Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, good Thursday morning, and welcome to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff here. Hope you're having a wonderful morning. It's, ah, excuse me, a little cooler here in Texarkana, which is nice. we got some rain last night, which is a good thing. And, my wife walks every morning. She's misdisciplined. So she said, I'm doing, 30 days, walking for at least 30 minutes, which she really does, about 45 to an hour. but she's just going to be consistent to do it. I think she's missed one day, this month in August. And so she was walking this morning. She said, it's so much cooler today. So we praise the Lord for that. Hey, I want to read to you from 1st Peter 5. The apostle Peter says this. Therefore, I exhort the elders among you as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ and, and a partaker also of the glory that is to Be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God, and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness. Nor yet is lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. So the command shepherd the flock of God, he is exhorting the elders, the overseers. Now the office. the Greek word there is presbuteros, and it means, to be, a father, to be in authority over somebody. somebody that's, an older person. but they don't necessarily have to be ancient. but we know that, when the Bible talks about elders, he's speaking of overseers, he's speaking of pastors and elders. That's all the same office. And so we could easily say, he's exhorting pastors, he's exhorting the leaders in the church. And, this guy that has this office of pastoring the people, shepherd them, shepherd the flock of God among you. And, what is the job of a shepherd? So the pastor is not a CEO, the pastor is a shepherd. And a shepherd does several things. He leads the sheep, he feeds the sheep, he cares for the sheep, and he protects the sheep. That's a big part of the job. Protecting the sheep, Protecting the sheep from wolves, protecting the sheep from danger. And, we have, pastors today who think, well, I just operate in the four walls of the church. I'm going to feed the sheep, I'm going to care for the sheep. But they don't necessarily lead them and they don't protect them, and they are, sadly afraid, from my perspective, afraid to really, weighed into subjects that they say, oh, that'll be controversial. I don't. That could cause some trouble in the church. I don't want to do that. I'm just. I'm totally apolitical, and I'm not going to deal with these subjects that can be lightning rods talking about, LGBTQ stuff. I don't want to do that. You know, members have family members, sons, daughters, grandsons, granddaughters that are transgender or, gay. And that could really ruffle feathers. I don't want to ruffle any feathers. So I'm just going to care for them, and I'm just going to share Bible stories with them. But you're not leading them and you're not protecting them. Now, I ran across a clip yesterday from Jeremy, Boreing, co founder of the Daily Wire with Ben Shapiro. He's got his own podcast. He's not part of the Daily Wire anymore. He's got his own podcast, and he was calling out pastors. Now he's an outspoken Christian, and this is what he had to say to the pastors.
Speaker E: The state has encroached into almost every facet of our lives, in part because the church has retreated from almost every facet of our lives. The job of pastor isn't a partisan job. I understand Jesus isn't a Republican, but, much of what has to be done in this moment is unavoidably partisan. One political party in this country largely abhors the Christian religion and has worked to drive it from the public square, and in doing so, has narrowed the practical choices available to our people. Socialism is a godless ideology that seeks to produce Christian fruit wholly apart from the substance of Christ. It's the serpent's offer, the good thing by the wrong path, at the cost of your soul. That side, in its current form, must be defeated. And so must the movement within the other side. Toward a tribal Christ is king sloganeering, toward antisemitism, toward contempt for women, toward anger and despair and nihilism. It's the same serpent just on the other flank. And it will destroy the souls of your flock just as surely as socialism will. All of this is very much the domain of the pastor. I believe that the founding of the United States is the greatest political achievement in human history and that it's essentially a Christian one. Christian in a way that only Christianity could have ever produced. Jon Adams told us that the Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people and is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. He was right. And now we're not a moral and religious people anymore, and the Constitution is struggling. But who precisely was in charge of keeping us a moral and religious people? The state. The answer shouldn't be, let's throw out the Constitution. It should be to start pastoring again and to help our people become moral and religious again.
Caroline: Ah.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: that's a. What a great quote. So the Constitution, according to Jon Adams, one of the founding fathers, the first vice president of the United States of America. Vice president to George Washington, the second president of the United States of America. The Constitution was designed and framed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the governance of any other. I love the way that, Jeremy Boring sets this up. So he says, okay, you have to have a moral and religious people in order for our Constitution to work.
Caroline: Work.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: And whose job is it to keep the people moral and religious? Well, and they don't mean that in a negative context. They mean that in a Christian context. Obviously the nation was founded on biblical principles by the vast majority of men. Those founders were Christians. they didn't pull any punches about being Christians. And even those that we would call deists, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, as one president of a university, said on our program, who wrote about George Washington, that Benjamin Franklin, if he's a deist, he's a very soft deist. He's not a hard shelled deist because he believes in prayer. He thinks prayer changes things. Hard shelled deists don't believe that. What's the point of praying? God's on vacation, he's gone fishing. So you don't pray. So these guys were steeped in the scriptures and so many of them born again Christians with a testimony that would let us know, hey, these guys know the Lord, they founded the country. It's only for a moral and religious people. And so I love how Jeremy Boring says the job of a pastor, the job of the church is to keep telling people about Jesus, who is mighty, to save and keep preaching the gospel and do good works in the community. That's you know, we're not saved by good works, but we're saved for good works. Ephesians chapter 2. For by grace you've been saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not as a result of works. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works that we should walk in them. We make a difference in the community. You know, I tell our church, hey, when we come for Sunday morning, that's like the huddle. That's us being encouraged. And then we the huddle after we've spent time with the Lord and encouraged by his word, and we pray and we praise, then we break the huddle, so to speak, and we go out and now we're on the field and we go out into the community. So we're the church gathered on Sunday morning, on Wednesday night, and then we're the church scattered and we go and make a difference. Now it is incumbent upon the pastor, just as Jeremy Boreing said, to, speak the truth in love and to let the people know where the dangers are. And as it relates to culture, we need to sound the alarm that, hey, the culture is going off the cliff. the world, as The Bible says, 1 Jon 5:19, the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And so I urge you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what the will of God is that which is good and acceptable and perfect. The devil is trying to use the world and shape the culture to be anti Christian, to be anti the true God. That's why, they'll come against organizations and things don't want to have any Christian language, but they're fine with Muslim language, you know, because, hey, you know, that's fine, that's being inclusive, but no Christian stuff. We don't want that. And it's pretty obvious to me why is that? Well, because the devil is pushing all that the devil hates. He doesn't mind you becoming, a Muslim or a Buddhist or occultist. yeah, that's great. You believe that lie. That's great. he doesn't want you to hear the truth. He doesn't want you to believe the truth. Why? Because Jesus said the truth will set you free. So Jeremy boreing a man who loves the Lord, calling pastors to account, saying it's our job to protect the sheep and to warn them of what is going on. And so, hey, if the Constitution was framed and designed for moral and religious people, who has the responsibility of maintaining morality and, religion. The truth of the gospel in America, it's not the job of the state, it's not the job of the governor, not the job of, any senator or congressman or president. It's the job of the pastor. And he continues.
