The Danger of Small Compromises - Matthew S5E2

Summary

Podcast Summary: Deepen with Pastor Joby Martin

Episode: The Danger of Small Compromises - Matthew S5E2

Date: June 8, 2026
Host: Pastor Joby Martin
Guests: Pastor Britt, Pastor Chandler, Pastor Ona

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Episode Overview

This episode of "Deepen with Pastor Joby Martin" is a deep dive into the theme of small compromises and their spiritual danger, centered around the story of John the Baptist, Herod, and Jesus (referencing Matthew 11). The trio of pastors explores how guilt, spiritual curiosity without genuine surrender, and the slow drift from truth lead to both personal and communal downfalls, drawing relevant parallels to contemporary Christian living and culture.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Herod's Guilt and Spiritual Paranoia

• Herod’s Response to Jesus (00:20 – 02:32):

  • Herod, upon hearing about Jesus, assumes John the Baptist has returned from the dead.
  • Pastor Ona: "He's so drunk on the guilt... he's realizing, like, hey, this. This is what I've done... overwhelmed by this guilty conscience." (01:28)
  • His irrational reaction stems from unresolved guilt and fear of exposure, despite his power and resources.

• Information Without Investigation (02:32 – 05:48):

  • Pastor Britt humorously suggests Herod "read it on X" (formerly Twitter), highlighting how many adopt beliefs with little investigation:
    • "Somebody gave him one little piece of information... one response that they just spit out."
    • Warns modern listeners against parroting soundbites, whether about the Bible, Jesus, or broader topics.
  • C.S. Lewis quote: "Jesus is either of infinite importance or no importance. But the one thing he is not is moderately important." (04:44)

2. The Perils of Passive Influence

• Undue Influence and Proximity (06:11 – 07:29):

  • Herod is “highly influenced by the voices around him.”
  • Pastor Britt: “Pay very close attention to the voices you allow in your ears.” (06:11)
  • Proximity to truth (church, Bible, community) is not enough; surrender is required.

• Discipleship & Media (08:22 – 09:56):

  • Modern Christians have access to more discipleship resources than ever, harnessing podcasts and sermons for positive spiritual growth.
  • “You're being discipled by someone, either the Word or the world.”

3. Herod as a Cautionary Spiritual Example

• Spiritual Curiosity vs. Surrender (09:56 – 12:37):

  • Herod is “spiritually curious while being morally compromised.”
  • Pastor Chandler: Herod wanted spiritual entertainment, not transformation: "He was hoping to see some sign and Jesus didn't say a word..." (10:44)
  • Posture towards Christ matters: Is Christ your Lord or a convenience?

• Compromise & Hardened Hearts (12:37 – 15:11):

  • Many come to church curious but resist when challenged.
  • The fear of man dominates Herod's decisions—he wants to please the crowd over obeying truth.

4. The Danger of Small Compromises

• Satan’s Subtlety and Moral Drift (15:36 – 19:56):

  • Pastor Ona: "It's the ordinary compromises that lead to extraordinary damage." (15:48)
  • Entertainment’s slow moral degeneration is cited as a parallel to spiritual compromise.
  • Pastor Britt: “You might be putting your head on the chopping block and you don't even realize it.” (17:54)
  • “Moral disengagement” — the rewiring of conscience by countless small steps.

• Culture & Sin Normalization (18:47 – 19:56):

  • Illustration of how societal shifts (e.g., on sexuality) were gradual but strategic:
    • “If you choose not to celebrate it, then now you are on the other side. . . . It was an actual strategy.” (19:37)

5. Habit Formation and No Neutral Choices

• Every Action Counts (19:56 – 20:21):
  • “There is no neutral action. You're either forming habits towards godliness or away from it.”

