00;00;02;16 - 00;00;29;21
Brenton
This is further a weekly show for the people of Harmony Bible Church, where we seek to revisit and expand on Sunday sermons with the goal of growing deeper in biblical truth that transforms our lives. Welcome back to Further. I'm Brennan Graham and today I am joined again by Chris Carr. This last Sunday we began our short sermon series called Leaving a Godly Legacy.

00;00;30;17 - 00;01;06;16
Brenton
And Chris, I appreciate your foresight on this, on this issue. And I'm really looking forward to what God will do through it. Generally, I think legacy is a topic that's talked about often, but it's usually in regards to our financial place or our estate planning or something. And so I just think that this in this context, in living leaving a godly legacy is not something that we do talk about and not something that we really think about what generations to come are going to be like because of what we're doing.

00;01;06;16 - 00;01;07;19
Brenton
And so appreciate it.

00;01;08;20 - 00;01;30;14
Chris
Yeah, it's a great opportunity and I think we had a good start on Sunday, at least I hope so, and got a lot more to talk about and great workshop coming up to. Maybe just highlight that real quick on May 10th where we'll be able to get really practical, even break down into kind of age groups and have stuff for for kids, students and adults and all that.

00;01;30;14 - 00;01;51;03
Brenton
So it's great. So I want to start a little bit with how I opened. So why do you think that that leaving a godly legacy hasn't been a priority in the church? And on Sunday you had said over the last 50 years that's kind of especially been true. Why do you think that is?

00;01;51;13 - 00;02;30;06
Chris
Well, I've got a number of thoughts here, and I think it's a number of different factors that contribute into it. One, I think following up from World War, to get a little historical here, it really began a period of significant affluence in our country. And that's where the the materialism that we see today really kicked off. And so it had has led into a time where we are just very much about instant gratification and, well, we're about like what I want when I want it and how I want it.

00;02;30;06 - 00;02;55;28
Chris
And so it's just really, really tends to be focused on us. And so there's there's very much the individualism that plays into it as well, which is always kind of been a part of the American ethos, so to speak. But it's just seems to be, I don't want to say maybe mutated, but it's, it's, it's hyper individualistic now and it's, you know, again, it's it's about me.

00;02;55;28 - 00;03;12;13
Chris
It's about us. I think technology contributes to it a lot. And just a simple maybe example, if you go back to the microwave, the microwave is like makes us like, I don't know about you, but I can get impatient with the microwave, which is just.

00;03;12;17 - 00;03;13;14
Brenton
That kind of time, which.

00;03;13;14 - 00;03;38;18
Chris
Is terrible. But we are just so conditioned to that. And of course our, our, our phones and computers today and even like Amazon is like, I can get literally anything I want with one click of a button and it's here, you know, depending upon where you're at in southeast Iowa, it's interesting. If I'm in my home, I can get it quicker than I can get it in Denver at the office.

00;03;38;18 - 00;03;42;11
Chris
So if I want something, I send it at home. I'll get it a day or two earlier.

00;03;42;11 - 00;03;44;16
Brenton
So I'm upset. I can't get it. Same days.

00;03;44;26 - 00;04;09;20
Chris
Yeah, but it's all joking aside, all of those kind of things, the affluence, the technology, the individualism, and I think they're all kind of come crashing down on us now where, you know, worrying about what's going to happen 30, 40, 50 years from now. It's just really not even in our consciences consciousness much of the time.

00;04;10;02 - 00;04;29;11
Brenton
Yeah, that's definitely true. But it's kind of my generation that that has started that we have a very high time preference and we were only concerned about the present moment. And so yeah, just not something on our mind all the time. Um, I don't want to get too far into eschatology per se, but.

00;04;29;11 - 00;04;30;14
Chris
But I think you actually.

00;04;30;14 - 00;04;32;03
Brenton
Do. Well, I'm not.

00;04;32;03 - 00;04;32;29
Chris
Allowed. Okay.

00;04;33;16 - 00;04;55;16
Brenton
But I, I do wonder if it has something to do with it if, if our eschatology pushes us to constantly look at things in the world around us and think the end has to be near soon. I mean, we have a million different things we can point to, and there's probably a million different things that people have pointed to over the last however many years.

00;04;56;01 - 00;05;14;24
Brenton
We have the Russia Ukraine thing. We have just so many things if that's on our mind all the time. Are we going to prioritize how how we're affecting generations down the line? And can this cause us to retreat inwardly rather than building for the future?

