1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:17,320 Welcome. This is the Men Church Stuff Podcast. 2 00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:22,360 This is the show where brothers-in-law DJ Culp and Brad Coleman talk about stuff from 3 00:00:22,360 --> 00:00:27,500 our perspective as men. It's a show for anyone who wants to hear how Christians interact 4 00:00:27,500 --> 00:00:32,720 with the world. And don't worry, we're real. We've grown up in church and we want to share 5 00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:39,520 our experiences with you. We'll talk life stuff, church stuff, man stuff, and stuff 6 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:47,440 stuff. Here we go. 7 00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:52,440 Greetings listeners here and there and everywhere, all across the land. This is the Men Church 8 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:58,880 Stuff Podcast. I am one of your hosts, DJ Culp, as always here with my beloved brother-in-law, 9 00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:02,200 Brad Coleman. Brad, what's up, man? 10 00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:07,240 Sitting here drinking coffee and enjoying the fact that the kids and Tabby went back 11 00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:13,560 to school today. I love having them at home, but it throws off my routine. 12 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:21,420 It does. So, Shara and the kids are actually at home again. I'm at work. This is the first 13 00:01:21,420 --> 00:01:28,120 place that I've ever worked that has a, well, excuse me, this is the first institution of 14 00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:34,280 higher education that I've ever worked that has a delayed policy. I don't know about you, 15 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:38,560 but if there was snow or whatever, but they still wanted to have class. Like at Murray 16 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:45,440 State, we were just told classes will begin at 10. So, if you had an 8 a.m., you didn't 17 00:01:45,440 --> 00:01:50,920 have to go. So, yeah, I had to come in to work, but classes were a bit shorter today. 18 00:01:50,920 --> 00:01:58,480 But yeah, we've got some snow. We've got a lot more ice than I was expecting. What about 19 00:01:58,480 --> 00:01:59,480 you guys? 20 00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:06,640 Well, we're pretty much clearing back up, I think. Roads and stuff are getting cleared. 21 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:13,160 I mean, it's cold, but we got some snow, but I feel like it's not as much as we've gotten 22 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:17,480 past. And I feel like the sun's starting to get rid of it. I don't even know what the 23 00:02:17,480 --> 00:02:21,920 temperature is like outside right now. I haven't stepped outside. 24 00:02:21,920 --> 00:02:26,680 Dude, it's nippy. I like it. 25 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:30,200 Just looking out, it looks like life is going on. 26 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:39,200 Life is going on. So, listeners, Brad and I are recording this on February 20. So, several 27 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:45,720 days ago, Brad and Tabitha and the kids, as mentioned last week, they had come over and 28 00:02:45,720 --> 00:02:54,600 we got to spend time with them. Brad, I had a blast, man. I really did. It was so good 29 00:02:54,600 --> 00:02:56,760 to hang out with you guys and nobody was ill. 30 00:02:56,760 --> 00:02:58,760 Yeah, it was sick. 31 00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:03,120 It was nice. We all had a good time. 32 00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:09,440 So listeners, what I'll do is I'll post some pictures of me and Brad and Dad playing Rail 33 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:16,160 Bear and John Rear, you'll appreciate that. So, we didn't actually get to finish our game 34 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:20,680 just because we started at like four and when nine o'clock rolled around, we were still 35 00:03:20,680 --> 00:03:28,840 playing and we just kind of had to go. But Brad won. Congratulations, Brad. 36 00:03:28,840 --> 00:03:29,840 By default. 37 00:03:29,840 --> 00:03:30,840 By default. 38 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:35,200 Because I was ahead, monetarily ahead. 39 00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:36,200 That's right. 40 00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:40,880 It's a bittersweet win. I will still accept it. 41 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:43,400 Yeah. But did you really win? 42 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:48,520 I didn't. It didn't feel as much like I earned it, like playing out the rest of how the game 43 00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:51,520 was going to go. 44 00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:58,040 Yeah, I have a suspicion I was going to win that one. But I guess we'll never know, will 45 00:03:58,040 --> 00:03:59,040 we? 46 00:03:59,040 --> 00:04:06,240 I think it's one of the big issues that I have potentially in the future. 47 00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:09,880 So before we dive into our topic, per the norm, we just simply want to give a shout 48 00:04:09,880 --> 00:04:14,720 out to the Green Frog Coffee Company here in Jackson, Tennessee. There's actually a 49 00:04:14,720 --> 00:04:19,160 Green Frog in Dyersburg. And I want to say one more, and I can't remember where it is, 50 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:24,840 but I know that they've got several locations. If you are in the West Tennessee area, we 51 00:04:24,840 --> 00:04:32,800 strongly encourage you guys to check out Green Frog. They've come alongside us and we them. 52 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:38,760 And we've got just a wonderful little kind of mutual relationship going on that has nothing 53 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:46,680 to do with dollars. They want to support our show and what we do. They love what we do. 54 00:04:46,680 --> 00:04:48,280 And super friendly. 55 00:04:48,280 --> 00:04:55,520 Brad, I have been told actually by one of their managers that we're a part of their 56 00:04:55,520 --> 00:05:03,720 family. He actually used your family here. So they seriously love the show and we love 57 00:05:03,720 --> 00:05:10,720 them. So we thank you, Green Frog Coffee Company, for promoting our show and supporting us and 58 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:14,880 our mission, what we want to do. And we're here to support you as well. 59 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:19,440 And I can now say that I have drank some Green Frog Coffee and it was really good. Matter 60 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:22,900 of fact, I can say that for probably most of our listeners, I've drank about a week's 61 00:05:22,900 --> 00:05:31,000 worth of Green Frog Coffee because we just continued to brew pots at your house. 62 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:33,640 Yeah, that's exactly right. Yeah, we've brewed a lot of coffee. 63 00:05:33,640 --> 00:05:40,920 And I drank a lot of coffee, probably more than most people do. I saw a video yesterday 64 00:05:40,920 --> 00:05:47,320 where this college professor was asking the people that came to his class to drink coffee. 65 00:05:47,320 --> 00:05:53,920 And the people that did drink coffee were ones that were like, well, how much coffee 66 00:05:53,920 --> 00:05:58,960 do you drink? And they're like, you know, like one, maybe two cups a day. And that was 67 00:05:58,960 --> 00:06:04,000 like everybody. It was like one to two cups that did drink coffee. And I'm like, oh, those 68 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:06,520 are rookie numbers. You guys got to get those up. 69 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:07,520 Yeah, it's cute. 70 00:06:07,520 --> 00:06:08,520 Where's my coffee drinkers? 71 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:09,520 That's so sweet. 