Welcome to the Gospel Truth Project Podcast.
I'm your host, Jason Cooper, and I have with me my co-host.
It's me.
It's Dylan.
I want us to start assuming your name is actually me, Dylan.
It is.
It is me, Dylan.
Me, Dylan.
I'm from a long line of me's, and me is Dylan, and you is not.
Me who?
Oh gosh, we can't.
That's so bad.
Well, that's going to be cut out.
Just cut this whole part out.
Hi, I'm Dylan.
No, it's staying in.
I'm sorry.
Oh, great.
Well, that's a great way to start it off.
It's fantastic.
It's good.
You can't tell we're delusionally tired.
Yeah, you know, for us it's pretty late, and I know this is technically going to come
out Thursday for me, so.
Well you're an hour ahead of me now, so.
I'll send it to you to edit, and then you can get it out before midnight.
How's that sound?
How about you edit it and then send it to me?
There you go, and then you can post it.
That sounds good.
I like that better.
Cool.
So we actually have a pretty...
Well, first off, I want to acknowledge that we did miss a week.
That's okay.
One of us got sick.
It's fine.
Totally fine.
Gosh.
Who would do something like that?
It's ridiculous.
So like, we missed a week.
Yeah.
One of us with his children.
Right, right.
We missed one week.
It's fine.
Like, I was going to tweet about it or acknowledge it, but then again I started thinking, we
don't have that many people yet.
If we miss one week, by the time people realize it, the next week's out already.
This one is out already, so I figured we'd be pretty good for this week.
How are you lost to all our followers now and nobody cares?
We had 50 something now they're gone.
It was all my family and they all laughed at you like we're done.
That's too much.
Oh my gosh.
Hey, we actually ended up getting a new sponsor.
I think I was telling you.
Yes.
Yes we were.
Yeah, we got sponsored by Bucked Up Energy Drinks, which is kind of funny.
Like B-U-C-K-E-D.
It's just like, yeah, it just has like the deer head on the front of it.
But that energy drink they offered as a sponsorship.
So I would say this episode is sponsored by them.
Just go to their website, check out their drinks.
I don't know if you've ever tried their drinks.
I absolutely love their drinks and anytime I see them, it's the automatic grab off the
shelf.
Oh, every time.
You know me.
I love energy drinks so much.
I really don't drink energy drinks, but this is when I've heard Jason like talk about nonstop.
So I just I'm taking his lead on this.
I'm going to agree with him.
It is really good.
I think it's like just because the flavors are very, very prominent, you don't taste
like the extra stuff in it, like the extra vitamins they have and like some of the nutrients
they have in there.
Like usually when you have that much stuff in it, it has a very like vitamin-y chalk
flavor, but that's completely gone.
It's a really pure flavor that tastes amazing.
I've tried I think almost all of them, if not all of them.
But yeah, you just go to their website, typed in Gospel with GTP when you're going to check
out and you actually get 10% off.
So that's really cool.
Definitely use that.
Yeah, you know, I could maybe use some, you know, when I was in Philly, get some extra
vitamins in, some energy.
I probably would have been okay.
Yeah.
Maybe that's what I was thinking.
So this week we're talking about what is the church, the church in general.
I think we're going to just be talking about the church in general, not leadership.
And the church, but what is the church?
What is the church?
Yeah.
I think that's a good topic.
I think it's in unison.
Perfect.
Yes, perfect.
I think this is a good topic to talk about because I've had people say like, church is
the four walls.
Like that's where it is.
You go out, it's ministry.
It's different.
And you know, well, that's a great question.
So what is church?
Because if you don't know what church is and how can you live by it and know what to do,
I guess is a good way to put it.
Yeah, no, totally agree with that.
Honestly, I think of when I was little, I remember when they go, why do I have to go
to church if I just believe in God?
Isn't that enough?
You know, I don't want to go to the other people, you know, I don't know.
Why can't I just stay home and worship, read my Bible and listen to worship music can be
good.
I remember my mom, she was telling me it's about the community.
And community is an important thing because, you know, horses or two or more are gathered.
You know, he is there, he is present.
And I think that's a huge thing that a very important thing to do with the church is the
community, is having that family there that builds you up and, you know, is be praying
for you and accountability in that sense.
That is my opinion on that.
We'll get into scripture as well.
And just because I know somebody might try to fact check you on that one.
It's Matthew 1820.
For those who, whether a two or three are gathered in my name, meeting together as my
followers, I am there amongst them.
Just to kind of throw that out there.
Yeah.
Thank you, Jason.
Always have it ready to go.
I do.
I do want to also mention that, you know, like I've heard the same before, like if it's
in the Bible once, pay attention.
If it's in the Bible twice, it's important.
And it's funny because the word church in the Bible is actually, um, the Ecclesia, which
Ecclesia is actually an assembly of Christians gathered for worship in a religious meeting
or a company of Christians or those who hoping for eternal salvation through Jesus Christ
specifically.
Those who anywhere in a city village constitutes such a company are united into one body.
You know, it's just a community of people who want to follow Jesus Christ.
And that's basically the definition of church from the Greek definition.
