February 3, 2025 • 24 mins
The episode explores the distinction between what is perceived as 'good' and what aligns with God's will, urging listeners to rethink their pursuits and priorities. Through biblical narratives and practical applications, we challenge the audience to understand the consequences of chasing what seems good without seeking divine guidance.
• Differentiating good from God
• The significance of a father's perspective
• The pursuit of fulfillment vs. spiritual calling
• Proverbs 14:12 as a guiding principle
• Renewing the mind for deeper understanding
• The temptation and deception of the enemy
• The danger of distractions in spiritual life
• Finding blessings amidst what we lack
May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you His favor and give you peace.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
it's another episode of pastor the pastor I wasn't
sure who was gonna open it.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
This time we didn't even talk about it.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Yeah, I mean, you were just gonna do it.
It's gonna happen.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
It's somebody gonna grab this thing and drive it
then I'll tell you, bro, welcometo another episode of pastor
the pastor and I didn't throwany any, any crazy no crazy
words, it was just I was tryingto figure it out.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
But you know, it's kind of funny, though we're
talking about, talking about howwe open up.
Man, when I open up servicetoday, you should have seen
people's faces, because what wedo here at cross point is I,
like you know, it talks about it, um, in the old testament,
talks about how they would standfor the reading of the word,
and so that's what we do here.
So whenever I open up service,we do worship, we do
(00:50):
announcements, we do all thesedifferent things, and then
people are kind of sitting whilewe dismiss kids at children's
church doing those things.
And then, whenever we get readyto read the word, I'm like all
right, stand with me, let's turnhere.
So today we went back toMatthew 4, 18 through 22, where
we talk about Jesus calling themoff the boat and I was talking
about the dad's perspective.
But anyway, whenever we got donereading that scripture Matthew
(01:12):
4, 18 through 22, I said nowlook at your neighbor and say
good ain't God?
Oh, watch out now.
And they were, bro.
You should have seen theconfusion that came across.
People, I said only like acouple of people.
They were like good ain't God.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Hold on now.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Pastor, hold on, and we know God is good all the time
and all the time God is good.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
That's right, but he's the only thing that's good.
That's a sign if somebody hasbeen churched their whole life.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
They know that God is good all the time saying I've
seen that that, uh, that meme ofuh talking about how you find a
pentecostal and when they'rehiding in a house, are you do a?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
shout, god is good.
And they'll say all the timegotcha, hide and seek gotcha.
That's what I need to do, yeah,but uh.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
So when I I said that we're trying to open up here,
man, when I opened up servicethis morning, this look came
across people's faces likethat's hilarious.
What is he saying?
Speaker 2 (02:05):
right now.
Keep them on their toes.
Don't let them ever know whatyour next step is.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
You know that's what you do.
I mean, god led them by a cloudduring the day and a pillar of
fire by night.
That's right.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
So they had to follow him.
They didn't know where he wasgoing or when he was going to.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
But you know, hey, anyway, you know, you just got
to follow, you just got to go.
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
All right.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Anyway, let's move on to this thing, man.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Let's talk about your message today and let's hear
what you share with people.
You just heard how it started.
That's what we're getting to.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
That's where I was headed, there, I know.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
I was, you know, starting to to change.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
All right, man, let's dig into it.
So we did obviously really whatit was the difference between
good and god, like.
Like, we have this, thishorrible perception, man, of
what is good for us, and sothat's really honestly, kind of
what the meat of the sermon wastoday.
I went back over that scripturein Matthew because, you know, I
(03:10):
just preached on that exactsame scripture, just preached on
that last week, when we weretalking about God calling the
disciples off the boats and theywould leave their nets.
And they left the boat and theyleft their father.
And I said, you know, it'sinteresting.
And they left the boat and theyleft their father.
And I said, you know it'sinteresting, we get excited
thinking about leaving nets,leaving the boat, leaving their
father.
(03:30):
I said, but we covered thedisciples' perspective, we
covered Jesus' perspective ofcalling them off the boat, but
we didn't cover the father'sperspective.
And I said, you know the father, I'm a dad, right, and I know
when I was raised by my dad, youstayed until the work was done
and you didn't go nowhere.
And if work wasn't done, guesswhat, you weren't done either,
(03:52):
and so that's what we did.
We worked, and so I talkedabout the fathers on the boat
wondering and Scripture doesn'ttell us this, so it was more
kind of subjective conversationwas could you imagine dads being
on the boat watching their sonsgo follow this guy named jesus
and all they know?
(04:12):
I would assume god has alreadydone at this point in time,
jesus has already done someworks in the area of galilee,
and so that I'd imagine dadbeing up on the boat, them
leaving the boat.
They literally left the work,they left the boat, left the
fight, their their left the boat, left their earthly father's
business, left their fathers onthe boat.
I could just imagine being dadstanding there looking at all
these nets that now he's thereby himself.
(04:34):
He had some sons working withhim and then now he's the one
who's got to mend the nets andhe's the one who's got to do all
the fishing and he's got to bewondering what are they chasing
after?
He was like I don't know whenare you going, but these nets
ain't going to mend themselves,that's right, yeah.
And then I just asked thequestion how many times have we
chased after things?
Now, obviously we know thatthey chased after the right
(04:56):
thing.
We know that on this side of it, but in the moment.
I just asked him the questionhow many times have we chased
after things that weren't God?
Speaker 2 (05:05):
but we thought were good.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
And so I just kind of placed myself and the Father in
those Zibbity's shoes right,and Peter and Andrew, and I just
kind of placed myself in theirFather's position, just like man
.
Here they go again chasingafter something.
