Season 3 Episode 1: Part 2: Foundations of Faith

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to Gracefully Unfiltered, where we talk real life, real faith, and real women. Honest conversations, biblical truth with zero filter. Let's get unfiltered, gracefully. Well, welcome back to Gracefully Unfiltered, season three, part two of episode one. We're gonna kind of pick up where we left off last time with redemption and talking about obedience and surrendering to God.

SPEAKER_03 0:24

Because we talked about John 3, 16 last week and how this scripture has just become so much of a just a statement and not a real belief for a lot of people. And taken out of context. Taken out of context, not yes, I mean like bringing your thing with it.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

With that, though, of all the people showing it, has probably led to people opening up their bodies. Or, you know, and that's why there's now that ministry. Because if you search John, and that is a good ministry, don't get me wrong.

SPEAKER_03 0:55

I mean, I think it does a lot of good, good things.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

But that kind of goes back to like what you were saying of using your skills in a sense for good.

SPEAKER_02 1:06

Yeah. Yeah, using the gifts that you feel like God gave you in order to praise him or do good works in his name. Yeah. Yeah. Talked about the repentance or the responsive obedience and the surrender to God. So we're talking about the New Testament and how that basically shows up clearly that when people believed in the gospel, they didn't just acknowledge it, they actually responded to it.

SPEAKER_03 1:31

Right. Last and last week when we were talking about, or the last time when we were talking about, of course, the John 3.16 verse again, I think it was mentioned that that in itself is not salvation and redemption, just believing. There are other scripture throughout the Bible that you have to put together. And Acts chapter 2 is a good, a good one to go to. There are several things there. And it talks about Peter preaching the first gospel sermon. Talks about Peter preaching. Peter is preaching the first gospel sermon after Jesus' resurrection. And the people are so in tune and listen so hard that they are like, What shall we do to be saved? What must we do to be saved?

SPEAKER_02 2:09

Right.

SPEAKER_03 2:10

How are we saved?

SPEAKER_02 2:11

Right. And his response was extremely clear because he was like, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins. So the response included faith, repentance, baptism, which is now where we're getting into the steps to salvation, the steps for redemption, like all the things that lead into the grand finale essentially of like God's redeeming love and like yes, the whole Bible as a whole. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:40

This is why he came. This is why God sent Jesus to redeem us because we can do it on our own.

SPEAKER_02 2:47

Right. And it's not because people like earn the salvation. I think that's something that we need to point out and be very clear about because they were definitely submitting to instruction that God had given through Peter's teaching.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

Yeah, I was about to know I was just saying I like the book of Acts. Oh, it's very good, it's very instructional and very like just I mean, I think that's one of the first ones, like when you are a new Christian or looking into Christianity in a sense, because you know some people are curious about it. I feel like Acts is one of those books you should read. Oh yeah. Because it's one that helps bring things to light of a lot of stuff.

SPEAKER_02 3:31

Shows the action side rather than the because some people say you should read the gospels first. Right.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

I think Acts is one of those ones. Like, I don't know if you should if it's before the gospels, but it's right of kind of what you're getting into in a sense.

SPEAKER_02 3:49

Right. Well, and that's what we had that class in at Harding. It was called Acts of Christ, I think, right? Wasn't that the name of the class? I think so. But it was a good class because it literally talked about how it wasn't just about the response, it was about the action behind the response. Like you have to act on it.

SPEAKER_03 4:08

Right.

SPEAKER_02 4:08

Acts, act like and a lot of people think that baptism is a work.

SPEAKER_03 4:14

Yes. And it's not, it's actually an act. Yes. You know, it's not a work, it's something, yes, it's something you do, but so is believing is something you do, repenting is something you do. But those are not works either. They're all part of salvation. Yes. Part of how you get that free gift, you know.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

Sometimes I wish I can go back to some of those classes. Me too. Because really like at that time, it didn't necessarily hit of what's gonna happen. And now I feel like I would grasp the concept more.

