165 - Be The Church

[00:00:09] Speaker A: Hey, everybody. Thanks for tuning in to the recovering fundamentalist podcast. That's Nathan. That's Brian. I'm JC, we're your hosts and we got a great show for you today. Y'all ready to get this thing started? [00:00:21] Speaker B: I'm ready to get this cult of personality on the road. [00:00:27] Speaker A: Let's go. The Recovering fundamentalist podcast starts in three. [00:00:47] Speaker B: You know what makes women stupid is called Jesus was not a bartender. Hi, Matt. Two, you have lost your mind. Long tongue. Heifers have given me a lot more trouble than heifers wearing bridges and you know that. Say amen right there. Let me tell you something, Bozo, they'll be selling Frosty's in hell for this. Boy puts on a pair of pink underwear. [00:01:10] Speaker A: Amen. [00:01:10] Speaker B: I suck my thumb till I was 14 years of age. Hi, man. [00:01:16] Speaker A: Well, hey there, everybody. Thanks for tuning into episode number 165 of the recovering fundamentalist podcast. And as we are pressing towards 200 can you believe it? We're almost there. [00:01:30] Speaker B: You know what you just did? [00:01:35] Speaker C: You've got so much Seminoles gear on. When you said, we're pressing on to episode 200, you actually chopped like you couldn't help it. [00:01:44] Speaker A: What we did to the Clemson Tigers, we chopped them. Yeah. Go, no. [00:01:49] Speaker B: Just made all our South Carolina fans mad. [00:01:52] Speaker A: I got to thinking this week, all two of them, exactly 165. If you think back at all of the life that has been lived during this 165 episodes, this goes all the way back predating COVID we spent quarantine together recording podcasts. It's unbelievable. I was thinking about it today. I'm like, four years, man. There has been a lot of life lived in 165 episodes. [00:02:23] Speaker B: There really has. And I've been thinking a lot about those COVID quarantine days because in three weeks, I'm headed back to Nepal. [00:02:33] Speaker A: That's where it started. [00:02:34] Speaker B: Yep, that's where it all started. My kids said that I broke the world the first time I went over there. And they don't even want to know what's going to happen this time. Hopefully I don't bring in the second wave. Well, we're probably on like the fourth wave now. I don't know. [00:02:49] Speaker A: I was so terrified for you last time you went because things started shutting down while you and you get wi Fi in our group text, I'm like, Nate, you need to get on a plane and get home. We know how you're always on time. I mean, you're the only guy I know that's going to be late rapture. But I was like, Nate, you need to get on a plane. Don't fall asleep or go take pictures of something because we know you like to take selfies of everything. I was so relieved, literally. I don't know if I've ever told you this, but I was so relieved when you text and said, boys, I'm in the air on my way home. And I was like, okay, he's not stuck in Nepal. I was literally like, nathan's going to be riding a llama through nepal during quarantine. [00:03:26] Speaker C: Hey. So, first of all, we're all three already late for the rapture. It happened yesterday, Saturday, at least. [00:03:36] Speaker A: What? [00:03:36] Speaker C: They all said it was going to happen. [00:03:38] Speaker A: Did you not? [00:03:39] Speaker C: The other thing is yeah, it was the big prediction. It was yesterday, so there you go. But you know what? I did have a little bit of a moment, because we rode by a cow pasture. True story. Right as we rode by the cow pasture, like a cow right next to the fence was like and I said, well, that can't be Gabriel's Horn. He has to play better than actually, I don't know. I just make this stuff up as I go. [00:04:11] Speaker B: That was awesome. [00:04:14] Speaker A: Yeah, it was. [00:04:15] Speaker C: True story, which is the bad part. [00:04:19] Speaker A: Of it, but I can remember JC. [00:04:23] Speaker C: And I texting back and forth, really worried about you. And then you had to get back and stay in that hotel room all of those days. And Carrie just kept the song Celebrate Good Times on repeat for like 14 days while she was trapped in that hotel. [00:04:44] Speaker A: You had, like a midlife crisis in there. I remember one call, we do an episode, the next one, you have a mustache and no facial hair. [00:04:53] Speaker B: Hey, I gave myself the worst haircut of my entire life. I was trapped in there and I was going crazy because all the things just like you are, JC. And so I'm coming up, you can only watch so much TV before you become IFB again and just think it's of the devil, because there's only so much you can do. So I'm thinking, you know what? I could give myself a fade. I've never been to barber school. I've never cut anybody's hair, but I have this little beard trimmer so I could give myself a fade. I had myself convinced I was going to do it. And looking in the mirror like this, it looked great. But when I turned to the side or when I got the mirror around behind, it was basically a chili bowl. I gave myself a chili bowl in quarantine, and it looked horrible. And then when I added the mustache, for all those people that think I might be a serial killer that week, it could have really come true. [00:05:58] Speaker A: I had to look down, like, 15 is when we recorded when you were in quarantine, and it looks pretty awkward. [00:06:05] Speaker C: Yeah. Well, hey, be glad you can give yourself a chili bowl. God's given me a reverse mohawk. [00:06:12] Speaker A: What was it you said when we were in Vegas? My hairline made a beeline from my backside. [00:06:16] Speaker C: Yeah, something like, have more. I used to have more waves, and now I've just traded it in for more beach. [00:06:25] Speaker B: Come on, man. [00:06:26] Speaker A: Hey, bald is beautiful, right? [00:06:30] Speaker C: Somebody said that. [00:06:31] Speaker A: Okay, we'll go with that. Oh, goodness. Yeah. Nate, I want to back up. Did you not know that yesterday was supposed to be the Rapture? [00:06:39] Speaker B: I did not. I mean, I saw some kind of Amazon conspiracy theory thing where they're doing, like, you can pay with your palm now, but I didn't know that the. [00:06:48] Speaker A: Rapture was that is true, by the way. [00:06:50] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:06:50] Speaker A: TikTok and all that were supposed to be that September 23, 2023, was the rapture. But you remember the last time they said that it was supposed to be like, May 14, back, 2012, 2013. We were living in Salt Lake City, Utah, and the guy that was making this big, bold prediction, he spent millions of dollars. They were driving