And so I wondered I justsubmitted that question how many
times have we chased afterthings that weren't God but we
thought were good?
And then could it be possiblethat they chased after some
(05:34):
other things at some point thatbrought them back to the boat
when they realized that itfailed?
Almost like the prodigal.
In reverse, it's like theprodigal went chasing after a
good time and at the end of thegood time it wasn't good, no
more.
What he thought was good, whathe wanted, brought him right
back to where he tried to runfrom.
And so that's what I sharedabout us man, about, look,
understanding that there'snothing else to chase after.
(05:55):
God is the reward, God is ourblessing, our portion, and so if
we're chasing after anythingother than God, it's not good.
That's right.
And so that's really kind ofwhat I opened it up, man, I said
, uh, in proverbs, hold on, letme hit him real quick, come on
back to bible we had to put himon the bible right so we looked
(06:18):
at uh proverbs 14, 12.
It says there's a way thatseems right to a man.
It seems right.
There's a way that seems rightto a man.
It seems right.
There's a way that seems right,it seems good, come on now.
But its end is the way of death.
You talking right, and so howmany times right?
In the midst of most of thetime, we don't even seek God's
counsel for situations.
We don't ask him for anything,we just move forward, doing
(06:42):
whatever it is that we want todo, and we ask God to bless yeah
, bless our mess right, yeah,that's right.
Lord, I know you didn't get mehere, but meanwhile the Word of
God is telling us something, thecomplete opposite, and it's
really.
I hit on that as well.
I'm like how many of us are inrelationships right now because
we didn't want to be lonely andwe're putting up with mess that
(07:12):
we wouldn't normally put up withbecause we're not trusting God?
And there's so many.
That's just one of so manydifferent areas of our lives
where we chase after somethingwe think is good, but it's not
God.
And so the moment we made adecision to follow Jesus, to ask
him to be Lord over our lifeand master over our life, was
the moment we said you know what?
I realize that my ways areerred, they're flawed, they're
not good, and you're taking upChrist's ways in the scripture
and how he tells us to live ourlives.
(07:34):
But a lot of times we want Godto have the key to the house,
but we don't let him in thehouse.
Oh, that's right, the key tocertain rooms yeah, yeah, yeah.
We'll let you in the nice rooms.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Not the closet.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
We shoved everything in Right before you got there,
yeah, and so really trying tomake that difference between
what is good in our flesh andwhat is right with God.
Romans 12, 1 through 2 saysPaul talks about the renewing of
your mind, and I broke thisword down down, I'll share it
with you.
Says I beseech you therefore,brethren, by the mercies of god,
(08:08):
that you present your bodies aliving sacrifice wholly
acceptable to the god, which isyour reasonable service.
Verse two says and do not beconformed to this world, but be
transformed by the renewing ofyour mind that you may prove
what is good and acceptable andperfect will of God, like that
becoming a Christian.
Is that renewing of your mindthat the sanctification of the
(08:35):
saints is realizing that the oldway that I used to think of
things the money, therelationships, the houses, the
cars, all those things that Ithought were the American dream
man is a nightmare.
Really is, is a is a nightmare.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Really honestly compared to God Like our.
Our goal isn't to obtain moreproperty, is to obtain more God.
That that should be.
Our goal as Christians is.
You know what you could fill abank account.
All you want, at the end of theday, Two things.
One is getting rich.
Don't fix a spinning habit,right, no?
And two, you can't take it withyou when you leave.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
I mean, how many times does Scripture say keep
your eye on the unseen, look forthe unseen things in this world
.
Don't pursue the things thatyou see, because the things you
see are what Temporal?
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Right, they rust.
They're here today and ontomorrow.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
It's amazing how this American dream has you chasing
things that will soon disappear.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Yeah, dream has you chasing things that will soon
disappear.
Yeah, it comes, it comes to.
What comes to mind for me is wetalk about india oftentimes.
We go there and we say how umpoverty stricken they are.
According, to the earthaccording to the world, but how
rich they are according to thespirit yeah, um, even though
walking miles just to hear theword yeah I mean and and seeing
god move and answer prayer andheal and save and do all the
(09:46):
things that God does over there,when those people gather
together in his name versusthose who are and I talk about
being overly blessed and I'llkind of get to some of that.
But when we talk about thisrenewing of the mind, in that
scripture it says that you mayprove what is that good and
acceptable and perfect will ofGod.
(10:06):
That word prove in there in theGreek.
I'm going to see if I canpronounce this again.
I butchered it during service.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
You butchered good English.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Hey, you know, that's just.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
I am who I am.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
But dokimazo is the Hebrew word for prove, and it
means that we may test thethings that seem good.
It means test or discern.
So what we're trying to do here, what I was trying to capture
in this sermon, was we need tobe renewing our mind, getting
(10:40):
away from the old self and theold way of life and the way that
the culture says we shouldchange things, the way flesh
says we should change things,and we should renew our mind to
the way Christ says we should be, what he says we should chase
how we should live and then,when it comes to a moment
because we're horrible atdiscerning the difference
between good and God, when itcomes to the moment that we
(11:01):
can't discern, we should beseeking God's face.
When it comes to the momentthat we can't discern, we should
be seeking.
God's face and by the renewingof our mind we will be able to
better test and discern moments,the difference between good and
God.
And then here it says butbecause what right doesn't
(11:21):
always look and good isn'talways right.
And then we get to 2Corinthians, 11.3, and Paul's
concern for the church inCorinth was, he says but I fear
at least somehow, as the serpentdeceived Eve by his craftiness,
so your minds will becomecorrupt from the simplicity that
(11:42):
is in Christ.
