Welcome, this is the Men Church Stuff Podcast.
This is the show where brothers -in -law DJ Culp
and Brad Coleman talk about stuff from our perspective
as men. It's a show for anyone who wants to hear
how Christians interact with the world. And don't
worry, we're real. We've grown up in church,
and we want to share our experiences with you.
We'll talk life stuff, church stuff, man stuff,
and stuff stuff. Here we go. Greetings, listeners
here and there and everywhere all across the
land. This is the Men's Church Stuff Podcast.
I am one of your hosts, DJ Culp. As always, here
with my beloved brother -in -law, Brad Coleman.
What's up, man? It is wonderful to see you. Thanks.
You're welcome. And you guys can see us too.
That's right. Tune in on our YouTube channel.
That's right. We do have a YouTube channel. Yeah,
so listeners, if you haven't caught on yet, we
do have a YouTube channel. It is youtube .com
backslash at. like the at symbol men church stuff.
And that'll take you, we've got, that'll take
you to the channel. I think we've got 22 videos
now. So slowly but surely I will be, I will be
adding our backlog to YouTube. But we do have
that up and running. We are not going to do a
dramatic reading. We're going to press pause
on that because Brad and I, we agree that we
don't want to do it every single week because
we might just sort of beat it to death. But guys,
keep giving us some song recommendations for
us to be able to get into our library. And Brad
can say, oh, DJ, I think that you should do that
one. And I'll roll my eyes and think, Crap, here
we go. So, yeah. If you go listen to last week's
show, you will get to hear me read, dramatically
read Taylor Swift's Shake It Off. And by the
end of it, I was really, really done shaking
it off. Sort of like, Brad, sort of like to me,
I like to tell my students, because of the late
90s and early 2000s, I've traded my sorrows.
I have. I did enough of it. You were shook. I'm
shook. I'm shook. I shook it off. So, as promised
from last week, listeners, we are going to continue
our conversation because I just don't think that
Brad and I were able to kind of get to a concrete
point enough that I want to be able to at least
tease out some. However, we are going to start
with... memes with Brad Brad Brad Brad I don't
have I don't have like a little mixer to where
I can get like the echo in real time So I gave
you one Brad All right, so so here's here's here's
the game. I'm gonna I'm gonna and I'm pretty
pretty relentless relentless with this, but I'm
going to Give Brad a meme And he is going to
do a sermon illustration based on the meme. And
for listeners who, if you're new to the show,
here's the way that I like to do things. I don't
like to give Brad softball memes. I only gave
him one last time. And if you want to go back,
we've got a whole show that's dedicated to it.
It's called Memes with Brad. Brad? Brab. Memes
with Brab. You changed my name. Yeah. Could call
you Bradford. To protect the guilty. I mean,
innocent. But I'm going to throw up a meme that
will make me laugh or that will make Brad laugh.
Hopefully it will make you laugh. And then Brad
has to, as a pastor, like kind of ruin the comedy
and make it a sermon demonstration. Sorry, Brad.
Stupid pastors ruining everything. Stupid pastors,
that's right. Ruining all our fun. All right,
Brad. Meme number one. Here we go. Always remember
that if you fall, I will pick you up after I
finish laughing. So for me, and I've been thinking
about this, and I think I would do this, is Jesus.
had a sense of humor. Jesus has a sense of humor.
God has a sense of humor. And I think we forget
that. I think we absolutely just ignore the fact
that God, one, invented laughter. And so I think
there's several times when Jesus probably was
just kind of laughing at the apostles, kind of
like when you laugh at your kids. And although
sometimes you may not even do it like, oh, I
can't laugh at their face. I was just wondering
how many times he walked around the corner or
when he's going off to talk to the father, right?
All right, you guys stay here. That's right.
Walks off. Did you see that, dude? Did you hear
that? How ridiculous that was. That's right.
James and John's mom? Oh, my goodness. That's
right, James and John's mom. Also, somebody always
pointed out, too, like Jesus is using illustrations,
right? When he talks about getting the beam out
of your own eye, there's a splinter. Like, think
about that visually. Yeah. Like, you're just
visualizing a guy with a two -by -four hanging
out of his eye going, Dude, you got a splinter
in your eye. I mean, I think there's supposed
to be some level of humor. But again, we look
at the natural world. You got farts. You got
the duck -billed platypus. All of these kind
of crazy things. So I think that. I was like,
you know what? God's a good father. And yeah,
I'm going to help you out. Oh, that's hilarious.
