10.7 - Praying Christians

In this week's episode: Parental joy, praying for opportunities, good gifts, and more!

Proverbs Made Personal – Proverbs 23:15-16
Topic of the Day – Praying Christians
What's in our prayers?
People Want to Hear: "Jesus took my place on the cross"?
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Paul and Noah both preach and teach with the Cedar Park church of Christ in Cedar Park, TX. You can visit our site at: https://www.cedarparkchurchofchrist.org/

Transcript

Paul 0:22

welcome back into the studio. It is hard to believe we are in the month of April. Spring has sprung on us, and I'm in here with Noah, and we're looking forward to another discussion. We have started out the podcast by trying to reference some nuggets of wisdom that we find in the proverbs, and we're trying to make it. As personal as we can, relevant to our days and our lives. So Noah, I think it's your month. Here we are. Yeah. What's the proverb you got for us for this month?

Noah 0:50

Today I have brought Proverbs 23 verses 15 and 16. This is one of those sections where. Sometimes the proverbs from verse to verse, it's, you could be hither and vier and yawn and and not know what's coming next. But this is one of those sections where you get a few in a row that kind of relate to each other. And verses 15 and 16 are a couplet, I would say the Proverbs writer or Rights in 23 verse 15. My son, if your heart is wise, my heart too will be glad. My innermost being will exalt when your lips speak, what is right. I came across that proverb and it struck me as as a lot of things are striking me recently as a father how true that resonates with me as I'm training and disciplining. My sons and especially as our oldest gets ever older, and, turns seven this year there's just we're hitting a new stage of life with him. And certainly he's not at the point of deep reasoning that he'll reach as he gets to his preteen and teen years. But I'm already seeing. In my parenting, both my successes and my failures, the truth of how much joy I get when my sons act in wisdom,

Paul 2:10

right?

Noah 2:11

And so when I'm reading this, it was one a good reminder that. As a parent, this is what's truly valuable. Yes. To what end of my training, to what end of my disciplining. It's, I want them to act in wisdom. I want them to walk in the footsteps of God to walk in right ways before him. And there's a whole lot of noise out there about what parenting is about and what we need to be doing with our kids. And I'm not saying none of it's valuable. I think there's a lot of valuable things out there, but this is a good bottom line reminder. My heart will be glad if my children walk in wisdom before God. And that is a good reminder as a son when I think about my relationship with my parents. Even today, I believe when I make wise choices and walk in the paths of God, I bring my parents joy. And when I fail, then I'm going to bring them sorrow. And that's the nature of being a parent. And that's reflective. Of our relationship with God. God is brought joy when we walk in the wisdom of his paths and he's brought sorrow and we fail. And so it's just a reminder all around of the way the way a child walks has a lot of effect on. Their parents and the father.

Paul 3:27

Amen. And amen. We needed some good news today. I'm glad you started that way, man. I, man, you're taking me back down memory lane as a father. The things that we prioritize, the things that should matter most. About our kids that we should rejoice the most over. And here, clearly he's describing a child that's making spiritual progress. Yeah. That's, there's discerning in a good way that's going on. Their lips are speaking things that are true. Their heart is seeking after the Lord's ways of wisdom. All that's wonderful. And I think about his parents and there's nothing wrong. Man. There were several occasions that Amy and I had when our kids were going up, they'd get an award. They would do something of great value and in front of their classmates, in front of their peers, in front of a lot of the other parents. Your kid gets to walk up there and get applauded because first place and the best at this and whatever, and we rejoice. It brings us great joy. Yeah. But compared to knowing your kids now are at a point where, hey, they didn't do that'cause mom or dad forced them. They did it'cause it. They wanted to, it was their faith, it was their conscience. It was their moral compass that,

Noah 4:32

yeah.

Paul 4:33

And man I appreciate that's good news for April, that we started that way.

Noah 4:37

Me too. Me too. That was a verse that I found encouraging and challenging. Which is oftentimes the best combination

Paul 4:45

en encouraging and challenging.