And so even Paul's concern forthe Corinthian church was that
you're going to be deceived.
Someone's going to show up andsomeone's going to twist some
words.
Someone's going to show up andgoing to make you doubt, or
someone's going to show up andsay something that is contrary
to the word of God, and you'regoing to become deceived.
And man I talked about thisbecause we have had this
(12:04):
conversation before there arepeople out there who say that
you are saved and you just don'tknow it yet.
And there are people who saythat you are, that Paul's gospel
isn't the right gospel, thatPaul got it wrong, but Paul
wrote most of the New Testament.
I mean, there are people whosay that Paul wasn't preaching
(12:24):
the same thing that Jesus waspreaching and I said you know
what?
That's?
The Antichrist spirit.
That is the exact same spiritthat deceived Eve in the garden.
And I said that's what his worrywas with the church in Corinth.
Was that what you're being told?
The simplicity of the gospel?
I'm afraid you're going tobecome contaminated, your mind
is going to be corrupted.
You're going to listen to someof this nonsense being taught
(12:46):
and then you're going to goafter these things instead of
what Christ tells us to go afterand how he says we should live
our life.
And so that's exactly whathappened to Eve.
I mean, I said, if you are here, it's like this If someone
tells you that Scripture ain'tright, there's nothing else we
need to talk about.
I'm not entertaining aconversation with the enemy,
because if you are having thatconversation about how
(13:09):
scripture's flawed, scriptureain't right or whatever the case
is, Eve allowed the serpent tohave that conversation with her.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Yeah well, proverbs says, to argue with a fool makes
you one.
Well come on somebody.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Yeah, I mean, look, I don't have time, I'm not going
to entertain a conversation withantichrist.
Yeah, and when you entertainthe conversation, that scripture
isn't accurate.
That's exactly what you'redoing, right, and so that's
exactly what happened with eve.
Um, that's how she was deceived.
The enemy twisted the words ofgod.
In genesis 2, 9 it says and wekind of went into the difference
between between good and godsome more.
(13:42):
But but in Genesis 2, 9, itsays and out of the ground, the
Lord, god made every tree.
Come on, touch your neighbor.
Say every tree.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Every tree hey.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
And made every tree grow that is pleasant to the
sight and good for food.
The tree of life was in themidst of the garden and the tree
of knowledge of good and evil.
Right garden and the tree ofknowledge, of good and evil.
Right.
So there are about.
There are over 20 000 treesthat are on the earth today that
(14:11):
you can eat from, that you caneither eat its leaves, its bark
or you can eat something from it.
There are hundreds and hundredsof trees that actually produce
fruit that you can eat from um,you would know that, by the way.
I like to eat.
But the interesting thing isGod made these thousands of
(14:31):
trees and it says he made everytree that was pleasant in the
sight and good and he put themin the garden.
And so you're telling me, ifGod made all those different
trees, he made every tree,placed it in the garden and an
(14:53):
enemy shows up and says but thatone tree.
There's that one, there's justthat one tree, there'd be one,
there's thousands.
Even though God said in the daythat you eat of it, you'll
surely die.
Enemy shows up and says, butwill you really die?
And then leaves.
(15:14):
That's, all he had to do wasplant that seed.
That's why I said don't evenhave a conversation with him,
because there's no room fordoubt in your fellowship with
God.
And so anyway, it says the thegod said that was the word of
god.
If you eat you, if you eat fromthe tree, you're gonna die.
And then he shows up and saysthe opposite.
And then in then genesis 3, 6,she ends up deceived.
(15:38):
It says so when the woman sawthe tree was good for food.
Now, how is that possible?
Because it was just death.
The tree was just associatedwith death.
If you eat of it, you'll die.
And then now the enemy's gother looking at the tree and oh,
the tree's good for food.
Right, the tree's pleasant tothe eyes, the tree is desirable
(15:59):
is how she saw it.
To make one wise.
All of a sudden, the tree thatwas going to kill you now
becomes a tree that you say isgood and desirable and profits
you something and makes you likeGod.
And makes you like God, right?
She started thinking that, well, maybe God's withholding
something from her.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
That's what Satan said.
He said if you do, you'll belike God.
You'll see what he sees.
Yeah, Be like God, you'll seewhat he sees.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Yeah, and then, all of a sudden, the one tree that
represented death now becamegood and pleasant and desirable
to her.
What was once death is nowsomething she desired, and so
that's what the enemy does.
He planted the seed and walkedaway, and, all of a sudden, all
those hundreds, all thosethousands of trees that were her
(16:43):
blessing, she didn't even seeanymore.
I would imagine what the—we canonly imagine what the garden
looked like we can only imagine.
Anyway, there are these trees,right?
Can you imagine being sofocused on the one tree that you
walk through all the othertrees not paying them any
attention?
(17:04):
And I said that we do thattoday.
We think so much about what wedon't have that we're having to
move the branches of theblessings that we walk under
just to get to the one thing wedon't have.
I don't know.
That's what we covered today,man.
We were talking about howpoorly we discern the difference
(17:25):
between good and God.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Why do you think we're so easily distracted?
It's like we have all we everneed, but it's still not enough.
It's like we've got to chaseone more thing, one more thing,
one more thing, while neglectingthe miracles and the blessings
that we have every day.
We get so distracted, yeah sojust did you stop I mean, we
(17:51):
just get so distracted.
Why are we so easily distracted?
I mean?
I mean it's.
It's amazing, now that youbreak it down like that, you
know eve had all these things is, and how easily she got twisted
in focusing on one thing thatshe couldn't have.
That's it.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
But how often do we do the same thing?
