Pastor to Pastor
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Pastor to Pastor
Breaking Free: Living Faithfully Beyond Divided Loyalty
🎙️ Welcome to another powerful episode of Pastor to Pastor! 🎙️
This week, we bring you a second episode filled with deep insights and heartfelt moments as Pastor Seth shares about the impactful service at Reliant Church this past Sunday.
🔥 Here’s what we’re covering today:
- Kicking off the new sermon series, Divided Loyalty, and why true commitment to God is non-negotiable.
- Exploring James 1:5-8 and how divided loyalty leads to instability in all areas of life.
- Challenging casual Christianity and emphasizing spiritual growth, obedience to scripture, and wholehearted devotion to God.
- Tackling cultural influences like zodiac signs, temporary pleasures, and misplaced identities, while pointing to Christ as our ultimate source.
- Real-life testimonies of breakthrough and freedom at the altar, with lives transformed as people surrender addictions and distractions for God’s glory.
🙏 Key Takeaway: God doesn’t want a divided heart—He’s calling us to complete surrender and unwavering loyalty. Seek Him first, live holy, and experience true freedom in Christ.
Don’t miss this episode filled with encouragement, truth, and the raw power of God’s Word!
đź“– Scriptures Mentioned:
- James 1:5-8
- Matthew 6:33
- 1 John 2:15-17
- 1 Chronicles 16:11
- Galatians 5
- 1 Peter 1:14-16
🙌 Be sure to like, comment, and subscribe for more episodes that equip and inspire you in your walk with Christ. Let us know your favorite takeaway from today’s episode in the comments below!
📢 Share the message with your friends and family who need encouragement today!
đź“Ś Hashtags:
#PastorToPastor #DividedLoyalty #SpiritualGrowth #FaithInAction #BiblicalTeaching #FreedomInChrist #ChristianPodcast
🎧 Subscribe now to never miss an episode, and join us in pursuing a life fully committed to God. See you next time!
look out, it's another episode I switched it up on you.
Speaker 2:You didn't. You didn't know what to expect. Look, out.
Speaker 1:Yes right it's another episode of pastor the pastor. Listen. We already gave you one this week, now here's the second one here's another. We want to hear from pastor seth and what was going on out at the reliant Church and the message you gave this past Sunday, brother, go ahead and lay it on us.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, man. We had a great service this past Sunday, man, God really moved during our worship. At the end of the message I'll talk a little bit about what God did. But we just finished that series on change and now we're we're just opening up a new series called uh, divided loyalty, right, and uh, we know we live in a society where loyalty is something that is really not seen in many people. I mean, really you could look at, look at the relationships, I mean, look at the divorce rates. Yeah, I mean we're, we are a very disloyal people. Not, I mean, I'm not talking about just divorce rates in the world.
Speaker 2:I, I'm talking about in the church, I mean they're pretty high, way higher than they should be for people who are following the Word of God. And you know we look at just in the totality of who we are in society. I mean we're disloyal to the church. I mean, let a restaurant mess up 15 times, we're still going back. Come on now. But, let somebody in the church show they're imperfect man, we'll run and flee from the church and make a post about the church.
Speaker 1:Yeah, tell everybody.
Speaker 2:Run them through the mud. We're unloyal. We're disloyal man, with our jobs. You know the moment our boss or coworker makes us upset, you know we put in a notice and some people are so disloyal, jay, they don't even give a notice, they just be like Deucin. I'm out of here and you know I decided we were going to do this series because of where we are as a body of Christ, this casual Christianity where you know we are loyal to God when we need it Right and then loyal to the world when it's good for us. I don't know if you know this, but the world can only give us problems. It can't solve our issues.
Speaker 2:Maybe it can give us temporary pleasures, but it's nothing that lasts for eternity, and so the basis of our message today was in James 1, verse 5 through 8. It says if you need wisdom, ask our generous God and he'll give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking, but when you do ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything we do. So today we kicked it off talking about being loyal to either God or loyal to the world, because you cannot tread both of those paths.
