1 00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:04,519 So you get the idea here that every institution ordained by God, if it 2 00:00:04,599 --> 00:00:08,599 stays in its lane, is most efficient and effective. Where we get into 3 00:00:08,640 --> 00:00:14,640 problems to your question is when government thinks it does what it does best in 4 00:00:14,839 --> 00:00:20,559 every area and it doesn't, it's woefully inefficient. Thank you for joining us 5 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:25,679 for another edition of the Capital Ministries Weekend with Ralph Drollinger. My name is 6 00:00:25,719 --> 00:00:31,320 Frank Sante Ralph as president and founder of Capital Ministries and Ralph, it is 7 00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:33,960 always good to see you. Well, you too, Frank, it's good 8 00:00:33,960 --> 00:00:39,960 to see you you too. You weekly are responsible for teaching and sharing an 9 00:00:39,960 --> 00:00:44,159 indepth Bible study for political leaders and for those of you watching. You can 10 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:48,880 always go to Kapman dot org and download the particular Bible study that we will 11 00:00:48,920 --> 00:00:51,920 make reference true today, or any other Bible studies that are up on the 12 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:56,320 website. So let's talk a little bit about God's institutions and the roles on 13 00:00:56,359 --> 00:00:59,799 Earth. Yeah, so I think what you said. In order to follow 14 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:03,200 on with the depth of what we're going to discuss, it is important that 15 00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:07,640 our listeners go to catmen dot org and right there on the homepage you can 16 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:14,040 click for this week's Bible study, which this week's study God's institutions and their 17 00:01:14,120 --> 00:01:18,799 roles on Earth. That's it. And I have two fancy words that my 18 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:23,680 editors take off of my Bible studies. Are you a tritutionalist or a pentitutionalist? 19 00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:26,599 And those are words I've made up. Frank, I'm guilty of that. 20 00:01:29,519 --> 00:01:34,239 I could share some stories some other time about that, but suffice to 21 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:40,799 say, historically, Sunday school classes have taught what I'd call a tritutionalist viewpoint 22 00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:46,599 that there's three ordained by God institutions in the world. Today, I'm a 23 00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:51,200 pensitutionalist, meaning I believe that there's five that He's ordained, and I'll get 24 00:01:51,239 --> 00:01:55,480 into the reasons for that, but suffice to say, what we're talking about 25 00:01:55,519 --> 00:02:01,680 today has to do with what theologians would call the mediatorial reign of Christ. 26 00:02:01,840 --> 00:02:10,280 How does God mediate his sovereign reign, his omnipotence, his omnitions in a 27 00:02:10,439 --> 00:02:16,280 fallen world minus his physical presence through the second member of the Trinity, Jesus 28 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:21,000 Christ. In other words, between the First and second advent of Christ. 29 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:27,080 How does God keep this place somewhat organized in a fallen world when he himself 30 00:02:27,199 --> 00:02:31,719 is is absent physically. Now he's here in the Holy Spirit, residing and 31 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:37,280 dwelling the believer. But we don't have like after the Second Coming, when 32 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:45,039 Jesus reigns from Jerusalem in his sovereignty, And so how does God mediate his 33 00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:50,000 reign today in the church age in a fallen world? Before you go on, 34 00:02:50,159 --> 00:02:53,039 my simple mind goes to and some listeners probably go to, Oh, 35 00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:57,719 so, what Ralph saying is God's not missing anything today and He's got a 36 00:02:57,719 --> 00:03:00,800 plan today for the mess that we've created for ourselves. Yeah. Well, 37 00:03:00,879 --> 00:03:04,560 basically, in a fallen world, you've got people that are at the head 38 00:03:04,599 --> 00:03:07,400 of these institutions that aren't perfect. That doesn't occur until Christ comes back, 39 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:14,439 but at the five institutions he has ordained. We're given evidence of this construct 40 00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:20,400 in First Peter, Chapter two, verses thirteen and fourteen, where Peter is 41 00:03:20,479 --> 00:03:27,039 saying in his epistle, submit yourself for the Lord's sake to every human institution. 42 00:03:27,439 --> 00:03:31,159 Now, in the Greek the word for institution human institution is more specific, 43 00:03:31,639 --> 00:03:38,080 and it lends us to understand and examine that word to basically have a 44 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:43,439 better understanding of the whole idea we're talking about, and that is human institution 45 00:03:43,560 --> 00:03:50,639 in the Greek is anthropinos catsis, and anthropinos is pretty easy to transliterate into 46 00:03:50,639 --> 00:03:54,080 English, because that's the word we get anthropology from, or the study of 47 00:03:54,280 --> 00:04:00,479 man Catsi is a little more difficult. It means to create. So the 48 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:03,840 literality the way it should read, I think in the English if you had 49 00:04:03,879 --> 00:04:10,199 an expanded, amplified Bible is submit yourself for the Lord's sake to every four 50 00:04:10,319 --> 00:04:15,919 man created is the literality. And so the word submit is hohupo tasso. 51 00:04:15,279 --> 00:04:19,000 Now, if you follow me on this, every time the word hupo tasso 52 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:28,000 occurs in the scripture could be evidencing the existence of an anthropenosketisist because the passage 53 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:32,199 says, submit yourself for the Lord's sake to every human institution. So follow 54 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:40,000 me on this. If hohupo tasso occurs when it relates to the child to 55 00:04:40,120 --> 00:04:43,120 the parent, then you might have evidence, which you do, of the 56 00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:46,759 institution of the family, which is one of the five that's right. Or 57 00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:53,240 if the employee is told to submit himself to the employer, which scripture does 58 00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:58,040 say, then you have the institution of commerce. If the wife is to 59 00:04:58,079 --> 00:05:00,439 submit herself to the husband, you have the institution marriage, and if the 60 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:05,240 congregant is to submit him or herself to the elders of the church, then 61 00:05:05,279 --> 00:05:11,839 you have the institution of the church. And that's why I'm a pentitutionalist versus 62 00:05:12,279 --> 00:05:17,839 a tritutionalist. And so we can take it a step further in ascertaining what 63 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:27,560 this all means by looking at what each institution ordained by God is supposed to 64 00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:32,600 do that would do better than another institution. Let me jump in, I 65 00:05:32,639 --> 00:05:36,720 may have missed it. You mentioned four. State is the fifth, Well, 66 00:05:36,839 --> 00:05:40,800 yes, but the church, the church would be Oh yeah, I 67 00:05:40,839 --> 00:05:45,800 guess I did miss the state that the citizen is to submit himself to the 68 00:05:45,839 --> 00:05:49,160 governing authorities Romans thirteen one, Peter two. And so my thought went too, 69 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:54,759 not that we have time in this context to get deep. That's why 70 00:05:54,879 --> 00:05:58,680 you do the Bible studies. We make them for people online to access. 