72 00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:21,640 So anyways, check out Green Frog. They are a great, great small, small business, again, 73 00:06:21,640 --> 00:06:28,000 here local to the West Tennessee area. And they've got great values built on Christian 74 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:34,220 principles. And they really do have coffee so good that a snowman would drink it, assuming 75 00:06:34,220 --> 00:06:38,880 that snowmen would drink coffee. And we're not going to unpack that metaphor because 76 00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:40,360 that would be silly. 77 00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:48,200 Okay, so Brad, let's dive into our topic, man. So listeners, just kind of prep as to 78 00:06:48,200 --> 00:06:56,560 where this came from. One Sunday, we were sitting in church and a very common narrative, 79 00:06:56,560 --> 00:07:01,160 I assume, Brad, that you grew up with as well, but a very common narrative that I heard that 80 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:10,320 I've grown up with is that Satan seeks or Satan desires to seek, steal and destroy. 81 00:07:10,320 --> 00:07:12,200 Kill, steal and destroy. 82 00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:15,080 Kill and destroy. Thank you. What did I say? 83 00:07:15,080 --> 00:07:20,600 Seek, steal and destroy. Kill, steal and destroy. 84 00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:24,600 Kill, steal and destroy. 85 00:07:24,600 --> 00:07:33,360 And so he seeks to steal, kill and destroy. I don't know why I can't get those verbs right. 86 00:07:33,360 --> 00:07:37,800 But anyways, the common narrative is not just that, but the common narrative that I've heard 87 00:07:37,800 --> 00:07:45,000 oftentimes is that he does so to the family unit. He wants to steal, kill and destroy 88 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:51,880 the family. And let me do this, before we just really kind of launch into scripture 89 00:07:51,880 --> 00:07:56,520 and whatnot, I just want to know, Brad, from your perspective, is that a common narrative 90 00:07:56,520 --> 00:07:59,400 that you've heard coming up through church? 91 00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:06,720 Yeah. Yeah, I mean, certainly a common narrative. I think it's scriptural. When you're looking 92 00:08:06,720 --> 00:08:17,440 at the passage, I think Jesus is comparing himself and Satan or, again, godly versus 93 00:08:17,440 --> 00:08:18,440 ungodly. 94 00:08:18,440 --> 00:08:29,560 Yeah, right. So yeah. And again, deeper than just the family, I think it is anything that 95 00:08:29,560 --> 00:08:39,360 is godly, you know, and the life that God gives us. You know, Satan is trying to steal 96 00:08:39,360 --> 00:08:44,920 and kill and destroy, whether it be joy, whether it be goodness, whether it be life. That's 97 00:08:44,920 --> 00:08:49,640 his mission. So yeah, heard that, preached it. 98 00:08:49,640 --> 00:08:56,480 So and the like, what brought it up was, I got to thinking, and listeners, if you're 99 00:08:56,480 --> 00:09:02,680 regulars of the show, you'll know that this is very much kind of in line with my MO. But 100 00:09:02,680 --> 00:09:10,960 I got to thinking, does Satan seek to steal, kill and destroy the family unit? And if the 101 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:18,120 answer to that is yes, how? Not to necessarily say that, because it would be false for me 102 00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:27,200 to say that I haven't experienced anything like that. But it's I didn't want to, Brad, 103 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:31,760 I didn't want to kind of walk into this topic that assuming that it's just an obvious answer, 104 00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:35,600 yes, he does. And then just kind of move on from there. You know what I mean? 105 00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:36,600 Okay, we're good. 106 00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:48,920 Yep, he does. So the scripture reference that seeks, no, gosh, dang it, steal, kill and 107 00:09:48,920 --> 00:09:49,920 destroy comes from. 108 00:09:49,920 --> 00:09:51,920 I mean, he's seeking those. 109 00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:54,920 He does seek, yeah, he's true. 110 00:09:54,920 --> 00:09:55,920 Like a roaring lion. 111 00:09:55,920 --> 00:10:01,360 And that's the second, that's the second reference. But it comes from John 10 10. So rather than 112 00:10:01,360 --> 00:10:06,880 just reading that, I'm going to do John 10 through sorry, John 10 7 through 21 to give 113 00:10:06,880 --> 00:10:13,360 us some context. Says, So Jesus said to them again, truly, truly, I say to you, I am the 114 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:17,760 door of the sheep. All those who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep 115 00:10:17,760 --> 00:10:22,680 did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved 116 00:10:22,680 --> 00:10:29,000 and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. 117 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:33,760 I came so that they would have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The 118 00:10:33,760 --> 00:10:38,560 good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, 119 00:10:38,560 --> 00:10:43,240 who is not the owner of the sheep, the hired hand sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep 120 00:10:43,240 --> 00:10:48,640 and flees and the wolf snatches them and scatters the flock. He flees because he is a hired 121 00:10:48,640 --> 00:10:53,040 hand and does not care about his sheep. I am the good shepherd and I know my own and 122 00:10:53,040 --> 00:10:57,700 my own know me just as the father knows me and I know the father and I laid down my life 123 00:10:57,700 --> 00:11:02,440 for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also 124 00:11:02,440 --> 00:11:06,640 and they will listen to my voice and they will become one flock with one shepherd. For 125 00:11:06,640 --> 00:11:11,160 this reason, the father loves me because I lay down my life so that I may take it back. 126 00:11:11,160 --> 00:11:15,520 No one has taken it away from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have authority to lay 127 00:11:15,520 --> 00:11:21,160 it down and I have authority to take it back. This commandment I receive from my father." 128 00:11:21,160 --> 00:11:26,500 And then, you know, sort of like coming back into John's sort of narrator voice, dissension 129 00:11:26,500 --> 00:11:30,560 occurred again among the Jews because of these words. Many of the Jews were saying, he has 130 00:11:30,560 --> 00:11:34,840 a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to him? Others were saying, these are not the 131 00:11:34,840 --> 00:11:39,440 words of one who is demon possessed. The demon cannot open the eyes of those who are blind, 132 00:11:39,440 --> 00:11:47,960 can it? And real quick, I just want to mention the reason that I went like farther, far, 133 00:11:47,960 --> 00:11:56,880 farther beyond verse 10 is I love hearing like sort of in a more full context like where 134 00:11:56,880 --> 00:12:05,320 scripture verse might be oriented. So, yeah, let me go ahead and do this as well since 135 00:12:05,320 --> 00:12:15,760 we're, you know, just kind of diving into the scriptures here. Let's go 1 Peter chapter 136 00:12:15,760 --> 00:12:29,320 5. Here we go. 1 through 11 says this, therefore I urge elders among you as your fellow elder 137 00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:33,920 and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and one who is also a fellow partaker of the 138 00:12:33,920 --> 00:12:40,360 glory that is to be revealed. Shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight 139 00:12:40,360 --> 00:12:44,760 not under compulsion, but voluntarily according to the will of God and not with greed, but 140 00:12:44,760 --> 00:12:51,880 with eagerness, nor yet is domineering over those assigned to your care, but by proving 141 00:12:51,880 --> 00:12:57,320 to be examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, capital letters, obviously 142 00:12:57,320 --> 00:13:02,320 referring to Christ, you will receive the unfading crowd of glory. You younger men likewise 143 00:13:02,320 --> 00:13:05,800 be subject to your elders and all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another 144 00:13:05,800 --> 00:13:10,680 because God is opposed to the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble 145 00:13:10,680 --> 00:13:15,040 yourselves under the mighty hand of God so that he may exalt you at the proper time, 146 00:13:15,040 --> 00:13:20,280 having cast all your anxiety on him because he cares about you. Verse 8, this is sort 147 00:13:20,280 --> 00:13:25,040 of the main thesis that we want to kind of focus in on. Be of sober spirit, be on the 148 00:13:25,040 --> 00:13:31,080 alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. 