Don't Despise Your (Little?) Brothers

All right guys, welcome back to the channel. God bless you. I hope you're having a good week so far. I wanted to do a quick video early this morning. Before I begin though, let me just ask for prayers.

My my brother is is sick and it's you know, it's relatively serious. Although he'll probably be just fine. But I just you know, I won't get more detailed than that. But just just prayers for him, you know, he's Obviously, you know very important to me.

But he should be important to you as well because he gives me most of my ideas for the show. So there you go in any case. God bless you and thank you in advance for those. I Want to start today with a little bit of a story now.

I've told part of this story before but I don't remember if I've told all of this. So here we go. When I first got saved I ended up in Tim Keller's church and I quickly left that church. Not because I was unhappy with Tim Keller at the time.

It was more because it was just such a big church, right? And I you know, I'm the kind of guy that if I have the option to just kind of slide in and out without talking to Anybody that's exactly what I'll do.

Leaving a Large Church for a Smaller Fellowship

And so it's just way too easy for me to not establish any relationships or you know, really talk to anybody. So I decided to go to a smaller church where that would be impossible and I found a smaller church.

That was really great. It was just kind of like a non-denominational Evangelical Church. The pastor was just an awesome guy a guy named Mike Doyle. He's still pastoring in New York. Right now as far as I know and you know, he very very much influenced by By Calvary Chapel and so, you know, he would preach kind of line by line through a book.

Very smart guy very sharp. Just a good guy, too. You know guy that you know most of his life you could you could you could hope to emulate you know I mean and it would be a good thing for you, you know, not a perfect man, but a but a very solid dude and I I was leaving New York, but but about six months before I left New York as I you know, I'd planned to leave I left this church.

I really wish I hadn't done that. This is one of my biggest church regrets that I have maybe the biggest I left that church and the reason I left was because We started singing Some of those like Bethel Church type songs and the thing about those songs is a lot of them are really good songs.

You know in general they're okay I mean, they're not bad. But but I was getting a little very very concerned and very worried that we were gonna go down that charismatic route now. There were a few things that my pastor had said and things that that you know If I interpreted it a certain way, maybe there were some trouble there, but but honestly I should never have left I mean I should have just in my opinion I should have just wrote it out for six months.

I was leaving anyway, why make a big deal of it, right? But I did leave and I I know I hurt that guy's feelings and it wasn't I didn't need to leave I didn't have to do it. But I was so much a Reformed cage stager.

There's just no question about it. I was a reformed cage stager. So I had to I had to hold my integrity and I could not sing these Bethel songs and stuff like that. Now if you don't want to sing Bethel songs, I'm not saying you're a cage stager.

But but in my situation in the context that I was in It just it just made no sense for me to do that. I burned a relationship. I've since apologized to him. And you know, he was gracious. He forgave me but the relationship is her.

You know what? I mean? It's just that simple. So But I'll never forget this because what I would that where I ended up going was a reformed, you know. Kind of very liturgical church in Brooklyn. It was a CREC Church and they have you know, sort of that worship style where the you know There's a lot of call-and-response.

It's very traditional and You know, the pastor was just an again another sharp guy smart guy. Love this good dude. His name is is Troy Green. He's a reverend. It's still in Brooklyn, you know. Just a solid dude.

I'm so glad to have met him. And I'll never forget like I was such a cage stager. Let me tell you where I was at. I Remember we were doing communion. Once it was one of the first Sundays I was there and there was like a single mother.

Young single mother and her son there like, you know, four or five years old I don't know something like that and I could hear her under her breath kind of teaching her son about what communion was all about and things like that and she wasn't quite theologically accurate in my opinion and Instead of looking at that as a beautiful moment of a single mother just trying to to teach her son how to honor the Lord.

You know and and and and how important Jesus's sacrifice was. I'm here judging her. Like she's she's she's heretical. This is heretical what she's saying and that's how much of a cage stager. Well, so maybe I should tell the pastor like I didn't really I didn't really I didn't really consider doing that.

But like that's the kind of that's my mindset, right? And really what was probably happening there is this is a woman with probably a simple faith, you know. She's not gonna read the latest theology book.

She didn't read, you know, Calvin's commentaries or whatever like. But she but she but she but she understands her Position before the Lord and she understands that look Christ is Lord and she understands that the Christ sacrifice Is the only reason that she can she can stand before a holy God like she got all that stuff.

