What the Bible Says About Politics

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So, how does a pastor from the pulpit address all the things going on in the culture? Is politics completely off limits? What about all this chaos we have, this assassination attempt of our President?

Some folks are cheering that, those that hate him. Others are bemoaning it, and they're struggling and in tears, how has it come become so vitriolic? But any weak Any given Sunday, a pastor could get up and preach, and he could be preaching to people. who are Democrats. He could be preaching to people who are Republicans.

How should a pastor address The issues around President Trump. You saw the White House. The Oval Office filled with pastors just a few weeks ago on Good Friday with their hands on the President praying for him. You heard his faith advisor, Paul White. Speak all these words and others.

We came on this radio show and we asked you this question: if you were a spiritual advisor to President Trump, what would you say to him? How would you say? One of the first callers called in and said, I'd fire Paula White tomorrow because she has said some kind of crazy things.

So what do we do? We did another show Friday. Is Donald Trump a Christian? Go listen to the podcast. Very interesting, very titillating.

A lot of folks calling in, weighing in, upset. A lot of folks are like, oh, absolutely. He's pro-life, of course.

Well, just because his policies are favorable to believers, does that make him a Christian necessarily?

So that was the show then.

So, what do we do? We went out and we brought a pastor in, a truth network pastor. A guy who loves Jesus, he loves the word. He's got a church in Raleigh, North Carolina, the King's Chapel. And he's sitting in the hot seat and he brought his music guy.

So we've got a whole host of people in here. I'm outnumbered. But we're going to ask you this question: Pastor Grant Castleberry. Pastor of Music. Philip Webb, we're going to ask you guys.

How does a pastor address these issues? What do you do from your pulpit when Donald Trump puts out a meme on Twitter or on Truth Social that's got a picture that looks like he's Jesus healing people. And everyone's upset. Believers are upset. Like, this is pushing it too far.

But when his faith advisor, Paula White, says, Well, President Trump, just like Jesus was crucified and beaten, you've been beaten down. But just like he rose three days later, you have been like making those kind of Crazy things.

So there's pastors upset. Pastor Grant, how do you reconcile with that? And I want to give a number if you want to weigh in. to how you think your pastor should speak to these issues. 86634 TRUTH 866348-7884.

Pastor Grant, welcome, by the way. To Truth Talk Live. Good to have you with us, man. It's good to finally be here. You walked through.

You've been talking about coming here for four years, and I do. And you grabbed me and put me in this radio show. Way overdue, but you didn't know you'd walk into a landmine like this. I didn't know. You're ready to go.

Your sleeves are rolled up. We fed you some good barbecue. The food coma hadn't hit yet, so we. How do you as a pastor Supposing you're in that room as a faith advisor. What do you say when these things are being said?

You know. As a pastor, On Sunday mornings, when we get up to speak the Word of God. We're getting up to speak to God's people. and to speak the truth. And so, I'm generally not trying to address political hot-button issues from the pulpit.

I'm trying to preach the word. In season. and out of season.

Now, if you're a conservative Pastor who believes in the inerrancy of Scripture and the sufficiency of scripture. generally speaking, the Biblical world view. Is more compatible with a more politically conservative viewpoint. But my goodness, that doesn't mean that just because you're politically conservative, that you're a Christian. And Jesus said, You will know them by their fruit.

And I so appreciate so many of the policies of President Trump. I mean, he has been one of the most outspoken advocates for life that we've seen in the White House in so many years.

So in many ways, I look at him as like a Cyrus type figure. You know, Cyrus is the one who gave the decree to go back and to rebuild. Jerusalem to rebuild the temple.

So uh did did many good things. And I think he's been an advocate for many Christians on the right, but yet I look at him and I wish Paula White, you mentioned Paula White, I wish that she would tell him. The gospel. That he's not just a Christian via the fact that he was born into a quote-unquote Christian family, that he needs to be born again, that he needs to trust in Christ. And so there is a place, I think, for pastors to speak to political issues.

And radio shows like this are good for that.

Social media can be good for that, other venues are good for that. But I think in the pulpit, when you come into the pulpit, now when we talk about nowadays, everything's politicized.

So, if I get up in the pulpit like I did and I preached through Genesis chapters 1 to 11. And we're talking about man created in the image of God. Male and female, he created them, Genesis 1:27 and 28.

