Transcript

Hamilton: God has called us to be ambassadors even in this dark moment

Abraham Hamilton III: Darkness is not an affirmative force. It simply reoccupies the space vacated by the light.

Abraham Hamilton III: This is the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.

Abraham Hamilton III: It should be uncomfortable for a believer to live as a hypocrite, delivering people.

Abraham Hamilton III: Out of the bondage of mainstream media and the philosophies of this world.

Abraham Hamilton III: God has called you and me to be his ambassadors, even in this dark moment. Let's not miss our moment.

Abraham Hamilton III: And now, the Hamilton Corner.

Abraham Hamilton III: Good evening everyone.

Abraham Hamilton III is joined by the corner contingent

Welcome to the Hamilton Corner. Abraham Hamilton III here, joined by the corner contingent. Right across from me, a man, 100 grand, Mr. Bobby Rosa. And in the screening room, producer extraordinaire. Often imitated, never duplicated. The real J Mac is there. And we have our summer compadre. It's a double R himself, Reed Ritter. If you listen to AFR programming throughout the day, you just might, you just might hear his voice bringing hard hitting news and information to you. Never be weary, because Double R is neary. We are ready to rock and roll with today's edition of the program.

Day one of the Activate Summit begins today in Tupelo, Mississippi

Right now, many of you, if not most of you, most of you are making your way from your part time jobs to your full time jobs. Your part time jobs is where you generate an income. Your full time jobs is where we, all of us, cultivate an outcome. And if you are happy, if you happen to be in Tupelo, Mississippi, you are, you should be at this moment moment en route to the Bancorp South Conference center. Because day one of the Activate Summit begins today. In fact, I will be sprinting out of the studio after we finish the show today so that we can be a part of the festivities this evening. It's going to be a jam packed weekend. Todd Herman will be Speaking, Ed Battagliano, Dr. Alex McFarland, Frank Turek, we'll have panels consisting of Jenna Ellis, Sandy Rios will be at the Activate Summit and I will also be there addressing the attendees to the Activate Summit. is going to be an amazing time. I was there earlier today just getting the lay of the the land as it were, making sure I know I need to be when I need to be there. And it is going to be an exciting and exciting weekend.

As you make your transition from part time jobs, remember income generation is important

But right now, as you are making your transition from your part time jobs, remember, income generation is what you do, but it is not. It's something that you do, but it's not synonymous with your identity. It's vitally important that we understand that resource accumulation is just that, resource accumulation. For too many of us, what we do to generate revenue We've made it synonymous with our identities. And when we misconstrue that, we very well could be giving ourselves to what should be a means to an additional engagement of significance instead of recognizing, what the full scope and the full picture should be. So as you're making your transition to your full time jobs, remember, outcome cultivation is the order of the day. It is designed and recorded for our benefit intentionally that the first human institution that God established is the family, with marriage at the center. Before modern iterations of civil government, before the New Testament Church, before orders of priests, prophets, the first human institution is the family. The first command that God issued to mankind was delivered within the familial context. This is intentional, ladies and gentlemen. It is intentional. Intentional. We must, we must, we must understand and apply in our immediate context. Because simply put, what goes on in your house is far more important than what goes on in the White House. And it's not to say that there aren't important things. There are vitally important things. Please tune in to the program tomorrow. I'm going to talk about some things, really, and inviting you to join me in praying through this weekend in particular, because things are happening. I know, Bob, you probably took note of this with the instructions for U.S. diplomatic personnel to exit the Middle East. You know, you know, if you pay attention to these kind of things, you notice, we don't really do those things willy nilly, you know, those kind of things don't happen just casually. Yes, especially Bobby saying, especially out of Baghdad. You know, we're going to talk about that in a bit more detail. I'll just say this. Usually when those types of things happen, they usually precipitate some type of ballistic activity, I'll say it that way, kinetic ballistic activity that transpires thereafter. Then, we have the 250th birthday of the United States army, where President Trump is leading a massive celebration in Washington D.C. starting in the morning, culminated with a huge parade that just so happens to coincide with this. You know, no kings fotest and I'm calling a faux test because they're not protest, they're organized, paid for Marxist social agitation. That is what they are. And 1800 or more are planned all around the country. but of course the regressive organizers said, well, this is just a coincidence. We didn't mean for this to be the exact same day that President Trump is celebrating the US Military, you know, so you want to hear a bit about that? It is the army's birthday. Oh, I know. It, but this, this no kings faux test just so happens to be the same day. And then we know the previous administration, we had record lows of enlistment numbers. Now we have enlistment going berserk. In the day that President Trump is patriotically celebrating our military, we have these regressives with their faux tests that say, well, we don't want to allow MAGA to have a corner of the market on the flag. And it's just, just insane. And where you have this faux test and understand the line of delineation, peaceable assembly, is First Amendment protected? Is a First Amendment protected right? There is no right to riot, there's no right to vandalize, there's no right to criminality. And once you exit the realm of peaceability, you have exited the realm of First Amendment protection. We need to be mindful of that. Then you also have the, predictive, cascading of the Los Angeles faux tests. Yeah, and that's right. It's also President Trump's birthday. His 79th birthday will be this Saturday. A lot of things are happening, but before we get into all of that, let us turn to the Word of God.