She's got a simple faith and like but here I am I'm sitting in this place of judgment with my holy robes on like man. It's just a cage stager just disgusting what I what I was thinking at the time a Few weeks after that there was a fellowship meal and they do like a monthly fellowship meal and it's just it's awesome.

Because there's a lot of Italians there. It's it's it is there's delicious food. There's delicious desserts. I mean, it's just it's exactly what you'd expect and there was this one brother. They're an older guy.

His name was Tony and You know, he's an Italian guy. He sounds like Tony super it'd be like talking to Tony Soprano if Tony Soprano was like a street preacher or something like that. You know what? I mean?

Like instead of a mobster. That's the kind of guy I was talking to and he's an older guy and He asked me why I'd left my previous church and I told them and and you know He just kind of was very gracious about it.

He did not affirm me though, and he just told me a story. So, you know, he said I found myself in in Manhattan one day. And I was I was visiting some friends and I went to their church with them and it was a great time and then I Was walking home and as I was walking home, I passed by Hillsong and You know Hillsong, you know, they it's like it's like trying to get into a nightclub they got a line around the block it got bouncers, you know stuff like that and He goes and he's like, yeah, I decided to go go see what was going on at Hillsong.

So I went into Hillsong Again, this is a you know Reformed guy like a very mature reformed guy. He says I went into Hillsong and he goes he goes, you know, you know Adam like There's a lot of things that go on in Hillsong that I would never do.

There's a lot of things that go on in Hillsong, you know. And then the worship service that quite frankly, I think are dishonorary to God Is a regular principal guy, you know, I'll never forget this and he looks at me now he goes but you know what a Lot of the people that attend Hillsong those are your brothers and sisters and Look as much as I wouldn't want to do that and maybe they would want them to go to a better church they're going to that church and I I Want to make sure that I don't have a faith that that is like it's so stuffy so smug That it just kind of you know It's just like it wants to distance itself from people that just have a simple faith, right they go to work every day.

They bring their lunch pail. They come back home. Maybe they drink a Coors Light with dinner and You don't have you know, you know all the all the leather-bound books, but then maybe they have like the latest You know pop theology release or something.

Maybe maybe they don't even have that. Maybe they just listen to you know to to Christian TV or Christian radio and you know like there's stuff on there that of course I can't approve of but but the people listening to it man, you gotta consider them as as Having the same standing before God that you do and I'm probably messing up part of that story I mean I that was the message though and Honestly like that that perspective just it it struck me to the core because I had become this just This this Annoying little pipsqueak, you know what?

I mean? I was a I was like I was an infant in the faith. But here I was standing in judgment Over these people that have a simple faith I've never forget this, you know more recently, you know. And this is after I had kind of left this attitude behind like I finally got out of the cage stage, right?

But I've come to find out that there are a lot of Reformed leaders that quite frankly They never leave the cage stage never and they get their holy robes on and they want to distance themselves from all those Simpletons, you know what?

I mean? And and I I hate that perspective. So much I hate it. I find it abhorrent. I think it's disgusting I'll never forget this. There was a During kovat. There was a there was a Pentecostal or kind of some kind of charismatic Pastor down south that got arrested for having church, right?

Well, well all of the the the reform, you know. They got their holy robes on and shut down worship this charismatic guy guy. He he was I'm we're gonna have worship. It's just that simple. We're gonna meet and we're gonna honor the Lord and he got arrested.

And one of the war horn media guys, you know very reformed stately reformed type. He he was celebrating this. He said every pastor that has church should be arrested. That's what he said I don't remember which one it was.

It was one of the reform. It might have been Andrew I don't remember which one so I don't want to tell but it was one of the war horn guys and people in the comments were like We're like what? Arrested or have you lost your mind?

And I don't think that the war horn guy responded I don't remember. But there was a lot of people that follow war horn in the comments Reform, you know very you got their robes on you know, and they were saying he's a charismatic.

Who cares if he gets arrested? That's basically the argument. He's a heretic. Anyway, he should be arrested for preaching heresy like like It was insane. It was insane. I Think of my grandfather, you know, one of the godliest men that I know and you know, I every time I go visit him He'll show me pictures from from back in the day of all the various churches that he plant helped plant.

And you know, he would it wasn't like he would go on these mission trips. But it wasn't like the fake mission trips where you know You paint the wall that every mission team before you for the last, you know 100 years has painted the same wall over and over and over and over and over and over and doesn't really do anything.