I'm going to laugh at you. I could totally see
in my head the angels going, God. What was that
sound? And God said, well, that's air coming
out of their butt. Isn't that nasty? Yeah, it
actually is. But don't worry. They're going to
think it's hilarious. The gas -powered trumpet
on the back end. That's right. No, it's going
to be good. It's going to be good. It's going
to be good. Forever. It's going to be good. It's
a great equalizer. I wonder if every time somebody
farts and laughs, God cuts his eyes off right
at the angels and goes, see? It's going to make
some stuck -in -the -mud people so uncomfortable.
That's right. It's really going to mess with
the Pharisees. Just wait. Yes, it is. I think
Jesus ever cut one, like, and they're looking
at him like, did you just, like, what? What?
Like you don't? Everybody does. I know for a
fact. That's the way I designed you. That's right.
All right, Brad. Next meme. Here we go. All right.
Nice sign. Next time you're afraid to share ideas,
remember someone once said in a meeting. let's
make a film with a tornado full of sharks brilliant
let me just say the sharknado when i was a youth
pastor was an unofficial started with i watched
it with one youth and then after that every shark
week Like for like the first four, because they
would come out with like a new one for every
Shark Week. We would get together and watch the
Sharknado movies. Did you really? Oh my gosh.
Again, it was not an official youth group, like
church sanction activity, but they came over
to me and Tabby and like we'd get gummy sharks
and we would just watch the movies and talk about
their ridiculousness. Where would I go with this?
Maybe that sometimes, and again, not that God's
sharpnado is this, but sometimes God's way and
God's method seems off to us. Like how Gideon
wins the war. Because really, God wins, but he
calls Gideon this valiant warrior. All right,
I'm going to take 300 guys, and you're going
to have a torch in one hand in a pot, and you're
going to have a trumpet in the other, and we're
all going to surround them all around. And then
when I give the signal, you're going to bust
the pot and blow the trumpet. Way to go, Brad.
Way to go. And it worked! Because God confuses.
The enemy, they're fighting against themselves.
Brad, you're a genius. 300 guys. 300 guys. Sharknado
an entire people. And win. And because, dude,
you know, I've never thought about this. You
know, after all that's over with, Gideon and
his men are going. That worked? Yeah, there's
some guy going, I didn't think that was going
to work. I thought we were all going to die.
That was a dumb idea. I was like, all right,
God told you to do this. I guess we're going
to find out. That's right. You know how many
of those guys are down there, right? Yeah, right.
What happens when they call our bluff? Oh, that's
good. Good job, Brad. Well done, man. Yeah. All
right, let's do one more. Either number 15 or
number 18. Which one do you want? Oh, let's go
with 18. 18. Oh, yes. Thank you, Brad. Thank
you, Brad. I can't put this one on my door, but
I want you so bad. All right, Jesus. Be kind
to everyone. Kind of sermon on the mount. Be
kind to everyone. Wait, even Gary? Yeah, Gary's
the worst. Look, we've been through this. Yes,
be kind to Gary as well. Ha! Suck it, losers!
Not now, Gary. I wasn't ready for that. I just
can't get it out of my mouth. Ladies and gentlemen,
listeners, please mark your calendars. Like I
have known Brad for 20 years. I can count probably
on one hand that I've ever seen Brad tickled
to where he's like almost belly laughing. It
took me 88 episodes, but I did it. I'm stuck
at losers. Not now, Gary. Not now, Gary. Yeah,
yeah, take it off the screen. Every time I look
back down, it's like. I think, you know, Jesus
tells us to love our enemies, one. Right. That's
the easy one. But, like, he says if you love
and do good, basically, to only those who do
good to you, then what good is that? Like, even
the Pharisees do that. Even the tax collector.
The IRS guys like each other. Yeah. You know,
like so like don't act like you're doing something
when you're you're loving people that love you
back. Like it's really like love is shown when
you're loving people that don't love you back.
I love that, by the way. I'm. That's fantastic.
But I think that's such. But that's such a good
point for so much of the scripture, honestly.
