Episode Transcript
[00:00:08] Speaker A: Welcome to that's a Good Question, a podcast where we answer questions about the Christian faith in plain language.
If you or someone you know has questions, please submit them to roundthetable. Co questions.
[00:00:24] Speaker B: We'Ll get rolling here and rapid fire some great questions that have already come in. So let's start out here. If you are a part of Peace and you're in the men's Bible study, you're halfway through Acts. And so we initially got a question about the second half of Acts. As we get going on that next Saturday. Here's the initial question.
Do you see differences or similarities between the events of the early church in Acts and and the events all over our world currently? And what opportunities does this give us to represent God to others around us today?
So what similarities, what differences do you see with what was going on right as the church was being born?
[00:01:08] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, off the top of my head, I think some of the primary things we see in the book of Acts is the powerful spread of the gospel in the face of pretty intense persecution.
Right. And so I think we see plenty of both of those things today.
Think of Nigeria especially. There's plenty of persecution going on for Christians.
We see a small amount of it here, nothing like we do in other parts of the world, but we see some of that persecution. And then, of course, opportunities. I would say whenever you've got persecution, it's an opportunity for the church to be a bold witness when people see us follow Jesus, stand for Jesus, continue to love Jesus in the face of pain and suffering. That just makes people scratch their heads and say, what? What in the world, you know, why do you hold to him and to this, this faith when it costs you so much?
So off the top of my head, I think those are some things that we see similar between now and the early church. Great opportunity.
[00:02:03] Speaker C: Rari.
Yeah. Just to add to that, I think the rapid spread of the gospel, the numerical growth of the church that is always attributed to obviously the glory of God and the working of the Spirit through faithful men and women boldly living out the faith before all to see. I'd say for many times when there's not persecution, it's not because it's in a overtly kind or Christian nation. I think when you don't have persecution, it's because the church isn't being bold.
And I don't think the church is standing up. I think they get comfortable. And when you are bold for your faith, when you live out loud for Jesus, that will come with pushback.
[00:02:43] Speaker B: That's good Two questions I'll combine here because I think they add on with some more specifics. One question that came in, what should our message be as godly men concerning what has happened in Minnesota? The political divide, hostile environment between our government and our citizens. And another question similar, obviously a little different regarding Nigeria.
Is there a time when we as Christian men don't just allow persecution but step up to defend? How do we as men approach all that's going on in the world today?
[00:03:22] Speaker C: First question I'd ask is, what's your, what's your neighbor's kids names?
If you don't know your neighbor, if you're not loving the people who are actually next to you, then don't talk to me about what's going on on the other side of the world.
If you want to be bold for your faith, love the people who are actually on your street.
Now that's not a scapegoat answer, that's an actual answer. The response to that is, of course we stand up and speak for those who are persecuted and who are being murdered in Nigeria and raise your voice for that. But there are so many people who, they spend so much time only focusing on the major events that are coming through the their news feed as their algorithms have dictated. That they forget to love their wife, that they forget to love their kids, that they forget to coach baseball, that they forget to. I mean it's like all these things are happening and we're so inundated. It's like you're to love God and love your neighbor and Jesus gave us a real picture of what that is. It's the people who are actually in front of you.
And with that then we go on to raise our voice for support and prayers and send money. And if you feel like you need to get on a plane to go to Nigeria, if that's really your call, then then okay, but I step back and just say man until you know your neighbor's kids names.
I'm just, I just, I wonder where your heart's really at.
[00:04:44] Speaker A: I appreciate that. That's great.
[00:04:46] Speaker C: What was the.
[00:04:46] Speaker A: So that was to the Nigeria part?
[00:04:48] Speaker B: Yeah, Minnesota part of it. The.
I'll repeat the Minnesota question here. You know, what should our message be as godly men concerning what's happening in Minnesota? Political divide, hostile environment.
Political environment we find ourselves in.
[00:05:05] Speaker A: Gotcha. So there's been a lot going on in Minnesota recently, but I assume kind of talking about some of the ICE activity, things like that.
[00:05:12] Speaker C: So a couple Somalia, the fraud going over there.
[00:05:15] Speaker A: Well that's What I was going to say. So you got the fraud stuff with the learning centers, and then you've got ICE actions going on there. So a handful of thoughts. Number one, as godly men, we believe in justice. We serve a God of justice. We want to see what's good and right done in the world. And we believe that law enforcement should enforce the law.
[00:05:38] Speaker C: Right.
