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00:00:01
Israel, End Times, Navigating the News, & More w/Ridley Baron and Kyle Hess
56 Plays6 months ago
In this episode, Dan Sanchez, Ridley Baron, and Kyle Hess discuss the power of persistent prayer, sharing personal stories of how their prayers have been answered in unexpected ways. They also explore how Christians should consume news, the balance between staying informed and maintaining spiritual peace, and the impact of global events on personal faith. The conversation touches on interpreting end times, the role of Israel in Christian theology, and the responsibility of the church in today’s society.
Timestamps:
00:01 Welcome and Introduction
00:39 Kyle’s Story on Persistent Prayer
02:07 Ridley’s Story on Persistent Prayer
05:01 The Importance of Aligning Hearts with God’s Will
06:07 Approaching News with a Christian Perspective
09:21 Discerning Truth in Prophecy and End Times
15:54 Responding to Current Events and Culture
20:56 The Church’s Role in Addressing Societal Issues
26:28 Perspectives on Israel and the Middle East
30:10 The Impact of Global Conflicts and Economies on Faith
34:14 Encouragement to Follow Jesus and Stay Grounded in Truth
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Transcript
00:00:01
grovehillchurch
Welcome back to the Grove Hill Church podcast. I'm Dan Sanchez, and I'm here with Ridley Baron and Kyle Hess to talk about some juicy things going on in the news and talking about how we can respond to it from a Christian worldview. But also, before we dive in, I wanted to kind of finish off where we left off with the last podcast, which was the Sermon on the Power of Persistent Prayer. And Kyle and Ridley, I'd love to know from you two a story where your persistence in prayer essentially paid off and like god God was faithful to answer those prayers but it wasn't in the way you thought and it didn't happen in the timeline you were hoping it would happen.
00:00:39
grovehillchurch
and So to each of you, have a which one of you want to jump in first for a story on the power of prayer?
00:00:44
Ridley
Go ahead, Kyle, jump in.
00:00:45
Kyle
All right, I'm ready for that.
00:00:46
Ridley
Go ahead.
00:00:47
Kyle
It was about three years ago I had a brother, not a brother in Christ, but my my physical brother, also a brother in Christ. But he was going through a major crisis and I i felt the need to fast in prayer for his situation. And my wife had asked me if she always does, how long are you gonna be fasting? And I said, well, it's for the good Lord to decide. But after 10 days of fasting, I woke up one morning and just felt that it was time to eat. And so I ate. And that afternoon, for the 10 days I had just been pleading for the Lord for an answer to some of his turmoil that he was going through. And that afternoon, out of the blue, he called me and stated that the issue he was dealing with, that was the last day that he had any desire to deal with it. and so
00:01:32
Kyle
It was actually the ideal outcome to the prayers that I was praying. Again, I still feel it was nothing to do with me because what all I was doing was praying the Lord's will over his life. I was praying what scripture already says that God desires for us. And so at the end of the 10 days, basically God implemented his will in my brother's life. And it's been three years and he's been clean of anything that he was struggling with.
00:01:53
Ridley
and yeah. It's awesome. Very cool.
00:02:00
grovehillchurch
Fantastic. Ridley.
00:02:01
Ridley
So it's going to sound like I'm trying to butter up my congregation, but Grove Hill actually is the answer to a lot of prayers for me. For those of you who know my story, I was at church plant in Franklin after my wife and son died in the car accident and did seven years as the pastor there, but then broke away for seven years and was speaking full time on the road, traveling to hospitals and and conferences and conventions of that nature. Towards the end of that seven years, began to pray, okay, God, I really feel you're drawing me back into the church, back into ministry. And so I began to pray, and strangely enough, I got several opportunities to talk with churches, churches in North and Central Alabama, some in North Georgia, some in other parts of Tennessee. I even had one right down the road from the University of Georgia, and if you know that, that that would have been a dream for me. but
00:02:54
Ridley
I was praying about all those opportunities and I just had it in my mind, you know, God's gonna leave me somewhere and it's inevitably gonna require a move. In fact, part of my prayer was God prepare my wife's heart but because I don't know that she's ready to leave Franklin. She's a longtime Franklin resident. And, you know, to shorten the story, God led me to Barbara. Barbara led that conversation. We wound up down here and neither one of us suspected that the church that God wanted us to plant was literally down the road from where we lived at that point. And it was, you know, again, from day one has been beyond my expectations. in in a I mean, you know, if you're a pastor, you're praying, you at least get some kind of building with a decent facility, you know, or something like that. The guy brings us to a skating rink, he brings us to a small town that's rapidly growing, but he brought us to a group of people who absolutely were what we were looking for, people who had a passion for for kingdom of God, and and it's it's been great, so.