Yeah. Because it's like, okay, do what God says,
and then people are going to like us and be nice
to us. No. They hated Jesus. Yeah. Why? Because
he was hateable? No. They hated the most unhateable
being man ever. Like, here is the author of love
and grace and laughter. And it's like, you know
what? Let's crucify him. So you, who are not
the author of love, grace, laughter, we've all
got a little Gary in us. We do. Dude, you're
right. Yes, we do. If they hated Jesus, they're
definitely going to hate you if you're following
Jesus. You're not even as good as Jesus. But
I think, yeah, I'm going to kind of love your
enemies. I mean, I can also go with, like, I
think some of the times, like, we want to be
like, oh, man, if we had all 12 of the apostles
just come over to church, it would be awesome.
And I'm like. It would probably be madhouse because
those guys, like I bet some of the fights and
some of the disagreements, and we're privy to
a few of them. I mean, they're hardcore arguing
which one of them is greatest. Yeah. And they're
all arguing it's them. Yep. And like Paul, Paul
scolds Peter publicly. I can almost change Gary
to Peter. That's actually right. You're right.
Suck it, losers. Even Peter. Suck it, losers.
Peter. Not now. Not now. I need you to be a little
more. A little less Simon right now. A little
more. I think that's how. Hey, not now, Simon.
Yeah, not now. Hey, my name. It is right now.
It is. All right. Well done, Brad. I'm glad that
you got a kick out of it. Yes. That's one. Actually,
Brad. Seriously, that is one of the that has
been one of the hopes for me for a long time.
I love like when in listeners. I know. I know
that. Right now it's just kind of testimony.
But when me, dad, and Brad are fishing, really
outside of maybe like silly board games like
Relative Insanity or Pun Intended, something
like that, those are the times that I see Brad
like laugh. I mean like really laugh. And I finally
got you to do that on the show. I've been wanting
to do that so bad. So and it's and it's not because
like Brad's a, you know, a killjoy or anything.
It's when like when when when Brad goes, that's
a laugh like that. Like that's a that's a that's
a that's a that's almost like a belly laugh for
me because I'm I obviously laugh pretty easily.
Anyways. Here we go. Let's get into the topic.
Brad, one of the things that I really kind of
wanted to chase in part two dealing with jobs
and ministry that we were discussing last week
was this idea that, again, just to kind of rehash
the epiphany that I had last week was when I
say the business model. I'm referring more towards
the way that we as as American citizens, Western
citizens experience and are conditioned to thinking
about a job or a career. And the epiphany that
I had was that in the business model, the individual
can be replaced. The individual is not important.
Yes, I think that there are like there's a lot
of people who work with with wonderful folks.
who deem them important, but a job is a job.
Like, the way that our economy is set up is based
upon the product and the consumer base, not the
person who is doing it, right? I think, for me,
the artisanship of something has dwindled exponentially
since long before you and I were born. Don't
fire the IT guy that wrote the code. Dude, you're
not wrong, man. It's exactly right. Or have him
write the code, and now you've got the code,
then you can fire him. And actually, that happens
a ton, right? Well, they write those bugs in
there. Oh, is it not working the way it's supposed
to? Oh, is it not working? That's right. Am I
the only one that can get it to work that way?
Well, you fired me, so if you want to bring it
back. It's going to cost you twice as much to
hire me back. And I've heard of that happening.
We're undervaluing people. But again, that's
not the point we're going for. But the idea is
that the business model is that the individual
can be replaced. In your experience, have you
ever put or viewed the role of a pastor or the
role of a minister in the same limelight? And
I'm trying to consolidate. these thoughts to
like just a single sentence, but have you ever
viewed the role of a pastor in the same way as,
as you mentioned last week, a McDonald's burger
flipper or a construction worker or something
like that? Well, and I, here's where it's difficult.
All right. Because I can't, You don't want to
over -inflate your own position either, right?
Because there were pastors that pastored First
Baptist Murphy before me. If God tarries and
so chooses, there'll be pastors that pastor First
Baptist Murphy after me. So in that sense, like,
am I replaceable? Well, I mean, there's somebody
before me, there'll be somebody after me. But
there's never going to be another me. Right.