Noah 4:46

Yes. At the same time. that leads us right into our topic for this month. And I'm just gonna give our listeners a little bit of a heads up. We're switching things around just for this month at least. We're switching things around. We're gonna spend, we're gonna double dose on our topic instead of the q and a this month. Okay? We're gonna talk about this our selected topic, and then we'll go through our normal thing. We'll talk about what we pray, what we've been praying about, or then we'll move on to what people want to hear. But this month, the people want to hear section is just gonna be in this episode, next week's episode, instead of being the part two and follow up of that. We're going to double dose on our topic for the month and just try to spend a little more time on that.

Paul 5:32

Yeah. Yeah. I wanted us to talk about prayer. Noah you preached a sermon recently, and so the Cedar, far Cedar Park folks got a treat. You were connecting prayer to evangelism. And I've talked about prayer here before and it's not like on this podcast that we're bringing up the subject of prayer to people who don't pray who don't see the great value, spiritual blessing in that. But I thought, let's go back and revisit because scripture. It just filled over and over with the blessing that God's people have to speak to him in prayer. And so I wanted you to talk a little bit about some of the things you shared with this church for people who aren't members of Cedar Park, or not even the state of Texas. Thank you to our listeners. By the way, share with us some things about how prayer is a good connection to seeking souls for Christ.

Noah 6:20

Yeah I appreciate that. And by the way, for those who are listening, that same Sunday. Paul and I both got to preach that Sunday and the Friday beforehand. I walk into Paul's office and he says, Hey, you're not planning on preaching on prayer on Sunday, are you? I said, actually, I am. Turned out he was as well, and Cedar Park got a double dose of prayer, but from two, I would say distinct. Directions.

Paul 6:44

Yes.

Noah 6:45

And so I, I think they complimented one another pretty well. But as far as prayer and evangelism goes I made the statement in the sermon, and I think I'll make it here too, because it's the fundamental claim, and that is that prayer is arguably the most. Important component of evangelism.

Paul 7:04

I heard you say that and I was like, say more because people go to this wait a minute. What about the gospel? What about the word and

Noah 7:13

Yes. So yeah, this is not at all trying to. Reshape or like otherwise deny the truth of, the what Paul says in Romans that the gospel is the power of salvation. None of that the gospel is the power of salvation, but ultimately. God is the one who saves through the gospel.

Paul 7:35

Yes.

Noah 7:36

And so if we're gonna be participating in the spreading of his kingdom the teaching of this good news then. It makes sense. If it's being done by his power, it makes sense that we need to be praying to him and not relying on ourselves. And that is why I say it. It might be the most important component of evangelism is that we are playing our part in evangelism by God's grace and by God's strength it's never successful because. We're just that good, we're just an evangelism whiz. There are people that maybe are more naturally gifted towards evangelism, but even speaking of it in those terms, what does that betray? They're gifted. They've been given a grace by God that allows them to be effective in particular ways. It's by God's power. It's by God's strength, and so we need to be praying to God about evangelism.

Paul 8:30

Yeah. The reason I was, so let me tell you where my mind was going when you were talking about these things and you spoke very early and made the statement of the importance of prayer. Here's why I was wanting to, I silently Amen. You, by the way is because you and I have both said, at some point, I think even as we've been podcasting over the years. That there's a difference between understanding about prayer. We say there's power in prayer. And I'm not trying to be hypercritical of that. But what we need to take away from that is there's power in the one that we're praying to,

Noah 9:03

right?

Paul 9:03

The deity the Father, son, and Holy Spirit. That's a whole nother subject. But the point is, when we're praying, when we're praying to God, yeah, okay, the power is in God. Now here's as it segues or connects to the point about evangelism. Why prayer is so important, because for all of our discussions about methods and procedures and plans of attack,

Noah 9:25

yeah.