149 00:13:31,080 --> 00:13:34,900 So resist him firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are 150 00:13:34,900 --> 00:13:39,880 being accomplished by your brothers and sisters who are in the world. After you have suffered 151 00:13:39,880 --> 00:13:43,440 for a little while, the God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory in Christ 152 00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:48,800 will himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you to him be dominion forever 153 00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:55,120 and ever. Amen. And if you're a musical nerd, you can also say 4-1 or Plagal Cadence. There 154 00:13:55,120 --> 00:14:07,800 we go. All right. So you're welcome, Brad. That's right. So yeah, Brad, I was, I am, 155 00:14:07,800 --> 00:14:15,680 I'm just kind of curious as to, you know, where, you know, kind of where to start here 156 00:14:15,680 --> 00:14:27,560 with the, you know, the Satan seeks to steal, kill, and destroy. I guess like, I guess how 157 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:36,160 have, how have you either experienced it? How do you, how do you preach about it? Discussing 158 00:14:36,160 --> 00:14:45,520 how Satan does that to the family unit. Okay. So let's, let's think of Ephesians, right? 159 00:14:45,520 --> 00:14:57,560 Okay. It's the full, the full armor of God. What do we have in there? Right? We have truth. 160 00:14:57,560 --> 00:15:07,200 We have faith. We have salvation. All right. Hang on. Let me, let me see. Let me, let me 161 00:15:07,200 --> 00:15:19,520 run, run a little test on myself here. Okay. Belt of truth. Right? Shield of faith. Is 162 00:15:19,520 --> 00:15:25,360 it? Helmet of salvation. Is that right? Helmet of salvation. Okay. What's the next one? Well, 163 00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:29,280 we haven't got them out of order already, but. Okay. That's fine. Well, give me the 164 00:15:29,280 --> 00:15:39,360 next, give me the breastplate. Righteousness. Right. Right. So having your feet shod, you 165 00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:47,800 know, with the preparation. Peace, right? The gospel of peace. Gospel of peace. Okay. 166 00:15:47,800 --> 00:15:53,680 The preparation of the gospel of peace. Right. And the sword. Sword of the sword. No. Is 167 00:15:53,680 --> 00:15:58,560 it sword of the spirit? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Which is the word of God. Word of God. So 168 00:15:58,560 --> 00:16:06,960 truth, righteousness, right? Faith, peace, the gospel, salvation, and the word of God. 169 00:16:06,960 --> 00:16:12,800 Right. And don't forget to, and don't forget to gird your loins. Well, with truth. Gird 170 00:16:12,800 --> 00:16:21,600 your loins with truth. That's right. Yeah. So, so these are the things that God gives 171 00:16:21,600 --> 00:16:35,040 us as, as His armor that are for us to defend and to stand firm against Satan, who's trying 172 00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:41,200 to steal and kill and destroy. Right. These are also the things that Satan, I think, is 173 00:16:41,200 --> 00:16:47,920 trying to, or the things that he uses as his methods to steal and kill and destroy. Right? 174 00:16:47,920 --> 00:16:59,920 Because go back to the garden. Satan is, is skewing truth. Right? So he's lying. Yeah. 175 00:16:59,920 --> 00:17:07,960 But he's, but Satan's lies are believable because he's good at lying. My dad would say 176 00:17:07,960 --> 00:17:18,200 he would send, like Satan will use an ocean of truth to send across a little lie. You 177 00:17:18,200 --> 00:17:25,160 know, he's challenging God's truth. So he's trying to steal that, we're standing on that 178 00:17:25,160 --> 00:17:31,400 truth or steal what the truth is and change it. That's a steal, kill, destroy. Yeah. And 179 00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:40,240 if he can do that, you know, faith. Right? Do we believe God? I skipped righteousness, 180 00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:46,880 but the shield of faith. Do we believe God? Do we stand on God? Yeah. You know, Satan 181 00:17:46,880 --> 00:17:53,680 loves to say, did God say that? Or it has been written and it's given up to word, right? 182 00:17:53,680 --> 00:17:58,040 Because Jesus, when Jesus is tempted in the wilderness, what does Satan do? He skews the 183 00:17:58,040 --> 00:18:05,080 word of God. Right. Yeah. He's misusing God's word against God's word, which is hilarious. 184 00:18:05,080 --> 00:18:10,680 Didn't work out very well for him. Yeah. It is written. It is written. Don't quote the 185 00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:17,720 deep magic to me, which I was there when it was written. That's exactly right. As land. 186 00:18:17,720 --> 00:18:26,080 Righteousness, right? We've talked about this in some previous episodes. We need God's righteousness, 187 00:18:26,080 --> 00:18:33,200 not self-righteousness, not works-righteousness. We're righteous through Christ. The whole 188 00:18:33,200 --> 00:18:38,120 idea with the Judaizers and Galatians, and they're trying to get these people to follow 189 00:18:38,120 --> 00:18:45,600 law and be under the law because it's not the true gospel. Right? And Paul goes, they 190 00:18:45,600 --> 00:18:49,600 need to be accursed. Well, where's that coming from? It's coming from Satan, who wants us 191 00:18:49,600 --> 00:18:56,480 to believe a false gospel that kind of sounds like the gospel so that we miss the gospel, 192 00:18:56,480 --> 00:19:05,400 so we can steal the true gospel away from us. Right. So again, other religions. Well, 193 00:19:05,400 --> 00:19:12,040 they're counterfeits. They have some similarities because people will compare Christianity with 194 00:19:12,040 --> 00:19:19,440 these other religions. Okay? Well, so Jesus says he's the way, the truth, and the life. 195 00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:27,840 If Satan can steal that or kill that or destroy that by making us go, well, there's other 196 00:19:27,840 --> 00:19:34,200 ways. Yeah. But then people are walking these other paths, maybe even convincing themselves, 197 00:19:34,200 --> 00:19:41,600 I'm doing just fine. I'm following God, when in fact they're not. So salvation, right there. 198 00:19:41,600 --> 00:19:47,320 The gospel of peace. Satan would have us, I think, believe that we need to be a peace 199 00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:51,520 keeper instead of a peacemaker. But your dad is one of the big people that kind of helped 200 00:19:51,520 --> 00:19:58,040 me understand what the difference was. He asked me that one day, and I was like, uh... 201 00:19:58,040 --> 00:20:04,360 Because a peacemaker is someone who is working toward peace. Jesus was a peacemaker, not 202 00:20:04,360 --> 00:20:09,920 a peacekeeper. Because a peacekeeper would not have healed someone on the Sabbath in 203 00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:14,480 front of the Pharisees at their party. Very true. You know, he wouldn't have gone into 204 00:20:14,480 --> 00:20:19,040 the temple... A peacekeeper wouldn't have gone into the temple to cleanse it because 205 00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:26,480 that's going to upset some people. But a peacekeeper really is an oxymoron because it's not true 206 00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:31,920 peace that they're keeping. It's false peace. It's not peace. What they're trying to do 207 00:20:31,920 --> 00:20:36,640 is just keep people from rocking the boat, keep it there from being a stirrer. So it's 208 00:20:36,640 --> 00:20:42,800 not true peace because