[00:05:39] Speaker A: As Christians, we believe in the rule of law. So in both of those cases, when you got fraud going on, we can't have that. Right. We've got to prosecute fraud. We've got to get rid of the terrible use of funds, the stealing, all that kind of stuff. Okay. So we have to do that. And then as far as the immigration side of it, same thing is true. Right. We have laws in our country, and so those laws do need to be enforced.
I do also want to add that people who come here, who commit the crime of coming here illegally, they are human beings, and they're coming here because here is a much better place to live than where they're coming from. Right. And so we do need to absolutely hold up our laws. And, you know, as Christians, we've got to be able to look at them and be like, man, that's a sad situation that they're coming out of.
You know, we can get our minds in the place and understand why they would do what they do. We still have to uphold our laws and maintain them, but also treat them as human beings.
Yeah.
[00:06:37] Speaker B: Great.
Now we have some live questions that are rolling in. So thank you to the guys in the room here.
[00:06:44] Speaker C: Thanks. One quick shout out. For our next sermon series, we will be addressing God's plan, God's ordained plan for the role of governments and how Christians are to relate to that. So we'll be hitting a full sermon on that in the next series.
[00:07:01] Speaker B: Great. So some of the live questions rolling in now. Does a true follower of Jesus keep sinning the same sin? What is true repentance?
[00:07:14] Speaker C: It's always an interesting qualifier when it starts with does a true Christian.
And that's. That's a. That's a loaded. That's a loaded preface.
The question is, for those who are actively following Jesus, do we continue to fall into the same temptation, into the same sin?
If you are, and it's because you are not putting in the guardrails, as Wes said, our speaker from the men's conference, if you're not having a group of guys who are going to kick your butt when you don't show up, that for me, is a way to identify why you can keep falling into the same sin, my guess is because you're trying to fight it alone and you can't overcome your sin by yourself. Jesus overcomes it victoriously. But we need to fight the fight, and we need to have guys around us who are helping us pull us out of those things.
If you continue to fall into the same sin, I'm willing to bet it's because you haven't confessed it. Now, that may not be the case, but my guess is that you haven't confessed it and brought it out to the light because sin cannot stand in the light you brought. You need to bring the sin to a group of guys that you trust and say, here's what I'm struggling with. I need your help.
And so the notion, can a true Christian continue to fall into the same sin?
So here's the hesitation we have to say yes with that. We're scared to say yes to that because what that means is, oh, I can just continue to fall into the sin and just get through this life, then go to heaven.
And that's just a false understanding of what it means to follow Jesus. To follow Jesus is to put him first and to fight our sin knowing that he's already overcome it.
And so how would you answer that, John?
[00:09:11] Speaker A: Yeah, I think scripture kind of comes at it from two sides.
There are some very clear and scary warning passages in the Bible.
The book of First John, Hebrews chapter six, there are some very direct warnings about those who continue in the same sins, that there is no more. That there is no more grace. That's a strong warning passage. And yet we also, I mean, the book of First John opens with, if you confess your sin, he is faithful and just to forgive you of your sin. So, yes, there is. Jesus died on the cross to pay for sin past, present and future, so you can receive forgiveness for your sin if you continue in it. But I think the Bible gives that warning that says, like, hey, if you just keep living in the same sin, do you really know Jesus? Are you really confessing your sin to him? You know, does the Holy Spirit really live inside of you?
[00:10:05] Speaker C: Well, we looked at the passage today. I mean, Jesus says, if your hands call you to sin, cut it off, because it's ready for your hand to go to hell. Then your whole entire body. This notion of perpetual sin shows us our destination and our track.
And again, this is where it gets to be a beautiful full gospel that we often want to just oversimplify. The gospel calls us to more, not just to eternal life, to eternal life to live here now to the fullness that Christ has called us to free from sin. So don't we stop giving ourselves towards it?
Yeah. If this wasn't a recorded session, I might venture into more colorful language, but.
[00:10:44] Speaker A: Well. So one of the doctrines we talk about is the perseverance of the saints. Some people want to simplify it and say once saved, always saved. I think that that's not a real healthy way to state it, that once saved, always saved. I think a more helpful way to say it is. The traditional way of saying what we believe in is the perseverance of the saints. Meaning that if you, if you have a relationship with Jesus, if you've been saved, if he's your Lord and Savior, then the Holy Spirit is working inside of you to help you persevere in the faith to the end. It doesn't mean simply you pray to prayer, you can sin as much as you want and you're good to go. Those are two very different perspectives on.
[00:11:15] Speaker C: So the last thing I'd say to this, because this is such a huge thing, last thing I'd say to this is, are you fighting it or not? Are you actively fighting this sin?
Because on this side of eternity we're going to have wins and losses.