00;05;15;25 - 00;05;51;08
Chris
I think so. I probably should clarify for everybody that eschatology refers to the doctrine of the end times or and things last days just so we're all clear on that. I do think that there are certain views on eschatology that make us more prone to certainly focus on the the here and now rather than on the future. They they can make us think that, you know, we're not going to be here 50 years from now, like the end is now and is here.

00;05;51;08 - 00;06;23;19
Chris
And let me just say that I believe that Christ turn return is imminent, which which means that it could happen at any time. Will it happen soon? I don't know. I don't know that the Bible exactly tells us when that's going to happen. And I certainly don't think we can look at current events and say, oh, absolutely, you know, Jesus is coming back, you know, this week or in the next couple of months or next year or anything like that.

00;06;23;19 - 00;06;49;26
Chris
But I do believe that Jesus could return at any time. But that being said, it's also possible that he won't come back for for hundreds of years or thousands of years. We know a second, Peter, I believe it is that for the Lord one day is like a thousand years. Those are years like one day. And so it could be centuries before he comes back or even millennia is possible.

00;06;49;26 - 00;07;20;00
Chris
And so I do think we have to be careful that whatever our eschatology is, is that we don't forget that it's very possible that it could be a long time before Jesus returns. And regardless of whether he's coming back in the next year or the next 100 years, we we need to be faithful where we are at and we need to be all of the things that we talked about on Sunday we need to be pursuing.

00;07;20;22 - 00;07;51;19
Chris
I would say that my biggest concern when it comes to this issue with eschatology is that I see a lot of people who spend a lot more time worrying about exactly what is going to happen in the end times and when it's going to happen, and trying to figure out everything like in saying revelation more than they they spend time actually doing the telling and the teaching that we talked about on Sunday.

00;07;51;19 - 00;08;39;09
Chris
And so eschatology is important. We should study it. But our end times position is really should be something that we give much less time to than we give to actually telling and teaching the gospel and and God's word in its fullness. And when we get so obsessed with trying to figure out what all the different images and the timelines and all those things are, I don't think we actually are going to be able to leave the kind of godly legacy that God would want us to because me, you know, knowing what all that stuff is referring to in Revelation, is significantly less important than me.

00;08;39;09 - 00;08;44;15
Chris
Understanding the gospel and its fullness and teaching and telling that to other people.

00;08;44;27 - 00;09;11;11
Brenton
Yeah, yeah. And I certainly wouldn't want to kind of say that any perspective would be wrong because of implications out of it. So I wouldn't I wouldn't say just because this this does have the implication of it could it could kind of push our all of our thoughts to right now. It doesn't mean that the pre millennial view is wrong.

00;09;11;11 - 00;09;29;26
Brenton
But I think that what is going to become evident in this series is that we have a job to do no matter what. And so we need to we need to be focused on that and absolutely study it, learn it. But that doesn't change what our job is here. While we're still here.

00;09;29;26 - 00;09;57;29
Chris
Correct. And I think it bears repeating that the doctrine of the end times is is important and it's actually critical and it's part of the gospel is that Jesus is returning. And we need to affirm that. And again, I would say I believe he could return at any time. And we need to be living in light of that.

00;09;57;29 - 00;10;15;13
Chris
And that actually in many ways should give us impetus for actually focusing on leaving a godly legacy. Because when he comes back, we're going to have to answer for for how we live. So in Corinthians five, I told you last week it's my most recent again message, but we're all going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

00;10;15;13 - 00;10;35;03
Chris
Right. And and that's that could happen sooner rather than later. So we want to be ready for that. And that's, you know, talking about what Jesus and Jesus talked about the end times quite a bit. And the primary thing he he said is that you need to be ready. When we come back, like different parables that he's talking about, like you need to be ready, You need to be ready.

00;10;35;03 - 00;10;35;29
Chris
You need to be ready.

00;10;35;29 - 00;11;05;20
Brenton
Yeah, yeah. As I was kind of reading through your manuscript, I was trying to think of specific biblical examples of of people doing this well, leaving a godly legacy. And one of the things that came to mind was Joshua 467. And this is after Israel had been led into the promised Land. They well, I'll just read it here.

00;11;05;20 - 00;11;25;17
Brenton
Verse six says that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in times to come, What do these stones mean to you? Then you shall tell them at the water's that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off.