Psalm 119, verses 14 through 18, have profound wisdom and guidance

Psalm 119 is where I want to direct our attention today. Psalm 119, verses 14 through 18. Just, by way of reminder, Psalm 119 is an acrostic poem in, in Hebrew. It has numerous stanzas that correspond with, a successive Hebrew letter of the Alphabet to begin each stanza of this poem. But in Psalm 119 we have profound wisdom and guidance that we will be wise to take to heart and consider. Psalm 119, 14 says this in the way of your testimonies. I delight as much in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes. I will not forget your word. Deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live and keep your word. Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. I'll tell you, verse 18 is what I pray. Almost. I'm saying almost because I don't want to speak inaccurately, but pretty much almost every time I open the Scripture, I pray this, because the truth is that we would know nothing of the Lord unless he opened our eyes to see. Many of you can identify having, you know, read the Scripture numerous times. But then at one particular moment, one particular grace filled moment, the Lord causes his word to lift from the page, you know, it leaps from the page and the Lord opens your eyes in Ways that, that you hadn't recognized previously. this is something that I don't take for granted. So I, I, I pray that I say, lord, open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things in your law, wondrous things in your word. Lord, I read your word, and I welcome you to read me through your word. This is something I pray repeatedly. But when the Scriptures, the way it unfolds, and I've referred to this before, but it's describing an internal quality that truly only applies to the believer. All right. The unregenerate takes no delight in the law of the Lord. The unbeliever takes no delight in God's holy word. So when verse 14 says, in the way of your testimonies, I delight as much as in all riches, I don't want us to take that for granted. If you are listening to me right now and you recognize, man, I have a love for the word of God. I want you to pause and reflect on the fact that you only have that love because of God's work in you. If the Spirit of God had not ministered to you to open your eyes and heart to the King of glory, you would have no love for his word. Conversely, it is one of the things, and I've said this before, that when we are born again, the Lord gives us a hunger and a thirsting, an appetite for holiness. Similarly, when we're born again, the Lord gives us, a yearning for his Word. I remember when God opened my eyes, there was a, time period. And I'm still this way to a degree, but it's not the same because I'm a different, different life stage. I have children and all, but I will never forget I had this insatiable hunger for God's word where I would just sit and read for hours, and I wouldn't even realize hours would have passed by. You know, it would be hours and hours and hours. And to be clear, I still studied the Lord's Word for hours. But I remember this particular time that I was an, I was single. I was a young man, really. I was like 18, 17, 18 years old. And I would just read and read and read. And I remember contrasting stories I've heard about scripture with, with what the Bible actually says. Like, one of the amazing things that all my life, children's church, I heard about Joan and the, in the, in the whale. And I read the Bible didn't say a whale, says a great fish. And I noticed that for myself. And then in the New Testament, when they were demanding A sign of Jesus. Jesus responded, I give you no sign except for the sign of Jonah. You know, I was like, man, well, this is amazing. This delighting in the Lord's. In the Lord's testimonies, delighting in the Lord's Word. That is a feature of the spirit of God's work inside of us. And I'm sharing this for several reasons. One, for those of us who have this love for the Lord's Word to recognize man. We only have it because of what God has done inside of us and continues to do inside of us. And also to highlight. For those of you who are listening to me, you'll say, yeesh, Anybody what you're saying, buddy, you know, I'm trying to read the Bible. I find myself, oh, his game back on. His game was thunder. Up, paces up. I, found myself getting sleepy simply to communicate to you, if that's you. And let's just be honest, man, why would we play games? God knows everything. So if we try to lie, we only lie to ourselves. Can't really even lie to the Lord because he already knows the truth. In terms of being effective in deceiving him, he knows the truth. If we recognize we don't have this love of God's word like this, guys, Simply ask Hebrews 4. We have a high priest who is. We do not have a high priest who's unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but in every way was tempted as we are yet without sin, so we may boldly approach the throne of grace to obtain mercy in times of need. If we do not have a love for the Lord's word, that is a time of need. And all that is required is that we go to the Lord with honesty and humility and say, lord, I don't have that. This is what Abe is talking about. I don't have it. Well, would you give that to me? Would you help? Would you give me a love for your word? Would you give me a desire for your word? Then the passage, the text goes on, oh, I'm crinkling up pages. I hate wrinkled pages in my Bible. I'm sorry. I don't. I don't like that.

Pastor Joseph Parker: I'm.

Abraham Hamilton III: My elbow is resting on these pages and the corners getting wrinkled. The next verse, verse 15. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes. I will not forget your word. This is just a massive bombshell of truth in the Scripture. Verse 17. Deal bountifully with your servant that I may Live. You know, one of the great deceptions, man, that Satan employs to get especially God's people to live as practical atheists and agnostics is to get us to deceive, to be deceived to the point where we think that we are the sources of our own lives. Well, we are content with living life just running, ripping and running, ripping and running, ripping and running, with no concept or thought to seek the Lord to place him first, things of that nature. But this verse is one that shows that the Lord's bountiful dealings with us are, what truly enable us to live God's bountiful dealings with us. Also, the verse reveals, also is what enables us to, to keep his word. It is the Old Testament Declaration of John 15:5. You are the vine, Lord, you're the vine, we are the branches. Apart from you, he can do nothing, we can do nothing.

