WWUTT 2095 Q&A Once Again on Church Membership, Joining Another Denomination, Having a God-Honoring Career

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February 16, 2024

Responding to questions from listeners about church membership again this week, can a Baptist become a member at a Presbyterian Church, and how can a Christian honor God and have a thriving career? Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!

00:00: Why is church membership important? We'll consider that question again today. Can someone who is Baptist become a member of a
00:07: Presbyterian church? And how can one be successful at their career without compromising their faith?
00:12: The answers to these and others when we understand the text. This is
00:25: When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible commentary in the word of Christ who leads us in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
00:32: Tell your friends about our ministry at www .wutt .com. Here once again is
00:38: Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. You're welcome. On to Psalm 10 this week. Yeah.
00:43: 18 verses, we broke up Psalm 9 in half, but there's really not a good place to stop in Psalm 10.
00:50: Okay. So we're just gonna go ahead and go straight through the Psalm here. Let's do it. Why do you stand afar off,
00:56: O Yahweh? Why do you hide yourself in times of distress? In his lofty pride, the wicked hotly pursues the afflicted.
01:06: Let them be caught in the thoughts which they have devised. For the wicked boasts of his soul's desire, and the greedy man curses and spurns
01:15: Yahweh. The wicked in the haughtiness of his countenance does not seek him. All his thoughts are, there is no
01:22: God. His ways prosper at all times. Your judgments are on high, out of his sight.
01:30: As for all his adversaries, he snorts at them. He says in his heart, I will not be shaken from generation to generation.
01:37: I will not be an adversity. His mouth is full of curses and deceit and oppression.
01:43: Under his tongue is mischief and wickedness. He sits in the places of the villages where one lies in wait.
01:50: In the hiding places, he kills the innocent. His eyes stealthily watch for the unfortunate.
01:57: He lies in wait in a hiding place as a lion in his lair. He lies in wait to catch the afflicted.
02:03: He catches the afflicted when he draws him into his net. He crouches, he bows down, and the unfortunate fall by his mighty ones.
02:12: He says in his heart, God has forgotten. He has hidden his face. He will never see it.
02:20: Arise, oh Yahweh. Oh God, lift up your hand. Do not forget the afflicted.
02:27: Why has the wicked spurned God? He has said in his heart, you will not require it.
02:33: You have seen it for you have beheld mischief and vexation to take it into your hand.
02:39: The unfortunate commits himself to you. You have been the helper of the orphan. Break the arm of the wicked and the evildoer.
02:48: Seek out his wickedness until you find none. Yahweh is king forever and ever.
02:54: Nations have perished from his land. Oh Yahweh, you have heard the desire of the humble.
03:00: You will strengthen their heart. You will cause your ear to give heed, to give justice to the orphan and the oppressed so that man who is of the earth will no longer cause terror.
03:14: Yahweh is king forever and ever. And that reminds me of something I read earlier this week from Michael Reeves.
03:20: There is no place for despair as long as Christ is on the throne.
03:26: Amen. So just like we read with Psalm 9, the wicked will have his day, but God ultimately has his day.
03:36: Yes. And he will destroy the wicked. God remains sitting on his throne. And while we see wickedness and despair happening in the world, it's very easy for us to ask, just like the
03:46: Psalmist does at the beginning of Psalm 10. Why do you stand afar off, oh
03:52: Yahweh? Mm -hmm. Why do you hide yourself in times of distress? And Peter really kind of addressed this as well in 2
04:02: Peter 3, where he said that scoffers will say, where is the promise of his coming?
04:08: For since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation. For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God, the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water through which the world at that time was destroyed, being deluged with water and perished.
04:27: But by his word, the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
04:36: So do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years like one day.
04:44: The Lord is not slow about his promise as some consider slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all, meaning all his people to come to repentance.
05:01: And that is encouraging. As we're watching evil happen in the world, where is
05:06: God? Is he standing far off? Does he not see what's happening? Like Habakkuk saying, how long will
05:11: I cry to you violence and you will not answer? And God's response to Habakkuk was watch and see for I'm doing something in the nations you would not even know.
05:21: You wouldn't even understand if I told you what it was going to be. Right. Yeah, and everything that he does is so intricate because he's,
05:28: I mean, he created the world. So he's got the whole world that he's taking care of.
05:34: He's got the whole world. I know. In his hands. I knew that was coming. But anyway.
05:41: You know, everybody listening was thinking it too. Oh yeah, I know, I know. It's fine, you sing it with them. Anyway, so I mean, like by the time that everything gets put into its place to be his perfect timing,
05:56: I mean, sometimes we just have to be a little bit more patient. Because whenever, I feel like whenever I'm impatient with like, this should happen.
06:04: This should be now. It should happen by now. I should have been there already, you know, while I'm still driving or something like that.
06:11: So I, but I have to step back and remember that God's timing is better than my own. And so who am
06:17: I to say that it was not perfect timing? So. We've been going through Acts with the kids.
06:25: So we finished up Mark. And so then we picked up with the Table Talk Magazine. They're going through Acts this year.
06:32: So we were in Acts four and where the disciples are praying, God, you had ordained that the
06:38: Romans and the Jews along with their rulers, Herod and Pilate would come against your servant
06:46: Jesus to do what your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And it was our oldest daughter that after we had read that lesson had said, such a great thing to consider.
06:57: It sometimes escapes our notice that even the evil things that happen in the world have been preordained by God for some ultimate good.
07:07: And so are we trusting God in the midst of those things to reckon? I don't think it's wrong to pray with the psalmist because it's right here in the
07:15: Bible. It's not wrong to pray with the psalmist. Why do you stand far off, O Yahweh?
07:20: I'll be honest, I've had prayers like that this year already. Asking God, what are you doing in this?
07:26: What are you doing in the midst of this? What do I need to see that I'm not seeing yet? I've prayed things like that.
07:31: So it's not bad to ask those questions. The psalmist asked those questions. As long as those questions are drawing us nearer to seeing what it is that God is doing and not causing us to despair and then lose our grip.
07:45: Right, it's with hope. Yeah, it's with hope, right. We're asking those questions with hope. Right. Like I wanna see it.
07:51: Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. As you see your will accomplished from your heavenly vantage point, can
08:01: I see it too from here? Yeah. So yeah, we're not being oppressed by evil, our family.