Like not one of those mission trips like these are the kind of mission trips where you actually build the foundations of a church physically and also spiritually and You know the local witch doctors come to try to put curses on you like that kind of thing.

Where where where demoniacs come and attack you and think things like that? He's been to Cuba. He's been to Dominican he's been, you know all over Panama everywhere and he'll show me pictures and and this is a man On fire for the Lord.

He knows his stuff. He knows his stuff at a at a simple level. No, he he doesn't have leather bound books in his in his library. He has books in his library, but it's not it's not Calvin's Institutes.

You know what I mean? He watches Christian TV. He watches the stuff a simple man a Simple man that so many Reformed would want to distance themselves from because those are just regular Joe's with a simple faith.

Yeah, they know about the Lord. They love the Lord. They know about the forgiveness of sins and and and repentance and stuff like that, but they're not Sophisticated they're not stuffy. They're not. They're not as accurate as they could be.

And I hate that. I Hate that attitude. Now, you know, there are some reformed guys that would look at a guy like my grandfather and say oh, he's not even saved. He's not even saved. That's not the majority.

That's not the majority of reformed people Reformed leaders. There are some though, but the attitude of of I want to distance myself from them I don't want to be a really associated with them. I don't want to be identified with them.

That's common. That's common in Reformed leadership. This is Scott. It's disgusting guys. It's disgusting and I don't like it and I think that perspective that attitude. It's gonna go the way of the dodo bird and that can't come fast enough man because we need each other.

We need each other. We can we can we can we can we can have our debates and we can have our concerns and we can you know Poke fun at each other and stuff like that. But at the end of the day, we need each other.

There are a lot of Pentecostals and charismatics that are out there winning souls and they're not doing everything the way we would do it and they're not they're not they're not quite right and things like that and.

But they're out there out there and honestly, they're on fire for the Lord a lot of these guys. They're on fire for the Lord. If that can't encourage you if that can't if that can't Help you help like like like stir something up within you.

I think you're I think your priorities are pretty pretty jacked up. And I love the Reformed faith, man. I love it. I love it. I've got very particular beliefs when it comes to you know theology and when it comes to understanding how God operates and the covenants and and and and how church should be.

I've got very particular tastes the kind of songs we should sing I got very Very specific beliefs about the law of God. And all of that kind of thing. But we've got to figure out especially Reformed people who have this supposedly very mature theology how to be actually mature how to be actually Mature when it comes to believers of other, you know persuasions and flavors and things like that.

We've got a long way to go. The cage stage is not something that you should. It's not something that you should thrive for to never lose. It just doesn't make any sense. Like there's just a There's just a smugness for just regular average Joe believers.

And I've I've noticed this and I've talked about it before you know, I Hate it so much man. They all he doesn't do his daily devotions. Is he even a believer? Where in the world do you get that from? Maybe your theology isn't as mature as you think it is.

I don't know. Just call me crazy. Call me crazy. You we've got this poster of of an event I know I know nothing about this event, but it's the Great Awakening versus the Great Reset it's got on the Bible on the one hand and then the kovat stuff on the other hand and I'm sure the a lot of these people are you know?

Probably charismatic type people. I see the dude from my pillow, you know simple faith, you know Preaches repentance and faith, you know simple faith. I see some other people that I kind of recognize I see some kind of like charismatic wackos in here and things like that and You know, they're they're they're talking about.

Political maneuverings political actions against The spirit of the age that's what they're talking about here. And you know, they've got Alex Jones here and all that kind of stuff. Here's Josh Boyce. The overwhelming majority of Christian nationalists are not reformed evangelicals not even close.

Hence one of the reasons why I distance myself from the title. Well, congratulations Josh. You've maintained your purity. You've got your holy robes on and you've come to the the the the the the massive intellectual.

You know, you know realization that the majority of Christians in America aren't reformed evangelicals. Well, congratulations Josh. You've got your purity. You can distance yourself from the rest of those idiots out there the rest of those simpletons.

You can distance yourself from the majority of Christians that aren't reformed evangelicals. Congratulations. I'm sure that's another crown that you can wear. There's another gem in your little crown you're very pure.

The majority of Christian nationalists are not reformed evangelicals like. What kind of logic is that? What kind of logic is that? They're not reformed evangelicals, therefore, I don't even want to be associated with them.

Sure, they're against abortion too. I don't care. They're not reformed evangelicals. Maybe you should just arrest them. During COVID. Those charismatics were worshiping during COVID. Meanwhile, all the reformed churches are closed.