true peace is only found in God and in Christ. So even those 209 00:20:42,800 --> 00:20:48,560 who are being peacekeepers, it's a very shallow, maybe we can put it that way, very shallow 210 00:20:48,560 --> 00:20:54,560 peace. But if Satan can come in and convince us that that's what we need to do, then he 211 00:20:54,560 --> 00:21:01,180 steals true peace, the peace that only comes from God and following God. The peace that 212 00:21:01,180 --> 00:21:06,300 sometimes causes us to have hard conversations that we don't want to have because we're pursuing 213 00:21:06,300 --> 00:21:12,800 that peace. We want peace. I want you to have peace. I want them to have peace. But when 214 00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:19,200 that peace is found only in Christ, then I can't accept that it's found somewhere else. 215 00:21:19,200 --> 00:21:27,240 But if Satan can steal those things or kill those things or destroy those things or even 216 00:21:27,240 --> 00:21:31,560 try to put a dent in it. Now, all of those things require, I think, and I think that's 217 00:21:31,560 --> 00:21:41,480 probably why God starts with truth, right? So gird yourself out with the belt of truth 218 00:21:41,480 --> 00:21:45,800 because truth keeps your pants up and all the others kind of, I think, build on it, 219 00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:54,120 right? You need to know what is true. Fact, what are the facts? And then your faith in 220 00:21:54,120 --> 00:22:00,760 the facts and then the feelings. So truth and then having Christ's righteousness, because 221 00:22:00,760 --> 00:22:06,720 you need the truth to do that, having that faith in the truth, all of those things. And 222 00:22:06,720 --> 00:22:12,760 I think with Satan, anytime and in any form that those things show up, Satan's gonna try 223 00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:19,540 to attack them. So the model of marriage, part of marriage is to show us God's love 224 00:22:19,540 --> 00:22:29,580 for His church, right? My love for my wife should be a good illustration of how God loves 225 00:22:29,580 --> 00:22:37,720 His church. Now, it's imperfect, but people should look at my marriage and go, that's 226 00:22:37,720 --> 00:22:45,560 good. And then be able to take the jump and go, oh, well, God uses the illustration of 227 00:22:45,560 --> 00:22:53,160 the church as the bride of Christ. The way that I am a father to my children should be 228 00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:59,840 a reflection of God's love, of God's boundaries, of God's discipline, all of those things. 229 00:22:59,840 --> 00:23:06,520 So in the ways that I am a good father, that should be a reflection of the Father God. 230 00:23:06,520 --> 00:23:13,160 And again, that's gonna be imperfect. But it can be, again, this good picture, say, 231 00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:20,240 oh, look, He's a good father. And that should reflect first and foremost to my children, 232 00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:26,480 but then to those outside. I need to be approachable by my children. My children should be able 233 00:23:26,480 --> 00:23:31,240 to come to me and know that they can come to me and bring it to me. I should be a reflection 234 00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:39,960 of God. So I hope that my children, when they mess up, go, I gotta go tell my dad, not, 235 00:23:39,960 --> 00:23:43,920 oh, poo, I can't tell my dad. Don't let anybody tell my dad, you know what, that's 236 00:23:43,920 --> 00:23:50,160 gonna kill me. I want them to know that I'm serious about sin. God's serious about sin. 237 00:23:50,160 --> 00:24:01,880 But so, Satan is going to do everything that he can to undermine those things, again, to 238 00:24:01,880 --> 00:24:03,360 steal, to take away. 239 00:24:03,360 --> 00:24:04,360 Yeah, yeah. 240 00:24:04,360 --> 00:24:11,720 Now, take it away. To kill, to slay it, to destroy. It destroys from two words. I just 241 00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:15,920 looked this up, by the way. It's not coming off the top of my head. I don't want anybody 242 00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:24,000 to see it. It comes from two words in the Greek, put together, away and to destroy, 243 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:33,600 or away and to lose. So if he can destroy, it means he can get that away from you, away 244 00:24:33,600 --> 00:24:39,160 from the truth, away from its existence, so that its loss is destroyed. So again, all 245 00:24:39,160 --> 00:24:45,760 these things kind of tie in and build on each other, steal, kill, and destroy. So yeah, 246 00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:49,720 he's gonna try to do that to the family. He's gonna try to do that to the family unit. He's 247 00:24:49,720 --> 00:24:53,600 gonna try to do that to anything that God, if he can pervert anything the way that God 248 00:24:53,600 --> 00:24:59,320 did. And we see that in our culture. You know, it's maybe an unpopular opinion, but we're 249 00:24:59,320 --> 00:25:08,000 like, well, when did God say this? Well, God made male and female, He made them, so that 250 00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:13,320 the son will leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and the two would become 251 00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:19,840 one flesh. This is God's model that they would be fruitful and multiply, so they would, 252 00:25:19,840 --> 00:25:27,840 again, they would reproduce the next generation, have children. And so this is God's model. 253 00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:35,960 So anything that we do, or anything that Satan does that he can do to convince us, oh, that's 254 00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:40,480 the wrong model, that's the stupid model, or let's skew that model. Oh yeah, homosexuality 255 00:25:40,480 --> 00:25:45,320 is okay, because love is love. Which is interesting, because a lot of times I think people don't 256 00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:51,200 even understand what love is. Just a lot of people that I talk about, they wanted to find 257 00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:55,800 love by a feeling and emotion. They're like, oh, well, we were in love, and then I fell 258 00:25:55,800 --> 00:26:00,080 out of love. Then I'm like, I don't think you understand what love is. That's not the 259 00:26:00,080 --> 00:26:03,760 way love works. Love's not emotion. Love's not a feeling. 260 00:26:03,760 --> 00:26:06,920 As Sinbad would joke, you ain't in love, you in heat. 261 00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:13,240 Right, right. And I think that's what we equate a lot of times love with is, oh, this person 262 00:26:13,240 --> 00:26:24,080 makes me feel good, this person. And again, so 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter. Anyway, 263 00:26:24,080 --> 00:26:29,960 but anytime that Satan can start to redefine those definitions, what is he doing? He's 264 00:26:29,960 --> 00:26:40,880 skewing, he's stealing, he's killing and destroying the truth or these things. So yeah, I mean, 265 00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:44,680 he's doing that all the time. He's trying to do that all the time, and we have to guard 266 00:26:44,680 --> 00:26:48,800 against that. And how do we do? Well, we got to go back to the armor of God and go back 267 00:26:48,800 --> 00:26:54,800 to God's truth. Not your truth, not my truth, not what I believe or you believe or Sam believes 268 00:26:54,800 --> 00:27:03,240 or anybody else, but what is God said is true. And then kind of build from there. 269 00:27:03,240 --> 00:27:13,440 And something that I remember you saying, because it's always been there, clearly, 270 00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:21,400 and I've known it, excuse me, but when we look at James, I think it's James 1, 8 that 271 00:27:21,400 --> 00:27:26,560 says, resist the devil and he will flee from you. If you back up a verse, it says, submit 272 00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:33,800 to God. Draw near to God. Sorry, draw near to God. Resist the devil and he will flee 273 00:27:33,800 --> 00:27:37,080 from you. So we've got- He will flee. 274 00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:40,000 He will flee, sorry, that's right. Not from you, he will flee. 275 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:47,600 He will flee. So draw near to God, he will draw near to you and then resist the devil. 