#30 Tim Reed

In this conversation, Tim Reed and I discuss the current state of the church, the challenges it faces, and the importance of understanding persecution. We emphasize the need for believers to embody the love of Christ, avoid choosing sides in cultural conflicts, understand the significance of spiritual warfare, and focus on personal responsibility in their faith. In light of the Charlie Kirk assassination, our discussion also touches on the impact of tragedy on faith communities, the significance of humility, and the necessity of confidence in salvation as believers navigate their individual paths in the faith.

Takeaways

• The church is facing significant challenges in today's society.
• Believers need to understand and prepare for persecution.
• The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and we must not choose sides.
• Showing the love of Christ is essential in a divided culture.
• Humility and personal responsibility are key to effective faith.
• Tragedy can lead to a revival and awakening in faith communities.
• Each believer's race is unique and should not be compared to others.
• The church must address truth and guide its members effectively.
• Confidence in salvation is crucial for moving forward in faith.
• We must avoid the pitfalls of cancel culture and division.

Tim's IG: @heavydutygooey

Tim's TikTok: @iamtimbo - TimboSlice

Podcast Instagram and TikTok: @pespinoza.cyc

Podcast X: @pespinoza_cyc

Podcast YouTube: @CarryYourCrossStudios

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction and Context of the Conversation
• 2:56 The Impact of the Charlie Kirk Incident
• 6:08 Understanding Persecution and the Church's Response
• 8:37 The Role of True Believers in Spreading the Gospel
• 11:24 Choosing Sides: The Tactics of the Enemy
• 14:29 The Love of Christ vs. Condemnation
• 17:20 Cultural and Political Dynamics in Christianity
• 19:41 Importance of Humility and Self-Reflection
• 22:41 The Call for Change and Awakening in the Church
• 25:41 The Legacy of Charlie Kirk and Its Implications
• 36:33 The Burden of Love and Faith
• 40:20 Measuring Faith: Personal Standards and Comparison
• 42:23 Understanding Individual Purpose and Talents
• 47:10 The Impact of Social Media on Faith
• 52:21 Navigating Challenges in Faith and Community
• 57:09 Confidence in Salvation and Moving Forward
• 1:02:54 The Role of the Church in Personal Growth
• 1:07:14 Accountability and Personal Responsibility in Faith

Transcript

Pedro Espinoza (00:00)
Alright folks, well we have Tim Reed back for episode 30. If you remember, he was in episode 18. He was the featured guest. And in that episode, Tim brought up lot of good points about the current state of the church. Namely, the Great Falling Away, which is defined as lack of truth and judgment on the Western Church. Additionally, we also spoke about the role of men.

and women in the church. And another big topic of that episode was the good news versus the great commission. And this this episode, we're going to dive into the Charlie Kirk assassination, how the church should move forward and the pitfalls of the enemy in the last thousand years. So.

Welcome back brother. It's great to have you back again. You're a mighty man of God and you have a lot of just sound theological knowledge of the scripture and really the current state of the church. So for such a time as this, right? It's really a blessing to have real people and real men such as yourself lead the church or at least lead it in the direction it should be going.

because I feel like a lot of individuals and even organizations, know, churches, faith-based organizations are really missing out on truth and they need somebody to lead them in these times. So if you want to go ahead and get started, man, I know we have a lot to cover, go ahead and take it away.

TIm Reed (01:42)
Yeah, absolutely. Pedro, it's always a pleasure to see you, bro. I consider you your friend. So I appreciate the time that you are taking to let me talk on your platform. It's truly a blessing. So I appreciate it, brother. ⁓ If I can, I know one of the things as soon as we finished speaking the last time ⁓ you start to replay everything in your mind and you're like, man, we didn't even open up in prayer. What kind of lame

duck thing was that. So I kick myself for that. ⁓ I really just want to, if you're good with it, I'd like to open up in prayer and, ⁓ and allow our third ⁓ guest, the Holy Spirit, right? ⁓ So I'll just kick it off. ⁓ Heavenly Father, I just thank you for this time that Pedro and I can speak on your truth, ⁓ your truth, God. It's not my truth and it's not Pedro's truth.

Pedro Espinoza (02:29)
Absolutely.

TIm Reed (02:41)
⁓ And anything other than your truth let it Die before these lips of mine Heavenly father. I don't want to be or place myself in a position that I speak on a platform Attempting to say something that is not of you. So I Invite you in this moment. I pray that you're here. I pray that you're evident in the words spoken and and

everything that we talk about, let it be funneled straight back to you so that you may get the glory. And I just pray this in your name. Amen. I appreciate that, bro. You know, I love the fact that you started off talking about the great deception because before we even got going on this, I was thinking about referencing that and was like, it takes too much time.

Pedro Espinoza (03:18)
Amen. Yeah, me too.

TIm Reed (03:35)
But you referenced it. So ⁓ it all ties into the things that laid heavy on my heart after the ⁓ killing of Charlie Kirk. ⁓ You reached out to me that day on the 10th. And it was the timing of God I find ⁓ peculiar ⁓ because there were a lot of individuals. I think this was actually on the 11th that you reached out to me.

⁓ That I saw online that were extremely upset about ⁓ their church and and how they Didn't recognize what happened with the Charlie Kirk ⁓ incident ⁓ And I guess maybe it was ⁓ after Sunday, right? ⁓ and I've been seeing video after video the same day that you said that and something just resounded in me like man I'm seeing all these individuals not

knowing where to turn to and not knowing what to do, not knowing how to take that next step because this was one of those events just took the wind out of your sail. You know, you see it happen and it's like, ⁓ man, God, what does this mean? Right. And ⁓ from a perspective of ⁓ being a Christian in America, we do not know persecution.

Right? We are ⁓ ignorant to what persecution is. So when we see something like this, is a violent reaction and we don't even know how to process it. Right? There are so many believers in this country and ⁓ we don't know persecution. ⁓ And there will be a time that we will and people need direction.

