Faith From The Streets
Brian and Friends will discuss stories of faith, homelessness, hunger, and addiction. Most of all they will discuss how they serve the King of All, Jesus Christ.
Faith From The Streets
1Peter 2
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Sir Brian and company come together to bring you 1 Peter 2. This was recorded about 2 weeks before our congregation suffered a major loss. I apologize for the late post. I found this one difficult and timely to our loss. We all still have faith and trust in Jesus. Even in this most difficult time. I encourage you to lean into Jesus in your own struggles with life. Remember Jesus loves you and so do we.
Wheresoever your street might be. Fake from the street.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, that's that brought that up. I saw a video last night where it to me it wasn't a surprise, but he brought up a point about the art. And it was very detailed specific on how he was supposed to make it. God gave him all the directions on how to make it. The one thing that I think nobody thinks about, and honestly, it's a pointless thing to think about. There was no steering mechanism. No steering. It was basically meant for flooding basically. Just opposed to it. Yeah, yeah. And again, I I wouldn't have thought that because I do I know what it's for. Like, why would there be steering? It's letting God take the wheel kind of thing. That's what you're doing.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, it's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_06I actually never even thought of that. But I guess when you don't gotta worry about running in anything. Everything is flooded. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Even if you're above Mount Everest at this point.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, the entire earth is covered in water, you've got to worry about steering.
SPEAKER_08Yeah. And we talk about it a lot, and it's it's the whole letting God steer. Let God take it away, you know. Letting God take the way it's not a little bit of a problem. We got a crew here today, it looks like. Uh it's Tommy as always, Sir Brian. Hello. Pastor Scott. Hey, Nathan. Hello. And Jeff is with us. Jeff was with us during uh Jonah. That's right. Yeah, so we're gonna uh continue our study in Peter. We're gonna be doing 1 Peter chapter 2 today, but uh let's do a quick round table, make sure everybody's doing okay. Anything exciting? Anything on our minds, on our hearts, something that happened today or this week?
SPEAKER_06Uh my brother-in-law got the job. Uh I actually have Miller with me, and that was a big uh relief for for that whole family for my family. Yeah. Um so yeah. They were all here today, too, weren't they? Yeah, they were. Yeah, the whole row was full. Yeah. My sister's got a crew, and then she was actually missing one of her kids.
SPEAKER_08There was one that wasn't here. So we did have a baptism today. That's always an awesome adventure to bring somebody new into the fold. Like me and you said, let's make heaven crowded. That's rude, bro. I actually saw a shirt that said that the other day that I was I thought of that. So what about you, Nathan? Anything?
SPEAKER_09Not much. Nothing new. Excited about the day off tomorrow.
SPEAKER_08Yes, it is it is the day off. We were supposed to go kayaking, but I don't think the rain is going to allow us to do that.
SPEAKER_07And if it did, the river's up way high and you don't want to. Yeah. There's about twelve or thirteen of us that are scheduled to go. The road I live right off Carmen or Trent Franklin, and it was flooded over. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I heard the Germantown cover bridge is currently at risk for being carried out.
SPEAKER_08I did see that on Facebook this morning talking about how there was a lot of bigger.
SPEAKER_02Sure, I guess. I mean it's on the way to Five Rivers Metro Park, and I pass it. But it's like an attraction more than you drive through it.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, they had like the whole middle of uh Germantown was flooded. I was like, good night. Very interesting that I said that brought that up. I saw a video last night where to me it wasn't a surprise, but he brought up a point about the arc, and it was very detailed specific on how he was supposed to make it. God gave him all the directions on how to make it. The one thing that I think nobody thinks about, and honestly, it's a pointless thing to think about, there was no steering mechanism, no steering. It was basically meant for floating, basically. Just a flotilla of zoo animals. Yeah, yeah. And again, I'm I wouldn't have thought that because I knew I know what it's for. Like, why would there be steering? It's letting God take the wheel kind of thing, but there's no wheel to take. That's where Carrie Enderwood wrote the song.
SPEAKER_06That's what you got from New York. Yeah, it's from the yeah. I actually never even thought of that. But I guess when you don't got to worry about running into anything because the water is flooded. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You're not even you're above Mount Everest at this point.
SPEAKER_05You know, the entire earth is covered in water, you don't got to worry about steering.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, I mean it's flooded. And we talk about it a lot, and it's it's the whole letting God steer us. Let God take the wheel, you know? And that that is like an ultimate example of Noah letting God take the wheel because that's that's the way it was supposed to be. That's the way we're supposed to be now, even through all of the Exodus. How many times you they try to take the wheel back? So, yeah, it's just like that was a very interesting kind of thought process on that. So I had an interesting question that I want to ask the members here. Um so we each have an inner monologue. Right? Do you have an inner monologue? Yes. You have one? I would love to hear what yours sound like. Sir Brian. Yes, in New Jersey. It sounds like Jersey Shore. Inter monologue.
SPEAKER_07Yeah. So yeah, mine never shuts up. Yeah, mine b music and everything going off.
SPEAKER_08Yeah. Um 80 10. And I and I admitted to Sir Brian at lunch today that when I was a younger man, I thought I was just crazy. I thought I was the only one that did that. Like I thought there was no one else in the world that like I must be crazy, like there's something wrong with me. So it was very reassuring to understand and realize that we all have one. Most of us have one. There's a small portion that doesn't not. I have a person that's very close to me that doesn't have one. And I told Sir Brian, that scares me. Like, how do you deal with life with no inner dialogue?
SPEAKER_06I mean, it's almost almost like your conscience, really, your inner monologue. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02But like for somebody like where it's going a thousand miles an hour in like 73 tabs, to me, that sounds good for at least a few seconds.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, yeah, and we have a moderate of ADHD in the inner room.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_08Um, so the question that this person posed to me that doesn't have an inner monologue, and again, I know this is a Christian podcast, but this is going before we were Christians. There was a time when we were not Christians. And she asked me, What does your inner monologue sound like when you're inebriated? And I was like, wow, that's kind of deep. I never thought of that. Exactly the same. Well, I told her it's external. Yeah, it begins to be more outward. Yeah, I think you could we've been in enough places that's yeah, I never thought of your inner.
SPEAKER_02Now the world is exposed to my 70 open browser.
SPEAKER_08But yeah, I mean that was that was a very interesting thought process. It's like, what would your inner monologue sound like if you don't have control of your inner monologue? I know that there were times in my life that I got really preachy. Which was interesting because I really wasn't a full-blown diehard Christian like I am now. You know, it's like my the inner conscience was reminding me that I shouldn't be this way. You know what I'm saying? Like to keep me in line, don't do anything completely irrational or stupid. I mean, that's what we hear in in scripture is don't do anything that's gonna take you outside of what you normally would do. To take you outside of your identity in Christ. But yeah, I was just like, it just kind of was a very interesting question. You know, does anybody remember in their younger days?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it never changed. It was the same voice, but it was never altered. Okay. But it was more often to come out loudly than than internally.
SPEAKER_08You know. Do we think it was good or bad?
SPEAKER_02Mine was like neutral. I never had to be like, well, Scott, you're not gonna do this weird, stupid thing. Because I naturally would do it anyway, but like but I mean like it never was like it was never manipulated by Satan if that's what you're looking into. Like did that I like change it to d Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde. Yeah, yeah. You know, it was the same for me. That's my experience. I don't know about anyone else's.
SPEAKER_08We've been around a lot of different people at the gathering and and we've seen different, like there are angry people, there are happy people, there are silly people, there are quiet people. Like it affects everybody differently. And I do wonder how much of our true nature of the flesh comes out in those moments.
SPEAKER_07We just need to have like the same thing. They call it liquid courage, you know.
SPEAKER_06There are a lot of people that don't have uh you know, don't have the courage to say things that they don't that they do until they get you know inebriated in some shape or form. Yeah. Whether it's approaching a woman, uh I mean anything really, you know, it gives you that little that extra push. Yeah. But I don't think the inner monologue and like changes in my head when you know when at those times it was still the same voice.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_06But it just it just gives you that extra little push. Yeah. Maybe it'll stop talking as much.
