Bible, Bros & Brew
Bible, Bros, & Brew is all about helping you navigate your relationship with God in practical, real-life ways. Hosts David and Phil dig into scripture—'chopping up the word'—and bring it to life with insights you can actually use every day. And while they’re at it, they share their favorite 'brews'—don’t worry, it’s not booze! Just a solid lineup of classic coffees and teas to keep the conversations flowing.
Bible, Bros & Brew
Shedding Light on Sin | Faith, Accountability, and Repentance | Bible, Bros, and Brew
Sin is often kept in the shadows, but what happens when we bring it into the light? In this episode of Bible, Bros & Brew, we dive into an honest and heartfelt discussion on the impact of sin within the Christian community. We explore the challenges of living a holy life amid daily temptations and the consequences of ignoring the prevalence of sin, particularly among church leaders. Drawing from the book of Jude, we highlight the urgency of defending the faith, practicing accountability, and walking with integrity.
We also address the destructive power of hidden sins, which can lead to a divided conscience and a weakened spiritual life. Together, we unpack the importance of transparency, repentance, and the hope of restoration in Christ. Join us as we reflect on how to live with maturity and faith, encouraging you to embrace the freedom that comes with walking in the light.
Phillip's Coffee:
Colombia Huila
David's Coffee:
Black Rifle Liberty Roast
Lynn's Tea:
Peppermint Tea
Jon's Coffee:
Black Rifle Salted Caramel Pods
gotbrew@biblebros.net
Today we want to talk about something that's a little bit heavy, so you're going to want your Bibles for this and you definitely want your coffee and your notepads. We're going to talk about sin and we're going to talk about some of the things that are going on in our Christian world today. If I could say, this is a family meeting for believers and we want you to come in and have a seat, hear what we have to say and maybe you can share what you're thinking as well in the comments and in some of the sessions to come. But come, take a seat and join us for this. Back to Bible Bros and Brew. I'm David, and with me today me today, as always is my co-host, extraordinaire Philip Rich, and with him we have over in the top there, our special guest Lynn Nestor, and right next to Philip, down on the bottom of the screen, we have none other than Mrs Philip Rich, stephanie Rich who's at?
Speaker 1:the table with us tonight. And then John is here with us. He looks a little different tonight because he's pulled his hair back and that is so he can drive from all of you. I'm just kidding, john, you look great, buddy.
Speaker 2:I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Man, we're so glad you're here with us. We're going to be talking about a little bit of a heavy subject tonight and over the next couple of weeks, but it's a worthwhile subject. You know, when we talk about Christianity and walking out this life, it's sometimes the hard conversations that help us to walk straight. And so tonight we're going to talk about walking straight and how we can, what's causing us not to, and how we can get on the right path. But before we do that, of course, as always, we want to find out first from everybody what they're drinking, because we can't have this conversation without the vibe in a cup known as coffee or tea. So, lynn, I'm going to start with you. What are you drinking, lynn?
Speaker 3:Tonight it is just a simple cup of peppermint tea, nothing added, just plain old peppermint tea, and it's just refreshing. I love it.
Speaker 1:Lynn, I choose not to judge you for bringing out peppermint tea before the official start of Christmas season.
Speaker 3:Well, I just sort of bypassed the fall season completely.
Speaker 2:Well, the mug does say fall, it does say fall.
Speaker 4:Right there, matter of fact, fall mark.
Speaker 3:It says hello, fall Wow. It's not that I don't have the fall Thanksgiving feelings. I'm just saying peppermint, there you go.
Speaker 1:You're absolved of all of your peppermint sin right now. Thank you. All right, stephanie. What about you? What are you drinking? All right, stephanie, what about you? What are you drinking?
Speaker 5:So I have something in my mug that my oldest daughter turned her nose up at, but it is fresh grated ginger and a freshly squeezed lime and some honey with hot water poured on top, and it steeps for about five minutes or so and it's really good. I actually let her taste it and she loved it. So ginger lemon tea maybe?
Speaker 1:yeah, I think so that actually sounds lovely actually well, yes, and it's good for the digestive system. So yeah, there you go, you get your mind right and you're tracked straight. That's going to be beautiful. All right, philip, how about you? What are you drinking?
Speaker 4:Dude, I am very excited to announce that I discovered a coffee local to the area.
Speaker 1:Oh, wait a minute. Hold on, wait a minute.
Speaker 2:Before you say anything, take that hat off.
Speaker 1:All right, I have to get my mind right. I'm ready. Now I can take whatever you got.