Speaker E: But that's not what many of your young men believe. Today, millions of them are being swept up into Christian nationalism if they're Protestant or integralism if they're Catholic. They're listening to men like Harvard professor Adrian Vermeule, who tells them that American conservatives wasted 40 years trying to limit the power of the state, that the aim of a constitution isn't to minimize the abuse of power, but to ensure that the ruler has, in his words, quote, the power needed to rule. Well, they're listening to men like Steven Wolf, whose the Case for Christian Nationalism argues for a Christian nation under a Christian prince and what he calls a, measured theocratic Caesarism. The Christian nationalist and the integralist are right, of course, that there's never been such a thing as neutrality, that the public square was never empty. But they're wrong when they say that it's the Constitution that failed. The Constitution didn't fail. We Did. The Constitution is already a Christian document, exactly as written Christian precisely because it refuses to compel belief. The apostle tells us that it is for freedom that Christ Jesus has made us free. Because you can't have virtue without freedom. Freedom is the prerequisite for virtue. You can force a man to do what you believe he should, but only when you're forcing him. If you want goodness to come from him, apart from the whip, you have to give him freedom.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: And that's what God gave to Adam and Eve. He gave them freedom. Because real love. If I'm going to exercise real love, I have to be free to do that. if the Lord wanted to make me just where I had no choice, I had to follow him. Well, he could have done that. He could have made us like that, but he didn't. He gave us freedom. And Adam and Eve, as we know, Genesis, chapter three, they used their right to choose. They used it wrongly. They chose, to believe. Well, Eve did. To believe the devil and Adam to believe Eve. And, they made the choice to eat of the fruit that was forbidden, the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. And it plunged the world into sin. Well, our job as pastors is to. And as Christians, we speak the truth in love, not just in the four walls of the church, but outside the church. And we let it be known we are salt and light. Tim Wildmon and I talked about that last week. We're salt and light. And, you don't put salt in one container and the fish in another. The salt is mixed in with the fish. The light comes into the darkness to light it up. And that's what the Lord has called us to do. Well, you're listening to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here. When we come back from the break, we'll be talking about some of these issues that we need to sound the alarm on, because people need to know the truth. We'll be right back. Hi, I'm Jan Harper. If you're a pastor's wife, you know both the blessings and the unique challenges that come with the life you and your husband live daily. We call it living in the Fishbowl.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: love to see you there. If we do all of those other things but the gospel is not being proclaimed, we will continue to see the erosion of our nation from the inside. Religion informs politics. Politics touches every aspect of our lives. And as the scripture discusses that the Lord has made his people to be living epistles. What story are we a part of?
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Welcome back to the program, Pastor Jeff. Here we're talking about, what is a pastor supposed to do? Peter tells us first, Peter, chapter five. That a pastor is to shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness. We don't do this for money. If you're in the ministry for money, you need to get out of the ministry. It's not about the money. It's about serving the master, not for sordid gain, but with eagerness. Nor yet is Lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. So we said that, what is the job of a pastor? He's a shepherd. What does a shepherd do? He leads the sheep. He feeds the sheep. He cares for the sheep. That's a, big part of being a pastor. Caring for the sheep and bringing the word of God and teaching the people and leading them to green pastures and then to protect them, protect them from the wolves, protect them from danger. I still remember hearing, the pastor of First Baptist, Jacksonville, Florida. When I was in seminary. Homer Lindsay co pastored with Jerry Vines. But, Homer was the pastor after his dad. And then Jerry came on board after that, and Homer said, you know, sheep aren't, sheep are dumb, but, they're not stupid. you know, we know from seeing videos of sheep, they get themselves in a lot of trouble. They can get themselves turned over and can't get out. They fall into the ditch because they just, they wander away. They're dumb in some senses, but they're not stupid. And so they're not going to keep going where there's no food. And so he was talking about, hey guys. Is at the seminary chapel. Hey guys, you need to have something for the sheep. When they come on Sunday morning, when they come on Sunday night, when they come on Wednesday night, when you gather them to open up the word of God, make sure that you have a meal there for them. Because it's important, to rightly divide the word of truth, to speak the truth in love, and to give people the bread of life in the word of God. As Jesus said, man shall not live by bread alone. But every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, well, protecting the sheep is, sounding the alarm. You know, Jude makes mention of that. You know, Jude wrote Jude, the half brother of Jesus. He said, in his little one chapter epistle, beloved, while I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you, appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all delivered to the saints. We need to fight for the faith so that we can pass the baton of faith to our children, to our grandchildren. Now, big in the news, Dolly Parton's death. Dolly died Tuesday at the age of 80. everybody's coming out of the woodwork expressing their love for Dolly Parton. Well, she was a very lovable, person. She had just personality to burn. She was so sweet and with that country accent and just, her way about Her. She could, you know, just endeared herself to people. I haven't heard anybody say anything negative about Dolly Parton, but there are some that want to immediately, usher her into heaven. A, pastor that I know and love and respect wrote a glowing, post about her being, welcomed into heaven. And I'm thinking to myself, okay, well, what did she say in her lifetime that would make you think, you know, there are people that we know. Charlie Kirk gets assassinated. He gets martyred for his faith. Well, Charlie Kirk went immediately into the presence of the Lord. How do I know that? Because Charlie Kirk was unashamedly a follower of Jesus Christ. He stood for, the scripture. Jesus said, unless you believe I am he. And the he's in italics, which means it's not there. Jon 8. 24. Unless you believe I am, you will die in your sins. I am. I am is the name of God. Charlie believed that. He believed that Jesus was God in the flesh. The great I am, who died on the cross for his sins, your sins, my sins, our sins, and rose again from the dead. And he put his faith and trust in the. In the God of the Bible, who has revealed himself in the Lord Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity. And he was saved because Jesus said that, if we confess with our mouth, or says in Romans, chapter 10, by inspiration of the Spirit, the apostle Paul, if we confess with our mouth, Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead, we shall be saved. And so we know that, based on scripture, that Charlie is with the Lord just as others. Steven, who was martyred in Acts 7 as James, who had his head cut off in Acts 12. We know those guys are with the Lord. but to say Dolly Parton is with the Lord, I hope she is. I don't know that, there was nothing that she said. I did a little research about that to say. Okay, what. Did Dolly. Did Dolly ever make it clear that she put her faith and trust in Jesus and Jesus alone for salvation? And, the answer came back, no. Here are some quotes from Dolly Parton. She said, we're all God's children. No matter how we try to get to heaven, we all want to go there. We just have our own routes to take. And that's how I look at it. Okay, that. That doesn't sound like, somebody that believes Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father but through him. In the Dolly Parton America podcast, she described herself as, quote, spiritual, not Religious and stated quote, the Bible says, let every man seek out his own salvation and that means to save himself, whatever it takes to save you. And if you can get to that place and find your own peace, then you can do good for other people on the afterlife. She added that you don't really know, you just hope and you have faith, suggesting people might be recycled into that great flow of divine energy. Good grief, that's not good at all. That's not biblical at all. She repeatedly noted she did not condemn the sincerity of others faiths, avoiding shoving her beliefs on anyone, and emphasized openness, including to different religions and paths. She once remarked in a Christmas special context that nobody knows for sure if there's a heaven. Well, I don't know Dolly. I never met Dolly Parton, never talked to Dolly Parton. I don't know if she's a Christian or not. I'm definitely not going to post. Well, Dolly Parton is in heaven because I liked her and she was fun and she was very entertaining and she seemed sweet. That doesn't mean you're a Christian. And so I think we need to be, careful with this. the apostle Paul said that his heart's desire was that people would come to Christ, that his Jewish brothers and sisters would come to Christ. And he had a desire for them. He said, I'd rather myself be lost so that they would be saved. He had such a heart for them. But just because you have a heart for somebody and just because you want this to be so doesn't make it so. You know, I did a funeral. I say, you know, you wouldn't know this, but I did a funeral for a friend of mine years, ago. And it was a guy that died very unexpectedly at relatively young age of 50 years old. He and I used to play basketball together. We were kind of rivals. He was better than I was. And so when we play together he liked to twist the knife some. And so we had some pretty heavy duty back and forths. And his mother was a godly woman. She's with the Lord now. And she asked me when he died would I do his funeral. And so I did. Now I had had an experience with this guy about maybe six months to a year before he died. And I had shared the gospel with him. He had had a series of some surgeries that had gone poorly. And I shared the gospel with him. And he was really close, but he never, he didn't pray to receive Christ with me. And then that moment was kind of gone. And so, I shared that at the funeral. And I said, listen, I said, I don't know. I shared it, talked about I met him at this restaurant, we were talking about Jesus, and he was really close, but he didn't. He said, let me think about it. And he went away. Almost like the rich young ruler, he went away and, we never got together again. And he, to my knowledge, he never did that. At least he didn't do that in my presence, pray to receive Christ. And so I shared that at the funeral and I just said this. I was very sensitive to the fact that, his mom was there, ah, obviously in the, audience along with his family. And I just said, here's the thing. If