Keep sharing good news without ads.
Gary, a faithful Deacon at Bethlehem Bible Church, discuss ministry, serving out of gratitude and what thankfulness looks like.
Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth, Michael Lee Abendroth. The worst junk mail I ever received was Michael Lee Hafferhorf. I don't know where that came from. I'm still tempted to change the show to duplex scratchy radio, but we'll have to see.
You can email me mike at no compromise radio dot com. It was great to see many of you in Omaha at the PACTAM conference. Some people want to know what the PACTAM is, and just look at the root word P-A-C-T.
PACT, agreement, promise, an inter-eternitarian promise. The father would send the son to rescue the bride, etc. Well, today I have a return guest. As I said the other day, I'm trying to get more people back in the studio, interview people, so you just don't have to hear me just run my mouth.
And so I have one of my very good friends who's a deacon here at Bethlehem Bible Church. I came to the studio today, and I wanted to get some stuff done, and he's here working. How dare he? Gary Lozo, welcome back to the show.
Thank you. What were you doing today,.
By the way, here in the church building? Putting some dust covers on, lights, keep all the debris.
Out, just maintenance. Nice. And what is your particular role here at the church? You're a.
Deacon, but of, like, of what? I've got three in the Bolton, greeters, interior decorating, which both I handle pretty much by other people, and building maintenance. People come to me where.
It's wrong, and I try fixing it. And, you know, I do that with my house, too. You're the deacon.
Of Pastor Avendross Building Maintenance, too. I've been there a couple hours. And you've spilled some blood. Yes. Immortalizing the shellac. Gary was over the house building a.
Little coffee, what would you call it, a coffee bar? Not a coffee bar. I would call it a coffee bar. Yeah, a coffee bar in our kitchen, and you were downstairs sawing and cut your finger, which you never hardly do, and you came up, and your finger was all wrapped up with a towel.
No, no, you were giving pressure, and you say, do you have a towel? But you said it in a way that was very direct, and, you know, you're normally just, you know, easy to go get along with, and, you know, kind of just, you know, fine, but it was, give me a towel.
Well, after, you know,.
Losing a couple quarts of blood, I figured, you know, immediate action needed to be taken.
That's right. So, Gary, I've heard your testimony before. Some of our people probably remember that, but probably some don't. So, before we talk about ministry, and that's really the theme of the show today, you and I were talking about why people don't volunteer for ministry, or don't have a ministry, and they're Christians.
Tell me again, you know, just briefly, what happened in your life.
Leading up to when God made you alive in Christ? I think I'm like most, or was like most, unsaved. You know, I'm not a bad guy. I may do bad things, but, you know, and then, you know, sending John and Diane to church, knowing it was wrong, and then, you know, we went to, again, a couple Christian concerts, and, you know, the second one hit me pretty hard that I wasn't a good guy.
I was a sinner, and neither was a Savior. So, long story short, here I am, you know, helping out.
Where I can. So, that was nine years ago or so, and when you say Diane and John, Diane's your wife, and John's your grandson, right? Correct. And so, they'd get all ready for church, and you would probably say, you know, John, get ready and go with Grammy and all that stuff, and then you were.
At home having your own worship service with the Patriots. Pretty much. Sunday was a football day.
And by the way, tomorrow, today in real time, it's October, I don't know what, 18th today, something like that? Could be. And tomorrow, the Patriots are playing in London, and so we'll see who the real Christians are, because the Patriots play at 9 a .m., so we'll have to see.
It may be a thin crowd, but I would say anywhere but here, the membership here is pretty faithful.
And Christ-centered, so. I think most everyone, you know, I give you those chairs that creak. Maybe I could have some deacon around here fix that thing and screw it. WD -40? WD. I used to sell break-free.
Duracell owned break-free, and so we always thought WD -40 was just the worst. It didn't really clean well. It was just a minor, temporary solution. Definitely temporary, yeah. So the Lord saved you, and then you just started working behind the scenes, right?
You've told me in the past that what motivated you before a lot when you were helping people was money.
