NXR Podcast - BONUS EPISODE - Which One Is Quarrelsome According To Scripture? Aired: 2023-03-24 Duration: 01:00:34 === Avoiding Unprofitable Quarrels (12:51) === [00:00:00] Hi, welcome back to another live Monday video. [00:00:02] This happens every Monday at 2 p.m. Central Time on YouTube. [00:00:07] The Right Response Ministries YouTube channel, 2 p.m. Central Time every Monday. [00:00:11] A live video from myself. [00:00:12] Make sure to stay tuned. [00:00:14] If you're not subscribed, go ahead and subscribe right now. [00:00:17] Click the bell and stay tuned for Tuesday, the very next day, every Tuesday, again at 2 p.m. Central Time. [00:00:23] We have our flagship show. [00:00:24] It's the interview format called Theology Applied, where I have renowned guests from all over the world who come and talk about. [00:00:31] Theology, but practically how to apply our doctrine not just in a theoretical sense but practically on the ground in every single sphere of life. [00:00:41] Theology applied to the arts, theology applied to vocation, economics, marketplaces, politics, culture, every possible scenario that you can think of. [00:00:50] And of course, in our individual lives and our private practices of piety and our homes, our marriages, our parenting, and everything else. [00:00:59] So that's Theology Applied every Tuesday at 2 p.m. where I interview a special guest. [00:01:04] What you're listening to now is our live video where I fly solo every Monday at 2 p.m. Central Time, right here on our YouTube channel. [00:01:13] You can also follow us with all of our content on Spotify, iTunes, your favorite podcast platform will be there. [00:01:20] You can also download our free app if you want to use the app. [00:01:23] Very user friendly, it's free to use. [00:01:25] And of course, you can also go to our website, rightresponseministries.com. [00:01:29] All right, all that being said, let's go ahead and hop into our topic for today. [00:01:34] Today, I want to talk. [00:01:36] About what it means, biblically speaking, to be quarrelsome. [00:01:40] How does the Bible define quarrelsomeness? [00:01:45] I think that there are a lot of accusations that often come towards Christians and especially pastors in regards to their method. [00:01:55] But what we find in Scripture, and I'm going to use a lot of verses to make this argument directly from the Bible, but I'll start with my basic thesis right out of the gate. [00:02:04] What we find in Scripture predominantly is that what makes an individual quarrelsome is not his method. [00:02:11] But his message. [00:02:12] Again, what makes an individual, first and foremost, quarrelsome is not his method, the tone of his voice, or the way that he speaks, the how, but rather the message, the what. [00:02:26] Is he saying something true, or is he saying something that is false? [00:02:31] Now, the Bible does address how we speak. [00:02:34] The Bible does address how we speak. [00:02:37] But the Bible never addresses how we speak over and against, or as a greater priority. [00:02:44] To what we speak. [00:02:45] The first priority, if we're triaging importance in terms of what the scripture teaches, is more important what we say than how we say it. [00:02:55] How we say it matters, the Bible has something to say about that, but first and foremost, it is what we say. [00:03:01] The false teachers that we see in scripture, and this is ironic based off of a lot of the common and popular notions that you hear from evangelicals today, but what scripture actually teaches is that many of the false teachers are described as being quarrelsome. [00:03:16] And catch this, simultaneously described as having smooth and flattering speech or tickling ears, right? [00:03:27] They're saying what people want to hear and they're speaking in the way that people want to hear it. [00:03:35] Both how they're speaking and what they're speaking, both their method and their message is what people want to hear. [00:03:42] And yet they are described in scripture as being divisive, they are described as being those who breed quarrels. [00:03:51] They are quarrelsome men who slip into households, upsetting whole households, upsetting and turning, dividing people against one another, upsetting the house of God, the church. [00:04:03] And they do this with a smooth speech, smooth tongue. [00:04:08] Their method is Mr. Rogers nice, but their message is poison. [00:04:14] It may be what the people want to hear, it is certainly how they want to hear it, but it is not true. [00:04:21] And it ultimately damns the soul to hell. [00:04:24] So let's go ahead and start with the first verse that we have for today. [00:04:27] Here we go. [00:04:30] First verse. [00:04:30] This is Titus chapter 3, verses 9 through 11. [00:04:33] It says But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. [00:04:42] As for a person who stirs up division after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful, he is self-sufficient. [00:04:54] Condemned. [00:04:55] Now, the first thing that I want to notice here is the things or the topics of discussion that are specifically named that should be avoided because all they do is breed controversies and quarrels and divisions. [00:05:11] Here they are foolish controversies. [00:05:13] This is what you should avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law. [00:05:24] Now, let me break each one of these down for a moment because what people will do. [00:05:28] This is what your typical normie Christian, big Eva gospel coalition following saint is going to do. [00:05:36] They're going to eisegeate their own presupposition, what they think each one of these words means, and it won't be anything close to what the author of scripture inspired by the Holy Spirit actually means. [00:05:51] Avoid foolish controversies. [00:05:53] You're a progressive Christian, your typical nice sugar and spice. [00:05:58] Following the good faith debates on the Gospel Coalition, Christian is going to say foolish controversies. [00:06:05] Foolish controversies would be, you know, like something like about the vaccine and whether or not, you know, it has certain side effects, myocarditis, that could cause somebody to have a random heart attack and drop dead. [00:06:23] That's a foolish controversy. [00:06:25] No, that's not what the Bible's talking about. [00:06:28] The Bible is not classifying or categorizing. [00:06:32] An untested experimental drug that sure, yeah, millions of people have taken, but no one can tell us what the long term effects are because no one has taken it for years. [00:06:46] No one has had this coursing through their bloodstream for a decade. [00:06:50] Millions of people have had it for a brief period of time. [00:06:53] No one has had it long term. [00:06:56] The Bible is not saying that pushing back and saying, wait a second, whoa, whoa, whoa, not only is this vaccine questionable, but vaccine mandates. [00:07:05] That the government is going to dictate in a Machiavellian, totalitarian, draconian sense what I must put in my body and it has no long term testing. [00:07:21] And we're hearing evidence after evidence of side effects. [00:07:26] I think that that's suspect. [00:07:28] Well, that's a foolish controversy. [00:07:31] No, it's not. [00:07:32] Okay, genealogies. [00:07:35] Genealogies. [00:07:37] This is not talking about genealogies in the Bible. [00:07:40] I highly doubt that the Apostle Paul, underneath the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, writing to Titus, a son in the faith, is saying that the Bible