We get so focused on that onething we don't have, that we
don't even see all the blessings.
We literally have to moveblessings out of the way to
chase after what God told uswasn't good for us.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Yeah, I don't know, man, that renewal of the mind
man keeps us and it's a dailyrenewal, man, Because he's
always going to try to come atyour mind, because if he can get
your mind, the mind you think.
This is what I told beforeBefore someone ends up
committing murder, they thoughtabout it.
Right, if you can change theway you think, you can change
(18:42):
the way you act.
And it's a consistentlyrenewing your mind, changing the
way you think, and the enemy isgoing to try to entice us every
way we can.
That's what Scripture saysDon't ever think that the Lord
tempted you.
It was your own self thatenticed you with your flesh.
It enticed you.
Your flesh enticed you.
And who entices your flesh?
(19:03):
The enemy.
The enemy knows what your fleshdesires.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Yeah, I use this as an example.
You know there are a littleditty about jack and diane,
right, all these songs are goingthrough my head right now but
there you think about the, the,for example, these couples.
Right, you start datingsomebody and they're interested
in whatever the case is, andthen you're like you know what,
(19:28):
you pay rent and I pay rent.
I got netflix.
You got your dad's log intohulu I mean you know?
whatever it is, you know, and sowe look at you.
Know you, you do.
You pay for lights, I pay forlights.
You pay water, I pay.
Well, you know, we know we'regonna get married.
Why don't we just move intogether?
(19:49):
yeah, we'll cut down on theexpenses and then you know we'll
just start saving up togetherto prepare for our for when we
do get married right.
And then you, so you perceivethat as good, thinking that
you're building something.
And then you end up in arelationship doing things that
only married people should do,and you thought that was good.
(20:10):
When god says, fornicators willfind themselves in a lake of
fire, Come on, they don't wantto hear that, bro.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
I know, I know, I know.
Here's the thing.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
I'm a holiness preacher.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
I preach holiness.
I'm sorry, we just preachingthe Bible, preaching the Bible.
Get them back to the Bible.
Yes, back to the Bible.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
But you see how easily we are swayed by what we
think is good, but it's not God.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
And we can convince ourselves.
You know, this is good for me.
We can talk ourselves intodoing sin.
Oh, you can talk yourself rightinto it, Into making bad
decisions.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
You ain't even got to have to.
You're right, just thatscripture you shared.
You don't even have to have thedevil whisper in your ear.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
It's your own fleshly desires that are enticing you.
Exactly, you, exactly.
And then you start servingyourself instead of serving god,
you start serving your fleshinstead of serving the spirit,
and so you find yourself cannotsatisfy your flesh while trying
to be led by the spirit.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Nope, it's kind.
They're contrary to each other,they're always fighting each
other and anyway.
So that's kind of what we weretalking about today.
Man, I'm like the ability todiscern the difference between
good and god is.
It's not always as easy and cutand dry, but you have to follow
the word of god.
That's why.
That's why it's what he forgot,she forgot the, she negated and
(21:24):
the enemy, she allowed theenemy to do that in her head.
She, her mind, was corruptedwhen she started doubting that
what god said in the day you eatof it, you, you will surely die
.
And then we have to startrenewing our minds by reading
the Word of God and realizingthat God cannot lie.
He can't.
I don't care how much societywants you to make you think it's
(21:44):
good, I don't care how muchyour flesh thinks you.
There are people, and I thinkwe've all at some point in our
lives been guilty.
Well, I can just ask forforgiveness.
It doesn't work that way.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Grace doesn't cover willful seeking.
You can't have the just do itand ask for forgiveness later.
Mentality Absolutely not.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
And so I don't know, man, In fact, it's so hard to
discern the difference betweengood and God.
I looked at King Solomon.
Whenever God come up to him ina vision, in a dream, and God's
like I'll give you whatever youwant, and he's like I just want
the wisdom to be able to judgerightly between good and evil,
(22:23):
how deceived we can be intothinking that something is
really good for us, but it's not.
It's not what God has plannedfor us.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Everything good ain't God.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Yes, sir.
So when they said that, whenthey realized at the end of what
I was talking about, I thinkeverybody finally, got it.
They weren't just standingthere like with deer in the
headlights man, I think itfinally made sense.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
I like that.
Everything good ain't god, youknow.
We tell, we tell our peopleeven in our when we're trying to
cast vision and things like.
We don't want a good idea, wewant god's idea.
That's it.
We don't want a good plan, wewant god's plan for our life,
and sometimes we can settle forgood thinking.
It's god.
When good gets us complacent,that's right.
And uh, it's hard to becomplacent when you're pursuing
(23:12):
god, because things alwayschange.
God's always leading you togrow.
You're not growing.
You might be living into goodthings and not the god things of
your life.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
That's it and you'll end up if you're not ascending.
I think, man, if you're notchasing after god, you're.
If you're not being obedient,you're being disobedient.
There's no in between for mepartial obedience is
disobedience if you're notchasing after god man, and so I
wrapped up and I was like um somake sure, if you're, if you, if
you're leaving the boat, you'releaving it for god that's right
(23:39):
not for any, not just anothergood idea that's right, I love
it, man.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Anyway, brother, that's what we talked about over
here at the cross points and uh, I know your people were
blessed, bro and a goodperspective from the father.
Nobody considers the father'sperspective of what they're
leading for leading forsomething good or a God thing.
And yeah, that's awesome.
You ready for me to bless them?
Go ahead and bless them, we'regoing to bless you.
We do this every time at theend of our podcast.
We believe there's some favorin this passage.
(24:06):
Right here it's Numbers,chapter 6, the priestly blessing
.