down the road with billboards on the side of it and stuff. In fact, I used it as my witnessing tool for the Mormons when they would pull up. If you are a Mormon missionary in Salt Lake City, you're not really the cream of the crop, I don't think. That's kind of like going on a field trip and being told you're in charge of the teachers. That's kind of the missionaries that are in Salt Lake that these boys would come up and knock on our door. I'm from Georgia. I'm ready to win these Mormons to Jesus. And they ring our doorbell. And I had literally on my door frame, I wouldn't let them in the house. On my frame was like, pages that I had copied and pasted, and I was ready to go. I had my ammo loaded up, and I was like, let me ask you something. Do you believe that the guy that said Jesus was returning was a false prophet? And they were like, yes. I was like, did you know that Joseph Smith said in 19th, whatever it was, they were like, oh, I didn't know that. I was like, Let me tell you something else. And I don't know, I'm rambling right now. Yeah. [00:08:02] Speaker C: Hey, JC, if any Mormons come to your house now, you need to let them inside. [00:08:07] Speaker A: Oh, I do. [00:08:08] Speaker C: And then while they're with your six kids, you and Kim head out the door. [00:08:13] Speaker A: Listen, after moving back to Georgia from Utah, I have a newfound, like, just a love for these missionaries, because, bless their hearts, they are in a whole new world here. And I mean, they're in a world with sweet tea. And it's just so I find the missionaries, I'm like, hey, y'all want to come to our house? We're not going to talk religion. You don't try to win me, because I'm not buying what you're selling. We'll just eat. No sweet tea, no coffee, because Mormons can't drink caffeine, but they own, bless them, Lord. How's that? They own Pepsi, but they can't drink caffeine. Do you know that? Anyhow and so we get around and we talk and we talk BYU and Utah football, and it's been good, but I don't know how we got on Mormons boys. That's a whole nother I don't either. [00:08:53] Speaker C: Yes, it is. The rapture. [00:08:56] Speaker B: There you go. That was it. Yeah. [00:08:58] Speaker A: They're going to miss it. Sorry. Let's clean this. [00:09:04] Speaker B: Let's let's jump streams and go to a whole nother train of thought. So we basically had an Asheville meet up tonight at Hope Church, Asheville. We had really two families show up. One family was a family of four. I knew they were coming. We had another family that was, I don't know, there's like twelve of them. They just showed up. RFP FAM. Yeah. Shout out. So man, we stood around afterwards and talked and told stories. We were name dropping all these evangelists, Phil Kidd and Joe Arthur, and we were telling it was you. You guys know, it's been a while since we've had a meet up, but it's just like family. You're getting back together and hearing people's stories. And at one point the conversation got real serious and a couple of people just shared how much the podcast meant to them. And it just reminded me all over again how amazing it is that God has blessed us and allowed us to do this. He's given us the privilege of just talking about our life and our experience and ministry and man, God has blessed it. And I'm reminded over and over how much of an impact this is making on people's lives. And it just makes me thankful and it makes me not really care a whole lot about the haters. I know they're out there, but they're still listening. So if they could meet one or two of these people whose life has been changed, it would just blow their mind. [00:10:36] Speaker A: Well, I'm excited, Nathan, because coming up the first weekend in November in Asheville, we're going to do what you did today. We're going to have us a meet up. And this is a change. I know we've been talking about doing the for the Sake of the Gospel Conference in Danville, Virginia. We're going to move it. It's actually going to be in Asheville, North Carolina, November 3 and fourth. And there's no registration, no cost. It's a show up. It's a meet up. It's an opportunity to hang out with other people who are RFP FAM we're going to have some singing, some preaching, some food fellowship, some football, some fun, some family. Family. And frisbee. We're going to play Frisbee. [00:11:20] Speaker B: We have good fudge in Asheville, past. [00:11:24] Speaker A: Pigeon Forge and get I'm done. But we would love for you to. [00:11:28] Speaker C: Come and we're going to do some fierce, ferocious Fnangling. [00:11:31] Speaker B: Yes. [00:11:32] Speaker A: I don't know what Fnangling is, but we're going to do it. And it's going to be November 3 and fourth in Asheville, North Carolina. It's the RFP for the Sake of the Gospel family meetup and we would love for you to come and be part of that with us. Your lodging, that's on you. Just get there and come and join us, have a good time. It's going to be at Hope Church asheville. And so we would love for you to come and be with us. [00:11:56] Speaker B: You've never experienced November in Asheville. Oh, my word. I walked outside today I mean, it's still September, but I walked outside today and it literally felt like heaven. Have you ever just walked outside, like when it first starts getting cool and the sun's shining and you just get chills from your head to your toe because it's just the weather of heaven? That's what it was like here today. It was beautiful. [00:12:21] Speaker C: I'm glad you clarified that it was September. I was thinking maybe in Asheville it was a different month. So I'm glad you verified that for us. [00:12:29] Speaker A: 85 degrees here in North Georgia wearing a hoodie. I'm sweating to death, but I'm sick of summer. [00:12:35] Speaker B: Hey, that's a good looking hoodie. Speaking of Florida State Seminoles second reference go Knowles. [00:12:40] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:12:41] Speaker B: Yes, sir. [00:12:42] Speaker A: You know what, guys? If you're wearing a hoodie and it's 80 degrees out, you're probably smelling pretty rough. We have free life. Soap. They are now a sponsor again of the Recovering Fundamentalist podcast. Go to recoveringfundamentalist.org. Click on the Free Life Soap tab and get yourself some good smelling and not just soap. [00:13:00] Speaker B: Beard oil. All sorts of products for your beard. They've got amazing badger skin, shaving hair, badger skin, badger hair, badger shaving brush. Come on, man. I've never used mine, but it's really cool. I have one somewhere. [00:13:18] Speaker C: Well, no badgers were harmed in the making of this brush. [00:13:22] Speaker B: Yes, we just harvested their