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Pastors' Perspective-10/13/26 · Pastors Perspective

• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to Pastor's Perspective. I'm your host, Brian Perez.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: So glad to have you watching and listening today. Maybe
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: you're listening live or watching live. Well, you can call
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: in till 4 o'clock Pacific time. 888-564-6173 is the number
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: to reach us on this Tuesday afternoon. If you're watching
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: on uh a
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Podcast maybe. Well, we're here Monday through Friday from 3
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: to 4 and uh we open up the phone lines,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: you guys call in and ask your questions about God's word,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: what you've been learning as a believer, uh, what questions
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: you might have, so much that we can discuss. Sometimes
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: an hour just doesn't seem like enough time, but we
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: try to accomplish as much as we can during that hour.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: So call in.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: 888-564-6173 is the number to call. We've got Pastor Brian
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Broderson answering your questions today. How are you doing, Brian?
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm doing OK, Brian. Thank you very much. Good
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: to see you. Is Phil Metzger in yet? Yes, I
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: hear you are. Hi Phil. You're not wearing a San
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Diego Padres hat today. Uh, no, thank you. No thank you.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: No need to wear the Padres. They're out, but I
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: got my 49ers shirt on because they're, they're 5 and 0, baby.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: So anyways, I know that's not what the show is about,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: but you know, I gotta take my jabs here and there.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: Do what you want, Phil. Well, we'll give you 2.5 minutes. No,
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: I'm joking. I, I have yet to watch an NFL game,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: but
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: I did see that the Forty-Niners beat the champion Seahawks.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: Is that
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: Am I correct about that, Phil? They've, they've beaten the
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: Rams and the Seahawks. So yeah, 5-0, baby, 5-0. Yeah, well,
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: everybody's beating the Rams, so that's not, that's the great accomplishment.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: That's the truth. Yeah, but for the Niners, it's a
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: big deal because they're, we just, you know, some teams
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: get in your head, right? It's like, it's like all
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: of life. Some things get in our heads, and, uh, the,
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: the Dodgers live in the Padres' heads rent-free, dude. They just,
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: it's just.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: All right folks, phone lines are open, 888-564-6173. Did I
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: mention you can also send in your questions online? No,
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: I did not. I've mentioned it before, but not today.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: You can send your question using messenger on the Pastor's
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: Perspective Facebook page, or you can DM us on the
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: Pastor's perspective, Instagram, or you can scan the QR code
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: if you're watching on Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram. That'll take
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: you to the pastor's perspective page at Kwave.com, where you
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: can fill out that form there. That gets your question
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: to us. All three of these methods that I just mentioned.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: You won't necessarily get an answer to your question today,
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: so if you'd like an answer today, if you'd like
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: to talk to a pastor live, a real pastor, uh,
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: call in 888-564-6173, a real pastor as opposed to like
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: a fake pastor or an AI pastor. No, these guys
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: are real flesh and bone.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: So call in, 888-564-6173. Here's a question that was submitted
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: online from Licy, and uh she writes, good morning. Well,
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: she sent this in the morning, I guess. I was
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: curious to explore the topic on the haunted hotel conversation
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: from last Wednesday's episode a little more.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: Phil, you missed it. We had a great conversation about
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: haunted houses and, uh, haunted hotels actually, is what it was. And, uh,
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: everybody who missed that episode, you can go find it
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: on Facebook, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. It was from
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: October 7th. So Licy says, what's the pastor's perspective on
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: the paranormal or supernatural from a biblic
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: Christian perspective. I believe the Bible that believers, uh, for
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: believers to be absent from the body is to be
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: present with the Lord, but I've heard different interpretations on
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: the paranormal. Either it's solely the spiritual realm, and these
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: are demonic entities people experience, or the version where there
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: are demonic entities, but not.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: Unbelievers can be trapped here like the haunted hotel. I've
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: believed more the first, uh, example, but I'm curious what
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: the pastor's perspective is and to gain to gain clarity
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: on what is a good biblical Christian way to understand
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: these experiences. Brian, what do you say to Licy?
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Other, I
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: I can't
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: I can't talk. Um, no, I can't, um, think of
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: a single passage that would support the idea that
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: Um,
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: You know, sort of like the departed spirits of, of
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: human beings are somehow still hanging around or trapped or
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: whatever the case might be. Um, I, I think the
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: Bible is clear that.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: Um
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: Hebrews chapter 9, verse 22 or 26, uh, it is
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: appointed for a person to die once and after death
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: a judgment.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: So, again, there's nothing biblical about spirits hanging around. So
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: if there are spirits, which I would imagine there are, uh, there.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: Evil spirits, they're demonic spirits, and of course there are
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: angels who are um good, uh, they're the holy angels,
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: and they're hanging around too, but um yeah, but not the,
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: not the souls of the departed. Hm, Phil Metzger.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: I missed a doozy of a show. It sounds like, uh,
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: October you did, yeah, boy, it was, and Eric, uh,
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: Eric wants to go to the haunted hotel. So, you know,
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: is that the one in LA? Is he talking about LA? No,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: it's in Texas. It's near the Alamo. Somebody wrote in
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: and asked. They wanted to go to a, a Christian
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: concert in the area and, uh, they booked a hotel
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: in the area there in Texas, and they found out
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: that this.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: You know, there's rumors that this is a haunted hotel,
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: and she's like, well, as a Christian, should I go?