00:03:51
grovehillchurch
Wait, so you bought a house down here before you started pasturing down here?
00:03:55
Ridley
No, no, I actually was living in Spring Hill.
00:03:57
grovehillchurch
Oh, OK.
00:03:58
Ridley
Before that, I was living in Thompson Station. So we had a house that we lived in in Thompson Station. Lisa and I both felt very strongly we needed to sell the house and get into a rental so we would be more mobile. And so we spent a little over a year there, maybe maybe close to two years there. And that was the time we were praying, that I was praying, had Like I said, a couple of interviews and conversations with some people, and then God took us 30 minutes down the road to Chapel Hill.
00:04:26
grovehillchurch
It always amazes me the things that God answers. Sometimes you' you know you throw up a little prayer and then bam, it hits in a big way and you're like, whoa. And sometimes there's big serious prayers and it just seems like God's silent, but you always know and trust that. in his timing and in his way, things are things are happening moving forward in a way that only he can know. So there's an interesting part of prayer is that I find that the more I pray, the better things get, or at least the better I become, like one of the two.
00:04:47
Ridley
yeah
00:04:54
Ridley
like Yeah, and you kind of go back to what we talked a little bit about on Sunday, this idea that the more we pray, the more we align our hearts with God's will, that we find that peace and even more purpose and direction in our lives.
00:04:55
Kyle
Yeah.
00:04:56
grovehillchurch
oh
00:05:07
Ridley
And it's not because it's like God wakes up one day and goes, Oh, I'm going to give you a purpose. It's like God's going, I've always had a purpose. You're just now listening to me, you know, well enough to know what that purpose is.
00:05:16
Kyle
Right.
00:05:19
Ridley
So.
00:05:20
Kyle
It helps you approach situations differently when you're in constant communication with God, and then and maybe life throws you something that you would see as normally a negative.
00:05:29
Ridley
Mm hmm.
00:05:29
Kyle
But those those prayer warriors and those who are connected so deeply with God, when they get in those situations, they see it as opportunities to share Jesus's love. And so, and you know, those doctor visits turn into, okay, am I going to talk to the nurses about Jesus? It's more opportunity than kind of a negative.
00:05:45
Ridley
Yeah.
00:05:47
grovehillchurch
So in the news, there's certainly a lot of things to be praying for. Uh, I feel like the news probably should be our prayer list for the day.
00:05:53
Ridley
Mm hmm.
00:05:53
grovehillchurch
Sometimes there's more, more bad news and good news up on the headlines most of the time.
00:05:55
Ridley
Absolutely.
00:05:59
grovehillchurch
but I wanted to address news as a whole before actually diving into some specifics, starting with, uh, how do each of you follow the news? Like, where do you go to find the news and then what's your process for consuming?
00:06:12
Kyle
My news source is Ridley Barron.
00:06:15
Ridley
I knew that was coming. I knew it.
00:06:16
Ridley
It's leading your face.
00:06:19
Kyle
No, there was there was a time in my life where where I did watch the news, stayed connected with it, but recently I have not. Maybe some people would say that's kind of being naive to what culture and society is doing, but really i have I get too connected into it and then it starts manipulating how I see things. and so I used to, I heard this guy, I forget who it was. He said, I wake up and I read the Bible to see what the Lord's doing. Then I read the newspaper to see what Satan's doing. And so there's some like validity to that.
00:06:47
Kyle
It's like, what's going on in the world?
00:06:48
Ridley
I agree.
00:06:48
Kyle
And then how are we preparing for it in scripture? So i'm I'm going to be really honest. Maybe once a week, do I go to a news site and just kind of check up on things, but I'm not too connected with the the information as it come in comes in.
00:07:02
Ridley
So to your point, Kyle, I went through a period in my life, and this was mostly when I was on the road traveling, speaking, where I would get up and spend more time reading the news than I was reading the word. And you're exactly right. Such negativity in my life and even anger towards people I would respond to and stuff like that. And my Holy Spirit, my sweet wife, convicted me one day about it. And I'd stepped away from news completely. And then since we've gotten back into or I've gotten back into pastoring a church, I felt a responsibility because the Bible
00:07:37
Ridley
The Bible is a huge opportunity for us to address the culture around us, but you got to know where that where that's best applied. It's kind of like when you when you assess somebody, when they've gone through an injury, you look at the injury and you go, okay, what's the best tool here to address that injury? In some places in our culture right now, what we need is nothing less, nothing more than here's what the Bible says about this. In other places, the news doesn't need us to point out the wrong. People see the wrong. What they need is for us to help with the love and forgiveness side of it.
