October 16, 2025 • 28 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hey, what's going on?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Game Changers?
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Thank you so much for tuning in to another special
podcast here with my guy Matt.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I'm Anthony. Guys.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
We have an amazing topic today and I think it's
really going to be an eye opening one for a
lot of us just because it's so prevalent in the
culture today. And today's topic is called self help is
not Salvation And I'm excited to talk about this, man,
because you know, a lot of these eight step, nine step,
(00:39):
twelve step things to achieve success or a better you
starting to see that creep a lot into the messages
in the poolpits of the Body of Christ. And of
course those messages in the poolpit turn into filtered Instagram
moments for thirty seconds. But the problem with that is
(01:02):
a lot of people are getting that confused with if
I just do these eight things and I achieve salvation.
So this kind of goes back a little bit about
last week what we were talking about, but more of a
I guess, a more simplified way where people are basically
watering down the message of salvation and we're substituting with
this really off brand form of trying to attain righteousness
(01:26):
in our own way through eight easy steps.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Yeah, I mean realistically, I mean it's like you know,
going to I mean, people have made it to where
it's like, okay, let's go to a drive through now,
and you can pick whatever happy meal you want, and
if you choose that, that's a great way to start
building towards success.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
That's a good way of putting it in.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
And it's like, wait a minute, God laid out the
law and laid out the way that we find salvation.
No happy meal of choices. Okay, it's this is what
we've made as God. I've made it this way. Okay,
You're going to eat what we cooked, okay, like as
a parent would say, you know, it's like it's like
(02:06):
as kids when we like grew up and our parents
like or you know, our mom or dad whatever like
cook something and we were like, oh, I don't like
this meal. So we go then and start trying to
dig something out of the cupboard or the fridge, and
they're like, we made this over here, you're going to
eat this. You're not going to disrespect what we cooked.
(02:27):
You're going to eat this some way somehow, okay, And
they don't know that we don't like it. Necessarily, so
we want to try to get our own meal or
our own way, why, so that we can help ourselves.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Trying to find an alternative. Yeah, you need what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Yeah, this isn't a buffet, man, where we get to
go to a buffet and everyone sits there and the
waiters and waitresses they just stand there and smile and
basically say, help yourself.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
We'll be here if you need anything. That's not what
this is.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
This is not a self help help yourself to you know,
different steps or ways on how you find God. That
is not how it is. There's one way and one
way only. So we're gonna break this down today.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
I'm excited, man, because you found you found an article
online that had some very interesting h takes, yes, let's
put it that way, that.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Were ringy like beliefs.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Yeah, because I mean at a high level, I guess
I know, I don't understand what they're trying to get at.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
So I'm not even going to.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Say that it's just a it was a weird approach,
but I could see where it would be confusing. But
maybe people who are newer coming into the body of Christ,
or people who even are maybe not serving God, but
are curious about it. And that's the thing that I
struggle with, man, is because there may be a lot
of people on the fringe or who are trying to
(03:47):
truly seek God, and there was just a whole bunch
of misinformation out there. So I think it'd be good
to break this down a little bit and jump in
because that article has some really strange takes. But I
want to kick this off right away with scripture because
that's what we do here. Everything is based off of scripture.
Because it's not just our opinion, man, this is about
a kingdom perspective, which ties into today's topic perfectly. Let's
(04:12):
talk about self help, just the word itself. If you
need help or you're struggling with something, how can you
also save yourself from that problem? Like that's my first question? Yeah, right, Like,
let's think about just the logic of that. There's nothing
that you can do on this earth or should do
individually apart from anyone else, as far as one when
(04:39):
you're seeking salvation through God, that is not something that
you just do solo. Why, Because you have the unction
of the Holy Spirit who is tugging at you. You
have the conviction of God, himself, maybe through a message
that you heard or a dream that you were given.
It's never just you and dependently doing something. So we
(05:02):
have to kind of get away with that, get away
from that thinking that we have this just infinite power
to make all of these things happen. Yes, there are
things that we are given as far as gifts and
abilities to achieve things, but.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
That's all temporary.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
If we're truly seeking the goal of eternity and having
things that are ever lasting or long lasting, then there
has to be a partnership. And I want to prove
a point because of self help and all these things
that we hear about, if you just do these things
or if you form these habits, then you can do
anything for a little bit.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Yeah, and good deeds will get you to heaven and
all this stuff.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
I'm going all the way to the Book of Genesis,
just right from the beginning. Literally, it's like the first page,
this is Genesis one, and it says in verse twenty six,
then God said, let us make human beings in our
image to be like us. They will rain over the
fish and the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock,
(06:05):
all the wild animals on the ground, and the small
animals that scurry along the ground. So then it says,
so God created human beings. I want to stop right there,
because the focus point is where God said, let us. So,
God himself and all of his infinite wisdom, all of
his infinite power, had a counsel, the triune godfather son.
(06:30):
So he had the Holy Spirit with him as well. Right,
and if God himself essentially sought counsel or help to
perfect the creation of human beings, because within us also
when he was making us, was the redemptive plan as well.
(06:54):
So knowing that there would be a redemptive plan that
would also bring us back to him, and he did
and do that on his own. What makes us think
through self help that we can attain this certain level
of righteousness?