SPEAKER_02 4:50

I would appreciate it more. Yes. Like I wish so bad that I could go back.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

But it's also kind of like what I dig in did throughout from third grade all the way up.

SPEAKER_02 5:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:01

You know, I had to go from it being a class where I got grades in. We had to take tests, you had the worksheets to fill in the blank and all that stuff, to transitioning into, no, this is actually a full-on life thing. Yes. I mean, I even had a teacher, he he gave everybody a hundred. He hated that he had to give out tests. His tests, he would hand out one single page that had one word on it or one sentence and told us to write something out, and that's what he graded because he didn't like the idea of having to give grades out in a Bible class. Right. He's like, that's not what this should be. We should be having discussions and conversations. This should be a study. And this is my senior year. He's like, we should be working on getting you prepared for life. He goes because a law you are gonna go to college the next year and not go to church, right? Which half of my class, half of us went to Harding and just about the other half went to some state school of some shape, form, or fashion.

SPEAKER_02 6:06

I think that's definitely like a good idea for a high school, middle school perspective. Like grades for a biblical concept probably isn't the best idea. But then whenever you do get to college and you are paying for that instruction, it becomes different because you're like, I'm paying to learn this, and I want the minister that is over our congregation to have excelled in all of these classes. I want them to have worked hard to achieve good grades because then I feel like that knowledge is more true. Like I would still utilize scripture to reflect, but I mean, if we hire some Joe Schmo off the street, not saying they couldn't do just as good of a job, because they can. Everybody can be called, everyone is called to be a minister, but like I appreciate a lesson from someone who has done the study, who has done the research, who is knowledgeable.

SPEAKER_03 7:04

And that is one thing I like about our preacher. I mean, we rarely have a lesson that doesn't have a ton of scripture. You're right. Like we will flip or have to jot them down faster than he can say them sometimes. So I I mean, I do I appreciate that because sometimes they're like, oh, I didn't think about that scripture, maybe going with this topic, yes, this lesson and how it relates. So I think having a teacher or a minister or somebody that incorporates that is a blessing. I mean, it is a blessing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:33

Which I mean, one of the good things about Harding is a lot of times we were giving the handouts or guidelines, and so we were able to refer back to those scriptures when we were studying in a sense. Sometimes I've gone to churches where they don't put them like, hold on, can you can you repeat where I'm supposed to be at real quick? Right. Or you said three scriptures where you only went to one.

SPEAKER_02 7:55

I need you to have them all so I can go back and study. Yeah. It was Acts of the Apostles. That's what it was. Oh, not Acts of Christ, Acts of the Apostles. That makes more sense.

SPEAKER_03 8:06

I was like, oh yeah, maybe they changed it.

SPEAKER_02 8:08

I was just like, that didn't sound right. And I've been sitting here like pondering a little bit. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

I wish I just could pull up the course log at recording and see what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_02 8:18

I know I know. I I did enjoy it, like, and like you said, I mean, you do just you don't appreciate it as much when you're it's a requirement. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_03 8:28

You know, so you're too worried about getting that grade, and yes, you know, they do the lectureship every year, and we were required to go though, one or two of them for our Baba classes.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

Now I want to go, like I want to go sit in on the lectureship, I want to go listen to some of that stuff. Yes, and so it's kind of back to not necessarily interpretation, but different things in growth and understanding and things.

SPEAKER_02 8:55

Yes, you know, hitting on um like salvation and things like that, and we will actually talk about we're gonna talk about foundations later throughout this like series, and baptism is gonna be one of them. But I do think that with baptism, a lot of people cherry pick the verses that they want, including Church of Christ. I'm not saying we don't, I just do truly believe that if it's in the Bible and it says to do it, even if it didn't come from Christ specifically, but through a disciple of Christ, telling what's teaching them. Exactly. And then on top of that, though, again, error on the side of caution. Like, why would we want to risk not doing something that God called us to do or wanted us to do, even if it was told through Peter, right? Like Peter's the one in Acts that specifically said like what they were supposed to do.

