Welcome back to the Falcons audible presented by AT&T. I am Derek Rackley I'm with my guy Dave Archer and I'm with oh wait, we got a different guy over here substitute teacher we got a sub in the house today. All right, welcome Scott Bear digital managing editor Yeah, it's it's all right like cuz DJ is gone. He's with Fox. He's covering the Braves as they start the playoffs So we just we had to go to the pulpit. Yeah, exactly. We had to bring in the would we call this middle relief? Are you like a closer? I'm definitely the closer Oh, he's definitely kind of short a short statured lefty coming in all power Realize what you just did, right? Like what's that stuff behind the ears? Okay? Okay Well, what we might call time in the middle just to come check it out But like as the clothes that means you got to bring the thunder. Oh, yeah, okay So Scott's on our final whistle on the Atlanta Falcons podcast network You've probably seen him many times there, but he's jumping in on the Falcons audible presented by AT&T So guys, here's what we're gonna cover. No doubt. We're gonna talk about the conference controversial call I'm sure you've been talking about it ever since the play happened. None the less since the game ended Why did the Falcons struggle to pull off a win? There's a number of reasons that we can get into What they're gonna have to do to change some of those things that they didn't do to get a victory in their next game And then we'll talk a little bit about some roster moves because it does involve a pretty important Falcon in Dion Jones and we'll get into that in just a little bit. So guys, let's talk about the the questionable call because It's something that not just Atlanta Falcons fans not just people that have watched the game It's become a national story because of what happened in the game and how it ended up changing the complexion of the game So Dave without us getting into pointing fingers and truly getting into what our personal feelings or maybe the colorfully what we want to say What do you feel like needs to happen in the future to avoid not stuff like this just for the Falcons But for all 32 teams in the NFL Well, that's a that's a there's a lot in there, right? That's a lot to unpack as far as what you think you might do to try to fix this or find some Sav you can rub on the wound because you can bet that Kansas City has got some of that problem again today as well Yeah, that's what happened in their game last night. So Obviously, there's an education piece to this. I know that they've tried to do that Scott They've tried to teach some of these guys as the how to tackle evidently great to use the form that they suggested to the use All that being said, I think that what you've got to do is they're trying to protect the quarterbacks. We get sure There's got to be a degree of violence and or you know Extra on plays that I think they're gonna have to discern via instant replay I think you're it's a it's a play you're gonna have to look at much like targeting sure like that in college football I think that's really the only way you get get some Resolution to this is certainly not gonna help us in what happened this last weekend But that's really the only remedy here is the league's gonna have to look at it from a competition standpoint So this is not what we intended by protecting the quarterbacks in the pocket Because we're missing some stuff and we're missing stuff that affects games this one effect Yeah, Dave because we could sit here all we want and even as players like we would go back after a game and I can talk to this as a Specialist right they always want to point the finger at the kicker when the kicker misses a game, right? But then the discussion is well There was four or five plays that you could have made earlier in the game to change it, right? Yeah, you could there was plays that the Falcon Scott could have made earlier in the game to change the outcome But in the NFL where there's so much parody where the you don't see 49 to 3 games like you do in college There are sometimes games where there are battles that all of a sudden in the fourth quarter You just need a couple things to go your way to get back in the game and it looked like Atlanta was right there They had all those things kind of going their direction and all of a sudden this call just completely changes the complexion of the game Yeah, especially you have to look no farther than the Falcon schedule over the first five weeks to see that things come down to the Like to the final seconds and ultimately this is another one of those games where yeah You can point to things that happened in the first quarter and the second quarter But we saw the momentum shift and we saw the Falcons come back really start to to get some life inside of it and then that call Eliminates that possibility and while I'd like to say some very colorful things a lot of them with four letters But nonetheless, I'm gonna rely on Grady Jarrett here as opposed to what I think and Grady was on his radio show Nobody likes me reading a long quote here But I will try to paraphrase it and just go to some highlights and what he said on it on his radio show is I'm not saying that it Costs us the game, but it cost us an opportunity to go win the game And I think that's the most important point. He also kind of says hey, I didn't do anything wrong Right. I didn't do anything bad So let's give the game what it's owed to put the best product on the field and that's what drives him crazy Mm-hmm is that if something looks malicious or penalty worthy live? Let's let a camera weigh in on this thing. Let's try to let cooler heads prevail and get the call right Yeah, we've seen an improvement and steps in the right direction with certain plays even with past interference for from what happened to The Saints and the Rams, right? Well, let's take that next step Let's try to get the game right if the game goes an extra 15 minutes, but they get the call right I think everybody's happier than they are right now with with the outcome Ultimately as you point out directly affected by a flag that hit the field and I will add And in in scots all over this and appreciate the quote from Grady and bringing that Most of us just want consistency Yeah, okay, and I think that's really what the league wants is they want consistency in whatever happens Interpretation of the rules how guys wear their uniforms. They want consistency, right? This was this situation With the quarterback protection wasn't called consistently in the game let alone throughout the league So there's a consistency issue that they need to get to that I think might define things a little better for defenders But it's certainly from a coaching standpoint, you know Potentially what's coming and what you can teach in practice The there were so many tweets social media was on fire after this Maybe we'll get a chance to show you some of those from some some organizations from some national talking heads If you will everybody's been talking about it You guys kind of talked about the replay and I'm with you because you think about the NFL instant replays it stands I don't think anybody has any issues with the way that the NFL instant replay is right now Not that it because they don't say it slows down the game They don't say that it takes away from Momentum because I think like you said people want it right and in the NFL They want the games called properly So if they can go to the college role where they review targeting no matter what every anytime it happens They review it and either they take it away They leave it as is but getting the call right and that's maybe the direction the NFL has to go Well, I think that we have to be careful in saying get it right because there's a lot of times we look at the replay And that's it. That's not right, you know So my interpretation of replay might be different than yours or different from scott's But the thing that you get as a team is a as a team and fan Is you do get them to look at it? Mm-hmm. It's not just an arbitrary call by someone or you know, whoever whatever game it might be in And then that's it the law is the law that we're done They do it gives you an opportunity to go back and review it They can slow it down take a look at it And then if they still come to the same conclusion you may argue with that as well Yeah, but at least you get the the idea that they spent some time on it It wasn't just an arbitrary call and that's it we move on Yeah, we talked about like form tackling and doing it right and great Even mentioned like he did everything that he was supposed to do guys I remember them talking about this like right when I finished playing back in 2006 2007 2008 Remember they were talking about heads-up tackling and and Pete Carroll was doing all of this stuff with the Seahawks And everybody was watching his videos and we're in 2022 and I still don't know if there's a proper definition of how you hit somebody and I mentioned to you guys before we came on the air I'm an offensive guy, right? I actually used to play the quarterback positions. Normally. I'm on the show with two quarterbacks I am about protecting the quarterbacks because these are the guys that are getting paid 20 30 40 Plus million dollars a year. They changed the game, but it's also still a physical sport I understand people want to say oh, this is football those things. Okay, that type of narrative narrative is over, right? I understand it's still football, but it's so difficult to play on defense right now Whether it's pass interference whether it's rushing the quarterback There's got to be so many things that these guys try to think about in the heat of the moment And you think about how quickly these plays happen How quickly that all developed for Grady Jarrett to get to Tom Brady get him down on the ground for him to think oh wait a Second, I need to make sure that I fall a certain way. So I don't get called for a penalty to me it kind of takes away from the Playing football just fast and free, right? Like that's usually when you play the best is when you just react Dave, right?  