Welcome to Real Truth for Today with Pastor Jeff Schrieve, Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church in Texarkana, Texas. Now, here's Pastor Jeff.
Psalm Forty Six Encourages Courage Amid National Uncertainty
Pastor Jeff Schreve Well, good morning and welcome to Real Truth for Today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here. I wanted to read to you from Psalm 46. Psalm 46 says, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam m though the mountains quake at its swelling point. Pride. We don't have to fear what's going on. We don't have to fear if the earth changes. We don't have to fear even in this political season that we've been in, in this new America that we are going to face in January, we need to be aware. We need to be vigilant. We need to be praying. We need to be engaged. But we don't need to need to fear. I was listening to Jack Graham yesterday. A friend of mine sent me a clip from, Dr. Jack Graham. And he said, you know, as far as, Islam goes, he said, hey, I'm not afraid to have a showdown like, Elijah had on Mount Carmel to see who is the real God here. And, so, let's go. The God who answers by fire, he is God. Allah is not God. The Muslims do not worship the God of, of the universe. Christians do. I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, not Ishmael, the God of Jacob. And so we worship, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have a relationship with God through the shed blood of his Son. The Lord Jesus Christ. And so we don't need to fear. Psalm 46 goes on to say, come behold the works of the Lord who has wrought desolations in the earth. He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two. He burns the chariots with fire. Cease striving and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. That's Psalm 46, verse 10. Such a great verse. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our stronghold.
The Lord's Presence Brings Comfort And Freedom From Fear
Now, Psalm 46 is a Psalm I go to often for, when I do a funeral, I'll read that passage of Scripture because it reminds us that even in grief, even in pain, even in heartache, even in the death of a loved one, the Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our stronghold. We don't need to fear. God is our refuge. He's our strength. And he's a very present help when we're in trouble. He's abundantly available for help when we're in trouble. So 46, 10. In the king James, it says, be still and know that I am God. In the new American standard, it says, cease striving, let go, relax. Here is the emphasis. Let go and relax and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted on the earth. If America ceases to exist, God will still be exalted among the nations. He will be exalted on the earth. So think about that. Let go and relax. When my girls were little, you know, oftentimes as kids, as it happens in the life of a child, they wake up in the middle of the night, they had a bad dream, they're scared. Now, I had this situation with, Debbie. If the kids were sick, they knew you go to Mom's side of the bed. If they were scared, they would come to Dad's side of the bed. Because, Debbie didn't have a lot of compassion, on the, scared child. I had a lot of compassion on the sick child, but not necessarily on the scared child. So when they're scared, they came to me. And that worked fine for me. I'd much rather deal with fear than vomit. And so they would come and, you could just. They were so tense and so worried and, you know, fearful. And I just say, here, get in bed with dad. And I put my arms around them. I said, go to sleep. You're safe. And they would do that, and their bodies, you could just feel their bodies, just. The tension would just cease. They were able to relax because they knew, hey, Dad's able to whip the boogeyman. Nothing's, going to get me. I'm safe in the arms of my father. And that's what we have going with the Lord. Cease striving, let go, relax, be still, and know that I am God.
Prayer And Humility Can Help Heal A Troubled Nation
I think that's a word for somebody out there, or somebody's out there today, because you've been watching the news and you've been hearing, things that have gotten you all agitated and riled up. listen, I love Jack Hibbs, and he's a wonderful pastor and a wonderful warrior for the truth. I count him a dear brother in the Lord. he said that the Republic is lost, and we need to buckle, up our chin straps because, things are going to get very, very difficult. Well, I wouldn't go so far as to say, okay, I think the Republic has lost, but I think, the United States of America is in the hospital and is in icu, and whether we get out of there or not is going to be dependent on the people of God. In Second Corinthians or Second Chronicles, chapter 7, verse 14, if my people who are called by my name will. Will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. And so it depends on us. We have to say, okay, Lord, I'm going to pray. I'm going to humble myself. I'm going to get serious. I'm not going to seek your hand. I'm going to seek your face. I'm not looking for what you can do for me. I'm looking for you. Because as Moses said in the book of Exodus, when the Lord said, I'm not going to go with you. I'll send my angel, to lead you, but I'm not going because you're an obstinate people. And Moses said, lord, it's your presence that makes the difference. If you don't go with us, then don't lead us up from here, because your presence is what we need. Your presence is the difference maker.
Spirit Filled Living Aims To Glorify Christ And Inspire Hope
And that's what we want more than anything else. You know, I was thinking about being filled with the Holy Spirit. You know, why should God fill us with his spirit? If I were to pray, you know, first Ephesians, chapter 5, verse 18, and be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with The Spirit. And that's a command to be filled with the Spirit. And we have to, we don't need to keep praying. God, give me youe spirit. The Spirit comes upon us the moment we repent and believe. But to be filled with God's spirit, that's where God's in control. The Lord's in control of every area of our lives. And we are to pray, lord, fill me with your spirit. We're to constantly be, filled and controlled with his spirit. For what purpose? I still remember a sermon I heard in college from Adrian Rogers, and he was talking about being filled with the Spirit. And he said, we pray, lord, fill me with your spirit, so that I could be a, great witness. And the Lord says, well, that's. That's good, but that. That's not that. I'm not interested in that being the main motivator, that you'd be a great witness. Lord, fill me with your spirit. So I'd be a great preacher. Well, that's great, but, that's not the main thing. Well, Lord, fill me with your spirit. So I'd be a good husband. I'd be a good wife. I'd be a good mom, I'd be a good dad. well, those are. Those are byproducts. But that's not the main thing. He said, what's the main thing? What is the spirit's job? To glorify Christ. He, Jesus said, shall glorify me. He said, lord, fill me with your spirit, because more than anything else in life, I want Jesus Christ to be magnified and glorified and honored in my life. And when you have that as your motivation, the Holy Spirit says, oh, that's what you want to do? Well, that's what I came to do. He shall glorify me. Jesus said, and if you want to glorify Christ in your love, and you want Jesus to have the preeminence in every area of your life, I'm all in for that. Yes, I will fill you with myself. And so, we have to keep the main thing, the main thing. We have to get our focus right, and we have to know that God is the God of hope. When things look hopeless in your life and in the country, we remember that God is the God of hope. Romans 15:13. Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing. It's critical that you believe him and trust him. Fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope, just overflow in hope. By the power of the Holy Spirit. So that is a, word of encouragement as we start the program this morning.
Shreve Warns Against Political Hatred And Bitterness
Hey, I wanted to. I was thinking about this. you know, there's been a lot on social media, a lot in the news about this lady, Jennifer Welch. Jennifer Welch has the podcast. she launched it in 2022. I've had it is the name of the podcast. She and Angie Sullivan, and, they're far left wingers, and, they can't stand, conservatives. They can't stand Christians. Jennifer Welch is. She's just a person that, eats hate and bitterness for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. She was the one, along with Angie Sullivan, that thought it was so funny that somebody suggested we ought to dig up Charlie Kirk and do it to him again. And they laughed uncontrollably at that. Well, there's been a big campaign against anybody that is, supporting her show. And so she's lost, I think, 30 sponsors. I read where it was, you know, $7 million or so that she's lost in sponsorship because people say, I don't want to be associated with people that laugh at a man's assassination and, you know, go after his wife and his children, you know, his children's father and call him, you know, she thinks that Charlie Kirk was a racist, a bigot, a homophobe, an Islamophobe, a vile, evil person, a grifter. I mean, she just paints him, and in her mind, she believes this lie. Charlie Kirk is, on the same par as Satan himself. Well, of course you would hate him if he is Satan himself. this is. Megyn Kelly had posted this the other day about Jennifer Welch. And, listen to this.
Megyn Kelly I have so much more hate to give. I barely even tapped into it.
Pastor Jeff Schreve And this is why we call her the angry podcast lady. Trump derangement syndrome. Really, it corrodes you from the inside. It's very, very poisonous. It's really, really disgusting.
