1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,560 Season two of Love in Context podcast welcomes you. Get ready for engaging unscripted conversations 2 00:00:08,560 --> 00:00:14,240 with your hosts, Ben and Spencer. Our mission remains unchanged to explore the Bible through 3 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:19,880 the powerful lens of love. In this new season, we'll embark on a journey together, unearthing 4 00:00:19,880 --> 00:00:24,000 fresh insights and gaining deeper understanding of how we can love God and live out our faith 5 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:29,360 in practical ways. So let's dive into this season of Love in Context, where love in the 6 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:38,120 context of the Bible intersect to transform our lives. Podcasting podcast is what we do. 7 00:00:38,120 --> 00:00:44,600 Yep. Yep. Every week, except sometimes when you try to do that, things don't go according 8 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:50,000 to plan. Nope. Like when people are sick or when they're recovering from being sick. So 9 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:54,840 nobody is scheduled right. Or in the case of when Pastor Sarah and we were all going 10 00:00:54,840 --> 00:01:00,360 to record and we set a time and none of us showed up, we all forgot. We all forgot collectively. 11 00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:06,640 So when that happens, Ben and Spencer find ways to fill the air. And actually, this is 12 00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:10,200 actually fortuitous because you and I were just talking about this very topic around 13 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:16,160 a fire. We were. So today's episode of Love in Context is a special one off episode. Well, 14 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:23,200 it's the second one off in a row. We're going to be talking about the kingdom of trolls. 15 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:26,480 You mean the things that live under bridges? That's exactly what I mean. Yes. That if they 16 00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:33,320 come out in sunlight, they will turn into stone. No, the so if anybody is unaware in 17 00:01:33,320 --> 00:01:39,420 modern vernacular, a troll is somebody who makes comments on things either anonymously 18 00:01:39,420 --> 00:01:43,440 or online or they can do it in like an editorial to like in a newspaper. There's other ways 19 00:01:43,440 --> 00:01:48,200 to do it. But basically their whole thing is that they come and make snide comments, 20 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:57,120 belittling comments, sarcastic comments, misleading comments. It's called trolling somebody. And 21 00:01:57,120 --> 00:02:03,900 we wanted to talk about how in a lot of ways on social media and through the various forms 22 00:02:03,900 --> 00:02:10,400 of media, we're starting to as Christians become a kingdom of trolls. And just so you 23 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:19,520 know, we are taking shots today at every denomination. I mean, maybe not the Amish because they're 24 00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:26,440 probably not online trolling people. Right. And you just told them. Yeah. On the plus 25 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:31,600 side, they probably won't listen to this episode. But we want to we really want to talk about 26 00:02:31,600 --> 00:02:37,600 this. It is it is becoming more and more of an issue. Specifically, like, in the last 27 00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:42,600 couple of weeks, there has been three or four events that have popped up on my on my newsfeed 28 00:02:42,600 --> 00:02:47,920 of of something that happened. And people, you know, immediately wanted to talk about 29 00:02:47,920 --> 00:02:53,320 it. It's been coming up a lot in everything we're looking at. And I wanted to address 30 00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:56,760 something we've actually talked about in our opening episode. And we've talked about a 31 00:02:56,760 --> 00:03:02,760 number of times through our podcast. But I want to address the subject itself. So first 32 00:03:02,760 --> 00:03:07,320 thing you and I have talked about on our podcast, we will not talk negatively about anybody. 33 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:14,680 Correct. Because we're not interested in chipping away at somebody else's faith before God. 34 00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:19,480 We're just not interested in it. We will bring up like theological ideas that we may or may 35 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:26,480 not agree with. We will push against. I'm going to say demonstrative things like some 36 00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:31,240 things that you do that might be questionable according to scripture. But we're going to 37 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:34,960 be very careful not to talk about anybody in particular. And that's going to include 38 00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:42,240 this episode today. So most of you are familiar with this phenomenon. I don't think it's new 39 00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:48,160 to them. Yeah. So you're probably going to have more examples than what we like talk 40 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:52,680 about today. But we're going to talk about what does the Bible actually say about living 41 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:59,200 your faith out and and how does being a troll actually violate that? Yes. By the way, I 42 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:03,360 was looking at the camera when we were setting up today and I am taller than Spencer. I am 43 00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:10,600 not that much taller than Spencer. It's just I think it's my chair might be a little bit 44 00:04:10,600 --> 00:04:16,800 taller and then I think I'm just. I'm lounging. Yeah. You're 100% slouching. So I was. There 45 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:22,200 we go. Now we pretty much look the same. Yeah. I'm lounged back in my chair using the wall 46 00:04:22,200 --> 00:04:26,880 here. Just enjoying life. Well, it's funny. It's funny that we're doing an episode called 47 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:30,760 the Kingdom of Trolls. So the room that we normally record in, which is the one you normally 48 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:36,360 see us in, is locked today and neither one of us have a key and it's almost never locked. 49 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:39,760 And so we actually are recording in a different area. And I was like, you know, that's funny 50 00:04:39,760 --> 00:04:44,480 because this actual room we're recording and is actually fairly cold. Yeah. Not unlike 51 00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:51,000 underneath a bridge where a troll might be. Yep. So we went to the location of the trolls 52 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:57,960 to talk about the trolls. Yeah. I think there's a couple couple things just to get on the 53 00:04:57,960 --> 00:05:05,400 table right away is one, if you do troll somebody, congratulations, you just increased their 54 00:05:05,400 --> 00:05:09,920 viewership online. Right. In fact, we've been the lucky recipients of that. We have been 55 00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:14,680 recipients of that a few times. So if you're like, oh, well, this needs to be addressed 56 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:20,040 and I need to call this person out, you actually are increasing their viewership. Yeah. When 57 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:25,040 you do that, for one thing. The second thing is if you look at it, if you're looking at 58 00:05:25,040 --> 00:05:32,800 the idea of correction biblically, posting a comment online anonymously saying someone's 59 00:05:32,800 --> 00:05:39,880 a heretic is not necessarily the way to go about it. I would say it's definitely not 60 00:05:39,880 --> 00:05:46,640 the way to go about it. Yeah. So it definitely violates the, the idea of Matthew's correction, 61 00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:54,360 right? That Jesus gives us in Matthew about how to, how to correct and restore. Right. 