So we could talk about this for hours Obviously, we don't have that much time. So let's let's move forward Scott Let's talk about maybe some of the other areas of the game that got Atlanta behind the eight ball What are some of the plays that stuck out to you that Atlanta got off to such a slow start and kind of spotted Tampa Bay? A three TD lead. Yeah, I think a lot of them had to do with penalties Really that that are that were kind of indisputable, right? Like you look at a face mask penalty that slows them down offensively defensive holding earlier earlier in that same drive and I and there was a drop by by Felipe Franks and And Hodge that that slows down the moment the offensive momentum that never really got going early on So I look at first downs by penalty Drive me insane Yeah, and I think Arthur Smith and saying that that when you look at those things They were never able to get into that good rhythm. How often were they playing from third and eight third and 13? Where on the opposite side Tampa's playing at third and three every time they had 29 plays in the first half, so Those are the things that really stick out to me self-inflicted wounds and putting yourself behind the sticks I think ultimately slowed them down early. I wrote this play down arch or stat if you will The the television broadcast talked about it. They said plays in the opponent territory I'd written it down 140 left in the third quarter Atlanta had seven plays in Tampa Bay territory and Tampa Bay had 32 plays that kind of kind of goes back to your point how Tampa Bay stayed on schedule It was almost like Atlanta was always fighting the chains fighting mistakes Even from the first drive of the game the potential interception to AJ Terrell he the ball is in his hands right in the granted it goes through another player's hands But like one of those where maybe that sets the tone if he makes that play it kind of changes the momentum early on in the game Yeah, no, there's no question is a tough catch It went through the hands of Russell gauge and hit him right in the chest But I mean those are the you we do drills in practice where you get the blurred drills Well, they go through your hands and you drop them in practice too. So Excuse me that that makes it difficult What stuck out to me in the first half was Atlanta probing Trying to how to trying to figure out how to block Tampa Tampa got touched up for over 180 yards on the ground against against the Kansas City Oh, yeah, you know Todd bowls as a defensive coordinator and head coach that ain't happening to us anymore We're gonna crowd the line of script They are playing with eight-man boxes most the first half and Atlanta had a tough time figuring how to block them Antoine Menfield made three tackles in the backfield to free safety stream early in the game They're stringing plays out. He's coming up off the edge There are a couple plays where Atlanta had designed and they had enough people to block Except for the safety or except for we confused that we blocked the safety and didn't block the other guy. So I thought the adjustments That Atlanta made moving through the game to try to go ahead and continue to run the football You had 52 yards rushing. I think in half time you many you finish with over 150 yards on the ground So obviously that talks about the staff and the players adjusting now The only way that can happen and stay in the game is for your defense to kind of hold on to the rope Yeah, and to me that was the best way to describe this defense is they were We're described as a bin don't break defense. That's fair But they were holding on to the rope you get an unbelievable stop early in the football game on Third and short fourth and short in your own territory that turns Tampa away Yeah, get a great stop right there and that's who this defense has been when you look at the numbers They're in the top half of the league in red zone defense. They've been moved on There's points there. There's yards being racked up They're twenty fifth twenty sixth in the league and yards given up But when you get down in the red zone They stiffen and they do a really good job of using the perimeter of the in line and the sidelines is that extra defender? And they hem you in and do a good job of forcing field goals And that's what they did in the first half till Arthur Smith and his offense could get on track So they could figure out how to block and when they got blocking figured out All of a sudden now Tampa's on their heels You get three consecutive three announced defensively and here comes the wave of Atlanta coming back But that's the ebb and flow of the game and that's complimentary football When one side's not kind of carrying it can the other side kind of hang on till you can figure it out To me that's a compliment to the to the players certainly from a from an intelligence standpoint But it's the staff and we've seen it for five weeks now Changing what they're doing in the game to fix the problem. They've done it for five consecutive You go to every game and they've made some kind of an adjustment in the game That's given them the opportunity to be close late to win the football game. It's a resilient team That's one thing I actually wrote it down like as I'm watching this game that they fight right and it's you know No disrespect, but in years past Maybe you didn't see the same type of fight when things weren't going their way in the game But it's almost like you look at this team and you watch the way that they're playing even if they're struggling They still feel like they got a chance to win it and that's what we saw in the second half Scott Like this team doesn't give up they continue to fight They're kind of playing with the personality of their head coach that just you watch them on the sidelines And he's just he's always competing in the way that he's calling plays It's refreshing to see that but at the end of the day we understand what this business is It's about wins and losses right so you can sit there and say they're resilient They compete but Arthur Smith is telling the guys that we have to find a way to turn these into W's right? So my question to you is Slow start right? What are some of the things that you've seen that need to change for them to get off to a better start? Not only in the first quarter but in the third quarter because you get some of these quarterbacks like a Tom Brady like an Aaron Rodgers If they are hitting on all cylinders early You're gonna find yourself in a deficit And I just don't think this Atlanta team is built to be able to say we got to throw the football 52 times now So what adjustments do you think need to happen early on in the game so they don't find themselves in these type of holes? Yeah, I'm gonna go back to a conversation that I had with Jake Matthews right like Right after this loss and it was another one of those things well Yeah, we fought but that's not good enough for us anymore And I think that's a sign of good coaching and a sign that they're raising the stakes growth Yeah, and and Jake kind of talked a lot about it and a lot of it was finding a good rushing rhythm early and staying on schedule Marcus Mariota talked again about first and second down Execution and I think it is a combination of look they are who they are they're gonna run it down your throat They're gonna be innovative with pre snap motions and misdirections and though it like in those types of things But can they have a complimentary passing game that moves the ball down the field that I think has been lacking over the like over The like last two weeks can they run run strike you deep? Yeah, right? Can they scare you and can they keep you honest because Dave is exactly right? You looked at that box and you're like there isn't room for a sardine in here The the way that that that they were packing in and so I think if they can establish the run Get that play pass going and then start to create big strikes downfield. That's what we saw against the Seahawks more That's what we haven't seen as much the last two weeks So Dave, where did you see the turning point which is one of the areas one of the reasons? I love the game of football because to me it's one where momentum is so big in this game But you can find yourself in a hole and all of a sudden two or three plays happen in your favor And all of a sudden you just feel things shifting as you were calling the game Where did you feel things start to shift? There are a couple things that happened in the game They went to zone read which they really were doing a pretty good job of defending I mean you when you watch the game plan for Tampa in the first half and even some into the second half Whenever Marcus came out on bootleg two guys shattered They were trying to cut off his ability to get outside one to throw it and then his ability to run it So Arthur had to find a way to get his quarterback involved in the run game And they went to a couple of zone