The Bullpen with J.D. Greear

By J.D. GreearReligion & Spirituality Christianity

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The Bullpen with J.D. Greear episodes

March 02, 2020When is it okay to leave a church?
Pastor J.D. discusses what’s important to keep in mind when it comes to leaving a church and choosing one.
A glimpse inside this episode:
There are two tensions to manage here:
The no-commitment consumer culture is not appropriate for the church.
Consumer culture works for some things. But not for church. Church is a family: The best parts of church come from that; it’s not a show. It is better to be really connected at a mediocre church than partially committed at the best one.
I only have one life to live, and I want to invest it where I get the most return.
Hearing the Word.
Community that makes you flourish
Maximizing gifts: Don’t be a “Lone Ranger Christian,” the one faithful voice in a dead church. You’ll be much more effective working side-by-side with like-minded believers than you will trying to effect change on your own.
This matters even more to me now as a father. I want my kids to grow up in a place where they will see and experience firsthand the best community of believers I can offer to them. Gospel-centered ministry is an absolute priority; the spiritual health of my family is too important to have them in a place without it.
What are mistakes you’ve seen people make as they approach this decision?
Always thinking about your needs is a sign of immaturity. Paul tells the Ephesian believers to “grow up” (Eph 4:1-16), which he defines as learning to use your spiritual gift in the church, not being fed and having your needs met each week. It is infants and toddlers, not adults, whose primary concern in being fed and having their bottoms wiped by others. Ironically, some of the “seasoned” Christians who complain the most about “not getting anything out of their church” act more like toddlers than mature believers! The church is not about you. This is important for any church, because your church, no matter what it starts like, cannot remain perpetually “the hottest show in town.” Someone younger, cooler, and flashier is right now preparing the next best thing. So, we’ll have ups and downs, cold seasons and hot ones.
Thinking you can turn it around. If you are not part of the lead pastoral team, you very likely will not be able to turn the ship around. Pray and wait.
Waiting too long. You get the greatest return on relationships when you invest yourself in one place for many years.
I’m not sure how to give you a “litmus test” for when to stay and when to leave. I have known people who felt called by God to stay in a dying place and believe God for its resurrection and actually saw that happen. I’ve known others who tried that and, because they were not in a place where they could really effect the change they desire, “wasted” some great years in a dying organization. I’ve known others who left a dying church and went on to serve God somewhere else, and were greatly blessed in the process. And I’ve known still others who abandoned ship when they should have stayed.
If you think there’s a possibility of change, I’d say stay and make it happen. When you see that there is not, invest your life elsewhere.
Be committed: There’s a difference in how the chicken and the pig contribute to your eggs and sausage breakfast. The chicken makes a contribution; the pig is committed. Be a pig.

The sponsor for this week’s episode:
For more than 25 years, Portable Church® has helped thousands of churches launch strong and thrive in a mobile setting. They design custom solutions that fit each budget, vision, and venue. Everything you need to launch a mobile church — an inviting worship space, kids ministry areas, welcome spaces, storage cases, etc — all in a system refined to make it fast, easy & fun for the weekly volunteer teams.
15 min
February 24, 2020How does cold call evangelism fit into the church right now?
Pastor J.D. talks about the nuances of cold-call evangelism and why evangelism is vital to the church today.
A glimpse inside today’s episode:
This is something very familiar to me. In the church where I grew up, Wednesday-afternoon soul-winning was your first act of sanctification! Not kidding. I got saved on a Friday and went on my first soul-winning cold-call that next Wednesday.
For various reasons, most churches have gone away from that.
Not as effective at making long-term disciples
People don’t respond any more to strangers.
Now, bad versions of cold-call evangelism can go terribly wrong, and can potentially even harm someone’s view of the church.
But here’s the thing: it provided some great experience, and nothing has replaced it.
Door-to-door evangelism was where I learned to share the gospel. Losing that with nothing to replace it has been a pretty significant loss. Are “ordinary” church members equipped to share the gospel? Are they actually doing it? Do they even see it as their responsibility anymore?
What can we do?
Find the Right Tools; If You’re a Pastor, Teach the Right Tools
A lot of people have plenty of drive to share their faith, but are lacking in practical guidance. On one level, it does not take much skill to describe your experience of salvation: “I was separated from God; Jesus saved me.” But there does come a point when instruction and training are a huge help. Having the right tools can greatly improve our confidence when we share Christ with others.
Conversation starters
Verses to use (I always start with Romans 6:23.)
Illustrations
Format: 3 Circles, Bridge
Asking the question at the end
Telling your story
Get good at it.
You need an elevator speech: Entrepreneurs have what they call an “elevator speech” for their product: even though they could talk for hours and hours about it, they force themselves to condense things down to a 45-second summary (roughly the length of a long elevator ride). We should have an “elevator speech” for our story too: 100 words or less that explain how Christ met our “felt” needs, which sets us up for a sharing of the gospel. It’s important, of course, that we remember that our story isn’t the same as the gospel. It’s just a response to the gospel and, in evangelism, provides an introduction for us to share the gospel.
Most importantly, stay in tune with the Spirit.
We don’t hear this nearly as much as we should. We don’t build the kingdom for God; we let God build it through us. That’s why the first command given to the apostles in Acts is to wait. Until the Spirit arrived, they could do nothing.
This is the only way to keep from being overwhelmed by the massive task of evangelism. God does not expect us to convert people; he invites us to walk with him and be his instrument as he builds the church.
