The 250th Anniversary of America is a beautiful time to reconnect with our American ancestors. Every day is the perfect time to connect to our spiritual ancestors.

Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thank you for being here. Last couple of days on SiriusXM, we've done a couple of segments related to education. We touch on it from time to time. We did a segment last week about how kids can't read. Well, half of Americans can't read at a sixth grade level. That's a problem. It's 46%. 46% can't read at a sixth grade level. That's a problem. It's 46%. 46% can't read at a sixth grade level. That's USA Today, so can't read a newspaper.

New York Times is at an 11th grade level, so they're not even close. Half of Americans can't read a menu, can't read a job application. Big, big problem. But then we did a segment on college kids who can't read. And they don't have the will,

but many don't even have the skill. Today we did a segment on AI. It's graduation time across the country. Many kids are graduating high school and college who are illiterate. And they've outsourced more and more of their brain

to artificial intelligence. And I think this is unwise. And I think it will be bad for our country. There's a video a 10th grade teacher made, she's quitting, a 10th grade teacher, she says, kids can't do anything at all.

She says, she'll ask them to write a five sentence paragraph by hand, and they throw tantrums. They refuse, they throw a tantrum, they can't do it. And you have to write it by hand to avoid AI. And the kids just can't understand

why they would ever need to write anything ever or think on their own in any way. There's no will. And after a while of not having a will to learn, then they'll lose the skill. And then what are we?

What is this country? She said her students don't care about anything. There's a professor at NYU who's been trying to AI proof his assignments, again mostly by writing by hand, and he said the students just complain that the work's too hard.

This is NYU. One student said, why are you not letting me use AI? You're interfering with my learning style. One student asked for an extension because chatGTP was down the day the assignment was due. The day the assignment was due.

One said, you're asking me to go from point A to point B, why wouldn't I use a car to get there? This is one professor at NYU. New Yorker wrote an article, everyone is cheating their way through college. ChatGTP has unraveled the entire academic project.

And it's all about students who literally don't do a single thing at all. They just type in the prompt AI and whatever it spits out, they just hand it in. Like one student wrote an essay or handed it, excuse me, didn't write an essay, handed in an essay.

And the opening sentence was, as an AI, I have been programmed to. Didn't even read the first sentence. Like think about that. Didn't even read the first sentence and think maybe I should take that sentence out.

Just handed that in and that's it. It's like, what's the point of this? College, I mean, what is the point of college? One professor said, well, everyone's cheating AI all the time. Let me ask people to write a paragraph

or a paper about themselves. Surely people won't use AI to do that.

They did.

Students used AI to write an essay about themselves. One student said, I spend so much time on TikTok, hours and hours until my eyes start hurting, which makes it hard to plan and do my schoolwork. With ChatGTP, I can write an essay in two hours that normally takes 12.

I love that. That's so good. People think, so a lot of people, most people in America think that you're born good. And this is a very Nancy Pelosi idea that if we just give people more time, then they'll

use it to write the great American novel and they'll become an artist and they'll just use it to help people and achieve their dream. No, they won't. They'll use it on TikTok. This student used a TikTok until her eyes hurt. ChatGTP makes that more possible where in the past you would have spent 12 hours to

write a paper, well now she can do it in two. So what does she do with the other 10?

Tick tock.

Cal State Chico ethics professor says, massive numbers of students are going to emerge from university with degrees and into the workforce who are essentially illiterate, both in the literal sense and in the sense of being, like you cannot read, and in the sense of being historically illiterate

and having no knowledge of their own culture, much less anyone else's. So here's my idea, and then we'll bring in the Bible. College needs to just go away, all of it and all of them. And we need to just have two separate things. I'm being serious here, I'm like half joking,

but not really at all actually. We need to have two separate things. We camp, just call it camp. Where I grew up in Syracuse, New York nearby, there was a college called Hobart and we called it Camp Ho-Ho. So have camp and camp is everything you want.

It's got the sports teams, you can watch basketball and football games, and you can play in the sports, you can get in murals, whatever, and there's parties, you can get drunk, black out every night, and I don't know, that's pretty much all colleges.