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: That was basically what the question is, so you guys
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: go look for it October 7th.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the, the, it's the, um, the spirit of Davy
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: Crockett and, uh, Jim Bowie and Colonel Travis and General
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: Santa Ana. Those are, those are all the guys that
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: fought at the Alamo, so I would imagine, uh, that's
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: who's hanging out, what's hanging out.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I have nothing, um, constructive to add to
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: the conversation. Sorry, uh, I truly have nothing. I mean,
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: from a biblical perspective, there's just nothing like this. I mean,
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: there are, you know, like, like Brian said, when you're
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: not here, you're not here. You, you ain't coming back
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: to haunt a house or a hotel or a person,
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: you know, is the demonic real? Of course, but this,
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: I mean, I think it's more lure than it is
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: anything else. It's, it's always.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: I mean, there's, there's that like, uh, there's a hotel
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: in LA that's like the murder hotel, and it's like
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: the person is haunting that. I mean, every place has their, their, their, their,
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: you know, myths and all that kind of stuff, and I,
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: you know, yeah. They make for fun movies and little
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: spooky things here and there, and it fills Halloween stories,
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: but biblically and realistically, there's nothing like that.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: Have you guys seen the videos that people say they
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: drive through cemeteries and they post these videos on Instagram, Phil,
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: I'm sharing one right now on my, uh, screen there
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: if you look at that, but they, uh, drive through
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: cemeteries in their Tesla. The Tesla picks up the, uh,
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: you know, the self-driving thing. It shows where motorcycles are
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: and cars and everything. So supposedly these people are driving
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: through and all of a sudden they'll see like this
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: image where, where there is.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: Nobody. There, there's nobody there. There's nobody physically standing in
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: front of them, but the image will show up on the,
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: the little camera thing on the, um, whatever that's called.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: I hate to, I can burst your bubble on this one.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: I'm so sorry to do this for all those that
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: wanted it to be a person. First of all, the
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: Tesla car is using cameras. It's nothing LDAR, no radar.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: It's just a camera.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: And when it sees a smaller image in its way,
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: it identifies it as human. In other words, you know,
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: if it was bigger, it might be a car. If
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: it was bigger than that, it would be a truck.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: If it was bigger than that, it would be a building.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: But it doesn't, um, so no, the Teslas are not
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: picking up paranormal, uh, ghosts. It's a fun idea, uh, but, uh, yeah, sorry, no,
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: that's a great video you just shared though, Brian. I
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: like it.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: I don't know if it's a fun idea because that's
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: kind of creepy, but yeah, go ahead, Brian. So, you know,
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: they're actually Martians that Elon has imported in preparation for
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: his colonization of Mars. Yeah.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: Preparing us for that.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: That's what's going on. Yeah, thank you, Licy, for sending
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: in your question through the, uh, pastor's perspective page at kwave.com.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: Pastor Brian was just looking around the room. Did you
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: see a ghost or something? What did you? I just
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: saw him there on the the ghost of Cheryl is
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: in the room. Yes, no, that creepy girl picture, that
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: creepy like kid that was in that one, you know,
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: that's definitely haunted at the B&B. That Airbnb was definitely haunted. Hey,
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: I'm at the same place. I just.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: Everybody was so freaked out about the, the picture. I
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: had to take it down, you know, we're glad. I'm kidding.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: I didn't, I didn't take it down, but I am
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: at the same place. I'm just in a different room. Ah,
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: 888-564-6173 is our number. Licy, thank you for sending in our,
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: your question, and now let's go to the phones. JC
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: and your Belinda listening to Kwave. Hello, thank you for
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: calling 888-564-6173. What's your question for the pastors?
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: Hi, good afternoon. I've, uh, never called in anything like
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: this before. It's my first time. I'm glad to be
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: talking with all you guys. Welcome.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: We'll go easy on you.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: Thank you. Um, yeah, so my question is, this is, um,
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: it's a question kind of about reconciliation. Um, my, long
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: story short, my, um, the best man at my wedding, um,
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: who my wife at one time would have considered to
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: be her best friend, um, and he, we've been having
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: a bit of a trouble with him, um,
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: Because he had carried on, we just found out sort
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: of recently, but for probably like about 1 year ago
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: to about maybe 6 or so months ago, we found
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: out he was carrying on a bit of an inappropriate, um,
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: sexual nature relationship with, um, a close friend of ours. Um,
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: and both, both my friend, our best man and, um,
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: this friend are, they're taken in, in mutually exclusive relationships. Um,
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: And he claims that he quit that and, and, and
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: as far as we know he did, and he's not
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: carrying on anything out of the ordinary now, but we
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: had a bit of a falling out with him because we,
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: on account of this, essentially refused to go to his
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: wedding with his fiance who, um,
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: Allegedly even was, um, encouraging what he did. Uh, it's
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: a bit of a complicated situation, but long story short, yesterday,
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: we tried to reconcile because he kind of cut us out.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: He and his fiance both cut us out several months back,
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: and we felt God calling us to try and to
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: reconcile because we had both forgiven him, um, for what
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: he's been doing, um, and the lies that he's told about.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: Especially about my wife in this whole scenario. So, um,
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: we tried to reconcile with him and he sort of
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: avoided a lot of responsibility, saying, uh, oh, I didn't
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: remember all those kind of things and kind of placing
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: the blame onto our friend as well as claiming, well,
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: I've been drinking kind of heavily for the last several
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: months and then kind of not.
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: And so he's in a state where he's not taking responsibility, um,
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: and on top of it all, he, um, has recently
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: claimed that he's a believer, um, and, but refuses to
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: talk about his faith. So we're kind of feeling stuck.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: We talked with him last night and he didn't really
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: get anywhere. Um, so we're kind of in a state
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: where we wanna know what can we really do for him, uh,
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: to help with this and to, to continue to pursue reconciliation.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: OK, Phil, what do you say to JC? That's a lot, um.
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: Goodness gracious, yeah, I mean, the thing about reconciliation, or
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: at least one of the things about reconciliation is, um,
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: You know, I mean, it, it has a lot to
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: do with you and your, you and your wife, your
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: own heart about this person. In other words, it sounds
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: like you guys have been like, hey, we're, we're good,
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: we're ready, we're free, we're not holding any bitterness, we're
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: not holding any unforgiveness, like we're releasing that. I think
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: that's a really significant part of reconciliation. I know it's
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: not the part that most people talk about, but you
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: being free before the Lord.
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: You know, that like you've done what you can to, to,
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: to do what's right and to, you know, to be
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: honoring and to try to rebuild relationship. You know, the
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: Bible tells us how much Jesus loves unity. He loves
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: when his people are unified. Uh, the reality is you're,
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: you're still kind of figuring out, is your, is this
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: buddy a believer, is he not? There's been a lot
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: of water under the bridge of hurt and frustration. You know,
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: if you guys can keep your own heart free, obviously,
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: you know, your first priority in relationships is you and
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: your wife.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: And um beyond that, you know, it's great that you're
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: pursuing reconciliation. I think that's great. Um.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: I think you're doing the right things, you know, uh,
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: but I wouldn't, I, I wouldn't feel like, I know,
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you do, but I wouldn't feel
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: like you're doing something wrong or that there's more you
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: necessarily could be doing. It sounds like you're doing what
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: needs to happen, um, but there is like maybe he
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: needs a little bit of time to kind of grow
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: into that, but, um, it sounds to me like you
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: guys are doing a great job, man. I love JC
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: how you, um, felt that the Lord was telling you
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: and your wife to
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: You know, reach out and try to reconcile and everything else,
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: and I think sometimes we hear the Lord telling us
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: these things and we think, oh, well, if the Lord's
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: telling us to do it, he's gonna do a miracle
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: and it's gonna get resolved today, and then you go
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: to the meeting, you have coffee, whatever, and things don't resolve.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: They might even get worse, and then you might start thinking, well,
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: was it really God who told us to, to meet
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: with this guy? I mean, I don't know. What do
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: you think of what you've heard, JC?
