Gospel-Centered Reformation

Good morning. Over the course of this time that we have together, we're going to be dealing with the issue of education and reformation, and these things have to be considered together my first session. In this first session, I want to talk about the issue of gospel reformation and why it is that we need to consider these issues together. On the issue of Christianity and education, the question is is God silent? And there are many who believe that he is. There are many who argue that this is an area of silence. This is an area where decisions are made solely based on circumstance, decisions are made based solely on preference, and that there's nothing scriptural that would lead us or mandate any particular directions as it were relates to education. And so because of this, somewhere between eighty five and ninety percent of American professing Christians send their children to the government for their education. Think about that. Somewhere between eighty five and ninety percent, that's a lot of people who are making the exact same educational decision. Now, you would think if eighty five to ninety percent of all professing Christians we're making the same decision about an issue like that, and we all believe it's important you talk to families about what's important, you know, with their children, and so on and so forth. Education is the key, Education is the future, Education is the you know, we've got all of our education is you know, statements right there ready for us. When people go to find a house, you know, one of the primary questions that they ask is, you know, what are the schools like in this area. So there's just no argument that education is at a premium for all families, not just Christian families. So if education is at a premium, and we all understand that that is, you know, one of, if not the most important things we do for our children. And eighty five percent of all Christians, eighty five to ninety percent are making the exact same decision, one might assume that the scriptures and that history pretty clear that that decision is the right one to make. Right, pretty fair assumption, you know, you would think that, I mean, if eighty five ninety percent of them mark going in that same direction on something that we say is an absolute premium, you would think that there's something pretty clear from the Bible about that. But listen to this. I want to give you some voices here because my position on this is considered by some to be a radical one. My position is that Christians are obligated to give their children a Christian education, and that government education is not permissible for Christians, that it should not be an option for Christian parents except in extreme circumstances where there is no other choice. For example, sometimes there are people who get a divorce and there is a decree and you know, because of custody issues and so on and so forth, that children have to be in a certain situation. There are other times when there are things beyond a person's control that forced them to, you know, to do that or whatever. We understand that, we understand that things like that happen, okay, But beyond that, all things being equal, circumstances not being extraordinary, Christians ought not put their children in government schools to be educated at all. We just we should not do that. And that's considered a radical position. Let me just give you some voices here that may be considered it a little less radical than mine, or some people should i say, may be considered it a little less radical. Who've said this and more. Charles Hodge, he was the president of Princeton Theological Seminary from eighteen fifty one to eighteen seventy eight. This whole process of education is to be religious, and not only religious, but Christian. And as Christianity is the only true religion in God, in Christ, the only true God, the only possible means of profitable education is the nurture and admonition of the Lord. AA Hodge, President of Princeton Theological Seminary eighteen seventy eight to eighteen eighty six. I am as sure as I am of Christ's reign that a comprehensive and centralized system of national education, separated from religion, as is now commonly proposed, will prove the most appalling enginery for the propagation of anti Christian and atheistic unbelief and of antisocial nihilistic ethics, individual, social, and political which this sin rent world has ever seen. This is during the time when government education was being proposed. Jay Gresham Machen, founder of Westminster Seminary and of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. When one considers what the public schools of America and many places already are, Machen is a little later, so we get mandatory government education around the eighteen seventies, so Machen is early twentieth century, early nineteen hundreds, so it's in place. By the way, by nineteen hundred, eighteen seventies, we have this government education system. By nineteen hundred, two thirds of all students who graduated from high school were educated either at home or the church, two thirds by nineteen hundred. For the first fifty years, the church fought government education tooth and nail, and it wasn't until the nineteen twenties that Christians began to say, well, if you can't beat them, join them, and