he put his faith and trust in Jesus before he died, I can say with certainty that he's in heaven. But I don't know that he did that. So if he did, he's in heaven. If he didn't, well, it's a wake up call to you and to me that all dogs don't go to heaven. Jesus said, not everyone who says to me, lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. For many will say to me on that day, lord, Lord, did we not preach in your name? And in your name cast out demons, and in your name perform many miracles. He said, then I will declare to them, I never knew you depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. And so when we have an issue like a celebrity, what are we to do? Well, we're not to condemn that person, but we're also not to, you know, preach that person into heaven. You can't do that. And so I just say, hey, I like Dolly Parton. I hope she's in heaven. I don't know. The only person that I know that I know, that I know that I know is going to heaven is me. because I was there when I trusted Christ. And he has changed my life. And so I know that I'm saved. And I know the promises, that he's given in his word are true for me because I have given my life to him. So that's an issue. as we talk about what is a pastor to do? He's to make it clear to people this is the way to heaven. You know, all the things that we can talk about from the pulpit. There's nothing more consequential than a person's eternity. Now, the Bible has much to say about how to live the Christian life. And we need to delve into that. You know, I was thinking yesterday I preached on, second Peter, chapter one, verses five through eleven, and talked about, where's the fruit? And, how do we know that, a person is genuinely saved? Well, Jesus said, you'll know them by their fruits. And so if we've really been saved, we're to have fruit in our life by this. As my Father, glorified Jesus said that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. But I was thinking about this. The three aspects of salvation. There is justification. That happens the moment that you repent and believe. The moment you receive Christ, you're justified in Jesus. You're saved. But it's the first leg of salvation. It's the justification piece. And then the very last leg of salvation is glorification. And justification happens, boom, just at a, moment in time when I believe. And glorification happens, boom, at a moment m in time when the Lord takes away this body of flesh and gives me a glorified body. Both those things happen immediately. But sanctification, that middle part of salvation, well, that's a lifelong process. That's from the time that you trust Jesus until the time you are glorified, you go through sanctification. That is, dealing with the sins that so easily beset us. That is growing in the Lord. That's seeking after the Lord, that's, moving, toward him. Even though we fall, we get back up. And, that is the sanctification process. Paul said in Romans 8, but if we, by the Spirit, are putting to death the deeds of the body, we will live. That's how you grow. You grow by putting to death the deeds of the body. You've died to sin. You're alive to God in Jesus, but now you have to live that out. You have to consider yourselves dead. And so the job of a pastor, he leads, he feeds, he cares, he protects, he lets, the sheep know where the danger is. And listen as it relates to issues that people would say, well, that's political, politics, pure politics. Talking about roads and things like that. yeah, we don't get involved in that from the pulpit, but we do get involved in moral issues. We do get involved. And we have to sound the alarm with what is going on with the LGBTQIA agenda, that's trying to brainwash are young people. If pastors aren't speaking to that, hey, you're not protecting people. And if we're not talking about moral purity, we're not protecting people. I mean, the culture is just, flooded with immorality and pornography and insanity, moral insanity. You know, the wnba, it's hard to get away from the wnba, because it's a big a basketball league for women. The W is for women, and they can't figure it out. it's just amazing. So you have this guy, this former NBA player, Enes Cantor Freedom, that is pushing the lunacy. He's making them, have to say what the W stands for and define the word woman. They don't want to do is crazy. And you ask yourself the question, well, good night. Why don't they want to do it? Well, they don't want to do it because so many of them are lesbians in that league. The difference between the NBA and the wnba, the NBA is not chock full of gay guys. I don't know if you have any gay guys in there, but you have a lot of lesbians in the wnba. And lesbians are going to hold tight with the turkey. The L goes with the T. And so you don't speak out against the community. And the community is lgbtq. And so they're very reluctant to say anything about that. Listen, transgenderism and one of the things, you know, Dolly Parton was a big supporter of LGBTQ community, which is big red flag for me. But transgenderism destroys lives. It's a virus and a disease of the mind. And, patting somebody on the back when they're going in that direction is patting them on the back to their destruction. We don't want to do that. We speak the truth in love, and love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth. If you have a question or comment, give me a call and let's talk.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Welcome back to the program, Pastor Jeff. Here we're talking about what a pastor is to do. He is to lead the sheep, feed the sheep, care for the sheep, and Protect the sheep. Don't let the wolves in. Don't let them feed on poison berries. protect them from that. Things that could destroy them. Protect their children. Speak the truth to them, and, let them know where the danger is so that they can recognize it, so that, they can keep themselves from harm. Now, we have a lot of pastors that don't want to say anything about different subjects. They don't want to wade in because. Well, I don't know. I had one pastor tell me one time, and as a black pastor friend of mine, I was talking, to some people in his congregation, and I talked about abortion and how we, you know, as Christians, how can you support a candidate that is pro abortion? That is murder. And, boy, it got deathly quiet in there. And he told me privately, he said. He said, Pastor Jeff, he said, I agree with you on abortion. He said, but the reason why they're not for you on that is because so many of them have had abortions or their kids have had abortions. And so they're not going to, you know, happy is the man who does not condemn himself and what he approves, as it says in Romans 14. So they're not going to condemn, themselves by saying, yeah, that's right. Abortion is. Is evil because they are participating in it. Well, you have to wade in on those things, and you have to be willing to stand, up for what is right, even if you stand alone. I still refer, to the book by my friend William, J. Federer, Bill Federer. Silence equals consent. The sin of omission. Speak now or forever lose your freedom. And he's calling on Christians and pastors to speak up and speak the truth in love and address these issues from the pulpit and get your people to get out there and address these issues in the public square, because that's how you are salt and light. That's how you change the culture. Now, Charles Barkley, outspoken Charles Barkley, he, will tell you that he's. I, love the LGBT community, but even he gets it. As far as the WNBA goes. He knows what the W stands for. This is what he had to say.
Caroline: I always support the gay community. I always support the transgender community. I got numb and love and respect for gay people and transgender people, but under no circumstances do I think men should play against women. Zero. I'm, disappointed in Adam Silva and Kathi, the commissioner, all the. First of all, you can't let stupid stuff go out to the Internet, which is the. One of the worst things ever happened to the world. They should have come out two weeks ago before all this. Like the people looking for attention now, just including this guy. But he has a point, though, because Cassie and Adam haven't said, hey, it's in the title wnba. We're not going to have transgender people in the wnba, and we're not going to discuss it again. That's what Adam and Kathi should have done two or three weeks ago before they turn it over to the Internet. And every food idiot has to have an opinion on.
: Yeah.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: So what does the W stand for? It stands for women. And if you are a biological man, guess what? You don't get to play. And so this guy, Enes Cantor Freedom, who played in the NBA for 11 years, he came to a WNBA game wearing a T shirt that said, just defined the word woman. He said, an adult human female. That's what a woman is. And the WNBA refuses to acknowledge what is as plain as the nose on your face. It is unbelievable. Hey, you know, Charles Barclay said, well, I love gay people. I respect gay people and trans people. I, have great respect for them. Well, if you really love them, here's the thing. This is how we get so twisted in our thinking. If you really love people, you'll tell them the truth because they're destroying their lives. They're kicking against the goads. As the Lord told Paul, it's hard to kick against the goads. you keep doing that. God designed you a certain way. God made you a certain way. You can fight with your Creator if you want, and it's not going to go well with you. We, as Christians love, truly do love people. We love them enough to say, hey, this is not going to work for you. This is not going to go well for you. You are speeding down a road that leads off a cliff. And because we love you, we're not going to cheer you on and we're not going to say, yeah, more power to you, buddy. We're going to get in the road and wave our arms and say, you need to stop. You're going the wrong way. And that's what our culture does not get. Woe to those Isaiah 5:20, refer to this constantly. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Hey, when it comes to elections, as we have the midterms coming up, when it comes to elections, you need to vote for a candidate that has a rudimentary, sense of morality to know the Difference between good and evil. And if you vote for a candidate who calls evil good and good evil, well, shame on you for doing that. Don't do that. Now, obviously we have candidates that aren't great, but, and people that say, well, I reject the idea of voting between the lesser of two evils. Well, somebody's going to be elected and typically it's going to be between two people. And so if you say, well, I don't, the quote unquote conservative candidate, I don't like them, because of X, Y and Z. Well, then you're going to, help the liberal candidate, the progressive, the, Marxist, Islamist, get into power. That's going to be far, far worse. And so, you know, we talk about the election in Texas between, Paxton and James Talarico. James Talarico is poisoned. You can't vote for that guy. He's terrible. He takes the scripture and twists it. He does exactly what the devil does. Takes, the word of God, puts a question mark, twists it. the things that he says. Ken Paxton might not be, your favorite guy, but when you look at those two guys, you say, okay. Who seems to have, the ability to tell the difference between what is good and what is evil. Yeah, I would say Ken Paxton has the ability to do that. James Talarico doesn't. Well, we're going to the phone lines 888-589-8840 and, want to hear from our friend Lee from Virginia. Lee, welcome to Real Truth for today.