The Lord's bountiful dealing is what enables us to live what a prudent truth

The Lord's bountiful dealing is what enables us, to live what a prudent truth to embrace that will lead us to say, along with the psalmist, cry out to the Lord, oh Lord, deal bountifully with your servant. Deal bountifully with your servant that I may live and keep your word. The same psalms earlier says, wherein may a young man keep his way pure? It is by. By guarding his way by the word of God. Brothers and sisters, the Word of God is a blessed source of strength, encouragement, hope, guidance and conviction. It is an indispensable component to daily living. The daily bread is required consumption.

Jeff Chamblee: A discipleship minute with Joseph Parker looking.

Joseph Parker: In the book of Romans Romans chapter 12 beginning at verse 1. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith and individually members of one another. Father, we thank you once again for the wisdom, the powerful grace, the powerful understanding and insight that is ours as we spend time with you one on one in your word, each and every day. We thank you and we praise you in Jesus name we do pray.

Abraham Hamilton III: Amen.

Abraham Hamilton III: Shining light into the darkness. This is the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.

Abraham Hamilton III: California senator interrupted Homeland Security press conference today

Abraham Hamilton III: Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner. Abraham Hamilton III here, you know, it's just insane. You probably saw today, some of you have seen it, some of you haven't seen it. Senator Alex Padilla, in California, and there's been lots of attention given to the fact that, you know, he interrupted a live press conference with, with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and he tried to ask these questions, and he ultimately was detained, temporarily by the Secret Service agents and the FBI in LA today. And it wasn't. Detention is really too strong of a word. He basically interrupted a live press conference, didn't have on any identification, anything that would give anyone any awareness that he is actually a sitting U.S. senator. I mean, go figure. Not all FBI agents know all of the U.S. senators. You know, but the thing that's so striking, that's not being reported, that Senator Padilla missed almost every vote in D.C. this week. You know, the citizens of California elected him to be the United States Senator, which means when there is a session and their votes being cast, he's supposed to be in D.C. but no, he abandons his post in D.C. to show up basically for political theater in Los Angeles. And you see this, and I've been saying this, and I want you guys to continue to be mindful of this, that even amongst the Democrat voting base, using federal tax dollars and resources to fight for illegal immigrants is not a winning strategy. So if that's, not the case, since it is, since that is the case, that it's not a winning strategy, what else is that at could be on the table here? And simply, guys, it's spiritual. It's spiritual. There's a concerted effort to try to fundamentally transformed the United States of America. And there are people who are committed to that agenda, some knowingly, some unknowingly. But when you have a US senator who Mrs. Votes in Congress, misses votes, but shows up for political theater, it gives you an indication as to where we are in our society. Now, putting that to this to the side for the moment also is interesting how Florida Governor Ron DeSantis explains, protests in California won't fare the same if they tried that in Florida. There's a reason why, there's a saying about Florida man that they don't say about California man. And I'll just leave that there. I'm delighted to have back on the program with me in studio a man who I appreciate, I'm encouraged by, I'm provoked by, in a godly manner, by his, consistency over time. One of the things that I enjoy is getting to Know, people not kind of flashes in the pan fly by night, you know, you know, you blow up, then you blow out really quickly. But people that have longevity in their commitment to serving the Lord first and foremost, privately and additionally, publicly. And that a, ah, man who is of that caliber. Seated to my right right now in studio, none other than the host of the Hour of Intercession, Chairman of the board for the Pregnancy Care Net and Hope center, none other than Pastor Joseph Parker.

Pastor Parker, welcome back to the Hamilton Corner

Pastor Parker, welcome back to the Hamilton Corner.

Pastor Joseph Parker: Good to be back with you, Abe. Appreciate the opportunity.

Abraham Hamilton III: Oh, no, I, I'm glad to have you on. It's always a pleasure for me personally and I, I'm confident that it's a blessing for the audience, to be able to hear from you, because it's, it's one of those things in an era, and I don't mean this to, to be, to throw shade at anybody in particular, but when we have, you know, ministers all around our nation falling publicly in various ways, you know, it just, it, it underscores the, the value that we should have in the body of Christ, for one another within the family of God. But, but especially ah, faithful servants, of his who have continued to serve faithfully over, a span of time. That is, that is a, a gift of God to his body and something that we should appreciate. I'm, always reminded of Galatians 6:10. As, as far as you are able to go to everyone, but especially to the household of faith. We should have a particularized heightened appreciation for the family of God. And I know what's popular in the world, but I'm just going to tell y' all, and you guys know this my metric for who I deem as, laudable. It doesn't look like the world. I don't care who's on, you know, the BET Awards. I don't care who's getting in American music. I don't care about the gram. I don't care about none of that. I don't care about none. I don't care who's winning the NBA championship. I love basketball, but I do love basketball, but it doesn't move me. You know, when I was younger, I used to watch all the games. Y' all have to remind me when the games are. Now, it's not because I don't like basketball. It's just. It's just that, that what I, what I value has just been shaped, by, by the Lord over time. What I value is having a, a person who is serving The Lord privately walking in integrity and, and in honesty and seeking to glorify the Lord. Whether the lights are on or the lights are off, I value that. That's. That's somebody that I can, I can glean from. You know, we have lots of people that have great talent, but they have deficient character.