00:08:09
Kyle
Mm
00:08:10
Ridley
So i the the difference between who I was several years ago and the guy I am now is that I start by grounding myself in the Word. which helps me to filter out, first of all, my emotions versus God's perspective on these things. And then second of all, just to filter out truth from lies, because you and I know that, especially in our country today, the mainstream media is built more on lies than it is on truth. You know, how do we sell the news?
00:08:35
Kyle
hmm.
00:08:36
Ridley
How do we make people watch our show? Well, we fabricate stories to make them sell.
00:08:36
Kyle
hmm.
00:08:41
grovehillchurch
so I've heard of this used as an illustration for this exact topic a few times, where it's kind of like how do you teach someone to catch a counterfeit while you become really, really familiar with the original dollar, right?
00:08:49
Ridley
Yes, absolutely.
00:08:51
Kyle
Mm hmm.
00:08:51
grovehillchurch
If you're going to catch counterfeit money, you need to know exactly what the original one looks like to be able to spot the lies and the differences.
00:08:53
Ridley
right
00:08:57
grovehillchurch
What I'm hearing you saying here is become so familiar with the truth that the lies are just kind of obvious. As you're looking through them, you're like, well,
00:09:04
Ridley
yeah you know and Prophecy is one of those areas is a perfect example. In our world today, even people who would call themselves devout Christians have a tendency that every bad thing that happens, they go, oh, it's prophecy being fulfilled. And I'm like, well, if you read the Bible, you realize, no, that has nothing to do with prophecy. That's just evil carrying out what evil does. There are some things that are happening around us that are obviously part of prophetic signs, but even some of those things don't necessarily clue that it's the end of the world as we know it. And so you've got to balance all of that with the the logic, the discernment, the reason that God has given you and put in your brain. You can't just fly off at everything that you read without letting him be the filter for all of it.
00:09:48
grovehillchurch
This is going into an interesting tangent, but I think it's relevant because I'm pretty confident this is on a lot of our minds when it comes to the end times and looking at the signs of the times and stuff like that. I've recently because I've been heavy into that thinking that we're just around the corner. I've worked for a lot of organizations that have been very focused on the end times.
00:10:06
Ridley
Mmhmm.
00:10:07
grovehillchurch
And while everybody has their interpretations about those things unfold, it seems like there is a very common belief across all the a lot across a lot of churches I've been to over the last 10 years that were Seemed to be in the ballpark of it and recently I've started wondering and second-guessing that I'm like am I in a culture that i I think this because I've so many people talking about it But how how close are we really what if this is gonna go another thousand years before something like before it happens so what it may be I Was been listening to other theological podcasts that made me second-guess
00:10:41
grovehillchurch
how how much or really make me think about how much I've been influenced on this and like how you're influenced by your surroundings and what you're reading and what you're hearing and all that kind of stuff.
00:10:49
Ridley
yeah
00:10:50
grovehillchurch
it's It's had me rethink it a little bit and I've been taking a step back. Are you kind of in that place Ridley where it's like when it comes to looking at the signs of the times you're kind of like I'm gonna kind of pull I know we're supposed to be watchmen on the walls or whatever but I'm trying to look at the word and look at the world without thinking about what other people are saying and how they're interpreting it.
00:11:11
Ridley
Yeah, I really am. I mean, you can go all the way back to to Thessalonians, where Paul had to address the subject. Guys, the end times has not come. People haven't disappeared in the rapture because it hasn't occurred yet.
00:11:19
Kyle
Mmm.
00:11:23
Ridley
Ever since that time, every Christian has been looking for that but specific sign that the end of time comes.
00:11:28
grovehillchurch
Yeah.
00:11:29
Ridley
And it's right for us as believers to look and long for that because that's ultimately where we want to be. Years ago, I had a guy just ask me a very simple question. He said, if it is the end of the world, what are you going to do about it? And that kind of put it, I was like, wow, you're right. I mean, I can't dig a hole and pretend like I can hide from it. I can't do anything to speed it up other than doing what I was already commanded to do. And that is go share the gospel of the world. That's the only power you and I have over this is to take the gospel to the end of the world.
00:11:59
Kyle
So I'm in the same mindset because if you're telling me that Jesus is returning tomorrow compared to if Jesus was returning in a thousand years, we still should have the same urgency for salvation of souls. And so it really shouldn't change our mindset of how we function. We have a command from Christ and my feet need to be on the ground every day doing that command.
00:12:18
Ridley
a man
00:12:19
Kyle
regardly Regardless of this is the last day because people are dying today, regardless of it's the end times or not.
