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Transcript

You're Not A Lone Wolf · The Reformatory

• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_05]: What do you got for me?
• 0:02
  [SPEAKER_06]: I don't know what to do, but I don't know what to do, but I don't know what to do, but I don't know what to do, but I don't know what to do, but I don't know what to do, but I don't know what to do, but I don't know what to do, but I don't know what to do, but I don't know what to do, but I don't know what to do, but I don't know what to do, but I don't know what to do, but I don't know what to do, but I don't know what to do, but I don't know what to do, but I don't know what to do, but I don't know what to do, but I don't know what to do, but I don't know what to do, but I don't know what to do, but I don't know what to do, but I don't know what to do, but I don't know what to do
• 0:32
  [SPEAKER_05]: But as I'm not for me, we're gonna add the benediction right there, that was so good.
• 0:36
  [SPEAKER_03]: What's going on everyone and welcome to the reformatory, the podcast for the local church and by the local church and we are your local churchman.
• 0:43
  [SPEAKER_03]: My name is Josh and I'm here as always with the captain.
• 0:48
  [SPEAKER_03]: Jack Barry, Jack, it is good to be with you today, sir.
• 0:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: You had a house full of little children, yesterday.
• 0:56
  [SPEAKER_03]: Was it absolute pandemonium?
• 0:58
  [SPEAKER_04]: Was it chaos?
• 1:01
  [SPEAKER_04]: I mean, they were only on my backyard.
• 1:02
  [SPEAKER_04]: So I mean, yeah, it was, I mean, basically it was like a scene out of
• 1:09
  [SPEAKER_04]: Gosh, I'm trying to remember like famous like party scenes from movies.
• 1:15
  [SPEAKER_04]: Right.
• 1:15
  [SPEAKER_04]: Where the house is completely destroyed afterwards.
• 1:18
  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I'm back yard.
• 1:19
  [SPEAKER_03]: It took several hours for us to recoup.
• 1:24
  [SPEAKER_04]: get everything back in order again.
• 1:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: So yeah, I mean three-year-old birthday parties, man, are no joke.
• 1:30
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like you're right at the end.
• 1:32
  [SPEAKER_03]: You just had another one.
• 1:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: You're in this for a while, my friend.
• 1:36
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:37
  [SPEAKER_03]: I just won't get used to it.
• 1:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: But no, man, good stuff.
• 1:43
  [SPEAKER_03]: Fourth of July, go, well, keep all your digits.
• 1:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yep, yeah.
• 1:48
  [SPEAKER_04]: Actually, it was surprisingly less.
• 1:51
  [SPEAKER_04]: There was more noise that happened last night.
• 1:54
  [SPEAKER_04]: So this is where we're taping on a Tuesday on Monday night.
• 1:58
  [SPEAKER_04]: There was more bang over my house than actually on 4th of July.
• 2:03
  [SPEAKER_04]: I feel like 4th of July was relatively calm in my neighborhood.
• 2:07
  [SPEAKER_04]: I went we went to a family of ours in our CGs.
• 2:13
  [SPEAKER_04]: Um, we went to their house to hang out and have other families in the church hang out and do barbecue and do smores and stuff like that.
• 2:22
  [SPEAKER_04]: We went over their house.
• 2:23
  [SPEAKER_04]: It was way more noisy or over there and they were actually an unincorporated Pierce County.
• 2:28
  [SPEAKER_04]: So that kind of makes more sense.
• 2:29
  [SPEAKER_04]: Don't forget.
• 2:30
  [SPEAKER_03]: But out of city limits, baby, there's no rules, I mean, the cops aren't going to come.
• 2:35
  [SPEAKER_04]: They're like right on the border between the city limits of Tacoma and unincorporated zone.
• 2:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: So the cops aren't going to come there.
• 2:42
  [SPEAKER_04]: I feel like nobody's going to come there.
• 2:44
  [SPEAKER_04]: But yeah.
• 2:45
  [SPEAKER_03]: No, it was, it was, it was like, it was like the purge up and see it up.
• 2:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's got the county.
• 2:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: Somebody got hit by a car.
• 2:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: Somebody got caught on fire.
• 2:54
  [SPEAKER_03]: Somebody drowned.
• 2:55
  [SPEAKER_03]: Somebody got shot.
• 2:58
  [SPEAKER_03]: There's a coma.
• 2:58
  [SPEAKER_03]: So that's not surprising now to be quite honest.
• 3:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's like that's like a hundred minutes up here.
• 3:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: Dude on 4th of July.
• 3:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like there are no rules.