Caroline: good morning, Pastor Jeff.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: morning.
Caroline: I like you. I listened to Paul Washer yesterday and he played tapes. He didn't say what she said. He played tapes of her saying it. Dolly Parton did say, just like you said, that she, had been appointed a poster child for the lgbtq, crowd. yeah, she, she, she loved them. She loved who they loved. Had she been born a male, she would be a drag queen. And he played her experience of her being, supposedly saved in a run down vacant church that all was in. It was a piano, all the windows was both broke out. And what she said of her experience of being born again sounded like a new age conversion.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, it's a, it's a big concern. And, you know, I don't, I want to see people come to know Christ. I want to see people in heaven. And, I hope Dolly Parton had a personal relationship with Jesus, but there's no, I don't see any evidence of that. And so I'm not the judge. God's the judge. But I can tell you what the judge has said. Unless you believe I am he, you will all die in your sins. And unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. And, not everyone who says to me, lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. And so those are straight from the king himself. That's what he says. So people get upset when you're like, well, you're being the judge. It's like, I'm not being the judge, he's the judge. I'm just telling you what the judge said. And, you do well to pay heed to what the judge has said. Because eternity is very long. And if, you're going to roll the dice on your eternity, you're very foolish. we don't have to do that. We can put our faith and trust in Jesus, the one who died and rose again from the dead, and we can have assurance in him. Well, thank you, brother, for that. I always appreciate hearing from you. Lee, we have David on the line from Florida. David, welcome to Real Truth for today.
Caroline: You know, Pastor, it's like a durable in a spinning wheel, but you just seem to go round and round and we get exercise where we get nowhere. And I, I just see us, I see a society that's like Noah had eight that were saved from the millions that were killed in the flood. People just don't want to hear because they want to get along to go along. They want five minutes of fame. They just trust man over anything else. And then Matthew just says, let the man kill the body, but God will kill the body and damn the soul to hell. But people just won't listen. They, I, get into groups of people that want to talk and everybody else has got a spin on a verse. Everybody's got a different opinion on something. It's God put the Word, the Word is the Word. And there's nothing man could do except to honor God and share his Word truth and just let the word go out there, never comes back void. And we have nothing to fear but fear itself. And God is in control. We go before the giant, we go before the Philistines. We do what we have to do, and God will protect us if it's time to go home. Hello, Jesus. I love you.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Amen. Amen. That's a good word, David. Thank you for that. Well, we have, Linne on the line from Arkansas. Linne, welcome to Real Truth for today.
Caroline: I was just going to say I have a family member who went to a conference and it was, I think it was at the crossroads or something like that. It was really good. And they really treat, the pastors well. and anyway, so he went back and gave a message, and it was more about, culture issues. And he said people, came up and thanked him for it. So, and I went to a church where the pastor talked about, marriage and, you know, other culture issues. And he had the open Bible where it said marriage is between a man and a woman. So to just talk is one thing, but to have the proof right there was really good.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Anyway, Amen to that. Well, thank you, Linne. yeah, we don't need to be, We don't need to be apologetic, from the standpoint of I'm sorry the Bible says this. I've heard guys preach, and they're sorry that they had to preach through Romans 1 and that the Lord condemns homosexuality, calls it vile and unnatural. Why would you be sorry about that? you let the word. I mean, God's word comes from the God who is love. There's nothing for us to be sorry about if we read something and we don't get it. How does that come from a heart of a compassionate God? Well, God is compassion. the Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness and truth. As he tells Moses, when he reveals himself to Moses and shows him the backside of his glory, he expresses who he is. Anytime we see God, and it sounds like God is too harsh or too hard, line or no God, you shouldn't be like that.
Caroline: That.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Guess what? You don't understand what he's saying. You don't understand where he's coming from, because you're not more compassionate than God. You're not more loving than God. And when I say you, I'm talking about me, too. we need to just bow before the Lord and say, okay, Lord, I don't get this, but that's okay, because as long as you get it, I just trust you. And, you know, Job asked all the questions why in the book of Job, and God never answered his why. As the song says, when answers aren't enough, there's Jesus. He's more than just an answer to our prayer. And Job just said, you know, I heard of you with the ear, but now my eye sees you, and I repent in dust and ashes. You are the great God. Well, who am I to question you? you are the great God. And so we just yield to the Lord and we say, okay, Lord, I don't understand this. But it's your word. And, it's impossible for God to lie. It's impossible for God to be wrong about thing. And so we just yield to that. We have time for one more call. Don, from Florida. Don, welcome to Real Truth for today.
Caroline: Yes, thank you.
Caroline: okay. Yes. On that day, he will say, depart from me, for I never knew you doers of iniquity. Many people have the misconception that we are all God's children. And I absolutely dispute that, because we are all God's creation. We are not all God's children.
Caroline: Children, yes.
Caroline: the idea that someone. Listen, there are some very lovable people out there. you know, I loved. What's his name? Micah, Landon, Fred Rogers. Just because these people are personable and lovable and likable. Listen, it's not my job to decipher whether they're going up or down. Okay? And if you don't like that, what you were just saying about, you know, I'm sorry. I had to preach to Roman Romans 1. When I get into that kind of confrontation, I usually tell people, if you don't like it, you know what? That's your call to go talk. Talk to God. Deal with upper management about it. because, you know, I think to say that, you know, what if we. If we ask God, did they go to heaven or did they go to hell? It's to bring God down or to bring him up. I'm not sure how that works. It's in Corinthians 1 or 2, and it's a couple times throughout the Bible. I don't understand what that means. I hear the music. We're running out of time, so I'm going to shut up, and I want to hear your comments. Thank you.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, I appreciate it, Don. you're exactly right. We're all God's creation. We're not all God's children. You become a child of God when you put your faith and trust in Jesus, but as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in his name. And so. Good questions. I don't have time to answer it fully, but I appreciate you calling in. Linda, I'm sorry we didn't get to you. Hey, go out today. Shine for Christ. Share what great things the Lord has done for you, and speak the truth in love. God wants to use you as his witness. God bless you
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, good Thursday morning, and welcome to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff here. Hope you're having a wonderful morning. It's, ah, excuse me, a little cooler here in Texarkana, which is nice. we got some rain last night, which is a good thing. And, my wife walks every morning. She's misdisciplined. So she said, I'm doing, 30 days, walking for at least 30 minutes, which she really does, about 45 to an hour. but she's just going to be consistent to do it. I think she's missed one day, this month in August. And so she was walking this morning. She said, it's so much cooler today. So we praise the Lord for that. Hey, I want to read to you from 1st Peter 5. The apostle Peter says this. Therefore, I exhort the elders among you as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ and, and a partaker also of the glory that is to Be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God, and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness. Nor yet is lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. So the command shepherd the flock of God, he is exhorting the elders, the overseers. Now the office. the Greek word there is presbuteros, and it means, to be, a father, to be in authority over somebody. somebody that's, an older person. but they don't necessarily have to be ancient. but we know that, when the Bible talks about elders, he's speaking of overseers, he's speaking of pastors and elders. That's all the same office. And so we could easily say, he's exhorting pastors, he's exhorting the leaders in the church. And, this guy that has this office of pastoring the people, shepherd them, shepherd the flock of God among you. And, what is the job of a shepherd? So the pastor is not a CEO, the pastor is a shepherd. And a shepherd does several things. He leads the sheep, he feeds the sheep, he cares for the sheep, and he protects the sheep. That's a big part of the job. Protecting the sheep, Protecting the sheep from wolves, protecting the sheep from danger. And, we have, pastors today who think, well, I just operate in the four walls of the church. I'm going to feed the sheep, I'm going to care for the sheep. But they don't necessarily lead them and they don't protect them, and they are, sadly afraid, from my perspective, afraid to really, weighed into subjects that they say, oh, that'll be controversial. I don't. That could cause some trouble in the church. I don't want to do that. I'm just. I'm totally apolitical, and I'm not going to deal with these subjects that can be lightning rods talking about, LGBTQ stuff. I don't want to do that. You know, members have family members, sons, daughters, grandsons, granddaughters that are transgender or, gay. And that could really ruffle feathers. I don't want to ruffle any feathers. So I'm just going to care for them, and I'm just going to share Bible stories with them. But you're not leading them and you're not protecting them. Now, I ran across a clip yesterday from Jeremy, Boreing, co founder of the Daily Wire with Ben Shapiro. He's got his own podcast. He's not part of the Daily Wire anymore. He's got his own podcast, and he was calling out pastors. Now he's an outspoken Christian, and this is what he had to say to the pastors.