62 00:05:54,360 --> 00:05:58,040 So overall, like, let's, let's just talk about the big, the big elephant in the room. In 63 00:05:58,040 --> 00:06:03,960 fact, you're probably going to access this material on social media. Yeah. Right. I have 64 00:06:03,960 --> 00:06:09,360 a love hate relationship with social media in that I love portions of it and other portions 65 00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:17,200 of it just make me, ah, you know, like infuriates me. Like it, it just, it drives me crazy. 66 00:06:17,200 --> 00:06:24,400 The comment threads on most things happens to be the main portion. Um, but social media 67 00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:31,200 is, is a tool. It is neither good nor evil. Um, the news is a tool. It is neither good 68 00:06:31,200 --> 00:06:38,600 nor evil. Um, television is a tool. It is neither good nor evil. When people use it, 69 00:06:38,600 --> 00:06:45,880 they use it for good or they use it for evil. So the reality is, um, all of the things that 70 00:06:45,880 --> 00:06:50,560 happen, all the negativity that happens isn't because of the device itself. It's because 71 00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:56,560 of the reality of people. It's the ugliness of people that is coming out. Yeah. And that 72 00:06:56,560 --> 00:06:59,400 shouldn't be surprising. There's a whole book. I don't know if you guys have read it. It's 73 00:06:59,400 --> 00:07:05,760 called the Bible. It's written about, uh, this human condition. That's pretty broken. 74 00:07:05,760 --> 00:07:10,720 And we were originally made good in the garden, but we were like, Hey, you know what? I think 75 00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:15,800 I can define good and evil better on my own terms. And we've had the last 6,000 plus years 76 00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:20,960 to determine that probably wasn't the case. Right? Yeah. And that when you actually follow 77 00:07:20,960 --> 00:07:25,640 what God teaches, when you actually live into God's law, when you actually follow the way 78 00:07:25,640 --> 00:07:29,840 of Jesus, which is to lay your life on down on behalf of others, to love your neighbor 79 00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:34,240 as yourself, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and 80 00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:37,960 to, uh, in all gentleness work with the people around you. And if they're not willing to 81 00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:41,640 work with you to read them like tax collectors and sinners, which means you still have a 82 00:07:41,640 --> 00:07:45,920 meal with them, which means you still have a meal with them that the world actually gets 83 00:07:45,920 --> 00:07:51,440 put back together. Yeah. That it's actually in our laying our self down that we put things 84 00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:57,160 back together. Right. Or rather I would argue that Jesus puts things back together. Yeah. 85 00:07:57,160 --> 00:08:03,760 Yeah. And the book of Titus has a lot to say about interactions with people on social media. 86 00:08:03,760 --> 00:08:08,800 Yeah. On social media. Well, no Titus was talking about Facebook. He was, he was, he 87 00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:15,320 was a hundred percent talking about Facebook to put this in poor context. So the book of 88 00:08:15,320 --> 00:08:20,320 Titus has a lot to say about interactions with people, especially people you don't disagree 89 00:08:20,320 --> 00:08:26,840 with. And one of the passages I've heard people use to, uh, perform like this corrective teaching 90 00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:32,000 of like, I have to speak this out loud for the world to hear that this is wrong is actually 91 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:37,240 Titus three 10, where it says, if people are causing divisions among you, give them a first 92 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:41,600 warning, a second warning. After that have nothing to do with them. That actually came 93 00:08:41,600 --> 00:08:48,480 up in our women in ministry. Um, I did many stairs. Yeah, it did. Uh, the problem with 94 00:08:48,480 --> 00:08:54,560 that is this is that whole, that verse right there is written in the context of do good, 95 00:08:54,560 --> 00:08:59,680 right? Of be loving, do good, right? Reach, reach the people around you, welcome those 96 00:08:59,680 --> 00:09:04,360 into your homes. Right. Uh, the very first chapter of Titus, he talks about how you need 97 00:09:04,360 --> 00:09:09,600 to be welcoming to people into your homes, how you need to be hospitable, loving, caring. 98 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:15,560 And so when you were looking at this causing divisions among you, um, they have nothing 99 00:09:15,560 --> 00:09:21,200 to do with them. Doesn't actually mean don't ever talk to them again. Right. It just means 100 00:09:21,200 --> 00:09:25,040 that maybe they're not going to be close circle or maybe they're not going to be someone you're 101 00:09:25,040 --> 00:09:29,800 going to be taking advice from. Right. Right. Um, and so we want to put that verse in its 102 00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:33,840 contact. I want to put that one in its context because oftentimes we will take verses like 103 00:09:33,840 --> 00:09:37,600 this ripped them out of context and be like, well, I need to correct this teaching that 104 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:42,760 this person said. Right. Oh, well, so speaking of that, I'm actually, I'm going to reference 105 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:49,160 a video and don't Google it because there's no point in this. And, uh, but I saw a video 106 00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:55,120 was about context and, uh, John Devere was talking about the book of Romans and he was 107 00:09:55,120 --> 00:10:01,040 just talking about, uh, understanding how Roman women existed in culture and, um, the 108 00:10:01,040 --> 00:10:04,240 way that the family unit was comprised and all these things. When you're starting to 109 00:10:04,240 --> 00:10:08,040 read the text of Romans, which is, is by the way, the correct way to start interpreting, 110 00:10:08,040 --> 00:10:12,840 uh, scripture and somebody had done what's called a stitch, a stitches where you have 111 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:15,800 the video and then they're like faces underneath and then they're responding to the video in 112 00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:21,560 real time. Right. And, uh, and one of the things that they had stopped, they said, you 113 00:10:21,560 --> 00:10:31,560 don't need to know the context of the Bible when it's written plainly. And, um, I was 114 00:10:31,560 --> 00:10:35,960 talking to my wife about that and she says, that's just a reminder that everybody is allowed 115 00:10:35,960 --> 00:10:42,920 to have a social media platform, but not everybody should. Um, I hope you understand after being 116 00:10:42,920 --> 00:10:49,080 with us for one and a half seasons and hopefully being a Christian or following different people, 117 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:53,280 that context is a lot more important. And a lot of times