6. The Sensuality and Consequences of Herod’s Actions

• The Birthday Party Disaster (20:21 – 24:37):
  • The sexual overtones of the daughter’s dance and Herod's lewd promise are not to be sanitized.
  • Pastor Britt: “The lust of the flesh will drive you to make promises that you regret like crazy.” (21:29)
  • Every step starts small: “One small step away from what the spirit of God is leading you to.” (22:58)

7. The Traps of Power Without Peace

• Doubling Down on Error (27:26 – 28:48):
  • Herod’s compounding errors to save face illustrate the danger of “power without peace,” warning that only fear of the Lord brings true freedom.
  • “We will double down on some sort of man made bro code and have no problem rejecting the revealed word of God.” (28:48)

8. Compromised Integrity in Modern Life

• Standing Alone in the Workplace (29:29 – 31:35):
  • Story of a Christian executive who refuses to profit from pornography, risking isolation at work.
  • Pastor Britt: "Now that's the kind of thing that will ruin you. That's power without peace." (31:29)

9. Suffering, Obedience, and Perspective

• True Christian Persecution (32:03 – 36:16):
  • Following Jesus does not guarantee earthly prosperity or comfort.
  • “If you follow Jesus for cotton candy and Cadillacs, cotton candy and Cadillacs are your God. And Jesus is a means to worship you.” (32:31)
  • Persecution has a spectrum—from exclusion to martyrdom—but it always involves the kingdom of darkness pushing back.
  • Obedience in small things has generational impact.

10. Faithful Preaching and Fear of Man

• Refusing to Soften the Scriptures (38:01 – 42:11):

  • Many churches compromise by avoiding controversial biblical truths under societal pressure.
  • Pastor Britt: “If you just feed cotton candy all the time, you are not going to have a well nourished child.” (39:32)
  • "If you don't [preach the word], you're not playing for Team Jesus. You're playing on Team Herod." (42:11)

• Contrast: John the Baptist vs. Herod (42:24 – 44:22):

  • John tells the truth to power; Herod avoids it to preserve himself.

11. Christians in Public Life & Speaking Truth

• Separation of Church and State Misunderstood (44:22 – 45:43):
  • The pastors clarify that Christians speaking biblical truth in the public square is not a violation of church-state separation.
  • Pastor Britt: “If you are going to be a Christian in this lost and crooked world, you better be comfortable being uncomfortable.” (45:43)

12. Anchoring Identity in Christ

• Location vs. True Home (47:48 – 49:37):
  • Life perspective: You are “in Christ at Jacksonville (or wherever),” not the reverse.
  • “To live is Christ, to die is gain. That's a freedom that we're all jealous for.” (49:40)

13. Bringing Pain and Sin to Jesus

• Go to Jesus (50:37 – 55:37):
  • Application from John’s disciples: “Even when it's painful, go tell Jesus.” (50:37)
  • Verbal confession helps bring clarity, humility, and healing.
  • “Sometimes the reason you need to tell Jesus is so that your ears hear what your mouth say so that your mind can understand it and your heart can actually believe it's good.” (54:40)
  • Hebrews 4:16: We boldly approach the throne of grace because Christ sympathizes with all our weaknesses.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On taking beliefs at face value (05:48):
  “People will say things like, ‘Well, I don't believe the Bible because it was translated and mistranslated a hundred million times.’ ... Be very careful. This is true not with just matters of Jesus and faith... It's true about everything.” – Pastor Britt

• On spiritual proximity vs. surrender (07:29):
  “You can be close and not be in. A lot of people think, ‘Well, because I have proximity, then I'm okay.’ ... No, you need to be in. You need to surrender.” – Pastor Ona

• On how sin creeps in (15:48):
  “It's the ordinary compromises that lead to extraordinary damage.” – Pastor Ona

• On the pervasive power of entertainment (17:53):
  “You might be putting your head on the chopping block and you don’t even realize it.” – Pastor Britt

• On bad habits and compromise (20:21):
  “There is no neutral action. You’re either moving this way towards habit formation or away from it.” – Pastor Chandler

• On the necessity of telling the truth to power (44:22):
  “John the Baptist...is in the situation that he's in because he tells the truth to the government.” – Pastor Chandler

• On confession and going to Jesus (50:37, 54:40): “At the end of every service, the call is, go to Jesus... He’s the only one that saves.” – Pastor Ona
  “Sometimes the reason you need to tell Jesus is so that your ears hear what your mouth say so that your mind can understand it and your heart can actually believe it's good.” – Pastor Britt