let's go change the schools. Let's go take the schools. That was around the nineteen twenties when that mentality came in, but before that the attitude was this is not your jurisdiction. You cannot have our children. And besides that, the idea of education that is not Christian is an idea that is abominable and completely unacceptable to us. So and unlike the Hodges comes when this is fully entrenched. When one considers what the public schools of America in many places already are their materialism, their discouragement of any sustained intellectual effort, their encouragement of the dangerous pseudoscientific fads of experimental psychology. One can only be appalled by the thought of a commonwealth in which there is no escape from such a sole killing system. You know, it's interesting a lot of Christians are proponents of educational reform. To reform something means to take it back to its original intended purpose. Here's Machen looking at the original intended purpose of education, calling it a sole killing system. There is no reform for education. I do not want to reform government education. I don't want to mend it. I want to end it. I don't want better government schools. I want no government schools. Oh well, wait a minute, that's even more radical. It's one thing to say that Christian people should have Christian education, another thing to say that you couldn't have the government schools, because I mean, don't you love the children, and don't you want a better society, And don't you believe you know that we have an obligation as a society to see to it that children are educate. No, actually I don't. I believe that's a parental responsibility, not a governmental responsibility. Our founders did too. That's why there's no mention of education in the Constitution. Our founders understood that. That's why we did not have government education until the eighteen seventies. We understood that that was a family and church responsibility, not a government responsibility. Three spheres of sovereignty, the church, the family, and the civil government. Three spheres of sovereignty. Education does not fall within the governmental sphere of sovereignty. The government has no right to be involved in the education of children. None. But we have been so brainwashed on this issue that that that sounds like crazy talk. What do you would know? I mean, we all know that you're supposed you gotta have the government to do that. You gotta you know, I well, well, well, no, that's just wrong. Right, he's wrong, right, I mean, he's of course, he's of course he's wrong. Of course, this is crazy talk. Right, I'll take it a step further. Government education is immoral because it is built on a violation of the Eighth Commandment. Er, Okay, how about this. I really want my children to learn you know, fill in the blank whatever, ballet. I really want my children to learn ballet. I really do. I think they'll be better children if they learn ballet, just you know, just artistic and physical and all this other stuff, and I really want my children to learn ballet. So I come to your house, you're my neighbor, and I say, listen, I want kids to take ballet because I think they'll be better children, and everybody will be better for it. The entire society will be better for it. So I want children to learn ballet. But it's expensive and I don't have the money. Can you give me money so that my children can learn ballet? And then you give me the money, right, and I go and I get my children ballet classes. The next year, I come back, my children need ballet classes again, and this time you say, nah, I don't think I'm going to give you money for your children to take ballet classes. But I remember where you went to get the money last year. So I go to that place and I take the money to pay for my kids ballet lessons. What did I just do? I stole? The next year, I bring a sheriff with me and I say, give me the money for my kids ballet lessons. And you say, I'm not giving you that money. I gave you that money. Then you came back and you stole the money, sheriff. This person stole money from me and then they show you a piece of paper and they go, well, actually, before I brought the sheriff, we went and passed a law. So now you are obligated to give me that money so that I can go get my kids ballet lessons. And if you don't give it to me, this man will take your home and will sell it and use the proceeds to get what I want. Anyway, how am I not still stealing anybody? How am I not still stealing? I'm still stealing. I got somebody to, you know, say it was okay for me to steal, but I'm still stealing and it's still immoral. How many of you know something can be legal and yet still immoral. Amen, it's the same scenario, except we're not talking about ballet. We're just talking about general education. So now instead of somebody coming and saying, hey, I want my kids to be educated, give me money for my kids to be educated. And then they come back and you don't want to give them the money, they steal the money. It's theft. Now they come back with the sheriff. You don't give me the money, We'll take your house and use the proceeds to pay for my kids' education. It is still theft, and it is still immoral. The government educational system is based on immorality and sin from the word go. We don't even have to talk about what they