So it's just a hangout. It's a four year hangout, maybe you can go five or six years hangout. But there's no classes, like stop, like knock it off with even pretending. There's no pretending anymore. There's no point to it. Stop with the pretense of school.

Why are we even pretending this? It's a thing. Just call it camp and just do it. And then we'll have other places, and I don't know if we want to call it college or come up with a new name,

and those are for kids who want to read. I heard someone say, why would a monk cheat at meditation? Well, they wouldn't because they want to do it. An artist doesn't cheat at painting. They want to paint. If you're going on a hike, you're not going to take the shortcut because you want to hike. you want to be there. So we just need college to be only with kids who want to learn.

So you have another place called college and the kids who are there want to read Aristotle and they're with other kids who want to read Aristotle. And then the professor says, hey everyone, write a paper about Aristotle and all the kids say, that's great.

I can't wait to do that. I'll write a paper about Aristotle and all the kids say that's great. I can't wait to do that. I'll write a paper about Aristotle that'll help me understand what I read better and deeper and then we'll compare papers and I'll read your paper and you can read mine and we can discuss it. Like that's what college maybe used to be

and it's not at all for anyone anymore. So we just gotta stop with the whole thing and if you wanna go to med school, then you need to go to a med school school and you can take the classes that you want to take so that you could be a better doctor. But this arms race of AI writing papers and then professors have AI that determines

if a paper is written by AI and then we have better AI that can get around the AI, like enough with that arms race, it's never gonna work. It's foolish, just be done with it. College needs to go away, you just have four year camp, graduate 12th grade, you go to camp for four years,

unless you wanna go to actual college, and no one would cheat there, because they actually wanna learn, not just party. When I was in college, we had to read a ton. And, so I was in the very beginning of this AI stuff. I wasn't AI, but it was Google Books

came out when I was in college. So that made researching papers way easier and it messed with my brain because the goal wasn't to read a book and learn it. I could pick out enough things about a book to just kind of throw an essay together and get through.

No one ever fails out of an Ivy League school. It's impossible. You could just hand in whatever slop you want and you'll get a passing grade. No one cares either. It's so cynical. It's all like, hey, prof, listen, I got in,

I'm paying you, you're teaching at Yale, I'm here, I just want the degree, you wanna get paid, just give me a grade and let's just get out of here. That's all it is. But it retrained my brain in some really bad ways. It took me like a decade before I learned to love to read. I would maybe pick up a book from time to time

and I'd skim it, because that's what you do in college. You skim the book, get enough of it to write an essay. So I couldn't get past that. I was reading books all the time and it took me a long time, literally a decade to realize, oh, I can just like take my time on this. I don't have to write an essay at the end if I can just read it because I want to read it. This is a major problem in our country

and we're not gonna see the effects of it for a while and then it'll be too late in a lot of ways. Slater, what does this have to do with the Bible? as an intro to this project that the White House has in coordination and conjunction and partnership with Hillsdale College called the Story of America.

250 years ago, all these awesome things happened in American history. And this is the time to connect to them. This is the time to learn about it, relearn about them, be reacquainted with them, tell them to your kids. This is it.

And so it's weird in American culture. I don't know if this is true with other cultures. We love round numbers like this. So it's now or never, like no one's gonna wanna learn these things on the 264th anniversary of the shot heard around the world, it's gotta be 250 or 300. So I don't wanna wait 50 years to relearn these things.

We gotta do it now, this is it, 250 years. So 250 years ago was Lexington and Concord. So I just wanna take a minute and tell part of the story and then we'll bring it to the Bible and just pause on this moment for a second. You're here because you want to be here.

There's no grade at the end. There's no getting a degree at the end of this. I'm not going to quiz you just because you want to know. And I want to know. I'm so excited that we have that little bit of an extra excuse to learn about these wonderful moments in our history. 250 years ago, Lexington and Concord.