So would that be fair to say? Oh, definitely. You know, I was helping, well, I wouldn't call helping if they wanted me to do something. There was a price tag attached, and I did a lot of tree work, which Diane really doesn't enjoy, but the money was always at the top of the tree, so you had to go up 60, 70, 80 feet to get it.
So, and again, being unsaved and praying to God to make sure I get it back down on the ground safe is, I mean, it's best. Yeah, which God were you praying to?
The big guy upstairs, Mr. Jesus, who knows? Tell me about your background a little bit more with the Catholic Church. I assume you went to CDC, the Catholic education.
I don't think we had to because we got religion classes in school, so we did the baby baptism, communion, confirmation, all the stages.
If I said to you, how many gods are there when you were a Catholic, you would have said? I would still say one. Yeah. If I said, what's the Trinity, would you have any idea of three and one or anything?
Yes. Okay. And you would have thought Jesus is God? Yes. He really walked on water? Yes. Yeah. Raised from the dead, all that. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, it's interesting because so much of Catholic doctrine is similar to ours in the sense that, you think of the Reformation, what did they try to reform?
Well, even the word reform, they weren't trying to start over. They saw things in the Roman Catholic Church that were wrong, but they also acknowledged things that were right. So, they didn't change the doctrine that Catholic Church held about the Trinity or the deity of Christ or his supernatural work or the virgin birth.
They left that alone because it was right. But what the Catholic Church didn't have right was, I mean, many things, but including how do you receive the benefits of Jesus? And it was through faith and then plus the sacraments, et cetera.
Right. You had to do some works because apparently, again, not knowing full doctrine that Jesus' sacrifice wasn't enough. You had to contribute.
Right. And that's kind of like a heresy of old, right? Even Benjamin Franklin, God helps those who help themselves. Yeah, that's right. So, then the Lord saved you. Did you gradually think, you know, I should start doing things to help people?
I mean, did it just come to you? Was it a sermon? Was it a conviction? Was it I've been saved and I should be thankful and I'll serve out of gratitude? I bring it up because I think you're one of the best servants here at the church behind the scenes.
You don't need recognition. How did you initially begin to think, I should probably serve other people?
I think looking back, you realize what you have and who gave it to you. So, why shouldn't you use the gifts you've been given to benefit, you know, the body of believers that you're a member of?
Absolutely. Tell me, what do you think of guilt, grace, gratitude paradigm?
I'm setting you up, brother. Well, again, you start out when, again, even if I would say not saved, you realize that you've done bad things and how do you, you can't undo them. So, again, being a believer now, you realize that God has poured out His grace on you.
So, in response, what should you do? Be grateful for what you have and share what you have, you know, and it doesn't have to be, you know, open your house up or, you know, give everything you have and live in a tent.
You know, share the gifts that you've given. You know, I know which end of a chainsaw to hold and a hammer. So, you know, why shouldn't I use those gifts to benefit people?
That's so true. Gary Lozo today in the studios here at No Compromise Radio Ministry. He's a deacon here. Love to hang out with Gary and love his attitude. Gary, tell me a little bit about how you see God's providential hand in your life, not just protecting you.
I think we talked about that last time you were in the studio, but how God providentially brought people into your life, your father, brother, to teach you how to do things with your hands in terms of carpentry and electrical.
So, he's actually preparing you when you're an unbeliever to use some of those skills when you're a believer. How do you see the Lord's hand in your life regarding.
That? You know, and again, I don't know how many people know or whatever, but my biological father was killed by a train when I was four. So, I look back, and again, I have no recollection of him, but the man that married my mother had all these skills.
He did construction, maintenance, and my grandfather also. So, and they built our house from the ground up. So, as a kid, you think these guys, you know, to coin a phrase, you know, you think they could almost walk on water.
So, they would just, you know, six, seven-year-old watching men build a house. It was pretty awesome. So, you just learn things by people who set a good example. You know, he goes to work every day.
He would come home, you know, he maintained machines at a plastic factory, and he'd be burned and, you know, all this stuff, never complained. You know, that's, you know, he would say, you know, that's what a father does for his family.
