MTRP S5 Ep20 FInally Free after thoughts and state of current affairs

Talking and walking Christian men's ministry would like to invite you to our monthly men's breakfast, held every first, third, and fifth Friday of each month. You enjoy fun fellowship in the Word of God as we break bread together. The meetings are held at First Christian Church, 1130 North Main Street, Kernersville, North Carolina.

Start promptly at 630 AM and have a hard stop at 8 o'clock AM. Come join your hosts, Will Hardy and Roy Jones Jr. Welcome to Man Talk, a ministry sponsored by TAWCMM, talking and walking Christian men's ministry, where we're devoted to breaking down the walls of race and denomination and to point men to their God-assigned roles. Now, here's your hosts, Will Hardy and Roy Jones Jr. Welcome to Man Talk radio podcast. I'm Roy Jones, your co-host.

And I'm Will Hardy, your other co-host. Will, we decided we were going to do this show just to kind of air out some stuff, right? Well, I got some stuff I want to air out. I know you do.

I know you do. I don't know about you, but I got some stuff. Yeah, so this is going to be a little bit of an ad-lib for us in terms of we're just going to come from the heart about things. We just finished up the book, Finally Free, last show. So we're coming to you now to share what we're in the middle of. And as you know, as the listener and certainly as our viewers, we're in a very difficult time nationally, globally. And we've just lost, in my mind's eye, we've lost any sense of right and wrong. We've lost moral direction.

We've lost the ability to identify absolutes. And I think that's one of the things that jumps out to me right away, Will, is just with the sexual immorality that we're pushing, with the innocence of children being threatened, with the various indoctrinations, the education that doesn't need to happen in the sake of helping children. And then, of course, the financial lack of responsibility in our country and in our local level. And then, of course, the pornography, which we've talked about back to the sexual immorality piece.

And then just the total discord that I see day in, day out with people. It's all about me from the lack of courtesy anymore, manners, opening and closing doors for people. It's just we've become so centrally focused on ourselves in so many ways and we've lost control. We're not following God's word. Most importantly, we're trying to push God out of our nation.

And I think as a result, we've lost favor from Father as a nation. Well, and along with that, Roy, I think that the nation as a whole, that we're seeing judgment come about on the United States and the world in particular. And when you look at statistically that there is a decline in the number of people who are receiving Christ in the U.S., but when you go abroad, you look at places maybe like Asia or India or Africa, the number is going up.

And I think we can attest many things to that. But I think God is working so mightily in those nations for a number of things. It might be due to persecution or lack of food or just all kinds of things that could draw a person into and coming into the body of Christ. But for me in particular, I think what's been on my mind here recently and lately has been the decline in the church and churches that are dying. And I read an article and it was first published in ChristianAnswers.com and the CEO of that particular, I guess, media outlet, his name is Thorn Rainer. And so he wrote this article and he gave five reasons why he sees by talking with people, because one of the things he does is go out to churches and he talked with pastors who might invite him to come in to speak. As to why there is a decline in church membership or why we are not blossoming the way we should.

And so he goes all around the country, around the world, I think also giving talks. But he talked about these five things, and the first thing he talked about was that there was a lack of evangelism. Now, when I think about evangelism, so evangelism is taking what you have learned in your local assembly and take that outside the four walls.

So you take it to the street. And I can tell you firsthand, Roy, I went out, this was a while ago, and I did some street preaching. And trust me, street preaching is not for everybody. Of course, we call it open air preaching, but it's not for everybody.

Oh, I was haggled. And of course, I was approached by various other religions of people who questioned some of the things that I was saying based on the things that they read that were in contrast to what was being said. And to be honest, I think people who want to take the gospel message and use it for the purposes of trying to disclaim it.

Right. They're taking the gospel and they're learning it. And I think they know more verses in the Bible than some born again believers who go to church each week. So lack of evangelism was the first thing. And I think a lot of this ties into some of the list that you mentioned that we're not going out. I thought about it and I said, well, there are churches who do evangelize.

They're doing well. But we need more of the churches doing this. And I was just thinking on the way over that if we just simply get together, three or four churches get together, small body churches, less than 100 members. Because if you invite the 100 members out, you'll probably get 20 or 25. If you're lucky.

