Podcast4Him
Where we apply scriptural principles to every day Christian lives.
Podcast4Him
95 | Root vs. Fruit: Tackling the Hidden Drivers of Sin
The battle against sin is far deeper than most Christians realize. In this thought-provoking episode, Jonathan and Sean tackle the crucial distinction between the "fruit" of sin (our outward behaviors) and the "root" of sin (the internal heart issues driving those actions).
Using the powerful analogy of weeds that keep returning after being cut down, they explain why merely addressing external behaviors without confronting underlying causes leads to an endless cycle of struggle and defeat. Through honest, sometimes uncomfortable exploration, they reveal how common sins like gluttony, gossip, and holding grudges actually stem from deeper heart issues including pride, judgmental attitudes, unforgiveness, and spiritual complacency.
What makes this conversation truly valuable is their willingness to address these sensitive topics with equal measures of biblical truth and grace. While they don't shy away from calling sin what it is, they remind listeners that God's forgiveness is always available and that spiritual growth is a journey requiring patience with ourselves and others. The hosts share personal struggles, practical solutions, and powerful scripture references that help listeners identify and address both the visible "fruits" and the hidden "roots" of sin in their own lives.
Whether you're a new believer struggling to overcome persistent temptations or a long-time Christian seeking deeper transformation, this episode offers a refreshing perspective on why behavior modification alone isn't enough. By examining your heart's motivations and surrendering both the roots and fruits of sin to God, you can experience the true freedom and peace that Christ promises to those who follow Him.
Ready to dig deeper in your spiritual journey? This episode provides the tools to start excavating what's beneath the surface of your struggles, guiding you toward lasting change rather than temporary fixes.
When you sin and you feel God pricking your heart, that's him saying, hey, there's something wrong. You might want to go check on that, and sometimes it can be intentional, sometimes it is unintentional, I believe. But when you feel God pricking at your heart, that's a time to step back and say, well, maybe I need to evaluate this situation or what went wrong.
Speaker 2:You're listening to the Everyday Christian Podcast where we apply scriptural principles to everyday Christian lives. I'm John.
Speaker 1:Rich and I'm Sean Sloggett, and this is what happens when you have technical difficulties.
Speaker 2:Yes, we actually started a live and it looked like we had like six or seven people going and it was just blank. Hopefully you guys can see us now. I'll have to check on the phone here momentarily, but we want to thank everybody for joining and listening in and if for some reason, you can't hear us or you can't see us, please let us know. We're not really used to doing a lot of live recordings and it seems like the last few episodes we've done the debate was not live, but the last few single episodes we've done with just Sean and I, it's all been live and ready to go. So it can be kind of nerve-wracking and things don't always go as planned. As long as technology is involved, something more than likely is going to mess up, but it is good to be with you all here today.
Speaker 2:It's a blessing to see the comments. We've seen the shares, the likes, the feedback, the messages. Have been overwhelming just yet, but they've certainly left an impression on us and we're thankful for those. Lots of questions that have come through, a lot of different podcast ideas people have suggested to us, debates people have suggested to us. Obviously, we'll have a lot of, a lot of content coming out here this year way more than usual, many more guests that we've been in contact with or have just or discussed having on the show. So bear with us, brother Sean, we're going to hopefully buckle up on the way down.
Speaker 1:I'm going to do it and hopefully I can be a part of some of them. Yeah, I really, really wanted to be part of the uh the debate I was actually planning to uh set up to, but sickness hit my family, me especially, just like I'm sure it hit a lot of people this last month or so. So unfortunately we missed out. But we're back, we're ready to go.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it seems like the sicknesses have hopefully subsided, but then there's like a measles outbreak in Texas, so hopefully that doesn't make its way up here anytime soon. We'll see You're not going way up here anytime soon, we'll see You're not going to visit family anytime soon. I'm not going to visit family in Texas anytime soon. I'm sorry, family.
Speaker 1:Sorry, Rich family, but y'all are on your own, I guess next month.
Speaker 2:I'm actually thinking about it.
Speaker 1:I don't know, we'll see. Anyway, hopefully it's If the measles outbreak starts in Oklahoma. You can thank Jonathan, yeah, yeah, nope, don't thank me Today, this evening. I guess we're a little over 30 minutes past when we wanted to start, but we're going to be talking about the root of the sin versus the fruit of the sin. This is something that I'm sure a lot of people look into. I myself, personally, have looked into it, done, know, done some studies and research on it, and we're here doing it again. So, brother Jonathan, take it away.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the root of sin versus the fruit of sin, and there are some things that you didn't realize, more than likely, that actually were sin. I wanted to make mention of this because I know, you know, I think a lot of times on these episodes and for those who have listened, we sort of give like a pre-labeled warning at times. I'm going to do that again. I'm also going to suggest you go back and listen to that debate. It was very, very, very intriguing, very interesting, very, I believe, educational. I mean, I'm still feasting off of that myself. I hope most of you are as well, or at the very least, it's challenging to study the Word of God more.
Speaker 2:That's obviously the point, and we've made that known a few times. But there's something that I've said a few times leading up to that debate and after that debate quite a few times, and during the debate rather as well. So, and that is, we aim not to be biased. You know, when we're hosting that sort of platform it's our first hosted debate Our aim, our goal is, you know, to be as unbiased as possible, and I mentioned that. You can find our other videos or other podcasts. You can see our other posts to kind of get an idea of what Sean and I believe, what the crazy thing is, sean and I don't believe on everything the exact same, you know, and that's what makes?
Speaker 2:that's what I believe makes the podcast work so well. But I believe beards are biblical. Clearly, yeah, yeah, clearly, I don't believe they're biblical. Um, uh, I could use those as a crutch, just cause I cannot grow one.
Speaker 2:Obviously, if you've listened to the episode at any point in time but something that we're going to talk about tonight it's probably going to seem like it's alluding to the debate, and I'm here to tell you that it's not. It has nothing to do with the debate. It has nothing to do with what was said in the debate. I listened to the debate one time during the live and one time while I was editing. I have not listened to it, dissected it or anything like that. Like I said, it was interesting. I got a lot from it. I obviously studied a lot more from it. But the things that I say in this episode, the things Sean says in this episode, are not reflective of Bree and holiness, they're not reflective of Luke Beetz, they're not reflective of the debate at all. It's just we've had episodes in mind, we've had studies in mind that we wanted to share, and so we're going to do that. And if at any point, you're listening to this and you say, oh well, that's talking about what so-and-so said and this. That's not what it is. This is just a podcast episode, so please chill.