Speaker 2 (07:06):
You need godly care, holy wisdom.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
It's not about you trying to come up with your
own philosophies and ideas to make it.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
You know you're picking up on land down.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
You know it can't be you you help in yourself
or self. You know, these these light moments of oh
self reflection and this that and the other. It's like
I heard somebody say, like we have to stop with
like the constant, like churchy mentality or Christian easing everything
(07:35):
where it's like, Okay, I've got to you know, reflect
on this, pray on that, pray on this. And it's
like sometimes the Lord has given us the answer right
in front of us, and we have to sit there
and constantly like over drag it and like overthink about it,
over reflect about it because oh well, I've got to
(07:56):
make it.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
To where it fits my narrative.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
And it's like the Lord is already telling you what
to do, but you have to sit there and over
spiritualize everything.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
And again it's.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Like these people who like the metal list placed in
front of you, but then they sit there and they
got to take thirty minutes at the drive through to
decide if they want a medium or a large fry.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
You get what I'm saying. Both are unhealthy. Just pick one.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
So it's just pick one, right, And so it's this overthinking,
over constant like well, you know, and living in the
past of oh well, I made this mistake, so I
really got to reflect and like take a bunch of time,
and then they don't want to reach out and do
anything else because they live in their past regret so
much that it's like, oh well, I don't want to
(08:41):
step out, and like I've got to really take some
time to myself now, and like you need Godly wisdom
and counsel to speak in your life.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
You can't just shun the world out. Okay, you can't
just shun people out.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
God brings godly counsel for a purpose, for a reason.
The disciples were trained up by Jesus. Okay, you said
it so perfectly, like we don't get anywhere without the
help of another person and God quite frankly Correctkay. Everybody
was given an opportunity to become what they are now,
good or bad.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
That's good. Everybody. You were given an opportunity. Okay. You
were hired at a job by a boss that believed
in you and gave you an opportunity. Okay.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
You were taught by a teacher in school, You were
raised by a parents. Okay, you had a sibling that
was older than you that maybe taught you something. Okay,
we have all learned from other people. So this whole
thing about self help is ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Ephesians two, verses eight through nine says God saved you
by his grace when you believed and you can't take
credit for this. Wow wow, So you can't say, oh,
I helped myself here you go. Okay, you can't take
credit from this or for this. It is a gift
from God. Now Verse nine. Salvation is not a reward
(10:04):
for the good things we have done. So none of
us can boast about it. So you can't sit there
and be like, well, I've done these great things and
this good thing and that good thing, and well, you know,
I donated my shoes to somebody, so therefore God will
shine upon that. You know, like, yeah, I might have
gone to the bar earlier this week and like you know,
(10:25):
got intoxicated and all of this, but oh I donated
shoes this weekend, so that makes up for what I.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Did over the No no, no, no, no no. People think
it's like this numbers game.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Yeah, okay, of well, if I do five good deeds
this week to two bad deeds, God will smile upon me.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Are you saved or are you not?
Speaker 3 (10:43):
It's not about sitting in this self help like okay,
we're we're not playing tally here.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Okay. You know people do think about that, man.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
And some people like keep score of like good versus
bad deeds, and it's like, why are we, like, why
are we trying to be psychological with the Word of God?
Why are we trying to be psychological in life? It's
not about We've got to be in a spiritual mind
and not a psychological mind. The problem is people try
(11:15):
to psychologically and politically and try to correct everything that
was written in the Word about salvation. And then we
have these stupid like self help mindsets and people get
on Instagram and try to break it down or get
on Facebook or TikTok or whatever they have nowadays, and
they try to get in these videos thirty seconds of
(11:38):
encouragement and it has no annoying, no word. It's just
this stupid like, I mean practically, like your life is
a flower, you are beautiful, you are shining, just like
the sun is shining in the sky today.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
What does that do? What does that do for the world?
What does that do?
Speaker 3 (11:56):
And we have pastors who literally will preach like that,
no annoying, no scripture. People come in, they get some
ten minute happy meal word and they walk out. Oh
and we may even include a kid's toy with that too.
You can all get your ribbons as you walk out
and a pack of jelly beans and call it a day.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Welcome to our church.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
And it's this self help stupidity that is making people
conned into the belief that good deeds is enough, or
that once saved, always saved. Don't even get me started
on that, okay, and then people take the word grace
for granted.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Yeah, you know, because you said a lot there and
there there, we could probably make several game changers episodes
on some of those things. But I'll keep it right
where we're at with the self help thing. You you
actually said something that was interesting because I think the
reason why we water down things so much and we
try to break it down into three easy steps goes
(12:59):
back to what we talked about last week. Man, you
have a form, You have a sense of control, right,
and it's it's it's attainable from your own human strength.
If I can just do these five things, I can
break this addiction. If I do these five things, I
can get out of financial lack. If I do these
(13:20):
five things, my marriage will be good again. And in
some cases it may be, But the question is for
how long. Yeah, Because you're human, you're gonna have moments
of weakness. You're gonna have moments where you struggle with
your emotions. You're gonna have moments where maybe those five
things that you were told to do or that you
saw on Instagram, which by the way, they're getting paid
(13:41):
to say those things. And even if they did do
those things and it got them to a certain level
on Instagram, that's their situation. And another thing James one p.
Seventeen says, every good and perfect gift comes from above.