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, thank you guys for your answers. Um, it, it,
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: it definitely does. It's, it's been a lot of disappointment, unfortunately,
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: you know, just seeing his response because my wife at
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: one time really was best friends with him and now
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: she tells me, you know, she hardly even sees him
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: anymore when she talks to him. It's just, he's a
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: very different person than it seems like he used to be, um.
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: And yeah, and, and there's like the temptation to feel
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: like we're not, there's something else that we should be doing, but,
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: you know, I have to remind her and be reminded
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: myself that, you know, it's up to God and it's
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: between God and, and him and my friend to figure
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: out what, you know, is gonna happen next, and we're
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: just gonna continue to, to pursue it, um, and try
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: to do it with a, with a, with a good heart.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Brian, what would you say to JC?
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: We lost Brian's video. I don't know if you can
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: see that or not. No, I didn't know that. So
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: we lost Brian. OK, so maybe I don't know. He's
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: still there on the screen for me, but not like
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: no visual. It's not like one of those paranormal videos
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: or anything that we just showed you, like on one
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: of those like a this is Zoom hunting right here.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: This is a.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: So I, I, I, I was just gonna say, Brian,
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: I love what you said there. It's so true, man.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: Sometimes you're like, oh, God's leading me, and then when
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: it doesn't like work out the way we thought, we're like,
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: where's God in all of that? And it sounds like JC,
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: you've got, you've had a good, you've got a good
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: head on your shoulders. You're seeking the Lord, you're walking
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: humbly and aware of the fact that just because the, um,
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: the Lord didn't do it the way you thought he
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: was going to the first time.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: You know, I'm always aware, I, I love to tell
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: people in Acts 16, Paul gave, or God gave Paul
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: a vision of a man from Macedonia and that he
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: was to go over there, and when Paul actually got
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: to Macedonia, there was no man, it was a woman
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: down by the river that he preached the gospel to.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: And I love to remind people, like, just because you
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: see something and imagine it to be one way, and
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: then it doesn't happen, doesn't mean the Lord isn't in it.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: It just might, he might just have a longer process
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: for what we're thinking. Don't, don't, don't let what is
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: happening in front of you keep you from what you
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: feel like God's showing you to do. So it sounds
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: like you did that and, and well done for that.
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: Where's that story you just mentioned, Phil, for people who
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: want to be reminded of it.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: Acts chapter 16. I mean, obviously it's not about, yeah,
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: Acts 16, it's the very beginning of it. It's obviously
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: not a story about reconciliation at all, but it's a great,
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: it's such a great one of reminding ourselves that like
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: God led Paul, God gave him a vision of a
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: man from Macedonia, and then Paul tells everybody I had
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: a vision.
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: of a man from Macedonia, and he gets there, and
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: there was a woman down at the river that he
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: preached the gospel to. That tells you how few men
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: there were in that city, right? Uh, Jewish men. And I,
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: I think I always like to tell people, number one,
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: it would have been weird if Paul had had a
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: vision of a woman, none of the guys would have
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: believed him, that that was from the Lord, that would
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: have been odd.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: And on the other hand, sometimes we just got to
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: do what's in front of us. Paul knew that preaching
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: the gospel was more important than, than his vision coming
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: to pass the way he thought it should. And, um,
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: not only did God, um, reach one man, but he
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: reached millions of men because Paul went to Macedonia. All
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: of Europe was open to the gospel because of that. Yeah.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: So JC, how was it?
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you guys so much. We appreciate it and
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: we're just gonna continue to, you know, walk through the
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: doors that, that God presents for us and, you know, and,
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: and keep our heads up and leave the results to Him.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: Awesome. So thanks for calling in today. Are you a
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: longtime listener of Kwave or cause you said this is
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: the first time you've ever called, how'd you find out
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: about us?
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: Uh, yeah, I've been listening to you guys for a
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: good couple of years now, um, on my commutes and everything.
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: I love hearing, uh, all the different programs throughout the
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: day and just try and listen, you know, uh, several
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: hours a day worth if I can.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: Well, thank you, and if you're stuck on that long commute, uh,
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: it's a good way to spend your time listening to
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: K Wave. 888-564-6173 is the number to call us today
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: here on Pastor's Perspective. I do believe we have Pastor
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: Brian Broderson back and Phil Metzger's here as well. And
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: uh we're now going to speak with Phil in Riverside
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: who listens to K Wave. Hey there, Phil. Welcome to
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: Pastor's Perspective. Thanks for calling 888-564-6173.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: Hey, pastors, uh, thanks for taking my call. Um, I just,
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: I just wanted to ask for some prayer. I've been
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: struggling for the past 4 years now with addiction.
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: And uh it's off and on. I find myself coming
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: clean and then, you know, being with the Lord and
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: then everything's fine, and then as soon as I get
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: back into the addiction, it's like it's very hard to
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: find myself coming back to God and then I just
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: feel like everything is just stuck in between and
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: So yeah, is there any way uh you guys can
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: pray for me and then, uh, also if you guys
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: have anywhere to direct me, is there anybody in scripture
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: that kind of dealt with addiction or anything that kind
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: of relates to that? Hm, Pastor Brian, what do you
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: say to Phil?
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so when you say addiction, um, I mean, there's
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: all kinds of possibilities with that. Are you talking about
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: like substances, you know, drugs, alcohol, that, that sort of thing?