Pray it every day. Who’s life are you going to put me in the midst of?
Sometimes he’ll provide a wide open door, other times not. Sometimes we open that door.
Sometimes it doesn’t turn out well–that doesn’t mean it’s not of God. Honestly, only about 1 in every 5 of my attempts to have a spiritual conversation turns out well. But just because it turns out poorly does not mean that God is not in it.
Stephen witnessed to Paul and was stoned, but that was definitely Spirit-filled evangelism!
I have heard that the average person has to hear the gospel 12 times before they believe. Sometimes I like to ask what number I am. We may get the joy of being that 12th person, or we may be one link in the chain. But the Spirit has a role for us.
How do you not get discouraged, though?
Imagine: Running a magnet over the sand. See what metal comes up.
A friend says: A true evangelist believes two things: Salvation belongs to God and faith comes only by hearing. The former takes the pressure off of you in all the right ways. The latter puts it on in all the right ways–it shows you your responsibility! How can they hear unless we preach?

The sponsor for this week’s episode:
For more than 25 years, Portable Church® has helped thousands of churches launch strong and thrive in a mobile setting. They design custom solutions that fit each budget, vision, and venue. Everything you need to launch a mobile church — an inviting worship space, kids ministry areas, welcome spaces, storage cases, etc — all in a system refined to make it fast, easy & fun for the weekly volunteer teams.
14 min
February 17, 2020Can Christians speak in tongues?
Pastor J.D. walks through various views of spiritual gifts today and discusses some general guardrails to keep in mind when approaching gifts like speaking in tongues.
A glimpse inside this episode:
Now, a little lay-of-the-land: There’s generally 4 positions when it comes to spiritual gifts like tongues and prophecy:
Cessationist: gifts (like prophecy, tongues and healings) have ceased.
On the other end is the Pentecostal position: i.e. the gifts are in full operation, and normative for every Christian, and if you are not using them there is something wrong with you, and you need to fix it, or start faking it.
The charismatic: which is that these gifts are in existence, and part of the normal ministry operations of the church, but not everyone has them.
Then there’s a 4th position that doesn’t really have a name, but believes that the gifts have not ceased, but that most of the ways the gifts are being used today is not really biblical/or helpful.
I say at The Summit Church we are charismatics with seatbelt. I’ll say right up front, and this may not be popular, but there is a lack of hard and fast clarity when it comes to this issue, but I think that is intentional. God wants us to be open to anything God chooses to do in this area; but he leaves us clear parameters so that we can know when it’s him doing it.
Here’s my general guardrails:
We should not forbid speaking in tongues (1 Corinthians 14:39).
To be clear, I do not have a private prayer language, nor do I think Paul encourages us toward one in this, or any, passage. While not encouraging anybody to speak in tongues, however, Paul stopped short of forbidding it.
I think we should stop where he did. In fact, “banning” tongues goes against the entire spirit of Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 14, not to mention being in nearly direct defiance of verse 39. If Paul had wanted to outlaw a prayer language, he would have done so.
God is not in heaven, wringing his hands and wishing that he had been clearer in his word. He said what he wanted to say, exactly the way he intended to say it, with the ambiguities and limitations he desired. And if you believe in the sufficiency of Scripture, you should be ok with that.
The primary purpose of tongues is to signify the spread of the gospel among non-Jewish people (14:21–22).
The primary purpose of tongues is not private prayer. They were not given to make you feel closer to God—for that you have the blood of Jesus! As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:22 tongues are a sign for unbelievers, particularly unbelieving Jews. With other tongues I will speak to this people.
This is why I approach a lot of cases of tongues with suspicion. When someone tells me that their private prayer time is filled with speaking in tongues, I always want to ask, “How many unbelieving Jews are present in your private prayer time?” The same is true for worship services where speaking in tongues is common. How many unbelieving Jews attend those services?
The spiritual gift of tongues was meant as a signal to the Jews that God is interested not only in them, but that he desires to save people from all tribes and all peoples and all languages. Tongues are a dramatic sign of the new non-Jewish frontier of the gospel.
Seeking tongues is not a sign of spiritual maturity (14:19–20).
Many talk about it as if it is the “deeper things” of the Spirit. That’s not true. Even if you accept that it is a gift in operation today, a couple of things to realize here.
Paul never tells us to seek that gift. In fact, he seems to set up so many restrictions around the practice of tongues that only a truly supernatural work of God could pass the test! Like a sieve.
On the other hand, Paul repeatedly tells us to seek gifts that build others up (12:31, 14:1, 12, 39). This is true spiritual maturity—not when we are swept away by ecstatic and unintelligible utterances, but when we interact with the Spirit and offer ourselves to be used by Him for the good of the church.
Not all Christians speak in tongues (12:30).
Many say they should. I’m not sure how Paul could have been clearer on this one. Not all Christians speak in tongues. Those who claim that speaking in tongues is a necessary sign of the Spirit of God are in direct contradiction with the Word of God.
Our worship services should be characterized by much more interaction with the Spirit (14:25–26).
True worship occurs when the people of God, the Word of God, and the Spirit of God converge. Too often we settle for two out of three—the people of God sitting and passively listening to the Word of God. We are so afraid of disorder that we essentially reduce church to a Bible podcast. The power of God’s Word is unleashed to communicate His love to real people who are in real pain in real time.
We should each come to church with something to give (14:26).