There was an order from the king to the general in Massachusetts to stop the growing rebellion that is taking place in the colonies. So I want you to march 750 troops to Concord to seize a weapons depot that the patriots created. The fact that we had a weapons depot seems we're pretty far along. And we were ready when they came. We talked about Paul Revere a couple weeks ago, but we knew that

they had to fire the first shot. We were not going to be the ones to fire the first shot. Samuel Adams, he says, put your enemy in the wrong and keep him so is a wise maxim in politics, as well as in war. So the Brits tried to take this depot and there were 70 Minutemen in Lexington to meet these British soldiers. The Minutemen, I love that name, what a great name, whoever came up with that is awesome. Minutemen because they had to be ready at a minute's notice. No one knows who fired that first shot. That

shot heard around the world. But then the British yelled fire and a battle broke out. Eight colonists were killed and the news spread fast. The massacre at Lexington. Many colonists from all over ran to Concord. People pouring in from all over the countryside. There was a proper battle against the British there.

The British lost 14 men and they retreated. And in their retreat they were attacked at every turn by the scrappy colonists. Now a couple weeks ago we read, I think we did it here, I know we did it on the radio, we read Paul Revere's Ride, which kids used to memorize. Kids used to memorize it in their brains, not just pump it into AI. They used to know it in their brains,

they used to know it in their heart. They used to know it deep into their bones. It's a long poem, it's a lot to memorize. Maybe that'll be the summer project for the kids. And that poem ends with, this is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Paul Revere's ride. It ends with, through all our history to the last, in the hour of darkness and peril and

need, the people will waken and listen to hear the hurting hoofbeats of that steed and the midnight message of Paul Revere. And the point here is if there's ever, when there is a moment where we need to summon something deeper into us, we need to look back at our colonists. We need to look back at Paul Revere. We need to listen to the hoof beats of his steed and summon inside of us that same courage and spirit when we most need it.

Because it's been done before. You just read the story of Paul Revere and this is why it matters and this is why we made our kids memorize it. But I want to read another poem today. Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1836, the Concord Hymn. This is, this was written for and read at the dedication of the 1836 battle monument.

This is a monument that we put up right next to the most beautiful bridge in America. The Old North Bridge. Give it a search. Search for the Old North Bridge. It's the most beautiful bridge in the entire country. And the Golden Gate Bridge is a beautiful bridge.

The Golden Gate Bridge is worth the hype. And the Brooklyn Bridge. I can't wait to show the kids the Brooklyn Bridge. We're going to New York City next weekend. And I can't wait to show the kids the Brooklyn Bridge. I can't wait to show the kids the Brooklyn Bridge. We're going to New York City next weekend and I can't wait to show the kids the Brooklyn Bridge. It's one of the first things we're gonna see the morning after we get there.

We're going right to the Brooklyn Bridge. So we got some great bridges in this country. No, there's nothing like the old North Bridge. And there's a humble monument there and it says here on the 19th of April 1775, 250 years ago, was made the first forcible resistance to British aggression. On the opposite bank stood the American militia. Here stood the invading army.

And on this spot, the first of the enemy fell in that war of that revolution, which gave independence to these United States. In gratitude to God and in love of freedom, this monument was erected, A.D. 1836. That's the inscription. Here's the poem that was read when that monument was dedicated. By the rude bridge, rude, what do you mean rude? Rude means simple, unadorned.

By the rude bridge that arched the flood, their flag to April's breeze unfurled. Here once the embattled farmers stood and fired the shot heard round the world.

The foe long since in silence slept, like the conqueror silence sleeps. Everyone's dead now. In time, the ruined bridge has swept down the dark stream, which seaward creeps. This all happened a long time ago, even though back then it was only six years ago.

On this green bank, by this soft stream, we set today a votive stone. Votive means something offered or consecrated, like the fulfillment of a vow. So we give this stone, this monument here. We set today a votive stone

that memory may their deed redeem when like our sires, our sons are gone. So just like the people who came before us, they're gone. One day our sons will be gone, but we need something here. We need the stone here so that we can redeem their deeds. That memory, we can never forget what they did.

Here's the last part. Spirit that made those heroes dare to die and leave their children free. Bid time and nature gently spare. Bid means we request. We request time and nature. So, spirit that made those heroes dare to die and leave their children free bid time and nature gently spare

the shaft we raise to them in thee Monuments matter I'll never forget Every summer for like three years. Maybe I was like 10 or so around that age. I would go, we lived in Pennsylvania and then we moved to New York.