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's drugs, uh, so I've been, um, smoking cannabis
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: for the past 4 years. Um, I guess like I
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: kind of thought that it was OK that maybe it
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: would be OK to use it because it was like legal, but, um,
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: the more I found myself using it, the more I,
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: the more I realized that it was more of a
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: vice and
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: No, it just kind of got me all entangled up
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: and I just kinda wanna get rid of it.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: Well,
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: You know, that's, that's the first step really, and that's
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: great that you're at that place, you know, where you're saying,
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: you're recognizing that it's
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: It's not helpful at all, and it's, it's something that
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: you wanna get out of your life and I think, uh,
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: practically speaking, you, um, I mean, num number one, just
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: very practically, you need to throw away all the weed
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: that you have.
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: And number 2, you need to not get any more
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: and you need to stay away from um those, you know,
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: sources that are influencing you that way, uh, but I
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: think the biggest thing I would encourage you to do
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: is get into a group, um, at your church or
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: at a local church, say like a celebrate recovery or
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: something like that where you're around people.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: Who have struggled with the same things, and they're, you know,
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: they're getting victory, and they're encouraging, um, everyone around them, and,
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: you know, it's, everybody gets it. Everybody's kind of struggled
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: with the same sort of things, and so they're able
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: to come alongside and tell their story about, you know, what,
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: what God's done for them and how they've been able
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: to stay clean, and I think that would be like super.
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: important in your situation.
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: So Phil, when you say you're addicted, like what's the
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: longest you've gone without, I mean, I mean, this isn't
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: something that you just use casually. I mean, you're actually
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: addicted to it where your body craves it and
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: Everything.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so, uh, basically when I don't have it, like
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: I find I'm on edge, like I'm a nervous wreck, uh,
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: I'm real impulsive, um, and I kind of identify that too,
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: like right away, and then like I kind of like
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: almost immediately regret it.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: Um, when I don't have it, and then the, the longest,
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: so I've been doing it for 4 years, like every day,
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: all day, well, not all day, but like every day, and, um, yeah,
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: the longest I went was a month, and, uh, it was, it,
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: it felt great. I was sleeping better, everything is just better, but.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: You know, of course temptation comes around and you, you
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: dabble with the idea that, oh, I can handle it
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: or I can control it, or we can have addiction
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: in God and it's OK and you know, maybe this
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: is OK, and you know, of course the enemy, the
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: lies of the enemies and so, um, right now it
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: seems like every time I quit, um, it just gets
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: harder and harder for me to keep like when I
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: come back, it's like it gets harder and harder for
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: me to quit again like.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: It almost seems like kind of like I'm fighting a
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: losing battle in my own head, like saying like, well,
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: you're just gonna do it again, or, you know, it's
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: just kinda that kind of thing. So I'm just, I'm
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: just hopefully asking for some prayer and uh if you
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: have any scripture to help me with that, like yeah,
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: Phil Metzger, what do you say to Phil? Yeah, I'm
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: happy to pray for you, Phil, and, but I, I,
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: what did you do? What did you do the time
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: that you got free for a month? What like, what
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: did you do?
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: How'd you get free, man? I was so, I was
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: so productive. I was, how did you do it though?
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: How did you get off of it?
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Um, so I kind of heard, uh, I listened to
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: K-wave a lot, and, um, one of the things that
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: helped me was they were talking about, um, they were
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: talking about tithing, and, uh, on the radio, I forget,
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: I forget who the pastor was, he comes on late,
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: but he was talking about not only tithing with your money,
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: but also tithing with the first, uh, part of your
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: time of your day, uh, giving the first fruits of
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: your day, the first fruits of your energy to God.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: Uh, and then like everything else will kind of like
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: follow along and you'll like, giving your 10%, just like
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: uh 30, 70, 100%, he'll bless it, uh, he'll bless
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: your energy, he'll bless your efforts, he'll make you a
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: little bit more effective. So they were kind of preaching
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: on that, so I said, all right, let me try it.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: And then for the first like week it was tough.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: Um, you know, every, like, as soon as I would
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: open my eyes, the first thing I'll do instead of
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: Instagram or scrolling, I would hop out of bed. I
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: would stretch, and I would wash my face, brush my teeth,
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: comb my hair, get ready, like as if I was
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: going to meet with the Lord, you know, like out
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: of respect. And then I would put myself at the Bible,
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: and I would give my 10%, which was like, I
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: think 2.5 hours or whatever, uh, out of the 24
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: hours of the day.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: And uh it wouldn't be the full 2 hours right away,
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: but I would spend like an hour in the word,
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: maybe 1015 minutes in prayer and worship. And then I'll
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: go throughout my day, listen to K-wave and just constantly
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: commune with God and every like kind of hour just
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: check in with myself and be like, hey, how are
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: you doing, whatever.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: And then it worked. Like after the first week, it
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: just got easier and I just started to see like
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: a pouring out of blessing like in the relationships in
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: my family, fixing the relationship with my kids, fixing the
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: relationship with like my friends. Phil, that is amazing, but
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: then what happened?
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: I got comfortable with the idea of thinking that like
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: I felt like I was in God's favor. Like everything
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: was working out. It was like so much favor. It
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: was ridiculous. And then I said, OK, well, I'm just
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: gonna take a break, God. I'm gonna go into an event.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna go to an event. I just wanna smoke
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: one time.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: And I'll be OK, and it's not gonna be not
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: that serious. And sure enough, it was over after that, like, I, OK,
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: so I pulled it, I went right back into that
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: whole destruction phase. Right? And didn't every, everything you just
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: described sounds so awesome, and it sounds like you kind
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: of enjoyed yourself too, and it sounds like you're kind
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: of jealous for that time again. So, here's a Bible
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: verse for you. Return to your first love. Go back
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: to the first verse, go back to what you, that's
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: worked before, do it again.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: And this time I want you to actually bring some
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: people with you into your process, um, because what, the
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: only thing I would say was kind of lacking in your,
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: I mean, dude, you're awesome. I love what you were doing,
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: it's beautiful. It shows that like when you, when you
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: commit yourself, um, God gives us the strength to walk
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: in that for you, that's wonderful.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: Uh, you, I, I, I wanna tell you this though,
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: the second time around, it could be a little bit
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: harder because you've already kinda, you've done it, you're like,
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: I can do this again, and, and, you know, willpower
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: isn't enough, we're gonna trust the Lord. I'd love for
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: you to bring some people along in your journey. But dude,
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: go back to that. Stop. No more excuses. We'll pray
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: for you right now, and I think prayer is power.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: Uh, it's not just power to, like, you know, feel good,
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: but to actually start walking in it. You wanna be free,
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: start being free. Take everything you got, all the junk
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: you got, throw it out. Don't throw it out in
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: your trash. Take it to somebody else to throw it
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: out cause you'll just go digging through the dirt later,
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: through the trash. Uh, know that you, we are all,
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: we are all gonna go right back to our own
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: mud all the time. It's who we are, it's what
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: we do. It's not, it's not that you're a bad person,
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: it's that we're all bad people according to the scriptures.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: So don't give yourself opportunity.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: Stop thinking about that the blessings of God are gonna
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: just reign forever and you can just get lazy. Just
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: do everything you said, bro. Do all of that, but
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: bring people into it this time, OK? Um, do I
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: got time to pray? Yes, you do. OK, I got
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: a minute. All right, Father, I just wanna thank you
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: for Phil and for his testimony and that, and we're
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: also thanking you because you're gonna do it again.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: Help this guy to get free again. All the blessings
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: that he had sounded so wonderful. It made me, makes
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: me excited about being in your word and in prayer
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: and just the sweetness and having a sense of calm
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: again and all those things sounds so great. Lord, give
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: it to him again, help him to do the hard work,
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: help him to remember that he's not meant to do
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: this alone. Not only are you with him, but he
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: should bring some people in the process with him.
