March 3, 2025 • 44 mins
DJ gives Brad memes that he uses to create sermon illustrations on the spot. Don't forget to check out our YouTube channel,
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
All right, dude, you ready to do some rapid fire sermon illustrations?
(00:08):
I think so, but if I'm completely honest, like now I'm nervous.
It's like, it's my idea.
Yes it is.
And now I'm like, oh, I think I'm about as ready as I'm going to be.
Welcome.
(00:29):
This is the Men Church Stuff Podcast.
This is the show where brothers in law, DJ Culp and Brad Coleman talk about stuff from
our perspective as men.
(00:50):
It's a show for anyone who wants to hear how Christians interact with the world.
And don't worry, we're real.
We've grown up in church and we want to share our experiences with you.
We'll talk life stuff, church stuff, man stuff, and stuff stuff.
Here we go.
(01:12):
Greetings listeners here and there and everywhere, all across the land.
This is the Men Church Stuff Podcast.
I am one of your hosts, DJ Culp, as always here with my beloved brother in law, Brad Coleman.
Brad, what's up man?
I am calming my nerves to get ready for today's podcast.
(01:33):
Brad, you look really good today.
No pressure.
No, no thanks.
Very sharp.
I hear that once in a while.
Every now and then.
Yeah, not a lot.
So occasionally.
So listeners, if you are curious, webcams, when you buy them and you don't use the one
(01:55):
that are the ones that are integrated, they're really good.
They work really well.
Don't fall into it.
Don't fall into a lie of it's just another product that they want me to buy.
It's not worth it.
Yeah, it really is.
So today, listeners, we are actually going to do something that Brad has requested and
(02:15):
this is going to be a lot of fun.
Brad has, Brad had the idea to do rapid fire sermon illustrations.
So just a bit of a background here.
And I think I've said this probably Brad on the show before, but my dad, Brad and me,
(02:36):
gosh, dude, for how long have we been doing this?
A couple of years?
The meme thing, the meme sharing.
Oh yeah.
I was like, you're going to be more specific.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
We've had just a group, just with the three of us, text group for a while now.
And what we'll do is anytime that we see something that we consider hysterical, we send it to
(03:01):
everybody else.
Sometimes, I don't know about you Brad, but like full disclosure, sometimes I send it
hoping that you guys find it funny because it's almost like a comedian testing a joke
out to an audience and be like, yeah, that one was crap.
That wasn't funny.
And just, and so I'll send some every now and then thinking, I wonder if this is in
(03:22):
fact as funny as I thought it was.
But yeah, so the last several years, dad, Brad and I have done meme sharing.
And Brad came up with the idea not too long ago about doing a podcast where unbeknownst
to him of the memes that I share, he's got to come up with a sermon illustration based
(03:48):
on that meme.
So I love this idea, Brad.
Like this is, I'm really excited about this.
I've got, you know me, I've got everything.
I am, that's why I'm nervous.
I've got everything set up.
So listeners, just to let you know, I have, I picked out 25 memes and if you're thinking,
(04:08):
dang, DJ, that's a lot.
Don't worry.
I've got a random number generator to where it's going to generate eight list items with
no repeats.
And so Brad, I haven't gone through and I haven't, I haven't like, you know, I don't
know what to, yeah, I will say this.
We're going to start with a, we're going to start with a softball here in just a second.
(04:30):
But as a, just as kind of like a, as a, as a prelude to, to, to all of this, Brad, on
your end of things, how do you see, whether, whether it's for, for comical value or, or
like real life application, how do you, like, where do you see the values of sermon illustrations?
(04:51):
Like where do they fit as a pastor for you?
Okay.
One of the reasons I love sermon illustrations is because oftentimes that illustration may
take something, an idea in the scripture, a teaching or something, and it will make
it more concrete, I think, for people, you know, help people understand.
(05:17):
Or maybe they've been looking at it here and then when you relate it to this other thing,
they go, oh, oh, that makes sense.
So for me, it's very important from an educational standpoint, from an ability for people to
understand, and one of the big things I think that's important about preaching and teaching
is, is that people understand, you know, that they're going to get, be able to understand
(05:41):
the message and that it's clear.
I think a lot of problems within the church and within Christianity come when we misunderstand
God's Word.
So I think, and again, I love the parables where Jesus is using the parables and, hey,
it's like this.
It's like the sower who's sowing seeds.
(06:04):
Hey, it's like a man who bought a field and he, you know, this kind of stuff.
You know, so it's helping, you know, others to, one, to connect and understand.
And the other thing is I think it helps them to remember.
You know, if they can link it to the stories, because sometimes my hope is that, you know,
(06:28):
as they're going down the road or as they're in Walmart or something, that God uses that
to like, they see something in Walmart and it just sparks that, and then they go to that
scripture, they go to that biblical truth.
So I think that's where their place is.
Just to help, I want to say emphasize, but just kind of help people to better understand
(06:55):
what this scripture is talking about or whatever.
Now full disclosure, there may be some times here in this episode here where I'm stretching
things a little bit more than I would on a Sunday morning.
Just to get a win in, right?
Yeah, just to try to do that.
So see, I can do it.
(07:16):
I can do it.
Yeah.
So if you don't, don't hold all of these, right.
You know, to, to that this we're, we're doing this more for fun.
I think sermon illustrations are, are very helpful.
Do you consider, do you see sermon illustrations as our modern day parallel to a parable?
(07:40):
On some level, I would say, yeah.
You have to realize that a lot of the parables Jesus is using are, are growing wheat and,
and you know, the farmer, there, it was a very, what is the word, Aryan culture.
(08:01):
They raised livestock, they raised their food.
Most of us don't do that, right?
I don't have cows and goats.
I don't, you know, I've seen gardens, my granny raised a garden.
I don't raise wheat or corn or anything like that.
So I think used pictures of the day that the average person would understand.
(08:25):
So I think absolutely on, on some level, but, but those, the illustrations that I give aren't
scripture.
Right.
As Jesus's are.
Mine's really good at, at just the nth degree of the illustration.
You know, there are times when like the deeper you, you look and think about what you said
(08:46):
in parable, like the more meaning you can draw out of it.
Whereas mine's probably all short, you know, it's not going to go nearly as deep.
So when I say it's like this thing, it's to help you remember it and to think about it.
And Jesus says it's like this thing, it's probably a little deeper.
(09:10):
So you're saying Jesus wins is right.
Yeah.
I mean, God is definitely a lot better at giving illustrations and attention getters.
I love, you know, he uses the burning bush and there's so much there, but what's the
first thing was to get Moses's attention.
Right.
(09:30):
And it's so much more than that, but I'm like, wow, God really knows how to get somebody's
attention.
Sure.
Yeah.
All right.
So here's what we're going to listeners.
If you're listening to this, if you're listening to this on the podcast, then what I'm going
to do is I'm going to describe what I'm seeing.
But as promised, you know, Brad and I, we're going to, we're going to here soon start up
(09:53):
a YouTube channel.
And so I'm actually going to pull these up on, on a screen share Brad, so that, so that,
so that you can see kind of the full, the full thing.
So again, like I, like I said, I'm going to start with a softball.
All right.
We're not going to do the random number generator yet, but here is our first one.
(10:15):
Let me get to screen share here.
All right.
So here we go.
Brad, do you see that?
Yeah.
Just speed up a bit.
Yep.
All right.
I mean, it is softball.
Philippians four 13 right there.
(10:37):
All right.