And interesting enough, the word Ecclesia in this instance is actually in the Bible
118 times.
Only 118?
So it couldn't be that important.
Yeah, only, only.
Dang.
I did not see, I don't even know that.
See I'm learning stuff too, guys.
I think it's, it's, it's pretty cool.
I mean, you got like, uh, Acts 2 47 praising God, having favor with all the people and
the Lord added to the church daily such as should have been saved.
Uh, there's, there's a lot of really cool stuff.
So if it talks about the church that much, we should find out what is the church.
So why is it talked about it so much?
Obviously I just gave you the definition.
So what does the Bible say?
What that means and what that looks like?
Um, yeah, good, good example for this.
Like I said, it's a gathering of, of people who are looking to find salvation through
Jesus Christ or who have found salvation through Jesus Christ, um, and are together, like I
said, in one body, right?
Ecclesia is part of the definition is saying that they come together into one body as one
unit, um, working together for the greater good of God, but also to encourage each other
and help each other grow.
Um, which we, you got a Bible verse on this one, right?
Uh, first Corinthians 12 13 that one.
Yeah.
That's a good one for it.
Yeah.
For by one Holy Spirit, we were all baptized into the body, spiritually transformed, united
together.
Neither Jew or Gentile slaves are free and we were all made to drink of one Holy Spirit
since the same Holy Spirit fills each life.
The church derives its definition from the baptizing ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Right.
A key verse on this is the one we use here by one spirit.
We are all baptized into one body.
We see the passage that the church is like the physical manifestation of Christ, I eat
his body example, his body.
Yeah.
Uh, I like how you read the notes.
I, I, I had there for you.
Oh, I had to be this day.
Slowly go right in.
Right.
Um, other verses using this imagery of like us being in the one body with the Christ and
each part of the body has a responsibility or has, um, fruits of spirit that are different
from the others.
So they each have their own role, just like your hand has a different role than your foot
or your tongue has a different role than in your eyeball.
Um, Romans 12, four to five says for just as in one physical body, we have many parts.
These parts do not all have the same function or special use.
So we who are many are nevertheless just one body in Christ and individually we are parts,
uh, one of another mutually dependent on each other.
I like, I think that's a pretty, pretty decent way to explain that we have a role.
So with this being part of Christ, pursuing Christ, we have a role, right?
In the sense of gathering with each other.
Um, so first Corinthians 12, 27 also talks about this.
Now you collectively are Christ's body and then individually you are members of it each
with his own special purpose and function.
Um, again, it, it talks about believers coming together and they're under one body of Christ.
They work together and they have individually, we have our own special purposes and functions
inside of that body of Christ, which is really cool because it brings out individuality inside
of Christ's plan for us as followers, which is cool.
I think that's really cool.
It is.
It really is because you look at the church and like it's saying how, or each, or different
members or each different parts.
Like I think you're just what it takes just for, you know, like a Sunday service.
Like there's the tech team that comes in early and gets the worship team all of us tuned
in and then there's the Sunday school teachers that teach the children.
There's the ushers that help out with service.
There's you know, the pastors, there's so many things that go into studying it up and
it's just, you know, it's crazy to think that this, every single Brody buddy has a different
purpose.
Like, it is like, it's just, it's crazy.
I was thinking about that actually this Sunday, just when I was going like, Oh, Oh, the sound
was really good today.
I'm like, Oh yeah, I guess it was.
And then they're like, good, like, thank you.
I'm like, Oh, I'm like, I just do the video.
Like, but I help out like, Oh, well good job.
Oh yeah.
And I didn't realize it, you know, there's a lot that goes into it, but I got to go visit
our sister church and I got to just be like, just, just go and not to do anything.
And I was like, Whoa, I'm like, this is kind of weird not having to do anything.
It was also very nice.
Cause I got to just enjoy service, you know, cause there's times where, you know, it seems
really be called to do more and have to, you know, you're, you have more parts of the body
that you're doing and you're helping out with.
So it's, it was fun though, but definitely this, this, the amount of work that goes into
it just with everybody helping out, it is like a giant team, a giant family.
And I think it's cool when you see, you know, all the parts moving together and they suddenly
and they gathered and make the worship and everything.
It's just, it's, it's pretty cool.
It's kind of ironic that when you ask people what church do they attend, they usually identify
a building and we get to Bible like Romans 16 five, for example, it says, greet the church
that is in their house.
Right.
And Paul is referring to the church in their house.
And the interesting thing is if you go to the word house, so in their house, houses
Oikos and Oikos in this instance is actually a conjunction and it's actually stands for
the family, the family of God or of the Christian church or the church of the old and new testaments
or a house or all the persons forming the family, a household.
So it has a lot of more understanding to be not a church building, but the body of believers
itself, because we are the church, right?
Where we gather, that's the church.
That's why you can see like poor countries that, that are, or places that do not have
a building themselves wherever they gather.
That's the church because they're gathered together.
Like the original word that I was talking about, um, Ecclesia, it's just assembly of
Christians gathered for worship and a religious meeting, hoping for eternal salvation through
Jesus Christ and observing their own religious rights through that in that sense.
So it's like Paul himself was saying that kind of stuff.