Paul 9:25

We're trying to save souls seeking the seeker, that sort of thing. Those are great. But in the end we, we shouldn't walk away from that saying it worked because of how smart we were in coming up with the right plan of attack. Yeah. Almost the strategic football coach or basketball coach that says, look, the reason we're winning games here is because we've figured out some plan of attack that nobody else has figured out and it's working. So let's keep No, when we're praying to God to bless what we're doing. You can't substitute prayer for work, but you can't substitute work for prayer.

Noah 10:02

Yeah.

Paul 10:03

And so prayer is a huge component and so I, I was glad that you mentioned that early.

Noah 10:08

Yeah I agree with what you've been saying. I think that we can sometimes get so hung up on methodology that we forget. One, the, it's funny how getting hung up on methodology can hurt us in two very different ways. One, it can hurt us because we're so hung up on trying to get the method that we never actually. Do it. So we're not actually getting out there and prac practicing what we are or executing what we're practicing in our minds because we're trying to work out the perfect methodology that's putting trust in our own ability more than it is in the power of God's word. But two, the other reason is because we, when we're hung up on methodology, we're not we're not really. Putting it in God's lap and saying, I'm your instrument. Use me in the way that you have given me opportunity, given me skill. And that's where the rest of the lesson went. Again, if you're from Cedar Park, you're listening to this is gonna be a little recap from, a couple of weeks ago perhaps. That's why I was in Colossians four in the sermon because Paul specifically talks about things that he wants them to pray about. He wants them to pray for his opportunities. This is for those who are listening, this is the first few verses of Colossians chapter four, verses like one through six or so. He wants them to pray that a door would be opened. To him for the word. And we talked about he's under house arrest when he is writing this. And he doesn't ask to be let out. He asks that the door be open for him to do work where he is. And so we need to be praying about the opportunities we have. We need to be praying to make sure that we have the heart to, to take advantage of those opportunities, the eyes, to see them in the first place. I know that there's so many times in my life where I've been guilty of asking God for something. And I believe, you know what James says, the power, the prayer of a righteous man is effective in, its working. Okay. I believe that. And so then I pray and then I never open my eyes to see whether or not God answered the prayer. And so we have to see it. We have to take advantage of it. That's a huge part of how prayer can play into our evangelism right there.

Paul 12:25

Yeah. You. Depending on the translation there in verse two of Colossians four. You either have continue earnestly in or what's devoted to

Noah 12:34

yeah. ESV is continue.

Paul 12:36

Steadfastly, other translations that the idea of being devoted.

Noah 12:39

Yeah.

Paul 12:40

And when you weave all those together, it's just that it's a consistency. It's a dedication. It's a devotion of yourself to this. For various reasons. And sometimes, the problem with a prayerless Christian or a prayerless church is just that, a lack of devotion. And so reminding ourselves of how important this is and that it should be a priority in our life I believe that there are things that that we are missing. Perhaps that I am missing because I haven't been praying.

Noah 13:18

Yeah.

Paul 13:19

And so I wanted us to talk about that, but not only prayer, prayers that affects evangelism. We're talking about people, when we're talking about evangelism, we're talking about loss that need the gospel, that need Jesus, that need what we can offer, but we can tell'em how to get there. You mentioned the come and see.

Noah 13:35

Yeah.

Paul 13:35

But same thing when you're talking about people you talk about the importance of prayer in our churches, that's the save that belonged to Christ. But prayer as it relates to our homes we're still dealing with mom, dad, and the kids. And the key component in all this is. It's us. It's the people. And we value souls. We value people. So God we're asking you to intervene and to rule in this in a way that we cannot, show us, teach us, lead us. And James mentioned this, and I know there's a context, Noah in James one in verse five. But a point that he's making about prayer as it connects to wisdom is ask. If anyone lack, if any man lacks wisdom, I'm raising my hand. That's me. I just wanna stand up and shout. It's me today. It's me Today as a father or as a preacher, or as a, just as a disciple. He says, ask the Lord for wisdom.

Noah 14:25

Yeah. Yeah. And he says he gives generously to those who ask. And yeah there's a warning and we need to take note of the warning. Don't ask, apart from faith the one who asks apart from faith is like I forget the exact way that he phrases that in James chapter one, but he's like

Paul 14:44

double minded man. Unstable and all his ways.