Amen. And of course, we know that in 1 Corinthians 12, when we get saved, God makes us alive in Christ. The Spirit sovereignly gives us spiritual gifts. They could be speaking gifts or serving gifts. But He, God, still uses our past, even when we were unbelievers, even when we were yet dead in our sins, to then help us serve people in the future, right?
So, that's what happened. For me, sometimes I think of even kind of, I shouldn't say dumb. I'm looking for a different word. But I used to work in hospitals all the time, and some people get stressed out when they go to a hospital.
Smells, you know, urine, blood, needles, you know, kind of a different environment. And that was my office, basically. And so, now I would go as a new pastor to visit somebody in the hospital. Didn't gross me out at all.
Everything's, I mean, just the Lord was just in His kindness, preparing me for all those things. And same thing in your life, but just different.
Exactly. You know, you look, hindsight being 2020, you look back and you see how events unfolded in your life, knowing that God was sovereign over all of it and led you to where.
You needed to be. Gary, one of my favorite things about you is you're a good learner and listener. And, you know, we have this running joke where, you know, I'm thankful that you come over to my house to help me with projects around the house.
And then you're glad to come over because then we just talk about theology. So, it's almost like you'll help me for theological pay. It's a symbiotic, mutual friendship where we talk about the Lord and we get the work done.
And I've learned a lot of things from you in terms of, I don't know how to, you know, how to put siding on a house. But if you watch me hit a nail, then I get nervous. And so, you're not allowed to watch me.
I'm glad you brought that up. So, I had a question in my mind, but I was leading with something else. Oh, no. One of the things I like about you and you're listening and you're learning is you study the Bible on your own.
You pay attention during sermons. You take things very, it's important to you because you've lived such a life in the past where we're almost like catching up, right? I didn't get saved until I was 29.
You didn't get saved until you were when? Fifty-four. Fifty-four. So, I say, we want to catch up, right? We've wasted our time doing these other things. And sometimes you'll say to me, well, you know, I don't know if I have this right or I'm not a theologian.
You don't say those exact words, but something like that. And then you go on and you tell me all these great theological points that you've learned. You know plenty. And so, I'm very thankful for that.
So, thanks for being a good listener and learner. You are told in the Bible to try to give your elders joy, and you definitely do that. Thank you. So, let's talk a little bit about ministry, since that's one of the things that the Lord has really put on your heart.
We have ministries here available at the church, lots of things to be done. For instance, chairs, kitchen ministry, babysitting, nursery, some of these things just kind of grind you down because they're just relentless, just week by week.
And we were talking about setting up chairs today, and how you volunteered for that, and how I said I'm going to have to get you off that list because you do too many other things, right? Am I telling you the truth?
Yes. All right. But I want to tell you at No Compromise Radio, if the world is ending, let's say with this election, right after the election the world ends, what should you be doing between now and the end of the world?
And Peter says in 1 Peter 4, the end of all things is at hand. Therefore, and, you know, I don't know, go to Aldi and get some food for the end of the world, right? Get some ammo, antibiotics, gold, silver.
He says, be self-controlled, sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly since love covers a multitude of sins. I mean, if it's the end of the world, you might want to just be a prepper and not let anybody in your house.
Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. And here's where our conversation comes in today. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace. Whoever speaks, let him speak the oracles of God.
Whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies with the purpose in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to him belong glory and dominion forever and ever.
Amen. So the world's going to end. We're in the last days. And of course, after the resurrection, before the return of Christ, we're in the last days. What do you do? Well, keep your head on your shoulders, be sober-minded, open your home, love people, forgive people, and serve.
And so tell me a little bit about being a good steward of the gifts you've received and the training you've received, and therefore wanting to serve. In other words, Gary, if people are listening today and are Christians and they don't really have a ministry, what would you tell them?
I would say, you know, you'd have to do some self-examination, I guess, and realize, you know, you don't need a whole bunch of special skills to be on the landscape ministry or, you know, chair ministry or anything.