So, again, I'm not just, oh, see, the pastor's
important. I would look at every piece of the
puzzle of the body, you know, as important. That
God is putting his church together. So not valuing
the pastor more than we're valuing the deacon,
the trustee, the Sunday school teacher, the old
lady that sits in the back. It just loves on
everybody. And so I think that that's important.
I think there's things that we can learn from
the business model as we're doing things. I think
we often, though, don't even follow the business
model in business. Not really a good business
model. Because often the business model is, it
becomes about the bottom line, right? It becomes
about... Who are we making happy with money?
And so we certainly can look at the business
model of, okay, well, who are we supposed to
be making happy in the church? Jesus, God the
Father, Holy Spirit, right? So we're doing what
we're supposed to do to please them. I think
the problem when we get the business model is
when we make ourself, again, the recipient of
who's supposed to be happy in the equation. Like,
okay, I come to church, make me happy. I come
to church, fix my problems. Hey, here's my kid,
youth pastor. Get him saved. So if I can, I want
to interject and say this. I think what you just
said is a really good point to consider in this
discussion. Because, you know, when we take a
look at not how do pastors view the role of pastors,
but how does our culture view the role of pastors
or associate pastors or youth ministers and children,
like whatever the case is, just anybody that's
– anybody that is a servant of the church in
a full -time capacity there. That's a long way
to say employee without saying employee. Yeah,
right, an evangelist. If they view it as here's
what will make me happy, please do this to make
me happy, then I would argue that they don't
view the role of minister as a called position,
but rather just a position that, again, where
the individual can be replaced. Look, if you're
not going to make me happy, we'll find somebody
who will. What I can't speak to, listeners, if
you're new to the show, you know, Brad and I,
we're both Baptists. So I know that in Methodism
and Catholicism, I would assume in Episcopalianism,
I don't know, maybe even in the Presbyterian
Church, that they're not really churches, they're
parishes. And I say churches, not using the same
definition, but like... you know, they're assigned.
There's a council that does something and makes
decisions. And I do know that to a certain extent
in some of them, again, I can't speak to all
of them, but I know in some of them that the
church's outlook, the church's attitude towards
the minister does pull some weight. But again,
in light of that thinking, How then do we relegate
the, and maybe even better yet, how do we not
just relegate, but how do we educate the people
not to consider the role of ministers as a calling?
But what about just our jobs in general? And
I am not saying God has called me to be a McDonald's
burger flipper. Because I don't think, I don't,
I don't, seriously, I've never had a conversation
with anybody who says God has called me to this
job. But that doesn't mean that, that doesn't
mean, I don't think that that doesn't mean it's
not, it doesn't happen. Right. Because think
about this. And maybe you're called for something
not forever, but for a time. Because there's
definitely seasons of life. So maybe for this
season of your life, God has called you to be.
the person that is at the window at some restaurant.
Maybe you don't even particularly like your job,
but you're really good at just making people's
day because you smile, because you bless them,
and God uses you. And if your manager goes, you
know what? I know you hate being on the window,
but every time you're on the window, Like we
get less complaints. We get, you know, like people
are happier. Like it's crazy. Like I thought
it was just a fluke, but I mean, like I've been
tracking it. Yeah. Like on the days when you're
on the window. Because God's people should be
reflecting Christ. Even though you're not at
the window going, hey, can I talk to you about
my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ? Right. No,
I would just like my fries. And my coffee. And
I'm going to be honest with you, Brad. If someone
were to ask me that, if I were to get a cup of
coffee and someone were to say, can I talk to
you about Jesus right now? Like, it'll stun me.
It will not, like, it's not one of those things
that even I would expect people to say. So this
is, and I try to think about this. So I'm an
introvert, right? I had some people walk up to
my car once. And like hand me like a little track,
which is fine. No problem. Right. I'm a bit like,
okay, one, you caught me off guard. I'm an introvert.
They're like, oh, you know, hey, we're having
this. Basically, they were having this church
service in this parking lot, which is fine. Those
are good things. But they were like. Oh, hey,
you know, I was like, oh, you know, I really
appreciate it. And they were trying to tell me
about it. I was like, well, actually, I'm a Christian,
you know, I'm a pastor. And they're like, oh,
yeah, well, you know, well, come join us. No,
you know, I got to go in here and pick something
up and get things to do. And again, it was fine.