So when you're going to these churches that aren't willing to speak of it because ⁓ it's too political, it's too ⁓ cutting edge, they don't want to get in trouble for saying things ⁓ that surround the encampment of what happened. People need guidance. And so when you came to me and you said that, it clicked and I asked you, hey brother, you mind if we talk about this? Because...

people need direction and they need to understand, where do I go from here? I think God has, ⁓ of course I ran to God with this and I had my own talks and conversations with him. ⁓ And again, the things that I'm going to reveal and talk about are the things that God revealed to me. And I said it last time and I'll say it again, anytime someone says, God revealed things to me, put your hand on your wallet, open up the Bible, verify what is being said.

I don't expect anyone to believe what I am saying. ⁓ Just like the Bereans, make sure that you look up and validate the words that I'm saying to make sure that they align with scripture. say God said something is a big deal. God says, and Jesus said, my sheep know my voice, right? ⁓ And I've been with my Lord for a long time and I've sifted through

⁓ The difference between my voice and his voice and doesn't mean I got it right 100 % of the time ⁓ But but I run to him and he speaks to me so I have a word For all those individuals that didn't get the word that they were looking for or they needed their churches We have something and it's something that could be beneficial and I find that what is beneficial to ⁓ to the body of Christ is Beneficial to spreading the gospel

That's what this is all about. ⁓ We are governed, we are ⁓ tasked out to actually spread the gospel. So that's what this is, when it boils down to this, that's what it's all about and that's what we're going to be talking about today.

Pedro Espinoza (07:32)
Yeah, absolutely, Go for it.

TIm Reed (07:35)
Okay, yeah, anytime you want to stop me, bro, go ahead and stop me. There's a little bit of a lag, but you got something to say, just say it and I'll stop. ⁓ So, ⁓ I was seeing all those videos of people upset with the church. ⁓

Took a look at Charlie Kirk and I knew a lot about him. I seen him in the videos, you know the prove me wrong videos ⁓ and I Believe that he was a man of God ⁓ He spoke about the gospel that you know, the book of James says, you know understand Believers by the actions that they do the fruits that they that they display Charlie Kirk believed that you were saved by grace

through faith alone and that ⁓ it is the Holy Spirit that guides you through this world. And that's it, man. Charlie had, it was a tragedy what happened to him. I think about his family. I think about his wife and the things that ⁓ they must be going through right now, the questions that you ask when you go through things that are hard in your life.

⁓ God, where are you? What does this mean? ⁓ Is this what this means if I become a follower of you? Is this what's waiting for me in the darkness? ⁓ There are so many questions that haunt us when these types of things happen. ⁓ But one of the things that God really spoke to me about is how we're pressing forward with the gospel and

We have a big issue as believers and again, I'm talking to believers and if you are listening to this podcast and you're not a believer, ⁓ this is going to be really ⁓ eye opening of what it means to be a believer, a true believer, right? And when I say a true believer, I'm saying somebody that actually follows Christ ⁓ because we know that the path is narrow and broad is the way towards death, right? And narrow is the way towards truth. ⁓

the bulk of Christians don't act the way that we need to act. And that's what this podcast is all about. What are we doing wrong in this? was the establishment that took the life of our Lord, right? It was the people that ran to Him, right? It was His loveness, it was loving kindness that He poured out on the people that they ran to Him.

Son of David, have mercy on me as he ran down the hill towards Jesus. The lame, the brokenhearted, ⁓ the Pharisees that would say, this man, he spends times with prostitutes and tax collectors. He surrounds himself with prostitutes and tax collectors. What do do as a Christian community? Do we ⁓ create hedges around our church and kind of like

You you want to join us and then kind of push the world out ⁓ while Jesus infused himself with the world. ⁓ I find that ⁓ the way that we are going from a Christian perspective ⁓ is wrong. And I think we need to do some changing. And Jesus warned us of this. He warned us that there was going to be ⁓ things that were ⁓ done wrong once the kingdom of heaven was revealed, right?

There's a verse that's very hard to understand ⁓ that took me ⁓ decades to be able to understand it. ⁓ It's an odd verse, but it describes how wrong ⁓ the bulk of Christians are in how they look at life. Matthew 11, 12, strange verse. I don't know if you've ever heard this one, Pedro. says, from the days of John the Baptist until now.

The kingdom of heaven has suffered violence and the violent take it by force. There's a lot of arguing that happens with this verse. ⁓ Some people say that, that, ⁓ this is the, this is once the kingdom of heaven came, right? Because the kingdom of heaven was introduced by Jesus. Behold, the kingdom of heaven is here is amongst you. It's, it's the people that want to ⁓ be born again and be saved. And it's from a good perspective.

⁓ And there's arguments on both sides of the camp of what this verse means. This verse ⁓ truly means to me and how I've studied, it talks about that the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, suffers, the word suffer. it says since the days of John the Baptist, ⁓ John the Baptist kind of rolled out the gospel, right?

He prepared the way for Jesus. It's almost like he tilled the ground, letting people know that you're not good, not saved, ⁓ and you need a savior. John the Baptist did not have the gospel message. He didn't have the good news. He just preached repentance, right? He told people that, you have to have a repentant heart. It's all about heart posture.

And Jesus says, since the days of John the Baptist, ⁓ John the Baptist was about in the Old Testament. So the enemy knew the words that John the Baptist had had something to do with the gospel. And so when John the Baptist started rolling out ⁓ repentance, the enemy knew it and he honed in on it. And he said, OK, we got to attack this. The kingdom of heaven suffers violence.

and those that are ⁓ violent take it by force. There's a war against the gospel. And you know what? It's the people in our own that profess falsities and represent the gospel in a wrong way. And Jesus was quick to actually talk about this. So we know that something's out there ⁓ making the kingdom of ⁓ heaven suffer.

And it's how we approach the gospel and the love of Christ. We have to emulate love of Christ. And that doesn't happen very much. I think the big problem is a tactic that God really told me about when I was praying to Him about this Charlie Kirk incident. ⁓ God revealed to me when did I ever choose sides, Tim? That's what He said to me. When did you ever see me choose sides?