SPEAKER_08Yeah. So I've also heard at one time that um the voice is your dad. Which I can see that being my case, but I can see that there are cases where maybe dad wasn't in the picture, or he wasn't a very good dad, and that isn't the voice that you would have. I would go more towards somebody that you found uh in that kind of a role. Somebody that you looked up to, somebody that you know, somebody that you tried to emulate yourself.
SPEAKER_01Is that how everybody sees it? What uh that your in a inner monologue is your dad or the No, the the that it is uh a mentor or something of that of that sort. No, it's not. Sometimes yes.
SPEAKER_02I see as the Holy Spirit, but before now it was just me talking.
SPEAKER_01Okay. That's interesting, because like uh when I have internal conversations uh in my mind, it's it's I I'm usually sparring or or or whatever with somebody. Like, what is this conversation going to look like? How am I gonna how am I gonna shape it? We're gonna taper that, that's gone, we'll we'll go with this. So um but I don't I don't I don't get like instructions or anything like that. Nothing nothing mentor like. So like uh uh if I'm if I'm gonna do something and I I I again it's it's all the how the spirit speaks to me it too is also uh uh I I sense it, I feel it. So uh uh my my my body will kinda hum and and then I kinda I I have those I have the breaks, uh like okay, I'm about to do something stupid. Thank you for stopping me. Just kind of one of those things. So uh but yeah, but I don't I don't actually I don't actually hear it though. No. Okay.
SPEAKER_06So I don't mine isn't like the same thing, like not a mentor. It's almost more of like a narrator. Yeah. And then like Scott said, you know, now where I'm at my faith, there are times that I do feel like it's the Holy Spirit because of there's been, you know. I gotta throw something in the trash as I walk by and it falls on the ground. I just want to keep walking. Sometimes there's a voice in my head, like turn around and go back and pick that up.
SPEAKER_02Jeff, that's recycling, not trash.
SPEAKER_06So I'll go back, you know, pick it up and I'll throw it in the trash can and then go around my ways. I feel like instances like that that are pushing me to do the right thing is the Holy Spirit more than it is my own voice. But most of the part, my inner monologue I just feel is you know is like a narrator narrating my life almost. Or just singing randomly. What's yours like Nate?
SPEAKER_09I mean, it's a collection of you know, words and pictures and sounds and music. I mean, it's not not ever just like Nathan. Yeah. It's it's all all of that kind of combined into the It's just your brain processing. Yeah. Yep.
SPEAKER_02That's cool. Yeah, I mean it's it's wild to me the people that don't have that. I can't imagine it. Because it's so loud in my head, it's like King's Island all the time.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, made the same.
SPEAKER_02Sometimes they just stand still and go, Whew. I don't even have to pay to go to King's Island with what goes on in here.
SPEAKER_08That was one of the things that in my journey was getting to that quiet space. Like before, I had to have something. I I wanted that noise. I wanted something to drown out whatever I was hearing in my head. And since I've kind of turned my life around here, the quiet like is fantastic. Oh like we went camping last weekend. Unfortunately, I didn't make the trip. Um you made a trip. I made a trip, but it didn't turn out the way it was supposed to. But one of the the things I liked about the idea of that was being out in the woods and just nothing. And I didn't get that when I stayed at the Airbnb because I got Airbnbs that were in Kentucky in the middle of nowhere. But I still got that quiet and it was just It's because it's so helpful. Oh, it's so nice.
SPEAKER_02Like I remember times when the stuff that I would hear would make me crazy. So I can't wait to go to the monastery week for tomorrow. Just quiet for six days. Yeah. Just quiet.
SPEAKER_06See, that's my problem. My mind a lot of times can't just be quiet. That's why I've even fallen asleep if I don't have something on that I can focus on while my eyes are closed. Every single little noise I hear outside, just I will focus on that. And then something will click in the you know, house noise, and I'll focus on that. And then I just my mind is just rapid fire on everything that's going on. I can't sleep. So I have to have a fan or a TV when I fall asleep. So but once I'm asleep, I'm you know, nothing wakes me up. But it's the falling, it's letting my mind settle and get to the point where it can rest. Even if my body is wore out, tired, my mind will keep me up because it's just it does not settle.
SPEAKER_02I think that's my biggest, and that's why I can't sleep. If you've ever worked on cars and you hit the th, you know, you're working on like the the the revving and the throttle and the idling, and you do that test where you just let it. I feel like when I lay down and go to bed, I hit neutral and just let my engine red line, and I have to sort through all these things to get it to calm down. You know, most of that comes through prayer, but like there's just so much going on, it's just like every little thing. Don't do this. What about this? What about this? What about this? Yeah.
SPEAKER_08Well, see now, I I'm glad you mentioned that because I remember a time when I would sit down to sleep, but I would do a checklist. And the checklist was basically did I do enough today to deserve a rest? Which was toxic, to be honest with you. Like if I didn't check off enough boxes of chores or things that I did or took care of, I did this, I did this, that I did this, that I did okay, then I can go to sleep. Which is just a terrible way to live.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, because some days are zero days. Yeah.
SPEAKER_08No matter how much you try.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_08You just can't go get an undone. And and again, I'm gonna equate that with being a Christian. You know, people want to be perfect before they become a Christian. They want to try to get their life in order, and that's just not how it works. That's not how it works at all. You don't wash up to the door.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_08You're you're taken away from the sacrifice of of Jesus. So if you're struggling and you're in that place where you want to do it, but you're trying to be perfect, you're trying to quit a habit or whatever, stop. Because you're not gonna be able to do it on your own. Go ahead and get baptized and let Jesus clean you up along the way. That's the best way to do it. Because if you wait until you're perfect, you'll never do it, and then it'll be too late. And then you'll ruin it because you ain't perfect. Yeah. None of us are perfect. So all right. Good little talk. I'm gonna do that.
SPEAKER_06I feel like I have a problem that some people, me and myself included, what are new to faith, is you want to try to do everything that you can to almost like make up for FOMO, figure missing out.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. Well, no, my regrets of wasted time. Exactly. That's it. That was it exactly. Like my coming too is just like, I have so much time to wake up make up for. Yeah, you feel like you owe it to God.
SPEAKER_02Jesus for I mean in my conversion, God literally said to me, like, in not in like an audible way, but in a way that I could very visibly, audibly somehow hear it said, you've wasted your life, time to change. Oh wow, okay, gotta make up for all that lost time. But then again, that's not what he said. He just because I wasted it doesn't mean I have to start go back and correct. Yeah. He fixed it all.
SPEAKER_08Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You know?
SPEAKER_08Well, even scripture tells us uh No, it's not scripture, I'm sorry. It's uh uh uh the the recovery programs. They say to make amends with people you've hurt as long as it doesn't cause pain or anguish. Right. So some people you can't.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. They might be dead or they might be in jail.
SPEAKER_08I mean, or or you know, there's all kinds of reasons why you can't do it. I mean, you don't if it's gonna cause them hurting. If it sparks a memory that is hurtful, right. You don't want to do that. You know, it's like making a Christian stumble.
SPEAKER_02Well, it's like, you know, like Jesus says talk to people and you're like, okay, well, say you're a lady and you were, you know, violated by somebody. And there are churches out there that'll say, no, you need to go talk to that person one-on-one. No, you don't. I ain't leaving you in a room with that person. No. You think Jesus meant that? No. He was talking about running the mills like you take me off because you said my haircut was easy, yeah. Or whatever. Um, you know, those kind of situations.
SPEAKER_08Haircut references are to me because I got a friar tuck yesterday. I wasn't saying nothing. Oh, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02The prophecy was fulfilled. The thing's been here for two years. Like that cat mural and then there's a cat saying why it's like the prophecy.
SPEAKER_08So, yeah, like speaking of that, um, forgiveness doesn't mean you allow access. Correct. You can forgive them and still not allow them proximity or access to you.