Abraham Hamilton III: I ain't trying to glean from them. I could celebrate your talent, but your talent isn't synonymous with, with character. So that being said, your con continued. Stand. and let me, let me just say this. And this is just. It's high time for the American people to say enough is enough. When you have things like these BET Awards, we have people blaspheming the name of the Lord. And then you're going to try to put some gospel sauce on the top of that. And the cumulative effect of it is a diminishment of the witness of Christ. What it says is that, oh yeah, you can be as worldly as a day, as long and wicked. As long as you put some, you know, God is good all the time, and all the time God, as long as you put that on it, then everything is, everything is copacetic. Guys, that is, that is, that is blasphemous. That's blasphemous.

Pastor Joseph Parker: That's right.

Abraham Hamilton III: And it's only going to continue if people continue to tolerate it. You know, enough is enough. Anyway, that was a point of personal privilege. Pastor Parker, you have been on the front lines for the gospel, on the front lines for the sanctity of human life. You've been on the front lines for the word of God. And in particular, encouraging young people to recognize things like First Timothy 4, you know, let no one look down on you because of your youthfulness, but young people can be an example to the body impurity. The scripture says in holiness and in faith. That's what the Bible says. I'm not talking about what our experience is saying. That's what the Bible says. And that's what we should look to cultivate. And one of the things that you are doing, leading the effort, for us here at American Family Radio and American Family association has to do with, encouraging young people to learn God's word.

The Ten Commandments Project invites young people ages 7 to 17 to write speeches

Would you share a little bit with the audience here about the Ten Commandments Project?

Pastor Joseph Parker: All right. Well, again, I appreciate the opportunity to come on and share about it. And we've been doing this project, I think, almost 10 years now, and praise God for the fact that I think it gets more exciting every year actually, we started the speech portion. We started out as a. It was a contest and we decided to make it simply a challenge because in a sense, every child that entered really wonderful because they simply participated. And so there aren't prizes per se. It's just such that basically this part of the Ten Commandments Project is such that we're inviting young people ages 7 to 17 to write a speech or to get help writing a speech on one of the Ten Commandments. This year we're focusing on the first commandment. You should have no other gods before me. We're asking you to write a suggested three to five minute speech. However, any length is acceptable. Use your cell phone or whatever other means you may have to record it. Email it to [email protected] or jparkerafa.net and put in the four column Ten Commandments Project Speech Challenge 2025. And you know, Abe, last year I think we ended up with about 57 speeches. And part of the beauty is that it is a discipleship project very specifically, and I want to emphasize that we have fun with it, but it's a serious project too. You know, real discipleship is always doing spiritual warfare in such a positive way. Whether people understand that or not. And what is neat is like, for example, we try to invite all the participants to come on a broadcast to where we share their speech, let them talk about maybe what they learned, but also have dad or mom, dad and or mom to be on to talk about maybe what they observed in their child and the growth and. But the beauty is, Well, one of the beauties is you see a young person grow through the process of putting together speech and then learning how to share truth that our culture needs to hear. But also a whole other side is sometimes young folks find gifts and strengths they didn't know they had. And one of the things I've come to see through the project is the church desperately needs to put our kids to work in the church so much more. And you know, another part of the project that to be quite honest, has been sort of minimal in that like we encourage the young folks. Ask your pastor for the opportunity, opportunity to do your speech during church. Now, I want to say up front, like the church I pastor, we've got a seven year old that she's poised to do her speech this Sunday, her Ten Commandments speech. And even at seven years old, I've heard her speech and it's an exciting speech and I'm looking forward to hear it. You know, I expect I'll do fine with my sermon too, but I want to hear her speech. But the beauty is the few young people that do ask their pastors again, it's not just about, you know, some might think, well, it's about, you know, letting kids do something that's kind of cute and sweet. Not at all. It's discipleship. It's a chance for a young person to share truth. And when a young person gets in front of a congregation, number one, they get the attention of every child and youth in there. But also they get the attention of all the adults as well. But they hear it. And as one preacher puts it, there's no junior Holy Spirit. Truth is true. So whether it comes from the mouth of a 7 year old or 70 year old, truth is truth, and truth is what our culture needs to be hearing. So again, the project, I think, is a very exciting one and it's a great one to really encourage kids to dig deeper into the word of God.

Abraham Hamilton III: I neglected to mention when I was introducing you that you also pastor, Ebenezer AME Church in Benton. And, so that's what you're referring to when you say pastor, this Sunday, what is the age of the, the age range for those you're invited to participate in the Ten Commandments project?

