Free Chapel Young Adults Podcast | EP. 12 Let's Talk Politics

((music playing)) ((applause)) welcome to the young adult ((music playing)) podcast hello family welcome back to the free Trel young adult podcast we are so grateful that you are tuning in today if I have not met you my name is Sky I'm joined by two of our incredible young adult pastors Pastor Aaron our Global young adult Pastor as well as our gainville young adult Pastor am I allowed to do that to myself I think that's good self-confidence and then we got Jordan Ball who is our Midtown young adult Pastor shout out to him and we're going to have some really good conversation today but before we get into our conversation we always want to honor our incredible pastors Pastor Jensen and teres Franklin we love you guys so much thank you for creating this space for us to what we do as ya but as you know we are in our built different series still so some of you guys actually send in some questions and we want to answer one of them before we get into our topic we have a really really good topic today but we're going to answer one question and again I said this in the last podcast we're going to have a speed round pastors I keep speed hard for two minutes 3 minutes 5 minutes let's say I almost want to say one minute per person dang let's say let's let's just say oneish minute my intro is like a minute and a half oneish minute so I'm going to propose the question to you guys let me I'm going to read it from my phone so I say it the right way but how do we love others like Jesus while still maintaining personal boundaries and I'm going elaborate a little bit give you a little time to cook but I know when we think of loving people like Jesus Jesus was always with people he was always serving others he was always out and about and sometimes we feel the need to do that as we should follow Jesus but sometimes it gets to be a lot sometimes we overload our plate and we need to establish some boundaries so how would you guys advise young adult to Love Like Jesus but also still maintain boundaries Perfect story Jesus sends the disciples on the boat it's the famous story of Peter walking on water and he's like you guys go ahead of me he's burned out because he's been doing so much Ministry now Jesus knows there's a storm coming he knows they're about to get in the middle of it and yet he still sends them while he stays behind and prays he is letting people know that it is okay to tend to your to tend to your relationship with God and to get healthy again if you are in a constant like flow of like trying to be the hero for somebody trying to take care of everybody but you're getting burned out and you're burning yourself out that's not healthy and like that's why Jesus says to love your neighbor but also to love yourself so I would say it's totally fine to take a day off to not go hang out with people all the time to take time to recoup to talk with God again but just to take a day off or like what I do is like I go I go golf you know what I'm saying sitting there in like Creeks just trying to find my ball but getting frustrated but like I I I'm loving myself taking care of myself so if Jesus can get away and allow somebody to still go through a storm then guess what I have the right to go ahead and get pulled away and I'll say this as I closed out my one minute um he knew the storm was coming and and he didn't right away go after them so it's okay if somebody's in a storm cuz I can guarantee you as a pastor everybody's going through a storm and it is not selfish of me to not be in everybody's storm at every single moment yes that's very good when I think of love and like boundaries I I think of Jesus in the context of denying oneself and one of the greatest things that we can do in this idea of denying oneself is denying oneself in the context of thinking about the other person so I may not want to tell you the truth yeah but I'm going to love you and deny me not wanting to offend you to tell you the truth you see how that spun even down to one time I had a I was talking to a young adult and you know we were just having an accountability and they were like man I just felt like I had to sleep with my girlfriend to show her that I love her and I said to them like one of the greatest ways you can love her is by denying what you want to love her that's good cherish her the most sacred thing that you can cherish on a woman which is her you know yeah yeah area and part and it's like we get love twisted and think love Is Just action but sometimes that action isn't sort of doing something it's not doing something it's the self-control cuz think about Galatians 5 when you know uh Paul talks about the fruit of the spirit what's on the front end and what's on the back end front of it I lead with love and I apply it through self-control so I think one of the things we can do is deny that that ties into boundaries like I'm going to deny this to make sure I'm loving you and that you're comfortable that's real good good job guys that was pretty quick no you went over but it's okay it's okay it's okay we are I know I personally am very excited about this topic we're kind of in that era it's time voting is right around the corner politics are getting talked about a lot of us as young adults this is one of the first times we're like we're the age group that is getting talked to a lot like step up go out and vote don't just be a Christian who believes all these things but put into action by voting so we're going to have a conversation here as a y family about politics because they hear politics they're like yeah I ain't for no but we're going to be real y'all we're going to get into all of it so I'm just throw out this question first question it's kind of a little bit of a two-part but one I would say why are we talking about politics in church and second how important are politics as a Believer