Are you just willfully continuing to do it and feeling guilty about it or are you actually putting in the barriers of your life to actually fight it? Which is in the word, going to church, worshiping Jesus, having brothers around you. Those are two different ways to understand a person who's in perpetual sin. A person. I feel bad about it, but I'm just going to continue to do it. Versus this is the thing that has a lot of strength over me, but I'm putting in a fight against it.
[00:11:54] Speaker B: Yeah. This next question gets real practical with that. I think this is a good follow up. This just came in. And fighting the good fight of faith in your lives, what have been some of your blind spots, blindsides. And how did those attacks play out and what have you done to protect against and prevent them from happening again?
[00:12:15] Speaker C: So what is.
[00:12:16] Speaker B: What's been the challenge for you? A repetitive challenge and how have you fought?
[00:12:23] Speaker C: I can say fairly fast. I think one of the biggest blind spots. Well, the thing about blind spots, right, is you need someone else to point them out to you.
[00:12:28] Speaker B: I can actually tell you a couple.
[00:12:30] Speaker C: Of things you should answer for us. Yeah.
I think for me, for a long. And this is different because I'm a pastor, right. Not everyone's pastor. I think for a long time I Thought that being.
How do I say it?
I thought for a long time that if I was a great pastor, that meant I was a great husband and father, and that's not the case. A person can be, at least as the congregation views, a great pastor, but you're actually not a very good husband and father.
And so for me, the blind spot is putting. Putting the ministry of the church over my ministry of the home. And I get it. This is my job. But this will. I have a hard time believing your ministry from the pulpit will be sustainable, long term, fruitful, if it doesn't come from the strong ministry of me being a pastor to my home first. So I think for me, a blind spot was.
Pursuing a vibrant ministry at the church and not at home. Yeah.
[00:13:45] Speaker B: John, I think as I look at this question, I think one of the things they want to know is because there are things, even though we fight, there are things that are the fight of a lifetime. Are there those things in your life that you have had and what does that look like for you?
[00:14:01] Speaker A: Yes, there are. I thought you, when you started, I thought you were going to just tell me what mine was. I was ready. I was ready to receive it.
[00:14:07] Speaker C: Probably should have that talk sometime.
[00:14:08] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:09] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:14:09] Speaker B: Oh, I got. I'm ready for it.
[00:14:12] Speaker C: Go ahead.
[00:14:12] Speaker A: I like that. Well, like you said, blind spots are something that you need other people to point out. And so this is. This is kind of a joke in my marriage that for so about once a year, my wife and I take one or two nights away, just the two of us. Once a year, just we get a hotel and get to go away. And every year for probably the first five years that we did it, we would have the exact same fight on the way home every single time. Now we joke about it. We get in the car and we say, are we going to do this or are we not going to do this? We're good, right?
And we, over the, over the years, we boiled it down to basically that each of us has a specific type of character flaw or sin that we go towards. And that's what we would argue about. And mine was selfishness. So we would talk about that. That I can be very selfish with my time, with my energy.
There are things that I do want to do, and there are things that I don't want to do. I think the things that I do want to do are usually not like terrible things. Right? They're good things. I want to work. I want to work on our home. I want to do those kind of things, but they're not always the things that I need to do in order to love and care for my bride. And so that's, I would say that's probably the biggest thing that I struggle with. And I needed somebody to point it out in me.
[00:15:23] Speaker C: And let me just say, when people point out your blind spots, it doesn't automatically make you able to see them. Sure. Like when someone points out your blind spot.
Yeah, well, yeah, because it's a blind spot. Like, that's why you have to have those people who are in the inner circle of trust who can speak those words to you and you trust that they're seeing something that you actually aren't seeing. Yeah.
[00:15:45] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, for the sake of fairness, I'm not answering most of the questions, but you guys both shared yours a lot about being husbands. For me, being a dad, I think my biggest struggle is, I remember in college a guy, me telling a buddy, like, hey, I bet if I, if I needed to, I could be a stay at home dad. I bet I could crush that. And now I actually have kids and I get it home and I'm very excited to see my kids. And about 15 minutes later, I feel good and I'm done.
But my wife's not ready for me to be done.
And so we've had many of those conversations. And that's just a battle that I'm learning, I'm growing in, but it's been a tough one. A couple questions came in. I think these are probably prompted by what we're doing as a church becoming spiritual journey. There were a lot of questions about prayer and fasting, identifying both of those as things that men are not traditionally known generally for excelling in. So what is some advice, what is some encouragement as we launch into this year where prayer and fasting are both facets of what we're calling our whole church family to do? How would you encourage men to prioritize those?