Pastor Jeff Schreve Yeah, she has so much more hate to give. She. She wants to grow in her hate. You know, James Carville said the same thing. He said, in a recent quote, you're right. I have Trump derangement syndrome. I hate him. And they use some expletives there. I want to watch him wither in anguish, misery, and pain. man, you know, you can't wallow and feed on bitterness and anger and. And hatred and disdain. you can't do that for very long before you're going to get extremely sick if you drink from the sewer. it's not going to go well for you. see to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled. Hebrews 12 tells us that we got to make sure our hearts aren't, getting consumed with bitterness and anger and unforgiveness and resentment. That's why the Bible says, don't let the sun go down on your anger. Things happen, we get angry, okay, deal with the anger, bring that to the Lord and make sure that's not, lodging its way into your heart. Because the Bible says, do not let the sun go down on your anger. And do not give the devil a plague place. Don't give him a topos is the word for place where we get topography. Don't give him this, beachhead in your life. Don't give him an opportunity, because, you know, when you start eating bitterness and hatred for breakfast, lunch and dinner, that's throwing out a welcome mat on the front door of your heart to the devil. He will come in and he will reap, wreak havoc in your life. And then you see goes on the inside and then it's going to work its way out. People like Rosie o', Donnell, you can see it on her face. People like Kathi Grifenhagen, you can see it, it starts to affect the way they look. If you look up Jennifer Welch, you can just see this is not a happy woman. This is a, this is a bitter woman and it's showing on her face. James Carville, same thing. Keith Olbermann, same thing. They've been eating hate for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and it's taking its toll. Hey, we take all those feelings to the Lord and we cast our burden on him. Well, you're listening to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here on American Family Radio. When we come back, we'll welcome Chelsey Wildmon as we talk about the gift annuity at afa. We'll be right back.
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to Pastor Jeff Schrieve.
Chelsea Wildman Explains AFA Charitable Gift Annuities
Pastor Jeff Schreve Welcome back to. Welcome to the program. Pastor Jeff here. And we welcome to the program Chelsey Wildmon, associate director of American Family association and the financial planning arm of afa. And so, Chelsey, welcome to Real Truth for today.
Chelsea Wildmon Thank you so much for having me.
Pastor Jeff Schreve Well, okay, so another year for the, AFA foundation and the gift annuity. Tell us how things are going.
Chelsea Wildmon Yes, going really well. yes, I wanted to come on today to share with your listeners that our end of year giving deadlines are approaching. So if anyone is looking to gift, any, fund for a charitable gift annuity, that, that is, that is coming up soon. So I can't believe that we're already at the end of the year. But we are here. And, I know a lot of people have maybe some qualified charitable distributions, maybe have some extra funds set aside for a charitable gift annuity or just want to give to the ministry outright. So, we do have those deadlines coming up.
Pastor Jeff Schreve All right. And so tell us how, how would they would go about doing that?
Chelsea Wildmon Yes, so you can give us a call, at our foundation, 1, 800, 1, 800, I am so sorry, Mr. Jeff. I just had a blank. I think I'm a little nervous this morning.
Pastor Jeff Schreve Don't be nervous.
Chelsea Wildmon Yes, you can visit afafoundation.net to learn more information about the foundation. But yes, we would love to speak with them, visit the foundation, our afafoundation.net to learn some more information. But our charitable gift annuity is our main, source of gifting for the foundation. And what that is is the donor would gift any amount, $2,000 or above to AFA and in exchange, they would receive a fixed income for life. And that income percentage that they are paid is based on how old they are at the time that they give the gift and then when they start to receive that income. So, really g, sooner and waiting to receive that income, you're going to have a higher percentage that's being paid back to you. but It's a wonderful way to support the ministry long term and also receive a fixed income for the rest of their life. And they do get some wonderful tax benefits, a partial tax deduction the year that they give the gift, and then partial tax free income when they start to receive those payments. So those are some great tax benefits as well.
Pastor Jeff Schreve All right. And, has, has that been growing for American Family Association?
Chelsea Wildmon Yes, absolutely. We have, many donors that have actually come to us multiple times to put in place multiple charitable gift annuities. So I think it really speaks to our foundation's, strength and growth over the years. We have around 600 annuitants, across the board, all across the US that want to part with AFA to continue our, strong ministry, leading in equipping the family and, continuing afr. So we're so grateful for those donors.
Pastor Jeff Schreve So the website is afa foundation.net afa foundation.net and Chelsey, would they, would they. If they had questions and wanted to talk to a person, would they just call you?
Chelsea Wildmon Yes. 1-800-326-4543. So sorry, I blanked on that earlier. 1-800-326- 4543, extension 3,45.
Pastor Jeff Schreve Okay, so this is unrelated, but, that encourages me that you had a little brain fog there, because I get those too. And I was thinking it was because of age, and I think you're half my age, so I, don't feel so old.
Chelsea Wildmon Well, I might, I might blame it on motherhood. I do have three kiddos, and so, yes, I think I just had, had some brain fog, like you said.
Pastor Jeff Schreve How, how old are the kids?
Chelsea Wildmon Yes, ours are 11 and 8 and 5.
Pastor Jeff Schreve And is the factory shut down?
Chelsea Wildmon Well, we feel like the Lord has, has really completed our family, but, you know, his plans are greater than ours, so we just never know.
Pastor Jeff Schreve Yeah, Well, I think Tim and Allison would be all for you having another child.
Chelsea Wildmon Well, they have 10, grandkids total that keep them absolutely busy. But they are the most wonderful grandparents to our kiddos and we're so thankful for them. And yes, our children are a blessing. And getting to, to watch them grow, especially around this min. And around afr, is a real blessing.
Pastor Jeff Schreve Amen. Well, Chelsey, thanks so much for coming on. And, so I just encourage our listeners check it out and if you have questions, call Chelsey and she'd be more than happy to talk to you. Afafoundation.net gives you all the information and, Chelsey can give you anything. Fill in any of the blanks that you may have. So, Chelsey, thanks for, all that you do at American Family Radio, American Family Association.
Chelsea Wildmon Thank you so much for having me on today.
Pastor Jeff Schreve You're very welcome. Well, God bless you.
Letting Go Of Offenses And Seeking Biblical Perspective
Okay, I wanted to shift gears a little bit, and, so we're talking about eating hate. Eating hate is not a good thing to do. It will wreck and ruin your life. listen, we all deal with people that have hurt us. Some have hurt us on purpose, and some have hurt us, accidentally. Oftentimes in marriage, your spouse will hurt your feelings. they do it accidentally, and, that can create a big rift. you can't walk with God. If you're going to hold on to bitterness. You got to let that go. You gotta, as my friend June Hunt says, you gotta take that offender off of your hook, and you put them on God's hook. And you say, the Lord will deal with this person. obviously you can't have a relationship with someone who has terror, terribly wronged you and has never made it right. but you don't have to have a bad heart toward them. And so it's crazy when you see these people. Jennifer Welch, to my knowledge, has never met Donald Trump, but she just hates his guts. She never met Charlie Kirk. She just hates his guts. The things that people say about Charlie Kirk, he's a racist, he's a homophobe, he's a bigot, he's an Islamophobe. He's none of those things. He was none of those things. he loved people, but he believed you should treat people according to the content of their character and not the color of their skin. Well, I have a pastor that, sometimes I see his posts, and he, was talking about, the fact that, post election, you had the white evangelical church that was, by and large lamenting, the direction that the country chose, and then you had, in his words, the black evangelical church that was celebrating the direction. And he even quoted one friend of his that said, God did his thing. And, he said, you know, why are we so divided politically, between the black church and the white church?