Speaker 4:So Steph and I and the girls were at. You've heard of the place, the Trillith Studios, that place in Fayetteville, the new development, right, right, okay, in Georgia, fayetteville, georgia, they have this movie studio huge thing going on, but they also have a little village kind of situation attached to it and it's got like shopping boutiques and all kinds of stuff. They have street vendors. Well, there was a vendor there called Elite Roasters from Atlanta, and so they were selling their coffee and I was like, let me try a little bit, man. So I did a little sample thing and then I liked it, so I bought this. Is what is this called? The? Oh, which country is this? From? Columbia, it's a Colombian coffee, and and it is actually really good. Man, I am like I want to give a shout out to Elite Roasters. Man, they came through for a dude. Okay, yeah, it's smooth, it's very. You know, have all the great notes that I love the nutty thing, the chocolatey thing, all that good stuff.
Speaker 2:So I'm a fan.
Speaker 1:I'm a fan, dude all that good stuff.
Speaker 4:I'm a fan. I'm a fan dude.
Speaker 1:Well done, phillip.
Speaker 5:I'm so proud of you, don't be too proud David, because the day that he bought this coffee we came home to a box of Peregrine with like three or four different coffees Okay.
Speaker 1:So the old ways persist, but we just drag a little bit of news, okay.
Speaker 4:You two are absol right right.
Speaker 1:You two are absolved, Philip.
Speaker 4:Thank you, thank you for that All right, john.
Speaker 1:How about you? What are you drinking tonight?
Speaker 2:Man I like. The same thing I always come back to is Black Rifle Coffee Company. I'm rocking the same Falmark mug. This time it is. This is what surprised me. It's a salted caramel k cup, but it's the one that has a latte, like the whole entire latte in the cup which I I guess I just didn't read the packaging and I didn't pay attention to what kind of coffee I was getting and I'm like drinking it. I'm like dude who put milk in my coffee. No, it was all there. It's absolutely delicious. I'm a sucker for salted caramel.
Speaker 2:Yeah man, it's amazing dude. All right what about you, Mr David.
Speaker 1:Nice. Well, tonight I've gone back to Donald D, buddy Goody, I'm drinking Black Rifle. Also, I'm drinking their Liberty Roast.
Speaker 2:Nice.
Speaker 1:So it's a really good coffee. You know, I wanted a flavor tonight, but I decided no, I'm going to keep it low tonight. And so I got a nice, beautiful, even good, on the palate Liberty Roast and I think that if you try it, you'll love it too. We'll have all of these coffees listed in the bottom of our description for the podcast, and we challenge you go out and try it and then tell us how much you love it, and if you don't love it, it's john's fault, the note on not loving it. So, all right, that's what's in our cup.
Speaker 1:Now let's talk a little bit about what's on our minds and what's in our hearts. You know, over the last couple of weeks and it's not really the last couple of weeks, I don't know if you've been watching the news watching see pastors stepping down left and right, members of their staff stepping down left and right, and what's so interesting is that I saw all of these things. And you know, I think there's a statistic that said, in the last just a couple of weeks, there have been 13 or 14 pastors in one part of Texas alone that have stepped down from their mega churches, big churches, and I know what's going on around the country. But then it came home and it got very close to home to a few of the churches that I've been with closely, where there had been some opportunities for leadership, to say that they had made some failures. And then we have friends and we find out that there are affairs going on, there are divorces happening and as you begin to open this thing up, we're like we're not talking about people in the world that this is happening to, and with this is people who love God and profess to be Christians.
Speaker 1:And at some point you have to begin to ask the question what in the world is going on? And you'd think that maybe I'm being just a little bit too aggressive, but if you knew the detail and the heinousness of some of the things that I've heard and seen and that we've heard and seen over time, you could then appreciate better why we are going to tackle this so aggressively. But y'all, to put it simply, there is sin in the church and it should not be. You know, james talks about should bitter and sweet water come from the same fountain, and he talks about he says a little bit more and he says no, my brother and he talks about, he says a little bit more and he says, no, my brother, this ought not to be.
Speaker 1:And so we want to talk about what in the world is going on with the church, and we even call this a family meeting, because if you're not born again, this might not matter to you, but if you're born again, it should matter to you, because Ephesians 3 calls us or Ephesians 4, 3 or 4, calls us to walk uprightly. To walk uprightly before God and to walk uprightly one way to translate that is to walk perfectly. Well, not perfectly in the sense of being exactly right, but maturely before the Lord.