08:08: At least we don't feel that way. We've been there before as a family. We've had to deal with those things.
08:13: Right now, it's still a matter of, what is God doing with us in this season? But still all kinds of wickedness going on in the world around us.
08:21: We've talked in previous episodes about some days I just can't turn on the news. Right. Because I've got too many things in my immediate vicinity that I have to focus on right here.
08:30: I don't really care what's happening in the White House today. Yeah. Or what's happening internationally.
08:36: Let me deal with these things. I'm sure it'll be different tomorrow. Oh yeah, it'll be news. It'll be the same news stories, but different news stories.
08:43: Same stuff going on, different day. Exactly right. Well, as we have asked in previous episodes, speaking of the season that we're in right now, it was two episodes ago that I said that we're in a really tight place right now.
08:59: Having moved from Texas to here, we're in a brand new church. I'm getting this ministry rolling here.
09:06: Everybody in the church has been so wonderful to welcome us. I feel like I've felt right in.
09:13: No, I feel like I fit right in. That was what I was looking for. Yes. Anyway, we're all here.
09:21: We're into this ministry. Still some things where I'm kind of trying to find my footing in certain places.
09:27: We're finding the needs in the congregation and attempting to meet those and things like that.
09:32: But still, we're bogged down, weighed down with the fact that our house in Texas hasn't sold.
09:40: So we're paying rent and a mortgage at the same time. And over 75 % of our income,
09:46: I think, in a month is going toward housing. Because not only are we paying the mortgage, but we're having to pay to keep the lights and the water on while they're showing the house.
09:57: You don't want a potential buyer coming in and turning the faucet and going, well, the water doesn't work here. It's sort of the way buyer's minds work.
10:05: And you can't see beyond that. Can't see beyond the fact that, no, it works. You're just, the owner's not paying the bill.
10:12: That's right. So anyway, it is an incredible financial crunch.
10:17: And I've never felt a financial crunch like this before. And we've been married, this year for us is 14 years.
10:25: Never have had a financial crunch like this. But so anyway, we had put that out there on the podcast a couple of weeks ago and just said, if anybody can help, if you wanna donate, it would be greatly appreciated.
10:37: And I'll be honest with you, all I was really expecting, maybe my expectations were low, but all
10:44: I was expecting was you guys would help us with a few dinners in there. Sure. It's been way more than that.
10:51: Definitely. It's been way more than that. The Lord has truly blessed us through you guys.
10:57: It's awesome. And some of you have donated 30 bucks. Some of you donated a lot more.
11:02: And with those donations, I've even had requests, here, this is for you, don't mention my name.
11:08: So I'm gonna respect that. Not everybody said that, but I still wanna respect that. No matter what we get, we praise
11:16: God for you. Oh, amen. And I can't even begin to tell you how much it's meant to us.
11:23: We've already shed tears over this. I'm trying not to do that again. Yeah, please don't. I'm an ugly crier.
11:32: I just can't begin to tell you. I mean, we know people listen, but to just feel the love that we have been shown by you guys.
11:40: We have thanked God for every one of you by name when we've seen those donations come in.
11:47: In our church too. Oh, in our church. I was getting to that, yes. It's not like they've neglected us.
11:52: I gotta jump the gun. Yeah, true. It's not like our church has neglected us. I mean, I still make a paycheck there. They are providing for us and they are taking care of us.
12:00: But even at the business meeting this past Sunday. Above and beyond. Yeah, they went above and beyond even to vow to help us with rent if we needed it.
12:09: I'm gonna try not to touch it if I don't have to. As long as we continue to have donations like this and I don't have to touch the church's finances.
12:19: In fact, I even wanna take a portion of what you've donated to us and give it to our church. So anyway,
12:27: I don't have anything else to say except thank you. A big thank you. Right now we're comfortable for a few months if the house doesn't sell.
12:39: But if you can still donate, if you still wanna give. Or if you're in the East Texas area and you're looking for a house, let us know.
12:46: Oh yeah, right. We'll tell you the address. We got somewhere we can recommend. You can go check it out. Yeah. So anyway, or if somebody wants to say, hey,
12:55: I wanna buy an investment property there. There you go. You might be able to talk me down a little bit.
13:02: It's an awesome house. We really love it though. Yeah, yeah. And the location was great and everything.
13:07: People are awesome. It was two blocks from the pool. Yeah. That's what the kids loved about it. The neighbors were awesome. Yeah, neighbors were great.
13:13: Oh my goodness. It was so dead quiet. I could not believe how quiet it was. It was so quiet, yes. And the neighborhood that we live in, it was a gated community, but the part of the,
13:24: I don't know, not HOA. I don't know what you would call it, but just part of the rules of the community. There were no streetlights.
13:30: Yeah. Which was kind of weird. But it's called hideaways. It's called hideaway, so yeah. And when you get out there and you are out there at night, it's just so dark.
13:41: But at the same time, you're like, I really like this. Yeah. You feel isolated and quiet.
13:47: Yeah, definitely. And you could see the stars. You could see the stars, right, yeah.
13:52: Not many places in East Texas you could do that, but you sure could do that in hideaway. Still had the lights of Dallas that weren't that far away from there.
14:01: In fact, people who worked in Dallas would live in our neighborhood and they would, it was an hour and a half, but they would.
14:06: Commute. They would do that commute because they just liked the neighborhood so much. Yeah. But anyway, all that to say, we're so very thankful for you.
14:14: We're thankful for our church. Everyone who has shown us love through this trial, through this difficult time.
14:20: And it's been difficult for me to ask for help. The church knew that I needed help, even though I didn't ask for help.
14:27: And they just voted to give us the money if we needed it. And so, it was a humbling thing even a couple of weeks ago to have to say, hey, if you guys can give us some money, we kind of need the help.
14:40: It sure was an answer to prayer. But you have all been an answer to prayer. Amen. My wife and I even,
14:46: I've stayed up late at night being weighed down with decisions that the head of the household has to make.
14:55: Looking at the budget at the beginning of February, going, I just don't know how we can do this.
15:01: I don't know how we're gonna make it to the end of this month. And then to have your generosity shown to us, the kindness and compassion of our
15:10: Lord God in the family of God. Amen. Has, yeah.
15:16: Like I said earlier, I was praying those prayers, asking God, what are you doing in the midst of this situation? And he has shown his love and provision for us time and time again.