Speaker 1:You can't be double-minded.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's right, because a man that is double-minded is unstable in all of their ways not just some, all of them Let the saints say all of the ways, and you know James here when you talk about these things. He says in Matthew 6, 33, it says Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added. When you look at that passage, it's talking about what are these things? It's money and possessions, and what he's saying is all the things that you think you need in this world. Don't go looking for them in the world. Come to the Father, seek him, and everything that you need will be added. Here's the truth. What you think you need, you don't Right, and what you do need, you don't even realize it until God shows up with it. And I talked about a lot of times in James' day. People were looking at other resources for wisdom. Now, for them, they would go to idols, these false idols. But for us, we have a slew of worthless ways of wisdom.
Speaker 1:we go to celebrities, we go to social media they go into tarot cards and they go into I've talked about it zodiac let me just be really come on somebody genesis, 1, 14 through 19, talks about how god created the sun, moon and the stars.
Speaker 2:The stars translate over to being like comets, asteroids, everything in the solar system. God created those things. What does that mean? Okay, the creation cannot determine what the creating is. What. What is created? Okay, he gave us liberty to name things, but he didn't, he didn't give us the identity. God gave us the identity. Stars don't find that to give identity and too many people are going to zodiac signs and and saying, hey, what's your sign?
Speaker 1:Here's the thing, here's the thing. He gave us signs and wonders in the sky for us to know seasons and times, and things like that. Not for it to tell you who you are.
Speaker 2:It's not your identity, it's not in the stars, it's crazy that, based on the month you were born, this is who you should be. So now, now, because a card or the star or your birthday or zodiac sign says this about you. That's the lie that you begin to live.
Speaker 1:And you're putting your faith in something other, in a created thing, instead of the creator.
Speaker 2:Listen, you cannot. You cannot be created by God or be a child of God, but get your identity from another source. That's right. There's no way you're pursuing Christ while getting your identity from somewhere else. And here's the truth, man, you know these zodiac signs and stuff like that. They can't give you your identity. The Bible says that Jesus said I knew you before you were formed in your mother's womb. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. God is the one that created us. He's the one. And wonderfully made God is the one that created us. He's the one. And so I actually talked a little bit about this. You know, people that are chasing the world is getting their identity from it versus being God. So we talked about three things how do you distinguish if you are living for God or living for the world? And the first one was that you seek continually God versus seeking things continually, and so 1 Chronicles 16 and 11, I think it is it says seek the Lord in his strength continually and seek his presence continually.
Speaker 1:The fruit of someone who is seeking God is someone who is making him the priority in their life and I even shared this Wednesday night because we've been talking about his presence and drawing deeper and closer to him. So I even talked about it this past Wednesday night. I was like how many of you have been, because of what we've been talking about, learning about, have been drawn closer to God? And a lot of them raised their hand and I said, okay, so what's the fruit of you being drawn closer to God? Because if you're drawn closer to God, if you're so, if there's no signs, then you're just saying something.
Speaker 2:Right. The Bible says in 1 John 1, 15, 17, Do not love this world, nor the things it offers you. For when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a crave of physical pleasure, a craving for everything that we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father but are from the world, and this world is fading away along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what God pleases will live forever, and that passage he's teaching us crave the things that are unseen. We have an eye for everything that is seen the money, the cars, the clothes, the popularity, the trending mentality, all these things. But if you'll focus on the things that last forever, you'll be taken care of forever.
Speaker 1:Throw your treasure in heaven.
Speaker 2:For the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want Right. One of the translations says for the Lord is my shepherd, for I have everything that I need. So when you're pursuing Christ and not things you know, no matter what the world has to operate in, it'll never be enough Right. The world gives you problems. God gives you hope. God gives you peace. God gives you everything that you need in this life. So we talked about being able to differentiate between the things that you are seeking for whether they're things of the world continually or things of God continually that you are seeking for, whether things of the world continually or things of God continually and you can even see that in the way you spend your time, and we will break that down here in just a minute. But the second thing we talked about was how do you know that you're pursuing God? How do you know that you're not dividing your loyalty for God? It's because you obey the scriptures.