[00:17:05] Speaker C: Again, it seems like a recurring theme here, but I'd say get some guys who are going to hold you accountable to it and that you're going to hold them accountable to. And just say get, get three or four guys and be like, let's do this together and let's encourage each other to do it.
[00:17:18] Speaker B: John, fasting in particular, that's maybe even just share a little bit about what that is and what that does, especially for men.
[00:17:28] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:17:30] Speaker C: So.
[00:17:30] Speaker A: So in scripture, God calls us to take special times of giving up something, usually particularly food, in order to focus on the Lord. So the idea is not, look at me I've given up something because I'm so holy and spiritual. The idea is when you feel the pains of hunger, you're reminded that my real hunger is for the Lord. What really satisfies me is not a cheeseburg. What really satisfies me is the Lord. So that's kind of the principle and the idea behind fasting.
I'll admit that I'm not a super routine fasting guy, but I've had seasons where it's been better and seasons when it's not. And I will say that I think having other people do it with you is the best way to go. For a period of time. Stephanie and I would fast once a week. We'd take one day and let me think of how we did that. We'd do it dinner to dinner. So we would just skip breakfast and lunch and then we'd have dinner again the following night. We'd do it once a week. But having somebody else to do that with is, I think, the best way to go about it. If you're doing it solo, it's way too easy to slide off and not. Not do it.
[00:18:29] Speaker B: Anything else on that?
[00:18:30] Speaker C: Yeah, I just say in, in our becoming booklet, if you go to peace and you're part of our spiritual journey or becoming campaign, there's a, there's an article in there that gives a little bit more detail about fasting. Awesome. Check that out.
[00:18:40] Speaker B: So this one comes from a guy who's here. He says, I'm getting married, but my future in laws do not like me. I. I want them to be happy as they walk her down the aisle.
What do I do here?
Someone sitting here. I won't make you raise your hand. Yeah, welcome to the club for sure.
[00:19:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:19:03] Speaker B: I would like to know as well, Pastor Ryan, how do I get my in laws to like me?
I'm a ways down the road.
[00:19:11] Speaker C: That is such a contextual question. I'm gonna need a lot more for that.
[00:19:16] Speaker B: What's your best advice? My best advice is being a man.
[00:19:21] Speaker C: Show your in laws that you are the man that you. That they want you to be for their daughter. And then show your fiance, your wife that you are the most godly man she could possibly marry. And then if they don't like you, then you've done everything that the Lord's asked you to do.
[00:19:40] Speaker A: John agreed. I don't know if it's the same person or not, but I had somebody email me a similar question about three days ago. And I gave an answ.
So I gave. Basically it was similar. You Know, had very little detail. And so I gave kind of a list of questions to consider. And, you know, one was just, you know, are your in laws believers or not believers? Are they generally wise people and good parents or not? And if they are wise people, good parents, especially if they're believers, then I think you might want to ask some questions. You know, is there, what is the reason?
Do I have some sin or some character flaws that I need to work on as a man?
But yeah, like you said, I mean, the best thing you can do is to be a godly man. Demonstrate that you can provide, protect, and spiritually care for your bride.
[00:20:27] Speaker C: And the last thing I'd say, just pick your controversy.
If there's, if there's, maybe there's like political difference or cultural difference, the way the family see things, just be wise in what you decide to debate.
[00:20:39] Speaker B: Awesome. All right, this one's a little bit more theological but also practical.
What will we be doing in heaven for all eternity?
I think in a men's setting, I think sometimes men wonder. With the depictions we see, it doesn't sound, yeah, like a men's paradise all the time.
[00:21:04] Speaker C: Actually, just talked about this a few weeks ago, if you guys remember that. I talked to the guy who said he doesn't want to go to heaven because he doesn't want to be in a 24 hour worship service for all eternity.
So the Bible's pretty clear, we'll have responsibility, we'll have jobs, there's things to do. But it won't be with the laborious aspects of sin.
It is work free of sin, work to the glory of God. I do believe heaven will be better than what we can possibly imagine. We're in a place where we are with the Lord. The Bible says that we, we don't, we won't even need the sun because the Lord will be our light.
And so I think a lot of times the reason that we don't get excited about heaven is because we have a very cultural understanding of heaven with clouds and harps versus the biblical picture, which is a city with responsibility and work to do to the glory of God without the, without the burden of sin affecting our relationship with God or one another or affecting our work.