Noah 14:47

Yes. Thank you. Tossed about, I think is, he says right after that it as I've heard Eric, one of the shepherds here, say, on multiple occasions, if you're gonna pray something and you, you say that you believe God answers that prayer, then, or rather, the way that he puts it I'm messing it up. But the way that he's put it a couple times in class has been, don't pray it. If you don't believe that God will actually answer it.

Paul 15:12

Amen and amen.

Noah 15:14

And, and that's something that I, this kind of gets back to your sermon on that same Sunday that I preached on on prayer and its relation to evangelism is just the importance of prayer in the life of a Christian and in the body of a church. Of a local group of people. And what changes, what shifts, when people pray. And they believe in the God that they're praying to. And please don't mishear me. I'm not saying that we, I'm not trying to say that there are, some of us are praying, but we don't actually believe in God. What I'm saying is believe in the way of we trust that God will answer the prayer. There's a difference between believing in God. And trusting that he's gonna answer prayer.

Paul 16:03

Yeah. There's a reason why Jesus said, whatsoever you ask. Believing. You will receive. Wow. Has that been just absolutely taken

Noah 16:15

Yeah.

Paul 16:15

By others and abused and perverted. But the point in there is he's connecting our faith and our belief. I have got the absolute confidence that you can do what I'm asking. If it's inside your will you decide. You know what? I don't know, but there's not a doubt in my mind, God, if you decide if this person is gonna be healed and live longer, if you decide that this person is gonna be released from jail and not die. That's the first century church that's praying. Yeah. They're praying in faith. And the knock on the door is like what that can be. So sounds like I'm contradicting myself, but I think that story is there to, to emphasize to us they had faith. Now what kind of faith church do we need in the 21st century? So yeah. And it's not just Noah, it's not just a church that prays believing it's a church that prays with one accord. With one mind.

Noah 17:09

Now

Paul 17:10

we're on the same team serving the same God there, there is no ulterior, selfish, carnal, ambition and motives going on. When family comes together, family needs to unite together with one mind and one spirit. Understanding what the purpose is and saying we Amen. There needs to be amens all over that church house when that prayer is made that echoes and reminds the church that we believe it and we agree in it. And that, I think that's the first century church.

Noah 17:40

Yeah.

Paul 17:41

I'm not saying we've lost, I'm not saying a church has lost that. If you don't have the male female echoes of Amen. But man, let the redeemed of God say so. When we pray so. I just, I thought it would be good we get to come back to this.

Noah 17:53

Yeah. Yeah.

Paul 17:54

So we can move on or we'll be here two hours.

Noah 17:59

People didn't sign up for a two hour episode when we made this format change, paul, that brings us to the section of the podcast where we talk about what we've been praying about, and I believe that this is your month to. To share some about what's been in your prayers.

Paul 18:17

This is my month. I wanna read something more. Probably let the scripture talk more than this guy gets to talk. And in its own prayer, love what Jesus says. I'm in Matthew seven and Jesus says, verse seven. Matthew seven, verse seven. Ask and it'll be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be open to you. For everyone who asks, receives, and who seeks. Finds unto him, who knocks, it will be open. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone, or if his son asks for a fish, will give him a serpent. So if you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him? It's, so in my praying, it's I need reminders. I don't know, maybe everybody doesn't need as many reminders as I do, but in prayer, I'm gonna tell y'all I need reminders. Scripture does that for us. Here's a reminder. Jesus says, keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. There's the unfortunate there is the, Hey, I believe and so away. It's been a week, it's been a month. Lord, what do? You just keep asking, keep seeking and knocking. Here's the creator of the universe. You're heavenly father who knows how to give good gifts. And I relate to that as an earthly father with my kids. I was never gonna give them, they asked for this and I would go no. I'm gonna give you something that's gonna hurt you and harm you. Or I'm just gonna play games with you for a while. Yeah. No earthly parent who's worth this salt does that. The how much more in this text? How much more does your heaven and Father know how to give? He knows how, when, what? That's who he is. And I can just tell you recently in my prayer life, Matthew seven ha has come to life in me. And you just stand up and say Thank you, God. Yeah. Praise you. And it's always been there. But praise you for the reminder. You know how to give good gifts.