when you think, you know what 118 00:10:53,280 --> 00:11:00,040 it means, you actually don't. Um, that's actually a lot of the problems that we have run into 119 00:11:00,040 --> 00:11:05,920 consistently in the church is people, they're like, Oh, I know what this means. And so then 120 00:11:05,920 --> 00:11:10,720 they go and they enforce it without actually react, react without actually placing it into 121 00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:14,640 the heart of the Bible and what the Bible was actually talking about. Yeah. Right. How 122 00:11:14,640 --> 00:11:21,320 many times did we see that in Torah? Uh, twice, I think. Yeah. Twice, twice. I was like, I 123 00:11:21,320 --> 00:11:25,960 thought you were being serious for a minute. I was like, twice, come on. I was like, we're 124 00:11:25,960 --> 00:11:29,760 going to have to cut and I'm gonna have to be like, come on, Spencer, give me some real 125 00:11:29,760 --> 00:11:35,200 numbers here. But you know, um, all throughout the Torah series, uh, there's a lot of instructions 126 00:11:35,200 --> 00:11:40,160 that were given. And if you don't understand what the other cultures around them were instructing, 127 00:11:40,160 --> 00:11:45,440 Leviticus is going to be a really weird book if you don't know what's going on around them. 128 00:11:45,440 --> 00:11:50,440 Right? Yeah. Exodus is going to be a really weird book, especially like, uh, like, um, 129 00:11:50,440 --> 00:11:53,800 the plagues and all the things that are going on. If you don't understand Egyptian culture. 130 00:11:53,800 --> 00:11:58,440 Yeah. And so context absolutely matters. There are some things that are pretty plain and 131 00:11:58,440 --> 00:12:03,880 the context doesn't change it. It enriches it. Well, and that's the beauty of scripture. 132 00:12:03,880 --> 00:12:07,600 There are things that are plain, easy to see. And then as you get to know the context, you 133 00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:14,160 realize how beautiful it is. So I mean, like, let's pick on Roman culture for a little bit. 134 00:12:14,160 --> 00:12:19,360 Yeah. Um, like it taking the time to understand Roman culture is going to bring a lot of the 135 00:12:19,360 --> 00:12:25,240 imagery that Paul writes to life. Right. Um, like the, like the armor of God. Yeah. And 136 00:12:25,240 --> 00:12:29,320 in fact, uh, by the way, before you get into this, uh, Brad gray walking the text, they 137 00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:33,360 have an IBC, uh, class that they do every year where they have a bunch of people come 138 00:12:33,360 --> 00:12:38,640 to talk a few years ago. They did one on Paul and his Roman world. That is invaluable to 139 00:12:38,640 --> 00:12:42,640 you. Uh, go check it out at walking the text.com. I think you can still order digital classes 140 00:12:42,640 --> 00:12:48,840 of it and it's, it's very good. So continue on the armor. So, but when you actually understand 141 00:12:48,840 --> 00:12:54,120 the context of the Roman soldier, cause that was a per predominant armor. Um, it was a 142 00:12:54,120 --> 00:12:59,360 symbol it stood out, right? Yeah. Um, you didn't, you, if you walked into a town, you 143 00:12:59,360 --> 00:13:05,360 could tell who was a Roman soldier and who was not. Um, so, but when, and armies, when 144 00:13:05,360 --> 00:13:09,080 they saw the Roman soldiers lined up to go to battle, they knew it was going to be a 145 00:13:09,080 --> 00:13:14,760 tough fight. Right. Right. Cause the Rome was just so dominant in its day. So like when 146 00:13:14,760 --> 00:13:19,680 you actually take the time to understand some of, some of just the little contextual pieces, 147 00:13:19,680 --> 00:13:23,960 it brings the writing to life. Well, let's take, let's take one, one piece there. Cause 148 00:13:23,960 --> 00:13:27,160 what, what, once again, one we're responding to is this idea that context doesn't matter 149 00:13:27,160 --> 00:13:31,760 in the John Bevere. This is someone by the way, trolling his video, right? Uh, talking 150 00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:35,240 about how he doesn't know what he's talking about specifically attacking him directly 151 00:13:35,240 --> 00:13:39,200 over something that now I actually don't agree with John Bevere on everything, but John Bevere 152 00:13:39,200 --> 00:13:43,800 has some really good content and he's helped a lot of people. Yeah. So, yeah. So one piece 153 00:13:43,800 --> 00:13:46,560 of the armor of God to pick on, let's just take the shield of faith. Yeah. The shield 154 00:13:46,560 --> 00:13:50,920 of faith. Right. So is the shield for me or is it for the person standing next to me? 155 00:13:50,920 --> 00:13:56,960 It is for both. Yeah. It's for both. And you, I mean, you even look into the context of 156 00:13:56,960 --> 00:14:00,080 how Roman shields were designed. A lot of the shields that the inventory carried had 157 00:14:00,080 --> 00:14:04,760 a curve to them. So the idea was that it was less likely an arrow or spear would stick 158 00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:11,160 through it and more likely it would just bounce off. And specifically when they are opposing 159 00:14:11,160 --> 00:14:14,600 the hordes or a different people that are coming in, the frontline is exposed to have 160 00:14:14,600 --> 00:14:19,280 these shields and the shields are meant to interlock. Yep. And then the people behind 161 00:14:19,280 --> 00:14:23,360 them are actually the ones who are attacking. Right. So that's the, hence why they have 162 00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:28,280 like the spear and those types of things. And the shield was also like to tag onto that. 163 00:14:28,280 --> 00:14:33,920 It was just as much for offense as it was for defense. Correct. If you, I believe this 164 00:14:33,920 --> 00:14:37,480 is correct. I might need to do a little more digging on this, but if you actually were 165 00:14:37,480 --> 00:14:43,520 a Roman soldier and you left your shield, it was punishable by death. Yeah. Well, we'll 166 00:14:43,520 --> 00:14:46,920 want to fact check that. But if that, I mean, that sounds like something the Romans would 167 00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:51,840 do. Yeah. It was from my understanding, like this was something I heard someone say at 168 00:14:51,840 --> 00:14:54,640 the time. I haven't actually dug into it. If anybody facts checks on that, just send 169 00:14:54,640 --> 00:14:59,960 us an email and we'll bring it up. If I'm wrong, I'll apologize. Yeah. But the, from 170 00:14:59,960 --> 00:15:04,480 what he was saying was that like it was considered a neglected duty. Yeah. And if, and which 171 00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:11,720 was punishable by death. Well, and so the, you have this idea is that the, the shield 172 00:15:11,720 --> 00:15:16,760 says that you may extinguish the arrows of the enemy. Okay. Well, in the context of building 173 00:15:16,760 --> 00:15:23,320 a phalanx, uh, like a completely concealable dome, right in Roman warfare, like you actually 174 00:15:23,320 --> 00:15:27,000 build a complete shield around you. So when the volleys of arrows come, like, because 175 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:31,760 they come in volleys, they don't come as necessarily individual arrows. When the volleys come, you're 176 00:15:31,760 --> 00:15:35,800 actually protecting you and everybody else around you with your shield of faith. It's 177 00:15:35,800 --> 00:15:42,200 built around this idea of community and togetherness. Like is this, is this whole idea. So pulling 178 00:15:42,200 --> 00:15:47,400 that out and understanding that context, then you get to something like the sword of the 179 00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:52,440 spirit. And you actually understand that in a Roman arsenal, the sword that they're talking 180 00:15:52,440 --> 00:15:57,000 about isn't an offensive weapon. It's a defensive weapon. And