read plays and Marcus ripped off about a 25-yard run right through the gut of the defense I got it out of for midfield. Yep I thought that was a turning point the Avery Williams punt return was huge Yeah, I mean you get a short field opportunity you pin them your defense comes out And it might have been the second maybe the third three and out in a row But you get the short it was second one I believe you get the punt you get the punt return So again another phase of the game checking in to try to help the offense kickstart the offense give them a short field Opportunity, yeah, those are two plays that stuck out to me as far as kind of in the second half began to turn I Think that's what I would point to I think that there were some things they were trying to figure out because of The box and how many people are around and who you're supposed to block there were extra defenders there as much I'll say hey, they didn't do anything different than what we expected well Then you got to play it and there's some guys that are gonna make plays when feels a good player He's an instinctual player down around the line of scrimmage. Yes, you know and to get him blocked is is saying you can say it But then you got to get you got to do it And so I think they figured that out So I give a lot of credit to the the team and I give a lot of credit to the defense in Dean I know people were talking about the defense and wow, you know, they're bleeding us. They're bleeding us Well, there's this is an offense and you know as well as I do Tampa is a big strike offense They want to take your shots down the field. Yeah, he wants to he it drives him crazy I give Brady a ton of credit for being patient Yeah, because he threw the ball underneath through the ball underneath through the ball underneath Atlanta was giving him that because they didn't want to give him the strike down the field and so That's tough in this league to string plays together to score look at the score at the end of the game They scored 21 points. They scored two touchdowns Yeah in the game because they were made to put plays together to score and that's the part You got to keep in mind when you say oh, they're killing us underneath. Are they scoring? Yeah Now the other side of that is they're eating a clock and taking some of those opportunities away Certainly in the first half Atlanta even that in the second half by moving the football and getting some things done themselves It's interesting you say that because I remember when Brady did type try to take a strike down field member I went for Scotty Miller on the right sideline and Casey Hayward was all over a beautiful play Beautiful defensive play to not get past interference right in his hip pocket They talked all game long about the speed that Miller had getting down field and everything and they had a one-on-one shot And he made a play that was when Brady was trying to take his chance down field to get the big one on the board and Hayward Had the ability to knock it free This episode in part brought to you by the Home Depot Everything you need for your next home improvement project is just a tap away on the Home Depot app The Home Depot app digital toolbox gives you access to how-to guides project calculators and image search So you'll know exactly what you need to pick up with the tap of the finger You can rent and reserve the right tools for the job Also browse through millions of items from top brands that you can have delivered right to your door Whatever your project find exactly what you need with the Home Depot app download the Home Depot app today Guys let's talk about next week. Okay, we again we could probably sit there and dissect this one as much as possible But it as we are taping this it's Tuesday, right? So Atlanta has already changed gears and they're move for moving forward to San Francisco So three and two 49ers Scott give us a little bit of sense of what Atlanta is gonna be facing with San Francisco this weekend Actually covered that team right before I took this job. So you got all kind. This is the closer y'all. Here's the closer So yeah bringing it now They're actually staying on the East Coast or staying in West Virginia Between the victory over the Panthers and when they play the Falcons This is a team that seems to go through a lot of injury issues They're having some troubles now with Nick Bosa and maybe even their kicker Robbie Gold They lost one of their starting cornerbacks all that said Still pretty good and they can still play some pretty ferocious defense and seem to be able to get after the quarterback No matter who's along that defensive line They are ferocious and the Falcons offensive line is going to have to deal with that They're also going to have to deal with a guy named Debo Samuel who we've all heard of who Arthur Smith gave as About as nice of a compliment as you can possibly say in that he's a football player. Yes, right? It doesn't matter how big he is. He's a football player and he's another guy That's going to have to be accounted for and as Falcons fans already know Kyle Shanahan's run game It's pretty good. Yeah, so there are a lot of things for the Falcons to contend with during what I believe is the most difficult three games Stretch of opponents that the Falcons will see all season. It doesn't mean this is an impossible task Jimmy Garoppolo, I don't have a ton of confidence in if I'm just being honest So how how they navigate a lot of these challenges how they take advantage of areas where they do have superiority Can I think go a long way and how this game goes? You know, I called the South Carolina game number of years ago When Debo was there and I remembered Preparing for the game one and then calling the game and telling myself a number of times like gosh It's a really good football player. I'm surprised that more people aren't talking about them And then of course, I knew he was going to be an NFL player Dave But did you see that Debo Samuel was going to end up being the guy that he is in the NFL right now? No, I think that it gives give Kyle Shanahan a ton of credit Yeah, it's like we talk Arthur Smith and we talk about Dave Ragon and what he's done with Cordero Patterson That's essentially what they're doing with Debo Samuel using them everywhere, right? And Debo a little bit more of a receiver as opposed to line him up in the back field Although they will line him up in the back They let me watch their playoff run a year ago Saw him line up at tail back and they handed him the football like a traditional tailback will get the ball They're not doing that as much so far this year. It's more jet sweep stuff It's more quick screen stuff, but he's a guy in space type player and he runs like a running back He's very difficult to get on the ground.  So that that's the problem there So what you're gonna see is a mirror image of yourself on offense This is a very similar offense.  You're gonna get the quarterback booting out.   He's out. So you don't necessarily want Garoppola to go down and the Scott mentioned He's a little bit iffy when it comes to not just play but his health. This guy's had a tough time staying on the field They're not gonna want to disrupt what are they think they've got going by getting the quarterback banged up But I think you're gonna I think that bodes well for the Falcons from a from a defensive standpoint You have a pretty good idea what you're gonna see now It's you got to go stop them Scott mentioned they are get after you up front in the run game They want to come downhill and run the football They've got a couple of good runners that can do it not Deebo Samuel because other guys that can run the rock with some speed and quickness The part that I will be interested to watch is this is I talked about it at Cleveland Atlanta did an unbelievable job with Cleveland's three-count screen game I don't know what it is about being able to run the football, but your screen game also factors into that San Francisco is outstanding. They scored a touchdown on a three-count screen against Carolina for about the 20-yard line And when I say three-count screen what I'm talking about It's a thousand one thousand two and now some linemen get out in front back circles in behind you dump in the football And here you go after you've dropped off in coverage They're outstanding with that and that's something Atlanta has been very good about in fact even snuffed out two screens in this last game from Tampa And I think they tried it eight times against in the Cleveland game Completed one of them and that was the play Jalen Hawkins knocked the ball out of David and Joku So screen game gonna be a big deal and they'll run the screen all the way down to about the 15 10-yard line So you got to be careful in the red zone Atlanta's been so good down there and playing their zone coverages You're probably gonna see screen down there close got to take care of that So that's what you're looking at on the offensive side of Dave You mentioned the screen game obviously is big and and they've done a pretty good job against that How big and the reason why I'm gonna ask you this question about slowing down Debo Samuel is They faced a guy last week in Mike Evans that if you let him he can take over a game And I felt like they had a pretty good game plan of making sure even though Mike Evans We have four catches 81 yards But he didn't take over a game because Mike Evans can do that is Debo Samuel the same type is that gonna be a similar concept for them defensively is don't let Debo beat us Well different nut the crack completely right because you're talking about Debo can get the ball anywhere Evans is gonna line up on the outside and they're gonna throw the ball.  