Scripture Should Shape Cultural Views Rather Than The Reverse
When we. And he didn't say it quite like this, but it was like, we tend to have the same theological beliefs. Well, I question that. But, he said, I see it as, number one, Donald Trump. People that like Donald Trump or don't like Donald Trump, that separates them politically, even though they might say that they believe the word of God together. And he said, our different backgrounds and Racial experiences. And I thought about that. I thought, well, okay, your racial experiences. What does that have to do with reading the Bible? What does that have to do with interpreting the Bible that is a person? And he tipped his hand here because if your racial experience, you're reading in to the scripture from your experience, from your culture, we have said if you have a biblical worldview, you don't view, you view culture from the lens of scripture. You don't view scripture from the lens of culture or cultural, experiences or different backgrounds or your racial experiences. You don't read those into the scripture. You don't look at Scripture. Well, this is where I'm coming from. You say, where is God coming from? And as Vodi Bakam pointed out one time, Acts 17, when Paul is preaching on Mars Hill, he said, so he stood in the midst of the areopagus and said, men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all aspects. And he says, hey, I was walking through. You have all these, altars. You even have one to an unknown God, in case you missed that one. He said, the God who made the world and all things in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth from one man. You know, we talk about different races. We're all part of the human race. We might have different skin color, we might look a little different, but we all trace our lineage back to Adam. We all trace it back. if you want to get even more specific, we trace it back to. To Noah. And we, we are a descendant of Noah. We either come from his son Ham, or his son, Shem, or his son Japheth, because they were the. They were the. The people who repopulated the earth in, in Genesis after the flood. You have the flood in Genesis 7, and you have, Genesis 9. He gets off the. The ark. And, what is the command? Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth just like it was for Adam and Eve. So we all trace back to Noah. We all trace back from Noah to Adam. We're all from one man. He made from one. From one man. Every nation, every people, group of mankind to live on the face of the earth. That nation is ethnos. And ethnos is a multitude, a company of people, nations. They all come from one man. And so, you know, I really have trouble with somebody that looks at and sees everything from the color of somebody's skin, identity politics and identity Christianity. And, you know, Jeff, you can't speak on this because you don't know my experience. Do I have to know your experience to tell you? Thus says the Lord? I don't think so. You don't read that into the Scripture, because the Bible is the word of God, and the Bible cannot mean. I learned this early on, reading the Bible for all it's worth by, Gordon and Fee. The Bible cannot mean what it never meant. It's one, interpretation with many applications. And so to try and twist the Bible to get it to say what it doesn't say and what it doesn't mean and what was not intended in the sermon, on the Mount or whatever, passage that you read when Joshua, talks to the people, when Moses talks to the people, what was he communicating? He wasn't communicating black liberation theology. That doesn't make any sense at all. And so people that really try and read race into, the Scripture, obviously there were problems with Jews and Samaritans. Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. That was a cultural issue back then. And so the Bible doesn't. Is not oblivious to those things. But, you know, if you see race in everything you read. And that was what Voddie, bakkem. When he wrote fault lines, he said, hey, this is the way this is going. Everything will be racist. Because that's how they view all of the totality of scripture. They look at it through the lens of racism. And as you know, Voddie Baucam was black. And so this idea, Jennifer Welch was saying, you know, Charlie, Kirk, doesn't like black people.
Shreve Defends Prolife Advocacy And Invites Listener Calls
I like black people. Well, she sure didn't like Vodie Bauckham. She didn't like, Bishop E.W. jackson. Ah, she doesn't like Thomas Sowell, so many in the black community. Thomas Sowell is one of the smartest men who's ever lived. And, do you see him being championed by, the Black Evangelical Church? no, they don't. Do they champion Clarence Thomas, who's an outspoken brother in the Lord? No, they don't, because it's just one way. You know, it's not just that, it's the color of your skin, but it's also, you have to be, as Joe Biden said, if you don't know who to vote for, you ain't Black. And so that's the way they view things. Well, that is wrong. And so if you understand what is going on in the world, if you're able to discern what is going on, then you know that, what happened last Tuesday is not a good thing for America. It's going to, put us into a tailspin. And, this was by Life News. they posted this on X just, yesterday. Democrats want to pass a bill for abortions up to birth in the first 100 hours after taking over Congress. How does that lower gas prices? And so why are we, in the evangelical church, in the church that believes the scripture, why are we lamenting? What happened on election, day last Tuesday was because of things like that, you know, and what this pastor said on his post is, well, yeah, you guys are big on abortion, but we're, we're big on race relations. And both of those are equal in our eyes. Well, if you treat people according to the content of their character and not the color of their skin, the issues related to race go out the window. and that was Martin Luther King's dream. I still hold to that. I think that, if you evaluate people based on the color of their skin, that is the definition of racism. We are not to do that, but we are to speak for those who can't speak for themselves. And there's a whole group of people being murdered in our country year after year after year by the hundreds of thousands, by the millions. And that is the unborn. And what, is. What is the command to the king in Proverbs 31? I'll read it to you just to make sure we get it. Word perfect. Proverbs 31, the words to King Lemuel. Some believe that King Lemuel was a pet name that, Bathsheba gave to Solomon. And, it says, open your mouth for the mute, for the dumb, for the rights of all the unfortunate. Open your mouth. Judge righteously and defend the rights of the afflicted and needy. There's no group of people more afflicted, more needy, more in need of defense than the helpless unborn. And we stand up for them. Well, you're listening to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here on American Family Radio. When we come back from the break, we'll be taking your calls. 888-589-8840. That's triple 858-98840. If you have a question, comment, I'd love to hear from you. And, if you disagree with what I'm saying, call in and we can have a friendly, respectful conversation. But it's always great to hear from our listeners. So give me a call and let's talk.
If you'd like to contact Pastor Jeff, email pastor jeffromhishheart.org now back to Real Truth for today with Pastor Jeff Schrieve.
Shoebox Collection Week And Holy Land Trip Announcements
Pastor Jeff Schreve Welcome back to the program, Pastor Jeff. Here a couple of announcements. Let me just encourage you. We have Operation Christmas Child Collection week starts next week, November 16th through the 23rd. And Samaritan's Purse will collect the gift filled shoeboxes at nearly 5,000 drop off locations in all 50 stations and Puerto Rico. And so learn how to pack a shoebox. View gift suggestions, find the nearest drop off location and follow your box@samaritan's purse.org occ for operation christmas child samaritans purse.org occ you can track your box and see where it goes. As I mentioned to you, earlier this year I got to go to the Dominican Republic and be a part of those shoebox events where the kids got their shoebox and how cool it was and how it's just excitement for those kids and OCC and Samaritan's Purse, they just do a great, great job. So be a part of that, get your family to be a part of that and pack a shoebox. It would be great if you could pack one for everybody in your family. So family of five, we have five shoeboxes. We're praying over those boxes because God uses those in people's lives. This Sunday we have Justin Thomas, not the golfer, but Justin Thomas who received a shoebox years ago, overseas, ah, as a kid and how that changed his life. So that's this Sunday at FBC Texarkana. Second thing I wanted to mention was we're going to Israel. Tim Wildmon and Allison are in Israel right now, but we're going to Israel April 2nd through the 11th. Would love for you to come with us. You can find out all the details by going to from hisheart.org from hisheart.org and just click on Holy Land 2027 and let us know if you have any questions. We'd love for you to join us for the trip of a lifetime.
Callers Discuss Jesus, Evangelism, The Rapture, And Preaching
Well, we're going to the phone lines 888-589-8840 and we have our friend Linda on the line. Linda, welcome to the program.
Caroline Oh, thank you for just what you do here. Where we can come in and just share with you. And I was telling her last week, I was talking about that bomb of Gilead. There was no bomb of Gilead. I never got to share the part where Jesus is our bomb of Gilead. And you know, bomb is like medicinal. And I just feel like it fits right in with what's going on with our nation right now. We have the answer. And that's what your whole program is about. Jesus is the answer. In this day and time, we have the answer and that's Jesus. He's a bomb.