Speaker 2:The first thing I want to talk about beginning this episode is what is sin? I think a lot of times we have a different idea of what sin actually is. We have a different idea of what the root of sin actually is. We have a different idea of what the fruit of sin actually is, and so I just want to go into simple definitions, simple terms, before we get into the majority or the meat of this episode. Sin is any action, thought or behavior that violates God's will, commands or His moral law, moral code. The term sin comes from the Greek word haemartia, meaning to miss the mark or to fall short. So when I sin, I fall short of you know, the scripture, the glory of God, or I'm falling short of the mark that God placed before me. It is a rebellion against God. It is a willing rebellion against God. Now I've got notes here and again.
Speaker 2:Brother Sean and I don't always see eye to eye on different things. He may agree with what I'm about to say, he may disagree with what I'm about to say, and that's fine. But we're going to talk about it, but I personally believe that sin is the willful act or willful transgression against God's law, knowing that the actions are wrong. The Bible tells us that for a man to do what is right and doeth it not to him, it is sin, so it is knowing it is. Willful acts or transgressions against God there is, I believe. Again, we'll push this on its side for a minute, don't go too far.
Speaker 2:But I believe there is a thing as willful, such a thing as willful sin, and there is such a thing as willful sin and there is such a thing as unintentional sin, unintentional sins. Personally, I don't believe they can be punishable by hell. If you didn't know that you had pride at a moment, or you didn't know that you were accidentally gossiping and it was not something that you were purposely trying to disobey God's word, I have a hard time believing, especially for new believers, that God is going to send you to hell. And then there is willful transgression, which means that I knowingly sin against God's law. I know that God's law says this and even though it says it, I'm still going to disobey it. That is a willful sin. That is an act that I believe causes transgression between us and God and causes separation between us and God.
Speaker 1:It's a whole nother podcast.
Speaker 2:It is a whole nother podcast. There's a couple things in here we could do a whole nother podcast on and we might, but there are some struggles in this and there is growth in all of this. And I say that because there are areas in my life that I deal with that I didn't deal with when I was a new convert. There are things I dealt with as a new convert that I don't deal with today. There were worse things that I faced and worse mistakes that I made that I obviously don't make today, because there is a growth as a Christian.
Speaker 2:When you're trying your best to follow after the Bible, trying your best to follow after God, when you're constantly seeking advice from someone in leadership or seeking advice from someone who's been saved for a long time, and you're trying your best to do what's right, you are going to improve. You are going to get better in areas that you fall short in right. You are going to improve. You are going to get better in areas that you fall short in. There are going to be things today that you're struggling with that 10 years from now you're going to be like, oh, that wasn't even that big of a deal, like why did I struggle so much with that?
Speaker 2:But there's a reason why Paul says I die daily. It is a daily commitment to put aside the unwanted things that are contrary to God's will. Every day I wake up I try to think. Now, I'm not saying every day I do, because I fail, by the way, but every day I wake up I try to think of things that I can do that would be pleasing to God and things that I shouldn't do that would be displeasing to God. Brother Sean.
Speaker 1:Yes, absolutely, and there is grace. Pleasing to God, brother Sean. Yes, absolutely, and there is grace.
Speaker 1:While Brother Jonathan was talking about this, the first thing that came to my mind is a question that some of you all probably have thought. And it's well, what if I'm trying and I mess up anyway? Yeah, and that happens to everybody. Everybody has done it, if you're a new believer especially, but we all have. Like Brother Jonathan said, we all have struggles, we all have things that we have to fight, and I like what Paul said is I die daily. What he's saying is every morning, when I get up, I have to remind myself hey, it's not about you, sean, it's your relationship with God, it's about those things.
Speaker 1:And when you do mess up, when you do fall, I always admire the kids in my Sunday school class. We've talked about this here pretty recently. Actually it's probably been a few weeks ago now, but you know they've brought some of this stuff up and my question is what was the intention? Did you do it on purpose? Was it accidental? And as soon as it was over, what was the end effect? What happened as soon as you messed up? Did you feel God convict you and did you try to make it right.
Speaker 1:That's God's grace reaching out to you and you know, excuse me, whatever it may be, but when you sin and you feel God pricking your heart, that's him saying, hey, there's something wrong. You might want to go check on that, and sometimes it can be intentional, sometimes it is unintentional, I believe. But when you feel God pricking at your heart, that's a time to step back and say, well, maybe I need to evaluate this situation or what went wrong.
Speaker 2:You know, in the earlier episodes of the podcast I don't remember maybe 10 episodes in we talked about guilt and how oftentimes we get free from sin, but we don't get free from the guilt of our sin. You know, we think that because I have sinned and I've asked for forgiveness, that all of a sudden maybe I didn't do enough to get granted forgiveness, or maybe I did something today and I've heard this before. My wife and I have spoke about this several times and I've talked to others about this fear every night going to sleep. That is well what if I wake up and the rapture's taking place and everyone's let you know and I'm left behind because there was something I did today that wasn't pleasing to God and, by the way, I want to do another episode on this, that just that in particular. But that's, that's not how God's grace works and it's not how God works. God's grace is enough for you to lay your head down at night, go to sleep in peace, knowing that he has delivered you from the wages and the guilt of sin. We worry about the wages of sin, we worry about the actual sin and then, after God has forgiven us and we feel that forgiveness by the way, you can feel God's forgiveness, you could feel His love. I can't tell you how many times I've done something that was sinful, I've committed an act that was against God's Word, and I've asked God for forgiveness and felt just grace wrap around I can't explain it any other way but that grace wrapped around me and then moments later there's that bug in the back of my head. Well, you didn't really get forgiveness. Well, why did you do that in the first place? Well, you should have never went there, you should have never said that, you should have never saw that. God, when he forgives us, we can let go of the guilt of sin as well. I die daily. If you're new, if you're a new believer, you've never you've been saved for a week, you've been saved for a year say, I'm struggling with sin. That's okay. Everybody struggles with sin, especially when they're first saved, especially when they are first converted to Christ. Everybody has different trials, different battles, different temptations, temptations that are tempting. You are not going to be tempting me, but you can be free from that and you can be free from the guilt of that. So we talk about the fruit of sin, the root of sin, and there's a problem when we only focus on the fruit of sin. Fruit of sin. And by fruit I mean that many people attempt to deal with outward actions, outward standards, outward beliefs, while neglecting the root of the problem.