[00:22:06] Speaker A: Yeah, before the fall. So Genesis 3, Adam and Eve sin, right. And everything gets broken. But before that, Adam had a job. God said, I gave you the garden to work it and to keep it. So Adam was supposed to provide and protect, work hard, take care of the garden. So, yeah, we're going to get to do work without the frustration in heaven. So I'm actually really excited about that. So, yeah, as men, if singing is not your favorite thing in the world, that's okay. I think we should be happy to sing to Jesus because He's our King. But if it's not your favorite thing in the world, that's okay, because the Lord is going to use us to worship him with all of ourselves for eternity. So that includes our. Our hands and our minds. Whatever it is that you are gifted to do, the Lord's going to use that.
[00:22:50] Speaker C: The last thing I'll say about this is one of the other things that I particularly am looking forward to in heaven is this is how big God is, and this is how small our minds are.
The fact that God is eternal and infinite means that when we enter into glory and enter into eternity, there will always be more to learn about our God.
No matter how long we are in heaven, there will always be more to learn about him, because he is infinite and eternal.
So it's not like heaven will get boring because we'll get to spend forever talking with every single person who's ever lived. We'll forever be discovering more about our eternal good God, because that's how big he is. And that's how.
[00:23:35] Speaker A: I'll add one quick thing. Yeah. Like you said. Yeah, I agree. And one quick thing I want to add to this because I hear this at too many funerals.
I think at funerals, I often hear people talk about how dad or Grandpa is going to spend eternity fishing now.
And I always think to myself, maybe there's a little bit of fishing in heaven, I don't know.
But let me just say it the most direct way I can.
If your vision of heaven doesn't involve you being enthralled by God and who he is, then you might not end up there.
To have your faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior means that you love him, that he is your greatest treasure.
If heaven without Jesus is attractive to you, then that means you don't know Jesus.
So, yes, I think heaven is going to include us using not just our voices to worship him, but all of ourselves. But the focal point of eternity is God.
It's not something else. It's not our favorite leisure activity. It is God.
[00:24:42] Speaker B: That's good. All right, a couple questions have come in that kind of follow the same theme here. I'll just read one and try to add in a little bit from the other ones I'm seeing.
Especially when time feels so limited, as a man, as a husband, as a father, what Are practical ways that I can create habits for spiritual leadership for my wife and my kids.
I saw other questions like, what do you do on a daily basis to lead your wives, your family?
What do those rhythms look like for you? And what's your best wisdom for building that into our daily rhythms?
[00:25:19] Speaker C: I would say that one of the first things that came to my heart was, guys, you have to really be intentional about your downtime and your rest time.
If you aren't carving off Sabbath, if you aren't making intentional time on a regular basis to sit with the Lord and be rejuvenated. Here's what ends up happening when you're not intentional with that. That creeps into the time that you should be pouring into your family and into your wife.
It's very easy just to get down, get in your chair, and then, you know, you turn on the TV or you open your phone, and then suddenly you're lost in that. And because. Because we're not good at rest, because we're not good at rejuvenation, because we're not good at finding time alone with the Lord.
We're. We're perpetually always tired and always trying to. Trying to have that. And that ends up coming into conflict with the times that we need to be pouring into our homes and our wives. Guess what, guys?
The Lord gave you one day.
We want to have every single evening.
Men, you're here for a short time. You. You wake up, you work for the Lord, you go home, you love your wife, and then you go to bed exhausted. And then one day a week is when you get to rest. Not a little bit every single night.
I say that because that so quickly gets away from us.
I found in my heart. We talked about blind spots. Here's one thing I found a lot of my time or one of the blind spots that I've had to overcome was I realized I got home and I started looking for that time when the kids went to bed.
Not so that I could have alone time with my wife, but so that I could have alone time with me.
And I think we need to. Guys, you're meant to be dead tired when you go to bed. You don't rest before you go to bed. That's what sleeping is for.
You serve the Lord, love your wife, and love your kids or your grandkids or wherever you're at until the moment you go to sleep. And then one day a week, you carve out time to get that rejuvenation. So make sure that that one time is really good and really solid, so that it's filled you up to be able to go the rest of the week, work really hard.
[00:27:23] Speaker A: Ephesians 5, the picture of a husband is like Jesus and Jesus sacrificed himself for his bride. So to be the leader of your home, to be the head of your household, does mean to sacrifice. So I think with that perspective, one of the ways that I think about it is at work during the day, when I come in, in the morning, I grab a cup of coffee. So I've got, you know, a full head of steam to work hard after lunch, feel a little bit sluggish, so I have another cup of coffee. You know what I feel like now I'm talking more about my caffeine habits all of a sudden than I am about.