15:26: Amen. Who am I to doubt? I know, right? That'll learn me. Well, it is the
15:32: Friday edition of the broadcast. Oh yeah, by the way. So, if you wanna donate, you can send donations via PayPal or Venmo.
15:41: Yeah, Venmo. Can I give our Venmo thing? What is it? Gebekehues? I think so, yeah.
15:46: G -A -B -E -K -I -H -U -G -H -E -S. That's our Venmo.
15:52: Or if you donate via PayPal, it's whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.
15:57: That email address is connected to the PayPal account as well. Please tell me I got the Venmo right as you're looking that up.
16:04: Yep, Gebekehues. Gebekehues. But you gotta know how to spell Becky. Yeah, magic. Magic. G -A -B -E -K -I -H -U -G -H -E -S.
16:14: Yes. And we had chosen that because Gabe and Becky, both names are in there. Yeah, both names are in there in six letters.
16:22: So anyway, yeah, taking questions from the listeners, and again, you can send those questions to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.
16:30: If you wanna know more about our church, since I mentioned the church, we're Providence Reformed Baptist Church, Casa Grande, Arizona.
16:37: And the website is providencecasagrande .com.
16:42: Yes. Grand spelled like grande. Yes. Providencecasagrande .com, because technically it is grande.
16:48: Casa grande. Like the Rio Grande. Yeah, Rio Grande, exactly.
16:54: Yeah, I didn't think of that, but you're right. You're right, Rio Grande. It's the Rio Grande. Rio. It just depends on where you're at.
17:02: I sound like an angry Frenchman trying to speak Spanish. Yeah, that's how that's coming across.
17:08: It's true. Anyway. You're gonna get me choked.
17:16: I know, I'm gonna choke up my wife. So let's get to some of these questions here. We talked about church membership also a couple of weeks ago.
17:24: It was that same episode two weeks ago. We've been talking about it ever since. Yes. I did not know how pressing a matter that was on so many different people.
17:31: Oh, really? Because we're still getting emails about it. Oh, that's awesome. So we're gonna read a couple more here. I'm gonna read this one, and then
17:37: I wanna refresh your memory on why church membership. Okay. The article that I read two weeks ago, and then
17:42: I have another one from Sinclair Ferguson that I think will be really helpful. Awesome. So this is from Christopher.
17:47: He says, good morning, Pastor Gabe and Becky. The past couple of Q &A episodes on the questions of church membership have been encouraging.
17:55: My family is in the process of looking at local churches with the intent to join in membership for all the reasons that you have mentioned on the podcast.
18:03: And not only have we been getting emails from listeners about this, but even members of our own church.
18:10: Yeah, that's true. Have said, I've listened the past couple of weeks. I've loved hearing what you've talked about regarding church membership, and it's come from both members and prospective members.
18:19: That's true. Of our church. Yes. So it hits home as well. Yes. Christopher goes on to say, it's a long story, but the
18:25: Lord has led us to this circumstance for his purposes and glory and for our good. Amen.
18:30: We were very blessed to have a pastor at our former church who led our church to a healthy understanding of church membership and community based on biblical understanding of what the church is.
18:41: As we are now providentially required to change churches, our previous church has dissolved.
18:47: Sorry to hear that. The process of finding a new church has proven far more difficult than I had imagined, especially as we live in a suburbanizing rural area where churches are plentiful.
19:00: We're actually kind of in the same. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. We're in a suburbanizing, I mean, this town is exploding.
19:06: Yeah, it used to be considered rural. Yes. And now it's like just within the past, less than five years, it's now considered a city.
19:15: It's like the suburbs of Phoenix. Yeah. I mentioned that Lindale was 90 minutes from Dallas.
19:20: Casa Grande is less than 45 minutes from Phoenix. Yep. So we can be in Phoenix in probably 30 to 35 minutes,
19:27: I think. Outer Phoenix. Yeah. So yeah, it's like a - Right. It's like a suburb of Phoenix almost.
19:34: I mean, there's still some desert in between. There is. Yeah, there's an Indian reservation. Even when we came out here to candidate back on the
19:42: Labor Day weekend, I was amazed how quick we got here. Yeah. From the airport in Phoenix to here.
19:48: I thought - Yeah, it was amazing. That was really fast. But yeah, we're - I was within 30 minutes. Yeah, at the airport, yeah.
19:53: Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, we're kind of in the same sort of a thing. Neighborhoods are blowing up all over the place here in Casa Grande.
20:02: And there are a lot of churches. Yeah. But there are also some empty churches. There are. Ours is filling up.
20:08: We're reaching capacity. We'll still take more people. Yeah, come visit. That's right.
20:14: But yeah, there are some churches that are, I mean, really languishing, even though there are many churches in Casa Grande. So anyway,
20:20: Christopher goes on, we have been forced to further clarify and sharpen our understanding of the church through a biblical lens, while accepting the fact that no one church is going to be the perfect church.
20:31: Right. Or replace what we had exactly. Yeah. Definitely. We have prayed and sought counsel and believe we are close to committing to a local church near our home where the scriptures are preached faithfully, the sacraments are administered weekly, and Christ is exalted daily.
20:47: Thank you for the encouragement from afar through the What Podcast and YouTube. It is truly a joy to hear the questions and comments from brothers and sisters across the land and around the globe.
20:58: Amen. Meanwhile, he goes on. Okay. It seems that the popular churches prefer to kick the scriptures rather than preach them and entertain themselves with gimmicks, performances of secular artistry, crude humor, profanity, blasphemies, and cultural idolatry.
21:14: Yeah. By now, the antics of Crossroads Church based in Ohio have been spread far and wide.
21:21: You may not have seen this video, babe. I don't know if you came across this or not. If you've been on. Probably not. If you've been on X this past week, then you've probably seen it.
21:28: Nope, I have not. Okay, there you go. Sorry, guys, I'm clueless. So they literally kicked a
21:34: Bible. Wait, what? Yeah, in service. So they had this Superbowl themed. Okay, it's a good thing that I'm clueless.
21:41: They had this Superbowl themed service where they had a kickoff and the kickoff was kicking a
21:47: Bible. And it was a guy versus a gal. I didn't quite understand the context of who the guy was and who the gal was, but she kicked the
21:55: Bible clear over his head out into the congregation. I was astonished watching the clip that the people didn't just audibly gasp at that.