teach. Just the way it's funded is an immoral violation of the Eighth Commandment. Accornelius van Til Westminster Seminary. Non Christian education puts the child in a vacuum. The result is that child dies. Christian education alone really nurtures personality, because it alone gives the child air and food. Modern educational philosophy gruesomely insults our God and our Christ. How then, do you expect to build anything positively Christian or theistic upon a foundation which is the negation of Christianity and theism. How do we expect to build anything positive and theistic on that kind of foundation? David Alan Black, Southeastern Seminary. No academic skepticism, no sec no secularist authors, no blatant materialism can so undermine the spiritual life of the country like the completely secularized training of the child under the authority of the state. Bible based education is mandatory for Christian parents. If we think we can keep our children in a secular school system and escape the dumbed down, amorl and immoral results of secular humanism in schools. We are sorely mistaken. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. I believe that now is the time for responsible Southern Baptists to develop an exit strategy from the public schools. This strategy would affirm the basic and ultimate responsibility of children of Christian parents to take charge of the education of their own children. The strategy would also affirm the responsibility of churches to equip parents, support families, and offer alternatives. So, now that we've established that I'm not crazy, Okay, maybe that's a bit far. We've established that that's not crazy talk. I might still be crazy, but there's other people who are as crazy as I am on this particular issue. We've established that. Okay. But here's why this is important, because if we don't understand this, then we don't get how education has anything to do with Gospel reformation. Because if we don't understand this, we fall into the category that the overwhelming majority of American Christians fall into, which is this sort of bifurcated view of life. We believe that you can separate your education from your Christianity, that Christian life can be over here, and that education can be over here, completely separated from your Christian life and not influence or impact your Christian life, because after all, that's just learning how to read and write and reason. It has nothing to do with you being a Christian. You can do the Christianity stuff at home, and then the school can take care of the academic stuff. This is a poisonous worldview. It's beyond naive. It's dangerous because all education is religious in nature, all of it, all of it. So if we're going to talk about this reformation, this Gospel sin and reformation, then let's do it from the perspective of the Great Commission, because this is the reformation that we need, that we've always needed, and that we will always need. This is the heart, this is the essence of Gospel reformation. So if you have your bibles open to Matthew chapter twenty eight, look at that last paragraph there, beginning of verse eleven, Matthew twenty eight, beginning verse eleven, And first we're going to deal with the context of the Commission This is very important the context of the Great Commission verse eleven. While they were going behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. Please take note of that first phrase there while they were going, because the formulation of that is almost identical to the Great Commission later on. We know it as go ye therefore, which is not at all the best English rendering of that. It is not go, it's as you are going, or while you are going, as a better formulation of what's happening there. So, while they were going Behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priest all that had taken place. And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave au s efficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, tell the people his disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep. And if this to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble. So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day. Now this is the context wherein this commission is given there are people who still to this day are of this same mindset, willing to accept anything and everything other than Christ rose from the dead. They can hear a story on the Internet and they can run in and believe that, you know it, whatever, you know, something happened. And there's this guy who sees into the future, and you know, there's a person who reaches into people and does surgery without you know, equipment, and you know there's people who can you know, do telepathy, and there's people who can Aha, I know it, I know it. How do you know it? Because I read it, I saw it. And there's these people who saw God, and there's these and they believe they just run to believe that stuff. Christ rose from the dead. I don't know, you know the Bible, I mean maybe yeah, will believe anything anything and not require any evidence for it. People are born gay, They're born that way. They're just born that way. Yeah, we all know that. Everybody knows that. Yeah, how do we know that? Well, because we everybody knows that. You know, there's studies and stuff that prove which ones which one, which one