Speaker 2:It's starting to warm up. Hopefully we don't have another really bad icy, snowy, whatever it is, and then, like we did last week here in Oklahoma on Wednesday and everything shut down and now all of a sudden it's like 80 degrees outside. Hopefully we don't have any more snow, but if the weather stays like it is, in a few short weeks you're going to start seeing grass grow and you're going to see leaves grow and you're going to see different plants grow and get the sun that it needs and the water that it's going to start raining here in a few months, and so things are going to begin to grow and while they grow, simultaneously there are going to be weeds. Now I love using a weed eater. I love it. Brother Sean's got this really cool weed eater that's got a metal edge tool on it that he put on there, and it's my favorite weed eater to use in all the world, because that sucker will chop down an Oak tree. You know, I don't know if it'll do that, but but it's pretty powerful. It's pretty powerful. I love it. But if you take that weed eater, no matter how powerful, and you go and you cut down weeds with that weed eater I mean, that's what it's intended for, it's in the name A few days later those weeds will be back Always. They're always going to return. If you don't put something, you cut it. You don't put something down, spray something on it, they are going to return. But if you get down in the dirt, you get a little shovel and you dig out that weed from the root. Yes, the weed is bad, but it starts at the root. It starts with what's deep within. There are deeper roots.
Speaker 2:When it comes to sin Outside sins just as an example like murder, that's a pretty harsh one, that's probably one of the worst ones, obviously.
Speaker 2:But those kind of things stem from deeper issues. When you think about Cain and Abel, cain killed Abel and the act of sin outwardly, the fruit of sin, was murder. But there were internal roots of sin that he was dealing with. He was dealing with pride, he was dealing with jealousy. He was dealing with pride, he was dealing with jealousy, he was dealing with anger. And because he was dealing with that, on the inside, what was on the outside followed suit. The root of sin is often hidden in our hearts and minds and no amount of outward behavior can cleanse that. Now I want to repeat that, because a lot of you guys are not going to hear that, or you're going to disagree, or you're going to say going to hear that, or you're going to disagree, or you're going to say I was wrong, or you're going to hate it. But the root of sin is often hidden in our hearts and minds and no amount of outward behavior can cleanse that. You can change outward behavior, but you cannot change what's on the inside.
Speaker 1:And we're not saying that you should not deal with the fruit of it. Sure, don't take it that way at all. One of my cousins preached a sermon years ago and he kept talking about the spider web in the corner. He said if there's a spider web in the corner of the house, every lady in in here is gonna go get a broom or something and clean it and get it down yeah he's and just like we're talking about.
Speaker 1:He said the problem is give it a couple days and that spiderweb is going to be back right. And then you go clean it again a couple days later. Spiderweb is right back there because you're not dealing with the problem Right, you're only getting to the surface of it. Until you get that spider out of the house, you're never going to be able to fix it. And we're not saying don't deal with the spider web either. Yeah, yeah, you know the spider web needs dealt with also. But if you're not getting to the base, then you will be struggling. But if you're not getting to the base, then then you will be struggling. And I think that's what a lot of um, a lot of people have have missed on. And I'm not perfect either. I'm not gonna act like I am, uh, but you know, growing up we you'd always hear preaching against televisions and internet and going bowling and you know, know all these different things.
Speaker 1:Some of them were silly, some of them weren't, but when you actually get down and study them TV for example, there's nothing wrong with a box. Yeah, and everybody that wants to argue with me, you have a box At least one of them. Some of you guys have a couple of them.
Speaker 2:You're watching this on YouTube or Facebook.
Speaker 1:Your phone, your iPad, your laptops. We all have them. There's nothing wrong with that box, right? The root of the problem is what are you doing with it Exactly? You know, I can get in much more trouble on my iPad or my phone or anything, than they did 30, 40 years ago, right? But there are also some very, very good things. We had a men's Bible study and we got to talk about different Bible apps, and we got to talking about different Bible apps and I can tell you right now, I have five Bible apps on my phone. That's a good thing to have on your box, yeah, yeah, yeah, the root of the problem and I'm not going to mention all of them- but, one of the big roots of the problem is time wasting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the fruit of it was the box. Yeah, the root of the problem is spending an hour watching reels, and I'm just as guilty as everybody else doing this sometimes and then you realize, man, I have wasted 30 minutes, 45 minutes an hour.
Speaker 1:What better could I have been doing? Yeah, I could have been praying. I could have been praying, I could have been reading my Bible. I'll fall asleep reading my Bible, but if reels are on then I'll be up until 2 o'clock. So the root of the problem we need to get to it. But you do have to deal with the fruit and don't discount the fruit. But until you get down deeper, that fruit is going to keep appearing.
Speaker 2:Well, I would like to say that if you are listening to this, don't stop listening just because we said that. Give us about 45 minutes, then you can worry about the time wasting. But I agree with what Sean said it all comes down and we're going to talk about this, but it all comes down to a self-control. What Sean said it all comes down and we're going to talk about this, but it all comes down to a self-control. If you don't have self-control, if you don't know where your limits are, you're you're going to exceed those. And it is easy, like he said, it's easy to scroll through Facebook. It's easy to scroll through Tik TOK or Instagram reels or watching through Tik.
Speaker 2:TOK? I think so.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't have one. If you haven't downloaded it, I think you still can.
Speaker 2:Trump saved it for people, so anyway. But you can still do that. You can still scroll through Instagram reels and waste time and hours, and you could download games on your phone, and none of those things are harmless. Games are not harmless. Scrolling through videos is not harmless. Let me say that again, scrolling through videos is not harmless.
Speaker 2:What are you watching? What are you wasting your time on? Is it pleasing to God? Is it not pleasing to God? Those are all questions you can ask, but again, it comes down to what is on the inside. Have you had a change in heart?
Speaker 2:There are dangers of hidden sins. I will say that hidden sins are sins that are a cancer inside of the church. If I'm a fiery preacher that sticks to the word of God and have the right look and act correctly and I'm even a good pastor and I'm a decent preacher you know, if I do all those things and I wear the pastoral hat and I visit the sick in the hospital and I pray for those that are homebound or whatever, but I have lust, or if I'm dealing with the sin of pedophilia in my heart and I act on those things in secret, mentally or physically, then I am simply dealing with the fruit and not the root. I am making myself appear to be good when, deep down inside, I'm facing battles that no one else knows about, and I dare to say many of us are. Many of us are facing our own struggles, and if you don't want to admit that or you want to say you're perfect, I'm sorry but you're not perfect and you're wrong if you think that you are perfect.
Speaker 1:Your struggle is lying.