• 3:09
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like you have 24 hours to celebrate your freedom and everyone just exercises that right.
• 3:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: 20 years.
• 3:17
  [SPEAKER_03]: But, uh, all good stuff.
• 3:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: Jack, my friend.
• 3:19
  [SPEAKER_03]: We got some good stuff to get to today.
• 3:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: But, uh, before we do that, before we do that, my friend.
• 3:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's right.
• 3:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's everyone's favorite segment.
• 3:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: Don't forget to eat your instant grams.
• 3:48
  [SPEAKER_03]: This is don't forget to eat your instant grams and remember kids.
• 3:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's not here.
• 3:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: See if you believe it hard enough.
• 3:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's how it works.
• 3:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: Dude.
• 3:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: I really like I get a kick every time I hear that intro.
• 3:57
  [SPEAKER_03]: I really like the Instagram intro man.
• 3:59
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's good stuff.
• 4:00
  [SPEAKER_04]: It's fun.
• 4:01
  [SPEAKER_04]: It's fun.
• 4:01
  [SPEAKER_04]: Yes.
• 4:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: All right.
• 4:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: Jack.
• 4:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: I got I got I got some good ones for you today.
• 4:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: Um.
• 4:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: You show up to your church Sunday morning, ready to hear the word.
• 4:09
  [SPEAKER_03]: You guys are starting new series.
• 4:11
  [SPEAKER_03]: Start a brand new series.
• 4:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: All right.
• 4:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: And then all the sudden you get hit with this on the big screen.
• 4:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: Condemned Christianity.
• 4:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, I said it and I know it's might be provocative for some of you, but I want to tell you provocative things are happening in our nation and around the world and we're going to I want to speak straight to you today because this is important that sterile Christianity that never produces fruit and life is actually deaths and it's an end time here we see we're going to deal with some of it today, praise the Lord, someone say amen.
• 4:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: I can see some of you are very shocked because you're not used to that from from my stage, but there it is.
• 4:57
  [SPEAKER_04]: So are they like self-affirming?
• 4:59
  [SPEAKER_04]: Where were they?
• 5:00
  [SPEAKER_04]: Are they in the mountains?
• 5:01
  [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, I would assume so.
• 5:04
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like he sounds like he's self-affirming.
• 5:08
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I mean, he's he's definitely got got a cool, a cool accent for sure, but for our audio only listeners, it's obviously a large church.
• 5:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: uh... because there's you know the pastor standing behind the quintessential table the little tiny round table right uh... to heaven forbid we have pulpits and in church anymore right yeah he's got his little table and uh... and a big screen behind him and on the screen is the is the name of their new series condom christianity and the oh in the
• 5:39
  [SPEAKER_03]: is a condom packet of which on the front of it, the, the, the, the brand is fruitless.
• 5:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: I thought it was, yeah, you know, little, little cheeky, little cheeky there.
• 5:57
  [SPEAKER_03]: Condom Christianity.
• 5:59
  [SPEAKER_03]: So yeah, coming to a church near you,
• 6:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: Keep your shorts on.
• 6:04
  [SPEAKER_03]: Keep your shorts on people.
• 6:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: Zach, I'm going to hit you with another one here.
• 6:08
  [SPEAKER_03]: This one, I'll be 100% honest.
• 6:11
  [SPEAKER_03]: I got sent this.
• 6:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: Hit a little close to home.
• 6:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's a little close to home.
• 6:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: Okay, I'm reformed.
• 6:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: You don't know what the XG's is means.
• 6:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: Check out these cigars I got.
• 6:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: Check out these pipes I got.
• 6:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: Check out the snoo-wist.
• 6:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'm fair, dude.
• 6:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: I got this more to this video, but I got to say, that's fair.
• 6:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: That sucks.
• 6:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: He's... that sucks.
• 6:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: I literally have it.
• 6:41
  [SPEAKER_04]: For those of you who don't see the video, it says POV you're talking to the guy who quote unquote doesn't know why he never got his ring by spring.
• 6:49
  [SPEAKER_04]: Ring by spring.
• 6:54
  [SPEAKER_03]: Tough for us reform guys out on these streets.
• 6:56
  [SPEAKER_03]: Let's let's let's get to
• 7:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: So basically apologetics.
• 7:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: Hams are more biblical.
• 7:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: And Fage of Tales does provide a football.
• 7:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: And now growing on my mustache.
• 7:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: How does predestination not make sense?