How do you know that person didn't pray and that's
what God gave them, They just happen to be taking
(14:02):
credit for it on social media. So you kind of
have to be careful about those things. It says in
the Bible, every good and perfect gift comes from above.
So if there is something that gives you a success,
if there's something that gives you prosperity or helps along
the way, man, that you better believe that that originated
from God. Now again, I'm not discredit crediting any of
(14:24):
our giftings and talents that we have. Yes, God has
given us talents, He's given us giftings, He's given us
the ability to do awesome things. But apart from Him,
that will be a very short lived career a very
short lived, a very short lived life that will be
just a very short fun song.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
You know, we have to realize that sometimes man, in
order to have anything that is eternal, weever lasting, or
worth having, it's not going to be easy. You can't
just break it down into three easy steps.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
No, And to be honest, it's not about steps. Really,
it's one step. It's called cast the demon out of
you and get with God and get saved. There it
is okay if you have addictions cast the demon out.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Yeah, one step. We just made life very.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Easy for all the viewers out there are listeners in
the future. Really, so these five steps of you know,
you got to google how to be a success today
and like read like a five step article.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
It's ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Yeah, okay, you can read an entire book of proverbs
will do that for you. Yeah, far better than any
self help book about success will do.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Saying, and then they say that it's salvation. I mean,
I got Romans ten open right here. If you openly
declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart
that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
For it is by believing in your heart that you
are made right with God. And it is by openly
declaring your faith that you are saved. Declaring your faith, Okay,
(15:58):
we have to start declaring.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
That we're saved. We have to start declaring that. Listen.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
See, the problem is people want to fix issues with
self help, and really the self help people need to
be doing is making their spirit control their body and
their mind. That is the ultimate self help, real man.
Because if you're declaring over yourself every day, what other
(16:25):
self help do you need? If you're speaking prosperity and faith,
what other or self help do you need. You don't
need an Instagram video, you don't need some you know,
get on and read a twenty second meme that says,
you know, smile like the sun today and then think
(16:45):
that that's gonna make your day better.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
It's ridiculous.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Okay, get in the word, get with God, bind demons,
and that is the greatest self help you will ever obtain.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
It's that simple.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
So the only thing self that is talked about in
the Bible two Timothy chapter one, for God gave us
So again, where's this coming from? A spirit not of fear,
but of power, love and self control? That is the
only form of self that is discussed in the Bible.
(17:22):
And guess what God takes credit for it, He claims
it does. So we are just debunking this right now. Now.
What Matt and I are not saying is we're not
saying don't do things that will just you know, in
the natural that can you know, enhance or improve your
quality of life. I mean, as Christians, that should just
be a standard and a given. Yes, continue to read
(17:43):
books that you know, continue to build up your faith,
that's great, you know. Yeah, increase in your financial literacy,
you know, increase in your understanding of what things to
eat to keep you healthy, what things to do to
to make sure that you you know, you stay in
a great mental state. Nothing's wrong with those. What we're
addressing is the fact that all of this has crept
(18:05):
over into the pulpit, or all of this is crept
over onto social media and other outlets, and it's been
used and formed as a as a way to obtain
salvation and to get into heaven. And that's just not it.
That's not it at all. Like Matt said, you know,
we have to get back to understanding the power of God.
And I think that's what it is Matt. A lot
(18:27):
of us think that we have more power than some
God that we can't see. Yeah, I mean, that's what
it comes down to a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
And this article even says Anthy their favorite reading.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
One of the things they said is to reflect on
self help because you'll come across as more welcoming to
non Christians and you never get a second chance to
make a first impression.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
I'm like, we're not already welcomed by them. I who cares? Yeah,
that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
So it's like you might as well just be blunt
and honest on who you are, okay, and and just
they already don't like you, change.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Or they're not being welcome.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
The problem right there is churches have been too welcoming,
okay this Christianese like, come in, get a pack of
candy as you leave, and have a great day, and
we tell you to smile just like the sun, and
your life's a flower. And that's been. That's been church.
(19:27):
Come in and have a little venting session or SOB session.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Or keep trying, keep trying.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
You can make it, yes man, and and and it's
come in. Let go of your feelings, just breathe just breathe. Okay,
and and and and this is not doing anything. People
need to go to church and get hands laid on
them and a devil cast out of them. That's what
is the ultimate self help that people need.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Okay, let's do a stress test the church that you
go to. When you leave or when you're sitting in
through the message, do you feel that kind of queasy
feeling in your stomach like, oh man, this is hitting hard.
I need to I need to get with God and
make some changes. If you're not feeling that or thinking
(20:18):
that and haven't been for a while.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Just run, get out. Leave.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
If you haven't seen or heard anything about something amazing
that God has done in someone's life at your church,
might need to run.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
Yeah, they're only encouraging you with watered down ways to
see a difference in your life.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
And they don't talk about the testimony.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
They talk more about the test or the process of
how to get out of the test and they.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Don't talk the testimony.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
There's an issue when too many people are talking about
the test and the process to testimony instead of hey,
this is the testimony. That's not a church that sees deliverance.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
And lastly, if you're not hearing anything about the victory
and the power of God and what he has given
you as your inheritance, then you are being duped. Right now,
we have got to get into a place where we
are tapping into and fully hearing and knowing what it
is that Jesus did for us on the cross and
(21:25):
what He has made available to us. If we knew
that man there would have been there wouldn't have been
a twenty twenty yeah in the way that it happened, correct,
And what we're dealing with right now could probably be over.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
So share the part from that article where it talks
about self help leads us toward humility and away from pride,
and say what you had said to me about that,
and you were talking about, like how can we self
help like with pride, Like the two don't even go together.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
It's a it's an oxymoron in itself because you're saying
that if I just go and seek help and through
my own self discovery of this help that I need,
I will have the ability to now lose the pride
that I have because I was the one who found
the answer to rid myself of my pride.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
I Yeah, we'll stop.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
I mean I gotta, like, I mean literally I got
to read some of these. I mean, it's just it's insane.