Speaker 2:But, yes, your struggle is lying, but yes, but it is such a shock to individuals when someone comes out of a church leadership that was immoral or inappropriate, because we put them on a pedestal, but also because we fail to realize that they are humans who can potentially have sins that are hidden by attire and by attitude. If I wear the best things and say the best things and go to the right places and watch the right things, I don't believe there's anything wrong with those things. But what is my heart? What's at the root? Am I addressing the sin at its core? Am I going and asking God to help my mind? Am I asking God to help my heart? And there's some sins within this. That and again. We could probably do three episodes on this, and we might. I don't know, we'll see. That's the beauty of having a podcast we can do whatever we want. So we might even do a few episodes on this, because there's many things that are actually outward sins, that are something that we actually deal with internally, that we need to get internally correct first, and one of those sins that we might not know is sin or we might be committing unknowingly is the sin of gluttony.
Speaker 2:We've mentioned it a few times on the podcast, but it refers to the excessive consumption of food or drink. You'll notice that in the Bible, anytime that it mentions the word glutton or gluttony, it is always paired with drunkard. So it's talking about excessive consumption of those things. It is the fruit of deeper internal issues. Now you want to talk about the root causes of gluttony. It's way more than just the act of eating a bunch of food or way more than the act of just drinking till you're drunk. It is actually the idolatry of the flesh. So the internal sin or the root cause of gluttony is idolatry of myself, it's lack of self-control, it's being discontent, it's being prideful and self-indulgent. It's seeking comfort in food rather than comfort in God. It's more than just about overeating. It's about what is happening internally in my heart and in my mind. If I am constantly trying to satisfy my flesh, regardless of what it is, we can talk about a million things that go with that.
Speaker 2:But specifically with gluttony and I know a lot of people struggle with it I mean we've got a whole Robert F Kennedy Jr, maha Make America Healthy Again. We've got a whole brand new department there that is trying to work and help individuals be healthier in the United States. So I know that people struggle with this, but what is it internally causing you to do that? Do you lack self-control? Do you have issues with anxiety? Do you have issues with depression? And you overeat because of those things? All of those things. Yes, gluttony is the sin. It is the fruit of whatever is going on in my heart and mind, brother Sean.
Speaker 1:No, that's very true. We did a podcast on gluttony and now I feel like we didn't go deep enough on the podcast. Yeah, here's you talking about that, and this is just one of those things. Of course, there's always more, and this is not to condemn you, but to encourage you that you can do better reach out to somebody who you feel confident in. You know, gluttony is just one of those things there's I'm repeating myself man. I'm telling you guys live videos, mess me up.
Speaker 1:I can do, I can do a recorded one and mess up only once or twice, and then you see the little red live and I'm like, uh, Like I forget how to speak.
Speaker 2:They just need to hear it twice.
Speaker 1:Maybe you do need to hear it.
Speaker 2:And it's not just about overeating, like I said, it is about what's internally in our hearts. Yes, the overeating. Man we did an episode on that. We could do 15 episodes on that. I think we actually said that during that episode. I think every episode we've ever done has always been like dude, we could do so much more, Go ahead.
Speaker 1:Something that a lot of people don't realize and I don't know if there's even a word for this I'm sure there is but the lack of taking care of yourself as well. A lot of times we talk about gluttony and the overeating and the overindulgence of, but there's also the flip side of that, where you harm yourself by starving and not taking care of your body and not getting the nutrition that you need and those things. If you go study a lot of that stuff out, then it's caused by depression, it's caused by lack of sleep, it's caused by this whole list of other things.
Speaker 1:And you keep digging down deeper and you realize, oh well, I'm only getting four hours of sleep a night. Okay why? It's because I'm staying up watching Reels all night long.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we just went through this. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:We'll circle back around here. So you know, gluttony is one of those things, but there also is a flip side of it, where the lack of taking care of your body is as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's difficult, I get it, I understand it, and it's almost as if there's roots to the roots. It's like, well, I'm overeating because I'm depressed, well, why am I depressed? And it just keeps going. Think of a root. A root doesn't just go. I mean, it goes down it splinters off.
Speaker 1:If anybody's ever tried digging up like a tree, oh, I hate it. My dad used to have a lawn care business and we would mess around with trees and pull trees up and there were trees and this root went that way and it'd be 50 foot out there and this one went 20 foot over there and you'd finally get to the end of it to realize that it turned left and then you gotta and they were down and a rat.
Speaker 1:We finally just started killing them at the stop. Yeah, yeah you. You'll never get a tree, once a tree, and I don't remember the whole science behind it, but after they're like man if somebody knows, maybe they can, yeah, jump on here and tell me, but after a certain age they say that the root system is like mile long. It's crazy.
Speaker 2:I don't remember the exact, but after just a few years it is massive yeah yeah, that's one of those things where, if you don't cut it off right now maybe too late now we're preaching sermons but it does split off and it can be deeper even than just that. And I think that the point of this podcast we've got a couple more obviously but the point of this podcast is what am I actually facing? What am I actually dealing with? Now I've got to tell some of you and we've mentioned this before but if you need spiritual counseling, there is nothing wrong with needing spiritual counseling. If you need someone to help you through whatever it is mentally, whatever struggle it is, whatever anxiety it is, there is nothing wrong with that. Now we can again. That's the fifth episode. We could do a whole, nother episode on. You can again. That's the fifth episode. We could do a whole, nother episode on.
Speaker 2:So there obviously are internal things and roots that cause us to sin that we need forgiveness for, yes, but we also need to delve in and find out what it is. And there are some things you can do to overcome gluttony. You can cultivate self-control by the help of the Holy Ghost. I believe you can reevaluate your relationship with food. You need to ask yourself why am I turning to food Is that of emotional comfort? Is it because of stress, boredom, discontentment? Gluttony can often arise when we use food as a way to numb pain or escape feelings or deal with anxiety. So we can reevaluate what food is to us. Is food to feed us and to nourish us, or is it just something we use as a coping mechanism? We can seek contentment in God's provision. We can practice fasting or denial of food. That one is hard, I get it. If you're struggling with the sin of gluttony, practicing fasting obviously can help you overcome that and we're going to talk a little bit later on about how to deal with sin, obviously.
Speaker 2:But seek healing for emotional struggles. That may come through hours and sessions upon sessions of counseling. It may come through different actions, prayers, it may come through different exercises. Whatever it comes from. I want to say this again there is nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 2:I think it's so taboo in our church now that if someone sought counseling for something, they're the crazy ones, and that's just not true. And we're facing different mental anxieties every single day and different things that we've, that that are dealt to us every single day that people back in the fifties didn't deal with, and they dealt with things that we're not dealing with today. So there are levels to this, but there are ways that you can overcome that, and I wanted to say it again, and you may not like this and you may love it, I don't care, but someone needs to know that there is nothing wrong with seeking help, and we've said it before on this podcast and we'll say it again If you need help, you don't know who to turn to, please message us comment, I don't really care. Message us individually. You don't even have to message the podcast Sean Sloggett, jonathan Rich and let us know. You know that you need help. We will do our best to get you connected to somebody yeah.