May the Lord bless you andprotect you.
May the Lord smile on you andbe gracious to you.
May the Lord show you his favorand give you peace.
Thank you so much for takingtime to listen or to watch it.
Please share with somebody.
Hope this encourage you.
We'll see you right here lateron this week for another episode
.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
God bless you.
We'll check you next time.
it's another episode of pastor the pastor I wasn't
sure who was gonna open it.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
This time we didn't even talk about it.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Yeah, I mean, you were just gonna do it.
It's gonna happen.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
It's somebody gonna grab this thing and drive it
then I'll tell you, bro, welcometo another episode of pastor
the pastor and I didn't throwany any, any crazy no crazy
words, it was just I was tryingto figure it out.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
But you know, it's kind of funny, though we're
talking about, talking about howwe open up.
Man, when I open up servicetoday, you should have seen
people's faces, because what wedo here at cross point is I,
like you know, it talks about it, um, in the old testament,
talks about how they would standfor the reading of the word,
and so that's what we do here.
So whenever I open up service,we do worship, we do
(00:50):
announcements, we do all thesedifferent things, and then
people are kind of sitting whilewe dismiss kids at children's
church doing those things.
And then, whenever we get readyto read the word, I'm like all
right, stand with me, let's turnhere.
So today we went back toMatthew 4, 18 through 22, where
we talk about Jesus calling themoff the boat and I was talking
about the dad's perspective.
But anyway, whenever we got donereading that scripture Matthew
(01:12):
4, 18 through 22, I said nowlook at your neighbor and say
good ain't God?
Oh, watch out now.
And they were, bro.
You should have seen theconfusion that came across.
People, I said only like acouple of people.
They were like good ain't God.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Hold on now.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Pastor, hold on, and we know God is good all the time
and all the time God is good.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
That's right, but he's the only thing that's good.
That's a sign if somebody hasbeen churched their whole life.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
They know that God is good all the time saying I've
seen that that, uh, that meme ofuh talking about how you find a
pentecostal and when they'rehiding in a house, are you do a?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
shout, god is good.
And they'll say all the timegotcha, hide and seek gotcha.
That's what I need to do, yeah,but uh.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
So when I I said that we're trying to open up here,
man, when I opened up servicethis morning, this look came
across people's faces likethat's hilarious.
What is he saying?
Speaker 2 (02:05):
right now.
Keep them on their toes.
Don't let them ever know whatyour next step is.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
You know that's what you do.
I mean, god led them by a cloudduring the day and a pillar of
fire by night.
That's right.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
So they had to follow him.
They didn't know where he wasgoing or when he was going to.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
But you know, hey, anyway, you know, you just got
to follow, you just got to go.
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
All right.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Anyway, let's move on to this thing, man.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Let's talk about your message today and let's hear
what you share with people.
You just heard how it started.
That's what we're getting to.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
That's where I was headed, there, I know.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
I was, you know, starting to to change.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
All right, man, let's dig into it.
So we did obviously really whatit was the difference between
good and god, like.
Like, we have this, thishorrible perception, man, of
what is good for us, and sothat's really honestly, kind of
what the meat of the sermon wastoday.
I went back over that scripturein Matthew because, you know, I
(03:10):
just preached on that exactsame scripture, just preached on
that last week, when we weretalking about God calling the
disciples off the boats and theywould leave their nets.
And they left the boat and theyleft their father.
And I said, you know, it'sinteresting.
And they left the boat and theyleft their father.
And I said, you know it'sinteresting, we get excited
thinking about leaving nets,leaving the boat, leaving their
father.
(03:30):
I said, but we covered thedisciples' perspective, we
covered Jesus' perspective ofcalling them off the boat, but
we didn't cover the father'sperspective.
And I said, you know the father, I'm a dad, right, and I know
when I was raised by my dad, youstayed until the work was done
and you didn't go nowhere.
And if work wasn't done, guesswhat, you weren't done either,
(03:52):
and so that's what we did.
We worked, and so I talkedabout the fathers on the boat
wondering and Scripture doesn'ttell us this, so it was more
kind of subjective conversationwas could you imagine dads being
on the boat watching their sonsgo follow this guy named jesus
and all they know?
(04:12):
I would assume god has alreadydone at this point in time,
jesus has already done someworks in the area of galilee,
and so that I'd imagine dadbeing up on the boat, them
leaving the boat.
They literally left the work,they left the boat, left the
fight, their their left the boat, left their earthly father's
business, left their fathers onthe boat.
I could just imagine being dadstanding there looking at all
these nets that now he's thereby himself.
(04:34):
He had some sons working withhim and then now he's the one
who's got to mend the nets andhe's the one who's got to do all
the fishing and he's got to bewondering what are they chasing
after?
He was like I don't know whenare you going, but these nets
ain't going to mend themselves,that's right, yeah.
And then I just asked thequestion how many times have we
chased after things?
Now, obviously we know thatthey chased after the right
(04:56):
thing.
We know that on this side of it, but in the moment.
I just asked him the questionhow many times have we chased
after things that weren't God?
Speaker 2 (05:05):
but we thought were good.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
And so I just kind of placed myself and the Father in
those Zibbity's shoes right,and Peter and Andrew, and I just
kind of placed myself in theirFather's position, just like man
.
Here they go again chasingafter something.
And so I wondered I justsubmitted that question how many
times have we chased afterthings that weren't God but we
thought were good?
And then could it be possiblethat they chased after some
(05:34):
other things at some point thatbrought them back to the boat
when they realized that itfailed?
Almost like the prodigal.
In reverse, it's like theprodigal went chasing after a
good time and at the end of thegood time it wasn't good, no
more.