276 00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:57,280 Then 1 Peter 5, 11, it says, not 5, 11, excuse me, 1 Peter 5, 8 says, be of sober spirit, 277 00:27:57,280 --> 00:28:00,660 be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking 278 00:28:00,660 --> 00:28:07,080 someone to devour. But if you back up a verse, or sorry, if you back up two verses, it says, 279 00:28:07,080 --> 00:28:10,200 therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God so that he may exalt you at the 280 00:28:10,200 --> 00:28:15,800 proper time, having cast all your anxiety on him because he cares about you. And then 281 00:28:15,800 --> 00:28:22,320 be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Like, I don't see those verses as being isolated, 282 00:28:22,320 --> 00:28:26,920 but rather sort of a direct correlation in if and then statement. 283 00:28:26,920 --> 00:28:29,880 And let's go back to the kill, steal, and destroy. 284 00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:31,960 Well, actually, I was about to, and it says- 285 00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:34,440 Let's read the rest of the verse there. 286 00:28:34,440 --> 00:28:46,960 Well it says, so verse 10, which is the steal, kill, and destroy, Jesus bookends it. So in 287 00:28:46,960 --> 00:28:50,240 verse 9, it says, I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved and will 288 00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:56,440 go in and out and find pasture. Verse 10, the thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. 289 00:28:56,440 --> 00:29:00,720 Semicolon, thank you very much, Jesus, for using a semicolon. I came so that they would 290 00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:05,920 have life and have it more abundantly. Or have it abundantly, excuse me, maybe not more 291 00:29:05,920 --> 00:29:11,960 abundantly. I didn't mean to add the word there. But yeah, so I mean, all of those are 292 00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:23,480 nestled in the idea that the only way that we as Christians can really combat Satan and 293 00:29:23,480 --> 00:29:29,440 his wiles is under the submission of God. 294 00:29:29,440 --> 00:29:34,880 Right, because God gives life. So Satan's trying to take it. He's trying to kill it, 295 00:29:34,880 --> 00:29:36,440 steal it, and destroy it. 296 00:29:36,440 --> 00:29:37,440 Okay. 297 00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:40,440 But God gives it abundantly. 298 00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:49,600 I want to press pause right here because I think this is something that, again, I don't 299 00:29:49,600 --> 00:29:58,360 know how to word this politely, that I think far too often in a church setting, we focus 300 00:29:58,360 --> 00:30:03,680 more on these big ideas, like we paint with a broad brush. I'm not saying you do this, 301 00:30:03,680 --> 00:30:08,160 Brad, but we paint with a broad brush. For instance, God gives life. Satan's trying to 302 00:30:08,160 --> 00:30:17,960 steal it. I think far too often in a church setting or a church conversational setting, 303 00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:25,800 we think about the word life as meaning like to live or not to live, which I definitely 304 00:30:25,800 --> 00:30:35,520 agree that that's part of the definition. But I also see life in the little bitty moments. 305 00:30:35,520 --> 00:30:44,840 So God gives life, and where God gives life is everywhere and in every moment. And Satan, 306 00:30:44,840 --> 00:30:50,200 from that perspective, is also trying to take away those little moments. It's not like, 307 00:30:50,200 --> 00:31:02,080 to me, Brad, and again, maybe I'm being too elementary about this, but when you say God 308 00:31:02,080 --> 00:31:09,160 gives life and Satan's trying to take that away, seriously, where my brain first goes 309 00:31:09,160 --> 00:31:17,560 is that big picture idea, which to me completely glosses over the day to day. Does that make 310 00:31:17,560 --> 00:31:18,560 sense? 311 00:31:18,560 --> 00:31:25,240 So the word life, zo or zoe, however you want to pronounce it... 312 00:31:25,240 --> 00:31:28,480 Zo-ee, Brad, zo-ee. 313 00:31:28,480 --> 00:31:40,240 Is both a physical and spiritual existence. So if I would understand that right, it refers 314 00:31:40,240 --> 00:31:46,200 to life in its fullest sense, encompassing both physical and spiritual dimensions. So 315 00:31:46,200 --> 00:31:51,880 our physical life now, our eternal life now, and every other thing that life encompasses. 316 00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:58,840 So from cellular biology to the universe. 317 00:31:58,840 --> 00:32:01,000 Yeah, that's exactly right. 318 00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:07,600 God gives life, and is giving life, and it's abundant, and that Satan is seeking to destroy 319 00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:16,360 that. So yes, now here's one thing that I want to point out, it's kind of a little corner, 320 00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:23,080 but I think it's important. Especially when we go in, okay, we talked about the family, 321 00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:26,640 and we've talked about homosexuality and all that stuff, but we have to be careful about 322 00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:34,080 it as the church, because Satan is very clever, and if he can't get us on one side, he'll 323 00:32:34,080 --> 00:32:37,240 run over to the other side and pull us the other direction. 324 00:32:37,240 --> 00:32:42,000 And this is another common narrative that I've heard very, very often. Go ahead, man. 325 00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:48,040 So in the sense, so when we say God says homosexuality is sin, that's not his model for marriage, 326 00:32:48,040 --> 00:32:56,040 that's not his model, it's wrong. So one of the things that we can, if we're not 327 00:32:56,040 --> 00:33:00,600 careful, is we rely on our flesh, and then we want to come out very aggressively and 328 00:33:00,600 --> 00:33:08,440 very angrily against the other side. When God warns us in James that the anger of man 329 00:33:08,440 --> 00:33:16,120 does not bring about God's righteousness. So we need to be sharing the truth in grace 330 00:33:16,120 --> 00:33:25,720 and love. We need to be seeing all that God's created people as bearing the image of God, 331 00:33:25,720 --> 00:33:35,680 of people who Christ died for, who are no greater sinners than we were, or in one sense 332 00:33:35,680 --> 00:33:42,080 outside of Christ are, and so need the same salvation that we need. But if we're not 333 00:33:42,080 --> 00:33:50,520 careful, we will fall into Satan's plan of destruction, thinking that we're doing God's 334 00:33:50,520 --> 00:33:56,040 will. And God says that, that there will be those, and he's telling the apostles and 335 00:33:56,040 --> 00:34:02,360 disciples, there will be those who will take you and cast you out, thinking they're doing 336 00:34:02,360 --> 00:34:09,560 God's service. So we have to be careful that we are, again, lovingly sharing the truth, 337 00:34:09,560 --> 00:34:16,120 right? That we're standing on God's truth. So we're saying, look, sin is sin. One of 338 00:34:16,120 --> 00:34:22,560 the things that we tend not to like, I think as Christians sometimes, is that gossip and 339 00:34:22,560 --> 00:34:29,080 slander and those things are listed right up there with homosexuality and murder. But 340 00:34:29,080 --> 00:34:37,360 we're a lot more okay with gossip, especially if we can turn it as a prayer request. But 341 00:34:37,360 --> 00:34:48,920 God puts it on the same plane as those things which we are, again, just so militant. We 342 00:34:48,920 --> 00:34:53,960 need to be about sharing the grace and love of Christ. And again, we need to do so in 343 00:34:53,960 --> 00:35:01,320 truth and love. We cannot say the things that God has said are wrong are good. Because look 344 00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:09,960 at that, back to James, right? We have old school LSD, lust, sin, death. Because lust 345 00:35:09,960 --> 00:35:16,160 or desires, which brings about sin, and sin when it's completed, or what about it, brings 346 00:35:16,160 --> 00:35:24,000 forth death. So that's Satan's destruction right there, right? Sin, no matter where and 347 00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:30,840 how, no matter how small we think it is. There's no greater lie than the fact that there is 348 00:35:30,840 --> 00:35:36,120 a little white lie. Like that's one of the greatest, I think, lies of Satan, is that 349 00:35:36,120 --> 00:35:42,200 little white lies exist. There's no such thing. You know, that's like saying, well, we just 350 00:35:42,200 --> 00:35:51,080 put a little bit of poison in your water. No, thank you. 351 00:35:51,080 --> 00:35:52,080 Or Iacan powder. 