: Welcome to Real Truth for Today with Pastor Jeff Schrieve, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Texarkana, Texas. Now here's Pastor Jeff.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, good Wednesday morning and welcome to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here. Hope you're having a great morning. I just wanted to give a shout out to the wonderful people at Broadmoor Baptist Church there in Shreveport, Louisiana. And I went, there last night for an event that they are having this week. It concludes tonight with Robert, Smith Jr. Preaching to the good folks there. But I was there yesterday and Robin Thomas, who is our worship associate, she was there, playing the piano, played so beautifully. And then my friend Krish King, Lt. Krish King, who's commander of a drug enforcement, task force in our community, he came with me and Krish likes to come with me on those kinds of things just in case some of the 55 plusers get mad at Pastor Jeff. Krish is there to protect me. Just teasing, but had such a great time. They're very, very gracious there. And so it was just, it was a wonderful evening and it was wonderful to see, so many people who said, you know, Pastor Jeff, we watch you on television. First Baptist Texarkana has been broadcasting on ktal, an NBC affiliate there in Shreveport for. Help me out here, Jay. I think it's 65 years or something like that. It's been a long, long time. And the amount of people that watch, we're on Sunday mornings at 10. We're also on an ABC affiliate, I think it's ABC affiliate Channel 3 there in Shreveport at 5 o' clock in the. And so, it's A great opportunity to impact people, that are getting ready for church in some instances, can't go to church. They're in the hospital. And I've had lots of people over the years saying, you know, Pastor Jeff, my mom, my dad, they were sick and they couldn't go to church. But you became their church for them. And we tuned in every Sunday at 10am and watched you and watched your church, and you really ministered to us. And so I knew that there were going to be a lot of people there, last night who knew who I was just because they watch on television. So I made a special point to, go by before the service and greet as many people as I could and just shake their hand and hug their neck and tell them that I was glad, to meet them and just thankful that they were coming tonight or last night, to the service and looked forward to getting to preach to them. And, it was just special. And so I was thinking about this, about ministry. What is ministry? The Apostle Paul said this in Second Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 14 and following. For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died, and he died for all, so that we who live might no longer live for themselves. They who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again on their behalf. As Paul said, I've been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And he says, therefore, from now on, we recognize no one according to the flesh, even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him in this way no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creature, a new creation. The old things passed away. Behold, new things have come. Now. All these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them. And he has committed to us the word of God of reconciliation. Therefore, here's the key I want to focus on today. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were making an appeal through us. We beg you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God. He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Listen, if you know Jesus as, Savior and Lord, you are his representative, you are his witness. You shall be my witnesses. The Lord says the word in Greek for witnesses is, the same word. We get our English word martyr. And a, witness in Greek is a martyr. Now, a martyr that was just known as a witness. But so many witnesses got killed that the word martyr became known as somebody who dies for his faith in Christ. And, we are his witnesses. We are his ambassadors, and we represent God to the people. I preached last night on Moses. I preached on Numbers, chapter 20. And Moses, how he failed when he struck the rock. And when God told him to speak to the rock, to give water to the people, that was a terrible, horrible sin because he defiled the command of the king. And he is God's number one representative on the earth. And he has special, privileges with the Lord. He gets to go in and speak to the Lord face to face. The, the skin of Moses face would shine as he had those encounters with the Lord. Nobody else had that. Moses had that. And the Lord even points out in numbers 12, when Miriam and Eryn, Moses sister and brother, when they speak against Moses, when they're jealous of Moses, the Lord says, why were you not afraid to speak against Moses? He said, moses is faithful in all my house. I, I don't speak to other people like I speak to Moses. I speak to Moses face to face. Now, Moses never saw God's face. You can't see God's face and live. But there was an intimacy there that God didn't do for other people, but he did for Moses. But Moses sinned against the Lord. And Moses struck the rock when, he should have spoken to the rock. And here's the deal. When you represent God to the people, especially in that situation where you are the leader of God's people, think of Israel as like the one church, Old Testament, believers, and Moses is the pastor of that one church, the under shepherd, God being the shepherd. And it's very, very important that you represent God well to the people. So a pastor does that, and we as Christians do that. You know, you may be the only Jesus somebody ever sees because they're not coming to church. They're not watching church on tv, they're not listening to American Family Radio. All they know about Christianity is what they see in you. You claim to be a Christian, so they're watching you. And the moment you do claim to be a Christian, people will watch. And so I still remember something I learned from Rick Warren. And, this is Rick from 30 years ago before he kind of went off the rails a little bit. But, he said this. And I think it's, I think it's really, really good. He said, what did Jesus do with people? When you read in the Gospels, how did he encounter people? He gave people a look. He gave people a touch. He gave people a word, a look, a touch and a word. And Rick was encouraging us as pastors and church leaders. He said, do that, do that with people. Now I had a, seminary professor, Dr. Wayne MacDill, who taught me about preaching, how to put together a sermon. Very instrumental in my life. Ah, Wayne is not in good health, but he's still a wonderful friend. And I keep up with him through his wife Sharon, just a beautiful, wonderful lady. And Wayne macdill in a classroom, setting was talking to us as students. And he said this. He said, ministry is all about people. He said, if there were no people, there would be no need for ministry. Ministry is connecting people to God. It's about people. And here's the thing that is surprising. We have a number of pastors who don't really like people. I remember I had a friend of mine, he was talking about a well, well, well known pastor. I'll not say his name, but I met the guy once. I was very excited to meet him. I met him, he was, ah, just to be honest, he was a pretty cold fish. And he was doing a book signing. Barely looked up, you know, just kind of gave a half smile and just move along, buddy. and I thought to myself, I don't want to be like that. I don't see Jesus like that in the scriptures. You know, the little kids lined up to sit in his lap and the disciples tried to shoo him away. And he said, don't do that. Permit the little children to come to me. Do not forbid them, for such is the kingdom of God. They came, lined up so that he could love on them, so that he could give them a look, a touch and a word. I try to do that with people. When I see them, I try to shake their hand, give them a side hug or whatever. And especially with, older people, to hug them because they're not thinking that there's anything in that. It's greet one another with a holy kiss, as Paul says numerous times in the scripture. And it's that kiss of love, that holy kiss of love. It's that embrace that says, hey, guess what, you matter. Now here's the thing. And pastors, if you're listening out there, you carry a lot of weight because you represent in your church, you represent God to your congregation, you represent God to the community as you're trying to reach out to the community. How you react and interact with people and respond to people, that speaks volumes. I had my basketball coach when I was in high school, even before I was a Christian. He was talking to, us players. And, he said, you know, I always remember this. He said, you know, it doesn't cost you anything to be nice to people. You just be nice to people. And I've never forgotten that. Well, I can be nice to people. How hard is that, to recognize people and to give people a look, a touch and a word. But the sad reality is, many pastors, they're introverted, they don't want to be around people. they like to study. I think you can probably do better in a seminary type of setting, in a classroom type of setting, than you can in a church type of setting. Because in a church setting, it's very, very important to give people a look, a touch and a word. Now, I think that's important just in the Christian life in general. I had to learn that in college. I was very, very much against any show of affection like that. And my discipleship leader, Everett Sheffey, he taught me. He said, hey, this communicates love to people. When you love on them, when you hug them, when you, show them in a demonstrable way that, you care about them. When you do what the scripture says. Greet one another with a holy kiss, a kiss of love, as Peter, refers to it in First Peter, chapter five. That's important. And so I learned how to do that. At first, it wasn't easy. I had to break through. I'm naturally an introvert, and I had to break through that. But it is so wonderful to do, because as you do that, you can tell it just ministers to people. It just, it just makes a difference because you represent God to the people. And when you give someone a look, a touch and a word, when you give them an embrace, when you are excited to see them and excited to interact with them, and it's genuine. It's not put on. It's genuine man. That means something to them. Adrian Rogers, when I went to his conference in 2003, he said, I always, when I go down the hall, he said, even if I'm very focused on something to do, notice people, recognize people, say hi to people. He said, if someone asks, you to pray for a specific need, he said, pray for them right there, because you will forget if you don't do that. But he said, and then look for a genuine compliment you can give that person. Maybe I was telling some of the ladies last night, I would notice your blouse is so pretty or you have this beautiful necklace or your wedding ring is so pretty or something like that. I love your hair, the way you do your hair. It doesn't have to be a big thing. It just shows that you notice them. And as a pastor friend of mine says, people want to be noticed, especially by the pastor. They want to be seen. And it makes a big deal to them when you notice them, when you see them, and when you let them know, hey, guess what? It's the joy of my life to get to see you today. I remember something that was said about Coach Mack Brown, the head coach of the Texas Longhorns. Person was writing an article about him and they said it was the most amazing thing to sit down with Mack Brown. It was like that was the highlight of his day to meet me. And I read that as a young guy and I said, I want to be a pastor like that. Well, you're listening to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here, the pastor of First Baptist Church in Texarkana, Texas, and the founder of From His Heart Ministries. We're up against a break, but we'll be right back with more. Don't go away.