But why do I do those things? Because I want to have a full head of steam to be able to work hard during the day. And I find myself thinking, before I go home at the end of the day, do I need to grab another cup of coffee? Now, I'm not saying that caffeine addiction is the solution to your problem here, but the mentality that says when I go home is not clock out time. When I go home is a different type of work. I'm there to care for my family, love my family. And so to have that mindset when he leaves the office, it's not time to, you know, take your foot off the gas. It's time to put your foot on the gas in a different way for your family.
[00:28:26] Speaker B: Now that's good. I'm seeing another theme coming through in a lot of questions. Keyword trust. Here, I'll just read one of them. Feels like we live in a world where knowing who we can trust is harder and harder as trust erodes. Where does that give us opportunities as men? And where are there obstacles we need to watch out for?
I'm guessing I saw another thing on here about AI deep fakes, things like that. Where is there opportunities with trust and where do we need to be careful?
[00:29:05] Speaker A: Well, yeah, I think that's a prevailing theme for our world, in the world of AI is just, you know, I think a lot of people are talking about the question of, like, what jobs are going to be taken away or created. But I think a huge question in the world of AI is just we're going to increasingly be asking what is true because there's so many. Whether it's video or audio or text, whatever it is, it's just there's so much fake out there.
[00:29:31] Speaker C: And so I can't tell the Difference anymore.
[00:29:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:35] Speaker C: I feel like even in the last six months, I can't tell if the video is real or not.
[00:29:38] Speaker A: Yeah. So I think the opportunity for Christians is to say, we have the book that is true, has been true, will always be true.
Here it is. This is the unchanging truth, and we want to come back to this. In a world where it's really hard to tell what is solid and real. This is what's solid and real.
[00:29:56] Speaker C: Which I hope. Which I hope would drive us all the more to real life as an in person, that we're constantly being confronted with the reality that what we engage online. You're right, is not trustworthy anymore.
I'm hoping that drives us all the more and more to real community, as in real life community with one another.
So I'd say, you know, I don't know exactly the.
To boil the question down, is it just about who we can trust, how we can trust, where do we find trust?
[00:30:27] Speaker B: However you want to go at it.
[00:30:28] Speaker C: Yeah. I mean, I would say your trust comes down to three. Three to four guys.
[00:30:32] Speaker B: Yeah, that was a bigger picture one. Let's get real practical here. This question just came in. As Christian men with families, what is your view carrying a firearm for defending yourself and your family?
And would you like to show it off right now?
[00:30:50] Speaker C: Yeah. So it's interesting. Jesus sends his disciples out.
There's two times.
One time he's basically like, you're gonna go out and you bring nothing, and you rely on the Lord and his favor and his goodness.
And then later on you see him say, all right, you're going out again. Except this time, if you don't have a sword, sell something so you get one.
And for me, as I've reflected on that, especially in our. In our world nowadays, for me, I think one of the lessons that the Lord's been teaching me through that is you. You shouldn't take up an arm until you've learned to have your life fully dependent upon the Lord.
Once you have truly placed your entire life in safety in the hands of the Lord, after you've learned to do that, then you can take up the sword.
So the answer of that's what I'd say. Like, I mean, good men should be equipped to defend their house well.
And in our world, bad men have equal, if not even greater force. And so I am fully supportive of men who choose to defend their home with that sort of weaponry.
I don't like to talk about guns. I have as many as a good American should, which is more than I need more than I can fire at one time.
But I'd say, yeah, after you take up something like that. When you take up something like that, you're also taking up someone else's life in your hand.
And until you've learned to put your entire life into the trust of the Lord, I don't think you're mature enough to have that strength.
[00:32:34] Speaker A: Similar to what you're saying in the Gospels, I think Nehemiah, when they're facing the threat of attack, says that they prayed and posted a guard.
So it's that combination that your trust should not be fully in yourself to protect yourself or others. It should be fully in the Lord. And the Lord gave you a mind. The Lord gave you the opportunity to use your strength or to use even a weapon to defend your home. And so that is appropriate. That does make sense. You know, I had recently, my wife and daughters were gone for several Saturdays in a row. And so I took my two boys and we, I called it man training. And we worked on some different skills like building a fire and stuff like that. And every time we talk about what's happening a man supposed to do, and I just, I boiled it down to three Ps and said, provide, protect, and pray. And I used the word pray to kind of stand in for all kinds of spiritual care for your family. So provide, protect, and pray. And one of the things that we did is I taught them to shoot BB guns. They're five and six years old. I've learned that that might been a little bit young. They were, they were a little sketchy with the, with the, with the weapon there. But we went out and shot a BB gun because that's, that's, that's a skill that I think is valuable for a man to be able to protect and defend his home when it's appropriate.