So what Brad is looking at, actually what Brad, why don't you do this?
Why don't you tell the listeners what you're seeing?
Okay.
Just a road sign.
Just speed up a bit under that.
Another little sign.
You got this.
Under that Philippians four 13.
So I mean, that's almost cheating.
Yeah.
(10:58):
But, but what else?
If I use Philippians four 13, yeah.
There's a, there's a major hole there.
Actually, I didn't even see that until you just said that.
There's a major hole in the road up ahead.
I guess you got to gun it.
There's a pothole that's so large, you can't drive across it.
(11:18):
I think the road is gone.
I think I would go, I'd probably go with this and kind of turn the curve of, you know,
test the spirits to make sure it's from the Lord.
Be like the Bereans and go and check the scripture with all speed.
Make sure that that is what God's saying.
(11:42):
Because when, when the sign is saying to gun it and the road is not there, you know, sometimes
Satan uses scripture and misuses scripture.
Yeah.
That's just gun it.
Just like Philippians four 13 says, because, you know, I can do all things through Christ.
I was going to say bonus points for, you know, they know that and, and, and DJ probably knows
(12:07):
his bro.
We've probably talked about this on the, on the show.
That's one of my kind of like, yeah, okay.
You can't just throw Philippians four 13 on whatever.
Like I'm going to be able to bench press a thousand pounds because I can do all things
through Christ who strengthens me.
That's not really the context of that verse.
(12:29):
I'm going to try to stay in context, but I will, I will in fairness, let you know if
I feel like I'm going out of context.
Just to try to.
That's awesome.
All right.
Let me come back.
Stop share.
All right, Brad, that was your softball.
Yeah, it is.
It is go time.
All right.
(12:50):
Our first one is number 19.
This is a good one.
All right, here we go.
Uh, I've got a, I gotta get back here.
We're going to screen share.
There we go.
All right.
Can you see it?
Yeah, now I can.
(13:11):
Okay.
All right.
Um, in a span of 17 years, 114 people died in weightlifting accidents while at the gym.
It's the same 17 year timeframe.
Only one man died while eating a donut.
Life is about the choices you make.
(13:32):
Educate yourself.
I think Paul said bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness profits to all things.
Now, I will say this, that he doesn't say that bodily exercise is not profitable.
(13:52):
Right.
That's right.
You've probably pulled something out of Proverbs about the fool and, you know, wisdom and,
you know, um, yeah.
And don't weightlift by yourself.
Don't weightlift by yourself.
(14:13):
Have a spotter.
And, uh, you know, hey, and, you know, somebody did choke to death on the donut.
So or at least died while eating a donut.
I mean, can you add a hard, I mean, was he driving down the road?
It doesn't even tell us that.
I don't know.
It may not have been the donut.
Like, he was eating a donut and he got sideswiped by a train.
(14:33):
I mean, it's not really the donut's fault.
Well we could, if you want to get supremely controversial here, Brad, I had cancer.
I was in, I was in stage four and had been there for seven months, but I got COVID on
the last day of my life.
It was cancer that killed me.
It was the donut.
It was the donut.
Yeah, it wasn't the train.
(14:54):
Probably blaming the donut.
Everybody always blames the donut.
Everybody always blames the donut.
Oh, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry, Brad.
Brad, number nine.
Here we go.
If you can't think of a word, say, I forget the English word for it.
(15:18):
That way people will think you're bilingual instead of an idiot.
So there's a proverb that says, even a fool, if he keeps his mouth shut, some people will
esteem him as wise.
It's a biblical proverb.
So I probably like, maybe in a stretch, go there.
(15:41):
I forget the English word for it.
I can't remember the English word.
I mean, the Bible was written in Greek and Hebrew, what's that English word for it?
(16:02):
I could also maybe use this as an illustration of going with, thou shalt not deceive thy
neighbor.
What's that three-letter English word?
I forget the English word for it.
Lie.
Oh yeah.
(16:25):
Again, someone who, I'm personally who loves those technicalities.
So did you forget the English word for it?
Did you really?
Maybe phrase it more like, what's the English word for that again?
See, there's plausible.
That's more plausible.
(16:45):
I didn't actually say I forgot it.
I want to encourage you to lie.
That's right.
All right, number 16.
Well, I see right now is DJ.
Yep, here we go.
People in the Bible struggled with the same challenges we face today.
(17:08):
And it's a picture of, I guess, Samson fighting a lion.
Here we see Samson trying to give his cat a pill.
And I would use this as an illustration for making sure that we're reading the Bible in
context.
(17:29):
Context is important.
We can make the Bible say whatever we want.
So we got to be careful of that.
And I'm always leery of saying this, because I'm like, it's going to go out on sound bite
and it's going to bite me one day, but the truth will set you free.
(17:51):
The Bible says there is no God out of context.
Now in context, it says the fool says in his heart, there is no God.
But so yeah, I can take that out of context.
So yeah, I don't think it worked so well for that lion.
No, it did not.
(18:15):
I've put that one on my door before.
I love that one.
It's so good.
All right.
What was that 16?
All right.
Number 10.
Where are we?
There we are.
Oh, yes.
This one, this one was on my door last semester.
(18:36):
DJ loves all of these, by the way.
I love these things.
If you can't look back at your younger self and realize that you were an idiot, you are
probably still an idiot.
We can go a lot of places with that.
Come on, Brad.
(18:56):
So many illustrations, Todd, baby.
The easy one would be like proverbs, you know, because there's like the fool and his folly
and stuff.
Yeah, right.
I'd probably go with Paul.
You know, Paul is kind of looking back and he's going, you know, God gave me grace even
though I was persecuting the church and all this, but I did it in the ignorance of unbelief.
(19:18):
He didn't believe Jesus was the Messiah.
So in a sense, I think he's saying like that old Paul was stupid.
Everybody thought he was great.
You know, like he had all these because, again, you go into this.
Also, like in the tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee was basically saying like from the outside,
(19:45):
I look like an awesome example of what a Jewish man should be.
It's just like a super Jew almost.
But he said, but I count all that as scubula or rubbish or refuse or poop, you know, compared
to knowing Christ.
So I think, you know, Paul would be a really good example of, you know, I used to be that
(20:07):
idiot, but now I'm not.
And again, there's plenty of scripture that says stuff like if a man thinks he's staying,
you know, he needs to be careful lest he fall.
Yeah.
I think one of the most dangerous things that we can do as Christians is believe, oh, that
won't happen to me or I won't fall into that.
And God tells us even when we are correcting a brother or sister, even when we're correcting
(20:33):
someone that we should pray that we don't fall into that temptation or similar temptation.
Would you consider it then a stretch for, because like when you were...
Don't worry, Brad, this is a rubber band.
This isn't a joke.
Very stretchy.
Would you consider it a stretch then, my first thought when you were talking about like when
(21:01):
Paul was mentioning, you know, looking back on that, you know, I looked like the Jews
Jew, but would you consider it a stretch for you can't look back at your younger self and
realize that you were an idiot, you're probably still an idiot, when like in applying that
to when Jesus said, I did not come for the people who are healthy or who are well, but
(21:24):
who are sick, meaning the way that I thought, the way I can visualize that in my head is
one of two ways.
So either A, they already have a relationship with me or B, they consider themselves well
and want to have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with me, with my love, with my grace,
(21:45):
with my mercy.
So like the rich young ruler being prime example for that one.
And I think about the Pharisees, right?
