NT Framework - Faith in the midst of Enemies

How do we live as faithful followers of Christ in the midst of corruption, evil, and the influence of the advesary in this world? Jeremy has several examples of how to do just that.

More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com 

This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).

Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and
our series on the New TestamentFramework.
Today a smaller, bite-sizedpiece from the larger lesson.
We hope you enjoy it.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
So I'm going to go through briefly some of the
contributions on a very basiclevel.
So Babylon contributed theconcept of fractional reserve
banking.
Fractional reserve bankingmeans, in a nutshell you put
some money in the bank let's sayyou put $5,000 in the bank.
They take a large percentage ofthat and they loan it out to

(00:31):
other people.
Your money's not sitting there.
They loan it out to otherpeople and make money on that.
So it inflates the perceivedmoney supply.
It makes the perceived moneysupply greater than it actually
is.
Okay, which has a lot ofrepercussions for business and
economics and all sorts ofthings.

(00:51):
But they came up with this idea.
You know, basically it's asystem ultimately of theft, but
anyway, this is what we live in,okay.
So they contributed that ideaand it continued.
Even when Babylon went away andMedo-Persia, the second kingdom,
comes, that idea remained.
They inherited it, in otherwords, and it's been inherited

(01:12):
down to our own day, the secondkingdom is Medo-Persia, the
Persians.
They were the ones who reallyhad the dream of globalism.
Have you ever heard of thatidea?
This was the Persians who werebehind globalism and their
globalism.
Have you ever heard of thatidea?
This was the Persians who werebehind globalism and their
global aspirations.
Now, when they were defeated bythe Greeks, alexander and so

(01:33):
forth, alexander the Greatglobalism didn't go away.
It was inherited by the Greeks,and the Greeks also inherited
fractional reserve banking, andthis is what's happening.
Okay, it's a building of akingdom of man, so it's got an
economic dimension right, it'sgot a globalist dimension.

(01:53):
And then you have Greece, andGreece comes along, and we all
know most of us probably knowwhat Greece contributed Human
rationalism, philosophy, humanphilosophy, rationalism,
philosophy, human philosophy,rationalism.
So that was their contribution.
So, see, you're getting allthese ideas together, okay,
fraction reserve banking,globalist aspirations, humanist

(02:15):
rationalism, autonomy.
And then here comes rome, androme is going to make a
contribution.
They're going to inherit allthat and they're going to make a
contribution.
They're going to inherit allthat and they're going to make a
contribution.
And their contribution is lawand military, law and military.
And all these things are nowcombined with Rome and continue

(02:37):
to be combined and manifestthemselves in all sorts of
things that we see today in ourworld.
They are all manifestations ofthese four basic things.
They're all thrown together, andso this is the times of the
Gentiles, and this all startedin Daniel's day, and so

(02:58):
obviously, israel was going intoa period where, let's just say,
of darkness, right For them.
Darkness, loss of hope, becausenow you are enslaved to a
foreign country and you'reliving under their rules, now,
living in their system.
So this is the time of theexile.

(03:20):
Now, what do we learn then?
There's a couple doctrinalthings we learn.
First of all, the doctrine ofsanctification and specifically
the idea of separation.
So this is another idea undersanctification, and that is, how
do we live separate lives?
Because what's happening?
What's happening is the Jewsare going into exile.
So now they're going to go,have to live in foreign cultures

(03:41):
.
So they're being taken at thistime to Babylon.
Right, the northern kingdom hadgone to Assyria.
So the question is, now thatyou're being thrown into another
culture with a totallydifferent value system than your
Hebrew culture, how do you livein that?
How do you live in the worldand not become like the world?
This becomes the prevailingproblem in the time of the exile

(04:06):
.
But you have people who areleading the way.
You have people like daniel,right, you have people like
esther, these stories.
So, daniel, this guy becomesone of the top government
officials in the kingdom ofbabylon and he's able to work as

(04:28):
a liaison for the Jewish peoplewhile they're in Babylon.
So he shows us wisdom,techniques for how to live in
the world but not to be engulfedby it.
Isn't he an amazing example.
A lot of Christians name theirkids Daniel, right, because they
say we love this guy.
This was a guy who showed usthat you don't have to retreat

(04:52):
from the world as a Christian,that you can go right in there
and you can serve right along inthe president's cabinet, and
you don't have to become corrupt.
You can be like Daniel and youcan stand firm and God will
honor you if you live by faithlike Daniel did.
Esther's another one who putherself in a somewhat precarious

(05:13):
situation in the times of Haman, who wanted to destroy every
Jew, and she became a liaisonfor her people in the king's
house, and God used her beautyto do that.
God can use anything.
This would be totallyunexpected in the Bible.

(05:33):
I would think that God woulduse a woman because she was
super beautiful, but to be theone who delivers her people,
israel, right.
So she's another person who isinjected in there in this time
period to show how to be in theworld but not become of the
world.

Speaker 1 (05:51):
Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with
Jeremy Thomas.
If you would like to see thevisuals that went along with
today's sermon, you can findthose on Rumble and on YouTube
under Spokane Bible Church.
That is where Jeremy is thepastor and teacher.
We hope you found today'slesson productive and useful in

(06:11):
growing closer to God andwalking more obediently with Him
.
If you found this podcast to beuseful and helpful, then please
consider rating us in yourfavorite podcast app, and until
next time, we hope you have ablessed and wonderful day.