I appreciate the invitation. But for me, it was
awkward. It was so awkward because I'm like,
I don't know what to say. And then I didn't.
So I think we got to keep that in mind, too,
that it's OK to be awkward. It's OK to make people,
you know. Feel awkward. Just be mindful of that.
Yeah. I mean, the message of the gospel is worth
having people feel awkward about. I'd much rather
people come and do that. Just acknowledge that
and don't go overboard. Don't be too pushy. I
don't see Jesus being too pushy in his presentation
of the gospel. When the rich young ruler walks
off... That's exactly where I was going, man.
Yes. Jesus is not like, hey! Hey, dude, where
are you going? Yeah, I haven't told you the whole
plan of salvation yet. There's more to this.
You misunderstood. What if I help it? Hey, what
if you follow me and? Yeah, yeah. No, so I think
that sometimes I will give out these like Gospels
of John. So sometimes when I'm going through
the drive -thru, I'll say, hey, can I give you
this? And I've had at least one person say, yeah,
no, I'm not taking that. I'm like, okay. Okay.
And I go on. I'm not here to start a war. I just
want to give you the gospel of John. I mean,
like, if you don't want it, then okay. I'm going
to offer it to the person at the next window.
That's right. So, Brad, when... I know, I got
us off base. Wait, what were we talking about
again? I'm good at that. When you... We have
a Bible study on Wednesday night. We're going
through Jeremiah and we end up in Matthew. Brad,
when you stop to think about the way people view
a job or career and the way people view ministers,
do you see a discrepancy between the two? Yes.
And I think, again, when you, I think there are
people, let me use your sister for an example.
Your sister is an amazing teacher. And I would
argue with anybody that that's her calling in
life. God has called her to teach. I would even
maybe argue that even though she hasn't always
been here, that like kindergarten. is what God
made her to do. Dude, she's such a good kindergarten
teacher. She is. And don't just take my word
for it. I could get you a list of parents a mile
long. Yeah. And then I've met teachers that really
weren't called to teach, you know, for whatever
reason. Now, those teachers, I think a lot of
times realize that and go do something else.
You know, We would hope. Yeah, because sometimes
they don't, unfortunately. Sometimes they don't,
man. But I think that's the thing. It's like,
what has God wired me for? Where has God called
me? So I believe that you should be praying about
that all the time. Carrie Beth's getting ready
to look for a job. She put in an application.
It's something that I'm going to be encouraging
her to pray about, you know, and follow God's
leading. Do I think this first job is probably
going to be her calling? Right. No. But it might
be her calling for now. Yeah. You know, in this
season. And trust me, I worry a lot. So I take
God up on his offer to pray a lot. So it's like,
that's my baby. She's going to be working with
some people. Some of those people are probably
going to be sleazy at times. I hope not. But
if she's going to work in the public, she's going
to run into sleazy people. Yeah. Now, I need
to pray, one, for God's protection for her. Pray
that God's going to surround her with people
that are going to also protect her and watch
out for her. And also pray for her dad that he
doesn't, like, kill somebody because I don't
know where she's going to work. Let's just say
McDonald's, you know, because somebody threw
a shake at her. Yeah. Because now I'm, you just
so, you better hope I wasn't sitting there when
that happened. I better hope I'm not sitting
there when that happens because I'm going to
jail. That's right. But you know what? Nobody
else is going to mess with your McDonald's. They'll
be like, listen, if there's a beardy guy there,
you better not say anything. So I think we have
to look not just at the position as much as what
has God called me to do. And God has really called
us to do. I mentioned this in the last episode
with my dad. My dad was a middle school janitor.
And he did great. Whatever we're doing, do it
as if we're doing it for Jesus, not for people.
So we're doing the best job. Somebody said, and
I don't remember who it was, and some people
say he didn't say it anyway. So I think the quote's
good. So I'll put it this way. You guys can Google
it. You don't show yourself to be a Christian
shoemaker by putting little crosses on your shoes.
Dude, go, Brad. But by making good quality shoes.
Yeah. God wants us to be a reflection of him
wherever we are. And that doesn't always mean
that we're actively speaking. I like and I don't
like the whole if necessary use words. It goes
throughout the world to preach the gospel if
necessary use words. It is necessary to use words.