And for like three summers, I would go back to Pennsylvania and I would stay with some family friends for the summer to swim on the swim team. And it was just great, great memories. And Joe was the dad, tough guy, he's a lineman in Philadelphia.

And not for the Eagles, but like power alignment. And we were, he's a veteran, and we were driving somewhere and there was a tiny little monument. And I said something disrespectful about it. Like, oh, like it's a little, you know, like who cares about that? It was something, I forget what it was,

but you know, something snarky that a 10 year old would say who doesn't understand what's happening. And he was on it. And I don't remember what he said, but I remember his attitude. It was something like the size doesn't matter.

It's what it means. It's what it represents. It's the people that it's dedicated to are what really matter. And actually that's really interesting memory I have because I don't, I remember visualizing it, but I can't remember what they said, but I got it.

Interesting, I got the message. We need to know our history and we need to know it in our heads. We need to know it in our hearts. We need to know it in our bones. We can't AI it.

Now let's turn to the Bible. Just reading this yesterday with the kiddos, Joshua four, this Israelites 40 years wandering in the desert, old generation, all gone. Now it's just the kids. Except for Caleb and Joshua. Moses is dead. Everyone's gone.

Here's Joshua 4.

And it came to pass that when all the people had completely crossed over the Jordan so it's the second departing of a river or sea that the Lord spoke to Joshua saying take for yourselves twelve men from the people

one man from every tribe and command them saying take for yourself twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan from the place where the priest's feet stood firm. You shall carry them over with you and leave them in the lodging place where you lodge tonight." So Joshua told him what God said and Joshua said that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come saying, what do those stones mean to you? Then you shall answer them that the waters of the Jordan were

cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off and these stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever. This happened a couple times, six or so times that we know of in the Old Testament, setting up stones as a memorial. And I love this one here,

because it's explicit that the intent is to provoke questions from kids. We're setting up this thing so that kids say, what's that? What's that about? What does that mean? Why is that there? Who did that? I said we're going to New York next week. We're

taking a boat ride from the Brooklyn Bridge to the Statue of Liberty and then back. What's that thing? What is this big statue thing? Why is that there? Where did this come from? Who built it? Why? We cannot let the deeds of our ancestors be forgotten. And so much of it will naturally, right? Just because, you know, it's, I can't remember everything, but we need to

remember as much as we can. We need to do this in America, our history, our nation, the American story, it's a beautiful thing. But more importantly, much, much more importantly, the story of the Bible, oh, the New Testament, our ancestors, our ancestors.

I feel a deep connection with George Washington. We need to feel a way deeper connection with Abraham. Galatians 3, 7, know then that it is those of faith that you and me, you made it this far. We're at minute 21 of this podcast.

You made it 21 minutes. What are you doing here still? Why are you listening this long? Oh, because you're a person of faith. Know then that it is of those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. Wow, you are in a spiritual bloodline. Galatians 3 29, if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Wow. All the fathers of the Old Testament are our fathers too. We are

grafted to that olive tree, Romans 11. Parents and grandparents listening right now, make it a mission to teach your kids about George Washington. Make it a mission to teach your kids about the signing of the Declaration of Independence and those who met at the Second Continental Congress and all the stories of America.

Make sure they know all the stories of our country and all the great Americans who built this place. And infinitely fold. Make sure your kids and grandkids know our ancestors. Going all the way back to Abraham, going all the way back to Adam. What a beautiful thing to study

American history and also our spiritual roots to feel a connection to the great heroes of America, but even more to our ancestors in the Bible and to Jesus Christ. Mike Slater.locals.com.

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May 10, 250 years ago, was the first meeting of the 2nd Continental Congress. This gathering of patriots led to the Declaration of Independence. Today, we went over the opening prayer at the 1st convention, which was inspired by Psalm 35.

Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thank you for being here. And I really mean that. Thank you. This podcast is growing every single day, every single episode. And I'm very grateful for you coming and then coming back and come back again.

And maybe there's an episode you don't like and you know what? Keep it to yourself. No, if maybe maybe you don't like the podcast episode for a day or two, but if you could check back in every couple of weeks again, like I wonder what he's up to. What was going on over there?