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: And um bless bless bless this guy in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: Pastor Brian, 45 seconds.
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I, I just wonder, Phil, if you had, you know,
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: so you, you told us a story, and you're doing great,
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: and then you went out, and you, you know, kind
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: of fell off the wagon, so to speak, and then
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: you're kind of right back in it. Was there the idea,
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: I'm curious, was there the idea after you slipped up, like, well,
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: I screwed up, so, you know, I probably can't just
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: turn around and go back, you know, and, ah, God,
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: God's upset, or, you know, he's just, I've let God down.
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: Did you have any of that kind of thinking going on?
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, so after, after it happened and then after
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: a couple of days that I realized like I kind
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: of was consumed by all the sin again, um, I
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: was just, I was so torn up. I was so guilty.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: Like I wasn't right for a whole week. I felt
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: like I betrayed God. I felt like he was my friend.
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: We hung out for a whole month and like I
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: got to know him a lot and then.
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: Like I just shot him in the face. Like I
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: just felt torn up. Well, you know, OK, so part
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: of that is good because, you know, you want to
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: be convicted. Like if you.
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: You know, cheated on your wife. I mean, that would be,
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: you would want to have serious remorse over that, um,
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: but also remember that God is not condemning you, so
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: he's inviting you right back in. And so just take
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: that invitation and and jump right back in. We'll be
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: back on Pastor's perspective.
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: We're back on Pastor's Perspective. 888-564-6173 is the number to
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: call until 4 o'clock p.m. Pacific time today. Dan and
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: Sandra are gonna get to you guys in just a
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: little bit and anybody else. We'll try to squeeze as
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: many of you as we can in. When you call 888-564-6173.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: Pastors Brian Broderson and Phil Metzger answering your questions and
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: what a great time of ministering to our brother.
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: Keep him in your prayer, you guys that are watching
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: and listening as he tries again, you know, getting rid
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: of these addictions. He called, he, one of the questions
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: he asked when he called was, are there any examples
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: of addiction in scripture? I did a quick search and
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: one came up that I hadn't even really thought of
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: and may not, well, let me just tell you what
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: it is. You guys might already be thinking about this.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: When the apostle Paul writes in Romans 7:15.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: I do not understand what I do for what I
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: want to do, I do not do, but what I
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: hate to do, that's what I do. Now, far be
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: it from me to say the apostle Paul was addicted
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: to anything, but what would you guys say, Brian?
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: Well, that, I mean, that, that description is a description
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: of just how sin works in our lives, and Paul's,
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: what Paul is doing there is he's describing a person
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: who is not yet
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: Regenerated, but sees the, the need to, to be righteous
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: and to live right and so, you know, tries to
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: live up to the, to the standard of the law,
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: and he says, you know, so with my mind I
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: serve the law of God, but with my flesh, the
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: law of sin. This is the way it works. I
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: want to do the right thing, but I end up
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: not doing it. And, you know, even a Christian can
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: get trapped in that sort of thing sometimes.
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: And I think, um, you know, that was, like we
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: all said with Phil, that was a beautiful story, and, um,
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: you know, God's not finished, and I think the, like,
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: like I said at the end there, you know, the
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: devil's gonna make, wanna make him think that, um, hey,
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: why bother? You're just gonna do the same thing again,
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: so you might as well just forget it, which is
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: a lie, and he needs to press beyond that.
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: And like both Phil and I said, you know, he
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: needs to plug in with other people, because as wonderful as,
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: as that was on a personal level, um, which was beautiful, uh,
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: he needs fellowship, and he needs encouragement, and he needs
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: others around him that can lift him up, you know,
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: when he, when he's weak, so yeah. Phil, any other
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: thoughts from you? No, I just, that was a great conversation.
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: You just love when somebody's so real, so straight.
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: And then, and then, as he was describing like the,
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: the joy and the peace that he had and the
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: blessing that he had, didn't it make us all jealous? Like,
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: I want that too, you know, I'm not, I'm not
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: smoking weed, I'm not doing any of that, but how
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: exciting to just like consider your time as a tithe
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: and it was beautiful. I, I, we're all rooting for
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: the guy. I think the Lord's gonna do great things
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: in his life.
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: Even his daily regimen was, you know, he gets up,
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: you know, forget social media, he's in the word for
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: however long he sat, an hour, whatever, and 2.5 hours.
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: That's 10% of his time. Yes, yes, and hearing all
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: that and just thinking, man, I wish I could do that.
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: But Phil, we're praying for you, man. God bless you.
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: Thanks for calling 888-564-6173. Sandra, gonna speak with you after
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: we go to Dan in Long Beach. What's going on, Dan?
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: Thanks for calling 888-564-6173.
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: Well, thank you for taking my call, and I agree
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: with you both. Phil was an amazing situation. And, uh,
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: mine is kind of similar. Uh, I also have addiction issues.