Speaker 2:Now, this one kind of wrecks some people, because it's the truth. Let me just say this the scripture requires you to be holy. Yeah, uh, cuss word. I know cuss word, let me. Let me say this really quick.
Speaker 2:First, peter, well, well, john, 14, 15 says if you love me, keep my commandments first peter 1, 14 through 16. So you must live as god's obedient children. Don't slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desire. Uh-oh, you didn't know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything that you do, just as God, who chose you, is holy, for the scriptures say you must be holy because I am holy, and holiness is not a wardrobe, holiness is a lifestyle. I'm about you, but I refuse to stain my life with the things of this world for the sake of popularity, for the sake of being rich. I'm not preaching sermons just to grow the church numerically, have a church full of members but no conversions. It makes no sense to me. You know we cannot be preaching these cupcake and rainbow sermons. You know what I'm saying? Tickling ears.
Speaker 1:I mean, I'll be honest with you, Even as a pastor, sometimes I struggle. I'm like Lord, that word been hard for a few weeks, for a month now. Maybe just a little encouraging. You know, and I'm just like you know what it is, what it is. The Lord gives the word, I deliver it. It is that simple.
Speaker 2:That's right, and is that simple? That's right, and I, you know, true pastors love their congregants enough to tell them the truth yeah and the truth is this is that god is coming for a spotless, spotless god.
Speaker 2:God is not coming for people who say they're married to him but are still dating the world. You have got to sever the relationship, not to the point where you're too holy to be able to, uh, preach the gospel and share the good news and be relatable enough to create relationships so Jesus can infiltrate the conversations and the relationship. But you've got to be able to separate that. Hey, I love you and I care for you, but I just can't do that with you anymore. My life has been changed, right.
Speaker 1:And here's the thing, man, you think about the parables. Even it talks about two being in a field, one taken, two in a bed, one taken Like. If those people are together and they represent the church, and that means only half of the half of the professed professing believers are even going to be taken. And so I mean you've got to really start deciding.
Speaker 2:Do I want to follow the world, who, who put a perfect man on the cross, or do I want to follow jesus, who put himself on the cross for for me to be able to see the Father, yeah, for sure, and we've got to be careful about the people that we're interacting with and the people that you're around, that they see sin as a joke or they'll say things like this it's not that serious.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is.
Speaker 2:Let me tell you this Heaven's real, but hell is too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. But we don't talk about hell, no, because you mean to have to focus on no, nobody wants to do that. Just focus on the good stuff.
Speaker 2:You know, focus on. The people say don't talk about, talk about the reward, don't talk about the punishment. Well, the truth is to value the reward, you need to know what God saved you from.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:He saved you from eternal damnation and there's a way you should live. There's a standard. Go read Galatians 5, okay, where it talks about the sins that won't inherit the kingdom of God. They're all in there. Go read them.
Speaker 1:Liars fornicators.
Speaker 2:And what you don't see. He said in other sins like these. So don't think some are excluded, Right? You know what I'm saying? Yeah, Be a people who are a fruit of the Spirit, not a fruit of this world. And one thing that I talked about was that you know, you got to be careful of those people. You could tell if they were divided with their loyalty between the world and God, because it's those people who come to church just out of habit, on a Sunday.
Speaker 2:There's no relationship, there's no change in who they are. There's no change. There are those people who will post a scripture and then today and then tomorrow they cussing somebody out on another post, and then today and then tomorrow they cussing somebody out on another post.
Speaker 1:What's?
Speaker 2:the fruit. That's how you know. The fruit will tell.
Speaker 1:Yeah, people say you can't judge me, you can't judge me.
