Pastor Rob...Speaking Truth That Transforms in the Midst of Cultural Chaos

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Thank you so much for listening and choosing the Truth Network Podcast. The name for our listeners to resonate, Dr. D. James Kennedy. Did you ever think you would be standing proclaiming God's Word from his pulpit, the pulpit that he used to proclaim God's Word from in Coral Ridge, Florida?

Never thought it, Stu. I grew up there at Coral Ridge, came to faith under his preaching and teaching ministry. He mentored me, discipled me. So it is a complete honor, humbled by the privilege to step into that pulpit every Sunday. My wife came to faith there as well under his ministry. So I am a son of the church. She is a daughter of the church, and it's just an incredible privilege to carry on this legacy.

I love it. You know, Dr. Kennedy, I mean, early on, before I even started the Truth Network, like 25 some years ago, I would listen to his sermons. And one of my first goals was to get Dr. Kennedy and the program Truths That Transform on the radio. Of course, Evangelism Explosion came out of this ministry, Coral Ridge Ministries, you know, down in the Fort Lauderdale, Florida area. I've been in the church where you used to have the radio tower right up there in the studios. So tell us what God's done and what God's doing there, because a lot of folks, they see these big ministries, like, you know, Dr. Sproul's gone to heaven, Dr. Stanley's gone to heaven, other great pastors, Dr. Rogers has gone to heaven, Dr. Kennedy went ahead of them to heaven.

So they're all having a pretty theologically heavyweight conversation up there. But Pastor Rob, tell us a little bit about the heritage and about the part of all that that just has inspired you to be the pastor that you are now in that ministry. Dr. Kennedy not only was a pastor, but he was an institute builder. He would take vision and he would create institutes. He cared about education.

So he started a school called Westminster Academy. He was concerned about lay people not knowing how to share their faith. So he started Evangelism Explosion, started a media ministry called Coral Ridge Media Ministries that still is in existence today. And so that's part of the legacy and the heritage of being a part of this ministry, this church and all of the ministries that Dr. Kennedy started. And his heart was to preach and declare a gospel that not only spoke to the person individually, but it talked about all of life, that the gospel not only saves us from our sins and saves us from going to hell, but the gospel also confronts and challenges and changes nations and cultures. And it really does speak to all of life. It's not only a personal truth, but it's a public truth. And all of the ministries he started and the ministry that I oversee now, the church and the media ministry, Coral Ridge Ministries is committed to that. For the sake of the next generation, Psalm 145 says, we will declare the works of the Lord to the next generation, from generation to generation. So really for my wife and I, Jennifer, it's about generational faithfulness and making sure that this truth that is, like I said, not only a personal truth, but a public truth continues to be brought for this cultural moment. Pastor Rob, never before in our culture has there been such a division. And of course, we expect the world to hate each other.

Republicans and Democrats fight all day long until the cats come home. But the church is divided. You've got churches that won't dare speak out in favor of pro-life. They're like, get these pro-life people out of here. You've got churches that have gone woke. They're pro-LGBT movement. They're supporting this transgender nonsense, which we thought the Bible taught just two genders. And then you've got folks on the other side that are so politically strident that they think that this great political candidate is the Messiah himself, and they're crowning him the new Prince of Heaven. How does a church biblically speak? Speak to our pastors and speak to the people out there in the pew as to looking for a church where their guy is going to be a man of the word. He's not going to be on a political stump, but he's going to speak vocally, prophetically to the evil of our day.

How do you even do that? Stu, that's a great question. And as horrible and chaotic as the times are that we're currently living in, we need to have a long view of history. I consider the Roman Empire the first cancel culture. They were doing everything possible in their power to cancel Christianity. And the only explanation how you could imagine these group of Galileans, ordinary men like you and me, that would go out after their Messiah had just been crucified and murdered and executed. The only explanation how that eventually turned into the greatest movement the world had ever seen is they understood that the truth that Jesus gave them and taught them was a public truth. It toppled the Roman Empire. It ended the slave trade.

It brought rights to orphans and widows. And we once again need to wake up and realize, no, the truth of the gospel speaks into every area of life. And we've got to, as pastors, remind other pastors and remind our people these issues we're dealing with in culture ultimately are not political issues. They're gospel issues. They're moral issues. The progressives in our culture want to make them political issues because then they're simply subjective.

Then it's a matter of who has the best argument. But if we can reframe them as gospel issues, as biblical moral issues that are based and grounded in God's word, then we are able to fight the good fight. You've got senators who claim to be pastors. They say the Bible teaches that you can kill your babies.

The Bible supports abortion. This guy, I don't know how in the world people even go to his church. I don't call that a church.

I don't call that worship. And so you've got these lines being blurred, Pastor Rob. And you don't want to be militantly vitriolic against people like that. But how do you speak to a church today to say, wait a second, wake up. You can't say, well, I'm a solid Christian.