SPEAKER_01Well, yeah, I don't I I had to do that when I first when I first come to Christ. And and uh fellow that I was forgiving, I was very troubled by. So uh he was my he was my best friend. Uh the only kid I've known since I was two. Uh and I traveled a lot, and uh every time we come back to Ohio, uh I met him I met him in the third grade, I met him in uh we moved again. Um I come back in uh the ninth grade and we just kind of picked up like nothing had ever changed. And it's just like that's the kid, that's that's the kid that I know. And then uh but uh we went through a lot um and uh he got into drugs and stuff like that, and uh um he betrayed my trust a lot and uh we there was a lot, there was a lot, and and what happened is is inconsequential, it it doesn't matter. So uh but uh I had just been forgiven everything that I'd done and I was sitting there and I was just like yeah, but this guy, I mean he's a real he's a real piece of work, and and but no, and I and I had to come to terms with that myself and I did, and when I did wait, wait, lifted because I'd been holding on to that. Like, what if I see this guy again? What if after he gets out of uh prison for thirty years that I run into him again and and and then he He's one of buddy buddy and do I trust him around the people I know? Do all these things. Um yeah. And and and that was that's where uh grace. I started to come and learn uh learn about grace. And it's an amazing thing. It really is.
SPEAKER_08I like that you said the weight lifted because uh you know we are free. Like being obedient to God, to Christ, we are free, and we're free from the things that matter, the things that age us, that weigh us down, that cause us issues and problems. You know, he's a chainbreaker. You may not understand that because you've never felt it. But again, like you said, when you forgive a person who has wronged you and you truly forgive them, the weight does come off. Like that was one of the biggest changes in my life. Once I was able to forgive, I was able to I I I'm I I actually had people say, I've never seen this side of you. And it was because I was bound up with all that grudge and hatred and the the hurt that I had, and it was once I let it all go I was able to be who God intended me to be, which is who I am now, which I had been fighting for most of my life to be honest with you. So yeah, that's uh just something to think about if you are on the fence about baptism and coming to Jesus. Um don't wait. You can't do it. You can't do it by yourself, you can't do it alone. And Jesus is there, he'll send the Holy Spirit and just allow him to take the wheel.
SPEAKER_06Well, as far as waiting, you just you never know when your time you mean you may decide tomorrow, but tomorrow it doesn't come. I agree. So graveyards are full of men who thought they had more time. Yeah. I feel like if you have have it in your soul that you feel like you should get baptized, then just do it right then when you feel it.
SPEAKER_08Yep. Don't try to be perfect.
SPEAKER_06Somebody's t you know, something's telling you to do it at that point in time. Yeah.
SPEAKER_08I actually uh explained it to the pastor that baptized me as I felt like Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade. That bridge that he had to step out onto in faith. And he did, and then you the bridge worked. It was actually there, but you just couldn't see it. It was all blended in. Like I felt like I was on that ledge wanting to take that step, but I was afraid to take the step.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_08And he said, let's just go ahead and do it, and we'll worry about that stuff later. And I did, and it was awesome.
SPEAKER_06I feel like it's a lot of I mean, nobody wants to be judged, you know, and at that instance it's almost like you feel you know, you're being judged for everything you've ever done in your life, even though it's going away and being, you know, washed away, you still have to come to terms with all of the bad that you did. And that's what a lot of people, I feel like, myself included, uh, have trouble grasping.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, and and Brian pointed this out to me when we first kind of got to be friends, and we talked about it Friday night. Uh Romans 6. Read Romans 6. Read it as many times as you have to to to let it sink in. Um and one of the things that I said about it was like I've heard people who have been uh in recovery for 25 plus years still call themselves addicts. And we as Christians still call ourselves sinners. And I agree with what Brian pointed out in Romans 6 is we no longer live in sin. We are no longer slaves to sin, which is what Romans 6 tells us. I mean, sure, we mess up from time to time and do things, but that's not our identity. Correct. Our identity is not as a sinner.
SPEAKER_07Our identity is saint, saved, yes, child of God, redeemed, image-bearer, bought.
SPEAKER_06Bought and known for, yeah, absolutely. So with that being said, like when I go to prayer, there's a lot of times I go to prayer, and I, you know, when I ask for forgiveness, I say to God, I'm coming to you as a sinner. Is that wrong? No.
SPEAKER_02But I think working out the way of which you see how your father identifies you, rather than constantly because one of my favorite short prayers is the Jesus prayer, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. It's one of my best ways to like meditate and get in the quiet space for me. But ever since I also met Brian and have been working it out, and this is working on a big sermon series I'm working on in the future, but like I'm not that guy anymore. Like, yes, I am capable and still will fall into sin, but the Almighty God of the universe does no longer look on me as that. You know, I don't fall into that category of before Christ anymore. Therefore, to God, I am not a sinner. I'm a beloved adopted child, and there's nothing that can take that away from. I mean, there's so many verses that say that, you know, nothing can tear you away from it.
SPEAKER_06What's like what was it, Rob that sent that in our group chat chat today? About the adopted uh the son of the children.
SPEAKER_02But your name changes. When your physical name may not, and like Paul's did and Peter's did, but like your whole identity is stripped and rebuilt into Christ at baptism and and in the moment you believe and in the discipleship thereafter. And it's based nothing on you. And we just tend to view ourselves, we have been taught to have such a low view of ourselves, even outside the church, just in general. Like Tom's comment, if I'm not working, or did I do enough today to rest? What kind of nonsense is that?
SPEAKER_01Well, here's here's something to consider as well, too. Is when you go home and you uh bake a tray of cookies, it doesn't make your profession a baker. Right? Yeah, that's true. Yeah. So you're not a sinner, you're a person who sins. That is correct, yeah. You're not a sinner and you're sinning. That's a problem. That's that's still a problem.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and Hebrews, so the book of Hebrews deals with the perpetual turning away and sinning situation, right? But like if you're in Christ and doing your best, you will sin. You should try not to, but you're no longer a sinner. That's right. Like you're you're saved. Like you're a child of God, and that's God doesn't look at you in the same way anymore.
SPEAKER_08And as Christians, I think that's one thing that we need to practice more. Stop feeling that we are unworthy, that we are sinners, and we don't deserve this, and we don't deserve that, and and all those things that we allow to beat us up. Preemptively keep that humbleness, though.
SPEAKER_01Because humble verbs.
SPEAKER_00Well, no, because when you read when you get to the point where you're just like, no, I'm a child of God. You the rest of you guys, you guys are terrible. I'm a child of God. That's when you gotta go back to love.
SPEAKER_02The guy that just got forgiven and then beats it, shakes everyone down for five bucks when he's just forgiven the masstronomical. Absolutely. You know? And you believe it or not, that's the thing that comes in my office all all week long. How terrible of a human am I? Like, really, and it's like, I mean, if we're going by human metrics, you're we're all garbage, but like, thank God we're not.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Like, we're not. Like, you are not trash. God does not make garbage.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So stop calling it. Like, you're taking a sledgehammer to Jesus' bride when you're insulting yourself like that. And that goes, and I'm not, I'm trying to tiptoe around the like speak affirmations and manifestations and positive stuff that out into the universe, that's garbage, right? Like, but like you do believe certain subconscious cues about yourself and being a piece of trash or not good at something or a perpetually horrible, sinful, disgusting person. There are people that will believe that till they're grave.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And that's sad. But they're still saved by Jesus.
SPEAKER_01No, that's agreed.
SPEAKER_02But we have to, it's a way better life to not think about yourself that way.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, agree, agree. That mentality can lead you down pathways that you you wouldn't consider another pathway because you're not going to be able to do that. Like, why even try and still garbage it keeps you in chains.
SPEAKER_08Yes. They are. Yeah, it keeps you in chains. Yeah. Which is exactly what the enemy wants.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, if if he can just get you to argue with yourself about your own identity, and then you lose your identity, you become lost.
SPEAKER_08Well, yeah. And that's not good either way. So, yeah, I mean, stop beating yourself up. Put Jesus back on the cross where he belongs. Stop taking yourself off the cross. You'll never be perfect, and the reason we have Jesus and his grace is so that we don't have to be perfect.
SPEAKER_06Right. There's a lot of times you're sinning, you don't even realize you are sinning. You know, there's small things that are sins that we do that we don't even realize that we're doing.
SPEAKER_08And I tell you what, that's another whole conversation right there. Yes, sins that are definite sins, sins that are sins to me personally, you know, convictions on my heart. You know, there are absolute sins. We know those, we've seen those, but there are people that think that other stuff's a sin that isn't really a sin. It's just it's a conviction.