I've read the book. How can he know if he has
not heard? That requires words. It's not a book
of blank pages that you flip through and you
think, oh my goodness, I'm so inspired. But we
can be preaching the gospel. Through following
through in the gospel is what we're doing. I
think so much that we need to live our lives
in a way that makes skeptics doubt their unbelief.
You know, that makes them go, you know what?
I've met a lot of Christians and I wasn't impressed.
But I ran into that guy down at the coffee shop.
named Gary. We'll give Gary's a swing. He's learned
his lesson lately. I was talking to him. He was
just such a great guy. He was so encouraging.
He's a Christian. He started talking about Jesus.
He wasn't weird about it. He just shared with
me. Some lady dropped her four drinks and he
just helped her pick them up and then he bought.
They're replacements, you know, for like, wow,
go Gary. So if there's any Garys, listen, see,
we love you. You're going to be Christ -like.
Suck it, losers. Yeah. But I think we look at
that. Because I got to be careful as a pastor,
right, that I don't over -inflate my ego. Like,
well, I'm the pastor. And I like what one pastor
said. Now, he didn't even like being called pastor.
I'm not going to go that far, but, but his point
was, and I think there's some meat to it. He's
like, everybody's like, Oh, Hey, you know, pastor
Brad, pastor Brad. He's like, I don't go like,
Hey, Dennis, John, Hey, plumber, Gary. I mean,
but, but again, for you, you go like, well, Hey,
you know, professor Culp, you know? So again,
it's, it's not, It's not wrong, but we better
not get too inflated, right? Even you as a professor,
you might be like, oh, you guys are all just
morons. I mean, there are going to be kids that
come through or adults or young adults who come
through your classes. They're going to be smarter
than you. Oh, gosh, yeah, dude. Now, you don't
want to know that too much at the time. That's
right. I always have to make sure that they understand.
I do have the edge on you. Listen, you might
be smarter than me. But my name is on the door.
That's right. Not yours. Back off. Now, later
on down the road, when you're teaching the class
and I'm taking your class, because, you know,
you're the expert. Now the roles are reversed.
But I think for me, more important than looking
at some of these trying to define X, Y, Z about
this is that we're looking at that God has called
us to live in this world. to be the representation,
the light of the world, the salt and light, which
is what Jesus is, and so what he commissioned
us to be, to share the good news as we're going.
And here's one of the beautiful things, too,
because sometimes life sucks. Sometimes it does.
Sometimes you're discouraged. Sometimes you're
depressed. Sometimes everything is going wrong.
And I think one of the beautiful things about
the truth of Scripture is sometimes God is using
you more in those times. And he's definitely
oftentimes teaching you more. People who have
become really strong in anything, right? Don't
become that on vacation while it was so easy.
You know, I was just laying on the beach and
I and I became a professional athlete. So, no.
Like I went through years of grueling sports
and competition and pain and pain and wins and
losses. You know, and. Broke this and got my
tooth knocked out over here. Right now we're
trying to – I understand that we can only do
so much, but we're trying to get Noah to understand
that the greatest hitters in baseball history
batted, what, 450, which is stupid. You can write
your ticket anywhere. If you bat 450. Which means
that less than 50 % of time that you get up to
bat, you get on base. What the heck? Right. You
don't want to go to the dentist at bats 450 in
root canals. Right? The dentist's ERA. Yeah,
like, well, 55 % of the time I do these, it doesn't
go well. I miss. That's a high stat, man. I'm
coming. Yeah, I get the wrong tooth. I get the
wrong tooth. I put the Novocaine in your eye.
But right. So we learn to think that. And I think
that's a great analogy, though, for life, too.
Like, my job as pastor is to preach the gospel,
right? To teach people and preach the Bible.
This is what God has said. Yeah. You know, some
sermons, and again, for the glory of God, because
God's word is going to accomplish its work. But
sometimes it may just be an awesome sermon, and
God has used it, and it's life -changing. But
every sermon is probably not going to be that.