352 00:35:52,080 --> 00:35:53,080 Yeah, it's tasteless. 353 00:35:53,080 --> 00:36:03,520 It's odorless. No, dude, I've never heard anyone say about the little white lie like 354 00:36:03,520 --> 00:36:13,880 you just did. That's pretty profound. And yeah, you're exactly right that anything that 355 00:36:13,880 --> 00:36:24,960 is for God, Satan is trying to do the opposite. So again, kind of coming back to when I heard 356 00:36:24,960 --> 00:36:35,680 that, that Satan seeks to steal, kill, and destroy, and that he wants to tear apart families, 357 00:36:35,680 --> 00:36:44,120 I remember thinking, okay, not that I disagree with it, but how? And here, like Brad, what 358 00:36:44,120 --> 00:36:51,600 you're doing, like I say this, I've said this before on the show, you're being very direct 359 00:36:51,600 --> 00:36:59,400 in a bunch of different areas. I think the thing that I would say is sort of monkeying 360 00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:06,000 and weaseling, and that is really, really hard to crank up the conversation about is, 361 00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:10,640 well, how does he actually do that? Like, how does that play out in marriages? How does 362 00:37:10,640 --> 00:37:18,400 that play out in families? And lying is definitely one of them. But like, 363 00:37:18,400 --> 00:37:27,520 So there's lying, right? And they're skewing the truth. So if I'm saying something that 364 00:37:27,520 --> 00:37:34,520 is untrue, I say something to your sister, who's my wife, and I tell her something that's 365 00:37:34,520 --> 00:37:43,040 untrue and I'm lying to her, right? So I'm lying. But if I'm believing something that's 366 00:37:43,040 --> 00:37:48,440 untrue, that's still a lie, but it's not a lie. I'm spreading, I'm telling. I'm not being 367 00:37:48,440 --> 00:37:53,920 a liar, but I'm believing a lie. And a lot of times I think that's where Satan does, 368 00:37:53,920 --> 00:38:04,240 is he loves doubt. He loves to plant these seeds of doubt. Can I trust my spouse? And 369 00:38:04,240 --> 00:38:09,200 then once those seeds are planted, or can I trust my kids or whatever, and once those 370 00:38:09,200 --> 00:38:16,760 seeds are planted, then what tends to grow out of that, if we're not careful, is that 371 00:38:16,760 --> 00:38:24,040 suspicion, and then we're going to go, you know, my wife may be going behind my back 372 00:38:24,040 --> 00:38:29,960 to buy me a gift that she doesn't want me to know about, right? And she's got my children 373 00:38:29,960 --> 00:38:34,440 in there, hey, we're keeping this secret from Dad because we're going to surprise him. 374 00:38:34,440 --> 00:38:35,440 Sure. 375 00:38:35,440 --> 00:38:40,800 But if I've got that seed of doubt planted in me, now I'm going to look at everything 376 00:38:40,800 --> 00:38:50,320 they're doing as a deception that is, well, they're hiding something from me, and is 377 00:38:50,320 --> 00:38:51,640 she having an affair? 378 00:38:51,640 --> 00:38:53,120 It's malicious, yeah. 379 00:38:53,120 --> 00:39:00,480 And so I think those things, Satan will use really small things. I think we look out for 380 00:39:00,480 --> 00:39:09,000 the big things, right? There's a story about this guy who had a vineyard, and these big 381 00:39:09,000 --> 00:39:16,200 foxes would come in and he'd run them out with a stick. One day, these cute little baby 382 00:39:16,200 --> 00:39:21,520 foxes came in and they were adorable and they were so cute, and so he didn't run them out 383 00:39:21,520 --> 00:39:25,880 with a stick. Who can run the baby fox out with a stick? That's just wrong. But then 384 00:39:25,880 --> 00:39:32,080 he turned around and realized that they'd ate up his vineyard. See, he didn't see them 385 00:39:32,080 --> 00:39:39,800 as the enemy because they were small. They were cute. It wasn't problematic. Satan, 386 00:39:39,800 --> 00:39:45,920 more often than not, I think uses those things that fly under our radar than the huge things 387 00:39:45,920 --> 00:39:53,040 that we're guarding against, right? We're looking for, we're ready for this full-on 388 00:39:53,040 --> 00:40:01,520 army to show up at the gate. We're not looking for the sweet old lady who's bringing in heresy 389 00:40:01,520 --> 00:40:09,120 or accusing, because that's what Satan does, right? He's accuser of the brethren. So, 390 00:40:09,120 --> 00:40:18,200 oh, my friend who, so-and-so, who is constantly sowing seeds of doubt about my marriage, about 391 00:40:18,200 --> 00:40:23,240 my wife, well, she did that, she said that, or he did that, or he said that, oh, that's 392 00:40:23,240 --> 00:40:30,200 not loving. And sometimes it's not even that the people are intending to. Let me give you 393 00:40:30,200 --> 00:40:36,000 an example that I'll share on your sister, which I think she'd be okay with, because 394 00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:37,680 it's a learning curve. 395 00:40:37,680 --> 00:40:41,320 She's about to be. 396 00:40:41,320 --> 00:40:46,720 You know, one of her best friends in the world, you know, and they would be talking about 397 00:40:46,720 --> 00:40:55,880 things that their husbands do. And Tabby loves her husband. And so I am the model, again, 398 00:40:55,880 --> 00:41:01,800 that she tends to look for as, oh, this is, I like when he does this, this is good, and 399 00:41:01,800 --> 00:41:09,520 her friend's husband weren't doing those things. So Tabby was unintentionally, though, 400 00:41:09,520 --> 00:41:15,680 becoming overly critical of her friend's husband, because he wasn't me. And at one point her 401 00:41:15,680 --> 00:41:20,320 friend went, I'm not married to your husband. I'm not married to Brad. I don't want to 402 00:41:20,320 --> 00:41:24,840 be married to Brad. And you need to stop trying to make my husband your husband, you know, 403 00:41:24,840 --> 00:41:31,000 in that sense. And Tabby really needed to hear that, because she wasn't acknowledging 404 00:41:31,000 --> 00:41:38,040 she was doing that. But Satan will use little things like that. So sometimes the lies come 405 00:41:38,040 --> 00:41:46,160 in not from the actual enemy, but from the friends who weren't intending to be an enemy. 406 00:41:46,160 --> 00:41:54,560 And what I want to do, Brad, is seriously just go full circle here that this is how 407 00:41:54,560 --> 00:42:04,320 important the community of Christians is as well. So in all of these scriptural cases 408 00:42:04,320 --> 00:42:11,280 that we've got in 1 Peter 5 and John 10 and James 1, you know, we've got, again, we've 409 00:42:11,280 --> 00:42:19,960 got the beginning of submit to God in some fashion, followed by basically this is how 410 00:42:19,960 --> 00:42:29,560 you will defeat the wiles of Satan in, you know, whatever context. But beyond that, and 411 00:42:29,560 --> 00:42:34,880 when I say beyond that, this is a big beyond that, I think it'd be really easy to create 412 00:42:34,880 --> 00:42:46,160 a very, very sexy argument on all I need is Jesus and nothing else, zero. And I would 413 00:42:46,160 --> 00:42:50,360 be willing to say there's a very, very large amount of truth in that. But there's also 414 00:42:50,360 --> 00:42:55,400 some, there's also a lie that you're believing in that, which is that you need, which is 415 00:42:55,400 --> 00:43:01,800 that you don't need Christ's church. All you need is Jesus. I don't need, that's it. And 416 00:43:01,800 --> 00:43:08,000 so to me, the full circle here is the community of followers, the community