SPEAKER_02It's a conviction on their heart. And Paul says if it's a sinning conviction to you, it is to you. Exactly. Because you can't full foresight on anyone else.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, you can't call somebody else a sinner because they're doing the sin that's your sin. But God never spoke against it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_08Yeah. And a lot of that I think is putting up hedges to keep yourself from going over those, which is exactly what the Pharisees did. So all right. Let's go ahead and get started in uh chapter two of First Peter, Mr. Sir Brian. Deacon Sir Brian.
SPEAKER_01Therefore, laying aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation. If you have tasted the kindness of the Lord, and coming to him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but it's a choice, and precious in the sight of God, sorry about that, precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For this is contained in Scripture. Behold, I lay in Zion a choice a stone, a precious cornerstone, and he who believes upon him will not be put to shame. This precious value, then, is for you who believe, but for those who disbelieve, the stone which the builders rejected, this has become the chief cornerstone. And a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence. They stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this stumbling they are were also appointed. But you are a chosen family, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. For you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God, and you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul, by keeping your conduct excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing which they slander you as evildoers, they may, because of your good works as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.
SPEAKER_08So I'm back just on that. What do you think the significance of um using the stones as how he's trying to get his message across? Like, is there a correlation to the location? Like that's the way that they would understand it?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so like the the cornerstone of the capstone in ancient building, like you can still see it on our church building. It was the last piece you put in that held the arch in place. And it doesn't seem like it, but when it goes in there, that arch becomes a very load-bearing structure. Without that one stone, it will fall apart. So that's that's the thing. Like this the stone that and that's a prophecy. Um the stone the builders rejected has become um, and I forget which Bible writer that was from, um, in the day of maybe Isaiah or Psalms, but like what it's saying is Jesus is like the thing that looks like it was rejected, died, buried, gone, can't see him anymore, has now become the the thing that holds it all together. Holds it all together. Right? And it's a stumbling block to those who don't believe. You'll trip over it and it'll dash you to pieces and crush you, or it'll be your freedom. It either holds up your building or collapses it on your head. That that's that's kind of the Scott's translation.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, and and it goes into since we're talking about Peter, he says that you are going to be the rock that I build my church on. So, but this is actually go ahead.
SPEAKER_01Sorry, I heard I heard an interesting theory about that. Uh and and and it was not that it was him but his realization. Yep. Yes. Okay.
SPEAKER_02So can you explain for that? Yeah. It's the words he says. Like, on uh you are the Christ, the Son of God. That's the rock. Yes. It's not Peter. Yes. That's why we know it's not alluding to the Pope. Like Peter, that that's a statement they say this is where Christ makes the first Pope. No. What he's saying is what you just said, Peter, everyone who follows after you will say, and that's what builds my church is the people who believe that I am the Christ, the Son of the Living God. All right. Exactly. That's what it is.
SPEAKER_08That's the first example that Peter actually says, you are the Christ.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_08Okay. Yes, all right. So I hadn't heard of it. Jesus wasn't calling Peter the rock.
SPEAKER_02He was, but not like he was using Peter as because his first name was like Cephas. Or Simon, you know, like Cephas, it meant like little pebble, and then it became big stone. Peter. Like, so like it's like, but Peter is not the object of the name change, it's what he said. And that's where we get mixed up. We think Peter is the person that and and then it would likely follow contextually. Peter's the first guy to preach, he does a lot of stuff. So Christians drew from that, like, and said this is this guy is the rock, but it's really what Peter said that's the rock.
SPEAKER_08See, that's that's fascinating to me because I've always wondered why isn't there's only what two three three books of Peter? First Peter, second Peter. And that's it. Like there's like if he is, like they say, you know, the cornerstone, why is there not more about Peter?
SPEAKER_02Right, because it's not. It's the confession, and that's the confession we all make as Christians, that Jesus is the Messiah. It is your faith that saved you. Agree.
SPEAKER_08Agree.
SPEAKER_02Agree. Because you believe this statement. Yeah. And Jesus says that's that's the goal to get people to believe.
SPEAKER_06The Son of God.
SPEAKER_02That's the rock on which he will build his church, and the gates of hell will not be able to prevail against it.
SPEAKER_08That makes so much more sense than any of the other. It does.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Another thing in this um that sticks out in the very beginning of this, he talks about like uh like newborn babies crave pure spiritual milk. I think I find one of the biggest frustrations for me as a minister is people want to skip the spiritual milk. Like when they become Christians, and maybe they were for a while and drifted away, maybe they've never been, but they don't want to talk about the basic stuff like that rock. Like, what does that mean for you to confess that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God? They want to jump into like, okay, I want to go into like this detailed stuff. No, you can't you can't feed a baby a steak, it'll kill it.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Like, like you've got to go through the growth process. When you're baptized and born again of the water and the spirit, you're a spiritual infant, right?
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_02You have to eat that way. You have to be taken, you're solely dependent on your brothers and sisters in Christ to teach you and God through the Spirit and His Word to teach you how to feed yourself. You have to, that diet increases, right? So then you get to the point of the book of Hebrews where he says, Y'all are all you're wanting is the milk. You should have moved on by now. You should stop talking about like baptisms, the resurrection from the dead, and the laying on of hands and beyond to more spiritual things, but you're not. You're still babies.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You know, because you refuse to drink it at first. And I think a lot of times it feels like we're like in a remedial class, like because we live in a nation that has a lot of Christian values. So we all most of us have have an idea about who Jesus is and the the the main bullet points of it, you know, uh of what the Bible says. Jesus died for my sins, yeah, I know all that. And we want to skip that because we think there's better stuff. You can't until you fully know that you don't get to skip the milk, man. You're poisoning yourself.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02If I like it's weird when you you don't think about it until you actually have kids, they can't drink water until like two or three years old.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Which is weird because that's what we have to drink to stay alive. But their bodies just aren't meant to, as they grow, they become it uh able to process.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02But they can't do that at the beginning, right? So don't skip the spiritual milk if you're new. I think it's fascinating too because one of the things that that I've always been a milk drinker.
SPEAKER_08I love milk. I can pretty much drink that with every meal. That's what I did as a kid.
SPEAKER_02We lived in the big milk era. We'd we'd be boneless chicken wings in a bucket if we didn't drink our milk.
SPEAKER_08Yeah. So uh my children pointed out to me that our bodies were not meant to continue drinking milk. There's at some point you're supposed to like stop. Yeah. Like that's the reason. We have so many people that have lactose intolerance. Like me, I am. Yeah, yeah, and that's normal function. Where the fact that I drink milk, I still have the same problems, but I just like milk. Yeah. It's worth the risk. It's worth the problem.
SPEAKER_02You know, I mean, I drink milk all the time until I was like 30, and then I was like, one day I was like, it's kind of hot outside, and the cold milk isn't hitting right anymore. Now making some cottage cheese down there.
SPEAKER_08But being that we're talking about you start out with the milk. Yeah. We see personally, I see there's still people that are they missed the milk and now they're going back to the milk, like you said.
SPEAKER_02But they're also like spiritually malformed. These are the people that Paul warns about that get too puffed up about themselves and their knowledge because they're they they've missed key components of their nutrition.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Like spiritually. That's why we do discipleship. That's why we walk you through, even if it's remedial, like I know this stuff already. Okay, you've recommitted. Let's get it again. Because if you miss the foundation, then the chief cornerstone will not keep it held together.
SPEAKER_06See, that's why in my own personal studies, I'm reading through the Old Testament. I want to read the whole Bible, but I've always just it's been a New Testament. Everything I've ever read was always been a New Testament throughout, you know, growing up young in church before I strayed for years. But you hear, you know, the bullet points of the Old Testament, Noah's Ark, you know, Daniel in the Lion's Den, stuff like that. Um but I want to understand. I mean, Jesus preaches from the Torah. Right. You know, this stuff that we're reading now is not what Jesus was preaching. This is what he was living. I want to understand the stuff that Jesus was preaching because I feel like that is what's going to make me understand his words better, is if I read the thing. It's almost as if context matters.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, that's the the thing that I grew up with was, you know, the Old Testament, don't worry about it. But there's so much of the Old Testament that is well is is paramount.