Pastor Jeff Schreve Amen. Yeah. We need to remember that as a believer, you have what every person needs. Anytime you go out your doors and you encounter the public in whatever, you know, the grocery store or the mall or wherever, when you meet unbelievers, you just remember this. I have what that person needs. And I want to share with them this great message that the Lord has given me to share. You know, it's interesting, when Jesus was, conducting his earthly ministry, his time had not yet come. So a lot of times he would do something, ah, miraculous for somebody. And then he would say, don't tell anybody. And what would they do? They'd go tell everybody. Don't tell anybody. And they tell everybody. Then he rises from the dead, he tells us, tell everybody. And we don't tell like we should. We don't go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere like we're supposed to. So we get them flip flopped. But listen, we have what people need. And when you look at people with compassion, just know, Second Corinthians, chapter five. The love of Christ compels us and controls us. I have to share with you because I love you and I don't want you to be, left behind. I don't want you to perish. This Sunday at First Baptist Text Arcana I'm going to talk about a, Message from Second Thessalonians, Chapter 2. I've entitled it when the Bough Breaks. As we know from that nursery rhyme, when the bow breaks, the cradle will fall, and down will come baby, cradle and all. It's kind of a gruesome little nursery rhyme. but that's where we are right now. And the bow is getting ready to break in our world. And we are getting ready to at some time go into the tribulation period. the Rapture precedes the tribulation period. And for those left behind, the tribulation period is so horrible. It's a living hell on earth. And Jesus Said if those days had, had not been cut short, would die. That's how bad it is. And we don't want people to go through that. And God hasn't destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. First Thessalonians 5, 9. The Thessalonians were waiting for the Lord to come and get them. they were very concerned in Second Thessalonians chapter two, that they had been told that they had missed the Rapture and they were in the day of the Lord. And Paul said, no, that has not happened yet. Let me just say this before we go to the rest of our callers. Josh Howerton, who's pastor of Lake Point in Rockwall, he's been very outspoken and he is getting hammered on social media. People are going after him, calling him a plagiarist, showing clips of sermons that he got information from other guys. And it doesn't look good. But listen, all preachers, I've been at this a long time. We all learn from other people. Adrian Rogers himself, Adrian has been, his sermons have been widely used by many, many preachers over many, many years. And Adrian, Adrian himself would preach other guys stuff, things that really ministered to him. He said this once in an interview. I thought it was, it was very poignant. He said, God has not called us to be inventors of sermons. He's called us to be presenters of truth. Now that doesn't mean you just preach every Sunday. You're preaching somebody else's sermon and you just have a good memory and so you can memorize it. When I would listen to a sermon that really ministered to me, I'd probably listen to it five, six, seven times. I mean, it would really get into my heart and then I would be able to share that. Personal illustrations. Obviously, in a guy's sermon, you don't share those that didn't happen to you. But you can say, hey, I was listening to this and let me tell you what happened in so and so's life and you can share that illustration. you cross a line if you take somebody's personal illustration and you make it your own. All that to say this. We need to be praying for guys on the front line like that, the Josh Howerton's in the world. Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness. Jesus said, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice Rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great. For in the same way, they persecuted the prophets who were before you. And so may God, protect guys like Josh Howerton and use us to shine and share and be the witnesses he wants us to be. And give us boldness, even in the face of such hatred and such opposition. Give us boldness to speak the truth in love.
Caller Seeks Advice About Christian Friends And Political Choices
Well, we have Paulie on the line from Alabama. Paulie, welcome to Real Truth for today. Hi. Good morning. Good morning. I wanted
Caroline to. Good morning. I wanted to let you guys know I've got a close friend in Houston, Texas. We've been friends for years. I've always known she and her husband to be Christians. Christian values. They're Baptist. Not that that matters. But, so recently she let me know that they voted for James Talarico. We got in a really big discussion about that, and she became very, upset with me and told me that they believe he's the right man. And, you know, they were against Paxton. I tried to explain to her, we need to look at the party and for which, you know, what they stand for, the values that they stand for. And I don't know how to respond to her. She sends me devotionals. she believes God's got her on a devotional, a daily devotional thing where she sends out, you know, the word for the day.
Right.
Caroline I. I'm praying. And, you know, it reminds me, too, what God's word says about the deception in these times and even the very elect. And I'm. I'm praying. God help us all. it's concerning. And I don't really know how to respond to her.
Pastor Jeff Schreve Well, so there's a verse that comes to mind. When a wise man has a controversy with a foolish man, the foolish man either rages or laughs, and there is no rest. Proverbs 29, 9, lots. of times those conversations, aren't very fruitful because people get angry. they're standing on indefensible ground. One of the things that I've said repeatedly, Paulie, is because if you look to see when you vote, if you look to see who else is on the team, if you're on the team of God haters, you're on the wrong team. And so the children of Israel in the Old Testament, First Kings 18, we're going to have a showdown on Mount Carmel. Who is God? If the Lord is God, fear him and follow him and serve him. If BAAL is God, will fear, follow and serve him. And the people Were trying to ride the fence. They were like, well, you know, yeah, we say we follow Yahweh, but we always vote for bail. That doesn't work. You can't do that. And so, there's lots at stake in our country, I think, you know, with friends, you just have to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Lord, show me when to say something and when not to say something, and just pray, you know, The Bible says if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the God of this world has. Has blinded the minds of the unbelieving. Satan is the master liar, the father of lies. And, the Bible says 2 Timothy 3:13, evil men and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. And we have a lot of deception out there right now. The last sermon I did in the series Religion and Politics was about the sons of Issachar. They were men who, who, understood the times and what Israel should do. They had discernment. We have so many, people who call themselves Christians, whether they are or not. The Lord knows that. I don't know that, but, they're so undiscerning. They're like little babies that are crawling on the ground. And a little baby will see a spider and put it in his mouth. they don't know any different. And so, you know, you got to watch a little baby like a hawk, otherwise they'll hurt themselves. And that's kind of what we got today. And so many in the church say they love God, say they worship God, but they have zero discernment. And their biblical worldview is so Limited. Only 6% of professing Christians, according to George Barna, have a biblical worldview. And less than 50% of pastors, church staff have a biblical worldview. And, that creates a big, big problem. So God bless you. Paulie, thanks for calling in.
Caller Clarifies Humanity's Shared Ancestry Through Noah
we have Ruben on the line from Idaho. Reuben, welcome to Real Truth for today.
Caroline Good morning. Great program this morning.
Pastor Jeff Schreve Thanks. Sir,
Caroline I wanted to reflect on your comment about all of us, our genetics going back to Noah. And, I don't want to contradict or anything, but I just wanted to reflect. Noah was married. We don't know Mrs. Noah's name necessarily, but she had completely different genetics. And then Ham, Sham, and Japheth all had wives who had completely different genetics as well. So, yes, our common genetic patriarch is probably Noah, on that side. But we, we really do go back to Adam and Eve genetically, because of the other four that were, in the mix. Genetically,
Pastor Jeff Schreve sure. Yeah. Ultimately, it's to Adam, Adam and Eve. Everybody comes from Adam. But when you start off, when you wipe everybody out because of the flood and you just have Noah and his three children, well, you got it. You're coming through them. because if they didn't have any Ham, Shem and Japheth didn't have any children, that would have been it. It would have been eight people, and they would have died off and nobody else. So. But I appreciate the comment, Reuben. Anything else?
No, I'm good.
Caroline Thank
Pastor Jeff Schreve you. Okay. Thank you, brother. Thanks for calling in.
Final Caller Urges Evangelism As Shreve Closes The Program
Thanks for listening to the program. Well, we have, Marty on the line from Iowa. Marty, welcome to Real Truth for today.
Caroline Oh, Pastor Jeff, thank you so much. You're rocking it. It's incredible. And you started out this morning about the Islamist and the Muslims and stuff. And I was reading with Hagar and Ishmael, such an incredible story. And. And in, sick. Genesis 16, it says, Hagar, he gave this name to the Lord who spoke to. Who spoke to her. You are the God who sees me. And then later on in chapter 21, once again, God opened her eyes as he. She saw a well of water. And I've always thought,
Pastor Jeff Schreve more than
Caroline likely with Hagar, we have eternal life with her because she saw the God who sees her. And it went on to say that Ishmael became a mighty man. And of 12 tribes, this is all available to every human being who's ever walked the face of the earth, of the God who sees us and came and got us. And it. It's available to the Muslim society, but they have been taught or believe a lie of Islam and Allah. And it's so sad. And it would seem today in America, these Christians who didn't have time to go out and vote, maybe now. Maybe now is their opportunity to go make disciples.
Pastor Jeff Schreve Yeah, good point, Marty. the Christians that didn't vote, man, there was a lot at stake. And so, you know, I keep going back to Rick Metaxas book, Letter to the American Church. He talks about Nazi Germany. You had 12,000 Protestant pastors that stayed neutral. And because of that, Hitler was able to gain power and do the terrible things he did. And millions of people died as a result. Well, thanks for calling in. I'm sorry we didn't get to everybody. Hey, go out today, Shine for Christ. Share what great things the Lord has done for you, and God will use you as his witness. I'll be with you again tomorrow. God bless.
Chelsea Wildmon The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.
Welcome to Real Truth for Today with Pastor Jeff Schrieve, Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church in Texarkana, Texas. Now, here's Pastor Jeff.