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: This is real truth for today. Podcasts of the program are available on the podcast [email protected] now back to Pastor Jeff Schrieve.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Welcome back to the program. Pastor Jeff. Here we're talking about ministry. What is ministry? Ministry is connecting people to God. As Paul said, we are ambassadors for Christ. We're his representatives and we want to represent Jesus. Well, now we don't do it in the power of the flesh. you know, wwjd. What would Jesus do? Well, let's just put, our heads together, figure out what Jesus would do, and then we'll do it in the power of the flesh. No, you can't do that. I have been crucified with Christ. I'm dead to my old way of life. Nevertheless, I live, not I, but Christ. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and delivered himself up for me. Galatians, chapter 2, verse 20. So we represent Jesus as believers. We are salt, we are light, he makes us that. And, we want to make a difference. And salt makes a difference in food. Light makes a difference in a dark room, obviously. And that's what we are supposed to do. And, so as we represent Christ, we give people a word, we give people a look, we give people a touch. We speak. When I talk about giving people a word, we speak the truth in love. And we notice people. Now, think about times in Jesus life when he would notice people that other people wouldn't have noticed or wouldn't have, spoken to. How about Zacchaeus, the little tax collector from Jericho? The guy who climbed up in a sycamore tree to see Jesus? Says In Luke, chapter 19, verse 5, when Jesus came to the place right under the tree, he looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus mentioned his name. Zacchaeus, hurry and come down for today I must stay at your house. And, if you know the rest of the story, Zacchaeus ends up putting his faith and trust in Jesus. And the evidence is that he is saying, lord, half my possessions I give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I'll pay them back four times as much. He was very wealthy, and he was giving his money away because the Lord had touched his heart. Jesus mentioned his name. Now, I am not great with names. And, some people are really good at names. We have a wonderful lady on our staff, Missy, who is great with names. I just marvel at how she knows. She works in our preschool ministry, and she knows the names of so many little kids, and not only the names of those kids, but then whose kids they are and their brothers and sisters and how they're connected in the church. And it's just amazing. That is a gift from God to be able to know names like that. I was told that Clint, Clint Eastwood, Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton was great at remembering names. I mentioned Mack Brown. Mack Brown was great at remembering Names and the names of people's children, which is really something special. So when I was at. In seminary, I was going through a doctoral seminar, and Russ Bush was doing this one week of seminars for us. And no doubt he taught us a lot of good things. But the thing that I remember the most that Russell, Russ Bush taught was, this. It was just kind of a throwaway, ancillary moment. And he just said, hey, guys, when you're ministering to people, when you're pastoring and ministering to people and you meet people, here's a father, a mother and kids. He said, spend time talking to those kids. And he said, here is why. And I always taught that you talk to the man. He's the leader of the house. Spend time engaging with the man. He said, no, talk to the mom and dad, sure. But spend time, even if it's only, you know, 10, 15, 20 seconds, spend time, shaking those kids hand and talking to those kids and asking them some questions. He said, because of this, parents love their children. And if you will take time with their children and love on their children, they will love you because they love their kids and they love it. For Pastor so. And so to make a big deal over my kids, and I've never forgotten that. And I think that is, that is just so, wise. And so guys, try and do that and, let people know that, they're important. Give them a look, give them a touch, give them a word. If you can remember their names and say their names, do that. And, listen, you out there in your church, if you haven't been for a while, and you come up to the pastor and you say, hey, do you remember me? It puts him in a weird spot, because he wants to remember you, but he doesn't want to lie to you. And so often I told a couple last night, I said, said, you know, do you know who I am? And I said, I'm really better with faces than names. And then they mentioned their names. And I said, oh, yes, I sure do know who you are. But I don't. I didn't know them by face very well. I. I know them by, being tremendous supporters of the ministry. And I write them notes. But, you know, those notes don't go with pictures. And so I had a great time getting to visit with them. And it's like, yes, I know who you are now, but it had to trigger in my head. And so, look, a touch and a word. Those three things are important to Give to people. And so when you go up to, to a person that maybe you met once, maybe, you know, I've met, I've had Tim Tebow on the radio. his mom is a friend. His dad is with the Lord now, but they were friends. Debbie and I had had, breakfast one day with, pam and, Mr. Tebow, and, we had a great time. But I only met Tim once, and he was on the radio program with me. But he's not going to remember me from that. But when he was here, you know, I was like, hey, Tim, do you remember me? I didn't do that. You know, I want to say, hey, this is who I am. we met once before. There's a guy in our church, and I appreciated something he did for me when I first came. He said, He always introduced himself to me. He said, I'm going to tell you my name every time I see you until you tell me, don't do that anymore. I know who you are. And, he wasn't mad about it or anything like that. He just. Every time I saw him, he said, jeff Robin Beck. Pastor Jeff Robin Beck. And, it was wonderful. Now, when you're meeting lots of people, you know, you only have so much RAM in your head to, to put people in there. Some people have more RAM than others, but we all have a limit to how much we can remember. And if you meet, you know, three or four or five people, you can remember all those people, perhaps. But if you meet 50 in a short period of time, it's going to be very, very difficult. So for you out there, when you meet somebody or see somebody that maybe hasn't you haven't seen in. In months or years, just, introduce yourself again and say, hey, you may not remember me, but I am so and so. And I had this interaction with you and that kind of thing, and then. And then it's not awkward. Well, I ran across. Speaking of ministry, connecting people to God, one of the things that is a, mark of the last days, Paul's letter to Timothy, where he says, but realize this, second Timothy, chapter three, that in the last days, difficult times will come, for men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant revilers. It goes on a long list of things. But the very first thing is being a lover of self. And this is something Josh Hawley said recently as he gave his, convocation speech to Liberty University Senator Joshua Holly.
