It Starts With Me

I am having a hard time getting my mind off of the loss of Charlie Kirk two days ago. I am so saddened by what happened and the evil in the world and in our country. We so need to return to God. And it starts with me. I need to draw near to him. The Bible says that if I draw near to him, he will draw near to me (James 4:8). It also says that he "heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds" (Psalm 147:3). The word says we are to, "Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep" (Romans 12:15). There was an AI reel that I saw where they used his voice to speak to us from the grave. It was beautiful, because it was very much what you would imagine that he would really be saying. I can't bear to listen to it again now to tell you what it said, but I hope you get the opportunity to hear it. It was encouraging, positive, and true to what he probably would say to us about being fine, not to waste time mourning for him, he knew this could happen and he would do it all again It was worth it, America is worth it, it said. It seems to me that more than anyone else he was able to proclaim the truth of God's word and at the same time be an expert on the founding documents and the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and American history, and be so articulate about all of it that he could win any debate with anyone, but he didn't debate, he answered questions and refuted their nonsense. Of course, not everyone agreed with him. Of course, our culture now is so sick and so much in need of what Charlie gave, and I pray Turning Point USA will continue to carry on the mission that he founded. His lovely wife promised in an address tonight that nobody would forget Charlie Kirk and what he lived and died for. The only thing I regret is not coming to Christ sooner than I did. Here he is, 31 years old, started that huge movement among young people, and I wasn't even saved until I was 33. Sin had so much more time to ruin me before Jesus saved me. And now I am not young anymore. But it's never too late to start over. We have seen despicable responses to this horrible tragedy, and we have seen some encouraging responses as well. I will not judge anyone's heart but my own, but I believe that many people's hearts have been touched and people on both sides of the political fence have said that this should not happen in America, and we have to allow free speech and learn to talk to people we disagree with, and Charlie Kirk was so good at that. He was like Jesus with people who disagreed with him. He loved them. You could tell that he did. But the haters could not see that. I believe that in Jesus's life on earth there were people who followed him and loved him, and at the same time there were people who hated him, and wanted him dead, and that is what we are seeing now. Haters hating, that's what they do. The children of the devil are deceived and deceiving, Paul wrote to Timothy (2 Timothy 3:13). In 2 Timothy 3, we see that what we are seeing is just what Paul described in the first century AD. "But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!" (2 Timothy 2:1-5) I have seen these verses posted on social media almost more than any others, because they are so descriptive of the time we are living in now. "Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was. But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, persecution. But evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived" (2 Timothy 3:8-13). So, people can continue in their evil ways, resisting the truth and acting like fools, committing wickedness and violence, murdering and slaughtering God's people, but they can't stop God from being God. The truth will not stop being the truth, and Jesus said, "...whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder" (Matthew 21:44). That's pretty strong language, I'd say, but there are some people who are about to discover that there is a God, and they are not Him. That's what I see unfolding right now in the wake of all this outrageous behavior we are seeing in the world and in our borders, but God has given us his word and his spirit. He lives in us, and he is going to do what he is going to do, and we can go with him or we can go down. There, I've said it. In His day and in ours, Jesus lost followers because they didn't understand what he was saying. He had just said some strange things you can read about in John 6:53-65. After he said these things, many disciples stopped walking with Jesus, so he asked the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?" (verse 67) "But Simon Peter answered Him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also, we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God'" (John 6:68-69). So, I've been asking who would take Charlie Kirk's baton. His wife will, many of his followers will, and he just set an example for all of us to follow and that is to walk with Jesus like never before redeeming the time, because the days are evil, in case you hadn't noticed. (Ephesians 5:16). God bless you.