Speaker 2:Read scripture, cuz, righteously, a fruit tells me everything I need to know I had a whole pastor say brother girl wants you to say I am a fruit inspector. I ain't judging you, I am a fruit inspector.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:And if you claim Christianity?
Speaker 1:you're giving me space to inspect your fruit and hold you accountable.
Speaker 2:I don't know about you, but I love accountability. I love people checking blind spots hey, you might want to change it. I mean, I have people that say, hey, you might want to change the way you worded that or the way you approach that. Maybe consider some things different. That's all about accountability. You need people in your life that could do that, not people who you know. They in the choir singing on Sunday morning, but Sunday night they're shacking up with their boo thing. Those people are divided. They are unstable in all their ways, double-minded.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yes, absolutely, and I used to be that way. I used to be the Sunday Christian and the weekday sinner. I know what it's like. I know what it's like to ugly cry and make people think that I'm as saved as I've ever been. I know what it's like to create this persona, that to my parents that, hey, I'm saved man, I'm saved, I'm filled with the Holy Ghost. You know I'm all, but yet on Monday through Saturday I'm doing nonsense, right, but I'm telling you, thank God for his grace and his mercy that he gave me another day to experience him to turn my life around, and people that are pursuing God, that are not divided in their loyalty, will be people that obey the scripture.
Speaker 2:Not that we're better than people, but we have a standard and the standard doesn't change. It doesn't? The standard is not a person, the standard is not the church, the standard is not religion. The standard is this holy word. See what we thought when we heard the word holiness it was a traditional saying or it was just old saints being legal.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, no, no, or the way you preach, which is funny because somebody said are you holiness? After they heard me preach and I'm like yeah, yeah, that's because you go.
Speaker 2:You had 100 every time.
Speaker 1:Man, I can't help it dude, it is me. You are who you are, I am, but you are who you are, I am.
Speaker 2:But holiness is not an old school word, it is the word in the Bible. In the word it is the standard for who we are and what we're supposed to be and how we're supposed to act.
Speaker 1:We are supposed to be set apart? Oh for sure, Come out from among them.
Speaker 2:Oh man, come on the last one man, this really hit home.
Speaker 2:One of the ladies at our church said man, your, your word was like boom boom. Then we get real comfortable with you, preach. They didn't go. Boom boom, I mean you were laying the hammer down. But and when I told our church, I said, you know, you can go to churches and they can. They can tickle your ears and they can do whatever they can, just but just to please you, because you, you're braying tan ties and you're serving and you're showing up.
Speaker 2:For me. I could care less about that, because you know what I want a church that understands our goal is to bring heaven on earth, the kingdom on earth, so that we can win lost souls. And so we talked about the last one, that how do you know if you are pursuing Christ or if you are pursuing the world continually? And the last one was that you're growing spiritually, that the fruit of somebody that is pursuing God. They're not divided in their loyalty, but they are loyal to God, his scriptures, his word, his body is somebody that is growing spiritually. First, corinthians says 13 and 11.
Speaker 2:When I was a child, I used to speak like a child. Think like a child. When I became a man, I used to speak like a child. Think like a child. When I became a man, I did away with childish things. I'm going to read what I wrote down today okay, okay, because people need to hear this stuff Speak. So.
Speaker 2:Growing spiritually is not gifts, it's not you speaking in tongues. It's not you running on the floor and rolling and crying and falling out and shouting. That's not spiritual maturity. Spiritual maturity is how I wrote it down. It's being able to pray for them, even though you know what they said about you. Fruit of growing spiritually is still praying for them after they hurt you.