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: I actually called in on February 5th of 2025 and
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: spoke to, uh, Pastor Brian and Bobby Conway about.
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: Uh, I've been listening to pastor's perspective since it was
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: Pastor Chuck and Don Stewart, and, uh, wow, OK, yeah, right,
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: right now I'm just, uh, there's so many things going
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: through my mind. There's just so much going on that, uh,
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: I'm struggling not to go back to my addiction.
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: Um.
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: Uh, where to begin? So my parents split up when
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: I was young. They both got it right the second
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: time around. So I had 50 years of 4 incredible parents,
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: and I'm down to just one. I've lost 3 of
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: them in the last couple of years. Lost my little
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: brother to cancer, um, lost my best friend to cancer,
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: and now I find that I have cancer. Um.
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: Also have some other physical stuff. I have a deviated
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: septum that's in part due to my drug use. Um,
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: and I guess I'm calling cause I'm just, I recently
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: had my golf club stolen out of my car and, uh,
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: and they're irreplaceable. I was, uh, fortunate enough.
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: To be a PGA teaching pro for 5 years and
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: I had custom fitted clubs that they don't even make
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: anymore and they, they meant so much to me. Um,
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: 2 weeks ago, I crashed my Harley. I, uh, was
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: badly injured, uh, that, that, you know, uh, basically I
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: dislocated my shoulder and.
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: Had to be helicoptered off of a mountain down to
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: a hospital in Fresno. I was actually at a men's,
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: a Christian men's retreat to my church up in Hume Lake, um, and, uh.
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: I guess I'm just, I, I guess I'm just kind
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: of done. I'm just kind of tired of it all. And,
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: you know, and, and it makes me question, my God,
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: I get, I get so mad at God, and I'm just.
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: I know that's not right, and I know it's not good,
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: and I'm trying to not go back to my addictions
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: because of it.
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: Dan, thank you so much for calling in today. Man,
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: you are going through it, to say the least. You've
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: lost family, your health, even your treasured golf clubs, my goodness,
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: your Harley. Pastor Brian, what do you say to Dan? Mm.
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: Well, again, you know, yeah, our, our hearts go out
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: to you, brother, and, um, and you know, I just
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: wanna encourage you that, um, you know, it, it says
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: in the book of Acts, it says, um.
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: It says we through much tribulation must enter the kingdom.
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: And you know, the, the lot of Christians throughout history
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: has been, uh, tribulation. We do, we do suffer and
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: we do have seasons where we suffer more than at
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: other seasons, and it sounds like you're in one of
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: those seasons right now, um, and it's hard. It's, it's
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: really hard, and, um, but I, I just kind of
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: think of the words of Peter, you know, when Jesus
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: was talking to.
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: The religious leaders and he was talking about the fact
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: that he was the bread of life and so forth
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: and you know they were hostile to him, but he,
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: at a, at a certain point he said, unless you
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: eat my flesh and drink my blood, you, you have
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: no life in you and um these, these were hard sayings,
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: and it says that at that point many left him
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: because of the hard sayings. These things are too hard.
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: And Jesus said to the disciples, his, his followers, his
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: immediate followers, he said, Are you going to leave me also?
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: And this is my point. Peter said, where would we go?
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: For you alone have the words of eternal life, and
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: I think, you know, when you think about it, where
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: are you gonna go? I mean, you know, drugs aren't
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: gonna do anything for you, they're not, they're not gonna
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: help you, they're not going to heal you, they're not
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: going to do anything positive for you, they're just basically
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: going to add, um, to your own misery and, and,
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: you know, the difficulty you're going through right now. So
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: this is a time.
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: To just not even think in those terms like, you know,
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: that's an option, but this is a time to say, Lord,
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: I am just going to press into you. I don't
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: know why all these things have happened. I don't know
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: why my golf clubs got stolen. I don't know why
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: my friend died of cancer or my, my parents, and
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: I don't know why I'm sick, you know, there are
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: times in life where we will face things that just
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: we can't figure out. They do not make sense and
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: we're tempted.
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: To be angry with the Lord and sometimes we're tempted
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: to just rebel and it is a temptation that we
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: have to resist. This is a time to resist temptation
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: and um many, many of our listeners have heard and
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: know that I've been through a family tragedy that's, we're
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: 6.5 months into it and it's the death of a
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: loved one and you know, a horrific thing and doesn't
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: make a bit of sense and um all kinds of
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: that that's.
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: The worst thing, but there's other things as well that,
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: that don't make any sense. But where would we go?
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: Jesus has the words of eternal life, and so, you know,
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: we wanna stick with the Lord and trust Him.
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: And faith is really trusting God when
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: Everything
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: Seems
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: Hopeless when everything is bleak, when everything is dark, that's
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: when faith wins the prize when you say, you know what?
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna trust God despite this and I'm gonna believe
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: that God.
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: is still good and that he's gonna bring me through
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: the other to the other side. Phil Metzger.
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: I mean, I just, yeah, I'd love to just kinda
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: say amen to everything that was just shared. Dan, it
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: sounds like, you know, nobody's taking away from terrible season
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: that you're in. I think it's also maybe the only
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: thing I would, I think Pastor Brian said it, but I'd,
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: I'd want to reiterate this, that like, maybe from a
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: different perspective, and that is a reminder, Dan, that like,
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: life is leading us to eternity.
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: In other words, like, you know, the loss of family, sickness, illness,
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: the loss of material things, all this, like, if that
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: is not the like ever-present reminder that we are one
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: breath away from being with Jesus in heaven.
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: And so I think like it's, it, this is a
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: good time in your life to maybe shift the way
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: that you see life going. In other words, like, and
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: as Pastor Brian talked about, like we have to, we
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: do endure hardship, that's what, that's the reality. Maybe rather
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: than going, OK, if things get better, then I'm not
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: gonna be suffering, you just accept like, OK, this means
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: I am one, I am getting so much closer to
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: being with Jesus, and, and, um, you, the things that
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: you have lost, the people and the things that you
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: have lost.
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: You will be met by the eternal, loving, living God,
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: and you will be satisfied for all of eternity, Dan. The,
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: uh it doesn't make today feel better, but it's kind
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: of like we need to prepare ourselves to think that way,
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: that like my best day is gonna be with Jesus for,
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: for eternity, and I've lost and I'm suffering, but God
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: is never gonna give up on you, and you just
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: gotta hold on to that reality that he's for you.