Well, that is incredibly politically offensive. in our day. But it's not because we're trying to be political. It's because that's how far left and secular our culture has become, where we can make a biblical and ethical statement. and it comes across as politically divisive.

So, I want to help people have a biblical worldview. to develop a spiritually minded biblical worldview. And then they're they're going to be able to to interpret what's going on in the public square more easily because now they're thinking with the mind of Christ. They're thinking with a transformed mind.

Now, that being said, I do want to occasionally address Issues that are going on in the culture to help Christians specifically think about those issues.

Sometimes I do that from the pulpit. Other times I do that through Unashamed Truth. I'll post an article or do a podcast. Through unashamed truth. But just for example, I did post something about President Trump.

Let me pull it up. This is what I posted about the picture that he put up where he looked like Jesus. Very controversial.

So I said. Let me see here. I said President Trump needs to repent and trust Christ for the sake of his own soul. Christ must be honoured. He will not share his glory with another, nor anyone claiming to be godlike even jokingly.

is taking part in the spirit of Antichrist. God graciously and providentially spared the President's life in Pennsylvania and then Florida and now in DC. Obviously, this I wrote this before the assassination attempt. This weekend, humility, repentance, and faith towards God is the only appropriate response. Pride goeth before a fall.

The same is true of any unbeliever. Repentance and faith in Christ are necessary to enter the kingdom of God and begin a right relationship with God. That is the beginning of all true Christianity.

Now listen to this, Stu. I say this as one who has prayed for and supported the President.

Okay, interesting.

So so it I Full disclosure, I voted for President Trump. And I appreciate many of his policies. But at the same time, that doesn't mean that I give a carte blanc endorsement of everything that he does. Aaron Powell, well, and that's where I think there's a struggle, because I'll sit with someone. who's on the left side of things.

who is so cotton picking mad at Paula White, That they paint you, they paint every Christian with that same rush. They say, well, you believe that President Trump is this born-again, on fire Christian, that he's the next return of Jesus, and all these things. And so, you know, how do you respond to people that conflate? that say well Just because he read the Bible, which I'm glad anyone reads the Bible for Pete's sake, but just because he read the Bible, just because he recognized Good Friday and retweeted some good things. Just because you recognize the National Day of Prayer.

Does that make him A Christian, and there are many that conflate the two. They say that makes him a born-again Christian. How do you respond to those people? You have to believe the gospel to be a born-again Christian. I mean, that's so clear in John chapter 3.

Jesus talks about being born again. And then he rolls into John 3.16. For God so loved the world.

So You have to believe the gospel. You have to repent. You have to come to the point where you come to the end of yourself. You're not good enough to enter heaven. Based on your own merit, your own work.

You are a sinner before God. You need to repent and trust Christ in faith.

Okay, how should a pastor respond to President Trump? People are, there's skirmishes in the pew. What does the man of the pulpit say? What about music in the pulpit? Has a lot of the modern-day Christian music been claimed by the prosperity gospel of the charismatic movement?

We'll have more on that when we come back at 866-34-TRUTH on Truth Talk Live. Truth Talk Live. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Uh Hey, let me tell you, it's all over the news. It's all over the talking heads on TV.

So, guess who's going to talk about it? We are right here on Truth Talk Live. We're so grateful for all of our amazing affiliates, like. 91.7 FM, the truth in the middle of Jacksonville, Florida, 91.9 St. Augustine, 91.3 Brunswick, Georgia, Sea Island.

Welcome to the Truth Revolution. I'm Stu Everson. We're talking about how Believers Specifically, pastors should address. This whole Trump found religion syndrome. Just because There's policies Are conservative, pro-life, pro-family, does that necessarily make him a Christian?

And just because you vote for him. I mean, if he's not a believer. Would you still vote for him, Pastor Grant, as a pastor?

Well, I did.

Okay.

So, so um but you're not accusing him of being a believer. Right, right. I'm not I'm not under the auspices that he's he's a Christian. I I vote I voted for him because I thought that he was a more conservative candidate than Kamala Harris. I thought that his policies more were more in line with the the Christian worldview.

And specifically his his stance on life. And installing the Supreme Court justices that made the ruling on Roe v. Wade.

So he so he has proven himself. He had proven himself. As an advocate for conservative Justices in the judicial branch.

So that was easy, easy.

