Pastor Joseph Parker, host of “The Hour of Intercession,” returns to “The Corner.”

Transcribed with OpenAI Whisper (base.en). Timestamps are approximate. Lightly cleaned for readability; quotations from on-air callers may include filler words. Use the audio player above for the authoritative recording.

1. 0:00Darkness is not an affirmative force.
2. 0:03It simply reoccupies the space vacated by the light.
3. 0:06This is the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
4. 0:11It should be uncomfortable for a believer to live as a hypocrite.
5. 0:15Delivering people out of the bondage of mainstream media.
6. 0:18And the philosophies of this world.
7. 0:20God has called you and me to be His ambassador.
8. 0:24Even in this dark moment.
9. 0:27Let's not miss our moment.
10. 0:29And now the Hamilton Corner.
11. 1:00You just might hear his voice bringing hard hitting news and information to you
12. 1:09never be
13. 1:11weary because double R is near
14. 1:15We are ready to rock and roll with today's edition of the program right now
15. 1:20Many of you have not most of you most of you are making your way from your part-time jobs to your full time jobs
16. 1:27your part-time jobs is where you
17. 1:29you generate an income. Your full time jobs are where we all of us
18. 1:34cultivate an outcome. And if you are happy, if you happen to be in
19. 1:38Tupelo, Mississippi, you are you should be at this moment moment
20. 1:41en route to the bank Corp South Conference Center. Because day one
21. 1:46of the activate summit begins today. In fact, I will be sprinting
22. 1:50out of the studio after we finish the show today so that we can
23. 1:56be a part of the festivities. This evening is going to be a jam packed weekend. Todd Herman will
24. 2:03be speaking at the tagliano, Dr. Alex McFarland, Frank Turic will have panels consisting of Jenna Ellis.
25. 2:11Sandy Rios will be at the activate summit and I will also be there addressing the attendees to
26. 2:18the activate summit. It's going to be an amazing time I was there earlier today just getting the
27. 2:24the lay of the land as it were,
28. 2:27making sure I know I need to be when I need to be there.
29. 2:29And it is going to be an exciting,
30. 2:31an exciting weekend.
31. 2:32But right now as you are making your transition
32. 2:35from your part time jobs, remember,
33. 2:37income generation is what you do,
34. 2:38but it's not, it's something that you do,
35. 2:40but it's not synonymous with your identity.
36. 2:42It's vitally important that we understand
37. 2:44that resource accumulation is just that resource accumulation.
38. 2:48For too many of us, what we do to generate revenue,
39. 2:51we've made it synonymous with our identities.
40. 2:54when we misconstrue that we very well could be giving ourselves to what should be a means to
41. 3:00an additional engagement of significance instead of recognizing what the full scope and the full
42. 3:06picture should be.
43. 3:07So, as you're making your transition to your full-time jobs, remember, outcome cultivation
44. 3:12is the order of the day.
45. 3:13It is designed and recorded for our benefit intentionally that the first human institution
46. 3:19that God established is the family with marriage at the center before modern iterations of civil
47. 3:24government before the New Testament church, before orders of priests, prophets, the first
48. 3:28human institution is the family.
49. 3:32The first command that God issued to mankind was delivered within the familial context.
50. 3:37This is intentional, ladies and gentlemen.
51. 3:40It is intentional.
52. 3:41We must, we must, we must understand and apply in our immediate context because simply put,
53. 3:47what goes on in your house is far more important than what goes on in the White House.
54. 3:51But it's not to say that there aren't important things.
55. 3:54There are vitally important things.
56. 3:56Please tune into the program tomorrow.
57. 3:58I'm going to talk about some things really and inviting you to join me in praying through
58. 4:01this weekend in particular because things happen and I know Bob, you probably took note of this
59. 4:05with the instructions for US diplomatic personnel to exit the Middle East.
60. 4:10You know, you know, if you pay attention to these kinds of things, you notice, we already
61. 4:14do those things willy nilly.
62. 4:16You know, those kinds of things don't happen just casually.
63. 4:21Yes, especially, probably saying, especially out of Baghdad, you know, we're going to talk
64. 4:26about that in a bit more detail.
65. 4:30I'll just say this.
66. 4:32Usually we know types of things happen.
67. 4:34They usually precipitate some type of ballistic activity.
68. 4:38I'll say it that we kinetic ballistic activity that transpires thereafter.
69. 4:43Then we have the 250th birthday of the United States Army where President Trump is leading
70. 4:49a massive celebration in Washington DC starting in the morning, culminating with a huge parade
71. 4:55that just so happens to coincide with this, you know, no Kings, Fotest, and I'm calling
72. 5:01them Fotest, because they're not protest. They're organized, paid for Marxist social agitation.
73. 5:08That is what they are. And 1800 or more are planned all around the country. But of course,
74. 5:14the regressive organizers said, well, this is just a coincidence. We didn't mean for this
75. 5:18to be the exact same day that President Trump is celebrating the US military, you know?
76. 5:24So you want to hear a bit about that?
77. 5:27It is the Army's birthday.
78. 5:28Well, I know it, but there's no Kings' protests.
79. 5:32Just so happens to be the same day.
80. 5:34And then we know the previous administration, we had record lows of enlistment numbers.
81. 5:39Now we have enlistment going berserk.
82. 5:41And the day that President Trump is patriotically celebrating our military, we have these regressives
83. 5:46with their protest and say, well, we don't want to allow MAGA to have a corner to market
84. 5:51on the flag.
85. 5:52And it's just insane.
86. 5:53And where you have this protest and understand the line of delineation, peaceable assembly is
87. 5:59First Amendment protected, is a First Amendment protected right.
88. 6:03There is no right to riot.
89. 6:05There's no right to vandalize.
90. 6:06There's no right to criminality.
91. 6:09And once you exit the realm of peaceability, you have exited the realm of First Amendment
92. 6:14protection.