Speaker E: The state has encroached into almost every facet of our lives, in part because the church has retreated from almost every facet of our lives. The job of pastor isn't a partisan job. I understand Jesus isn't a Republican, but, much of what has to be done in this moment is unavoidably partisan. One political party in this country largely abhors the Christian religion and has worked to drive it from the public square, and in doing so, has narrowed the practical choices available to our people. Socialism is a godless ideology that seeks to produce Christian fruit wholly apart from the substance of Christ. It's the serpent's offer, the good thing by the wrong path, at the cost of your soul. That side, in its current form, must be defeated. And so must the movement within the other side. Toward a tribal Christ is king sloganeering, toward antisemitism, toward contempt for women, toward anger and despair and nihilism. It's the same serpent just on the other flank. And it will destroy the souls of your flock just as surely as socialism will. All of this is very much the domain of the pastor. I believe that the founding of the United States is the greatest political achievement in human history and that it's essentially a Christian one. Christian in a way that only Christianity could have ever produced. Jon Adams told us that the Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people and is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. He was right. And now we're not a moral and religious people anymore, and the Constitution is struggling. But who precisely was in charge of keeping us a moral and religious people? The state. The answer shouldn't be, let's throw out the Constitution. It should be to start pastoring again and to help our people become moral and religious again.
Caroline: Ah.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: that's a. What a great quote. So the Constitution, according to Jon Adams, one of the founding fathers, the first vice president of the United States of America. Vice president to George Washington, the second president of the United States of America. The Constitution was designed and framed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the governance of any other. I love the way that, Jeremy Boring sets this up. So he says, okay, you have to have a moral and religious people in order for our Constitution to work.
Caroline: Work.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: And whose job is it to keep the people moral and religious? Well, and they don't mean that in a negative context. They mean that in a Christian context. Obviously the nation was founded on biblical principles by the vast majority of men. Those founders were Christians. they didn't pull any punches about being Christians. And even those that we would call deists, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, as one president of a university, said on our program, who wrote about George Washington, that Benjamin Franklin, if he's a deist, he's a very soft deist. He's not a hard shelled deist because he believes in prayer. He thinks prayer changes things. Hard shelled deists don't believe that. What's the point of praying? God's on vacation, he's gone fishing. So you don't pray. So these guys were steeped in the scriptures and so many of them born again Christians with a testimony that would let us know, hey, these guys know the Lord, they founded the country. It's only for a moral and religious people. And so I love how Jeremy Boring says the job of a pastor, the job of the church is to keep telling people about Jesus, who is mighty, to save and keep preaching the gospel and do good works in the community. That's you know, we're not saved by good works, but we're saved for good works. Ephesians chapter 2. For by grace you've been saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not as a result of works. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works that we should walk in them. We make a difference in the community. You know, I tell our church, hey, when we come for Sunday morning, that's like the huddle. That's us being encouraged. And then we the huddle after we've spent time with the Lord and encouraged by his word, and we pray and we praise, then we break the huddle, so to speak, and we go out and now we're on the field and we go out into the community. So we're the church gathered on Sunday morning, on Wednesday night, and then we're the church scattered and we go and make a difference. Now it is incumbent upon the pastor, just as Jeremy Boreing said, to, speak the truth in love and to let the people know where the dangers are. And as it relates to culture, we need to sound the alarm that, hey, the culture is going off the cliff. the world, as The Bible says, 1 Jon 5:19, the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And so I urge you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what the will of God is that which is good and acceptable and perfect. The devil is trying to use the world and shape the culture to be anti Christian, to be anti the true God. That's why, they'll come against organizations and things don't want to have any Christian language, but they're fine with Muslim language, you know, because, hey, you know, that's fine, that's being inclusive, but no Christian stuff. We don't want that. And it's pretty obvious to me why is that? Well, because the devil is pushing all that the devil hates. He doesn't mind you becoming, a Muslim or a Buddhist or occultist. yeah, that's great. You believe that lie. That's great. he doesn't want you to hear the truth. He doesn't want you to believe the truth. Why? Because Jesus said the truth will set you free. So Jeremy boreing a man who loves the Lord, calling pastors to account, saying it's our job to protect the sheep and to warn them of what is going on. And so, hey, if the Constitution was framed and designed for moral and religious people, who has the responsibility of maintaining morality and, religion. The truth of the gospel in America, it's not the job of the state, it's not the job of the governor, not the job of, any senator or congressman or president. It's the job of the pastor. And he continues.
Speaker E: But that's not what many of your young men believe. Today, millions of them are being swept up into Christian nationalism if they're Protestant or integralism if they're Catholic. They're listening to men like Harvard professor Adrian Vermeule, who tells them that American conservatives wasted 40 years trying to limit the power of the state, that the aim of a constitution isn't to minimize the abuse of power, but to ensure that the ruler has, in his words, quote, the power needed to rule. Well, they're listening to men like Steven Wolf, whose the Case for Christian Nationalism argues for a Christian nation under a Christian prince and what he calls a, measured theocratic Caesarism. The Christian nationalist and the integralist are right, of course, that there's never been such a thing as neutrality, that the public square was never empty. But they're wrong when they say that it's the Constitution that failed. The Constitution didn't fail. We Did. The Constitution is already a Christian document, exactly as written Christian precisely because it refuses to compel belief. The apostle tells us that it is for freedom that Christ Jesus has made us free. Because you can't have virtue without freedom. Freedom is the prerequisite for virtue. You can force a man to do what you believe he should, but only when you're forcing him. If you want goodness to come from him, apart from the whip, you have to give him freedom.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: And that's what God gave to Adam and Eve. He gave them freedom. Because real love. If I'm going to exercise real love, I have to be free to do that. if the Lord wanted to make me just where I had no choice, I had to follow him. Well, he could have done that. He could have made us like that, but he didn't. He gave us freedom. And Adam and Eve, as we know, Genesis, chapter three, they used their right to choose. They used it wrongly. They chose, to believe. Well, Eve did. To believe the devil and Adam to believe Eve. And, they made the choice to eat of the fruit that was forbidden, the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. And it plunged the world into sin. Well, our job as pastors is to. And as Christians, we speak the truth in love, not just in the four walls of the church, but outside the church. And we let it be known we are salt and light. Tim Wildmon and I talked about that last week. We're salt and light. And, you don't put salt in one container and the fish in another. The salt is mixed in with the fish. The light comes into the darkness to light it up. And that's what the Lord has called us to do. Well, you're listening to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here. When we come back from the break, we'll be talking about some of these issues that we need to sound the alarm on, because people need to know the truth. We'll be right back. Hi, I'm Jan Harper. If you're a pastor's wife, you know both the blessings and the unique challenges that come with the life you and your husband live daily. We call it living in the Fishbowl.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: love to see you there. If we do all of those other things but the gospel is not being proclaimed, we will continue to see the erosion of our nation from the inside. Religion informs politics. Politics touches every aspect of our lives. And as the scripture discusses that the Lord has made his people to be living epistles. What story are we a part of?
