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Right, so yesterday, no small commotion over Jeff Durbin's words at the Fight Laugh Feast conference, and I just, you know, everyone was giving their take on them. Some people thought it was very corrupt speech, some people thought it wasn't, and all that kind of thing.
And I posted a Twitter thread and a video yesterday regarding some of my basic thoughts about the issue. And I said, you know, very clearly, like actually, I actually wouldn't have used those words, and I haven't used those words.
As much as I have said about the woke church, I haven't said what Jeff said. But I don't think that I'm the standard here, you know what I mean? I don't think that there's like these magic words that automatically corrupt, no matter how you use them in whatever context.
I don't think that that's how it works. But actually, I don't even want to talk about that in this video. What I actually want to talk about is sort of the fight that happened yesterday, because lots of people said some very strong words about what Jeff said, about how sinful they were, and things like that.
Lots of harsh words, and very strong pushback on that, and there was a lot of fighting. I saw some people making really strong cases against the words, very strong cases for the words, and it was... There were some hard things said, no question about it, and I saw someone this morning kind of characterize it as people...
Let me see if I can find this. Let me see if I can find this. I'm not gonna name this person, because he's not a blue checkmark, and it's really not about the personality, it's about the perspective, because I saw this perspective a number of times.
He said that he had a rough day yesterday, so he wasn't online, so he missed brethren ripping each other apart over a preacher's poor choice of words. Goodness, y 'all. And so the fight itself, almost to him, was a negative, like it was ripping each other's apart.
It was like almost like he didn't say this, but in the Bible it talks about devouring each other, and stuff like that, and and actually, I just don't see it that way, guys. I don't see it that way, and I realize I'm a pretty optimistic guy, and so maybe I'm off here, but let me just give you an alternative perspective on what we saw yesterday, because I thought what we saw yesterday was full of grace.
In fact, I quote tweeted this guy, and I think he misunderstood what I was doing. I wasn't really responding to him, I was kind of telling my followers that, look, look, whatever you guys said to me, because a lot of people were saying how much, how strongly they disagreed with me on this topic, like I didn't want anyone to think that I felt like they were ripping me apart.
I really did not feel that way. I really did not feel that way. I think iron sharpens iron, and when people were saying hard words to me like, like Thomas, Thomas Costuzis, is that how you say your name, brother?
He was saying some hard things. In fact, he made the strongest case against what Jeff was saying, and I took it as a grace, guys. I did not take it as you trying to devour me, or destroy me, or to rip me up.
I took it as a grace, like you were concerned for my soul, you're concerned for Jeff Durbin's soul, and so you're gonna state your case in a very strongly worded, in a very clear and direct kind of way.
I don't think that that means that you don't like me. You understand what I'm trying to say? I actually, I think that that means that you do like me. You're trying to help me, and if I'm wrong, guys, about this thing, where I don't see the problem with the language that Jeff Durbin used, I wouldn't have used that word, but again, I'm not the standard.
I think that there's a place for that kind of thing clearly in the scripture. I think just as clearly as you believe that it's sinful, I believe that it isn't. So here's the thing, guys, but if I'm wrong, I'd really like to know about it, and I want to change my beliefs, and a guy like me, let me just tell you straightforward, in a straightforward way, I don't respond to sissy words.
I don't respond to, oh, I'm so discouraged, and stuff like that. I respond to direct speech, and so Thomas, brother, thank you for speaking directly. Thank you for the sense of urgency in your voice. I've got a number of followers that on my YouTube channel, we're quoting, we're commenting, and in direct, you could tell the sense of urgency, and the seriousness of what their warnings were for me, and for, you know, by proxy, Jeff Durbin as well.
Guys, I take that as a grace. There's a grace to fighting, guys. There's a grace to disagreement, and we need to disagree, and hash this kind of stuff out more. Obviously, there's a line that can't be crossed.
Of course, there's a line that can't be crossed. I get that, right? But this guy that I interacted with, he said that we pick strange hills to die on instead of showing grace to each other, and honestly, guys, I did not see yesterday as not showing grace to each other, because I saw comment after comment after comment.
Again, strong words, guys, strong words, very clear. I think you're sinning. Here's why I think you're sinning. I personally didn't think the cases were very strong at all, and I know that you guys understand that, and that's fine, but every one of those comments, I didn't take that as trying to destroy me.
I saw it as you cared about my soul, and you wanted me to reconsider, and you were using specific, this is the best part, specific instances, specific verses with specific, criticizing specific words of myself and Jeff.
You see, there's no value in saying, oh, your tone is just always bad. You're accusing the brethren, and then you don't give examples. Like, that doesn't help anybody. Specifics help people. If you've got a specific problem with something specific that I've said, I always listen to that.