Because Jesus talks about, you know, he'll give an illustration or like, you know, and
then he'll say like those who are, you know, they're blind and all this, and the Pharisees
are going, are we blind?
Are you accusing us basically like, are you accusing us of being blind?
(22:06):
Yeah.
I mean, because they're smart, right?
They're smart in the sense of like they get it.
Yeah.
They get it when Jesus is, you know, I think they get when Jesus is telling the story of
the loving father, or we know it as the prodigal son, you know, and you have the other brother.
I think they get that they are the other brother and they get that he's missing the point.
(22:30):
I just want to, I want to interrupt you and say thank you for saying that the Pharisees
were smart because I like, they are, they were really brilliant.
I mean, to be able to be able to hold the positions that they held and I mean, get through,
get through the training, get through the training that they held, get through the,
(22:52):
and you know, get to get and hold the positions that they held.
Like you can't just be, you can't just be a haphazard nobody.
I mean, like, but you can be brilliant and still be an idiot.
You are exactly right.
Yes.
Which reminds me, you know, my dad would say kind of the opposite of that was I might be
dumb but I ain't stupid.
That's right.
(23:12):
Yeah.
All right.
So that one was, let's see, that one was number 10.
All right, Brad, number seven.
This is, this is a, this is a pretty, a pretty common meme that, you know, that's been around
for a while.
Oh, do I need to blow it up?
I was like, it's a little small for me there.
(23:32):
There we go.
So first window is a plane that says my email that is well written, reviewed and ready to
be sent.
The second one is the plane taking off and it says email sent.
And the bottom frame says all of the people that are supposed to be on the plane standing
on the ladder without the plane, my attached files.
(23:55):
I feel attacked by that.
Do you resemble that remark, Brad?
I tell you what, I love when Gmail started, like when, like, like kind of little, like
if you say something is attached in the email, it'll pop up a little message if you haven't
attached it's like, did you mean to attach a file?
(24:15):
Oh, wow.
Yeah.
That, that, that feature went away a long time ago.
That was really good.
Yes, it was.
This should bring that back.
Cause I was like, I don't know how many times I went, hey, I'm sending you this or hey,
attach this and then it would be like, boom, oh, you, you didn't, did you mean to attach
a file first?
Yes, I did.
(24:37):
I think I would go with this and look at kind of first Corinthians chapter 13, the love
chapter where you can do all of the right things.
But if you do it without love, it doesn't profit anything.
You leave the passengers behind.
That pilot went through all of the checks.
(24:57):
I mean, the plane is obviously flying and it's fantastic, but it's, it's, it's going
to its destination, but it's useless because they're going to have to refund all of the
people who are supposed to be on that plane.
It's actually losing money instead of making money.
So right.
Yeah.
Ooh, that was a good one.
(25:18):
That was a good one.
Yeah, it is a good meme.
All right.
Number 14.
Let's see.
I don't know if I, I don't know.
I don't remember if I ever sent this one to you guys.
You'll enjoy this breath.
(25:39):
Why is everyone at the gym asking me why I'm sitting still on a stationary bike?
I'm going downhill, dude.
Mind your business.
Yeah.
It's called a stationary bike.
Exactly.
Right.
What do you mean sitting still on a stationary bike?
(26:01):
You must be the moron to not know what this means.
I'm sitting here with my sticky notes.
All right.
And my pen.
Filling out my stationary.
Writing some cards to people on the stationary bike.
It's kind of weird that it's in bike form.
All right.
Why is everyone at the gym asking me why I'm sitting still on a stationary bike?
(26:24):
Going downhill, dude.
Mind your own business.
I didn't say he's going to be easy, Brad.
So there's the scripture.
There's the scripture.
Well, one, let me give you the easy one.
The easy one will be John 21, 22.
(26:45):
Okay.
And Jesus looks at Peter and says, what is that to you?
What is that?
Oh, yes.
Yes.
The conversation with him and John and who is it?
Right, right.
Because Peter and John.
That's right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Peter is just, Jesus has just told Peter kind of what's going to happen to him.
That's right.
(27:05):
And so he looks at John and goes, well, what about him?
And Jesus's response is, what is that to you?
You follow me.
Why do you care?
It's not your business.
So kind of the easy one to go there.
The other one would be, so there's a scripture where it talks about all of these negative
(27:27):
things like murder and slander and stuff.
And I may be mixing this a little bit.
But then it's like, or a troublesome meddler.
Don't let any of you who are Christians be guilty of these things.
Murder, sexual immorality, and then like, or troublesome meddler.
(27:48):
And it's like, okay, I didn't really expect that one to be in there.
In that list, yeah, that's right.
Right there in that list.
But God, again, considers that.
They're getting out of their lane.
One of my favorite Proverbs in the Old Testament is, it's like a man who grabs a dog by the
ears.
(28:09):
So is a man who, sorry, my phone started ringing.
It's a spam call and it just, it was a buzzing one.
I had one earlier.
It messed my brain out of focus.
Like a man who takes a dog by the ears.
So is a man who meddles in strife that doesn't belong to him.
(28:32):
So there's my stretch.
Like, hey guys, look, I'm not hurting you.
It's not really your business.
That's right, yeah.
What's that to you?
What's it to you?
I think of this meme too, where there's this guy who's talking to his pastor and he goes,
(28:53):
sometimes when I'm in the shower, I like to lay down in the tub and pretend I'm a sloth
that is holding onto a branch in a rainstorm.
And the pastor goes, again, that's weird, but not a sin.
(29:20):
And I love it so much though, because the implication is he's been listing off these
things like, is that a sin?
No, it's weird.
But it's not a sin.
Can we please end our session right now?
All right, Brad, number 17.
(29:44):
I think I did share this with you a while back.
All right, so it's a Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton in a museum.
Visitor, how old is that Tyrannosaurus skeleton?
Guide.
70 million and six years.
Visitor, wow, how can you be so precise?
(30:08):
Guide, they told me it was 70 million years old when I started working here.
I'll probably use this as an illustration of, again, perception versus reality, and
(30:30):
making the point, again, of what does the Bible actually say, not what do you think
it says or what did you interpret that when you were told that?
And again, that's why context is important.
I find there's a lot of times when there was a preacher or Sunday school teacher or
something that said something, and maybe even what they said wasn't wrong, but the way
(30:52):
the person interpreted it, and they've carried it all these years.
I see a lot of that with hurt with people, right, they're carrying this because they're
struggling with something that God never said that they needed to struggle with.
But they, no, no, no, Pastor Billy said this.
(31:18):
My first question is, what did Pastor Billy actually say?
What were his words?
Because maybe it's just your interpretation.
And usually I can figure out the scripture from there and I go, okay, let's go look
and let's read this.
Let's read the context around it and let's go, okay.
(31:38):
Now after we've done that, does that sound like they were saying it was exactly 70 million
years old?
Now it's 70 million and six.
Six years old.
Crazy how, like when I got here it was exactly 70 million years old.
What are the odds of that?
(31:59):
I know, right?
Again, the thing too is if it sounds wrong to you, at least look into it.
At least look into it.
Well, and I mean that right there, I think that was the center of the argument that Paul
made to, was it the Corinthians?
(32:20):
Like you say Paul said this and Apollo said this, but like one planted the seed, the other
watered, but it was Christ who, I'm trying to remember exactly.
Gives the increase.
Gives the increase, right.
God makes it grow.
The message isn't about us, the message is about Christ.