Speaker 1:And to walk in a way that, as mature adults, we govern and handle ourselves in a way that is pleasing to the Lord. Yet what I see is that sin and sin's sickness has crept into the church and we've gotten to the point where we're not even dealing with it. We've gotten to the point where sin is so common that it's no longer uncommon amongst us. And it's not that people didn't sin in the church before, but it's that there was a time when, if you found people in sin, there was confrontation that supported what you saw, and now we're just walking through it as if it doesn't matter. And, ladies and gentlemen, it matters. It matters significantly and greatly to not only your now walk with the Lord, but remember, everybody has to stand before judgment at some point, and you're going to have to give an account for how you have lived this life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so I thought we would start in the book of Jude, because I think that's a great place where Jude is sharing with the people. And in Jude, chapter 1, verse 3, it says Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share, but now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people. I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God's marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. Goodness that the condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only master and Lord, jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:John, go back one verse. You know the first thing that stands out to me here. Go to the next one.
Speaker 1:Jude is asking us to defend the faith, and what I think he's asking us to defend the faith from, or defend the faith against, is this evil of sin and this lie that we can live any kind of way and still be called Christians as well.
Speaker 1:And so he's asking us. He's saying you know I wanted to talk to you about our common and shared salvation, but instead now I need to tell you defend the faith, defend the faith. And then he goes and he talks about the why. But one of the next things that I want to point out is that these people are saying that God's marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives, and let me tell you we have maligned the grace of God in such a significant way and I'm going to leave that part to Stephanie because I know she's got something to say about that that is so, so good. So, as you guys kind of hear this opening salvo and hear this, what's being said in these verses, lynn, what stands out to you as you're hearing these verses and thinking about the subject we're talking about?
Speaker 3:If we can back up just one slide to the beginning of verse four, that same thing that you said, saying that God's marvelous grace allows us to live a moral life. That is so backwards and it's hurtful to me. It hurts my heart because so many people are misled. We, I feel, as a church and this happened in the New Testament as well, I think it was in Corinthians that we feel like we have such a call to love, that we just love in spite of the sin, instead of holding people accountable, and I think that we do them a disservice and all those that witness it, because we are propagating a lifestyle of the holiness of God doesn't matter, and it matters a lot. The truth in that thing it says, saying that God's marvelous grace allows us to live moral lives is the truth. This is the half truth that people have come to believe that God's grace lets me do whatever I want to do, whenever I want to do, however I want to do, to whomever I want to do it, and it is wrong. It's just simply wrong. And they say it's because God put a temptation or a test in front of me.
Speaker 3:Well, james addresses that in chapter one, where he says it's our lusts that take us into these places of event and we in no way can say that it was God tempting us, because God does not tempt us. And then, the way most of the Bibles that I've read, when it goes through James, it breaks it up in verse 16, starts a new chapter about be not deceived, John. Do you happen to have verse 16? Don't be misled, my brothers and sisters. This usually follows other things in James, but this, I think, is the end of the former paragraph, where it says you're being misled by your own wicked desires. Don't be deceived with that. And I think that the Bible has. Don't be deceived with that. And I think that the Bible has without its scripture. I think sometimes we interpret it differently and we preach a false gospel, because I believe the gospel allows them to be more and more like Jesus, who lived his life without sin.
Speaker 3:Yeah, those are all good words.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Well, no, those are good words, because I do want us at some point to revisit that, because part of the problem that exists is because there is a false teaching of the gospel today.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm yeah.
Speaker 1:And we are, let's just, if we just want to say it straight we are growing more and more biblically ignorant. Yes, and because we are people, are able to slide lies in front of us and we don't know any difference because we're not reading our word. And we've got to Stephanie. What's your thoughts? What are you thinking?
Speaker 5:I love how you're starting this, a couple of ways that it's a family meeting, because we're talking to the church and those who name the name of Christ. And then what you're reading in Jude, where he's reiterating that he says some people have slid into your, your midst and into your meetings and you know.
Speaker 5:In short, they're not acting right and it's making me think about First Corinthians five, and I guess it's Paul that wrote this, and he's saying the exact same thing. He said I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people. He says I'm not talking about the people of this world who are immoral or greedy or swindlers or idolaters. He says in that case you will have to leave the whole world if you're trying to get away from the sin of the world, he says.
Speaker 5:but I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, and I think this just reiterates Jude, and it just drives home the point that as believers, that as believers, we are wholly expected to walk up right before the Lord. Here's grace Grace allows you to be born again. Grace allows you a way out of sin. Grace allows you to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Grace does not allow you to sin on a continuous basis.
Speaker 5:That is just not what it's there for.
Speaker 5:And, david, I think the thing that you wanted me to mention, that we talked about a couple of weeks ago, is a lot of times when we're living in a way that's less than what we know we should be, or in a way that doesn't line up with the word, we think we're under grace.