Speaker 2:Growing spiritually is deciding to bless those you consider your enemies instead of cursing them. Fruit of growing spiritually is inviting the person you don't get along with to church. When's the last time you've invited an enemy to church? That's how you know you care more about God than you do the animosity that you have between them. You care more about their soul than your differences. That shows that you are growing spiritually because you put the gospel before your feelings. Fruit of growing spiritually is that you no longer react to someone. You prayerfully respond to them in a way that is with love and is a fruit of the Spirit, a sign that you have divided loyalty, especially when you look at your life now, is that nothing in you has changed. You've come to church. You've listened. You has changed. You've come to church, you've listened to the teaching, you've heard the pastor, but yet you're still the same person, never changed.
Speaker 1:I don't know how it's hard for me to see that, it's hard for me to think that way, and I know it's just complacency kills man In law enforcement. That's what we say. Complacency kills You're going to keep. Kills man in law enforcement. That's what we say. Complacency kills you're gonna keep approaching the same car the same way, every car, the exact same way, with nonchalantly, and eventually you're gonna approach the wrong car at the wrong time with the wrong people and end up shop side of road.
Speaker 1:So I don't understand the whole complacency. Christian and I know that that paul was was content, but not complacent, right. And so we, we will, over time, become, become complacent, come on and become cold, because if you're not growing, there is no, if you're not growing, you're regressing. That's right. That's how I view it. And so I don't understand. If I'm going to church every single Sunday and of course, if that's the only time you go, then you got what you got, but and never see growth, then you have to wonder am I doing the right thing? Should something change in me? So anyway, yeah, it's got to change.
Speaker 2:There's nobody that comes to Christ and still stays the same.
Speaker 1:Right, you're a new creature, a new creation.
Speaker 2:Where you go changes, how you talk changes, the jokes you tell are different, the shows you watch are different, the things you listen to All those things are different when you are pursuing Christ and you're growing spiritually Right. You know, man, I wish I could go, but you know, right now I just you know one way. One thing we said this past Sunday was just in a moment just go ahead and evaluate your time. How often do you spend time in prayer? How often do you spend time with God? How often do you actually come to church or come to the things that like men's groups and women's groups and prayer nights? How often do you push those things to decide for temporary pleasures in this world? How often have you missed service because your kid had a ball game? I didn't want to hear that stuff because they think that's just religion but, the truth is is those things.
Speaker 2:You'll get another night to go play ball, you'll get another time to go watch your kids when you know know you can grow spiritually, that you have prayers that need to be met. You have things you need God to do for you but you really would choose to be somewhere else. You've got to start aligning your things with the things of this word and not this world. I noticed one thing when I got really committed to God where I went changed.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:What I wasted my time doing? Do you to God, where I went, changed Right, what I wasted my time doing? How often do you spend more time playing a video game? Do you spend with the Lord Hunting, fishing, going to ball games, watching TV, watching your games? Evaluate this thing and it'll show you. Once you get really serious about God and growing spiritually, you'll see it. You'll see it change.
Speaker 1:Paul says offer your life as a living sacrifice which is your reasonable service. Yeah, man yeah, and I said this today even though we had an amazing, powerful service. I said are we coming to the altar empty-handed or are we laying ourselves down? You want the fire of God, but you don't want to sacrifice. Anyway, sorry, yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, sorry yeah, but we talked about the divided loyalty and we talked about even seeing the divided loyalty within the church. You look at the Church of America today, because we think that we need to sprinkle a little bit of the world in it in order for us to win the loss. This is why we prescribe medications instead of giving deliverance for people. This is why we, you know, add more lights instead of becoming the light of this world. This is why we make bigger stages instead of coming to the altar humble, admitting that we need God now more than ever before. This is why we promote gifts that can entertain people, rather find the person that is anointed to break yokes because we were better entertained and let people leave changed. This is why people leave with their emotions high, but their spirituality is drained. It's not even elevating anymore because the church has missed it.
Speaker 2:Man, why do you think there are so many homosexuals leading worship? Why do you think there are more motivational speakers in pulpits than there are true men of God? Why do you think we are around false prophets in here to tell people to get money, cars and clothes and all these things in our pulpits? It's because we think we need to filtrate the world into the church in order to reach the world, and that was never how the god wanted his gospel to be presented. Yeah, and we've got to stop this casual christianity thinking we can mix the two. The bible says you're either hot or you're cold, anything in between, I don't want nothing to do with even the church, and even the church.