should be avoided. [00:07:51] So, this is not talking about the beginning of the book of Matthew. [00:07:55] This is not talking about the book of Genesis, right? [00:07:58] Chapter 11. [00:08:01] This is not talking about multiple genealogies that we find inspired by the Holy Spirit, written by the authors of Scripture on the pages of the Bible. [00:08:11] These genealogies, God not only is saying it's true, but God is also saying that it matters. [00:08:18] That it matters. [00:08:19] That it's tracking the messianic lineage. [00:08:24] It's tracking the lineage of Christ all the way down from the woman, Eve, right? [00:08:30] That your seed will crush the serpent's head, the first promise of the gospel that we receive, going all the way from her to the tribe of Judah and Tamar, and all the way to David as. [00:08:42] King, because he is prophesied to be the son of David, all the way down to Joseph and Mary. [00:08:50] That's not something that should be avoided. [00:08:52] Scripture is not something to be avoided. [00:08:55] The genealogies that are mentioned here are speculative, they're unprofitable genealogies that we don't have in Scripture. [00:09:06] It's more so certain Jewish traditions that's really myth and legend. [00:09:12] We're not talking about Scripture. [00:09:14] We're not called to avoid Scripture. [00:09:16] The scripture, all right. [00:09:17] Next one, uh, dissensions. [00:09:20] That there were certain factions between you know this person and that person. [00:09:25] Well, okay, um, some of these you know factions and dissensions between certain Jewish rabbis and things like that, um, yeah, those things should be avoided. [00:09:34] And that kind of leads into the very next one quarrels about the law. [00:09:38] Now, this is where a lot of evangelicals, I think, are way off base. [00:09:41] They would say, well, um, you know, you're preaching the law of God, and we're told to avoid quarrels about the law, okay. [00:09:50] What is the law? [00:09:50] What is the law in this sense, in the context of this text, that certain quarrels and arguments about the law of God should be avoided? [00:09:59] Do you think it's talking about the moral law of God, the eternal and immutable, transcendent moral law of God, the Decalogue, Exodus chapter 20, the Ten Commandments? [00:10:10] Let's just go with the sixth commandment for a moment Thou shalt not murder. [00:10:14] Do you think that if there's a serial killer and a Christian comes out and says, Hey, he should stop killing people? [00:10:24] Do you think that we should respond by saying, hey, you're a quarrelsome person? [00:10:29] You're being divisive right now. [00:10:31] You know, you're quarreling about the law. [00:10:34] No, that's no. [00:10:36] The law in this context is speaking of the Mosaic law, predominantly, primarily speaking of the ceremonial law, the ceremonial rituals that were given to Israel uniquely underneath the old covenant for a time, but have now been fulfilled and abrogated by the earthly ministry. [00:10:55] Namely, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. [00:10:59] Jesus is our high priest, not merely in the order of the Levitical order, but in the order of Melchizedek. [00:11:06] He is a priest and king forever, and he is our perfect and final and eternal forever high priest. [00:11:13] He is also the perfect sacrifice, right? [00:11:16] By the blood of bulls and goats, God is not pleased with animal sacrifices, not in the ultimate sense. [00:11:23] The blood of bulls and goats would never take away sin, is what Hebrews, the author to the Hebrews, says. [00:11:28] But Jesus is the Lamb of God, the perfect sacrifice, perfect forever priest, and final sacrifice, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. [00:11:38] Jesus washes us by his blood and sanctifies us by his word to where we are clean, right? [00:11:45] We are clean now. [00:11:45] And so certain hand washings and washing rituals no longer apply for the New Testament, New Covenant church. [00:11:54] The law that's being spoken of here, what the apostle is saying is get away from these, he's talking about Judaism. [00:12:00] A lot of this is about Judaism, foolish controversies within Judaism and certain rabbinical myths. [00:12:09] And certain genealogies and dissensions within that vein, that context, and quarrels about the law, speaking primarily of the Mosaic law, of the ceremonial law that has been ultimately fulfilled by Christ. [00:12:22] These things are unprofitable and worthless. [00:12:26] Now, what your typical evangelical wants to do is say that a theological debate about Arminianism versus Calvinism is quarrelsome, that it's unprofitable and worthless. [00:12:42] No, God's role in saving sinners is not unprofitable and worthless. [00:12:50] That's insane. === When Arguments Are Worthwhile (03:17) === [00:12:52] And yet people think that. [00:12:53] This is unprofitable and worthless. [00:12:56] The Bible says to avoid, the Bible doesn't say just avoid arguments, period. [00:13:02] There are some things worth arguing. [00:13:03] Think about that for a moment. [00:13:05] If that's the biblical precedent, just to avoid all arguments, then you can't preach the gospel to unbelievers who hate the gospel. [00:13:15] Because they're going to disagree. [00:13:17] They're going to push back. [00:13:19] They're going to argue. [00:13:21] If all arguing is inherently sinful, then you and I are on our way to hell. [00:13:26] We're still dead in our sins because the only way we're forgiven is if a sinless Savior died as a substitute in our place. [00:13:33] And Jesus is not sinless if all arguing is inherently sinful because Jesus engaged in argument. [00:13:41] He did. [00:13:43] Jesus reasoned and debated and argued. [00:13:46] Argued with the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the scribes and the rulers of the law. [00:13:52] The Apostle Paul, he debated. [00:13:55] The Apostle Paul debated and reasoned in the Hall of Tyrrhenius. [00:13:59] And we also have Apollos, who the Bible literally says he argued and debated, depending on your translation, powerfully. [00:14:08] So the Bible's filled with examples of people who are pushing back, who are engaging in debate, engaging in argument, right? [00:14:17] The The average population in some of these places, especially Jewish places, they said of Paul that he is one who stirs up riots. [00:14:27] In other words, they're saying, This is a guy who's just, he's trouble. [00:14:32] He's a quarreler, right? [00:14:34] King Ahab said that of Elijah, You troubler of Israel. [00:14:37] And Elijah responds by saying, Hey, I'm not allowed to argue, so I guess I'll agree with whatever you say. [00:14:41] I am a troubler of Israel. [00:14:42] No, he argues. [00:14:44] He says, No, you're the one who has brought trouble on Israel. [00:14:48] I'm not a troubler of Israel. [00:14:49] You don't like me because I say things that you don't want to hear. [00:14:53] But I'm not the quarrelsome person. [00:14:55] I'm not the argumentative person. [00:14:57] I'm not the troubler. [00:14:59] The one who has actually brought trouble on the people is the one who is worshiping false gods, the one who is faithless, the one who is in sin, the one who's wrong. [00:15:11] He's the troubler of Israel. [00:15:14] So Paul argued, Apollos argued, Peter argued, Jesus argued. [00:15:19] Argued. [00:15:19] They had a sharp polemic, not politic, but polemic. [00:15:23] They had a sharp rhetoric, and they were willing to engage in debate for the glory of God and the good of His