so whichever you can answer that in whatever order but why are politics important why are we talking about it in church well first off politics deals with people yeah so like it'll it'll affect people so anything that affects people we probably have to talk about it now yet again there's a lot of gray area into that conversation I think the reason why we talk about it is because it deals with people and anything that affects a person we want to make sure we have conversation around it yeah but I mean piggy backing on that like I think what we have done in the context of Christianity is and we were talking about this some time ago about like sticking to the four walls of church and that the the Bible says for us to go out to the Nations to go to the world and Minister the gospel yeah but I can't do that if I'm in my comfort bubble of Jus oh no we just going to stay here and worship together no we need to go out and you know encourage people and preach the gospel because every area of life and culture needs the gospel yes it needs Jesus especially in the realm of politics so I think it's important that especially young adults are socially aware yes I can't make an impact and I can't pray and I can't disciple if I'm not socially aware and I just tied that to Paul when he was speaking to Athens like he studied the culture he studied their politics their philosophy he studied it so that way he can Minister effectively through a lens of understanding so I think it's important for young adults to be able to minister properly to your college campus to your friend group to even your family you have to be aware of the culture in the world you're trying to bring the gospel to that's very good and I love what you both are saying but Jord specifically when you said that politics affect people like we can either ignore this huge thing that affects all of us in church and let the world completely define it or we can bring Jesus into it and then have a Biblical perspective on literally everything it's funny because in life we know we need to have a Biblical World viiew on all these other things when it comes to politics we start getting offended we're like why is Pastor talking about this and that but we want to have a completely well-rounded biblical world view not just about the stuff we're comfortable talking about but about the stuff that affects all of us and it is uncomfortable to talk about these because a lot of times when it comes to the topic of politics some of the subjects around it affect like we have like family members or we have we come from a certain place that you didn't talk about that so it's like yeah I just but we that's why we got to deal with us so that we can deal with this stuff and not allow how we grew up and stuff like that to affect our view of the Lord in the word of God and I think people get really tense as soon as that word gets brought aswh and upal and you're like oh no it's to down the reason is because people get so comped like people just want to fight over and it's like what if we decided to start the conf because in my opinion Christians should be the ones who start everything should push it so I'm not saying like hey do this that that I'm saying like what if you enter conversation with humility to like understand hear somebody out listen to what they're saying because I'm telling you like the more combative we are the more we're going to push people away when it comes to that stuff and I just for for me personally I would love to be able cuz like you said reach in every space like that political realm is not one that's probably like effectively reached um so I love the fact that our church is trying to to reach more and more people but like just understanding bro like this is going to deal with people so yeah that's so so good all right next question I have a little funny story to set up but first I'll say the question and then I'll tell my story but what is a healthy perspective to have when it comes to politics so I'll set give you guys that you can on so my this is a funny story I've never shared the story publicly ever so you guys are you are getting some exclusive stuff so from when was I I think I was in I was in third grade it's 2008 wow you going back yeah 2008 this is this is a political story though 2008 I was going to school in the hood shout out to the hood love I was going to school and it was election time and I remember we had um I'm not talking anything specific about these candidates this is just literally a part of the story so we had Barack Obama little like cutout heads and John McCain cutout heads and we're in the hood so obviously all little kids want the little Barack Obama heads to like hold up like yay we obviously we know nothing about policies or anything like that we're just going based off he seems like cool guy so everyone gets these Barack Obama heads and I remember I um all the Barack Obama heads were taken so I had a John McCain head and they're like why do you have that like and it's all was left all the people that have a it's Skyler BR no ha no shade to John M I like Anyway again we're not talking about policies we're just talking about the story but anyway I remember as kids we literally just used I say all this to say we used to go based on like that our perspective was who seems like a nice guy who seems like the cool one who seems like the one that the media is highlighting in the more positive perspective but for us as Believers what is a healthy perspective to view when it comes to politics they not make politics or the political party your identity yeah and I think we've done that and it's just based on how we were raised I think we've talked about this before you know I grew up in the hood you know what I mean east side of Buffalo New York so like in my neighborhood it was like Democrat yeah very liberal very liberal very open you know Democrats if