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Important Timestamps

• Herod’s guilt & initial discussion – 00:20–02:32
• Secondhand belief & cultural soundbites – 02:32–05:48
• Peer influence & investigating faith – 06:42–07:29
• Media’s role in discipleship – 08:22–09:56
• Herod’s spiritual curiosity vs. surrender – 09:56–12:37
• Small compromises & entertainment – 15:36–19:56
• Habit formation & actions’ consequences – 19:56–20:21
• Herod’s compromise & the cost of lust – 20:21–24:37
• Power without peace, doubling down – 27:26–28:48
• Workplace story on integrity – 29:29–31:35
• Suffering, persecution, perspective – 32:03–36:16
• Preaching truth & cultural pressure – 38:01–42:11
• Christ in public sphere & church-state – 44:22–45:43
• Centering identity “in Christ, at Jacksonville” – 47:48–49:37
• Go to Jesus & confession – 50:37–55:37
• Closing prayer (Setswana + English) – 59:41–end

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Closing

The episode concludes with a powerful multilingual prayer (60:11), underlining the universality of Christ’s invitation and the global church. The central exhortation:
No matter your failure, guilt, or circumstance, GO TO JESUS—bring both your pain and confession to Him, and resist the slow slide of small compromises by rooting your life in His truth.

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For personal reflection:

• Where am I allowing small compromises to creep in?
• Am I merely spiritually curious, or am I truly surrendered?
• Who are the voices I'm allowing to influence me?
• In which areas do I need to “go to Jesus” with honesty and boldness today?

Transcript

[Pastor Joby Martin]

Welcome to Deepen with Pastor Joby Martin. The Church of 1122 is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. And we're praying this message helps you deepen your relationship with him. Now let's dive in.

[Pastor Britt]

All right.

[Pastor Chandler]

Welcome back, Pastor.

[Pastor Britt]

One.

[Pastor Ona]

Yes, sir.

[Pastor Chandler]

Great to have you, as always, and of course, bringing the word. Pastor Joby, this is a topic, interestingly, a few weeks ago, when this. When this comes out, it's a. It's referencing John the Baptist again. And so it's a little bit of the background that we referenced from Matthew 11 when John's in prison and he asks, are you the one who's to come? So we're going to talk a lot about John the Baptist and Herod, who is a bad guy. He's a bad dude. Pastor, on a question here, just. Just jumping right in. When Herod hears about Jesus, he says to his servants, this is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead. So that question strikes me as odd, or that. That response strikes me as odd, because if you heard about somebody, would you be like, hey, maybe the person who died a little while ago is alive again? Like, that's not what I. Yeah. So why do you guys think that that was what went through his head? That maybe he was.

[Pastor Ona]

Yeah, I mean, it's. It is. It is a very odd question because, you know, we were chatting a little bit about it, that John the Baptist, Jesus is. They're around the same time. But. But I. I believe he's just. He's so drunk on the guilt. He's so overwhelmed by this guilty conscience. And, and, like, man, he's just. He's. He's realizing, like, hey, this. This is what I've done. I. Maybe he's thinking about it over and over and over again. We've all been to that place where, you know, you've done and said some things, and you. You're overwhelmed by it. And there's. There's a ton of things that are keeping you from bringing it, you know, to God. But. But you don't. And so you.

[Pastor Britt]

You.

[Pastor Ona]

It almost feels like at every corner, you. You're turning and looking and wondering, you know, is now the time when I get exposed? Is now the time where the light shines and all is revealed? So it's. It's. It's. It's wild to do that. This is a man with immense power. He's in the palace. He's got an army. He's got all the things. And it's at the word of Jesus, at the, at hearing about Jesus that he goes, okay, wait, something, something's about to happen.

[Pastor Britt]