22:05: But of course. Well, no, they've hyped it up. Well, yeah, exactly right. They're all there to see that.
22:10: Right. To see what they're doing and all of that. This is the irreverent approach that they take to the word of God.
22:18: Not only are they not preaching the truth, but they're kicking it, literally kicking it.
22:25: That's awful. Yeah. I can't, no, don't let me. And so Christopher, I'm not gonna play it.
22:32: I mean, I could play it. You could hear the audio, but you wouldn't be able to see it. So yeah. Okay, thanks. I know Crossroads isn't the only one doing this nonsense, but it is a travesty to see so -called churches putting on such carnal displays and calling it
22:45: Lord's Day worship. They justify their methods with numbers saying that the Super Bowl Sunday event is the largest attended service of the year, outpacing
22:54: Christmas and Easter. And that if they can get people in the door with their methods to hear about Jesus, then they have accomplished their mission.
23:01: How utterly sad that these church leaders have such a low view of Christ's bride. I did not watch the service, but I would highly doubt that they're even talking about you're a sinner headed for hell,
23:14: Christ is a savior. Oh, I doubt it. Turn to Jesus to be saved. I mean, where would they learn about Jesus in the first place?
23:22: In the Bible. In the Bible, they're kicking. Totally unhitched from. Yeah. Oh my goodness.
23:27: Okay, sorry. So Christopher goes on. I spoke with a chat rep for the church and she agreed that Crossroads is a church for people who do not like church.
23:40: Yes. Yeah, so yeah, those are pagan people that are coming in there that don't like church and are just there to see the spectacle that you put on for Superbowl.
23:48: And have their kids watched. Yeah, probably love the fact that you kicked a Bible. It's great,
23:53: I don't read it anyway. So he goes on, do they not realize that the church is the people who love
23:59: Christ and his bride? We are working through 1 John in our family worship time.
24:04: That short letter is almost entirely about the fact that those who are in Christ will love their brothers, i .e.
24:11: the church. For a church to look at 2 ,000 years of church history, real doctrinal wrestlings, and the persecutions endured by the saints for their adherence to sound doctrine and decide that they can do it better by entertaining people with the trinkets of the world is grievous.
24:28: I mean, they're even doing worse than that. It's not just about putting on big screens and great displays.
24:33: They're literally kicking God's word for entertainment. Such churches have smelted golden calves and worshiped
24:41: Baal, not the true God. But as for me in my house, Christopher says, we will serve
24:46: Yahweh. May God keep you and bless you. Thanks again for your ministry.
24:53: Appreciate you, Christopher. Yeah. Thank you so much for listening. And we're praying for you as you look for a church.
25:00: Yeah. And following those standards that we had kind of laid out a couple of weeks ago, why church ministry is important.
25:06: Let me go through those again. There were nine of them here. I think I added a 10th. I'll try to remember what the 10th was.
25:13: By the time you get there, maybe you will. Yeah, maybe so. Now, I'm not gonna read the article word for word like I did a couple of weeks ago, but let me go through these principles again real quick, just to kind of refresh your memory.
25:24: And then I wanna turn to that Sinclair Ferguson article. Why church membership? Why should we become committed and an active member of a local church?
25:34: Here's nine, maybe 10 reasons. Mm -hmm. First, church membership helps us guard the peace and purity of the church.
25:42: And the author of this article points to Matthew 18, 15 through 20, where you have church discipline that is mentioned there.
25:51: In order to know who needs discipline and who we go to about discipline, you gotta be a part of a local church.
25:58: Yeah. To follow those commands there in Matthew 18, you have to be part of a local church. Second, church membership provides the privilege of accountability to church leaders.
26:08: Hebrews 13, 17 says, obey your leaders and submit to them for they are keeping watch over your souls.
26:14: Third, church membership gives a tangible way to express commitment to a family of believers.
26:20: Fourth, church membership provides a profound means of telling the world that we are followers of Christ.
26:27: Mm -hmm. These are my brothers and sisters. This is the God that I worship through the church that you attend.
26:33: Fifth, church membership pulls us into a grand story, into the grand story of God's covenant love.
26:41: As God has made a covenant with us, we pledge in covenant with the church that we're a part of.
26:47: Sixth, church membership encourages participation in the work of the church. Ephesians 4, 16,
26:53: Paul says, each part of the body does its share of the work, building the body up in love. Seventh, church membership helps us distinguish between neighbor and household of faith.
27:05: We are to love our neighbor, which is everybody, but especially the household of faith, as said in Galatians 6, 10.
27:12: Eighth, church membership prevents us from showing favoritism. Those instructions come out exactly in James 2.
27:19: Do not show partiality as you hold hope in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
27:24: So we don't show favoritism toward others, but we understand that each part in the body of Christ has an important function.
27:32: Number nine, church membership helps to prevent us from trying to go it alone.
27:37: Right. That is especially needed in our present day when after COVID happened, we've just felt like we can do everything from home now.
27:45: Right. Why do I even need to go to work? Why do I gotta go to church? My church is streaming online.
27:52: I can just watch it from there. Yeah. You know, it's great that technology allows us to do that. There are people who are homebound.
27:58: Right. There are people that are struggling that cannot get to church. Yeah. Praise God that technology allows us to put a church service in front of them, perhaps in their own home, but that's not a replacement for attending.
28:10: You do need to be with the body. And I think it's, we fool ourselves into thinking that I'm not lonely when
28:19: I've just been staring at a computer screen for so long. You're just bored. Yeah, I'm just bored.
28:26: And you're disconnected from people. You have to be a part of a local church. And then number 10, if I remember what number 10 was properly, those instructions that we have in scripture about singing
28:37: Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, about hearing the word of God preached, listening to it together, that we may grow with one another, those commands can only be followed when we're with one another.
28:48: Yes. So we need to be with each other. We actually need to struggle with one another.
28:54: Yeah. So that you can exercise love is patient, love is kind. Yeah. You actually need to be patient with one another and you need to have one another to show kindness too.
29:05: Right. So this is important, especially in the body of Christ. And that also means to humble yourself and whenever you need to and ask for help.
29:13: So that way somebody else gets the opportunity to show that love and kindness to you. Exactly. Like what we had to do.