Yeah, no, it's true.
Um, especially when you see it, uh, you know, uh, in Mexico, there's some places where it's
just, you're just, you're meeting out in like an open lot of like, like an open field.
And that's it.
Like that's, that's the church right there.
It's just, and everybody shows up and they're just clapping their hands, doing worship.
I'm honestly, I think, I mean, I didn't understand what they were talking about, what they were
saying.
Right.
Um, but it was really powerful just because they're out there and they're just worshiping
and having community with one another.
And it's doesn't matter if they have a building or not.
And it's just like, Whoa, awesome.
There is out here, just worship and just praising.
And it's like, cause it's, that's when you really realized too, that it's not, not the
building with the people in the community that you build.
Yeah.
Um, I, I would say because of how, um, Greek is sentence, like the sentence structure of
Greek, I would say that there's two versions of church overall, or two ways that it describes
church.
The universal church and the local church, uh, universal church usually consists of everyone
everywhere who has a relationship, personal relationship with Jesus.
Um, like we read already, first Corinthians 12, 13, we're all baptized by one spirit into
one body.
Um, anybody, anybody who believes is part of the body of Christ and who has received
the spirit of Christ as evidence.
Um, those who have received, um, salvation through faith in Jesus, comprised the universal
church, which is like as an overarching, like everybody who believes and has received the
spirit, the Holy spirit as proof that he believes is part of the universal church.
That's universally you're part of the church, right?
Um, the other way is the local church, which is described actually best in Galatians one,
one to two.
Um, Paul, an apostle and, um, and all the brothers with him to the churches in Galatia.
Um, if you read the whole passage, you're, you, you can see that he is like, um, that
in the province of Galatia, there are many churches and they had localized ministries
and were scattered throughout the province.
And there were, those were local churches, uh, Baptist church, Lutheran church, ify
church, you know, charismatic church.
Um, that is not the church has the, the, as in the universal church, but rather it is
a local church, a local body of believers and the place to meet up.
Universal church is comprised of everyone who belongs to Christ.
When members of the universal church should seek fellowship and edification in a local
church.
So it's just a place where they gather, right?
And that could be anywhere.
It could be, you know, small groups at a house that can be down the street at the park.
That could be an actual building like that can be anywhere.
So universal church is anyone accepted into Christ or accepted has accepted Christ and
has received the spirit.
And local church is where local believers meet up together.
So that's kind of like the two definitions there.
Yeah.
I mean, yeah, both of those, I mean, those two types are just.
There's a lot to get out of both of those.
Like I think we've had some good little house church, you know, little, you know, whether
it's you, me and a couple of friends or just you and me, just discussing the word and having
that close, like that good intimate time with, uh, you know, brother, sister in Christ, going
to the word or some of that's like just really powerful.
And it's what you need sometimes.
And then, you know, is this a different things you get from different, you know, different
scenarios and how God works.
And, but I think it's all beneficial as long as there's community there.
Right.
You got like, according to the Bible in this instance, the church is the body of Christ
and body Christ is all those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation.
Local churches are gathering of people who claim the name of Christ.
That's as easy as you can put it.
You can see a little bit more of this in Matthew 16, 18, right?
Yeah.
Do you add that up?
Yeah.
And I say to you that you are Peter and on this rock, I will build my church and the
gates of Hades death will not overpower it by preventing the resurrection of the Christ.
I'll, I'll mention for Matthew 16, 18, and it says on this rock, I'll build my church.
That's that's important.
So people, yeah.
Right.
Listen up.
People look at rock and they're like, oh, it's a foundation or something.
Like that's what it is.
Actually the word rock here is Oikos.
Oikos is the, all persons forming one family, a household, which the household in this instance
is also defined as the family God of the Christian church or the church of the old and new testaments.
Also more crudely used in as the inmates of the house or the house of God.
So people who are like dedicated or in it, like they're in it for a long haul, that kind
of thing.
That is the family of God.
So when it says on this rock, it's, it's also known as living stones.
So if you see living stones in the Bible, it's usually played off of the word Oikos
or Petra is also another way it's been used and stuff.
But if you take that Oikos, you can see, for example, in first Peter two, five to six,
it says you believers like living stones are being built up in a spiritual house for a
holy and dedicated priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable and pleasing
to God through Jesus Christ.
For this is contained in scripture.
Behold, I am laying in Zion, a chosen stone, a precious honored cornerstone, and he who
believes in him, whoever adheres to trust in and relies on him will never be disappointed
in his in his expectations.
Which I don't know, what do you think about that?
You disappeared on me.
I did not I just for you and forgot to hit it back on as I was talking like normal.
Well, there's a lot here.
It is.
Behold I am laying in Zion, a chosen stone.
And it we you know, whatever rock and just this is separation.
I've just.
It is I'm this is I said, I think of how Jesus, how now, man, I can't put in the words.
It's late.
I get it.
No, I get it.
Yeah, you get it.
I mean, I oh my gosh.
Yeah, of course you get it.
Like it's living stone to like and it's talking about the Holy Spirit and.
Oh, man, I think.
My brain's trying to work.
So here's something that's interesting.