Yeah, I think he read it on X. And so he just ran with it. And I, I say it tongue in cheek. But that, that is kind of what I mean. Like, I wonder where he got his information from. He did not investigate this himself. There's no way. He did a deep dive on the life of Christ, the life of John the Baptist. He didn't do that. So somebody gave him one little piece of information that happened to be impossible and not true because Jesus and John the Baptist stood together in the Jordan, so there can't be alive at the same time and then one be the reincarnation of the other one. It doesn't make sense. But that doesn't matter. He. And I doubt he's even paying much attention so far. Like Jesus. The Pharisees are getting aggravated. Herod don't care about that. Herod's appointed by Rome. He's gotta like, submit to pilot. All he cares about is keeping peace in Jerusalem so that he doesn't get in trouble and he can keep his position of power, right? And so he gets a little. So at one point he's probably like, who is this Jesus guy? One guy goes, I, you know, I think his reincarnation of John the Baptist. Then what he does is he takes that little information and then he slots it away with, of all the things I have to think about, this is what I think about that one thing. This is what we. Not me, we. This is what most people are doing today with very important thing with the proliferation of podcasts, okay? So people will say things like, well, I don't believe the Bible because it was translated and mistranslated about a hundred million times. And you know, well, they'd never done a deep dive to see that that's not true. One time they heard their college professor as a sophomore kind of say that. So for this entire category of the Bible now, they've got that one response that they just spit out. You hear it all. The. CS Lewis said people say this about Jesus. So the kind of, the kind of, the go to right now because, you know, it's so popular to be a Christian. If you're a conservative, you think you're a Christian now. I mean, like I said before, you got Don Lemon far left and, and, and you've got far Nick Fuentes as far right as you can go. And they both claim the label Christian. How about that? Okay, so then CS Lewis says, Jesus is either of infinite importance or no importance. But the one thing he is not is moderately important.

[Pastor Chandler]

Yeah.

[Pastor Britt]

And the amount of people right now, because it's kind of cool to say, well, I don't know about his claims to be the son of God. I don't know if he actually died and resurrected from the grave for our sins, but I like his teachings. That's the one. That's the only thing you can't say. What that actually means is that some people have listened to some semi very, very, very popular podcast today. That's what that guy said. And they just took it, even though it doesn't make sense because they didn't do a deep dive for themselves. So be very careful. This is true. Not with just matters of Jesus and faith. The most important thing. It's true about everything. So you hear your favorite pundit give the. Give one line that you like about whatever. The thing is, Ukraine, Gaza, Iran, the Southern Bor. Whatever. You haven't done a deep dive whatsoever. But you've got like, here's the slogan that somebody told me and now I'm just paring it. That's what I think always happens.

[Pastor Ona]

Yeah.

[Pastor Britt]

This, this word, this Jesus thing. If you're listening to the Deepen podcast, I'm preaching to the choir because I would assume you've probably. I mean, why would you listen to this? This is just three pastors going deeper into the text that you just preached or will preach, but it's worthy of investigating for yourself.

[Pastor Ona]

Yeah.

[Pastor Britt]

At least later, Pilate is going to go nose to nose with Jesus and say, all right, man, let's talk. And there's some back and forth there. And then at least he makes an informed decision out of fear. It's a terrible. The decision makes. Is terrible. But at least he makes his own decision. Even though his wife is like, you want to do something else? It seems to me, Herod, what you're going to see is just highly influenced by the voices around him. You should pay very close attention to the voices you allow in your ears.

[Pastor Ona]

Yeah.

[Pastor Britt]

Psalm 1 says, Blessed is he who does not walk in the way of the wicked, stand in the way of the sinner, or sit in the seat of the mocker. There's a progression to it. I would add to that. Blessed is he who doesn't listen to the podcast of the wicked, or totally ingest the YouTube stuff of the. The scoffer and that. You know what I mean?

[Pastor Ona]

Yeah.

[Pastor Britt]

And so you got to pay very close attention. It is worth, if you think you are somewhat autonomous if you think you have at least two brain cells that will work together in your head, yeah, it is worth you discovering who this man Jesus is for your own self instead of just hearing some word and then saying, yeah, that's what I think about that.

[Pastor Ona]

I think that's because that's the saddest thing. And it's one of the frustrating things about what we do as preachers is it's both frustrating and liberating. The fact that I cannot, we cannot change the hearts of people. What we do is we bring you as close as you can. We present the truth to you and say, man, would you do the hard work of doing the investigation? Because what we see here is, man, you can be close and not be in. A lot of people think, well, because I have proximity, then I'm okay. Especially our context, the proximity that we have to the Bible, to a local church, to fellowship, to all the things. And then you go, well, then I'm in because I have proximity. No, you need to be in. You need to surrender. And that's what's happening here. Herod has proximity to the truth, and it's still not changed because he believes he's in control of his entire life