Todd: What about the idol of self? This is maybe the Most prevalent idol of our popular culture. The idol that says, live for yourself. Put yourself first. self care, self gratification. Organize your life around you, you, you, you. And young men, Can I just say a word to you? Would you mind? Can I just say to you that there is a particular version of this idol that is directed specifically to you? It's the idol. It's the version of this idol that says to be a real man. True manhood consists in doing whatever you want, whenever we want, to whomever you want, no matter the cost. I know you've heard it. It's louder and louder and louder in our culture. And can I just say to you here today, that is not the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is not manhood after the pattern of the manhood of Jesus. And I don't care who says it. I don't care if it's Andrew Tate. I don't care if it's some, WWE figure. I don't care who says it. It is a lie. The truth is, Jesus Christ was the strongest man who ever lived. And he led a life of sacrifice. This is a false idol, and you know it is, because there's no cost to it. True manhood has cost. It costs you something. True manhood is the denial of self. It is a war on sin. It is sacrifice for other people. That's what it means to be a man after the pattern of Jesus Christ.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Amen to that. Josh Hawley. Senator Josh Hawley. We need more. Josh Hawley's in political, office. Well, this is what the Bible says as we talk about being a ambassador for Jesus Christ. Philippians, chapter two. Therefore, if there's any encouragement in Christ, if there's any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the spirit, if any affection and compassion make my joy complete. By being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit. What happens in the last days. Men will be lovers of self. All about self. Me, me, M, me, M, me, M, me. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit. But with humility of mind. Regard one another as more important than yourself. Do not merely look out for your own personal interests. Obviously, we look out for our own personal interests. Don't merely do that, but also for the interests of others. That's what it means to be an ambassador for Jesus Christ. You're thinking about others. You know, the Bible says In Romans, chapter 12. Romans, chapter 12. It says, For through the grace given to Me, I say to every man among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think so as to have sound judgment. What is true humility? True humility is not thinking poorly of yourself. True humility is not thinking, more of yourself. It's just thinking soberly about yourself. And it's really. Here's true humility. It's not thinking much at all about yourself. You're thinking about other people. Your focus is on the Lord. You want to be used by God. I urge you, Therefore, brethren, Romans 12 starts this way. I urge you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. You come before the Lord as you begin your day. Lord, here I am. I belong to you. my hands, my eyes, my ears, my mouth, my feet. Where I go, what I do, what I say, what I look at, what I listen to. It's all yours. Because First Corinthians 6 says, I've been bought with a price. Therefore, I want to glorify God in my body. And so true humility is really just thinking about others, and it's putting others first. Adrian Rogers taught me this, through a sermon years and years and years ago when I was in college. And it was the acrostic for joy. Do you want joy in your life? What is joy? How do you get joy? Joy is Jesus first, others second, and you last. And if you'll live, Jesus first, others second, you last. Guess what? You'll experience joy in your life. Because life is not about you. It's about him. And it's about ministry, because we're ambassadors for Christ, and it's about connecting people to God. Now, as a preacher, this is so true. I can't remember who first said this, but it's been repeated many, many times in every pew. There's a broken heart. And if you will speak as a preacher and a teacher of the gospel, if you will speak to broken hearts, you'll always have an audience. Because people want to know that God is the God of hope. People want to know, what do I do? My life is shattered. I've experienced tremendous loss, and the bottom has dropped out. You know, life just turns on a dime. And, everything that I thought was stable is not stable anymore. And I don't know what to do. And as we talked, yesterday, God is our refuge and strength, the very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear. And the good news that we have to preach to people, so many aspects of the good news. But the good news is there is hope for you in Jesus Christ. Jesus is our hope of salvation. He's our hope of forgiveness. He's our hope of, eternal life and, forever in heaven with God. He's our hope of an abundant life and to live life to the full. He's our hope of joy. He's our hope of peace. He's our hope of taking the worst of circumstances and turning them for good. Romans 8, 28. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. And we want to infuse that to people. And as we engage with people, the waiters and waitresses, at restaurants, as we engage with people at the store, as we look at people's faces, the eyes are the windows of the soul. And we ask them about their lives, how we can pray for them. And we engage. We're a witness wherever we go. Because we wake up every morning as believers. We wake up every morning and say, okay, what is my job today? My job is to represent Jesus to the people. My job is to be his ambassador. My job, more than anything else, my job is to connect people to God. That's done by prayer. That's done by witness. That's done by giving people a look, giving people a touch, giving people a word. Well, you're listening to Real Truth for today. I'm your host, Pastor Jeff Schrieve. Such a privilege to be able to come to you every day and talk about things that matter. Lots of things going on in our nation today. We need pray. I met with some of the dear widows in our church, yesterday, and they're meeting to pray. Pray for this midterm election because it is so important. And as I said to them, as I say to you, we can do more than pray after we pray, but we can't do more than pray before we pray. Listen, when we come back from the break, we'll open the phone lines. 888-589-8840. That's triple 858-98840. If you have a question or comment, brief testimony, I'd love to hear from you. Give me a call.
: If you'd like to contact Pastor Jeff, email pastor jeffromhishheart.org now back to Real Truth for today with Pastor Jeff Schrieve.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Welcome back to the program, Pastor Jeff. Here we're talking about ministry. What is ministry? It is connecting people to God. It is Representing, the Lord who gave us his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's representing the Lord Jesus to the people. And Jesus, as we see how he interacted with people, he gave people a look, he gave people a touch, he gave people a word. He let people know that they are important. And, people are important because they're made in the image of God. And all people are important. And we love people as Christians. That's the second greatest commandment. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. And, when you love people, you tell them the truth. If you want to hurt somebody, you lie to them. And this idea that we go along with what anybody says or does because we love them, real love tells people the truth. Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, First Corinthians, chapter 13, verse 6, but rejoices with the truth. Jesus is full of grace and truth. Jon 1:14, he's full of both. And, he. You can't divorce truth from love. You can't divorce truth from grace. The Bible says of false teachers. In, in the book of Jude, certain persons have crept in unnoticed. Jude said, ungodly persons. And what do they do? They turn the grace of God into licentiousness, into unbridled lust, into a license to sin and deny our only master and Lord Jesus Christ. Well, I ran across. We're going to get to the phones in just a minute and the phone lines are open and give you time to call in 888-589-8840. If you have a question or a comment, I'd love to hear from you, but I ran across this, back and forth exchange between Micah Knowles at a Turning Point USA eventually. And what is Turning Point usa? It's engaging people and speaking the truth in love and speaking things that are biblical. And because they're biblical, they tend to be controversial in terms of the culture. They're countercultural. And so when you tell people things that are true in scripture, thus says the Lord, they want men are lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant revilers. It goes against the grain of all that. So this student was, asking Micah Knowles about transgenderism. This was the exchange.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: So I know that you disagree with a lot of, transgender rights for minors, but I was just curious that, how does their transition or their opinions affect you or the government? Like, why should you or the government have a say in a child's choices and their families? Like, if a child picks this and so does their family, and so does the Medical doctor that they're working with. Why do you have any say in that?
Chris Woodward: Because I'm a citizen of the country and I'm a human being endowed with reason and I live in a self government.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right, but how does that affect you? Like, how does one random person that you don't even know millions of miles from you, how does that affect your daily life?
Chris Woodward: Well, because I live in society, so the society affects me. But beyond the effects, to me personally, it's because I have care for my fellow man. And as a participant in society, I am not merely expressing my opinion or, encouraging legislation on selfish matters, but I'm encouraging and voicing my views on the public good. That is what defines a republic, and it's what defines actually all good polities. So I would put the question back to you, to use the example of kids doing things that I might disagree with, we, have laws in this country against adults, having sex with minors. We have the age of consent, for instance, because we believe that children cannot consent to certain activities below a certain age because freedom is knowledge. Predicated. Sorry, willing. Predicated on knowledge. And children are less disciplined and they're more ignorant. So, okay, why should you have the right to impose an age of consent law on the country? Why should you stop a child from engaging in some kind of relationship with, say, I don't know, 52 year old man? It doesn't affect you if the child's parents are fine with that? Let's say that they're immigrants from Pakistan and they want to sell their child as a bride to another member of their community, and their doctor agrees it's a fine idea. Why would you have a say to stop that? How does it affect you?