proved that? Well, you know, there was that, there's that, there's that pheromone study. Yeah, read the pheromone study. They'll tell you they didn't prove that. Well, you know, there was that brain study. Yeah, read the brain study. Just read the abstract from that brain study. They'll tell you they didn't prove that. Well, you know then there was that. There was that, the twin study, and the was there ever studies. No one has ever proven that people are born homosexuals. Here, I'll go you one further. No one has ever proven that people are homosexual. You can't prove that. You can prove that people commit those acts, but you cannot prove that that's what people are. How are you going to prove it? Is there a blood test, MRI cat scan, ekg. How are you going to prove it? You can't prove it, And yet we talk about it as though it is absolute, ironclad fact. But let somebody bring up Christ rose from the dead. You're a crazy person. We'll believe anything other than that. Also, notice what happened. If this comes to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble. Note that if you are a Roman soldier charged with guarding a prisoner and the prisoner gets away, you die. Paul and Silas. Remember Paul and Silace with the Philippian jailer. Well, they tell him, don't harm yourself. Why because he's gonna offer himself. Because the minute they come and discover even it was an earthquake, prisoner's got a way. It wasn't me. It was an earthquake. Still they were under your charge. You're done for these men. Say listen, if it comes to the governor's ears, we'll satisfy him and we'll keep you out of trouble. He has to say that, because when he says, hey, listen, just just you know, just you lost your prisoner. Here, will give you this money, and you just tell them you lost your prisoner. Really, you're gonna give me money so that I can go tell him I lost my prisoner, so they can kill me for losing my prison. Now, that's not enough money. If it comes to the governor, we'll get you out of trouble, because anything will be easier for people to swallow than he rose from the dead. This is the context. But even the Disciples were affected by this tendency toward unbelief. Sixteen and seventeen, now the eleven Disciples went to Galilee to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them, and when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted, but some doubted. So this commission that we receive is given within the context of unbelief, within the context of a desire not to believe, an unwillingness to believe that which we are being told to proclaim. We have to understand this, We have to grasp this, that this is the context. That there is always opposition to the gospel, that there has always been opposition to the gospel, and that there will always be opposition to the gospel, even opposition in ourselves. Here are men who walk with Jesus who see him resurrected and still have doubts. Listen to me, Christian, don't think that just because you sometimes have doubts that you doubt God's care for you, that you doubt your own faith, that you doubt your own fill in the blank. That just because you have occasions where that happened, that it doesn't mean that somehow you are outside of the norm. This happened to individuals who saw his resurrected body. Amen. So what do you do in that context? What does the Lord give us for that doubt. He gives us the commission to go and preach. So what do you do when you doubt? Preach the gospel to yourself. Remind yourself of what's true. Remind yourself of what's true, again and again and again. Jesus came and said to them, all authority is given to me. Here's the foundation upon which the commission is built. This is the context of the great commission. Why all authority? Isn't that interesting? Jesus is the second person of the Trinity, and he comes and he says, all authority is given to me. Why is all authority given to him? Now? Didn't he have all authority as the second person of the Trinity. Why does this statement even need to be made? What does it mean? The key here is in heaven and on earth, Jesus always had the authority of God. Jesus is God, not like God, not close to God, not almost God. Jesus is God. He is God the Son. He has existed eternally as God the Son. So when Jesus was incarnated, when he took on flesh, when he became man, he didn't come into existence in Mary's womb. He added a second nature to himself in Mary's womb. So God took on flesh. The preexistent, eternal son of God took on flesh, and he took on a human nature with his divine nature. Now he has authority over death, hell, and the grave by virtue of his resurrection. Folks, Jesus in a sense adds something to the godhead. Well, wait a minute, are you saying that God was incomplete with that? No, not saying at all that the God was incoplete. But understand this, before the incarnation of Christ, God has not tasted death. There is now a man seated at the right hand of the Father, the God Man, who has died and risen again, who has experienced all of the weaknesses and frailties of humanity, and yet is very God of very God. How do we wrap our minds around that? Ephesians four eight through ten. Therefore it says when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men. And saying he ascended, what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions the earth. He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. There is a greater level of exaltation, if that is even imaginable. There was a greater level of exaltation in the Godhead because of Christ taking on this human form and dying and overcoming death, held and the grave a new victory one Colossians two thirteen to fifteen. And you who were dead and your trespasses, in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses. By canceling the record of debt that stood against us, with its legal demands, this he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them. In him, there is a triumph that was one Christ in the flesh, a triumph over rulers and authorities that was won by Christ in the flesh, an extension of his dominion and authority Hebrews two fourteen and fifteen. Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who, through fear of death, were subject to lifelong slavery. There is victory over Satan in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. This is awesome John twelve thirty one. And then sixteen eleven. Now is theudgment of this world? Now will the ruler of this world be cast out? Sixteen eleven concerning judgment? Because the ruler of this world is judged. Now here's what's interesting. This terminology in these passages seem to indicate that Christ has already executed this judgment over Satan through his death and his burial and his resurrection. But wait a minute, I thought that was future. Well it is, but you're saying it's already. Well, it is, it is already. It is not yet. Let me share this with you, and not all share this theological perspective. Okay, And I'm sharing this not to say that you have to share this theological perspective. But this is a way to explain a theological perspective that it's sometimes curious to many in our culture. Our culture is dominated by dispensationalism, by dispensational premillennialism. That is not a position to which I hold. I holde to an a'mmillennial eschatology. Well, a'mmillennial eschatology. You don't believe in the millennium, Yeah, I do, I do. I just don't believe that it's in the future. I believe that it's now. Well, it can't be true, Okay, place where we read about it this is in Revelation chapter twenty. Revelation chapter twenty, verses one through three. Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and the great chain. And he sees the drag the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while. I'm arguing that this is now, that that binding of Satan took place at the cross, at the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and that we are right now in the millennial reign of Christ, right now, right now. Well, but it's been more than a thousand years. Yes, Because that thousand years is not literal. Virtually every number in the Book of Revelation is a symbolic number, And I'm arguing that this is a symbolic number as well. Thousand is just a really big number, but it's also to the third power. Ten is this number of completion that's used almost exclusively in reference to the dragon to Satan. Seven is that number of completion that we use and reference to God. But ten is this number completion that we use. We're referencing Satan and the dragon, the ten diadems on his head and so forth and so on. One thousand is ten times ten times ten. That number three is the number that almost universally in Revelation references whom God, the triune God. It's a huge number, symbolic of a long time. It's reference to complete dominion, and it's happening right now. Well, how can you say that it's symbolic. Well, back up and look at verse one. Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. Does anybody believe that that's literal, that the pit literal, the key literal, the chain literal, and that Satan's going to be bound in a literal pit held by a literal chain, that symbolic language he sees the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil, and Satan by the way that language is symbolic, bound him for a thousand years. That language is symbolic, threw him into the pit. That language is symbolic, shut it and sealed it over him. That language is symbolic, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer. Aha, there you go. Because if Satan is bound, why is all this stuff happening. That's the thing that I hear oftentimes, and I talk to people about this particular position to which I hold, And again, this is not about you holding to the position that I hold. I want to explain how this fits into my understanding of reformation and of education. I do not believe that the world is just going to continue to spin out of control and it's all worse and worse and worse and worse, and we're just rearranging, you know, deck chairs on the Titanic. I don't believe that at all. I believe Jesus is reigning now now that this kingdom is expanding, now that Satan is bound. Now, well, if Satan is bound, why do all these awful things keep happening. Look very carefully at the text, so that what's the binding, so that no bad things can ever happen anymore, No, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, because that's what's necessary for the Gospel to go forth and every tribe, kindred tongue, and people to come before the throne. And in this aid, the Gospel has gone forth to virtually every nation. There are very few places left on planet Earth where the Gospel hasn't gone forth