it's meant to, uh, when things 181 00:15:57,000 --> 00:16:01,700 come through the shield to cut them off, right? It's actually meant for close quarters for 182 00:16:01,700 --> 00:16:07,520 defense, not for offense. Well, that, that changes that idea a little bit because we 183 00:16:07,520 --> 00:16:11,040 often, I think, uh, take this idea of the armor gun. We're like, well, we're going to 184 00:16:11,040 --> 00:16:16,640 go and go to war for Jesus, except what Paul says is you're going to take on the full armor 185 00:16:16,640 --> 00:16:25,520 of God so that you can stand firm, firm. Cause the battle doesn't belong to us. Battle belongs 186 00:16:25,520 --> 00:16:26,520 to God. 187 00:16:26,520 --> 00:16:32,240 And another contextual example, going along with the sword is in Hebrews where Hebrews 188 00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:37,540 412, where, um, where it's talking about how it's like a double edged sword can cut through 189 00:16:37,540 --> 00:16:44,000 joint and marrow, right? The word of God is, um, the context of that though is rest. Like 190 00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:48,640 you read the verses before and it's all about resting in the Lord. Like, you know, we've, 191 00:16:48,640 --> 00:16:51,640 but we've taken that verse and been like, Oh, I'm going to war. And I was like, actually 192 00:16:51,640 --> 00:16:58,400 the context is for you to do some self dissection. Um, rest in the Lord and let the word of God 193 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:04,280 penetrate your heart, remove the evil and replace it with good. Yeah. Right. Um, it's 194 00:17:04,280 --> 00:17:11,160 not for you. It's, it's not for you to beat down your enemy with. Yeah. So, so coming 195 00:17:11,160 --> 00:17:16,440 back to the troll of that video, right? The trolling of that video, what you have is you 196 00:17:16,440 --> 00:17:24,680 have, um, people who make comments about videos and, uh, stories that get shared that are, 197 00:17:24,680 --> 00:17:31,280 um, meant to discredit, uh, be disreputable, talk bad, any of these different things in 198 00:17:31,280 --> 00:17:39,120 the name of Jesus. And, uh, I was, I was thinking about this the other day, the, um, I don't 199 00:17:39,120 --> 00:17:44,120 believe that the crusading spirit has ever left the church. It's just that they went 200 00:17:44,120 --> 00:17:50,480 from killing people to skewering the reputation and their online presence and in different 201 00:17:50,480 --> 00:17:54,800 ways, but the crusading spirit, which is that you go my way or else I'll destroy you. And 202 00:17:54,800 --> 00:18:00,760 if you don't think like me, I'll destroy you in the name of Jesus. Well, there, there's 203 00:18:00,760 --> 00:18:06,280 an allure to, um, there, so there's a type of Christianity where it's like, everything's 204 00:18:06,280 --> 00:18:10,420 black and white, right? And there's an alert to that because it has clear cut lines. Yeah. 205 00:18:10,420 --> 00:18:14,960 We as humans, we like that. The problem is, is the more you dive into scripture, the more 206 00:18:14,960 --> 00:18:20,640 you realize it's not very black and white. There's a lot of gray areas. Correct. Um, 207 00:18:20,640 --> 00:18:25,640 and there's a lot of learning to exist in that tension is tough is actually the call 208 00:18:25,640 --> 00:18:29,960 of Jesus and like, and the call of like following God, cause he doesn't call you to live on 209 00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:34,600 the coastline or in the mountains. He calls, do you live in the Shafalo right in the middle? 210 00:18:34,600 --> 00:18:38,600 Right. Talking about the geography of Israel, by the way, if anybody was wondering, a guy 211 00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:42,620 calls us people to live in the middle, not don't retreat to the mountains. Don't go live 212 00:18:42,620 --> 00:18:47,600 with the, um, with, uh, with the people who don't follow him at all on the coastline, 213 00:18:47,600 --> 00:18:53,200 but live right in the middle, right in the middle. Yeah. So we, we gotta understand these 214 00:18:53,200 --> 00:18:57,900 things. There, there is a tension to being a follower, but if you, if you're ever completely 215 00:18:57,900 --> 00:19:02,200 resolute in like, uh, like, cause you said there's an allure, like there's allures that 216 00:19:02,200 --> 00:19:06,160 I'm right and you're wrong. And my job is to correct you to beat you into submission 217 00:19:06,160 --> 00:19:10,620 until you fall in line. Right. There is, there is an appeal to that because it's an something 218 00:19:10,620 --> 00:19:16,360 I can accomplish. Yeah. Um, you might say that it's cisterns that I create to quote 219 00:19:16,360 --> 00:19:21,200 from the Psalms as opposed to the living waters that God creates. Yeah. Right. And, 220 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:27,760 uh, the cisterns aren't near as nice as the ones I create. Um, but this idea where you're, 221 00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:32,760 um, you're going to go and you're going to conquer, conquer the people around you. The 222 00:19:32,760 --> 00:19:37,480 problem is Jesus is repeatedly talking us about the tension. He says, I am sending you 223 00:19:37,480 --> 00:19:47,400 like sheep among wolves. I need you to be wise as serpents and innocent as does to live 224 00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:53,880 your life. You have to lose it. If you want to be first, you have to be last. Those of 225 00:19:53,880 --> 00:20:01,680 you that are the greatest will serve the children are the greatest in the kingdom of God. Right. 226 00:20:01,680 --> 00:20:08,160 Um, there is, you are in this world, but you are not of this world. There, there's a lot 227 00:20:08,160 --> 00:20:13,560 of these statements that show up all throughout scripture. And so I think, I think the tendency 228 00:20:13,560 --> 00:20:17,640 where people see here, Oh, we're going to live in the gray means that you're not holding 229 00:20:17,640 --> 00:20:23,660 to biblical truth. I said, no, it's you're holding deeper to biblical truth. You're willing 230 00:20:23,660 --> 00:20:29,120 to wrestle. We're willing to wrestle. Right. There's, there's part, there's lots of parts 231 00:20:29,120 --> 00:20:34,320 of scripture where you, where it takes a while to dissect and you have to wrestle with it. 232 00:20:34,320 --> 00:20:38,500 Right. Um, I think the problem is, is a lot of times we want to wrestle so we can get 233 00:20:38,500 --> 00:20:42,640 to that right or wrong answer. Correct. And sometimes it's like, sometimes that right 234 00:20:42,640 --> 00:20:46,720 or wrong answer doesn't come. Like there's, there's parts of scripture for me that just 235 00:20:46,720 --> 00:20:53,100 still have a ton of tension. And like, would I love for there to be resolution to it? Absolutely. 