Just Like Us...

If you’ve ever felt like the people in the Bible lived in a different universe than you, James drops a line that changes everything: Elijah had a nature like ours. That one sentence pulls prayer out of fantasy and back into real life, where confession, repentance, and intercession actually matter. We walk through James 5:16–18 and talk about what it means to pray like ordinary people who trust an unchanging God. 

From there, we wrestle with a problem Christians rarely name out loud: we can turn heroes into idols. Whether it’s canonized saints, “Bible legends,” or modern celebrity pastors, it’s easy to admire someone so much that Jesus gets pushed into the background. We talk about the difference between being inspired and committing idolatry, why false humility is not holiness, and why Scripture calls us to keep our eyes on Christ alone. 

We also get practical about discernment. Spiritual experiences are real, but they must be tested. The New Testament warns about “another gospel,” and Acts shows that even powerful visions get brought into the light of accountable community. Along the way, we discuss God’s immutability, the debate over spiritual gifts and cessationism, and why reading extra-biblical material only works when the Bible stays the measuring line. 

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Transcript

Satirical Cold Open On Authority

SPEAKER_02 0:08

I wanna talk to you about you know oh yeah ministers in the national ministry in the virgin out of the proponent of things being done decently and in order. That's right. You know the nowhere to everything at all. Personal needs to doing exactly what you're just saying. Wait, there's to do it. Metro then bring them back to. That's what I'm talking about. You say haha. I don't hear to tell the vote for you saying that you can know the law for your stuff and here is what ain't decently in an order. Are you gonna control that? Or right after Christ ordained the current, he's definitely in the car to manage your fate. And if you don't do what he stayed for your rebellion, if he's an authority, you're to carry out his order. No matter what rule he breaks, no matter if you think he fake, no matter who life you take, oh the state, for goodness sake. And since we know you don't want to be out of submission, we hit the Hood Wink Ministry to offer you a bona fide legitimate dip to miracle water from the River Jordan certificate of submission. For love offering of$77 for shipping in hand. Remember, friends, this is Reverend Joe Bob Hobob asking you, why would you want to know the law for yourself? Well, we can know them for you. But it is get in the word for yourself. So our scripture passage for this, and we'll be reading out of the New American Standard, is James chapter 5, verses 16 through 18. Therefore, confess your sins one to another, pray for one another, that you may be healed. A prayer of a righteous person, when it is brought about, can accomplish much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. That's kind of a pinpoint right there. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

SPEAKER_03 2:49

And James here, this is Jesus' brother. He's talking about Elijah. Right.

Elijah Like Us Faith Examples

SPEAKER_02 2:58

And and according to Jewish thought at the time, Elijah is the top prophet that they that they consider. You know, they talk about um behold, I will send Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord. Right. And, you know, we have this thing with John the Baptist and people going, well, is he Elijah? Is he not Elijah? You know, there there was that whole discussion then. Jesus has his commentary on it. And I was also looking at Hebrews chapter 11, has all these biblical heroes, not perfect people, right? But people that walked out on faith, that had an experience with God, people that were flawed in some areas, and yet God still used them mightily. I'm thinking of Gideon. You know, Gideon was faithful to God, but he had his concerns and obeyed, but then yet in the end, he also had some things that were hang-ups in his house. He had, you know, had an ephod and different things like that that kind of became a snare that you're you're dealing with people that are not that different than you and I. And the way it goes into Hebrews 12, it says, since we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us keep our eyes on Jesus only. As an example. You know, we were talking about some of the denominational bickering and all that last couple episodes. But one of the things that really gets me is Bones, we were talking, I'm like, you know, you you had mentioned a while back, ten years ago, we have this idea, and I and we got on the subject of like, you know, with the Catholic Church or the Orthodox Church, we'll have these saints that are canonized. And I said, Well, my you know, having grown up Catholic, um, I I was of the opinion that there were some pros and cons to that. But but you you you had said a long time ago that we read this thing as a history book and we don't read it properly, considering these witnesses, that we we think, oh, an angel can talk to m to Mary, an angel can talk to Zacharias, John the Baptist dad, an angel can talk to Ezekiel, but that can't happen to us, which is the exact opposite of what you see in the book of Acts. And and and you know, I I was just of the opinion, you know, when when we were talking, I was like, Man, these saints that they put forth in front of you, some of which were apostles, they're great as an example, but they're not so great if you don't use it right, because Paul said the law is great as long as you use it lawfully, and and we do the same thing with with some of these saints and biblical characters, as long as you're finding some commonality and going, man, the Lord used them, he can use me, that's lawfully. It's supposed to be inspirational. But when you say, Oh my gosh, they are so up here, and I am so down here, and I can't be used because they're a saint, and this to where you deify them, that is not using it properly.