That'd be great too. We got to get well over 5,000 views every episode or listens every episode. And then we'll be, it's like the top 1% of podcasts or something like that. So we're there, but we just gotta be consistent

with the above anyway. That's not what matters. I just want this to keep going. I don't get paid for this, by the way. I get no money for this. If we get to a certain amount of listeners and we can get a sponsor, that'd be nice too.

I'll do it without any sponsors, but it's really once you get to the 5,000, a message that I think is important to spread. Anyway, I'm grateful you are here. I'm also grateful for the White House because they have someone on the White House staff whose job is, and I would love to talk to this guy. Who is this guy? He's in charge of making sure we are aware

of every 250th anniversary of whatever. This is the, so many 250th anniversaries of great things in our history that are coming up right now and I don't want to miss any of them. A couple weeks ago we shared the story of Paul Revere's ride. That was 250 years ago which led to the shot heard round the world. Lexington and Concord. That was April 19th, 250 years ago.

And now we were informed. I was informed by the white house that yesterday, excuse me, Saturday was the 250th anniversary of the first meeting of the second continental Congress, which ultimately led to the declaration of independence. So think about like, put yourself there the best you can, this building in Philadelphia with John Adams, Samuel Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Roger Sherman, Benjamin Franklin, oh there's Ben, Ben's here, can you believe Ben's here? John Hancock,

James Madison, John Jay, George Washington. I mean, these are our guys. These, these are, this is, this is because you get right here. How did God organize these men to be here in one place at one time with one mission's incredible. Now this was the meeting of the second continental Congress. I'm going to take a little, a little creative license here.

There was a first Continental Congress as well. That one met September 5th, 1774. And I want to read the prayer from the first Continental Congress. See a little trick I did there? This is the 250th of the second Continental. I'm gonna read from the first, but whatever. I think that bridge, I think we can cross that bridge and it's alright. This is a prayer given by the Reverend Jacob Duche of Christ Church in Philadelphia. He was inspired by Psalm 35, Psalm of David. Let me just quote the

opening three line. This is the Bible here and then we'll get to his prayer. Plead my cause O Lord with those who strive with me. Fight against those who fight against me. That's, I mean, it's right there. That's great. Help me with those who are on my side and then fight against those who fight against me. Hold a take hold of shield and buckler and stand up for my help. Also draw the spear and stop those who pursue me. Say to my soul, I am your salvation." Beautiful. That's Psalm 35. So that was the Reverend's

inspiration. I'm going to quote here from his prayer. This is the entirety of his prayer. Again, think of the scene. I got George, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson. We got all the big guns here. First Continental Congress. Oh Lord, our heavenly father, high and mighty king of kings and Lord of lords,

who dosed from thy throne behold all the dwellers on earth and reignest with power supreme and uncontrolled over all the kingdoms, empires and governments. How about that humility right from the jump? That's one of the most important secular reasons of prayer is the humility that it brings right away. King of kings, Lord of lords, you're in charge of everything. Nothing any kingdom, empire, government has ever done has not been done without you. Look down in mercy, we beseech thee,

on these our American states, who have fled to thee. I love that, that's my favorite part. Who have fled to you, from the rod of the oppressor, and thrown themselves on thy gracious protection,

desiring to be henceforth dependent only on Thee. All we want is You, God. We have run from oppression to You. To Thee have they appealed for the righteousness of their cause. To Thee do they now look up for that countenance and support which thou alone canst give. Take them therefore, heavenly Father, under thy nurturing care." What a

charge, what an amazing message. Take them therefore, heavenly Father, under thy nurturing care. Give them wisdom and counsel and valor in the field. Defeat the malicious designs of our cruel adversaries. Right, that's again, back to the Psalm, now fight against those who fight against me, right? Defeat the malicious designs of our cruel adversaries. Convince them, the enemies,

of the unrighteousness of their cause. And if they persist in their sanguine sanguinary purposes, so it's a blood of, of, of own in unerring justice, sounding in their hearts, constrain them to drop the weapons of war from their unnerved hands in the day of battle, be thou present Oh God of wisdom and direct the councils of this honorable assembly. Enable them to settle things on the best and surest foundation.