Psalm Forty Six Encourages Courage Amid National Uncertainty
Pastor Jeff Schreve Well, good morning and welcome to Real Truth for Today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here. I wanted to read to you from Psalm 46. Psalm 46 says, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam m though the mountains quake at its swelling point. Pride. We don't have to fear what's going on. We don't have to fear if the earth changes. We don't have to fear even in this political season that we've been in, in this new America that we are going to face in January, we need to be aware. We need to be vigilant. We need to be praying. We need to be engaged. But we don't need to need to fear. I was listening to Jack Graham yesterday. A friend of mine sent me a clip from, Dr. Jack Graham. And he said, you know, as far as, Islam goes, he said, hey, I'm not afraid to have a showdown like, Elijah had on Mount Carmel to see who is the real God here. And, so, let's go. The God who answers by fire, he is God. Allah is not God. The Muslims do not worship the God of, of the universe. Christians do. I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, not Ishmael, the God of Jacob. And so we worship, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have a relationship with God through the shed blood of his Son. The Lord Jesus Christ. And so we don't need to fear. Psalm 46 goes on to say, come behold the works of the Lord who has wrought desolations in the earth. He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two. He burns the chariots with fire. Cease striving and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. That's Psalm 46, verse 10. Such a great verse. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our stronghold.
The Lord's Presence Brings Comfort And Freedom From Fear
Now, Psalm 46 is a Psalm I go to often for, when I do a funeral, I'll read that passage of Scripture because it reminds us that even in grief, even in pain, even in heartache, even in the death of a loved one, the Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our stronghold. We don't need to fear. God is our refuge. He's our strength. And he's a very present help when we're in trouble. He's abundantly available for help when we're in trouble. So 46, 10. In the king James, it says, be still and know that I am God. In the new American standard, it says, cease striving, let go, relax. Here is the emphasis. Let go and relax and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted on the earth. If America ceases to exist, God will still be exalted among the nations. He will be exalted on the earth. So think about that. Let go and relax. When my girls were little, you know, oftentimes as kids, as it happens in the life of a child, they wake up in the middle of the night, they had a bad dream, they're scared. Now, I had this situation with, Debbie. If the kids were sick, they knew you go to Mom's side of the bed. If they were scared, they would come to Dad's side of the bed. Because, Debbie didn't have a lot of compassion, on the, scared child. I had a lot of compassion on the sick child, but not necessarily on the scared child. So when they're scared, they came to me. And that worked fine for me. I'd much rather deal with fear than vomit. And so they would come and, you could just. They were so tense and so worried and, you know, fearful. And I just say, here, get in bed with dad. And I put my arms around them. I said, go to sleep. You're safe. And they would do that, and their bodies, you could just feel their bodies, just. The tension would just cease. They were able to relax because they knew, hey, Dad's able to whip the boogeyman. Nothing's, going to get me. I'm safe in the arms of my father. And that's what we have going with the Lord. Cease striving, let go, relax, be still, and know that I am God.
Prayer And Humility Can Help Heal A Troubled Nation
I think that's a word for somebody out there, or somebody's out there today, because you've been watching the news and you've been hearing, things that have gotten you all agitated and riled up. listen, I love Jack Hibbs, and he's a wonderful pastor and a wonderful warrior for the truth. I count him a dear brother in the Lord. he said that the Republic is lost, and we need to buckle, up our chin straps because, things are going to get very, very difficult. Well, I wouldn't go so far as to say, okay, I think the Republic has lost, but I think, the United States of America is in the hospital and is in icu, and whether we get out of there or not is going to be dependent on the people of God. In Second Corinthians or Second Chronicles, chapter 7, verse 14, if my people who are called by my name will. Will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. And so it depends on us. We have to say, okay, Lord, I'm going to pray. I'm going to humble myself. I'm going to get serious. I'm not going to seek your hand. I'm going to seek your face. I'm not looking for what you can do for me. I'm looking for you. Because as Moses said in the book of Exodus, when the Lord said, I'm not going to go with you. I'll send my angel, to lead you, but I'm not going because you're an obstinate people. And Moses said, lord, it's your presence that makes the difference. If you don't go with us, then don't lead us up from here, because your presence is what we need. Your presence is the difference maker.
Spirit Filled Living Aims To Glorify Christ And Inspire Hope
And that's what we want more than anything else. You know, I was thinking about being filled with the Holy Spirit. You know, why should God fill us with his spirit? If I were to pray, you know, first Ephesians, chapter 5, verse 18, and be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with The Spirit. And that's a command to be filled with the Spirit. And we have to, we don't need to keep praying. God, give me youe spirit. The Spirit comes upon us the moment we repent and believe. But to be filled with God's spirit, that's where God's in control. The Lord's in control of every area of our lives. And we are to pray, lord, fill me with your spirit. We're to constantly be, filled and controlled with his spirit. For what purpose? I still remember a sermon I heard in college from Adrian Rogers, and he was talking about being filled with the Spirit. And he said, we pray, lord, fill me with your spirit, so that I could be a, great witness. And the Lord says, well, that's. That's good, but that. That's not that. I'm not interested in that being the main motivator, that you'd be a great witness. Lord, fill me with your spirit. So I'd be a great preacher. Well, that's great, but, that's not the main thing. Well, Lord, fill me with your spirit. So I'd be a good husband. I'd be a good wife. I'd be a good mom, I'd be a good dad. well, those are. Those are byproducts. But that's not the main thing. He said, what's the main thing? What is the spirit's job? To glorify Christ. He, Jesus said, shall glorify me. He said, lord, fill me with your spirit, because more than anything else in life, I want Jesus Christ to be magnified and glorified and honored in my life. And when you have that as your motivation, the Holy Spirit says, oh, that's what you want to do? Well, that's what I came to do. He shall glorify me. Jesus said, and if you want to glorify Christ in your love, and you want Jesus to have the preeminence in every area of your life, I'm all in for that. Yes, I will fill you with myself. And so, we have to keep the main thing, the main thing. We have to get our focus right, and we have to know that God is the God of hope. When things look hopeless in your life and in the country, we remember that God is the God of hope. Romans 15:13. Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing. It's critical that you believe him and trust him. Fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope, just overflow in hope. By the power of the Holy Spirit. So that is a, word of encouragement as we start the program this morning.
Shreve Warns Against Political Hatred And Bitterness
Hey, I wanted to. I was thinking about this. you know, there's been a lot on social media, a lot in the news about this lady, Jennifer Welch. Jennifer Welch has the podcast. she launched it in 2022. I've had it is the name of the podcast. She and Angie Sullivan, and, they're far left wingers, and, they can't stand, conservatives. They can't stand Christians. Jennifer Welch is. She's just a person that, eats hate and bitterness for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. She was the one, along with Angie Sullivan, that thought it was so funny that somebody suggested we ought to dig up Charlie Kirk and do it to him again. And they laughed uncontrollably at that. Well, there's been a big campaign against anybody that is, supporting her show. And so she's lost, I think, 30 sponsors. I read where it was, you know, $7 million or so that she's lost in sponsorship because people say, I don't want to be associated with people that laugh at a man's assassination and, you know, go after his wife and his children, you know, his children's father and call him, you know, she thinks that Charlie Kirk was a racist, a bigot, a homophobe, an Islamophobe, a vile, evil person, a grifter. I mean, she just paints him, and in her mind, she believes this lie. Charlie Kirk is, on the same par as Satan himself. Well, of course you would hate him if he is Satan himself. this is. Megyn Kelly had posted this the other day about Jennifer Welch. And, listen to this.
Megyn Kelly I have so much more hate to give. I barely even tapped into it.
Pastor Jeff Schreve And this is why we call her the angry podcast lady. Trump derangement syndrome. Really, it corrodes you from the inside. It's very, very poisonous. It's really, really disgusting.