people who were being led astray. [00:15:32] All right, let's go ahead and look at another verse. [00:15:35] Here's the next verse. [00:15:38] Now, the next couple verses are going to just reiterate because I want to show you it's not just in one place in the Bible, but it's going to reiterate what we just saw in the prior text. [00:15:46] So, this now is 2 Timothy 2, verses 23 and 24. [00:15:51] It says, has nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies, right? [00:15:55] It's the same phrase, it's the same term. [00:15:58] Foolish controversies. [00:15:59] You know that they breed quarrels, that they breed quarrels. [00:16:04] And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone able to teach. === Craving Controversy Is Guilty (15:08) === [00:16:09] Patiently enduring evil. [00:16:12] So that does get a little bit into not just the message, but the method. [00:16:17] Not just what we say, but how we say it. [00:16:19] The Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but rather, in contrast, he should be kind, able to teach. [00:16:27] So he's competent, he's able to engage in theological debate, but he's also patient. [00:16:33] He's not just competent, he's not just studied up, but he's also patiently enduring evil. [00:16:40] Right? [00:16:41] It's like the parable that Jesus told to the disciples that a master owned a field and that he planted wheat. [00:16:47] And then his enemy, one of his enemies, came in the middle of the night and planted bad seeds so that there were tares among the wheat. [00:16:54] There were weeds among the wheat that sprung up. [00:16:58] And the disciples, you know, the servants of the master, they go to him and they say, Should we go ahead and root up the tares? [00:17:05] And the master responds by saying, No, lest we also damage the wheat. [00:17:08] But let's wait till the end of the age. [00:17:11] We'll wait to the harvest, which represents the end of the age, and the reapers, which represent the angels. [00:17:15] Jesus interprets the parable later for the disciples. [00:17:19] They will come and they will ultimately harvest both the wheat and the tares and then separate them the wheat to be stored in my barn and the tares to be burned in the fire. [00:17:30] So there is something to be said for waiting. [00:17:32] I think some of this applies to church discipline, for instance. [00:17:36] There are times where you might have knowledge. [00:17:39] You might be a witness, an eyewitness. [00:17:41] You were there, you saw it. [00:17:43] It's not speculation, it's not just a gut. [00:17:45] Feeling or an instinct, but you were an eye and ear witness. [00:17:49] You saw someone do something that is egregiously sinful. [00:17:55] As the Westminster would say, it's a high handed sin. [00:17:58] And you have confronted the person, per Matthew 18, go to your brother alone. [00:18:03] He has not listened to you. [00:18:04] You have not been able to win over your brother. [00:18:06] He has not even admitted that he did that. [00:18:09] He's lying. [00:18:10] He's doubling down and digging in his heels and saying, no, you weren't there. [00:18:14] I didn't do that. [00:18:15] You didn't see anything. [00:18:17] And nobody else was a witness. [00:18:19] Nobody else is able to come out and testify as an eyewitness. [00:18:22] You do not have two or three independent, credible lines of testimony from primary sources. [00:18:31] You don't have that. [00:18:32] And so, what does the Bible say that you do? [00:18:35] Well, whether it's Deuteronomy and Israel under the Old Covenant, or whether it's Matthew 18 and the New Testament, in either regard, what the Bible says that you do is that ultimately that person gets off the hook. [00:18:47] That biblically speaking, the principle is this that it would be better for 10 guilty people to ultimately be treated as though they're innocent than to wrongfully charge and indict and criminalize one innocent person. [00:19:09] Why? [00:19:09] Why is the Bible, when determining what gets the priority, why does the Bible prioritize protecting the innocent rather than punishing the guilty? [00:19:19] Punishing the guilty is important, but if we're having to choose between the two, the Bible prioritizes protecting the innocent over punishing the guilty. [00:19:27] Why? [00:19:28] Because at the end of the day, in the ultimate eternal sense, the guilty never go unpunished. [00:19:33] No one indefinitely gets away with sin because there's a God in heaven who judges both the quick and the dead. [00:19:43] And he sees all things and he does all things right. [00:19:47] And so, better for someone who is guilty to temporarily get away with their guilt than someone who is innocent to be wrongfully tried and charged. [00:19:59] Okay, so all that being said, the point is. [00:20:03] The Lord's servant should be patient. [00:20:05] That doesn't mean that he doesn't engage in argument when falsehoods are being proclaimed. [00:20:12] It simply means that he doesn't overstep his biblical jurisdiction, that he does not exercise the authority of command beyond the bounds of authority that have been assigned to him, [00:20:27] that he's not a vigilante, that he doesn't try to take justice into his own hands, that he doesn't That he doesn't practice or engage in abuse or, in the context of the church, spiritual abuse. [00:20:44] That he follows carefully the jurisdictions and the process laid out in Scripture for dealing with sin. [00:20:50] And even if he has innate knowledge that the person is guilty, if the process that Christ has given us in his word is not able to find the person guilty, because in the providence of God, in his sovereignty, it's not an accident, God's sovereign over all. [00:21:06] If in God's sovereignty he just didn't allow for there to be a second witness, then the person is ultimately going to say, Let God be true and every man a liar. [00:21:15] God knows what he's doing. [00:21:16] God's sovereign and he works all things for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purposes, even tragedies, even injustice. [00:21:25] God works all things for the good of those who love him. [00:21:27] God is sovereign over everything. [00:21:30] So even in this, patiently enduring evil, kind and we might say respectful towards everyone, you can argue passionately. [00:21:40] But in a way that is not cruel, in a way that is not mean spirited. [00:21:45] And you can be patient, not meaning that, hey, I'm just being patient. [00:21:49] I'm just not going to argue. [00:21:50] I'm never going to engage if somebody disagrees. [00:21:53] That's not what patience means in this context. [00:21:56] That's not what it means. [00:21:57] So, same kind of concept, avoiding foolish controversies. [00:22:01] Again, I think a lot of this is having to do with Judaism, things that were particular to that first century. [00:22:08] There were certain Judaizers, circumcisers of the flesh, the circumcision party, as Paul calls them elsewhere, especially in the book of Galatians. [00:22:16] And he often cites these individuals as being divisive, as being those who stir up quarrels and stir up division, introduce division into these Gentile New Covenant, New Testament churches. [00:22:31] And Paul's saying, avoid these individuals, don't engage them. [00:22:35] Don't engage them. [00:22:38] That doesn't mean don't engage somebody on the topic of God's sovereignty. [00:22:41] It doesn't mean don't engage somebody. [00:22:44] In the topic of eschatology, or don't engage somebody in the topic of penal substitutionary