That the scene of blood may be speedily closed, that order, harmony, and peace may be effectually restored and truth and justice, religion and piety prevail and flourish amongst the people. Preserve the health of their bodies and vigor of their minds. Shower down on them and the millions they here represent such temporal blessings as thou seest expedient for them in this world and crown them with everlasting glory in the world to come. All this we ask in the name and through the merits of Jesus Christ, thy son and our Savior.

Amen. Let's go ahead and start a country. Like how awesome is that? I read Proverbs 9 yesterday. Do not correct a scoffer lest he hate you. Rebuke a wise man and he'll love you. Give instruction to a wise man and he'll be still wiser. Teach a just man and he will increase in learning. That's who we wanna be. We don't wanna be the scoffer. The scoffer is the person, Alan P. Ross,

he says, is a person who will not live by wise and moral teachings and is not content to let others do so without his cynical mocking. So it's an immoral person person and then when they see you doing the right thing they will try to take you down with them. That is a scoffer. Give wisdom to that person and they'll hate you for it. Give wisdom to the wise man and they'll love you for it. And that's what our founders wanted. They wanted wisdom, they prayed for wisdom and

more than anything they feared the Lord. Here's the next line of Proverbs 9, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. I want the wisdom. What do I do? Fear the Lord. And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Our founders feared God. They prayed to Him. They wanted more of Him. They ran to Him. They knew that nothing was possible without His protection and guidance. And today we're not even close to that. Like at best, we've gone a long time hating God

and our culture ignoring. Maybe at best today, people think we can do it on our own, but that's not gonna work. He is the source of all good things. We can't do anything without him. Our founders knew it.

It's high time we do too. Mike Slater dot locals dot com. Transcript commercial free on the website. Mike Slater dot locals dot com. Transcript commercial free on the website. Mike Slater dot locals dot com.

We were going to talk this week about distractions in a Christian's life. But then the new American pope was elected, and I got distracted. So it actually works out perfectly and Hebrews 12:3 has never made more sense to me.

Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thank you for being here. I had an intention this week to talk about distractions that we have that take us away from God. We were talking on Monday's episode about the armor of God. Ephesians 6.10 says, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of

his might. We focused on be strong. You got to be strong, then put in the Lord and in the power of his might." And we focused on be strong. You got to be strong, then put on the armor. If you're weak and you put on the armor, that doesn't do, you gotta be strong and put on the armor. So it says, and we started to quote Dr.

uh, Martin Lloyd Jones. And he listed a bunch of ways that he believes a lot of Christians waste their strength. He said it was as if Christians received some of the available might of God, but he put it in a bucket with a bunch of holes and the water just poured out of the bucket. These distractions just sap the strength of a Christian.

And he made a list. So here's the list. Committing to too many spiritual works or things. Too much conversation, arguments, debates, wrangling, laziness, too much time in the wrong company, too much foolish talk and joking, love of money and career, big distraction. A desire for respectability and image.

An unequal yoking with an unbeliever. Ungodly entertainment. A wrong attitude towards or doubting the word of God. He said we have to walk on a knife edge in these matters. You must not become extreme on one side or the other, but you have to be watchful.

And of course, you can always tell by examining yourself whether your strength is increasing or decreasing. So I wanted to spend the week going over these different distractions, but then the Pope got named and he's from Chicago, which is crazy. And that opens up a whole new world of possibility. Like will the Pope go to a national championship basketball game? The Pope went to Villanova. Like, you know, like people Villanova are going to be insufferable about this. It's just all they're ever going to talk about. You know, the tour guide today, the tour guides like, Oh, Villanova student to teacher ratio, uh, 16 to one.

And we have three national championships and the Pope is from here. The Pope, no other school can say that. So the Pope, I think if Villanova makes it again to the national church, I mean, I think the Pope's got to go. Here's another thing that I never thought would ever, ever happen. This is a woman on Instagram, a young young lady on Instagram. She is FaceTiming her mom and brother. I'm guessing brother. And the mom

when they were younger had a relationship with Bob. Bob Prevost. Bob. Just Bob. And then Bob grew up to be a cardinal, I guess. And they're like, oh, wouldn't it be funny if Bob became the Pope? So here they It's Bob, it's Bob Remos, it's literally Bob Remos! Yes! It's literally Bob!