Do you have somebody shadowing him? Who is that player? You know, I don't know that AJ Terrell necessarily draws that assignment Because I think you're taking AJ out of coverage down the field and they got other guys It can make plays down the field, you know, I use because an outstanding receiver They got a tight end. It's a pretty good player So yeah, so there's there's other weapons on the field So it'd be interesting to see what Dean peas comes up with make no mistake There will be a focus on number 19 and wherever he's lined up. They'll have an idea where he is all right, so Atlanta knows a little bit about the West Coast slash East Coast trip that San Francisco is doing they did one earlier this season So they'll get to somewhat return the favor for a team That's gonna stay out on the in on the East Coast the entire week back on home turf Against San Francisco 49ers final story here. Scott. Let's just talk real quick News came out this week that Atlanta Falcons traded away a pretty darn good player Dion Jones Yeah, of course spent some time on the injured list and they decided that it was time to move on from the veteran 650 total tackles Solo 11 Interceptions, maybe one of the more athletic linebackers that I've seen in the last 10 or 15 years I guess I'll just serve it up to you as your initial thoughts when you heard the news that Dion Jones no longer gonna be in a Falcons Jersey Yeah, I go back to what Terry fontano said at the NFL scouting combine about all of the major big Contracts that they had to deal with right with Matt Ryan and Grady Jarrett Jake Matthews and of course Dion Jones and they've now touched all of these contracts in some way shape or form now that this Dion Jones what's gonna happen with him thing has been a storyline forever Yeah, and I'm happy for the team and the player that this has been resolved in some way both in That they were able to get a little bit of compensation But they were able to help themselves out tremendously from a salary cap perspective more so in in 2023 and moving forward and Dion Jones Has an opportunity to go play somewhere else where they've clearly restocked at that inside linebacker spot So I think just having resolution is a good thing I think you look at it and you think six-round pick in 2024 That's that that's something that you can get but I look at the salary cap benefits as something that is important And but just because this storyline has been going on I'm really glad that you that you reference Dion the way that you did He gave so much good service to this organization I don't think that that that that can be lost in the fact that sometimes breaking up is hard to do well I had a chance to call every one of Dion's games here in Atlanta came in as a rookie in 2016 he was part of an upstart defense that had four rookie starting on it was a team that went to the Super Bowl He was a big part of why they went to the Super Bowl even though they weren't great on defense He had a bunch of young guys like Keanu Neal who we saw this last weekend making plays I can tell you that I watched him play now He's been banged up the last couple years and some of those skills from what I can see have diminished some He was the best cover linebacker in the National Football League. Yeah, there was no question about it I saw him line up against Alvin Kamara and completely shut him down Yeah, and he knocked him out of the game one time here a couple of you three or four years ago So but no one will ever forget the interceptions Of course the one that closed the show when for James Winston in overtime He picked the pick six that closes the show there to beat Tampa in the final game of the year a few years ago And then of course his interception his first interception came in New Orleans that he took back for a touchdown against Breeze But maybe the probably the most iconic interception He had was in the end zone in the color scheme game was on a Thursday night New Orleans was here It's always fun to beat New Orleans and Deion closes the show with an interception in the middle of the end zone with those bright red Uniforms on makes the grab goes up high to make the interception So I just want to pay homage to Deion Jones because an outstanding player I think that the Falcons have done the right thing here make no mistake because as Scott said This this linebacker core is a young pretty cool linebacker core and they're coming get ready now Because that's going to be the strength of this defense pretty soon It may be already of the strength of that interior and so you got an opportunity to give and I love what Scott said You gave Deion an opportunity to continue his career in another spot fresh start for him because he deserved that I love That you and I think the same way because I didn't even really have a chance to tee you up You took it right from Scott and my question was going to be to you arch Give us a few of your best memories of Deion and you just went there So I appreciate you doing that because he's been a great Falcon during his time here obviously, I talked about his stats did some great things and One thing I know just from my time in a league you've been around it for a long time Scott I'm sure you the same way there are decisions that are made from a business standpoint that a fan May not always agree with even as somebody that covers the team You may not agree with you might say this guy could still be in this uniform A lot of people probably felt that way about Matt Ryan, right? But sometimes this is why it's a difficult job being a general manager But you have to manage things that are in the best interest of the team So not only is this a good move for the team, but it's a good move for Deion as you guys said as well And we all wish him the best because he's a tremendous player And he deserves the right to go out and show people why he's such a good player. So That's it guys. Hey great job closing it down. Yes I appreciate you bringing in the nuggets about San Francisco because you know a little bit extra about that see You know there's always gonna be a time when you can come in and you can throw that nasty splitter You know what just right in the dirt swinging right over it. It's beautiful. Shockley. You're on notice This seats real warm where I'm sitting So we don't know if we will have shot back next week all depends on the braves He's got his responsibilities with Fox, but thanks for holding the seat down and offering your perspective anything Once again that Scott bear of course He's with our digital media team Atlanta Falcons podcast network Of course on the final whistle as well. You've probably seen him many a times. Thanks so much for joining us That's gonna wrap it up here on the Falcons audible presented by AT&T Dave Archer Scott bear I'm Derek Rackley continue to watch our podcast on whichever platform it is like subscribe review We appreciate all of that.  Yeah, thanks so much for joining us everybody. See you next time


This morning, I want to draw your attention. This is part three of our series in Daniel, entitled Stronger. And we're looking at chapter three this morning. And the title of the message I'm gonna bring to you is All Fall Down. All Fall Down. You probably know the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, or if you grew up in the 90s, Rack, Shack, and Benny, and the Veggie Tale version. And we're gonna take a look at this story. And we're gonna read several verses this morning. So I want you to follow along. If you have your Bibles, great. If not, it's gonna come up on the screens, beginning in verse number one. It says, King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold whose height was 60 cubits and its breadth, six cubits. So that's 90 foot by nine feet wide. He set it up in the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. And then King Nebuchadnezzar sent together all the satraps, the prefects, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all of the other officials of the province to come to the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then the satraps, the prefects, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all of the officials of the provinces gathered for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up and the herald proclaimed aloud, you are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, dragon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, that you are to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. And whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a burning furnace. Therefore, as soon as all the people heard the sound of the horn, the pipe, the lyre, the trigon, the harp, the bagpipe, and every kind of music, all the people, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Verse number eight, therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews. They declared to the King Nebuchadnezzar, O King, live forever. You, O King, have made a decree that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, the pipe, the lyre, the trigon, the harp, the bagpipe, and every kind of music shall fall down and worship the golden image. And whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And there are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O King, pay no attention to you and they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. Then