Pastor Jeff Schreve Yeah, she has so much more hate to give. She. She wants to grow in her hate. You know, James Carville said the same thing. He said, in a recent quote, you're right. I have Trump derangement syndrome. I hate him. And they use some expletives there. I want to watch him wither in anguish, misery, and pain. man, you know, you can't wallow and feed on bitterness and anger and. And hatred and disdain. you can't do that for very long before you're going to get extremely sick if you drink from the sewer. it's not going to go well for you. see to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled. Hebrews 12 tells us that we got to make sure our hearts aren't, getting consumed with bitterness and anger and unforgiveness and resentment. That's why the Bible says, don't let the sun go down on your anger. Things happen, we get angry, okay, deal with the anger, bring that to the Lord and make sure that's not, lodging its way into your heart. Because the Bible says, do not let the sun go down on your anger. And do not give the devil a plague place. Don't give him a topos is the word for place where we get topography. Don't give him this, beachhead in your life. Don't give him an opportunity, because, you know, when you start eating bitterness and hatred for breakfast, lunch and dinner, that's throwing out a welcome mat on the front door of your heart to the devil. He will come in and he will reap, wreak havoc in your life. And then you see goes on the inside and then it's going to work its way out. People like Rosie o', Donnell, you can see it on her face. People like Kathi Grifenhagen, you can see it, it starts to affect the way they look. If you look up Jennifer Welch, you can just see this is not a happy woman. This is a, this is a bitter woman and it's showing on her face. James Carville, same thing. Keith Olbermann, same thing. They've been eating hate for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and it's taking its toll. Hey, we take all those feelings to the Lord and we cast our burden on him. Well, you're listening to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here on American Family Radio. When we come back, we'll welcome Chelsey Wildmon as we talk about the gift annuity at afa. We'll be right back.
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to Pastor Jeff Schrieve.
Chelsea Wildman Explains AFA Charitable Gift Annuities
Pastor Jeff Schreve Welcome back to. Welcome to the program. Pastor Jeff here. And we welcome to the program Chelsey Wildmon, associate director of American Family association and the financial planning arm of afa. And so, Chelsey, welcome to Real Truth for today.
Chelsea Wildmon Thank you so much for having me.
Pastor Jeff Schreve Well, okay, so another year for the, AFA foundation and the gift annuity. Tell us how things are going.
Chelsea Wildmon Yes, going really well. yes, I wanted to come on today to share with your listeners that our end of year giving deadlines are approaching. So if anyone is looking to gift, any, fund for a charitable gift annuity, that, that is, that is coming up soon. So I can't believe that we're already at the end of the year. But we are here. And, I know a lot of people have maybe some qualified charitable distributions, maybe have some extra funds set aside for a charitable gift annuity or just want to give to the ministry outright. So, we do have those deadlines coming up.
Pastor Jeff Schreve All right. And so tell us how, how would they would go about doing that?
Chelsea Wildmon Yes, so you can give us a call, at our foundation, 1, 800, 1, 800, I am so sorry, Mr. Jeff. I just had a blank. I think I'm a little nervous this morning.
Pastor Jeff Schreve Don't be nervous.
Chelsea Wildmon Yes, you can visit afafoundation.net to learn more information about the foundation. But yes, we would love to speak with them, visit the foundation, our afafoundation.net to learn some more information. But our charitable gift annuity is our main, source of gifting for the foundation. And what that is is the donor would gift any amount, $2,000 or above to AFA and in exchange, they would receive a fixed income for life. And that income percentage that they are paid is based on how old they are at the time that they give the gift and then when they start to receive that income. So, really g, sooner and waiting to receive that income, you're going to have a higher percentage that's being paid back to you. but It's a wonderful way to support the ministry long term and also receive a fixed income for the rest of their life. And they do get some wonderful tax benefits, a partial tax deduction the year that they give the gift, and then partial tax free income when they start to receive those payments. So those are some great tax benefits as well.
Pastor Jeff Schreve All right. And, has, has that been growing for American Family Association?
Chelsea Wildmon Yes, absolutely. We have, many donors that have actually come to us multiple times to put in place multiple charitable gift annuities. So I think it really speaks to our foundation's, strength and growth over the years. We have around 600 annuitants, across the board, all across the US that want to part with AFA to continue our, strong ministry, leading in equipping the family and, continuing afr. So we're so grateful for those donors.
Pastor Jeff Schreve So the website is afa foundation.net afa foundation.net and Chelsey, would they, would they. If they had questions and wanted to talk to a person, would they just call you?
Chelsea Wildmon Yes. 1-800-326-4543. So sorry, I blanked on that earlier. 1-800-326- 4543, extension 3,45.
Pastor Jeff Schreve Okay, so this is unrelated, but, that encourages me that you had a little brain fog there, because I get those too. And I was thinking it was because of age, and I think you're half my age, so I, don't feel so old.
Chelsea Wildmon Well, I might, I might blame it on motherhood. I do have three kiddos, and so, yes, I think I just had, had some brain fog, like you said.
Pastor Jeff Schreve How, how old are the kids?
Chelsea Wildmon Yes, ours are 11 and 8 and 5.
Pastor Jeff Schreve And is the factory shut down?
Chelsea Wildmon Well, we feel like the Lord has, has really completed our family, but, you know, his plans are greater than ours, so we just never know.
Pastor Jeff Schreve Yeah, Well, I think Tim and Allison would be all for you having another child.
Chelsea Wildmon Well, they have 10, grandkids total that keep them absolutely busy. But they are the most wonderful grandparents to our kiddos and we're so thankful for them. And yes, our children are a blessing. And getting to, to watch them grow, especially around this min. And around afr, is a real blessing.
Pastor Jeff Schreve Amen. Well, Chelsey, thanks so much for coming on. And, so I just encourage our listeners check it out and if you have questions, call Chelsey and she'd be more than happy to talk to you. Afafoundation.net gives you all the information and, Chelsey can give you anything. Fill in any of the blanks that you may have. So, Chelsey, thanks for, all that you do at American Family Radio, American Family Association.
Chelsea Wildmon Thank you so much for having me on today.
Pastor Jeff Schreve You're very welcome. Well, God bless you.
Letting Go Of Offenses And Seeking Biblical Perspective
Okay, I wanted to shift gears a little bit, and, so we're talking about eating hate. Eating hate is not a good thing to do. It will wreck and ruin your life. listen, we all deal with people that have hurt us. Some have hurt us on purpose, and some have hurt us, accidentally. Oftentimes in marriage, your spouse will hurt your feelings. they do it accidentally, and, that can create a big rift. you can't walk with God. If you're going to hold on to bitterness. You got to let that go. You gotta, as my friend June Hunt says, you gotta take that offender off of your hook, and you put them on God's hook. And you say, the Lord will deal with this person. obviously you can't have a relationship with someone who has terror, terribly wronged you and has never made it right. but you don't have to have a bad heart toward them. And so it's crazy when you see these people. Jennifer Welch, to my knowledge, has never met Donald Trump, but she just hates his guts. She never met Charlie Kirk. She just hates his guts. The things that people say about Charlie Kirk, he's a racist, he's a homophobe, he's a bigot, he's an Islamophobe. He's none of those things. He was none of those things. he loved people, but he believed you should treat people according to the content of their character and not the color of their skin. Well, I have a pastor that, sometimes I see his posts, and he, was talking about, the fact that, post election, you had the white evangelical church that was, by and large lamenting, the direction that the country chose, and then you had, in his words, the black evangelical church that was celebrating the direction. And he even quoted one friend of his that said, God did his thing. And, he said, you know, why are we so divided politically, between the black church and the white church?