So if we're thinking about everything that's going to be legislated. o over the next twenty-five, thirty years. it was so clear, do we want progressive judges or do we want conservative judges that are gonna uphold elements of the biblical worldview?

So that was something to consider. And then and then also, I mean, he's been a little squishy on marriage. And issues like that, but he's much more conservative than where Kamala Harris has been on the full LBGTQ. you know, plus, plus, plus everything else.

So as a Christian, you're you're looking at these two candidates and you're like, man, which which direction do we want our country to go in?

Now, but but what ultimately what I'm trying to think about is the advance of the kingdom of God.

So So I'm wanting to think through, think past. I'm not just staking my claim. On On this. administration I'm staking my claim on the kingdom of God. You're preaching the word, right?

Right. You're not just knee-jerked at what's going on. Right. And then, like, this administration is going to come and go, and there's going to be another administration. There's going to be another administration.

And I don't want to get caught up in trying to be a lapdog of anybody. I'm a servant of Jesus Christ.

So, so I'm trying to be about that kingdom agenda. Yeah.

So, what does your pastor think? What do you think, pastor, out there? Is he taking the right approach? 866-34TRUTH-866-348-7884. Understand.

There's a whole Group of folks that will never vote for Donald Trump in their They're called themselves progressive Christians. And one of the reasons they say they won't vote is because. They believe that other pastors are saying this guy is a born-again Christian. And when they hear his rhetoric and they hear him hate on his enemies, which is totally unchristian, when they see his behavior, like I'm never going to vote for him because this guy calls him a Christian. But just because someone calls someone a Christian, does that mean you don't you got to base your vote on that?

And you know, so we want to get into that, and we want to get into the biblical approach. And we want your calls at 866-34TRUTH. We got Carl in Toledo, Ohio, 106.5 FM. You're on the air with Stu, Pastor Grant, and Pastor Phil Dew, who will get to on some music here. We've got to make some music in a little bit.

Go ahead, Carl, jump in here.

So, praise the Lord to everybody. I'll say, real quickly, as a pastor of a church here, in full disclosure, as an employee of Truth Network 106.5 COD and WTKB, I didn't vote necessarily for Trump. I met him at Carmel Country Club before he was the president. He's a really nice guy in person, but I was really voting against everything that I don't believe in based on my faith. I can't call that right or wrong, but yeah, I voted for him three times, and I have no regrets.

Right, but here's the question. Can you vote for a non-Christian? On principle, yes. In comparison, there is no comparison between the alternative. And I hate that statement that, you know, the best of two evils.

Yeah.

I mean, the other platform is almost pure evil, in my opinion, as far as what they represent.

So, yeah. But, Pastor Grant, I mean, if you think about it, if you have any two candidates running for any office in any place in the world, they're going to be fallen candidates.

So you're not, you don't have the Apostle Paul on the ballot. And guess what? You probably wouldn't vote for him because he murdered Christians in his previous life. And once that hit the newsreels, once the media took that and made their little gaslighting hit pieces on that, it's over for Paul. He's not going to win the election.

And he probably doesn't have the personal skills, and he's all banged up and scarred up for being, you know.

So, what about what do you say to this guy, this pastor, Pastor Carl, Pastor Grant? Yeah, I think he's dead on. I think a lot of Christians looked at the election like that. Like, what is the platform that the candidates were representing?

So, I mean, looking at it from a From a legislative perspective, what type of platform are they going to be promoting in office? And you look at the Democratic platform, and it's completely antithetical to biblical Christianity. It just is.

So, I mean, where does that leave Christians?

Well, It left us with either voting for Donald Trump or with or not voting. And it was not voting was technically a vote for Kamala. And it's tough because, I mean, I sat on an airplane recently with a fellow who claimed to be a Christian who just filled my ears with all the evil things Republicans are doing, all the corruption in the Republican Party. All the people that are just, all the bad things President Trump's done, just on and on and on. And so you can see how people get disenchanted.

And I really believe that The the rhetoric, this highly religious rhetoric. Especially that these faith leaders are putting on the President, calling him a this solid godly man, all these things. All that rhetoric is unfortunately, I believe it's pushing people away. The people of faith is a very important voting bloc. And a lot of people of faith are like, I'm not going to say anything.

I'm not going to call a radio show like this. I'm just not going to vote. And then they're going to basically. give up ground in the culture. Yeah.