29:20: Yeah. And appreciate the generosity of everybody. So let's get to this
29:26: Sinclair. All to the glory of God. Amen. Let's get to this Sinclair Ferguson article. Okay. Why should
29:31: I become a formal church member? Okay. By however a church does it and churches do it in different ways, what we are actually doing by becoming a formal member is saying,
29:43: I'm committing myself to you. I'm committing myself to the Lord and I'm committing myself to you.
29:50: Now, of course, Sinclair Ferguson says this in that awesome Scottish accent. Right. I know that my voice is not nearly as appealing and soothing as Sinclair Ferguson's.
30:01: Little, I got the radio voice, but it's a little more abrasive. So if you want to hear
30:06: Sinclair Ferguson do this, you can look up, why should I become a formal church member, which is an article through Ligonier and there's a video.
30:14: There you go. Actually, hang on, let me hit play here. I bet you, you'll be able to hear him do it. The really important thing is that it's by however a church does it and churches do it in different ways, what we are actually doing is saying,
30:30: I'm committing myself to you. I'm committing myself to the Lord and I'm committing myself to you.
30:37: Okay, I said that. Yeah, you did. I did not realize this video was word for word exactly the transcript.
30:44: Word for word. It is, okay. That's awesome. So let's keep going here. We'll listen to Sinclair Ferguson do it. And that brings together two really important elements in the
30:51: Christian life, our faith and trust in Christ and our life for him. But also this, that we commit ourselves to all those in the fellowship to whom he has committed himself.
31:04: And so becoming a formal member of the church is very, very important because if you don't do it, in a sense, you're like a child in a family who's saying, well,
31:18: I don't think I really want to play with you all. And when that happens, the parents know something's gone wrong with the child.
31:28: So actually not formally or informally, however a church does it, committing yourself to the church dishonors
31:38: Christ. And I think grieves the Holy Spirit. The other side of it is, it's only when we do that, that elders and others will feel a responsibility for us.
31:50: It's only when we give ourselves to their shepherding of us, that they are really able to shepherd us.
31:58: And it's also only in that context, when people know that we are committed to them, if God has given us gifts, then the space will open up for us to exercise these gifts.
32:10: There's no reason why the church should say, well, you're not committing yourself to us, but we really want you to exercise your gifts because that would be a denial of our commitment to them and our denial of the love of the
32:22: Lord Jesus in our hearts for them. So it's really of supreme importance. That was great.
32:28: And of course he said it in that much more grandfatherly soothing way than I would have said it.
32:33: Thank you, Sinclair or Dr. Ferguson, formally, maybe I need to, since he was talking about formality there.
32:40: Right, right. Be more formal. Well, my question would be, sorry, am
32:46: I getting off topic? No, go ahead. Okay, so my question is like, what if somebody is attending a church, but it's not like they don't agree doctrinally.
33:00: With everything? With everything. And so they're attending the church and they're participating in everything, but it's because it's the closest thing to their beliefs.
33:11: So do they commit to that church still? Do they still accept membership or do they like withhold membership, but like, okay, but we're here.
33:19: Well, there's various aspects to this. So, and I've had to - I mean, I know every situation's different. Don't -
33:25: Yeah, and we have actually answered questions like the one you're asking. That's what I was thinking too. Yes.
33:30: But I can't remember what we had said. Like, for example, last week, we had a couple of people that wrote in who were in very rural areas.
33:36: Right. One having to drive an hour in order to get to church. Right, one way. And we shared a couple of weeks ago, the quote from Paul Washer, who said, don't go to the church that's closest in distance.
33:48: Go to the church that's closest to the gospel. So even if you have to drive an hour in order to get there, you're with the church that is closest to the gospel that you may grow together in Christ.
34:00: But let's say even an hour is, maybe it's even beyond that. Right. Where do you find a good church?
34:07: You've got a church that's nearby. You don't quite agree with everything doctrinally. Or at least nearest.
34:14: Yeah, nearest. Whatever. Yeah, let's say you've got, you're in a small town, you got six churches in your town. Which one would you say of those six, because this is like the town
34:23: I grew up in. Right. Small farming community town. Yes. Where I graduated high school. Same with you. Yep.
34:29: You know, there might be maybe a dozen churches at the most or something like that. In a town of a thousand people or something.
34:35: So which church of those is the furthest along doctrinally?
34:41: You would say is the most biblical in the way that they, in the way that they do their preaching.
34:47: Maybe you don't even have an expository church in town. Right. I've heard that testimony from people before. There's not even an expository church around here.
34:54: Yeah. But still find the one that you know is the most biblical. And as you join that church, you become part of it.
35:02: Can you encourage them along in growing doctrinally, even perhaps encouraging the pastor or the elders or whoever is leading the teaching to move in a direction of being more expository, less topical, less thematic, or even trying to copy some of the gimmicky things that churches do like we read from Christopher.
35:25: Find the church that is the most biblical, is the most faithful to the scriptures and grow with them.
35:32: Because even when we get - So you're saying go ahead and join. Yeah, join one. Okay. And commit to this church.
35:38: And you know, it's a ministry that could take decades. True. As I've heard
35:44: DA Carson and Mark Dever and John MacArthur and many other preachers say, you wanna have a longstanding ministry where you're pouring into people's lives and see them growing doctrinally.
35:56: This isn't something that you do for five years at a time, which is the average length of a stay of most pastors.
36:03: Most pastors stay for five years. Interesting. You need to be in a place for decades, pouring into them doctrinal sound truth, regular preaching from the word for probably a generation.
36:17: Yeah. Before that church gets a foundation to where you could probably get up and leave and it would continue on faithfully in the word.
36:26: Yes. Because of that foundation, that biblical foundation that has been established there.
36:32: And that's not the case with every single church. Of course. But in most cases, especially if you're in a community where all the churches around, you can't even find a good expository preaching church.
36:44: It's gonna take committing to that church and spurring one another on in love, building each other up in love as Ephesians 4 says, in order to get that church to a place that looks like a biblically healthy, faithful church.
37:00: Let's get to this question from Darrell. Okay. Because he kind of goes into the same thing you just asked about.
37:06: Okay. Hello, Pastor Gabe and Becky. I'm currently listening to your Friday episode talking about the importance of church membership.
37:12: I can't help but notice this is part of God's providence and timing because I'm currently struggling with a matter of membership.