• 7:24
  [SPEAKER_03]: Darnation, number four, five, three, four, five, five, five, six, three, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six
• 7:43
  [SPEAKER_04]: I mean, at least all the young wrestlers for foreign people, not unless everybody's going back to KJV, which I feel like I feel like I may be, are they all going, I mean, I don't know, maybe they're all going back to like the NASB or something like that.
• 7:56
  [SPEAKER_03]: But that one was news to me, apparently ESV is kind of out of favor with some of the younger reform folks now, which is interesting.
• 8:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I actually started biblically, so that's the just of apologetics.
• 8:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't agree with everything Nick finds his says, oh, that's what I've been like.
• 8:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, I'm nearly excitedly.
• 8:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I studied business took a couple classes and asked a topology, but oh, you guys what I do now.
• 8:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: The only thing that better would be like, yeah, I got I got you know, we got married last week and I'm I'm already writing a marriage book.
• 8:36
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, so that would yeah be the only complete that.
• 8:39
  [SPEAKER_03]: But like I said It's a little close to home That's a little harsh But but fair right tough but fair you got to be able to laugh at yourselves.
• 8:49
  [SPEAKER_03]: We laugh at it You know if we're gonna if we're gonna laugh at other people got to be able to take one on the chin to
• 8:55
  [SPEAKER_03]: And there's a lot of accurate stuff in that.
• 8:57
  [SPEAKER_04]: So that's good stuff.
• 8:58
  [SPEAKER_03]: Jack, my friend, something that is no laughing matter.
• 9:01
  [SPEAKER_03]: Something that people try to laugh at, to scoff at Nate to make fun of is church membership.
• 9:09
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I know what people are thinking, guys, we're talking about church membership again.
• 9:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: I would, yes, sorry you to the tagline of our podcast.
• 9:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: for the local church and by the local church.
• 9:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: And there is nothing more important to talk about in the local church than the importance of local church membership.
• 9:31
  [SPEAKER_03]: But today we're doing that a little differently because we have we've got something believe it or not Jack Shocker.
• 9:38
  [SPEAKER_03]: the cesspool of scum and villainy that is X that is Twitter right actually put out it produced for us a a a a gem a choice meet a jewel that we should cherish and wonder at and it was put out let's see just ways that today says now yesterday.
• 10:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: yesterday.
• 10:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: By good old, I think it's Canadian.
• 10:09
  [SPEAKER_03]: Isn't it Canadian?
• 10:10
  [SPEAKER_04]: Yes.
• 10:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: West Huff.
• 10:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: Dude, throwing some bangers from north of the border.
• 10:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: All right.
• 10:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: United States of future 50 first state.
• 10:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: North Montana.
• 10:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: If you want to call it,
• 10:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: Martha Westhuff from from the back court throwing bombs and he put out a tweet yesterday on church membership and is really good and he's got that he's got that old blue blue check mark on his name so he can write more stuff.
• 10:39
  [SPEAKER_03]: Right.
• 10:39
  [SPEAKER_03]: So we're going to talk about kind of what he wrote because I thought it was very valuable, very insightful, really encouraging, and as always, creates no amount of individuals in the comments either disagreeing with him profusely for one reason or another, or completely missing his point and or diverting
• 11:08
  [SPEAKER_03]: But Jack and I are gonna go through this because I think it's very valuable, very encouraging.
• 11:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I don't know about you, Jack, but I am always in need of some encouragement when it comes to my commitment to the local church, my commitment to my membership, not because I'm in any fear of leaving it, but I think we hear so much negative these days.
• 11:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: Right, there's so much negative press when it comes to, you know, whether it's our study in theology, the, you know, the local church in general, failings that we are seeing from, you know, ministry leaders and all the, all the junk that we see on social media that if we're not careful, can make us, you know, feel like that's, that's the majority of things happening.
• 11:58
  [SPEAKER_03]: But it's important to be reminded that it's not.
• 12:01
  [SPEAKER_03]: that that is not the majority of what is happening in faithful churches, right?
• 12:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: And unfaithful churches.
• 12:08
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
• 12:08
  [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, there's a reason they're unfaithful.
• 12:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: But the faithful churches that are doing the true work of the kingdom churches, like, you know, our brother West Huff goes to this is these are the things worth dwelling on.
• 12:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: right these are these are the these are the good and right things that we as Christians should be seeking to be encouraged by and because we need encouragement because being a Christian in this culture that we live in it's not easy it's not supposed to be easy and if the only you know things that were filling our brains way there's not only the junk in the culture but also the junk that's going on in other churches yeah we're going to be depressed people right but
• 12:47
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's not what we're here to do today.
• 12:48
  [SPEAKER_03]: We're here to talk about membership.
• 12:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: Why it's awesome?