What makes for a Spirit-filled service? A great sermon? The “right” kind of music? No, a Spirit-filled service happens when the Spirit comes in with you. A truly Spirit-filled service can only happen when the people of God come prepared to share what the Spirit has put on their hearts.

The sponsor for this week’s episode:
For more than 25 years, Portable Church® has helped thousands of churches launch strong and thrive in a mobile setting. They design custom solutions that fit each budget, vision, and venue. Everything you need to launch a mobile church — an inviting worship space, kids ministry areas, welcome spaces, storage cases, etc — all in a system refined to make it fast, easy & fun for the weekly volunteer teams.
13 min
December 30, 2019Is the United States “exceptional”?
Pastor J.D. discusses whether our attitude toward the United States should be one of pride or of shame.
A glimpse inside this episode:
Another way to frame this question is, What is the right attitude to have toward the United States—pride or shame?
I would say: the answer is yes, but not because of our genetics, race, or national character. We are sinful, weak people like everyone else and have been driven by the same greed.
Are we chosen by God, like a new Israel? No.
But, we were gifted with a Constitution that was rooted in many Christian principles that made us thrive. Ordered liberty, Judeo-Christian morality, Protestant work ethic, dignity and self-reliance, limited government with checks and balances (recognizing universal human depravity and that all leaders need checks and balances).
Those are not just a blessing to us, they are a blessing to anyone and they always lead to flourishing wherever they are fully embraced.
Islam doesn’t lead to that (or other theocracies)
Communism/socialism doesn’t lead to that
Let me reverse the question for the cynic: How else do you explain America’s prosperity? Either our founding ideas were superior or our genetics were. I go with the former. And yes, we benefited from lucky coincidences (America’s vast resources, two ocean buffers) and from sin (slavery), but neither of those alone accounts for America’s stunning successes. Our view of humanity and government is exceptional, and it is freely available to all. Look at what happened to S Korea and Japan when they adopted it.
So the United States isn’t better than other countries because of our race, or because God has chosen us. But are you saying that our Constitution makes it better than other countries?
The question to focus on is, “Is there anything exceptional about the ideas that America are founded on? And do those ideas uniquely contribute to human flourishing? Or are all government charters equally alike?
I say, “Yes, American ideas are exceptional which has contributed to some unique moments of flourishing.”
The true pluralist says “no.” Saying American ideas are exceptional is like saying the colors of our flag are exceptional. It’s just preference. The only reason America has prospered is slavery and exploitation.”
But you can’t explain it away like that. Other civilizations have had just as much slavery/exploitation, and it hasn’t led to flourishing. Caribbean. And Thomas Sowell: no other civilization has reversed itself on slavery.
Ultimately, it was biblical ideas that led to the overthrow of slavery; the same ideas that caused us to flourish
I get we can be patriots and nationalists in an unhealthy way. But I think it is biblical in many ways to love the idea–or many of the ideas embodied in–America.
Eric Metaxas: “If we do not love America and teach our children to love America—as God loves her—we can never love the world beyond our shores and can never teach our children to do the same. And that, precisely, is our promise. That is the promise of America. It is why we came into existence and it is why we have flourished and why we must continue to do so.”
9 min
December 23, 2019Why do I feel so burned out in ministry?
Pastor J.D. talks about this rising issue, learning how to find Sabbath rest, and four ways of rest we need every day.
A glimpse inside this episode:
1,500 pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout, or strife in their churches.
80% of pastors’ spouses feel their spouse is overworked.
80% wish their spouse would choose another profession.
The majority of pastor’s wives surveyed said that the most destructive event that has occurred in their marriage and family was the day they entered the ministry.
Idolatry
Rest in Christ: In Christ, you can rest even while you’re working. Without him, you’ll work even while you’re resting. A big key to not being burned out is learning to find Sabbath rest, and a big part of Sabbath rest is learning to find yourself in Christ.
Beyond that, we have a failure to take an actual Sabbath:
It is inconvenient!
Psalm 127
Four kinds of rest you need every day:
Physical
A recent study found that a 30-minute nap three times a week cuts your heart attack risk by 40%. Other studies have shown that people who nap are actually more productive.
A recent CNN study showed that those who work 11-hour days are 250% more likely to become depressed than those who limit their work 8-hour days. The reason is that when you are under work stress your body releases a certain amount of chemicals and hormones to deal with it—which is fine in normal rhythms but when you work too much it literally poisons your body, throwing off your levels and leading you more anxiety and depression.
Especially for those in ministry: Archibald Hart: 30 minutes up front releases same amount of chemicals as 8 hours of labor
Those who study these things say that the vast majority of us need to be getting more sleep, not less. They say, “Only 1–3 % of the population is sleeping too much.”
Historical context: Up until 1879, the average American used to sleep 11 hours a night. What changed in 1879? Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb. Which is great, but it was then we started to sleep less. PHONE and LIGHT
Our lack of sleep contributes to all kinds of health problems—and even makes us less efficient. I was watching this TED talk that explained that your brain doesn’t have blood vessels in it, which is how most of your cells remove waste. There is an enzyme the brain produces that carries away waste, and that enzyme is only produced in sleep. Which is why when you haven’t slept your minds feels cluttered and clunky.
Mental
Winston Churchill painted. Best way to rest is get really tired doing something you don’t typically do.
“We need more ‘active’ rest – the kind that can make us more alert and effective, reduce our stress levels, and give us a better chance of a healthier and longer life.”