Noah 20:19

Yeah. Yeah, that is such a good reminder. I was just having a conversation with with a couple of guys the other day about God's ability to do good things. And one of the things that we were talking about was how we sometimes have an idea of what we think we want. And what we can be sure of is that what God gives is better. Now that doesn't always mean it's pleasant, but in the end, what God gives is better. And we can rest assured that is the case, even in our own uncertainty. And Matthew seven is a good reminder. He gives good gifts, he knows. How to do that. Like you said, you, he said you said just a moment ago, he knows what, when. How, I don't remember all the ones that you said, but

Paul 21:18

that's who he is. Yeah.

Noah 21:19

Thanks for that reminder.

Paul 21:20

Yeah. I didn't go to Luke's account that says how much more the will the father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask. And there's a connection, the good gifts and the Holy Spirit. It's divine blessing that connects itself to divine power and insight.

Noah 21:34

Yeah.

Paul 21:34

And that's, I think sometimes we forget that.

Noah 21:37

Yeah. And that's true. That's, that helps deepen our understanding of the gifts that God gives. Alright, that brings us to

Paul 21:48

we had a question, didn't we?

Noah 21:49

Somebody? Yes, we did. This is I don't know, I think this might be my favorite part of our new format because we get to hear from people that are listening and

Paul 21:57

Yeah.

Noah 21:58

And hear the kinds of questions that they want answered.

Paul 22:00

Yeah. And to our listeners, please, we want to hear from you. And so that we've been getting some of that, I think more of that this season. Maybe'cause we told people we, we wanted to answer some questions. I thought the one this time was not only insightful, there was a lot of honesty behind this one.

Noah 22:20

Yeah.

Paul 22:20

Some depth too.

Noah 22:21

Yeah. So I have it, I have this question pulled up. We received a question. About the idea of Jesus taking our place on the cross. And I have a slightly condensed version of the question here for the podcast. So the person expresses that they've heard in sermons and in prayers from people of all ages, the idea that Jesus took my place on the cross or took our place on the cross. And their question is, while I think I understand the sentiment, it seems to me like this statement lessens the greatness of our savior sacrifice. There is no sacrifice that I could make, including death on a cross that could grant me access to heaven. And so then they are asking. Am I being overly sensitive about the use of this phrase or is this a statement that has caught on but actually lessens the greatness of Jesus' sacrifice? I, there's, this cracks open wide an entire area of discussion that we're obviously not gonna have time to get. Exhaustively into, in, in this podcast. But yeah, I've heard it. I assume you've heard it. Jesus took my place on the cross. Is this accurate? Does this reflect scripture? Paul what's your initial. Take on that.

Paul 23:39

Maybe a scripture. So there, there's a, the two Corinthians five 21 the New King James, two Corinthians 5 21 for he made that is God for, he made him Christ who knew no sin to be sin for us. That we might become the righteousness of God in him. All right. So to, to become the righteous of God. That is clearly there. There's something that Paul is saying to the Corinthian church. That, that we need to be continually saying today. And that is we cannot become righteous in our own selves there, the soul that sin shall die.

24:14

Yeah.

Paul 24:15

The wages of sin is death. How can I, because I'm a sinner by choice. How can I now be declared by God not guilty? Innocent. Righteous. And it's, the answer to that is Jesus. Jesus on the cross. Lots of discussions. I'll just tell you frankly, and I'm saying this not in any way to. Say anything negatively about the good man that asked this question and wanted us to talk about it. I think sometimes I can get over my head very quickly and get into the weeds over a concept that I can appreciate what is being said that I need to understand. But I can't explain it. And so yes this concept First John two too. You know this idea of becoming the propitiation for our sins. There's depth there. And so how Jesus Christ is atoning in his death or our sins. Man, I don't know that I've got all the answers to that, except that I can't be saved without Jesus and his blood is what cleanses me.