• 12:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: Why you should be a member in your local church and why we love it.
• 12:56
  [SPEAKER_03]: So, Jack, we're gonna hop into this tweet.
• 13:00
  [SPEAKER_03]: Anything that you wanna add by means of introduction before we hop into Pastor Huff's exhortations here.
• 13:07
  [SPEAKER_04]: No other than other than I have two Canadian pastors, so I get double the amount of Canadian encouragement on Lord's days.
• 13:16
  [SPEAKER_04]: So there you go.
• 13:17
  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, there we go.
• 13:18
  [SPEAKER_04]: Very nice people.
• 13:19
  [SPEAKER_03]: Very nice people.
• 13:20
  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
• 13:21
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
• 13:21
  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, go for a story a lot.
• 13:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: But yeah, they do.
• 13:23
  [SPEAKER_04]: They do.
• 13:24
  [SPEAKER_04]: They do.
• 13:25
  [SPEAKER_03]: Okay.
• 13:25
  [SPEAKER_03]: All right.
• 13:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: Let's dive into Mr. Mr. House poster.
• 13:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: He says this.
• 13:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: If you love Jesus, you should love what Jesus loves.
• 13:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: and that ultimately means you should be an official active and serving member of your local church.
• 13:41
  [SPEAKER_03]: Dude, he could have stopped right there.
• 13:44
  [SPEAKER_03]: He could have hit sent on that banker because it's very, very true, right?
• 13:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: Something that never ceases to amaze me, Jack, are the amount of
• 14:01
  [SPEAKER_03]: to talk about their love and their commitment to the shepherd without having any desire whatsoever to be loving or committed to the shepherd's sheep.
• 14:13
  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
• 14:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: Right.
• 14:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I think that that first statement right there and he sites Ephesians 525.
• 14:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: I think really hits the nail on the head and that we cannot claim as Christians to love Christ, if we do not seek to actively love those that Christ says he loves most.
• 14:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: And that's his people.
• 14:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: Your thoughts.
• 14:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean,
• 14:41
  [SPEAKER_04]: it's it's really just a travesty of what I feel like has happened over the last six years of just a lot of people.
• 14:50
  [SPEAKER_04]: I feel like we've had this we've had to beat this drum a lot because a lot of people don't want to invest in it or just the stuff that we see on like a local church basis would be remedied.
• 15:04
  [SPEAKER_04]: by having church membership by doing what just he says like at the beginning of like if if you are a Christian like identify yourself as one and become a member of your local church like that's how you identify yourself as Christians.
• 15:18
  [SPEAKER_04]: I think it's so interesting of when especially when you talk about like history and church history and stuff like that
• 15:25
  [SPEAKER_04]: where we talk about like, even like the whole this last week of us talking about like America and America turning 250 years old like some of our founders like said a lot of godly things and used godly Bible language but they were not believers like Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin are not Christians like straight up.
• 15:50
  [SPEAKER_04]: like full stop they were they said like Thomas Jefferson is probably the most unique person in that this dude like reads the Septuagint like the Greek New Testament but has literally no desire to want to have
• 16:07
  [SPEAKER_04]: committed like relationship with the church or with Jesus.
• 16:12
  [SPEAKER_04]: It just doesn't want that.
• 16:14
  [SPEAKER_04]: So like that doesn't really happen in our day now.
• 16:20
  [SPEAKER_04]: It more along the lines is that somebody something went wrong in somebody's background or history.
• 16:28
  [SPEAKER_04]: that cause them to think that the way that they think.
• 16:31
  [SPEAKER_04]: And I think a lot of it has to do with like secondary means of churches acting certain ways or something like that.
• 16:38
  [SPEAKER_04]: But honestly like if if you're a Christian like to be honest like to to number yourself amongst believers,
• 16:47
  [SPEAKER_04]: like join a local church and become a member and a committed member there and start just basically doing what Wes says is like start serving, start showing that you're committed to the local body of Christ by just doing that.
• 17:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: I think that would clear up a lot of confusion with a lot of people, but yeah, I find it very ironic that we serve a God that did not despise us.
• 17:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: in that he sought to identify with us, but yeah, we can't take the time to identify with each other.
• 17:23
  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
• 17:24
  [SPEAKER_03]: Right.
• 17:25
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like God on high came down and dwelt with his people, right, became his people.
• 17:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: It was committed to his people.
• 17:36
  [SPEAKER_03]: but we for some reason can't can't take that step, right?
• 17:41
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like that's too much for us to do because the church is too corrupt.
• 17:44
  [SPEAKER_03]: There's too many hypocrites.