71 00:06:00,079 --> 00:06:02,519 But when we talk about the state, have we come to a place where 72 00:06:02,519 --> 00:06:05,879 the state maybe has too much power, where when we talk about the five 73 00:06:05,959 --> 00:06:12,399 different institutions there is a much more of an emphasis on the state versus commerce, 74 00:06:12,439 --> 00:06:15,360 marriage, family, and church. Yeah, and the way God has 75 00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:20,360 ordained those unique institutions do function. Great question I think in the secular worldview, 76 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:27,199 where you don't see this panoply of diversified power, and every institution ordained 77 00:06:27,199 --> 00:06:30,639 by God does what it does best if it stays in its lane. The 78 00:06:30,759 --> 00:06:34,120 secular worldview says that the state should have all the power, thank you, 79 00:06:34,399 --> 00:06:40,240 and because of that, the state plays in the sandbox of the other ordained 80 00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:44,319 by God institutions, thinking it can do what it does better. But the 81 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:47,959 problem is when you amalgamate the state with the church, you get theocracy. 82 00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:55,160 History tells us and scripture tells us that's totally wrong. When the state plays 83 00:06:55,199 --> 00:06:59,800 in the institution of commerce, you get socialism or communism. When the state 84 00:07:00,399 --> 00:07:05,279 in the sandbox of marriage, you get a redefinition of marriage. When the 85 00:07:05,279 --> 00:07:11,279 state plays in the sandbox of the family, you get a nanny state where 86 00:07:11,399 --> 00:07:15,240 the state's telling you how much soda you can drink. In New York, 87 00:07:15,519 --> 00:07:19,120 even an airline that I travel on now has a certain menu in their lounges. 88 00:07:19,160 --> 00:07:21,800 They won't serve pork sausage. So all of a sudden, we have 89 00:07:23,399 --> 00:07:28,720 a commerce that's eclipsing the family or the parents, trying to tell us what 90 00:07:28,800 --> 00:07:31,959 we should eat. Every institution does what it does best. And in one 91 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:38,519 word, biblically, what the institution of the church does is to evangelize. 92 00:07:38,560 --> 00:07:43,959 No other institution can't evangelize the lost like the institution of the church. What 93 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:48,040 the state does, in one word, is to moralize. It in a 94 00:07:48,160 --> 00:07:55,040 fallen world basically says you do this, you're going to get punished accordingly. 95 00:07:55,800 --> 00:08:01,319 And without that form of punishment, we see that fallen man runs rampant if 96 00:08:01,399 --> 00:08:07,480 there's no consequences for his error. When you look at the institution of the 97 00:08:07,519 --> 00:08:13,120 family, in one word, it is to catechiz, bring up a child 98 00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:15,519 and the way he should go, so when he's old, he won't depart 99 00:08:15,519 --> 00:08:18,399 from it. If you don't catechize through the institution of the family, you're 100 00:08:18,399 --> 00:08:22,040 going to end up with a police state tomorrow. Now, in one word, 101 00:08:22,079 --> 00:08:28,000 what the institution of marriage does is to materialize. Amongst other biblical reasons, 102 00:08:28,319 --> 00:08:33,519 it pro creates the next generation in the world. No other institution can 103 00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:37,320 do that like the institution of marriage. And in one word, what the 104 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:43,080 institution of commerce does is to commercialize. It creates goods and services. Now, 105 00:08:43,360 --> 00:08:48,000 to make my point even more clear, you can't expect the institution of 106 00:08:48,039 --> 00:08:54,320 commerce let's say an automobile manufacturer in Detroit to go out and train up children 107 00:08:54,360 --> 00:08:58,360 and how they should go. Nor can you expect the institution of the family 108 00:08:58,480 --> 00:09:03,399 to create automobiles. You can't expect the institution of the state to really create 109 00:09:03,639 --> 00:09:07,480 a viable goods and services like the institution of commerce can. Nor can you 110 00:09:07,559 --> 00:09:13,840 expect the people who run the fortune five hundred companies to go out and police 111 00:09:13,440 --> 00:09:20,039 the city during the day. So you get the idea here that every institution 112 00:09:20,320 --> 00:09:24,720 ordained by God, if it stays in its lane, is most efficient and 113 00:09:24,799 --> 00:09:30,600 effective. Where we get into problems to your question is when government thinks it 114 00:09:30,639 --> 00:09:35,080 does what it does best in every area and it doesn't, it's woefully inefficient. 