Nebuchadnezzar, in furious rage, commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the King and Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up. And now if you're ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, the pipe, the lyre, the trigon, the harp, the bagpipe, and a partridge in a pear tree. And every kind of music to fall down and to worship the image that I have made, well good, but if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning, fiery furnace, and who is the God who will deliver you out of my hands? Verse 16, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the King, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. And if this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning, fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O King. But if not, be it known to you, O King, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. This is the word of the Lord. This is, I believe, one of the most pivotal stories for believers in our current day in much of the Old Testament. Now, that's saying a lot because there's a lot of stories that have application to us. But this particular story, I believe, in Daniel, and in fact, the book of Daniel, I think is a prototype and a blueprint for how you and I as disciples of Jesus live in the middle of what really is a Babylonian culture and how we do it and remain strong in our faith, vital in our relationship with Jesus without compromising. This particular story is one of the apexes of Daniel's story. It's easy for us, however, to read much of, especially the Old Testament, and really it's true Old New Testament. We read these stories and oftentimes we think to ourselves, man, am I glad I did not live in Babylon? You know, man, am I glad that I was not one of these Hebrew noble of royal descent young people that was captured by Nebuchadnezzar, taken out of Judea, made to march 650 miles across the Middle East to Babylon. Man, am I glad that I was not reeducated in one of the reeducation camps of Babylon like they were. Man, am I glad that I did not have my identity as a follower of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God Yahweh. I'm so glad that I was not forcibly given a new name and a new identity. I'm so glad that I was not made a eunuch. Most likely when you, if you really look at Daniel chapter one, you see that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and Daniel, when they were brought into Babylon, they were put under the chief of the eunuchs, the man who was a eunuch himself, but then was in charge of all the eunuchs. How many know if you do the math, if you have a guy who is a eunuch who's over all of the eunuchs and you're put under him, that means you're going to be a eunuch.    And so some of us might listen or think about that, read that and go, I'm so glad that I'm not Daniel, I didn't get a new name, I wasn't taken away from my home, I didn't watch my place of worship and my place of lineage destroyed. I wasn't emasculated as a eunuch. I wasn't given a brand new name and I didn't find myself living in a pagan society, that is, Babylon was the most powerful empire that the world had ever seen up until this point, most powerful military, but also the most powerful economy and the most powerful and most prolific, spiritual, paganistic witchcraft environment. One of the largest libraries in the world was founded at Babylon and Babylon actually became the seat from which in much of human history, witchcraft, incantations, astrology, and worship of idols, spiritism was birthed there. But it was also a very metropolitan city. So as these guys are marched into the city reeducated for three years in a reeducation camp, given new names associated with Babylonian gods, they were made into eunuchs and they're in the city with some of the most wonderful architecture, wealth, culture that the world had ever seen. And Babylon did that on purpose because their desire was when you bring people from these other empires and other faiths and other religions and we bring them here, what we're going to do is we're going to drown their identity, drown their faith so that they assimilate into our culture and if the nobility and influencers will assimilate then their cultures will eventually die and Babylon will become the dominant culture. It's easy when you think about those things to think to yourself, man am I glad I don't live in Babylon or do you? Or do you? Because what I want to focus on this morning more than the actual act of defiance although that's significant is I want to talk about the source behind the challenge, the idol and the command to bow down to it because what we find in Daniel it's easy to look at it and go well it's just kind of the story about these historical young people in this historical context of this kingdom, we don't live like that anymore, come on we're 21st century North American, westernized, we're sophisticated, we're educated, we've evolved, we're much more tolerant, there's never that kind of pressure, we live in a Christian nation and life is good for us and so yeah maybe there's some little moral principles that we can pull out but that's about it, I want to challenge you today, what if, without you necessarily even knowing it, you're living in what they call in the movie The Matrix, the world pulled over your eyes and what if without you knowing it you actually do live in Babylon? What would that do to your faith? Do you know that Babylon actually is more in biblical terms is actually more than a historical empire? It's actually a spirit that's been at work, the spirit of Babylon has been at work in the earth since the very beginning and according to the Bible it will be at work in the earth throughout all of human history until the day that Jesus Christ returns to fully consummate his kingdom on the earth and make all of his enemies his footstool. It's more than a historical empire, even though the empire has changed and by the way when you read the book of Daniel it's very interesting because it talks about two major kingdoms, it talks about Babylon and then Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom was overcome by a superior kingdom which was the Persian empire and if you don't know right now those two empires are still in the news, they're just called Iraq and Iran. Isn't that interesting, it's still very much at work. I want to challenge you this morning that the spirit of Babylon is actually bigger than the empire of Babylon and it's the spirit of Babylon that was actually motivating Nebuchadnezzar to establish this idol and to require everybody to worship it and if it's a spirit that inspired it not just some extinct empire, that spirit that began in Genesis is actually still at work today and will be all the way through the book of Revelation from Genesis the first book through Revelation the last book and all 63 or 64 books in between. Where is it found? Well number one it starts in Genesis chapter 11.  We know the fall took place when Adam and Eve committed high treason against God they embraced the word of the deceiver the aid of the fruit out of selfish desire and ambition everything got thrown into a tailspin death entered into the world but also that's the access point by which Satan, the devil, the liar and the deceiver got access into the earthly realm and began a project to build a counterfeit kingdom. That was the access point and we know that immediately evil began to proliferate in the earth so much so that God needed to destroy it that's what the flood was all about Noah and his descendants came out of it they were re-given what's called the dominion mandate which is to be fruitful and multiply and to kind of inhabit all the earth and so Shem, Ham and Japheth they begin to you know move in different areas and to migrate they begin to have children then we get to Genesis chapter 11 Genesis chapter 11 it says that the people on the face of the earth were growing and multiplying but remember they're sinful they're affected by sin they're so totally corrupted and depraved now that it says in Genesis chapter 11 instead of dispersing to the four corners of the world and doing what God had called them to do here's what they said they said in verse four come and let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top into the heavens 90-foot idol tower into the heavens and let us make a name for ourselves lest we be dispersed all over the face of the earth so the tower of Babel that's what it was called the tower of Babel and they began to build this tower they're pulling together creating a culture with mankind at the center of it that doesn't need God say we don't need God we'll build it for ourselves and we don't need his name we need our name our fame our glory for our pleasure and we don't need God to come down out of heaven we're actually gonna build a tower that will get us up to him and they were unified so much so that God had to come down and confuse their languages and scatter them because God even saw and communicates and this is a mind blowing statement but the Lord made it he said nothing shall be impossible for them so there's incredible human potential to build culture without God with man at the center of it so that it is actually successful but yet demonically inspired that's where Babylon started that was the spirit of Babylon it doesn't say it explicitly but I'll guarantee you the same spirit in the garden that said to Adam and Eve as God really said and the same deceiving serpent that said to Adam and Eve God's