You know, being up since 430 is like I'm with you.
I think here's another thing I kind of add in there.
You have.
The first time that, you know, church was actually mentioned in general by Jesus was
in Matthew 16, which we which I read earlier.
I think I did right.
Yeah.
1618, which we just we just read.
And in verse 17, 18, like we just read, he says, and upon this rock, I'll build my church,
which you know, Peter at that moment realized that Jesus is the Christ, right?
The son of the living God, because the father had revealed that to him what the verse says.
Then the Lord joined the revelation of who he is with the revelation of the church.
If you go to like study Bibles for verse 18, you can see that the father's revelation concerning
Christ is only the first half of the great the great mystery, which is Christ and the
church, which you can see.
I'll reference that in a second.
Hence the Lord needed to reveal to Peter the second half also, which concerns the church
and Ephesians 532 references this tells us plenty plainly what this great mystery is.
And it says this mystery is great, but I speak with regards to Christ and the church.
Right.
Yeah.
So if you have Christ in the church and you see that, well, that just adds into showing
that it's Christ and then, you know, body of Christ.
Because if you look at this verse, the word there for church is guess what it is?
Ecclesia, which we've been talking about is the word for church, which is a gathering
of people of believers, his believers.
Yeah.
So you said that too that goes back and just totally the beginning of that first Peter
2 5.
And it says you believers are like living stone.
And you know, talking about how they move and how it grows.
And like, that's the same thing.
Like I think to me living is that there is the growth, there is life in the church and
there's movement through Jesus through the spirit, you know.
And I think, you know, because the Holy Spirit is alive and well, we, you know, we have inside
of us and I think that definitely it just, I think as a church too, it's that we're just,
you know, we're made up of, you know, the body of Christ and the Holy Spirit.
I think you just show this because we're able to live and we're able to grow and grow in
the word and how the community grow in serving the Lord.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
And just, yeah, this is because whoever believes in him, trust in him, relies on him and they're
disappointed.
Like, and if the whole church is doing that, they're living stones.
They're, you know, pleasing the Lord.
Behold, I am laying inside chosen stone.
Like they're cornerstones, like they're building foundations.
They're able to build off of it, grow and I just think it's a growth.
Yeah.
It's good.
I just, it is good.
And because, you know, because God's good.
Yeah, no, a hundred percent.
It's very, it's interesting.
Just reading this, so this one, you know, things you add to the notes later, I didn't
get to read it as it go over as much.
So I'm like, I'm looking at it again.
Like this is, this is true.
I need to go over it again.
I'm like, yeah, sometimes, you know, we can have again, you can, you can say when you
read it, you know, you know, anytime.
So cornerstone, precious honored cornerstone.
That word stone there is actually a lithos, which is obviously like building stones, but
it's also a metaphor for Christ.
It's used as a metaphor for Christ a lot in the New Testament.
I think it's about 30 times consistently.
Only 30?
Yeah, only.
Right.
Only.
A hundred more.
I'm gonna get out of here.
It's just interesting to see that it's, it's just keeps referencing Christ a lot through
this consistently, right?
And almost like the church should point back to Christ.
Right.
Whoa, crazy.
Since Christ is the son of the living God, the church as part of the great mystery must
also be living entity.
So it certainly doesn't make sense that the church would be like an actual physical structure
because it, like that verse said, living stone, that kind of stuff is, it's, it's alive.
So if the church is alive, you can't just say it's specifically a building.
It's the four walls.
It's, it's where I go Sunday on Easter or Christmas.
And that's it.
Like, it doesn't, that's not it.
This verse came up quite a bit during COVID when people weren't able to meet at church.
Yeah.
Some people, some people weren't meeting at church.
And it was like, remember that, you know, that our church is a community.
It's not necessarily, you know, the building that we meet in, whether we're doing it online
or not, are some people were able to, but you know, it was saying that this is our community
and we're able to serve people still.
Like, you know, I just think about the things that was cool.
Like the associate pastor at the time, he would, him and his family were ding dong ditchy
people and a little note saying, Hey, hear it from the church.
Just wanted to say, we miss you thinking of you.
And it was a box of ding dong hostess ding dongs, not a sponsor, but that would be amazing.
And it would be ding dong bitched, you know, love you miss you guys from the church.
You know, stuff like that.
And that was such a cool thing.
That'd be great fun reason for the youth.
Just thinking about that actually.
Ding dong ditch people.
Right for Christ.
Yeah, for Jesus.
Yeah, it makes sense.
So you get that one person that just really is quick to anger and then it's explained
to the family why we lost one little Jimmy.
He just wasn't fast enough.
We're so sorry.
We're so sorry he couldn't run.
Jimmy, no, don't look back.
Color of salt.
Oh, that's messed up.
Poor Jimmy.
Well, he's not real.
So I made about 100% just to meet a person.
There is no Jimmy that I minister to.
Well, not yet.
Who knows?
Maybe there will be somebody.
Right.
So I'm going to reel us back with something that I want your input on.
The church is the body of Christ.
Close.
Matthew 1618.
We've been reading this a couple of times.
1618.
And I say to you, you are Peter and on his rock, I will build my church.