you ain't Democrat you ain't black kind of deal but but that was the tone yes and when you grow up in an environment to where all you know is what you know that's what you're going to stick to it's same thing on the like people who grew up in a certain way you know who were around the Republic but it becomes identity to where now if we are even have a conversation and let's say hypothetically I'm not I'm not saying I'm one or the other but let's say I'm Democrat and you're a republican if we're just having a conversation and we get on the you know topic of politics it's like now it's gang wars you know you blood I'm it's like what you talking you you know what I'm saying blood you know I'm much smaller than you so I'd run away but we to answer the question we can't make a a party our identity yes that's very good yeah the and I'd say also to as well like stop trying to make an enemy very good like so as soon as it happens every four years soon as we start going down this route one side's like they're my enemy the other side's like that's my enemy but Jesus said pray for your enemies so even if you're a Christian and that person you don't agree with that person don't let that person become your enemy and if it starts going down that rout that you that that person is becoming your enemy you need to pray for them and I I hope and pray that one day we could see like in our offices legitimately different people in office praying for each other because everything starts to the top now not everybody in leadership is a Christian not everybody in in in politics is a Christian so I understand that and people want to have different type of people in office but at the same time like don't let that person become your enemy like really seek your heart out cuz like you were saying man like if we if we disagree you just watch like the tension start to happen in the room but like the one thing that I don't like is like as soon as we start a conversation about politics it's like I'm going to find my point to get you and prove you wrong or tell you how sinful and and another thing is Let's Be careful with language yeah like just because we AG like disagree on political parties or policies and all that we can't use language that if you're a Democrat you're not a Christian yeah I think that's dangerous language I just again because we got to understand politics are layered yeah and again sometimes people only know what they know and we can't dismiss people's experiences so like more or less of judging you based on you thinking different or voting different I just want to understand can you imagine I I'll tell this like a couple weeks ago I went to go visit my granny she's 94 shout out to Granny and she's like she's definitely watching this she's definitely definitely gr if you watching this she don't she she her phone is a flip FL that's good that's good um but she was like honey I need to go vote and I want to I want to vote for that Camala Harris lady you know cuz we need a black you know woman as president I could easily be like granny what you talking about you ain't my granny I don't love you like but that's silly like that woman 94 years old I may disagree but I'm not going to now fight with my 94 year old granny because but I have context the way she grew up like her thought process like how she views our culture like I have to consider that and if anything just be in prayer that man God shows her what he needs to show her to help her be guided and whatever he wants to gu and even in conversation we have words might trigger you that might not trigger me so as soon as like one word gets brought up like immedately and somebody said like it gets triggered so they get combative and defensive so like my wife's an immigrant so if the word immigrant comes up it's like there's an alarm that kind of goes off well if if I'm just viewing them as like they're wrong and not understanding it yet again what's happening in their heart exactly then we're going to have a bad conversation which is why I love like you know Jesus has the Pharisees come up to him it's like hey pay taxes like like who who who should we pay taxes to he's like starts getting in this that's a political thing that they're trying to bring to him and it's a gotcha moment and Jesus like looks at it and on the coin has Caesar's face right Caesar's like the king of Rome right and Jesus is the king of the world but like they're trying to ask him a political question and he goes whose face is on on the coin he goes Caesar gives to Caesar what Caesar's but give to God what's God but what's God yeah me and you we have a conversation I got to realize like you're a child of God and I just wonder if sometimes we could go in conversation realizing like I'm not talking to the Republican I'm not talking to a Democrat I'm talking to a child but let me make there's a a term that and this is I'm glad we're having this conversation just more or less educate people but it's called political abstraction it's a term write that down political abstraction and what that term is is they use this in politics to now take away your Humanity if in this debate or this running of office I can now dehumanize you into you're not and I'm just using this as an example you're not uh Camala Harris you're not a uh Donald Trump you are this bad orange person or you're this woman with no kids like if I can now abstract you from your Humanity it's easy for people to dislike and that's what they try to do but we can't dismiss people's Humanity because as it's happening in the political realm it's filtering down to the community to where you're not Jordan you're not Skyler you're not whoever you're this political party that I don't like because of a b and c so you're not a human and that's dangerous so please be mindful and stay away from political abstraction yeah and something that we talked about this we touched on