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Welcome back to the program, Pastor Jeff. Here we're talking about, what is a pastor supposed to do? Peter tells us first, Peter, chapter five. That a pastor is to shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness. We don't do this for money. If you're in the ministry for money, you need to get out of the ministry. It's not about the money. It's about serving the master, not for sordid gain, but with eagerness. Nor yet is Lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. So we said that, what is the job of a pastor? He's a shepherd. What does a shepherd do? He leads the sheep. He feeds the sheep. He cares for the sheep. That's a, big part of being a pastor. Caring for the sheep and bringing the word of God and teaching the people and leading them to green pastures and then to protect them, protect them from the wolves, protect them from danger. I still remember hearing, the pastor of First Baptist, Jacksonville, Florida. When I was in seminary. Homer Lindsay co pastored with Jerry Vines. But, Homer was the pastor after his dad. And then Jerry came on board after that, and Homer said, you know, sheep aren't, sheep are dumb, but, they're not stupid. you know, we know from seeing videos of sheep, they get themselves in a lot of trouble. They can get themselves turned over and can't get out. They fall into the ditch because they just, they wander away. They're dumb in some senses, but they're not stupid. And so they're not going to keep going where there's no food. And so he was talking about, hey guys. Is at the seminary chapel. Hey guys, you need to have something for the sheep. When they come on Sunday morning, when they come on Sunday night, when they come on Wednesday night, when you gather them to open up the word of God, make sure that you have a meal there for them. Because it's important, to rightly divide the word of truth, to speak the truth in love, and to give people the bread of life in the word of God. As Jesus said, man shall not live by bread alone. But every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, well, protecting the sheep is, sounding the alarm. You know, Jude makes mention of that. You know, Jude wrote Jude, the half brother of Jesus. He said, in his little one chapter epistle, beloved, while I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you, appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all delivered to the saints. We need to fight for the faith so that we can pass the baton of faith to our children, to our grandchildren. Now, big in the news, Dolly Parton's death. Dolly died Tuesday at the age of 80. everybody's coming out of the woodwork expressing their love for Dolly Parton. Well, she was a very lovable, person. She had just personality to burn. She was so sweet and with that country accent and just, her way about Her. She could, you know, just endeared herself to people. I haven't heard anybody say anything negative about Dolly Parton, but there are some that want to immediately, usher her into heaven. A, pastor that I know and love and respect wrote a glowing, post about her being, welcomed into heaven. And I'm thinking to myself, okay, well, what did she say in her lifetime that would make you think, you know, there are people that we know. Charlie Kirk gets assassinated. He gets martyred for his faith. Well, Charlie Kirk went immediately into the presence of the Lord. How do I know that? Because Charlie Kirk was unashamedly a follower of Jesus Christ. He stood for, the scripture. Jesus said, unless you believe I am he. And the he's in italics, which means it's not there. Jon 8. 24. Unless you believe I am, you will die in your sins. I am. I am is the name of God. Charlie believed that. He believed that Jesus was God in the flesh. The great I am, who died on the cross for his sins, your sins, my sins, our sins, and rose again from the dead. And he put his faith and trust in the. In the God of the Bible, who has revealed himself in the Lord Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity. And he was saved because Jesus said that, if we confess with our mouth, or says in Romans, chapter 10, by inspiration of the Spirit, the apostle Paul, if we confess with our mouth, Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead, we shall be saved. And so we know that, based on scripture, that Charlie is with the Lord just as others. Steven, who was martyred in Acts 7 as James, who had his head cut off in Acts 12. We know those guys are with the Lord. but to say Dolly Parton is with the Lord, I hope she is. I don't know that, there was nothing that she said. I did a little research about that to say. Okay, what. Did Dolly. Did Dolly ever make it clear that she put her faith and trust in Jesus and Jesus alone for salvation? And, the answer came back, no. Here are some quotes from Dolly Parton. She said, we're all God's children. No matter how we try to get to heaven, we all want to go there. We just have our own routes to take. And that's how I look at it. Okay, that. That doesn't sound like, somebody that believes Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father but through him. In the Dolly Parton America podcast, she described herself as, quote, spiritual, not Religious and stated quote, the Bible says, let every man seek out his own salvation and that means to save himself, whatever it takes to save you. And if you can get to that place and find your own peace, then you can do good for other people on the afterlife. She added that you don't really know, you just hope and you have faith, suggesting people might be recycled into that great flow of divine energy. Good grief, that's not good at all. That's not biblical at all. She repeatedly noted she did not condemn the sincerity of others faiths, avoiding shoving her beliefs on anyone, and emphasized openness, including to different religions and paths. She once remarked in a Christmas special context that nobody knows for sure if there's a heaven. Well, I don't know Dolly. I never met Dolly Parton, never talked to Dolly Parton. I don't know if she's a Christian or not. I'm definitely not going to post. Well, Dolly Parton is in heaven because I liked her and she was fun and she was very entertaining and she seemed sweet. That doesn't mean you're a Christian. And so I think we need to be, careful with this. the apostle Paul said that his heart's desire was that people would come to Christ, that his Jewish brothers and sisters would come to Christ. And he had a desire for them. He said, I'd rather myself be lost so that they would be saved. He had such a heart for them. But just because you have a heart for somebody and just because you want this to be so doesn't make it so. You know, I did a funeral. I say, you know, you wouldn't know this, but I did a funeral for a friend of mine years, ago. And it was a guy that died very unexpectedly at relatively young age of 50 years old. He and I used to play basketball together. We were kind of rivals. He was better than I was. And so when we play together he liked to twist the knife some. And so we had some pretty heavy duty back and forths. And his mother was a godly woman. She's with the Lord now. And she asked me when he died would I do his funeral. And so I did. Now I had had an experience with this guy about maybe six months to a year before he died. And I had shared the gospel with him. He had had a series of some surgeries that had gone poorly. And I shared the gospel with him. And he was really close, but he never, he didn't pray to receive Christ with me. And then that moment was kind of gone. And so, I shared that at the funeral. And I said, listen, I said, I don't know. I shared it, talked about I met him at this restaurant, we were talking about Jesus, and he was really close, but he didn't. He said, let me think about it. And he went away. Almost like the rich young ruler, he went away and, we never got together again. And he, to my knowledge, he never did that. At least he didn't do that in my presence, pray to receive Christ. And so I shared that at the funeral and I just said this. I was very sensitive to the fact that, his mom was there, ah, obviously in the, audience along with his family. And I just said, here's the thing. If he put his faith and trust in Jesus before he died, I can say with certainty that he's in heaven. But I don't know that he did that. So if he did, he's in heaven. If he didn't, well, it's a wake up call to you and to me that all dogs don't go to heaven. Jesus said, not everyone who says to me, lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. For many will say to me on that day, lord, Lord, did we not preach in your name? And in your name cast out demons, and in your name perform many miracles. He said, then I will declare to them, I never knew you depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. And so when we have an issue like a celebrity, what are we to do? Well, we're not to condemn that person, but we're also not to, you know, preach that person into heaven. You can't do that. And so I just say, hey, I like Dolly Parton. I hope she's in heaven. I don't know. The only person that I know that I know, that I know that I know is going to heaven is me. because I was there when I trusted Christ. And he has changed my life. And so I know that I'm saved. And I know the promises, that he's given in his word are true for me because I have given my life to him. So that's an issue. as we talk about what is a pastor to do? He's to make it clear to people this is the way to heaven. You know, all the things that we can talk about from the pulpit. There's nothing more consequential than a person's eternity. Now, the Bible has much to say about how to live the Christian life. And we need to delve into that. You know, I was thinking yesterday I preached on, second Peter, chapter one, verses five through eleven, and talked about, where's the fruit? And, how do we know that, a person is genuinely saved? Well, Jesus