• 17:45
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's it's it's it's it's there's nothing in in scripture that talks about church membership and the idea of a local church is a man-made institution and not something we see in the New Testament and all of the arguments that that
• 18:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: to try to avoid this good and biblical practice of being joined to a local church.
• 18:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: We aren't willing to do what Christ did for us, which is a very ironic thing, when if we're actually going to be honest with it.
• 18:24
  [SPEAKER_03]: So West continues.
• 18:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: He says, he says church membership should be normal for Christians.
• 18:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: I agree.
• 18:30
  [SPEAKER_03]: 100% it should be.
• 18:32
  [SPEAKER_03]: lives lived in regular accountability, demonstrate the gospel's reality to the world, particularly through the mutual love that Jesus identified as the mark of his followers.
• 18:45
  [SPEAKER_03]: Excellent point.
• 18:47
  [SPEAKER_03]: right, especially in this world that we live in, we need accountability.
• 18:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: We need community.
• 18:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: We talk about that at Nazium here on the podcast.
• 18:54
  [SPEAKER_03]: The whole reason the podcast exists, right?
• 18:57
  [SPEAKER_03]: If we've got another else to talk about, right, we need the local church.
• 19:01
  [SPEAKER_03]: We need each other.
• 19:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: It can't just be you and God under a tree.
• 19:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: You see how that how that turns out, lone wolf Christianity is not Christianity at all, right?
• 19:11
  [SPEAKER_03]: And you might think that you're a
• 19:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: who the wolves are going to get.
• 19:17
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's what the Christian who does not commit to a local church actually is, right?
• 19:24
  [SPEAKER_03]: He says, this is both biblical and strengthens evangelistic work.
• 19:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: Excuse me, evangelistic witness.
• 19:31
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's very true, right?
• 19:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: Weaker and newer Christians gain feeding and accountability through membership and mature and seasoned believers demonstrate
• 19:43
  [SPEAKER_03]: Right?
• 19:43
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's that it's that old saying that that you know you heard a lot in in church, but it's actually very true.
• 19:49
  [SPEAKER_03]: Every Paul needs a Timothy and every Timothy needs a Paul, right?
• 19:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like as believers, we should always have people that are pouring into us keeping us accountable, right?
• 20:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: and we should be in turn doing that for people in our local church.
• 20:11
  [SPEAKER_03]: And that's how the church is built.
• 20:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's how it's been built since its institution, right?
• 20:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: And that's what is going to continue to happen until Jesus comes back and sets everything right.
• 20:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: So,
• 20:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: without local church membership, there really is no context for this to happen.
• 20:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: Sure, you can get together with somebody you know, and have a relationship between individuals.
• 20:35
  [SPEAKER_03]: And that's not bad, like that's not a bad thing, right?
• 20:39
  [SPEAKER_03]: But local church membership provides the structure and the context and the place for those relationships to happen in the way that they should.
• 20:49
  [SPEAKER_03]: Right, because it's mutual accountability, it's mutual, it's mutual commitment to each other that we are agreeing to be part of something that's larger than ourselves.
• 21:01
  [SPEAKER_03]: We're agreeing to submit to something that requires us to not simply be our own authority in all matters.
• 21:11
  [SPEAKER_03]: And Jack, especially in the, you know, after the week that we just celebrated, there's nothing that we as Americans love more than our own individualistic freedoms shirt right and I think that can very easily creep into the way that we go about interacting and committing to the local church.
• 21:35
  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I mean, we're living in like the podcast or griff days, right?
• 21:41
  [SPEAKER_04]: Where if you have a scandalous past and you were involved in some pretty crazy stuff, you can say that you've converted a Christianity.
• 21:57
  [SPEAKER_04]: and then you can make your own podcast talking about crazy stuff and then throw up a microphone and maybe we're back to it, but then I feel like there's this like cyclical thing that happens like every like 20 years where in America like we talk about like oh religions bad, religions bad, religions bad and I feel like that's happening again, but with people who say that
• 22:24
  [SPEAKER_04]: saying like religion is bad and I feel like they're doing that to justify not being accountable in a local church actually.
• 22:31
  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, so I feel like a lot of people who are saying that religion's bad, it's like, guys, come on, have you looked at the whole canon of the Bible?
• 22:45
  [SPEAKER_04]: Like, that is a religion.
• 22:48
  [SPEAKER_04]: Now you can talk about how the religion needed reforming, which that's why we talk about Jesus.
• 22:55
  [SPEAKER_04]: So, yeah, I mean, I feel like it's now kind of invoked to say like, oh religion is of the devil.