holding out on you he knows the day in which you eat of that fruit your eyes are gonna be open you're gonna be just like God and you're not gonna need God anymore is the same spirit that was gathering these people together to build a counterfeit spirit to build a counterfeit culture you might say well why would the devil wanna build a counterfeit kingdom well we'll come back to that in a moment but let me give you the end of it so we see the book of Daniel where that spirit of Babylon manifests itself in an empire, a military empire, political empire but if you go to the last book of the Bible the book of Revelation that talks about Jesus and his return and the kingdoms of this world becoming the kingdoms of our God and King it's the culmination of all things and it kinda takes history and shows us the cycle of man and Satan trying to build their empire but yet Jesus conquering and overcoming it's one of the last chapters of your Bible says in Revelation chapter 18 fallen, fallen is Babylon the great why is that? It's because the same spirit that tried to build the Tower of Babel the same spirit that erected an idol and required everybody to worship it will ultimately be the same spirit at the end of the age that is inspiring an anti-Christ counterfeit kingdom in the earth that Jesus will actually come and destroy in order to establish his kingdom it's still at work it's all throughout human history it just doesn't show up saying hi I'm the spirit of Babylon it shows up in all kinds of insidious ways it shows up in human culture it shows up in humanism it shows up in secularism it shows up in idolatry it shows up in human sinfulness it is a spirit and just like all spirits spirits are invisible to the naked eye we can only see the natural manifestations of them through culture and people's behavior now why would it be that Satan would want to build a counterfeit kingdom because you have to understand his number one desire Satan's number one desire is to destroy, remove and pervert the image of God off the face of the earth to go all the way back to the garden and I know this is Bible history I've got like four hours of information so it's kind of like on YouTube where you gotta hit that 1.5 speed I'm trying to talk as fast as I can I wish you all had USB ports in your neck that I could just like download but that's called the matrix it's only Hollywood it doesn't work you're just gonna have to listen so I got a lot of information listen but if we go back all the way to when God created the heavens and the earth he created mankind for one reason Genesis chapter one verse 26 says this let us make man in our and according to our likeness man was created by God as an image bearer that God would put into the earth to dominate and subdue the entire created world and created God bless you created order to bring it into submission to God and the only one who would be greater than man on the earth is the God who created it so God would come and communicate to man his desire and his will all mankind had to do was live in perfect harmony and relationship with God God would tell him what he needed to do God's word and he did that imperfect obedience and then man had the whole world and God's desire was he says I want you to be fruitful and multiply I want you to have kids and I want your kids to have kids and when you have kids you build families and families build communities and communities have schools and schools express their shared values by their arts and their communication and foreign politics and government that serves the people's interest and then I want you to cover the earth with this culture that is built around the presence of God the word of God so that the earth is filled with the image of God that was God's intent Satan just didn't show up just to tick God off by causing Adam and Eve to sin and he's kind of like, you know, there you go that's all that I've got no, he was systematic and I want you to know that Satan had a global long game end game that he was playing he needed an access point to build his counterfeit kingdom and what he needed to do in order to build his counterfeit kingdom on earth to be worshiped as God to be served by the angels in heaven and by the human beings that God created was he had to have an access point and then he had to pervert, remove and destroy the image of God off face of the earth so one of the first great commandments that God gives is you shall not create any graven images of anything on the earth and you shall not worship or serve them first commandment, no other gods number two, don't make any graven images don't worship and serve them don't take the name of the Lord God's name in vain what is all this about? it's about preserving God's image through God's people in the earth so that his kingdom can be fully established well, when you realize that the purpose that Satan had from the very beginning that was manifest in Babel in Genesis chapter 11 and is also manifest in Daniel in chapter one, chapter two, chapter three all the way through and even in the book of Revelation this is what he's doing this is what he's doing and the way that he does it is he begins to infect and shape and craft culture he uses culture as his vehicle it's interesting, you may not know this but the name Babylon in Hebrew comes from the root word that means confusion so when God confused the languages Babylon in the Hebrew language means or actually Aramaic, it means confusion but in Babylonian the name Babylon means the gate of the gods so literally Babylon wherever it manifests is actually an access point for spirit beings now I know some of you are like man didn't come to church this morning thinking I was gonna get an astrology and then you know, spiritism lesson but here's what I want you to ask yourself this question today if when we read the book of Daniel we see how Nebuchadnezzar dominated besieged and dominated every culture emasculated every culture reeducated every culture re-identified every person within the culture and dominated every facet of the culture to the point of erecting an image or an idol that required everyone to bow down to it if that is the strategy that the enemy took is it possible that the enemy is still working that same strategy even today and my answer to that is yes I got an announcement, you may not know it but you are living in Babylon you are Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego you are Daniel and you may not know it because they don't erect it out in the plains of Kalamazoo but we have 90 foot by nine foot wide golden images all over the place idols all over the place in our culture and it may not be bagpipes and harps and all those other instruments that are listed there but there are sounds and there are voices and there is pressure that is being exerted even on the people of God just like in Daniel's day saying when you hear the sound, you better bow the knee it's happening today because listen, here's what the spirit of Babylon wants to do he wants to dominate every aspect of culture you can see it in the book of Daniel he affects their view of God it's no longer Yahweh the one true God now it is multiple different gods in our culture today it has affected the way that we view God in America, we want a God who is for us we want a God who will serve us and any God will do and in fact, you can have a plurality of God's but just don't have a God who expects anything out of you I'm preaching better than you're listening okay, number two in Babylon, the spirit of Babylon dominated sexuality made eunuchs out of them and if you look at our culture today the spirit of the culture today is actually affecting our viewpoint of sexuality in the beginning, God created them male and female, binary and today we're being told cast out binary there's a spectrum and you say, well that's just because of science that's not because of science that's because of spirits it's demonic, it's strategic and it's global today, in the very beginning God performed the first marriage God defined marriage he looked at Adam and he said I know exactly what you need and so he crafted a woman he, man, it's not good that man's alone he brought Sparky the dog and Chloe the cat and they were not suitable help means and we all know that a dog is man's best friend but it's not that good and we all know that cats are the first demonically inspired animals so, listen and so what God did was he said I'm gonna make perfect exactly what you need and he made woman and the reason why she's called woman is because when man saw her coming he goes whoa, man and so the name stuck she's called woman God performed the first marriage but now the spirit of Babylon wants to pervert, twist, change and alter the definitions of marriage it's not just because of a political right or a political left it's a spiritual issue think about money in our culture today we're told that money is the key to all happiness and success and I'll promise you it's not I've been to some of the poorest places on the face of the earth and some of the happiest people I've ever met but yet we're told that we bow down to the idol of money and we live our lives and we sacrifice our families and we cheat our way to the top and we make decisions about what is gonna be valuable to us all because of a green 90-foot idol politics, huh right there, man if you don't believe in the spirit of Babylon all you gotta do is look at politics today I mean that's Babylon to the nth degree arts, well I've gotta give expression to whatever