00:12:25
grovehillchurch
I've heard that these urgency around the end times often has so has side effects for Protestantism and Christianity in general. If you think the end times is going to be happening in the next 10 to 20 years, that means any project that you build for the kingdom has a short term as a short like timeline on it, which is why like Protestants traditionally, I mean, there's many reasons, but it's one of the reasons why Protestants don't build cathedrals like Catholics do.
00:12:38
Ridley
Amen. Mhm.
00:12:51
Ridley
Right.
00:12:51
grovehillchurch
They have a short time view where athletes are like, I'm going to build it because it's going to be here a thousand years from now.
00:12:53
Ridley
Yeah, yeah.
00:12:57
grovehillchurch
Right. And it's made me. That's one of the things that's made me take a step back and be like, okay, am I playing a short term game because I think things are going to go down in the next 10 to 20 years?
00:13:03
Ridley
Uh-huh.
00:13:07
grovehillchurch
Do I really need to play like that? Or should I be playing such a way that I'm going to be building things that will outlive me and maybe my children can get involved in? Can I, should I be, but should I be swinging farther and playing out further in advance? knowing that the world might not end in 20 years. it's That's the thinking that's been challenging me recently. I'm thinking generationally rather than what can I accomplish in my lifetime.
00:13:30
Ridley
And you make a great point, Dan, because that's the truth. Who knows what incredible works of art, incredible architectural structures, incredible investments in their in the next generations have been cheated because we think Jesus is coming next week. you know And so you get that short term mentality, you're like, well why waste our time doing this if he's going to be here in a year or two? Well, Every, again, every generation since Jesus has said that, and who knows outside of God himself how many things have been missed because we were busy building our bunkers and storing away food.
00:14:04
Kyle
I think a lot of times we plan for the physical rather than for the the spiritual. I had a friend tell me, he's like, I'm not putting anything into retirement because I think the Lord is going to return before then. And I was like, man, you're you're focused on the physical things rather than the spiritual things where we should be saying, hey, if I think the Lord is returning the next 10 years, then I should be kicking into high gear or doing what I'm supposed to be doing rather than you know messing around with any physical needs.
00:14:30
Ridley
Right.
00:14:32
grovehillchurch
And even if you do think he's coming in 10 years, there's only one way to prepare and it's not the prepper stuff. That's be closer to Jesus. Cause that's the only thing that's going to matter.
00:14:39
Kyle
right
00:14:39
Ridley
Absolutely.
00:14:40
grovehillchurch
That's if you store all the food in your basement, it's kind of like, I mean, not that it's bad to have like a few months worth, you know, but if you're preparing for nuclear fallout and 20, 10 years of isolation, then if you're a good Christian, you're going to be giving that stuff away anyway.
00:14:46
Ridley
Well, yeah. Yeah, and I don't want to hear people I don't want people here, especially people in my church, to hear me say that if you if you do preparation for disaster, that's some kind of bad thing.
00:14:55
grovehillchurch
Yeah.
00:15:02
Ridley
I would advise you to do that everywhere because there's tornadoes and hurricanes and things that you face.
00:15:05
grovehillchurch
Yep, yep, yep.
00:15:06
Ridley
That's just logical, common sense stuff.
00:15:08
Kyle
Hmm
00:15:09
Ridley
But if you think you're going to pay hundreds of thousand dollars to build a bunker and store up ammunition and those kinds of things, I promise you as much as I don't like our government, that if anything bad comes down, the government has more firepower firepower than you and I have.
00:15:11
grovehillchurch
Yep.
00:15:25
Kyle
Hmm
00:15:26
Ridley
Your AR-15 with a thousand rounds is not going to stand up to what the government can do to you if they choose to take you down.
00:15:32
grovehillchurch
yeah
00:15:32
Ridley
So.
00:15:34
grovehillchurch
Well, they kind of give it into some of the recent news. I'd love to hear your guys' thoughts. Recently, the big news that's been going on with the Olympics over the last week or so since our last podcast is is men and women's boxing. This has been controversial for both sides, and it's been a fun topic. Before I give my thoughts on it, what do you guys think?
00:15:57
Kyle
I think the world's constantly trying to push into and compromise what God's design originally was. God has a very specific design and culture, society, the world does everything they can at every opportunity to start fudging the lines to desensitize this to what truth is.
00:16:11
Ridley
Mm hmm.
00:16:16
Kyle
And so I think this is another one of those areas where I mean, it's two people stepping into the ring, but it's just another way to push an agenda, another way to push a to counteract truth. And so I totally disagree with the blending of the sports like that, just because of the obvious physical differences between men and women.