Pastor Joseph Parker: Again, 7 to 17 is the age range. And again, really, again, any speech, any speech length is acceptable. And you know, I recall one year, one, I think she was six years old, her speech consisted entirely of her quoting scripture. Well, that how. What better speech can you come up with? Quoting God's word, you know, so. But any speech that they provide, you know, is appreciated then.

This year you're focusing on the First Commandment

Abraham Hamilton III: Now you said this year you're focusing on the First Commandment. what, what led to focus on that particular commandment as this iteration of the 10 members project took, took shape?

Pastor Joseph Parker: Well, actually, the AFA leadership decided on that. But of course, they're all good commandments. They're all great. And of course we had actually, I remember one, I think actually the first year that we did. The first one that we did was you shall not murder in 2022. And it just so happened that was the year, Roe v. Wade was overturned.

Abraham Hamilton III: Amen.

Pastor Joseph Parker: And so maybe some of those speeches help the Holy Spirit use that to help overturn it. I don't know. But the fact is that was one of the first ones, if not the first one that we did. But this year, last year it was specifically, why are the Ten Commandments important? This year we're focusing on the first Commandment, you shall have no other gods before for me. And one thing that I think is very helpful to note about God's word is that God's word is comprehensive in ways we don't fully understand. But if a person genuinely puts God first in their life, that fixes everything, whether people fully understand that or not. So. But all the commandments flow together. They have wisdom that helps and encourages each other as well too though.

M. Abe: There has been a degrading of the sanctity of human life

Abraham Hamilton III: So now one of the major things, and you highlighted, one of the years and ten Commandments project, it was a focus on the sixth commandment, you should not murder. and there are lots of people who would take some of the tragic mass shooting events. Unfortunately, some of these same people are nowhere to be found when you have not mass shooting events. But there's no such thing as this but what the media might call regular instances of homicide. But there has been a degrading of the sanctity of human life throughout the entirety of American culture. I truly believe we have deteriorated from a society where still to this day the number one selling book in America is the Bible. But the number two selling book in America used to be this book called the New England Primer, which served as really an elementary school textbook for elementary school school age children. And all it is literally is a infusing the word of God into all manner of learning for young children. the degradation concerning the sanctity of human life in our society seems clear to me that it directly corresponds with the jettisoning of the Word of God in its application in everyday life. Do you see that as a con. As do you share that observation in terms of how the concept of the sanctity of human life has been degraded in American society?

Pastor Joseph Parker: I think, no question about it, that would be true, Abe, in that like I think of this, that like, you know, if I can use a sports analogy, you know, when you're looking at teams in the super bowl or the NBA Championship, you're not talk, you're not looking at teams that have come up with the right number of trick plays that sort of the teams that have mastered the fundamentals. Well, in the Christian faith, the need for us to master the fundamentals is a critical part of just discipleship. In other words, very simply, some, some of the fundamental steps of being a Christian is first, you know, obviously accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of your life. You need to get saved. M. Well, the fact is if you're not saved, you can't really be. You can't be a Part of the church anyway.

Abraham Hamilton III: Yeah.

Pastor Joseph Parker: But once you're saved, it's critical that we discipline.

Abraham Hamilton III: Pause and say loud on that for a second. If you're not saved.

Abraham Hamilton III: You cannot be a part of the church anyway.

Pastor Joseph Parker: You can attend church, you can attend.

Abraham Hamilton III: The corporate gatherings, but you're not a member.

Pastor Joseph Parker: That's right.

Abraham Hamilton III: The scripture also says, since we already hit a hornet's nest, that you also are not invited to celebrate the Lord's table.

Abraham Hamilton III: That's a whole nother ball game right now. We have popular, you know, I'll just say musicians who identify themselves as Christians because I'm hesitant to say worship leaders because they're saying things like, well, in the church we really need to do is to write songs that don't include biblical words. You know, sing in terms like holy, holy, holy. People who are unbelievers or maybe new don't understand what those words mean.

Pastor Joseph Parker: That's right. That's right.

Abraham Hamilton III: But the worship gathering is for believers.

Pastor Joseph Parker: So people that know Jesus.

Abraham Hamilton III: People that know Jesus and who would identify with what those words mean.

Abraham Hamilton III: That in and of itself seems to me to be a major problem because even in our, I guess the big word would be the ecclesiology that we have. We have large swaths of people that are attempting to adjust the tone and tenor of the worship gathering to accommodate the unbeliever. Is that not a violation of what the scripture requires?

Pastor Joseph Parker: A violation. And also, again, going back to the fact that again, with any part of life, getting the fundamentals right is important. And one part is every believer is called to be a diligent student of God's word. Period.

Abraham Hamilton III: Period. Every believer, it's called a diligent student of God's word.

David Wheaton: Disciple making is central to the Great Commission

We're here with Pastor Parker, host of the Hour of Intercession. That's heard right here on American Family Radio. When we come back for the break, I'm going to delve a bit deeper into this because he was trying to make a point that I interrupted him. He's about to make a point about discipleship, following his prior point of mastering the fundamentals, mastering the basics, which is central to the Great Commission. Jesus's commission to the believer is to go into all the cosmos making disciples of all ethnos, of all nations. Disciple making is a great commission. It includes evangelism, but it doesn't stop at evangelism. Disciple making is the commission. More on this when we come back from this break.