Social
One night a week you spend with people you like
Our decision to move into community
Spiritual
Prayer time
Working on vs. Working in the Church
We do both. The temptation is to only do the former, but the real rewards of the body of Christ come from the latter.
I once knew a prominent megachurch pastor who often spoke of how he only worked “on” the church not “in” any longer—i.e. little personal evangelism, no personal discipleship, small groups, etc. His greatest contribution was working on the structures and big picture.
Being in full-time ministry means that the balance of our lives shifts to “working on,” but we should maintain a level of “working in.”
14 min
December 16, 2019Can Christians believe in evolution?
Pastor J.D. looks at the creation narrative and explains that an open Bible and an open mind are key when contemplating the concept of evolution.
A glimpse inside this episode:
The short answer is, “Yes.” This is one of those areas where Christians should be free to disagree. There are many conservative Bible scholars who believe in something like evolution.
Notable theistic evolutionists: Alistair McGrath, Francis Collins, and maybe Tim Keller(?)
Others do not. But they are able to remain in close fellowship with one another, because this is not a “first order” issue. I have serious problems with theistic evolution, but I don’t consider it a first order issue. Now, just because we can charitably disagree doesn’t mean this discussion is irrelevant. It has a lot of implications for how we read Scripture, which makes it crucial.
If you are a Christian who believes in evolution, you’ll have to believe in what’s called “theistic evolution”—that even though the earth is billions of years old and it took millions of years for animals to come to their present form, God was orchestrating it. Hence theistic evolution—God + evolution.
Now, many conservative scholars have issues with this. For instance, Wayne Grudem has an article called “12 Ideas You Must Embrace to Affirm Theistic Evolution.” His whole point is that if you affirm theistic evolution, you deny basic principles that are plain in Scripture, such as:
Adam and Eve were not the first human beings, were born from human parents.
God didn’t act directly or specially to create Adam out of dust from the ground; God didn’t act directly to create Eve from a rib taken from Adam’s side.
Adam and Eve did not commit the first human sins because human beings were doing morally evil things long before Adam and Eve existed. (and weren’t sinless)
Human death did not begin as a result of Adam’s sin because human beings existed long before Adam and Eve and they were always subject to death.
Not all human beings have descended from Adam and Eve for there were thousands of other human beings on the earth at the time that God chose two of them and called them Adam and Eve.
God did not directly act in the natural world to create different kinds of fish, birds, and land animals.
God never created an originally very good natural world—a safe environment, free of thorns, thistles, and other harmful things.
After Adam and Eve sinned, God did not place any curse on the world that changed the workings of the natural world, making it more hostile to mankind.
According to Grudem, this position is just too fraught with problems for a serious Bible reader.
Doesn’t Genesis 1 teach that God created the world in six literal days?
Many people look to Genesis 1 and they want to know timelines. Are we talking about 24-hour periods here? Or does each day represent a period of time—millions of years, perhaps? Maybe there were gaps somewhere along the way?
This is one of those questions that some Christians take very seriously. It often acts as a litmus test for whether you’re a “real” Christian at all.
With all due respect to those who consider this a Priority One issue, I don’t believe that Genesis 1 itself gives us enough to come to rock solid answers about the creation timetable.
Remember: whenever you’re interpreting a passage of Scripture, you have to ask why it was written before you pepper that passage with questions.
If you start with the wrong questions, you’re not going to get to the right answers.
And it appears rather obvious that the author of Genesis 1 was not intending to weigh in on the scientific nuances of our contemporary creation v. evolution debate. The focus of Genesis 1 is not specifically how God created, but that he created. It’s an artistic celebration, not a scientific documentation.
When it comes to the age of the earth, that’s a question that scientists and theologians should explore together.
I know godly, biblically faithful theologians who believe in the inerrancy of the Bible and who think that the timetable of Genesis 1 was not a literal week (which, by the way, isn’t a new interpretation, but is a position that has been around since the first few centuries of Christianity).
I know some who think that God used evolution as a part of that process. And I know highly intelligent, scientifically sophisticated, erudite scholars who believe that each of the days in Genesis 1 are literal days.
My encouragement to everyone in this discussion is to study it out with an open Bible and an open mind—and not to look at other believers wrestling, in sincerity and faith, with disdain.
If you believe in a literal 24-day in Genesis 1, don’t view your brothers and sisters who believe in the inerrancy of the Bible but approach interpreting Genesis 1 differently than you do as “enemies of the faith” or “compromisers of the truth.” That’s not always true.
And if you don’t believe in a literal 24-hour day, don’t look down your nose on others as “primitive, knuckle-dragging Neanderthals.” That’s not always true, either. Be charitable and assume that others are trying to be faithful to God’s Word and God’s world, just like you are.
God’s Scripture is never wrong. But we theologians and scientists often are. So we’ve got to resist the temptation to turn into a dogma a question that Scripture did not intend to settle.
As Christians, we can agree: the universe is not the result of blind, random forces (NOT nothing x nobody = everything); God is the miraculous author and creator of all we see. That’s actually a significant common ground.
Great book: 40 Questions on Evolution and Creation by Ken Keathley and Mark Rooker, two of my professors at SEBTS
11 min
December 09, 2019Is anxiety/depression a spiritual issue?
Pastor J.D. discusses the common struggle of anxiety and what Scripture has to say about it.