• 23:03
  [SPEAKER_04]: Religion is this.
• 23:04
  [SPEAKER_04]: It's like no, like religions needed is just the way that you are accustomed to religion.
• 23:11
  [SPEAKER_04]: I think is hitting on something that needs to be talked about more and that religion is to be accountable to each other to love with those in orphans.
• 23:23
  [SPEAKER_04]: To do that's like that's what James says is an adulterated peer religion.
• 23:29
  [SPEAKER_04]: So if we're not doing that kind of work, if we're not being accountable, if we're not just doing the standards of what the new testament says that we should be doing, which is like bearing each other's burdens like that's part of Christianity guys like that's Christianity 101 and if you don't like that, then
• 23:50
  [SPEAKER_04]: You're not going to be like you're not going to be Wanting to be a member of a local church, so I think that's why a lot of people are opting out of that primarily because they think Josh like you said they think that they're the authority now on Christianity, which is Up which is like the whole Kanye effect right where we wanted Kanye West after we made a profession of faith to be disabled by somebody and take the time
• 24:16
  [SPEAKER_04]: And I think a lot of us say that because that's what the Apostle Paul did, like he took the time for at least a couple of years to learn about the faith, to be disabled in the faith, before he even launched into ministry.
• 24:29
  [SPEAKER_04]: So I think that's the detriment of our society in America is that once you become a new believer, oh man, I'm the authority on this.
• 24:40
  [SPEAKER_04]: I can go make my own podcast and do whatever I want to do and nobody's in to keep me accountable because I'm actually my own authority, which in church membership, no, you're not.
• 24:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: No.
• 24:52
  [SPEAKER_04]: If you go back to any, if you go back to any of the reform confessions, right?
• 24:56
  [SPEAKER_04]: I really like this out of the Heidelberg, like who, like who are you?
• 25:02
  [SPEAKER_04]: You know, who do you belong to?
• 25:04
  [SPEAKER_04]: Like, I am holy of Jesus Christ, right?
• 25:09
  [SPEAKER_04]: I belong to him.
• 25:10
  [SPEAKER_04]: If you really, really believe that, you really truly be a member in a local church.
• 25:16
  [SPEAKER_04]: Is that what you have to identify with the church?
• 25:19
  [SPEAKER_03]: So, yeah, because we understand that Christ didn't just, he didn't just save us from our sins.
• 25:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: He did that, but he also,
• 25:31
  [SPEAKER_03]: saved us from the wrath of God, but also saved us to God and to a people.
• 25:37
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I think that's the part that people don't really understand is we were saved from God and to God and to God's people.
• 25:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's the whole of the gospel effect and the benefits that we receive as Christians.
• 25:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: From the gospel, yes, we are saved from our sins, we are saved from the wrath and penalty of those sins, but he doesn't just wipe our slate clean and then say, okay, go try again.
• 26:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: He gives us a new identity and he gives us a people to belong to.
• 26:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: And that's the part that I think for many different reasons.
• 26:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: A lot of individuals have a hard time with because if I am called to a people,
• 26:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: that automatically, I think if you're thinking correctly, you're assuming all, and that means I have some responsibilities because it's not just me now, right?
• 26:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: If I'm interacting, and I'm in community with other believers, there's obviously some ground rules.
• 26:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: There's obviously some expectations, and there are.
• 26:36
  [SPEAKER_03]: and a lot of people don't want that because it again encroaches on their individualism, which is a big thing, especially here in the States.
• 26:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: He goes on to say, he says, church membership, sorry, church membership preserves biblical truth by establishing who bears their sensibility for rooting out false teaching and protecting the gospel when leadership itself becomes compromised.
• 27:01
  [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, shout out, confessionalism right there, reform, Baptist, confessionalism specifically in our polity, it protects in that, right?
• 27:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: We as pastors were members first, and then we are pastors that have been affirmed and appointed by the membership.
• 27:19
  [SPEAKER_03]: So if we step out of line, we can't just decide, okay, all of a sudden, the boat is turning this way.
• 27:25
  [SPEAKER_03]: We can turn that wheel about halfway, and then we start, we'll get hit upside the head by the congregation and rightly so, because that is part of the congregation's responsibility as the membership is to hold those that are in error accountable.
• 27:39
  [SPEAKER_03]: all right says Paul letter Paul's letter to the Galatians exemplifies this.
• 27:43
  [SPEAKER_03]: I say this as a positional elder in my church Paul appeared to the whole congregation rather than the leadership alone to address doctrinal corruption.
• 27:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: Great point, Wes.