You know, to the forces of pro-abortion, to letting boys. In girls' locker rooms. which is exactly what the governor of North Carolina allows. And and who you know, but but North Carolina. Which has a A lot of believers Didn't vote.

For the person running against him. They voted for him. And maybe his optics were better and he's had better hair and makeup, you know, in the interviews. But why aren't people voting Biblically And that includes not calling someone, you know, not just calling this guy a Christian, but just voting for platform over personality. I mean, I think.

American evangelicalism is so superficial that we've Conflated being an advocate for gun rights with being a Christian. You know, things like this. Yeah.

Right. It's like if you're an advocate for some sort of conservative value. It's kind of like God and country music. It's like they go hand in hand, but so much of that is cultural Christianity. where Christian things But again, that's not the kingdom of God per se.

The kingdom of God is. Coming with the preaching of Christ and Him crucified.

So So much is conflated as Christianity, and sadly, I think Paula White, who the president tapped to be his advisor. has has brought in people that that Are telling the president, I think, what he wants to hear, but not what he needs to hear. Yeah.

Well, and she's got some real, real rough doctrine. And some issues. But just because she's his faith advisor, just because she says those things, it doesn't mean I believe them. And it doesn't mean I don't necessarily vote. for the policies and the principles without Condoning that.

But it makes it harder for people. It's almost like they have to hold their nose and it makes you wish that there'd be some change there. Carl, thank you for your call. God bless you, my friend. God bless.

Yes, sir. 106.5 FM 86634 TRUTH is our toll free number nationwide. If you want to weigh in on this.

Now the second half of this program is going to be uber important. Because I'm gonna I'm gonna advocate that a pastor should not have to tell his people how to vote. Because there's a grounding. There's a theology that's not a meology, that's not pop culture-driven, that's so foundational, and it affects both the music part of the worship and church, and the preaching is so foundational. We come back, we're going to let Pastor Grant take the lead on that, and Brother Phil Webb on Truth Talk Live.

Don't go anywhere, folks. More coming up after this. Hang on. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. So we can deal with the symptoms.

We can put a band-aid on The wound, what looks like the problem, but deep inside there's a root issue. And we are a culture that sadly has been given over to itching ears. You know, Paul talked about it in 2 Timothy chapter 3: the end times. You know, we'll be lovers of our own selves. We'll kind of give way to all these.

false doctrines. And there is just a bunch of this drivel. both prosperity You know, conflation. You know, you go to a lot of churches, and it's there's a conflation of politics with God on the left, on the right. And it's refreshing to hear from a pastor.

Who Is sitting across the table from me, and he's got his music pastor with him. Who could break out and song at any minute?

So beware because the ratings could, who knows what could happen today. We should ask him to sing. Why not? Yeah.

On the air. Yeah, you want to do a duet?

Well, we wanted to be good, so we wanted to be compelling. But, you know, it was good to have a pastor who, you know, fundamentally, Grant Castleberry, the first half of our show, we talked about this. This confusion over the presence of faith and people pushing it so hard. People on the right just want to say they're doing everything they can to try to make this guy a Christian. And then you have people that are believers that are like Dude.

If that's what a Christian looks like, I don't want anything to do with it. I'm never going to vote for him again. And so there's going to be a lot of voter apathy potentially among. The block of votes that's critical for these elections. This midterm could be catastrophic.

We tell people to vote because it's a stewardship. We tell people to vote your faith. You take your values in there. And we don't tell people to vote for the popular guy or even the guy that you think is a believer. We tell people to vote for the person whose policies match with what the Word of God teaches.

Going there, Pastor Grant Castleberry, there's something that's really presuppositional, that's axiomatic to the whole conversation, and that is. What is the foundation? for how you live, how you think, and of course how you vote. It's symptomatic of something deeper. And I made a statement, and I'll stand by it.

I don't believe a pastor should have to tell his congregation. How to vote? Because of The Way that he is teaching them and holding fast to the word. I want you to take me on on that. Agree, disagree, your thoughts or.

Well, I mean, i if if a believer has a transformed mind. Romans twelve, two, do not be conformed to this world. to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. If the believer has a transformed mind, Now they're thinking biblically.

So, as you just said, they're going to go look at the candidates and see where they line up on issues that are related to the biblical worldview. and they're going to vote accordingly.

So I absolutely agree with what you're saying. The problem is Is that so many evangelical Christians in America? Are baby Christians.