Speaker 1:That's, that's what this podcast is here for. That's what we're here for, and we will find help. Yeah Well, we want to talk about the second thing here I'm going to get a drink.
Speaker 2:Gossip, that's the other thing. Yeah, well, we're going to talk about the second thing here I'm going to get a drink. Gossip, that's the other thing. Yeah, gossip. Ooh, that is big, that is harsh, that is hurtful. Everybody gossips. Now, I know that's a blanket statement, brother Sean, I get it. Maybe I shouldn't say everybody.
Speaker 2:A lot of people gossip, and some people gossip and they don't even realize that they're gossiping. Some people are in the church and they're just chit-chatting away and all of a sudden someone's name comes up. Well, did you hear what they did? Did you hear what they said? And you go off about your day and then you realize I shouldn't have said that, I should not have said that, I should not have been susceptible to that.
Speaker 2:Gossip is speaking negatively about others, usually in a harmful way, and often without knowing the full story. But there are root causes of without knowing the full story, but there are also some some key or root causes of what gossip actually is. I've said it before, we'll say it again. If you've listened to this podcast, you're probably tired of hearing me say it. If your friends talk to you about their best friends, they're also talking to their best friends about you. They're also talking to their best friends about you. If you are talking to your friends about your best friend, you need to stop.
Speaker 2:But there are root causes of why we have gossip. One of the biggest root causes is a judgmental attitude. Now I need you to understand something here. We misuse Matthew 7 and 1. I get it Judge, not that, lest you be judged. That's the part that we use, but the Bible never asks us to have a condemning or judgmental attitude. And what happens when we have that attitude is that we are very, very quick to talk about others in person and on Facebook. Facebook is also a gossip machine. Facebook is also a place where you can spread lies or say things that you don't know the full truth to. By the way, because of our judgmental attitudes, because of pride, because we lack.
Speaker 2:Oh man, there is a, there is a group. Hopefully they'll share this video so that more people can see it here in Sepulveda, Oklahoma. That is the Sepulveda community page. We call it the gossip page because every two seconds, every two seconds, it's. Did you see what that man put on his dog? He was wearing a blue shirt. Did you see that person park incorrectly? How dumb are they? This person cutting me off while on the road all the while you're probably dressing your pet up and stupid things. You're probably cutting people off on the road.
Speaker 2:You're probably you're probably texting and driving. You know all of those things. There is a there is always that element of gossip that I think many believers have and, yes, it's something that we need to cultivate and get, get better at not doing, and we need to fix those problems. Obviously, I'm never going to take that away, but at the same time, it comes from a root cause. It comes from a root sin. Yes, again, we're talking about fruit and root Fruit is gossip, but the root is pride.
Speaker 2:The root is I'm better than you. The root is envy or jealousy. The root is I don't love as much as I should. The root is I have a judgmental attitude. The root is I don't love as much as I should. The root is I have a judgmental attitude. The root is, again, I lack self-control. I don't know how to keep my mouth shut. You need to study to be quiet. You need to study and realize that maybe I shouldn't say that. Now I've gotten myself, I've trust me. I've put my foot in my mouth many a time. I mean, I've said things to people that the moment it left my lips I was like I shouldn't have said that and it wasn't even. It wasn't even necessarily what I said, but it was who I said it to. Sometimes, too, lack of self-control and having a heart of pride having a heart that lacks love.
Speaker 1:all those things in return will have a fruit that is gossip Brother Sean, I need to be careful with gossip. You got any juicy gossip we can share on this podcast. Yeah, if somebody comes up to you, because the new phrase now is have you heard the tea or spill the tea?
Speaker 1:As soon as I hear somebody it's making a comeback, I got you. If somebody says dude, I got the tea, I'm like okay, please shut up. Unless it's about me, then let's talk about it, unless it's sweet tea. I know you don't like sweet tea, do you? No, I don't, I do not. We just lost half of our followers.
Speaker 2:We just lost 80 followers just by you saying that alone.
Speaker 1:I don't drink sweet tea. It's of the devil, oh my goodness.
Speaker 2:There goes the other 20. Yeah, there goes the other 20. All 100 people left, all at the same time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's something. That gossip is something that I have seen firsthand, a lot of I have dealt with and I have seen how it can destroy. Yeah, you know it starts here and then it gets over there and then by the time and that's one of the big problems with gossip in my eyes yeah, you know not the root, but you know by the time it gets around to that person it's so big, it's so exaggerated and even if it was true when it started, by the time it gets around, nobody knows what's going on. Nobody knows and it's just one giant mess. Yeah, it always turns into a mess.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it always twists.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it gets twisted up and spun around, but that you know again, because we don't like this person or because we just want to talk. I know some people that are horrible gossipers. Yeah, and it's just because they like to talk. They run out of things to talk about, so they will literally go find somebody or something else to talk about. It's still gossip. Yeah, I'm not hating on these people, it's just the facts. Yeah, and sometimes the facts need to be. You need to shut up about the facts too. I'll say that, yeah, if it's not your place, if it's not for you to be dealing with and you want to keep talking about it, I don't care how true it is. Sometimes we need to be quiet on those as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, gossip stops when it hits a wise person's ears is one of my favorite quotes. And, by the way, if you've ever, if you've never seen Larry Boy and the rumor weed, you need to go watch. That's one of the greatest VeggieTale movies of all time.
Speaker 2:We got that, like last week. You can overcome that, obviously. You know you can. You can examine your heart, guard your words. That's so important. It's important to know when you should be quiet. It's important to know what you should say and what time you should say it. It's important to practice that self-control. And then it's important to replace, or aim to replace, that gossip with encouragement. You know your lips. They can be like a hammer. They can build up or they can tear down.
Speaker 2:You can either build someone up and try your best to encourage and I fail at this, trust me. I fail at this all the time. I don't feel like I use my words correctly. Sometimes it's certainly a struggle, but little by little, if I try to replace those with encouragement, if I try to follow the principles of Matthew 18 and 15, where it says if your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. Oh man, that is hard for some of us to take. Well, they did this against me and I'm going to tell everyone and their mother about it. No, that's not the right way to go about it. Either, if someone has wronged you or you feel concerns about someone, the biblical approach is to go directly to that person in love, not talk about them to others, and focus on unity, focus on peace. We talked about the fruit, which is there's a lot more scriptures.
Speaker 1:I just went and looked them up. There's a lot more scriptures on lips and the mouth than I even realized.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's tons of them. There's tons of instruction for how you should speak, how you shouldn't speak.