Pastor Jeff Schreve: I suppose that's true.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: It is true. And I love Micah, Knowles response. It's because we care for people. That's why we get involved in these issues. Because love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth. And as it relates to homosexual marriage, as it relates to transgender, insanity, we step in. As it relates to biological men playing female sports, we have to step up. We have to step in. We have to speak up and say, this is wrong. This is going to destroy the person that you're using as a pawn for this argument. This is going to destroy the fabric of our, society. This is against the way God set things up. This is, champion championing. Ah, it's hard to say that word. Romans, chapter Sins of Romans, chapter one. You know I played the clip yesterday from Dr. Robert Jeffress saying, what's the difference between Republicans and Democrats? Well, Republicans definitely aren't, they're not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. We all sin, and we, we recognize that's wrong, that's a sin. But we don't. We don't, hang the flag of sin. We don't champion sin. We don't say, this is who we are. And we're so excited about this. And. And, yes, we're against God's word, God's will and God's ways. And we're going to change God's word, to fit our sin. We don't do that. So our moral compass is not broken. And we know the difference between good and evil. I think that's the election this coming November. It's between sanity and insanity, between people that know the difference between good and evil and people that call evil good and good evil. That's a huge, huge difference. No Christian can go along with that. Well, we're going to the phone lines at, 888-589-8840. We'd love to hear from you. And we have Jason on the line from Texas. Jason, welcome to Real Truth for today.
Caroline: Good morning, Brother Jeff. Thank you for taking my call. I know you're blessed and blessed as well, brother. thank you. I was going to ask you, have you ever heard of a documentary by Liz Collins called, the Fall of Minneapolis?
Pastor Jeff Schreve: I have not.
Caroline: Brother, you've got to go watch it. You got to go watch that documentary. It's, about an hour and 43 minutes long, and, it shows you everything from, George Floyd's past arrest to the one he got arrested for with Derek Chauvin, and, how he tried to swallow the pills in his first arrest and how they was able to pump the system and, you know, the second time he ended up killing himself. You know, but George Floyd, fought the cops the whole way, and Derek Chauvin and other police officers, they literally went by the book. And, never was, Derek Chauvin's knee on George Floyd's neck. They got the police body cam shows all that. They have all the police reports. And they got the burning down in Minneapolis they had. It's where they told the police to, you know, evacuate the precincts. And the police chief is on. I mean, you probably need some tissues for this video, but police chief is literally there crying as they're evacuating, you know, French cry. Don't told them to evacuate but, you know, they're watching their whole precinct go up in flames. But, then you got the whole house with Nancy Pelosi kneeling and thanking George Floyd for his sacrifice. And it's. It's really. It's really sick what the government did to us and what they did to the police officers. And, I really recommend everybody go watch that just to show you what our government did to us.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Is that on YouTube or Netflix or where is it?
Caroline: YouTube is where I watched it. I had to go watch it a couple times because it's got a lot of reading with it. It shows you all the police records and everything. And, you know, Derek Chauvin got stabbed 22 times while he was in lockup. So.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, well, I appreciate that, Jason. I'll take a look at that. I have not seen that. I didn't know that was out there. But, I appreciate you bringing that to my attention, to our attention. And so it's the, the documentary on the fall of Minneapolis. So thanks, brother. I appreciate you calling and listening to the program. We have Marty on the line from South Carolina. Marty, welcome to Real Truth for today.
Caroline: Hey, good morning, Pastor Jeff. I wanted to give a shout out to you and, thank you for. For what you do. And I, just wanted to, say that I started listening to you back, when Covid hit our church. Wanted me to set up a little, radio transmitter. And I was just practicing with. With the radio to see if it was working and everything. And, I listened to AFR a lot, and I don't normally listen in the evening. I listen. I would listen to it on my way to work and on my home. Way home from work. And you come on a little bit later. So I was out in my shop listening to the radio, and you came on, and, man, I just, like. It was like, I just fell in love with you, man. It was great. And, the message that you gave us. But anyway, the reason I'm calling, is, I. I think you're probably familiar with, Dwight L. Moody, of the Moody Church in Chicago.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Caroline: Irwin Lutzer.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: yes.
Caroline: Yeah, he. He's great. him and Greg Quiggle have written a book called Marx and Moody and two contemporaries, two gospels, two tombstones, one choice. And, there's also a YouTube video, that talks about this. This book, Marx and Moody. I thought just search for Marx and Moody. It will come up on YouTube. And, I just got the book, started reading it, and to me, it's blown. Blown me away about who Karl Marx really is. And, I always thought that he was an atheist, but what they're explaining in the book, that he really wasn't an atheist. He was. He hated God. He believed in Satan. So anybody that believes in Satan would have to believe in God because, you know, God created Satan. And, But anyway, the. The man's life really shows how, I don't know if I could say he's evil, but he was definitely anti God. Antichrist.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah.
Caroline: So, you know, I would recommend it to anyone that's listening to. To get a copy of the book or do you know when that. Watched the YouTube, it was. Marty, do you know this year.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Oh, you released it this year. Okay.
Caroline: Yeah.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Erwin Lutzer is a friend of mine. I'll get him on the program. We'll do a whole program about that book.
Caroline: Yeah, he. Oh, he. He could tell you a lot. it was actually 20, 26, this year, so.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay, good. I appreciate you bringing that up. Yeah, I'll. I'll contact him, this week and see about getting him on the air to talk about it, so. Very good, my friend. Well, God bless you and thank you for calling in Marty. Thank you for your kind words. I appreciate it. Thank you for listening to the program and, listening to American Family Radio. so let's go to, Ken in Texas. Ken, welcome to Real Truth for today.
Caroline: Good morning, Jeff. Thank you so much for your program.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Thanks, brother. God bless you. Go ahead.
Caroline: Hey, I, wish that at every kitchen table in America, it became popular. It would become popular for families to be discussing worldview in this way that everyone would be saying, well, who am I? Where did I come from? What is my purpose? And, I'm on a campaign to, promote, the idea that, if these questions were being asked at the kitchen table and families just discussing them, it would change America, I do believe. And it'd be a good way to confront all the politicians and the, educators, the media and, So anyway, that's my idea, and, I'd love to see it happen.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Amen. I think that would be great. Well, I think that it, you know, families need get. Need to get back to, two meal times together. That was one of the things that Debbie, when our kids were little, she just said, hey, you can only be involved in so many things because we're going to, you know, three or four times a week, we're going to have meals together and we're going to sit down and we're going to talk about things at the dinner table. Lunch table table, breakfast table, whatever it might be. And, it's not going to just be rush, rush, rush. Now, breakfast is harder during the, especially during the school year because you got to get off. But dinner time, it's like, okay, let's have a. Let's have a unrushed time at the table. And to talk about those things. I think that, is a great idea, Ken. So I appreciate you bringing that up. Well, we are almost out of time. Let's go. real quick, Gary in Tennessee. We just have about a minute, but go ahead, my friend.
Caroline: Okay, I can do it real fast. I just want to praise the Lord. Five weeks ago, he gave me, pneumonia. I was in a hospital for four days. And the reason that's a phrase is because due to testing, I found out I've got a partially blocked coronary artery and a 3 centimeter mass on one kidney. They're going to take it out, put a spot, and I'm going to continue on and live on past 73 and a half.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Amen. A good news there. Yeah. So, when something bad happens, just know. Remember Romans 8:28. God can work it here together for good. Thanks for the call, Gary. Linda, I'm sorry we didn't get to you, and, Marley, I'm sorry we didn't get to you, but thank you for calling in today and thanks for listening to Real Truth for today. Now, we are always talk about two words. Shine and share. Go out today. Shine for Christ. That's how you live and share what great things the Lord has done for you. And give people. When you encounter people, give them a, word, a look and a touch. It will make such a difference. God bless you.