SPEAKER_02Just on what Brian read, there's almost 30 Old Testament passages quoted.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, it's like you there's so much of the Old Testament that's in the New Testament. I think it was Rob that pointed out to us. They're called cursers, is that right? Keshers. Keshers. Where they just not to be confused with kesha. Yeah, exactly. Or kosher.
SPEAKER_06Well, they also is what is it? First first usage?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, the principle of first usage. What did it mean when it was invented?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, so there's words that you can read in the New Testament and you take it one way, but it's used completely different in the Old Testament, the beginning of the Bible. And that's really the way that you that that is supposed to be read, so a lot of like, you know, context. It's you can take the whole passage out of context because one single word that you were interpreting wrong.
SPEAKER_08And I I think it's again, we see this so much. We talked about that the last podcast.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_08We recorded it on the last podcast. So it's when we produce these, you'll see that we're talking about the meanings of the words and all that stuff. And then the next week, Jeff brings in the same thing. It's just like I just love how God works, man. I love that we're all connected. It's all it's it's just amazing to watch and be a part of.
SPEAKER_06But yeah. Well, I mean, that's literally what so uh last night Dakota and I were talking about money. How it's like, man. And we come like we were talking about like how people idolize money, and uh money is a root can you know is the root of all evil, it drives people to do terrible things, and then we come to church today. And what is the sermon about? Idols and people you know worshiping money and God. You can't worship both.
SPEAKER_08Matter of fact, I think at Monday Bible study, she said the same thing about last week's service. It's like, how do you know? Like you didn't know from God.
SPEAKER_02Even though he's not real.
SPEAKER_08What you don't know is your pastor turns into a fly on the wall during the week. But we have nothing else to do.
SPEAKER_01But speaking of staying in the the New Testament and and not going to the Old Testament and stuff like that, I've heard all kinds of uh random assumptions. So again, uh the the the beginning of the Bible, wrathful God, uh uh and then and then hear the cuddly uh kind God that that uh in the New Testament. And uh honestly, through uh Jeff, you reading Jonah, uh being on Jonah with us. I mean, I like I you see it all throughout. So much grace. So much grace and God God's love. The reason Jonah runs is because he's like, No, I know you're gonna save those people. No.
SPEAKER_00They don't deserve to be saved.
SPEAKER_01But how does he know? He knows it.
SPEAKER_02He knows it back then. And he recalls in that in Jonah, if I remember, the exact song that trailed God when Moses was hidden the cleft of a rock. I knew you were loving and slow, abound slow and abounding in love, slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness. It's exactly the name of God that God speaks to Moses when he hides him in the rock. And that's what Jonah quotes. He's like, we know who you are. You're gonna let this whole thing go because, you know, but I I hope you don't, God. Yeah. Yeah. And we all have to admit for a minute we've we've been in Jonah Land, right?
SPEAKER_00Speaking of being in Jonah Land.
SPEAKER_01Well, yeah, sorry, catching catching up to the conversation we're doing now is uh we're we're discussing uh sorry, number 10 uh here, verse 10. For you were once for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God. And and uh so we're looking at that right presently with uh uh sorry, we'd mentioned uh possibly that it could be a lens of uh individualism. So before you weren't a people, you were individuals, you were a grouping of individuals, uh, and now you are a people. So again, when we think about too what we stand to gain through Christ, our are our heirs of the kingdom and being part of the kingdom and a people, prior to that we're just wonderers. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_02We we are not like we think we're something, but we're not.
SPEAKER_08Yes. So in my notes, it talks about um Peter wrote from Babylon, which is probably a codename for Rome. So speaking of that, at this point, you've got the Hebrews or the Israelites, and then you've got the Gentiles. Yes, and with Jesus, it kind of reverses the Tower of Babel, Babel, however you say it, brings us all back together again. So, yeah, you were not a people, but now you are the people of God, which it's saying the people, it's not saying the Israelites or the Gentiles, it's saying the people. And we go into, you know, love your neighbor, who's your neighbor, it's everybody. You know, so yeah, I think that's yeah. And you you had not received mercy before, but with Jesus, now you have received mercy. Yeah, that's that's a good one. I like that you brought that up. Um and also we were talking about um the the Old Testament, most of us here I think grew up in wrathful God. And I want to ask you guys, why is it that that's all a lot of people see in the Old Testament? We've been going through the minor prophets with Jonah, with Hosea, with Joel, uh in Deuteronomy. Uh we see God's mercy and grace in there, but for whatever reason, we don't hear it, or we don't see it, we don't why are we missing it? Why are we missing the part where I still love you, I will still bring you back to me. Yes. We're gonna go through some stuff.
SPEAKER_06I feel like it is all throughout there because Yes, he does things that are you know wrathful, but he is constantly showing, giving the people grace and mercy.
SPEAKER_08Always giving second chances.
SPEAKER_02If you read it, I mean sometimes he gives them like almost a century. Yeah. Even though it seems like a couple ch it is a couple chapters in the book. Timeline-wise, there's like almost five to seven hundred years in between. Yeah. God's saying, do this or I'll do this.
SPEAKER_08So is it the human condition to only hear the negative? I think it's to focus on the negative.
SPEAKER_09It's just easier. Go ahead and say it, mate, instead of just pointing. I think that I think that it's it's a convenient excuse if you don't want to, if you're like, oh my gosh, the Old Testament's hard and there's a lot of names, and it's and I I don't want to read into it, and you know, that's just God being mean, and I'm not gonna read it anyway. Like, it's just convenient for people to say that. Um I I think that it's that's one among a large number of reasons, but easier being that's probably one of the big ones.
SPEAKER_06See, I'm I'm opposite. Like I said, I've I grew up in church, but I strayed away for a long time. Then, you know, back this past September I was baptized, so I've been reading the Old Testament, and all I see when I read is the is mercy and grace. That's I mean, I obviously I see you know the things that he does out of you know wrath, but it's always followed up with something.
SPEAKER_02It doesn't have to be this way. Like there's always a hey stop this now and a hey stop this morning that he can't afterwards. There's always a bookend of grace to the wrath.
SPEAKER_08Is it because what we're seeing today is nobody wants to take accountability?
SPEAKER_02Is it just the same thing, like nothing new under the sun? I would say it's a lot of how we've been raised as a church culture plays into that, but now everything like we were talking earlier, everything is so individualized. Like I have to be, like, I want to be this label and not this one, so I'll do whatever I can to, you know. But the thing is, is like the more you try not to like everyone else, the more you become like everyone else, right? Because we're so individual and like virtuous and identity, I don't want to say politics in the sense of like, you know, the usual, but like identity politics. Like, which side of this are you on? Like, who are you in this movement? Are you a ally or whatever the thing? And you want to hang your hat on that because you want to be socially accepted, and then at the end of the day, you can't please anybody, so you end up hanging your hat on I'm a worthless trash heap, you know, and a sinner and God hates me, which is further sting from the truth. God loves you more than even even in your lost and fallen state, Jesus adores you.
SPEAKER_06I mean, look at X the Exodus.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I mean, constantly.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, you know, they didn't make you know that group of people had to die off before they got into the promised lands because of the things that they did. But God could have given up on them a long time before that.
SPEAKER_08Well, actually, there is scripture where he he God says to Moses, I'm done. I'm done. I'm just gonna chuck them all and start from you, Moses. I'm gonna make a line of people from you, and then Moses says, Let me go talk to them.
SPEAKER_02He says, But all this stuff you have has to be in place, or else everything you did didn't matter. Right. Yeah. Like the Egyptians will still make fun of you.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that's bad. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Imagine having that power where God's like, I'm gonna give up, and you could affirm that. And Moses is like, he's gotta be even more tired of hearing it than God is in some extent. You know, but he's human for a while. Yeah, but Moses is like, wait, let's not do that, God. That's what people expect. Yeah. And that's what I would do, but that's not what you would do. Because you know it.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_06But I also kind of think of it as uh like you get a puppy. You you gotta whip the puppy to teach it. You know, it doesn't mean that you're that you're wrathful or that you're a mean person. That the only way that that puppy is gonna know right from wrong is by your reaction to that instance, and that is kind of like what God was was doing.