Idolatry False Humility And Saints

SPEAKER_01 6:46

Right, that's actually idolatry, yes, is what it comes down to. Um, James tells us there about Elijah, uh, a man just like us. That gives me comfort. Um, now we look back in scripture, the old testament saints, the new testament saints, these are great men and women uh in in history. They really are. They're great, but they're great because uh of the glory that was brought to the Lord. That's what made them great. Um, as humans, as human beings, as as men and women, they're just like us and we're just like them. But the the comfort that we should get out of this is that you know, just like you're saying, hey, if God can use uh Saul of Tarsus and change Saul of Tarsus uh and use him in a way, then he can use me. Uh if God can speak to Gideon and use Gideon in a mighty way, he can use me. But when we get into this this habit of going, oh I I I can't be I can't be that, I can't do that. That there's so much greater night. That's uh that is uh uh a sense of idolatry and it's uh also some false humility uh we get into there. Um but but you're right, if we can if we can agree and believe that angels spoke to Joseph and Mary and Zacharias and and and all those folks in the Bible, and then someone would tell you today that they spoke to an angel or an angel spoke with them, we'd probably look at them cross-eyed. Um but the truth is it is possible. We should not we should not cast that out just because, well, that can't happen. Uh, you know, um, because that's not accurate either. If that's our belief, then the Bible has become a history book to us and it's no longer living, no longer has an application to us here in 2026. And well, I tell you what, I find no comfort in that at all.

Angels Miracles And Testing Claims

SPEAKER_02 9:02

No, and to be fair, Paul talked about if I or an angel from heaven, anybody else preach another gospel, let them be accursed. Right. He said that case in point of how this should be handled properly. He says somebody see saw an angel, somebody talked to him. And we we've had whole religions started. Uh, you know, that was the big claim with Joseph Smith and the Mormons and different things like that. And that's bogus. So, yeah, you don't want to let somebody start a cult. Exactly. You don't want to get too far out of the orthodoxy. Not what we're saying. However, Peter is over at the house of Simon the Tanner and falls into this trance where the sheet is lowered with the all the other animals that are unclean and arise, Peter, kill and eat, and then he preaches over at Cornelius' house. They get baptized in the Holy Spirit, and you know, and he's like, Man, if they're already getting baptized in the Holy Spirit, um, who are we to forbid water baptism? Well, he gets called on the carpet on it. Paul, when he starts preaching to the Gentiles, gets called on the carpet after that first missionary journey, and they go in and they give an account, and you know what? It gelled.

SPEAKER_01 10:30

Right.

SPEAKER_02 10:31

You know, so so they weren't afraid to submit that experience to other believers uh who had an established track record, and especially with Paul, because Paul's it's just a heck of a story, you know, for being Saul of Tarsus and becoming Paul the Apostle, there's a transition there. Peter, Peter is is a foundational stone in the church. I'm not saying that to intend the pun, but you know, Peter means rock.

SPEAKER_01 11:03

Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 11:04

But it it says that uh that that the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. So Peter is foundational to the church, and yet he has this experience, and and you know what, Peter Peter's a guy just like you and I.

SPEAKER_01 11:26

Right.

SPEAKER_02 11:27

Yeah. And with with with a human experience, with an ego and a tongue and a temper, and wanting to do it your own way, and then realizing your way ain't working, you know, he he's not that different than us.

SPEAKER_03 11:45

Right.