So like, yeah, the dinosaurs, 70 million years old, I mean, give or take, that doesn't matter.
(32:47):
You know, who cares about that?
All right, Brad, last one for this app.
I think this is fun, Brad, so we're going to have to bring this one back.
Number 25, I wish you the best of luck.
(33:11):
So this is words, problems that were overblown, quicksand, people offering me drugs, getting
lost in the Bermuda triangle, problems I was not sufficiently warned about, arguing with
robots about unexpected items in baggage areas, remembering all my passwords, existential
(33:33):
dread.
I'm going to blow into Revelation, just the book of Revelation, because I think there's
a lot of times when people are afraid, and as a Christian, Revelation is not meant for
(33:59):
us to be afraid.
So like the Antichrist and the beast and the Mark of the beast and all of these things
that I think tend to get overblown when it's about Jesus, right?
And so, and there, let me, again, maybe argue within the church that the things like gossip
(34:24):
and meddling and slander, which are more important, that God puts in these lists of things that
you shouldn't be doing this.
I mean, don't be deceiving your neighbor, don't be lying to your neighbor is on the
(34:45):
Ten Commandments.
I shall not lie, but it's like, well, but some lying is okay, right?
No?
It's not?
So I think like that.
I mean, like the emphasis is sometimes is overblown, not that Revelation, but the way that people
just look at that and kind of make some of these things bigger, because Revelation is
(35:10):
not about the Antichrist, it's about Jesus.
And don't take my word for it, go back and read Revelation chapter one, verse one.
And that, I'll tell you right there, it sets up, this is what the book's about.
It tells us right in the beginning, this is why it's the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
Well, and also, so to just kind of like, to put, if you will, the sociological, the interpersonal
(35:43):
into this argument, does it really, I mean, honestly, does it matter if we have hymnals
or carpet or tile or pews or seats or the walls are gray or white?
You know, I mean, like, and this is, you know, the dissensions, be careful about people that
(36:07):
are gonna, that cause dissensions, right?
Because to me, those problems are definitely overblown, for sure.
Or, and I'm gonna, this might cause controversy to all the tens and tens of listeners that
tune into our show.
That's for this episode.
(36:28):
Yeah, but like, predestination, and like, go back and listen to our Women in Church
Leadership show, you know?
Like, I think those problems, or those, not problems, I think those conversations are
really good to have, but they have to be had in a very healthy and very safe way that don't
(36:50):
distract from the message of Jesus.
And I think that, I think the message of Jesus and His salvation through faith because of
His perfection, death and resurrection from the cross and death, like, I mean, that's
the message of Christ.
(37:12):
The rest of it, I mean, really?
I think about Peter, right, who says, now listen, there's some people who skew some
of the things that, and I'll give you this, some of the things that Paul says are hard
to understand.
Yeah, right.
But you can't skew what he's saying.
(37:33):
Or any other gospel, because it's not for man's interpretation, it is what God said.
Yeah, so again, when you look at the Bible, we need to do so contextually.
We need to do so by focusing on God's truth, not our opinion.
(37:53):
So we need to do so, and Tabby sometimes rolls her eyes at me with this, because I love these
two words, these two Greek words, exegesis and isogesis.
You know, we need to look so exegetically.
We need to look at what is pulling out what the Bible has in it, not isogegetically, which
is putting it in and going in and trying to make it say what we want it to say, which
(38:17):
was afraid, when I was slightly afraid I was going to be guilty of some of these memes.
Because you don't want to necessarily start with a meme and work your sermon from that.
God's Word and go that way.
(38:40):
Yeah, I think that Satan wants to divide us.
And if he can get us to be at war with one another.
Now, we're not going to agree 100% because you know what, the Bible says if anybody thinks
he knows anything, he does not yet know as he ought to know.
(39:00):
What does that say to me?
Well, it says to me that there's things that I believe that are probably wrong.
So I need to make sure I get the majors right.
Those things that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.
There's no way to have it except through Jesus.
There's no mediator between God and man except for Jesus Christ, the righteous.
No one can separate me from the love of God.
(39:24):
That is in Jesus Christ our Lord, which is the end of that.
So we need to be looking at what are those major things that God has made so evident
that there's really not room for even discussion about it.
And I want to throw this in because oftentimes, Brad, in these conversations that I've had,
(39:47):
I don't know, say in the last five years, the fact that Jesus was born of a virgin is
usually not one that's brought up.
Like in these kind of conversations, but like, yeah, another major part of the Jesus story
is that the Holy Spirit is the one that if you want to use the word impregnated, I mean,
(40:10):
like however you want to describe it, like gave life to Christ in Mary's womb.
I mean, that's a major part of it.
It's very interesting.
Some people trying to just prove that the Bible says that she was a virgin will look
at the word and go, oh, well, that word means maiden.
But two, it doesn't necessarily always mean virgin.
And I'm not saying they're wrong, but here's the important thing.
(40:34):
Yeah, but the rest of the context of all of that.
Does what?
It tells us that in that context, that that word means virgin or virgin maiden.
Yes.
I mean, the rest of the context of the story.
So yeah, sure.
You can look at that and go, oh, well, it doesn't always mean virgin.
(40:57):
Sometimes it just means young maiden.
Yeah.
Well, again, go back and read the rest of the story.
That's not the only part that says that she knew not a man.
Yeah.
That's right.
In a biblical way.
She didn't know any guys at all.
That's right.
Yeah.
She had no males in her.
(41:17):
Well, listeners, there it is.
There is episode one of what will end up being a very, it'll be a recurring episode that
Brad and I will throw in every now and then.
I'm trying to figure out if we should call it rapid fire sermon illustrations or just
sermon illustrations with Brad.
But Brad, well done.
(41:39):
Thank you.
And because of the mean group, I'm always on the lookout for more things that I can
throw your direction.
So listeners, you know what to do if you're regulars of the show, rate and review us.
Please review us.
We'd love not just to be able to read your reviews, but also we want the public to be
able to see what your thoughts and opinions are on the show.
(42:01):
You can review on Spotify.
You can review on iTunes.
And you're feeding the algorithm.
I mean, a lot of people have heard that, you know, there's the algorithms that these things
have.
So the more that you like, that you share, that you comment on these things, the more
that it's going to pop up for other people.
Yeah.
Because the algorithm is going to go, oh, this is something people want to look at.
(42:25):
So it's going to come to their face.
And therefore the algorithm will want to share it with other people.
So it's exactly right, Brad.
But if you're new to the show, subscribe to the show and always be on the lookout for
when our next episode drops.
And Brad, we didn't do this, but we will now that we would like to give a shout out to
(42:54):
our partners, the Green Frog Coffee Company here in the West Tennessee areas, primarily
Jackson.
But think about a couple other locations.
Beautiful people, excellent drinks, really, really good drinks, good food, great company.
They're built on Christian values.
Anytime that I've ever walked into a Green Frog, they're always playing Christian music.
(43:16):
It's almost like a coffee house version of Chick-fil-A, right?
Maybe without like the magic.
Because Chick-fil-A and Disney feel like they have a lot in common when it comes to magic.
I mean, when you invent a chicken sandwich.
Yeah, right.
There you go, Chick-fil-A. There's a free promo.
If you're listening to this, we can strike a deal.
(43:37):
But anyways, yeah, check out Green Frog Coffee Company.
You can find their website in the show notes.
But beyond that, Brad, this was fun, man.
I love you, buddy.
Love you too.