My what?
Wait, build what?
I will build what?
Dylan's church.
No, my church.
My church.
Who's speaking?
Jesus.
So Jesus said, I will build.
My church.
So my church is the church is of the Lord, not of any person or thing.
So it is not like denominations were are which are denominated according to some person's
name or something of that matter.
So when Jesus mentions the church for the first time, he said, my church.
As it explains, this means the church is something that of the Lord himself and not of anything
or anyone else.
And since the church of the Lord is the Lord's church, it is something formed by human organization.
Yeah.
And then it even says like another bit too.
It's because Jesus is church, his church.
And then he goes to say, in the gates of hell of death, will not overpower it because of
the resurrection of Christ.
That just shows like how powerful our God is that we serve.
I'm pretty sure if no, I'm not even not.
I'm not even just pretty sure I am positive on this one.
Have you read first Corinthians one at all?
Or do you remember much of it?
I should say, because I know you've read it.
I was just saying like, I know I read it.
I think it's been a little while.
First Corinthians, you say?
Here, let me let me feel it.
First Corinthians, what was it?
First Corinthians one.
One.
Uh huh.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Because you have your Bible on your phone, huh?
I do, but sadly it is not open right now.
Okay, that's fine.
I got it.
First Corinthians, first Corinthians one.
I'll start at 10.
Tell me what you think as we go.
But I urge you believers by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Good start.
That all of you believe, all of you be in full agreement in what you say and that there
be no divisions or factions among you, but you be perfectly united in your way of thinking
and in your judgment about matters of the faith.
For I have been informed about you, my brothers and sisters, by those of Chloe's household,
that there are corals and factions among you.
Now I mean this, that each one of you says, I'm a disciple of Paul, or I'm a disciple
of Apollo, or I'm the disciple of Cephas, or I'm a disciple of Christ.
Has Christ been divided into different parts?
Was Paul crucified for you, or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
Certainly not.
I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except for Crispus and Gaius so that no
one would say that you were baptized in my name.
What do you think of that?
Well, that's a large question.
I loaded it.
I think it brings me a great thing of just getting caught up into, well, I like this
church because of this.
This is the church I go to.
This is where, you know, I want this, I want that.
This is what I want of a church.
It's not what necessarily we want.
You may be called to go somewhere.
I'm not saying that that's not, you know, for you.
But all that matters is that we are serving God and doing that.
It should not matter.
Why I like the worship better here.
Great.
That's not the animation.
But you know what I mean?
Why I don't like the way they do worship.
I think we should do this.
I think we should kneel and pray.
I think we should stand up.
I think we should say, Hail Mary, full of grace.
I think that's the thing is like, I think he gets the, you know, there's too much division
like it, like he just says, like it says in that verse that needs to be a common ground
of where we are like, we are Christians, we are God fearing, loving people.
There's too much division in the church.
And I think that's, I mean, like God said, like, no.
Right.
I just.
Well, okay.
So then let me kind of split up a little bit then just to kind of give you an idea.
Romans 16 17.
I appeal to you brothers, brothers and sisters in Christ to watch out for those who cause
divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught.
Stay with them.
Now, there's a difference between going to a church.
Yeah, and they have a, they have a worship that helps like you, it's more accustomed
to your preferences because we're all individuals.
Yeah, we have different preferences.
That's great.
But if someone goes to a church and that church is like, we worship God the right way and
everyone else is in sin, they're wrong.
That's immediate, no go You don't want to.
don't go to that church because they're separating and dividing themselves from others in Christ.
Just because it's not what they, in that sense, like worship, for example, well they worship
with guitars. That's a sin. Sorry. Like, the Bible never says guitar is a sin. Even David
played with a stringed instrument. That has nothing to do with if it's a guitar or your
vocals or whatever. That's just preference.
Yeah, I mean, that sounds like those footloose Christians.
Right.
Hans is the devil.
Right.
The movies are the devil.
Right.
Sounds like Nazarene. Old school Nazarene, I should say.
Right. I mean-
Nothing wrong with Nazarene. I grew up Nazarene, but it's fine.
I think it's interesting, if anybody is on here, like, go read 1 Corinthians 12. That's
a great chapter that talks about how as individuals we have individual gifting of the Spirit from
the Holy Spirit, like of wisdom, or someone will have knowledge, or someone will have
gifts of healing, or someone will have gifts of prophecy or discernment. There's all these
different gifts of the Spirit, and usually people who have likeness of spiritual giftings
will congregate together. And the issue that I see quite often, sadly, is that because
they're gifted with that Spirit and that gift of the Spirit, they will tear down others
with the other spiritual gifts and say that they're in the wrong. But it's all biblical,
so it all falls in line with Christ, but they're just piecing it apart to fit their narrative
rather than molding their foundation to what the Bible says. So it's using the Bible to
mold theirs, or yeah, using the Bible to mold their foundation stronger rather than using-
sorry, I said that backwards. It's like they're molding their foundation and using the Bible
to strengthen what they want rather than using the Bible to mold their foundation to what
the Bible says. Yes. It took me a second. You went backwards, forwards, I'm like, wait,
where are we even at right now? Use the Bible to mold and create your foundation according
to the Bible rather than trying to use the Bible for your own personal gain. But why
use the Bible? You don't. You read the Bible to mold your foundation to it. Yes, because
and put the Bible as what? To living with your God, right? Right, yeah, yeah, yeah.