God’s Immutability And Gifts Debate

SPEAKER_01 11:47

We can we can find a lot of comfort in the fact that there's nothing that's that's changed. Uh God is unchanging. Um that's that's a big deal to us. Uh, because there are there are some denominations that teach that uh those kind of things, uh the visitations from angels and miracles and all those things, that's all stopped. That's not occurring anymore. Uh and that's that's just incorrect. It's incorrect doctrine. Um the very fact uh of God's immutability, his uh his ability to remain unchanged uh in his character and his nature and purpose is what gives us a lot of a lot of comfort. Uh Psalms 102 uh says well the whole Psalm 102 is pretty awesome, but verse 25 starts with In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands, they will perish, but you remain. They will all wear out like a garment, like clothing, you will change them and they will be discarded. But you remain the same, and your years will never end. The children of your servants will live in your presence, their descendants will be established before you. There's a lot of comfort to be found in that, in the fact that God is unchanging in his nature and his character and purpose. Um now there should be some discomfort there, I think, for the unbeliever. Uh yeah, because that means, you know, his his judgment, his decision is not going to change uh just because you don't agree with it. But um, but the fact that God is unchanging uh means his word is unchanging uh in in the scripture, and we can draw a lot of comfort from that. Um his promises are unchanging, they're without repentance, he doesn't take them back. Um all that stuff is where we should be finding a lot of comfort, especially in in days like uh you know, days like today, times like today, where there's so so much uncertainty. Um but you won't have that and you won't know what that is unless you get into God's word and start reading it for yourself.

SPEAKER_03 13:59

The word, the word, and the word.

Extra-Biblical Reading With Discernment

SPEAKER_02 14:04

And I read a lot of extra biblical books. I usually end up picking them apart and using the Bible to do so.

SPEAKER_01 14:14

Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 14:14

But but you know, it I read a book on sacred geometry a couple years ago. Wanted to see what it's about. Very instrumental in understanding how the churches were laid out. Uh, there's some good things. There's also some things you're going, okay, you're you're you're borrowing from a different source to get that. Uh, but it also shows you that the reason, especially the old cathedrals, right, and some of the buildings that preceded them, including Solomon's Temple, but also not limited to um some of the Greek temples, some of the some of the things that even predated that, um, had some very, very common themes. Um, but the whole idea is that God is bringing everything back unto him. But there's there's numerical patterns there. I mean, it's interesting, and it also helps illuminate some things that you see in the Old Testament as well as in the new that lets you know there's still this continuity of thought. You know, I read uh read the Gnostic Gospels and I saw every one of them didn't make it in, you know. Uh one year you had read the book of Jasher, which is this oral tradition, and you're going, okay, well, it gives a little bit of insight, it helps you understand when those things are being referenced, but really it comes back to canonized scripture, but I would also add being read prayerfully, right? Yeah, you're and listening to listening to the Holy Spirit, because what can happen is you see, people want to take their pet doctrine and run with it and all this. Eventually, I'm telling you, eventually, if you keep doing that, as opposed to getting in the word for yourself and praying and listening to the Holy Spirit and being being willing to be corrected by the Holy Spirit, which sometimes doesn't feel so good, but it makes you a way better believer, right? Makes you a way better Christian. Uh, it will help you relate with a lot more true compassion, not not this fake virtue signaling stuff, but a lot more true compassion uh toward others. But eventually, if you go doctrine, doctrine, doctrine, it's going to lead you into some form of hypocrisy. Right.

SPEAKER_03 16:36

Right.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

And I'm I'm looking, I got friends, and I go, love y'all, but you know, tell me how much sense this makes it have one that the dispensationalist is claiming about the fallacy of the dispensationalist. And then he claims that the spiritual giftings have passed away, have ceased. And dude, are you hearing yourself?

SPEAKER_01 17:03

Uh no, evidently not.

SPEAKER_03 17:05

You know, and I'm just like, Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:09

Um, you know, because that's just another form of dispensationalism.

SPEAKER_01 17:18

That's a that's a that's one of the dispensations. Uh yeah. Yeah. Uh the the cessation of gifts.

SPEAKER_02 17:24

Um and it can be flipped around just the the same way for for for others. And and if again, if we're not careful, we can end up doing the exact same thing if we're not getting in the word for ourselves.