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: What do you think, Dan?
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: Well, I, I agree and I don't want to sound
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: like a professional whiner. I mean, I'm trying to stay
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: away from that. I guess part of my concern is
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: that I'm so angry with God that I, I actually
• 42:03
  Speaker 2: yell at him and cuss him out and I, I'm,
• 42:06
  Speaker 2: I'm wondering if I've hardened my heart to a point.
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: I mean, I appreciate conviction. I understand that. Uh, I mean, again,
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: there's so many points that I want to address and
• 42:16
  Speaker 2: comment back to, but
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: Um, I, I, I know before I begin in my
• 42:21
  Speaker 2: addiction where it's gonna end up, and it's never good,
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: but at the same time, at least everything else was
• 42:27
  Speaker 2: blocked out at the time. I know that's not,
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: There's nothing positive about that.
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: Um,
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: yeah, and then, and then, you know, when you finally
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: come through, if you come through, you're right, you haven't
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: moved an inch, you're, you're right where you started, you know, and,
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: and again, look, um, you know, I mean, so I,
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: I'm a dad. I don't, I'm not sure if you're a,
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: a dad or not, um, Phil's a dad. Brian's a dad, um,
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: you know, my kids have yelled at me, my kids
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: have cussed at me, my kids have been very angry
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: with me.
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: And you know what, um, they're still my kids, and
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: I'm like, yeah, OK. All right, OK, what, yeah, all right, I,
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: I get it. So, you know, I mean, I don't
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: think it's a good thing to make a habit of
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: cussing at God, but I think God's able to handle it.
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: And I think, you know, just realize that that's probably
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: not the the smartest thing to do because God, you know,
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: God really does love you, and, uh, you know, we
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: just can't see what God sees, and we have to
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: trust that he does know what he's doing, even though
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: it doesn't seem like it, it's times in our lives
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: as Christians, doesn't seem.
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: Nothing seems right. All of this seems wrong. This seems
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: like a complete injustice. God, where are you? I mean,
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: you know, read the Psalms. I, I would encourage you
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: if you have the, um, I don't know if you
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: have the message, uh, translation by Eugene Peterson, but if
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: you don't, I would encourage you to get it and
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: to read the Psalms in the message because he really, um, yeah,
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: he really.
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: Uh, humanizes them even more so than they, than they are,
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: you know, in the other translations.
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: But the psalmist is.
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: Showing us that God understands our humanity and our frailness
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: and our weakness, and he understands even when we're upset.
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: And he doesn't
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: Uh, you know, he doesn't cast us off because of that.
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: He loves us and he holds on to us. Phil,
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: do you wanna pray for Dan?
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: Love to. Yeah, Lord, so thankful for Dan, thankful that
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: he called in, thankful for just such honesty, and he's
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: going through it, Lord, you, I mean, the, the best
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: news of today is that you are with him, you've
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: been with him this whole time and you'll never leave him.
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: I pray that you would help him, empower him, strengthen
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: him where he is weak and prone towards, um,
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, just weakness as we all are, and I pray
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: just for your empowering, your strengthening, Lord. I pray that
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: you would, and that he could experience you restoring what's
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: been broken and what's been lost and what's been, uh,
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: and just heal him, Lord, bring, bring just healing to him, God.
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: Show yourself strong on Dan's behalf in Jesus' name. Amen.
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: Amen. Amen. All right, you guys, pray for Dan too.
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for calling in today to Pastor's Perspective.
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: Sandra in Riverside. Hello. Thank you for calling 888-564-6173.
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: Hello. Hi. This is, um, hello, pastor. Thank you for
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: taking my call.
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: I have this question. I'm speaking from your guidance and
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: your perspective on this in regards to my brother who
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: used to follow Jesus, but now he's, um, his belief
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: had turned from his faith and walked away from Jesus,
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: and now he's, um, he claimed to be a Gnostic.
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: So, what's the Gnostic belief and that's my first question,
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: and the second question if we have time, um, could
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: you share some perspective on this shift and advice on
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: how to navigate as a family?
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: All right, so Gnostic versus agnostic. What does that mean, Brian?
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: Well, agnostic is a person who um
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: It doesn't want to say they're an atheist, you know,
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: an atheist is a, is a statement that there is
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: no God. I, I don't believe that there is a God.
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: An agnostic is a person who says, I don't know
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: if there's a God. So it sounds like your brother,
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: you know, knew the Lord or knew about the Lord or,
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: you know, had an apparent walk with the Lord, but
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: for whatever reason, now he's just not, he's not sure.
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: So he's not saying he's an atheist, right? He's not
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: saying I don't believe in God.
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: He's just now saying I'm, I'm not really sure. I'm
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: not sure if Jesus is who he said he is
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: maybe or if Christianity is real. Um, I would assume
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: that that's what he means. Most agnostics just mean they're
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: not Christian specific, they're just like, I'm not sure if
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: there's a God, but there might be.
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: Mm.
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: OK, what was the second question again, and Phil, I'll
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: have you answer that one. Can you share, yeah, can
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: you share the perspective on this shift, on this, um,
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: this belief and why all of a sudden this person
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: used to love Jesus and all of a sudden.
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: He claims to be agnostic. Like, why would somebody even
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: go from one to the other? Phil, what would you
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: say to Sandra?
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: Sandra, I don't know. I don't know. There's so many, there's,
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: you know, um, human beings, we're very complex, and so we,
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: I mean, everybody's got a story, everybody's got reasons. We
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: hear language like people deconstructing, sometimes people move away from
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: their faith because of how they see the church or
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: what their view of Christianity. Others because they just, maybe
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: they didn't fully believe, I, I.
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: I couldn't tell you, especially for your specific situation, but golly,
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: anytime I think I've heard it all, I hear a
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: new story, and you go, wow, there's always a story,
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: and you know, that works on both sides. I hear
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: the same. I, I'm always amazed at stories of how
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: people are coming to Christ, and then you always hear
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: a story and you go, wow, that person walked away
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: and you go, wow, how did that happen? How could
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: that happen? I don't think that there's one story that
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: I could tell you, Sandra, to, to, to, to help.
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: It's just so multifaceted.
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: What do you think, Sandra?