of faith. How 417 00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:18,200 is it that we are actually to continue or maybe not continue, how are we to deepen and 418 00:43:18,200 --> 00:43:23,160 protect ourselves against the little bitties that you're talking about, these itty bitty 419 00:43:23,160 --> 00:43:31,440 seeds? And I would say, Brad, that we submit to God and we have to do that. And sometimes 420 00:43:31,440 --> 00:43:36,520 we're going to be great at it. Sometimes we're going to suck at it. But we need to be a part 421 00:43:36,520 --> 00:43:45,240 of the communion of faith to have not just accountability, not just to have fellow disciplers, 422 00:43:45,240 --> 00:43:51,840 but to also have, as you mentioned with Tabitha, somebody to speak into your life to say, whoa, 423 00:43:51,840 --> 00:43:58,760 time out. You're taking this in a direction that it doesn't really need to go. 424 00:43:58,760 --> 00:44:05,040 So I'm going to agree with you and disagree with you at the same time. Because all we 425 00:44:05,040 --> 00:44:11,520 need is Jesus. But what we want to do, what some people want to do, is separate Christ's 426 00:44:11,520 --> 00:44:17,840 church from Christ. He is the head of the body. So you can't come talk to my head without 427 00:44:17,840 --> 00:44:24,840 talking to my body. You can't come be a part of me and divorce part of me. It's all or 428 00:44:24,840 --> 00:44:30,640 nothing. So Christ is enough. But you can't separate Christ from His church. And again, 429 00:44:30,640 --> 00:44:36,320 I look at the model of marriage. There's me and my wife. The Bible says that we come together 430 00:44:36,320 --> 00:44:45,800 and we become one flesh. We're one unit. We're one. You're going to find it very problematic 431 00:44:45,800 --> 00:44:53,760 to be my friend and despise my wife. I'm just going to tell you right now, that's not going 432 00:44:53,760 --> 00:44:54,760 to work. 433 00:44:54,760 --> 00:44:55,760 Why? 434 00:44:55,760 --> 00:45:04,560 Because she is me and I am her. I am in her, she is in me. And again, this is a family 435 00:45:04,560 --> 00:45:11,800 show. So we're talking about it in a spiritual sense. 436 00:45:11,800 --> 00:45:16,080 Trying to find my happy place right now, Brett. 437 00:45:16,080 --> 00:45:24,240 So I think that's the thing. We're trying to separate two inseparable things. If God 438 00:45:24,240 --> 00:45:30,080 is the head of His church, and again, then the church is the body. You can't do that. 439 00:45:30,080 --> 00:45:36,880 Now again, can I be a Christian without going to church? Yes, you can be saved. The thief 440 00:45:36,880 --> 00:45:46,800 on the cross never went to church. However, can I be an obedient Christian? No. No. And 441 00:45:46,800 --> 00:45:49,800 not go to church. 442 00:45:49,800 --> 00:45:55,200 Thank you for clarifying. I definitely did not mean to convolute the argument, but I 443 00:45:55,200 --> 00:46:00,320 think it would be an easy out. And I think that that actually, I think that that would 444 00:46:00,320 --> 00:46:05,440 fall in line with what you're talking about. That's one of these little bitty seeds. And 445 00:46:05,440 --> 00:46:10,160 it's a sexy one. It looks like it's helping. 446 00:46:10,160 --> 00:46:17,320 We want to define that as something it's not. Again, getting back to Galatians, that's part 447 00:46:17,320 --> 00:46:20,600 of where the Judaizers were coming in. They were going, okay, well, you're Christian, 448 00:46:20,600 --> 00:46:24,920 well, you've got to be circumcised. Because you've got to follow the law. You've got to 449 00:46:24,920 --> 00:46:25,920 be part of it. 450 00:46:25,920 --> 00:46:31,000 And I mentioned that I'm going through Titus. The Cretans did the same thing. Yeah, go ahead. 451 00:46:31,000 --> 00:46:40,600 They're adding to the gospel. And it seems like it's not a big deal. And that's one of 452 00:46:40,600 --> 00:46:45,160 the things. It's not a big deal. Well, then Paul comes in and he goes, no, not only is 453 00:46:45,160 --> 00:46:52,800 it a big deal, you're believing the gospel that's not the gospel. And then he says twice, 454 00:46:52,800 --> 00:46:57,320 and I think I said this to you maybe last episode, like, anybody who's going to preach 455 00:46:57,320 --> 00:47:02,960 the gospel that's not the gospel should be cursed. I say again, they should be cursed. 456 00:47:02,960 --> 00:47:07,720 I mean, this is very strong verbiage. Because what seems like a small thing is actually 457 00:47:07,720 --> 00:47:14,280 a big thing. Because a lot of times Satan works in those small things to undermine those 458 00:47:14,280 --> 00:47:21,640 things. So there's, I mean, again, to me, I think that's the answer that I have for 459 00:47:21,640 --> 00:47:25,960 you is how does Satan do this? A thousand different ways, a million different ways. 460 00:47:25,960 --> 00:47:27,280 A thousand different ways. It's exactly right. Yes. 461 00:47:27,280 --> 00:47:41,320 With small things. Because we're guarding against the big foxes. Sometimes I'm too careful, 462 00:47:41,320 --> 00:47:48,360 Jay. Sometimes I'm too careful with the words that I say and I'm afraid. So I'm just going 463 00:47:48,360 --> 00:47:49,360 to throw this out there. 464 00:47:49,360 --> 00:47:52,360 You throw it, man. 465 00:47:52,360 --> 00:48:02,960 There have been people who are Christian people whose son or daughter came out as gay, as 466 00:48:02,960 --> 00:48:11,240 a homosexual, LGBTQ, whatever. And it's a huge deal. And then they turn around and, 467 00:48:11,240 --> 00:48:20,040 okay, now they're in a relationship that is heterosexual, but they're living together, 468 00:48:20,040 --> 00:48:22,480 they're sleeping together, having sex, they're doing all this. 469 00:48:22,480 --> 00:48:23,480 Exactly what you're going to do. 470 00:48:23,480 --> 00:48:28,080 And then they're happy. They're like, okay, well, at least they're not gay. No, they're 471 00:48:28,080 --> 00:48:33,840 just as far away from the truth of Christ. They're just as much struggling with sin. 472 00:48:33,840 --> 00:48:40,560 It's just a different sin, but it's a sin that is more acceptable. It's a sin that's 473 00:48:40,560 --> 00:48:48,520 natural. All sin is natural in the sense of our humanity. All sin is pulling us toward 474 00:48:48,520 --> 00:48:57,960 our own desires. Right. So sin is there, so let's not go, oh, well, because for us, what's 475 00:48:57,960 --> 00:49:04,880 a lesser sin? It's not. It's just as much against the family. It's just as much attacking 476 00:49:04,880 --> 00:49:10,120 the life of God and the truth of God and the life that God wants for the people. And I 477 00:49:10,120 --> 00:49:17,240 think we've got to acknowledge that. We've got to acknowledge that, that going over the 478 00:49:17,240 --> 00:49:24,360 circle and just going to a different sin, which is keeping them equidistance from God, 479 00:49:24,360 --> 00:49:30,960 they're just as far away from God as they were before, but we're more okay with it. 480 00:49:30,960 --> 00:49:38,680 Or the opposite could be true for some people. Probably not most, but I mean, in a sense, 481 00:49:38,680 --> 00:49:48,240 acknowledge A and B and use some other sin. And it's just, you know, we've got to acknowledge 482 00:49:48,240 --> 00:49:58,080 those things that they're both wrong. They both need to be, you know, again, called out 483 00:49:58,080 --> 00:50:03,440 in grace and love, with grace and love. Because I think that's, to me too, one of the biggest 484 00:50:03,440 --> 00:50:08,360 things I think that most Christians that I know struggle with is how do you stand against 485 00:50:08,360 --> 00:50:16,320 sin in grace and love? Because we're really good at standing against sin with sin, sinfully. 486 00:50:16,320 --> 00:50:21,900 And then I think Satan wins. Because when we burden our anger, when we're splashing 487 00:50:21,900 --> 00:50:27,200 out hatred and all of these things, God says the anger of man does not bring about the 488 00:50:27,200 --> 00:50:32,040 righteousness of God. Now, he tells us there's things to be angry about, anger and don't 489 00:50:32,040 --> 00:50:38,480 sin, but we struggle with the latter part, the sin. So, because when our anger becomes 490 00:50:38,480 --> 00:50:48,520 sin or brings us to sin, then we need to turn back to Christ and repent. We need to do that. 491 00:50:48,520 --> 00:50:55,480 And okay, redo, let's try this again, because we're not doing it right. Our life, our life 492 00:50:55,480 --> 00:51:05,640 as the church to those who are homosexual or those who are liars or drunkers or prostitutes 493 00:51:05,640 --> 00:51:17,160 or whatever, drug abusers, gluttonous, whatever sin, our life as the church should show them 494 00:51:17,160 --> 00:51:29,960 the love of Christ. Come and be healed. Come and have life. Not be beating people to death. 