What he thought was good, whathe wanted, brought him right
back to where he tried to runfrom.
And so that's what I sharedabout us man, about, look,
understanding that there'snothing else to chase after.
(05:55):
God is the reward, God is ourblessing, our portion, and so if
we're chasing after anythingother than God, it's not good.
That's right.
And so that's really kind ofwhat I opened it up, man, I said
, uh, in proverbs, hold on, letme hit him real quick, come on
back to bible we had to put himon the bible right so we looked
(06:18):
at uh proverbs 14, 12.
It says there's a way thatseems right to a man.
It seems right.
There's a way that seems rightto a man.
It seems right.
There's a way that seems right,it seems good, come on now.
But its end is the way of death.
You talking right, and so howmany times right?
In the midst of most of thetime, we don't even seek God's
counsel for situations.
We don't ask him for anything,we just move forward, doing
(06:42):
whatever it is that we want todo, and we ask God to bless yeah
, bless our mess right, yeah,that's right.
Lord, I know you didn't get mehere, but meanwhile the Word of
God is telling us something, thecomplete opposite, and it's
really.
I hit on that as well.
I'm like how many of us are inrelationships right now because
we didn't want to be lonely andwe're putting up with mess that
(07:12):
we wouldn't normally put up withbecause we're not trusting God?
And there's so many.
That's just one of so manydifferent areas of our lives
where we chase after somethingwe think is good, but it's not
God.
And so the moment we made adecision to follow Jesus, to ask
him to be Lord over our lifeand master over our life, was
the moment we said you know what?
I realize that my ways areerred, they're flawed, they're
not good, and you're taking upChrist's ways in the scripture
and how he tells us to live ourlives.
(07:34):
But a lot of times we want Godto have the key to the house,
but we don't let him in thehouse.
Oh, that's right, the key tocertain rooms yeah, yeah, yeah.
We'll let you in the nice rooms.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Not the closet.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
We shoved everything in Right before you got there,
yeah, and so really trying tomake that difference between
what is good in our flesh andwhat is right with God.
Romans 12, 1 through 2 saysPaul talks about the renewing of
your mind, and I broke thisword down down, I'll share it
with you.
Says I beseech you therefore,brethren, by the mercies of god,
(08:08):
that you present your bodies aliving sacrifice wholly
acceptable to the god, which isyour reasonable service.
Verse two says and do not beconformed to this world, but be
transformed by the renewing ofyour mind that you may prove
what is good and acceptable andperfect will of God, like that
becoming a Christian.
Is that renewing of your mindthat the sanctification of the
(08:35):
saints is realizing that the oldway that I used to think of
things the money, therelationships, the houses, the
cars, all those things that Ithought were the American dream
man is a nightmare.
Really is, is a is a nightmare.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Really honestly compared to God Like our.
Our goal isn't to obtain moreproperty, is to obtain more God.
That that should be.
Our goal as Christians is.
You know what you could fill abank account.
All you want, at the end of theday, Two things.
One is getting rich.
Don't fix a spinning habit,right, no?
And two, you can't take it withyou when you leave.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
I mean, how many times does Scripture say keep
your eye on the unseen, look forthe unseen things in this world
.
Don't pursue the things thatyou see, because the things you
see are what Temporal?
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Right, they rust.
They're here today and ontomorrow.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
It's amazing how this American dream has you chasing
things that will soon disappear.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Yeah, dream has you chasing things that will soon
disappear.
Yeah, it comes, it comes to.
What comes to mind for me is wetalk about india oftentimes.
We go there and we say how umpoverty stricken they are.
According, to the earthaccording to the world, but how
rich they are according to thespirit yeah, um, even though
walking miles just to hear theword yeah I mean and and seeing
god move and answer prayer andheal and save and do all the
(09:46):
things that God does over there,when those people gather
together in his name versusthose who are and I talk about
being overly blessed and I'llkind of get to some of that.
But when we talk about thisrenewing of the mind, in that
scripture it says that you mayprove what is that good and
acceptable and perfect will ofGod.
(10:06):
That word prove in there in theGreek.
I'm going to see if I canpronounce this again.
I butchered it during service.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
You butchered good English.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Hey, you know, that's just.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
I am who I am.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
But dokimazo is the Hebrew word for prove, and it
means that we may test thethings that seem good.
It means test or discern.
So what we're trying to do here, what I was trying to capture
in this sermon, was we need tobe renewing our mind, getting
(10:40):
away from the old self and theold way of life and the way that
the culture says we shouldchange things, the way flesh
says we should change things,and we should renew our mind to
the way Christ says we should be, what he says we should chase
how we should live and then,when it comes to a moment
because we're horrible atdiscerning the difference
between good and God, when itcomes to the moment that we
(11:01):
can't discern, we should beseeking God's face.
When it comes to the momentthat we can't discern, we should
be seeking.
God's face and by the renewingof our mind we will be able to
better test and discern moments,the difference between good and
God.
And then here it says butbecause what right doesn't
(11:21):
always look and good isn'talways right.
And then we get to 2Corinthians, 11.3, and Paul's
concern for the church inCorinth was, he says but I fear
at least somehow, as the serpentdeceived Eve by his craftiness,
so your minds will becomecorrupt from the simplicity that
(11:42):
is in Christ.
And so even Paul's concern forthe Corinthian church was that
you're going to be deceived.
Someone's going to show up andsomeone's going to twist some
words.
Someone's going to show up andgoing to make you doubt, or
someone's going to show up andsay something that is contrary
to the word of God, and you'regoing to become deceived.