Scripture Should Shape Cultural Views Rather Than The Reverse
When we. And he didn't say it quite like this, but it was like, we tend to have the same theological beliefs. Well, I question that. But, he said, I see it as, number one, Donald Trump. People that like Donald Trump or don't like Donald Trump, that separates them politically, even though they might say that they believe the word of God together. And he said, our different backgrounds and Racial experiences. And I thought about that. I thought, well, okay, your racial experiences. What does that have to do with reading the Bible? What does that have to do with interpreting the Bible that is a person? And he tipped his hand here because if your racial experience, you're reading in to the scripture from your experience, from your culture, we have said if you have a biblical worldview, you don't view, you view culture from the lens of scripture. You don't view scripture from the lens of culture or cultural, experiences or different backgrounds or your racial experiences. You don't read those into the scripture. You don't look at Scripture. Well, this is where I'm coming from. You say, where is God coming from? And as Vodi Bakam pointed out one time, Acts 17, when Paul is preaching on Mars Hill, he said, so he stood in the midst of the areopagus and said, men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all aspects. And he says, hey, I was walking through. You have all these, altars. You even have one to an unknown God, in case you missed that one. He said, the God who made the world and all things in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth from one man. You know, we talk about different races. We're all part of the human race. We might have different skin color, we might look a little different, but we all trace our lineage back to Adam. We all trace it back. if you want to get even more specific, we trace it back to. To Noah. And we, we are a descendant of Noah. We either come from his son Ham, or his son, Shem, or his son Japheth, because they were the. They were the. The people who repopulated the earth in, in Genesis after the flood. You have the flood in Genesis 7, and you have, Genesis 9. He gets off the. The ark. And, what is the command? Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth just like it was for Adam and Eve. So we all trace back to Noah. We all trace back from Noah to Adam. We're all from one man. He made from one. From one man. Every nation, every people, group of mankind to live on the face of the earth. That nation is ethnos. And ethnos is a multitude, a company of people, nations. They all come from one man. And so, you know, I really have trouble with somebody that looks at and sees everything from the color of somebody's skin, identity politics and identity Christianity. And, you know, Jeff, you can't speak on this because you don't know my experience. Do I have to know your experience to tell you? Thus says the Lord? I don't think so. You don't read that into the Scripture, because the Bible is the word of God, and the Bible cannot mean. I learned this early on, reading the Bible for all it's worth by, Gordon and Fee. The Bible cannot mean what it never meant. It's one, interpretation with many applications. And so to try and twist the Bible to get it to say what it doesn't say and what it doesn't mean and what was not intended in the sermon, on the Mount or whatever, passage that you read when Joshua, talks to the people, when Moses talks to the people, what was he communicating? He wasn't communicating black liberation theology. That doesn't make any sense at all. And so people that really try and read race into, the Scripture, obviously there were problems with Jews and Samaritans. Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. That was a cultural issue back then. And so the Bible doesn't. Is not oblivious to those things. But, you know, if you see race in everything you read. And that was what Voddie, bakkem. When he wrote fault lines, he said, hey, this is the way this is going. Everything will be racist. Because that's how they view all of the totality of scripture. They look at it through the lens of racism. And as you know, Voddie Baucam was black. And so this idea, Jennifer Welch was saying, you know, Charlie, Kirk, doesn't like black people.
Shreve Defends Prolife Advocacy And Invites Listener Calls
I like black people. Well, she sure didn't like Vodie Bauckham. She didn't like, Bishop E.W. jackson. Ah, she doesn't like Thomas Sowell, so many in the black community. Thomas Sowell is one of the smartest men who's ever lived. And, do you see him being championed by, the Black Evangelical Church? no, they don't. Do they champion Clarence Thomas, who's an outspoken brother in the Lord? No, they don't, because it's just one way. You know, it's not just that, it's the color of your skin, but it's also, you have to be, as Joe Biden said, if you don't know who to vote for, you ain't Black. And so that's the way they view things. Well, that is wrong. And so if you understand what is going on in the world, if you're able to discern what is going on, then you know that, what happened last Tuesday is not a good thing for America. It's going to, put us into a tailspin. And, this was by Life News. they posted this on X just, yesterday. Democrats want to pass a bill for abortions up to birth in the first 100 hours after taking over Congress. How does that lower gas prices? And so why are we, in the evangelical church, in the church that believes the scripture, why are we lamenting? What happened on election, day last Tuesday was because of things like that, you know, and what this pastor said on his post is, well, yeah, you guys are big on abortion, but we're, we're big on race relations. And both of those are equal in our eyes. Well, if you treat people according to the content of their character and not the color of their skin, the issues related to race go out the window. and that was Martin Luther King's dream. I still hold to that. I think that, if you evaluate people based on the color of their skin, that is the definition of racism. We are not to do that, but we are to speak for those who can't speak for themselves. And there's a whole group of people being murdered in our country year after year after year by the hundreds of thousands, by the millions. And that is the unborn. And what, is. What is the command to the king in Proverbs 31? I'll read it to you just to make sure we get it. Word perfect. Proverbs 31, the words to King Lemuel. Some believe that King Lemuel was a pet name that, Bathsheba gave to Solomon. And, it says, open your mouth for the mute, for the dumb, for the rights of all the unfortunate. Open your mouth. Judge righteously and defend the rights of the afflicted and needy. There's no group of people more afflicted, more needy, more in need of defense than the helpless unborn. And we stand up for them. Well, you're listening to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here on American Family Radio. When we come back from the break, we'll be taking your calls. 888-589-8840. That's triple 858-98840. If you have a question, comment, I'd love to hear from you. And, if you disagree with what I'm saying, call in and we can have a friendly, respectful conversation. But it's always great to hear from our listeners. So give me a call and let's talk.
If you'd like to contact Pastor Jeff, email pastor jeffromhishheart.org now back to Real Truth for today with Pastor Jeff Schrieve.
Shoebox Collection Week And Holy Land Trip Announcements
Pastor Jeff Schreve Welcome back to the program, Pastor Jeff. Here a couple of announcements. Let me just encourage you. We have Operation Christmas Child Collection week starts next week, November 16th through the 23rd. And Samaritan's Purse will collect the gift filled shoeboxes at nearly 5,000 drop off locations in all 50 stations and Puerto Rico. And so learn how to pack a shoebox. View gift suggestions, find the nearest drop off location and follow your box@samaritan's purse.org occ for operation christmas child samaritans purse.org occ you can track your box and see where it goes. As I mentioned to you, earlier this year I got to go to the Dominican Republic and be a part of those shoebox events where the kids got their shoebox and how cool it was and how it's just excitement for those kids and OCC and Samaritan's Purse, they just do a great, great job. So be a part of that, get your family to be a part of that and pack a shoebox. It would be great if you could pack one for everybody in your family. So family of five, we have five shoeboxes. We're praying over those boxes because God uses those in people's lives. This Sunday we have Justin Thomas, not the golfer, but Justin Thomas who received a shoebox years ago, overseas, ah, as a kid and how that changed his life. So that's this Sunday at FBC Texarkana. Second thing I wanted to mention was we're going to Israel. Tim Wildmon and Allison are in Israel right now, but we're going to Israel April 2nd through the 11th. Would love for you to come with us. You can find out all the details by going to from hisheart.org from hisheart.org and just click on Holy Land 2027 and let us know if you have any questions. We'd love for you to join us for the trip of a lifetime.
Callers Discuss Jesus, Evangelism, The Rapture, And Preaching
Well, we're going to the phone lines 888-589-8840 and we have our friend Linda on the line. Linda, welcome to the program.
Caroline Oh, thank you for just what you do here. Where we can come in and just share with you. And I was telling her last week, I was talking about that bomb of Gilead. There was no bomb of Gilead. I never got to share the part where Jesus is our bomb of Gilead. And you know, bomb is like medicinal. And I just feel like it fits right in with what's going on with our nation right now. We have the answer. And that's what your whole program is about. Jesus is the answer. In this day and time, we have the answer and that's Jesus. He's a bomb.