00:16:40
Ridley
Yeah. You go all the way back to Genesis 3, Satan started this whole problem by saying, did God really say, and ever since he's been asking mankind to question the truth and the plan of God. And ever since that day when Satan did that, God's plan for the people that follow him, today we call it the church, but God's plan for the people that follow him is give them truth.
00:17:02
Kyle
Mm-hmm
00:17:02
Ridley
Give them truth. So the only way, I mean, yeah, was I offended? Absolutely. was Was I hurt to see that happen? Absolutely. Was I shocked? Not at all. The world's an evil place. So our marching orders have not changed.
00:17:14
Kyle
Mm-hmm
00:17:14
Ridley
Our our job is still to take truth to people. At this point, my encouragement for all Christians is let's quit talking about that mock Last Supper. And let's talk about how many Olympians who have won games in the last 10 days who've stood on worldwide TV and gave thanks to God the Father for their gifts and said, if it weren't for Jesus, I wouldn't be here today. Let's celebrate that instead of just riding that That dead horse is deader. Let's move beyond the event and let's keep doing the work we're supposed to be doing.
00:17:46
grovehillchurch
Yeah. To some degree, I feel like the culture is on a slow roast and a lot of us are going to be the frog in the firing pan. Like it's, it's essentially what's going on.
00:17:53
Ridley
Amen.
00:17:55
grovehillchurch
It seems like it's it's accelerated quite a bit since 2020.
00:17:59
Ridley
Yep.
00:18:00
grovehillchurch
the progressive agenda pushing into things.
00:18:01
Ridley
Yep.
00:18:03
grovehillchurch
And I, part of me, I tend to look a little, I tend to feel a little bit more pessimistic about it. So I'm like, well, if if they stay slow and steady, they'll probably win based on like the trajectory that I see. The lack of even just Christians staying grounded in the word and compromise. I'm like, unless the Lord comes in as his revival, I don't see things slipping back the way it was before. It's pretty much just going to take the Holy Spirit and revival in order to push in go order to get bring people back.
00:18:32
Ridley
yeah
00:18:34
Kyle
Right. And i would I would tell anybody the same thing I tell my kids is I can't control what other people do. I can only control what I do in my household and with me.
00:18:40
Ridley
Yep. Mm-hmm.
00:18:44
Kyle
And so the same thing is is that's why churches need to be taking the stance right now so closely knitted with the word of God and truth that we remain a lighthouse for people to come to when they're just totally done with the false things that are fed to them all all the time. And I think that's why we're seeing a growth in numerous churches right now because there's churches out there just speaking truth and people are tired of hearing the junk and garbage from the culture and they want to go back to what they know is true. On the same side, the culture is getting so blatant with it and just heading down a road that is just disgusting.
00:19:18
Ridley
Well, and y'all may have to help me out with this. I think it's in Hebrews in it where it says judgment begins with the house of God, or is it Peter?
00:19:23
Kyle
Sure.
00:19:24
Ridley
so one Somewhere it says that. And I think probably what we are seeing whether you're talking about the progressive agenda of our politicians to the progressive move of the world, all those things, they come back to the fact that the church hasn't been doing what the church was told to do. we were We weren't told to do some of the things that we spend millions of dollars and lots of manpower and resources on. We were told to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. We were told to share the truth with the world around us. And if we were doing that more effectively, then
00:20:00
Ridley
Would the world still be an evil place? Yes, but it would be on a slower walk that direction than it is today. But we've got we've got churches, large churches with celebrity type pastors who are preaching complete heresy and we're not holding them accountable. And again, I go back to that verse, judgment begins with the house of God.
00:20:19
grovehillchurch
speaking about the house of God. Israel has been on the news quite often.
00:20:22
Ridley
Mm-hmm.
00:20:26
grovehillchurch
And I want to see where you both stand when it comes to Israel and how we should think about that as members of Grove Hill Church. how do you Where do you stand as far as Israel and related to the Christian church? There's a lot of different theological stances on Israel. where do Where do we stand? Or maybe just where do you stand personally? Maybe Grove Hill Church doesn't have a an official stance on it.
00:20:49
Ridley
Kyle, you're just grinning at me.
00:20:50
Kyle
but hey Well, if you're talking about the stance of the church, I think that direction goes to Ridley. But if you're talking about personal opinion, I'm going to stand with the Word of God and that's Israel's God's chosen people. And he it states, I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. And so as a nation, we've always stood next to Israel. As a people of God, I think we stand next to Israel. The place where people get worried about things is certain certain times members of Israel will do things that are honoring to God and we're not standing next to the individual person.