Like I mean, Anthony, I've broke this down with you
and we've we can't hit all of these, but I
mean develop great habits and stuff. I mean, it's common sense,
(22:51):
like we should be already doing that by reading the Word.
It's like that's not a self help thing. That's an
obvious like way a Christian should live. You should make
great habits and naturally you don't have to necessarily like
develop it. It naturally comes when you just seek after
God's face and his word. It's like it's like muscle
(23:13):
memory again.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Well, you know, First and Second Corinthians are great for
talking about developing good habits and how to act and
conduct yourself as a believer. I mean, those are those
are great books. Uh you know, Matt, I want to
touch on this because I can. I can also feel
people right now they're saying, you know, I, you know,
I I go for counseling for this matter, or I
(23:36):
go for counseling for this issue, or I'm seeking you know,
professional help for this or I'm you know, seeking help
in this other area. We are not We're not condoning
or condemning that at all. We understand that they're that's why,
that's why you have doctor, psychiatrists, whatever to help with
(23:56):
certain areas where you know, maybe that's a better, a
good avenue to talk through. We're not condemning that at all.
What we are saying, though, is don't replace God with
that that is not that is not your salvation. You know,
taking medication for maybe something an ailment that you have.
(24:18):
Don't just trust in the medication. But when you're taking
that medication, also pray and say, by His stripes, I
am healed. This is a conduit for the healing of
Jesus so that I to seep through every area of
my body, so that I will be made whole. I
will no longer have to depend on this because I
(24:39):
will be complete. There will be a complete work that
He does in me. That's what we're saying. I mean,
it would be foolish to say, oh, I'm just not
going to go, you know, to the doctor because i
have this issue, because I'm just trusting God. Like there's
also wisdom in that, and we believe that God has
put certain people in certain professions to provide that additional
(24:59):
help that is needed, but don't make it your savior,
because that is not salvation to get you into heaven.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
Well, I think it just comes down to having a
proper balance between natural and supernatural.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
You nailed it, honestly.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
Just have a proper balance between that, because it's like, look,
I'm I'm thankful for doctors. I'm thankful for you know,
people that can you know, help and counsel and all
of that stuff, But are you mixing that also with
godly wisdom and counsel as well? Because it's it's you
can't do all the natural things and then not mix
faith in with that, correct and then you can't just
(25:32):
do a bunch of like, oh, well, I'm living, I'm
standing on faith, faith, faith, fae faith, but I'm going
to put God to the test with that faith.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
And that's the problem where.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
It's like people are like it goes back to what
my mom says, don't die dumb, Okay, you can't if
the Lord never gave you the words of coming off
of medicine or putting something on the shelf to the side,
(26:01):
and that wasn't mixed with a natural like advice from
a medical person then it's like at that point, like
we're putting God to the test, because you've got to
mix both of both of.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Them together, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
You can't be stupid, you know what I'm saying, really
if you're dumb, okay, Like I mean, at some point
it's like, oh, if you want to go skydiving, you
can't just like jump out without a parachute and be like,
all right, angels carry me away.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
But why would you want to jump out of a
perfectly good plane. Anyways, I'm saying if.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
Some people like to do that, you know, with sky diving,
it's like, you know what I mean, Like there's there's
playing football, I had to wear a helmet, Okay, I
can't just go out there without a helmet and expect to,
you know, compete at a good level, right like, and
be like, oh, well, I got the blood with me,
(26:54):
you know, I can go out there without a helmet today,
Like no, okay, that's no different than people who drive
with a seatbelt and be like, you know the blood's
around this car. Well okay, but you're also being stupid
and you're you're really at that point taking the hand
of God off of the vehicle, because I mean, God
forbid anything happens if you don't have a seat belt on.
(27:15):
And I've heard people put God to the test and God,
you know, came through for them out of his mercy
and his grace. But still people learned a very very
hard lesson, you know, because they didn't have their seatbelt on.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
They got thrown from their car.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
Okay, and because of God's grace, survived, but they are
living not as healthy as what they wanted to be
probably at this age, because of that accident.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
So that's what I'm saying is listen, we have got
to understand that self help it's not about that. It's
about salvation. And I want to encourage each and every
one of you to stand on the word of God. Man, Okay,
don't try to put your own words into the word
of God.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Stand on what the word of God says.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
Get away from the you know, lovey dovey like watered
down messages, memes on you know, Instagram or social media,
and get with God. Get in his anointing, his word,
his truth, and his truth is what sets you free.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
That's what his word says.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
So I want to encourage each and every one of you,
Love you and tune in next week. We got an
amazing message about no more. God's not mad at you.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Messages and that he gets us garbage. We'll see you
next week.