You know, we have these things that Christians want to ⁓ adhere to or it's their, they're focused in on, you know, I want to focus in on ⁓ abortion, right? That's my thing. And, ⁓ but when did Jesus ever ⁓ choose the side? You know, you've got people with billboards ⁓ saying you're going to go to hell if you kill your baby, right? Or the LGBT community. When did Jesus ever choose sides? ⁓

He never chose sides, but that is the tactic of the enemy. And that's what I want to talk about. That's what this podcast is about. It's about identifying how the enemy wants you to choose sides. And how do we know this? We know this by how the enemy worked within the Pharisees. So many times they asked Jesus to choose sides, but he never did. He never played their game.

There's this one scripture where the Pharisees brought an adulterous woman, right? And Pharisees wanted to present the law of Moses to Jesus in an act to ⁓ arrest him, get him arrested, because they wanted him to ⁓ give the thumbs up and say, go ahead, stoner. ⁓

So they were trying to trip him up on his words. And they said, what are you going to do about this woman? They brought her and only her and they threw her at his feet. And they said, what are you going to do, Jesus? They hated Jesus and they wanted to entrap him. And so what did they say? They said, choose a side. And so they're weaponizing the gospel ⁓ and not the gospel, they're weaponizing the Bible and having Jesus choose a side. But what does Jesus do? He bends down, he writes in the sand.

whatever he writes in the sand ⁓ chases them away, right? And then he looks at the woman and says, hey, where are your accusers? And then she looked right back at him and said, I don't have any. He says, that's right. And I'm not going to accuse you either. This is in John eight, ⁓ three through five, seven, 10 and 11, by the way, if anybody wants to look at it. But it's the fact that he didn't play their game. He didn't choose a side. He saw the hurt.

that this woman was experiencing and he chased the accusers away. So what are we doing as a church to chase the accusers away? ⁓ There was a sign on ⁓ Charlie Kirk's tent, prove me wrong. I don't know if you saw that in the day of the shooting, prove me wrong. ⁓ This is my side, this is your side, let's argue about it. ⁓ There's another one that... ⁓

another gentleman that goes to college campuses and he says, change my mind. ⁓ He'll come up with some topic and then say, change my mind. And then he'll argue with individuals. ⁓ It's not fruitful. It doesn't bring anything to anybody. There's a lot of Christians that watch this and say, wow, he's so intelligent. He's saying so many bright things ⁓ on how to defend. ⁓

what the enemy is infusing into this world. But Jesus never chose sides. And that's what we have to do as believers. We have to be as innocent as a dove, as wise as a serpent. And we can't choose sides. We have to show the love of Christ everywhere we go.

There's a Bible verse that goes along just to prove what I'm ⁓ John 3, 17, for God did not send his son to the world to condemn the world, that the world through him might be saved. He never came to condemn the world. So if we're falling in a ditch that the enemy's creating about choosing sides and not loving people the way Jesus loved people.

we are condemning ourselves because we're supposed to be emulating Christ. Does that make sense?

Okay, good.

There's, if you Google.

how many times they tried to trap Jesus and have him choose a side. a lot. ⁓ There was one time where the Pharisees came to him and said, and this is in Matthew 22, 17 through 21, he talks about Caesar's face on the coin, right? ⁓ And the Pharisees asked Jesus, ⁓

Well, I'll just read it. says, us therefore, what do you think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? They wanted him to get in trouble because no Jew at the time wanted to pay taxes. And so they wanted to turn the crowd against him. So they said, choose a side, Jesus. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? But Jesus perceived their wickedness in their hearts, right? And he says, why do you test me? He says, you hypocrites, show me the tax money. So they brought him a denarii.

And he said to them, whose image in the inscription is this? And they said to him, Caesar's. And he said to them, render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. Do you remember when Jesus was getting crucified and all the Pharisees says we have no King but Caesar? I think Jesus said this, ⁓ this wasn't surface level. When Jesus said,

Pedro Espinoza (19:49)
I remember that, yes.

TIm Reed (19:55)
render to Caesar what is Caesar's and render to God what is God and he's talking about What is the image on on that which is rendered to Caesar and that which is rendered to God in? Do I represent the image of Christ on with who I am You know and and what he said when he said render to Caesar what is Caesar and render to God what is God? He wasn't talking about the coin

He was talking about their wicked hearts. He was telling them, your father is the devil, right? That's what he said before. ⁓ You don't know my father because your father is the devil. He was telling them that you belong to the devil, right? ⁓ Because again, and they doubled down on that. They said that we have no king but Caesar, right? And then Caesar is a archetype for the antichrist at the time. ⁓

Again, here's a situation where there was no, he would not choose a side and that he revealed himself in such a way that ⁓ it shut the mouths of those that wanted him to choose sides. there's a lot of people out there that want us to choose sides. know, I don't know the podcasts or, or are people that everyone listens to out there, but if, if people are not

confessing the love that we should have for ⁓ those that are lost, then you're lost yourself. so when we talk about what to do with this Charlie Kirk incident, stop choosing sides. We have to stop choosing sides and we have to actually start displaying the love. Did you see Trump ⁓ the day after he made this ⁓

this video and he says, ⁓ you've never seen the far right. Did you, did you see that?

Pedro Espinoza (21:57)
I actually didn't.

TIm Reed (21:58)
Okay. Let me, let me explain. So out of the gate, Trump goes on television and says, you've never seen the far right. I'm, I'm moderate right. Okay. Charlie Kirk is moderate. Right. You've never seen the far right, but you're going to see the far right because you keep doing these things. He was infusing anger and hatred into individuals to cause them to start acting out.