• 27:54
  [SPEAKER_03]: Think about it.
• 27:55
  [SPEAKER_03]: How are you to quote bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ as described in Galatians 6 2,
• 28:09
  [SPEAKER_03]: Sorry, I lost my place neutral care as the central Christian obligation if you are not actively in a membership role
• 28:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: Again, that's a great question.
• 28:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: All these admissions that we have from the Apostle Paul to the churches, to bear one another's burdens, to spur one another on toward love and good works, right?
• 28:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: To hold each other accountable for when it comes to, you know, issues of life and doctrine.
• 28:36
  [SPEAKER_03]: How do we expect to do that if we do not have the unifying teeth of membership holding us together?
• 28:45
  [SPEAKER_03]: because if you don't have that, the minute someone starts to get uncomfortable when they are confronted in something, there's nothing from stopping them, from doing one of two things, either fighting back and being the larger bigger dog and asserting dominance and winning their way, or just leaving the church.
• 29:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 29:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: Membership provides the accountability and the guardrails for us to be able to to hold each other accountable, to be able to bear one another's burdens.
• 29:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: Because again, we are held to a standard that's higher than our preferences and our comfortability.
• 29:19
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's what membership does, and that's why it's so good, right?
• 29:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
• 29:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: Uh, let's see.
• 29:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: He goes on to say, healthy membership.
• 29:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: A quips believers to recognize heresy when taught or communicated and transforms them from passive consumers into active defenders of the faith.
• 29:38
  [SPEAKER_03]: This might be my favorite point that he makes here because one of the quickest catalysts to send someone into a
• 29:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: a practice and a lifestyle of heretical doctrine is not being committed to a local church.
• 29:58
  [SPEAKER_03]: The vast majority of heretics in one way or another are so because they have no accountability.
• 30:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: Right?
• 30:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's what happens when we are again.
• 30:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: You think you're a lone wolf.
• 30:11
  [SPEAKER_03]: You're a string sheep.
• 30:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: You're not, you're not, you're not this big tough guy out there, you know, you know, mark in your own trail and forging your own path, you are a string sheep that Satan is seeking to devour and he will because you do not have the protection of your brothers and sisters around you.
• 30:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: So you fall into heresy, you fall into sin, you fall into all manner of corrupt lifestyles and it's just a domino effect right, but that first domino is rejecting what we are called to do is Christians and that is to be committed to a local church and committed to a body because there's accountability man and again, we don't like that accountability.
• 30:58
  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I think to this helps out in kind of defining, um, especially when you're starting to, we, we say this all the time.
• 31:06
  [SPEAKER_04]: If you, it's like, if you want to join us for a class and just what we teach as a church, like you don't have to become a member like this isn't a, um,
• 31:15
  [SPEAKER_04]: a time share kind of presentation where you get locked in a room and by the end of it, you will have a signature or he will be trying to get out of there by hand or by foot kind of way.
• 31:29
  [SPEAKER_04]: So yeah, I think that for us too, as a church, like trying to make that an open possibility for anybody.
• 31:38
  [SPEAKER_04]: So if people have been coming to your church, your local church in
• 31:44
  [SPEAKER_04]: and maybe you're an elder and you do membership classes.
• 31:48
  [SPEAKER_04]: You know, sometimes we just say, you know, if you're interested in membership, how would you just open it up to more people and just say, Hey, maybe you even don't know what membership means.
• 31:57
  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, maybe you've never been a member of the church before.
• 32:01
  [SPEAKER_04]: Just start opening up the up the doors a little bit more to maybe who would benefit from like that kind of time in which you're walking through what your local church believes, what maybe are some.
• 32:17
  [SPEAKER_04]: tenants that you guys go off of maybe some doctrinal distinctions that you go off of stifling those lines.
• 32:24
  [SPEAKER_04]: So yeah, I think opening up the door more to what a quote unquote membership classes would be helpful because then that shows people.
• 32:38
  [SPEAKER_04]: a little bit more of what your church believes versus kind of having it more closed dored.
• 32:44
  [SPEAKER_03]: So yeah, yeah, no, I can believe the agree.
• 32:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: I think I think because when when you provide all those opportunities in your local church, right, it takes away any of the excuses that people have to join the membership.
• 32:56
  [SPEAKER_03]: Again, if you go back, I forget how many apps ago I did it, but it's.
• 33:00
  [SPEAKER_03]: the three main reasons.
• 33:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: People reject local church membership.
• 33:04
  [SPEAKER_03]: First one is just the local ignorance.
• 33:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: They don't understand it.
• 33:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: Maybe they didn't grow up in a church where it had it had membership.