115 00:09:35,519 --> 00:09:41,519 With me is president and founder of Capital Ministries Ralph Drolinger. I want 116 00:09:41,559 --> 00:09:43,960 to share this with the listeners and the viewers. Each and every week Bible 117 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:50,200 studies placed on the Capitol Ministries website caapman dot org. Ralph does a deep 118 00:09:50,279 --> 00:09:54,559 dive into all of these topics. I was grateful before when I mentioned and 119 00:09:54,679 --> 00:10:01,080 Ralph mentioned secularism. Amazing Bible studies on secularism. Use these resources. Well, 120 00:10:01,200 --> 00:10:05,240 that's part of the reason why we're so excited to be now on radio 121 00:10:05,720 --> 00:10:09,440 to share the Capital Ministries we can and something else we'll have called the Capmenminutes. 122 00:10:09,799 --> 00:10:15,679 But go to capmin dot org and download the Bible Study now and let 123 00:10:15,799 --> 00:10:20,159 us know how we can serve you. Here at Capital Ministries, we are 124 00:10:20,240 --> 00:10:28,120 aggressively recruiting volunteer Bible teachers to start discipleship ministries in the forty thousand local city 125 00:10:28,159 --> 00:10:33,440 and county governments across America. We provide the training, the Bible studies, 126 00:10:33,759 --> 00:10:41,200 the credentialing, and the ongoing encouragement to those individuals whom God is raising up 127 00:10:41,200 --> 00:10:46,879 for this overlooked but very important mission field. We need strong men who can 128 00:10:46,919 --> 00:10:50,960 teach Bible studies to their city council members, Men who are disciple makers. 129 00:10:52,399 --> 00:10:56,120 Is that you or possibly someone you know? Go to capmen dot org and 130 00:10:56,279 --> 00:11:01,519 click on the ministry tab. Join a team of one thousands who want to 131 00:11:01,600 --> 00:11:05,679 change the trajectory of America. Again, go to capmen dot org. As 132 00:11:05,679 --> 00:11:09,919 in Capital Ministries, who do you know who can be trained to do this 133 00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:18,200 in your city? Capmen dot org. Welcome back to the Capital Ministries Weekend 134 00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:22,000 with Ralph Trolinger. My name is Frank Sontag. Ralph is president and founder 135 00:11:22,039 --> 00:11:26,879 of Capital Ministries. Ralph, we see a state in the country right now. 136 00:11:26,919 --> 00:11:31,120 In the previous segment, we talked about the five institutions that God has 137 00:11:31,240 --> 00:11:35,240 ordained and the reason why they are on earth right here and right now, 138 00:11:35,279 --> 00:11:41,159 and how they're being used or misused. Capital Ministries talk a little bit about 139 00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:45,279 the mission statement and for listeners right now that may be listening to other parts 140 00:11:45,320 --> 00:11:48,360 of the country, small towns, the importance not only of local government, 141 00:11:48,639 --> 00:11:54,559 but maybe the listener right now there's a place for them in Capital Ministries to 142 00:11:54,600 --> 00:12:00,600 get involved in helping to teach the Bible and understanding the role of law government 143 00:12:00,600 --> 00:12:03,360 and the importance to be from a theological perspective. Yeah. Well, we've 144 00:12:03,360 --> 00:12:09,440 got forty thousand incorporated cities and counties in America and virtually none of them have 145 00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:15,240 an evangelist, disciple maker Bible teacher in their midst And yet that's where future 146 00:12:15,480 --> 00:12:20,360 state capital leaders are birth is in local government. That's where our DC guys 147 00:12:20,440 --> 00:12:24,480 come from, our state capitals. And so if we have our best evangelist 148 00:12:24,600 --> 00:12:30,879 Bible teachers in every state capital, in