Hey, what's going on?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Game Changers?
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Thank you so much for tuning in to another special
podcast here with my guy Matt.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I'm Anthony. Guys.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
We have an amazing topic today and I think it's
really going to be an eye opening one for a
lot of us just because it's so prevalent in the
culture today. And today's topic is called self help is
not Salvation And I'm excited to talk about this, man,
because you know, a lot of these eight step, nine step,
(00:39):
twelve step things to achieve success or a better you
starting to see that creep a lot into the messages
in the poolpits of the Body of Christ. And of
course those messages in the poolpit turn into filtered Instagram
moments for thirty seconds. But the problem with that is
(01:02):
a lot of people are getting that confused with if
I just do these eight things and I achieve salvation.
So this kind of goes back a little bit about
last week what we were talking about, but more of a
I guess, a more simplified way where people are basically
watering down the message of salvation and we're substituting with
this really off brand form of trying to attain righteousness
(01:26):
in our own way through eight easy steps.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Yeah, I mean realistically, I mean it's like you know,
going to I mean, people have made it to where
it's like, okay, let's go to a drive through now,
and you can pick whatever happy meal you want, and
if you choose that, that's a great way to start
building towards success.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
That's a good way of putting it in.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
And it's like, wait a minute, God laid out the
law and laid out the way that we find salvation.
No happy meal of choices. Okay, it's this is what
we've made as God. I've made it this way. Okay,
You're going to eat what we cooked, okay, like as
a parent would say, you know, it's like it's like
(02:06):
as kids when we like grew up and our parents
like or you know, our mom or dad whatever like
cook something and we were like, oh, I don't like
this meal. So we go then and start trying to
dig something out of the cupboard or the fridge, and
they're like, we made this over here, you're going to
eat this. You're not going to disrespect what we cooked.
(02:27):
You're going to eat this some way somehow, okay, And
they don't know that we don't like it. Necessarily, so
we want to try to get our own meal or
our own way, why, so that we can help ourselves.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Trying to find an alternative. Yeah, you need what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Yeah, this isn't a buffet, man, where we get to
go to a buffet and everyone sits there and the
waiters and waitresses they just stand there and smile and
basically say, help yourself.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
We'll be here if you need anything. That's not what
this is.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
This is not a self help help yourself to you know,
different steps or ways on how you find God. That
is not how it is. There's one way and one
way only. So we're gonna break this down today.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
I'm excited, man, because you found you found an article
online that had some very interesting h takes, yes, let's
put it that way, that.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Were ringy like beliefs.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Yeah, because I mean at a high level, I guess
I know, I don't understand what they're trying to get at.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
So I'm not even going to.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Say that it's just a it was a weird approach,
but I could see where it would be confusing. But
maybe people who are newer coming into the body of Christ,
or people who even are maybe not serving God, but
are curious about it. And that's the thing that I
struggle with, man, is because there may be a lot
of people on the fringe or who are trying to
(03:47):
truly seek God, and there was just a whole bunch
of misinformation out there. So I think it'd be good
to break this down a little bit and jump in
because that article has some really strange takes. But I
want to kick this off right away with scripture because
that's what we do here. Everything is based off of scripture.
Because it's not just our opinion, man, this is about
a kingdom perspective, which ties into today's topic perfectly. Let's
(04:12):
talk about self help, just the word itself. If you
need help or you're struggling with something, how can you
also save yourself from that problem? Like that's my first question? Yeah, right, Like,
let's think about just the logic of that. There's nothing
that you can do on this earth or should do
individually apart from anyone else, as far as one when
(04:39):
you're seeking salvation through God, that is not something that
you just do solo. Why, Because you have the unction
of the Holy Spirit who is tugging at you. You
have the conviction of God, himself, maybe through a message
that you heard or a dream that you were given.
It's never just you and dependently doing something. So we
(05:02):
have to kind of get away with that, get away
from that thinking that we have this just infinite power
to make all of these things happen. Yes, there are
things that we are given as far as gifts and
abilities to achieve things, but.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
That's all temporary.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
If we're truly seeking the goal of eternity and having
things that are ever lasting or long lasting, then there
has to be a partnership. And I want to prove
a point because of self help and all these things
that we hear about, if you just do these things
or if you form these habits, then you can do
anything for a little bit.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Yeah, and good deeds will get you to heaven and
all this stuff.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
I'm going all the way to the Book of Genesis,
just right from the beginning. Literally, it's like the first page,
this is Genesis one, and it says in verse twenty six,
then God said, let us make human beings in our
image to be like us. They will rain over the
fish and the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock,
(06:05):
all the wild animals on the ground, and the small
animals that scurry along the ground. So then it says,
so God created human beings. I want to stop right there,
because the focus point is where God said, let us. So,
God himself and all of his infinite wisdom, all of
his infinite power, had a counsel, the triune godfather son.
(06:30):
So he had the Holy Spirit with him as well. Right,
and if God himself essentially sought counsel or help to
perfect the creation of human beings, because within us also
when he was making us, was the redemptive plan as well.
(06:54):
So knowing that there would be a redemptive plan that
would also bring us back to him, and he did
and do that on his own. What makes us think
through self help that we can attain this certain level
of righteousness?