hair. [00:13:25] Speaker A: Yes, they do have some really good beard oil. Pipe tobacco, cherry pipe tobacco, leather. I don't know what else, but you need to go. You get 20% off of your order when you use your promo code RFP. So go to Recoveringfundamentalist.org, click on the promo tab, and get yourself some soap today. Hey. Also, we've got a few spots left for our Israel trip that's coming up January 24 through February the third. This is a pastor's only trip, and we would love for you to go with us. You can go to Recoveringfundamentalist.org, click on the Israel tab, sign up and go with us. I cannot wait to go back to Israel. I'm starting to get that jittery feeling again. Like, I know I'm going in just a few months and it's like we're going to see some different sites this time. Nathan, I think me and you are going to have a little bit more freedom to walk around on our own a little bit. And the guys that read Zook's Tattoo and to just eat some schwarma. Is that how you. [00:14:27] Speaker B: Know I'm missing it? We had so much while we were there. I didn't miss it for a long time, but I'm missing it again. I would love to have some. And JC. I think you said the 24th. It's January 26 through February 3. [00:14:39] Speaker A: You only had one Sunday. Yes. [00:14:42] Speaker B: There you go. Pastor, you need to come with us. [00:14:45] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:14:45] Speaker C: And the hummus is incredible. Yeah, I would almost go back for the Hummus. [00:14:52] Speaker A: It was so good fish are looking at you. And the garden tomb, man. Listen. [00:14:59] Speaker C: Yes. [00:15:00] Speaker A: To be in the garden tomb, to do communion, sitting in that room after walking out of the tomb, that right there is worth the entire trip. That literally was a moment I will never forget in my life. [00:15:13] Speaker B: It was amazing. [00:15:15] Speaker A: Absolutely incredible. Yeah. [00:15:17] Speaker C: I'm a garden of Gethsemane guy, man. The garden of Gethsemane won me over. [00:15:21] Speaker A: It's a powerful moment. [00:15:23] Speaker C: Yes, sir. [00:15:25] Speaker B: And I've talked to a lot of people since we've come back that have been there and we always ask each know, have you been to this site? And so there are a lot of sites right around Jerusalem that like Caiaphas House. They know where that was at and we didn't get a chance to visit there. So there's so many places that we're going to have a chance to visit in the future that we haven't seen yet. So just looking forward to that trip this year. And guys, we can't stress enough how much it changes how you read the Bible, how you study the Bible. I was preaching through Joel today and so many things in that just were brought to life by what I saw when I was in the Holy Land. [00:16:08] Speaker C: Amen to that. [00:16:09] Speaker A: It really is your Bible coming to life. I can't wait. Go to recoveringfundamentalist.org. Click on the Israel Tab sign up. Registration closes soon and we would love for you to go with us. [00:16:22] Speaker B: Well, guys, I'm excited about our topic today. This whole season is going to be about the church. And I've shared the story many times on here about how God's changed my life and impact my life through the church and through many different local churches. And much to the surprise of a lot of people that listen, we thank God for our upbringing. Like, there were things that we learned in those camp meetings, there were things we learned in those churches that we were in. No, they weren't perfect. No, the pastors weren't perfect. But guess what? Neither are we. But we're thankful for our upbringing. We learned a lot from it. And you can learn to spit out the bones and eat the good meat and I'm thankful that there was a lot of good things in that. But I just can't stress enough how much God changed my life when I met Brian Edwards and we started having conversations about the church and especially about church planning because God started putting church planning in my heart before I met Brian Edwards. And when I met him and was what I was thinking about and what God was doing in my heart with missions and church planning, which are basically the same thing, he just started sharing his experience and I quickly realized why God put us together. So, Brian, I would love for you to start out our time tonight by talking about what it means to be the church and what the church even is in Scripture. Growing up, yeah, we may have had a skewed view of what it was, but talk to us about how God led you through this process of truly discovering His Word and truly what church was supposed to be about. [00:18:05] Speaker C: So, growing up, for me, I'm confident of the fact that church was an event, especially our view that was shaped by camp meetings and jubilees. It felt very much like an event we attended. There was singing, there was friendship with other people. And for me, I didn't really understand that. There was very much beyond that. I can remember growing up and hearing pastors say, you are in the house of God, or be reverent in the house of God, or make sure you come back next week to the house of God. And there was so much of that language that was building focused, that was property focused, that was physical assets focused. And so I continued that. When I became a pastor, I really obligated people to be at the house of God. You were supposed to conduct yourself in a specific way because you were in the house of God. You were supposed to dress a specific way because you were in the house of God. Literally, language would change. And I'm not talking about cursing or I'm just saying basic language change would happen in the house of God. For me, I guess when they wouldn't gather in the building, for me, it was that they had no love for the house of God if they weren't in that specific place at that specific time. And I can even remember varying, condemning language about people with regard to that. So I was reading through the scripture. It was the Gospels that rocked the foundation of everything that I had felt like I had believed or maybe understood as my belief. So I was reading through the Gospels, and God really started using the Gospels to transform my life in a profound way. And so after reaching the end of the Gospels and realizing how much I had gotten wrong, not only things that I taught incorrectly, but things that I really never taught that I should have, it wasn't just about what I had taught that was wrong. It was the wrong in some of the things that I hadn't taught. And so I decided at the end of the Gospels to continue reading on through the church epistles. And I wanted to read the