That's your lucky. So you get you get those groups together and you go to the park and you, you know, whatever it is, you rent some space. So if the park is no charge, you go out there, you set up, you have some singing, you have some ministering, and you have the three or four congregations who have formed together to do this.

You know, just interacting. People need to see that. And I recall when I was many years ago, when I was doing open air preaching, people would just come by. Some would listen.

Some would snub their nose. But I knew everybody wouldn't be accepted to the gospel message because everybody was not accepting the message of Jesus Christ. Everywhere he went, there was a division. There were some who said he had a devil. There were some who said this must be the son of God. So we're not going to be any different when we convey the gospel message to those who are out there who are lost. But I thought that was interesting.

And of course, we will go through the other four things. But I just wanted to know what would what would you respond on the evangelism? Yes, that's a great question. I think, you know, if you think about communities, first that comes to mind is housing communities, right? When we grew up, it was not uncommon to have two or three Baptists stop by, two or three Methodists stop by, two or three Westlians to stop by at some point in either a month's period or whatever, because they were active. That generation was active.

Of course, we didn't have the social media things that we have today, which is still there's nothing replaces the human touch and the conversation, the personal conversation. And I think what's part of what's happened, Will, is that as our society, we've gotten so cautious about a stranger approaching our home, approaching us. And then, of course, you know, you could you could even say as a follower of Christ, we know there are other religions or there are religions, we'll say other religions, there are religions and a belief system that is totally contradictory to Jesus Christ and what we know to be the truth and through the Bible. So then that creates some angst amongst people seeing someone knock on their door.

And, you know, I think you make a great point of how to potentially do something, go to a park, set up a grill. You know, maybe you don't even you don't even say much about the gospel. You let them see the love that you're demonstrating for them and fulfilling their needs, whether it be through entertainment, feeding the hungry or whatever, to start that relationship. So that they say, what's different about Will Hardy than everybody else I've seen here over the last two years? Well, the difference is he's a lover of Christ and a lover of people and he's a servant. And I think that's one of the things that we've kind of moved away from. And maybe it's just that we're not doing more of those servant things in today's society, because that's the thing that's going to speak to people. Knocking on people's front doors, I think, is a very difficult thing to do without any kind of relationship. Now, if there's been an introduction from a friend to say, hey, my pastor would like to come by and see you, then people I think will be more receptive. And maybe that goes back to the congregations opening those doors for us to talk with those neighbors, their friends, family members that they'd like for us to make a contact with.

Well, you know, I think about the recent fires that happened in Miami and it was devastation. But who were the first ones on the ground opening up their doors? The local churches.

That's who. It wasn't FEMA. It wasn't the Red Cross. And bless all those organizations who do good work like that. But it was the local churches who were on the ground bringing water, bringing food, bringing clothes, feeding the people because they understand that the love of God is shown through me to these, to the folks who were hit by this disaster. And then the other thing is, is they won't forget this.

No, they won't. Well, see, this love that they were showing just in feeding the people is a form of evangelism. Sure. You're evangelizing to the people through showing the love of God and how this love has been shed abroad in their heart to the people in need. You know, essentially you brought up the fires in Maui.

You know me. I'm going to have to jump in here. We spend so much money on every other program and every other thing in this country, and we've been four or five days with no response to the Maui residents, right, from the administration piece. So eventually I think today I heard something come out that they were guaranteeing $700 per, and I'm not sure I haven't fact checked this yet, but it appeared to be an announcement of $700 from the president, $700 per household or per family member to help them through this displacement. And I'm sitting there thinking, you know, if we're truly going to be a country of providing for each other, that should have been done a week ago, you know, three or four or five days ago. We should have already had feet on the ground, resources financially to put in place because we're always putting money somewhere outside of our country borders. Why not put it back into our country and into Hawaii with such a tragedy and all these loss of lives? But what a great way for the local church to have made a difference. And to your point, it'll be with them the rest of their life because they're in the middle of an etching event that basically has locked their minds down for the rest of their life. And then all of a sudden the recovery piece will be that those followers of Christ are there to serve and love them.

So that's a great demonstration, Will. And I think if we did more of that, you know, in terms of local levels, more of the serving, more of just loving on people, I think that's where we've missed it. And I think part of that goes back to what we've talked about since we've been together, is the role of the man in the household, the role of the man in the community, the role of the man in the local church. If the men aren't engaged and aren't active and aren't leading by servant leadership, then it's only going to go so far. I mean, that's the way God designed it.