SPEAKER_01 17:40

I read uh uh a young woman's testimony a few years ago, and I wish I could remember her name. I read her testimony uh about uh being saved and then uh getting into the word and reading and whatnot. And she said she read the Bible and really struggled with it, really struggled. Um and then uh she got saved and started reading it again, and everything made sense.

SPEAKER_02 18:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

And she said uh one of the things that really clicked is that she realized the first time that she was reading the Bible, she was trying, she was looking for herself in all the stories. In all of the examples and all the old testament stories, she was looking for her for herself, trying to insert herself into those situations. But after being saved and meeting Jesus through salvation, she said she got into the word and started looking for God in those uh in those stories and in those examples. And she said that was a game changer, a big game changer. And I would agree with that. Um if our only if our only point in reading the Bible is to find yourself or to to be right about something, to find the um the winning um the winning statement to an argument, um you're not gonna get very far in your faith.

SPEAKER_00 19:22

Yeah.

Reading Scripture Beyond Winning Arguments

SPEAKER_01 19:22

Um you're gonna you're gonna be doctrine and theology oriented, and you're not gonna have much of a relationship with Jesus. And the reason why your relationship is gonna suffer is because you won't be pliable and you won't be yielding. God's gonna try to correct you, but you're just not gonna hear it. And at some point in time, he's just gonna take a hands off of you and say, All right, well, you're gonna you can have it your way for a while, and we'll see how far you go with it. Until you turn around, you know, and then he'll he'll pick you back up again. But uh, if all we're doing is is reading the Bible because we want to win an argument, because we want to be right, um, well, that's not a good place to be either.

SPEAKER_02 20:01

One of the things that happened is we both tried to read the Bible and love the Lord uh didn't help us read the Bible. But um when we received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, yeah, it it and I think part of what you're saying though is right in line with what she's saying, it really changed our focus.

SPEAKER_01 20:23

Right.

SPEAKER_02 20:24

Right. So we were reading it not in some mystical, you know, super spiritual way, but the author was reading the Bible to us. Right. That makes things pop out different, it does. And but but it all starts to make sense rather than you trying to go on your own understanding, which the Bible will always trap you in your own understanding, if that's what you're but what you're going for. It's almost like there's some hidden snares in that book. If you're going for your own pride and ego and going on your own power.

unknown 21:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:05

And I would like to say that since since I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, that I never had that happen to me. No, there's a couple times I let my pride and ego get right back up, and all of a sudden, all of a sudden it's hard to read the word again. And I go, oh Lord, sorry.

SPEAKER_03 21:26

I wasn't paying attention.

SPEAKER_02 21:29

Lord, you know, this is you, you know, that this is you. You show me what you need me to, what you need me to see. And all of a sudden, that Bible reading and the understanding just go boop right back where it was because he's gracious.

SPEAKER_01 21:43

I like the way you said it. You realize that uh you thought you were reading the Bible, but then you realize it was being read to you. That's that is a good way to put it. Because the Holy Spirit does, he he reads it to you, and you realize that you've just become the audience. Um and you just become the one sitting at the foot of Jesus uh as as he's speaking to you. And I tell you what, it you're right, it just it takes on a brand new meaning, it comes to you in a different light. Um, it's not a history book at that point. It is it's like sitting there and listening to Jesus uh speak to you like he was speaking to any of his disciples, uh like he was speaking to any of the folks uh at the Sermon on the Mount. Any of these people that the scripture says was just like us. You know, you get it the same way. Um, but we do you know, like I said, we do that through through through prayer uh through prayer, going into the word uh in prayer and letting the Holy Spirit uh lead us through that. And it and it's not always like that. Yeah, you know, it I don't want to sound like you know, every time we read the Bible, there's this, you know, chorus of angels behind us and this bright glow is not. Um there are times where for me anyway, that reading the Bible can be laborious. Uh yeah, and you gotta you gotta kind of shake it off and come back to it a little a little bit later. That happens.

SPEAKER_02 23:11

There's been some times, I'm like, Lord, Lord, what do you want me to read? And he said, Don't.

SPEAKER_01 23:16

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:17

You usually don't last very long. There's times it could be habitual, okay? And there's there is a certain way where that can benefit. But if the Lord's not in it at the time and he's trying to show you something different, sometimes he will have you detach. Yeah. I I've had the Lord tell me, so Lord, okay. It's just like the Bible reading. Okay, Lord, evidently this is not what you're in. What do you want me to read?