We were talking about the Bible last week or two weeks ago or something like that. Yeah,
and that's what I'm saying. And that's like you should be molded and formed by the living
Word of God. Because if you allow that, because it is- God spoke the Word and if we get molded
by that, then we are molded in following His plan, His mold, His guideline to help us on
that walk. Yeah, you have like 2 Timothy 3, 16, all scriptures breed out by God and profitable
for teaching, reproof, correction and training in righteousness. I mean, you got multiple
verses like that, Romans 15, 4, Joshua 1, 8, Hebrews 4, 12 to 14. Like, there's so many
different verses that talk about the Word of God being living and active and don't let
it leave your- don't let it depart from your mouth. Like, you always are reading it, you're
talking about it, you're just studying it and that's true. So, the Bible is your foundation
that you build everything else on. And foundational things of Christ are black and white. Like,
Jesus died for us and He rose again, done, period. There's no third day coming back to
New York City. I think it was- what was it? When you get to a certain point in the night,
it's pretty late and you just kind of think, hmm, what was that verse again? That's me
even if it's not too late. I'm like, wait, what? Did my ADHD just kick all that out even
though I just read it and heard it twice? I'm like, I know he just read something that
was really good. I'm like, I know. My head's going like, hmm.
I think what I was trying to say was like, Jesus doesn't set us up to fail. He gives
us clear instructions on what to do. Matthew 13 to 14 talks about it.
The breath of God is built by the word. The breath word of God is the Bible.
The breath of God, yeah. It is the word of God. Right, right.
He breathed it. He created it. So if we follow that, we should demand his image or remain
in his image. We should follow him and live holy, be holy in a sense. And holy means to
be set apart, set apart from this earth that is so fallen. And God placed all things under
his feet. Right? Is that?
Yeah, good verse.
Ephesians 1, 22 and 23.
Yeah, good verse.
God puts all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church,
which is his body, the fullness of him who feels everything in every way. The body of
Christ is made up of all believers in Jesus Christ from the day of Pentecost, which is
in Acts chapter 2, until Christ returned. Biblically, we are regarded in the church
in two ways, as a universe church and as our local church, like Jason said earlier.
I think that day of Pentecost is, you know, super important because, you know, that's,
you know, receiving the Holy Spirit is such a huge thing. And to see him work in the church
through spiritual gifts, like the gifts of people having, you know, of just, you know,
a servant's heart of faithfulness and stuff like that, where you really see the spirit
working in people. You know, I think of the, those, you know, the setup crew at our church,
we got people that live close to an hour away, but they're almost, him and his wife are the
first ones there almost every Sunday. Nice. And they stay, you know, half an hour after
service to clean up. Right. Like I think about having that servant's heart. And like, I'm
saying like that really is something that, you know, is like a gift, you know, the Holy
Spirit, like, you know, to have that certain, to have the faithfulness it takes just to
step out in the due things and you're not comfortable with in your walk. There's so
many things that, you know, the church is just, it's like, it says that, you know, hands
and feet, there's different body parts of it. There is a Holy Spirit, there's different
gifts that show up. Right. You know, like, I think it's, you know, so you have visions,
dreams, you know, discernment, tons. It's just, it's the Swiss army knife, man. I think
just it's because we're made up, you know, of all believers. Yes. It's Christ. And it's
like, there's so many, we have so many brothers and sisters out there that have so many gifts.
I just like, I just feel like I'm supposed to say, I just encourage everyone right now.
If you're listening, just to really spend time listening to the Holy Spirit, listening
to God, you know, it's all three in one, but just listening to what God wants you to do
and what, you know, the gifts that he has for you receiving them, you know, and if you're
listening, I just, if you hold your hands out and like, just receive that from the Lord,
ask the Holy Spirit to come fill you up and receive the spiritual gifts that the Lord
has for you. You can better serve him. Don't let a day go by when you're not willing to
receive those gifts and not willing to use them to further the kingdom. Because I was
just, I was just thinking that because when it says that, you know, we're all appointed.
Everybody who believes in Jesus Christ, we are all the church. Like everybody for this
and then, you know, you know, you know, we're not even in the same state, but you know,
like there's people across the world that can hear this and then, you know, if they
can be serving the Lord and we can inspire them to receive the Holy Spirit and just,
you know, have their gift, then that's what we should be doing. The further the kingdom,
I don't care if we got two people that listen, 5,000, 5 million, if we can affect just one
person to step out on their faith, that can make a difference.