atonement. [00:22:51] It means if somebody is talking about the ceremonial portions of the Mosaic law that have been fulfilled and abrogated by Christ by virtue of his life, death, and resurrection now on this side of the new covenant, better just to avoid that. [00:23:08] They're warped men, as the scripture speaks elsewhere, they're warped men simply wanting to upset households. [00:23:17] Sow seeds of division, best to avoid these people. [00:23:21] Mark and avoid. [00:23:22] All right, here's the next text. [00:23:26] This is 1 Timothy 6, verses 3 through 5. [00:23:28] So here we have, well, I'll just go ahead and read it. [00:23:32] It says If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. [00:23:45] He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth. [00:24:01] Imagining that godliness is a means of gain. [00:24:05] So, a lot of sharp words to say about such an individual. [00:24:09] This person is, they're a bad guy. [00:24:12] They're depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. [00:24:20] So, there's a duplicity, there's greed, all these things are involved. [00:24:24] But start at the beginning of the text. [00:24:27] Who is this person? [00:24:29] What makes them? [00:24:31] The person who is quarrelsome and stirs up quarrels and divisive, if anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, then he's conceited, puffed up with conceit, understanding nothing. [00:24:47] So he's conceited, he's arrogant, and ignorant. [00:24:51] He has an unhealthy craving for controversy. [00:24:54] What makes him have an unhealthy craving for controversy? [00:24:57] Because he has right doctrine and loves the word of God and wants to engage with people to see them come into right doctrine as well? [00:25:04] No. [00:25:05] What makes him the kind of guy that has an unhealthy craving for controversy isn't, and for quarrels about words, isn't because he's the guy who's engaging in arguments. [00:25:19] It's not, hey, this guy has a love of controversy and quarrels. [00:25:23] This guy has a craving for controversy and quarrels because we regularly see him engaging in debate. [00:25:30] No, it's because he's wrong in his theology. [00:25:35] He's wrong in his theology. [00:25:37] It's not the guy who's regularly debating. [00:25:41] That is the guy who's described in scripture as having a craving for controversy and quarrels about words. [00:25:47] Now, the guy who's described as having an unhealthy craving for controversy and he has a craving for quarrels is the guy who teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching which accords with godliness. [00:26:04] Meaning that the person who is chiefly responsible for being the source of division and quarrelsomeness is the person who's wrong. [00:26:15] Let me say that again. [00:26:16] That's a basic rule of thumb that you'll find all over the pages of Scripture, especially in the New Testament. [00:26:22] When it comes to deciding who's being quarrelsome here, nine out of ten times, according to a biblical definition, looking at text like this one, the person who is quarrelsome, that the Bible would define as quarrelsome, is you could have two people both arguing, both arguing, but the person who's quarrelsome is the person who's wrong. [00:26:46] That's the person who's quarrelsome. [00:26:48] The person who is theologically wrong, who's teaching a different doctrine. [00:26:53] The Apostle Paul engaged in quarrels. [00:26:56] He engaged in arguments all the time, but he was not quarrelsome. [00:27:02] Why? [00:27:03] How could the Apostle Paul quarrel but not be marked as a man who is sinfully quarrelsome? [00:27:08] Because he was right. [00:27:11] Because he was right. [00:27:13] Yes, it has something to do with the method that he was patient. [00:27:17] That he was kind. [00:27:19] First and foremost, it has something to do with the message. [00:27:22] He was doctrinally sound, he was right. [00:27:27] Let's go ahead and move on to another verse. [00:27:31] A bishop, then, must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach, not given to wine, no striker, not greedy or filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler, not covetous. [00:27:50] So this is 1 Timothy 3, verses 2 through 3. [00:27:56] Listing some of the qualifications for a bishop, or other translations would say an elder, these two terms being synonymous. [00:28:04] This is a pastor. [00:28:06] Somebody is going to hold the ordained office of elder in the church. [00:28:10] If they're going to be a pastor, there are certain qualifications that they must fulfill, that they must meet. [00:28:15] Now, the reason why I'm using this is the King James Version here. [00:28:19] The reason why I want to use the King James Version, I think it's better, well, in multiple places, but this being one of them, I think. [00:28:27] The King James Version is better. [00:28:28] And one of the things that it says, other versions will say he must not be quarrelsome. [00:28:33] But the King James Version goes ahead and just defines quarrelsome. [00:28:37] It says instead of saying he must not be quarrelsome or argumentative, it goes ahead and says, well, he must not be a striker, no striker, not greedy, a filthy lucre, but patient. [00:28:51] And then it says, not a brawler, not a brawler. [00:28:55] Whereas other translations, again, are going to say he must not be quarrelsome. [00:29:00] The King James is going to say he must not be getting in physical fights. [00:29:06] He must not be someone getting in fist fights. [00:29:08] He must not be striking. [00:29:10] He must not be a brawler. [00:29:12] So the King James is essentially saying what does it mean not to be quarrelsome? [00:29:18] It means that this guy isn't punching people in the face. [00:29:22] The guy who's not punching people in the face. [00:29:25] And it's assuming that he's right because it also says he must be able to teach. [00:29:30] All right, it says he must be able to teach. [00:29:33] So he's got to have theological competence, right? [00:29:35] That's one of the qualifications. [00:29:37] So we're assuming here he's theologically competent and he's engaging with people who disagree with him. [00:29:43] Pastors regularly do that, engaging with people who disagree with the doctrine that they are teaching publicly in their public preaching ministry. [00:29:52] So he's teaching sound doctrine. [00:29:54] People are pushing back with unsound doctrine, with wrong doctrine. [00:29:58] He's engaging with some of that pushback. [00:30:01] He's engaging with some of that. [00:30:03] Debate. [00:30:03] And what makes him not quarrelsome is that he's right. [00:30:07] C point A, in terms of his message, he's on the right side. [00:30:11] He has the right theological position. [00:30:13] And number two, although he is arguing powerfully, the Apollos, the Bible says that he argued powerfully. [00:30:22] He was using sharp language. [00:30:25] Sharp language. [00:30:26] Jesus used sharp language, polemical language. [00:30:30] He described, I mean, he used sarcasm. [00:30:32] You strain a gnat, but you swallow a camel. [00:30:36] You're like whitewashed tombs, right? [00:30:38] You're pretty and bleached on the outside, but on the inside, there's the smell of a rotting corpse. [00:30:45] You're so dumb. [00:30:47] You clean the outside of your glass before taking a drink, but you leave a petri dish of infectious bacteria and disease inside the cup, pour in your drink, and then go ahead and gulp it down, right? [00:31:03] That's the way that Jesus speaks to people who