If you have a willing heart, you know, there's a place for you to do something. And it doesn't, a lot of it's behind the scenes. You know, you can even walk in through greeting people, saying hello. It doesn't, I would say, doesn't matter what you do as long as you're using what you have to help others.
Amen. What's that old Christian slogan, God doesn't care about your ability, He cares about your availability?
You have to be willing. You know, He wants a genuine, caring heart to minister to those who may be struggling. Sometimes a conversation or just to sit with somebody is pretty much all they may need.
And don't you think, Gary, if you're part of a team, it's harder to criticize the team? In other words, let's just use the Patriots. Instead of sniping back and forth at people or complaining about management or owners or the coach, you know, it's all for one and one for all, and you're on this team.
And then in ministry, anybody can sit back and say, oh, the pastor didn't do that well, the elders didn't do that, the deacons don't do that, the nursery people offended me. But when you're serving in the middle of it all, you think this is probably harder than I thought it was to serve with a good attitude and to keep serving week in and week out without any recognition.
Don't you think serving helps your attitude when it comes to looking at people in the church who aren't perfect yet?
Oh, and again, there was only one who was perfect. So if you're looking to find fault, you know, you can find fault with anything or anybody, you know, are you willing to take that step to make a difference?
Yeah, that's exactly right. I look at the passage again in 1 Peter chapter 4, whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies. I wonder if I, I wonder if you, I wonder if people who are listening think, okay, I'm getting tired of this ministry.
Sometimes it does get tiring, right? Even physically or mentally, sometimes emotionally, I'm spent. And then it says, with the strength that God supplies, I'm thinking, oh, Mike, I'm such an idiot. Why are you such an idiot, Mike, where you think I'm getting tired, I should probably say, Lord, could you give me more strength?
Why don't we pray that ministry more? I need more strength.
Again, you know, things I've learned in, not that it's a go-to verse, but Philippians 4 .13, I can do all things. So, if you're relying on yourself, you're probably going to fall miserably short. But if the job at hand was intended for you to do it, you know, sometimes you just got to dig deep.
Absolutely. Well, you and I laugh and joke all the time, and it's fun to just have some joy in life. And so, Gary, I appreciate you coming on today. Gary was up literally on a scaffold in the sanctuary here at the church building.
And I said, hey, Gary, feel free to say no if you want, no obligation. And you're like, you know, what do you want me to do after this kind of thing? And it was kind of funny the way you said it. And I knew you meant it.
And then I said, no, no, if you have 25 minutes, let's go do a radio show. And you're like, okay. So, we were laughing and just kind of like talking. And so, here's your daily affirmation, Gary, because you had such a servant's heart.
So, I wanted to make sure.
I declare that you have a sound mind filled with good thoughts, not thoughts of defeat, but thoughts of faith. You are well-abled. You are anointed. You are equipped. You are empowered. Gary, Gary, Gary.
Your thoughts are guided by God's word. No obstacle can defeat you because your mind is programmed for victory. Amen.
My little Joel cube, I have not yet had to charge it. Maybe in four years, I should probably use it more often because those things, that thing should be charged somehow. It's got daily inspiration, sermon, daily affirmation, and I can save favorites on there.
No response. All right. Well, then let me just throw this at you. Here's a song that you sing. You can sing if you're a Roman Catholic when you baptize your child. Come alive, O child of Adam, as these cleansing waters flow.
Trinity now lives within you. Greatest gift God could bestow. Flow, flow, flow, cleansing waters. Here is God's kingdom anew. Flow, flow, flow, living waters. This soul is God's image too.
Okay. You should see Gary's face.
All right. Back to ministry and how to have a good attitude. What do you do when people criticize you and you're trying to work for the Lord, right? All work for other people is for the Lord. We have a phrase that Martin Luther often would say, God doesn't need your good works, but your neighbor does.
Right? He's of himself. He's self-sufficient. That is God. And so, he doesn't really, he doesn't need anything. He's not in want or desire or unfulfilled or unsatisfied, but our neighbors need help. When somebody criticizes you or they don't like the job you're doing and they're doing no job, what do you do?
What's your process mentally?