And man I talked about thisbecause we have had this
(12:04):
conversation before there arepeople out there who say that
you are saved and you just don'tknow it yet.
And there are people who saythat you are, that Paul's gospel
isn't the right gospel, thatPaul got it wrong, but Paul
wrote most of the New Testament.
I mean, there are people whosay that Paul wasn't preaching
(12:24):
the same thing that Jesus waspreaching and I said you know
what?
That's?
The Antichrist spirit.
That is the exact same spiritthat deceived Eve in the garden.
And I said that's what his worrywas with the church in Corinth.
Was that what you're being told?
The simplicity of the gospel?
I'm afraid you're going tobecome contaminated, your mind
is going to be corrupted.
You're going to listen to someof this nonsense being taught
(12:46):
and then you're going to goafter these things instead of
what Christ tells us to go afterand how he says we should live
our life.
And so that's exactly whathappened to Eve.
I mean, I said, if you are here, it's like this If someone
tells you that Scripture ain'tright, there's nothing else we
need to talk about.
I'm not entertaining aconversation with the enemy,
because if you are having thatconversation about how
(13:09):
scripture's flawed, scriptureain't right or whatever the case
is, Eve allowed the serpent tohave that conversation with her.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Yeah well, proverbs says, to argue with a fool makes
you one.
Well come on somebody.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Yeah, I mean, look, I don't have time, I'm not going
to entertain a conversation withantichrist.
Yeah, and when you entertainthe conversation, that scripture
isn't accurate.
That's exactly what you'redoing, right, and so that's
exactly what happened with eve.
Um, that's how she was deceived.
The enemy twisted the words ofgod.
In genesis 2, 9 it says and wekind of went into the difference
between between good and godsome more.
(13:42):
But but in Genesis 2, 9, itsays and out of the ground, the
Lord, god made every tree.
Come on, touch your neighbor.
Say every tree.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Every tree hey.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
And made every tree grow that is pleasant to the
sight and good for food.
The tree of life was in themidst of the garden and the tree
of knowledge of good and evil.
Right garden and the tree ofknowledge, of good and evil.
Right.
So there are about.
There are over 20 000 treesthat are on the earth today that
(14:11):
you can eat from, that you caneither eat its leaves, its bark
or you can eat something from it.
There are hundreds and hundredsof trees that actually produce
fruit that you can eat from um,you would know that, by the way.
I like to eat.
But the interesting thing isGod made these thousands of
(14:31):
trees and it says he made everytree that was pleasant in the
sight and good and he put themin the garden.
And so you're telling me, ifGod made all those different
trees, he made every tree,placed it in the garden and an
(14:53):
enemy shows up and says but thatone tree.
There's that one, there's justthat one tree, there'd be one,
there's thousands.
Even though God said in the daythat you eat of it, you'll
surely die.
Enemy shows up and says, butwill you really die?
And then leaves.
(15:14):
That's, all he had to do wasplant that seed.
That's why I said don't evenhave a conversation with him,
because there's no room fordoubt in your fellowship with
God.
And so anyway, it says the thegod said that was the word of
god.
If you eat you, if you eat fromthe tree, you're gonna die.
And then he shows up and saysthe opposite.
And then in then genesis 3, 6,she ends up deceived.
(15:38):
It says so when the woman sawthe tree was good for food.
Now, how is that possible?
Because it was just death.
The tree was just associatedwith death.
If you eat of it, you'll die.
And then now the enemy's gother looking at the tree and oh,
the tree's good for food.
Right, the tree's pleasant tothe eyes, the tree is desirable
(15:59):
is how she saw it.
To make one wise.
All of a sudden, the tree thatwas going to kill you now
becomes a tree that you say isgood and desirable and profits
you something and makes you likeGod.
And makes you like God, right?
She started thinking that, well, maybe God's withholding
something from her.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
That's what Satan said.
He said if you do, you'll belike God.
You'll see what he sees.
Yeah, Be like God, you'll seewhat he sees.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Yeah, and then, all of a sudden, the one tree that
represented death now becamegood and pleasant and desirable
to her.
What was once death is nowsomething she desired, and so
that's what the enemy does.
He planted the seed and walkedaway, and, all of a sudden, all
those hundreds, all thosethousands of trees that were her
(16:43):
blessing, she didn't even seeanymore.
I would imagine what the—we canonly imagine what the garden
looked like we can only imagine.
Anyway, there are these trees,right?
Can you imagine being sofocused on the one tree that you
walk through all the othertrees not paying them any
attention?
(17:04):
And I said that we do thattoday.
We think so much about what wedon't have that we're having to
move the branches of theblessings that we walk under
just to get to the one thing wedon't have.
I don't know.
That's what we covered today,man.
We were talking about howpoorly we discern the difference
(17:25):
between good and God.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Why do you think we're so easily distracted?
It's like we have all we everneed, but it's still not enough.
It's like we've got to chaseone more thing, one more thing,
one more thing, while neglectingthe miracles and the blessings
that we have every day.
We get so distracted, yeah sojust did you stop I mean, we
(17:51):
just get so distracted.
Why are we so easily distracted?
I mean?
I mean it's.
It's amazing, now that youbreak it down like that, you
know eve had all these things is, and how easily she got twisted
in focusing on one thing thatshe couldn't have.
That's it.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
But how often do we do the same thing?
We get so focused on that onething we don't have, that we
don't even see all the blessings.
We literally have to moveblessings out of the way to
chase after what God told uswasn't good for us.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Yeah, I don't know, man, that renewal of the mind
man keeps us and it's a dailyrenewal, man, Because he's
always going to try to come atyour mind, because if he can get
your mind, the mind you think.