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you, Pastor. Thank you. All right, thanks for
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: calling in today to Pastor's perspective at 888-564-6173, and you
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: guys be praying for Sandra and her brother that, uh,
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: he'll go, he'll come back to faith. Go ahead, Brian.
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: You know, I, I think too, you know, I think, uh,
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: in the situation, um, just continue to, to welcome him
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: as much as he will allow you to welcome him and, um,
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: you know, continue to.
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: You know, you're a believer, you're following Jesus. Just tell
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: your story, talk about it, you know, you don't have to. He,
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: he obviously knows, so you don't have to preach to him,
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: but just, you know, as, as much as he will
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: allow you to have a conversation with him, I would
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: take advantage of that opportunity. And if he doesn't want
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: you to talk to him, then that's OK. You don't
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: have to talk to him. You can pray for him
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: and love him and just show him.
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: that despite his confusion right now, or, you know, like
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: Phil said, you know, humans are complicated. He probably has
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: a very complicated and convoluted reason why he's where he's
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: at right now, but God knows, and, and God's able
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: to work through that.
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: Fred's on the phone. He's calling from Moreno Valley. Hey, Fred,
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: what's your question for Brian and Phil today on Pastor's perspective?
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: Uh, good morning. I mean, afternoon. Thank you for taking
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: my call. I, I wanted to comment on the uh
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: question about.
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: Uh, is there a scripture for, uh, addiction? And what
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: do you think about the scripture when the sun sets
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: you free, you shall be free indeed.
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: Phil, what do you say?
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: I think it's a great, I think it's a great verse, um,
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: in terms of addiction, yeah, I mean,
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think it's a great verse. I,
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: I don't know, like it's, it's not a, I like
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: if somebody was like, I'm struggling with addiction, I, I
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: don't necessarily think I would go to that verse and say,
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: here's a verse for you, uh, and it would be
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: that one direct. However, if I were to want to
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: use that verse to help somebody in addiction, I would
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: say something like this, um, because Christ is the one
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: who sets us free, he is able to help you
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: to be free from anything.
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: And um so, so I mean, I think it's a
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: great verse, and I think certainly it's a, it's a
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: verse that we could speak to people struggling with addiction.
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't use it as a weapon of like, hey,
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: if you're a Christian, then you should be free. I
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: would use it as an encouragement because you're a Christian,
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: Christ wants to be with you through your freedom and
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: into your freedom. I, I hope that that nuance makes sense.
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: It's not a weaponizing verse, it's a, it's a true
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: freedom verse. Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up, and Brian, uh,
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: do you think this verse gets misused sometimes when it
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: comes to things like addiction?
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: What was the exact verse? Uh, John 8:36. If the
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: sun sets you free, you are free indeed. Oh, it's OK, yeah, um.
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: to get weaponized. Um, I, I don't know. Maybe I
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: But I just think it's a great, you know, it's
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: a great promise, obviously, and I, I think with addiction too,
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: you know, we need to understand that there's, uh, to
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: a large degree, these are, this is all sin, and
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: it's what, um, I think a good way to describe
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: it is life dominating sin. There are certain sins that
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: really get their claws deep into people and, you know,
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: the modern term is addiction.
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: And mostly we think of addiction like to substances and
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: you know to to narcotics or to alcohol, but we
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: know that people are addicted to pornography. We know that
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: people are addicted to gambling, we know that people are
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: addicted to different things that don't have any chemical basis
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: for an addiction. It's just a it's a habit of
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: sin that has gotten a radical grip on a person's life.
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: And so of course Jesus is the one.
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: Um, that will, the sun, the sun will set us free, but,
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: but of course we have to follow him, and, um,
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: and then with other types of addiction, sometimes you need.
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: Unless the Lord just, you know, gives you one of
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: those kinds of experiences where you're addicted to drugs one
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: minute and the next minute you're, you're not, which does
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: happen sometimes, but most of the time not, um, most
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: of the time people go through a process, and that's
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: where you have things like we mentioned, um, uh, celebrate
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: recovery or even AA or different things that can be helpful.
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: Uh, to people getting freed from addiction, but ultimately, of course,
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: it is the son.
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: Who will set us free.
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: Fred, does this answer your question?
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: Well, thank you guys for going so far with that.
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: I'm actually, I'm a hospital chaplain, and I, every day
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: I meet uh people from every denomination, a lot of
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: Calvary Chapels, you know, and, and when I meet someone
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: from some of the churches that are set free uh
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: from addiction, um,
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: Those type of um.
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: Churches, and I might, I use that comment, uh, when
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: the sun sets you free, and they like it because
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: they're already set free.
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and it makes sense to them, but I, I, yeah,
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: I haven't used it in the sense of, uh, you
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: should be debt free, like use it like a hammer
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: something like that.
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: Could I just make one comment about Sandra's um.
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: A question about her brother being agnostic.
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: Sure, make it quick though, we're running out of time.
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I just wanted to say, uh, it's more common
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: that more and more people are saying I'm spiritual.
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: And um
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: I don't know what's bringing that on, if it's Islam
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: or what, you know, but it's not that uncommon these
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: days for people want to be spiritual, and they want
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: to say they're non-denominational.
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: And so that's all. I'll just leave it with you
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: and uh.
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: Thanks for what you guys do. I listen to you
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: every day when I get off work, on my way home.
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: That's awesome, Fred. Thank you so much for calling in
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: today to Pastor's perspective.
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and thank you for your service and uh uh
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: the chaplain with the hospitals and stuff. That's awesome. That's great. Yep.
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: All right, we're out of time. If you're on hold
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: right now, sorry that we couldn't get to you. Here's
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: a fast pass. You can use it tomorrow. Call in
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: tomorrow and we'll try to put you on as soon
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: as possible. We will be here tomorrow between 3 and
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: 4 in the afternoon. Ed Stetzer might be joining us
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: tomorrow for the first time in months. So, uh,
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: Tune in for that. That's gonna be fun. And uh
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: Pastor Brian will be on too, and Pastor Brian will
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: be on Thursday as well, and Phil Metzger will be
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: back on Thursday. So tune in, you never know who's
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: gonna show up unless I tell you ahead of time.
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: Uh 888-564-6173, the number to call. And if you wanna
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: listen to today's episode again, which I know you do
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: because it was such a great episode, go find it
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: on Facebook, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. God bless you guys.
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: Talk to you next time.