this in the last podcast but to bring to politics I love again what Jesus says is we as his people will be known by the way we love so it's funny that we can for forsake our love for the just being right politically or we can lay our love down to back up a candidate or back up a party but we need to remember as Believers we are not called to identify as republican or democrat or whatever it is we need to be known by the way we love that's the thing that should be the marking definitive thing about us not a political party but moving right along to the next question I love that we're talking about this cuz as young adults we like I know I don't know about you watching but I know I feel pressure like oh God like like we're not watching our parents navigate this stuff anymore we're the ones navigating it and I know often times when we just get in these conversations the young adults in the room kind of get quiet and the and the I love this the moms and dads in the room and the wisdom Club shout out wisdom Club the people in the room they're like that's right they get real vocal but weing go are like oh I don't know but that ties into my next question is how important is it for us as Believers to be vocal politically so is it something where we need to be speaking up and we need to be vocal or is it enough to be a believer and have strong beliefs about something but not feel the need to be very vocal about it what do y'all think see I love that that's a great question Scarlet yeah I think the ignorance is when we're vocal with no knowledge I think that's dangerous very good I can't be vocal on just what I saw in terms of a clip I can't be Vo just in terms of what I heard people say I can be vocal when I'm educated yes and again I go back to Paul in Athens like he studied the culture yeah so I Empower young adults if you're listening do your research because what happens is too cuz I teach a class at the college on this it's called Christian Life issues and one of the lessons we talk about politics and things of that nature and one of the things I communicate to them is that sometimes people only know the electoral vot vote yeah but they forget Supreme Court all the other things they forget legislation which is in context actually on some level more important than local because it it affects law yeah and what happens is in my mind I don't want to like they want us to people want us to be distracted just with the election so that we're not really up to speed in like aware of laws they're passing and they're just passing laws under people's noses literally and we're up here talking about some this party this part and I'm like well are you voting and when we think vote we only think electoral vote but you got to understand supreme court because that plays a role you got to know legislation and the laws they're trying to pass that affect if you don't have children but will affect in terms of Pastor talked about it uh a couple weeks ago how they passed a vote about bathrooms mhm and how you know certain people can be in the bathroom that happened at the at the legislation level law so I say all that to say the point is get educated learn policies learn even what the parties are about so now you can be vocal but be knowledgeable and be educated and let me piggy back off that because this is a moment of accountability for us as young adults there's so many things as young adults we aren't educated on because we just ride the coil of our parents like it's taxes and politics and all this even faith for some of us we just ride our parents' knowledge but we got to do better y'all we have to step up and learn about all of these different levels of politics and not just this big one but we need to do some research and hold ourselves accountable but I'm sorry I'm just pick we just Pi it back got to be real Tik Tok can be your resource that can't they don't know what they talk about Instagram can't because you have to understand based on what you watch the algorithm now is going to feed you yes so if you watch maybe you're watching a republican context of you know content it's gonna feed you feed you but you're never learning what the other part cuz now your only mindset and information is based on what the algorithm been feeding you that's good so read books yes do research online talk to if you know a professor talk to a professor educate yourself learn as much and but there's other resource Hillsdale Prager U there's so many different resources that we can go to to be educated on this particular learn both sides learn both sides I got to write down everything you just said those notes I'm like man PR all right um I I think for me like I I think we also have to throw in like conviction yeah to this as well when it comes to being vocal and like you said it's understanding but also we have to understand conviction because at least for me my conviction is I want to reach everybody I can for Jesus and sometimes the route we go down is I want to reach everybody to be a Democrat I want to reach everybody to become a republican but but I Want To Make Disciples of all Nations so God called me to make disciples he didn't ask me to make a party right and so to me my heart is always like I have a conviction to yet again figure you out have a conversation with you but I want to give you Jesus I want to see if you know Jesus and then from there we can start having some conversations when it comes to that stuff I'm not saying don't be vocal uh but there are times where I do have a conviction where I'm like I'm going to shut my mouth and listen because I'd rather win the person's soul than win them for a party yeah absolutely and but it's again it goes back to what we said understanding people's story um you know again understanding what my granny has been through yes and when I tght to young adults un like cuz to not understand or get people's history