Love you guys.
Listener, we love you and we will catch you next time.
Bye-bye.
All right, dude, you ready to do some rapid fire sermon illustrations?
(00:08):
I think so, but if I'm completely honest, like now I'm nervous.
It's like, it's my idea.
Yes it is.
And now I'm like, oh, I think I'm about as ready as I'm going to be.
Welcome.
(00:29):
This is the Men Church Stuff Podcast.
This is the show where brothers in law, DJ Culp and Brad Coleman talk about stuff from
our perspective as men.
(00:50):
It's a show for anyone who wants to hear how Christians interact with the world.
And don't worry, we're real.
We've grown up in church and we want to share our experiences with you.
We'll talk life stuff, church stuff, man stuff, and stuff stuff.
Here we go.
(01:12):
Greetings listeners here and there and everywhere, all across the land.
This is the Men Church Stuff Podcast.
I am one of your hosts, DJ Culp, as always here with my beloved brother in law, Brad Coleman.
Brad, what's up man?
I am calming my nerves to get ready for today's podcast.
(01:33):
Brad, you look really good today.
No pressure.
No, no thanks.
Very sharp.
I hear that once in a while.
Every now and then.
Yeah, not a lot.
So occasionally.
So listeners, if you are curious, webcams, when you buy them and you don't use the one
(01:55):
that are the ones that are integrated, they're really good.
They work really well.
Don't fall into it.
Don't fall into a lie of it's just another product that they want me to buy.
It's not worth it.
Yeah, it really is.
So today, listeners, we are actually going to do something that Brad has requested and
(02:15):
this is going to be a lot of fun.
Brad has, Brad had the idea to do rapid fire sermon illustrations.
So just a bit of a background here.
And I think I've said this probably Brad on the show before, but my dad, Brad and me,
(02:36):
gosh, dude, for how long have we been doing this?
A couple of years?
The meme thing, the meme sharing.
Oh yeah.
I was like, you're going to be more specific.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
We've had just a group, just with the three of us, text group for a while now.
And what we'll do is anytime that we see something that we consider hysterical, we send it to
(03:01):
everybody else.
Sometimes, I don't know about you Brad, but like full disclosure, sometimes I send it
hoping that you guys find it funny because it's almost like a comedian testing a joke
out to an audience and be like, yeah, that one was crap.
That wasn't funny.
And just, and so I'll send some every now and then thinking, I wonder if this is in
(03:22):
fact as funny as I thought it was.
But yeah, so the last several years, dad, Brad and I have done meme sharing.
And Brad came up with the idea not too long ago about doing a podcast where unbeknownst
to him of the memes that I share, he's got to come up with a sermon illustration based
(03:48):
on that meme.
So I love this idea, Brad.
Like this is, I'm really excited about this.
I've got, you know me, I've got everything.
I am, that's why I'm nervous.
I've got everything set up.
So listeners, just to let you know, I have, I picked out 25 memes and if you're thinking,
(04:08):
dang, DJ, that's a lot.
Don't worry.
I've got a random number generator to where it's going to generate eight list items with
no repeats.
And so Brad, I haven't gone through and I haven't, I haven't like, you know, I don't
know what to, yeah, I will say this.
We're going to start with a, we're going to start with a softball here in just a second.
(04:30):
But as a, just as kind of like a, as a, as a prelude to, to, to all of this, Brad, on
your end of things, how do you see, whether, whether it's for, for comical value or, or
like real life application, how do you, like, where do you see the values of sermon illustrations?
(04:51):
Like where do they fit as a pastor for you?
Okay.
One of the reasons I love sermon illustrations is because oftentimes that illustration may
take something, an idea in the scripture, a teaching or something, and it will make
it more concrete, I think, for people, you know, help people understand.
(05:17):
Or maybe they've been looking at it here and then when you relate it to this other thing,
they go, oh, oh, that makes sense.
So for me, it's very important from an educational standpoint, from an ability for people to
understand, and one of the big things I think that's important about preaching and teaching
is, is that people understand, you know, that they're going to get, be able to understand
(05:41):
the message and that it's clear.
I think a lot of problems within the church and within Christianity come when we misunderstand
God's Word.
So I think, and again, I love the parables where Jesus is using the parables and, hey,
it's like this.
It's like the sower who's sowing seeds.
(06:04):
Hey, it's like a man who bought a field and he, you know, this kind of stuff.
You know, so it's helping, you know, others to, one, to connect and understand.
And the other thing is I think it helps them to remember.
You know, if they can link it to the stories, because sometimes my hope is that, you know,
(06:28):
as they're going down the road or as they're in Walmart or something, that God uses that
to like, they see something in Walmart and it just sparks that, and then they go to that
scripture, they go to that biblical truth.
So I think that's where their place is.
Just to help, I want to say emphasize, but just kind of help people to better understand
(06:55):
what this scripture is talking about or whatever.
Now full disclosure, there may be some times here in this episode here where I'm stretching
things a little bit more than I would on a Sunday morning.
Just to get a win in, right?
Yeah, just to try to do that.
So see, I can do it.
(07:16):
I can do it.
Yeah.
So if you don't, don't hold all of these, right.
You know, to, to that this we're, we're doing this more for fun.
I think sermon illustrations are, are very helpful.
Do you consider, do you see sermon illustrations as our modern day parallel to a parable?
(07:40):
On some level, I would say, yeah.
You have to realize that a lot of the parables Jesus is using are, are growing wheat and,
and you know, the farmer, there, it was a very, what is the word, Aryan culture.
(08:01):
They raised livestock, they raised their food.
Most of us don't do that, right?
I don't have cows and goats.
I don't, you know, I've seen gardens, my granny raised a garden.
I don't raise wheat or corn or anything like that.
So I think used pictures of the day that the average person would understand.
(08:25):
So I think absolutely on, on some level, but, but those, the illustrations that I give aren't
scripture.
Right.
As Jesus's are.
Mine's really good at, at just the nth degree of the illustration.
You know, there are times when like the deeper you, you look and think about what you said
(08:46):
in parable, like the more meaning you can draw out of it.
Whereas mine's probably all short, you know, it's not going to go nearly as deep.
So when I say it's like this thing, it's to help you remember it and to think about it.
And Jesus says it's like this thing, it's probably a little deeper.
(09:10):
So you're saying Jesus wins is right.
Yeah.
I mean, God is definitely a lot better at giving illustrations and attention getters.
I love, you know, he uses the burning bush and there's so much there, but what's the
first thing was to get Moses's attention.
Right.
(09:30):
And it's so much more than that, but I'm like, wow, God really knows how to get somebody's
attention.
Sure.
Yeah.
All right.
So here's what we're going to listeners.
If you're listening to this, if you're listening to this on the podcast, then what I'm going
to do is I'm going to describe what I'm seeing.
But as promised, you know, Brad and I, we're going to, we're going to here soon start up
(09:53):
a YouTube channel.
And so I'm actually going to pull these up on, on a screen share Brad, so that, so that,
so that you can see kind of the full, the full thing.
So again, like I, like I said, I'm going to start with a softball.
All right.
We're not going to do the random number generator yet, but here is our first one.
(10:15):
Let me get to screen share here.
All right.
So here we go.
Brad, do you see that?
Yeah.
Just speed up a bit.
Yep.
All right.
I mean, it is softball.
Philippians four 13 right there.
(10:37):
All right.
So what Brad is looking at, actually what Brad, why don't you do this?