are perverting the truth. [00:31:08] And leading others astray. [00:31:11] And that's not quarrelsome. [00:31:13] Jesus did not lift a hand. [00:31:16] Jesus was not a brawler. === Sharp Words Without Violence (02:11) === [00:31:18] In fact, even when they wrongfully come for him for his arrest, when it would have been right to exercise self defense in an ordinary situation, Jesus, knowing the purpose for which he had come to earth as a lamb led to the slaughter to die for the sins of the world, Jesus does not resist. [00:31:35] He does not physically resist. [00:31:36] Even then, he engages and he still has some sharp words, right? [00:31:41] I've been publicly teaching for the better part of three years now, give or take. [00:31:45] You've seen me in the synagogues, you've seen me in the streets, you could have arrested me at any time, but you come under the Cover of darkness, right? [00:31:53] He's charging them. [00:31:54] That's what he's doing. [00:31:55] He's saying, You're being deceptive. [00:31:58] You didn't come in broad daylight because you know what you're doing is wrong. [00:32:03] You're going to hold a mock trial and produce false witnesses in the middle of the night. [00:32:09] And that's why you're coming now. [00:32:11] So even then, at Jesus' arrest, knowing that that was the very purpose that he came for to be arrested, to be wrongfully tried, and to be crucified, Jesus, knowing this, he engages in polemical language. [00:32:22] He calls them out on their duplicity. [00:32:25] He said, You're being sinister. [00:32:26] You're being malicious. [00:32:27] You're being deceitful. [00:32:29] You are being deceitful. [00:32:31] And so he's still using sharp words, but he doesn't physically resist. [00:32:36] He's not a brawler. [00:32:38] And when Peter starts to brawl, namely by cutting off one of the soldier's ears, Jesus tells him to put away his sword. [00:32:45] And he reaches down and he grabs the ear and he heals the man who is coming to wrongfully arrest him. [00:32:52] So sharp language is different than being a striker. [00:32:56] Sharp language is different than being a brawler. [00:32:59] And I appreciate the King James, particularly in this context, where instead of saying quarrelsome, it just goes ahead and practically defines exactly what it means to be quarrelsome, which means that an elder does argue, he does engage, he even has at his disposal sarcasm, satire, sharp polemical language. [00:33:23] What makes him not quarrelsome is twofold he's right and he doesn't punch people in the face. === Corinthian Division Explained (15:02) === [00:33:29] God bless. [00:33:30] All right, let's go ahead and look at another verse. [00:33:33] 1 Corinthians 1, verse 10 through 12. [00:33:36] I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no divisions among you. [00:33:44] All right, this is a verse that is used out of context, well, just misinterpreted a million times. [00:33:52] But that you be united in the same mind and same judgment. [00:33:56] For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you. [00:34:03] My brothers, what I mean is that each of you says, I follow Paul, I follow Apollos, I follow Cephas, that's Peter, or I follow Christ. [00:34:15] Again, that's 1 Corinthians 1, verses 10 through 12. [00:34:18] Now, this one is hilarious when you see people misapply this scripture and misinterpret it. [00:34:25] So, I follow Paul, I follow Apollos, I follow Peter, I follow Christ. [00:34:30] How do people interpret this? [00:34:32] How does your modern evangelical, normie evangelical use this? [00:34:36] I follow Calvin. [00:34:39] I follow Jacobus Arminius. [00:34:42] I follow whatever. [00:34:45] Some other guy, Edwards. [00:34:47] I follow Spurgeon. [00:34:48] I follow Wesley. [00:34:49] I follow Whitfield. [00:34:51] That's how they apply it. [00:34:52] Now, why does that not work? [00:34:54] Why is that a misinterpretation? [00:34:58] I follow Calvin. [00:35:00] What I follow, I'm a Calvinist. [00:35:03] I'm an Arminian. [00:35:04] I follow John Calvin. [00:35:05] I follow Jacobus Arminius. [00:35:08] Why is that not the same as saying, I follow Paul, I follow Apollos, I follow Cephas, I follow Christ? [00:35:15] The reason why that's different, Calvin versus Jacobus Arminius, versus what the text says, Paul, Apollos, Peter, and Jesus, the reason why that's different is because Paul, Apollos, Peter, and Jesus agree. [00:35:34] That's the difference. [00:35:37] Paul did not have a different doctrine than Jesus. [00:35:43] And this is the same argument that progressive, deconstructing, liberal, God hating Christians, and they're not actually Christians, people like Brandon Robertson, I think is his name, James White and Jeff Durbin recently debated him. [00:35:57] People like this, what do they do? [00:36:00] Think about it. [00:36:01] Remember, what do they do? [00:36:02] What do feminists do? [00:36:05] Feminist theologians, LGBT affirming theologians, what do they do? [00:36:10] They are constantly trying to trump Paul with Jesus. [00:36:15] That's not what 1 Corinthians 1, verses 10 through 12 is saying. [00:36:20] That's not what Paul is saying to the Corinthians. [00:36:23] Because notice, he doesn't just say, because what you would think, the way that people use this verse, you would think that Paul would say, you know, you guys are quarreling and that's not good. [00:36:33] Some of you say, I follow Paul. [00:36:35] Some say, I follow Apollo. [00:36:36] Some say, I follow Peter. [00:36:37] But what you should do is just say, I follow Jesus. [00:36:41] But that's not the text. [00:36:43] Paul cites that. [00:36:45] Or, I follow Christ, that position in the context of his argument is also a quarrelsome position. [00:36:52] Think about that for a second. [00:36:53] Let that sit for a moment. [00:36:54] Just chew on that, marinate on that for a second. [00:36:57] Paul is citing right along the categories of I follow Paul, I follow Apollos, I follow Cephas, again, that's Peter, or I follow Christ, I follow Jesus is being cited as an example of being quarrelsome. [00:37:15] Follow one of these men, or in the case of Christ, the God man, the Son of God, in all these cases, they're not talking about their doctrine. [00:37:25] That's not what's going on here. [00:37:27] The people that Paul's writing to, the Corinthians, they are aware that there is theological unity and perfect alignment between the apostles and Christ. [00:37:41] So when people say, Well, I follow Paul, they're not saying Paul teaches one thing and Jesus teaches something else, and I choose Paul over Jesus. [00:37:49] No one's making that argument. [00:37:51] That's not what Paul's addressing with the Corinthian church. [00:37:54] He goes right after this, I don't have it for the screen, but right after this, he goes into baptism. [00:37:59] And he actually says, I thank God that I did not baptize anyone. [00:38:04] And then he says, Well, but I did baptize this household and maybe this other one. [00:38:07] And, you know, if there's anybody else that I baptize beyond that, I can't remember because apparently he did baptize. [00:38:13] But he goes on and says, For I did not come to baptize. [00:38:16] Not that baptism is wrong. [00:38:18] Somebody needs to baptize. [00:38:19] But he says, As an apostle of Christ, Not as a local elder in the church, but primarily as an apostle of Christ on a missionary journey, going to as many people as possible and staying for a short time in each of these places, my chief aim is to simply preach. [00:38:35] Not to baptize, but to