and story is to NE again neglect their humanity and there's always a reason to something so instead of us fighting I'm Yar y'all have heard me say this Proverbs 47 wisdom is the principal thing and then all you're getting get understanding understand people understand policies understand politics understand it all so that you can navigate it with the best possible wisdom you can but even if having Sor if you are having a healthy discussion one thing I'll do is like if I'm about to go down a route with somebody the first thing I usually say to them is like so we're about to go down this route do we agree we both love each other and we're going to treat each other with respect yeah me and my wife do that when we're about to like get into a fight for the marriage I'm like hold on before we get down this route let's let's just establish something so so before that conversation sometimes happen why don't you try establishing with that person and understand hey this is what's going to happen and then when when the conversation is done because it veers so quickly with people if it starts veering my thing is like let's cut it off let's just yet again and then like how about we just pray with one another you know even if you're not not a Christian you're an atheist you're like whatever if we pray together I guarantee you there's going to be a little bit more of a bonding at the end of that conversation that's good that's good all right next question how do we take a stand for our faith within politics I meant knowing the word though I I think as we said on a practical level knowing politics and educating yourself knowing the word of God and what the word of God says about these things because one of the things I saw especially in 2016 2020 was this Defiance and Rebellion towards government yes yes and it was just interesting that we allowed the environment and the tone of the culture to make us Now operate in a mindset and a heart that's cont contrary to the word of because the Bible is clear uh Romans 131 it says submit to your governing body submit to the government and it's not s now the government has you walking in sinful that's a whole different conversation but like we are to honor our govern honor our leaders even if we disagree and but if we understand Bible we know how to actually sort of navigate the sort of political realm so my take is know the word of God know this book yeah yeah and I think I think it's a it's important to to God it's important to me so if it's in if it's in the like think about this if God wrote this book 6 different books but we put it in one collection this is from God yeah like of all books in the world this is it yeah if it's in there I have to have some type of consideration to go why is this important to God why would he put this in here of all things he could write yeah why would this be important to him so I I I think you know when it comes to like taking a stand your politics like first off just figure out what's important to God and uh I think also too when government parties um take the Bible and they use it as Force towards people I think we do have to call them out and go like hey that that's not right that's not right that's not what that context meant that's not what that verse was mean like even the one you brought up where it's like you know submit yourself well if the government's abusing its power I have a right to speak up if it's a sinful area then that's when we because in context the government in terms of America is the people you know what I mean we live in a democracy um but the other thing I'll say is like that's the question and please hear my heart on this I ask myself do people read the Bible yeah like do they read the Bible because it's like we look at politics and we look at the people and we're just like oh how can God use or and it's like did you read The Exodus story he U he literally used Pharaoh yeah but again think if Moses didn't operate in politics yeah he would have never obeyed God and was the political voice for the people of God to be like Pharaoh let let God's people go yeah Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar think about if Daniel didn't true I mean it was politically in the context of they were ruling a people and then taking God's people and putting them in slavery and then having them read books and trying to renew their mind to a carnal solder place but if Daniel in the midst of carnality in the midst of sin in the midst of a wicked leader stood firm in his faith understood the word and was able to lead I'm honor and lead in the way God has called me but I'm so in tune with God I know how to lead yeah so that's real good even Paul spoke up when he was mistreated he's like I'm a citizen and and you mistreated me and they're like oh no we did something wrong but why because that was how they abused a policy and a power exactly I love that the Bible speaks to these things because we love to leave church and Christianity out of politics but God felt it was important enough to put in his word so we need to feel important enough like it is important accounts like from Genesis the Revelation it's all there but we have to not ignore it but allow that thing to soak in our heart to where we can apply it that's good I have two more questions for you guys but this is something that I'll hear every single time it's time to vote for the president it's like well I don't like either of them and I It's usually the the that voice too I don't like either of them I don't like either them not going to vote like both of them are bad so I'm not going to vote at all so what would you guys say to the young adult who doesn't like or agree with either presidential candidate but feels the need to vote yeah yeah go ahead take it I just feel like we've become so um you can say it I know I'm trying to say it ni we' become knowt alls and we've become so