Bible as if I had never been taught the Bible, basically just wiping the hard drive clean and trying to reprogram just from the Scripture. And so I crawled my way through the Bible. Like, for me, it wasn't about a reading program that would allow me to read through the Bible in a year. I didn't want to read through the Bible. I wanted the Bible to read into me. And so I just started reading slowly, really trying to digest and absorb what I was reading, and I started to come to this understanding, especially in Acts chapter two. So the Holy Spirit descends, this sound of a great wind. There's boldness and unity. The Gospel is preached by the apostles. Thousands are being baptized. It was a time of incredible giving, of incredible discipleship. They continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine. They were generous in a way that I'm not really sure the earth has seen before that time or since that time. But if you notice, they were gathering from house to house. They didn't even have a building. They were meeting in houses, in city squares and streets. They were saturating that community, and they didn't own the building, and it certainly didn't have a steeple. And yet they were the church. And scripture clearly tells us in Acts chapter seven I mean, this is just so clear. Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands. Well, that's pretty clear. We don't leave him in a building and then come back to see him at the next appointed time. Then Acts chapter 17 the God who made the world and everything in it being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man. Guys, I know this sounds so simple, but for me, at that particular time, that was revolutionary. [00:23:16] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:23:17] Speaker C: And that's when I realized the Gospel was never about bricks and mortar and concrete and property and shingles and sound system. The Gospel was about God's willingness to even offer his Son as a sinless sacrifice for the sake of saving people so that they would become a Gospel community. It's always been people. And why in the world would I want to believe that there's a God waiting in a small building somewhere on a rural road in the country, rather than believing there's a God who lives inside of me? And when I gather with other people and they have the Holy Spirit living in them, I have the Holy Spirit living in me, I'm gathering with them. We are collectively the church, not because we're in a building, but because we're the people of God. [00:24:22] Speaker A: That's really good. [00:24:24] Speaker B: And the three of us are Hope Church planners. And Brian, you've planted a whole lot of hope churches. And JC and I are just getting in on this. And part of our DNA as Hope Church is that we are not called to go to church, but rather to be the church. Yes, we're thankful that we have a property. Yes, we're thankful that we have a building, but we don't go to church. We are the church. I'm not the church. None of us individually is the church. We're members of the church. We're part of the church. We're part of the body. But when we gather together, we are the church. Because the church ecclesia the word that's used in the New Testament that Jesus announced this mystery that Paul talks about. This is a gathering together of believers. It's a body, it's a community. [00:25:23] Speaker A: That's it. We're meant to live in community. Life is not meant to be lived alone. It is best in the context of community. And that's what God has called us to do. That's why we gather. We're gathering to be part of the church, the big C church. I believe that God's plan to reach the world is the local church. There is no plan B. This is God's plan A. He gave his life for the church, and the church is our gathering. Unfortunately, too many times the church becomes about our building, about our programs, about our outreach. We are called to love our neighbor, but we do that when we are the community. What is the verse that says not forsaking the gathering as some are in the habit of doing? Like, we are meeting regularly because life is meant to be live not in pews, but in circles, like together, surrounding each other. We're called to be the church. That's who we are. And we need to be part of the local church. I know some of you listening to this, maybe even some folks that since COVID I still have this conversation, they're not connected to a local church. I believe that that is biblically taught, how we are supposed to be part of the local church. The local body worshipping together. Communion, baptism, worshipping through prayer, through singing, through listening to the word being brought, growing in your spiritual life if you're not doing life with others. And as we are going and loving and representing the heart of God, we're called to not just gather, but to scatter. Because the church gathers, we encourage each other, we come around each other. Man, I'm so thankful for my small group of people. It's almost like right now, it's like my little inner circle, if you will. But I know those folks. We do life together. That is community. That is the beauty of what I love. Here in Katusa County, we're coming up on our one year anniversary, October 30, one year since we launched Hope Church. [00:27:29] Speaker B: Katusa, that's amazing. [00:27:32] Speaker A: The fact that I'm blown away that people show up every Sunday, we really have a community that has formed and it's gone past that. We're just trying this out to really loving each other, to really worshipping together. There's something about worshipping in community. Guys, I don't know if I've even told you this, but my whole life, for 20 plus years that I've been doing ministry, I've loved traveling. I still like to travel and preach and do things other places. But there's no place I would rather be than in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, on Sunday morning with my family. I love this church. I love these people. I love community. That God's building here and doing. And as we are gathering, we're also scattering. My mind goes to Matthew, chapter five, verse 16, that talks about our good works. It's jesus sermon on the mount. We've seen this spot. So if you go to Israel with us, you'll get to see the beatitudes attitudes and how Jesus is looking across the way. We know when we got there at night, Tiberius is off in the distance. We don't know if it's Tiberius he's talking about or another city that was up on a hill, but at night it literally lit up. You could see it across her. And that's what he's called us to do. And it's not just one little light. It takes a lot of lights to see and to shine