37:21: My wife and I have moved to Florida a few years ago and I've been attending a Presbyterian PCA church.
37:28: I come from a Baptist background. So obviously I disagree with Presbyterian's view of baptism and covenant theology.
37:36: I haven't found another church in the area though that's as sound as this church. There is a new membership meeting coming up later in the month that I plan to attend, but I'm struggling with these theological differences.
37:46: Am I being too picky about this or should I refrain from committing to this church since I don't agree on these matters?
37:54: I don't wanna make a decision that would lead me to violate my own conscience and sin. Thank you for your time and God bless you and your family.
38:02: Well, I will say that, so the church that I pastored in Kansas in Junction City for 10 years was a
38:08: Baptist church. We were the only expository preaching church in town. Yes.
38:13: There was another church that claimed to be, but they really weren't. You could go through their sermon lists and it looked like they were, but it was very topical and plus you would see like multiple gaps.
38:27: So they might even skip chapters and go to different places in the text. So they would have called themselves expository, but not really.
38:33: We were the only expository preaching church. I wouldn't say we were the only church that was calling out sin and pointing to the gospel.
38:40: I did listen to other preachers in town and there were preachers that did that, but we were the only one that was really expository.
38:47: So we would have families that would come in if you know the history of the podcast, we even talked about it a couple of weeks ago and the military families that we were ministering to there and kind of the revolving door that Junction City was, we would get families that would come in that would be
39:03: Presbyterian. The only Presbyterian church in that town was PCUSA and they were like the conservative side of liberal.
39:14: Still liberal, maybe not as unhinged as many of the PCA churches have, or not
39:20: PCA, the USPCA. USPCA, did I say that right beforehand? I think so.
39:26: It was the USPCA, not the PCA. Anyway, but the Presbyterians would come into town, they would see that's the only church they could go to and they're going, no.
39:36: So they would come to ours and they would say, can we be part of this church? Would we be welcome here?
39:43: Can we attend? We can listen to the preaching. You know, we don't have to become members or even voting members, but this is where we wanna be shepherded and we want our souls to be cared for as long as we're here.
39:54: And we would welcome them in. Sure. And they could even partake of the Lord's table without any judgment coming upon them for that.
40:02: That's in your conscience, that's between you and the Lord. Right. And so, yeah, we did have
40:07: Presbyterians that were part of our church. Now, Darrell's situation's the other way around. Right. He's the
40:13: Baptist and he's wanting to go to a PCA church. I would say you should talk to the elders and clarify things the same way that people would when they would come to us and say, can
40:23: I become a member here? Will you welcome me here even though I'm Presbyterian? And my convictions are, you know, this is what
40:31: I believe covenant theology to be. Infant, you know, my children have all been baptized as infants, things like that.
40:37: And I'm okay with that as long as they're not compromising on their own conscience and they can't become voting members because you can't vote in a way that would be contrary to our
40:50: Baptist convictions. I wanna say at First Baptist Lyndale, we had like a tier system of membership where you could become a member there, but not a voting member.
41:02: Oh, okay, yeah. Because of, probably for that very same reason, because you either are gone a lot, you're on the road, so you're not really keeping up with the ins and outs of everything that's happening in the church, it wouldn't be fair for you to just pop into a business meeting and cast a vote when you haven't been here to see everything that's happening.
41:20: Right, I noticed some of them were like college or off to the army. Right, and they've been away at college, right. So we, as a church, still had a commitment to care for you, even though you were away, and you could still be a member here, but you couldn't be a voting member.
41:34: Right. And then that would probably have been the case too with somebody who said, I'm Presbyterian, can I still be a member here, that kind of a thing.
41:42: So just clarify that with the elders, talk about that with them, say your conviction is a Baptist, you don't see yourself changing to become pedo -Baptist, so can
41:51: I still attend here, can I partake of the Lord's table? I understand if you won't let me vote, but I can still attend the business meetings, maybe offer an opinion, even though I don't have a casting vote, that sort of a thing.
42:05: Just make sure you're very open and honest with them about all of that. Sure. There are
42:10: Presbyterian churches that won't accept Baptists, and there are Baptist churches that won't accept
42:15: Presbyterians. Very true. So you just have to talk those things through and see what they allow, and if they would welcome you in to their congregation, because you say, there's nowhere else for me to go.
42:25: Yeah. And maybe they have good counsel for you, maybe they even know of a church that you don't know about.
42:31: Oh, that's true. That they could direct you to. So I would still say, be very open and honest with the elders about that, and just like we read a moment ago in fulfillment of what is said in Hebrews 13, that these men have been entrusted with the care of your soul.
42:47: Yeah. And so if you wanna commit membership to that church so that they can shepherd you, and you feel like you would not be compromising in your conscience with the faith statement that they follow, then yes, even as a
43:02: Baptist, I would say, see if you can join that PCA church, because you wanna sit under that teaching and be filled with that gospel preaching that's going on at that church.
43:10: All right, this next question, or did you have something else to add? Well, I was gonna say, be looking out for your family as well.
43:17: Yes. Like if you have young children who are going to be growing up in the church, then be sure that they have an understanding of both sides.
43:27: Yeah, even though we were coming here and I was becoming the pastor here, I still wanted to see how the church was gonna treat my kids.
43:33: Yeah. And so when we visited in view of a call back in September, that was a big deal. It was.
43:39: A big deal to see the way that they treated my family. That mattered a lot to me.
43:44: And had - Obviously won us over. Right. I mean, as a reformed Baptist church, I was like, surely we're doctrinally aligned on just about everything.
43:53: Yes. I can't imagine even an area where we don't agree, because we're all London Baptist Confession of Faith people.
43:59: But how is this church gonna receive me? Will I even fit when I'm standing up here at this pulpit and preaching?
44:06: Yeah. Will you receive my family? Those things are important. As a pastor that was important to me, because I'm gonna move my family here.
44:11: Right. So therefore it needs to be important also, even when you're choosing a church. These people that are pouring into you, also gonna be pouring into your spouse and your children.
44:22: So that's it on the subject of membership. As far as the emails I got about church membership. That's as far as I got.