Why don't you tell the listeners what you're seeing?
Okay.
Just a road sign.
Just speed up a bit under that.
Another little sign.
You got this.
Under that Philippians four 13.
So I mean, that's almost cheating.
Yeah.
(10:58):
But, but what else?
If I use Philippians four 13, yeah.
There's a, there's a major hole there.
Actually, I didn't even see that until you just said that.
There's a major hole in the road up ahead.
I guess you got to gun it.
There's a pothole that's so large, you can't drive across it.
(11:18):
I think the road is gone.
I think I would go, I'd probably go with this and kind of turn the curve of, you know,
test the spirits to make sure it's from the Lord.
Be like the Bereans and go and check the scripture with all speed.
Make sure that that is what God's saying.
(11:42):
Because when, when the sign is saying to gun it and the road is not there, you know, sometimes
Satan uses scripture and misuses scripture.
Yeah.
That's just gun it.
Just like Philippians four 13 says, because, you know, I can do all things through Christ.
I was going to say bonus points for, you know, they know that and, and, and DJ probably knows
(12:07):
his bro.
We've probably talked about this on the, on the show.
That's one of my kind of like, yeah, okay.
You can't just throw Philippians four 13 on whatever.
Like I'm going to be able to bench press a thousand pounds because I can do all things
through Christ who strengthens me.
That's not really the context of that verse.
(12:29):
I'm going to try to stay in context, but I will, I will in fairness, let you know if
I feel like I'm going out of context.
Just to try to.
That's awesome.
All right.
Let me come back.
Stop share.
All right, Brad, that was your softball.
Yeah, it is.
It is go time.
All right.
(12:50):
Our first one is number 19.
This is a good one.
All right, here we go.
Uh, I've got a, I gotta get back here.
We're going to screen share.
There we go.
All right.
Can you see it?
Yeah, now I can.
(13:11):
Okay.
All right.
Um, in a span of 17 years, 114 people died in weightlifting accidents while at the gym.
It's the same 17 year timeframe.
Only one man died while eating a donut.
Life is about the choices you make.
(13:32):
Educate yourself.
I think Paul said bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness profits to all things.
Now, I will say this, that he doesn't say that bodily exercise is not profitable.
(13:52):
Right.
That's right.
You've probably pulled something out of Proverbs about the fool and, you know, wisdom and,
you know, um, yeah.
And don't weightlift by yourself.
Don't weightlift by yourself.
(14:13):
Have a spotter.
And, uh, you know, hey, and, you know, somebody did choke to death on the donut.
So or at least died while eating a donut.
I mean, can you add a hard, I mean, was he driving down the road?
It doesn't even tell us that.
I don't know.
It may not have been the donut.
Like, he was eating a donut and he got sideswiped by a train.
(14:33):
I mean, it's not really the donut's fault.
Well we could, if you want to get supremely controversial here, Brad, I had cancer.
I was in, I was in stage four and had been there for seven months, but I got COVID on
the last day of my life.
It was cancer that killed me.
It was the donut.
It was the donut.
Yeah, it wasn't the train.
(14:54):
Probably blaming the donut.
Everybody always blames the donut.
Everybody always blames the donut.
Oh, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry, Brad.
Brad, number nine.
Here we go.
If you can't think of a word, say, I forget the English word for it.
(15:18):
That way people will think you're bilingual instead of an idiot.
So there's a proverb that says, even a fool, if he keeps his mouth shut, some people will
esteem him as wise.
It's a biblical proverb.
So I probably like, maybe in a stretch, go there.
(15:41):
I forget the English word for it.
I can't remember the English word.
I mean, the Bible was written in Greek and Hebrew, what's that English word for it?
(16:02):
I could also maybe use this as an illustration of going with, thou shalt not deceive thy
neighbor.
What's that three-letter English word?
I forget the English word for it.
Lie.
Oh yeah.
(16:25):
Again, someone who, I'm personally who loves those technicalities.
So did you forget the English word for it?
Did you really?
Maybe phrase it more like, what's the English word for that again?
See, there's plausible.
That's more plausible.
(16:45):
I didn't actually say I forgot it.
I want to encourage you to lie.
That's right.
All right, number 16.
Well, I see right now is DJ.
Yep, here we go.
People in the Bible struggled with the same challenges we face today.
(17:08):
And it's a picture of, I guess, Samson fighting a lion.
Here we see Samson trying to give his cat a pill.
And I would use this as an illustration for making sure that we're reading the Bible in
context.
(17:29):
Context is important.
We can make the Bible say whatever we want.
So we got to be careful of that.
And I'm always leery of saying this, because I'm like, it's going to go out on sound bite
and it's going to bite me one day, but the truth will set you free.
(17:51):
The Bible says there is no God out of context.
Now in context, it says the fool says in his heart, there is no God.
But so yeah, I can take that out of context.
So yeah, I don't think it worked so well for that lion.
No, it did not.
(18:15):
I've put that one on my door before.
I love that one.
It's so good.
All right.
What was that 16?
All right.
Number 10.
Where are we?
There we are.
Oh, yes.
This one, this one was on my door last semester.
(18:36):
DJ loves all of these, by the way.
I love these things.
If you can't look back at your younger self and realize that you were an idiot, you are
probably still an idiot.
We can go a lot of places with that.
Come on, Brad.
(18:56):
So many illustrations, Todd, baby.
The easy one would be like proverbs, you know, because there's like the fool and his folly
and stuff.
Yeah, right.
I'd probably go with Paul.
You know, Paul is kind of looking back and he's going, you know, God gave me grace even
though I was persecuting the church and all this, but I did it in the ignorance of unbelief.
(19:18):
He didn't believe Jesus was the Messiah.
So in a sense, I think he's saying like that old Paul was stupid.
Everybody thought he was great.
You know, like he had all these because, again, you go into this.
Also, like in the tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee was basically saying like from the outside,
(19:45):
I look like an awesome example of what a Jewish man should be.
It's just like a super Jew almost.
But he said, but I count all that as scubula or rubbish or refuse or poop, you know, compared
to knowing Christ.
So I think, you know, Paul would be a really good example of, you know, I used to be that
(20:07):
idiot, but now I'm not.
And again, there's plenty of scripture that says stuff like if a man thinks he's staying,
you know, he needs to be careful lest he fall.
Yeah.
I think one of the most dangerous things that we can do as Christians is believe, oh, that
won't happen to me or I won't fall into that.
And God tells us even when we are correcting a brother or sister, even when we're correcting
(20:33):
someone that we should pray that we don't fall into that temptation or similar temptation.
Would you consider it then a stretch for, because like when you were...
Don't worry, Brad, this is a rubber band.
This isn't a joke.
Very stretchy.
Would you consider it a stretch then, my first thought when you were talking about like when
(21:01):
Paul was mentioning, you know, looking back on that, you know, I looked like the Jews
Jew, but would you consider it a stretch for you can't look back at your younger self and
realize that you were an idiot, you're probably still an idiot, when like in applying that
to when Jesus said, I did not come for the people who are healthy or who are well, but
(21:24):
who are sick, meaning the way that I thought, the way I can visualize that in my head is
one of two ways.
So either A, they already have a relationship with me or B, they consider themselves well
and want to have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with me, with my love, with my grace,
(21:45):
with my mercy.
So like the rich young ruler being prime example for that one.
And I think about the Pharisees, right?