Speaker 1:It was lukewarm.
Speaker 2:He spit them out their mouth he said he choose this day who you will serve. You cannot serve two masters, for I am a jealous god. He said narrow is the way, but broad is the way of destruction. You've got to make a decision. Yeah, you have got to make a decision. And man, the lord, led us into a powerful time at the end of our, our service. Um, I said you know there are people in this room who are serving their addiction. They're serving cigarettes and alcohol and vapes. I said you got to throw that stuff out.
Speaker 1:Plan B.
Speaker 2:You've got a backup plan. Right, if you are praying for freedom, but yet the moment you have an itch and you go to the thing you're asking freedom from, you don't have any faith, you don't trust God. You have a backup plan. You have a fallout plan to go back to the addiction that you say you want freedom from. And so I said, if you really want freedom, the Lord says get rid of your backup plan, bring these things down to the altar. If you've got alcohol at home, find an accountability partner.
Speaker 2:Today, when you leave this service, after you go eat, go home and say, hey, can you come with me and help me pour out this alcohol, help me pour out these pills, help me get rid of all the cigarettes and all the things that I got. Get rid of them. If you want healing, it takes you to get rid of your backup plan and say God, I trust you. Right, I trust you Because the next time you have an itch and have a scratch, don't go grab another cigarette. Say God in this moment, right now. I know you can take the addiction away. I know you can take the habit away. I know you can take the craving away.
Speaker 2:I want to crave the things of heaven. I want to crave the things of this word. I don't care about the things this world is trying to offer. That's where you get freedom. And man, god move bro. We had people at the altar bringing vapes down. We had people bringing cigarettes. I said I don't care if you're on the stage, I don't care if you're a leader, I don't care if you're a minister. This is the place where freedom is Not judgment. Freedom, freedom. We're going to celebrate you. We're not going to look down on you. This is the gospel.
Speaker 2:This is the gospel of Jesus. Christ, because he who the son sets free is free indeed, man and uh, one of our worship leaders, bro, I love him, man. He said. For 21 years, him and his wife, they've been praying that he would break this addiction of cigarettes yeah man. He went, got his keys, went out to the car, brought him in and laid him at the altar man and just fell into the arms of the father. Bro, it's beautiful man. Yeah, we can't live this life divided. Bro.
Speaker 2:When you're committed to god, that's when you'll see the fullness of his hand moving in your life yes, sir and it was good bro sounds good good man and, uh, you know, my heart was just full of just thankfulness of what god was doing in his faithfulness. Man um, those moments don't happen often, bro. Yeah, it's just amazing, man um, when you surrender to god, freedom can take place in your life right, yep, you see the lord show up.
Speaker 1:Amen, do what only the lord can do. He's taking there. He took, uh, he took tobacco from me, so I know what it's like you, but you do. You have to. There's no plan b. Yeah, you can't get married and still have a girlfriend that's right.
Speaker 2:I said this is one thing. That what you just said Remind me. I said you can't. You can't say you're the bride of Christ while dating the world. Come on, somebody married to him but still got a side chick.
Speaker 1:It don't work that way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, make up your mind.
Speaker 1:Choose this day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, at least be honest to yourself Start.
Speaker 1:Well, let's bless him, brother.
Speaker 2:Unless, you got something else I'm good to go brother.
Speaker 1:Hey, you know how we do here on Pastor to Pastor, let's send you off with a blessing, from number 624 through 26. It says the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Hey, that's another episode of Pastor to Pastor. Come on, baby of Pastor to Pastor Come on, baby. Yeah, we look forward to having many, many more, god bless you.
Speaker 2:I like it. I'm in.
Speaker 1:See you next time, do all those good things. We'll see you next time, all right?