Pastor Jeff Schreve Amen. Yeah. We need to remember that as a believer, you have what every person needs. Anytime you go out your doors and you encounter the public in whatever, you know, the grocery store or the mall or wherever, when you meet unbelievers, you just remember this. I have what that person needs. And I want to share with them this great message that the Lord has given me to share. You know, it's interesting, when Jesus was, conducting his earthly ministry, his time had not yet come. So a lot of times he would do something, ah, miraculous for somebody. And then he would say, don't tell anybody. And what would they do? They'd go tell everybody. Don't tell anybody. And they tell everybody. Then he rises from the dead, he tells us, tell everybody. And we don't tell like we should. We don't go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere like we're supposed to. So we get them flip flopped. But listen, we have what people need. And when you look at people with compassion, just know, Second Corinthians, chapter five. The love of Christ compels us and controls us. I have to share with you because I love you and I don't want you to be, left behind. I don't want you to perish. This Sunday at First Baptist Text Arcana I'm going to talk about a, Message from Second Thessalonians, Chapter 2. I've entitled it when the Bough Breaks. As we know from that nursery rhyme, when the bow breaks, the cradle will fall, and down will come baby, cradle and all. It's kind of a gruesome little nursery rhyme. but that's where we are right now. And the bow is getting ready to break in our world. And we are getting ready to at some time go into the tribulation period. the Rapture precedes the tribulation period. And for those left behind, the tribulation period is so horrible. It's a living hell on earth. And Jesus Said if those days had, had not been cut short, would die. That's how bad it is. And we don't want people to go through that. And God hasn't destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. First Thessalonians 5, 9. The Thessalonians were waiting for the Lord to come and get them. they were very concerned in Second Thessalonians chapter two, that they had been told that they had missed the Rapture and they were in the day of the Lord. And Paul said, no, that has not happened yet. Let me just say this before we go to the rest of our callers. Josh Howerton, who's pastor of Lake Point in Rockwall, he's been very outspoken and he is getting hammered on social media. People are going after him, calling him a plagiarist, showing clips of sermons that he got information from other guys. And it doesn't look good. But listen, all preachers, I've been at this a long time. We all learn from other people. Adrian Rogers himself, Adrian has been, his sermons have been widely used by many, many preachers over many, many years. And Adrian, Adrian himself would preach other guys stuff, things that really ministered to him. He said this once in an interview. I thought it was, it was very poignant. He said, God has not called us to be inventors of sermons. He's called us to be presenters of truth. Now that doesn't mean you just preach every Sunday. You're preaching somebody else's sermon and you just have a good memory and so you can memorize it. When I would listen to a sermon that really ministered to me, I'd probably listen to it five, six, seven times. I mean, it would really get into my heart and then I would be able to share that. Personal illustrations. Obviously, in a guy's sermon, you don't share those that didn't happen to you. But you can say, hey, I was listening to this and let me tell you what happened in so and so's life and you can share that illustration. you cross a line if you take somebody's personal illustration and you make it your own. All that to say this. We need to be praying for guys on the front line like that, the Josh Howerton's in the world. Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness. Jesus said, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice Rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great. For in the same way, they persecuted the prophets who were before you. And so may God, protect guys like Josh Howerton and use us to shine and share and be the witnesses he wants us to be. And give us boldness, even in the face of such hatred and such opposition. Give us boldness to speak the truth in love.
Caller Seeks Advice About Christian Friends And Political Choices
Well, we have Paulie on the line from Alabama. Paulie, welcome to Real Truth for today. Hi. Good morning. Good morning. I wanted
Caroline to. Good morning. I wanted to let you guys know I've got a close friend in Houston, Texas. We've been friends for years. I've always known she and her husband to be Christians. Christian values. They're Baptist. Not that that matters. But, so recently she let me know that they voted for James Talarico. We got in a really big discussion about that, and she became very, upset with me and told me that they believe he's the right man. And, you know, they were against Paxton. I tried to explain to her, we need to look at the party and for which, you know, what they stand for, the values that they stand for. And I don't know how to respond to her. She sends me devotionals. she believes God's got her on a devotional, a daily devotional thing where she sends out, you know, the word for the day.
Right.
Caroline I. I'm praying. And, you know, it reminds me, too, what God's word says about the deception in these times and even the very elect. And I'm. I'm praying. God help us all. it's concerning. And I don't really know how to respond to her.
Pastor Jeff Schreve Well, so there's a verse that comes to mind. When a wise man has a controversy with a foolish man, the foolish man either rages or laughs, and there is no rest. Proverbs 29, 9, lots. of times those conversations, aren't very fruitful because people get angry. they're standing on indefensible ground. One of the things that I've said repeatedly, Paulie, is because if you look to see when you vote, if you look to see who else is on the team, if you're on the team of God haters, you're on the wrong team. And so the children of Israel in the Old Testament, First Kings 18, we're going to have a showdown on Mount Carmel. Who is God? If the Lord is God, fear him and follow him and serve him. If BAAL is God, will fear, follow and serve him. And the people Were trying to ride the fence. They were like, well, you know, yeah, we say we follow Yahweh, but we always vote for bail. That doesn't work. You can't do that. And so, there's lots at stake in our country, I think, you know, with friends, you just have to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Lord, show me when to say something and when not to say something, and just pray, you know, The Bible says if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the God of this world has. Has blinded the minds of the unbelieving. Satan is the master liar, the father of lies. And, the Bible says 2 Timothy 3:13, evil men and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. And we have a lot of deception out there right now. The last sermon I did in the series Religion and Politics was about the sons of Issachar. They were men who, who, understood the times and what Israel should do. They had discernment. We have so many, people who call themselves Christians, whether they are or not. The Lord knows that. I don't know that, but, they're so undiscerning. They're like little babies that are crawling on the ground. And a little baby will see a spider and put it in his mouth. they don't know any different. And so, you know, you got to watch a little baby like a hawk, otherwise they'll hurt themselves. And that's kind of what we got today. And so many in the church say they love God, say they worship God, but they have zero discernment. And their biblical worldview is so Limited. Only 6% of professing Christians, according to George Barna, have a biblical worldview. And less than 50% of pastors, church staff have a biblical worldview. And, that creates a big, big problem. So God bless you. Paulie, thanks for calling in.
Caller Clarifies Humanity's Shared Ancestry Through Noah
we have Ruben on the line from Idaho. Reuben, welcome to Real Truth for today.
Caroline Good morning. Great program this morning.
Pastor Jeff Schreve Thanks. Sir,
Caroline I wanted to reflect on your comment about all of us, our genetics going back to Noah. And, I don't want to contradict or anything, but I just wanted to reflect. Noah was married. We don't know Mrs. Noah's name necessarily, but she had completely different genetics. And then Ham, Sham, and Japheth all had wives who had completely different genetics as well. So, yes, our common genetic patriarch is probably Noah, on that side. But we, we really do go back to Adam and Eve genetically, because of the other four that were, in the mix. Genetically,
Pastor Jeff Schreve sure. Yeah. Ultimately, it's to Adam, Adam and Eve. Everybody comes from Adam. But when you start off, when you wipe everybody out because of the flood and you just have Noah and his three children, well, you got it. You're coming through them. because if they didn't have any Ham, Shem and Japheth didn't have any children, that would have been it. It would have been eight people, and they would have died off and nobody else. So. But I appreciate the comment, Reuben. Anything else?
No, I'm good.
Caroline Thank
Pastor Jeff Schreve you. Okay. Thank you, brother. Thanks for calling in.
Final Caller Urges Evangelism As Shreve Closes The Program
Thanks for listening to the program. Well, we have, Marty on the line from Iowa. Marty, welcome to Real Truth for today.
Caroline Oh, Pastor Jeff, thank you so much. You're rocking it. It's incredible. And you started out this morning about the Islamist and the Muslims and stuff. And I was reading with Hagar and Ishmael, such an incredible story. And. And in, sick. Genesis 16, it says, Hagar, he gave this name to the Lord who spoke to. Who spoke to her. You are the God who sees me. And then later on in chapter 21, once again, God opened her eyes as he. She saw a well of water. And I've always thought,
Pastor Jeff Schreve more than
Caroline likely with Hagar, we have eternal life with her because she saw the God who sees her. And it went on to say that Ishmael became a mighty man. And of 12 tribes, this is all available to every human being who's ever walked the face of the earth, of the God who sees us and came and got us. And it. It's available to the Muslim society, but they have been taught or believe a lie of Islam and Allah. And it's so sad. And it would seem today in America, these Christians who didn't have time to go out and vote, maybe now. Maybe now is their opportunity to go make disciples.
Pastor Jeff Schreve Yeah, good point, Marty. the Christians that didn't vote, man, there was a lot at stake. And so, you know, I keep going back to Rick Metaxas book, Letter to the American Church. He talks about Nazi Germany. You had 12,000 Protestant pastors that stayed neutral. And because of that, Hitler was able to gain power and do the terrible things he did. And millions of people died as a result. Well, thanks for calling in. I'm sorry we didn't get to everybody. Hey, go out today, Shine for Christ. Share what great things the Lord has done for you, and God will use you as his witness. I'll be with you again tomorrow. God bless.
Chelsea Wildmon The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.
Pastor Jeff Schreve reflects on what it means to “be still” and trust God, encourages listeners to pray for the nation, and shares why being filled with the Holy Spirit begins with a desire to glorify Christ.
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