Because Jesus talks about, you know, he'll give an illustration or like, you know, and
then he'll say like those who are, you know, they're blind and all this, and the Pharisees
are going, are we blind?
Are you accusing us basically like, are you accusing us of being blind?
(22:06):
Yeah.
I mean, because they're smart, right?
They're smart in the sense of like they get it.
Yeah.
They get it when Jesus is, you know, I think they get when Jesus is telling the story of
the loving father, or we know it as the prodigal son, you know, and you have the other brother.
I think they get that they are the other brother and they get that he's missing the point.
(22:30):
I just want to, I want to interrupt you and say thank you for saying that the Pharisees
were smart because I like, they are, they were really brilliant.
I mean, to be able to be able to hold the positions that they held and I mean, get through,
get through the training, get through the training that they held, get through the,
(22:52):
and you know, get to get and hold the positions that they held.
Like you can't just be, you can't just be a haphazard nobody.
I mean, like, but you can be brilliant and still be an idiot.
You are exactly right.
Yes.
Which reminds me, you know, my dad would say kind of the opposite of that was I might be
dumb but I ain't stupid.
That's right.
(23:12):
Yeah.
All right.
So that one was, let's see, that one was number 10.
All right, Brad, number seven.
This is, this is a, this is a pretty, a pretty common meme that, you know, that's been around
for a while.
Oh, do I need to blow it up?
I was like, it's a little small for me there.
(23:32):
There we go.
So first window is a plane that says my email that is well written, reviewed and ready to
be sent.
The second one is the plane taking off and it says email sent.
And the bottom frame says all of the people that are supposed to be on the plane standing
on the ladder without the plane, my attached files.
(23:55):
I feel attacked by that.
Do you resemble that remark, Brad?
I tell you what, I love when Gmail started, like when, like, like kind of little, like
if you say something is attached in the email, it'll pop up a little message if you haven't
attached it's like, did you mean to attach a file?
(24:15):
Oh, wow.
Yeah.
That, that, that feature went away a long time ago.
That was really good.
Yes, it was.
This should bring that back.
Cause I was like, I don't know how many times I went, hey, I'm sending you this or hey,
attach this and then it would be like, boom, oh, you, you didn't, did you mean to attach
a file first?
Yes, I did.
(24:37):
I think I would go with this and look at kind of first Corinthians chapter 13, the love
chapter where you can do all of the right things.
But if you do it without love, it doesn't profit anything.
You leave the passengers behind.
That pilot went through all of the checks.
(24:57):
I mean, the plane is obviously flying and it's fantastic, but it's, it's, it's going
to its destination, but it's useless because they're going to have to refund all of the
people who are supposed to be on that plane.
It's actually losing money instead of making money.
So right.
Yeah.
Ooh, that was a good one.
(25:18):
That was a good one.
Yeah, it is a good meme.
All right.
Number 14.
Let's see.
I don't know if I, I don't know.
I don't remember if I ever sent this one to you guys.
You'll enjoy this breath.
(25:39):
Why is everyone at the gym asking me why I'm sitting still on a stationary bike?
I'm going downhill, dude.
Mind your business.
Yeah.
It's called a stationary bike.
Exactly.
Right.
What do you mean sitting still on a stationary bike?
(26:01):
You must be the moron to not know what this means.
I'm sitting here with my sticky notes.
All right.
And my pen.
Filling out my stationary.
Writing some cards to people on the stationary bike.
It's kind of weird that it's in bike form.
All right.
Why is everyone at the gym asking me why I'm sitting still on a stationary bike?
(26:24):
Going downhill, dude.
Mind your own business.
I didn't say he's going to be easy, Brad.
So there's the scripture.
There's the scripture.
Well, one, let me give you the easy one.
The easy one will be John 21, 22.
(26:45):
Okay.
And Jesus looks at Peter and says, what is that to you?
What is that?
Oh, yes.
Yes.
The conversation with him and John and who is it?
Right, right.
Because Peter and John.
That's right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Peter is just, Jesus has just told Peter kind of what's going to happen to him.
That's right.
(27:05):
And so he looks at John and goes, well, what about him?
And Jesus's response is, what is that to you?
You follow me.
Why do you care?
It's not your business.
So kind of the easy one to go there.
The other one would be, so there's a scripture where it talks about all of these negative
(27:27):
things like murder and slander and stuff.
And I may be mixing this a little bit.
But then it's like, or a troublesome meddler.
Don't let any of you who are Christians be guilty of these things.
Murder, sexual immorality, and then like, or troublesome meddler.
(27:48):
And it's like, okay, I didn't really expect that one to be in there.
In that list, yeah, that's right.
Right there in that list.
But God, again, considers that.
They're getting out of their lane.
One of my favorite Proverbs in the Old Testament is, it's like a man who grabs a dog by the
ears.
(28:09):
So is a man who, sorry, my phone started ringing.
It's a spam call and it just, it was a buzzing one.
I had one earlier.
It messed my brain out of focus.
Like a man who takes a dog by the ears.
So is a man who meddles in strife that doesn't belong to him.
(28:32):
So there's my stretch.
Like, hey guys, look, I'm not hurting you.
It's not really your business.
That's right, yeah.
What's that to you?
What's it to you?
I think of this meme too, where there's this guy who's talking to his pastor and he goes,
(28:53):
sometimes when I'm in the shower, I like to lay down in the tub and pretend I'm a sloth
that is holding onto a branch in a rainstorm.
And the pastor goes, again, that's weird, but not a sin.
(29:20):
And I love it so much though, because the implication is he's been listing off these
things like, is that a sin?
No, it's weird.
But it's not a sin.
Can we please end our session right now?
All right, Brad, number 17.
(29:44):
I think I did share this with you a while back.
All right, so it's a Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton in a museum.
Visitor, how old is that Tyrannosaurus skeleton?
Guide.
70 million and six years.
Visitor, wow, how can you be so precise?
(30:08):
Guide, they told me it was 70 million years old when I started working here.
I'll probably use this as an illustration of, again, perception versus reality, and
(30:30):
making the point, again, of what does the Bible actually say, not what do you think
it says or what did you interpret that when you were told that?
And again, that's why context is important.
I find there's a lot of times when there was a preacher or Sunday school teacher or
something that said something, and maybe even what they said wasn't wrong, but the way
(30:52):
the person interpreted it, and they've carried it all these years.
I see a lot of that with hurt with people, right, they're carrying this because they're
struggling with something that God never said that they needed to struggle with.
But they, no, no, no, Pastor Billy said this.
(31:18):
My first question is, what did Pastor Billy actually say?
What were his words?
Because maybe it's just your interpretation.
And usually I can figure out the scripture from there and I go, okay, let's go look
and let's read this.
Let's read the context around it and let's go, okay.
(31:38):
Now after we've done that, does that sound like they were saying it was exactly 70 million
years old?
Now it's 70 million and six.
Six years old.
Crazy how, like when I got here it was exactly 70 million years old.
What are the odds of that?
(31:59):
I know, right?
Again, the thing too is if it sounds wrong to you, at least look into it.
At least look into it.
Well, and I mean that right there, I think that was the center of the argument that Paul
made to, was it the Corinthians?
(32:20):
Like you say Paul said this and Apollo said this, but like one planted the seed, the other
watered, but it was Christ who, I'm trying to remember exactly.
Gives the increase.
Gives the increase, right.
God makes it grow.
The message isn't about us, the message is about Christ.
So like, yeah, the dinosaurs, 70 million years old, I mean, give or take, that doesn't matter.