Jeff Chamblee: Some would say truth is relative and to the world, that's Right. What the world considers to be truth fluctuates depending on the narrative they're trying to promote. Of course we know truth is found in Scripture, and it never changes. The documentary the God who Speaks proves the Bible's reliability as the source of real truth and reinforcements our belief in it as our firm foundation. Watch it [email protected] that's stream.aca.net Jerusalem, oh.

Abraham Hamilton III: Jerusalem, how many times I would have taken you under my wings.

Pastor Joseph Parker: They had everything that was necessary for.

Abraham Hamilton III: Them to know Jesus and follow him.

Pastor Joseph Parker: And they went their way.

Abraham Hamilton III: I think for nations, for individuals, there.

Pastor Joseph Parker: Is a day that you have to make the decision to respond to the Lord.

Abraham Hamilton III: And it might be that the door of opportunity after that shuts.

Jeff Chamblee: Exploring the word weekdays, 3pm Central on AFR.

Joseph Parker: Attention husbands and fathers. This is David Wheaton, host of the Christian Worldview. As we near Father's Day, let's remember the call for husbands and fathers. The Bible says, husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her so that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word. Pastor and author Joel Beeke has written a short book titled how to lead you'd Family where he explains how Christian husbands and fathers share in a limited way Christ's three offices of profit, priest and king, and how this should be manifested in instructive, sacrificial and loving leadership. Hear our most recent program with Joel Beeke at thechristianworldview.org and then tune in this weekend for another topic that will sharpen your worldview.

Abraham Hamilton III: Listen to the Christian Worldview with David.

Jeff Chamblee: Wheaton Saturday mornings at 8 Central on American Family Radio.

Abraham Hamilton III: The Hamilton quarter podcast and one minute commentaries are available at afr.net back to the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.

Pastor Joseph Parker says having a vibrant prayer life is critical to Christian life

Abraham Hamilton III: Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner. Abraham Hamilton III here. Pastor Joseph Parker is also here in studio. Before we went to the break, you were about to make a point, Pastor Joseph, about, the necessity of disciple making and how discipleship is the central issue when there are prevalent deficiencies that abound in the lives of people who profess to be believers. What was the point that you were, you were trying to going to make?

Pastor Joseph Parker: Well, again, in, in so many disciplines in life, a critical, a critical goal is master the fundamentals of what you do. And of course that's certainly true. In the kingdom of God we're called to master the fundamentals of Christian discipleship. And just like as one preacher put it, I think it's summarized very beautifully in the Word. The three letters of the word pro, P, R, O P refers to having a vibrant prayer life. Believers are taught to become prayer warriors. That's not just for a few celebrated warriors in the chur. Every believer is called to be diligent when it comes to their prayer life.

Pastor Joseph Parker: God tells us all pray without ceasing. So we need to be taught and grow in our understanding of how to really develop a strong prayer life. R refers to reading, specifically the reading and studying the Word of God. Every believer is taught to be a diligent student of scripture. And I often like to encourage believers to set a goal of reading at least three chapters in the Word of God every day. And sometimes I find people think, well, that's so much. No it's not. You can read your average three chapters in about 15 minutes. But now for some believers, they say, well, that's not enough for me. Wonderful. You can't get too much word. It's just going to strengthen you, nourish you, minister to you, bless your life more and more. And you know, God's word is food for our spirit. It's medicine to our entire being. And it's medicine that you can take in as big a dose as you want every day. And it does minister to your mind, body and spirit. And O refers to obedience. Live what you learn. Truth is always meant to be applied. We don't learn it just to say, well, I know this. Yes, you learn it to live it. And so that covers the basics of discipleship. So when you have someone that they get saved, but they don't begin to become a diligent student of scripture, something's terribly wrong. Because to grow strong and vibrant, you need to be rooted in the word of God. They need to be taught, become a person given to prayer. Prayer is just a critical part of life. And you know, of all the people that ever walked the earth, Jesus was the greatest prayer warrior there was. Now, if any, if you ever thought there's someone who maybe didn't need to pray, you might think, well, Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus prayed and prayed. In a sense you could say his whole life was a prayer. Because I think we often define prayer a little bit too narrowly. Prayer is largely our intimate walk with God. So in other words, it's talking to God, it's listening to God, it's responding with God, it's staying in intimate relationship. And Jesus, of course, he's the Son of God, but he never veered from what the Holy Spirit told him to do. He's the only human being that can be set up. But the fact is we're called to walk. We're called to imitate him too. So mastering the fundamentals is important. And you know, Abe, I like to really say this to parents. I think it's so important for parents to be taught. Have your children read the word of God aloud to you every single day. Now, the reason being is because, number one, planting the word of God in the hearts of our children is critical to everything in the Christian life. And many kids leave home and they walk away from their faith. And part of the problem is they never were rooted in the word of God to begin with. And we go to church, and that's a good thing. But a critical part of the Christian life is becoming rooted in the Word of God. And that doesn't happen by accident. So a challenge I like to share with every parent as your children, as they begin to learn to read, let them start reading God's Word every single day. And if they're diligent when it comes to that, many times when they get to being a, teenager and older, it's in them. And when they leave, you don't have to tell them, are you reading? You don't have to ask, are you reading your Bible? It's a part of them. So again, mastering the fundamentals is true for us, and it's something we should teach and train our children as well.