And then the next day there was some kid that was stomping on some memorial for Charlie Kirk and then someone grabbed him and threw him on the ground and then he got arrested. But it's the, that's the spirit of the enemy. Choose a side. You've never seen the far right. There are so many things out there that wants us to hate ⁓ the things of the enemy. But yeah, hate the things of the enemy, but

People surrounded by the things of the enemy and we end up hating them, if that makes sense.

so you saw the prove me wrong, ⁓ on, Charlie Kirk's tent. You saw the, ⁓ change my mind that goes around, Trump introducing the far right so that, so that we start fighting, those that need salvation to begin with and, ⁓ cancel culture, bro. ⁓ I'm amazed that, ⁓ you know, we see Jimmy Kimmel got, get kicked off, right?

of his platform and all the right-wingers go, yeah, we did it, we did it. ⁓ Don't you remember 2020 when cancel culture was squashing on ⁓ the conservatives, right? And there's this pendulum that's swinging one way and then it's swinging the other way and that people are falling for this trick, it's a trick. Why can't individuals see

that the enemy is trying to get you to choose sides. know? yeah, we got him. We canceled Jimmy Kimmel. Yeah, he's not funny. I don't think he's very funny. But ⁓ that's not the answer. Our answer is not to shut the mouths of those that are in pain. Our answer is to show the love of Christ. And for those that ⁓ don't understand what that truly means, it feels like weakness. Like the turn the other cheek.

type of ⁓ mentality.

Us rising up against the left or the LGBTQ community or, you know, people that are doing abortions not only hating what they're doing, but spreading that visceral hate towards them. ⁓ That's not strength. that's not what God says that ⁓ my ways are not your ways. My thoughts are not your thoughts.

And so if God says you want to change the world, you want to change your culture or what's going on around you, well, let me give something to to embrace. Second Chronicles 714, if my people who are called by my name, ⁓ if they humble themselves, OK, well, ⁓ we have anger in our heart. We see something happen where someone can be labeled as a martyr. You want me to humble my heart? You know, I have.

I know what it means to be angry ⁓ at the loss of a friend or a friend getting injured, being in the Marine Corps. I've had friends that died in Iraq. I've had friends that got Purple Hearts in Iraq. That emotion to ⁓ attack ⁓ and to fight and to get back. That's not what Jesus says. If my people who are called by my name humble themselves. That's number one.

I gotta humble myself first and foremost? I don't wanna do that. Like, it's opposite to what people want, you know? ⁓ If my people who call by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face, is he saying go it out and prove them wrong or change my mind ⁓ or fight or argue about stuff if they pray and they seek my face and if they themselves turn from their wicked ways, right? are you focusing on the individuals

Pedro Espinoza (26:00)
Ffff

TIm Reed (26:23)
that need to, hey, you need to change your evil ways. No, no, if you want change, look in your heart, look in your own heart as a believer, you change your evil ways. And that's so opposite. Wait a minute, God, I thought that ⁓ I want you to heal my land. ⁓ Why does that, I'm one of the good guys. Why do I gotta change ⁓ my heart, right? But it says, if my people who were called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face.

turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. So the culture change that we're looking for starts with us, right? So how can we possibly be effective for the kingdom if we're not even showing the love of Christ? know, if we're not putting ⁓

the love of Christ first. You know, God says, I'll take your burden ⁓ and you'll take mine. My burden is light. ⁓ His burden is the love for others, right? That's the only burden that he grants us. When he says my burden is light, it's the love for the lost. How could we possibly love those who are lost if

We have vitriol hate for them because because something happened to Charlie and and we could just see it happening to us or family, you know, There's a there's a math equation and that equation says if you want things to change the change starts with you Michael Jackson, I'm looking at the man in the mirror, you know ⁓ I don't know why that popped up in my head But yeah

Pedro Espinoza (28:08)
Yep.

TIm Reed (28:13)
And even even when he said the disciples he says I'm sending you out ⁓ Like sheep amongst wolves, right?

He let them know that you're going to be loving people the way I love people. And you're not going to be forcing change. The change happens when you look upon yourself and who you are. And then you do something about it. And because of that, then God starts healing the land around you. And I think that's so important and so key for people that believe. Stop choosing a side. Stop falling for the enemy's trick.

or tricks that he's asking you to choose aside because anytime you choose anything outside the love of Christ, you lost. 100 % you lost. And that's the majority of ⁓ Christians these days.

He was never cornered into ⁓ into into choosing right and I think he's

That's why I think the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence today because the ones that are supposed to be making changes are being overrun by those that are acting violence against the Kingdom. And the suffering, the Kingdom suffers when the enemy knows how to turn the hearts and minds of those that are believers and cause them to be ineffective for the Kingdom. Does that make sense?

Pedro Espinoza (29:42)
It does. And ⁓ everything you're saying actually reminds me of something you said in the last episode. And that was that God will allow these things to happen. He will allow such things to occur. I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that the reason for that is to see who will step up in these times of adversity. Right.

TIm Reed (30:08)
I think that's interesting. ⁓ We look at ⁓ the first martyr, right? ⁓ Philip, name, I'm sorry, his name alludes me right now, right? it? Stephen. Stephen, yeah. ⁓ Stephen was the first martyr for the church and ⁓ we look to see what happened after that.

Pedro Espinoza (30:21)
Was it ⁓ Stephen?

TIm Reed (30:37)
Sometimes God allows things to happen just because of the furtherance of the kingdom. If I call myself warrior for Christ, and if I'm truly a warrior for him, if my death would bring honor to the kingdom,

Being in the military, you grab a rifle and the military convinces you, you're doing this for your family, right? You're doing this for your loved ones, your sons, your daughters, and you take that rifle and you run up a hill, knowing that you're most likely gonna catch around.

That pales in comparison to if I'm a believer and if I put my life on the line, if I put my life on the for the government and for the country at one point, putting my life on the line for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords ⁓ is actually, ⁓ I don't want to say attractive, but

If if what happens brings the kingdom of God to others for

Pedro Espinoza (31:52)
one verse that comes to mind for me when when I think of the assassination of Charlie Kirk is John 12 24 and it says, very truly, I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But it if it dies, which is referring to the kernel.

it produces many seeds. And what you're seeing transpire during this aftermath of the assassination is there has just been this great awakening worldwide of new followers coming to Christ the rekindling of the spirit happen in ⁓ current followers.

Now they want to go back to church. There's people who are standing firm in the faith and standing 10 toes down as it relates to the faith, the teachings of the faith in Jesus Christ, and they're being bold. So ⁓ though it sucks and it's tragic that Charlie Kirk has left us and he's no longer here, it's a testament

What's happening now is a testament of that exact verse and God will allow these things to happen. As I said just a minute ago for great revivals to occur and great awakenings to happen in my opinion.