It's not a feminist, anti-feminist statement. It's just the way God designed it. God gave Adam all accountability for everything. It didn't change. Even though we fell, it didn't change.

We still had accountability. And that's where we've lost it as followers of Christ, I think, or at least it's been diminished because of this lack of absolutes, lack of right and wrong, no moral yardstick, no expectation of the men to be the leaders of their families, to be that servant leader in their communities, to be that servant leader in their church. And as you can tell, that gets me wound up pretty easily because that's where our heart beats at.

Mine and your heart beats there. And I think as followers of Christ and you as a listening and the viewers should be thinking the same thing, what exactly are we doing? Well, we're building bigger houses. We're buying more cars. We've got more toys. We've got more electronics.

Our children are probably as a whole are in the worst shape they've ever been in because of the pornography, because of the electronics, because of the lack of family time, because of the lack of desire on the parents to make sure that the kids are being raised properly in God's vision and view and in His love. And then you say, well, how do we get in the mess we're in? Well, there's some of the key components that's got us where we're at.

Absolutely, which leads us into the second thing that he talked about, is that we are majoring on the minute. And see, when you, you just talked about that. Folks, we'll stop right there. This is a Holy Spirit thing. We have not prepared this conversation.

We agreed to come in. And do you think God's at work here on this topic? I know he is. Absolutely.

But majoring on the minute. So just like some of the things you talked about, the parents, the child is saying, give me this, give me this, instead of focusing on that child and bringing them up in the way of the Lord. We're just giving them all the tools, the electronics, the cell phones, the video games, and whatever the case may be, even when we come and have church meetings. I've been in some church meetings, Roy, I'm telling you, that we didn't even need to have that meeting. You meet for the purpose of, again, establishing the foundation of the core ministry of what your plan for the church is, not what color you want the carpet to be. I want to paint the children's room blue, and they want it red.

I'm kind of partial to pink carpet myself. So see, we're majoring on the minute. That's good. He's right on point. Majoring on the minute. And I have to get the book.

I have to get the book. But he talks about that, and I said, wow, look. And being in that position, I've seen so much of that. And a lot of the meetings that's been had over the years and years and 33 years that I've been in ministry, I can really tell you that there's only been a handful of times to where the meetings have really been productive.

Really? Yes. And do you think that's because of distractions amongst the people or because of not being Christ-led in the meetings or just a hidden agenda that creates the problem? Well, I believe the membership is allowing themselves to have things and things to enter into their spirit that are ungodly and unholy. Again, breaking out and have these little sects within the congregation. And then you want something done, and so you try to say, are you my ally in this? And this is what it means if we go this route.

This is what it will mean if we go the other route, so you want to go with me. So that was a thing. Do you think that's due to a lack of transparency? Well, yes, to a degree, absolutely, because people hide things. We have a way of hiding things until it becomes a problem. And when it becomes a problem now, I need to do something about it, but it's not my problem. It's your problem. See, you're the problem that's causing me to have a problem. I have a problem, exactly. It's all your fault.

I've been trying to tell you that forever. It's all your fault. Well, see, that's number five. That's number five in the book. Number five that he talked about in the article is it's all the pastor's fault. Shift and responsibility. It's the pastor's fault. It's the pastor's fault we're not growing. It's the pastor's fault that this is happening. It's the pastor's fault that we're not doing this or that or the other thing. It's the pastor's fault. So we look at the pastor as wanting to wear all of the hats and do everything. And nobody wants to be there to help the pastor.

That's exactly right. And on the other side of that, too, they don't want to go out and evangelize. They don't want to go out and fulfill the Great Commission. Fulfilling the Great Commission says that when you go out, you're preaching and teaching the gospel, and you're making disciples as a result of that preaching. Amen.

So if I'm not doing that as a church, if you're not doing that as a church, you'll never survive. Yeah. And individually, if you're listening and watching today, you need to be asking yourself, am I that person that's not doing that?

Absolutely. Not from a point of condemnation, but from a point of challenge and provoking you to start serving at a higher level. And if you're that person that's sitting on the sidelines, and I often share that, you know, a person with experience doesn't have to argue with a person with an opinion.