SPEAKER_03 9:50

But well, do you read the book of James and do what he says, how to hold your tongue and how to how you speak? I mean, that's not Jesus specifically speaking there, but we still find those words commands, you know, and how we're supposed to act and behave. So I what you're saying about salvation and how different maybe some denominations view it versus how we view it, yes, is well Jesus didn't say that specifically. Well, right, but why would it be in there if he didn't want us to do it? If it's not if it's in there, baptized himself, exactly to set the example, right? Not because he needed to be, but to set the example and John the Baptist didn't even want to baptize him.

SPEAKER_02 10:32

He was like, I'm not worthy of this, like you know, I mean, you know, yeah, I'm not good enough for this. But I mean, if we're supposed to follow the example, that is the example.

SPEAKER_03 10:42

And you know, I'm gonna pick at you for a minute here because you keep saying err on the side of caution. And I've used that a lot myself, you know, and saying that to maybe encourage somebody to read more, be like, Well, I've run out of reasons as to why I do what I do. And they're like, But if you err on the side of caution, do you really have faith? Do you really believe then? You know, and that gets us caught in a conundrum too.

SPEAKER_02 11:06

I think this is more geared, like you said, for a non-believer or somebody who's on the fence about something that I have faith in. Right. So I am firm believer and I have true faith that I am to be baptized. I've never doubted you. But and I know, and I know you were just picking on before. Yeah, no, no. Because I said it myself. I know, I know. And then, like, I think error on the side of caution too, though, with things like musical instruments. I do believe that's an error on the side of caution because it's not talked about, but it's not not talked about. The reason we don't use it is because it's not specifically listed in the New Testament, but also it was all throughout the Old Testament. People still played instruments, trumpets were still played all throughout the New Testament, and it is referenced. Like there are musical instruments, it's just not notated in a gathered assembly. So that one, like personally, I don't think that somebody would go to hell for utilizing musical instruments, and that is my true belief. I prefer a church of Christ in the fact that I don't think I'm adding or taking away from context because of the fact that it is not in a gathered assembly. So I don't disagree, but my error on the side of caution mind frame is more like on the rules and regulations. And I know that's not how you look at the Bible, but like for two, yeah. I mean, there's a whole book of judges and lamentations, and like we have several books that talk about the reasons that we follow the rules.

SPEAKER_03 12:35

We have consequences, we do, you know, and why do you have consequences? Because there are rules. Yeah. Now, do I believe that we have to live in a legalistic view of the scriptures? Yeah, no, you've got to find that happy medium for sure. There is some legalistic ideas that do have to be followed, but that should all come from love, you know, and the loving each other and loving Christ and loving you want to follow the set rules because of the love that you have for Christ and one another.

SPEAKER_02 13:09

But as a new Christian, that is sometimes a hard concept. It is. Because they're looking at, okay, what am I allowed to do and not allowed to do? I need to be cautious and conscientious about the things that I'm surrounding myself with. So if you don't look at it from that legalistic point of view, you almost get caught in a rut of just assuming everything you're doing is fine.

unknown 13:30

Right.

SPEAKER_02 13:30

Whereas I want to look at scripture and be like, hey, actually it says right here, I don't need to be doing this. So that's a no-night.

SPEAKER_03 13:41

But I'm doing everything wrong. I can't, you know, you know, you like, yeah, on the dark side, Darth Vader there, dang it. Um, you know, just yeah, where you're like, well, I can't do this, or I'm gonna mess up, I'm gonna mess up, I'm gonna mess up. And that's not how it's intended to be either. No. It's intent that's where the grace and mercy comes in. And I mean, like, we could go off on all kinds of tangents for sure, yeah. But you know, that's where later on, as we get into deeper understanding, is where grace and mercy come in, and we don't have to be fearful of breaking a rule, you know. Right. We need to be conscious of that.