00;11;25;17 - 00;11;36;00
Brenton
So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever. And so this is actually when you hear the word Ebenezer, this is what it's referring to.

00;11;37;07 - 00;11;38;00
Chris
Come now felt.

00;11;38;04 - 00;12;04;10
Brenton
Yeah, exactly. And so they they had witnessed this miracle and finally they had reached the promised Land and and they set up this memorial, this Ebenezer of 12 stones to to remember it, to teach their their children and to not forget what God had done with them. So there was a there was a visual, a physical reminder of what God had done.

00;12;04;10 - 00;12;07;19
Brenton
And so that's one example I came up with. What do you think, Chris?

00;12;08;10 - 00;12;11;10
Chris
Yeah. By the way, have you ever heard The Man 12 Stones?

00;12;12;09 - 00;12;14;29
Brenton
Have I? Yeah, I've seen them and seen them a few times.

00;12;14;29 - 00;12;16;01
Chris
Really? Okay.

00;12;16;02 - 00;12;17;24
Brenton
I was 12 once.

00;12;17;24 - 00;12;24;01
Chris
I Is that a Christian man?

00;12;24;01 - 00;12;27;25
Brenton
Do they still exist? I mean they, they would have been considered. Okay.

00;12;28;19 - 00;12;50;09
Chris
So I think they did take their name from. Yeah right. Okay. All right. We've always got a hit music at one point in each podcast. So yeah, a couple of other examples. Actually. There's a book of the Bible made a huge impact on me when I was a young man in really late teenage years, college age, and that was the book of Proverbs.

00;12;51;01 - 00;13;20;04
Chris
And in Proverbs much of Proverbs, Solomon is actually writing to his son or sons. Right. And a lot of it has to do about instruction. And he's talking about, you know, he talks about like Lady folly and he talks and, you know, really tries to teach him and instruct him in them, I guess, to in regards to pursuing sexual purity.

00;13;20;04 - 00;14;01;26
Chris
And so it's just really the Proverbs are the Solomon's passing on trying to pass on a godly legacy to his boys. And then I think of Solomon's dad and, and the legacy that David left for Solomon. And there's a passage First Kings chapter two, where basically David's given his final words, and he says this to Solomon. He says, I'm about to go the way of all the earth, be strong and show yourself a man and keep the charge of the Lord your God walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandment, his rules and his testimonies as it is written in the law of Moses, how you may prosper and all that you do

00;14;01;26 - 00;14;45;08
Chris
and wherever you turn. And so just so that's the kind of things that we're talking about. And that really plays off what David says here, plays off what we see in Deuteronomy chapter six, which is the famous passage where Moses really is reiterating the teaching that we see in in like Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers. It's this second giving of the law actually is that's what the word Deuteronomy refers to and he's just talking to parents about how you need to you need to be teaching your kids while you walk in, while you eat, while you, you know, and just in the regular day in and day out and instruction there.

00;14;45;18 - 00;14;59;17
Chris
And I yeah, so those are those are a couple of different Old Testament examples we can go to. We don't really, I don't know, have too many in the New Testament. Sure. But there's, there's several in the Old Testament for sure.

00;15;00;06 - 00;15;31;18
Brenton
Yeah. And that's the, the example of David which is such an interesting perspective of he's on his on his deathbed. And I mean he he has taught Solomon right, like he that that part of it's done and now it's his exhortation of like, you know, you can do this, be a man. And yeah, it's a spot that I think we probably all want to be in someday to, to finally pass it on.

00;15;31;24 - 00;16;02;22
Chris
So, yeah, I'm one of the maybe I would just would mention I this is one I think is overlooked about Mordecai with his niece Esther. And it's it's pretty clear that it would seem I shouldn't say it's clear, but it would seem that her she was an orphan and that he really in some way race or he certainly was a very influential person, from what we can tell the most influential person in her life and that she learned from him.

00;16;02;22 - 00;16;28;16
Chris
And then when it got down to it, he's the one that pushes her and says, okay, God's brought to you to the kingdom for such a time as this. And and Mordecai is obviously a very godly man and disciple to his his niece and made all the difference in the world for the Jewish people. So one of the ways that God brought deliverance in the Old Testament, a very perilous time.

00;16;28;26 - 00;16;29;05
Chris
Yeah.