and to glow. And we're called to let our light shine before all they can see who we are and glorify our Father. They see our good works and they glorify our Father in heaven. And we gather as the community, and we're encouraging each other. We're spurring each other along to do good works, to glorify God. And when we do that, the church leaves the building and we really love our neighbor. We go out, we start loving our neighbor. We look different because I believe that Christians are not called just to blend in. We're called to stand out. We're called to shine bright in the darkness. As we gather in community, we shine bright the light of Jesus. My kids and I, we were in Orlando on vacation a couple years ago, and we stopped by this farm. There was a bunch of horses out. My daughters love horses, and we're out looking at the horses, and then this one horse comes running up that looked different than all of them, but it still was with all the other horses. Here's a daggum zebra. And I was like, look at that zebra, man. It stands out. It's in community, but it stood out. I mean, there was something different about us. It had some stripes on it. And that's what we're called to do. When we gather, we're encouraging each other, we're spurring each other along. But when we go, when we leave, and we take ministry with us, we shine our light. We stand out in the world about us. And I believe we're just called to love, we're called to go. We're called to be Christ wherever we're at. And that happens in the church as we encourage each other and we take what God has done in the community outside the walls, and we go and spread the name, the fame, the renown of Jesus wherever we go. Have I ever told you all about when I was in Utah playing softball with that Hispanic Ms 13? [00:30:33] Speaker C: Yeah, I love that story. [00:30:35] Speaker A: Have I told that here on the podcast? [00:30:37] Speaker B: You have. I don't know if you have. You shared it at the conference. [00:30:41] Speaker A: Oh, man, we got to Utah. This is just a real quick so I heard a message, it's good enough to tell again, we were in Salt Lake City. Mike Gray, he was talking about and. I love Mike Gray Kenyans church Mike has retired. But, man, this guy, he would always preach on. He said, hey, we gather together and we slosh the love of Jesus on each other. And then we leave and we go slosh it on other people. I love that expression. I mean, it's gross if you think about it, but I love it because it's like we're just going to go slosh on the world around us. And I loved his illustration there. But we're living in West Jordan, Utah, and I wanted to play softball, and we pulled up at the park. Kaden was two years old. Colton, I think, was just born, so Moose was two. Butters is like maybe five months old. And we pull up and there is a group of some of the roughest looking guys you've ever seen in your life. It was probably about 15 of them. Little Hispanic guys tattooed up gold teeth. I mean, big chains. And I rolled down my window and my wife's like, do not do what you're about to do, John Calvin. And I went, hey, guys, you all playing softball? And they looked at me like I had three heads. He went, yeah. I said, you need another player? And he went, this is what he said, can you hit dingers? I said, do what? He said, can you hit home runs? I said yeah. He goes, Are you a Mormon? Second reference to Mormons tonight. I said no, I'm not. He goes, okay, what do you do? I said, I'm a teacher. I didn't tell him what I did. I didn't want him to kill me right there. So I said, all right, I'm a teacher. So we get out there and I'm praying as I'm walking up, I'm in flip flops shorts and a fishing shirt. And I get out there and he pitched the ball, and I hit the first three balls. Gone. Just launched. Thank God we were playing on a Little League field. I mean, I hit three dingers, and they went, oh, big boy can hit dingers. You're on our team. And I was like, all right. We started playing. This team was amazing. We started winning everything. I didn't realize, but I literally was joining a Hispanic gang. I'm not going to say the name of the gang on here, but I was invited to their what's it called when they turn 16, and they are like Chris and Kinsanara. What is that called? [00:32:57] Speaker C: Bar mitzvah. Well, you just did an Indian accent for them already anyway, so what does it matter? [00:33:08] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness. We're going to get canceled. But I was invited to their cookouts on Y'all. You have never been to a cookout until you go to a Kearns, Utah gang cookout, man, I had protection. I was in never told him what I did. I was worried about it. The last game of the first season, we're playing at church. We're high five and we had just destroyed this team. And the guy goes, Good game, preacher. And the dude behind me went, what did that bleepity bleep just call you? I said, he called me a preacher. He goes, what are you talking about? I said, listen. I told you I was a teacher. I didn't tell you what I taught. That wasn't the opportunity to stand up and preach to them, hey, you sinners, I need to tell you about Jesus Christ. I wanted my life to preach. I wanted what happened in community to spread outside of the walls, and I was letting my life just preach to them. They invited me back to play the second season, the third game of the second season. We had one of our players was actually murdered in a gang activity. They invited me to come to the funeral, and they knew that I was a pastor. And so things begin to change. They were treating me a little bit different. And then Sean, who played on the team with us, there was I guess you would call it a revenge, whatever, but he actually took some guys out. And we share the same birthday. And every year on May 25, I get a call from the Utah State Penitentiary, and it's my budy Sean. And he's like, man, there was something different about you. And tell me about this Jesus. Sean gave his life to Jesus over the phone from the Utah State Penitentiary. But it wasn't something that just me going out there and doing it. I think what we do is we've got to take what God does in our hearts in community. We got to take it to we can't just gather and not scatter. And I think that's what happens too many times. We gather as a community. We enjoy the benefits of the community. But remember, God's plan A for reaching the community is the local community, is the church. We've got to gather, worship, praise God, encourage each other, but then we scatter and we go and we shine our light in the darkest of places. And when I think of the church, that's just the first thing that comes to my