A glimpse inside this episode:
When it comes to anxiety and depression, many people create a false dichotomy. Either this is a biological and chemical issue, or it’s 100% a spiritual one. But that’s simply not the case.
God made us a “psychosomatic unity,” which simply means it is impossible to separate, at least on earth, our souls and our bodies, and what happens in one inevitably affects the other.
For example—very simple example: You ever realize how unspiritual you get when you haven’t gotten enough sleep, or when you are hungry? I told you a couple of weeks ago, I can get really impatient and rude with people when I’m hangry. Now, in one sense, you could call that a spiritual problem, right? Nothing should justify my being rude. But the truth is, my rudeness—which is a soul problem—is being triggered and exacerbated by my physical condition. That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t pray for more patience, just that I should probably also take a nap and eat a Snickers bar. It’s like one of my professors used to say, “Sometimes the best thing that you can do for your spiritual life is get a good night sleep.”
(Now, to be clear, I’m not saying that what I experience when I’m hungry is the same as what you experience if you’re walking through depression or anxiety. Nor am I saying these problems can be fixed as simply. I’m just making the point that there is a lot going on in any emotion, factors that are not only spiritual and physical, but also psychological and social!
To reduce the experience of anxiety down to only one of these factors is simply irresponsible. That’s why, at our church, we not only preach on the spiritual aspects of anxiety and depression, but we also offer ministries that focus more holistically on these struggles. And we encourage people to incorporate medical care into their mental health plan.
How to deal with spiritual depression:
Think on the promises of God. One of my favorites is Lamentations 3. I see four major pieces of instruction in it:
1. Call to mind the goodness of God (vs. 21–23)
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
Don’t you love this image of the new morning? God’s mercies and faithfulness are like the sun coming up new every morning, washing away the shadows and the darkness of the night!
Today may feel like a terribly dark, never-ending night of mistakes and despair. But God’s mercies rise new and fresh every morning.
If you’re not dead, God’s not done! His mercies are brand new this morning—and they will be again tomorrow morning.
Your emotions may be telling you that there is nothing ahead but darkness and despair, but you must call to mind that Jesus got out of the grave which means he has good plans for you and your family, and ultimately your story will end in victory and not defeat.
(Preach this glorious gospel to yourself. The most influential person in your life is you because you talk to yourself the most.)
2. Learn any lessons God is trying to teach you (vs. 26–28)
3. Realize that God’s plans are ultimately for good and for blessing (vs. 24, 32)
4. Get up tomorrow and look for the goodness of God (vs. 22)
How about anxiety? Matthew 6
Anxiety thinks too little of God (Matthew 6:24–29).
It elevates the obtaining of other things besides him as essential for the good life.
Jesus says: The good life is more than making a lot of money; it is more than good career choices and successful parenting techniques and finding the right person… (Or, as Jesus said, “A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”) The good life is walking with God and letting him provide all those things.
It also thinks too little of God’s control. Not one hair…
Anxiety minimizes how much God thinks of me (Matthew 6:26, 30)
Isaiah 49:16, “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? (Has that ever happened?) Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.”
Romans 8:32, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” What more would God have to do to prove his commitment to you? This reminds me of my kids sometimes on vacation—after spending the day at Disney World we are 30 minutes behind when we would normally eat dinner, and my kids say, “Dad, are we not going to eat?” And I’m like, “You think I brought you this whole way to starve you? Isn’t just being here proof of my commitment to you? Do you know how much it cost to get you here? Do you think I’m standing in a 2-hour line to ride Dumbo for 90 seconds for me? Surely if I care enough to bring you on vacation, I care enough to keep you fed. Not that this has happened recently…
Surely if God cares enough for us to send his Son to the cross to die in humiliation for us we can trust him with our bills, our spouses and the future of our families.
Anxiety usually is a false prophet (Matthew 6:27, 34).
It offers false solutions, makes false promises and offers false predictions.
Anxiety is a false prophet because the vast majority of the things we worry about never take place! You worry about 1000 things that never take place. I’ve heard it described as paying interest on a debt you may not even owe. Or like hearing the threatening music in the soundtrack of your life when there is actually no danger.
I remember watching a scary movie with my wife and they are in some peaceful scene by the lake and all of the sudden the ominous music starts and you know it’s about it to go down. And I told Veronica that it would be great if I could have ominous music play when something bad was about to happen me.
Like when some relationship was really going to go bad, when I first met (her) this sinister music would play in my ears… and I’d know, “This is not going to turn out well.”) That would have been great in college.
And then I realized the bigger problem was that ominous music plays in my heart when there is nothing for me to be scared of! Think about how many things you worry about that never happened!
Psalm 27:13: it’s not wrong to be an optimist.
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Sponsor: Blackbaud Church Management connects your staff and congregation, ensuring deeper relationships and effective ministry. To see how to connect your church community with one holistic system, visit hello.blackbaud.com/blackbaudchurchmanagement.
14 min
December 02, 2019Can Christians be rich and live wealthy lifestyles?
Pastor J.D. shares about the generosity matrix and how that can help us view finances biblically.
A glimpse inside this episode:
Short answer: Yes
People like Abraham; Job at the beginning and end of his life; David; not to mention Solomon!
Randy Alcorn points out in his book Money, Possessions, and Eternity that it is clear that some of Jesus’ early disciples were people of substantial means.
Luke goes out of his way to point out three wealthy women who funded him: Mary, Joanna (who was Herod’s household manager), and Susanna.