The gospel has impacted every one of my life. But I'm going to support the homosexual marriage agenda. And I'm going to support the transgender, you know, cutting our kids' body parts off. Because in the second grade, they grabbed a pink crayon instead of a blue one.

Like, we're at a conference right now. Fifth grade girl, her school counselor has been counseling her and calling her a male name for months. They don't even let the parent know about it. They call the parents. They come in for a session and the parent is shocked that the school has gone all this way to push that kid to a sex change.

And that kid doesn't have a clue what's going on. I mean, this is rampant. But these political candidates. So, I mean, I guess, how do you, when the flock is being fleeced, what do you do? We need to remind the people of God that abortion is not a political issue. It's Genesis 1 and 2. Particularly in Genesis 1, 26 and 27, we are reminded that God creates man in his image and he creates the male and female. It's the doctrine of the Imago Dei. Where does all sacredness of human life come from?

The reality that we are created in the image of God. So as my good friend, Dr. Alveda King says, we believe in the sanctity of human life from womb to the tomb. And so we need to remind our people that abortion is not political. It's gospel issue.

It's image of God. The glory of God is at stake when we're talking about abortion. Issue of gender confusion and transgenderism.

Once again, it's a gospel issue. God defines gender. And when we mess with gender and we blur gender lines, we're attacking the authority of scripture and we're attacking the glory of God. When we talk, when we, when marriage is under attack in America, once again, not a political issue, but it's a Genesis 2 issue. That God designs marriage. That he's the, he's the one that institutes marriage.

And we need to remember this. God's design for the world brings flourishing. It brings shalom when we go against God's design for marriage or gender or sexuality, then we go against God's design and we can only expect chaos. The chaos we're experiencing in our culture right now is not political. It's because we have lied down as a church.

We have remained silent. We're not willing to speak up and we're allowing the culture to redefine God's design for all of these institutions that brought at one point human flourishing. And now we've gone against his design and we are experiencing chaos. And that's where evangelism and spreading the gospel comes in. That's where we look with compassion on folks that are sexually confused and gender confused. We share the gospel. That's, Dr. Kennedy started this evangelism explosion. The ministry has gone off and it's not directly connected with your coral ridge ministries, but there's a, there's a, there's a common DNA early on.

And that's, y'all now, what are you, Stu, what are you talking about? I'm talking about you ever heard the question you go to heaven and you ask God, you know, if you go to heaven or you're standing before God, why should I let you go to heaven? That came from Dr. Kennedy's passion to go door to door and share the gospel. And so how many believers, less than 5% of believers are even sharing the gospel? Like, well, you know, so give us a challenge going out of here about making sure that we, we know our stuff, that we are committed to the bedrock truth of scripture in a good church and how we can be ready for these attacks that come on from the enemy.

Yeah. First of all, we need to remember, like Dr. Kennedy taught all of us growing up at coral ridge, you want to change America, witness to your neighbor. That's where it begins. So changing America begins with witnessing to your neighbor that, but once you witness to your neighbor and you see somebody come to Christ, then you got to disciple them. You need to teach them that the gospel is not just your ticket to heaven, but it's the answer for all of life.

It's the answer for government and politics and sexuality and marriage and entertainment and the arts and business. As the hymn says, he shines and all that's fair. And so we need to be reminded of that yet again, that the truth of God's word is a public truth and that we need to be known for what we believe. We need to be a witness operating with grace and truth, not sometimes grace and sometimes truth, but grace and truth. We need to love the world enough to let them know that if you don't know Jesus, you better know Jesus.

What are you waiting for? Be saved and repent from your sins. But also we need to remind the public that God's word speaks to all of life and it transforms not only individuals, but it transforms nation, nations and cultures and societies. This truth of God's word changed my life and it can change your life and this cultural moment as well.

How are we taking what God's given us and sharing that? That's why we're still here to spread this good news. It's good news.

It's so good. Good news of the kingdom. Yeah, it's the good news of the kingdom. And as I always tell our people at Coral Ridge, if God wanted us to just come to heaven and he would have done that, he would have saved us, brought us to heaven and he didn't.

He saved us and left us here to be salt and light, to be the city of God in the midst of the city of man. Okay, how can Pastor Rob, how can people find you, hear your preaching, how can people connect with these truths that transform? Give us the website, the link, the best way for people to hear and learn more about you. Yeah, the best way would be to go to Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, which is CRPC.org. There you can find out about all of our initiatives, our media ministry. We launched just recently an institute for faith and culture that equips lay people in this cultural moment. So that's CRPC.org. You can find all of our resources and messages there. Okay, you ever need a good Sunday brunch ever on a Sunday, you're down through Fort Lauderdale, pop in South Florida, not far from Miami, pop into Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, hear Pastor Rob, bale the hay, break down the word, teach the word, feed the flock. It'll be a blessing. And I guess anyway, it's one of the most beautiful churches, one of the most beautiful campuses really in America. Absolutely. Our services are 930 and 11 every Sunday morning or you can always watch us on live stream CRPC.tv. We would love to have you virtually or have you in person.