Pastor Joseph: Sometimes believers say their pastor's not feeding them

Abraham Hamilton III: You know, as you're speaking, it reminded me of, you know, Ephesians 4 when it. The Spirit of God is ministering through the apostle Paul to the believers in Ephesus, and he's encouraging them against, to be fortified in such a way so that you're not blown to and fro by every wind you know, of doctrine. And that we're in a time period where people have become quite flighty. They were, this is what I stand one day, and the next week they're in a whole different place, a completely different position. they lack a stability or a rooting that is available to us through the Word of God as we seek the Lord. The scripture talks about being planted like trees by rivers of living water, with the root systems going down deep and having that consistent nourishment that allows those trees to be stable. do you think similar to the degradation of the sanctity of life in our culture, this kind of, flimsiness. I'll describe it as flimsiness in professing believers is also attributed to a lack of proper estimation for the value of God's word being a part of our daily lives.

Pastor Joseph Parker: Very much so. And again, I guess I feel like it all goes back to. To just the whole understanding of what real discipleship is and staying with the fundamentals. Again, to continue to use that word in it, because again, it's not common. like, for example, it's a good thing that some people go to church every Sunday. And it's a wonderful thing. But some of those same people, you ask, when's the last time you opened up your Bible and read it? And the excuses come in all shapes and sizes. Oh, I'm just so busy. And Ivy, I even heard a pastor say this. And, to be honest, I think it was a sad thing to say. He said, you.

Abraham Hamilton III: I need to brace myself for this. I don't know if I'm ready for this one. All right, I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready.

Pastor Joseph Parker: He said, y' all are so busy, I need to do studying for you. And so that's what you all pay me for. Oh, that was a foolish thing to say. Everybody needs to study the word for themselves. In fact, you know, Abe, I think of this too. I would never want to mislead my congregation, but I would always encourage him. Read the word for yourself. Amen. The fact is, sometimes a shepherd can get it wrong. But the fact is, he should never discourage someone from reading behind him. Because again, no one should be beyond being questioned about scripture Because God's word is the bottom line for everything. Everything, Everything.

Abraham Hamilton III: No, it's the opposite. That should be encouraged. Being bereans is what should be encouraged. I want you to study it and learn and know it for yourselves. You know it is. Oh man, that bothered me greatly what you just said, Pastor Joseph. No, there's no such thing as vicarious.

Abraham Hamilton III: You know, biblical fidelity. You know, study to show yourselves approved or work with worthy. Oh my goodness. That, that, that bothered me, tremendously. Oh, wow.

Pastor Joseph Parker: You know, I think of this too, that like, sometimes it would be comical if it wasn't so sad. But sometimes you hear believers say, my pastor's not feeding me. Well, understand this. We're supposed to feed ourselves. And the pastor should provide a feast on Sunday. But if the only time you eat is on Sunday morning, you're going to be starved.

Abraham Hamilton III: Yes.

Pastor Joseph Parker: Because the fact is, you're supposed to eat the word of God every single day.

Abraham Hamilton III: Yes.

Pastor Joseph Parker: And so every believer is wise to be. Again, three chapters a day is a good, I think basic Spiritual meal for any believer. And again, if you get to that place, increase it, keep m getting increasing more and more because you can't get too much word. It'll just bless you more and more and more. And it's pouring grace, peace, power, strength in your mind, your heart. Everybody needs that.

Abraham Hamilton III: Amen.

Abe Glory says he was gripped by abortion issue 30 years ago

Now I know one of your enduring passions is to contend for the biblical teaching really of the imago dei, the sanctity of your human life. I want to, before we get into some of the technical things, I want to ask you, where did that conviction, derive from? What is it that caused you to be so passionate, to contend for innocent human beings, image bearers of God, and the issue of the sanctity of human life?

Pastor Joseph Parker: Well, you know Abe, I guess I would say in my journey I've had the honor of next year I will have been preaching right at 50 years. But about 30 years ago there was a time in which it just seemed like to me the Lord just put, for lack of a better word, a sort of a mantle that a heavy burden came on my heart for this issue. And because I recall years before I heard about it, but it didn't really ring heavy to me. M. But it was in the early 90s that I recall just it was like as if some sort of heavy mantle that came on me. And it was during the time in which Roe v. Wade was almost overturned, but wasn't quite during that time.

Abraham Hamilton III: That would be the 1992 Planned Parenthood versus Casey case.

Pastor Joseph Parker: And also during that time there were a lot of, sit ins, abortion clinics, you know, but the Lord just put sort of a mantle on me. And that's been almost, almost 30 years ago. But I've come to see that like the reality is the body of Christ needs a lot of help when it comes to understanding this issue biblically.