[Pastor Britt]

on the, on the positive impact of things like podcasts and YouTube and all that. One of the things that I've noticed, I've been doing this for 33 years, almost 34 years, and what used to happen, it seems to me, is that people would show up to church and maybe Sunday school or a small group. So we'll call it two hours of discipleship in their life. And then they would be discipled by TV and the nightly news every other day of their. The week. And then they come back with this little helping. One of the things I see now with a portion of the church is there are. There are countless people that are showing up here to 1122. They're being discipled in the weekend. They're being. They go to a disciple group. They're being discipled. There's. And then they're also listening to all of our friends. They listen to a Josh Howerton sermon, they listen to a Chandler sermon. They listen to Philip Anthony Mitchell, they listen to John Tyson. All of these are friends of ours who most of them have preached here and they are using the media options and they're hearing the Word of God preach over and over and over. They're listening to this plus Live free plus another. You know what I mean? And so there is a positiveness to this, that, that they are. They're walking with the wise in their car on the way to school. They're walking, they're, they're, they're getting discipleship material while they're working out and while they go on a run and all these things. It's a very, very, very positive thing.

[Pastor Chandler]

We were talking before we started recording, we were walking over here. We started talking about how Matthew's brilliance of how he's putting his gospel together and here's what's, here's what's crazy. Which I bet the is a little bit lost on our audience or us as the audience that aren't first century Jews. Like, here he is about to use Herod as an object lesson for how we should and shouldn't engage, at least in part. Right. Because Herod is a person who, yeah, what you just said, categorized something and just shoved it over there on the shelf and moved on. But he's spiritually curious while being morally compromised. Remember in Luke's account when he, when Jesus is brought before him, it says he was hoping to see him.

[Pastor Britt]

Yeah.

[Pastor Chandler]

He was hoping to see some sign and Jesus didn't say a word before him. And so he wants it as kind of entertainment, you know.

[Pastor Britt]

Sure matters, man.

[Pastor Chandler]

Exactly. Right. And so we're going to get in into that. But like, it's just so crazy that this becomes the object lesson here. This evil ruler for, hey, keep watch on your life, on your posture, on how you handle truth. You know, that's wild.

[Pastor Britt]

And the posture by which you come to Christ.

[Pastor Chandler]

Yeah.

[Pastor Britt]

Like, if you think he's your lobbyist, it's a bad day, bro. If you think he's like a court jester to entertain you.

[Pastor Chandler]

Yeah.

[Pastor Britt]

You know, if you think he's a vending machine to give you what you want, if you, I mean, bro, I'm telling you, when Jesus is on the cross, we'll get to this later this year. And there are two thieves, one on his right, one on his left, and they both have different postures. One is poor in spirit and one is proud in spirit. And the number of people that show up to church, like the guy saying, if you are who you say you are, then do this for me. Right? Then there's the other guy. It's like, I don't deserve anything. I'm not trying to make a deal with you. Will you do me a favor? And that is the only way to come to Christ. You owe me nothing.

[Pastor Chandler]

He says, I, I made this mess for myself.

[Pastor Britt]

Correct.

[Pastor Chandler]

You know, owns his condition. I think that also provides a little bit of a, a reason that maybe John would have had to call him, call Herod out on his, some of his misdeeds. Right. What got him imprisonment in the first place? Because if Herod is a spiritually curious person and he hears about this guy, John the Baptist, he says, well bring him in here. I'm curious. Let's talk to him. And then, and then gets a dose of the truth and is told what you're doing in your, you know.

[Pastor Ona]

Yeah.

[Pastor Chandler]

Quote, unquote. Marriage is wrong.

[Pastor Ona]

And how many people do that week in, week out? It's like they, they come and they hear and then they, they, you know, the Bible will call it. They harden their hearts to the truth. They turn away from it. So you're spiritually curious. You know, it's. Everybody wants to submit. There's another way to look at it until you disagree. And the gospel is constantly going, hey, the way that you live is not an agreement. It does not go the way that God wants for you. Turn, turn and come to Jesus. And still people will be like, I was in until you touched on that. And now I'm going to find a reason. I'm going to, going to come up with some of the most ridiculous things. I'm going to this and that. And, and that's surrender means surrender or everything. Heart, mind, or everything. And that, that's really hard for people because we, we think of ourselves as better than.