SPEAKER_03 23:51

And he goes, put it down.

SPEAKER_00 23:54

Put it down.

SPEAKER_03 23:55

Lord, what do you want me to?

SPEAKER_02 23:56

What do you want me to pray about? What do you want me to do? Just listen. Spend some time with me. What do you want me to pray about? Just listen and spend some time with me. Shut up, shit. And yeah, be still. Know that I am God. And usually those moments, the longest I've ever had one last has been about three days.

unknown 24:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:17

But usually I was, I was, I was really starting to go on my own power. And also there were a few times where that happened where there was some stuff getting ready to happen down the road just a little bit. And I needed to make sure that there was air in my tires. I needed to make sure I had a spare. I needed to make sure that I had a full tank of gas. And you know, metaphorically speaking, make sure all my fluids were were up to date, and um I needed to be prepared to be able to get past the obstacle in the road.

SPEAKER_01 24:55

Yeah, a lot of times when that stuff happens, it's either you haven't finished processing the last message, the the last, uh, the last conversation that you and the Lord had. Yeah, I had that. Or, like you said, there's something coming that that's very imminent. And it doesn't, he doesn't want you, what doesn't want your brain or your spirit clouded with anything else. So you've got uh you gotta do that spiritual house cleaning and preparation first. Um but that that's spiritual wisdom. I mean, that's that comes through that relationship and and having that uh that time alone with him to know when he's saying yay or nay.

When Teachers Replace The Bible

SPEAKER_02 25:35

Yeah. You know, you you were mentioned something, and I'm not trying to put too much business out in the street, but you said you're reading some material uh for a Bible study, and one of the things that kind of stood out is they're doing a lot of quotes of these well-known ministers. Yeah, this is what led to our conversation on the Catholic Saints and the Orthodox Saints. We do the same thing in modern times in Protestantism. We will say, well, some of my favorite preachers will do this. AW Tozer said this, Smith Wigglesworth said this, Charles Spurgeon said this, and I'm gonna get if I were regularly going to their churches, I'm going to get a Tozer, I'm going to get a C C. I'm going to get, you name it, E.W. Kenyon, John G. Lake, D.L. Moody, any of these guys that are well known, Charles Finney, right, uh, any of these guys, some of some of the guys from the Great Awakenings, these great historical people that were used by God. And again, if you use them right, it's great. But we need to be careful, and I know because I've done it. And then the Lord starts to show you their flaws.

unknown 26:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:53

And you're going, oh, uh I've I've let this not be about Christ alone. I'm not keeping my eyes on Christ only.

SPEAKER_01 27:03

Right.

SPEAKER_02 27:04

And it was ministers that I like that were on TV, preach a good sermon. And then you start going, well, wait a minute, that ain't what they're doing's not right. What they're teaching, that's not the proper application of it. They're taking some stuff out of context. And this just is what it is, because if we're not careful, we'll end up doing the exact same thing. Doesn't necessarily make them bad people, does make them wrong.

SPEAKER_01 27:29

Right. That's correct.

SPEAKER_02 27:31

But the measuring line is not how we compare to our favorite preacher or the one that inspired us with their quotes, or maybe how they live their life or anything. You know, if somebody's if somebody's inspired by Mother Teresa to go and work with the poor and all, hey, praise God. But don't put Mother Teresa on the pedestal above Christ.

SPEAKER_01 27:53

My wife and I just started this Bible study a couple weeks ago. And Bible studies, organized Bible studies are difficult for me. Having spent so much time in the wilderness now, uh, it's difficult. Um, but I didn't hear the Lord say no, don't go. So we we went and I know that there's something there for me. Uh and it's it's been it's it's been tedious getting back into it, uh getting into the uh the structure of of doing this uh, you know, uh day one, day two of week one, day one, day two, day three of week two, two, and stuff like that. Because it's organized, it's very structured. But yeah, one of the first things I noticed was all of the uh quotes from from these modern day preachers, uh very devout men of faith, you know, Spurgeon, Moody and uh C. S. Lewis, all these guys. Um but what I what I got a chuckle out of was um what makes anybody think that I'm gonna give these guys weight in comparison to the scripture?