Abraham Hamilton III: Let me just interject to highlight something because I don't want people to miss this. And you just shared this. So you had been pastoring and preaching for about 20 years before you were gripped by this issue the way that you are gripped now.

Pastor Joseph Parker: Yes.

Abraham Hamilton III: So I'm saying that because some people are listening to me and I've had conversations with people, you know, you know, you know, Brother Abe, you know, my pastor just doesn't see it yet. Doesn't see it. Pastor Joseph's testimony is that he didn't see it the way he sees it now for about 20 years.

Abraham Hamilton III: You know, and then, but once God opened his eyes to it, he couldn't not see it. So I'm saying that as a point of encouragement for those who may be saying, man, people around me are not seeing it. Don't give up. Continue presenting the truth and continue praying. Because God is the eye opener. I just wanted to underscore that briefly.

Pastor Joseph Parker: And you know, Abe, at the same along with that is it's important to understand bottom line is God was saying it all the time.

Pastor Joseph Parker: The problem wasn't with the word of God. It wasn't. I wasn't listening. And the fact is, you know, time and time again Jesus in his ministry say he that has ears to hear, let him hear.

Abraham Hamilton III: Yes.

Pastor Joseph Parker: Many times we need to say what does the word of God say? Because sometimes people are good at doing all sorts of calisthenics around a truth. When you say, well, what did it say?

Pastor Joseph Parker: And it's very simple. God says, you shall not murder. Well again. Well, what is reproductive freedom, you know, or reproductive health. It's a lie. M. It's an extreme deception. Reproduction has nothing to do with m. Murder. And abortion is just another word. As harsh as it sounds is another word for first degree murder. But that sounds harsh, but it's the truth. And God said don't do it.

Abraham Hamilton III: Oh man. So one of the major things that's just a galling fact of where we are contemporarily prior to the abomination that is Roe versus Wade and the companion case Dovi Bolton being overturned in 2022. the momentum in our country had moved away from the majority of the children's lives that were terminated prematurely being terminated via surgical abortions. It changed to chemical abortions to where basically the death cocktail is being consumed by pregnant moms to basically terminate their children in utero. and that trend has continued in light of Roe being overturned. Many states no longer have surgical. Well I ah, say some states like Mississippi doesn't have any surgical abortion facilities in the entire state. Glory to God for that. Yet the chemical murder of children is still taking place in that state. Similar things like that in Texas and other places. What do people need to understand with this changing and the utilization of basically of technology and murdering in pill form to kill children as moving away from the surgical abortions. What do people need to understand about that transition?

Pastor Joseph Parker: Well you know a one very important part of that is it's again going back to the fact that every issue is a discipleship issue. Going back to the Ten Commandments, God said a long time Ago you shall not murder. And now sadly for different, through different technological means and all sorts of ways, we come up with new ways to do things. But the fact is it doesn't change the basic truth. Don't take innocent life.

Abraham Hamilton III: The Bible talked about the, the evidence of turning away from the Lord is that mankind would invent new ways to do evil.

Abraham Hamilton III: To create new ways. You basically that's a Bible way of saying using technological innovation to aid you in sinful practice.

Pastor Joseph Parker: Right. And going back again, the Ten Commandments are found in two places in their entirety in Scripture. Exodus, chapter 20, Deuteronomy, chapter 5. But the fact is the fundamentals don't change. The biggest problems in our society today are result of people violating the basic ten Commandments.

Abraham Hamilton III: Say that one more time, preach those.

Pastor Joseph Parker: Biggest problems again in the news every day are result people violating. So the Ten Commandments are wonderful curriculum to preach and teach from and we still need help with them today. So people shouldn't say it's old fashioned, it's Old Testament. The moral law of God doesn't change.

The need for education, articulation and contending with this issue is still present

Abraham Hamilton III: So with, with this, the need for education, articulation and contending with this issue is still prevalent, still present. Though Roe has been overturned. Glory to God for it. Glory to God for it. But the battle still rages. It's taken on another shape and taken on another front.

Pastor Joseph Parker: Very much so. And again the key is it continues to be the Word of God because the Word of God, and of course we say the Word of the Word of God. The Spirit of God permeates the Word of God. They work hand in hand. And 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.

Abraham Hamilton III: Would you please share with our audience the website for the Pregnancy Care Net and Hope center and so that they can find the resources and things that you have available there to be educated and informed so that we can be engaged with wisdom.

Pastor Joseph Parker: Deltapchc.org Again that's Deltapchc.org to learn more about the Pregnancy Care Net and Hope center ministry.

Paul says God works within us both to desire and to do his will

Abraham Hamilton III: And folks, I'll just end with this. You know there's a promise that God gives us in, in Paul's Epistle to the Thessalonians. It says that it is God who works within us both to will and to do according to his good pleasure. As we're talking about a love for God's Word and a willingness to respond to a his call. I don't want you to think this is something that you have to unilaterally work yourself into solely by human will. Cry out to the Lord, who He says he works within us both to desire and to do his will. God bless you.