This is what I told beforeBefore someone ends up
committing murder, they thoughtabout it.
Right, if you can change theway you think, you can change
(18:42):
the way you act.
And it's a consistentlyrenewing your mind, changing the
way you think, and the enemy isgoing to try to entice us every
way we can.
That's what Scripture saysDon't ever think that the Lord
tempted you.
It was your own self thatenticed you with your flesh.
It enticed you.
Your flesh enticed you.
And who entices your flesh?
(19:03):
The enemy.
The enemy knows what your fleshdesires.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Yeah, I use this as an example.
You know there are a littleditty about jack and diane,
right, all these songs are goingthrough my head right now but
there you think about the, the,for example, these couples.
Right, you start datingsomebody and they're interested
in whatever the case is, andthen you're like you know what,
(19:28):
you pay rent and I pay rent.
I got netflix.
You got your dad's log intohulu I mean you know?
whatever it is, you know, and sowe look at you.
Know you, you do.
You pay for lights, I pay forlights.
You pay water, I pay.
Well, you know, we know we'regonna get married.
Why don't we just move intogether?
(19:49):
yeah, we'll cut down on theexpenses and then you know we'll
just start saving up togetherto prepare for our for when we
do get married right.
And then you, so you perceivethat as good, thinking that
you're building something.
And then you end up in arelationship doing things that
only married people should do,and you thought that was good.
(20:10):
When god says, fornicators willfind themselves in a lake of
fire, Come on, they don't wantto hear that, bro.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
I know, I know, I know.
Here's the thing.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
I'm a holiness preacher.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
I preach holiness.
I'm sorry, we just preachingthe Bible, preaching the Bible.
Get them back to the Bible.
Yes, back to the Bible.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
But you see how easily we are swayed by what we
think is good, but it's not God.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
And we can convince ourselves.
You know, this is good for me.
We can talk ourselves intodoing sin.
Oh, you can talk yourself rightinto it, Into making bad
decisions.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
You ain't even got to have to.
You're right, just thatscripture you shared.
You don't even have to have thedevil whisper in your ear.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
It's your own fleshly desires that are enticing you.
Exactly, you, exactly.
And then you start servingyourself instead of serving god,
you start serving your fleshinstead of serving the spirit,
and so you find yourself cannotsatisfy your flesh while trying
to be led by the spirit.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Nope, it's kind.
They're contrary to each other,they're always fighting each
other and anyway.
So that's kind of what we weretalking about today.
Man, I'm like the ability todiscern the difference between
good and god is.
It's not always as easy and cutand dry, but you have to follow
the word of god.
That's why.
That's why it's what he forgot,she forgot the, she negated and
(21:24):
the enemy, she allowed theenemy to do that in her head.
She, her mind, was corruptedwhen she started doubting that
what god said in the day you eatof it, you, you will surely die
.
And then we have to startrenewing our minds by reading
the Word of God and realizingthat God cannot lie.
He can't.
I don't care how much societywants you to make you think it's
(21:44):
good, I don't care how muchyour flesh thinks you.
There are people, and I thinkwe've all at some point in our
lives been guilty.
Well, I can just ask forforgiveness.
It doesn't work that way.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Grace doesn't cover willful seeking.
You can't have the just do itand ask for forgiveness later.
Mentality Absolutely not.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
And so I don't know, man, In fact, it's so hard to
discern the difference betweengood and God.
I looked at King Solomon.
Whenever God come up to him ina vision, in a dream, and God's
like I'll give you whatever youwant, and he's like I just want
the wisdom to be able to judgerightly between good and evil,
(22:23):
how deceived we can be intothinking that something is
really good for us, but it's not.
It's not what God has plannedfor us.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Everything good ain't God.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Yes, sir.
So when they said that, whenthey realized at the end of what
I was talking about, I thinkeverybody finally, got it.
They weren't just standingthere like with deer in the
headlights man, I think itfinally made sense.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
I like that.
Everything good ain't god, youknow.
We tell, we tell our peopleeven in our when we're trying to
cast vision and things like.
We don't want a good idea, wewant god's idea.
That's it.
We don't want a good plan, wewant god's plan for our life,
and sometimes we can settle forgood thinking.
It's god.
When good gets us complacent,that's right.
And uh, it's hard to becomplacent when you're pursuing
(23:12):
god, because things alwayschange.
God's always leading you togrow.
You're not growing.
You might be living into goodthings and not the god things of
your life.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
That's it and you'll end up if you're not ascending.
I think, man, if you're notchasing after god, you're.
If you're not being obedient,you're being disobedient.
There's no in between for mepartial obedience is
disobedience if you're notchasing after god man, and so I
wrapped up and I was like um somake sure, if you're, if you, if
you're leaving the boat, you'releaving it for god that's right
(23:39):
not for any, not just anothergood idea that's right, I love
it, man.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Anyway, brother, that's what we talked about over
here at the cross points and uh, I know your people were
blessed, bro and a goodperspective from the father.
Nobody considers the father'sperspective of what they're
leading for leading forsomething good or a God thing.
And yeah, that's awesome.
You ready for me to bless them?
Go ahead and bless them, we'regoing to bless you.
We do this every time at theend of our podcast.
We believe there's some favorin this passage.
(24:06):
Right here it's Numbers,chapter 6, the priestly blessing
.
May the Lord bless you andprotect you.
May the Lord smile on you andbe gracious to you.
May the Lord show you his favorand give you peace.
Thank you so much for takingtime to listen or to watch it.
Please share with somebody.
Hope this encourage you.
We'll see you right here lateron this week for another episode
.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
God bless you.
We'll check you next time.
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