00;16;29;21 - 00;16;44;28
Brenton
Yeah. It's I think this new series could even kind of bring a fresh perspective to some of these Old Testament stories of just the importance and how much that's already been happening. And that's why we have the heritage that we have now. Mm hmm. Yeah. All right.

00;16;45;16 - 00;17;03;18
Chris
It should say to too. Okay, I'm sorry I keep going back, but, you know, Hebrews 11, you just go through the list there and name after name after name of of the reason that we know those names are there and Hebrews 11 is because they had a a godly legacy, you know. So, yeah.

00;17;05;00 - 00;17;23;13
Brenton
On Sunday you had said there can be no godly legacy unless we're regularly engaged in telling the mighty works God's done in our lives. And so I'd like to get practical here. What what kind of rhythms can we implement in our lives to make this consistently happen?

00;17;24;13 - 00;17;50;28
Chris
Well, we're going to do an entire message on this. And therefore, with your entire podcast on on it at the very end of the series. So for today, I do think it bears mentioning and this will be repeated, but it's so important that it bears just really touching on here today for a little bit if we're going to have a godly legacy.

00;17;51;11 - 00;18;15;13
Chris
The bottom line, we have to live a gospel centered life and the gospel is going to be at the very center of everything that we we do, everything that we we are, everything we give ourselves to. And, you know, we talk all the time here about preaching the gospel to ourselves every day. And it's not just preaching the gospel to ourselves, but it's also living out the implications of the gospel.

00;18;15;28 - 00;18;54;01
Chris
And so to have a godly legacy necessitates living a gospel centered life. And then if we're going to live a gospel center life, we have to live a church centered life. And what I mean by this and I'm really hammer this home later in the series, but we have to organize our life around the church. Now. This is countercultural, probably to make a few people squeamish in regards to this, but to be gospel centered, you have to be church centered.

00;18;54;01 - 00;19;38;03
Chris
And by church centered. I'm not referring to the building. I'm referring to the gathering of the church and the activities of of the church, like corporate worship, like discipleship, like mission, like living in community. We talk here harmony about we're worshiping communion mission. And so I think, you know, if you go to chapter two, when the church first started and it says there that when they gave themselves to the Apostles teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and they were doing this literally day by day.

00;19;38;07 - 00;20;00;17
Chris
And as they did these things, worship community, a mission. The Lord grew and and blessed the church. And the reason that we are here today is certainly God's grace and the Holy Spirit's power and all that. But the way that the Holy Spirit worked to build the church is by the church giving themselves to the church, to the things of the church.

00;20;00;17 - 00;20;36;12
Chris
Again, worship community and mission. And that the challenge today in a just use maybe this kind of anecdotal information. But 30 years ago the average church member went to church three times a week. Today it's three times a month. And now I'm not advocating that we go back to having a Sunday night service. I say night service at all, so don't hear me saying that.

00;20;37;05 - 00;21;04;20
Chris
But I am advocating that each week we are giving ourselves to worship community and mission. So we're gathering on a week by week basis to worship the Lord, to sit in on the preaching of God's Word. We are regularly gathering with other believers and in in some type of small group for poor fellowship and maybe more study of God's word, helping one another, loving one, and carrying out the one another's New Testament.

00;21;05;00 - 00;21;36;06
Chris
And then we're regularly giving ourselves to a mission, whether that is a community ministry, whether that's serving in the nursery student ministry, a whole host of different ministries that we have celebrity recovery, those kind of things, whether we're involved in global ministries, lots of different ways to do that. It's not all, you know, one size fits all, but we have to understand that this is if we're going to leave a godly legacy, our life needs to revolve around that.

00;21;36;06 - 00;22;19;26
Chris
Instead of having the church revolve around our life. And that's where we've come to, to a great deal today, is that we fit these different things in where we can fit them in around the busyness of our life. And he does talk about our kids. You know, Emil, maybe I'll just use a personal example here. One of the things that I am most thankful for in regard to my parents is that my parents imparted to me just this understanding that the church was super important and that in this has a lot to do with me actually serving the Lord in the way that I do now.

00;22;19;26 - 00;22;38;11
Chris
Why the church is so important to me is like it just wasn't a question of whether or not we were going to be a church, whether we were going to serve, whether we were going to, you know, give ourselves to the world and worship and a mission and all those kind of things. And it was really, really interesting here.

00;22;38;11 - 00;22;58;26
Chris
Just in the last couple of years, I came to find that this is a long time heritage in my family, that I have a great great grandfather who was a pastor. I just found this out like literally in the last year, all the details of this and that, I actually had the opportunity to preach at the same church that he preached at.