44:28: This next one comes from Joaquin. Good morning, Pastor Gabe. My question today is how do
44:34: I separate slash distinguish what's of my own desires and what is
44:39: God's will? I'm struggling recently with my job and wanting to make more money for my partner and our future, but also with wanting to do only what
44:48: God wills for my life. Thank you for the daily Bible studies and the wisdom you bring.
44:54: Well, first of all, Joaquin, when you talk about your partner, I'm not really sure if you mean like the person you're engaged to, maybe gonna be married to or your business partner.
45:07: Yeah. So are you talking about your future wife or are you talking about the person that you're working with and just wanting to build up this job and make more money for yourselves?
45:17: Either way, that aside, the instruction that I give here, whenever somebody has asked me, what is
45:24: God's will for my life? What am I to do? How do I know that I'm in God's will even in these pursuits that I am making?
45:30: First Thessalonians 5 .18, in everything, give thanks for this is
45:36: God's will for you in Christ Jesus. So in whatever you have right now, be content with it.
45:45: Now that doesn't mean that you're so content with it that, oh, okay, well, I don't need to advance or...
45:50: Right. No, hey, climb the corporate ladder if you can. Yeah. Make those advancements in your job and in your career, make wise investments, make money.
46:00: There's plenty of instructions in the Bible about doing that. You're working for the Lord. That's right. Do those things, handle your money wisely and even create a future for your children, setting money aside that your children will be able to benefit from as well.
46:15: All of those things are very, very good. But remember these words from James 4, beginning in verse 13, come now you who say, today or tomorrow, we will go to such and such a city and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.
46:31: Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.
46:39: Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.
46:47: But as it is, you boast in your arrogance and all such boasting is evil. Therefore to one who knows to do the right thing and does not do it, to him, it is sin.
46:57: So what James is saying here, he's not discouraging people from going to such and such a city and engaging in business and making a profit.
47:05: But if that's all you're thinking about, then that is sinful. Because you think I control my future.
47:12: I have my destiny in my hands. Let me go and make a bunch of money. So James says your approach should be if the
47:19: Lord wills, we will also do this or that. So you recognize that God is in everything that you're doing here.
47:26: Even though you're working hard, you're making wise investments, God is still the one that sees through that the work that you're doing is gonna be fruitful.
47:35: Right. And in the work that you do that you give praise and glory to God. I would not even be able to do any of this if it were not for God.
47:41: Amen. So giving him praise through all of this. Nothing in scripture says it's wrong to pursue financial investment, financial gain.
47:52: When the apostle Paul talks about in 1 Timothy 6 .10 that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.
47:58: That's not money is the root of all evil as most people often quote it. Right. But in context, that verse is also warning about false teachers who will twist the gospel for financial gain.
48:10: Yeah. The love of money. Greedy. Right. Yeah. Is the root of all kinds of false teaching is really the context of that statement.
48:17: In that same chapter in 1 Timothy 6, Paul tells Timothy to instruct the rich not to put their hope in riches, but to share what they have.
48:26: Right. So you can still be wealthy, that's not sinful, but just recognize that it all comes from God and share what
48:34: God has blessed you with with others that you might be a blessing to others. Right. Whatever your desires are as a businessman in order to make money, just be sure that those desires are in line with what
48:48: God's word says and that you're giving glory to God in the midst of all these things. Proverbs full of lots of great financial advice,
48:58: Ecclesiastes will very quickly sober you into recognizing that even if you gain the whole world, it's vanity, it's chasing after wind.
49:07: Right. It's never in itself gonna satisfy you unless you're giving glory to God in all things.
49:14: Right. Giving credit and glory to the Lord who makes all these things happen to you. And don't forget to take a portion of what you make and give it back to God.
49:23: Amen. Which should be, first of all, giving support in your local church. So you support your local church and then as you have money you can give and share with others, advancing causes of ministry and things like that, then look for those things that you are passionate about and maybe give money to something like that.
49:43: Yeah. Whether it's a ministry that you listen to, hint, hint. Sorry, I can't help it.
49:51: Or if it's a, you know, like listening to wretched. This past, the past couple of weeks is
49:57: I've been sanding my pulpit and then staining my pulpit, this new pulpit that I've built here in the church.
50:04: I've listened to a lot of wretched radio. Literally a pulpit. Yeah, literally a pulpit. Yeah, not a pulpit ministry.
50:09: I'm building my pulpit. Right. My actual wooden pulpit. When I put gloves on and I've got stain on me and all this stuff,
50:16: I can't stop to change the podcast. So I'll just hit something that will continuously play and wretched is about the easiest thing because one episode will finish and it'll just go to the next.
50:26: And so if you've ever listened to wretched before, you'll catch those commercial breaks where Todd Freel does a pitch for these different ministries that are looking for help to share the gospel, not just in the
50:37: United States, but in different parts of the world. Yeah. So be looking for things like that. Is there something else that I can help support with the money that God has blessed me with?
50:46: Can I help to build up another ministry that's gonna advance the gospel? Amen. Can I donate to a missionary or something like that?
50:55: A lot of times, missionaries are supported through organizations like HeartCry or, you know, if you're
51:01: Southern Baptist, it's the cooperative program, something like that. But you can still find individual missionaries that I can support with my money and the gospel goes out.
51:13: God provides. Yes. For whatever your needs are. And so if you make a lot, you're gonna have more needs.
51:21: That's true. Yeah, I mean, as your business grows, the needs for that business grow. Right. So sometimes you're making more, but you still have the same amount.
51:31: But the Lord provides for you. And so if he knows that you're gonna be wise with it and bless people.
51:40: Whoever is faithful with little, he will bless with more. Yeah. Yeah. You know, some people are wired to handle large businesses and some people are not.
51:49: Yes, that's where I was trying to add. You were kind of being there? Yeah, I kind of wondered. It wasn't going, so I'm glad you jumped in.
51:56: I can do small. I don't know that I could do great big. Yeah, I have no idea.
52:02: And even when I was candidating for this position at this church, the elders had asked me, what would you consider to be, like this church is too big now.
52:11: We've got to plant something else. And the number that I gave them was, they said, yeah, that was exactly what we were thinking.
52:18: I think we're on the same page with that. I mean, I just don't think as a pastor that I could handle a church that big of a certain, you know, beyond a certain number.
52:29: Sure. And that's not to say, I don't sit here and judge mega churches and all mega churches are bad.
52:34: I don't have that opinion at all. I just don't think I can do it. Yeah. I don't think I could handle a church that large.