I think there's probably two types of criticism. There's constructive and destructive. So, maybe they see something you don't. It's hard not to reply angrily, let's say. In the flesh. So, you have to take people from what they say and not probably read too much into it.
Maybe they've found a better way or a different way to do it. It doesn't make it wrong. And that's some things I've learned from the younger guys I work with. Hey, why don't you try this? This is what works for me.
I've learned things from people that I couldn't do something and they tried doing it this way. If you're open to suggestions, you're halfway there. So, I wouldn't probably respond in anger just trying to figure out where they're coming from and.
What they're trying to tell you. See, that's why I have you on the show, Gary, because I think this way, but not primarily. You said right from the get-go, well, you know, maybe they're right. It's constructive criticism and I should probably take it.
I automatically was thinking about deconstructive criticism where they're just complaining to complain versus, oh, you could do this better or something like that. So, good for you. I even have.
These buttons that help us. And again, it always wasn't like that either. Sometimes I responded in ways that I know I shouldn't. And I think the first couple of years of being saved, I ran out apologies left and right and asked for forgiveness where it never happened before.
Okay. Let's talk about that for a second because I know you're past some and we've talked about it privately. 54 years before God saved you, how many times in those 54 years as an adult did you go to someone and say, I'm really sorry.
I can't apologize enough.
And will you please forgive me? I bet you can count them on one hand, if that.
So when you and Diane got in a fight verbally, you know, an argument, like, was it just a stalemate? Who's going to give in first? Didn't you say you used to go.
For days without talking or something? Sometimes. One thing I admire about Diane is she's as strong willed as I am. And sometimes it butts heads for a while. And let me interrupt you just for a.
Second. And Diane is the female equivalent of Gary and that is serving behind the scenes, doing things all the time, making children's programs great, decorating. I mean, so many things she does. I mean, every pastor needs a Gary and Diane, but back to the point.
Sorry. Good. So she's, she's strong willed. Oh, yes. So you'd go days without talking when you were.
On campus? Sometimes, not so much anymore. You know, I hope so. I hope not. I mean, you know, it was one of those things, you know, it's like, I know, I know I'm right. You know, so even if I'm wrong, I'm not changing my mind.
So it created some friction. And, you know, again, now it's apologize. And now you tend to talk things out in a level tone and not escalate into yelling and screaming. So that's, you know, it's a hard lesson to learn.
And she stuck through.
We just celebrated 34 years. That is amazing. See, now I should have to do the applause thing, right, instead of for the applause earlier. Gary, you get saved late in life. You're 54. You get saved. And how old are you now?
63. I thought you were much younger than I was. So she's been a Christian for a long time before you were, I don't know, 10, 15 years or something. I think it's seven or eight. Okay. So if you've been a Christian for nine and she's been a Christian for 19, for the sake of argument, of course, God has different leadership roles and roles in marriage.
So now you're a brand new Christian nine years ago. She's been a Christian for eight years, obviously knows tons more than you do. How did that work out in terms of trying to lead your wife when you don't know as much, right, when you're not as mature theologically and spiritually?
How did that work through? I'm sure there was harder times and easier times. What happened.
With that? I can't remember it being too, too hard. She's a servant in the best way I know how and talk things out. And she said before, unless I'm mistaken, you know, head of the household, you know, we talk things out.
And again, when you have a debate of what's right or wrong, you find yourself flipping over the pages of the Bible, you know, not that it's going to generally pinpoint your problem or trial you're working through, but it will lead you in the right direction.
So again, we spend some time, I would say, you know, discussing things, how to work best with the family, you know, each other. And it's not perfect, but it's very good.
Amen. Well, Gary, thanks for being on the show. You reminded me of John Makarowski, the time that he was walking out of the church building and he was about ready to move to New Mexico. And I said, John, do you have 30 minutes?
And he looked at me like, yeah, like for what? And I said, come on the radio show. And he walked right in and did it. And so now, following in the footsteps of John Makarowski, Gary Lozo. Gary, thank you for being on No Compromise Radio.
Thank you for being a friend and thank you for serving the Lord here so faithfully. You're welcome.