and the church hasn't been established. Why because Satan is bound while this work is taking place. That's why. That's why till the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while. I don't like that part much. I don't like that part much at all. But in the end there will be a great deception, right don't we read about that in scriptures. In the end there will be a great deception so that those times weren't short, and even the elect right by fall prey to it. Which means that before that time there's not that great deception, but a binding, so the nations might hear the key heaven and earth, Jesus has always had the authority of God. Now he has authority over death, hell and the grave by virtue of his resurrection. And he also has the authority of the faithful witness. I'll skip this for time's sake. The content, the content of this commission. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, or as you are going, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age? What age? You know? What? I believe? All right? And again there are people who disagree with that. I just wanted you to understand how this fits into my perspective as it relates to Gospel reformation, and how education fits into this. The content of this commission is global, it's multi ethnic, it's evangelistic, and it's comprehensive. A global commission. Go or as you go nations. What do we find in Acts one eight and what do we see in the pattern of the Apostles? Well, in Acts one eight we see another version of this commission. This is later on before the Ascension Jesus says, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and to the remotest parts of the world. Right those four areas, right you with me? Okay, Now, we got to be real careful when we look at that passage of scripture. You got to understand what's being communicated there. When he says you'll be my witnesses, and he says in Jerusalem, you gotta you might want to write this down. When he refers to Jerusalem, what he's actually referring to there is Jerusalem. It's Jerusalem. You don't always hear that when people talk about missions. Oftentimes people take that. Again, Revelation is a symbolic book, acts is not amen. And so when he says Jerusalem, he means Jerusalem. Well, when he says Jerusalem, what he means is you know, our current sphere of it. No, no, no, he actually means Jerusalem. And then in all Judaea when he says it's Judea, it gets a little tricky because there he actually means the region of Judea. I know it's complicated stuff, but follow me, because might not automatically get the third one because when he says Samaria, literally, when he says Samaria, especially if you read it from the Greek, what he means is Samaria. And then when he says the remotest parts of the world, what he means is America. I'm not joking. I'm not joking. That's where we would fit and all the places that were beyond the comprehension those who were hearing him. So we are not the epicenter of Christianity. We're the remotest parts of the world that have been reached because Acts chapter one and verse eight is being fulfilled in our day. Amen, Hallelujah, Praise the Lord. We are the fulfillment of this promise. We are those remotest parts of the world that the people who heard this in Acts one to eight could not have even imagined, couldn't have imagined. And yet the Gospel has come here. This is a global commission, a global commission. It's a multi ethnic commission. Panta ta ethne every people group. That word ethne. It sounds kind of familiar, doesn't it. Young people, very young people, won't tell me what word that sounds like? Huh? Come on, give me a young person, tell me what that word sounds likethne ethnic, different ethnic groups or people groups. So when he says take it to all nations panta tathne all people groups, this implies the number of things number one. It implies Bible translations. Why because different people groups speak different languages. So early on, within the first couple of centuries, the Bible is translated into Syriac, into Coptic, into Latin. Very early on people were translating the Bible. Okay, isn't it amazing? It's amazing that very early on people's understanding was, listen, everybody needs to have the Bible. Then they need to have the Bible in their own language, and we need to translate the Bible prolifically. It wasn't until later on that you get things like the King James only controversy, where people are like, no, there's just one. You can't say amen, y'all say ouch. And one wonders about that because it's almost like Islam. You know, Islam argues that you can't translate Koran. You have to learn how to read it in Arabic. So small problem. The overwhelming majority of Muslims in the world are not Arabs and they don't speak Arabic. In fact, the most populous Muslim country on Earth is Indonesia. Most Muslims are Asians, not Arabs. And so if you can't translate Koran and you have to read the Arabic Koran, you got Asians who don't speak Arabic, who are learning how to read the Koran in Arabic but can't understand what they're reading. That's ridiculous. That's ridiculous. And there are people of the extremes of the KJV only controversy who would argue the same thing. For the KJV. It is the Bible. So when you go to different people groups, you don't translate the Bible from the Greek and Hebrew into their