TIm Reed (33:28)
Yeah, I 100 % agree with that. mean, he himself proved that by laying down his own life. And he required the lives of his followers to also be laid down for the furtherance of the gospel. There's something that happens when a life is laid down for the kingdom. you know, Charlie, even that day,

He was, even that day he was actually ⁓ speaking the gospel before the shot rang out. Was that his main objective was to spread the gospel? He spread the gospel, but ⁓ there was an infusion ⁓ of politics and ⁓ biblical ideology that he had. ⁓ so we got to be careful with that.

If we go out and we show the love of Christ, we gotta be careful what we marry up with the gospel. The gospel itself is that you are saved by grace through faith and that it's not of your works, that no man may boast, and that believing in Christ will give you everlasting life, John 3.16, Ephesians 2.8 and 9, right?

So his whole intention and purpose wasn't to spread the gospel But he was marrying up Things with the gospel he would talk about politics and then he would talk about the gospel and I know a lot of instances he says oh you got a you got a Fuse these things together. It's about It's about changing your land. Well, wait a minute Second Chronicles 714 says what to do

If you humble yourself if you pray if you deal with your own wickedness, that's the mathematic equation to change things It's not it's not you don't want to marry things up too much You want to you want to go out, you know, you may have politics in mind and it's important ⁓ the the things of this country and devote But in my mind right now, I want to be very careful on on what I what I weave into the gospel Does that make sense what I'm saying?

Pedro Espinoza (35:49)
It does.

TIm Reed (35:52)
Yeah. But yeah, but yes, he was a believer and and the fact that he passed, God uses all things for the glory for his glory. Right. And and we do see this this revival. But it's so important to to get the word out. ⁓ How do we how do we get how do we change the hearts and minds of those individuals? ⁓ You know,

we share the love of Christ and the burden that Christ puts on us.

We share the love of our heart and that's hard, bro. That's very hard to do To love these these individuals because some of these individuals are they're so angry and they're so hateful and it's so off-putting right to to experience that I don't want I don't want to be around you. I don't want you around my family the anger like if you if you even say that you're a Christian and and

And you're like, I gotta worry about my family. I got kids, I got a wife. But there's a trust that needs to happen if you're a true believer of Christ. There's a blueprint ⁓ for those that are listening. you may say, don't know, Tim, how do I love these individuals? How can I love these individuals? ⁓ Everything they say makes me mad. ⁓

There's a verse in 2nd Peter, 2nd Peter 1, 5 through 7. It actually talks about the progression of how to love individuals. It gives a blueprint and it's a math equation on how to... If Jesus says, take my burden for my burden is light and if the burden is the love of the lost, 2nd Peter 1, 5 through 7, it says, but also for this very reason.

giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue. So the first thing, right, you're born again, it's through faith. It's through belief. You believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins. He did the finished work. You had nothing to do with it. And you trust that Jesus Christ, who is God in the flesh, died for you. So that's where it begins. Giving all diligence, add to your faith. So you need to add to that. You need to add to...

the foundation, right? And on this rock, I will build my church, right? That's the foundation is building on the finished work of Christ. You need to add virtue. So what is virtue? It's honest living, right? So besides having faith, having the foundation, you have to add virtue, right? To virtue, once you're doing clean living, add knowledge. Get into your Bible. Start reading your Bible. And then once you're reading your Bible from knowledge,

self-control. you see this progression. It's giving you a blueprint of the maturity of someone that's engaged in living for Christ. It says from knowledge, self-control. From self-control, perseverance. From perseverance, godliness. Godliness, brotherly kindness, and brotherly kindness, love. That's like the last stage to be able to love the lost.

The most mature Christian has the capabilities and the ability to love the lost. If you don't love the lost, have to get into, you have to stand on your faith. You have to add virtue. You have to have knowledge. You have to have self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness. And then from there, then you'll receive the gift of love.

Pedro Espinoza (39:36)
Amen. And so, you know, what I have been kind of wrestling with personally is, ⁓

How does my level of faith and discipleship measure up to that of Charlie Kirk's, right? Charlie Kirk went out with the bang, literally. And I'm of the opinion that he was martyred for his faith. And so to me, what kind of discourages me and

TIm Reed (40:02)
Thank

Pedro Espinoza (40:15)
maybe you can help me out with this is is Charlie Kirk the standard, right? Is he the standard in the sense that if I don't, if I'm not as bold as him, you know, does God not see me right? Does God not accept me? Do I have to, you know, go out into the community and put up a tent that says, prove me wrong.

TIm Reed (40:32)
Thank

Pedro Espinoza (40:41)
Do I have to be sound politically? Do I have to ⁓ proclaim the name of Jesus out loud as boldly as he did? Do I have to have unapologetic faith ⁓ and loudness like he did? Otherwise, am I not good enough? Am I just gonna be ⁓ thrown to the wayside because I'm not Charlie Kirk? So that's sort of what I've been wrestling with and

I do try. I try to get out there and share my faith, give alms to the poor, ⁓ pray for people. And I do those things, but maybe not to the volume and gravity that say somebody like Charlie Kirk did. So I guess my question is, am I falling short? Do you know what I'm saying?

TIm Reed (41:10)
Mm-hmm.

Oh yeah, that is a wonderful question, brother. That is a great question. You know what's amazing? You're not measured by anyone else in this world. When we look at parables, the parables of the mina, and where God gives a certain amount of talents to individuals, God measures you.

According to the talents that he gives you there take for instance the the woman There's a woman where Jesus calls his disciples over. Okay, ⁓ and she's a poor widow. She has no money ⁓ and she has a ⁓ Copper coin right it's not even worth a penny, but it's all she has Jesus knows that's all she has and he said hey come here. Look at this one

And he said, look at all these Pharisees and all the other individuals, they're giving out of their wealth, but this woman gave out of her poverty. She gave everything that she had. She put more into the treasury than anybody else. How is that possible, Jesus? She put a copper coin that's not even, the monetary value of that copper coin's not even worth a penny. But how did she put more into that treasury than anybody else?