SPEAKER_08I you know, it's it's we see it so much. It's like we just had these conversations about uh gentle parenting, helicopter parenting, things like that. And again, I was raised with a switch and a belt, and I don't have a problem with it. I think it it it it actually helped me in a lot of ways. But now people are so worried about offending and accepting and I ha like I I don't see a problem with dealing with the situation instead of accepting it or I don't know what I'm trying to say here, but we all go through these growing pains, and that's all they are is growing paints. We're trying to figure out who we are and what our purpose is. And we've gotten to a society now where people say they can do and be anything. And yes, to an extent, in America we have the freedoms to make whatever we want of our lives, but like God don't make mistakes. God made you and put you together in the womb, knitted you together in the womb. He knew your name before your parents knew your name. So it's just the whole not taking accountability, not just dealing with the growing pains, getting through to the next level. Because that's all it is. We've all been through it.
SPEAKER_02So would you say it's skipping the spiritual milk?
SPEAKER_08Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, exactly. They want to go from the teeth to the steak. I mean, don't get me wrong, steak's good, but you gotta get there first. You're not designed to digest steak yet.
SPEAKER_04No.
SPEAKER_08No. Small bites. Baby steps. We gotta stop doing movie quotes in this stuff. So we left off on 12, is that right? And we start with 13?
SPEAKER_01No.
SPEAKER_08Everybody went their whistle. The title of this is perfect, considering how we just left the conversation. Title of the Subject to Authority. And I think that's what we have lost today, being subject to authority.
SPEAKER_01Ah, brother, it's difficult for me. I I I no, I seriously, I I do. And uh and I'm still learning. I'm learning. Now I didn't say what authority now, did I?
SPEAKER_08Agreed, agreed. Yes. The authority that we're speaking of is not a problem. Yeah. We do that very well. We can do that. It's the other authority that is the problem. Agreed.
unknownAgreed.
SPEAKER_01Go for it, Sir Bryan. All right, cool. Uh be subject for the sake of the Lord to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evil evildoers and the praise of those who do good. For such is the will of God, that by doing good you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. Act as free people. Do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as slaves of God. Honor all people, love the brethren, fear God, honor the king. Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are crooked. For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unrighteously, for what credit is there? If when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure. But if when you do good and suffer for it, you endure. This finds favor with God.
SPEAKER_08I like the first part of that. Be subject for the sake of the Lord to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him, and the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do good. To me, what I'm hearing here is what is so wrong with doing good, with doing the right thing. Did we talk about this Friday night? Um like why is it such a problem for us? What do you mean by that? Um very simple. Uh don't rob, don't steal, uh, don't run red lights, you know, don't run stop signs. Simplest things. The simplest of things. Who's having issues with those? Well, it it goes into the whole yes, we are free, and this is telling us to be subject to those things, but i it's subject to these things for the betterment of all of us. It'd be chaos if we didn't have red lights and stop signs, right? If we didn't have crosswalks and something things like that. Like, why is it why is it such a th I mean I understand to push back against the powers of principalities. I do. I understand that. But a lot of the things that we press against and we fight against are just nonsense and silly.
SPEAKER_01It's like chasing the wind. To a degree, like I said, it depends on what you mean by that. Like, like what are the instances, what are the what are who are these instances? It's a very broad subject.
SPEAKER_08Exactly. I guess it is, yeah. Yeah. Uh the next the next one is uh for such is the will of God that by doing good you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. That's probably where I'm more focused towards. Um if you obey the laws, if you follow speed limits, um we've had people come to the gathering and give their testimonies, they lived a life to where if a siren went off, they were nervous, they were afraid. They were afraid to be pulled over by a cop because they didn't know what was going to happen. But if you are a upright, law-abiding a citizen, which what is wrong with doing that? You know, and to stand on the principles, like if you're a good person, like we talked about this a lot, like that doesn't sound like that person. I know that person because I know their integrity and other character. So that's what I'm seeing here with that. Am I wrong in thinking that doing good, you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.
SPEAKER_02I I think it connects more to the, and Brian, I'm gonna interrupt you if you're about to say that verse 13, I think, is where the connection point comes in to that in context. So the context of this book is Peter is writing, addressing his letter to the church of Babylon, which is Rome. Correct. But he's also writing under the worst Christian persecution ever, which was not Nero, it's Diocletian. Um, Nero made this guy look like a day of Disney World. Uh, you know, Nero looked like Dacopare to this guy, I should say. So Peter is writing during the most intense persecution of Christians in the New Testament church, period. And so I think it would be rather easy for them to say, I don't have to pay attention to the laws anymore. I don't do these little menial good things anymore because this isn't you're not my boss anymore. When Peter's like, no, that's not how this works, but like, you know, there you are. I'm trying to think of the way to put that. You have to live by the law of the land while you're here. I would say duty bound. Yeah, like unless it directly contradicts with scripture. Right. You know, and so I may not like it that the speed limit is 25, but it is. Yeah. I better do my best to follow it.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You know, I may not like that I have to pay taxes, but I do. Jesus said so. Yeah, so even Jesus told you to pay taxes. But like, there's but then also we have to be careful because the other view is like a carte blanche view of authoritarian. Like, I I'm not free to choose anything. I have to do what I'm told. And no, that's not true. If it violates scripture, I don't have to do it.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Like uh, but I do have to accept the punishment gracefully, and that's what Peter's talking about. And this comes from his own personal experience in Acts chapter 4, when he's taken, you know, and beaten. He says in Acts 4 and 5, when he says, you know, we must obey God, not men. However, yeah, Peter and John get whipped and they are like, We'll take your punishment, but we're not going to stop. So as a Christian, if I see, like, say there's a law that says you got to do this and it's very unscriptural, like, I could say, cool, I'm not listening to that law, but I will take the legal punishment for said thing.
SPEAKER_09That's what Peter's talking about. That's where verses 19 and 20 come in. Like, if you're going to break the law, it better be in service of God. It's commendable to receive a beating for doing the right thing, if you for suffering for doing good and to endure it. And nobody wants to suffer, and nobody wants punishment.
SPEAKER_08But at the same time, we are told that we will have suffering, we will be persecuted, but that is nothing compared to what we gain in the end.
SPEAKER_03Right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah, I think it's this uh the temporal sojourning resident situation that Peter really brings that together. Because we're not here and we will have to face things that we don't like and we don't do. And sometimes we just have to do them, right? Like, but like other times there will be a chance when I can say that this is not something we should do. This is not for the this does not follow scripture, first off. It is not for the good of everyone, it's not for the good of humanity, it's just bad, and I'm not gonna do that. But along with that, I have to say, because I'm not gonna do that, I accept your legal punishment. Just know that when I get out, I'm going to go back to not doing the thing, and we can keep repeating this as long as we need to.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02But I'm not going to do it. My first thought was we just studied Daniel in one of our other study groups, talking about he goes up and prays and it's not. They may pray illegal, and Dana's like, cool, I'm going to go pray with my window open. You know? That's what it is. Like the the Christian community, the Jewish community is the birthplace of what we will call in our day and time civil disobedience. Right? Like this is where it happens, but where we've got it mixed up is you have to change, and I don't have to suffer for it. But Peter says, No, you're going to suffer.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I lived it, like, but it's okay.
SPEAKER_08Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You're in good company.
SPEAKER_08Yeah. Yeah. And we had a brother just here recently. Um, again, God is with him and he knows that. And it was a testimony to what he just went through. Like, you will have to have consequences. There will be consequences for your actions. No matter what. There will be in this life, there will be consequences. And I've told so many of our members look, I understand you don't want to do this. I know that you're afraid of this. But let's get it done, get it over with, and get back to where we're going. You know, pay for the consequences, do your time on the shelf, whatever it is. Get it taken care of. Because until you do, it's going to follow you. Yeah, it's going to follow you everywhere you go. Even in what was in the sense Jesus says that if you have an offense against you with a brother before your sacrifice, go and make a message. Stop worship and go figure it out. Yeah, exactly. So and again, there are extreme cases that we've seen where I wouldn't want to do it either. I ain't gonna lie. I wouldn't want to have to go to do jail time or all these other things that we've had to deal with and stuff. And it does it does drain us. But again, Jesus says, Peter says, Paul says, There will be persecution, there will be suffering, but I am with you to the end. And nothing can take you away from me. So again, with the whole and you endure, this finds favor with God.