said, you'll know them by their fruits. And so if we've really been saved, we're to have fruit in our life by this. As my Father, glorified Jesus said that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. But I was thinking about this. The three aspects of salvation. There is justification. That happens the moment that you repent and believe. The moment you receive Christ, you're justified in Jesus. You're saved. But it's the first leg of salvation. It's the justification piece. And then the very last leg of salvation is glorification. And justification happens, boom, just at a, moment in time when I believe. And glorification happens, boom, at a moment m in time when the Lord takes away this body of flesh and gives me a glorified body. Both those things happen immediately. But sanctification, that middle part of salvation, well, that's a lifelong process. That's from the time that you trust Jesus until the time you are glorified, you go through sanctification. That is, dealing with the sins that so easily beset us. That is growing in the Lord. That's seeking after the Lord, that's, moving, toward him. Even though we fall, we get back up. And, that is the sanctification process. Paul said in Romans 8, but if we, by the Spirit, are putting to death the deeds of the body, we will live. That's how you grow. You grow by putting to death the deeds of the body. You've died to sin. You're alive to God in Jesus, but now you have to live that out. You have to consider yourselves dead. And so the job of a pastor, he leads, he feeds, he cares, he protects, he lets, the sheep know where the danger is. And listen as it relates to issues that people would say, well, that's political, politics, pure politics. Talking about roads and things like that. yeah, we don't get involved in that from the pulpit, but we do get involved in moral issues. We do get involved. And we have to sound the alarm with what is going on with the LGBTQIA agenda, that's trying to brainwash are young people. If pastors aren't speaking to that, hey, you're not protecting people. And if we're not talking about moral purity, we're not protecting people. I mean, the culture is just, flooded with immorality and pornography and insanity, moral insanity. You know, the wnba, it's hard to get away from the wnba, because it's a big a basketball league for women. The W is for women, and they can't figure it out. it's just amazing. So you have this guy, this former NBA player, Enes Cantor Freedom, that is pushing the lunacy. He's making them, have to say what the W stands for and define the word woman. They don't want to do is crazy. And you ask yourself the question, well, good night. Why don't they want to do it? Well, they don't want to do it because so many of them are lesbians in that league. The difference between the NBA and the wnba, the NBA is not chock full of gay guys. I don't know if you have any gay guys in there, but you have a lot of lesbians in the wnba. And lesbians are going to hold tight with the turkey. The L goes with the T. And so you don't speak out against the community. And the community is lgbtq. And so they're very reluctant to say anything about that. Listen, transgenderism and one of the things, you know, Dolly Parton was a big supporter of LGBTQ community, which is big red flag for me. But transgenderism destroys lives. It's a virus and a disease of the mind. And, patting somebody on the back when they're going in that direction is patting them on the back to their destruction. We don't want to do that. We speak the truth in love, and love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth. If you have a question or comment, give me a call and let's talk.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Welcome back to the program, Pastor Jeff. Here we're talking about what a pastor is to do. He is to lead the sheep, feed the sheep, care for the sheep, and Protect the sheep. Don't let the wolves in. Don't let them feed on poison berries. protect them from that. Things that could destroy them. Protect their children. Speak the truth to them, and, let them know where the danger is so that they can recognize it, so that, they can keep themselves from harm. Now, we have a lot of pastors that don't want to say anything about different subjects. They don't want to wade in because. Well, I don't know. I had one pastor tell me one time, and as a black pastor friend of mine, I was talking, to some people in his congregation, and I talked about abortion and how we, you know, as Christians, how can you support a candidate that is pro abortion? That is murder. And, boy, it got deathly quiet in there. And he told me privately, he said. He said, Pastor Jeff, he said, I agree with you on abortion. He said, but the reason why they're not for you on that is because so many of them have had abortions or their kids have had abortions. And so they're not going to, you know, happy is the man who does not condemn himself and what he approves, as it says in Romans 14. So they're not going to condemn, themselves by saying, yeah, that's right. Abortion is. Is evil because they are participating in it. Well, you have to wade in on those things, and you have to be willing to stand, up for what is right, even if you stand alone. I still refer, to the book by my friend William, J. Federer, Bill Federer. Silence equals consent. The sin of omission. Speak now or forever lose your freedom. And he's calling on Christians and pastors to speak up and speak the truth in love and address these issues from the pulpit and get your people to get out there and address these issues in the public square, because that's how you are salt and light. That's how you change the culture. Now, Charles Barkley, outspoken Charles Barkley, he, will tell you that he's. I, love the LGBT community, but even he gets it. As far as the WNBA goes. He knows what the W stands for. This is what he had to say.
Caroline: I always support the gay community. I always support the transgender community. I got numb and love and respect for gay people and transgender people, but under no circumstances do I think men should play against women. Zero. I'm, disappointed in Adam Silva and Kathi, the commissioner, all the. First of all, you can't let stupid stuff go out to the Internet, which is the. One of the worst things ever happened to the world. They should have come out two weeks ago before all this. Like the people looking for attention now, just including this guy. But he has a point, though, because Cassie and Adam haven't said, hey, it's in the title wnba. We're not going to have transgender people in the wnba, and we're not going to discuss it again. That's what Adam and Kathi should have done two or three weeks ago before they turn it over to the Internet. And every food idiot has to have an opinion on.
: Yeah.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: So what does the W stand for? It stands for women. And if you are a biological man, guess what? You don't get to play. And so this guy, Enes Cantor Freedom, who played in the NBA for 11 years, he came to a WNBA game wearing a T shirt that said, just defined the word woman. He said, an adult human female. That's what a woman is. And the WNBA refuses to acknowledge what is as plain as the nose on your face. It is unbelievable. Hey, you know, Charles Barclay said, well, I love gay people. I respect gay people and trans people. I, have great respect for them. Well, if you really love them, here's the thing. This is how we get so twisted in our thinking. If you really love people, you'll tell them the truth because they're destroying their lives. They're kicking against the goads. As the Lord told Paul, it's hard to kick against the goads. you keep doing that. God designed you a certain way. God made you a certain way. You can fight with your Creator if you want, and it's not going to go well with you. We, as Christians love, truly do love people. We love them enough to say, hey, this is not going to work for you. This is not going to go well for you. You are speeding down a road that leads off a cliff. And because we love you, we're not going to cheer you on and we're not going to say, yeah, more power to you, buddy. We're going to get in the road and wave our arms and say, you need to stop. You're going the wrong way. And that's what our culture does not get. Woe to those Isaiah 5:20, refer to this constantly. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Hey, when it comes to elections, as we have the midterms coming up, when it comes to elections, you need to vote for a candidate that has a rudimentary, sense of morality to know the Difference between good and evil. And if you vote for a candidate who calls evil good and good evil, well, shame on you for doing that. Don't do that. Now, obviously we have candidates that aren't great, but, and people that say, well, I reject the idea of voting between the lesser of two evils. Well, somebody's going to be elected and typically it's going to be between two people. And so if you say, well, I don't, the quote unquote conservative candidate, I don't like them, because of X, Y and Z. Well, then you're going to, help the liberal candidate, the progressive, the, Marxist, Islamist, get into power. That's going to be far, far worse. And so, you know, we talk about the election in Texas between, Paxton and James Talarico. James Talarico is poisoned. You can't vote for that guy. He's terrible. He takes the scripture and twists it. He does exactly what the devil does. Takes, the word of God, puts a question mark, twists it. the things that he says. Ken Paxton might not be, your favorite guy, but when you look at those two guys, you say, okay. Who seems to have, the ability to tell the difference between what is good and what is evil. Yeah, I would say Ken Paxton has the ability to do that. James Talarico doesn't. Well, we're going to the phone lines 888-589-8840 and, want to hear from our friend Lee from Virginia. Lee, welcome to Real Truth for today.