So they're not being fed. There's a famine in the land where people are not being fed biblical theology. And I think Gen Z. Is coming up and they're so hungry. They want truth.

I'm so energized by it. I'm so energized by so many people. They want to hear apologetics. You know, you're seeing Wes Huff out there and you've seen his star rise. Praise God.

May his tribe increase. Where people are wanting to see, hey, how do we have a biblical canon? Why are there 66 books? How do we know that these are the right books? Is it because the Catholic Church told us that these were the right books?

And Gen Z, they're coming up. They're asking the right questions. They want biblical answers. And so I think as pastors out there, I'm encouraging everybody that I can get an ear with, we need to go deeper.

Now's not the time for sermonettes for Christianettes. Preach the word. Paul's words. Preach the word. And then I'm so glad Phil's here because we need to be singing.

Songs and hymns? that teach people The Christian faith. And I'll let Phil Webb. How important is that, Phil Webb? You've been doing this for a long time.

You've got a full ministry doing this all over the world. You travel with John MacArthur, singing with him. Tell us your passion about this.

Well, growing up in a pastor's home, I was in church constantly and exposed to Christian music. I don't really think of myself as a musician. I do have a doctor's degree, but. Just seeing how we have kind of fallen into this thing in Christianity where we have bought into. Secular thoughts about music and about worship.

And we no longer, our songs don't systematically walk through. Truth. They don't systematically tell the story of the gospel or soteriology or the life of Christ. We build songs that we want to get a response out of people and we want them to feel good at the end of the day. And it's really.

Sort of an idolatrous view that the work of the Spirit in Spirit and Truth and Worship. We've accepted the view that it really comes down to how it makes me feel. If I get a tear in my eye or a lump in my throat or the skin on my, the hair on the back of my neck rises, then somehow that's the spirit. And we've reduced the spirit's work where the spirit's work is so much more than that. It's the spirit taking our inner will and our inner will and heart bending to the sovereignty of God.

And the Holy Spirit taking that and bringing it before the throne, much like he does when he goes and intercedes for us to turn that into an actual spiritual offering that God is worthy to receive. And when we say, oh, the Spirit's work is just to give us a feel or an emotion, that's idolatry. That's what the early Greeks did about music. And we can't go back down that road. We have to have a higher view of the Spirit and how he works in that whole process.

So the lyrics are important too. Not just the sermon you preach, you're aiming to be bibliocentric. You're aiming to be expositional, which I want you to tell us. Us what that is. That's super important, friends.

As you're looking at churches to go to, go to a church where a pastor preaches the Bible. Teaches the word. Paul said, preach the word. He said, all scriptures God breathed. But then you're saying lyrically.

These lyrics aren't to be me-centered. They're not about me and my relationship and all this stuff. It's supposed to be centered around Jesus and what he has done, his work for me, not my stuff for him. It's to teach the Bible, it's to learn theology. We accept Luther's premise that the songs that were to be sung were to teach people doctrine.

There were two kind of two views in the Reformation. Calvin looked at singing the Psalms as a sacramental responsibility, much like prayer. But Luther looked at it as a way to teach people doctrine. And if you look historically, the Lutheran hymns taught people and taught the households what Christianity was about and gave them a theological understanding. I was reading a study about a small village in Upper Saxony, where even when the village was retaken over by the Catholic Church, the Habsburg Empire, the Lutherans were replaced in leadership at the church with Catholics.

The Catholic faith did not overrun the village because the people had learned the hymns. Every father and mother was expected to explain to their child the theology to give an exegesis of the theology in the hymns they sang. And the Catholic religion could not take root in that village because they were living out their faith through what they were singing and learning in the home. Wow. And at the heart of this is expositional preaching.

What is that, Pastor Grant? Why is that so important, even toward music, toward living, toward politics?

Well, it's it's uh it it gets to the heart of worship. Expositional preaching is a part of our worship, but we want our public worship. When I say public worship, when we gather together as the church. When we assemble together, we want it to be centered on the Word of God.

So Paul said in 1 Timothy 4. Read the word. Timothy, read the word. We're supposed to pray. We're supposed to pray the Word of God.

We're supposed to pray scripture, pray the Psalms. We're supposed to sing Psalms, hymns, spiritual songs. We're supposed to sing the Word of God. We're supposed to preach the word in season and out of season. And then we see the word in baptism and the Lord's Supper.