00;22;59;08 - 00;23;24;02
Chris
And there was a guy who actually heard both of us preach. So he lived a long, long time. So he was at the end of my great great grandfather, his ministry, and kind of at the beginning of of of my being a pastor. But that so it just you talk about a legacy and, you know, going to church and serving and you know in community it's not about that.

00;23;25;08 - 00;23;54;10
Chris
Okay so this is not just a kind of chicken box and like religious practices, but you use the word rhythms. It's it's habits. We have to put ourselves in the environment where we can walk with the Lord. And like we talked about from some 78, where we can be steadfast and faithful rather than stubborn and rebellious. And there is it's really interesting to share another quick story.

00;23;54;13 - 00;24;16;25
Chris
I was with my parents here the last couple of days and my mom has a wall of fame in the house. I've got four siblings and, you know, got all our names on plaques and different things. All my others, all my other siblings have academic awards. I didn't I was the only one who didn't get one. It was an athletic award, not much of an athletic award.

00;24;16;25 - 00;24;48;22
Chris
But regardless. But my I just caught this is that the name Chris means steadfast for Christ and it's just kind of interesting how the world works these things out and it was just a good reminder is like being steadfast, part of leaving a godly legacy is being steadfast and steadfast in giving yourself to the things that can shape and mold your heart and will therefore carry on and leave a godly legacy for others.

00;24;49;04 - 00;24;51;15
Chris
So thanks for being with me on that.

00;24;51;28 - 00;25;09;27
Brenton
Yeah, I can relate to some of that and I think I'll just kind of echo what you what you said. I don't feel like I have kids old enough to really speak from a parent's position, but that as a as a child who grew up in a church going probably three times a week, that did have an effect on me.

00;25;09;28 - 00;25;30;28
Brenton
And I have two parents that were it. It was a priority to be there and and so just I know that's a I wouldn't be where I'm at here today without that either. And so really making that a priority for your family and like you said, not in a legalistic way. Not no. We just have to be here.

00;25;31;17 - 00;26;00;06
Brenton
But that that's just a normal part of your life that you are heavily integrated into into a community that of of like minded believers and sharpen each other. I mean, even your, your three points of of telling teaching and knowing that those things happen inside of a context of the body. And so it's just it's just so important to make that a consistent thing in your life.

00;26;00;21 - 00;26;28;05
Chris
Yeah. And I hope everybody appreciate you sharing that. And it's definitely true. And I just want to emphasize for for everybody, it's it's not simply just like just going to these things like going to church or just doing them just to do them. The heart has to be there. And so there it could have also gone a different way for me and for you.

00;26;28;05 - 00;26;58;26
Chris
And we have plenty of examples of that of people that I grew up with or I've seen in ministry. And I'm sure that you do too, is like it was just simply a legalistic in and that when you got home that you one way at church and another way at home. Yeah. And I think for both of us, well, our parents were are are imperfect that their intention in their their heart was right and they were trying to be the same at home as they were at church.

00;26;58;26 - 00;27;25;03
Chris
And so just I think that's a really because some people probably listen to this even have a bad experience of like we were made to go to church and we had to go to church and it just became a heavy weight and a heavy, heavy burden for them. And so we've got to be careful. But what we can do again, we can overreact and a lot of people is like, well, you know, we had to go, we had to go.

00;27;25;03 - 00;27;52;25
Chris
And so now we're not going to you know, it's going to come that we're going to go when we want to go. And it becomes much less important. And there are a lot of people today who want to be and I'm getting on my soapbox, one of my soapboxes, one of the things, the podcast, this blog is this to me, this joy that I have a lot of soapboxes, but it's like this idea that you can be a Christian without the church and we can we can take or leave the church like we can follow Jesus.

00;27;52;25 - 00;28;14;11
Chris
I love Jesus, but I don't love the church. I think Jesus would have a real problem with that statement because Jesus died for the church. He loves the church. And if we love Jesus, we're going to strive to love the things that he loves. Now, the church is hard to love at times, and, you know, and that would even be true Harmony Bible Church.

00;28;14;11 - 00;28;37;29
Chris
And one of the reasons for that is because I'm the pastor worried about Watchers of the Times. It's hard to love me and I really do mean I mean that, But you can't say I'm going to, you know, love Jesus and be all in with him and not be all in with his his church. It's like it will be like you saying, hey, Chris, I love you, but I don't anything to do with your family.