93. 6:15of that. Then you also have the predictive cascading of the Los Angeles
94. 6:24Fotests. Yeah, and that's right. There's also President Trump's birthday, today's
95. 6:2879th birthday will be this Saturday. A lot of things are happening, but before we
96. 6:33get into all of that, let us turn to the Word of God. Psalm 119 is where I want to
97. 6:39direct our attention today. Psalm 119 verses 14 through 18. Just by way of
98. 6:45reminder Psalm 119 is an acrostic poem in Hebrew. It has numerous stanzas that
99. 6:53correspond with a successive Hebrew letter of the alphabet to begin each stanza of
100. 6:58this poem. But in Psalm 119 we have profound wisdom and guidance that we will
101. 7:03be wise to take the heart and consider. Psalm 119 verse 14 says this, in the way
102. 7:09of your testimonies I delight as much in all riches. I will meditate on your
103. 7:15precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes. I will not
104. 7:23forget your word. Deal bountifully with your servant that I may live and keep your
105. 7:29word. Open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. I'll tell
106. 7:38you verse 18 is what I pray almost, I'm saying almost because I don't want to speak
107. 7:46inaccurately, but pretty much almost every time I open the scripture, I pray this because the truth
108. 7:52is that we would know nothing of the Lord, unless you open our eyes to see many of you can identify
109. 7:58having read the scripture numerous times within that one particular moment, one particular grace
110. 8:02filled moment, the Lord causes his word to lift from the page, you know, it leaps from the page and
111. 8:08and the Lord opened your eyes in ways
112. 8:09that you hadn't recognized previously.
113. 8:12This is something that I don't take for granted.
114. 8:14So I pray that, I say, Lord, open my eyes
115. 8:17and I may behold wondrous things in your law,
116. 8:19wondrous things in your word.
117. 8:22Lord, I read your word and I welcome you to read me
118. 8:26through your word.
119. 8:27This is something I pray repeatedly.
120. 8:31But when the scriptures, the way it unfolds,
121. 8:33I've referred to this before,
122. 8:35but it's describing an internal quality
123. 8:39that truly only applies to the believer.
124. 8:41All right?
125. 8:44The unregenerate takes no delight in the law of the Lord.
126. 8:48The unbeliever takes no delight in God's holy word.
127. 8:55So when verse 14 says,
128. 8:57in the way of your testimonies,
129. 8:59I delight as much as in all riches.
130. 9:03I don't want us to take that for granted.
131. 9:06If you are listening to me right now
132. 9:08and you recognize, man,
133. 9:09I have a love for the word of God.
134. 9:11I want you to pause and reflect on the fact that you only have that love because of God's
135. 9:17work in you.
136. 9:20If the Spirit of God had not ministered to you to open your eyes and heart to the King of
137. 9:26glory, you would have no love for his word.
138. 9:29Conversely, it is one of the things, and I've said this before, that when we were born again,
139. 9:35the Lord gives us a hunger and a thirst and an appetite for holiness.
140. 9:39Similarly, when we're born again, the Lord gives us a yearning for His Word.
141. 9:44I remember when God opened my eyes, there was a time period, and I'm still this way to
142. 9:51a degree, but it's not the same because I'm at a different life stage, I have children
143. 9:54and all, but I will never forget I had this insatiable hunger for God's Word, but I would
144. 10:00just sit and read for hours.
145. 10:03And I wouldn't even realize hours would have passed by.
146. 10:06You know, it would be hours and hours and hours.
147. 10:09And to be clear, I still studied the Lord's word for hours.
148. 10:13But I remember this particular time that I was a single.
149. 10:17I was a young man.
150. 10:20I was like 18, 17, 18 years old.
151. 10:23And I would just read and read and read.
152. 10:26And I remember contrasting stories I've heard about scripture
153. 10:30with what the Bible actually says,
154. 10:32like one of the amazing things that all my life, children's
155. 10:37shirts I heard about in the whale.
156. 10:38And I read the Bible and say, oh, say it's a great fish.
157. 10:41And I noticed that for myself.
158. 10:44And then in a new Testament, when it was demanding a sign of Jesus, Jesus responded, I give you
159. 10:48a note sign except for the sign of Jonah.
160. 10:51You know, I said, man, what this is amazing.
161. 10:55This delighting in the Lord's testimony, delighting in the Lord's word, that is a feature of
162. 11:01the Spirit of God's work inside of us.
163. 11:05And I'm sharing this for several reasons.
164. 11:06One, for those of us who have this love for the Lord's Word,
165. 11:11to recognize, man, we only have it
166. 11:13because of what God has done inside of us
167. 11:16and continue to do inside of us.
168. 11:19And also to hallelujah, for those of you who are listening
169. 11:21to me, you'll say, yeesh, hey, about you what you saying,
170. 11:23buddy, you know, you're jumpin' down and read the Bible.
171. 11:25I'm from us.
172. 11:28Who is the game back on, is the game who's thunder up,
173. 11:31paces up?
174. 11:32I find myself getting sleepy.
175. 11:34Simply to communicate to you.
176. 11:36If that's you, and let's just be honest, man,
177. 11:37Why would we play games God knows everything so if we try to lie well in line to ourselves
178. 11:42Can't really lie to the Lord because he already knows the truth in terms of being effective in deceiving him
179. 11:46You know the truth if we recognize we don't have this love for God's word like this guys
180. 11:52simply ask
181. 11:54Hebrews for
182. 11:56We have a high priest who is we do not have a high priest is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses
183. 12:01But in every way in every way was tempted as we are yet without sin
184. 12:05So we may boldly approach the throne of grace to obtain mercy
185. 12:11In times of need if we do not have a love for the Lord's word that is a time of need
186. 12:17And all that is required is that we go to the Lord with honesty and humility and say lord, I don't have that
187. 12:22This is with a we're talking about I don't have it
188. 12:24But would you give that to me would you help would you give me a love for your word?
189. 12:28Would you give me a desire for your word?
190. 12:32Then the passage the text goes on oh crickling up pages. I hate brinkle pages in my bible
191. 12:38I'm sorry. I don't I don't I don't like that. I'm my elbow was resting on these pages in the corners getting wrinkled
192. 12:45The next verse verse 15. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I
193. 12:52Will delight in your statutes. I will not forget your word
194. 12:57This is just a massive bombshell of truth in the scripture verse 17 deal
195. 13:02bountifully with your servant that I may live
196. 13:06You know, one of the great deceptions, man, that Satan employs to get, especially God's
197. 13:13people to live as practical atheists and agnostics is to get us to be deceived to the point where
198. 13:18we think that we are the sources of our own lives.