: Welcome to Real Truth for Today with Pastor Jeff Schrieve, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Texarkana, Texas. Now here's Pastor Jeff.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, good Wednesday morning and welcome to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here. Hope you're having a great morning. I just wanted to give a shout out to the wonderful people at Broadmoor Baptist Church there in Shreveport, Louisiana. And I went, there last night for an event that they are having this week. It concludes tonight with Robert, Smith Jr. Preaching to the good folks there. But I was there yesterday and Robin Thomas, who is our worship associate, she was there, playing the piano, played so beautifully. And then my friend Krish King, Lt. Krish King, who's commander of a drug enforcement, task force in our community, he came with me and Krish likes to come with me on those kinds of things just in case some of the 55 plusers get mad at Pastor Jeff. Krish is there to protect me. Just teasing, but had such a great time. They're very, very gracious there. And so it was just, it was a wonderful evening and it was wonderful to see, so many people who said, you know, Pastor Jeff, we watch you on television. First Baptist Texarkana has been broadcasting on ktal, an NBC affiliate there in Shreveport for. Help me out here, Jay. I think it's 65 years or something like that. It's been a long, long time. And the amount of people that watch, we're on Sunday mornings at 10. We're also on an ABC affiliate, I think it's ABC affiliate Channel 3 there in Shreveport at 5 o' clock in the. And so, it's A great opportunity to impact people, that are getting ready for church in some instances, can't go to church. They're in the hospital. And I've had lots of people over the years saying, you know, Pastor Jeff, my mom, my dad, they were sick and they couldn't go to church. But you became their church for them. And we tuned in every Sunday at 10am and watched you and watched your church, and you really ministered to us. And so I knew that there were going to be a lot of people there, last night who knew who I was just because they watch on television. So I made a special point to, go by before the service and greet as many people as I could and just shake their hand and hug their neck and tell them that I was glad, to meet them and just thankful that they were coming tonight or last night, to the service and looked forward to getting to preach to them. And, it was just special. And so I was thinking about this, about ministry. What is ministry? The Apostle Paul said this in Second Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 14 and following. For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died, and he died for all, so that we who live might no longer live for themselves. They who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again on their behalf. As Paul said, I've been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And he says, therefore, from now on, we recognize no one according to the flesh, even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him in this way no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creature, a new creation. The old things passed away. Behold, new things have come. Now. All these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them. And he has committed to us the word of God of reconciliation. Therefore, here's the key I want to focus on today. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were making an appeal through us. We beg you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God. He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Listen, if you know Jesus as, Savior and Lord, you are his representative, you are his witness. You shall be my witnesses. The Lord says the word in Greek for witnesses is, the same word. We get our English word martyr. And a, witness in Greek is a martyr. Now, a martyr that was just known as a witness. But so many witnesses got killed that the word martyr became known as somebody who dies for his faith in Christ. And, we are his witnesses. We are his ambassadors, and we represent God to the people. I preached last night on Moses. I preached on Numbers, chapter 20. And Moses, how he failed when he struck the rock. And when God told him to speak to the rock, to give water to the people, that was a terrible, horrible sin because he defiled the command of the king. And he is God's number one representative on the earth. And he has special, privileges with the Lord. He gets to go in and speak to the Lord face to face. The, the skin of Moses face would shine as he had those encounters with the Lord. Nobody else had that. Moses had that. And the Lord even points out in numbers 12, when Miriam and Eryn, Moses sister and brother, when they speak against Moses, when they're jealous of Moses, the Lord says, why were you not afraid to speak against Moses? He said, moses is faithful in all my house. I, I don't speak to other people like I speak to Moses. I speak to Moses face to face. Now, Moses never saw God's face. You can't see God's face and live. But there was an intimacy there that God didn't do for other people, but he did for Moses. But Moses sinned against the Lord. And Moses struck the rock when, he should have spoken to the rock. And here's the deal. When you represent God to the people, especially in that situation where you are the leader of God's people, think of Israel as like the one church, Old Testament, believers, and Moses is the pastor of that one church, the under shepherd, God being the shepherd. And it's very, very important that you represent God well to the people. So a pastor does that, and we as Christians do that. You know, you may be the only Jesus somebody ever sees because they're not coming to church. They're not watching church on tv, they're not listening to American Family Radio. All they know about Christianity is what they see in you. You claim to be a Christian, so they're watching you. And the moment you do claim to be a Christian, people will watch. And so I still remember something I learned from Rick Warren. And, this is Rick from 30 years ago before he kind of went off the rails a little bit. But, he said this. And I think it's, I think it's really, really good. He said, what did Jesus do with people? When you read in the Gospels, how did he encounter people? He gave people a look. He gave people a touch. He gave people a word, a look, a touch and a word. And Rick was encouraging us as pastors and church leaders. He said, do that, do that with people. Now I had a, seminary professor, Dr. Wayne MacDill, who taught me about preaching, how to put together a sermon. Very instrumental in my life. Ah, Wayne is not in good health, but he's still a wonderful friend. And I keep up with him through his wife Sharon, just a beautiful, wonderful lady. And Wayne macdill in a classroom, setting was talking to us as students. And he said this. He said, ministry is all about people. He said, if there were no people, there would be no need for ministry. Ministry is connecting people to God. It's about people. And here's the thing that is surprising. We have a number of pastors who don't really like people. I remember I had a friend of mine, he was talking about a well, well, well known pastor. I'll not say his name, but I met the guy once. I was very excited to meet him. I met him, he was, ah, just to be honest, he was a pretty cold fish. And he was doing a book signing. Barely looked up, you know, just kind of gave a half smile and just move along, buddy. and I thought to myself, I don't want to be like that. I don't see Jesus like that in the scriptures. You know, the little kids lined up to sit in his lap and the disciples tried to shoo him away. And he said, don't do that. Permit the little children to come to me. Do not forbid them, for such is the kingdom of God. They came, lined up so that he could love on them, so that he could give them a look, a touch and a word. I try to do that with people. When I see them, I try to shake their hand, give them a side hug or whatever. And especially with, older people, to hug them because they're not thinking that there's anything in that. It's greet one another with a holy kiss, as Paul says numerous times in the scripture. And it's that kiss of love, that holy kiss of love. It's that embrace that says, hey, guess what, you matter. Now here's the thing. And pastors, if you're listening out there, you carry a lot of weight because you represent in your church, you represent God to your congregation, you represent God to the community as you're trying to reach out to the community. How you react and interact with people and respond to people, that speaks volumes. I had my basketball coach when I was in high school, even before I was a Christian. He was talking to, us players. And, he said, you know, I always remember this. He said, you know, it doesn't cost you anything to be nice to people. You just be nice to people. And I've never forgotten that. Well, I can be nice to people. How hard is that, to recognize people and to give people a look, a touch and a word. But the sad reality is, many pastors, they're introverted, they don't want to be around people. they like to study. I think you can probably do better in a seminary type of setting, in a classroom type of setting, than you can in a church type of setting. Because in a church setting, it's very, very important to give people a look, a touch and a word. Now, I think that's important just in the Christian life in general. I had to learn that in college. I was very, very much against any show of affection like that. And my discipleship leader, Everett Sheffey, he taught me. He said, hey, this communicates love to people. When you love on them, when you hug them, when you, show them in a demonstrable way that, you care about them. When you do what the scripture says. Greet one another with a holy kiss, a kiss of love, as Peter, refers to it in First Peter, chapter five. That's important. And so I learned how to do that. At first, it wasn't easy. I had to break through. I'm naturally an introvert, and I had to break through that. But it is so wonderful to do, because as you do that, you can tell it just ministers to people. It just, it just makes a difference because you represent God to the people. And when you give someone a look, a touch and a word, when you give them an embrace, when you are excited to see them and excited to interact with them, and it's genuine. It's not put on. It's genuine man. That means something to them. Adrian Rogers, when I went to his conference in 2003, he said, I always, when I go down the hall, he said, even if I'm very focused on something to do, notice people, recognize people, say hi to people. He said, if someone asks, you to pray for a specific need, he said, pray for them right there, because you will forget if you don't do that. But he said, and then look for a genuine compliment you can give that person. Maybe I was telling some of the ladies last night, I would notice your blouse is so pretty or you have this beautiful necklace or your wedding ring is so pretty or something like that. I love your hair, the way you do your hair. It doesn't have to be a big thing. It just shows that you notice them. And as a pastor friend of mine says, people want to be noticed, especially by the pastor. They want to be seen. And it makes a big deal to them when you notice them, when you see them, and when you let them know, hey, guess what? It's the joy of my life to get to see you today. I remember something that was said about Coach Mack Brown, the head coach of the Texas Longhorns. Person was writing an article about him and they said it was the most amazing thing to sit down with Mack Brown. It was like that was the highlight of his day to meet me. And I read that as a young guy and I said, I want to be a pastor like that. Well, you're listening to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here, the pastor of First Baptist Church in Texarkana, Texas, and the founder of From His Heart Ministries. We're up against a break, but we'll be right back with more. Don't go away.