• 33:11
  [SPEAKER_03]: They don't they don't get it right?
• 33:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: So they're not just going to jump into something that they don't understand completely fair.
• 33:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: Understand that right?
• 33:17
  [SPEAKER_03]: So we educate them.
• 33:19
  [SPEAKER_03]: We we graciously bring them along and open our Bibles and show them why membership is important.
• 33:30
  [SPEAKER_03]: where they have been committed to a local church and that that commitment that they have was actually used against them by unqualified leaders, right?
• 33:39
  [SPEAKER_03]: So you have to walk through those people with some with graciousness because they're walking through some pain and that takes time.
• 33:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: And then the third category, of course, is those that don't want accountability.
• 33:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: They don't want to be part of local church because they don't want to be told what to do.
• 33:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: They don't want people up in their business.
• 33:55
  [SPEAKER_03]: They don't want people checking in on them.
• 33:56
  [SPEAKER_03]: They want to be able to live their lives.
• 33:58
  [SPEAKER_03]: Get what they need from the local church and then not have to give anything in return.
• 34:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: Right, vast majority will fall in, I think, one of those three categories and having those opportunities as a local church like Jack is saying where you are constantly preaching and talking about the importance of membership and having those opportunities for people to get to know the church and what membership is really helps in discipling those individuals through, you know, whatever those options it is that they're struggling with.
• 34:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: He finishes by saying, ultimately, practicing membership glorifies God as Christians gather to form his body, living under the life-giving words of Scripture, fellowshiping with one another sacrificially and reflecting his character.
• 34:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: Got to give it up to our Canadian brother from the north, fantastic words, fantastic words.
• 34:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: And that's encouraging for me to see and for me to hear the amount of people that, you know, that we run into, especially here in the PNW.
• 35:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: that reject any form of official localized gathering of the church and even much more joining the membership of that local gathering.
• 35:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's always extremely comforting and encouraging to see men like Wes who are like-minded in our commitment to local church membership because
• 35:30
  [SPEAKER_03]: because this Christian life is easier when you are not trying to walk it by yourself and local church membership solves that.
• 35:39
  [SPEAKER_03]: So Jack, my man, good stuff.
• 35:44
  [SPEAKER_03]: Why don't you want you get us out of here, brother?
• 35:47
  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, if you appreciate Josh and I as focus here on the reformatory to make the local church central to the believer's life, you can follow us further on the sociables, if you will.
• 35:58
  [SPEAKER_04]: The meta, the Facebook, if you will, meta.
• 36:03
  [SPEAKER_04]: I guess it's not the meta, it's just meta.
• 36:07
  [SPEAKER_04]: in the Instagram, you know, put that, you can have that with some chocolate, some marshmallows, sprinkle of heresy on top of that, the Instagram, or you can follow us on the, um, the always interesting.
• 36:22
  [SPEAKER_04]: They always,
• 36:23
  [SPEAKER_04]: garbage heap of comments that get reaped on to good quotes like what Mr. West have said the sociable formerly known as Twitter x if you will.
• 36:34
  [SPEAKER_04]: Twitter you can follow us on those sociables at the tag at or from retorty pod you can drop us a direct message a episode idea question comment concern anything along those lines
• 36:47
  [SPEAKER_04]: Um, maybe even do like a little voicemail if you have some, you know, some little voicemail with your questions, keep it nice, keep it encouraging, keep it clean, it's a kid show, it's a kid show, it's a good show, it's a good show.
• 37:00
  [SPEAKER_04]: Anyway, you can follow some of those avenues of interaction, Josh, you can tell the lovely people how they might support us further and are in Devos here.
• 37:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's right.
• 37:10
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• 37:18
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• 37:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: Send this to maybe a discouraged pastor, or someone who's perhaps on the fence about membership, or someone that maybe needs some encouragement in your membership.
• 37:30
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• 37:31
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• 37:32
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• 37:35
  [SPEAKER_03]: more people can be encouraged in making the local church central in their lives and last but not least we do have a patreon if you like what you hear and you want to hear a little bit more you can head on over to patreon it's a lot of fun over there five dollars a month that's all it is less than a cup of coffee you know I stopped at a coffee stand on the way back from eastern Washington to get an energy drink I got a 24 ounce energy and it was nine dollars
• 38:00
  [SPEAKER_03]: That is outrageous.
• 38:02
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• 38:02
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• 38:07
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• 38:10
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• 38:16
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• 38:21
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• 38:23
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• 38:30
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• 38:33
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• 38:38
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• 38:40
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• 38:41
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