199. 13:21Where we are content with living life, just running, ripping and running, ripping and running,
200. 13:26ripping and running with no concept or thought to seek the Lord to place him first into that
201. 13:31nature.
202. 13:32this verse is one that shows that the Lord's bountiful dealings with us are what truly enable
203. 13:39us to live.
204. 13:41God's bountiful dealings with us also, the verse reveals, also is what enables us to keep his
205. 13:48word.
206. 13:49It is the Old Testament declaration of John 15, five, you are the vine, Lord.
207. 13:56You're the vine.
208. 13:57We're the branches.
209. 13:59Apart from you.
210. 14:01We can do nothing. We can do nothing.
211. 14:05The Lord's bountiful dealing is what enables us to live.
212. 14:12What a prudent truth to embrace that will lead us to say along with the Psalms,
213. 14:20cry out to the Lord.
214. 14:21O Lord, deal bountifully with your servant.
215. 14:25Deal bountifully with your servant that I may live and keep your word.
216. 14:31The same Psalm earlier says,
217. 14:33wherein may a young man keep his way pure.
218. 14:35It is by guarding his way, by the word of God.
219. 14:39Brothers and sisters, the word of God is a blessed source
220. 14:46of strength, encouragement, hope, guidance, and conviction.
221. 14:52It is an indispensable component to daily living.
222. 14:56The daily bread is required consumption.
223. 15:01A discipleship minute with Joseph Parker,
224. 15:04Looking in the book of Romans 12, beginning at verse 1.
225. 15:09I beseech you there for brethren by the mercies of God,
226. 15:12that you present your bodies a living sacrifice,
227. 15:15holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
228. 15:19And do not be conformed to this world,
229. 15:21but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,
230. 15:25which you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
231. 15:29For I say, through the grace given to me,
232. 15:32to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think,
233. 15:36but to think soberly as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith, and individually
234. 15:41members of one another. Father, we thank you once again for the wisdom, the powerful grace,
235. 15:47the powerful understanding and insight that is ours as we spend time with you one on one in your
236. 15:52word each and every day. We thank you and we praise you. Jesus' name, we do pray. Amen.
237. 15:59Shiving light into the darkness. This is the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
238. 16:11Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner. Abraham Hamilton the third year. You know, it's just
239. 16:15insane. You probably saw today some of you have seen it. Some of you haven't seen it. Senator
240. 16:19Alex Padilla in California and there's been lots of attention given to the fact that he interrupted a
241. 16:26live press conference with with homeland security secretary christy noem
242. 16:30and he tried to ask these questions in the old to me was detained
243. 16:34uh...
244. 16:35temporarily by the the the secret service agents in the fb i and in in l a
245. 16:40today and it wasn't detention really is really too strong for work
246. 16:43he
247. 16:44basically interrupted a lot of press conference didn't have on any identification
248. 16:48anything that would give anyone any
249. 16:50awareness that he is actually a sitting u s senator
250. 16:53i mean go figure not all fb i a just know all of us senators you know
251. 16:57uh...
252. 16:58but the thing that's that's so
253. 17:00striking that's not being reported
254. 17:02that's in the padi amiss almost every vote
255. 17:04in d c this week
256. 17:06you know the citizens of california elected in the b united states senator
257. 17:09which means when there is the session in their votes being cast
258. 17:13he's supposed to be in d c but no
259. 17:15abandons his post in d c
260. 17:18to show up
261. 17:19basically for political theater in los angeles
262. 17:22And you see this and I've been saying this and I want you guys to continue to be mindful
263. 17:26of this that even amongst the the Democrat voting base using federal tax dollars and resources
264. 17:34to fight for illegal immigrants is not a winning strategy.
265. 17:38So if that's not the case is since it is since that is the case that it's not a winning strategy.
266. 17:43What else is that that could be on the table here and simply guys is spiritual.
267. 17:49spiritual. There's a concerted effort to try to fundamentally transform the United States of America.
268. 17:55And there are people who are committed to that agenda some knowingly, some unknowingly. But when
269. 17:59you have a US Senator who misses votes in Congress, misses votes, but shows up for political theater,
270. 18:07it gives you an indication as to where we are in our society. Now, putting that to the side
271. 18:12for the moment also is interesting. Our Florida governor, Rhonda Santis explains, protest in
272. 18:16California won't fear the same if they tried that in Florida. That's just, that's just,
273. 18:20there's a reason why there's a saying about Florida man that they don't say about California
274. 18:26man. And I'll just leave that there. I'm delighted to have back on the program with
275. 18:30me in studio a man who I appreciate. I'm encouraged by, I'm provoked by in a godly manner by his
276. 18:38consistency over time. One of the things that I enjoy is getting no people, not kind of flashes
277. 18:45in the pan fly by night, you blow up, then you blow out really quickly with people that
278. 18:49have longevity in their commitment to serving the Lord first and foremost privately and additionally
279. 18:55publicly.
280. 18:56And that a man who is of that caliber, a city to my right right now, a studio, none other
281. 19:01than the host of the hour of intercession chairman of the board for the pregnancy care
282. 19:06and hope center, none other than pastor Joseph Parker, pastor Parker, welcome back to the
283. 19:11Hamilton corner.
284. 19:12Good to be back with you.
285. 19:13Hey, appreciate the opportunity.
286. 19:14opportunity. Oh, no, I'm glad to have you on. It's always a pleasure for me personally and I'm confident that it's a blessing for the audience
287. 19:22to be able to hear from you
288. 19:25because it's
289. 19:26It's one of those things in an era and I don't mean this to be to those shade at anybody in particular, but when we have
290. 19:34You know, menaces all around our nation falling publicly in various ways, you know, it just it
291. 19:40It it underscores the the value that we should have in the body of Christ
292. 19:46for one another within the family God, but but especially a faithful
293. 19:51servants of his who have
294. 19:53Continue to serve faithfully over a span of time that is that is a gift of God to his body into something that we should appreciate
295. 20:01I'm always reminded of Galatians 16 as as far as you're able to good to everyone
296. 20:06but especially to the household of faith.
297. 20:09We should have a particularized heightened appreciation
298. 20:13for the family of God.