preach. [00:38:37] But it's not, what I'm trying to say is, it's not random that the apostle Paul has this text that we've just read that's on the screen right now, and then goes from that and talks about baptism. [00:38:50] What biblical scholars and commentators within the Reformed tradition that are tried and true and sound, solid, respectable theologians that I would adhere to and trust, what they say about this, and I think they're right, is they're saying it's not so much that there's four different men represented here, one being the God, man, Christ, and they represent four different theological teachings, four different doctrinal confessions. [00:39:19] That are not in harmony with one another, but actually contradict four different theological systems that contradict one another. [00:39:27] That's not what's being mentioned. [00:39:28] The reason why baptism is brought into the equation is because it's talking about people were boasting in the Corinthian church about their status based off of who baptized them. [00:39:39] I was baptized by the Apostle Peter. [00:39:44] I was baptized by Apollos. [00:39:47] I was baptized by Paul. [00:39:49] I was baptized by The followers of Christ, his own disciples, when he was still walking the earth. [00:39:57] That's what they're getting. [00:39:58] This is not four different people representing four different theological positions. [00:40:02] The apostles and Jesus are not divided against each other theologically. [00:40:07] And the few instances, one that I can think of off the top of my head, where there is a doctrinal dispute, it is quickly put into order. [00:40:17] What's the instance that I'm thinking of? [00:40:18] The book of Galatians, right? [00:40:20] Where it says that certain men from James. [00:40:23] Whether James the apostle actually sent them from Jerusalem or not, they claim to be from James, but they were actually probably not from James, but from the circumcision party. [00:40:31] And they come down to check on what's happening, what the ministry of Paul and Barnabas and these guys, and they come down and start preaching about circumcision being required to be a Christian, that they must adhere to the law of Moses, namely the ceremonial portions of the law, ceremonial rituals, and primarily circumcision. [00:40:54] And to the point where Peter, who was previously. [00:40:57] Eating with the Gentiles and living like a Gentile in terms of his dietary restrictions and those truly believing that these things have been fulfilled by Christ, all of a sudden he kind of reverts back into his old Judaism ways and he starts distancing himself from the Gentiles and it starts to cause a division within the church there. [00:41:20] So much so that even Barnabas, Paul says, was led astray. [00:41:24] Now, what does Paul do? [00:41:25] Well, now Peter and Paul, for the rest of their ministries, their public ministries, They both have contradicting a separate set of theological persuasions. [00:41:34] No, Paul just addresses it and he addresses it publicly. [00:41:38] He says, I called him out to his face, for he was clearly in the wrong. [00:41:43] Peter was not keeping in step. [00:41:45] His actions of withdrawing from the Gentiles were not in step. [00:41:50] It was hypocrisy, not keeping in step with the truth of the gospel. [00:41:54] The gospel that we're saved by grace and not by adherence to the ceremonial rituals of the law of God, but that Christ is the Final and perfect fulfillment of those things, and that we're saved by grace through faith alone. [00:42:09] Peter, his actions, his hands and feet, withdrawing from the Gentiles to impress these men who are, you know, sent from James, allegedly, whether they were or not, that was hypocrisy because it's not keeping in step with his doctrine. [00:42:27] So, Paul actually, one, he's not actually even correcting Peter's doctrine. [00:42:33] He's saying, You're not keeping in step. [00:42:35] With the gospel that I know you believe. [00:42:37] So I know that you and I agree on doctrine. [00:42:40] You're just not living it out currently, and you need to. [00:42:45] That's one of the only big disputes. [00:42:46] I mean, we have other, you know, Paul and Barnabas, they part ways, but they don't part ways over Calvinism. [00:42:52] They don't part ways over reformed soteriology or whether or not unconditional election is found in the scripture. [00:42:58] They part ways over who should be in their ministry team, namely John Mark. [00:43:05] And even that seems to be reconciled later on when the Apostle Paul, who did not think that Mark should come with him and Barnabas thought that he should, they still bless each other. [00:43:15] They're amicable. [00:43:16] It's a sharp dispute, but they ultimately bless each other to work in different portions of the Lord's vineyard. [00:43:20] They're not disagreeing doctrinally. [00:43:23] They're just disagreeing over the credentials of an individual based off of his past failures. [00:43:28] And then later on, the Apostle Paul says, Send to me John Mark, for I'm in need of him, recognizing, hey, I think I got that one wrong. [00:43:36] Or even if he's not admitting that he got it wrong, he's saying, well, if Mark was suspect before, he's not suspect any longer because Barnabas did some good work with discipling John Mark and he's solid now. [00:43:50] These are like the only examples. [00:43:52] You don't look through the pages of the New Testament. [00:43:55] And see Peter and Paul disagreeing with each other. [00:43:58] So when he says that I hear there's quarreling among you, my brothers, what I mean, he's saying, what kind of quarreling? [00:44:05] Here's the example of the quarreling I'm talking about. [00:44:09] One says, I follow Paul. [00:44:10] One says, I follow Apollos. [00:44:12] One says, I follow Cephas. [00:44:13] One says, I follow Christ. [00:44:14] Paul is not saying that these are four different individuals with four different contradicting theological positions. [00:44:24] And you adhering to one and saying that it's right. [00:44:28] While implying that the others are wrong is what it means to be quarrelsome. [00:44:33] That's not what he's saying. [00:44:35] Because these guys agree. [00:44:37] Paul and Peter agree theologically. [00:44:40] And Paul, despite the progressive LGBT affirming feminist theologian, agrees with Jesus. [00:44:47] And Jesus agrees with Paul. [00:44:49] To use Pauline epistles in the New Testament for our biblical support for homosexuality being a sin or a woman not being permitted to teach or exercise authority over a man. [00:45:02] To use Paul is to use Jesus. [00:45:05] It is the words of Christ. [00:45:07] It's God's word. [00:45:08] It's breathed out by God. [00:45:11] It's scripture. [00:45:12] It is the word of God. [00:45:13] It's not Paul versus Jesus. [00:45:15] It's all Jesus. [00:45:16] It's all the word of God. [00:45:18] Paul is speaking as an apostle of Christ with apostolic authority, meaning he is speaking upon the authority which Christ gave him. [00:45:27] Christ commissioned him as a messenger, as an apostle, an errander of Christ's authority and message. [00:45:35] So these guys are not doctrinally contradicting one another. [00:45:40] The quarreling that was going on in Corinth is not saying, well, I agree with Paul's theology and you agree with Cephas, Peter's theology, and these are two different contradicting theologies. [00:45:52] No, it's saying, rather, it's saying, Paul's a bigger deal than Peter, Peter's a bigger deal than Paul, and I have Paul benefits, Paul