236 00:20:53,100 --> 00:20:59,260 But there's not. Yeah, there is a one to your point where like resolution, is it sin to 237 00:20:59,260 --> 00:21:08,700 eat meat or not eat meat, sacrifice titles. It depends. It depends on, on your perspective 238 00:21:08,700 --> 00:21:13,440 and your heart. Like this is this, by the way, if you're listening here and you're 239 00:21:13,440 --> 00:21:16,160 like, you're like, man, that makes it really difficult. I was like, there are some very 240 00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:19,440 clear things that God talks about, you know, by the way, there's, there's 10 of them in 241 00:21:19,440 --> 00:21:23,380 the book of Exodus that he makes very clear, right? He says, you're not going to hurt each 242 00:21:23,380 --> 00:21:25,840 other. You're not going to lie about each other. You're going to be honest with each 243 00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:31,380 other. Um, but more specifically on what not to do, there's much more focus on what to 244 00:21:31,380 --> 00:21:36,160 do. Even in the writings of Paul, where he's very speaking to a Greek minds and he's like, 245 00:21:36,160 --> 00:21:41,720 put off this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and put this on and you won't 246 00:21:41,720 --> 00:21:46,160 gratify. Yeah. Put this on. That's, that's the whole point. We were talking about the 247 00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:50,760 fruit of the spirit, which is what this episode is interrupting, right? Yeah. Yeah. And so 248 00:21:50,760 --> 00:21:58,200 coming back to the trolls, it can be the, what I have experienced from trolls is that 249 00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:04,680 when they do, when they do their thing, is it mostly a self gratifying to them. Um, and 250 00:22:04,680 --> 00:22:09,560 the question, and the question is, was that actually of the Lord? Cause there are, there, 251 00:22:09,560 --> 00:22:13,040 there had been times where I've seen, seen people troll somebody and I've been like, 252 00:22:13,040 --> 00:22:19,000 they actually, the troll made a good point. Like I've seen those two. Right. Um, but the 253 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:24,440 point is how do we go about this correction when we need to? Um, and there's a couple 254 00:22:24,440 --> 00:22:28,640 things I want to interject on that. So pastor Sarah has said one thing on the podcast that 255 00:22:28,640 --> 00:22:34,680 is just really good where you can't correct without connection. Yeah. Right. Um, a lot 256 00:22:34,680 --> 00:22:40,440 of the, a lot of like the theological reels I see on Instagram, I don't have any personal 257 00:22:40,440 --> 00:22:45,520 connection with those people. Correct. Right. Yeah. Right. So it would be more beneficial 258 00:22:45,520 --> 00:22:51,840 for me to be like, Hey, why don't I take you out to dinner or, or be like, or contact them 259 00:22:51,840 --> 00:22:55,840 and be like, Hey, I had some questions about the content you posted and I would love to 260 00:22:55,840 --> 00:23:00,560 just talk to you more on it, you know, and try to get a better context and understanding 261 00:23:00,560 --> 00:23:06,080 of where they were coming from. Um, the other problem is oftentimes we're seeing like bits 262 00:23:06,080 --> 00:23:13,280 of sermons. Oh, sure. Right now. And so you'll, we'll take a bit of a sermon, rip it out of 263 00:23:13,280 --> 00:23:16,880 the context of the rest of the sermon and be like, Oh, this person's a complete heretic. 264 00:23:16,880 --> 00:23:20,720 Right. Which is like, this is something I see on a pretty frequent basis. Yeah. And 265 00:23:20,720 --> 00:23:25,680 it's like, okay, well maybe, maybe not like, right. There's a whole sermon that was just 266 00:23:25,680 --> 00:23:29,640 preached there. Maybe go listen to that whole sermon. Yeah. You were telling me about your, 267 00:23:29,640 --> 00:23:33,560 your friend was a pastor, uh, that she had a congregate who did not like a particular 268 00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:38,800 teacher and what was her response to, uh, having a conversation about it. Go listen 269 00:23:38,800 --> 00:23:45,080 to 20 of his sermons and then let's talk and then let's talk like generally that's a pretty 270 00:23:45,080 --> 00:23:50,160 good suggestion. Like she was nice. She said it nicer than that. I'm sure. Like we, we 271 00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:57,240 are definitely way meaner than, than, uh, most people. So, uh, maybe, maybe not me. 272 00:23:57,240 --> 00:24:01,880 We mean, yeah. Yeah. But, uh, but like that's, that's like a, that's before you're going 273 00:24:01,880 --> 00:24:05,680 to criticize somebody or you're going to have conversations about them, you should actually 274 00:24:05,680 --> 00:24:10,840 be familiar with who they are. Right. Yeah. Um, and then honestly, then you should probably 275 00:24:10,840 --> 00:24:14,640 just take a pause and maybe learn how to pray for them and not just stand around and be 276 00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:21,720 critical of. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I'm reminded of, uh, pastor Clint and pastor Nick from 277 00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:26,520 our church, their, their conversation piece about the way they, they have, um, they deal 278 00:24:26,520 --> 00:24:29,840 with complaints about different things that are going on in the church. And they said 279 00:24:29,840 --> 00:24:32,280 that if somebody comes and they have something that they want to talk about with the church, 280 00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:36,640 they said, that's great. We want you to pray about it for a few weeks. Yeah. And then I 281 00:24:36,640 --> 00:24:42,960 want you to bring three solutions, all of which you're a part of. Right. It's great. 282 00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:48,360 And uh, and then shockingly, the number of complaints is down to, you know, and there, 283 00:24:48,360 --> 00:24:51,720 I mean, there's still issues, right? Well, not only that, but the number of people who 284 00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:56,320 would just step up and be like, Hey, I'm going to take care of this. Yeah. Has gone up to, 285 00:24:56,320 --> 00:25:00,440 right? You're, you're empowering people to actually step in and actually do something 286 00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:05,600 too. Yeah. You know, if they, if they see an issue. So the, the issue that I, when, 287 00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:14,640 um, and I, and I am going to address the accounts that are built around attacking other accounts. 288 00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:21,720 Okay. I would be okay if those all closed down. I would be completely okay. Like generally, 289 00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:25,440 I don't want to talk like bad about any of them, but if your account is literally just 290 00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:31,720 devoted to finding every person else who does something else wrong and that's your content, 291 00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:36,520 it's probably time to pack it up and go home. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and you know, once again, 292 00:25:36,520 --> 00:25:41,480 this is just another guy with a mic stating his opinion on camera. I feel like it's a 293 00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:48,640 biblical one. I feel like I can, I can defend that pretty strongly from a biblical perspective 294 00:25:48,640 --> 00:25:53,760 that if your main goal is just to talk about how everybody else is wrong, you're representing 295 00:25:53,760 --> 00:25:58,280 something and it's not the kingdom of God. It's probably the kingdom of trolls. Yeah. 296 00:25:58,280 --> 00:26:04,880 Well, scripture scripture talks about that too. Um, to work hard, to avoid divisive talk, 297 00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:10,200 right? Ty, I mean, Titus talks about warning people, but there's another spot where, where 298 00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:17,920 it talks about like, Hey, like we don't need to have meaningless quarrels about what not, 299 00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:22,360 right? About, about whether or not you should have Starbucks coffee served at your church. 