00;28;39;05 - 00;28;53;28
Chris
Like I don't, you know, whatever. I don't care about your family. I know you wouldn't do that. I know you don't feel that way, but that would be like I'd be like, okay, I'm thankful that you feel like you love me, but I got a real issue. That you got an issue with my family. So yeah.

00;28;54;09 - 00;29;29;04
Brenton
It's a good example. Verse five says He is this is, I guess I should mention this is still some 78, but verse five says He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach their children. And you applied this more broadly than just fathers teaching their children. What would you say to someone that that sees themselves as inadequate to teach others if they if they feel like they don't have enough knowledge to pass on?

00;29;30;27 - 00;30;02;02
Chris
I know that there are a lot of people who feel this way and it's certainly understandable, and I even feel inadequate quite often when I get up to preach on Sunday morning. And I think in some ways inadequate feeling is good because on our own we are all inadequate, even if we have the gift of teaching. So I would certainly sympathize with those.

00;30;02;23 - 00;30;29;19
Chris
But here's here's what I want to encourage you. First of all, if in terms of you have a story of your come into faith, so really went on about telling in many ways to tell your story about what God has done in your life. So so begin with that and everybody can can tell their story. It might take you some practice, you might fumble your way through it.

00;30;30;19 - 00;30;56;23
Chris
But it's it's worth I think it was I think it was Martin Luther, but I think if not, I love the saying, you know, anything that's worth doing well is worth or anything worth doing is worth doing poorly. And so teaching is worth doing and so it's worth doing poorly. And as you practice, you're teaching and telling and as you practice, you will you will get better at it.

00;30;56;23 - 00;31;38;26
Chris
So anything I would say is like, you don't have to think, think you got to do this to a whole group of people. One and one is great, one or two is great. And then the third thing I would say is like if if you feel inadequate in your you are inadequate, then commit to being equipped. And and there are just, you know, in many ways and I want to say this gently, there really is no excuse for somebody at Harmony Bible Church to remain inadequate because there are all kinds of avenues to be able to to grow and to be able to learn how to actually share the truths of of God's word with

00;31;38;26 - 00;32;05;09
Chris
other people, whether it's community group, equip you, or hopefully our Sunday sermons. This podcast. There's innumerable books. We live in a time where, like no other time in history, where there's so many resources available to us and so I really again, I would sympathize if that's where you're at. I have a harder time sympathizing, if that's where you're just determined that you're going to stay.

00;32;05;09 - 00;32;24;15
Chris
And maybe you need somebody to come alongside you and you're like, Hey, I need help with this. But it I think it's fine to feel inadequate. I think it's even fine to be inadequate. I don't think it's fine to say inadequate. And we have to remember that we all have the Holy Spirit within us. You have the same amount of Holy Spirit that I do.

00;32;24;28 - 00;32;38;08
Chris
Everybody listening to this, my guess of their believer has the same kind of Holy Spirit. And so if that's the case, then we all can do what Psalm 78 tells us to do it. It may take some work for sure.

00;32;38;17 - 00;33;04;22
Brenton
But yeah, yeah, I kind of I kind of get that that feeling certainly of inadequacy of not knowing enough to talk to people. And I also I think I can relate to there with with the internet there is just such a broad range of of information available. And so it can just be really, really daunting to do that.

00;33;05;14 - 00;33;08;14
Brenton
Anecdotally, I just bought a motorcycle yesterday. Okay.

00;33;08;23 - 00;33;14;02
Chris
And I'm sounds like something we need to talk about. Yeah, let's talk about.

00;33;14;02 - 00;33;32;07
Brenton
But I'm like, it's a beta and I'm trying to find parts for it and I am lost in this world like it's a very deep world of motorcycle parts I'm finding. And so what I've found is like, I need to, I need to look for people that already I already know, already know these things, and then they can give me direction.

00;33;32;07 - 00;33;53;19
Brenton
I think it applies the same for for this. We have we have a staff of of people here, we have elders, we have seasoned people that are, you know, more than willing to step out and help you look through some of the stuff, give you resources. You know, I know the staff has put a lot of work in to equip you into community groups, a lot of these things.

00;33;53;19 - 00;34;07;05
Brenton
And so there are there are no shortage of resources. And I think your greatest resource, if you're in that position, is, is people in our church. And so get and get involved and and talk to people.