advantages because I was baptized by Paul. [00:46:05] Well, I was baptized by Peter, and to be baptized, Baptized by Peter is a bigger deal than being baptized by Paul. [00:46:10] Well, I'm better than all of you. [00:46:12] I was baptized by Jesus. [00:46:14] That's what he's addressing. [00:46:15] He's addressing people making certain claims of having close vicinity to big names in the first century church, apostles and Jesus, of course, himself as the cornerstone, and using that as their basis for being higher up on the pecking order. [00:46:34] It's not a conversation about differing, contradicting doctrines. [00:46:39] So, when somebody engages in a debate and says, I think Calvin is right in his interpretation of Scripture and Jacobus Arminius is wrong, and then someone says, Well, that's what Paul's talking about in 1 Corinthians 1. [00:46:52] You're saying I follow John Calvin. [00:46:53] You're saying you follow Jacobus Arminius, but really I just follow Jesus. [00:46:58] You've completely misunderstood Paul's point in 1 Corinthians 1. [00:47:01] Completely. [00:47:02] All right, let's go on. [00:47:04] I think that may be it. [00:47:05] Do we have another text? [00:47:07] Here we go Romans 16, 17, and 18. [00:47:10] I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions. [00:47:15] Who are the quarrelsome types who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught? [00:47:23] Avoid these people. [00:47:24] Here they are. [00:47:25] For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. [00:47:31] By smooth talk and flattery, they deceive the hearts of the naive. [00:47:38] By smooth talk and flattery, they deceive the hearts of the naive. [00:47:43] So, who are the people who introduce divisions, cause divisions? [00:47:47] The people who are really harsh in their tongue? [00:47:51] No, not according to this verse of the Bible. [00:47:55] The people that Paul's talking again, Paul here in Romans, that he's talking about, that cause division and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that they have been taught, these people who are just serving their own appetites and not serving the Lord Jesus, These people who are divisive, who are quarrelsome, are people who don't have harsh tone, but smooth tone. [00:48:23] The people who are divisive and quarrelsome in this text are not the ones with harsh tone, but the ones with smooth tone. === Smooth Talkers Cause Divisions (04:00) === [00:48:31] So, let's just give an example, a modern day example. [00:48:36] Joel Osteen or Paul Washer. [00:48:41] Which one is quarrelsome? [00:48:45] By the Bible's definition, Joel Osteen versus Paul Washer. [00:48:50] Which one is causing division? [00:48:54] Which one is using smooth talk and flattery and deceiving the hearts of the naive? [00:49:04] It's not Paul Washer, it's Joel Osteen. [00:49:09] Of course, it is. [00:49:11] But by human standards, especially in our culture today, where it's all about being nice, By human standards, very few people would think of Joel Osteen as being quarrelsome. [00:49:24] Now, there's a lot of Christians, by the grace of God, who have sound doctrine, who are truly born again, believe the gospel, and they're able to recognize that Joel Osteen is a false teacher. [00:49:34] And so there's a lot of Christians that would say, Joel Osteen is a false teacher. [00:49:39] But even they, not all of them, would be willing to say, Joel Osteen is a false teacher and he's quarrelsome, he's divisive. [00:49:50] He's one who causes divisions. [00:49:54] But the Bible would say that. [00:49:57] The person who causes divisions is the one who is introducing theological error. [00:50:03] Let me say that again. [00:50:04] The person that the Bible charges as being divisive is the person who is introducing error. [00:50:15] That's the divisive person. [00:50:17] And you might think, well, Joel Osing is not divisive, he's not quarrelsome. [00:50:21] He speaks in the most smooth kind big smile talk that you could possibly imagine. [00:50:27] How is that quarrelsome? [00:50:30] Have you ever gotten in a debate with one of his followers? [00:50:35] See, you think Joel Osteen is nice. [00:50:39] You think that he's not quarrelsome. [00:50:41] But what about the millions of people who follow him, who are exactly what's described in verse 18 of this text, Romans chapter 16, verse 18, that by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive? [00:50:56] What about them? [00:50:58] Not just the false teacher using the smooth talk, but what about The naive, the ones who have naive hearts, who are being deceived. [00:51:07] There are millions of people in our nation and all around the world who, when you say Joel Osteen is a false teacher teaching a false gospel leading millions of people to hell, which is a perfectly biblically true statement and a loving statement for that matter, it's not only true, but it's a loving statement because the truth is love. [00:51:30] The truth is loving. [00:51:33] And when you make that statement, there are millions of people who get angry with you and distance themselves from you or will charge you, criticize you, start making ad hominem attacks towards you. [00:51:48] And all of a sudden, what's the result? [00:51:50] A division. [00:51:51] There's division, there's quarreling, there's arguing, there's bickering. [00:51:57] But who introduced that division? [00:52:00] Who created it? [00:52:01] Who sowed the seeds for it? [00:52:03] The person who's saying that Joel Osteen is a false teacher? [00:52:06] No, Joel Osteen. [00:52:09] Joel Osteen is the one who deceived the hearts of the naive, to where now, when someone preaches the truth, these naive people who have been deceived by smooth talking Joel Osteen are now being quarrelsome. [00:52:23] They're the ones being quarrelsome, and Joel Osteen's the one who sowed the seeds of quarrelsomeness. [00:52:30] That's what the Bible would teach. === Who Sowed The Seeds Of Conflict (05:14) === [00:52:32] All right. [00:52:33] I think that that's pretty much all the verses that I want to go through. [00:52:36] So, Let's go ahead and take some questions. [00:52:39] I see some of what you guys are saying in the chat. [00:52:41] I'm going to address some questions directly. [00:52:44] Real quick, before I do, I want to make an announcement briefly. [00:52:48] Here we go. [00:52:48] Let's go ahead and pull it up on the screen so that you guys who are watching live can see this announcement. [00:52:53] We've got a graphic prepared. [00:52:55] If you're interested, here we are. [00:52:56] If you're interested in sponsoring our upcoming conference, we've been sold out since December. [00:53:02] All right. [00:53:02] So we've got 550 people who are registered for our Theonomy and Postmillennialism Conference. [00:53:07] It's happening May 5th, 6th, and 7th. [00:53:10] This year. [00:53:11] So, about a month and a half, May 5th, 6th, and 7th. [00:53:14] That's a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. [00:53:16] We've got Dr. James White, Dr. Joe Boot, Dale Partridge, and myself speaking at the Theonomy and Postmillennialism Conference. [00:53:22] It's already sold out. [00:53:23] However, we are looking for sponsors. [00:53:27] And I might add, this is a little bit of a nifty loophole. [00:53:30] This is a nice little trick to slip into the conference if you really wanted to come, but it's too late for you to register. [00:53:36] You could come as a sponsor. [00:53:38] And what we're doing with our sponsors is, you know, sometimes there are conferences that have, you