mind. [00:35:17] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:35:18] Speaker A: Church. [00:35:18] Speaker B: Brian. Church is not like a family. Church is a family. [00:35:23] Speaker C: Yes, it is. [00:35:24] Speaker B: And that's hope. Church language. We are a family. And when I think about the church, I'm teaching through the Old Testament at the moment, so where my mind automatically went to was just the storyline of the Bible. Let's just go back to the very beginning. Scripture starts with God. He's living in community, perfect community. The Father, Son, the Holy Spirit. And God said, let us make man. And God created man in his own image for fellowship. It was a family. And we see in Genesis that Adam and Eve are walking in the garden with God face to face, talking, undoubtedly hugging, high fiving, whatever. They're living in community. There's this relationship of love. It's family. God has introduced himself to us as our Father. So God created man to live with Him in that way. Yet we know in Genesis chapter three, this perfect world that we're introduced to the fall happens and sin attacks relationship. We are built for four basic relationships. The first one is with God and sin destroyed that relationship. The second one is our relationship within ourselves. We're complex image bearers of God and we lost the peace that we had within ourselves that relationship and then our relationship with others was affected and our relationship with the world around us. So really sin is aimed at relationship primarily with God and it brought division, it brought separation. And God promised in Genesis chapter three, verse 15, that he was going to send someone that would set everything right. It's the first example of the Gospel, Genesis 315, that his deliverer would come and crush the head of the serpent and in doing so his heel would be bruised. And it's this foreshadowing of the Gospel of Jesus coming, god's only son coming to restore mankind. It's the story of redemption, it's the story of restoration and Jesus reconciles us with his father. But as you look at the Old Testament, god gives us that glimpse in Genesis chapter three. But then in Genesis twelve we see that he calls a man named Abraham and he promises Abraham that through his family all the nations of the world are going to be blessed. And so the rest of the Old Testament is about God's relationship with this family who become his people, his children and he's living in relationship. Now, as we know the story of the Old Testament, it was a rough relationship. They did not live up to the covenant, they didn't live up to what God expected of them and God punished them and there was constant correction and they went into exile. But God was constantly being a father to his people and trying to call them back to Himself. And ultimately through God's fulfillment of the covenant, not man's fulfillment, but God ultimately sends Jesus through the descendants of Abraham, through the descendants of David and Solomon. And Jesus is born. And he said that he came to seek and save the lost, which the Bible tells us is everybody. So the life, the death, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the culmination of all of the Old Testament promises. And what did Jesus do? He came to call a people to himself and to build his church. And the first mention of the ecclesia the church is in the words of Jesus when he says on this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. In Matthew chapter 16, verse 18 and he promised, he prophesied that he was going to build his church. And Paul writes about the mystery of the church because we don't see a lot of that. There's some mention and foreshadowing, but we don't see a lot of that in the Old Testament. But Paul writes about this mystery and he writes about it in the Book of Romans, he talks about it in Ephesians and Colossians, in Timothy, and he keeps coming back to this mystery that is the church. And the church is the people of God. And ultimately through Jesus, God is calling a people to Himself to be what we were intended to be originally in the garden, what he originally attempted to have with Israel and what he brought through his son Jesus. And through the New Testament, we see the church growing acts. The church is mentioned on every page. It's just over and over and over again that God is building his church, churches are being planted. And the good news of the gospel from twelve disciples, really eleven disciples, this gospel is spread through the known world. And here we are 2000 years later, almost sitting around talking about our redemption that is in Christ Jesus. We are a part of the church. So the church is a family. The church is the family of God. And it's really the story of all of scripture. And the thing that I really want us to think about, that just blows my mind when I think about it, is the fact that where we are in Redemptive history, like we can look back and we love studying and learning about Israel, but we didn't live in that time. I would have loved to live in the time of the judges, I would have loved to sing King David, I would have loved to been all those different places. But where I get to be in redemptive history, I think every one of them would have loved to be right where we're at, where the prophecy of Joel that I preached through today. The prophecy of Joel was that God's spirit would come and all who called on the name of the Lord would be saved and his spirit would fill them. We live in the day where the Holy Spirit of God lives in us and our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and we've been bought with a price. Guys, we belong to the church of Jesus Christ. And yes, the church is made up of people, flawed people, imperfect people, but we are a part of God's plan, just like Israel was a part of God's plan. And God is using the church to spread the gospel to all nations, to all languages, to all tribes, to all tongues. And one day the church is going to be gathered together with all of the global church, the global bride of Christ around the throne, with the elders, with the saints. We're going to be singing worthy as lamb that was slain to receive honor and glory and power and wisdom and strength. And guys, we just don't realize how blessed we are to be a part of the church. [00:42:46] Speaker C: Amen. To that man. That was good. That was like a great sermon. I feel like we need to take an offering. [00:42:54] Speaker B: Take up an offering. Come on. [00:42:58] Speaker C: The body of Christ, the church, it isn't somewhere we go, but it is who we are. And it isn't something that we attend, but it's a people that we belong to. And I was just