00:21:22
Kyle
We're not standing next to the person that goes and murders a tribal people from another people.
00:21:22
Ridley
Right.
00:21:27
Kyle
we're We're standing by the nation of who God called Israel to be and we're in support of that.
00:21:33
Ridley
Yeah, I would agree. i I'm not going to be bold enough to say there's an official stance of this church, although I feel like predominantly, if not entirely, our church supports Israel.
00:21:43
grovehillchurch
Yep.
00:21:43
Ridley
I think the confusion to to reiterate what Kyle's talking about The confusion is that when the Bible talks about Israel, it's talking about a people. And when we talk about Israel, we're talking about a secular political state. Israel, the the country today, is not the God-following, God-fearing, you know, group of people that the Bible talks about. So should we stand with Israel, the political state? Absolutely, because it represents the hope of the Jewish nation, the Jewish race of people that God
00:22:15
Ridley
obviously prophesied about through his prophets that I'm going to bring you back to Jerusalem, I'm going to bring you back to your own land. So in and standing with the political state, we stand with the Jewish race of people. But as Kyle said, we can't expect a bunch of secular people who don't worship God to do godly things all the time. That does not deter us from supporting the Jewish people. may frustrate us a little bit in saying we have wholeheartedly supportive everything that Israel the nation does.
00:22:46
Kyle
It could be comparable to how someone would think of the United States, right? and There's been times where people say, man, I'm not going to salute to the flag because of what the United States is doing. But saluting to the flag is what the flag represents as the basis of this country and where we started, the freedoms, the freedoms to worship God, not what individuals are currently choosing to do, what political parties are choosing to do.
00:22:58
Ridley
Yep.
00:23:09
Kyle
It's not its submission to that, but what the flag actually represents and what Israel actually represents is God's chosen people.
00:23:16
Ridley
Right.
00:23:17
grovehillchurch
There's a three different viewpoints that I know, and i don't I don't know what the theological terms for any of the three are, but I know there's three, and I'm like, it's probably one of the two is where everybody else stands, but the old one, of course, is you know Jews are are Messiah killers and Christ killers, and therefore we treat them unfairly, and we don't we don't like them, right?
00:23:20
Ridley
Mm hmm.
00:23:36
grovehillchurch
And there's like Martin Luther stood on that, and Martin Luther hated Jews, which is kind of like, as much as a lot of our theology theology comes from Martin Luther, it's kind of like, well,
00:23:45
Ridley
Right. Yeah, for sure.
00:23:47
grovehillchurch
and but most of that For most of the part, i haven't I've never met a Christian in that camp anymore. like i've I've just never met one. I'm sure they're still out there, but I don't know anybody who takes that position, so it's one of the other two positions.
00:23:55
Ridley
They don't hang out with you do they?
00:23:58
grovehillchurch
is that either you believe that Israel, uh, that, that the, the Gentiles were grafted in Israel's place and Israel is kind of now just a people group among many people groups. And there's nothing really special about it. That's where they came. That's where they came from, but it is just now a people group. or you believe that there's something special about Israel is just kind of where I stand and where I'm feeling like everybody else, where the both of you stand is like, Yes, Gentiles like us are grafted in, but there's still something special about the people and the land, because God made promises to them.
00:24:30
Ridley
Yes.
00:24:33
Kyle
Mm hmm.
00:24:33
grovehillchurch
And some of those promises, haven't like if if if they if they weren't special, they would have have been not fulfilled.
00:24:38
Kyle
Hmm.
00:24:41
Ridley
Right.
00:24:42
grovehillchurch
right
00:24:42
Ridley
Well, I kind of take that third stance, like you said, Jews have a special place in the heart of God because they were His chosen people and He made a covenant with them.
00:24:43
grovehillchurch
so
00:24:51
Ridley
He refuses to break. And then a little bit of that second one because we are Gentiles who are grafted in and the church itself has a special place in God's heart.
00:25:02
Kyle
Mm-hmm.
00:25:02
Ridley
So you and I as followers of Jesus Christ have a really unique relationship that those outside of the faith don't have. But the Jews being God's people will always kind of be the apple of his eye and he will carry out his promises for them.
00:25:16
grovehillchurch
doesn't necessarily mean they have some saving knowledge, and they still need to hear the gospel and still need to be won over to it.
00:25:19
Ridley
Right.
00:25:20
Kyle
Right.
00:25:21
Ridley
Right.
00:25:22
grovehillchurch
I know there are people that believe that because they're Jewish, they do just by default.
00:25:24
Kyle
Mm-hmm.
00:25:26
grovehillchurch
I'm like, god not a popular view, but there are those who believe it.