299. 20:15And I know what's popular in the world,
300. 20:16but I'm just gonna tell y'all, and you guys know this,
301. 20:20my metric for who I deem as laudable,
302. 20:25it doesn't look like the world.
303. 20:26I don't care who's on, you know, the BET Awards,
304. 20:29I don't care who's getting in American music,
305. 20:31I don't care about the grand, I don't care about none of that.
306. 20:34I don't care about none of that.
307. 20:34I don't care who's winning the NBA championship.
308. 20:36I love basketball, but I do love basketball,
309. 20:39but it doesn't move me, you know.
310. 20:42When I was younger, I used to watch all the games.
311. 20:44Y'all have to remind me when the games are now.
312. 20:46It's not because I don't like basketball,
313. 20:47it's just that what I value has just been shaped
314. 20:52by the Lord over time.
315. 20:53What I value is having a person who is serving the Lord,
316. 20:57privately walking in integrity and in honesty
317. 21:01and seeking to glorify the Lord,
318. 21:03whether the lights are on or the lights are off.
319. 21:04I value that. That's that's somebody that I can I can glean from, you know, we have lots
320. 21:10of people that have great talent, but they have deficient character. I ain't trying to
321. 21:13glean from them. I could celebrate your talent, but your talent is just synonymous with with
322. 21:18character. So that being said, your continued stand. And let me let me just say this and this
323. 21:27is just it's high time for the American people to say enough is enough when you have things
324. 21:32like these BET Awards, we have people blaspheming the name of the Lord and then you're going to
325. 21:36to put some gospel sauce on the top of that. And the cumulative effect of it is a diminishment
326. 21:41of the witness of Christ. What it says is that, oh yeah, you can be as worldly as a day as long and
327. 21:46wicked as long as you put some, you know, God is good all the time. All the time, God, you put that
328. 21:53on it, then everything is, everything is copisthetic. Guys, that is, that is, that is blasphemous.
329. 22:00That's blasphemous. That's right. And it's only going to continue if people
330. 22:04Contingit tolerated, you know, enough is enough. Anyway, that was a point of personal privilege.
331. 22:13Pastor Parker, you have been on the front lines for the gospel, on the front lines,
332. 22:16for the sanctity of human life. You've been on the front lines for the word of God,
333. 22:21in a particular encouraging young people to recognize things like first Timothy 4, you know,
334. 22:28let no one look down to you because of your youthfulness, but young people can be an example to the
335. 22:33the body in purity description says in holiness and in faith. That's what the Bible says. I'm not
336. 22:38talking about what our experience is saying. That's what the Bible says. And that's what we
337. 22:42should look to cultivate. And one of the things that you are doing leading the effort for us here
338. 22:46in American Family Radio and American Family Association has to do with encouraging young people to learn
339. 22:52God's word. Would you share a little bit with the audience here about the Ten Commandments Project?
340. 22:58All right. Well, again, I appreciate the opportunity to come on and share about it. And we've been
341. 23:03been doing this project, I think almost 10 years now, and praise God for the fact that
342. 23:09I think it gets more exciting every year actually.
343. 23:12We started the speech portion, we started out as a, it was a contest and we decided to
344. 23:17make it simply a challenge because in a sense every child had entered really one because they
345. 23:22simply participated.
346. 23:24And so there aren't prizes per se, it's just such that basically this part of the Ten Commandments
347. 23:29project is such that we're inviting young people, ages 7 to 17, to write a speech or to
348. 23:35get help writing a speech on one of the Ten Commandments.
349. 23:38This year we're focusing on the first commandment.
350. 23:41You should have no other gods before me.
351. 23:43We're asking you to write a suggested three to five minute speech, however any length is
352. 23:47acceptable.
353. 23:48Use your cell phone or whatever other means you may have to record it.
354. 23:52Email it to us at FAQ at AFA.net or jparker at AFA.net.
355. 23:58put in the fourth column, 10 Commandments Project Speech Challenge 2025.
356. 24:01And, you know, last year, I think we ended up with about 57 speeches.
357. 24:06And part of the beauty is that it is a discipleship project, very specifically, and I want to emphasize
358. 24:12that.
359. 24:13We have fun with it, but it's a serious project too.
360. 24:16You know, real discipleship is always doing spiritual warfare in such a positive way where
361. 24:21the people understand that or not.
362. 24:23What is neat is like, for example, we try to invite all the participants to come on a broadcast of where we share their speech,
363. 24:31let them talk about maybe what they learn, but also have dad or mom, dad and or mom to be on to talk about maybe what they observed in their child in the
364. 24:38growth. And but the beauty is,
365. 24:41well, one of the beauties is you see a young person grow through the process of putting together speech and then learning how to share
366. 24:48truth that our culture needs to hear. But also a whole other side is sometimes
367. 24:53young folks find gifts and strengths they didn't know they had. And one of the
368. 24:58things I've come to see through the project is the church desperately needs
369. 25:02to put our kids to work in the church so much more. And you know another part of
370. 25:07the project that to be quite honest has been sort of minimal in it like we
371. 25:10encourage the young folks ask you pastor for the opportunity to do your
372. 25:14speech during church. Now, I want to say upfront, like the church I passed, we've got a seven-year-old
373. 25:20that she's poised to do her speech this Sunday, her 10-commandment speech. And even at seven-years-old,
374. 25:28I've heard her speech and it's an exciting speech. And I'm looking forward to hear, you know, I expect
375. 25:34I'll do fine with my sermon too, but I want to hear her speech. But the beauty is the few young people
376. 25:40that do ask their pastors, again, it's not just about, you know, some might think, well,
377. 25:44it's about, you know, letting kids do something that's kind of cute and sweet, not at all.
378. 25:49It's discipleship.
379. 25:51It's a chance for a young person to share truth.
380. 25:54And when a young person gets in front of a congregation, number one, they get the attention
381. 25:57of every child and youth in there.
382. 26:00But also they get the attention of all the adults as well.
383. 26:03But they hear it and as one preacher puts it, there's no junior Holy Spirit.
384. 26:08is true. So whether it comes from the mouth of a seven year old or a 70 year old, truth
385. 26:12is truth and truth is what our culture needs to be hearing. So again, the project I think
386. 26:18is a very exciting one and it's a great one to really encourage kids to dig deeper into
387. 26:23the word of God.