know, 30 different booths. [00:53:44] Right, or 50 different booths, a lot of sponsors, right? [00:53:47] And they charge maybe 500 or maybe 750 bucks for each one of these booths for people, you know, for their ministry or for their company, their business, their organization, their nonprofit, whatever it is, to be able to advertise at the conference, you know, what they're doing. [00:54:02] We, by design, intentionally are limiting it to six. [00:54:06] We are going to have six sponsors. [00:54:07] We already have two, and we are looking for four more. [00:54:10] And I know that this is going to fill up quick. [00:54:12] We have two already. [00:54:13] We're looking for four more. [00:54:14] Now, what's the benefit? [00:54:16] The benefit is that. [00:54:18] All six of our sponsors, one of the reasons why we're limiting it is that they don't just get to have a booth. [00:54:23] They get to have two tickets. [00:54:24] So they'll get two tickets to attend the conference. [00:54:28] And they also get to have a booth for the entirety of the conference that they can man that booth and have all the foot traffic and talk to 550 people throughout the entirety of the conference. [00:54:37] But they also get to publicly from the stage, either before or after one of our main sessions, they will get five minutes to make their pitch publicly to all 550 people that are there. [00:54:47] They'll get to Pitch their company or their ministry, their nonprofit, whatever it is. [00:54:52] However, the catch is that I'm going to be very particular. [00:54:59] I want guys who are theologically sound. [00:55:03] Business is great. [00:55:04] It can be a for profit business, but it needs to be a Christian business. [00:55:08] And that doesn't mean that they make crosses and sell them, but I mean a Christian business like Luther said that, you know, a Christian cobbler in making Christian shoes, it's not that he puts little crosses on the tongue or like in and out, you know. [00:55:21] John 3 16 on the bottom of the cup. [00:55:23] What makes it a Christian's shoe is it's a good shoe. [00:55:27] And the company is run by Christians who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and their Christian faith influences everything they do, including their work ethic, their business integrity, and ethics. [00:55:37] They do things well. [00:55:39] And so you could have a shoe company, it could be whatever, but you are a Christian, a God fearing Christian, and you do the kind of work that reflects that Christianity. [00:55:48] It's a good price, it's a fair price. [00:55:51] It doesn't have to be a charity, but it's a fair price. [00:55:54] And it's a good product or a good service, right? [00:55:57] So that's the business thing. [00:55:58] Or if it's a ministry, if it's an explicit Christian ministry that has content and teaching, then it's going to have to have good doctrine. [00:56:09] So all you have to do, if you want to do this, is you need to just simply go to our conference page, right? [00:56:16] So not rightresponseministries.com, but go to rightresponsaconference.com. [00:56:26] Look over that page. [00:56:27] You'll find a lot of details and information about the conference date, time, place, address. [00:56:33] But if you scroll down towards the bottom, one of the things that you'll see is you'll see a tab that says interested in sponsoring our conference. [00:56:40] You click on that and it'll take you to a short form. [00:56:44] It's not going to be 300 questions, but a short little form that you can fill out some of the questions, give your answers there. [00:56:50] It'll immediately notify me personally, and then you'll be able to schedule time to. [00:56:56] Get on the phone with me and we'll talk it through. [00:56:58] So, we're looking for six sponsors. [00:57:00] We already have two. [00:57:00] We need four more. [00:57:03] But the benefit is that if you align, right, if you have a like minded mission, if you're similar to us, you're a good fit for the conference and this conference is a good fit for you, then you're going to get to have a five minute public pitch in front of everybody. [00:57:17] And you're not going to be fishing in a barrel of 550 registrations at the conference, but with 30 other different booths and sponsors, but there's only going to be six of you. [00:57:30] So, you're going to get to talk to a lot of people, and you're not going to have to compete with a million other sponsors. [00:57:35] You're going to compete with five other sponsors, and you get to do a public pitch. [00:57:38] So, it's a unique opportunity, and I hope that you guys will take us up on it. [00:57:42] One more announcement that I want to make, and then we'll go ahead and move on. === Supporting Conservative Christian Coffee (02:47) === [00:57:46] The owner of this company is actually a member in good standing at my church, Covenant Bible Church. [00:57:53] We're located in Georgetown, Texas, about 45 minutes north of Austin. [00:57:57] Our church is Covenant Bible Church. [00:57:58] Website, if you're in the Central Texas area, you're looking for a church, covenantbible.org. [00:58:04] Covenant Bible.org. [00:58:07] Check it out. [00:58:07] Come check out the church. [00:58:08] But the owner of this company is an awesome guy. [00:58:11] Awesome guy, faithful member in the church, loves Jesus, loves his wife, loves his kids, wants to leave an inheritance to his children's children. [00:58:20] He wants to do the work of a Christian. [00:58:23] He wants to get involved in all of Christ for all of life. [00:58:28] And so he started a coffee company, and the name of the company is Ranger Essentials Coffee. [00:58:36] Ranger Essentials Coffee. [00:58:38] The website is rangeressentialscoffee.com. [00:58:43] Ranger, R A N G E R, Essentials, plural, Essentials, E S S E N T I A L S, coffee. [00:58:54] So, rangeressentialscoffee.com. [00:58:57] The way that I've described it to some of the guys in the church trying to slowly wean my Christian brothers and sisters off of Black Rifle Coffee is I say, you know, Ranger Essentials Coffee, it's like Black Rock Coffee, except for conservatives. [00:59:13] Because Black Rock Coffee is not for conservatives. [00:59:16] They've given to Act Blue. [00:59:17] They've given to Democrat causes. [00:59:19] They didn't defend Kyle Rittenhouse in Second Amendment rights. [00:59:23] It's a joke. [00:59:24] You look at some of the charges with the owner of the company. [00:59:30] It's not conservative, but by golly, they're getting conservatives' money because people think it's conservative, right? [00:59:36] And people don't want to go to Starbucks because they know if I love my wife and kids, Starbucks hates me, which is true. [00:59:42] It's true. [00:59:43] But BlackRock Company, or is it BlackRock? [00:59:46] BlackRifles. [00:59:48] Black Rifle is what I'm thinking. [00:59:49] Black Rifle coffee, they're not that conservative. [00:59:54] And they're certainly, from what I can tell, not Christian. [00:59:58] Some of the ads they've even put out are lewd and gross and sexually immoral. [01:00:04] And so, all that being said, if you want to support not just a pseudo neocon conservative coffee company like Black Rifle, but you want to actually support a Christian and truly biblically, theologically conservative and politically and culturally conservative company, And you want to help somebody who's a member in my church who's wanting to faithfully live out the Christian life, then you need to do rangeressentialscoffee.com. [01:00:31] Rangeressentialscoffee.com.