Speaker 5:But it's really God's mercy. He's having mercy on us when we are imperfect or when we make mistakes or when we fall into sin. It's his mercy that keeps us from being consumed in that moment, really, because sin can't live in the presence of God. He's too holy, he's too righteous. So I think what we're calling grace we need to be calling mercy, and I think if we were, our hearts would be more pricked by what we do. Because when you say mercy, you know you're at the full. Everything about you is it's hard for me to explain without saying the word mercy again. When you, when you, when you, when you realize you're, you're, you're under his mercy, then you realize it's his total decision on what to do with you in that moment, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5:It's like you know, with grace it's like, oh, it's covered. But with mercy it's like, oh God you know, look upon me and have mercy. It's like you're at the bay. Help me with the phrase I'm trying to say. You're at the full and utter disposal of the person or being whose decision. It is to have mercy on you in that moment Absolutely.
Speaker 1:It's like throwing yourself you guys have heard the phrase before throwing yourself on the mercy of the court. In other words, you are begging the judge to show you mercy to give you favor and to do anything, but put you in jail. You mercy to give you favor and to do anything, but put you in jail to do anything to save you from the situation, because you know you cannot save yourself.
Speaker 2:That's right, buddy, that's good.
Speaker 1:So that's a. I love that, Stephanie, because I think that's, I just think that's it that we have. We have exchanged the mercy of God, which is what we should be calling on for the grace of God, and we're like you know, by God's grace I can go to the club. No, I can't, no, no, I can't, no, I can't. Now, if I go to the club, it's by God's mercy and his grace. If nothing happens to me, right so don't.
Speaker 1:And then the other part that we do, stephanie, then is we play with God and we keep saying because God has shown me mercy, it must mean that what I'm doing is okay. That couldn't be further from the truth, bill.
Speaker 4:What you thinking as soon as Stephanie started talking about the difference between mercy and grace or how they kind of tie together, I thought about this quote that I heard a long time ago from Chuck Missler, one of my favorite Bible teachers ever, and he used to put it this way. He said and he used to put it this way, he said. He said grace is God giving you what you do not deserve.
Speaker 5:Mercy is God withholding from you what you do deserve.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and to me that's the perfect illustration of like, the difference, you know, and I think that a lot of the reason why people even get caught up in this thing of well, you know, god's grace will cover, that, god's grace will cover this, and that I honestly think they don't have a like, I think it's a lack of a fundamental understanding of the destructive nature of sin. I think that we think sin is something that we can play with, something we can flirt with, something we can kind of dip in and out of, because, hey, you know God's got it covered. I mean, he knows we're all we. Nobody's perfect, you know, and that's a true statement, that's an absolutely true statement.
Speaker 4:Not a one of us are perfect, right, but there needs to be in my mind. But there needs to be in my mind and I think the Bible supports it too but there needs to be some level of a heart intention towards righteousness. Now, you may not get it right all the time, but there should be something in you that your heart is being, is inclined towards doing right. It's like something I heard one time a minister say this guy who it was like Saturday night and he's getting this craving to want to go get drunk. So he goes to, tries to go to the package store, but they're closed. Then he calls one of his buddies up and they, you know hey man, you got any beer man?
Speaker 4:Oh no, man, we just ran out, you know so. And no matter where he goes, he can't get any alcohol or whatever. And so he just kind of goes to bed and goes to church the next day and he's like I praise God that I didn't drink at all last night.
Speaker 4:And it's like, but the intention was there the whole time. You know, and I think that's the difference, like to me. You know we're all going to stumble, we're all going to do things that we don't want to do or that we know our right to do. And the Bible says in Proverbs I think I forgot which chapter, but it says a just man falls seven times and rises up again. You know. So that perfectly illustrates the life of a person who's human. You know you're going to fall but get up again.
Speaker 4:But when your heart is not even inclined towards good and you're secretly trying to harbor that sin, you're trying to hold on to that sin. You're not even interested in letting it go. You're more interested in how you can excuse it away, to keep doing it. That's a problem, and to me that's when grace is like. You can't keep using that excuse. I'll tell you how. You know I'll be quiet after this, but I'll tell you how. I heard it. One time this dude was over at our house. He was a plumber just fixing stuff, and I just started talking to him because I knew he was a believer as well, and we were talking about the whole grace thing and how it's kind of gotten out of control. And he said you know what I believe grace is given, not taken.
Speaker 5:And I said there you go brother, there you go.
Speaker 4:So I'll leave that thought out there and I'll be quiet for the moment.
Speaker 1:John, if you can find James chapter one for us, because and Lynn, I think this was something that you had mentioned the other day, you know Philip talked about sometimes we don't appreciate the destructive nature of sin, and James chapter one kind of lines out what happens, you know, with the nature of sin and the wages of sin being death, yeah, so let's hit that in just a minute. But I did want to say one other thing really quickly, and that is I want to say to those of you who are listening to us that you know and I'm not trying to give anybody a way out, but you know, when I was a baby Christian, there were things that I was doing and working through that I didn't necessarily know were sin.