(32:47):
You know, who cares about that?
All right, Brad, last one for this app.
I think this is fun, Brad, so we're going to have to bring this one back.
Number 25, I wish you the best of luck.
(33:11):
So this is words, problems that were overblown, quicksand, people offering me drugs, getting
lost in the Bermuda triangle, problems I was not sufficiently warned about, arguing with
robots about unexpected items in baggage areas, remembering all my passwords, existential
(33:33):
dread.
I'm going to blow into Revelation, just the book of Revelation, because I think there's
a lot of times when people are afraid, and as a Christian, Revelation is not meant for
(33:59):
us to be afraid.
So like the Antichrist and the beast and the Mark of the beast and all of these things
that I think tend to get overblown when it's about Jesus, right?
And so, and there, let me, again, maybe argue within the church that the things like gossip
(34:24):
and meddling and slander, which are more important, that God puts in these lists of things that
you shouldn't be doing this.
I mean, don't be deceiving your neighbor, don't be lying to your neighbor is on the
(34:45):
Ten Commandments.
I shall not lie, but it's like, well, but some lying is okay, right?
No?
It's not?
So I think like that.
I mean, like the emphasis is sometimes is overblown, not that Revelation, but the way that people
just look at that and kind of make some of these things bigger, because Revelation is
(35:10):
not about the Antichrist, it's about Jesus.
And don't take my word for it, go back and read Revelation chapter one, verse one.
And that, I'll tell you right there, it sets up, this is what the book's about.
It tells us right in the beginning, this is why it's the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
Well, and also, so to just kind of like, to put, if you will, the sociological, the interpersonal
(35:43):
into this argument, does it really, I mean, honestly, does it matter if we have hymnals
or carpet or tile or pews or seats or the walls are gray or white?
You know, I mean, like, and this is, you know, the dissensions, be careful about people that
(36:07):
are gonna, that cause dissensions, right?
Because to me, those problems are definitely overblown, for sure.
Or, and I'm gonna, this might cause controversy to all the tens and tens of listeners that
tune into our show.
That's for this episode.
(36:28):
Yeah, but like, predestination, and like, go back and listen to our Women in Church
Leadership show, you know?
Like, I think those problems, or those, not problems, I think those conversations are
really good to have, but they have to be had in a very healthy and very safe way that don't
(36:50):
distract from the message of Jesus.
And I think that, I think the message of Jesus and His salvation through faith because of
His perfection, death and resurrection from the cross and death, like, I mean, that's
the message of Christ.
(37:12):
The rest of it, I mean, really?
I think about Peter, right, who says, now listen, there's some people who skew some
of the things that, and I'll give you this, some of the things that Paul says are hard
to understand.
Yeah, right.
But you can't skew what he's saying.
(37:33):
Or any other gospel, because it's not for man's interpretation, it is what God said.
Yeah, so again, when you look at the Bible, we need to do so contextually.
We need to do so by focusing on God's truth, not our opinion.
(37:53):
So we need to do so, and Tabby sometimes rolls her eyes at me with this, because I love these
two words, these two Greek words, exegesis and isogesis.
You know, we need to look so exegetically.
We need to look at what is pulling out what the Bible has in it, not isogegetically, which
is putting it in and going in and trying to make it say what we want it to say, which
(38:17):
was afraid, when I was slightly afraid I was going to be guilty of some of these memes.
Because you don't want to necessarily start with a meme and work your sermon from that.
God's Word and go that way.
(38:40):
Yeah, I think that Satan wants to divide us.
And if he can get us to be at war with one another.
Now, we're not going to agree 100% because you know what, the Bible says if anybody thinks
he knows anything, he does not yet know as he ought to know.
(39:00):
What does that say to me?
Well, it says to me that there's things that I believe that are probably wrong.
So I need to make sure I get the majors right.
Those things that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.
There's no way to have it except through Jesus.
There's no mediator between God and man except for Jesus Christ, the righteous.
No one can separate me from the love of God.
(39:24):
That is in Jesus Christ our Lord, which is the end of that.
So we need to be looking at what are those major things that God has made so evident
that there's really not room for even discussion about it.
And I want to throw this in because oftentimes, Brad, in these conversations that I've had,
(39:47):
I don't know, say in the last five years, the fact that Jesus was born of a virgin is
usually not one that's brought up.
Like in these kind of conversations, but like, yeah, another major part of the Jesus story
is that the Holy Spirit is the one that if you want to use the word impregnated, I mean,
(40:10):
like however you want to describe it, like gave life to Christ in Mary's womb.
I mean, that's a major part of it.
It's very interesting.
Some people trying to just prove that the Bible says that she was a virgin will look
at the word and go, oh, well, that word means maiden.
But two, it doesn't necessarily always mean virgin.
And I'm not saying they're wrong, but here's the important thing.
(40:34):
Yeah, but the rest of the context of all of that.
Does what?
It tells us that in that context, that that word means virgin or virgin maiden.
Yes.
I mean, the rest of the context of the story.
So yeah, sure.
You can look at that and go, oh, well, it doesn't always mean virgin.
(40:57):
Sometimes it just means young maiden.
Yeah.
Well, again, go back and read the rest of the story.
That's not the only part that says that she knew not a man.
Yeah.
That's right.
In a biblical way.
She didn't know any guys at all.
That's right.
Yeah.
She had no males in her.
(41:17):
Well, listeners, there it is.
There is episode one of what will end up being a very, it'll be a recurring episode that
Brad and I will throw in every now and then.
I'm trying to figure out if we should call it rapid fire sermon illustrations or just
sermon illustrations with Brad.
But Brad, well done.
(41:39):
Thank you.
And because of the mean group, I'm always on the lookout for more things that I can
throw your direction.
So listeners, you know what to do if you're regulars of the show, rate and review us.
Please review us.
We'd love not just to be able to read your reviews, but also we want the public to be
able to see what your thoughts and opinions are on the show.
(42:01):
You can review on Spotify.
You can review on iTunes.
And you're feeding the algorithm.
I mean, a lot of people have heard that, you know, there's the algorithms that these things
have.
So the more that you like, that you share, that you comment on these things, the more
that it's going to pop up for other people.
Yeah.
Because the algorithm is going to go, oh, this is something people want to look at.
(42:25):
So it's going to come to their face.
And therefore the algorithm will want to share it with other people.
So it's exactly right, Brad.
But if you're new to the show, subscribe to the show and always be on the lookout for
when our next episode drops.
And Brad, we didn't do this, but we will now that we would like to give a shout out to
(42:54):
our partners, the Green Frog Coffee Company here in the West Tennessee areas, primarily
Jackson.
But think about a couple other locations.
Beautiful people, excellent drinks, really, really good drinks, good food, great company.
They're built on Christian values.
Anytime that I've ever walked into a Green Frog, they're always playing Christian music.
(43:16):
It's almost like a coffee house version of Chick-fil-A, right?
Maybe without like the magic.
Because Chick-fil-A and Disney feel like they have a lot in common when it comes to magic.
I mean, when you invent a chicken sandwich.
Yeah, right.
There you go, Chick-fil-A. There's a free promo.
If you're listening to this, we can strike a deal.
(43:37):
But anyways, yeah, check out Green Frog Coffee Company.
You can find their website in the show notes.
But beyond that, Brad, this was fun, man.
I love you, buddy.
Love you too.
Love you guys.
Listener, we love you and we will catch you next time.
Bye-bye.
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