For that, if that is something that you want to understand and learn more about, again,
Bible's a great way to turn to, so I would recommend reading, like I said before, 1 Corinthians
12. If you really want to get into that aspect of it, read 1 Corinthians 12. It's a really
great structure of what the Spirit is and what it does and the guest of Spirit and don't
be uniformed. We worked together as a body, as a whole, but you reminded me, and I had
this conversation with someone who I met and we were talking about, you know, denominations,
stuff like that. He was really adamant, like, this denomination is wrong, this denomination
is wrong, this denomination is wrong, the denomination I'm in is right. It was very
consistent and I told him to read Ephesians 4, because that's another one, talking about
unity in the body of Christ. You have verses, like, for example, in verse 1 to 5-ish, where
it says, you know, it's like, I am therefore a prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in
a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility, gentleness,
patience, bearing with one another, in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit
and the bond of peace. There is one body, one Spirit, just as you were called to the
one hope that belongs to your call. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, and Father
of all, who is all and through all and in all. Really, really important. Because it's
the unity, the unity inside the body of Christ, the body of Christ is the Church and the Church
is us. And we like to pick apart and say, well, this person thinks, you know, this person
thinks that, again, back to like, worship music is a really big one. They think that
they can play, you know, drums and guitar on stage, but it wasn't in the Bible. So
the lack thereof means that's enough. And, you know, you see David worship and then you
go like, shoot, David ran out in the street in his underwear screaming praises to God
and that was his way of worshiping. People are like, you're insane. Because you're giving
glory to God no matter what you do. You're showing that there's nothing holding you
back from declaring your connection to him. And that's something important because that
shares who he is and people are like, what is this guy doing? Or what is this going on?
And it's the same with church, like the gathering of people anywhere you gather. Like I used
to do church, so to speak, and the sense of gathering at the park, just get together,
sit there, play guitar, do some worship songs, and then just open our Bible and talk, just
read and work it out together to just read and learn. So that's just what we did. We
read it together. Oh, that makes sense. Hey, that backs up what this is. Hey, that that
talks about this in a different chapter. Hey, that that just strengthens my foundation in
this or that because it's just to help you learn and grow. And that's what church is,
is that you can reflect that off other believers searching for salvation through Jesus Christ.
You work together like I might, you know, a brand new Christian who hasn't read the
Bible, I might be able to help him out because I've read the Bible a lot and give him point
them in the right direction. Like I was with first Corinthians 12. Dylan, like you were
jumping in and saying what you did. That kind of stuff shows that, you know, in certain
places we might be able to help people. And that's all we want to do. And it's not like
a holier than now or like I'm better than it's like, oh, yeah, we're not. I spent time
and I want to help like I want like if if this helps you fantastic. If it doesn't, I
hope it did. But this it's it's your walk with Christ. You're going to have to read
it. It doesn't understand doesn't keep walking. Right. It's like you you got to read it and
you got to start understanding who God is. And that's your walk with him. But I'm not
going to get mad if your walk looks different than mine. And that's something that we need
to understand that we work together under Christ. Now, there is a place to where you
know, if I see Dylan doing something that's very anti Bible or against the Bible, let's
say sinning or something, I'll pull him aside and really never. I've never. Is that arrogance?
No, we know. I don't believe that. Where the humility go? The humbleness. I'm too tired.
That's so funny. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, it's it's you work together and I would pull him aside
and be like, hey, brother, brother in Christ, like. This is what you would say that I do
like my brother. Right. You know, do we? It's true, though, it is because I've done it before
where you'll say something or you'll be you'll come at me and you're like, oh, I'm angry
about this or that. And I'm like, yeah, it's most of the time. Yeah. And I'm like, Jason,
I know it says that because I just I wasn't thinking with the biblical mindset and you're
like, are we loving? Are we having patience? I'm like. Patience is like, no. And then I
know he's right, which just makes me a little more upset at him. But I know he's doing it
in a loving way. And it's important to have that. That's part of the community. It's part
of me in the church. And. That brings up Galatians 6.1. That brings up that because it says brothers,
if anyone is caught in any transgressions, like you who are spiritual should restore
him in spirit of gentleness. And I think that gets missed a lot with this stuff, because
not with you. No, no, I'll be that way. But it's like, you know, if someone's like you
or come up to me and you're like, you know, my peanut butter sandwich, I dropped it and
it fell face down. This is the stupidest thing the world's out to get me. Whatever. That's
pretty sad, though. It is. But I would. Right. I would come to you with gentleness because
I understand like, you know, you're not having a good day. That's fine. Let me encourage
you. At the very least. The question is, though. Is it like Skippy or Jif? It's a combo. Crunchy
or smooth. It's it's now crunchy because it's on the floor. Oh, gosh. That's messed up.
OK, Mr. Peanut Butter on Hot Dogs. That's good. Actually, that should be a sponsor right
there. Peanut Butter on Hot Dogs. Sponsored. I did not think it was going to be good. I
remember you told me that was crazy. I thought it was crazy, too. Trust me, I'm not the first
one that did that. There's a hot dog. I know this is a side note, but there's a hot dog
place that does chopped grilled onions with peanut butter and caramelized bacon here and
where I'm at. That sounds good. I need to visit you. Come on. You can help me move.