SPEAKER_02 29:03

Yeah. You know, and they're reading it just like you and I are.

SPEAKER_01 29:07

Yeah, exactly. And the truth is, and we we we we almost went down this rabbit hole, but I but I felt uh I felt a little check in the spirit to say, no, don't do it. Um because we started getting on a couple of people started bashing on some of uh some of the the preachers that you would see right right now uh on TV ministries and and other ministries and whatnot. And I would really I really wanted to make the point, like you said, well, what if you saw the flaws of an AW Tozer? Uh or or Spurgeon? What if you the thing is today's preachers, we have all of their flaws are easily accessible to us. We we know uh we know their net worth, we know uh their their their scandal, we know their alleged scandals, we know we know all these things. Yeah. Um and that's so distracting. Uh, but it doesn't make the word, when when God gives them a word, it doesn't make it wrong. Uh none of that scandal. Correct. Um, because you know, God used Balaam uh as well. Uh God, you know, spoke through the mouth of an ass. Uh, you know, so there's there's all all kinds of things that I think if if we'll let the enemy distract us, uh, he'll pull us away. But getting into the scripture and reading God's word, you you just can't go wrong with that uh if you're doing it prayerfully. So I anyway, I just got to chuckle out of all those great names. I'm like, man, I'm sitting here, they got these guys and their quotes right beside scripture. And which one do you think I'm gonna give weight to? Which one do you think I'm gonna read?

SPEAKER_02 30:48

Well, you know, you know, I mentioned that in the book that when when we was active going to church and um uh at the one we were most active in, but when I say we, uh me and my family, my ex-wife and kids, and she was in the choir, and I was for a little bit, wasn't my thing, but I was also teaching Bible study, praying for people, um, and and had some again learned some really good lessons there, also learned some good lessons of what not to do, and saw how um some of the churchesms that we invent uh can negatively uh affect us.

SPEAKER_03 31:26

You know, I got to see the good, I got to see the bad.

SPEAKER_00 31:28

Right.

SPEAKER_03 31:29

And I just remember pre-service after service, and and for whatever reason this is, I seem to hear it more among women.

SPEAKER_02 31:46

Oh, so-and-so, did you read that? Oh, did you read that? And if you were to go on TV at the time, Christian TV, it was not limited to women. I'm just saying this was like that in our church, but it was it was men and women. Everybody wanted to recommend the purpose-driven life. Yeah, you know, everybody wanted to talk about the prayer of you know our first podcast, you mentioned prayer of J Beds. Everybody was, but everybody could quote what Paula White had said, everybody could quote what Juanita Bynum said, everybody knew what Joyce Meyer had said, or what Benny Hinn or Kenneth Copeland or any number of TV ministers. Paul says, he said, you just know this in the last days, people are going to go seeking teachers for themselves. They're gonna find whatever doctrine they like, and they're gonna have itching ears, and that's what they're gonna gravitate to. And they're gonna lay it, they're they're gonna lay down scripture, they're gonna lay down study, they're gonna lay down relationship, all to have their ears tickled by the biggest celebrity. I'm paraphrasing here, but that's pretty much what he's talking about. And guess what? We have throughout the history of Christianity, and if you don't believe me, you just go back to 1 Corinthians. You have so you have celebrities that start to rise up. You have people that start to get a name, and then you got people that want to identify with them and what they're teaching, and then try and use that to make some class, and now I'm better than you are because I'm of Peter, I'm of Apollos, I'm of Paul, I'm of Christ. Is Christ divided?

SPEAKER_00 33:28

Right.

SPEAKER_02 33:29

It's Christ only.

SPEAKER_03 33:30

And but the thing that I started to get grieved over, I got ticked. The Holy Spirit got grieved. There you go. Was, and there's a difference, is nobody is really quoting what they read in the Bible.

SPEAKER_02 33:55

There was a select few that were.

unknown 33:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:58

Everybody was talking about, it wasn't, you know, I was reading over in Matthew, and this this really spoke to me over here because I saw this situation, and this spoke to my situation. There, you know, you know who would do that though? There's a lady we interviewed, a lady named Jacqueline Scott, and she word. It's in the word, it's in the word, it's in the word. Daryl Coulson. Yeah, it was about the word, about the word, about the word, it's about the word. And there was a lot of other people, and it was about this preacher and that preacher and all that.