Speaker 1:You, know as I grew in Christ, he began to reveal to me more and more as I understood the word and realized, oh, when I slap people, that's not cool. And so you know, I had to fix that stuff and get on the right track so that I walked, talked and looked like Jesus to the best of my ability. So if you're a new believer or a young believer and you're growing and so forth and walking with the Lord, this conversation is meant to help you stay on the straight path, not to condemn you Right? However, this conversation is for those who are in the throes as we speak of ongoing sin, and that means you didn't have that affair just once and walk away.
Speaker 1:You're constantly in the bed with that woman or that man it's. You're still looking at pornography and you can't shake it. You're still lying to your spouse about things. You're hiding money, You're doing all kinds of things, and then you're just sinning against things that are the very nature of God, that are like. You're withholding love from one another and so you refuse to give love to your spouse or your children or someone else, which is a complete contradiction of what the Word tells us to do. So it's about being in a constant, ongoing state of sin, angry all the time and you can't seem to get it under control. But you can't get it under control when that person who's bigger than you is around you can control it, amazingly, then you know we're talking about ongoing sin that has to be dealt with.
Speaker 1:And it's even like we just finished talking about on the podcast the last three episodes about idolatry. You know, if one of those idols is you, there's a problem when you're so self-involved. When you're so self-involved and you know it's just like I was sharing on the podcast that you know I saw a video with a pastor with himself on the screen and it was him worshiping and praising and it's like, wait a minute, somebody's filming, you do that and you got on this outfit and it's got some semi ruffles on it. This isn't about giving the Lord glory, this is about your glory, it's all of those things. But in James, chapter 1, Lynn, do you remember where that was?
Speaker 3:We were talking about 14 through 16. We can look at all of that and see if that's the passage. I think it's sort of funny what you were talking about, that, pastor, because Jesus talked about the Pharisees out praying so that they could be seen, and that that was the.
Speaker 3:Lord, come on. So I don't know. And all that I've been hearing y'all say talks to me about am I sorry? Sorry, I got caught, or am I repentant, right? There's a huge difference in those. So if we can scroll down in the scripture down to 14. Okay, yeah, okay yeah, and it talks about if you endure your testing, how God patiently watches over you.
Speaker 3:But in 14, where it says temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. If I keep thinking about that one thing I want, or if I keep thinking about that one thing that my husband irritated me with or a friend irritated me with, I'm going to just focus and grow that thing in the garden of my heart. There's no other way to do it, because that's what's being nurtured. And when those things happen, as soon as I have an opportunity, I'm thinking about how I want to get even I jump on that thing and those are the sinful desires that it talks about here in verse 15. Y'all can't see me, but I'm pointing to the scripture and it gives birth to death and we're not talking about I'm going to kill over with a heart attack because I was doing those things, but my heart and my love for people dies. It's sort of like when Adam and Eve sinned they didn't physically die, but their dependence on God did, and their dependence on themselves and controlling their lives went forward.
Speaker 3:So this is where I say it gives birth to death and then 16. So don't be misled, my dear brothers and sisters. Those things will kill your spirit, they will kill your relationships with other people, it will kill your desire. I mean, those sorts of things tend to lead me toward depression and toward just a downward spiral, until I realize the mercy of God and the grace he's given me and bring me to the place where I want to repent. And then he helps me get rid of these and he picks me up out of the mud and washes me off, just like it says in scripture, and sets me on a rock so that I can be solid in him.
Speaker 3:But it doesn't mean he chains me to that rock. I can go off of that rock anytime I want to get back in the mind. But I think we have to be honest with ourselves that it starts right here in our hearts, and it's not something that I mean. None of the three of you can do anything that would cause me. One of you may say to me hey, let's go down to the club and get drunk. It's my desire to go to that club that took me down there, rather than my knowledge of God that says, no, hey, why don't we go and just do this, let's go get a cup of coffee. So it's my desire that takes me to the place, not one of you can cause me to sin.
Speaker 4:That's right, good point then.
Speaker 1:And then if you look in Romans 6.23, john, I didn't give this to you because tied with that is where it says that the wages of sin is death. There's no way around it. The wages of sin is death. There's no way around it. The wages of sin is death. Romans 6.23,. But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. So there's a juxtaposition there of two different ways. Sorry, I don't know why, I thought that was in James, but God is really leaving a choice in front of us. Yeah, to choose a path. And, lynn, you just said something, and Phillip or Stephanie, feel free to jump on it. But you just talked about how one of the things that follows you when you're in that way is depression and illness and other stuff, and we are a mentally ill, sick nation right now. Could it be because of the sin that we're playing with?