language. You just bring them the authorized version and make them read it in English. That's Islamic theology, not Christian. We translate the Bible because we have a multi ethnic commission. It also implies church planting. It implies church planting. How does this imply church planting. Well, if we're going to reach Pata Tathnae, if we're going to reach all the people groups around the world, then that means that they're probably not all going to come to Jerusalem to go to church. I mean, the commute, it's just horrible, right, So there's not going to be one church that everybody comes to, especially since we don't all speak the same language. So if we're reaching people who speak multiple languages and live in multiple nations and multiple communities within those multiple nations, then that means we're going to have a proliferation of churches throughout the world so that all of these people can be part of local congregations. Okay, this is why there are so many churches. This is why there are so many churches, and this is why we need more churches. We need more churches. Interesting, you know, we say that and we're like, we don't need more churches. There are places whereas churches on every corner. Yeah, it things like that. It's not true. Actually, in the United States, there's not one county, not one county in the United States that has more churches per capita day than it did in nineteen fifty not one county. There's been a steady decrease in churches in the decade of the nineties. For example, one hundred thousand churches died, so just to replace the churches that died in the decade of the nineties. We need to plant one hundred thousand churches in the South, in the Bible Belt, right where there's church on every corner, so many churches Da da da da da dah. Okay, in the South, just to keep up with growth over the next twenty five years, there needs to be twenty thousand churches planted. That's in the South, in the Bible Belt. What do you think that's like in the Northwest or in the Northeast. We need thousands upon thousands. We need hundreds of thousands of churches planted. And that's here in the United States. That's not even counting places around the world where we need to go plant churches. We need churches, We need churches, church planting. You look at Paul's missionary journeys and the pastoral epistles, and it's clear that this was the priority of the apostles, planting churches. This is the mission of the church. Okay. There's a lot of things that we do that are mercy ministry, and I wish we would go back to that distinction, the distinction between missions and mercy ministry, because now nine times out of ten When somebody says they're going to do missions, what they're actually doing is mercy ministry and not missions. Missions is about planting churches and about supporting those mechanisms and apparatus. You know that plant churches. That's the mission. Okay. Mercy ministry may be supplemental to missions, but it's not missions. So if I go dig a well for some people who don't have water, I'm doing mercy ministry, not missions. Amen. Somebody. If I go start an orphanage, I'm doing mercy ministry, Okay. And I'm not saying that there's something wrong with mercy ministry. Mercy ministry flows out of the Gospel. Amen, Hallelujah, Praise the Lord for mercy ministry. Do mercy ministry, just don't call it missions, because our mission is planting churches. I was in South Korea in Seoul, speaking at a homeschool conference there in Seoul, which was very interesting because you know, while I'm there, Number one, I'm like, Dahn, there's just a huge homeschool conference in Soul, South Korea. And then I found out why I was there. The homeschooling is not even legal in South Korea, So I was like, really, so I can get arrested around there. That's okay, changes things slightly, you know, because I was like, you know, just I'm just sitting. Wow, this is not even legal here. I'm breaking the law. No, you're not really breaking the law. They let us do it. This is technically legal. Ah, so if they don't like me, they can just well yeah, but they wouldn't do that. Okay. I'm just checking man, because I'm real easy to find around here, you know. And so on. On the Lord's Day, I was preaching at a church there and these people had come over from another Asian country. And they came over and they said, there were missionaries in this other Asian country. But that's awesome, that's awesome. What church sent you to be missionaries here? And well, no, we weren't really sent by a church. Okay, but what church are you working with in your country? Well, we're not really working with a church. You weren't sent by a church. You're not working with a church. But your missionaries in this country, what are you doing? And they said, well, you know, we're teaching character. So they're using this very well known Christian homeschool character building curriculum to go over there, and teach character and calling it missions. They don't belong to a church, they don't go to church. They weren't sent by a church to find out that while they were here, they weren't associated with the church because they couldn't find one that they agreed with enough on peripheral issues. And they're calling themselves missionaries. God help us all. That's not gospel reformation. That's gospel rebellion. Amen, It's