300 00:26:22,360 --> 00:26:27,680 Correct. Right. Like we don't need the meaningless quarrels about that. Uh, in Acts, the disciples 301 00:26:27,680 --> 00:26:32,680 were fit, uh, were faced with one of those, right? Um, there were some food disputes going 302 00:26:32,680 --> 00:26:37,240 along and going, uh, going about, they're like, Oh, well, the Jews, Jewish believers 303 00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:41,960 are getting more food rations than Gentile believers and like legitimate, legitimate 304 00:26:41,960 --> 00:26:48,360 things. And they were like, okay, let's appoint people to deal with this. And because we need 305 00:26:48,360 --> 00:26:53,120 to not be distracted from preaching the gospel. Correct. And I'm going to give you a quick 306 00:26:53,120 --> 00:26:57,320 correction here. So nobody types to us. Uh, it was Hellenistic Jews versus Orthodox Jews. 307 00:26:57,320 --> 00:27:02,400 Okay. The widows specifically. And, uh, so just, if you ever have followed us Hellenistic 308 00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:06,720 are the people who wouldn't necessarily have been the most devout. Yeah. Right. But they 309 00:27:06,720 --> 00:27:11,840 were, they are of the same nationality. Yeah. Right. Thank you for that. You're welcome. 310 00:27:11,840 --> 00:27:15,720 Um, so, so it's one of those things like, let's keep the main thing, the main thing. 311 00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:20,640 Right. And you sound like a Brian Qualls a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. Keep the main thing, 312 00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:26,200 the main thing. And let's, let's also, let's also set aside the meaningless, the meaningless 313 00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:31,240 arguments. Right. So let me, let's talk about the kinds of kinds of content we've seen. 314 00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:34,280 So we've seen the ones where people stitch and they talk about why somebody is wrong 315 00:27:34,280 --> 00:27:39,840 piece by piece. Right. Uh, we have seen, um, that is by the way, not the same as somebody 316 00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:46,000 who, uh, respond to questions. Like somebody asked a question and they just answer it. 317 00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:50,760 That's not the same as that. Um, we have seen the people who just go out of the way and 318 00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:56,280 all they do is attack other people. Um, there's another one that comes up and this was, uh, 319 00:27:56,280 --> 00:28:01,280 we actually, the last episode or episode before where Brian was, pastor Brian was on and we 320 00:28:01,280 --> 00:28:06,960 were talking about the Superbowl commercial, right? Is where there's an event that happens 321 00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:15,000 and there is a, as an uproar and a swell of comments and videos and responses and, uh, 322 00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:21,080 that are just like rapidly distributed out of a specific event. Right. Um, this pastor 323 00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:29,800 was spotted with a $500 sweater, right? Or a $300 pair of sneakers. Okay. Okay. Um, this 324 00:28:29,800 --> 00:28:36,480 type of event or, uh, this church hosted this person who did this thing, right? Uh, there's 325 00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:42,760 a lot of like those types of videos. Um, what I find in most of those is people's responses. 326 00:28:42,760 --> 00:28:46,600 They make a lot of comments and if you actually go back and look at the base content of what 327 00:28:46,600 --> 00:28:55,080 actually happened, it has morphed drastically from its original thing and they've made it 328 00:28:55,080 --> 00:28:59,280 this massive thing. They were like, every Christian needs to be an uproar about this 329 00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:08,680 because apparently the way that we showed Jesus is by yelling. Well, and you've heard 330 00:29:08,680 --> 00:29:13,600 me say this too, but if you're given a platform to proclaim Christ, you will speak heresy 331 00:29:13,600 --> 00:29:18,080 at some point. Guaranteed. Guaranteed. Yeah. Um, there's not many guarantees in life, but 332 00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:21,600 if you have a mic and you're proclaiming Christ, this is a guarantee. Yeah. You will speak 333 00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:27,200 heresy at some point. Yeah. And so, so can we have a little more grace with each other? 334 00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:33,360 Yeah. Right. Like, can we, there was the video on the Superbowl, right? Yeah. Like I, there's 335 00:29:33,360 --> 00:29:39,560 some good intentions there. Right. Um, also, but if you're going to post a video for how 336 00:29:39,560 --> 00:29:43,120 many million people to see, you're opening yourself up for criticism too. Yeah. You're 337 00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:47,160 opening yourself up for criticism, right? Yeah. And then a lot of times there's these, 338 00:29:47,160 --> 00:29:51,160 there's these bigger churches that often get criticized too. And it's like, well, I was 339 00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:58,520 like, I was like, yeah, I was like, but they've also made some, made themselves very public. 340 00:29:58,520 --> 00:30:02,160 Yeah. Right. Like the more public you're going to make yourself, the more criticism you're 341 00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:08,600 going to get. Yeah. I actually even find now with us having more listeners than we've had 342 00:30:08,600 --> 00:30:14,600 in the past, like we, we have more people. Um, I don't want to say take odds with our 343 00:30:14,600 --> 00:30:20,480 opinion, but have questions about it. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And, uh, like even to the point 344 00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:23,160 when they're coming up, like where they would come on the podcast, they're like, are we 345 00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:26,360 going to talk about this? And I was like, dude, we're going to try to do whatever we 346 00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:32,520 can to have a civil loving conversation. Yeah. Right. Right. Because our intention with the 347 00:30:32,520 --> 00:30:38,000 podcast is for Christians to have real conversations about how to live out our faith, not for us 348 00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:43,800 to have like, well, this is right. And this is wrong. And just to call to those who are 349 00:30:43,800 --> 00:30:49,200 teaching who are proclaiming as teachers, right? James talks about, says to your brothers and 350 00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:55,440 sisters, not many of you should want to become teachers in the church. Right? Like, like 351 00:30:55,440 --> 00:31:00,040 it's a valuable position, but James is also like, this isn't something that, this is something 352 00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:06,200 that most of you don't want. Right. He's, and then he goes on to say, for we who teach 353 00:31:06,200 --> 00:31:11,120 will be judged more strictly. Yeah. Well, that's that whole double edged sword thing, 354 00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:16,760 right? Self reflection, but it cuts both ways. And then he goes, he goes on again to say, 355 00:31:16,760 --> 00:31:22,960 indeed, we all make many mistakes for if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect. 356 00:31:22,960 --> 00:31:27,960 And if we, and if we could control ourselves and we would be perfect and we'll be able 357 00:31:27,960 --> 00:31:33,880 to control ourselves in every other way. I think there's this, this upside down pyramid 358 00:31:33,880 --> 00:31:40,280 too is like, as you want to grow as a teacher, as a minister, as a follower of Christ, then 359 00:31:40,280 --> 00:31:46,280 your grace has to increase. Yeah. And your patience has to increase and your love has 360 00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:51,360 to increase. Yeah. Right. If you want to grow as a teacher, you need to learn to love better. 