed. And he was asked, because I would say he was even bigger than Bad Bunny. If Bad Bunny invites you to play with him, that your famous song about, again, it's about grinding with women and other things, super viral. This is what he said. let's play it if he were to ask you to perform gasolina at super bowl would you oh no not right now not right now no no good job no right now because i'm on a different mission right now but even though i respect what i'm what he's doing right now don't get me wrong benito is an ally and i love it he's for puerto rico and and actually we were talking yesterday i told him I wish you the best. Go there and do your best, and we're proud of you. But I'm in a different mission right now. It's different. So I've got to represent what I'm doing right now 100%. So if he asks me to perform Son Riele, that's different. That's his new Christian song. Okay, I'm going there. I'm going to, okay, let's do Son Riele for the rest of the world, and I'm going to send a message. That's what I'm saying. I would love to do that. But I respect his creative decision. I respect everything that he's doing right now. And it's very important for the Spanish-speaking community, for the Latinos. It's the first time that somebody's going to sing in Spanish, and that's beautiful. You know what I'm saying? And he's from Puerto Rico. And like I told him, we're proud of what you're doing. And I think the biggest touchdown on his career will be when he has FGs in his life. That's got to be a line, bro. That's the line. Let's go. That's the biggest touchdown. Good job, bud. So today we pray that God can save Bad Bunny and transform him. Carlos, would you close this by praying for exactly that? Heavenly Father, we thank you so much because you remind us today that our identities above everything else, about where we come from, where we were born, about any flag. Ultimately, we serve the King of Kings, and that's Jesus. Ultimately, we are sons and daughters of Christ, of God. And so, Lord, we thank you because you're good. Lord, we pray right now for Bad Bunny. And we pray that you may, that you, the hound of heaven, can save his soul, can change his life, can offer him something infinitely more beautiful. And that's a relationship with you. Lord, I pray for that we may continue to learn from each other as we have some of these conversations on what does it mean to be Jesus followers and also love our nation and love our neighbor. Father, give us wisdom to be a reflection of who you are, that we may do so with humility, with conviction, with boldness as well. I pray for people listening as well. May we be emboldened and encouraged to share the gospel, to be bold in faith as the world is bold in their sin. Thank you, Father, for your word. We love you, and we pray this in your name, Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Thank you.