Speaker 1:wow wow, wow, wow Thoughts.
Speaker 5:I agree, I definitely agree with that. I think you know. I think about Revelation 2, where he said you know, evil men are going to wax worse and worse and sin is going to increase in the last days. And as a believer, I just want to encourage you to understand the seriousness of the hour and what David is saying about sin bringing forth death and the reality that you live in, to either choose death or choose life, like. Let's just kind of realize, like phil was mentioning in it too, that sin is not to be played with, it's taking you somewhere, it's a path, that's leading you somewhere, it's not a one, and done it rarely is, even even when it comes to anger.
Speaker 5:Um, and not even when it comes to anger and not checking your anger or repenting of your anger, because what repentance does is set you back to zero. In a way, it does two things it forces you to confess that you've done something wrong, which is paramount if you're going to get out of sin. You have to say God, I just slept with someone who wasn't my wife and that was wrong. That's going to pierce your heart and get you ready to start walking the right way and build strength into your spirit and even into your soul. And so when you don't repent, that sin is just carrying you along, it just continues to call your name and you're no stronger than the next person, and I'm no stronger than that either.
Speaker 5:So what you do is you keep yourself on the right path. You choose life and you choose it over and over again. So the one thing you do is repent. So you're set at zero and you turn. You turn toward God, you turn toward his word, you turn toward the light. I'll say one last thing real quick. When one of my daughters was little, very little, I had to have a talk with her. She's so sweet and she was drawing some, so I was watching.
Speaker 5:The Bachelor y'all remember that show, and so there's a lot of kissing on the show and so the girls are running through the house and they're seeing it on tv and whatnot. So my daughter. She starts drawing pictures of a man and a woman hugging and kissing and they were like the. You know, the fingers are like sausages, you know, and the nose is like way out here, you know.
Speaker 5:So it was a picture of a five-year-old or less, and but something in her made her feel like she was wrong for drawing that. And so I walked into her room and she was drawing it. And when I walked in, she, you know, she goes and she runs and she hides it. And I was like, well, let me see what you're doing. And uh, I had to talk to her and say, look, there's nothing wrong with love, there's nothing wrong with a man and a woman kissing, there's nothing wrong with a man and a woman hugging. What you're drawing is good. God created love, he created me in a woman, he created marriage, you know. And I went on. I said, but here's, what makes it bad is when it's done in the darkness.
Speaker 5:I said you got to bring it into the light, draw this in the living room when the whole family is around. I said, you know why? Because there's nothing wrong with that and in the light there's nothing that can hide, that can harm you. But when you do it in the, the darkness, there's something in your mind that's telling you this is bad and I need to hide it and I'm gonna shut up. But those kind of things done in the dark just grow out of control. Guys, that's right. You can't do it in the light. If you can't live in the light, then you know you're wrong and that leads you to know that you need to protect yourself from me.
Speaker 3:So sorry, no, no, no, you're good babe.
Speaker 4:I'm sorry, I'm I'm it's so good, it's so good, so good, sorry, no, no, no, you're good, babe. I'm sorry I'm jumping all up in here, but that there, that should be a good measuring stick for people. I mean, I'm talking me too, everybody. If you feel the need to hide what you're doing for any reason, you might want to check yourself on that. There's a reason why you feel like you should hide and it's not a good reason.
Speaker 4:You know, and, of course, David, you and I both know we've talked with many, many men. The struggle against pornography that is one of the biggest things that always seems to come out. Against pornography that is one of the biggest things that always seems to come out. Guys who have families, men who are pastors of churches, who have wives and kids when everybody's going to bed they're up on the computer looking at stuff they shouldn't be looking at, Things like that. I'm telling you what happens.
Speaker 4:The more you keep it a secret, the more it builds up this kind of split conscience going on, where you're having to manage the internal side of that and it's making you nervous and you're trying to cover your tracks and this and that and the other. And then you've got this other side of yourself that you're presenting to everybody else that you know it seems like it might be okay, or you know I'm doing fine and this and that and the other, and what it's doing it's tearing you apart. This is why, first, peter said to abstain from fleshly lusts. That war against the soul. You're literally waging war against your own soul by committing sins, by staying in sins and doing things that you know are not right. You know that you can't do them in the light.
Speaker 4:Then it's obviously something that's going to be warring against your own soul. And what you've done is, when you get into that kind of a space, you have destroyed your confidence. You've destroyed your confidence and your ability to come confidently before God. You feel like your prayers probably won't be effective. Deep down You'll feel that way.