361 00:31:51,360 --> 00:31:58,680 You need to be more gracious. You need to learn how to be patient with people as they 362 00:31:58,680 --> 00:32:07,200 learn. Yeah. The best teachers I've ever had, they will not put up with you, like not learning, 363 00:32:07,200 --> 00:32:11,080 but they'll be patient with you as long as you're working at it. Yeah. Right. And they'll 364 00:32:11,080 --> 00:32:13,980 come alongside you. They'll, they'll come up with different like methods and all these 365 00:32:13,980 --> 00:32:21,200 different things. I don't know of anybody who has gotten better at something by being 366 00:32:21,200 --> 00:32:28,640 yelled at or chastised or harassed. There is a time for discipline. Okay. Actually let's 367 00:32:28,640 --> 00:32:34,680 take a step back because I want to actually get into this. I, my, my son is five, your 368 00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:40,920 daughter's five, right? Um, there is, he goes to school, he goes to Sunday school, he goes 369 00:32:40,920 --> 00:32:47,880 to his aunt and uncle's house and all of them have a modicum of authority over him. Right? 370 00:32:47,880 --> 00:32:54,640 They're all teaching him in some capacity, right? When it comes time to discipline or 371 00:32:54,640 --> 00:33:02,360 redirect my child, that is not their job and they do not get to make those calls. That 372 00:33:02,360 --> 00:33:08,320 is my call and that is my wife's call. And usually we make that decision together. Now 373 00:33:08,320 --> 00:33:12,560 if that's how I am as a parent, because I believe that's how you are as a parent too, 374 00:33:12,560 --> 00:33:16,920 right? Like when you're correcting a behavioral thing, unless it's something that you've told 375 00:33:16,920 --> 00:33:21,560 like a teacher, you're like, Hey, if they do this and make sure they do this, right? 376 00:33:21,560 --> 00:33:25,240 If I'm going to go in and I'm actually going to bring discipline in order to correct my 377 00:33:25,240 --> 00:33:29,740 child and raise them in the way that they should go, I am the run who brings discipline, 378 00:33:29,740 --> 00:33:35,340 not you. Right? Now I hear somebody out there, they're like, what if somebody's watching 379 00:33:35,340 --> 00:33:38,280 your kid and blah, blah, blah. Okay. We're not talking about hypotheticals here. Like 380 00:33:38,280 --> 00:33:42,720 generally speaking, I'm the one responsible for making sure my child, children are being 381 00:33:42,720 --> 00:33:48,520 disciplined and being raised correctly. If I am allowing the school to do that and I'm 382 00:33:48,520 --> 00:33:53,520 allowing the Sunday school to do that, or I'm allowing the church to do that, I'm failing 383 00:33:53,520 --> 00:33:58,920 in my responsibility as a parent. It's my job to make sure that when my kids go off 384 00:33:58,920 --> 00:34:06,320 the rails to bring them back. Now, if that is my job as a human parent, whose job is 385 00:34:06,320 --> 00:34:12,720 it to make sure that when Christians go off the rails, they get pulled back? 386 00:34:12,720 --> 00:34:13,720 It's Christ. 387 00:34:13,720 --> 00:34:20,280 Yeah, it's Christ. It's the father's job to do that. And the, I wonder if sometimes 388 00:34:20,280 --> 00:34:26,200 when I watch these things, I often think in the, in the demonstrative things where they, 389 00:34:26,200 --> 00:34:29,160 they tear people apart, the reason they do that is because they're trying to make these 390 00:34:29,160 --> 00:34:30,160 people not Christians. 391 00:34:30,160 --> 00:34:35,360 I, I wouldn't say necessarily that they're wanting them to not be Christian. I would 392 00:34:35,360 --> 00:34:42,640 say that they're wanting them to think like they do. Yeah. And cause I, I want to, I think 393 00:34:42,640 --> 00:34:47,080 it's so situational because I mean, there are some people who correct, who are really 394 00:34:47,080 --> 00:34:52,080 harsh. Correct. And there are some people who provide quote unquote correction who aren't, 395 00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:55,840 who aren't as harsh and talk about how they want to see redemptive work happen in this 396 00:34:55,840 --> 00:35:01,880 one's life and so on and so forth. Right. Right. So, so like, I think there's a bit 397 00:35:01,880 --> 00:35:09,440 more of an individualized context that comes into play. Yeah. But with that said, and I 398 00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:15,560 agree with that. I agree with that. I was my, my, my thought was specifically centering 399 00:35:15,560 --> 00:35:20,080 on this idea of like, do we trust the Holy spirit to do his work or not? Oh yeah. Yeah. 400 00:35:20,080 --> 00:35:25,080 100%. And what my, my personal experience. Okay. So this is my personal experience understanding 401 00:35:25,080 --> 00:35:29,160 that I'm only 37 and I have my limited life that I've lived in the churches that I've 402 00:35:29,160 --> 00:35:36,360 lived in. Right. Is that most of us don't trust the Holy spirit to do his work. We try 403 00:35:36,360 --> 00:35:44,040 to do it for him rather than partnering with him. And can we just say, can we just talk 404 00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:49,440 about how freeing it is just to trust the spirit to do his work freeing and terrifying? 405 00:35:49,440 --> 00:35:55,640 Right. It's like, when we take on the responsibility of the Holy spirit, like one, that's just 406 00:35:55,640 --> 00:36:02,160 a bad idea. Just don't do that. Okay. And if you're like, well, why shouldn't I do that? 407 00:36:02,160 --> 00:36:09,960 That could be in two more hours of conversation. Just don't do it. And then that's one thing 408 00:36:09,960 --> 00:36:14,600 is like, but when we, when we take that on, it's really, what we're doing is we're saying, 409 00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:19,040 okay, my opinion is better than God's. Right. My way of thinking is better than God's. And 410 00:36:19,040 --> 00:36:23,320 then, and then we really start to go down a slippery slope. And then we start to say, 411 00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:26,880 well, if we want to look like God, we have to look like this, which it looks like exactly 412 00:36:26,880 --> 00:36:32,880 how my life is, which I'm going to be real when people do that in my life or try to do 413 00:36:32,880 --> 00:36:38,240 that with my wife and I were like, we're like, Hey, we're having none of it. Yeah. We will 414 00:36:38,240 --> 00:36:42,840 still love to have you over for dinner. Love to have you come at summertime. It's getting 415 00:36:42,840 --> 00:36:48,520 spring summertime. Love to have you over for fires and hot dogs and mangoes. Uh huh. All 416 00:36:48,520 --> 00:36:52,600 the good stuff and stuff like that. But I was like, but we're going to be very clear 417 00:36:52,600 --> 00:36:57,280 and say, you actually don't have authority speaking to our lives. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. 418 00:36:57,280 --> 00:37:03,280 It is one of the things that is very, um, I want to, I want to, cause I want to get 419 00:37:03,280 --> 00:37:06,480 away from the negativity of trolling and actually talk about some proactive things you could 420 00:37:06,480 --> 00:37:11,960 do when you hear a story about something going on, learn actually what happened, like really 421 00:37:11,960 --> 00:37:19,520 what happened. And if you're tempted to make a video, stop and wait for a while before 422 00:37:19,520 --> 00:37:24,720 you make a video. Yeah. Um, if somebody needs you to comment on something right away, it's 423 00:37:24,720 --> 00:37:29,640 probably not something you should be commenting on. Right. Yeah. Um, unless it's specifically 424 00:37:29,640 --> 00:37:33,920 something under your authority, right? Like you're the pastor of a church and something 425 00:37:33,920 --> 00:37:38,400 happened at your church, then you should respond right away. Yeah. And there's also a level 426 00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:42,400 of if you think you're having an impact by doing this, you'll probably have a greater 427 00:37:42,400 --> 00:37:48,000 impact by building a few great relationships with people who need Jesus in your community. 