Noah 25:19

Yeah.

Paul 25:20

And, to turn God's wrath away and to appease that it had to be the sinless lamb who was lame before the foundation of the world.

Noah 25:30

Yeah.

Paul 25:31

And that's a deep subject, or at least it is for me.

Noah 25:34

Yeah. No I think it is a deep subject. This question caught my attention because I, I. And this is probably a personal thing on my part, but I appreciate when people are willing to evaluate how we talk about things. Because so often we can get into a groove into a rut about talking about things a certain way. And we begin to stop questioning whether or not this is the right way to talk about things. And I heard it described at a at one point in the term shorthand. We all form shorthand ideas. The idea being. We take larger concepts, more complex concepts, and we try to boil them down and chunk them into something more digestible. And there's nothing, I don't think there's anything wrong with doing that. We all do it about lots of areas of life, but it's usually a good thing to take a moment to step back and just say, okay. Am I doing it well though? And that's what I think might be the heart behind this question. Okay. Yeah. I get that. This is a paraphrase of a biblical concept, or at least that's what's intended to be, is it reflective of that? Because as far as I can find. There's not a verse that specifically uses those words. Jesus took my place on the cross.

Paul 27:04

Yeah.

Noah 27:04

There are verses that use similar language. You referred to a couple in two Corinthians, in one John Romans chapter five verses six through eight, we have the phrase, Christ died for us. How you take that for can it can depend on how you understand this one. Peter, chapter two similar in verse 21, Christ suffered for you. Verse 24 is probably a little bit more explicit in the idea of this he bore our sins

Paul 27:34

Yes.

Noah 27:35

That we might die to sin. So he did this in order that this might happen. He bore what we're supposed to bear. But none of that explicitly says Jesus took our place on the cross.

Paul 27:46

Yeah.

Noah 27:47

So for the for the man that a asked this question, and for everyone else listening I'm not gonna try to answer for other people. The preachers you've heard say it the prayers that you've heard, pray it. But I would say that I do suspect that this phrase comes from. Not a false belief that we could somehow save ourselves.'cause that's the concern that's expressed. And the question is, does this diminish Jesus's sacrifice as if I could have atone for my own sins if I had died on the cross.

Paul 28:15

Yeah. No

Noah 28:16

and I don't think that, that's where this phrase, that's not the heart where this phrase comes from.

Paul 28:20

No.

Noah 28:21

Rather that Jesus experienced death. In order to save us from death. That goes back, you quoted Romans chapter six, the wages of sin is death, the one who sins will die. That second one's not Romans six, but it's the same concept. So when people say, Jesus took my place on the cross, I think what they're trying to say is, we sinned. I sinned and I should die. And yet I'm spared the eternal death. And the only, like you said a minute ago, the only reason that I have been spared that is because Jesus died on the cross. So I was supposed to die and he died.

Paul 29:04

Yeah. Yeah.

Noah 29:05

And that when you view it from that perspective, you can see how roughly speaking that fits into the idea of Jesus took my place.

Paul 29:14

Yeah. Yeah. Thank, thanks, B. To God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. The same apostle Paul that wrote, his second letter of Corinthians first letter. And there's victory in Jesus. I've just I say to people that this idea that Jesus taking our place on the cross. You know what word or words you can or cannot use? And I know the, they're, they are vehicles of communication, right? So we have to choose our words carefully, but to be petty and pick apart, can you call it this? Can you, should you call it that for Jesus to take my place on the cross? Clearly, scripture says he did and he needed to. That was part of God's eternal purpose. He accomplished it in Christ Jesus. Praise me to God, sin, death and has been has, and the devil has been defeated. It doesn't lessen the greatness of the sacrifice in my mind. It magnifies it.

Noah 30:06

Yeah. I had the same thought.