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: This is real truth for today. Podcasts of the program are available on the podcast [email protected] now back to Pastor Jeff Schrieve.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Welcome back to the program. Pastor Jeff. Here we're talking about ministry. What is ministry? Ministry is connecting people to God. As Paul said, we are ambassadors for Christ. We're his representatives and we want to represent Jesus. Well, now we don't do it in the power of the flesh. you know, wwjd. What would Jesus do? Well, let's just put, our heads together, figure out what Jesus would do, and then we'll do it in the power of the flesh. No, you can't do that. I have been crucified with Christ. I'm dead to my old way of life. Nevertheless, I live, not I, but Christ. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and delivered himself up for me. Galatians, chapter 2, verse 20. So we represent Jesus as believers. We are salt, we are light, he makes us that. And, we want to make a difference. And salt makes a difference in food. Light makes a difference in a dark room, obviously. And that's what we are supposed to do. And, so as we represent Christ, we give people a word, we give people a look, we give people a touch. We speak. When I talk about giving people a word, we speak the truth in love. And we notice people. Now, think about times in Jesus life when he would notice people that other people wouldn't have noticed or wouldn't have, spoken to. How about Zacchaeus, the little tax collector from Jericho? The guy who climbed up in a sycamore tree to see Jesus? Says In Luke, chapter 19, verse 5, when Jesus came to the place right under the tree, he looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus mentioned his name. Zacchaeus, hurry and come down for today I must stay at your house. And, if you know the rest of the story, Zacchaeus ends up putting his faith and trust in Jesus. And the evidence is that he is saying, lord, half my possessions I give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I'll pay them back four times as much. He was very wealthy, and he was giving his money away because the Lord had touched his heart. Jesus mentioned his name. Now, I am not great with names. And, some people are really good at names. We have a wonderful lady on our staff, Missy, who is great with names. I just marvel at how she knows. She works in our preschool ministry, and she knows the names of so many little kids, and not only the names of those kids, but then whose kids they are and their brothers and sisters and how they're connected in the church. And it's just amazing. That is a gift from God to be able to know names like that. I was told that Clint, Clint Eastwood, Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton was great at remembering names. I mentioned Mack Brown. Mack Brown was great at remembering Names and the names of people's children, which is really something special. So when I was at. In seminary, I was going through a doctoral seminar, and Russ Bush was doing this one week of seminars for us. And no doubt he taught us a lot of good things. But the thing that I remember the most that Russell, Russ Bush taught was, this. It was just kind of a throwaway, ancillary moment. And he just said, hey, guys, when you're ministering to people, when you're pastoring and ministering to people and you meet people, here's a father, a mother and kids. He said, spend time talking to those kids. And he said, here is why. And I always taught that you talk to the man. He's the leader of the house. Spend time engaging with the man. He said, no, talk to the mom and dad, sure. But spend time, even if it's only, you know, 10, 15, 20 seconds, spend time, shaking those kids hand and talking to those kids and asking them some questions. He said, because of this, parents love their children. And if you will take time with their children and love on their children, they will love you because they love their kids and they love it. For Pastor so. And so to make a big deal over my kids, and I've never forgotten that. And I think that is, that is just so, wise. And so guys, try and do that and, let people know that, they're important. Give them a look, give them a touch, give them a word. If you can remember their names and say their names, do that. And, listen, you out there in your church, if you haven't been for a while, and you come up to the pastor and you say, hey, do you remember me? It puts him in a weird spot, because he wants to remember you, but he doesn't want to lie to you. And so often I told a couple last night, I said, said, you know, do you know who I am? And I said, I'm really better with faces than names. And then they mentioned their names. And I said, oh, yes, I sure do know who you are. But I don't. I didn't know them by face very well. I. I know them by, being tremendous supporters of the ministry. And I write them notes. But, you know, those notes don't go with pictures. And so I had a great time getting to visit with them. And it's like, yes, I know who you are now, but it had to trigger in my head. And so, look, a touch and a word. Those three things are important to Give to people. And so when you go up to, to a person that maybe you met once, maybe, you know, I've met, I've had Tim Tebow on the radio. his mom is a friend. His dad is with the Lord now, but they were friends. Debbie and I had had, breakfast one day with, pam and, Mr. Tebow, and, we had a great time. But I only met Tim once, and he was on the radio program with me. But he's not going to remember me from that. But when he was here, you know, I was like, hey, Tim, do you remember me? I didn't do that. You know, I want to say, hey, this is who I am. we met once before. There's a guy in our church, and I appreciated something he did for me when I first came. He said, He always introduced himself to me. He said, I'm going to tell you my name every time I see you until you tell me, don't do that anymore. I know who you are. And, he wasn't mad about it or anything like that. He just. Every time I saw him, he said, jeff Robin Beck. Pastor Jeff Robin Beck. And, it was wonderful. Now, when you're meeting lots of people, you know, you only have so much RAM in your head to, to put people in there. Some people have more RAM than others, but we all have a limit to how much we can remember. And if you meet, you know, three or four or five people, you can remember all those people, perhaps. But if you meet 50 in a short period of time, it's going to be very, very difficult. So for you out there, when you meet somebody or see somebody that maybe hasn't you haven't seen in. In months or years, just, introduce yourself again and say, hey, you may not remember me, but I am so and so. And I had this interaction with you and that kind of thing, and then. And then it's not awkward. Well, I ran across. Speaking of ministry, connecting people to God, one of the things that is a, mark of the last days, Paul's letter to Timothy, where he says, but realize this, second Timothy, chapter three, that in the last days, difficult times will come, for men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant revilers. It goes on a long list of things. But the very first thing is being a lover of self. And this is something Josh Hawley said recently as he gave his, convocation speech to Liberty University Senator Joshua Holly.