Speaker 4:Let's say that you know what I mean. You're in a situation like that, let's say that something happens and you want to pray for somebody who's in dire need, but you don't even feel the confidence that you can pray because of the stuff you've got going on in the background. And so this is not meant to condemn people and that's not. I'm pretty sure that whoever's listening I know you, I believe you guys know we're not coming from that angle. We're coming from the angle of this is actually something that's trying to harm you, even though it's disguised in nice looking stuff or nice feeling stuff, but it's actually the intent is to harm you and to damage your relationship with God, even your relationship with yourself, man.
Speaker 3:So deal with that thing, let me jump in there, because everything that you've just said is so true, both of you, the things that are done in the dark. You talked about how they hurt you and hurt your relationship with God, and God makes it very clear. Those things that are done in the dark you talked about how they hurt you and hurt your relationship with God, and God makes it very clear those things that are done in the dark will be brought to the light.
Speaker 3:So, you have the choice to do that yourself or not, and in a relationship where things were hidden for a period of time. It not only destroys the person, their relationship with God, but it destroys the relationship within the family.
Speaker 1:Now God is greater.
Speaker 3:When there's repentance, god restores, and he is such an amazing, good and kind God that he would restore instead of just saying you had your chance, you know you're out of here. That's not the God we serve. So if you find yourself doing the things that are hidden, just you know, don't let Satan scare you and say he won't love you. That's absolutely not true, that's right, bring it to the light and let God restore you your relationships and live without that heaviness just hanging on you.
Speaker 4:Amen. Good stuff, praise God.
Speaker 1:You know talking about the light there 1 John 1 and 7, it tells us that if we are living in the light or I like the King James translation it says but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. Yes, the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin.
Speaker 4:Thank you, Jesus.
Speaker 1:As long as we're walking in the light, we have the guarantee that his son, jesus, will cleanse us from all sin. So we want to walk in the light. And the other thing that I want to just remind us of that was said just remember how the pattern works. And again I'm going back to james. Again it says um, every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Notice, it doesn't say somebody else's lust, it's your own.
Speaker 2:It's your own.
Speaker 1:Then, when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death. You have to realize that the pathway to sin is designed to destroy you. It's designed to bring you to death. Yeah. But, God says I am the way, the truth and the light Right Come and the life come to me. Yeah. So the way forward for everybody. If there's one tip we'll give you to start with, is that the way forward is repentance yes it's repentance.
Speaker 1:it's exactly what stephanie said being able to go to god and honestly said this thing that I have done, it's wrong, it's wrong and it's wrong to you, lord, and it's wrong to me for what I've done, lord, and cleanse me of all unrighteousness. Yes, and then layer. It's like laying yourself down at the mercy seat and saying, lord, help me. Don't think it takes a bunch of Bible vernacular for you to do this.
Speaker 1:It's just, it's to. It's to crash down before the Lord and say Lord, I've messed up again. This thing is eating me alive and I don't want it to anymore. I'm sorry, lord. I repent for what I've done.
Speaker 3:Just lay it out there online Go ahead, Lynn, I'll say. And King David in the Bible, a man after God's own heart, his prayer after he sinned with Bathsheba, you know, he's praying for his baby, but in the Psalms and I think it's Psalms 51, I can't remember where it is, but it says just you and you only have I sinned.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:And he recognized that it broke the relationship between him and God and God wasn't through with him. God said you will have a son. You know I love you. You will have a son who will stay on your throne. That was Solomon, but the ultimate son he had was Jesus, because Jesus was in his loins at that time. So when we have sinned, as long as we repent, like Stephanie said, and come to the Lord and give it to him, he will restore us. And I mean, look at all that. I mean we still call Jerusalem the city of David.
Speaker 1:I mean, we still call.
Speaker 4:Jerusalem, the city of David, yes.
Speaker 5:Wow, thank you, lord. Can I say real quick too? I just wanted to say we've used the word death several times and we've talked about how sin brings forth death, and I just want to say what that, in my understanding, is talking about that death is separation from God.
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 5:So the repentance it brings, like the story with David or the event with David, it reconnects you, you know. It reconnects you with God when you repent. But the sin absolutely brings forth death because it's separation from God. And God is life, he is the giver of life, he created all life. And sin brings forth death in that it separates you from the source of life, it separates you from God.
Speaker 5:And the one last thing I want to say. David, you mentioned something in that scripture you were just reading and it was saying how you have fellowship with the brothers and sisters and you live in the light and the blood of Jesus cleanses you from sin. I love that because he's talking to believers right there and he's talking to an imperfect people, which all of us are, and he's saying when you live in the light, the blood of Jesus continually cleanses you, and I think that that shows that we all have the filth of sin on us, kind of just continuously by living in this world and being broken, not being in our glorified state. Um, so, you know, I'm married. I've been married 21 years. I've been knowing this man for 25 years and we've had some ups and downs and we've had some knockdowns and drag outs and I've been wrong and he's been wrong mostly but when I am wrong and when I go to God and repent, it keeps Philip and I in fellowship with each other.