428 00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:53,760 Yeah. Right. And bringing Jesus to them because as much as social media and stuff is great, 429 00:37:53,760 --> 00:37:57,880 it does not, even if you're doing face to face video calls with people, it does not 430 00:37:57,880 --> 00:38:04,140 replace that personal face to face interaction. And, uh, and it can be very difficult because 431 00:38:04,140 --> 00:38:09,080 on the flip side of this, we just, we've been talking through the gifts of the spirit and 432 00:38:09,080 --> 00:38:12,440 we talked about, and you know, if you love God and love other people, if you learn to 433 00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:18,800 hear the voice of God, if you exhibit the, um, the fruit of the spirit, right? Well, 434 00:38:18,800 --> 00:38:22,720 sometimes you're actually going to get prophetic message for people. Like God's going to use 435 00:38:22,720 --> 00:38:27,000 you to speak into other people's lives. The, the issue that I think is happening with, 436 00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:31,760 with a troll dumb is that the first three things aren't there. Right. You don't have 437 00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:36,640 love God and love other people in line. Right. You don't have learning to hear the voice 438 00:38:36,640 --> 00:38:40,840 of God clearly through the word of God and through, uh, experientially like time with 439 00:38:40,840 --> 00:38:45,480 God. Right. And you don't clearly exhibit the fruit of the spirit before you speak into 440 00:38:45,480 --> 00:38:51,060 a situation. Um, that is not to say that if you have those in line, you should automatically 441 00:38:51,060 --> 00:38:55,320 speak into a situation. You should see God and see what he wants you to do. And then 442 00:38:55,320 --> 00:39:04,280 with fear and trembling and with all humility, walk it out. Right. Like that is, I think 443 00:39:04,280 --> 00:39:11,160 probably the best piece that I could think of about that. Yeah. Yeah. Agreed. I, I think 444 00:39:11,160 --> 00:39:16,240 one of the things I've heard quite regularly when it comes to troll dumb is, um, I love 445 00:39:16,240 --> 00:39:23,840 the word troll dumb by the way, troll them, uh, w w is that, Oh, well God doesn't bless, 446 00:39:23,840 --> 00:39:30,200 doesn't bless sinners. And I'm like, and so I want to push back on that. Now hear me out 447 00:39:30,200 --> 00:39:37,580 on this. God does not like sin. Correct. Right. Hear me out on that. Okay. But the whole basis 448 00:39:37,580 --> 00:39:45,840 of scripture is built so that we sinners can be blessed. Right. Uh, we see that, we see 449 00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:51,280 that when God calls Abram, he's like, I am going to bless you, make you into a great 450 00:39:51,280 --> 00:39:57,800 nation. Right. You see that. And then you see we're grafted into this story of blessing 451 00:39:57,800 --> 00:40:05,500 through the work of Jesus, Jesus on the cross. So that we can be a blessing to all the nations. 452 00:40:05,500 --> 00:40:10,760 So, so to say, so when someone's like, well, God doesn't bless, doesn't bless sinners. 453 00:40:10,760 --> 00:40:15,980 It's like actually the whole basis of scripture is built around God blessing sinners. Yeah. 454 00:40:15,980 --> 00:40:22,680 And I think, I think you may want to just, God doesn't bless sin. No. Right. He absolutely 455 00:40:22,680 --> 00:40:26,240 blesses sinners because that's the gospel that Jesus Christ came to die for us when 456 00:40:26,240 --> 00:40:31,960 we didn't deserve it. Yeah. But we often, we often, we often commingle sin and sinner. 457 00:40:31,960 --> 00:40:37,320 Yeah. Right. Like we, let's take a little bit of time, separate those out. Like, right. 458 00:40:37,320 --> 00:40:43,320 Um, like there's sin and if we are perpetuated living in sin, right. Like willingly choosing 459 00:40:43,320 --> 00:40:49,440 to do sinful acts. That's one thing. Right. But then, but then we, by nature, by default 460 00:40:49,440 --> 00:40:53,840 are sinners and it's through the work of Christ that we're redeemed. So God doesn't bless 461 00:40:53,840 --> 00:40:58,720 sin, but he is here to bless sinners. Right. In fact, our whole existence is actually built 462 00:40:58,720 --> 00:41:05,520 around reaching those that are not yet a part of us. Right. Yeah. Like, um, the, I was just 463 00:41:05,520 --> 00:41:10,520 recently, I was, I was just, I just 20 seconds ago was talking about, uh, the gospel is that 464 00:41:10,520 --> 00:41:16,400 Jesus came to die for us when we didn't deserve it. Right. Um, specifically reminder is this 465 00:41:16,400 --> 00:41:20,840 kingdom idea is that Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is at hand and through his life, 466 00:41:20,840 --> 00:41:26,000 death, burial and resurrection, we now have access to it, which by the way is a blessing. 467 00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:31,040 Huge blessing. Huge blessing. And as we carry that kingdom into the world and we bring heaven 468 00:41:31,040 --> 00:41:35,960 to earth, we bring blessing wherever we go. Yeah. And it is, it is for the people that 469 00:41:35,960 --> 00:41:40,200 are not yet a part of us to come and be a part of this kingdom and this, this heaven 470 00:41:40,200 --> 00:41:46,840 that is now accessible. Right. Yep. Yep. So a couple of things that you will, we will 471 00:41:46,840 --> 00:41:54,240 not do. If you, uh, write comments, stitch our videos, have fun. All you're doing is 472 00:41:54,240 --> 00:41:58,880 increasing our viewership. That's fine. Um, yeah, thank you for that. Uh, we're not going 473 00:41:58,880 --> 00:42:02,320 to, we're not going to respond to them. If you have legitimate questions, absolutely 474 00:42:02,320 --> 00:42:07,320 email them in. You can even stitch us with legitimate questions and we'll try to respond. 475 00:42:07,320 --> 00:42:12,280 I say try because we both work full time. Yeah. Um, but, uh, it's better to send us 476 00:42:12,280 --> 00:42:16,120 a question in the Q and a form. I, we, by the way, I've gotten a number of comments 477 00:42:16,120 --> 00:42:20,400 and I love it when people leave comments. It always makes me happy, um, on our videos 478 00:42:20,400 --> 00:42:24,280 and stuff. And, uh, so it's just, it's good to know that you're getting something from 479 00:42:24,280 --> 00:42:33,080 the videos. Um, in everything here is, is this, don't live your life on social media 480 00:42:33,080 --> 00:42:39,880 and don't get sucked into trolldom. Live your life for Jesus and live at peace with those 481 00:42:39,880 --> 00:42:48,400 around you. If it's up to you. Yes. Yeah. Until next time. Next time. And that's a wrap 482 00:42:48,400 --> 00:42:52,800 for today's episode of love and context. We hope you enjoyed this engaging conversation 483 00:42:52,800 --> 00:42:57,080 and gained valuable insights into the powerful message of love within the Bible. We'd love 484 00:42:57,080 --> 00:43:01,920 to hear from you and continue the conversation. Connect with us by sending us your questions, 485 00:43:01,920 --> 00:43:08,520 comments and suggestions to love and context at gmail.com. We greatly appreciate your feedback 486 00:43:08,520 --> 00:43:13,640 and ideas for future episodes. Stay connected with us on social media for updates, behind 487 00:43:13,640 --> 00:43:18,520 the scenes content and additional resources. You can find us on Instagram, tick tock, YouTube 488 00:43:18,520 --> 00:43:22,800 and Facebook at love and context. Don't forget to hit that follow button to stay up to date 489 00:43:22,800 --> 00:43:27,080 with the latest episodes and join our growing community. Thank you for being part of the 490 00:43:27,080 --> 00:43:32,360 love and context family. Remember, love is at the heart of it all. Until next time, keep 491 00:43:32,360 --> 00:44:00,280 seeking wisdom, embracing love and living out your faith in the context of today's world.