opinionated yes because think about it we we do this on a spiritual level y in the context of like preaching oh if it ain't my favorite preacher I ain't listening to it or if it ain't my kind of music I'm checking out in worship y but that sort of think about but it translates into our everyday oh it's not the person that I like it and it's like but what if God is wanting you to humble yourself to make a certain impact yeah you don't miss what God has or wants to use you for because it's not presented in terms of your cup of tea because your cup of tea going to have you like lacking in your relationship with God so what I'll say is again political abstraction like don't fall into that look and we've said it look at the policies yes what are they and don't just look at the policies they talk about the it what are all the policies what are the things that they're looking to do or wanting to do or communicating they're going to do and just look at the the history though I think if we look at the history of certain things we can honestly see a pattern and if we do that then we can make sort of a educated decision in terms of who we vote for that's good yeah and I think like people will complain about what's happening in the world but like you said they're not willing to do anything about it and sometimes this is the best way to bring about change and so like you don't like both the one thing I say like let's just take like spirituality all this stuff out of it who do because you're voting for someone to do a job so who do you think would do the best job right right right and yet again that goes back to that policy thing so like and also too remember you have the right to do it so if I have the right if I'm allowed to do this like this this is my god-given right because of like like it's been given to me right and then also too as well people will throw in the Bible and they'll be like well the disciples never but the disciples didn't have a right to vote it was not an election process so like now you have the right if you want to you have the right to vote but I'd say like if you don't like what you're seeing to not do something to me is sad man but man this this is why Pastor used to say this and like sometimes we can just say oh that's a corny line but no I love it because it's legit pray fast and the reason I say that is every decision we make needs to be through the right heart Yeah because sometimes we'll have will perceive things through whatever our experience is so let's say like I needed somebody to reach my family I can look at y'all and make a choice and vote who I think based on the perception oh it's to be schol cuz she's black m but what if you have a story though that will connect with my family that will bring them to Christ so I can't look at like you know what it looks like or what they say or their personalities we got to have the sensitivity of the Holy Spirit to really look at the heart or again policies yes this is this has been such a great conversation and it has left us with some action steps so hey our action steps leaving this conversation are a get educated on both sides don't just we don't vote specifically democrat or republican we vote Christian based off of Christian values yes so get educated on the policies on both sides get in that word that Bible I'm pointing at if you listening you can't see but PA got a big old Bible but get in that Bible see which candidate has the policies that align with the word and obviously no one yet so far Lord will only send us but usually they're not all lined up but who has the most biblically founded policies that we can come into agreement with do your research get in the word pray fast vote and don't just be a young adult who sits on the sidelines we are now adults even though we're young we're adults so we can't ride on the coat tells of mom and dad forever we need to step up and take this as a burden for ourselves because this is the setup for how our future families are going to live this is the setup for how we are going to live and we can't just sit and expect everyone to do the work for us anymore we have got to step up good and vote no matter how uncomfortable Sky sister Sky there a sister Skyler but we got to step up y'all so if you feel a nice little bit of conviction maybe leave a wave in the comment cuz I know I do on getting educated and all that stuff but we love you all so much we're so grateful that you have tuned in today if you enjoyed this conversation please share it with a friend or family member if you have any questions about anything discussed you can DM us on Instagram at free chap young adults or you know what take this conversation to your friends and have some healthy dialogue about this again I love what Pastor Jordan said about sometimes conversations like this can get hard and they can get a little tricky and you immediately want to get defensive but start off conversations with our love for each other ain't changing after this I just want you discuss some things with you again talk through it but yeah I think that's all any last thoughts from you on politics no and then last thing I say don't get mad at your pastors don't be mad like when they're like sharing this thing and they're Empower like Pastor Jensen priest the message stand up stand up and he's not telling you to pick he's saying stand up yes for what you know to be true the only way you know what's true is if you know the truth yes because that truth is set you free and stand with your pastors he also said that they be going through it they be going to war spiritually for us so let's stand up with our past cuz we be ducking when they say something we're like no we stand with our pastors we honor the leadership God has put us under but again love you guys share this with the friend man family member and we'll see you for our next episode bye ((applause)) ((music playing))