So all of it is to be word-focused, word-centered, and expositional preaching. is is the explanation an application of the Word of God, where a man of God who is anointed by the Holy Spirit, stands up amidst the assembly, opens up the book, much like Ezra did in Nehemiah's day. And reads the word and gives the sense of its meaning. And ultimately, the ultimate sense of every passage of scripture is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Every scripture ultimately points to Christ in the gospel.

So we're getting people to Christ through the Word of God. And we're allowing the dynamism of expository preaching. Is that the Holy Spirit honors his word because the Holy Spirit's the author?

So now you're playing with a full deck. Because now the Holy Spirit is taking. The The minimal thoughts that I have, but he's taking the everlasting Word of God and He's applying it in the hearts of the believers and unbelievers in ways that I could never do. Right. So, I don't have to manipulate this, I just have to do what Christ has commanded me to do: open up the Word of God and explain it.

And then I'm praying, I'm praying, Holy Spirit, do your work. The idea of expository preaching expos you're exposing your people to God's word.

Now to your philosophies, not to your politics. You're exposing people to the benchmark truths of God's word that are inspired, taking them verse by verse, line by line. Maybe you're just in one verse for a whole sermon. I just wrote a whole book on one verse of the Bible. It's coming out in a few months.

There's so much power in that one verse, and we got these guys preaching six chapters in 30 minutes, and they don't really teach any of that. You don't get anything.

So then let's connect this to the culture. You've got this famous senator in North Carolina, and I'm just, this has happened over the last several decades. Different ones. You can pick one. Suddenly They suddenly come out in favor of gay marriage.

But yet they were Christian. They said they loved the Lord. They said they read the Bible.

Well, somewhere along the line, they weren't grounded in the Word of God. And that's how both politicians politic that aren't grounded in the word, and that's how voters vote mistakenly for pro-death. For evil agendas because they're not grounded in God's word. But when they are grounded in God's word, both in musical Worship and in the teaching of God's word, Phil Webb, it changes how you live, doesn't it? Oh, yeah.

I mean, that's the thing. That's what singing to one another is supposed to make us what we're supposed to be in Christ. I mean, if you look in Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3, before that, Paul's just talking about, hey, now that you're a believer, this is what you're marked, your life is going to be marked with. This is how you're going to live. And singing to one another is part of it because we're changed and we sing these things, and the Spirit works through us.

And so we don't want to minimize the powerful work of the Holy Spirit, which sometimes I think expositional preachers get knocked for. That Spirit's work through the Word of God is the power.

Well, you're recognizing it's He that wrote the Word, that's giving you the Word, that's speaking the Word through you. Let me say something about Phil's leadership with the music. I had a couple tell me from our church. They said, Grant, by the time you get up to preach a sermon We've already sung a sermon. through what Phil's led us through.

And that's what I want. I want people to, because. The songs and psalms that we're singing. Are giving the full counsel of God before I even get up to speak. Wow, how's the singing, how's the preaching in your church?

Is it time to find a church where the word of God is truly taught and the lyrics are God-honoring, Christocentric, bibliocentric? A dripped in God's word. We're going to take a couple calls. We're going to come right back more with what is, how does the Bible speak to God? how we live and vote when it comes to politics.

More coming up on Truth Talk Live. Hang on. You're listening to The Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. What the Bible says about politics. How should a pastor address the political vitriol and the culture?

We have assassination attempts on the president. We have A whole bunch of people on the religious right, you know, calling this president like the next godly man. But is that necessarily true? And what is our foundation for any of this? Is it what some prosperity False teacher says about someone, or is what the Bible says?

And what does the pastor say from the pulpit? How do we deal with all that? What about music? How important a role does that play? Play in laying a foundation for our beliefs, our theology, our worldviews.

So we're talking about that all this hour on Truth Talk Live, really important, and thankfully. We have with us a this guy's like a black belt when it comes to this stuff. He loves Jesus. He is a Texan in whom there is no guile. He's pastoring in Raleigh, North Carolina, Pastor Grant Castleberry, the King's Chapel, and his music minister is with us.

Make a little music. Philip Webb. Philip Webb. Yeah.

What's your website, Philip? Folks want to learn more about your music ministry? I run Hymns of Grace for Grace Community Church. It's hymns of grace.org.