Some of Jesus’ followers in Acts evidently had large houses, as we know they hosted early church gatherings.
Paul often addressed rich people in his letters. He didn’t tell them to get rid of everything immediately; he told them to be generous and to their hope in heaven and not on their wealth.
Two extremes:
The first one is that God wants 10 percent (that’s called the tithe–based on OT principle that the first 10% goes back to God); so, you give that, and after that, you’ve mostly fulfilled your duty and you can do whatever you want with the rest. It’s like a God-tax. After you pay it, you’re free.
At the other end are those who assume that whatever we are giving, we could and should be giving more. They assume that God’s only real purpose with our money is spreading the gospel and relieving world poverty, and in light of so much poverty and the lostness of the world, if there’s something we could give away and still survive, we probably should.
Illus. John Wesley famously took down all the pictures on his wall because he felt like they were the “blood of the poor.” Each picture on the wall was another orphan he might have brought in from the cold.
Or, do you remember that really stirring scene in the movie Schindler’s List where Liam Neeson, who is playing Schindler, looks at his watch and remorsefully says, “This watch … this watch could have freed two Jews.” Basically that. You see everything you have through the lens of what it could have done and feel guilty for not having given it.
I think Scripture teaches us to view our possessions through a matrix—a set of principles we must hold in tension. We like rules, formulas, and black and white prescriptions. Instead, the Bible gives complementary values we should prize in our hearts. Individual decisions arise out of processing them through that matrix.
Jesus’ generosity to us is a model for our own (2 Corinthians 8)
God gives us richly all things to enjoy (1 Timothy 6)
God gives excess to some to share with others (2 Corinthians 8)
It can be wise to build wealth.
“The crown of the wise is their wealth.” (Proverbs 14:24)
“The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance.” (21:5)
“Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will be bursting with wine” (3:9–10)
“Go to the ant, O sluggard, and consider her ways … she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.” (and saves it) (6:6–8)
“A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children.” (13:22)
Treasures in heaven are better than treasures on earth
Look to God, not money, as your source of security and significance
Two personality types: Money and birds
Put God first
Follow the Holy Spirit
Any one of these principles, taken alone, will lead you out of balance. But holding all of these principles in reverent tension can provide you with a balanced and biblical approach to your money.
God gives excess to some so that they can share with those who have less.
Those of us who have been given more have the responsibility to share with those given less.
The Bible teaches this all over the place, but one key place is Paul’s instruction in 2 Corinthians 8:13–15, where Paul uses the story of the manna to tell the Corinthians that those with excess should give to those with want. We should not hoard our materials or gorge ourselves with God’s provisions today, for, at the end of each day, it will all go bad, just as it did with the manna.
Jesus’ generosity is the model and motivation for our generosity.
Jesus did not merely tithe his blood, he gave all of it. Our responsibility is not to give up our 10 percent and go on our self-serving ways but to pour out our entire lives, recklessly, for him and for others, just as he did for us.
God doesn’t give us more to increase our standard of living, but our standard of giving.
The Holy Spirit must guide us as to which sacrifices we are to make.
Not everything in heaven has your name on it … but something does.
This is why the Pentecostals mobilize so well for missions. (And what is true for missions motivation is true for giving motivation, too.)
In giving, I depend on the guidance of the Spirit.
Otherwise, every time I hear someone speaking about some mission, I feel like, “Why shouldn’t I be a part of that?”
God delights in our enjoyment of his material gifts and gives us richly all things to enjoy.
Proverbs says he gives food and wine (fruit juices for us Baptists) to gladden our hearts, not just to nourish our bodies. Food is a gift of God that is about more than just life; it is about enjoyment.
Psalm 35:27 says, “The Lord… delights in the well-being of his servant”(NIV). Like a good father, God loves to watch us enjoy the gifts He has given to us.
1 Timothy 6:17-19 says that God gives us richly all things to enjoy.
In other words, God loves it when I bite into the succulent richness of a horseradish-crusted prime rib and every taste bud screams out in thanksgiving to God, etc.
This can be taken out of balance, but it is a biblical principle.
We are not to trust in riches and not to define our lives by the abundance of our possessions.
Money is the top competitor with God for two things in our lives: security and meaning.
Savers v. Spenders (and a third category … stewards)
Wealth building is wise.
Consider these clear instructions in Proverbs.
“The crown of the wise is their wealth.” (14:24 ESV)
“The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance.” (21:5)
“A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children.” (13:22)
Proverbs 13:22 goes so far as to say that a wise man can leave an inheritance that blesses even his grandchildren! That’s a pretty significant wad of cash.
Now again, if you held this principle alone and not in tension with the others, you’ll hoard money and not be generous—which is opposed to the other principles here.
But we should also note that saving money and building wealth can actually increase your ability to be generous later.
If you take all of those 6 principles into account, I believe the life that most glorifies God is one in which you live sufficiently and give extravagantly.
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16 min
November 25, 2019Can Christians believe in aliens?
Pastor J.D. talks about whether aliens are a possibility or a mere figment of the imagination.
A glimpse inside this episode:
Our faith doesn’t rise and fall with this question, so we have some liberty here. It’s not in our church’s statement of beliefs. C.S. Lewis seemed to keep the option open, and he’s smart … so there’s that.
Evolutionists say yes: the likelihood of that much space. Stephen Jay Gould thought we should stop trying to send out signals because they in all likelihood would be hostile
Astronomers estimate the number of stars at more than 3,000 billion trillion. Mathematicians says Septillion. 24 0’s.