Paul 30:07

Did you? Because we went from no hope. To hope we were hopeless. And that's how Paul described it to the Ephesians.

Noah 30:16

Yeah.

Paul 30:16

Hopeless. Oh, no hope now. And the answer to that is, is a hundred percent Jesus. We were powerless back to Romans five, two. Save ourselves.

Noah 30:27

Yeah. There's, there was nothing and continues to be nothing we can do. To save ourselves. And so the fact that Jesus' death on the cross, and again, as you mentioned earlier, how does Jesus' death on the cross atone for our sin? That's a very broad and deep river to wade into. And it's worth wade into. But but the fact is, without Jesus' death on the cross, there is no hope. The US dying on the cross that wouldn't have done it. The wages of sin is death. I've sinned, so I should die. That's what should happen. And without the answer of Jesus' blood then that is what happens. That is what happens.

Paul 31:09

Yeah. And, not to be critical to take away from the point of the question, glad it was asked, and where we're going in this podcast. Yeah, we have to be careful. So I'm just talking about me as a preacher and as a teacher who's responsible to just communicate what God wants, communicated. Open up the scripture. But there's a reason why Paul, the Apostle Paul, who's preacher, who's mentoring Timothy, who is a young preacher, he was telling Timothy at least two or three times in different words, don't get involved in conversations where there's unnecessarily. Controversy and wrangling over words.

Noah 31:49

Yeah.

Paul 31:51

Through the prophet, through the ruin of the hearers. There's no profit in that.

Noah 31:54

Yeah. Yeah. It's it is one thing to engage in a honest discussion about the will of God and what he has communicated to us, and it's another thing to wrangle.

Paul 32:06

No wrangling

Noah 32:09

I should get assigned to put in my office. Or hang above my office door. No wrangling zone.

Paul 32:16

Yeah. Put it over the front of the church building too.

Noah 32:20

We really do appreciate that question because

Paul 32:22

Yes, thank you to our, to the one who submitted it.

Noah 32:24

Yeah. Hopefully it's clear that we are not, we're not at all trying to imply you're wrangling with words. I understand. The difficulty when things are said. That make me wonder, do we have a real, do we really have a grasp on what's going on here? And we need to think through those things. We need to be willing to discuss those things without getting. Without trivializing it,

Paul 32:45

right?

Noah 32:45

So well said. Yeah. Appreciate your input on that. And for those who are listening the question and answer form continues to be in the episode information in the show notes. So feel free to click that link and submit. We've gotten several over the past few months of, as we've started this new format and we'd love to continue to hear from you. And that brings us to the last section of our podcast, and this one is. I keep thinking, I really enjoy this section of the podcast. And then I think that the next section as well. And I'm just gonna keep thinking that maybe this is my favorite section. When we talk about what we've been hearing and what we've been reading, Paul did you bring something to that you've been hearing or something that you've been reading?

Paul 33:31

This is something I've been hearing. So I've been in, in other churches recently and in other circles, people that I don't know as well, people that I haven't met before. When it's in this community. I've gone to several things in the last few months in this community around Cedar Park and Round Rock and Georgetown. Then I've gone out of town and been in other churches and met brethren in other places, and there's a common thread. Noah, one of the things that I'm hearing. Is I'm gonna, I'm gonna try to, I'm just gonna try to boil it down and what I'm hearing is there is a great concern among good hearted, God-fearing people of what is happening, the truth. And even in a direction of who do we know that we can even trust anymore? I turn on the TV or I turn on the radio, I get something in the mail, and I get this letter and I get this from, my insurance company and I get this from this person or that person, this source or that source. And it's just, it's not true or it's, I don't wanna become a very jaded person to where I'm suspicious of what anybody and everybody says.

Noah 34:45

Yeah.

Paul 34:46

And it's there's a, I don't wanna say a frustration'cause that's not fair for everybody, but a concern a fear of what's happening to truth.

Noah 34:56

Yeah.