What does that mean? She didn't. From a physical perspective, she put less than anybody. But Jesus says she put more into the treasury than anybody else. But that's all she had. Now, what he's talking about, ⁓ he's talking about the heavenly treasury, right? He's talking about ⁓ running this race for the crown, right? You are not judged.

According to what you do versus I'm not judged by how well I do in my life versus how well my pastor does in this life We have first Corinthians What is it first Corinthians 924 says that we're in a race And and it's our race to run we we are in our race You are judged according to the race that God has put you in okay, you Pedro you're not

I'm not going to be judged according to your race and you won't be judged according to my race. You ⁓ were put on this earth for a reason and that reason, once you're born again, is to propel the gospel and the gifts and the reward that will come to you is in regards to the minas or the talents that God has given you. Does that make sense?

Take, for instance, ⁓ the...

Pedro Espinoza (44:24)
It does make sense and you know what?

TIm Reed (44:27)
There's a picture before I'll let you talk. There's a picture that God shows everybody about the rewards. We have when Jesus feeds the 5,000, we have a little boy give two fish and five barley, right? That's all he had. But what he had, he gave to Jesus. Jesus doesn't need riches.

He took that copper coin that that woman put in the treasury. I bet he did way more with that copper coin than what the Pharisees did with their riches, putting it in. Jesus magnifies and he builds off of faithfulness. That little boy, he had a couple loaves of fish, two fish and a couple loaves of bread. He gave it to the Lord and the Lord magnified it, right?

What are you willing to give your father in heaven? ⁓ You you make Let's put it this way. Okay, you're measured by your race, right and Charlie Kirk is measured by his race Let's say the the minors that Charlie had let's say ⁓ he was actually to do ten times more He was supposed to be Billy Graham, right? But he wasn't he he was Charlie Kirk. Okay Pedro

You are given a certain amount of mind as if you're running 100 % on all cylinders. Everything that God gives you, you're hitting on all cylinders. Everything you give to me, Lord, it's not much, but I give it back to you. When you get to heaven, you will have far more than him. Jesus says that it's the servants. The first will be the last and the last will be the first when you get to heaven. There's gonna be a lot of confused people when they get to heaven. Jesus, he...

He judges the heart. You know what I'm saying?

Pedro Espinoza (46:25)
Yeah, I was just going to say also that one thing that discourages me and well also like a a two-parter, right? So when it comes to social media, I see a lot of users who are ⁓ recording themselves, ⁓ street preaching, discipling, you know, going out and evangelizing and talking to people, you know,

winning souls to Christ, you know, being bold in front of strangers and convincing them that the gospel is true and that the Bible is true. And when I see that it's successful, you know, it makes me feel good. And it also, you know, motivates me to get out there to do the same thing. But also to on the other side, what it also does to me is

If I'm not as successful as that person, ⁓ am I doing something wrong? Right. And I think, I think nobody would disagree with this, that social media, has kind of made it hard for us not to compare. And I think that comparison is the thief of all joy and thou shall not covet. Right. But ⁓

TIm Reed (47:27)
Mm-hmm.

Pedro Espinoza (47:46)
It's sort of like mixed in with all that. I sort of hold myself to maybe some would say an unrealistic standard, but your words do assure me that it is basically not by works, but it's by grace and that it's our own race that we're running at the end of the day. So that's just what I've been wrestling with, man.

TIm Reed (47:50)
Thank

Yeah. Yeah. And let me also tell you something.

⁓ Check this out. This is this is fascinating. ⁓ Jesus tells the disciples that ⁓ they're going to go out when he sends the when he sends them out two by two. Right. He says, ⁓ John, four, thirty eight, I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work.

and you have reaped the benefits of their labor. And then follow up with 1 Corinthians 3, 8. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. God rewards the faithful service to his work. They will each be rewarded according to their own labor. Did you hear that? But John 4, 38 says, I send you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work.

and you have reaped the benefits of their labor. Think about pastors. People come to church and they sit and they give a psalm and they give a word of hope and then the people raise their hand. This verse shows that if you are steadfast and if you don't see the benefits or the outcome of your hard work, you're doing the hard labor.

the pastors out there and the street preachers who reap the benefits, their work is not as hard as ours. And people are rewarded according to their labor. And if the hard work is that which is done in the dark and that which you don't see the results right away, that is encouraging. You go out and you go speak the gospel to people.

and you don't see the fruits right away. There's one that waters and there's one that sows and God reaps and God gets the glory of all things. But you have to understand what you see, you are seeing from your fleshly eyes and you're saying, wow, that guy's successful. He's not reaping ⁓ as much as those that are putting in the hard work and not seeing the benefit of that. Does that make sense?

Pedro Espinoza (50:24)
does. And you know this this assassination right and I know we've been spending a lot of time on it and we we can move on to something else if you want. But the last thing I'll say on this is that not only was it an attack on our country, it was an attack on our faith and everyone's feeling it.

It's been a week or so and I'm still feeling it and I know that that's the Holy Spirit speaking to me. I know that it's that it's the Holy Spirit comforting me and I know that Based on what I'm feeling I know that I know that I have a lot more in store for me and my family as long as I hold steadfast, right and

I know that I'm not the only one feeling this way. There are many Christians feeling what I'm feeling. So I'm wondering, what, what should be the next steps for us Christians as we move forward? How do we sort of overcome this?

TIm Reed (51:37)
Yeah. First of all, just to answer that question and to also talk about what you were talking about previously. ⁓ I had a conversation with you probably a couple of weeks ago ⁓ about how God's God's so faithful. He's having things come full circle with me right now. And I don't know why he's showing me this, because he doesn't have to. ⁓

When I talked about individuals and brothers that I had in the Marine Corps and that I've spent 20 years from or with, and I've shared the gospel for 20 years and had these open dialogues with God, like, you know, why aren't you doing anything about this guy? I've been talking about you for 20 years. And then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, God tells me to send him a Bible ⁓ for Christmas and I sent it to him. And then his whole world falls apart.