I mean, some people are like, oh, that's a great
sermon today. They don't always say that. And
that's okay, because you know what? Sometimes
it was just okay. But I preached the word. God's
word is going to do its thing. Paul was preaching
for so long, there was a kid who fell asleep
and fell out of a window and died. I don't think
I've done that yet. Hopefully I don't, because
God pulls a miracle. That was a major decline
in his batting average. Ouch. Don't sit in the
window while I'm preaching. It's my recommendation
to you. So, Brad, you've already made that segue
that kind of conjoining the idea of the discrepancy
of a career versus a minister. I think a major
part that you were just talking about has to
do with the false belief that The life of a Christian
should either a only be cared about more by ministers
or B, I should demonstrate the life of a Christian
more in front of ministers. Yes. Oh, gosh. Oh,
you know, we do a whole show on that one. I know.
Right. Yeah. Unlike I am not God's police officer.
He already knows. All right. I'm not whispering
in his ear. I cursed in front of the pastor.
You're lying in church. He's going to tell Jesus
on me. Jesus already knows. All right, you don't
need me. He's not going like, all right, Brad,
give me the scope on all the people. Oh, there's
somebody new in your town. I didn't know that.
And listen, I want you to be real. I've had so
many of these conversations with people. I appreciate
if you've got a really foul mouth and you're
like, out of respect for you, I'm not. Dropping
the F -bomb every other word. I appreciate that.
I do. But I don't want you to change who you
are when I walk up. That makes it uncomfortable
for me and you. And you. That's exactly right.
And then you certainly don't want me to hang
around. Oh, yeah. Hey, nothing like having the
pastor there. See, so Brad, to me, that means
that person knows that they're Gary. You know,
like, suck it, losers. You know, like, whoa,
back off, man. It's me. I'm going to be me. Maybe
I shouldn't say this or maybe I should. I got
mad at the dog this morning because I took the
dog out twice last night and she peed in the
floor. Oh, dude. And definitely was angry and
definitely said a swear word as the pastor. Yeah.
Not suggesting that that's good and you should
do that. Right. Not saying, hey, oh, the password
is okay. No, no, no. If it's wrong for you, it's
wrong for me. That's it. Yeah, I mean. So it's
like, well, it's duly wrong for you. I can't
believe it. We should fire him. Okay. I mean,
if you're going to fire me over that, I got a
lot worse things. See, and here's the thing.
You're right. We can do a whole lot on that.
But to me, I think that this point. parallels
not just with with the way we're talking about
but also with occupation but like well you know
brad you do that oh my gosh you're supposed to
be closer to god then who me yeah that's not
the way this works it was right but like it actually
the the process was that way prior to christ's
crucifixion and resurrection but now i i i i
know there was a mediator Yeah, right. There
was a Moses. There was a high priest. Yes, the
process of sanctification. There was a veil.
There was a very thick veil. Yes. But the idea
nonetheless is, no, we are all held to the exact
same standard, not just of living, but of loving
and, as you mentioned last week, of doing the
work for Christ. And again, there is, from God's
standpoint, right? This is not dealing with people.
This is dealing with God. It says, let few be
teachers for theirs is a greater condemnation.
Yeah. Right? Let he who is to serve well as a
deacon be worthy of double honor. You know, especially,
you know, if he was, you know, teaching and that
kind of thing. But, so, yes. There's that accountability.
But that doesn't mean that I'm better than anybody,
because I'm not. I'm a sinner saved by Jesus
Christ. My righteousness comes from Christ. Like,
I'm not going, like, you better believe that
when I get up to however it's going to work,
the pearly gates, the standing before God, the
Father, you know, whatever. I'm not going to
go, hey, I'm Pastor Brad. Nope. Because it's
not something for me to flout. It is a role that
God has called me to. And I think, you know,
Paul basically mentions, he's like, look, I didn't
even choose this. God chose it. Like maybe I
could. Boast a little bit if I chose it, but
God told me to, and I'm just being obedient.
Trust me, sometimes I don't want to be a pastor.
I love being a pastor, don't get me wrong, but
sometimes I don't want to. I have never met anybody
seriously that, I take that back, I've met one
person that has never said, um that there have
been days where they've hated what they've done
I mean like people are stupid and sometimes I'm
stupid sometimes I'm the people that are stupid
sometimes I'm Gary man Gary's taking it this
episode but but all that to say um just to kind
of just kind of put a nice little tidy bow on
it Brad that I think it's I think it's really
important to um to land our playing on on the
notion that you, Brad, as a pastor, are called
to do that. And are you called for the rest of
your life? I think it is a general assumption
that if anyone is a pastor, that they are called
to be pastors the rest of their lives. However,
it is not that same assumption, I don't think.