Caroline: good morning, Pastor Jeff.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: morning.
Caroline: I like you. I listened to Paul Washer yesterday and he played tapes. He didn't say what she said. He played tapes of her saying it. Dolly Parton did say, just like you said, that she, had been appointed a poster child for the lgbtq, crowd. yeah, she, she, she loved them. She loved who they loved. Had she been born a male, she would be a drag queen. And he played her experience of her being, supposedly saved in a run down vacant church that all was in. It was a piano, all the windows was both broke out. And what she said of her experience of being born again sounded like a new age conversion.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, it's a, it's a big concern. And, you know, I don't, I want to see people come to know Christ. I want to see people in heaven. And, I hope Dolly Parton had a personal relationship with Jesus, but there's no, I don't see any evidence of that. And so I'm not the judge. God's the judge. But I can tell you what the judge has said. Unless you believe I am he, you will all die in your sins. And unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. And, not everyone who says to me, lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. And so those are straight from the king himself. That's what he says. So people get upset when you're like, well, you're being the judge. It's like, I'm not being the judge, he's the judge. I'm just telling you what the judge said. And, you do well to pay heed to what the judge has said. Because eternity is very long. And if, you're going to roll the dice on your eternity, you're very foolish. we don't have to do that. We can put our faith and trust in Jesus, the one who died and rose again from the dead, and we can have assurance in him. Well, thank you, brother, for that. I always appreciate hearing from you. Lee, we have David on the line from Florida. David, welcome to Real Truth for today.
Caroline: You know, Pastor, it's like a durable in a spinning wheel, but you just seem to go round and round and we get exercise where we get nowhere. And I, I just see us, I see a society that's like Noah had eight that were saved from the millions that were killed in the flood. People just don't want to hear because they want to get along to go along. They want five minutes of fame. They just trust man over anything else. And then Matthew just says, let the man kill the body, but God will kill the body and damn the soul to hell. But people just won't listen. They, I, get into groups of people that want to talk and everybody else has got a spin on a verse. Everybody's got a different opinion on something. It's God put the Word, the Word is the Word. And there's nothing man could do except to honor God and share his Word truth and just let the word go out there, never comes back void. And we have nothing to fear but fear itself. And God is in control. We go before the giant, we go before the Philistines. We do what we have to do, and God will protect us if it's time to go home. Hello, Jesus. I love you.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Amen. Amen. That's a good word, David. Thank you for that. Well, we have, Linne on the line from Arkansas. Linne, welcome to Real Truth for today.
Caroline: I was just going to say I have a family member who went to a conference and it was, I think it was at the crossroads or something like that. It was really good. And they really treat, the pastors well. and anyway, so he went back and gave a message, and it was more about, culture issues. And he said people, came up and thanked him for it. So, and I went to a church where the pastor talked about, marriage and, you know, other culture issues. And he had the open Bible where it said marriage is between a man and a woman. So to just talk is one thing, but to have the proof right there was really good.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Anyway, Amen to that. Well, thank you, Linne. yeah, we don't need to be, We don't need to be apologetic, from the standpoint of I'm sorry the Bible says this. I've heard guys preach, and they're sorry that they had to preach through Romans 1 and that the Lord condemns homosexuality, calls it vile and unnatural. Why would you be sorry about that? you let the word. I mean, God's word comes from the God who is love. There's nothing for us to be sorry about if we read something and we don't get it. How does that come from a heart of a compassionate God? Well, God is compassion. the Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness and truth. As he tells Moses, when he reveals himself to Moses and shows him the backside of his glory, he expresses who he is. Anytime we see God, and it sounds like God is too harsh or too hard, line or no God, you shouldn't be like that.
Caroline: That.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Guess what? You don't understand what he's saying. You don't understand where he's coming from, because you're not more compassionate than God. You're not more loving than God. And when I say you, I'm talking about me, too. we need to just bow before the Lord and say, okay, Lord, I don't get this, but that's okay, because as long as you get it, I just trust you. And, you know, Job asked all the questions why in the book of Job, and God never answered his why. As the song says, when answers aren't enough, there's Jesus. He's more than just an answer to our prayer. And Job just said, you know, I heard of you with the ear, but now my eye sees you, and I repent in dust and ashes. You are the great God. Well, who am I to question you? you are the great God. And so we just yield to the Lord and we say, okay, Lord, I don't understand this. But it's your word. And, it's impossible for God to lie. It's impossible for God to be wrong about thing. And so we just yield to that. We have time for one more call. Don, from Florida. Don, welcome to Real Truth for today.
Caroline: Yes, thank you.
Caroline: okay. Yes. On that day, he will say, depart from me, for I never knew you doers of iniquity. Many people have the misconception that we are all God's children. And I absolutely dispute that, because we are all God's creation. We are not all God's children.
Caroline: Children, yes.
Caroline: the idea that someone. Listen, there are some very lovable people out there. you know, I loved. What's his name? Micah, Landon, Fred Rogers. Just because these people are personable and lovable and likable. Listen, it's not my job to decipher whether they're going up or down. Okay? And if you don't like that, what you were just saying about, you know, I'm sorry. I had to preach to Roman Romans 1. When I get into that kind of confrontation, I usually tell people, if you don't like it, you know what? That's your call to go talk. Talk to God. Deal with upper management about it. because, you know, I think to say that, you know, what if we. If we ask God, did they go to heaven or did they go to hell? It's to bring God down or to bring him up. I'm not sure how that works. It's in Corinthians 1 or 2, and it's a couple times throughout the Bible. I don't understand what that means. I hear the music. We're running out of time, so I'm going to shut up, and I want to hear your comments. Thank you.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, I appreciate it, Don. you're exactly right. We're all God's creation. We're not all God's children. You become a child of God when you put your faith and trust in Jesus, but as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in his name. And so. Good questions. I don't have time to answer it fully, but I appreciate you calling in. Linda, I'm sorry we didn't get to you. Hey, go out today. Shine for Christ. Share what great things the Lord has done for you, and speak the truth in love. God wants to use you as his witness. God bless you
What is the biblical responsibility of a pastor? In this episode of Real Truth for Today, Pastor Jeff Schreve examines Peter’s command to “shepherd the flock of God,” explaining that pastors are called to lead, feed, care for, and protect the people entrusted to them.
Pastor Jeff discusses why pastors must be willing to speak the truth in love—even when cultural and moral issues are controversial. He explores the role of the church in preserving biblical truth, the importance of protecting believers from spiritual danger, and why Christians must remain faithful to Scripture rather than simply follow the culture.
The conversation also addresses salvation, sanctification, and the importance of knowing what Scripture says about eternity. Pastor Jeff cautions against assuming someone is in heaven simply because they were kind, popular, or admired, emphasizing that salvation comes through genuine faith in Jesus Christ.
What is the biblical responsibility of a pastor? In this episode of Real Truth for Today, Pastor Jeff Schreve examines Peter’s command to “shepherd the flock of God,” explaining that pastors are called to lead, feed, care for, and protect the people entrusted to them.
Pastor Jeff discusses why pastors must be willing to speak the truth in love—even when cultural and moral issues are controversial. He explores the role of the church in preserving biblical truth, the importance of protecting believers from spiritual danger, and why Christians must remain faithful to Scripture rather than simply follow the culture.
The conversation also addresses salvation, sanctification, and the importance of knowing what Scripture says about eternity. Pastor Jeff cautions against assuming someone is in heaven simply because they were kind, popular, or admired, emphasizing that salvation comes through genuine faith in Jesus Christ.
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