388. 26:24I've I neglected to mention when I was introducing you that you also pastor Ebenezer, AME Church
389. 26:29and Benton. And so that's what you're referring to when you say this Sunday. What is the
390. 26:36age of the age range for those you're invited to participate in the Ten Commandments Project.
391. 26:42Again, seven to 17 is the age range. And again, really, again, any speech length is acceptable.
392. 26:50And I recall one year, one, I think she was six years old, her speech consisted entirely of her
393. 26:56quoting scripture. Well, that, what better speech can you come up with,
394. 27:01the quote in God's word, you know, so, but any speech that they provide, you know, is appreciated
395. 27:06them.
396. 27:07Now, you said this year, you're focusing on the first commandment.
397. 27:10What led to focus on that particular commandment as this iteration of the Ten Commandments project
398. 27:16took shape?
399. 27:17Well, actually, the AFA leadership decided on that, but of course, they're all good command
400. 27:23and of course we had actually, I remember one, I think actually the first year that we did,
401. 27:29The first one that we did was, you shall not murder in 2022.
402. 27:33And it just so happened that was the year
403. 27:36Roe v. Wade was overturned.
404. 27:38Amen.
405. 27:38And so maybe some of those speeches helped,
406. 27:41the Holy Spirit used that to help overturn it.
407. 27:43I don't know.
408. 27:44But the fact is that was one of the first ones,
409. 27:46if not the first one that we did.
410. 27:48But last year, it was specifically
411. 27:50why are the 10 commandments important?
412. 27:52This year we're focusing on the first commandment
413. 27:54you shall have in other gods before me.
414. 27:56And one thing that I think is very helpful to note about God's word is that God's word is
415. 28:02comprehensive in ways we don't fully understand.
416. 28:04But if a person genuinely puts God first in their life, that fixes everything.
417. 28:12Whether people fully understand that or not.
418. 28:14But all the commandments flow together.
419. 28:16They have wisdom that helps and encourages each other as well too though.
420. 28:21And one of the major things and you highlighted the,
421. 28:25the one of the years,
422. 28:26and it's a commandment, 10 commandments project
423. 28:28that was a focus on the six, six commandment.
424. 28:31You should not murder.
425. 28:33And there are lots of people who would, you know,
426. 28:35take some of the tragic mass shooting events.
427. 28:40Unfortunately, some of these same people are,
428. 28:43are nowhere to be found when you have, you know,
429. 28:46not mass shooting events,
430. 28:47but there's no such thing as this.
431. 28:50but what the media might call regular instances of homicide.
432. 28:54But there has been a degrading of the sanctity of human life
433. 28:58throughout the entirety of American culture.
434. 29:02I truly believe we have deteriorated from a society
435. 29:07where still to this day, the number one selling book
436. 29:11in America is the Bible,
437. 29:13but the number two selling book in America
438. 29:14used to be this book called The New England Primer,
439. 29:16which served as really an elementary school textbook
440. 29:20for elementary school age children,
441. 29:22and all it is literally is a infusing the word of God
442. 29:27into all manner of learning for young children.
443. 29:30The degradation concerning the sanctity
444. 29:32of human life in our society seems clear to me
445. 29:35that it directly corresponds with the jettisoning
446. 29:39of the word of God in its application in everyday life.
447. 29:43Do you see that as,
448. 29:46do you share that observation in terms of how the concept
449. 29:49that the sanctity of human life has been degraded
450. 29:52in American society?
451. 29:53I think no question about it, that would be true, Abe,
452. 29:56in that like, I think of this, that like, you know,
453. 30:00if I can use a sports analogy, you know,
454. 30:02when you're looking at teams in the Super Bowl
455. 30:05or the NBA championship, you're not talking,
456. 30:07you're not looking at teams that have come up
457. 30:09with the right number of trick plays,
458. 30:11that sort of the teams that have mastered the fundamentals.
459. 30:14Well, in the Christian faith, the need for us
460. 30:17to master the fundamentals is a critical part
461. 30:19discipleship, in other words, very simply some of the fundamental steps of being a
462. 30:25Christian's first, you know, obviously accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and save
463. 30:29if you're alive, you need to get saved. Well, the fact is, if you're not saved,
464. 30:33you can't really be, you can't be a part of the church anyway. Yeah. But once you
465. 30:36say it's critical that we have disciples. Let's, let's pause and say,
466. 30:40la on that for a second. If you're not saved, you cannot be a part of the church.
467. 30:46Anyway, you can attend church.
468. 30:49You can attend the corporate gatherings,
469. 30:50but you're not a member.
470. 30:51That's right.
471. 30:52The scripture also says,
472. 30:53since we already hit a hornet's nest,
473. 30:55that you also are not invited to celebrate the Lord's table.
474. 30:58That's a whole nother ball game.
475. 31:00Right now, we have popular,
476. 31:03you know, I'll just say musicians
477. 31:05who identify themselves as Christians,
478. 31:07because I'm hesitant to say worship leaders
479. 31:09because they're saying things like,
480. 31:12well, in the church, what we really need to do
481. 31:13is to write songs that don't include biblical words.
482. 31:18You know, singing in terms of like holy, holy, holy,
483. 31:20people who are unbelievers or maybe new,
484. 31:22don't understand what those words mean.
485. 31:24That's right, that's right.
486. 31:26But the worship gathering is for believers.
487. 31:29So people that know Jesus.
488. 31:31People that know Jesus and who would identify
489. 31:33but with those words mean,
490. 31:37that in and of itself seems to me to be a major problem
491. 31:40because even in our, I guess, the big word would be
492. 31:42the ecclesiology that we have.
493. 31:44We have large swaths of people that are attempting to adjust the tone and tenor of the worship gathering to accommodate the unbeliever.
494. 31:51Is that not a violation of what the scripture requires?
495. 31:53A violation and also again, going back to the fact that again with any, uh, with any part of life, getting the fundamentals right is important.
496. 32:02And one part is every believer is called to be a diligent student of God's word.
497. 32:08Period. Period. Every believer.
498. 32:11It's called a diligent student of God's word.
499. 32:13We're here with Pastor Parker, host of the hour of intercession,
500. 32:17it's heard right here on American Family Radio.