52:40: I know you have more staff and you have more elders, but somebody's got to lead all that staff. Yep. I've managed.
52:47: The job is different. That's right. I've managed a business before, but I had, you know, 12 employees or something like that.
52:53: It wasn't a great big business. So with things like that, some people are wired for it.
52:59: You may have a certain intellect. You know how to grow this business and make a big profit. Some people just know how to do that.
53:05: Just know that as you pursue those things that you keep yourself in check, keep yourself accountable, even in the work that you do be in submission to the elders of your church.
53:15: Yes. And if there's the potential for you to be tempted by riches, if that's a weakness for you, make sure you tell somebody in your church about that.
53:23: So like, hey, keep a watch on me with regard to these things, because I don't want to get out of control and get to the point where I'm just thinking money, money, money.
53:31: I just got to be making more money. I'm just looking for the next hit money -wise, deal, whatever it is.
53:38: Keep those things in submission to Christ. And I think even as you're pursuing those job advancements, you'll find that even that can be done to the glory of God.
53:49: Amen. Amen. All right, that's as far as we're getting along here in this episode.
53:55: All right. I've got some more questions, but we'll save them for another time. Okay. You can submit your questions to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.
54:04: Anything else to add, babe? Some final thoughts? Happy birthday. To me?
54:11: To our soon to be 16 year old. Oh, yes, that's right. On Saturday. Hey. We're about to have a 16 year old.
54:21: And I'm going to teach her how to drive. Yeah, I'm not going to do that. But that will be of immense benefit to you.
54:30: Definitely. You already talked about how she can go do my errands for me.
54:35: Right. And that would give her plenty of practice. Yeah. But even like Sunday night, because our
54:43: Sunday evening service is such a, is at an odd time with relation to our youngest son's napping schedule.
54:53: Oh, so bad. Yes. So if I've had to go to the church early, she can bring the rest of the kids.
55:00: Yeah. On a Sunday night, if you're not going to be able to come. Until he outgrows that.
55:05: Yeah, until he gets out of this. Yeah, the stage. Needing two naps a day. Yeah. And he desperately needs two naps a day.
55:12: Oh, so desperate. But yeah, our oldest is about to turn 16.
55:17: Yeah. Crazy as that is. I was even calculating just yesterday, Zieg, if he leaves the home at 18, he's with us for only six more years.
55:29: Less than. Yeah, less than six. Yeah. No, it would be six. Cause it would be. He would finish out the school year.
55:35: Right. Yeah. So June of 2030. Yeah. Crazy.
55:43: We're still a long ways from becoming empty nesters. Yes. But the kids, the top two that are hitting those ages, we got a 16 year old, he's going to be a 13 later this year.
55:55: You are starting to go, man, this time is going so fast. It is so fast. We're starting to lose it already.
56:01: Such a blink. Yeah. It happens so quick. Blessed by God, by the family that he's given to us.
56:07: Ever since we've started the podcast, we've added two kids. So you've been with us through two births.
56:14: Yes. If you've listened to this for the past nine years, almost nine years now.
56:22: So we've been blessed by God with great church families. That was almost three kids. Yeah, almost three.
56:28: Cause it was right after Aria was born that we started this. Well, I was doing the videos then.
56:34: You were, yes. It was almost a year after she was born when we started the podcast. That's true.
56:39: Yeah. But she was in one of the videos, even from within your womb. Yes. She was in two. Yes.
56:45: Two videos. We had the, what was it? The 4D sonogram image that I put in one. And then.
56:50: That was really cool. You're pregnant in another one. Uh -huh. So she. I know. She was making two in the womb appearances.
56:58: In what videos? All right. Yeah, once again, if you have any questions or comments, we'd love to hear from you.
57:04: Yes. When we understand the text at gmail .com. I know I'm behind on getting sermons posted.
57:10: I'm gonna get that Sunday sermon posted from that should have been this past Sunday. It's still gonna get on this weekend.
57:16: Awesome. And then this coming Sunday would be the sermon that I preached last week. So I gotta catch up with those, but I know
57:24: I'm behind on those. In the meantime, we continue on with our Matthew study. We're still in the
57:29: Olivet Discourse, which I'll come back to Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. And then Isaiah on Thursday.
57:36: Awesome. And God willing, you'll be back on with me next week for another Q &A. Yes. Thank you once again to everyone who has supported us financially.
57:46: Amen. Can't thank you enough. Let's finish with prayer. Yes, let's. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for the way that you provide for us.
57:54: Every single one of us, whether we're on this side of the microphone or listening on the other end of this podcast, we are alive and breathing in this world by your mercy and grace to us.
58:05: This is your air we breathe. This is your world that we live in.
58:11: And so may we handle these things wisely with the breath that you give to us, we give glory back to God.
58:16: With the world in which we are placed and told to work and to labor and to love and to attend church, we do all of these things to the glory of God.
58:27: With the emails that we have received today, I pray that you would continue to bless these persons who have all asked about membership,
58:34: Christopher, as by your providence is looking for another church. I pray that you will bring him to a good one, a place that is faithful to the word of God and will help to grow him and his family.
58:45: We pray for Darrell also, as he is weighing as a Baptist joining a PCA church, we pray for the leaders in that church that they would listen in wisdom to Darrell's concerns and be willing to want to receive him into that body if that's the place where he is to grow or recommend something to him that would be more in line with his doctrinal convictions.
59:08: And we pray for Joaquin as well, as he is weighing in his conscience how he can be a good and faithful worker to the glory of God without compromising on his convictions, that you would give him wisdom in the work that he is doing also.
59:24: Give him success and may he take that success and bless you and your people with it.
59:32: Lord, we thank you again for all that you give to us and let us take none of this for granted. Knowing even that the difficult trials that we go through are a gift from God that draws closer to God.
59:43: And we continue to praise you whether times are good or bad. As Paul talks about related to this very thing in Philippians chapter four, whether in times of need or in times of plenty,
59:57: I have learned the secret of what it means to be content. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
01:00:05: It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Oh, Randy Starkey.
01:00:24: Yes. Randy Starkey of Founders listened to our Q &A last week and he messaged me and said, hey, you had this weird thing at the end where like.
01:00:35: Oh, funny. I think your mic was still on and you guys were talking. I said, no, that's on purpose.