Speaker 2 (07:06):
You need godly care, holy wisdom.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
It's not about you trying to come up with your
own philosophies and ideas to make it.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
You know you're picking up on land down.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
You know it can't be you you help in yourself
or self. You know, these these light moments of oh
self reflection and this that and the other. It's like
I heard somebody say, like we have to stop with
like the constant, like churchy mentality or Christian easing everything
(07:35):
where it's like, Okay, I've got to you know, reflect
on this, pray on that, pray on this. And it's
like sometimes the Lord has given us the answer right
in front of us, and we have to sit there
and constantly like over drag it and like overthink about it,
over reflect about it because oh well, I've got to
(07:56):
make it.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
To where it fits my narrative.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
And it's like the Lord is already telling you what
to do, but you have to sit there and over
spiritualize everything.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
And again it's.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Like these people who like the metal list placed in
front of you, but then they sit there and they
got to take thirty minutes at the drive through to
decide if they want a medium or a large fry.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
You get what I'm saying. Both are unhealthy. Just pick one.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
So it's just pick one, right, And so it's this overthinking,
over constant like well, you know, and living in the
past of oh well, I made this mistake, so I
really got to reflect and like take a bunch of time,
and then they don't want to reach out and do
anything else because they live in their past regret so
much that it's like, oh well, I don't want to
(08:41):
step out, and like I've got to really take some
time to myself now, and like you need Godly wisdom
and counsel to speak in your life.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
You can't just shun the world out. Okay, you can't
just shun people out.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
God brings godly counsel for a purpose, for a reason.
The disciples were trained up by Jesus. Okay, you said
it so perfectly, like we don't get anywhere without the
help of another person and God quite frankly Correctkay. Everybody
was given an opportunity to become what they are now,
good or bad.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
That's good. Everybody. You were given an opportunity. Okay. You
were hired at a job by a boss that believed
in you and gave you an opportunity. Okay.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
You were taught by a teacher in school, You were
raised by a parents. Okay, you had a sibling that
was older than you that maybe taught you something. Okay,
we have all learned from other people. So this whole
thing about self help is ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Ephesians two, verses eight through nine says God saved you
by his grace when you believed and you can't take
credit for this. Wow wow, So you can't say, oh,
I helped myself here you go. Okay, you can't take
credit from this or for this. It is a gift
from God. Now Verse nine. Salvation is not a reward
(10:04):
for the good things we have done. So none of
us can boast about it. So you can't sit there
and be like, well, I've done these great things and
this good thing and that good thing, and well, you know,
I donated my shoes to somebody, so therefore God will
shine upon that. You know, like, yeah, I might have
gone to the bar earlier this week and like you know,
(10:25):
got intoxicated and all of this, but oh I donated
shoes this weekend, so that makes up for what I.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Did over the No no, no, no, no no. People think
it's like this numbers game.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Yeah, okay, of well, if I do five good deeds
this week to two bad deeds, God will smile upon me.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Are you saved or are you not?
Speaker 3 (10:43):
It's not about sitting in this self help like okay,
we're we're not playing tally here.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Okay. You know people do think about that, man.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
And some people like keep score of like good versus
bad deeds, and it's like, why are we, like, why
are we trying to be psychological with the Word of God?
Why are we trying to be psychological in life? It's
not about We've got to be in a spiritual mind
and not a psychological mind. The problem is people try
(11:15):
to psychologically and politically and try to correct everything that
was written in the Word about salvation. And then we
have these stupid like self help mindsets and people get
on Instagram and try to break it down or get
on Facebook or TikTok or whatever they have nowadays, and
they try to get in these videos thirty seconds of
(11:38):
encouragement and it has no annoying, no word. It's just
this stupid like, I mean practically, like your life is
a flower, you are beautiful, you are shining, just like
the sun is shining in the sky today.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
What does that do? What does that do for the world?
What does that do?
Speaker 3 (11:56):
And we have pastors who literally will preach like that,
no annoying, no scripture. People come in, they get some
ten minute happy meal word and they walk out. Oh
and we may even include a kid's toy with that too.
You can all get your ribbons as you walk out
and a pack of jelly beans and call it a day.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Welcome to our church.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
And it's this self help stupidity that is making people
conned into the belief that good deeds is enough, or
that once saved, always saved. Don't even get me started
on that, okay, and then people take the word grace
for granted.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Yeah, you know, because you said a lot there and
there there, we could probably make several game changers episodes
on some of those things. But I'll keep it right
where we're at with the self help thing. You you
actually said something that was interesting because I think the
reason why we water down things so much and we
try to break it down into three easy steps goes
(12:59):
back to what we talked about last week. Man, you
have a form, You have a sense of control, right,
and it's it's it's attainable from your own human strength.
If I can just do these five things, I can
break this addiction. If I do these five things, I
can get out of financial lack. If I do these
(13:20):
five things, my marriage will be good again. And in
some cases it may be, But the question is for
how long. Yeah, Because you're human, you're gonna have moments
of weakness. You're gonna have moments where you struggle with
your emotions. You're gonna have moments where maybe those five
things that you were told to do or that you
saw on Instagram, which by the way, they're getting paid
(13:41):
to say those things. And even if they did do
those things and it got them to a certain level
on Instagram, that's their situation. And another thing James one p.
Seventeen says, every good and perfect gift comes from above.