Speaker 1:I just real quick Googled Bible verses about guarding the lips and obviously this isn't KJV, so KJV only.
Speaker 2:You are the sweet tea in now this you are destroying.
Speaker 1:Proverbs 13 and 3,. Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life. He who opens wide his lips comes to ruin. Proverbs 12 and 3,. He who guards his lips guards his life, yeah, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin. Proverbs 21, 23,. Whoso keepeth his mouth and tongue keepeth his soul from troubles, and there's a whole bunch more. Oh yeah, death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit. Yeah, I didn't realize there was that many of them, you guys didn't realize that we were a Christian podcast.
Speaker 2:We had some scripture, did you? We'll lay some.
Speaker 1:I'll try to get some kjv verses for next time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I mean that that's the thing again talking about. If you're just joining us talking about fruit versus the root, um, you know there's there's internal issues, there's internal struggles. A lot of it is I have problems myself, but I think the right thing is to tell everyone else about about their problems.
Speaker 1:You got it. Yeah, I think that's why we deal with the fruit and not the root of the problem. Oh yeah, yeah, it's because way too often we know we have something going on and this man.
Speaker 2:This isn't part of the notes, by the way. Yeah, you're, you're going off script.
Speaker 1:I like it, it's true though, is we're worried that somebody else may start digging around trying to get to the root of our problem. That we're we don't want to deal with this. Let's just cover it up and help them cover their deal up and move on. Yeah, oh yeah, dude, have you thought it like?
Speaker 2:it's literally just kind of yeah, I think, I think, yeah, I think for sure, I think that's just true for everybody. It's really easy to you know. You hear it in children's church all the time. It's like well, you point the finger at someone, you've got four fingers pointing back at you. Well, if you've got five fingers pointing back at you, we've got different problems. But you point your finger at somebody, you've got four other fingers pointing back at you. And the the meaning, the meaning of that was because we always want to point at each other's faults or say you're doing wrong, or say they're doing this. And you know what's crazy about all of it. I've had people gossip to me about things. Let me rephrase that I have also gossiped to people about things. Let me rephrase that I have also gossiped to people about things that I was dealing with. I've said well, did you see what they did? You hear what they said? Did you hear what they were watching? Did you hear what they were struggling with? All the while I'm dealing with it myself.
Speaker 1:You're back on watching the same show on Netflix.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's like. Yeah, so it's like. I do think that there's. I mean, this goes true for a lot of things, but there's different elements of truth to that that. Most of the time, when we have those fruits of sin, when we gossip we're going to talk about another one here in a moment, but that's going to tie into this as well but specifically at this point, when we gossip, a lot of that is just because we haven't dealt with things internally in ourselves and we want to reflect that onto others.
Speaker 1:Get the spotlight off of us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and the third thing you know I'm sticking with the letter G. I did not mean to do this, it is just the preacher in me, brother Sean. Okay, I'm just super spiritual for this episode.
Speaker 1:Did you go to Bible school?
Speaker 2:I did go to Bible school, by the way you did, that's right. But we talked about being gluttonous and gossip, and then the other thing is we do is that ties into the gossip is we'd like to hold grudges, so grudges. It violates God's commandment to forgive, it harms our relationship and it does foster bitterness. It reflects a lack of grace and a lack of mercy. But there are consequences to holding a grudge, such as spiritual bondage, such as preventing us from having peace and joy, such as spiritual bondage, such as preventing us from having peace and joy, causing us to lack trust in God's justice and God's forgiveness, and all of those things.
Speaker 2:But there are deeper issues than I'm just holding a grudge. It actually comes from a heart or a root of sin, called the sin of unforgiveness. Matthew 6 and 14, 15 says for if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their sins, your father will not forgive your sins. The reason most of you hold grudges, listen, the reason most of you do not oh, sean, I just exercised.
Speaker 1:You're like Preacher Rich is coming on now.
Speaker 2:I just actually just exercised the exact thing I said earlier when I said you need to learn to be quiet, because I just shut myself up. I'm not going to say what I was going to. Just say though I did think it, so God forgive me for that. Just say though I did think it. So God forgive me for that.
Speaker 2:But if you are dealing with a movement that you are bitter towards, you need forgiveness. If you are holding a grudge against a group of people or a specific person I've had it happen to me before. Don't get me wrong. I know people have done me wrong. I know people have hurt me. I know I've struggled being their friend or struggled wanting to go listen to them preach anymore, or struggled wanting to see whatever they've got going on on Facebook. But my heart is unforgiving. I need to fix that. I need to forgive. That does not mean I trust. That doesn't mean I become best friends with them. That doesn't mean I listen to another sermon of theirs ever again. That's not what that means. That doesn't mean I involve myself in their movement, though I think sometimes we could and be helpful. If my heart is not forgiving, then I'm failing as a Christian and I'm holding a grudge because of that unforgiveness.
Speaker 2:There is self-righteousness that is involved with grudges. There is bitterness. I spoke about it. Bible says in Ephesians 4.31,. It says Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Matthew 6.14-15 says For if you do not forgive other people when they sin against you of malice. Matthew 6, 14-15 says I already read this one, I'll read it again For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your Heavenly Father will forgive you, but if you don't, god won't.
Speaker 1:Grudges have ruined probably more relationships. Yeah, not probably Grudges have ruined more relationships than we realize, right, I know of relationships, friendships, marriages, whatever type of relationship you want to put in there but I know of instances that were destroyed because of this, were destroyed because of this, and the sad thing about it is that when they got to the end or you could ask them several years later, anything like that what caused that? Mm-hmm, most of the time they cannot tell you. Right, it was something happened and it upset me. Yeah, well, because that something happened, it caused them to hold on to it. So then, the next time something happened, it was so easy for them just to grab that and throw it in their basket too. And well, since they're mad at me, then well, I might. And then I'm gonna start piling everything, yeah, and then you're 10 years, 20 years, 30 years down the road. Why don't you communicate as a married couple, right, right, oh, we just don't get along. And I I've heard stuff like this and and it hurts me to hear this kind of stuff we just stayed together for the kids. That's not healthy, and they'll admit it's not healthy.
Speaker 1:But then you try to deal with it, find out what's the problem? Where's the root at? What can we do to fix this? They have no idea, right, because it's built and it's built off of we don't know what, but some grudge started so long ago and it's gotten to that root system took place and it is splintered and went this way and I looked that up when a tree is established, and they say usually takes about two to three years. So when a tree is established, they say that the root system is three times that in every direction, is three times that in every direction. So say, a tree in three years is established and it's 20 foot tall, that means it's 60 foot, it spans or it reaches 60 foot in every direction. Yeah, so you think of some of these things that, like these marriages that just keep going and they're they're so far out there in left field they have no idea it's. They couldn't get back to the stump if they had to, right and it's.