It was one of our sayings, right? And in my case, I was that person that was sitting on the sidelines for many years. And the Holy Spirit finally came over me and said, hey, what have you done for the kingdom? It was no longer about what he's doing for me, but more what I had not done for the kingdom. And he convicted me. I was brought to tears and by myself crying because I had nothing that I could put forth for the judgment fire to say, what have you done with what I've given you?

It would have all been consumed because there was nothing that I think. But today, through your love as a brother and the way God has used us, I think there might be something left as it gets through the fire at this point. But you as a follower of Christ need to challenge yourself. Am I that person that's not doing anything? Or am I that person that's going to start doing something? Absolutely. And it's never too late.

And we always kid, we've got some guys, we've got every age range, right? If you're still here, God has a plan. Absolutely. And I can speak to that personally here over recently. But if you're still here, God has a plan.

And be excited that you've got a father that loves you that much, that he's keeping you here and waiting on you patiently to become that servant and become that leader. Absolutely. Number three, see I'm going back now because we had to jump to number five because you brought it up. But number three he talked about was gossip and internal conflict.

And, of course, we did address that briefly. But, see, again, forming all these little sects. And, see, a person who spreads myths and disinformation will kill a church.

And all you need is one. And, you know, we were talking about that in the Christian Fellowship group when we had that just yesterday. And what was amazing there is that when the pastor had brought up some of the things that the church is not doing.

Oh, yeah, I saw the list. Yeah, and one of the things they're not doing is church discipline. They don't want to make anybody mad.

That's the thing about it. I don't want to make anybody mad and I don't want to lose members as a result. Don't want to leave the church. The problem with that is when they stay, and if they stay. Causing more trouble. They're going to cause these divisions, separations, and then people are going to say, well, you know, you might have something there. And then all of a sudden.

Discord. They end up leaving, you know, anyway, you know, in fear that if I stay and I become part of something that I disagree with, then I'm compromising myself. Right, right.

Whereas the bottom line, if they really look at what they're doing, then they'll see, you know, within their heart of hearts. Yeah, well, that goes back to not taking ownership. Absolutely. It's all your fault. It's not your fault, but it's all that person's fault. Not mine. I don't have any ownership in this because I'm right. I'm self-righteous.

I've got this. God has told me I'm correct in all this. And then it goes back to that relative thinking.

Yeah, exactly. See, I'm right. I'm always right. You're wrong. You're always wrong. And so whatever you think is right. And if I disagree with that, you know, then here you have the conflict. Well, that's a component of arrogance.

Absolutely. And lust in that you're lusting after power and thinking that you have the power, which you don't have any power. And what's the two things, of course, that Satan used when it came all the way back to the Garden of Eden? Doctrine. How do you view God? Number one, how do you view God in relation to what he said?

How do you view God in relation to how he relate to you and then how he relate to others? Right. And of course, the second one is interpretation. And this is why we have what we have today in the world.

Yeah. You know, you have the division with respect to interpretation. And this is what I believe it's saying this is. And so what you believe is saying you just believe that. But you're wrong because this is what the word of God is saying. Well, the word of God, the intentions going back to Hebrews four twelve, going back to the word of God, quick, powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, dividing even the asunder soul and spirit, bone and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. So when you go back and you look again within your heart of hearts and you ask yourself the question. Am I taking my application and turning my application into an interpretation? See, because there are there are many interpretations, I mean, many applications, but only one interpretation. Right. But we get into our where we get into our problem is and we have all the doctrines and religions, is you have the interpretation based off what this how this particular denomination got started, how this one got started, how this one got started.

And now you have a plethora. Folks, this is Johnny Tocqueville's producer for Man Talk Radio podcast. Join us every second Saturday of the month at 8 a.m. for Bold, becoming obedient, led disciples of the Crossing Union Cross campus located 1650 Pecan Lane, Cartersville, North Carolina, 27284.

Come grab a biscuit for your body and some fellowship for your spirit. As we conclude today's show, TAWCM talking and walking Christian men's ministry are building a community of men to be servant leaders in their home communities, churches and work environment. Check us out at our Web site for upcoming events and regular scheduled meetings. Don't forget to send us an email for topics that you would like us to visit in the future. Thank you for joining us today on Man Talk. Visit us at TAWCM.com.