SPEAKER_02 14:20

And that goes along with interpretation, yes. Like, grace and mercy obviously play a part in our interpretations as well, because I mean, this was a book written how many years ago? Right, and it has been taken from its original like language, even and transpired all these different times. So, like, obviously, there are things that are not gonna be a hundred percent what that original, like, language, right, you know, so like the interpretation even there is almost like I still a hundred percent agree with the Bible. I'm not saying to doubt the Bible because of the difference, but I mean, and that's something that we learned about in the Bible classes about how they did take it from that language to the next language, and it was a very detailed process. I mean, they should like if you have doubts on if the Bible's true or accurate, look into the detailed process of how they took it from the original language and transpired it into what it is today because it was tedious and it was done correctly, but interpretation along with like I just went on tangent, I forgot what I was gonna say. Grace and mercy, grace and mercy, thank you. But yes, the interpretation along with that makes a difference, yes, yeah, all that for that, geez Louise, that looks good. Sweating, but like but like what you said, the error on the side of caution, I don't mean that as in like I don't personally actually, but I just want to clarify for anybody that may be watching. But when I do say it to someone, if I know where they are, and I say, look at it this way, you've got this, you've got this, you've got this. Now, if it doesn't say to do what you think you should be doing, and it's telling you the opposite, would you not rather be error on the side of caution? And that's kind of where what I mean. I probably use it a little too loosely. So, like, I'm glad you said something.

SPEAKER_01 16:23

Well, but at least with you saying err on the side of caution, you're not necessarily telling a person they're wrong or they're not it's graceful, yes. You're doing it, and that's that kind of goes back to how you're how everything in this is how you approach it, okay.

SPEAKER_03 16:38

And it may, and that whole comment right there may make someone decide to look a little deeper, right? Like, why don't you just say err on the side of caution? What am I missing? Yeah, like why do I need what do I need to be looking for? You know, so there's lots of ways you can take that, but I know just from my own experience, how I've said it before, and I'm like, why wouldn't you just want to? I mean, you've got nothing to lose, you know, and I've said that before too. Yeah, nothing to lose if you do it this way, and it turns out that I'm completely wrong, yeah, you've lost nothing.

SPEAKER_02 17:09

But but I do like that analogy when it's like, okay, like the day is here, and I believed in God all these years, he's not real, okay. But if you didn't believe in God all these years and the day is here, like it's a little different. Yep, but you know, I mean, that's not the way anybody should really look at it, but also that's how it's gonna be. I mean, it's I mean, my faith is saying that it's true and that all of this is real, and I a hundred percent agree that Jesus is the son of God, that he was here, he's fulfilled all the prophecies, like he is coming back. I know this. But for the people that don't believe that, when the day comes, it's gonna be like a gosh, there's a clip going around right now, and it's the why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell me I was lied to, I was lied to, and it's like those are the voices that like are terrifying. Like those clips are creepy on TikTok. Have you heard it? And it's like, why didn't you tell me? You lied, they lied to me. I let them like lead me astray, and it's like people that like you envision, like obviously like going to hell, you know. But like on that day, I mean, that's you've got your line.

SPEAKER_01 18:27

That kind of reminds me of the thing I had the kids do a couple weeks ago, the blind trust game, in a sense. I had one kid close their eyes and I put something around their uh face so they couldn't see. And I had the other two kids trying to get them, they were one was good, one was bad, trying to yell things at the kid to get them to go to a certain direction. Oh, and that kid had to figure out who am I listening to? Who's telling me the right thing to do and who's telling me the wrong thing to do?

SPEAKER_03 18:57

It gave me connectivity because there was one that'd be great for teenagers.

SPEAKER_01 19:00

I told the kids to yell at the same time, and one kid just in the middle, he's like, uh, I don't know who to listen to. Sometimes we feel that way in life. Oh, yeah, 100%. That's spiritually.

SPEAKER_02 19:11

Yeah, well, and with all of the antichrists that are able to utilize scripture to the benefit of a non-biblical being, right? Like Satan is out there and he knows scripture like the back of his hand, so he's gonna utilize it, throw it in our face, and say, like, oh, well, it says here, it says here, it says here, you aren't the true Christian, and they're gonna make you doubt yourself. And that's the warfare, yes.