How do you know that person didn't pray and that's
what God gave them, They just happen to be taking
(14:02):
credit for it on social media. So you kind of
have to be careful about those things. It says in
the Bible, every good and perfect gift comes from above.
So if there is something that gives you a success,
if there's something that gives you prosperity or helps along
the way, man, that you better believe that that originated
from God. Now again, I'm not discredit crediting any of
(14:24):
our giftings and talents that we have. Yes, God has
given us talents, He's given us giftings, He's given us
the ability to do awesome things. But apart from Him,
that will be a very short lived career a very
short lived, a very short lived life that will be
just a very short fun song.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
You know, we have to realize that sometimes man, in
order to have anything that is eternal, weever lasting, or
worth having, it's not going to be easy. You can't
just break it down into three easy steps.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
No, And to be honest, it's not about steps. Really,
it's one step. It's called cast the demon out of
you and get with God and get saved. There it
is okay if you have addictions cast the demon out.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Yeah, one step. We just made life very.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Easy for all the viewers out there are listeners in
the future. Really, so these five steps of you know,
you got to google how to be a success today
and like read like a five step article.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
It's ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Yeah, okay, you can read an entire book of proverbs
will do that for you. Yeah, far better than any
self help book about success will do.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Saying, and then they say that it's salvation. I mean,
I got Romans ten open right here. If you openly
declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart
that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
For it is by believing in your heart that you
are made right with God. And it is by openly
declaring your faith that you are saved. Declaring your faith, Okay,
(15:58):
we have to start declaring.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
That we're saved. We have to start declaring that. Listen.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
See, the problem is people want to fix issues with
self help, and really the self help people need to
be doing is making their spirit control their body and
their mind. That is the ultimate self help, real man.
Because if you're declaring over yourself every day, what other
(16:25):
self help do you need? If you're speaking prosperity and faith,
what other or self help do you need. You don't
need an Instagram video, you don't need some you know,
get on and read a twenty second meme that says,
you know, smile like the sun today and then think
(16:45):
that that's gonna make your day better.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
It's ridiculous.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Okay, get in the word, get with God, bind demons,
and that is the greatest self help you will ever obtain.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
It's that simple.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
So the only thing self that is talked about in
the Bible two Timothy chapter one, for God gave us
So again, where's this coming from? A spirit not of fear,
but of power, love and self control? That is the
only form of self that is discussed in the Bible.
(17:22):
And guess what God takes credit for it, He claims
it does. So we are just debunking this right now. Now.
What Matt and I are not saying is we're not
saying don't do things that will just you know, in
the natural that can you know, enhance or improve your
quality of life. I mean, as Christians, that should just
be a standard and a given. Yes, continue to read
(17:43):
books that you know, continue to build up your faith,
that's great, you know. Yeah, increase in your financial literacy,
you know, increase in your understanding of what things to
eat to keep you healthy, what things to do to
to make sure that you you know, you stay in
a great mental state. Nothing's wrong with those. What we're
addressing is the fact that all of this has crept
(18:05):
over into the pulpit, or all of this is crept
over onto social media and other outlets, and it's been
used and formed as a as a way to obtain
salvation and to get into heaven. And that's just not it.
That's not it at all. Like Matt said, you know,
we have to get back to understanding the power of God.
And I think that's what it is Matt. A lot
(18:27):
of us think that we have more power than some
God that we can't see. Yeah, I mean, that's what
it comes down to a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
And this article even says Anthy their favorite reading.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
One of the things they said is to reflect on
self help because you'll come across as more welcoming to
non Christians and you never get a second chance to
make a first impression.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
I'm like, we're not already welcomed by them. I who cares? Yeah,
that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
So it's like you might as well just be blunt
and honest on who you are, okay, and and just
they already don't like you, change.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Or they're not being welcome.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
The problem right there is churches have been too welcoming,
okay this Christianese like, come in, get a pack of
candy as you leave, and have a great day, and
we tell you to smile just like the sun, and
your life's a flower. And that's been. That's been church.
(19:27):
Come in and have a little venting session or SOB session.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Or keep trying, keep trying.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
You can make it, yes man, and and and it's
come in. Let go of your feelings, just breathe just breathe. Okay,
and and and and this is not doing anything. People
need to go to church and get hands laid on
them and a devil cast out of them. That's what
is the ultimate self help that people need.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Okay, let's do a stress test the church that you
go to. When you leave or when you're sitting in
through the message, do you feel that kind of queasy
feeling in your stomach like, oh man, this is hitting hard.
I need to I need to get with God and
make some changes. If you're not feeling that or thinking
(20:18):
that and haven't been for a while.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Just run, get out. Leave.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
If you haven't seen or heard anything about something amazing
that God has done in someone's life at your church,
might need to run.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
Yeah, they're only encouraging you with watered down ways to
see a difference in your life.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
And they don't talk about the testimony.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
They talk more about the test or the process of
how to get out of the test and they.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Don't talk the testimony.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
There's an issue when too many people are talking about
the test and the process to testimony instead of hey,
this is the testimony. That's not a church that sees deliverance.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
And lastly, if you're not hearing anything about the victory
and the power of God and what he has given
you as your inheritance, then you are being duped. Right now,
we have got to get into a place where we
are tapping into and fully hearing and knowing what it
is that Jesus did for us on the cross and
(21:25):
what He has made available to us. If we knew
that man there would have been there wouldn't have been
a twenty twenty yeah in the way that it happened, correct,
And what we're dealing with right now could probably be over.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
So share the part from that article where it talks
about self help leads us toward humility and away from pride,
and say what you had said to me about that,
and you were talking about, like how can we self
help like with pride, Like the two don't even go together.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
It's a it's an oxymoron in itself because you're saying
that if I just go and seek help and through
my own self discovery of this help that I need,
I will have the ability to now lose the pride
that I have because I was the one who found
the answer to rid myself of my pride.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
I Yeah, we'll stop.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
I mean I gotta, like, I mean literally I got
to read some of these. I mean, it's just it's insane.