every federal capital, in every local 149 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:33,519 government, not only in America, but throughout the world that's the vision of 150 00:12:33,559 --> 00:12:39,240 cap men. Then we have, I think the manufacturing plant that's going to 151 00:12:39,480 --> 00:12:45,679 pro create real change in our culture. Because what we evangelicals have done, 152 00:12:45,679 --> 00:12:48,240 I think for the last fifty years, is we've missed it here. We've 153 00:12:48,279 --> 00:12:52,440 tried to change the laws of the land rather than the hearts of the law 154 00:12:52,519 --> 00:12:58,639 makers. And to change the laws of the land seems fun and competitive and 155 00:12:58,679 --> 00:13:03,679 instantaneous, and it plays to our desires for power. But to make a 156 00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:09,519 disciple takes a lot of years. It's a slow vote. But if you 157 00:13:09,600 --> 00:13:13,360 are rubbing shoulders like I have the privilege in DC to teach the Senate member 158 00:13:13,360 --> 00:13:18,039 and the House member and former Cabinet member and governors Bible studies. You see 159 00:13:18,200 --> 00:13:22,240 men and women who are elected to office growing in Christ and you see how 160 00:13:22,279 --> 00:13:26,919 that affects how they legislate or how they govern. And it really makes a 161 00:13:26,919 --> 00:13:31,240 big difference in the country. Because if any man being Christ, he's a 162 00:13:31,240 --> 00:13:33,399 new creature. Old things pass away, be whole, new things come. 163 00:13:33,799 --> 00:13:39,279 And so it follows that if we have our best intentional, deliberate, biblically 164 00:13:39,320 --> 00:13:46,279 reliant disciple makers in the midst of our political leaders throughout America and the world 165 00:13:46,399 --> 00:13:50,840 that those people who are mature in Christ you never have to tell them how 166 00:13:50,879 --> 00:13:54,840 to vote. Yeah, I don't want to ask this question and spend a 167 00:13:54,879 --> 00:14:00,360 lot of time on it, so I'll just make my observation and then more 168 00:14:00,399 --> 00:14:07,039 direct you said, of the forty thousand local opportunities here, or we're a 169 00:14:07,039 --> 00:14:13,039 little light in this area. Is part of that reason we're speculating, but 170 00:14:13,080 --> 00:14:16,559 part of the reason why we as evangelicals, we hear politics and we're like, 171 00:14:16,639 --> 00:14:20,159 oh no, we can't go there. So when you talk about being 172 00:14:20,200 --> 00:14:26,440 an evangelist and local government, maybe because we're biblically illiterate, we think we're 173 00:14:26,440 --> 00:14:28,000 not supposed to get into that area. We're not supposed to get involved. 174 00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:33,720 Yeah, there's this pervading attitude in the American church to stay away from the 175 00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:39,159 political arenas though it's dirty. But yet when you examine the roots of that, 176 00:14:39,279 --> 00:14:43,519 America was founded pretty much by Puritan pastors who are also the political leaders. 177 00:14:43,919 --> 00:14:48,960 But then when the social gospelers started to show up, and you had 178 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:54,240 a whole reimaging or a whole re manufacture of the major doctrines of Christianity, 179 00:14:54,279 --> 00:15:00,840 and what's called more popularly the social Gospel, when those guys had to amalgamate 180 00:15:00,879 --> 00:15:05,159 themselves with their heretical doctrines under the name of Christianity, quote unquote, in 181 00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:11,519 order to manifest a social gospel understanding of the Bible, which is in error 182 00:15:11,559 --> 00:15:18,159 to begin with, you had to tie yourself to political leaders and the political 183 00:15:18,200 --> 00:15:22,679 arenas. So those social gospelers theological liberals moved into the political arena. In 184 00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:26,960 that day, we were called fundamentalists. We moved out because we don't want 185 00:15:26,960 --> 00:15:31,679 to be associated with those guys. We don't even want to be seen with 186 00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:35,600 them. And