SPEAKER_01 19:38

And the bad thing is, is like I told them, I was like, you know, sometimes it may not even be a complete stranger that's telling you the wrong thing.

unknown 19:45

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 19:46

Sometimes it's somebody that's you're in your circle that you love and trust and everything, and they're the ones that end up. I was like, that's when life gets super hard.

SPEAKER_02 19:56

It is, it's when it gets sad because you realize and I said unfortunately, that's gonna happen all your life.

SPEAKER_03 20:05

That's when all relationships are supposed to be equally yoked with whoever it is, not necessarily just in marriage, but like with your friends, with your buttons whenever you're trying to like because we're supposed to disciple, like we're supposed to bring others.

SPEAKER_02 20:18

The Great Commission is supposed to be fulfilled through us. So I build relationships with people who have different beliefs than me in order to try to throw those seeds their direction, and it's just it feels like such a complete loss, and you lose the friends that you've been trying to help out of love along the way because they just don't want to hear it.

SPEAKER_03 20:42

And that's when we have to that's where our hope comes in and our prayer comes in, though, in that those seeds that we did plant along the way that somewhere down the road that God's gonna be like, it's Tom. So this is what's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_01 20:54

Funny thing, my my stepmom years ago, um, it was in college, we had another friend, and my stepmom always said, Show me who you're hanging out with, and that's who well, she always says that she loved Elisa, and but the other friend, she's like, I'm not so sure. Questionable. And as years went on, there was a lot of questionable things, and there was one that was kind of like a final straw, and she no longer talked to me after that.

SPEAKER_02 21:25

I was the Josephine friend.

SPEAKER_03 21:28

I made the cut. Well, and you know, and I've prayed that for my boys throughout the years too. I was like, you know, I would see some of their friendships with kids in school, and not that I didn't love these kids, not that I didn't like them or think that they had some good qualities, but I could sometimes see my kid going this way and those going that way. And I'm like, yes, and you could see that in your kid. Like, I want to go do those things with that kid. I did do some of those things with those kids, but I'm still being pulled strongly. Strongly over here. And you know, and as a kid that's a Christian, you still have a long way to go. I mean, because you have the maturity aspect of just a human being, you have the maturity aspect of a Christian coming up. You have a lot of life experience to go through. And I would pray, like, God, please remove from my kids' lives anybody that's not meant for them. Nobody, the people that are not good for them that are going to lead them down the wrong path. And it seemed like at one time for each of the boys, different times, but at the same time, a big group of those friends fell off. Right. And it would it hurt my heart though so bad to kind of see some of that sadness in my voice. Like, why doesn't so-and-so want to hang out? Or why do I? But now on this other side, I don't think they would be where they're at today had they continued those deep tied friendships. Right. And don't get me wrong, like Tate is still more connected to some of his than Ty. But the ones, yeah. But the ones that Ty um is not as closely connected with, they're all still welcome at our house. They're all still welcome to come and hang out and they'll talk occasionally. Right. But his close ones, it's different. And their relationship is different. And the relationship I have with those parents is different. And I honestly don't think the boys would be able to have gone through some of the things they're going through now if they had still been in some of those friendships, either.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

You know, like because it kind of goes back to that blind trusting. Yeah. Sometimes other people that are around you see things more clearly than what you do, because sometimes you have blinders on. Right. And so that's that's also one of those difficult things of just life in general. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:52