Maybe they should be arrested. This is saying nothing. This is saying nothing. Except I. I'm not willing to work together with anybody. I'm not willing to be associated with the non-reformed Christian.

This is there's so much here that I could say about this. I think in this audience though, we'll get it. We'll get it. You can leave a lot of it unsaid. Nobody's saying you have to affirm the teachings of Benny Hinton in Order to to be a Christian nationalist.

Nobody's saying you have to you have to stop preaching against what you perceive to be heresies. Nobody. Nobody's saying that. But you you've identified this as this is one of the reasons Why you distance yourself from being titled a Christian nationalist because there are non-reformed evangelicals.

That call themselves Christian nationalists. I mean the logical flaw here. You know, you could you can drive a truck through. I mean everyone got it instantly. I mean people were. Okay, you know people that call themselves Christians that aren't reformed evangelicals.

So why wouldn't you distance yourself from that? This is this is this is nothing. This is nothing and whether you like it or not. They're they're coming for all Christians. Like I'll never forget this one.

This was earlier. This was much earlier before I was kind of engaged. You know publicly talking about a lot of this stuff when I was just a lowly Christian, you know, I'd go. You know, I'd pass out tracks and stuff like that, you know lowly Christian, you know, nobody knew who I was.

I was just a guy in the street, right? You remember that that woman? Who she was like a county clerk or a city clerk and she refused to give To two dudes like a marriage license or something like that.

I don't remember exactly the the the situation but she had refused to give some people Marriage license for something immoral, right? She was just stood her ground, you know lesser magistrate. I know this is the law of the land.

That's what everyone's doing. You're not getting a license from me. I think she was jailed for it. If I'm not mistaken, she was jailed for a time over it and I remember like People like, you know, it was part of the culture war people were freaking out.

But then a lot of those reform guys got their holy robes on. I'm gonna get another purity mark purity badge here. She's a oneness Pentecostal. Why would you even work? Why would you defend her? She's a oneness Pentecostal.

I don't know if it's true and I mean. By the time I was like, I didn't know if that was true or not. But the time like don't you understand like it doesn't that doesn't matter. They don't care about that.

You think she was jailed because she was a oneness Pentecostal? She was jailed because she defied the gods of the system and as far as they're concerned. She's just a Christian. So like look, of course, I wouldn't call oneness Pentecostal a Christian.

They're not they're not Trinitarian. I get it. I get it. But from their perspective in the public square they're jailing her because of her bigoted Christian beliefs. I don't really know what else to say.

And you know, I'm not I feel like this this episode was a little shattered but this this smugness this like Performative I'm gonna get my holy robes on and talk about how pure my theology is in Comparison to these guys look nobody cares if you want to talk about your pure theology.

But when you when your whole purpose of this is to distance yourself from these simpletons because a lot of people will watch this kind of thing on TV and You know, they'll hear them talking about, you know, you know transsexuals.

I'm talking about abortion they're even talking about how we need to honor God as a as a society as a nation and stuff like that and It's simple things. That really aren't they don't really have a whole lot to do with their particular, you know.

You know heresies or or or miss teachings or import teachings, whatever it is, whatever the case may be. And some of these guys maybe they'd be excommunicated in your churches. Nobody's saying you have to stop that right?

Nobody's saying but the but the reality is this this this performative like this this smugness. It's just it's just not going to. If you hold on to that that smugness that I can't even be associated. I'm not even willing to be associated with these people.

You're not gonna make it. You're not gonna make it. We need each other man. We need each other and so when the when the when the when the when the. The powers-that-be come after you know. So-and-so pastor and he happens to be a pastor that you know I don't know is a heretic or you don't like him or maybe he's maybe he had some kind of disqualifying event in the past or something like that.

Nobody's nobody's saying you have to like the guy nobody's saying you have to affirm his theology. Nobody's saying you have to you know, sign his statement of you know Health and wealth or whatever or affirm, you know his behaviors or stuff like that.

But if they come for him for you know, the crime of having church during kovat. You gotta get his back man. You got to when they when they come for him for the crime of refusing to to do a Gay marriage and is you've got to cut you've got to get his back man.

Because they're coming for you. They're coming for you also, it's an attack on the body. That's what it is. Nobody cares about the purity of your theology when you won't even get your brother's back. I think I've said enough.

I Hope you found this video helpful. God bless.