00:25:27
Ridley
I don't see that in the bubble. No.
00:25:32
grovehillchurch
So how should we as Christians then respond to the acts taking place in Israel today? There's been a lot of animosity towards Israel politically, but also just an active war war going on over in the Middle East with Israel.
00:25:49
Ridley
I think probably we should take our wisdom from the Old Testament when it says, what is what is it that God requires of you to walk justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God? I think I got that mixed up, but you know what I mean. Justly means that we should be hurt by the fact that Israeli bombs are killing innocent people. Innocent people don't, and let's be honest, none of us are innocent, innocent, but you know what we're talking about. but I also, as a just person, believe that Israel has a right to protect its people, to protect protect its borders, protect its future.
00:26:25
Ridley
So I don't think it's because Israel is setting out to be evil and is intentionally targeting kids and families. I believe it's because war is a horrible thing, and anytime it happens innocent people get hurt, regardless of where that war takes place.
00:26:37
Kyle
Mm.
00:26:40
Ridley
Walt Cumbly, I think, man, We have to start and end every day with the acknowledgement that we are not God. We don't understand how all this works. And so what we pray is that the God of will will be fulfilled and that we find our place in helping to fulfill it. And then to love mercy. I mean, any chance we get to love, whether it's a person who's part of Hamas or a person who's a part of Israel, if it's a Ukrainian or a Russian, if we have an opportunity to love the clear command of scripture is you love your
00:27:11
Ridley
your neighbor, you love your enemy, you love those who persecute you, you love the ones who are not like you, you love the widow, the orphan, the immigrant. Love is all over the scriptures, but it has to be balanced with justice. And so I will 100% defend the fight the right of Israel to defend its people.
00:27:26
Kyle
Mmm.
00:27:29
grovehillchurch
One of the things I think about often is like praying for the peace of Jerusalem and for the peace in Israel.
00:27:33
Ridley
Mm-hmm.
00:27:34
grovehillchurch
i had It's hard for me, this gets on more of my charismatic side, but I tend to feel like what happens in Jerusalem is an indicator of what's to come potentially or is amplified spiritually for the rest of the body, kind of like when you attack the tree, then all the branches get affected too.
00:27:50
Ridley
Right?
00:27:51
grovehillchurch
It might be over spiritualizing our relationship to this metaphor in the Bible, but I've i've seen it before and I might have to take that back some time, but praying for the peace of Jerusalem is a good thing no matter what.
00:27:54
Ridley
Yeah.
00:28:03
grovehillchurch
Though I tend to think that prayers come back around when you're praying good things for good people for the things that are on God's mind and on God's heart.
00:28:13
Ridley
I walked into Kyle's office yesterday and told him, I said, you might want to remember this day. It's going to be an interesting day because if you were following the headlines, you saw that the stock exchanges around the world, world not just here in the United States, were taking a huge nosedive, which probably symbols that we are at least on the border of a recession, if not already in a recession. That's going to play a major factor around the globe with the value of the dollar, the yen, the ruble, all those things. And at the same time, it's obvious Iran is gearing up to do something in the Middle East as a retaliation to Israel for what they have done. Already they attacked an American base yesterday. I saw this morning that once again, they use proxies in Lebanon to send drones into Israel. So all this kind of stuff is going on.
00:28:59
Ridley
If it does not ramp up into a full blown war in the Middle East, it will be only by the grace of God. There's just too much animosity over there that's been building for too long and it's like, it's kind of like a volcano every now and then it just has to blow off its steam. Do I think it's the end of the world, I really don't. I believe it'll turn out to be something like another seven day war or another whatever. and And then we'll go back to those kinds of things. I'm actually more aware and concerned about the economies of the world falling apart. There is a greater divide between those who have and those who have not. And that's become very evident in places like Venezuela.
00:29:39
Ridley
and And even here in the United States where there's a growing gap between the billionaires and people like you and I who are just trying to get by, you know just trying to fill the cart with groceries every week. In the midst of all that, the the greatest hope we have is that God has not changed and that his hope that he offers the world is still available through his son, Jesus Christ. And that's that's the thing that's got to get us up in the morning to remind us that we are not defeated. We fight from a place of victory. He's already overcome all of it.
00:30:09
grovehillchurch
There's a lot of conflict out in the world right now from Venezuela to the UK. I mean, Japan's not in conflict like those two places, but that's what started this whole drop of the the economies right now.
00:30:18
Ridley
Yeah.
00:30:20
grovehillchurch
It came from Japan if you want to Google it.
00:30:21
Ridley
Yup.
00:30:24
grovehillchurch
It's where this one started.