Speaker 1:It's so sad to see stuff like that, but it starts with these little things that we often fail to take care of. And me and my wife God help us I won't say we, I struggle with grudges. Something happens and I don't want to talk about it, just let me go cool off. Well, at this point it's time for dinner, so just let's eat. And then, and I've, I've been trying to work on it because I don't want to see myself A year down the road and get mad at my wife over something ridiculous. But I can't tell you why it made me mad. Yeah, because she said something a year ago that upset me, so I'm just going to hold on to it forever, right, I'm getting 5, 10 feet, 20 feet, 30 feet. I'm just causing myself to move farther and farther away from here, right From her, and God help us not to do that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and we hold on to those little things. I mean, I've seen people before they just rub me the wrong way and it was like why did they rub me the wrong way? That doesn't make any sense. And you're like trying to think and you're looking back and it's like that was so silly anyway. Why did I get upset at that? It did I get upset at that. It was so goofy.
Speaker 2:I mean, I know that there's obviously deeper things and there's there's worse things out there that people face. Um, I still think that you should forgive and and at least try to get past it. But there's been many times where it's like I don't even know why I was upset and I want to throw this in there too. I know we're kind of getting towards the end here. We've got one more. I know we've gone a while. We've got one more point to make as well.
Speaker 2:But I want to say this, as we kind of end this portion of it, and that is stop holding on to other people's grudges too. Other people's grudges are not your grudges. My friend doesn't like so-and-so grudges. My friend doesn't like so-and-so Well, because I'm allegiant to my friend. I also don't like so-and-so or. I also think the worst of them. Sometimes your friends are wrong. Sometimes your friends are mad about things that are foolish and silly. Don't let that cause you to also hold grudges or cause you to also gossip.
Speaker 2:You need to recognize there is sin in holding grudge. You need to understand the power of forgiveness. God forgives you. You can forgive others. You need to remember God's forgiveness toward you and what's the most important of all this, I believe, is you need to pray for the person that hurt you. There's been people that have hurt me, rubbed me the wrong way, said things about me, and I've just prayed for them daily and God healed me of that because I realized they were human too.
Speaker 2:The Bible says in Matthew 5, verse 44, but I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. We kind of skip over that verse, don't we? We skip over it all the time. It's like pray for your neighbor and pray for the church member and pray for the other Christian. What about your enemies? What about the people that you despise? Do you pray for those and pray for those who hurt you as well, and then pray for them in the right way? Yeah, god, please, fire from heaven, fall down on them? Don't pray for them in the right way? Yeah God, please fire from heaven, fall down. Don't pray for that like that. Pray that God will correct them. Pray that God will help them. Pray that God will forgive them.
Speaker 1:And then let him.
Speaker 2:And let him do the work.
Speaker 1:Don't try to correct them and fix them for God.
Speaker 2:Pray for them and then let God yes, and you can find comfort in God's peace instead of holding grudges. So we've talked about gossip, We've talked about grudges, We've talked about gluttony and I've got the fourth G here. The final one, as we begin to close our descent, begin to close is the sin of not spreading the gospel. That is one of the most difficult ones. Again, I think we've done podcasts on this but it is a biblical command to spread the gospel, to shine the light of Christ in all unbelievers. Bible tells us go and make disciples. It says preach the gospel. It says be a witness to me, be a witness of me and for me.
Speaker 2:But the root cause is not evangelizing. The root cause is because you lack compassion and love for others. The root cause is because you're selfish and you want to keep all this to yourself. The root cause is because you're spiritually complacent. You have not grown, you have not studied, you have not been prepared. Study to show thyself approved is not study to show thyself a really good sermon on a Sunday morning. Study to show thyself approved is.
Speaker 2:If I'm facing someone who is struggling, who has different viewpoints of whatever it is, I need to know the Bible to be able to back up what I believe and to spread the gospel effectively, but we don't do that. Spreading the gospel is a sin, but it comes from the root cause of I don't love or have compassion, I'm selfish and I'm spiritually complacent. So we need to recognize Brother Sean, did you have something to add to that? We need to recognize the importance of spreading the gospel. God commands us to spread the gospel, not just so we can have a feather in our cap, but so that the loss can be found. We need to develop a heart for the loss.
Speaker 2:Now, I've heard this prayer many times, prayed in Bible colleges, prayed in the church. We need to have a heart for the loss. We need to have a heart for the loss, and it is true. We don't need to just say it, though. We need to pray it and seek it and ask God to help us to have the same compassion that Christ had. We say that we're Christ-like, but how are you Christ-like? What makes you Christ-like? Does not saying curse words make you Christ-like, Probably. Does going to church make you Christ-like? Yes, Does preaching make you Christ-like? Yes, but is that all I am to be Christ-like? Is that it? Or am I to love my neighbor as myself? Am I to feed the hungry and clothe the naked? Am I to visit the widow and visit the poor and help the addicted? How did Jesus Christ act outside of the four walls of a church? I need to develop that same heart for the loss that Jesus Christ had.
Speaker 1:I know it doesn't record every minute of Christ's life, and I understand that. But what has intrigued me is, if you go back and read you know, just go back and read through the Gospels you see Christ walking down the street, and this is something that we miss a lot of times. He's walking down the street and he looks up in a tree and says, zacchaeus, let's go have dinner. And he witnesses to him. Yeah, or there's men in a graveyard that come running to him, right, full of devils, or he's at the well. The Bible says that he. But right before that he says something to the effect of I must needs go through Samaria, and then he meets the woman at the well. Time and time and time again, christ is witnessing, doing miracles, doing all these things, and most of it is outside of the church. He was just walking down the street and then he got to talk to Zacchaeus.
Speaker 1:Yeah, when I'm pumping gas and I'm not saying it's, I know it's not for everybody, but I think we do need to be bolder in our faith, absolutely, if I'm pumping gas and I can see you standing on the other side, I'm going to try to just say it's a great day. God bless this with, isn't it? Yeah, because what are you going to say? No, it's a horrible day. Hey, come to church. You're going to have to kind of admit it's a pretty good day, which means that you're also going to have to admit that God made it for us. Yeah, yeah, right, but you know these little things we can do to win. Some of it can be so small, like that. You know, passing out tracts and having services and all those things. But we need to be bold in those opportunities. But realize that a lot of times we want to be a Christian in the church, which is good and it's commendable.