501. 32:20When we come back for the break, I'm
502. 32:21going to delve a bit deeper into this because he was trying
503. 32:23to make a point that I interrupted him.
504. 32:26He's about to make a point about discipleship following
505. 32:29his prior point of mastering the fundamentals, mastering
506. 32:34the basics, which is central to the Great Commission.
507. 32:36Jesus' commission to the believer
508. 32:38is to go into all the cosmos, making disciples
509. 32:41of all ethnos, of all nations.
510. 32:43Disciple making is a great commission.
511. 32:45It includes evangelism, but it doesn't stop at evangelism.
512. 32:49Disciple making is a commission more on this
513. 32:52when we come back from this break.
514. 33:00Some would say truth is relative,
515. 33:02and to the world, that's right.
516. 33:04What the world considers to be truth fluctuates,
517. 33:06depending on the narrative they're trying to promote.
518. 33:09Of course, we know truth is found in scripture,
519. 33:12and it never changes.
520. 33:13The documentary, The God Who Speaks,
521. 33:15Proves the Bible's reliability as the source of real truth
522. 33:19and reinforces our belief in it as our firm foundation.
523. 33:23Watch it anytime at stream.afa.net.
524. 33:27That's stream.afa.net.
525. 33:30Jerusalem, oh Jerusalem, how many times
526. 33:33I would have taken you under my wings.
527. 33:35They had everything that was necessary for them
528. 33:38to know Jesus and follow Him and they went their way.
529. 33:43I think for nations, for individuals,
530. 33:46there is a day that you have to make the decision
531. 33:49to respond to the Lord,
532. 33:50and it might be that the door of opportunity
533. 33:53after that shines.
534. 33:55Exploring the word, weekdays, 3 p.m. Central on AFR.
535. 34:00Attention husbands and fathers.
536. 34:02This is David Wheaton, host of the Christian worldview.
537. 34:06As we near Father's Day,
538. 34:07let's remember the call for husbands and fathers.
539. 34:10The Bible says, husbands love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave
540. 34:16himself up for her so that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of
541. 34:22water with the word.
542. 34:24Pastor and author Joel Beakey has written a short book titled, How to Lead Your Family,
543. 34:29where he explains how Christian husbands and fathers share in a limited way Christ's three
544. 34:35offices of prophet, priest, and king, and how this should be manifested in instructive, sacrificial,
545. 34:42and loving leadership. Here are most recent programs with Joel Beakey at thechristianworldview.org
546. 34:48and then tune in this weekend for another topic that will sharpen your worldview.
547. 35:10back to the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
548. 35:14Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner, Abraham Hamilton the third here,
549. 35:17Pastor Joseph Parker is also here in studio.
550. 35:20Before we went to the break, you were about to make a point, Pastor Joseph,
551. 35:23about the necessity of disciple making and how discipleship is the central issue
552. 35:29when there are prevalent deficiencies that abound in the lives of people
553. 35:34who profess to be believers.
554. 35:35What was the point that you were trying to, you were trying to make?
555. 35:38Well, again, in so many disciplines in life, a critical goal is master the fundamentals of
556. 35:44what you do. And of course, that's certainly true in the Kingdom of God. We're called to
557. 35:48master the fundamentals of Christian discipleship. And just like as one preacher put it, I think it's
558. 35:54summarized very beautifully in the three letters of the word pro, PRO. P refers to having a vibrant
559. 36:00prayer life. Believers are taught to become prayer warriors. That's not just for a few celebrated
560. 36:05warriors in the church, every believer is called to be diligent when it comes to their prayer life.
561. 36:09God tells us all, pray without ceasing. So we need to be taught and grow in our understanding of
562. 36:14how to really develop a strong prayer life. Our refers to reading specifically the reading and
563. 36:20studying the word of God. Every believer is taught to be a diligent student of scripture. And I often
564. 36:26liked to encourage believers to set a goal of reading at least three chapters in the word of
565. 36:30I've got every day and sometimes I find people think,
566. 36:33well, that's so much, no,
567. 36:34it's not.
568. 36:35You can read your average three chapters in about 15 minutes.
569. 36:37But now for some believers, they say,
570. 36:39well, that's not enough for me.
571. 36:40Wonderful.
572. 36:41You can't get too much word.
573. 36:43It's just gonna strengthen your nourish you,
574. 36:45minister to you, bless your life more and more.
575. 36:47And God's word is food for our spirit.
576. 36:50It's medicine to our entire being.
577. 36:51And it's medicine that you can take in as big a dose
578. 36:54as you want every day.
579. 36:55And it does minister to your mind, body and spirit.
580. 36:57And all refers to obedience.
581. 36:59Live what you learn.
582. 37:00The truth is always meant to be applied.
583. 37:02We don't learn it just to say, well, I know this.
584. 37:05You learn it to live it.
585. 37:06And so that covers the basics of discipleship.
586. 37:10So when you have someone that they get saved, but they don't begin to become a diligent student
587. 37:14or scripture, something's terribly wrong because to grow strong and vibrant, you need to be
588. 37:19rooted in the Word of God.
589. 37:22They need to be taught to become a person given to prayer.
590. 37:26Prayer is just a critical part of life.
591. 37:27And you know, of all the people that ever walked the earth, Jesus was the greatest prayer
592. 37:31warrior there was.
593. 37:32Now, if any, if you ever thought there's someone who maybe didn't need to pray, you might think,
594. 37:35well, Jesus, he's the son of God.
595. 37:37Jesus prayed and pray in a sense, you could say his whole life was a prayer because I think
596. 37:43we often define prayer a little bit too narrowly.
597. 37:47Prayer is largely our intimate walk with God.
598. 37:50So in other words, it's talking to God, it's listening to God, it's responding with God,
599. 37:54it's staying an intimate relationship.
600. 37:57Jesus, of course, he's the Son of God, but he never veered from what the Holy Spirit told
601. 38:04him to do.
602. 38:05He's the only human being that can be set up.
603. 38:07But the fact is, we're called to imitate him too.
604. 38:12So mastering the fundamentals is important.
605. 38:14And you know, Abe, I like to really say this to parents.