Like I mean, Anthony, I've broke this down with you
and we've we can't hit all of these, but I
mean develop great habits and stuff. I mean, it's common sense,
(22:51):
like we should be already doing that by reading the Word.
It's like that's not a self help thing. That's an
obvious like way a Christian should live. You should make
great habits and naturally you don't have to necessarily like
develop it. It naturally comes when you just seek after
God's face and his word. It's like it's like muscle
(23:13):
memory again.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Well, you know, First and Second Corinthians are great for
talking about developing good habits and how to act and
conduct yourself as a believer. I mean, those are those
are great books. Uh you know, Matt, I want to
touch on this because I can. I can also feel
people right now they're saying, you know, I, you know,
I I go for counseling for this matter, or I
(23:36):
go for counseling for this issue, or I'm seeking you know,
professional help for this or I'm you know, seeking help
in this other area. We are not We're not condoning
or condemning that at all. We understand that they're that's why,
that's why you have doctor, psychiatrists, whatever to help with
(23:56):
certain areas where you know, maybe that's a better, a
good avenue to talk through. We're not condemning that at all.
What we are saying, though, is don't replace God with
that that is not that is not your salvation. You know,
taking medication for maybe something an ailment that you have.
(24:18):
Don't just trust in the medication. But when you're taking
that medication, also pray and say, by His stripes, I
am healed. This is a conduit for the healing of
Jesus so that I to seep through every area of
my body, so that I will be made whole. I
will no longer have to depend on this because I
(24:39):
will be complete. There will be a complete work that
He does in me. That's what we're saying. I mean,
it would be foolish to say, oh, I'm just not
going to go, you know, to the doctor because i
have this issue, because I'm just trusting God. Like there's
also wisdom in that, and we believe that God has
put certain people in certain professions to provide that additional
(24:59):
help that is needed, but don't make it your savior,
because that is not salvation to get you into heaven.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
Well, I think it just comes down to having a
proper balance between natural and supernatural.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
You nailed it, honestly.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
Just have a proper balance between that, because it's like, look,
I'm I'm thankful for doctors. I'm thankful for you know,
people that can you know, help and counsel and all
of that stuff, But are you mixing that also with
godly wisdom and counsel as well? Because it's it's you
can't do all the natural things and then not mix
faith in with that, correct and then you can't just
(25:32):
do a bunch of like, oh, well, I'm living, I'm
standing on faith, faith, faith, fae faith, but I'm going
to put God to the test with that faith.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
And that's the problem where.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
It's like people are like it goes back to what
my mom says, don't die dumb, Okay, you can't if
the Lord never gave you the words of coming off
of medicine or putting something on the shelf to the side,
(26:01):
and that wasn't mixed with a natural like advice from
a medical person then it's like at that point, like
we're putting God to the test, because you've got to
mix both of both of.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Them together, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
You can't be stupid, you know what I'm saying, really
if you're dumb, okay, Like I mean, at some point
it's like, oh, if you want to go skydiving, you
can't just like jump out without a parachute and be like,
all right, angels carry me away.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
But why would you want to jump out of a
perfectly good plane. Anyways, I'm saying if.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
Some people like to do that, you know, with sky diving,
it's like, you know what I mean, Like there's there's
playing football, I had to wear a helmet, Okay, I
can't just go out there without a helmet and expect to,
you know, compete at a good level, right like, and
be like, oh, well, I got the blood with me,
(26:54):
you know, I can go out there without a helmet today,
Like no, okay, that's no different than people who drive
with a seatbelt and be like, you know the blood's
around this car. Well okay, but you're also being stupid
and you're you're really at that point taking the hand
of God off of the vehicle, because I mean, God
forbid anything happens if you don't have a seat belt on.
(27:15):
And I've heard people put God to the test and God,
you know, came through for them out of his mercy
and his grace. But still people learned a very very
hard lesson, you know, because they didn't have their seatbelt on.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
They got thrown from their car.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
Okay, and because of God's grace, survived, but they are
living not as healthy as what they wanted to be
probably at this age, because of that accident.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
So that's what I'm saying is listen, we have got
to understand that self help it's not about that. It's
about salvation. And I want to encourage each and every
one of you to stand on the word of God. Man, Okay,
don't try to put your own words into the word
of God.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Stand on what the word of God says.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
Get away from the you know, lovey dovey like watered
down messages, memes on you know, Instagram or social media,
and get with God. Get in his anointing, his word,
his truth, and his truth is what sets you free.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
That's what his word says.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
So I want to encourage each and every one of you,
Love you and tune in next week. We got an
amazing message about no more. God's not mad at you.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Messages and that he gets us garbage. We'll see you
next week.
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