Speaker 1:But when you step outside of the church, you still need to be the Christian, because the ones in the church are Christians as well. They don't necessarily need me If I'm not there on Wednesday night and I'm not saying to skip church, but if I'm not there on Wednesday night, it's not really going to make or break a lot of things, because there's Christians in the house. They're all mostly Christians, which is again a whole other podcast we should be having lost in the church as well. But it's when you step outside of the four walls is where you meet the non-Christians, the unbelievers, and that's where we need to be the witness. I'm all for preaching, I'm all for testimony service, I'm all for encouraging the saints, but if we don't get outside of the four walls, we are failing. I am failing.
Speaker 2:And we need God, obviously, like you said, to give us a boldness to help us overcome the fear of it. But it's just the unscheduled time. I mean, I can't tell you how many times I've been able to tell someone about Christ and I didn't even really have intention to go out and tell someone about Christ. It was just making myself available for God to use me, and making myself available so that when those moments and opportunities arose, I would take action and I would, you know whatever, and I wouldn't be afraid to say I don't know. Like there'd be questions asked that I'm like I'm not really sure and, like you said, yeah, being prepared, but at the same time it's like, hey, let me get back with you, I'll find out. You know, that's a good question. I've had people ask me some of the craziest questions, but you can find answers in His Word.
Speaker 2:So there is a boldness that needs to come from that to overcome fear and self-doubt, and sometimes we just need to build relationships with nonbelievers. Now we've got a whole list of things we could talk about using your testimony, living out the gospel, embracing the Great Commission, getting equipped with Scripture. Build relationships with non-believers. I'm not telling you to go party with them. I'm not telling you to go do things that they do, but I am telling you that, in order to effectively reach someone for Christ, get off of your high horse, stop thinking that your church is the only one that's going to make heaven, and build relationships with those individuals in a way that, when the time comes that they need help, that they can find help you mentioned living out the gospel and I was reminded of something that happened to me years ago.
Speaker 1:We were playing basketball at a park and some guys I mean there was, there was probably 20 of us there. I mean there was a bunch of people. There was a few of us that were Christians. It was there. Most of them, I mean 90, 95% of them at least, were non-Christians, but they were all guys that I knew. I've played with them quite a bit because most of us frequented this park. But I had one guy specifically come. I was sitting on waiting for our you know our turn to come up so we can hop in and play a game.
Speaker 1:Some guy came over to me and said hey, let me talk at you for a second. I'm like, yeah, sure, what's up? And he said man, I can't figure this out right now. He said but there is something different about you and I was like, yeah, what's that? And I believe in modesty, but he didn't bring up that I was wearing pants. He didn't bring up that I was one of the only few guys out there that still had my shirt. Most guys were out there playing ball without their shirt on. It was in the middle of the summer, gross. He didn't bring that stuff up. He said whenever the guys quit or their game is over, they go get a drink of alcohol. Yeah, I've heard almost and he would say I've heard almost every guy in there get mad and cuss somebody out.
Speaker 1:Tonight, not just since we started, but tonight there was a couple fights that broke out. He's like all these things are happening. And he said you're just chill. He said I haven't heard you cuss, you haven't got involved in any of the fights. He said there's weed in that car over there. Everybody knows it. You haven't went over to that car yet. What is going on with you, man? He's like there is something and that gave me the opportunity to present the gospel to them. And that's one of those things that living out the gospel, you were just playing basketball, I was playing basketball, I was living my life. It was one of those unscheduled opportunities, but I was living the best I could as a Christian. And again, I believe in modesty. But it had nothing to do with the pants. If it would have, he'd have said something about it. Yeah, I believe it, yeah. But he said, bro, you're so clean, you're so respectful, you don't do all these crazy things. I'm like, yeah, let me tell you a little bit about Jesus, right Exactly.
Speaker 2:Live out your faith, yeah, Jesus Right, Exactly. Live out your faith, yeah, and you know you could. Obviously, like you said, there's unscheduled times, but you can also join outreach groups. I mean, if you're not sure how to do whatever you know, you can message us, we can help you, we can plug you into places We've have resources. But find an outreach group, find a group that you know is is Christian based, that desires to help others for Christ, and not just help others for a feather in their cap, but help others because they genuinely have a desire to see the lost saved.
Speaker 1:Even if you don't completely agree with them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yep, that's a good one too, even if you don't completely agree with them. The highest.
Speaker 1:I love this, I love this fact, I would say. I mean, we're anti-abortion and I'll say that 100%. Most Christians I pray, all Christians are yeah, should be, all Should be. There is a certain denomination in church that has almost single-handedly funded the overturning of Roe v Wade.
Speaker 2:The Pentecostals. Oh, I'm getting into a heap of trouble.
Speaker 1:I am anti-abortion? Yeah, when I heard this fact, it blew me away. But the Catholic Church almost single-handedly defunded Roe v Wade. They dumped millions of dollars and resources into this because they were that firm against it. Yeah, do I agree with Catholics? No, most of what they have, in my opinion, is a little messed up. They've got some stuff. They have stuff I don't agree with. But you want to talk about anti-abortion? You cannot have that conversation without the Catholic Church. Right, and it's kind of weird to say this right now. But I'm going to say thank God for the Catholic Church. Yeah, I agree, or we would still be fighting this battle. Yeah, even if you don't agree with them, find somebody, be a light.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, join a group. I mean, do something. If it's biblical, if it's biblical outreach, then you should partake and learn. I mean, you're like wondering what to do. You don't have boldness. The best thing you do is surround yourself with people that know what they're doing at least know most of what they're doing and have that boldness. And I think that that will develop over time.
Speaker 2:And so, in conclusion to this episode, there are so many more things we can go over. There are so many more inward versus outward sins that we could discuss and cover. But the final thoughts of this is this is that sin is not just about external actions, but it's about the heart and the mind. Why am I doing what I'm doing? Get to the root of it. Real change only comes when we deal with the root of sin, not just the fruit. And by addressing those inner sins, by asking God to forgive us, but also cultivating our hearts and our minds to avoid those thoughts or to avoid those feelings, I believe we can also experience true freedom and peace in Christ.
Speaker 2:Well, we wanted to thank everybody for listening, for following us. Go share this post, comment, give us a like. You can find us on the social media platform of your choice by searching the Everyday Christian Podcast. That's the Every and Day Christian Podcast. Every and Day, two separate words. Or you can find us on the podcast platform of your choice, but I've mixed those up At Podcast4Him on the social media. But on the podcast app of your choice, by searching the everyday Christian podcast, we are on all, all major platforms. Leave us a comment, leave us a review. Again, we've had several from our most recent debate that have come through and different thoughts, different comments, different questions. We appreciate all of those, but again we want to thank you all for listening and hope you have a blessed day.
Speaker 1:God bless.