So that's like, okay, as a newer, newer parent, but like I'm five years in now, right? Yeah. But whenever I first had my babies, like the biggest quote that kept coming up, because the world was going weird, COVID baby, like everything was wonky, you know. But the biggest thing that kept coming up was like for such a time as this from Esther, right? And I loved that. But I think my word of caution for any parent, now that I'm like seeing how other people have handled things, is like the biggest analogy is there were dragon slayers in the time of dragons. My kids are here for a purpose, but also they need to be trained well before they fight the dragons. And I think parents think in their mind too early, not you. I'm talking about like parents in general, like in my position, where they're like, oh no, my kid's got it. He's been raised in the church, it's fine. And I'm just like sometimes they need more prayer than anybody. No, it's like what you're saying, like with Ty and Tate, like they're still in a very like learning stage of retaining all the godly information that they need, building their foundation. And I'm like, I just be careful, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 25:06

Like, I just like one of the things I love about Tate's employer right now is they pray every morning. That's awesome. You know, it may not be the perfect work environment, they may have foul language going on during the day. I don't know. I'm they're construction guys, yeah. They're they're probably in the atmosphere, but you know, but they at least get their mind right to start the day. And I would almost 1,000% bet that that somehow makes a difference in how their day goes and their productivity and how they address each other and how they work together. And when I pray at night with my boys, like almost every night the three of us will pray together, and you can tell a difference even in their prayers, which everyone's praying, that you know, because they'll bring in some of the people that Tate works with, and he'll pray for them at home too, or he'll um that's awesome, you know. And he said it's a different person that leads the prayers, and I'm like, Well, have you done it yet? And he's like, No, but you can see he'll maturing in his prayer life just because these other people are praying every every morning, and because we're praying every night together, and you know, when you hear your kid repeat the same prayer for years, you know, they get their little kid prayers down or they repeat the same thing, but they're learning and they're praying, and you keep thinking, okay, God, when are they gonna add to this? When are they gonna you know develop a better conversation with you? But it's a good donation, and they're praying it every day, and it's important to them. Yep, but you know, as the boys got older, it's like, okay, Tate or Ty, next time you pray, let's think about some other things we can add to it, or some more people we could pray for or that we could be thankful for or whatever. And it eventually gets there. Yes, you know, but you're encouraging that growth, it's habit setting the foundation, it's habit, yeah, you know. And I don't know where I went with all of this and how that goes here, but maybe it's just like submitting to the instruction of God, even. I mean, because prayer is one of our commands, you know, it's something we have to do to build our relationship with Him. And we can't and we can't develop our salvation and our relationship with Him without the prayer either. I mean, you know, people are praying for our salvation, we've had to pray for our own willingness and ability to stay in that. I mean, I don't feel like you can lose your salvation, but you can give it back. Yeah, you know, like I don't feel like God takes it away from you. No, but you can fall back. Yeah, and if you fall back, you're like, I don't want this anymore, God. I want to live this way again, you know.

SPEAKER_02 27:49

That's what, like, I know that's a whole other topic, but I mean, falling from Christ, if you are the one that chooses to fall from Christ, the Trinity is Father, Son, Holy Spirit. So you're giving that Holy Spirit from the baptism, the gift that you received back in that fall, doesn't mean that you can't take it back again because God's always willing and there, he's holding it for you. He's like, it's yours, like take it. Like I gave this to you, but you do fall away.

SPEAKER_03 28:21

I mean, it is it's biblically and we all do to some extent throughout the process for sure. We didn't that's why we have the bird, that's why we have to repent. That's why we have to be yes, all the things come in. It's all together. That should be the time.

SPEAKER_01 28:44

And we got there because we started talking about people of trusting and not trusting it turned into all the other squirrels here.

SPEAKER_02 28:54

Well, I think uh we're probably at a pretty good stopping point. So we're gonna keep this stuff going in the next episode. We'll talk about something that's really practical, like how to actually study the Bible in a way that leads to real understanding. So hopefully it'll help those people out there that are struggling to open their Bibles on a daily basis. I know I'm one of those people, like I still struggle, and I'm still trying so hard, but it's a process, and I think all of us doing it together will really help inspire others and ourselves to continue. But learning how to interpret it carefully and responsibly. So thank you for joining us on Gracefully Unfiltered. As always, keep seeking that truth and keep it unfiltered gracefully. Bye, guys.