so we've moved out of the political arena for the last one 187 00:15:35,679 --> 00:15:39,559 hundred, one hundred and twenty years. And now in our attempts to get 188 00:15:39,559 --> 00:15:45,799 back in the last fifty it's not been to go back with a discipleship biblical 189 00:15:45,840 --> 00:15:48,720 missiology. It's been to go back with kind of this power mode of how 190 00:15:48,759 --> 00:15:54,360 can we change the laws and how can we be powerful? That's so powerful, 191 00:15:54,440 --> 00:15:58,120 And the way you said that night, I thank you for crystallizing that 192 00:15:58,200 --> 00:16:02,519 thought so much, because just in myracles, there seems to be a miscommunication 193 00:16:02,639 --> 00:16:07,639 or a misunderstanding about the core of what the gospel is and this idea of, 194 00:16:07,639 --> 00:16:11,399 of course, what we want atheists running the government. I mean, 195 00:16:11,399 --> 00:16:15,120 this is something that I think so many of us miss. Yeah, so 196 00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:18,279 I was going to say that being said, continue your thought and also let's 197 00:16:18,320 --> 00:16:22,639 get into the idea of appealing to those listening to get more involved in what 198 00:16:22,799 --> 00:16:29,799 you have done in capital ministries where you can walk people through and share credentialing 199 00:16:29,879 --> 00:16:33,799 and everything else. Yeah. So you've got this mass exodus by guys who 200 00:16:33,840 --> 00:16:38,639 have good theology from the political arena, to the point where some even say 201 00:16:38,440 --> 00:16:45,399 that politics is evil, politics is Satan's territory. You can't found that in 202 00:16:45,440 --> 00:16:48,720 the scripture because Roman's thirteen says God created the institution of the state, and 203 00:16:48,799 --> 00:16:55,759 so that doesn't hold water. But yet there's this overriding emotional sentiment by most 204 00:16:55,759 --> 00:17:00,000 evangelicals that politics is dirty business. And most people you talk to them casually 205 00:17:00,200 --> 00:17:04,880 have negative things about political leaders that they say, and we need to reverse 206 00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:07,920 all that. We need to say, no, they're a mission field, 207 00:17:08,039 --> 00:17:14,680 just like any other mission field, be it people that work in the automobile 208 00:17:14,720 --> 00:17:21,079 plant or people that work in the local whatever social services branch of our culture. 209 00:17:21,640 --> 00:17:27,200 We need to evangelize the lost in every institution, and that includes the 210 00:17:27,200 --> 00:17:33,079 institution of government. Can you be more specific and appeal to the listeners about 211 00:17:33,079 --> 00:17:37,240 how they can get involved locally? And this is part of the reason why 212 00:17:37,279 --> 00:17:41,000 we're blessed to be back in a position. We're on the radio now talking 213 00:17:41,039 --> 00:17:47,640 about the need. So at capital ministries, we're trying to recruit forty thousand 214 00:17:48,119 --> 00:17:52,799 intentional, deliberate, biblically reliant disciple makers and send them into local government. 215 00:17:53,160 --> 00:17:56,400 That doesn't mean you have to go pound on the door of city hall, 216 00:17:56,480 --> 00:18:00,519 but you might go to their meetings and begin to befriend some of your city 217 00:18:00,559 --> 00:18:06,920 council members and start a Bible study with three or four city council members at 218 00:18:06,960 --> 00:18:11,440 Denny's on Thursday morning. We provide you with all of the drilled down curriculus 219 00:18:11,480 --> 00:18:15,720 called Oaks in Office at seventy seven of my favorite Bible studies that are not 220 00:18:15,880 --> 00:18:21,279 only exegetically deep like we've been talking about on the radio program, but have 221 00:18:21,359 --> 00:18:26,079 a custom application to the life of a political leader. So we give you 222 00:18:26,519 --> 00:18:30,640 not only all the material, but we'll give you the credentialing, we'll give 223 00:18:30,680 --> 00:18:34,799 you the training, we'll give you the ongoing encouragement every two weeks a zoom 224 00:18:34,880 --> 00:18:40,920 call with you and your colleagues to keep you abreast of one another and encourage 225 00:18:40,960 --> 00:18:45,680 one another. So we