⁓ And he decides to open it up to Psalms 86 by random and and he called me crying because Word for word that was his prayer to God every single night when I say word for word He was freaked out and didn't know what to do ⁓ And then I have a friend that that was that was raised In another church that I've actually been having the opportunity to speak with on a weekly basis

And we're just talking about being a disciple of Christ and working hard to understand the scriptures together. But it's these relationships that I've had 20, 30 years ago and all of a sudden they're coming back full circle. It's about faithfulness. It's about staying faithful to the task that God put in front of you and listening. Like I said in what I began with, my sheep know my voice.

You have to weigh, when things come into your mind, you have to weigh that like the Bereans according to the scriptures. And sometimes it's gonna be yourself talking. Sometimes it's gonna be your inner thoughts and your flesh that's saying something. And you weigh it against the scripture and you're like, oh, that doesn't align with the scripture. But then there's gonna be a point to where you're gonna hear something in the still, they call it the still small voice. God calls it the still small voice. It's because it's when we quiet ourselves, right?

That's when we hear the voice of God. And then is that you God? Right? ⁓ And so we act on it, right? So it's this learning, this back and forth to be able to ⁓ understand the voice of God. And if you don't work for that, you won't find it and you won't truly know his voice. And when you hear his voice, then when you become obedient, you will see full circle.

He's such a good God and it takes trust and it takes ⁓ the relationship that we have with him to be able to make that next step forward. Be diligent. Stop trying to pick sides. Write this moment. Understand that the Kingdom of Heaven has been taken by violence because the truth has been set out there and the enemy knows the truth and he has set

the people that claim to know the truth against the truth. Stop choosing sides. If you want to move forward and you want to do the will of God, start showing the love. If you don't know how to love people, 2 Peter 1, 5 through 7. Start looking into it. Start memorizing it. Start progressing towards until you can actually do something about the burden that Christ lays upon you, the light, my burden is light. If you don't do that,

then you will fail at your race. You have your race to win and your reward will be according to the race that God put in front of you.

Pedro Espinoza (55:25)
Amen. Amen. Thank you for that. And I know that you mentioned that the kingdom of heaven has suffered, right? And that there is war against the gospel. So in so there there is obviously division and violence that the enemy is using as a tactic right now in these latter days.

TIm Reed (55:51)
Hmm.

Pedro Espinoza (55:54)
Is there one bulletproof way to go about this to sort of combat these pitfalls? Are there several ways we can maybe avoid these pitfalls? Do you have advice in that respect?

TIm Reed (56:14)
⁓ So if it really depends on where you're at, if you don't understand if you were saved. ⁓

How could you move forward in His grace and mercy and be diligent in His plan? The Bible says that you, the Bible says it wants you to have confidence in your salvation. If you don't have confidence in your salvation, you need to get confident. And the way you get confident is that ⁓ you understand that you're saved by grace through faith ⁓ and it's not of works so that no man may boast. It's a gift of God, right? ⁓

And that we know that God's gifts, Romans 11 and 29, think, God's gifts and His calling are irrevocable. Okay. You cannot lose your salvation. ⁓ And the gift is free. Once you understand those two things, there's nothing I could do. I believe and I believe with all my heart. I believe that just like John 4, when Jesus said, if you knew who I was and you knew the gift that I have, you would ask me and I would give you everlasting water. Right.

I would give you the gift of life. That's what he said. So if you understand that Jesus is God and you believe that it is his works and by his grace ⁓ that ⁓ you are saved and that there is nothing that can take you away from him, that's confidence. You have confidence at this point because it's like, we love because he loved us first. There is something about his love and us understanding the truth of his love.

on us that allows us, that invokes us to do the work, right? People, that's the problem with individuals that think that they're saved by their works. You can't progress forward. you understood the love of God, ⁓ it makes you want to serve Him. You're so good. I can't believe you're so good to me. It makes you want to put away the things of old and it makes you want to become something new for Him.

So if you understand who you are in Him, that will give you the strength to push forward and move forward. And it's really about educating yourself and finding the heart of Christ. And if you can't find that, 2 Peter 1, 5 through 7.

Pedro Espinoza (58:36)
That's awesome, man. Is there anything else that you want to talk about? Anything you want to shed light on?

TIm Reed (58:44)
⁓ No, that was pretty much it. mean, in closing, ⁓ the way that we are attacking individuals needs to stop. We need to share the love of Christ and we need to understand that it's not our way, but God's way. And God's way is humbling ourselves. If you want to heal the land, humble yourself.

Deal with your own wickedness Put your faith and your trust in God and then he'll heal the land Don't be so concerned Jesus spent all his time with the sinners, you know, ⁓ where are your Where are those that are accusing you woman? ⁓ You know, I don't have anybody accusing me ⁓ Then I don't accuse you either Jesus doesn't want to accuse these individuals that are hurting and they're hurting right now

And the reason why they hate the church is because the church is standing their ground on the laws and the rules, right? But that's not what Christ came for, yeah? When he said, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, he said, change your mind. It was change your mind, it's metanoia, right? That's the Greek.

⁓ translation, the Latin translation, ⁓ it means to change your mind. It means stop. He wanted to tell people, stop trying to think that you can live and buy your way into heaven by following these 10 commandments. Change your mind, put your trust in Christ. that's what we have to do. Stop trying to stand on the business of what's right and wrong ⁓ because ⁓

people fight against that, right? ⁓ For whatever reason, people fight about that, but when you show grace and mercy and the love of Christ, the fruits of the Spirit, that's when things change. So that's what I wanna leave people with. Stop choosing sides. Stop trying to force this. Stop being a part of the cancel culture. It's stupid. They did it in 2020 on the left side and they did it to the right wingers and the conservatives and we are...

all the conservatives were feeling it then, and then now all the conservatives are like, yeah, yeah, yeah, we're canceling you. Knock it off. Knock that stuff off. If you want to the love of Christ, ⁓ be his heart to the people and don't accuse anybody of anything. Where are your accusers? I have none. Therefore, I don't accuse you either. Jesus chased them away, and that's what he wants to do. He wants to chase them away, that's what we need to do.