SPEAKER_02Maybe this just popped in my head. Maybe this isn't right, so I take it with a giant mountain of salt like Lot's wife, but um, you know, like there it went. Massana Benture edited that out. I don't know where that was going. God must have been like, don't put that out there, Scott.
SPEAKER_08Or not right now. The Holy Spirit stepped in just in time.
SPEAKER_06You hit X on the wrong pad. Yeah.
SPEAKER_08Excellent. My bad. I like that.
SPEAKER_09Well, that's my thing in this one.
SPEAKER_08I don't think Sir Brian liked it. He got a disdainful look when he said it. He liked it, he just wish he didn't. There's a lot of that that goes around too. Let's go ahead and finish this chapter. Brian. Cool.
SPEAKER_01For to this you have been called since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps, who did not sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth, who being reviled was not reviling in return. While suffering, he was uttering no threat, but kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously, who himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that having died his sin we might live to righteousness. By his wound you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep. But now you have returned to the shepherd, an overseer of your soul.
SPEAKER_08Um we just said that even Jesus says you will suffer. Um the fact that there was no sin and he still did it. Um I know, I did the same thing. Must be catching. Maybe we got the wrong time zone. I I like that it says he was uttering no threats and kept entrusting himself to him who judges rightly. How many times do we try to defend ourselves and try to fight back instead of just standing on I'm gonna do the song, standing on the promises. Standing on the promises of God, standing on your integrity, standing on who you are in Christ. Um let the people see that instead of trying to No oh I didn't do what he did. You know, that kind of thing.
SPEAKER_06Um that was something I had to work on a lot, is uh accountability. It's easy to make excuses, you know, for stuff that you do. Um so being able to stand up and take accountability for the things that you did um even before, you know, becoming coming to Christ is it's it's a hard it's a hard thing to do for a lot of people. And probably and even more so after you come to Christ, because then you feel the guilt more for the things that you did before that, and you still try to justify it in other ways by making it well as before I, you know, was baptized before that still doesn't make you know the situation any right or wrong. Um but I think it's an like an accountability thing. It's just it's easier to push it to somebody else than to carry the weight yourself. If I pick this table up by myself, it's heavy. But if all four or all five of us pick it up, it's a lot easier to bear.
SPEAKER_08Oh, is that a yoke reference, Brian? That sounds like a yoke reference. My yoke is light. Um, yeah, I mean that's I don't know, it's just thinking about how this plays out. You know, how what Jesus did. He he went before Pilate, and what did he say to Pilate? You said that I am. You know, he he he basically doesn't defend himself, he stands on who he is, he knows that it's gonna happen regardless of what he says. And like we don't hear of any complaining from Jesus as he's going through this. And even when the apostles are, you know, being beaten and prison and all these things, they're still prof not prophesying, they're still preaching the good news. They're still in good spirits.
SPEAKER_06And Bartholomew was literally filleted alive, and people still kept preaching.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's just it's I I want to be that.
SPEAKER_06Well, see, that's what blows my mind about you know the argument of Jesus and God is why would people go through the persecution that they went through for a lie? Nobody would. Nobody would. Nobody would go through the things that these men went through during these times. And even the things that people go through up until now with the persecution of Christians, nobody's gonna go through that for a lie. You know, you don't see people reading Lord of the Rings and getting filleted alive because they think Gandalf is in the to just put a minor edit onto what you're saying.
SPEAKER_01Uh knowingly die for a lie. Yes. Because people have died for a lie. Yes, yeah, knowingly. So yes.
SPEAKER_06They emphasize that they they knowingly died for a, you know, for what they saw. For the truth. They knowingly no one's gonna knowingly die over a lie. If you're if I'm lying to you and you're standing over top of me with a knife to tell me you're gonna cut my skin off, I'm gonna tell you the truth, whether I want to or not. These guys stuck to their ground because it's the truth. And that just it just blows my mind that people still to this day can read this. We have this to read now, we see this stuff. And they didn't have it back then. Yeah. Um, and they still want to be in denial of the word.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And we I think when we're talking about this, maybe this is the tab that was open. It's the cool thing now is to be like viewed as an individual, like we had talked about before, like a rebel. You know, we even see things like Jesus was the ultimate rebel, and yes, ultimately, because but not in the way that you're we're being taught that rebels are. Right? Like, I think about myself, if you tell me not to touch the red button, guess what the first thing I won't do is I'll touch red button. Not because I hate authority, it's just because I want to see what happens. Like, if you gotta put this kind of warning on it, I want to see if it's real. It's like I get disappointed when I go down the road and there's a sign that says bump, uh, and it's like just this minor inconvenience. If you put a sign out to warn me that there's a bump, I'm gonna drop like 30 feet. You know, or ramp. I want some excitement in this code. Feeling you're stacking. You know, but like I get it, but like I think some people are so like, I'm so cutting edge and and and all this, and I can be so rebellious and it's so cool. It's like the James Dean kind of thing. Like, and and that's a that's a thing that we all have to deal with, but ultimately what Peter's saying here is like Jesus didn't even do that. But then you do see Jesus because Pilate comes with a point where he says, Don't you realize that I have the power to kill you or set you free? Jesus then bucks the system. Not in a negative way. He says, You only have the power that's given to you from above. You know, he doesn't, he doesn't, you know, he doesn't like start a courtroom debate with him, he just says, You could think that, but that's not true. Yeah.
SPEAKER_08Well, even when he's in the temple, he says, I can lay my life down and pick it back up again.
SPEAKER_02And it and I think that's the thing that doesn't click with so many Christians is like the worst thing out of Christ that can happen to you is death. Christ removes that barrier. Like, death is not the worst thing that can happen to me anymore. Like, literally, that's removed. Like, there is nothing as long as I'm in Christ. Maybe the world, yeah, bad things will happen. I mean, tragedies will take over, bad things will happen, right? But like the tyrant has been disarmed. You know, the force of death, the threat of it, the the thought of it, it doesn't matter. That's what Christianity spreads. How do you kill the people who won't die, who aren't afraid of it? Because it doesn't matter. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_08I mean, the war is won. There will be battles along the way, but we know who wins. We know what the results are.
SPEAKER_02So why why would you want to do anything but be good in a world of evil hateful people? Even just pithy stuff that's not even we'll say like evil, but just annoying. Well, let's go with, you know, evil begets evil, doesn't love beget love too. Yeah. And we're ultimately, we always say the saying, hurting people hurt people, but really we should begin to change it to help help people help people. Loved people, love people. Yeah, I mean, that's exactly what we're trying to do in our little town here.
SPEAKER_08And it's we've seen crazy awesome. Yeah, just the stuff that God is doing here is just insane. Like it it's just amazing that that we are allowed to be a part of.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_08You know?
SPEAKER_02Like sometimes yeah, you look at me like, are you sure I belong here, God? This is way too cool of a holy moment for me. But he's like, Yep, you're supposed to be here.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, and and this is something that happened today, and this has happened a couple of times now. And again, you've said it before, Scott. You would have never seen me in the roles that I'm in now. You know, it's like we had a baptism today and you were looking for me to go help the guy get ready. Yeah, to get ready to get the guy ready. And I'm like, how did that happen? You know, when we started the support group, I was like, how did I get to be part of this support group?
SPEAKER_02It's like this is a church thing if you volunteer for it, you're in charge of it now.
SPEAKER_06First person to raise their hand that's him.
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_08Now I will admit I am also the first person that will grab somebody in the crowd that is not expecting you to come be a part of what we're doing too.
SPEAKER_02Then that's perfectly good.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, I think that's what we're doing.
SPEAKER_02And what's do you learn if you don't you ain't learned to swim if you never touch the water?
SPEAKER_08Yeah, yeah. We had a guy come back for the first time in forever, and I grabbed him to go help me baptize somebody. But we've had so many baptisms since they've been here, too, you know. Like almost every time they're here, we have at least one baptism. So that's an awesome thing to do. But yeah, it this part here though, talking about you know, even in the hard times, the bad times, try not to grumble and realize that it's all for God's glory, it's all for God's good. That something better is on the other side of it.