do it all in order to make you successful as 226 00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:52,119 a ministry leader to your local government. And we're looking for thousands of people 227 00:18:52,200 --> 00:18:56,559 who are good Bible teachers that see this as a passion that they like to 228 00:18:56,559 --> 00:19:00,960 make disciples, they like to evangelize the loss and for the list that may 229 00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:06,160 be taken aback and have maybe this epiphany, like I think Ralph may be 230 00:19:06,279 --> 00:19:11,359 talking about me, here's the question. This isn't something that is going to 231 00:19:11,440 --> 00:19:15,200 happen overnight, This isn't something that's going to happen immediately. Yeah, there's 232 00:19:15,240 --> 00:19:18,680 something about the appeal of the political arena relative every two years as an election, 233 00:19:18,880 --> 00:19:22,640 and we can try to get this guy thrown out of office, YadA, 234 00:19:22,720 --> 00:19:25,920 YadA, yaday, and that has credence. I mean, I can 235 00:19:25,960 --> 00:19:30,000 think of a lot of illustrations that they should be thrown out of office, 236 00:19:30,319 --> 00:19:34,200 But I think the biblical mission, the biblical mission here is how can I 237 00:19:34,279 --> 00:19:41,359 come alongside that person as a disciple maker and befriend them and meet with them 238 00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:47,519 for breakfast once a week and mentor them in Christ. And then if they 239 00:19:47,519 --> 00:19:51,759 don't see the light, maybe try to get someone in office who will. 240 00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:57,559 But let's be maturing those that are in office or about to become an office 241 00:19:57,599 --> 00:20:02,440 holder. Let's mature them in Christ, so that if any man being Christ, 242 00:20:02,519 --> 00:20:04,279 he's a new creature. Behold, old things pass away, new things 243 00:20:04,319 --> 00:20:08,680 come. You don't have to tell a political leader who's mature in Christ how 244 00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:12,680 to vote. He's going to know it because he's captive to the Holy Spirit 245 00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:17,519 who governs his life, and he knows the Word because of your ministry. 246 00:20:17,599 --> 00:20:19,319 We have a couple of moments. I'm going to ask a question that would 247 00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:26,440 probably elicit hours of response and conversation. I think the average listener, average 248 00:20:26,519 --> 00:20:30,920 viewer right now looks at the state of the country, and most are really 249 00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:36,799 concerned. Yeah, and yet, as we know, God's word never returns 250 00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:41,119 void. He is here today right now, as he always will be. 251 00:20:41,960 --> 00:20:44,680 And yet, what about the issue of hope, and especially when we look 252 00:20:44,720 --> 00:20:47,359 to the political arena in the state of the country. Yeah, I can 253 00:20:47,440 --> 00:20:49,839 answer that in several ways, But let me try this answer out on you, 254 00:20:49,920 --> 00:20:56,559 Frank. If God's in the business of calling people to himself and maturing 255 00:20:56,599 --> 00:21:00,480 them, because he's trying to create in the Book of Revelation a ride for 256 00:21:00,559 --> 00:21:03,680 his son who went to the cross, and so the church is called the 257 00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:07,720 bride of Christ. Then that means that God's in the business of maturing those 258 00:21:07,759 --> 00:21:11,720 He's called out right yes, and it says in Philippians, Paul says, 259 00:21:11,960 --> 00:21:15,920 I'm confident of this very thing. He says that He who began a good 260 00:21:15,960 --> 00:21:18,680 work in you will perfect it. So Paul's basically putting the onus on the 261 00:21:18,680 --> 00:21:22,440 fact that once a person comes to Christ, it's the Holy Spirit who's going 262 00:21:22,480 --> 00:21:26,680 to lead them into all truth. I come alongside as a pastor teacher to 263 00:21:26,920 --> 00:21:32,039 mature you and coach you and help you in that God gave some as pastor 264 00:21:32,119 --> 00:21:37,519 