I always listen to that, and I can't promise I'll agree, but sometimes I do agree, and what I do is I'll change my belief. I'll apologize if necessary. There's no apology forthcoming for this stuff, by the way.
I'm not going to apologize for it. I'm not sorry. I don't think he was wrong, but the thing is, like, we have to be able to talk to each other in a straightforward way without saying, well, that's just lacking grace.
No, it's not lacking grace. If you think Jeff Durbin sinned from the stage at the Fight Laugh Feast conference, I think it does him and you a lot of good to say it in a straightforward way, in specifics, and directly.
Don't pull punches. That's the thing. Like, in fact, even at the CrossPolitic live show that I was saying, you know, people were talking about how I don't pull punches, and I brought the example of my own biological brother.
Like, my own biological brother, I'm on his side, man. I'm always on his side. I want the best for him, right? I love him, and there's nothing that can change that. I love my brother, but I have to be able to say something to him if I think he's messed up, right?
If I think he's messed up, I got to be able to say something to him, and the way we talk, it's in a direct way, and vice versa, and vice versa. He's got to be able to talk to me. He's got to be able to say, you know, AD, you got him.
He doesn't call me AD. He calls me Adam, but you got to stop this, and he has. He has, and he's talked to me in a direct way, and it changed my mind. It changed my mind about what I was doing. Maybe not right away, but it changed my mind over time about what I was doing.
This has happened before. So yesterday, you know, some of you guys might have seen, you know, fighting that was inappropriate, or overly aggressive, or ripping each other apart, or devouring each other.
I didn't see that, guys. I saw tons of grace being extended yesterday. I saw, I was so pleased with what I saw yesterday, because it, honestly, it showed me that there are people out there that care about my soul.
They care about the condition of my soul, and the reality is that these are things that I myself think about all the time, because I know I'm walking a certain line on this content, and I know that I don't want to cross that line, and I don't think that I do.
I wouldn't put out content if I thought I crossed the line. Some people were asking me at the conference, you know, how do you edit your stuff, right, and I don't really edit it very much, but I listen to everything that I put out on YouTube before I publish it.
I listen to the whole thing, and there are times when I say something on the video, and I go, yeah, I shouldn't have said that, and I'll edit it out. I'll delete it before I publish it, and I try to work on not doing that again, so I don't have to edit it, and listen, in the beginning, I had to edit myself a lot more than I do right now, because over time, I've learned that there are things, there are places that I can't go personally, and all that kind of stuff, and so you should know that I'm monitoring myself here.
I'm trying to have self-control myself, and so, but it's hard to have self-control sometimes. It's hard to see your own blind spots, and so this fighting that we saw yesterday, it's invaluable to the body of Christ.
It is a grace. There's a grace in fighting. There's a grace in fighting, guys, and so I just wanted to say that, and brother, the person that I'm talking about, your tweets here, don't take this the wrong way.
Like, I understand why you saw it as ripping each other apart here, but I just don't see it that way. I see it as people, brothers, showing each other grace, and having enough love for your brethren to say, look, dude, I think you're messing up here, and you need to stop.
We need more of this. We need more of what we saw yesterday, not less. We need much more of what we saw yesterday, because here's the thing, guys. If we're going to be acting for the Lord, I think we need to be pushing every button we can, every play that we can run, we should be running, and that is going to mean that there are going to be times when some people mess up.
Look, nobody's setting out to mess up. Jeff Durbin didn't set out to mess up. If you think he messed up, you have to understand he didn't intend to mess up, right, and so this kind of a pushback, maybe it's going to be a needed course correction.
I don't think he needs a course correction, but maybe he does. I'm willing to be wrong about that, right, but the truth is, though, that we need to be pushing this envelope as far as we possibly can in order to act for the Lord.
You see what I'm saying? I'm not saying that we should get as close to sin as possible before we sin, but we should be running every play in this fight, because this is a fight for the kingdom of God.
What could be more important than that, and so some people are going to mess up, but that's okay, because the reality is that we're covered by Christ's grace. Christ's grace is better than anyone's ever imagined, right, and so I don't want to sin, but if I do sin, I'm covered, man, and I've got the body of Christ to call me on that and to pull me back in and to correct me on that kind of stuff, and we can agree to disagree on some of this stuff.
Of course we can, but the reality is that we're never going to get there. We're never going to be able to see it unless we fight, and so sometimes we need to fight each other. There's a grace in that.
It doesn't mean we're enemies. It doesn't mean we hate each other. It actually means that we love each other, and we're for each other, and we want to do better than we have in the past in the future.
Guys, I love you guys. Thank you so much for pushing back on some of the things that I've done in the past, and you know, some of you guys know that I've changed my opinions on things, not regularly, but I have done it, but anyway, guys, I hope that you find this message encouraging, and I hope you found this video helpful.
God bless.