SPEAKER_03 34:31

And hey, it it is not necessarily bad, but it's not the best.

SPEAKER_01 34:43

Yeah, if if you find yourself getting to the point where you can quote your favorite author, uh, but you can't remember what you read in your Bible last, that's uh that's a bad place to be. That's a dangerous place to be. Um, so you you know, you gotta you gotta be mature enough to take that self-inventory and and ask yourself, because you know, we were there, uh we liked reading some of those uh other authors. Uh, you know, I man, yeah, I like reading some Perry Stone, you know. Uh I like reading some uh uh Miles Monroe and Love Miles. Love Watchman Knee. I love reading those guys, but if all of that extracurricular reading uh interferes with my time alone with with the Lord and reading the scripture, then that's a bad place to be. It don't matter how good the content is, um, it's a dangerous place to be because that has become my Bible now, that has become um my idol. Yeah. And I've got to uh I got to backpedal from that and repent and back in the word.

SPEAKER_02 35:52

And and like I said before in this episode here, I do a lot of extra biblical reading. Yeah, when it starts to interfere, yeah, and it will. If you don't keep yourself humble and you don't keep yourself led by the Holy Spirit, it will. You gotta be willing to put that down. But I'm telling you this. I yeah, amongst my circle of friends and people that I know, I read a lot more extra biblical stuff than most. And then I have about three or four friends that they make me look like I'm reading hooked on physics. I mean, that this is what it is, but really, when it comes down to relationship, none of that really matters, one hill of beans. It's all about that relationship and doing doing as you're led. Because guess what? If the Holy Spirit is leading and you're not listening and you don't read when he's leading you to read and get in the word for yourself, and guess what? The Holy Spirit can point you to an example of somebody else in scripture, maybe some Christian saint, maybe one of the more modern ones. He can point you to that.

SPEAKER_01 37:15

Sure can.

SPEAKER_02 37:16

Just make sure you don't create an idol, just make sure you don't put them so far up on a pedestal that they're blocking out the light of Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_01 37:25

Right, right. Um, one of the things that I I've I've had talks with people about uh who love you know Paul the White, Joyce Meyer, uh all the other high-power Christian authors and whatnot is you know, we we can talk about what happened at the last conference, uh what they wrote in their last book and everything. Um, but you can't explain you can't explain your faith. Uh you you can't tell somebody why you believe in Jesus. Yeah. Um, you know, you can't lay out the gospel for somebody. Um number one, because you haven't read the Bible enough. Uh, number two, because you're you're just you're not confident enough that you know it well enough. Well, if you've been reading the Bible as much as you've been reading the other people, uh you know, you would have that. Uh and that's what we mean when we say, hey, those some of those extracurricular activities can get in the way of and really what's getting in the way of is getting it getting in the way of God's mission. Uh because his mission is for you to save souls and disciple uh new converts. Uh so if uh if reading extracurricular stuff is is uh furthering that mission, then so be it.

SPEAKER_02 38:51

Yeah. Well, it's like said in that short we had talked about about three or four episodes ago, you know, God made everything. God is light, everything is made out of light, Paul said. And the only thing is, how can something that since made out of light be bad? Well, it when it's getting between you and the source. Oh, yeah. Now now it creates darkness, it's creating that shadow. Yeah, which you know, there's your physics lesson. But but but but also, you know, just be conscious of are you doing what the Lord has called you to do? And are you interacting with who the Lord's called you to interact with? You know, and and man. And then at the same time, you gotta make sure you're not you you're you're keeping everything balanced and in the proper perspective.