Mom's situation trip is the Pope of the Catholic Church!

Oh my God!

My mom will come with the Pope!

I love that so much. It's Bob, it's Bob! And mom's like, no, and then the brother's like, mom Bob? That mom's Bob? It's Bob. And mom's like, no. And then the brother is like mom, Bob, that pop mom's Bob. It's the Pope.

She dated the Pope. I mean, that's never would've thought it never would've thought it. So Chicago is a white socks fan. So the Pope got me distracted. I read Hebrews 11 and 12 this morning. This podcast is named after Hebrews 11 and 12 this morning. This podcast is named after Hebrews 11 and 12.

I thought this line from Hebrews 12 fit in pretty good with the Martin Lloyd Jones theme that we were thinking about doing. Therefore, we also, since we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us. What a great word, ensnares. And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. So first he talks

about sin, sin that easily ensnares, but before that every weight. This is interesting because not all weights are necessarily sin, but they can distract us just the same. They can slow us down just the same. And then the word ensnare, sins which so easily ensnare. So ensnare can have a couple different translations in the Greek. Now there's four different translations.

It can mean admired, which is great because sin can look very pleasing. Ensnaring, dangerous. And I like this other translation, easily avoidable. So that Greek word can other translation easily avoidable. So that Greek word can also mean easily avoidable. So let us lay aside every weight and every sin that's easily avoidable. Just put aside these things, these dumb things. What are we even messing around with that for? But I

thought this line in Hebrews 12 fit in pretty good with the Pope being named. Hebrews 12, 3, looking unto Jesus. Charles Spurgeon in his sermon on this scripture said it would be better if we were looking into Jesus. But it says, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, often perfecter of our faith. Who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame,

and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Goodness me, we analyze every word. Often this is translated as fixing our eyes on Jesus. Looking unto Jesus, looking into Jesus, fixing our eyes on Jesus. So the Greek word here, fixing, but this whole expression Jesus, fixing our eyes on Jesus. So the Greek word here fixing, but this whole expression here fixing our eyes, the

meaning here is it's not just looking at something, it's also looking away. So it's the negative. You're intentionally actively turning away from other things and looking at this thing. So you're turning away from the distractions, and in this case people, and only looking at Jesus. So it's not just looking at, you're looking away as well. And now it's fixed. Your eyes are fixed. Can't be taken off of like Peter and it would on the water, why would Jesus and Peter

walking on the water? He didn't do do that fix your eyes on Jesus now now every time I've heard the scripture I've always focused on the fix part right fixing as opposed to looking at other things okay great today I want to emphasize the Jesus part fix your eyes on who Bob no Jesus Not anyone else. Not your wife. Not your husband. Not Moses. Not Mary. Not anyone else in the Bible. Not your pastor. Oh goodness, not your preacher. Our preacher often says that when you get baptized, you're not getting baptized into me or because of

me. You're not worshiping me. It's about Jesus. If your pastor is too big, the bigger, often the bigger, the pastor, the smaller, the Jesus. But if Jesus is big, then your pastor is right where he should be. Jesus is the author and finisher of your faith, the author and perfecter of your faith. Spurgeon wrote this.

He said, I want you, when you begin your divine life, to take care that you look to Jesus with so penetrating a gaze that your unto grows to an into. Be not only the outside of the volume of his life, but loose the seals thereof and read his

heart. Dive into the meaning of what he has done for you. Look at his enduring the cross, know what it means, and enter into the fellowship of his sufferings. Study well the sin bearing, the curse bearing, the forsaking, and the sorrow unto death. Think how the Lord Jesus came under shame for your sake and see how he rose above it all. And you must look to Jesus only. So that part's about the fixing.

It's what I usually focus on, but I wanna focus on the second part of that. Look to Jesus only, whether you know little or much. It is not your knowledge, but himself that must be your one ground of trust. You must take Jesus to be the alpha as well as the omega.

To you, his name stands at the head of the book, and it is also the amen, which closes To your experience, the scripture is true. In the beginning was the word. You begin to run when you look to Jesus.

Mike Slater dot locals dot com. Transcript commercial-free on the website Mike Slater dot locals dot com. Transcript commercial-free on the website Mike Slater dot locals dot com.