I feel, whatever is my truth art was created to reflect the beauty of God but the enemy who desires to pervert the image of God comes in takes something that God gave mankind within their culture affected by sin, twists it and perverts it to celebrate himself and even our view of mankind even our view of ourselves well you know what, I'm a good person you know what, I do more good than I do bad I'm a pretty good person I just believe in essence all people are good you know the Bible doesn't say that the Bible says that all people are actually sinful and we're broken and in our natural tendency we're spiritually dead but we put ourselves first we wanna build a name for ourselves where do you think the drive for fame at all costs comes from you can look at the celebrity culture that we have in our world today and all these people who've given their whole lives to build a platform and yet when they get there they self-destruct they become arrogant, they become proud they don't serve, they don't give back where did that come from it was a lie of the spirit of Babylon unless you think it's just people that have 400,000 followers on Instagram it's every single one of us we all are subject to ego and wanting to build our own platform and it's because at the end of the day we're just like Babylon let's build a name for ourselves let's build a city for ourselves where I'm at the center of it all these different aspects of culture arts, politics, marriage, family sexuality, money entertainment I mean all of these types of things and right now if you don't think all of those right now in our culture are being dominated they're being dominated by the spirit of Babylon you just may never have used that name but it's exactly what it is and the reason why the enemy's doing that it's not just so that he can win the culture game it's he understands that culture is the educational way that he reproduces his own image and so just like he reeducated Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and Daniel he's reeducating us do you know that right now this current generation they're estimating Gen Z will spend 70% of their life looking at a screen 70% of their lives looking at a screen what is that? I'll tell you what it is it's called discipleship disciple is a student in whatever we're studying we become a student of and what is connected to all of our screens I want you to do a little thought experiment right now think about Daniel think about Babylon think about that story in the Bible right now and add one modern piece to it add the internet to it what does that look like? Well I'll tell you what it looks like it looks like them being discipled for three years looking at an iPad it looks like them being in an educational system where they're self-studying it means that when the king says that everybody gathers and bows down to the idol it means it goes out in a mass Twitter everybody responds to it and if you don't like it if you don't affirm it or on Facebook you don't give it a like then they're coming after you that's what that looks like and I'm not saying anything look the internet in and of itself is not evil the internet in and of itself is a gift it's broad in fact it's actually I think prophesied in the book of Daniel very last book of Daniel talking about the end times that says and knowledge shall increase I think right now we have access to more information than we've ever had before when I was growing up and wanted to write a book report I had to go to the library and read the Encyclopedia Britannica today you can write it on your smartphone because you have access to the internet so what we don't wanna do is we don't reject the internet we don't reject the education system we don't reject politics we don't reject anythings things but we have to be sober minded about the spirit that is at work all around us that's demanding that we bow down to the images that it's put forth and what we do is we look at Daniel Shadwright Meshach and Abednego and it says that they went through the reeducation process they were given new identities they were made into Unix come on that's a stiff membership issue in order to get immigrate into Babylon I'm so glad that we don't have those those requirements they went through all of that but they also made a determination that they were not going to defile themselves and they found influence being a part of the Chaldeans the astrologers, the spiritual leaders and it was actually their devotion to Yahweh the devotion to God that got them into trouble when the idol was erected but yet they still were able to function within society without defiling themselves why were they able to do that because they had made a premeditated decision about their convictions about their identity and about what kingdom they were truly a part of a premeditated decision and so it begs the question for us today is your conviction within you stronger than the culture that surrounds you is your conviction about who Jesus is about God's word about how you handle money about your view of sex about your view of marriage and family and relationship about how important life is versus eternity are those shaped by convictions as a disciple of Jesus or are they shaped more by the spirit of Babylon because that's who we're being discipled by you wanna know who's disciple you are all you have to do is look at those areas of your life and find out who informs them more than the other you can say I believe in Jesus but does Jesus have permission to talk to you about sex you know what I'm a pastor and I'm so tired of hearing about young people who are going out on dates with another young person that's a Christian and on the first or second date they're trying to make some sexual move towards them you're not been discipled by the kingdom of God you've been discipled by Netflix and you've been discipled by a porn culture that views sex as a recreational activity like hot yoga sex is not a game of twister sex is a sacred bond between husband and wife your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit you've been called not to defile it and sin against your own body and what a whole generation doesn't understand is that when you have sex with somebody there's not just the physical coming together your spirit gets bond with their spirit and trying to undo that is like trying to unscramble eggs and so what we got is a generation that doesn't just have sexually transmitted diseases we got spiritually transmitted diseases but we got a whole generation that says oh I don't need anybody to tell me and put restrictions on my body and what I can do with my body I'm free I'm smart I'm educated and yet depression is on an all time high anxiety is at an all time high suicide rates are at an all time high divorce is at an all time high and yet we keep celebrating and bowing to the image that Nebuchadnezzar is establishing it's time for somebody to take a Shadrach, Meshach and a Bendigo posture in their life and say you can put up whatever idols that you want to and you can blow whatever horns that you want to but I'm not bowing down to your idol and if you wanna know who the God is that will deliver me from your hands his name is Jesus his name is Jesus but everybody else is bowing down to it I mean what happened I mean some people might get mad at me if they find out what I really believe good you need somebody to get mad at you you need some fiery trials in your life because trials actually reveal and refine your faith it's like going to the gym and pumping iron every time testing comes against you you may not like it you might sweat right through your Lululemon pants ladies but I'll tell you something your faith is gonna get stronger as you begin to stand up for Jesus we gotta be willing is your conviction stronger than the culture that's around you First Peter chapter four Peter writes to believers in the first century do not be surprised at fiery trials when they come against you to test you as though something strange was happening to you this should be normal but rejoice insofar as you share Christ's suffering that you may rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed you see God's glory is revealed through you when in the face of fiery trials and persecution you actually don't bow God's glory is revealed his glory is revealed it's like what's up with this person what price are you willing to pay for Jesus that's just a question well I might get persecuted yep you might look can I actually correct that statement you will all those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted that's what Paul told Timothy if you desire to live righteously in Christ Jesus you will experience persecution you're gonna be persecuted and being persecuted is not being blocked on Instagram or muted by some of us I mean I may not be nice but it's not necessarily high levels of persecution right now in China they are bulldozing churches they are collecting Bibles they are murdering Muslims in the furthest western provinces of China believers who sign petitions there are some states in China that have over 400 million surveillance cameras and right now they are associating what's called a social behavioral credit score according to your behavior that's being viewed by artificial intelligence when you do what the state wants you to do you get a higher score and you get greater privileges but people who resist the state people who won't recant their faith their score is going down and they can't even rent houses what's your conviction level but I might lose some relationships Jesus said you would I did not come to bring peace but I came to bring a sword to divide this from that why because of convictions because we will not bow to the culture you might lose your job ha you might lose some finances you might lose some opportunities but let me ask you a question is eternity worth it?   