[00:33:47] Speaker B: Yeah. When I went through my conceal and carry training, I made the mistake of asking the trainer, what age should you introduce your kids to guns? And I don't know what I expected with a guy teaching gun stuff. And he said, it's never too early.
I thought, I don't know if I agree with that, but this is not my Q and A.
Lots of questions. I saw another theme of accountability and building accountability, practically what that looks like. One that just came in here is regarding an accountability group partnership. What are some key discussion points you'd recommend for men?
[00:34:30] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, it's often said that men are better face to face after their shoulder to shoulder.
So I think that, that, that can go both for work and play. So I'd say build a relationship of work.
Maybe it's not your profession, but serve together and play together, I think builds an atmosphere where you can have those sort of conversations. So assuming that you've already kind of established those relationship, key discussion points is we're all busy and you don't need to have the small talk. How's it going, guys? And don't give me the okay answer, because no, no man is okay.
We're all fighting something and call that out and have that conversation.
[00:35:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
So I think because of that, you got to try to ask some very precise questions. Right. If you want to have good accountability with men in the past and small groups that have been a part of. We boiled it down to three.
What are you learning through the word right now?
What are you praying for right now? Because that often reveals your heart. Right. The things that you pray for. Spend the most time praying for the things that you care or worry the most about. And then finally, what sin are you battling?
Because all of us should be battling a sin. If you're not, it means that you're not recognizing sin in your life, and it's there even if you don't see it. So what sin are you battling there? So you can talk about it and be able to pray for that person.
[00:36:02] Speaker B: All right, as we come closer to the close here, I'm curious if you guys want to do a spicy rapid fire round. I don't know if we can combine the two things, give short answers to tough questions. Let's just see what happens here.
[00:36:19] Speaker C: Spicy rapid fire.
[00:36:21] Speaker B: Yeah, let's do it. Do you agree that the feminist movement has had a devastating impact on the church? If. No. Why not?
[00:36:29] Speaker C: Of course it has. Yeah.
[00:36:32] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:36:33] Speaker B: Care to elaborate at all?
[00:36:35] Speaker C: The elaboration was only if we disagreed.
[00:36:39] Speaker B: Fair enough. Do any women have any response? No, they're all right, so.
[00:36:44] Speaker A: Well, I feel like we should expand on that a little. Yeah, no, totally.
[00:36:47] Speaker B: I'm moving on.
[00:36:48] Speaker A: Okay. We can move on if you want.
[00:36:50] Speaker C: That's fine.
[00:36:50] Speaker B: John, what do you want to say?
[00:36:51] Speaker A: I was going to say, you know, so there are obviously some things that.
So women's rights are a good thing, but the idea, the concept, the ism of feminism is not a healthy and helpful thing.
So I just. Yeah, I think it's sometimes. And people want to blend those two things in order to get us to move to one side of the issue. Right. But women having certain rights and us advocating for this part of our role as men. Right. To protect them. So there's certain rights. Rights that they should have. But then feminism as a. As a philosophy and a way of life and a really where it's landed us now. Right. Is actually erasing gender, which now many are waking up and asking the question, is this actually good for women? Didn't turn out so.
So, yeah.
[00:37:41] Speaker B: Is it adultery if I start a relationship with a woman before I'm legally divorced?
[00:37:48] Speaker C: Yes.
Yes.
[00:37:52] Speaker A: As soon as you started saying, is it adultery? I was prepared to say yes. I think whenever you're asking yourself that question, I think the answer is probably yes.
[00:38:01] Speaker B: Not a good question to be asking. Were there dinosaurs on Noah's Ark?
[00:38:06] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:38:11] Speaker C: Ryan, there were kinds. Kinds of it. Not every dinosaur, just like not every species.
[00:38:16] Speaker B: Alrighty.
How do I get zeal for the Lord rather than just trying on my own? Quick hit.
[00:38:23] Speaker C: How do we get zeal for the Lord then what?
[00:38:25] Speaker B: Rather just trying.
Willing myself.
[00:38:31] Speaker C: That's a great question.
[00:38:33] Speaker A: You gotta get a vision of God in your mind and your heart. So I think going to the Word to be able to see God for who he is, especially go to some of those passages, like Isaiah, chapter six, some of the prophets, visions of. Of God, and just be able to be like, wow, man, that's. That's my God. He is holy and powerful and almighty. That should stir up in your heart some zeal and passion for the Lord. Yeah.
[00:38:57] Speaker B: Christian response to ICE and immigration.
[00:39:02] Speaker C: Support the. The lawful pursuit of justice.
[00:39:09] Speaker A: Yeah. Our God is a God of justice. And so as Christian men, we ought to support the rule of law. We have laws in this country. We need to abide by them. So, yes, if there's true abuse.