He's the big guy who always gives ass to move. Yeah. If you ever like just to back up what
I just said, Second Thessalonians 3. Second Thessalonians 3 and 13 says, as for you brothers,
do not grow weary in doing good. If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter,
which is setting out, if you read the whole thing, it's fantastic. But take note of the
person and have nothing to do with them that he may be ashamed. But do not regard him as
an enemy, but warn him as a brother. Hmm. That's something that I see where people are like,
you're going to hell or they'll jump on you and like you sinned. You're shame. Shame. But
it says to do it in gentleness in the previous verse. And then with this, it says, don't
regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother. Like, hey, you believe in the Bible.
I know this. We talked about this. You're a Christian just like I am. You did. And the
Bible says not to do this. What's your take on it? And that's it. Like I'm doing it gently.
I'm not pointing fingers. I'm just like, this is what the Bible says. If Dylan, if you came
up to me and you were like, for example, or let's say someone else, I don't want to use
you as an example. Every time someone comes up to me, this Christian and they're like,
no, adultery is okay. And, and I go up and I'm like, well, the Bible says don't do adultery
in like 50 different spots. And I show them verses. I'm like, only 50. Right. Like, what
do you think about this? The Bible says this and it specifically talks about adultery.
What do you think? And you know, at that point, if he's like, nah, I still think it's okay.
That was a different time. It's fine. And he walks away. I have nothing to do with him
anymore. Like, like, I was, I warned him as a brother. I was very gentle about it. That's
like, I'm okay. Well, you're walking away with this. I mean, I gave you, I made it obvious
and showed you where that's very clearly stated. No.
And then also kind of goes like we talked about with the deconstruction of the Bible
a little bit as well. You know, yeah, but that borderline hasn't to be, you know, keeping
them accountable and turn to be like, hey, you know, like that's it's pretty black and
white. This is not that like I shared with some other leaders who were saying certain
things were okay, even though they're not. And it's like, you know, having to, you know,
call them out and not necessarily call them out and be like, hey, that's, typically that's
inaccurate. And that's not right. It's not the easiest thing to do because, you know,
I know that you're the same way. It's never to purposefully be confrontational. It isn't
wanting to come out of a piece of love and and wanting to help each other grow so we
can prove that because it's all about furthering the kingdom of Christ.
It's like James 417. Remember, it is. Of course, it's always going to be James.
I love James. But it's remember it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not to do it.
Straight and simple. And if you were corrected on things and you choose not to,
not the best plan that you've done.
Yeah, no, very true. And
great. Anything else we need to go over real quick?
I think we're good. I mean, we've definitely covered this pretty thoroughly. Yeah, ideas for
next week. So really excited for that. Yeah, that is true. I know. But man,
it is a late night for both of us right now. It's pushing.
Yeah, I might have to wake up in the morning and get me one of those bucked up energy
drinks. Yep. And just for everyone listening, bucked with a B.
Bucked like at that pumping grind, like a bucking horse or something. Yeah. Like they have like they
they have really cool looking cans too. They really do. They're sleek and they have like just they
have like a buck on it. Yeah, the B. Yeah. It's a sleek black can. I think that was like the most
the most unnecessary with a B because it's obviously not the other thing.
But you know, they have like the zero sugar stuff too, which is super and the caffeine's got 100
milligrams zero sugar natural. They have natural flavors too. Yeah, it's less caffeine than like
a monster. So it's not like overly doing it. Like that's why it also feels like as if though
it's a little more healthier too. Yeah, yeah, they're good. I mean, you look at the radians
to the reviews. It's you know, 4.9 on all the reviews. Oh, yeah, they're great. But I knew that
new flavor the pumping grind on I might actually want to get some of that because if I keep waking
up at 430, that'd be nice. I'm gonna I want to go get some tomorrow. That's what's gonna happen.
I want to go for looking for one. You got to look at use the promo code the Yes. Yeah. What's the
promo code again? Gospel GTP. Yeah, that's right. Same as a trigger. What is it podcast? My bad
podcast. Yeah, I gave you guys the wrong code. I'll use that one. Yeah, it's podcast GTP. Yeah.
And once again, like if you guys if you do have any questions or any comments, anything,
you just want to maybe ask some basic questions. Maybe you're new to your faith.
You know, reach out to us on our Twitter. Our join our discord, which will always also is in our
our bio, or whatever the heck it is for Twitter. Jason does more of the social media stuff.
But just Yeah, no, definitely do that. Reach out to us. We'd love to hear from you guys.
We'd love to help. Jason, you want to pray about you want me to pray about go for it. Awesome.
To Heavenly Father, I just I lift this podcast up to you. I lift up the people that are listening
Lord, that they would be changed in the Holy Spirit be working through them,
that they would not be distracted with things in this world, but they'd be focused on themselves
as a body of the church as the Kingdom of Heaven, that we would grow Lord, and that your presence
would be known and heard, and that we would all just take time to grow and to spread the word and
spread, you know, your love that we are called the love like you call this the greatest commandment
is to love God, and then to love our neighbor as our as we love you. I thank you for all the things
that you do and provide for us and give us in your name. Amen. Amen. All right, great. Well,
we'll see everybody on the next week. And we will be here next week for sure, because next week
no one's sick. Yep. I don't know who it was. You probably saw him in the foot but he flopped.
That's probably why. Yep. Yep. That's what it was. All right, everyone. See you on the foot but he flopped.