What's your conviction? What's your conviction level? I wanna end with this story about a man church history that inspires me there was a time and there always has been times where there's been a price to pay for following Jesus and this is nothing new it just happens to be new for us in our culture today but make no mistake about it it's not ending, it's global, it's normal there was a man who was a leader in the church in the first few hundred years his name was Polycarp I love that name when Jane and I were first married and we had a cat, I named it Polycarp that's how nerdy I am Polycarp inspired me even back then Polycarp Fox's book of martyrs and some other historians believe was actually discipled by John the Apostle and he became one of the leading bishops at a time when Rome was persecuting believers all throughout the Roman Empire they would require you to burn incense to an image of Caesar all you had to do is say Caesar is Lord burn incense to it and you could have your business you could keep your house you could live your life nobody was gonna injure your family but as long as you refused to say Caesar is Lord you were in danger of prison at the least property confiscation possibly but more than likely death and first watching your family die Polycarp was an aged bishop probably in his late 80s, early 90s when they came for him they arrested him in this little cottage outside of the city that he had served as a bishop for many, many years when the Roman guards showed up at his cottage he requested, give me two hours to go into the other room and pray the host served the guards lunch and Polycarp went in the back room and prayed prepared his heart and then he said, I'm ready to go they put him in a carriage traveled about seven miles to an amphitheater where bloodthirsty anti-Christian population of Romans were waiting to see Christians martyred for their faith Polycarp was marched into the center of the arena and they put him up against a pole and they were gonna burn him alive they put wood around his feet that they were about to light and they were about to kindle and they went to tie his hands up and his response according to history was you don't have to bind my hands because it's not your ropes that buy me to this stake but my convictions and my love of Jesus and they said, all you have to do is recant old man and he said, how is it possible that I could turn my back on the one for all of these 80 plus years who has loved me, saved me and given his life for me and he held the pole, they lit the wood and when the flames began to consume his body instead of screaming for mercy he was singing hymns of praise and it so convicted the crowd that the roars and the chance died down to zero and the guard who had marched him to the stake converted on the spot I want that level of conviction Church, I can't promise you that I do I've never been put to that level of a test but here's what I know the desire of my heart, the passion of my heart is Jesus I wanna live for Jesus and I want the Holy Spirit that dwells on the inside of me to give me steel in my back and unbendable knees and deep conviction that no matter what spirit of Babylon or what its name is in any culture no matter what comes against us that my convictions about who Jesus is and about the word of God and about eternity are so strong that it doesn't matter how many horns they blow, how many bagpipes play how much pressure, how many other people bother me that I'm standing because here's what I know I may be the only one standing but in eternity I'm not standing alone the saints who have gone on before us the angels in heaven and even my savior Jesus is standing with me and the same is true for you believer you may find yourself living in a world in working in a job, going to a school surrounded by friends where nobody's standing for Jesus and the temptation is to let that spirit begin to reshape you, re-educate you, rename you and assimilate you into a Babylonian culture and I'm telling you resist submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you let God have your heart so totally that there is no place on the inside of you for compromise stand up with me this morning if you would Jesus we belong to you saved us redeemed us called us by name Lord, today we don't want the labels of this world we want the labels of heaven over our lives today right now in the name of Jesus I just tear off every label that the spirit of this age has put on your people some of us are bearing labels and identities that don't belong to us you're a new creation in Christ Jesus all things that pass away and behold all things have become new today I declare new creations over your people Lord today it's not just the labels but I pray for strength in our spirits to be able to stand strong in the face of this spirit of the age Lord we don't stand in fear we stand knowing that greater is He that's in us than He that's in the world and we may not be formed by the idols of this age and the spirit of this age God we want to be formed and fashioned by the spirit of the living God we want to be renewed by the Word of God we want to be reeducated in the kingdom of God and we want to be known as disciples of Jesus that love not their lives even unto death God would you do that in us before we go today with every head bowed and every eyes closed I sense the spirit of God in this room there's some of us two groups of people I think the Lord is highlighting this morning number one is you are here today and you have never surrendered your life to God and repented of your sin and asked Jesus the Son of God to save you you may have had a religious background you may have even believed in the existence of Jesus but I'm talking about you radically surrendering and inviting Jesus to be your Lord and your Savior today I want you to know He will He'll forgive your brokenness He'll forgive your sin He'll heal your heart He'll give you hope He'll put His Spirit on the inside of you and you'll go from being a slave to sin to becoming a child of God and you don't have to earn it you just have to receive it today Jesus has already made a decision that He will save you if you'll ask Him and today some of us in this room we need to be saved we need to be born again by the Spirit of God we need to receive eternal life the second group of people is you grew up in church you grew up maybe having a relationship or a faith in your heart that you held on to but you've been sucked into the current of Babylon Babylon has grabbed ahold of you reeducated you renamed you and reshaped your values but something right now is coming alive on the inside it's like, no, no, no I need to get back I need to serve Jesus I need to serve God I need to be who I really am I want to reset I want to come home and you're like the prodigal you're coming to your senses and you're saying I want to come home today if you're either one you've never received Christ but you're saying today Jesus save me forgive me of my sins I don't want to go to hell I don't want to bear the wrath of God I want to be a follower of Jesus a child of God I want heaven to be my home I'm surrendering to you or be you're here and you say I'm like the prodigal I need to come home I've been swept into the current of Babylon but I'm repenting and I'm asking Jesus save me today if you're either one of those on the count of three I want you to reach out to God when you hear me say three in a moment I want you to shoot your hand up in the air as your confession of faith and we're gonna pray together here we go get ready one, two, three shoot it up in the air right now and hold it up hold it up yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes yes, yes, yes, yes praise God look at what God is doing yes, yes all over the room all the way in the back come on some of you right now you're on the fence don't let the spirit of Babylon steal you and dominate you you need to break through if you've not raised your hand you raise it right now today is your day thank you, young man right now in the name of Jesus freedom, salvation yes, I see your hand young man thank you you can put your hands down right now all over the room Bible says this if we believe in our heart on the Lord Jesus Christ and we confess with our mouth that God has raised him from the dead we shall be saved I'm going to lead us all into prayer and I want you to everybody in this room to follow along say this out loud and if you raise your hand I want you to pray this prayer and I want you to say it directly to God here we go say heavenly Father I come in the name of Jesus and I repent of my sin I know that I'm a sinner I deserve your judgment but I'm asking for mercy I believe in Jesus that he is the Son of God and I surrender to you Jesus come into my heart save me forgive me sit on the throne and be my King and Lord I turn my back on Babylon I turn my back on the spirit of this age and I say I belong to you I am a new creation made in the image of Jesus I have the Holy Spirit living inside of me and I have a destiny that I shall fulfill thank you for loving me saving me and forgiving me in Jesus' name Amen Come on somebody praise the Lord