00;34;07;24 - 00;34;29;10
Chris
Yeah, that's great. And one of the reasons maybe the primary reason for this podcast, yeah, we're talking about further helping you to go further in your understanding, but also hopefully this is helping to equip you to, you know, to, to tell and to teach. Yeah. And by the way, it wasn't Martin Luther, it was G.K. Chesterton.

00;34;29;11 - 00;34;30;26
Brenton
So, you know, there are a few hundred.

00;34;31;01 - 00;34;36;00
Chris
Year, hundreds of years, but, um.

00;34;37;13 - 00;34;53;06
Brenton
Do you think the leave is leaving? A legacy looks different between men and women. Are there are there things that men should be doing that women shouldn't or vice versa? What are your thoughts on that? You're welcome for this question.

00;34;53;08 - 00;35;28;17
Chris
Yeah. Thank you. Let me try to to to walk this tightrope here. I would say in general, leaving a legacy shouldn't look different between men and women. And and what I mean by that is those six components that we talked about are six components that that everybody should be giving themselves to and can give themselves to teaching, telling, remembering, knowing, keeping all of them apply to all of us.

00;35;28;17 - 00;35;50;29
Chris
And I think that's a faithful interpretation in the New Testament. Again, I talk about the Great Commission. You look at passages like Colossians chapter three, and and in others that would say that these are things that all believers should give themselves to. Now, I would say that there are some distinctions when we get into some specifics, and I'll give two distinctions.

00;35;50;29 - 00;36;17;26
Chris
One would be that the scriptures, I think, are clear, and there are obviously other believers who disagree with this, but that when it comes to the preaching and teaching of God's Word in the gatherings of the church, that is to be reserved for qualified men. And I want to clarify here, I said I didn't say men, I said qualified men.

00;36;19;04 - 00;37;01;23
Chris
It's men who meet the qualification missions for an elder in first Timothy three and Titus chapter one. So it's not not all men are qualified to do that. And in fact, a lot of them are not qualified to do that. But that being said, while women can and actually should teach the Bible and make disciples that is excluded when it comes to the actual gathering of the church and should be reserved for elder qualified men.

00;37;01;23 - 00;37;29;16
Chris
And then I would also say one other distinction, and we probably need to do a podcast on that whole issue sometime, that would be a bonus episode and we will do it at some point. But the second distinction I would say is that I think it's also clear that fathers have the primary responsibility, make sure that the teaching and telling so that there's knowing takes place in the home.

00;37;29;22 - 00;37;36;07
Chris
It doesn't mean that moms don't aren't involved in it and don't do a lot of it and.

00;37;37;01 - 00;37;37;27
Brenton
Yeah and.

00;37;38;26 - 00;38;01;13
Chris
It it's rather that the fathers of the responsible to see that that takes place and that they certainly are giving themselves to it. But that doesn't mean they have to do it all. Some of it is making you know, getting the kids to youth group on on Wednesday night. Some of it is making sure we're going to church on Sunday, Sunday morning, and you're going to be in student ministry, you're going to sit in the service.

00;38;02;10 - 00;38;30;22
Chris
And certainly the dad should be doing it himself, but but also making sure he and his wife are working together in that. But, you know, when it comes to this godly legacy and I'm sure that I will get to this specifically at some point in this series, the biggest hole that we have right now is that we don't have men in particularly fathers, who are actually making it a priority to tell and to teach their kids the word of God.

00;38;31;22 - 00;38;55;10
Chris
And way too often it's the moms who are setting the spiritual temperature of the home. And I'm really thankful for for all the ladies who do that. And they're faithful and we got it all in. How are you able church and harmony Bible Church would not function without the women of our church. And that's not to say, by the way, that we don't have a lot of godly men who are leading.

00;38;55;10 - 00;39;34;14
Chris
I think one of our hallmarks is are strong male leadership. But there is a gap there, not just in our culture, but even in our in our church. An area for growth would be in men taking the responsibility and go back to that first King passage is like we need to be be courageous, act like men, and part of acting like, man, if you are a father and a husband is to lead your family in the teaching, telling in knowing of God's works and God's will, it's good.

00;39;34;22 - 00;40;13;19
Brenton
Yeah. We should do a follow up episode on some of that stuff, but that's good to know. So I appreciate it. Yep. All right. Well, that's going to be it for today. We will talk to you next week.