606. 38:17I think it's so important for parents to be taught, have your children read the Word of
607. 38:21God allowed to you every single day.
608. 38:24Now the reason being is because number one, planting the Word of God in the hearts of our
609. 38:28children is critical to everything in the Christian life.
610. 38:32And many kids leave home and they walk away from their faith and part of the problem is
611. 38:37they never were rooted in the Word of God to begin with.
612. 38:41And we go to church and that's a good thing.
613. 38:44But a critical part of the Christian life is becoming rooted in the Word of God and that
614. 38:49doesn't happen by accident.
615. 38:50So a challenge I like to share with every parent as your children, as they begin to learn to
616. 38:55read, let them start reading God's word every single day.
617. 38:59And if they're diligent when it comes to that, many times when they get to be a teenager and
618. 39:04older, it's in them.
619. 39:06And when they leave, you don't have to tell them, are you reading, you don't have to ask, are
620. 39:09you reading your Bible?
621. 39:10It's a part of them.
622. 39:11So again, mastering the fundamentals is true for us and it's something we should teach and
623. 39:15train our children as well.
624. 39:17as you're speaking, it's reminding me of, you know, Ephesians 4, when the Spirit of God
625. 39:23is ministering through the Apostle Paul to the believers and Ephesus, and he's encouraging
626. 39:28them against to be fortified in such a way so that you're not blown to and fro by every
627. 39:34wind, you know, of doctrine. And that we're in a time period where people have become, you
628. 39:40know, quite flighty, you know, they were, this is what I stand one day. And the next week,
629. 39:45a whole different place, a completely different position. They lack a stability or a rooting
630. 39:51that is available to us through the Word of God as we seek the Lord. The Scripture talks about
631. 39:58being planted like trees by rivers of living water, with the root systems going down deep and having
632. 40:05that consistent nourishment that allows those trees to be stable. Do you think similar to the
633. 40:12the degradation of the sanctity of life in our culture, this kind of flimsiness I'll describe
634. 40:17it as.
635. 40:18Flimsiness in professing believers is also attributed to a lack of proper estimation for
636. 40:24the value of God's Word being a part of our daily lives.
637. 40:27Very much so.
638. 40:29And again, I guess I feel like it all goes back to just the whole understanding of what
639. 40:33real discipleship is and staying with the fundamentals again to continue to use that word in it.
640. 40:40again, it's not common to, like for example, it's a good thing that some people go to church
641. 40:46every Sunday and that's, it's a wonderful thing, but some of those same people who asked them,
642. 40:51when's the last time you opened up your Bible and read it? And the excuses come in all shapes
643. 40:58and sizes. Oh, I'm just so busy and I even heard a pastor say this and to be honest, I think
644. 41:04it was a sad thing to say. He said, you all, I need to brace myself for this. I don't know
645. 41:09I don't know if I'm ready for this one.
646. 41:11All right, I'm ready.
647. 41:12I'm ready.
648. 41:13He said, y'all are so busy.
649. 41:16I need to do studying for you.
650. 41:19And so that's what you all pay me for.
651. 41:22Oh, that was a foolish thing to say.
652. 41:24Everybody needs to study the word for themselves.
653. 41:26In fact, you know, anybody think of this too.
654. 41:29I would never want to mislead my congregation,
655. 41:32but I would always encourage them,
656. 41:33read the word for yourself.
657. 41:35Amen.
658. 41:36Because the fact is sometimes a shepherd can get it wrong.
659. 41:39And but the fact is he should never
660. 41:42discourage someone from reading behind it because again,
661. 41:46no one should be beyond being questioned about scripture
662. 41:49because God's what is the bottom line for everything,
663. 41:51everything, everything.
664. 41:53So it's just an opposite that should be encouraged.
665. 41:55Being Bereans is what should be encouraged.
666. 41:57I want you to study it and learn
667. 42:00and know it for yourselves, you know?
668. 42:02It is, oh man, that bothers me greatly
669. 42:06what you just said past the Joseph.
670. 42:09No, that's no such thing as vicarious, you know, biblical fidelity, you know, study to show yourselves approved or work with, oh my goodness, that that that that bothered me tremendously.
671. 42:21Oh, wow. You know, I think of this too that like, sometimes it would be comical if it wasn't so sad, but sometimes you're a believer say, my pastor's not feeding me.
672. 42:31Well, understanding is we're supposed to feed ourselves and the pastor should provide a feast
673. 42:38on Sunday.
674. 42:39But if the only time you eat is on Sunday morning, you're going to be starved because the fact
675. 42:43is you're supposed to eat the Word of God every single day.
676. 42:47Yes.
677. 42:48And so every believer is wise to be again, three chapters a day is a good, I think, basic spiritual
678. 42:52meal for any believer.
679. 42:53And again, if you get to that place, increase it.
680. 42:56Keep getting increasing more and more because you can't get too much word.
681. 43:00just bless you more and more and more and more and it's pouring grace, peace, power,
682. 43:04strength in your mind and your heart.
683. 43:06Everybody needs that.
684. 43:07Amen.
685. 43:08Now I know one of your enduring passions is to contend for the biblical teaching really of
686. 43:14the Amago Day, the sanctity of your human life.
687. 43:17I want to, before we get into some of the technical things, I want to ask you, where did that conviction
688. 43:24derived from? Like what is it that caused you to be so passionate to contend for innocent human beings,
689. 43:32image bearers of God and the issue of the sanctity of human life?
690. 43:38Well, you know, Abe, I guess I would say in my journey, I've had the honor of next year,
691. 43:44I would have been preaching right at 50 years. And about 30 years ago, there was a time in which
692. 43:50It just seemed like to me, the Lord just put, for lack of a better word, a sort of a mantle
693. 43:55that a heavy burden came on my heart for this issue. And because I recall years before,
694. 44:01I heard about it, but it didn't really ring heavy to me. But it was in the early 90s that I
695. 44:07recall just it was like, as if some sort of heavy mantle that came on me. And it was during the time
696. 44:11in which Roe v. Wade was almost overturned, but wasn't quite during that time.
697. 44:16I mean, it would be the 1992 Planned Parenthood versus Casey case.
698. 44:19Right.
699. 44:20Right.
700. 44:21And also during that time, there were a lot of sit-ins during, in abortion clinics, you know,
701. 44:27okay.