Todd: What about the idol of self? This is maybe the Most prevalent idol of our popular culture. The idol that says, live for yourself. Put yourself first. self care, self gratification. Organize your life around you, you, you, you. And young men, Can I just say a word to you? Would you mind? Can I just say to you that there is a particular version of this idol that is directed specifically to you? It's the idol. It's the version of this idol that says to be a real man. True manhood consists in doing whatever you want, whenever we want, to whomever you want, no matter the cost. I know you've heard it. It's louder and louder and louder in our culture. And can I just say to you here today, that is not the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is not manhood after the pattern of the manhood of Jesus. And I don't care who says it. I don't care if it's Andrew Tate. I don't care if it's some, WWE figure. I don't care who says it. It is a lie. The truth is, Jesus Christ was the strongest man who ever lived. And he led a life of sacrifice. This is a false idol, and you know it is, because there's no cost to it. True manhood has cost. It costs you something. True manhood is the denial of self. It is a war on sin. It is sacrifice for other people. That's what it means to be a man after the pattern of Jesus Christ.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Amen to that. Josh Hawley. Senator Josh Hawley. We need more. Josh Hawley's in political, office. Well, this is what the Bible says as we talk about being a ambassador for Jesus Christ. Philippians, chapter two. Therefore, if there's any encouragement in Christ, if there's any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the spirit, if any affection and compassion make my joy complete. By being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit. What happens in the last days. Men will be lovers of self. All about self. Me, me, M, me, M, me, M, me. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit. But with humility of mind. Regard one another as more important than yourself. Do not merely look out for your own personal interests. Obviously, we look out for our own personal interests. Don't merely do that, but also for the interests of others. That's what it means to be an ambassador for Jesus Christ. You're thinking about others. You know, the Bible says In Romans, chapter 12. Romans, chapter 12. It says, For through the grace given to Me, I say to every man among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think so as to have sound judgment. What is true humility? True humility is not thinking poorly of yourself. True humility is not thinking, more of yourself. It's just thinking soberly about yourself. And it's really. Here's true humility. It's not thinking much at all about yourself. You're thinking about other people. Your focus is on the Lord. You want to be used by God. I urge you, Therefore, brethren, Romans 12 starts this way. I urge you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. You come before the Lord as you begin your day. Lord, here I am. I belong to you. my hands, my eyes, my ears, my mouth, my feet. Where I go, what I do, what I say, what I look at, what I listen to. It's all yours. Because First Corinthians 6 says, I've been bought with a price. Therefore, I want to glorify God in my body. And so true humility is really just thinking about others, and it's putting others first. Adrian Rogers taught me this, through a sermon years and years and years ago when I was in college. And it was the acrostic for joy. Do you want joy in your life? What is joy? How do you get joy? Joy is Jesus first, others second, and you last. And if you'll live, Jesus first, others second, you last. Guess what? You'll experience joy in your life. Because life is not about you. It's about him. And it's about ministry, because we're ambassadors for Christ, and it's about connecting people to God. Now, as a preacher, this is so true. I can't remember who first said this, but it's been repeated many, many times in every pew. There's a broken heart. And if you will speak as a preacher and a teacher of the gospel, if you will speak to broken hearts, you'll always have an audience. Because people want to know that God is the God of hope. People want to know, what do I do? My life is shattered. I've experienced tremendous loss, and the bottom has dropped out. You know, life just turns on a dime. And, everything that I thought was stable is not stable anymore. And I don't know what to do. And as we talked, yesterday, God is our refuge and strength, the very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear. And the good news that we have to preach to people, so many aspects of the good news. But the good news is there is hope for you in Jesus Christ. Jesus is our hope of salvation. He's our hope of forgiveness. He's our hope of, eternal life and, forever in heaven with God. He's our hope of an abundant life and to live life to the full. He's our hope of joy. He's our hope of peace. He's our hope of taking the worst of circumstances and turning them for good. Romans 8, 28. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. And we want to infuse that to people. And as we engage with people, the waiters and waitresses, at restaurants, as we engage with people at the store, as we look at people's faces, the eyes are the windows of the soul. And we ask them about their lives, how we can pray for them. And we engage. We're a witness wherever we go. Because we wake up every morning as believers. We wake up every morning and say, okay, what is my job today? My job is to represent Jesus to the people. My job is to be his ambassador. My job, more than anything else, my job is to connect people to God. That's done by prayer. That's done by witness. That's done by giving people a look, giving people a touch, giving people a word. Well, you're listening to Real Truth for today. I'm your host, Pastor Jeff Schrieve. Such a privilege to be able to come to you every day and talk about things that matter. Lots of things going on in our nation today. We need pray. I met with some of the dear widows in our church, yesterday, and they're meeting to pray. Pray for this midterm election because it is so important. And as I said to them, as I say to you, we can do more than pray after we pray, but we can't do more than pray before we pray. Listen, when we come back from the break, we'll open the phone lines. 888-589-8840. That's triple 858-98840. If you have a question or comment, brief testimony, I'd love to hear from you. Give me a call.
: If you'd like to contact Pastor Jeff, email pastor jeffromhishheart.org now back to Real Truth for today with Pastor Jeff Schrieve.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Welcome back to the program, Pastor Jeff. Here we're talking about ministry. What is ministry? It is connecting people to God. It is Representing, the Lord who gave us his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's representing the Lord Jesus to the people. And Jesus, as we see how he interacted with people, he gave people a look, he gave people a touch, he gave people a word. He let people know that they are important. And, people are important because they're made in the image of God. And all people are important. And we love people as Christians. That's the second greatest commandment. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. And, when you love people, you tell them the truth. If you want to hurt somebody, you lie to them. And this idea that we go along with what anybody says or does because we love them, real love tells people the truth. Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, First Corinthians, chapter 13, verse 6, but rejoices with the truth. Jesus is full of grace and truth. Jon 1:14, he's full of both. And, he. You can't divorce truth from love. You can't divorce truth from grace. The Bible says of false teachers. In, in the book of Jude, certain persons have crept in unnoticed. Jude said, ungodly persons. And what do they do? They turn the grace of God into licentiousness, into unbridled lust, into a license to sin and deny our only master and Lord Jesus Christ. Well, I ran across. We're going to get to the phones in just a minute and the phone lines are open and give you time to call in 888-589-8840. If you have a question or a comment, I'd love to hear from you, but I ran across this, back and forth exchange between Micah Knowles at a Turning Point USA eventually. And what is Turning Point usa? It's engaging people and speaking the truth in love and speaking things that are biblical. And because they're biblical, they tend to be controversial in terms of the culture. They're countercultural. And so when you tell people things that are true in scripture, thus says the Lord, they want men are lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant revilers. It goes against the grain of all that. So this student was, asking Micah Knowles about transgenderism. This was the exchange.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: So I know that you disagree with a lot of, transgender rights for minors, but I was just curious that, how does their transition or their opinions affect you or the government? Like, why should you or the government have a say in a child's choices and their families? Like, if a child picks this and so does their family, and so does the Medical doctor that they're working with. Why do you have any say in that?
Chris Woodward: Because I'm a citizen of the country and I'm a human being endowed with reason and I live in a self government.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right, but how does that affect you? Like, how does one random person that you don't even know millions of miles from you, how does that affect your daily life?
Chris Woodward: Well, because I live in society, so the society affects me. But beyond the effects, to me personally, it's because I have care for my fellow man. And as a participant in society, I am not merely expressing my opinion or, encouraging legislation on selfish matters, but I'm encouraging and voicing my views on the public good. That is what defines a republic, and it's what defines actually all good polities. So I would put the question back to you, to use the example of kids doing things that I might disagree with, we, have laws in this country against adults, having sex with minors. We have the age of consent, for instance, because we believe that children cannot consent to certain activities below a certain age because freedom is knowledge. Predicated. Sorry, willing. Predicated on knowledge. And children are less disciplined and they're more ignorant. So, okay, why should you have the right to impose an age of consent law on the country? Why should you stop a child from engaging in some kind of relationship with, say, I don't know, 52 year old man? It doesn't affect you if the child's parents are fine with that? Let's say that they're immigrants from Pakistan and they want to sell their child as a bride to another member of their community, and their doctor agrees it's a fine idea. Why would you have a say to stop that? How does it affect you?