thinking as you were talking, that I think we need to clarify this, and I think it's been mentioned a couple of times now. There's this language that I hear often by people. Well, I can be the church all by myself. No, you actually can't, because the church is the physical gathering. As JC was saying, we leave the gathering of the church and then we live the Christian life. And part of what propels the Christian life is that community that we experience as being a part of the church. And so, yes, as individuals, we are a part of the church, but we are not the entirety of the church on our own. And no more than you can amputate a part of your body and lay it to the side and expect it to thrive, no more than that would even ever happen. It would be impossible. In that same way, you cannot sever yourself from the gathering. You cannot sever yourself from living in community with other believers, because we are the body of Christ. And Paul went to great detail. We don't have time to do this tonight. To prove that the body is joined together, it fits together, it functions together. There's unity in the body. Even right now, as weakened as it is, my mind is thinking thoughts. My mind is relaying those thoughts, transforming those thoughts into words. It's moving my lips, my tongue, my vocal cords, my throat. There's guttural sounds that help me form words. There's all kinds of things happening in my physical body. [00:45:08] Speaker B: Moving your hands because we can't talk without our hands. [00:45:11] Speaker A: Correct. [00:45:12] Speaker B: It's connected. [00:45:13] Speaker C: I'm an Edwards. If you cut off my hand, I'd be mute. But all of this is happening as a result of my mind. It's literally my body functioning together in unity. And in that same way, the body of Christ functions in togetherness, not in aloneness. And I just wanted to just point that out because the New Testament boldly declares that and being the body of Christ isn't confined to 1 hour on one day, but it's ongoing every day, everywhere, living to advance the cause of Jesus Christ in the world. And we can't do that as an individual. We do that together. And so I just wanted to just mention that because for those people who would say, well, now I've left fundamentalism and I don't want to have anything to do with any more churches because I've been hurt in church and I don't want any more part of that. Well, people need to learn the difference in being among the church and being in the church. And I think often we blame. [00:46:26] Speaker B: People. [00:46:26] Speaker C: Who are among the church as if they are in the church. And I just want to say this. You can read the 59. I think it is one another's in the New Testament. The church loves, cares for, is patient, with, corrects, encourages, builds up. The church does all of these things 16 times. I think it is love one another appears. This is the attitude and the action and the activity of the church. And so if you've been hurt by an individual, I just want to remind you there may be a possibility they are not even in the church, but among the church. And then there's also that key component of remembering that one individual doesn't represent the church in its entirety. [00:47:20] Speaker A: I think it's also part, Ryan Nathan, of your sanctification as we are growing and learning the importance of getting with a healthy, Bible believing, Bible teaching body under sound teaching, not preference teaching, not teaching that will tickle the ears. But that's why it's so important to make sure that you're not just and I've gone to some church services here lately, and it's just almost like they're going through the motion. And I'm like, how can you grow spiritually while attending this, while being part of this? And we get messages all the time. Nathan, I know you responded to a guy just this week who was like, I'm wanting to get out of the IFB my church. I feel like I'm just kind of going through the motions, but it's what I've always known, and I just want to encourage you. We're never going to tell you to leave your church, but we will tell you that if you're not growing spiritually, you need to find someplace that you can grow spiritually, because you may be gathering with some people, but are you growing? Is it what Brian just talked about? I mean, are you literally getting anything out of it? Is the word teaching you and you're taking it and applying it to life? Or is it just going through the motion? You're missing God for the church service. [00:48:42] Speaker B: If that makes yeah, and Brian, I've never heard anyone put it that way, but you're exactly right about being among the church or being in the church. This week, an IFB evangelist and his wife were arrested for molesting multiple children, and they were preaching in churches all across the United States. I mean, they are not in the church. Let me just say that they are not Christians. The pastors who were sleeping around with women in the church, running around embezzling money, they're not Christians. Christians can fall. Christians can sin. But people that have a pattern of life, especially falling into deep, dark sin like that, there's no evidence of the Holy Spirit in their life. So, Brian, thank you for bringing that up, man. The church you can call yourself the church. I can call myself a Ferrari and walk into a garage. I'm not maybe a little bit more like an old Ford Pinto, if you remember what those look like. [00:49:53] Speaker C: I'm an AMC Pacer. [00:49:55] Speaker B: There you go. [00:49:57] Speaker A: Brown Ford Escort. That's what it was. [00:49:59] Speaker B: Yes, sir. But yeah, my heart for people, our heart for people on this podcast, JC. You were talking about not trying to tell people to leave their church. Man, if someone calls me from a Hope Church and says, my pastor is not preaching the gospel, I'm going to tell them to leave. Well, actually, I'm involved in the Eldership of Hope Church, so I'm going to be in the process of replacing that pastor. But I don't care who you are, what denomination, if they are not preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and you're not growing, they're not being the church. So this is something we're all passionate about. Guys, there's even a lot more that we really wanted to talk about tonight, but I think we're probably going to have to. [00:50:46] Speaker A: We've got all season. [00:50:47] Speaker B: Yes, we do. [00:50:48] Speaker C: I do need to give one shout out, so I know you guys have noticed this, and for anybody who listens to any of my sermons, first of all, I'll pray for them. But second of all, for years and years, my language has been absolutely