Paul 34:57

And man I can get involved in those conversations and get frustrated and about. 30 seconds and that doesn't help anybody. I have to be careful that I don't become jaded. But it made me think, Noah, about some good news, and that's Ephesians four. And we're told, look, you got in the kingdom, you got people that are serving Christ Jesus and he's Lord of their life. And you're in the body of Christ, and God is your father. Jesus is your Lord. Ephesians four, verse 25 you put away lying. And each of you has to speak truth with his neighbor, and he tells us why, for we're members of one another, your family. Family can, there's a trust there because you're family and you've put this away and you've put this to death prior to coming to Christ. And now in Christ here's what it's all about. It's about knowing who you can trust. And we need that in these days.

Noah 35:52

Yeah. Yeah. That's a really good reminder. And it echoes some things that I've been hearing and frankly some things that I've been thinking about how easy it is to to start to believe that there's nothing believable. And when we operate on those terms, it hurts relationships because we find ourselves unable to trust other people. And it hurts our hearts. It hurts our souls to, to operate in such a way that doesn't allow for trust in other people. And I think ultimately it damages our perspective of God because we have trouble trusting him too.

Paul 36:30

Yeah.

Noah 36:31

I've been reading a book recently and I'm not all the way through it, so I. All the caveats apply, and what I mean by that is it's written by a man. It's not inspired. I haven't read everything in it, so I can't give it, my endorsement. But I have been enjoying pieces of this book that I've been reading. It's actually one that's almost 35 years old at this point. It was written by F Leard Smith, and it's called The Cultural Church. And where I'm at in the book so far he's talked a lot about. The danger of of answering to the standard of culture versus the standard of scripture. And changing the, what we believe and what we practice based on that, those beliefs because of what is seen as acceptable in culture versus what's acceptable in God's word. And this actually the quote that I had pulled out. To share actually goes along really well with what you have been hearing. He's talking in this context, he's talking about the danger that, again, that danger. And he says, in the ever-changing truths of postmodern thought, there is simply no room for him who once hung on the cross. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today. And forever. He, in the context part of what he's talking about is how what we can see, sociologically in the postmodern movement of thought where truth is being abandoned. You, everyone has their own truth and it's up for grabs and you can define what you want to define and you can leave loose what you wanna leave loose. He said when? When culture starts to think that way, that's one problem. When the church starts to think that way, what ends up happening is Jesus gets pushed out because Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever, and that comes back to the same kind of thing you're talking about. What's believable. The good news is Jesus Christ is just as believable and just as credible and just as trustworthy now as he was 2000 years ago, and as he will be 2000 years from now, if the world's still spending at that point.

Paul 38:46

Amen and amen. May, I don't know if it was f Lagar Smith. As you get older you forget who said this, but the author said, some people hear what they want to hear so they can believe what they wanna believe so they can do what they want to do.

Noah 39:01

Yeah.

Paul 39:02

And that's our culture. It's not new, it's just what's out there can get in here.

Noah 39:07

Yeah. Yep. So it's always good to have a reminder. It's always good to, to have people who are willing to say. Don't let it get in. Don't let the false standards of culture get in and replace the standards that God has put in place.

Paul 39:23

Amen. Amen. Man what's today I guess today is, we've been going an hour. Have we been going that long?

Noah 39:32

We're not an hour quite yet, but we're, it seems like we're gonna wrap up a little bit early today versus our previous episodes.

Paul 39:38

I have to tell you, somebody sent me a text it's been a month or so ago, wanting us to go longer. Y'all do realize when you tell two preachers in a room in a podcast to go longer, that can get outta control pretty quickly. But again, to those who listen to us and join us, we're doing two times a month. And Lord willing this'll air a week from today for those who are staying with us. On the Mondays. And we thank you for that and we really appreciate your participation in this, your feedback and the good ways that you can continue to encourage us in what we're doing. Our goal in this is certainly to try to make sure that what we share together brings glory to God. He's honored by it, but that people are built up. That not just people are informed, but mostly that people are built up. And so we're appreciative of this opportunity. We want God's favor to continue to bless us as we work together. We just wanna stand strong.