SPEAKER_02I was like going on the hike last week. I grumbled a lot, and it wasn't but I had to get it out, but I wasn't gonna quit. Right. But there's there's like grumbling, and then there's like grumbling out of necessity where you have to to keep going. I had to grumble to keep going because my body wasn't wanting to body anymore, and I had to place get places. But like, so I felt the complaining outline. I even had told Jacob and Nate this. I was like, you're gonna hear me complaining and saying a lot of dumb things, but it's just part of the gas process here to keep me going, you know, because this is terrible, and I'm gonna get I'm not quitting. But if I stop being able to express that, I might. You know?
SPEAKER_08I was very comfortable in my B and B.
SPEAKER_02I bet. I was very comfortable once we got to camp every night, but that's true. That's true, you know. Yeah, and but sometimes if we mistake, we throw it like the Philippians where it's like do everything without complaining and grumbling. I'm like, sometimes it's legitimate to complain, but it doesn't mean you quit.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Right? That's the difference. You complain about something and be like, it's 900 degrees and I gotta mow the grass. That's not what I want to do. I'm gonna grumble about it, but it has to get done and it's not gonna kill me. I mean, it might if I don't get higher. Don't say that in front of the bride. The sun is Brian's woman. Well, he's because he's a vampire. He almost died mowing the grass. Yeah, don't do that anymore. Drink water and not do it. Call us. We'll make Nate do it. He's bride. We'll send our scout out. We'll send our triathlete.
SPEAKER_06To digress a little bit back to what Scott was saying about death. Um it even like helps my grandfather passed away March 21st. And knowing that he was a saved man kind of helps with the mourning process as well. Yeah, you're sad that that person is no longer in your life at the present moment, but you're gonna spend a whole lot more time with them when you ever got here than you than you get on the other side.
SPEAKER_08So yeah, that's as Christians death is definitely different, and it probably will seem heartless to the outside world that don't understand. But when our fellow Christians pass away, like my dad passed away, and I haven't grieved him. It's been two or three years now, and I haven't grieved him because I know that he is in a better place. You know, uh we lost uh Sister Bruce at the same time, like two days after my dad. And again, these are beautiful things, they're into the next level. I'd say they're probably making gardens in heaven somewhere because my dad was in the garden and so was she, so but yeah, it's just it's more of a selfish fee feeling of the loss because they're not in our lives anymore.
SPEAKER_06That's really what you're mourning. You know, it's not more so mourning the death because you know that they are in a better place. You're really mourning the loss, the presence of that presence of that person in your life. I'm not gonna see him until my 20. Yeah.
SPEAKER_08And my dad was trying to hold on for initially, I think he was trying to hold on to for my son to get his driver's license so they could go for a drive together. That's what they did when they were, you know, younger. My son was younger. And then it got to the point where dad was trying to hold out till the 49th wedding anniversary. He actually passed away two days before it. But mom told him it was okay, you made it. Uh, and that's when he let go, which was good. But yeah, it's just like it sucked that he didn't get to take a ride with my son driving. But at the same time, you know, I know he's in a better moment.
SPEAKER_02But he would never want to come back here. Yeah not because he doesn't love you, no, but because that's where he wanted to be. Well, yeah. That's what we're all wanting to be.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, I mean that's the goal.
SPEAKER_02But also we also short circuit death and mourning in our modern culture. I mean, funerals were two weeks long back in the day. Yeah, that's true. You know, now they're an hour.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and then we're expected to just go back to work the next day and go on with our lives. So no wonder death and mourning are such a taboo thing when they were such a vital part of society biblically. I mean, even until the industrial revolution, really. How long were women supposed to wear the morning clothes for? Right. Well, it wasn't just women, it was men too. But yeah, it was like seven days and like sometimes longer. I almost think it would be better if we went back to that. It would, because it would teach us grief is important and it's not something to run from.
SPEAKER_01Well, honestly, it would benefit us to value human life.
SPEAKER_02So Amen. And and that it does matter that a person existed, and it does matter. Agreed. And even if they're not a Christian, they're still in the image of the image of it. And you still have people that loved you and you loved.
SPEAKER_06Well, I mean, just think of everybody that that person had impacted throughout their life. Right. You know, they could have pushed a person in a direction that that person, you know, became a pastor, and then they over the course of years, you know, saved 20, 30 more people, and those it's just a it's a trickle effect. You know, one drop of water in an empty bowl doesn't seem like a lot. You keep dropping, you keep dropping, eventually the bowl's gonna fill up and overflow.
SPEAKER_08And that's the one thing I like about our testimonies that we have all the time now. It's like you have no idea the effect that your testimony is gonna have on anybody that hears it. I mean, I've had so many stories now from our brother Mike that you know these people think that they're not worthy or they shouldn't be here and all these things. And he's like, dude, do you know the impact that your testimony had on me? And they're not even aware of it. So don't be ashamed or afraid to share your testimony. Understand that you do have one, one way or the other. You know, and it could absolutely impact somebody else.
SPEAKER_06Especially if you're sharing God's love with them. Even if it's just one person that's one person that you impacted and brought them to.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, one person shared their faith with me. He leaves in 991.
SPEAKER_08Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You know, I didn't plan on doing this for a living. I didn't plan on being a minister. I was going to school to be a businessman and maybe probably a politician. Thank God he saved me from that. Um, you know, but like you don't know the power of one person, and that's the thing about Christianity, is God becomes I guess what they call in the military, a force multiplier because one times one in regular math is still one. But your story plus God can be infinite in in how you tell it.
SPEAKER_06I got invited here to watch a baptism on a Sunday.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And now you're stuck with me. We're spreading democracy all over the galaxy.
SPEAKER_06Here I am.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, I mean, showing up at the gathering when I did, I talked to Marty yesterday about it. She's like, she said that she just had this giant weight on her heart to take me down there to show me that place. Which I didn't know that until yesterday. And I never left. And that's how I met Brian, that's how I met Mike, that's how you got involved. I mean, just so many things from that one thing that happened, and that all goes from God blowing up my shoulders.
SPEAKER_02I feel like the holy there was a little angel in there with a little curtain. Like angel. That's awesome. And God's like, this is gonna change the path of a lot of people, but it's gonna suck for Tom. But ultimately it's gonna be fine.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, I agree. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02I'm glad it happened and I'm glad it led me to the future. I'm glad of all the terrible choices I've made, and I'm not sure. Because literally we can go back and say, I wish I didn't, but if you didn't make those that had to live through, you wouldn't be the person you are right now. Yeah, I agree. Or would you be in this room right now?
SPEAKER_08Right. No, I mean that's the beautiful thing about when people say, Would you change something? No, that's true. And to be honest with you, now that I am where I am, no, absolutely not. There was not one thing that I would change, and I I know my life. I know the bad parts, but I know those bad parts led me to where I am now. Exactly. And where I am now, I couldn't imagine my life any other way. I wouldn't want my life being the other way. Same. You know? I'd joke, I'd say, like, you know, I'd be skinny, or I'd take better care of my teeth, or I wouldn't do it. Do that this person. I love my haircut, I don't care what anybody says. And I can't wait to show the final results when it is done growing.
SPEAKER_07I can get that cut going right now.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, you could. You got enough of it.
SPEAKER_07I don't have enough. Sleep the front though.
SPEAKER_08Yeah.
SPEAKER_07So you have the whole cowl.
SPEAKER_08All right, Mr. Nate, you always pray us out when you're here. Pray us out.
SPEAKER_09All right. Heavenly Father, we thank you. Thank you for this day. We thank you for another chance to gather together and to dive into your word again, this time into 2 Peter. We pray that you will help this um help this word sink into our into our brains, that we'll take uh what we are meant to take away from this into the world, and that we'll spread it into our community and that we'll continue um you know uh loving other people, like we were saying um earlier, loved people, love people. So we we hope that we can um try and change the the pattern that seems to be going around in the world right now. We pray um pray for clarity and and in some of what uh we read today about um when it is time to um follow the the leaders of this world and when it's time to um to follow you and to uh be okay with the consequences that come from that. We uh we pray for guidance, we pray for forgiveness, and we pray for um for safety and for fellowship as the week goes on. We ask that you forgive us for our sins, and in Jesus' name, amen.