Now, if you’re like me, numbers like million, billion, trillion, or a septillion tend to sound all the same after a while. One million seconds ago. Do you know what you were doing a million seconds ago? 11 days ago.
What about a billion seconds ago? Do you remember what you were doing then? That’s 31 years and 8 months ago. Some of you, of course, can’t remember what you were doing then because there was no “you” to speak of. Sometime in the 1980s. The compact disc player had just been released. Rambo was saving our world from certain destruction. The Jedi were returning for the first time.
How about a trillion seconds ago? How long ago do you think that would be? A couple centuries back? A trillion seconds ago was 29,672 BC. The 1st Rocky movie had just come out.
And there are as many as 40,000,000,000 (40 billion) potentially habitable planets. So the likelihood is high.
But: Anthropomorphic/Goldilocks Principals (chances are low)
Creation thought: Did God really waste that much space?
But:
(Lewis: God creates for himself).
Plus, according to Genesis 1, man is the center of creation:
God created the Sun, Moon, and stars to give light (brightening the utter darkness of the night sky) and to assist mankind (see Genesis 1:14-15).
Throughout Scripture: This centrality of man continues. “Thou dost make him [man] to rule over the works of thy hands, you have put all things under his feet” (Psalms 8:3,6).
Why so many stars for these purposes? Is it any big thing to God?
Plus, God says that all of Creation exists to declare the glory of God! Psalm 19:1. The very vastness of space declares to us the awesome power and majesty of God! The more we know the more we say with David in Psalm 8: “O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is your name in all the earth, Who hast displayed your splendor above the heavens! …When I consider the heavens, the work of your fingers, The moon and the stars (I say)…O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is your name in all the earth!”
Also:
The Bible tells us that one day we will rule even angels, and the 2nd member of the Trinity became a man and now sits on the throne of the universe. It’s hard to read Scripture in a way that allows for other races.
The Bible also pretty clearly indicates that God’s plan for mankind and the universe itself are intertwined. When Christ returns, he’ll destroy this universe and the Bible talks about a “…new Heaven and a new earth” (2 Peter 3:7, 10).
So, what does that mean for aliens? Well, because the Bible talks about the destruction of the earth and the universe and the re-creation of a “new Heaven and the new earth”, it seems unlikely and unfair that there would be other life on other planets whose reality still revolves around us. Distant planets would be destroyed by God because of his plan for Earth. The implication of Scripture is that there are no other intelligent beings besides man, animals, and the angels.”
I’m not sure we could TOTALLY close the door on other intelligent life, but another rebellious race that God gave himself for? That’s hard to integrate with Scripture.
Practical question: If there were, could we ever be visited? Based on the physics of the universe, hard to imagine.
The closest star to the Earth, Proxima Centauri (a-Centauri C) is 40.7 million million kilometers (approximately 25 million million miles) away. The Apollo flights took three days to get to the moon. At the same speed, one would need 870,000 years to get to the nearest star. Of course, one could accelerate (particularly unmanned) probes to a greater speed.
At the incredible speed of one-tenth the speed of light, the trip, one way would still take 43 years. However, one would need enormous amounts of energy for such an acceleration, roughly equivalent to the electricity consumption of the entire world’s population for one month.
Furthermore, in every cubic kilometer of space, there are an estimated 100,000 dust particles (made up of silicates and ice) weighing only a tenth of a gram. At such a velocity, colliding with even one of these tiny objects could destroy a spaceship.
What is behind all the sightings?
I don’t know. People’s imaginations. But something to consider, Sociologist Gerald Eberlain said: Research has shown that people who are not affiliated with any church, but who claim they are religious, are particularly susceptible to the possible existence of extraterrestrials. For them, UFOlogy is a substitute religion.
Furthermore, in Ephesians the devil is called the “prince of the power of the air.” As Dr. Werner Gitt points out, “The devil has his own repertoire of deception in the form of various occult practices and a multitude of religious rites. It could be that behind those unexplainable UFO reports there is the work of the arch-deceiver.”
All that to say: Believing in the possibility of aliens is probably fine, though questionable at best. But obsession over them might indicate something troubling for a Christian. We don’t need beings from another planet to save us; We’ve already had a heavenly being walk in our midst.
13 min
November 18, 2019When talking with a transgender person, which pronoun should you use?
Pastor J.D. discusses transgenderism, gender ambiguity, and the concept of pronoun hospitality.
A glimpse inside this episode:
Old maxim: Behind every question is a questioner.
When I hear a question like this, I immediately imagine the sort of person asking it. Sometimes it may be someone trying to pick a fight.
But behind those who identify as transgender, that experience is invariably a person filled with confusion, pain, and rejection.
Sadly, the church has often failed to be the sanctuary of the hurting for people in the LGBTQ community. We need to acknowledge that and repent of it.
Behind every case of ssa or gender dysphoria is a question about unanswered prayer.
Before we talk about trans pronouns, I think it may be helpful to talk a little bit about transgenderism more broadly.
Two excellent books (that far excel my own knowledge here):
Ryan Anderson, When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment
He deals with these questions (about sex vs. gender, pronoun usage, etc) in a very straightforward while (usually) grace-filled way.
Andrew Walker, God and the Transgender Debate.