Okay, wow. You traveled with the Big Mac a little bit there, John MacArthur, singing for him as he preached? Almost 40 years, yes. And Grant, you just your I mean, how would you define God's call in your life in terms of the importance of preaching God's Word? Oh man, it's everything.

I I was. Called to preach. when I was in high school and and specifically to um to preach God's word in the local church. And Yeah, I look at preaching. Like Trying to get out of the way.

I'm trying to unfold the scriptures so people can see God. I'm wanting to put a spotlight on Christ, Him crucified. I want them to see. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. and that God may be magnified.

and people would encounter the Lord. Um So uh you do that through through explaining The Bible. I know it sounds so simple. It's like, oh, it can't be that simple. It is that simple.

is you read the text. And you explain the text. You explain the meaning of the text. And there's so many resources today, so many study Bible software. Illustrations, things like that.

Lagos Bible software. Yeah, there's so much out there. You don't have to overthink this, you don't have to just go on a litany of stories and kind of devotional platitudes. Just. Just read the text.

Ask yourself, what is the main idea here in this text? What is the main thing that God is communicating? That's your main thing. And that's what your sermon is about. And guess what?

People desperately need to hear that main thing. They desperately need that. And if they didn't, God wanted to put it in there. Yeah.

Observation, interpretation, application: who's speaking? If it's Paul, what's going on in his life? Is he in jail? What impact does that have on the language? Who's he speaking to?

What's going on in their lives? Are they scattered abroad? Are they under persecution?

So you go, you start with what's going on there, and then you just take it. The Word of God is so powerful, and yet so little of that's happening in the pulpit. In just a bit, we got a couple callers I want to get to. In just a bit, I want you to speak directly to pastors and give them a challenge and an exhortation. Because I know pastors want to do this.

I know pastors know the Word of God promises to bless if they will just teach the Word.

So, whatever their denomination, they can be a reformer in that denomination. And Luther did that. He opened the Word of God up. It wasn't popular. There were all these indulgences and all this other nonsense going on that was extra-biblical.

He said, I'm going to stick to the Word of God. I'll live and I'll die by it. Phil Webb, before we finish up today, I want you to speak to the music pastor out there, okay?

Okay.

And why it's so important that musical lyrics are biblical. I'm going to go to Mike real quick. Mike, we've got to be quick because we're whining out of time.

So glad you held on for so long. What's your thoughts on this? The importance of the Bible holding the Word of God as our standard, even in the area of politics and the chaos surrounding and the misunderstandings surrounding politicians.

Well, I believe that believers need to get off our phone. And stop looking at Apple News, stop looking at CNN, even Fox News, how about the news, Newsmax? Get off that. Stop looking at that. Get in the Word, start studying the Word, and get a relationship with God.

If you start doing that, guess what? You're going to vote the right way. You're going to vote that you're going to vote for the right politics. You're going to vote for the right person. Instead of being brainwashed, You're going to be God-washed.

Wow. And uh And my wife said that. That's pretty good. Hey, listen, hang on to that lady right there. She's, you know, God will preach right there.

Good word. Mike, thanks for your call. What a blessing. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mike's wife, for.

For blessing us with that. And, you know, wow, God, you know, you want to be God washed, not brainwashed. Let's go to Big B, another caller at Dayton, Ohio, 106.5 FM. Jump in here, sir, real quick. Absolutely.

Hey, Mike, good to hear from you, brother. Yes, you three men are men after my own heart. Bill, Grant, Stu, thank you so much for this topic. I wish I would have called into the radio program sooner had I known. But yes, we have got to understand that if we do not start.

With the Bible. First I'm going to say this, Pastor Grant. First, the listener, the people who attend your church. Grant, the listener, the people who sing along with you. If we don't have a biblical foundation from the pews, We will not understand or stay engaged with what dear Grant.

teaches and what do Dear Phil Shakespeare.

So Stu, how do we get Americans Back. In studying the word by themselves in their homes so that when they show up to the worship service, they are armed and ready to be even more equipped. I would love to hear the answer to that, and I'll take it off the air. I love all three of you guys. And, Mike, God bless you out there, David.

All right. Wow. Good word. Yeah, great question.

So, how do we get Americans? You hear the passion of his heart. How do we get Americans to that point to kind of wake up to get in the word? Pastor Grant, what say you? Man, I think that's the job of the Holy Spirit.

Yeah.