495 00:51:29,960 --> 00:51:42,640 Well, and what I was going to say, Brad, was you mentioned the way that if someone's sin 496 00:51:42,640 --> 00:51:51,560 and dealing with that brings you to sin, I think, I'm not going to use the word natural 497 00:51:51,560 --> 00:52:01,100 because I just don't know the source of it, but it feels natural. It feels like the acceptable 498 00:52:01,100 --> 00:52:11,060 opposite to use condemnation as the way to clean it. When in actuality, that's not even 499 00:52:11,060 --> 00:52:22,160 up to us. We don't get to do that. And if we're already off topic, then we're off topic. 500 00:52:22,160 --> 00:52:31,520 But how does Satan seek to steal, kill and destroy the family unit? I think that, and 501 00:52:31,520 --> 00:52:37,120 you mentioned there's a billion different ways. And I understood that it was going to 502 00:52:37,120 --> 00:52:47,440 be a messy topic from the get go. I knew that. But I don't think that Satan only focuses 503 00:52:47,440 --> 00:52:54,240 on the family unit. I think he also focuses on the individual apart from the family, which 504 00:52:54,240 --> 00:53:04,260 actually is at least in concept. I don't think we're very good about thinking about this 505 00:53:04,260 --> 00:53:10,200 from day to day, but it's also that right there is in concept, in exact parallel to 506 00:53:10,200 --> 00:53:14,880 saying I can be a Christian and not go to church. You can't separate Christ from his 507 00:53:14,880 --> 00:53:21,680 church in the same way that if Satan doesn't just focus on attacking the family unit, but 508 00:53:21,680 --> 00:53:28,880 attacking, say, me and Shara or you and Tabitha or whatever the case is, and almost splitting 509 00:53:28,880 --> 00:53:36,840 us as individuals dealing with whatever we're dealing with apart from each other, that is 510 00:53:36,840 --> 00:53:44,680 the same in concept. And so I've got to teach in eight minutes. But again, I knew that this 511 00:53:44,680 --> 00:53:53,480 was going to be a messy topic. So do you have any closing thoughts, Brad? What do you think? 512 00:53:53,480 --> 00:53:59,080 So let me close this thought, which is totally not on par with everything else that we've 513 00:53:59,080 --> 00:54:01,720 talked about, but looking at the scripture we're talking about, because it brings us, 514 00:54:01,720 --> 00:54:07,800 I think, full circle to something we talked about a few weeks ago. Verse 12, he who is 515 00:54:07,800 --> 00:54:11,900 a hired hand and not a shepherd, who's not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming 516 00:54:11,900 --> 00:54:15,960 and leaves the sheep and flees and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees 517 00:54:15,960 --> 00:54:22,920 because he's a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. That's one of the reasons 518 00:54:22,920 --> 00:54:28,440 why I think it's important that as a pastor, people don't look at it as my job, because 519 00:54:28,440 --> 00:54:35,120 if it's my job, I'm a hired hand. And when the wolf comes, then I'm going to run, because 520 00:54:35,120 --> 00:54:40,280 it's just my job, and I'll find another job somewhere else. It's not worth my life. Whereas 521 00:54:40,280 --> 00:54:46,000 if it's my calling and I'm part of the family of God and I'm an under-shepherd, under-scare, 522 00:54:46,000 --> 00:54:52,280 now it's my family. It's my family, it's my calling, it's not my job. It's my job, 523 00:54:52,280 --> 00:54:58,920 and I'm going to run off. But again, I think it's a small thing that if we're not careful, 524 00:54:58,920 --> 00:55:03,400 the end of itself may be innocuous, and that's sometimes how Satan works. The end itself 525 00:55:03,400 --> 00:55:11,400 is not an issue, but it may grow into something like, oh well, the pastor's just a hired guy. 526 00:55:11,400 --> 00:55:21,520 Well, if that's the case, then when the wolves come, better not run to your pastor because 527 00:55:21,520 --> 00:55:22,800 he's just going to run. 528 00:55:22,800 --> 00:55:23,800 He's going to run. 529 00:55:23,800 --> 00:55:24,800 Yeah. 530 00:55:24,800 --> 00:55:28,320 Don't run. Unless you run to Jesus. 531 00:55:28,320 --> 00:55:30,000 Unless you run to Jesus, then you can run. 532 00:55:30,000 --> 00:55:31,000 Always run to Jesus. 533 00:55:31,000 --> 00:55:32,000 Whew. 534 00:55:32,000 --> 00:55:34,840 Wow, that was heavy. It's crazy. 535 00:55:34,840 --> 00:55:42,880 That was really heavy. Listeners, thank you so much for hanging out with us. Sorry that... 536 00:55:42,880 --> 00:55:47,040 Go listen to our game one. That was a lot lighter. If you need something lighter now, 537 00:55:47,040 --> 00:55:53,560 go watch an episode of the Looney Tunes or something. Get this heaviness. 538 00:55:53,560 --> 00:56:01,280 I hope that, Brad, I hope that this ep came out the same way that last week's ep did because 539 00:56:01,280 --> 00:56:05,440 last week's ep, I thought for sure was going to... I thought it was going to be a dumpster 540 00:56:05,440 --> 00:56:10,000 fire. I went back and listened to it and I was like, dude, that came out really well. 541 00:56:10,000 --> 00:56:15,280 So I'm hoping that this week's ep does the same thing. But listeners, thank you so much 542 00:56:15,280 --> 00:56:21,560 for hanging out with us. If you're new to the show, please rate, review, subscribe to 543 00:56:21,560 --> 00:56:28,480 the show so that you can get notifications when there's a new show that drops. We will 544 00:56:28,480 --> 00:56:33,040 soon, if you're in the West Tennessee... No, no, not West Tennessee area. If you're a listener 545 00:56:33,040 --> 00:56:40,840 to the show, we will very soon... Brad and I will soon have a YouTube channel. We are 546 00:56:40,840 --> 00:56:49,040 going to be posting up all of our podcasts on YouTube so that you can... Because apparently 547 00:56:49,040 --> 00:56:52,000 people like to do this, but you can watch us have a conversation. 548 00:56:52,000 --> 00:56:56,280 They will look at us. You can look at us. That's right. 549 00:56:56,280 --> 00:57:02,720 That's so pretty. Brad, by the way... So today's February 20th. Brad is using a brand 550 00:57:02,720 --> 00:57:09,720 new webcam and I will be upgrading mine here extremely soon as well. But yeah, so be on 551 00:57:09,720 --> 00:57:15,000 the lookout for that announcement when we've got a YouTube channel, but share our show. 552 00:57:15,000 --> 00:57:20,280 Let every people know, let everybody that you know, know about this show. And please 553 00:57:20,280 --> 00:57:25,480 let us know what your thoughts are. Brad, we've had a wonderful response in the last 554 00:57:25,480 --> 00:57:32,120 several weeks about video games and last week's episode, which was, who's somebody that has 555 00:57:32,120 --> 00:57:37,680 been central to the spiritual maturity. This is really cool that the audience is starting 556 00:57:37,680 --> 00:57:45,760 to engage with this. It's really fun. But yeah, let us know what your thoughts are. 557 00:57:45,760 --> 00:57:53,960 If there are topics that you want us to tackle, we have an email account, menchurchstuffatgmail.com. 558 00:57:53,960 --> 00:57:59,320 I'm going to guess, Brad, that by the summer... I think by the summer it's sort of a soft 559 00:57:59,320 --> 00:58:06,640 goal for me that we can at least have a website up. But no, the YouTube channel is certainly 560 00:58:06,640 --> 00:58:11,360 going to happen before the summer for sure. And if you are in the West Tennessee area, 561 00:58:11,360 --> 00:58:20,360 then be also on the lookout for our YouTube shows to be played at the Green Frog Coffee 562 00:58:20,360 --> 00:58:28,240 locations. So yeah, there's a lot of stuff happening and yeah, come back for next week 563 00:58:28,240 --> 00:58:31,920 for another show. Be on that, Brad. I love you, buddy. 564 00:58:31,920 --> 00:58:33,480 Love you too. 565 00:58:33,480 --> 00:58:39,200 Listeners, we love you. We will catch you next time.