Pastor Jeff Schreve: I suppose that's true.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: It is true. And I love Micah, Knowles response. It's because we care for people. That's why we get involved in these issues. Because love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth. And as it relates to homosexual marriage, as it relates to transgender, insanity, we step in. As it relates to biological men playing female sports, we have to step up. We have to step in. We have to speak up and say, this is wrong. This is going to destroy the person that you're using as a pawn for this argument. This is going to destroy the fabric of our, society. This is against the way God set things up. This is, champion championing. Ah, it's hard to say that word. Romans, chapter Sins of Romans, chapter one. You know I played the clip yesterday from Dr. Robert Jeffress saying, what's the difference between Republicans and Democrats? Well, Republicans definitely aren't, they're not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. We all sin, and we, we recognize that's wrong, that's a sin. But we don't. We don't, hang the flag of sin. We don't champion sin. We don't say, this is who we are. And we're so excited about this. And. And, yes, we're against God's word, God's will and God's ways. And we're going to change God's word, to fit our sin. We don't do that. So our moral compass is not broken. And we know the difference between good and evil. I think that's the election this coming November. It's between sanity and insanity, between people that know the difference between good and evil and people that call evil good and good evil. That's a huge, huge difference. No Christian can go along with that. Well, we're going to the phone lines at, 888-589-8840. We'd love to hear from you. And we have Jason on the line from Texas. Jason, welcome to Real Truth for today.
Caroline: Good morning, Brother Jeff. Thank you for taking my call. I know you're blessed and blessed as well, brother. thank you. I was going to ask you, have you ever heard of a documentary by Liz Collins called, the Fall of Minneapolis?
Pastor Jeff Schreve: I have not.
Caroline: Brother, you've got to go watch it. You got to go watch that documentary. It's, about an hour and 43 minutes long, and, it shows you everything from, George Floyd's past arrest to the one he got arrested for with Derek Chauvin, and, how he tried to swallow the pills in his first arrest and how they was able to pump the system and, you know, the second time he ended up killing himself. You know, but George Floyd, fought the cops the whole way, and Derek Chauvin and other police officers, they literally went by the book. And, never was, Derek Chauvin's knee on George Floyd's neck. They got the police body cam shows all that. They have all the police reports. And they got the burning down in Minneapolis they had. It's where they told the police to, you know, evacuate the precincts. And the police chief is on. I mean, you probably need some tissues for this video, but police chief is literally there crying as they're evacuating, you know, French cry. Don't told them to evacuate but, you know, they're watching their whole precinct go up in flames. But, then you got the whole house with Nancy Pelosi kneeling and thanking George Floyd for his sacrifice. And it's. It's really. It's really sick what the government did to us and what they did to the police officers. And, I really recommend everybody go watch that just to show you what our government did to us.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Is that on YouTube or Netflix or where is it?
Caroline: YouTube is where I watched it. I had to go watch it a couple times because it's got a lot of reading with it. It shows you all the police records and everything. And, you know, Derek Chauvin got stabbed 22 times while he was in lockup. So.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, well, I appreciate that, Jason. I'll take a look at that. I have not seen that. I didn't know that was out there. But, I appreciate you bringing that to my attention, to our attention. And so it's the, the documentary on the fall of Minneapolis. So thanks, brother. I appreciate you calling and listening to the program. We have Marty on the line from South Carolina. Marty, welcome to Real Truth for today.
Caroline: Hey, good morning, Pastor Jeff. I wanted to give a shout out to you and, thank you for. For what you do. And I, just wanted to, say that I started listening to you back, when Covid hit our church. Wanted me to set up a little, radio transmitter. And I was just practicing with. With the radio to see if it was working and everything. And, I listened to AFR a lot, and I don't normally listen in the evening. I listen. I would listen to it on my way to work and on my home. Way home from work. And you come on a little bit later. So I was out in my shop listening to the radio, and you came on, and, man, I just, like. It was like, I just fell in love with you, man. It was great. And, the message that you gave us. But anyway, the reason I'm calling, is, I. I think you're probably familiar with, Dwight L. Moody, of the Moody Church in Chicago.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Caroline: Irwin Lutzer.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: yes.
Caroline: Yeah, he. He's great. him and Greg Quiggle have written a book called Marx and Moody and two contemporaries, two gospels, two tombstones, one choice. And, there's also a YouTube video, that talks about this. This book, Marx and Moody. I thought just search for Marx and Moody. It will come up on YouTube. And, I just got the book, started reading it, and to me, it's blown. Blown me away about who Karl Marx really is. And, I always thought that he was an atheist, but what they're explaining in the book, that he really wasn't an atheist. He was. He hated God. He believed in Satan. So anybody that believes in Satan would have to believe in God because, you know, God created Satan. And, But anyway, the. The man's life really shows how, I don't know if I could say he's evil, but he was definitely anti God. Antichrist.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah.
Caroline: So, you know, I would recommend it to anyone that's listening to. To get a copy of the book or do you know when that. Watched the YouTube, it was. Marty, do you know this year.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Oh, you released it this year. Okay.
Caroline: Yeah.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Erwin Lutzer is a friend of mine. I'll get him on the program. We'll do a whole program about that book.
Caroline: Yeah, he. Oh, he. He could tell you a lot. it was actually 20, 26, this year, so.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay, good. I appreciate you bringing that up. Yeah, I'll. I'll contact him, this week and see about getting him on the air to talk about it, so. Very good, my friend. Well, God bless you and thank you for calling in Marty. Thank you for your kind words. I appreciate it. Thank you for listening to the program and, listening to American Family Radio. so let's go to, Ken in Texas. Ken, welcome to Real Truth for today.
Caroline: Good morning, Jeff. Thank you so much for your program.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Thanks, brother. God bless you. Go ahead.
Caroline: Hey, I, wish that at every kitchen table in America, it became popular. It would become popular for families to be discussing worldview in this way that everyone would be saying, well, who am I? Where did I come from? What is my purpose? And, I'm on a campaign to, promote, the idea that, if these questions were being asked at the kitchen table and families just discussing them, it would change America, I do believe. And it'd be a good way to confront all the politicians and the, educators, the media and, So anyway, that's my idea, and, I'd love to see it happen.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Amen. I think that would be great. Well, I think that it, you know, families need get. Need to get back to, two meal times together. That was one of the things that Debbie, when our kids were little, she just said, hey, you can only be involved in so many things because we're going to, you know, three or four times a week, we're going to have meals together and we're going to sit down and we're going to talk about things at the dinner table. Lunch table table, breakfast table, whatever it might be. And, it's not going to just be rush, rush, rush. Now, breakfast is harder during the, especially during the school year because you got to get off. But dinner time, it's like, okay, let's have a. Let's have a unrushed time at the table. And to talk about those things. I think that, is a great idea, Ken. So I appreciate you bringing that up. Well, we are almost out of time. Let's go. real quick, Gary in Tennessee. We just have about a minute, but go ahead, my friend.
Caroline: Okay, I can do it real fast. I just want to praise the Lord. Five weeks ago, he gave me, pneumonia. I was in a hospital for four days. And the reason that's a phrase is because due to testing, I found out I've got a partially blocked coronary artery and a 3 centimeter mass on one kidney. They're going to take it out, put a spot, and I'm going to continue on and live on past 73 and a half.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Amen. A good news there. Yeah. So, when something bad happens, just know. Remember Romans 8:28. God can work it here together for good. Thanks for the call, Gary. Linda, I'm sorry we didn't get to you, and, Marley, I'm sorry we didn't get to you, but thank you for calling in today and thanks for listening to Real Truth for today. Now, we are always talk about two words. Shine and share. Go out today. Shine for Christ. That's how you live and share what great things the Lord has done for you. And give people. When you encounter people, give them a, word, a look and a touch. It will make such a difference. God bless you.
Pastor Jeff Schreve explores what it means to be an ambassador for Christ and to connect people to God through everyday ministry. Drawing from Scripture, he emphasizes the importance of representing Jesus through a genuine look, touch, and word, while showing love, speaking truth, and putting others before ourselves. Pastor Jeff also discusses humility, the dangers of living for self, the hope found in Jesus, and the responsibility Christians have to be witnesses wherever they go. The program concludes with listener calls and encouragement to pray, engage with others, and shine and share the hope of Christ.
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