an evangelistic commission. Baptizing them, baptizing them, This implies that there's evangelism taking place. Who do we see baptized in the New Testament, Those who come to faith in Christ. They're baptized the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Triune God. This implies conversion. So it's not we're baptizing them and we're allowing them to hold on to their old religions. No, we're baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son of the Holy Spirit. This implies the rejection of false gods. I was in the campus at at Stanford University. This is several years ago, and I was I was preaching in the evenings and in the daytime. We were on the campus at Stanford one day, San Jose State, the next day Stanford, San Jose State, back and forth, and we'd be on the campus, you know, witnessing on the campus, basically teaching personal evangelism to students on the campus, and then at night, you know, preaching into an event, joint event for these campuses. And so one day, you know, there's a student at Stanford and he's like, yeah, I get this. I'm a soul winner, you know. I you know I know this because I would go up and enter into conversation, turn it to an evangelistic conversation and just you know, just just lead by example. Here's the things I've been teaching you. Here's how it. He's like, no, no, no, let me you know. So he goes over to talk to this student and he goes over and he's talking to the student for a few minutes and we're over doing this one stuff and I'm looking, you know, kind of checking him out, and he's there for i mean like five minutes and they're bowing their heads to pray. So let's walk over. Hey, how's it going. It's great? You know, this is John and John wants to pray to receive Christ. Really that's awesome considering you've been over here for five minutes. Wait, tell me about that John, you know. And I just wanted John to explain to me what he had just heard from this guy and why he was responding to it. You know. And John, by the way, who was an American Indian, right, John says, Well, he came and he was talking to me about Jesus, and I was like, oh, that's cool, and what do you understand about Jesus? You know, and well, I've heard of Jesus before, but you know, he was just telling me about how Jesus, you know, loves me and you know, wants to have a relationship with me, and and I would like to have a relationship with Jesus. And he was telling me how I could have a relationship with Jesus and that you know, if I prayed this para, I could have a relationship with Jesus. Said, Oh, that's cool. I can ask you something. You're you know, you're an American Indian And where'd you grow up. I grew up in a reservation. Oh okay, you practice your native religions, Yeah, so then you believe. So we started talking about animism and we started talking about, you know, ancestor worship and these sorts of things which John was very much into and was willing to add Jesus to. Needless to say, we had to unpack a whole lot of stuff. There must be a rejection of false gods. Jesus didn't come to be added to people's religions. And this is crucial when we talk about this idea of reformation and education, because all education is religious in nature. All education is built on a religious foundation. All education is built on our understanding of the world, why it's here, and how it works. All education is built on that. And so this is why I don't get excited when school districts say they want to add a Bible class. We had a great victory in whatever state. Really, what your great great victory is they're going to teach Bible in the public schools. Wow, who's gonna teach it? Well, well, teachers, you mean teachers who have been trained in our colleges and universities with an education degree which automatically comes with an unstated minor in Marxist socialism. Those teachers are gonna teach the Bible and pray, tell what curriculum are they going to use Well, it's a Bible as literature curriculum. Oh terrible. That's not a victory for us. That's John on the Stanford campus who wants to pray and add Christ to his ancestor worship because if my religion is good, my religion plus Jesus got to be better. It's a comprehensive commission teaching them to observe all things that I've commanded you. It's comprehensive. It leaves nothing out. And this implies long term commitment and impacting and reforming people and culture. And this is why education fits within this context. And this is why missions has always included as an adjunct education. Why two reasons. On the front end and the back end of missions, you have education. On the front end of missions, you have education because people have to have enough education to be able to comprehend and respond to the Gospel. Amen got to be able to understand some basic concepts in order to comprehend the Gospel. And so we want people to be able to read their Bibles and so on and so forth, and so Christian missionaries have always always been involved in educating people for the propagation of the Gospel. That's the front end, then there's the back end. On the back end, this commission is about teaching them to observe all the things that I've commanded you, which means there has to be comprehensive education and discipleship with a view toward the application of the truths of the Gospel to every area of life. This is why