It is not that same assumption, I don't think,
that all of us as non -pastors, non -full -time
ministers, or even part -time ministers for that
matter, but lay people, are not held, or we assume
that we are not held to the same occupation calling
for the rest of our lives. And I think the issue
is, the root of the issue is that And regardless
of what we are doing, as you mentioned, whatever
season of life that God has put us in, we are
to do the work of Christ. What does that look
like? I can't tell you that because I don't know
what you do. I mean, I know what you, Brad, do.
Well, I know what you do in a generic sense.
Let's hit that for just a second. Okay. Because
my job is not to just be the only person who's
sharing the gospel. Right. Right? It's not invite
people to church. Like, I want you to invite
people to church. I don't want to hear people
say, my pastor doesn't want me to invite people
to church. I want you to invite people to church.
But I want you to invite people to Jesus. Right?
Like, I'll be glad to have those conversations
with them. I'll be glad to, again, preach the
sermon on Sunday and get into the Bible study.
But part of my role as pastor is to teach and
to train the church to be doing that. To be training
men and women to be making disciples, to be sharing
the gospel. So my role, in a sense there, is
to facilitate these things, to raise up the church,
again, to be training them. So, yeah, I need
to be doing that too. I need to be sharing the
gospel and practicing what I preach. But again,
I shouldn't be doing 90 % of the evangelism of
the sharing of the gospel of the ministry. Now,
hopefully, you know, I'm doing it well. I mean,
I consider what we're doing right now part of
my ministry, though. Yeah. I consider this ministry,
you know, as we're sharing here. Yeah. We're
ministering to Gary's all over the world. That's
right. Including ourselves. Including us. Yeah,
when we're Gary's. We cannot create a new term,
though. If we do that, I will apologize to every
Gary I meet from now on. That's right. I'm sorry.
We may choose another version. I'm not going
to use the word. So listeners, we're going to
create our own little colloquialism right here.
Don't be a Gary. Jesus loves Gary's too. That's
right. And when you're a Gary, apologize for
being Gary. I'll tell you, one of the greatest
men in my life, I knew him as Pertner, but his
name was Gary. Gary, nice. And he was, you know,
I lost one grandfather when my dad was 13, so
far before I was born. The other one when I was
five. And so he was the grandfather that I didn't
have. And so, yeah, so one of the most. beloved
people in my heart's name was Gary. But to me,
he will always be Pertnert. Shout out to Gary
Pertnert. That's right. He's home with Jesus
now. No, no, no. I'm with you. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And I'm glad to be able to say that because for
a long time, I prayed for him that he would come
to Jesus. And thank God that he finally did.
That's awesome. All right, well, I have to teach
ready in one minute, so I'm going to be late
to class. I've got to get to the coffee shop
for a meeting in 11 minutes. Listeners, we're
going to land our plane. Thank you so much for
tuning in and hanging out with us. We hope that
you enjoyed our show. Always make sure that you
interact with us. We love the fact that we've
had more people in the last several weeks reach
out and start to engage in the show. We want
more of that. I mean, that's what we're here
to do. just that that brad and i enjoy the show
but we want we want to hear from you guys we
want you guys uh we want your input we want um
Your thoughts and your opinions. And you can
contact us with our email, menchurchstuff at
gmail .com. You can DM us on either Facebook
or Instagram. Follow us on our Facebook group
page. You can submit memes if you want me to
shoot them to Brad. Give us your own Mad Libs.
We're going to bring those back. And also can
keep up the, as we mentioned, keep up with the
song submissions for Dramatic Readings. And if
you've got a different idea. Yeah, let us know.
We're always looking for. Exactly right. You
know, maybe you just are that Sharknado. That's
right. And it would just be brilliant. It would
be brilliant. That's right. It would be brilliant.
But on that note, yeah. Keep tuning into the
show. Excited about what we're going to do in
the future. So beyond that, listeners, we love
you. Brad, love you, buddy. Love you, too. And
listeners, we will catch you next time. Go be
his church.