teachers for the equipping of the saints. Right, so I'm an ambassador for 265 00:21:37,599 --> 00:21:42,440 Christ. I'm a disciple maker. If I do that in the capital campus, 266 00:21:42,599 --> 00:21:48,400 does it not make theological sense that if God's in the business of maturing 267 00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:52,559 the saints, that it'll call more people to office. If there's a strong 268 00:21:52,599 --> 00:21:59,240 outpost for Christ on the Capitol or City Hall campus, that changes the whole 269 00:21:59,279 --> 00:22:03,480 way we look at this. That's to say this that rather than try to 270 00:22:03,519 --> 00:22:08,839 invade city Hall with pickets and protesters in the name of Jesus and come across 271 00:22:08,920 --> 00:22:15,759 wrong, should we not establish an outpost that God sees as faithful as a 272 00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:22,200 maturation station to prepare a bride for his son. And that's how we look 273 00:22:22,240 --> 00:22:26,960 at it at Capital Ministries. So I see that in DC for the last 274 00:22:26,960 --> 00:22:32,920 twelve years, every election cycle there's more believers that are strong in Christ can 275 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:38,200 get elected to office. That's a lot better kind of magnetism to creating change 276 00:22:38,240 --> 00:22:45,759 in DC than to just try to foist people into office through power politics. 277 00:22:45,160 --> 00:22:51,319 Let's put our best disciple makers on those campuses and see if the Holy Spirit 278 00:22:51,359 --> 00:22:56,680 doesn't honor that and elect people to office. Not only elect them in an 279 00:22:56,680 --> 00:23:02,079 eternal sense, but elect them in a political sense to be at your outposts 280 00:23:02,119 --> 00:23:07,680 so that they get matured for God's purposes. Amen. That's Ralph Drawlinger. 281 00:23:07,799 --> 00:23:12,839 He's the president and founder of Capital Ministries. Caapmen dot org. Kapmin dot 282 00:23:12,920 --> 00:23:18,240 org is the website. Each and every week Ralph does a weekly Bible study 283 00:23:18,279 --> 00:23:22,559 in DC and is available to you online. Just go to capmendt org. 284 00:23:22,559 --> 00:23:29,200 You can download the Bible studies wide and varied of all sorts of both past 285 00:23:29,359 --> 00:23:33,799 and current. We're going to share more currently as it relates to today in 286 00:23:33,839 --> 00:23:37,640 the situation in the country and the world. But I also want to appeal 287 00:23:37,680 --> 00:23:41,640 to those that may be listening and you may think, can I be one 288 00:23:41,839 --> 00:23:45,759 of those local representatives and government reach out to us at Capital Ministries, we 289 00:23:45,839 --> 00:23:49,680 have a place for you. We're excited about this radio program each and every 290 00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:56,000 week. Thank you for listening to this the Capital Ministries Weekend with Ralph Drawlinger. 291 00:23:56,200 --> 00:24:00,920 Will you help support the ongoing work of Capital Ministries Today here at Capmen, 292 00:24:02,039 --> 00:24:07,119 we think it's time for a biblically based missions strategy to change the trajectory 293 00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:11,160 of America. For the past fifty years, we've worked to change the laws 294 00:24:11,160 --> 00:24:17,759 of the land rather than the hearts of the lawmakers. What's resulted is a 295 00:24:17,880 --> 00:24:23,119 country in continual decline. Rather than try and get politicians who reject the author 296 00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:29,200 of Scripture to accept the precepts of his book, let us instead place our 297 00:24:29,240 --> 00:24:34,680 best disciple makers and evangelists in the seats of governmental leaders who will start ministries 298 00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:41,440 in city halls, state capitals, and federal capitals. In America and throughout 299 00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:45,440 the world. Let us win and build public servants for Christ. Go to 300 00:24:45,559 --> 00:24:52,079 capmen dot org today and give together. Let us make disciples of Jesus Christ 301 00:24:52,119 --> 00:24:56,319 in the political arena here in America and throughout the world.