transformed as I speak with regards to being among the church and in the church. And Nathan. That actually came from Jack Fawn. Several years ago, Jack came to me, and I just finished preaching a sermon. And I guess the whole point of my sermon was all of this sin that is in the church. There are those of you who are living in adultery in the church. And there are those of you who are living in addiction in the church, and there are those of you who are living and so I just went down this whole list of know, you're doing this and you're living this, and you're behaving in this way, and you're in the church. And Jack came to me after that service, and as only he can, he said, have you ever considered that maybe we should be more careful about who we declare being in the church? And shouldn't there be a category for people who are just among the church? [00:52:05] Speaker B: Wow. [00:52:06] Speaker C: Because in the New Testament, we see both of those those who are in and those who are among. [00:52:12] Speaker A: Wow. [00:52:13] Speaker C: And to quote, I can't think of that little short guy who loves to insult us, but they went out from us because they were not of us. [00:52:25] Speaker B: Barry. [00:52:26] Speaker C: Yes. So, Barry, I'll help you correctly preach that verse. They were among, they were not in. And there is a difference. [00:52:38] Speaker B: Yeah. And, guys, as we close, I just think we need to say this. There is no way to know God and there is no way to be born again apart from the church. Jesus Christ died to save his people. Jesus Christ died to make us a part of his people, to make us a part of the church. So there is no salvation, there's no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Jesus said, I'm the way, I'm the truth, I'm the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Through faith in Jesus Christ, his person, who he is, his work, his sacrificial death on the cross, his sinless life, his resurrection. Through the person and work of Jesus Christ, you become a part of the church through faith in Him. I quoted Romans ten nine in my service tonight. Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. That's the person, that's who he is, that's his identity and that God raised him from the dead. That's his crucifixion, his resurrection, that's his work, his person. And his work is the gospel. It's all about Jesus. And through faith in Jesus Christ, you can be born again. You can be a part of the family of God, a part of the church. And we hear every season about people who come to know Jesus Christ and got saved through an episode of the podcast, through our stories, or through one of the guests that shared something. And I just want to call I know there's a group of people listening to this that are considering deconstruction, maybe going through deconstruction, maybe you like part of what we say and you don't like part of what we say. Let me just tell you this. We are all about Jesus. We're all about the gospel. We're all about the church. We're all about God's word. And we're here to encourage people who've been hurt to share our stories, to love you. But we're here to call you to Jesus Christ because he is the only hope for your life. He's the only hope for this world. [00:54:45] Speaker A: Man, Nate, that is incredible and such a powerful word there. And that's what this season is all about, the church. And we're going to be talking just like this over this season three. We've got some incredible guests that are going to be coming on, one that I'm super excited about. I'll go ahead and put it out there. Greg Steer, who is the president and founder of Dare to Share Ministries, RFP FAM, and he's going to be coming on here with us in the next few weeks. And you want to talk about somebody that is fired up, that loves the church, that loves proclaiming the good news of the gospel. Greg Steer is one of those guys, and so I'm excited to partner with them and he's going to be on. We've got some other interviews that are coming along with some great content from us talking about something that we're all passionate about and we love the church. So guys, I'm fired up about this season of the Recovering Fundamentalist podcast. Hey, we want to be sure to remind you to go over to YouTube and to like to share, to turn on notifications, leave us a review. You can also go to Apple, spotify. Amazon like Share. Leave us a five star review or a one star. Whatever you want to do. Leave a review, don't leave a review. Talk about Nathan's hair, my ball, whatever you want to do, just go over there and leave us a review. And that helps us out. Yeah. [00:56:06] Speaker B: And JC, let's give a plug for the behind the Mic unedited raw. If you want to hear the whole RFP episode, everything literally unedited. JC started off this week with a story that will not be included in the podcast. But you can be a part of this if you believe in the ministry of the Recovering Fundamentalist podcast. If you believe in ministry of the church, the gospel. What we're doing as pastors invest in this ministry because we're wanting to turn this around and do more this year than we've ever done through meetups and different things like that. So, $10 a month, that is not very much. Most of you tonight, way more than that on one cup of coffee. [00:56:52] Speaker C: Tonight's extras have been worth the $10. [00:56:56] Speaker B: The two weeks we've done this. It's just hilarious. I'm rolling at some of the stuff that is happening and hey, I'm excited about it myself. We always get to see behind the Scenes, but when you bring more people into this, it's basically a live studio audience that is listening. [00:57:12] Speaker C: We are behind the scenes. [00:57:14] Speaker B: Yes, we are. But man, join us on that, right? [00:57:19] Speaker A: Go over to Recoveringfundamentalist.org, click on the behind the Scenes tab and get connected today with us. Yeah, that's it. Episode 165 in the books. It's exciting. I love seeing you all. [00:57:35] Speaker C: Love seeing you too. [00:57:37] Speaker B: I can't wait to see you in a couple of days. [00:57:42] Speaker C: Be sweet. [00:57:43] Speaker A: Thanks for listening to the Recovering Fundamentalist podcast. Be sure to stop by our social media, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Give us a follow. Also go to our website, recoveringfundamentalist.org. That's recoveringfundamentalist.org. There you can find recovering fundamentalist swag. You can get your t shirts and hats. You can join our X Fundy community, see where we're going to be having some meetups. It's the recoveringfundamentalist.org. Be sure to join us next time for the Recovering Fundamentalist podcast.