Assembled Together Unity In The Spirit

SPEAKER_01 39:46

I heard an interesting analogy. I I won't take credit for this, but I I heard it from someone else. Um talking about uh church and assembling together and and and all those things, you know. Um sometimes we get we come to we get kind of down on on on church and we focus more on wilderness than we do uh organized church. But Hebrews 10 25 is what most people will use to justify why you have to be in church all the time. Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as some are in the habit of doing. I like what the analogy that that I heard a couple weeks ago. Well, a model or a puzzle comes to you in a package and all the things are gathered. We're not coming, we're not gathering together. The word says assemble. It's not enough to gather together, it's enough to be assembled together. And what that what the what the the analogy that he was making is when we all come together in unity, uh with unified purpose, unified goals, uh that's what that's what being assembled is. And here's the thing because of prayer and the Holy Spirit, that assembly doesn't necessarily have to be in the same room, it doesn't necessarily have to be in the same building, doesn't necessarily have to be in the same town or the same continent. Uh, because the Holy Spirit in prayer knows no boundary, knows no distance, knows no uh no earthly construct, other than uh the fact that the fact that it operates in the spiritual realm. So being assembled together in the spirit, as Paul says, though I may not be with you presently, I am with you in spirit, you know, as he's referencing that, um, simply being assembled together in the spirit is is is a big deal. But but just coming together, just gathering, that's not doing anything.

SPEAKER_02 41:59

Yeah. You know, it uh when you were mentioning that, it doesn't have to be in the same location, but it does have to be the same purpose. Yep. Uh I remember this twice. My great aunt, about like having a third grandma, um, the one that gave me my Bible, I still read the most.

SPEAKER_00 42:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:21

She loved to do puzzles. Puzzles and Pin Knuckle, and then tell you about the Lord, and then cuss at you playing Pinockle because you didn't make meld or something like that. You know. Uh that's why I never played Pinochet with her after after a certain age. Like, you yell at somebody else. I love you though. Um, but we would sit down and do puzzles.

SPEAKER_03 42:47

There was a couple puzzles that she had that she got like this glue board down and got the puzzles out, and she took them between three different places. And what didn't get done one night got done one of the other nights.

SPEAKER_02 43:13

A little bit more got done, a little bit more got done. Well, there there were some people that were near and dear to her that over the course of a year she got like two puzzles done like that. Just take them all for here to there. And it was Christmas present. Put it in a frame.

SPEAKER_00 43:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:34

You know, that this is the puzzle, and like one of them was like Da Vinci's Last Supper. You know, these were some classic pieces of art.

SPEAKER_01 43:43

Right.

SPEAKER_02 43:44

And, you know, here it is, but there's I don't know what happened to them, and one of them is like a puzzle on her wall that was framed. And it meant something because of who you did it with. But yeah, the assembling doesn't have to happen. All in one place. Right. It doesn't have have to happen all at once. It can be spaced out in the Lord's timing, but you'll know it's completed and assembled once it is.

SPEAKER_01 44:13

Once it's done. Yeah. Yeah. I just thought that was a very interesting analogy. I'd never heard it put put like that before. And the guy was not trying to make the uh doctrine or theology out of it. He was just trying to drive home a point that uh simply being gathered together in the same room doesn't make you a church. Um, but being assembled uh and fit together uh with with purpose and unity, that's a big deal.

SPEAKER_02 44:44

That's why Paul drove that point home so often in his letters. So I want you to be of one mind and one accord. You know, and and of course the book of Acts talks about that with uh a couple different times actually. Acts two, acts four uh talks about being unified in purpose, unified in prayer, unified in intercession and thanksgiving and and the singing of all singing of psalms and hymns, uh, all these things they they were doing when when unity hit and they were truly assembled, powerful things happened.

SPEAKER_01 45:19

Exactly. The best place to find God's purpose, uh, God's mission, his character, his nature, everything that we need to know about the Lord is is in his word uh with with prayer. Um that's that's where we're gonna find it. Um you'll find you'll find him, you'll find peace, you'll find love, um, and you'll find yourself being a better person coming out of it. I think what I found more more recently is like James said about uh Elijah, all these folks here in the Bible were guys just like us.

SPEAKER_02 46:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:05

Yeah. So that makes me feel a little better, a little bit better.

Closing Get In The Word

SPEAKER_02 46:08

Hey everybody, thanks for listening. We hope this challenges you and causes you to grow. You can always check us out at woefoyo.org or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Audible. Or even check us out on YouTube. Remember, folks, if you're gonna grow, you gotta Wofoyo. Get in the word for yourself.