00:30:24
Kyle
I think something that's important to focus on right now is that with with anything that goes on, and this goes for and not just this week, but any world events, we as Christians shouldn't be struck down by fear because of these things, because the world around us is going to be, and we need to carry that peace and joy that God offers through anything so that we can, I mean, we carry the answer to all these issues. and so and When people come running in fear, the church, God's church needs to be that stable entity that people go, okay, what's going on?
00:30:55
Ridley
Amen.
00:30:56
Kyle
And then we have the answers from his word.
00:30:59
Ridley
Yeah, and I feel like that's a great point, Kyle, because especially some of our larger churches today who feed off of this prophecy and end of times talk, I i feel like they don't they do not offer comfort and hope, they offer fear to people.
00:31:13
Kyle
Mm-hmm.
00:31:14
Ridley
And that fear just builds and builds off of itself over and over and over again. And I don't know. And you know many of them actually use it to raise more money in their offerings. you know If you're afraid, give another $100 and you'll feel more peace or whatever. But man, at least at our church, and i'm kind it makes me feel comfortable saying this because I know where other leaders in our church stand, guys like Kyle and John, even our elders. And they we we have nothing to fear, nothing to fear because the greatest thing that man has to fear was conquered by Jesus Christ on our behalf.
00:31:47
Kyle
Yep.
00:31:50
Ridley
And so we can say with Paul, you know, for me to live as Christ and to die his game.
00:31:56
grovehillchurch
So consider a pure joy if the Democrats get elected in the presidential cycle.
00:32:04
Kyle
Oh, Dan went there.
00:32:05
Ridley
Yeah, he did. He did. You know,
00:32:07
grovehillchurch
yeah
00:32:08
Ridley
I can honestly say this, and I probably couldn't have said this a week ago, I can honestly say that my unwillingness to vote for Kamala Harris and the Democrats is not just because of moral issues. It's because she's incompetent. She's not proven she can handle anything, nothing at all. So that scares me to death. And then the fact that she named a guy who's almost as liberal as she is to be her running mate, it It does two things.
00:32:38
grovehillchurch
Yeah.
00:32:38
Ridley
Number one, it should prove to every person who's Christian and thinks they can vote Democrat that they're never gonna come around. They're never gonna come around and and honor God with their choices. But it also should remind us that if we're putting our hope in any man or woman, we're we're gonna we're goingnna be disappointed 1000% of the time.
00:32:58
Kyle
Yep.
00:32:59
Ridley
The only place that we can fully place our confidence is in the person of Jesus Christ.
00:33:04
grovehillchurch
So if it gets darker, it's often a time for us to shine brighter because it becomes more obvious where we stand and how we stand.
00:33:08
Ridley
Amen.
00:33:12
grovehillchurch
I think the danger is being caught in the lukewarm middle where you might end up you might end up going in a direction you didn't think you would go years ago.
00:33:13
Ridley
Mm-hmm.
00:33:19
Ridley
Mm-hmm.
00:33:21
grovehillchurch
so
00:33:21
Ridley
Yeah.
00:33:22
grovehillchurch
Let's pursue Jesus.
00:33:22
Ridley
Well, yeah.
00:33:23
grovehillchurch
Let's continue to be more like him. And even in the news that's going on, we know the answer is to follow God.
00:33:29
Ridley
That's right.
00:33:31
grovehillchurch
Read the word, stay close to him, know the truth, and continue to advocate for that truth.
00:33:33
Ridley
Mm-hmm.
00:33:37
Ridley
If you have students, get them our student ministry so a student pastor can plant seeds in their heart. Man, all they're hearing is negative news all around them. Go let them be with our children and our children's ministry where they're gonna hear about the gospel. And if you don't do anything else in life that you think you're doing right, get your family in a church where the Bible's being preached.
00:33:57
grovehillchurch
I know that's my plan, like indoctrinate my kids with the best I have and then send them to Kyle to reinforce it. And then books around him and other people around him.
00:34:05
Ridley
That's a good plan, man.
00:34:05
grovehillchurch
I'm like, hedging them in, hedging them in.
00:34:06
Ridley
blame
00:34:08
grovehillchurch
Cause the world's going to take its best shot at my kids and I'm going to, I'm going to fight like heck.
00:34:13
Ridley
That's right.
00:34:13
grovehillchurch
Try to get them to follow the righteous path.
00:34:14
Ridley
That's right. That's worth fighting for. That's worth fighting for.
00:34:19
grovehillchurch
Cool. Well, we will end there. Thank you gentlemen for going with me into this, this commentary.
00:34:23
Kyle
Yes, sir.