[00:39:22] Speaker C: I was just saying, if there's true abuse, call it out.
[00:39:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:39:25] Speaker C: I mean, we ultimately stand for justice, not one particular embodiment of it. To the cost of justice. We stand for justice, so we support the lawful pursuit of justice. If there's abuse, then it's Christian men. We call it out. Doesn't make you a snowflake. Doesn't make you a flaming liberal. Makes you a man of God, right? Yep.
[00:39:45] Speaker B: I'm called to be like Jesus as a man, but that seems so foreign to me. I have a house, a family, a job, and I can't heal people. How do I live like Jesus today?
[00:39:56] Speaker A: You.
You pointed at me. I'm sorry. Read the question again, would you? Thank.
[00:40:03] Speaker B: I'm called to be like Jesus, but that seems so foreign to me. I have a house, a family, a job, and I can't heal people.
My world is so different. How do I live like Jesus today.
[00:40:13] Speaker A: Gotcha.
[00:40:13] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:40:14] Speaker A: Yeah, Yep. So Jesus is the last Adam. We already talked a little bit about the first Adam.
First Adam God gave a job. He told him to work and to keep the garden.
Jesus had a very unique time in history. He had a very unique role in history.
So we imitate the character of Christ, not necessarily the occupation or the ministry of Christ. We don't do everything exactly the same as he does. But I'll also add that he lived 30 years before he began his public ministry. We assume probably as a carpenter.
So to say that because I'm not walking around as an itinerant preacher and healer and prophet that I can't live like Jesus.
I think you're missing what it is that Scripture calls you to in imitating Jesus. I'd also look very carefully at the New Testament letters and just think about the Apostle Paul telling us to work hard with our hands, to provide as well as be godly and steadfast and share the gospel. All those things are part of what we're called to do.
[00:41:15] Speaker C: Yeah, I'd say you can't be Jesus. It sounds like maybe we've conflated being like him with trying to be Him. You can't be him, only he is is Him. We are called to be like Him. That means to reflect who he is in this world, doing what he's called us to do, culminating in loving God, loving neighbor, and making disciples. And those are the things I'm going to be asking for first in a.
[00:41:41] Speaker B: Secular world and my secular workplace. How do I practice sharing my faith when I'm surrounded by apathy?
[00:41:52] Speaker A: Apathy. That's interesting.
For me, when I had the privilege of getting to work in a workplace that didn't have a lot of Christians, I usually did it by starting with questions. I would just kind of ask people questions. And often I would just start with an awkward one because if you're going to have an awkward conversation, it might as well be awkward the whole time. So I'd just kind of turn to somebody and it was usually when we were in the truck driving to a job site and they had nowhere else they could be. I was in the driver's seat and they were in the passenger seat. And so they were kind of stuck there and for however long. And so I just turn and I say, what do you think about Jesus?
And I just wait and see what happens.
And then you go from there.
[00:42:32] Speaker C: That's be a hopeful person, hope filled person who has the peace that surpasses understanding. Let them see That I think that builds a case for you to have a conversation where you can now give voice to what they've already seen in you.
That's good.
[00:42:50] Speaker B: What if Satan sees the error of his ways and wants to come back to the light?
[00:42:56] Speaker A: Very interesting.
[00:42:58] Speaker C: I think he's had plenty of options for that to happen.
[00:43:03] Speaker A: The other thing is that Jesus didn't die for Satan's sin or Jesus became a man to pay for the sin of man, of human beings.
Jesus didn't die for the angels. So, you know, God doesn't give us, you know, exact clear answers about this. But as far as we know, God hasn't offered an opportunity for repentance to the demons.
Jesus didn't become an angelic being and die for the sin of angelic beings. He became a human and died for the sin of humans. It's one of the amazing and beautiful opportunities that we have that the angelic beings don't is that he died for our sins. So we do have the opportunity to repent and believe in Jesus and receive salvation. So I don't know that the opportunity is even there for Satan to repent, turn and receive grace. I don't know.
[00:43:46] Speaker C: Yeah, the Bible's pretty clear on the future and path of Satan and what he's currently up to. And the pursuit of repentance is nowhere near anything close to the story that's unfolding for him.
[00:44:00] Speaker A: Thanks for listening.
[00:44:01] Speaker C: If you found this episode helpful, share it with someone today you can follow. That's Good Question.
[00:44:05] Speaker A: Find more episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.
[00:44:08] Speaker C: That's Good Question is brought to you by Round the Table, a Ministry of Peace Church in Meadowville, Michigan.