Pedro Espinoza (1:01:23)
Yeah, and forgive me for bringing this up. I'm going to sneak this one in here. To your point in the very beginning, and then we can just close it out from here. To your point when you spoke about the trend that is going on all around social media about individuals leaving their churches because they didn't talk about the Charlie Kirk assassination because they were avoiding it.

How much of a responsibility is it for the church to speak about truth and how much of it is our responsibility to actually be in the word to labor in the spirit and read our Bible?

TIm Reed (1:02:09)
Yeah, that's a great question.

I think you know my thoughts on the church and if you just reference ⁓ episode 18 how the westernized modelization of the church is all coming down. ⁓ It had its time. ⁓ God has a new plan. There is, and when I say that, and the church will always be, okay, ⁓ I'm talking about.

the westernized church, what the West built as the church, it's gonna change. It's gonna be broken apart and it's gonna change into something small according to that book of Acts. It's gonna return to the book of Acts. It is the ⁓ church's job to equip us to be effective in our race, not their race, right? If a church says, come with us and we're gonna feed the homeless or we're...

If the church is trying to engage their parishioners or their attendees in their race and their vision, that church failed. They failed. There's so many people in the church that I go to, they think serving is going to the church and doing what the pastor said to do. No, you have, that's all great. There's nothing wrong with that. But if you are ignoring your own race and the people around you that are suffering,

You failed, you failed and you need to take a look ⁓ and know that you serving is not you just going to the church that you're going to putting on a t-shirt that says, serve team, right? And then doing what the pastor tells you to. my rewards in heaven. Wait, you got a race to run. You got things that God put in front of you to be effective in. And guess what? It doesn't matter how small you are. It doesn't matter how

How little, take for instance, Bethlehem, okay? Bethlehem's destiny was to birth the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And God intentionally made Bethlehem small from the get-go because he wanted something great to come out of something small, right? The reward aspect.

of being Bethlehem, a small place that's nothing. God intentionally kept it small for something great to come out of. Something great can come out of you even though you think that you are not effective for the kingdom. You have no idea what effectiveness is for the kingdom. Your pastor doesn't know. Even Paul says, have no idea. When this all ends, I have no idea what rewards I'm gonna get. Only God knows the heart, right? There are people that say that,

will get their reward will be what the it'll be the acknowledgement of what they got while on this earth. That's what it says in the Bible. There are some there are some pastors that think, man, when I get to heaven, I'm going to have it so big. I'm going to have the big house. Wait a minute. You got paid every single day that you went to church that, know, and and your heart wasn't in the right place. You stood on that stage. Lots of people came to Christ because of what you did. But you did it with a mindset to where

You weren't, ⁓ it fed your ego, right? Paul says, I have no idea what rewards I'm gonna get to heaven. I don't assume anything, right? There are individuals that you'll think, wow, what a man of God. He did so many things for God. And then they're gonna get to heaven and they're gonna find out your rewards is what you got while on earth. So don't trust in what God has given you. Don't.

⁓ Like you said, what did you say? You said that comparison is a thief of joy. Do not compare your heart and your life and your race with somebody else's because if you are dedicated to the race, no matter how small it may seem, people may laugh at you at what you're doing, but you will be greater in the kingdom. It's a ⁓ math equation. Those that are ⁓ the last will be first and the first will be last.

You want to be effective for the kingdom, be a servant. That's what it takes, is to serve. That's it.

Pedro Espinoza (1:06:31)
Amen. And I think we also have to hold ourselves accountable and ⁓ do things like labor in the spirit, read our Bible, pray. I think that we have become too dependent on pastors to do those things for us. We can show up to church, but that's not where the fight ends. The fight happens behind closed doors and what you can do

TIm Reed (1:06:39)
yeah.

Pedro Espinoza (1:06:56)
serving wise, you know, for those who are closest to you and those for the those in the community and I just think that's a great point,

TIm Reed (1:07:05)
Yeah, yeah, brother. Well, I appreciate you having me on. Hey, everybody out there, let's ⁓ let's show the love of Christ. And that that means humbling yourselves. And that means looking internally at what you could do to become ⁓ to sanctify yourself. Right. And the only way we can sanctify ourselves is if we put our trust in Him. He gives us the strength. It's not by our works because our works are rags. So put your faith in Him. Allow Him to clean you up.

and then we'll be effective and we'll heal our land, right?

Pedro Espinoza (1:07:38)
Yeah, and since you prayed us in, I'm going to pray us out. So Heavenly Father, I'm just so thankful for this episode again with my brother Tim. First of all, I pray for protection over Tim's life. May you give him, Lord, the authority and the righteous power to steward his family in the way they should go. As the man of his household, Lord, give him that that

TIm Reed (1:07:45)
Okay.

Pedro Espinoza (1:08:03)
Strength and endurance Lord to fight for his family to the very end to keep his children safe Lord to ⁓ to love his wife as Christ loved the church and Whatever might be happening in his personal life and his professional life Lord. I pray Lord for a spiritual covering over Tim's life and his household ⁓ But in terms of this meeting Lord, I'm just thankful for the conversation Lord, I pray that that we stop

choosing sides. Father, just pray, Lord, that we all develop an unwavering faith. And Lord, most of all, Lord, I just pray, Lord, that that we can all develop a confidence in our salvation. So in the mighty name of Jesus, I pray all these things Amen.

TIm Reed (1:08:53)
Man, brother. Thanks, Pedro. I appreciate your time, brother. It's really good to see you always.

Pedro Espinoza (1:08:59)
I appreciate you, man, and we need to do this more often. There's so many topics in Christendom that we can discuss, and I think this is only the beginning.

TIm Reed (1:09:10)
I so too. I'm always here, bro. I'm always here.

Pedro Espinoza (1:09:15)
I know you are. I'll be reaching out to you again soon, man. Thank you again.

TIm Reed (1:09:19)
All right, all right, brother, take it easy.