1. What determines your gender? Anatomy? Identity?
The real answer is genetics: However things look on the outside, sex (male/female) is hardwired into our DNA. But since the external manifestations of sex do not always cohere with the genetics, scientists use the helpful phrase, “genetic sex.” This refers to whether a person has XY or XX chromosomes. Genetic sex is established at conception, and is a binary. Despite advances in medical technology, there is still no way of altering this, as it is a part of our DNA. No matter what sexual reassignment surgeries people undergo, or what hormonal supplements they take, they will always have the genetic sex they did at conception.
There are periodic mutations in which individuals get other unconventional combinations (besides XX or XY), the most common of which is XXY. (This is called Klinefelter syndrome.) But even though this is the most common genetic sex disorder, it only occurs in about 1 in 1,000 men—and most of them never manifest symptoms. If they do manifest symptoms, it is usually via infertility.
All told, when it comes to genetic sex, at the DNA level, there really is just male and female.
QUESTION 2. What about ambiguous Genitalia and the “Intersexual”
Now, when it comes to external anatomy, the situation is slightly different. Sometimes a genetically female child will have an enlarged clitoris (resembling a penis), or a genetically male child will lack one (or both) testicles. In most of these cases, the abnormality is minor and can be corrected surgically. This is sometimes referred to as “ambiguous genitalia,” though some people with this condition prefer the title “intersexual.”
Again, the numbers here are very small. Only 1 in 1,000 babies undergoes corrective surgery for genitalia abnormalities. Not all cases of ambiguous genitalia require corrective surgery, of course, so the number of instances may be higher—though only slightly so.
But here’s the important thing to note here: those who identify as transgender are nearly always not those with abnormalities in genetic and anatomical sex. Even the “Intersex Society of North America” admits that transgendered people “have an internal experience of gender identity that is different from most people,” not an identity based on their ambiguous anatomical makeup.
It’s not found by looking within. Our hearts are inclined to be deceitful, not trustworthy (cf. Jeremiah 17:9). And as Tim Keller has shown in his recent book, Making Sense of God, the more we look within for our identity, the more we get confused, toggling between elation and despair.
Our identity is formed by our Creator. We are who he has declared us to be.
QUESTION 3: OK, the pronoun question…
Andrew Walker, God and the Transgender Debate
“Christians disagree—hopefully charitably—about pronoun usage. Some think that as a personal courtesy, you should refer to a transgender person by their preferred pronoun. … Others think that it is wrong to inject further confusion into a person’s situation by referring to them with a pronoun that is not aligned with their biological sex.”
In other words, there is a spectrum of generosity of spirit vs. telling truth
I tend toward generosity of spirit.
Andrew Walker: “My own position is that if a transgender person comes to your church, it is fine to refer to them by their preferred pronoun. .. If and when this person desires greater involvement or membership in the church, a church leader will need to meet with them and talk about how they identify. … The best solution is to avoid pronouns altogether if possible. Calling a person by their legal name or preferred name is more acceptable because names are not objectively gendered, but change from culture to culture.”
Best if you use the proper name over and over, even if it means it sounds weird
Preston Sprinkle, who heads up The Center for Faith, Sexuality, and Gender, has a similar approach:
He calls it “pronoun hospitality.”
The Bible appears to use accommodating language. ACTS 17. We know there is only one God.
You might find a correlation in “wives” in polygamous society / to a divorced man: “your adulteress”
I wouldn’t invest too much into language–”oh, I am lying” You can be clear in other ways.
“I’ll argue in this paper that the most biblical response to transgender people’s pronouns is a posture of unequivocal pronoun hospitality.”
That is, I believe that all Christians can and should use pronouns that reflect the expressed gender identities of transgender people, regardless of our views about gender identity ethics. If a person identifies herself to you as ‘she,’ I hope you will consider it an act of Christ-like love to call her ‘she’ out of respect, whether or not you believe that the way she expresses her gender identity is honoring to God” (11.1).
“What does it look like for people who think differently about gender identity ethics to speak truthfully and effectively about one another? This paper considers the common reasons given by Christian conservatives for rejecting the idea of pronoun hospitality, then challenges two assumptions about the nature of language that such arguments make and lays out an affirmative case for pronoun hospitality based in a robust understanding of how language works” (11.1).
“Christian arguments against pronoun accommodation—that is, using the pronouns with which trans people identify—are generally rooted in the importance of truth-telling. According to this view of language, the purpose of a pronoun is to make a statement about a person’s appointed sex” (11.4).
“Whereas [the truth-telling position] emphasizes the importance of truthfulness for the sake of personal integrity before God, Andrew Walker’s position focuses primarily on how his truthfulness will impact others who are listening to his words” (11.5).
“The arguments against pronoun accommodation summarized above all rely on two important assumptions about the nature of language. These assumptions are all the more powerful because they remain unstated:
Assumption #1: Pronoun gender always and only refers to an individual’s appointed sex.
Assumption #2: When our definitions of words differ from other people’s definitions, ‘telling the truth’ means using our own definitions” (11.6).
“When we apply Paul’s linguistic approach to the pronouns we use about transgender people, I believe we arrive at a posture of pronoun hospitality: a willingness to accommodate the pronouns of our transgender neighbors regardless of our own views about the Christian ethics of gender identity” (11.10).
Based off of Acts 17
12 min

About The Bullpen with J.D. Greear

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Every sermon starts with more than can fit into a message. For years, Pastor J.D. Greear has filled his sermon notes with extra illustrations, questions, insights, and rabbit trails that never made…