702. 44:28And, but the Lord just put sort of a mantle on me and that's been almost, almost 30 years
703. 44:32ago.
704. 44:33But I've come to see that like the reality is that body of Christ needs a lot of help when
705. 44:39it, when it comes to understanding this issue biblically.
706. 44:43Let me just interject the highlight something.
707. 44:45because I don't want people to miss this,
708. 44:47and you just shared this.
709. 44:48So you have been pastoring and preaching for about 20 years
710. 44:51before you were gripped by this issue,
711. 44:54the way that you are gripped now.
712. 44:56So I'm saying that because some people are listening to me,
713. 44:59and I've had conversations with people, you know,
714. 45:02Brother Abe, my passage just doesn't see it.
715. 45:04Yeah, doesn't see it.
716. 45:06Pastor Joseph's testimony is that he didn't see it
717. 45:08the way he sees it now for about 20 years.
718. 45:11And then, but once God opened his eyes to it,
719. 45:14You can not see it.
720. 45:16So I'm saying that as a point of encouragement for those of us saying, man, people around
721. 45:19me are not seeing it.
722. 45:21Don't give up.
723. 45:22Continue presenting the truth and continue praying because God is the eye opener.
724. 45:26I just wanted to underscore that briefly.
725. 45:28And you know, Abe, along with that is it's important to understand.
726. 45:32Bottom line is God was saying it all the time.
727. 45:36The problem wasn't with the word of God.
728. 45:38It wasn't I wasn't listening.
729. 45:41And the fact is, time and time again, Jesus and his ministry say, he that has ears to hear
730. 45:46let him hear.
731. 45:47Yes.
732. 45:48Many times we need to say, what does the word of God say?
733. 45:52Because sometimes people are good at doing all sorts of calisthenics around a truth when
734. 45:58you say, well, what did it say?
735. 46:00And it's very simple.
736. 46:02God says, you shall not murder.
737. 46:04Well, again, well, what is reproductive freedom, you know, or reproductive health?
738. 46:11It's a lie.
739. 46:13It's an extreme deception.
740. 46:16Reproduction has nothing to do with murder and abortion is just another word as harsh as
741. 46:21it sounds.
742. 46:22It's another word for first degree murder.
743. 46:24But that sounds harsh, but it's the truth.
744. 46:27And God said, don't do it.
745. 46:30Oh, man.
746. 46:32So one of the major things is just a galling fact of where we are contemporarily prior to
747. 46:40the abomination that is Roe versus Wade and the companion case, dovey Bolton being overturned
748. 46:45in 2022.
749. 46:47The momentum in our country and moved away from the majority of the children's lives that
750. 46:53were terminated prematurely being terminated via surgical abortions.
751. 46:58changed to chemical abortions to where basically the death cocktail is being consumed by pregnant
752. 47:06moms to basically terminate their children in utero. And that trend has continued in light
753. 47:15of Roe being overturned. Many states no longer have surgical, well, I say some states like
754. 47:22Mississippi doesn't have any surgical abortion facilities in the entire state. Glory to God
755. 47:26for that, yet the chemical murder of children is still taking place in this thing. Similar
756. 47:34things like that in Texas and other places, what do people need to understand with this
757. 47:38changing in a utilization, basically of technology and murdering in pill form to kill children
758. 47:45as moving away from the surgical abortions? What do people need to understand about that
759. 47:49transition?
760. 47:50Well, you know, a one very important part of that is it's again going back to the fact that
761. 47:54every issue is a discipleship issue.
762. 47:57Going back to the 10 commandments.
763. 47:58God said, a long time ago, you shall not murder.
764. 48:02And now sadly, through different technological means
765. 48:06and all sorts of ways, we come up with new ways to do things.
766. 48:10But the fact is, it doesn't change the base of truth.
767. 48:13Don't take innocent life.
768. 48:14The Bible talked about the evidence of turning away
769. 48:17from the Lord as that man cobblin,
770. 48:18invent new ways to do evil.
771. 48:21To create new ways, basically,
772. 48:23That's a Bible way of saying, using technological innovation to aid you in sinful practice.
773. 48:30Right.
774. 48:31And going back again, the Ten Commandments are found in two places in their entirety and
775. 48:36scripture, Exodus chapter 20, Deuteronomy chapter 5.
776. 48:40But the fact is, the fundamentals don't change.
777. 48:43Got the biggest problems in our society today are a result of people violating the basic
778. 48:48Ten Commandments.
779. 48:49Say that one more time.
780. 48:50those biggest problems again in the news every day. Our result, people violating them. So
781. 48:56the 10 Commanders are wonderful curriculum to preach and teach from, and we still need help with
782. 49:00them today. So people shouldn't say it's old fashioned, it's old testament. The moral of God
783. 49:04doesn't change. So with this, the need for education, articulation, and contentment with this issue is
784. 49:13still prevalent, still present, though Roe has been overturned, glory to God for it, glory to God for
785. 49:19But the battle still rages.
786. 49:21It's taken on another shape and taken on another front.
787. 49:24Very much so.
788. 49:25And again, the key is it continues to be the Word of God because the Word of God, and of course,
789. 49:32we say the Word of God, the Spirit of God permeates the Word of God.
790. 49:36They work hand in hand.
791. 49:37And so it's the Word of God and the Spirit of God are working in a heart that opens people's eyes and hearts to the truth.
792. 49:43Would you please share with our audience the website for the Pregnancy Care and Hope Center?
793. 49:49and so that they can find resources and things that you have available there to be educated and informed so that we can be engaged with wisdom.
794. 49:57DeltaPCHC.org, again that's DeltaPCHC.org to learn more about the pregnancy care and hope center ministry.
795. 50:06And folks, I'll just end with this.
796. 50:08You know, there's a promise that God gives us in Paul's Epistle to the Thessalonians.
797. 50:12It says that it is God who works within us both to will and to do according to his good pleasure.
798. 50:18As we're talking about a love for God's word and a willingness to respond to his call,
799. 50:23I don't want you to think this is something that you have to unilaterally work yourself
800. 50:26into solely by human will.
801. 50:29Cry out to the Lord who he says he works within us both to desire and to do his will.
802. 50:36God bless you.