Speaker 5:And that blood of Jesus continuously cleanses me and I'm a believer and I endeavor to walk according to his word, but I still need that blood to continuously cleanse me. So imagine when you're not in fellowship with believers or when you're not living in the light, then you don't have that benefit.
Speaker 4:Good stuff, good stuff, that's good, stephanie.
Speaker 1:That's good. All right, you guys, we're going to put a bookmark right here. It's just getting good.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Just hear our hearts. We love you guys, we love God enough. We love you enough to say enough is enough, come on. It's just like the scripture I started with. I said Ephesians. It's actually in Colossians, chapter one, that calls us to walk uprightly before the Lord. Ephesians three says to walk worthy of the calling to which we've been called. And we've all been called to a place to serve God. And we just kind of what we've got to, just do our thing. And you know, it's okay to need help, it's okay to ask for help, it's okay to go find help when you need to, and we'll talk about that some more later on. Philip, let's pray for everybody. Let's pray for people who are struggling. Let's pray for people who are struggling. Let's pray for people who are hearing us and making a commitment, you know a commitment to walk uprightly before the Lord and get things on track. Let's just take a moment and pray.
Speaker 4:Sure, father. Thank you for this podcast and for what was brought forth by the Holy Spirit tonight, for this podcast and for what was brought forth by the Holy Spirit tonight. And we just give you praise, father. We thank you for what you said in Psalm 84, where you said that you're gracious and full of compassion, you're ready to forgive, you're plenteous in mercy to everyone who calls upon you. Thank you for that, father, for your mercy and your grace that is always there, always present. We just give you praise for that, father. You called yourself a very present help in the time of need and you told us in Hebrews 4 that we can come boldly to your throne of grace to obtain your mercy and find your grace to help us when we need it, because we have Jesus as our high priest. And so, father, I pray right now for those listening, for anyone who's struggling with something, maybe in secret struggling with a sin, or has been at a place where they're comfortable with sin, but they also know deep down that it's not something they should be doing. I pray, father, for a supernatural conviction from the Holy Spirit, or for the same thing that Isaiah talked about the spirit of the fear of the Lord, to return back to those people, for their hearts to be pricked, father, their hearts to be convicted, so that they can begin to come back into fellowship with you, to recognize the destructive nature of sin in their lives. Father, and we know this is not meant to be a condemning thing. It's meant to be a restoring thing, meant to be something that can promote and build up and edify Father.
Speaker 4:That's what we're praying for for people to be built up and edified by this Father, that that cleansing from sin, that that repentance from sin, turning away from it, will help them to live a more full, a fuller life for you, be able to be used by you without any type of condemnation or guilt hanging around in the background.
Speaker 4:We just pray for that, father, because you did say that there is no condemnation for those who walk in according to the spirit, not according to the flesh, those who are in Christ. There is no condemnation for them, father, and so we are grateful for that, lord, that you have not condemned, but you have instead put any type of sin that they've ever done on the cross with Jesus, and you've already paid the penalty. But, lord, we don't want them to have to endure the natural penalties and natural consequences of walking in those things. So we pray that you will just speak to their hearts, father. Speak to their hearts that conviction, speak to their hearts the direction and path they should go towards restoration and towards repentance. And we give you praise for all these things, lord. We thank you for it and we agree on these things. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Speaker 3:Thank you for it, amen. Amen.
Speaker 4:Thanks.
Speaker 1:Bill, and thank you amen, thanks for up and thank you stephanie, thank you, lynn, for joining us this week. We're going to bring them back and continue to talk about this some more in the next episode. So make sure you are bookmarking, you're saving, smash the like button, as philip always says, um, and make sure that you can get this podcast and you can listen to these episodes as they're coming out. Again, we go live on Wednesday nights and record them, and then the episodes go live on Tuesdays for all your favorite podcast platforms YouTube Rumble, podcast platforms, youtube Rumble and others so make sure you just stay connected some way, shape or form. Don't also forget that you can connect with us If you want to.
Speaker 1:You can use the comment section of your favorite app to reach out to us. Send us a note, let us know what you're thinking, how you're feeling, if you have questions, if there's something you'd like us to tackle, we'd be happy to look at that. Or you can send us a note at gotbrew at biblebrosnet. Again, that's gotbrew at biblebrosnet. Well, I think that's it, and we're so glad you joined us. We hope you got a little bit of inspiration out of this episode as well. Until next time, a little bit of inspiration out of this episode as well. Until next time, I'm David, he's Phillip, she's Lynn, she's Stephanie, and we are out.