I mean, what can I do there? That's all. You know, I mean, that's what we call revival. That's what the Holy Spirit does.

So, what can we do? Pray. Mm. That's what we can do. We got together last night.

Phil organized a group from our church, elders and deacons, to go over to h his house last night. and pray for revival.

So I think that's what we do is we pray. Yeah.

The Spirit can open their eyes. The Spirit can teach them. The Spirit can do amazing things, and revival is one of those things. And why are we not asking for it? Do we feel like we don't deserve it?

We don't need it. No, we need it. And a revival that increases our awareness of the holiness of God and leads. to repentance of unbelievers and Christians being revived. To a greater understanding of who God is and a greater desire to proclaim the gospel.

And we need to sing about that. Our songs don't need to be about us experiencing feelings, but they need to be about the God who we profess to worship and not so humanly based on our perceptions of who God is, but who God is in His Word is what's more important.

Well, you know, you think about whatever radio outlet you're listening to right now or podcast, as you're catching this up. You look at the teachers on there. You look at the Truth Network. We have these guys, we have David Jeremiah, we have Grant Castleberry on, we have John MacArthur on, we have Alistair Beg on, we have these pastors on who are exposing God's Word. Just listen to them teach God's Word.

There's a reason that resonates in your soul because it's God's Word. And God's Word does what God's Word says it will do. It's quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. It never returns void. It accomplishes what it sets out to do.

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

So, Pastor Grant, having a high view of God's word, which is why we do this show. Where this show is a kind of a talk it out.

So, people can walk it out. And so, we can direct people. This show is not your church. This show, I've got some people mad at me right now who I've encouraged to get to local church. Because they've come to either one of the Bible studies I lead or they listen to the station and they're completely unconnected to body.

Their life has fallen apart and they're like, where are you? What's going on?

Well, in a church body. It's a discipleship factory, and the church is built for you. The church is built for our mess. The church is built for discipleship, and it's built upon. The word of God, and the word of God tells us that the church is God's plan A.

But that's at the heart of all of us, isn't it, Pastor Grant? The word of God, having a high view of that to get into our lives. That affects how we vote. That's right. That's what we need.

The Bible is sufficient, and we need to understand that as individuals, and we need to understand that as churches. that we don't need Another gimmick. We don't need another fad. What we need is to rely on the Word of God because it's sufficient to accomplish all that we need it to do.

So, as individual believers, we need to pick up the book. And as churches, we need to rely on God's truth. We don't need. Anything else?

So and I know that that just seems Axiomatic. It seems so countercultural, but we need to really. trust. God, that if we rely on him, if we rely on the word, that he will honor it. And he does.

So for the pastor, Sunday's coming. Give us a quick word. And then we're going to jump over here to give him a quick word to the music pastor to stay on track biblically with the lyrics. I would just say to any of the pastors out there, and I pray for pastors all the time, I'm just praying, just be faithful. Be faithful in season and out of season.

Don't let your heart grow cold. Keep preaching the word. And God will honor it. God will honor you.

Okay, and there's a lot of guys that want to come alongside. They can reach out to you. They can reach out to those solid pastors that can give you okay. Pastor Phil Webb, such an important role as a music minister of this church, King's Chapel in Raleigh. But what do you say to music ministers everywhere who are maybe trying to grab the cotton candy of those kind of shallow, lyric, emotional-driven, me-driven songs to point them more to a cross-centered, Christ-centered?

Resurrection-centered lyrical approach. What say you? Yeah, I think you just have to really be careful what you're doing and what you're presenting to your people. You want the singing to come from spirit-controlled people who have been saturated with the word and they have to sing to one another. It's not a performance.

It's not a show. It's not meant to make people feel a certain way. It's to enlighten them and brighten their heart about the truth of God. And the Spirit will do that if you sing truth. If you sing about God, the Spirit will work in you.

Make sure you're in a balanced biblical church. And when you wed that together, right? I mean, that's the dynamism. When you wed. what he's talking about, biblical songs with biblical preaching.

Man. That's catalytic.

Well, that's the call of the biblical church. You know, we're not holding up some pie in the sky. Yeah, we're falling. Yeah, we struggle. Pray for your pastor.

Encourage your pastor to take you through the word. Tell them you're starved. Let them feed you. Be in a church where that happens and be a part of that and be in the word yourself. We got to go.

Thank you guys. You're welcome.