[Pastor Chandler]

I was listening to Chandler a sermon of his recently and he was just going at the casual church attender. It's like, look at your actual life. Come to church a couple times a month. You know it. Jesus is not an add on. He cannot be an add on. He either is your life or he's. He's not part of your life. And it doesn't. He said aligned. It's not, it's not about how you felt about it. Look at your time, look at your money, look at your, you know, the choices. Your heart, like what's your heart's affection going towards?

[Pastor Ona]

Yeah.

[Pastor Chandler]

And so it's a real cautionary tale.

[Pastor Ona]

Yeah.

[Pastor Chandler]

Because here's a person who has power, has money and is playing around.

[Pastor Britt]

But it even says it here like he already wanted to kill John the Baptist because John the Baptist didn't tell him what he wanted. But he was afraid of the people, it says. And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people because they held him to be a prophet. So all this is, is a transfer of the fear of man. Three times at first he feared John the Baptist. So he wanted to take him out, but then he didn't because he feared the people, because, you know, he didn't want to be unpopular. And now thirdly, he makes a promise, I think, because of his lustful passions. And then he fears of what people will think if he doesn't follow through on what he says. And so there's all negative fear. But what he doesn't do is fear the Lord. Because when you fear, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Because when you fear the Lord, you don't fear man. You care more about what God thinks than they think.

[Pastor Ona]

Yeah.

[Pastor Britt]

And you'll do what he says regardless of the cost, regardless of the circumstances. See John the Baptist.

[Pastor Chandler]

Yeah. And Pastor Ona, you were talking about how because it's a birthday party, it almost like masks the evil nature of what's happening, you know, so we can talk a little bit about that, too. But he. He gets in a situation that is. That is undoubtedly sketchy.

[Pastor Ona]

Yeah.

[Pastor Chandler]

You know, so. So talk about that a little bit. Yeah.

[Pastor Ona]

Well, I think Satan's really good at this. The kingdom of darkness is really good at this. At never coming to you in a way that you would go, this is so obvious. There's no ways I'm going to go into that.

[Pastor Britt]

Well, he masquerades as an angel of light.

[Pastor Ona]

100. He's the father of. He's brilliant at this. If, man, the. The academy for the greatest special effects would always go to him every year. Like, he's just so good at it. And so for folks listening, it's, It's. You should be mindful of the spaces that you find yourself in and always, like, ask the question, like, what's going on here? And what, what. What am I being drawn into? And. Because oftentimes you. You don't realize it until it's too late. It's the ordinary compromises that lead to extraordinary damage. You know, Hebrews 2 talks about, like, hey, don't. Don't drift. Be mindful. It's a drift. And so it doesn't look too bad or what I said doesn't sound too bad. Like, and then before you know it, you hear it. No one wakes up going, today I'm going to be Herod.

[Pastor Britt]

Yeah, look at the. Look at the slow degeneration of entertainment over the last 40 years, man. I mean, bro, I think it was on. On. On Archie Bunker, whatever that show was called, all in the Family. There. There was this uproar because they were going to allow a toilet to be flushed and heard and that was just inappropriate for television, I think. That's right. And then you fast forward to today and it's. There's pornography that you don't have to subscribe to. Just turn on your television and there's pornography. There it is, there's. It's just like, no, no, this is fun. This is entertaining. Yeah, right. And then it's like, well, just fast forward through the parts you don't like. And I'm just telling you, it's just a slow. You're just walking. You've invited the wicked.

[Pastor Chandler]

Yeah.

[Pastor Britt]

You're actually sitting in the seat with the scoffer because they scoff our God. But we're entertained by it. So we just watch it and then. And then look down our noses at the legalists that are like, how dare you not allow me to watch what I like to watch? You watch whatever you want. I'm telling you, it might not be feeding your soul.

[Pastor Ona]

Yeah.

[Pastor Britt]

You might be putting your head on the chopping block and you don't even realize it.

[Pastor Ona]

I mean, there's research that's been done on this. They call it moral disengagement. And what it shows is that it's the small things. But those small things are constantly rewiring you. Every single time where you get to the point where you're a completely different person, well, the opposite is true. How do we grow in our relationship with Jesus as he is molding us and shaping us to become more and more like him? It's. Well, it's from one degree to the next. It's the small thing. So oftentimes we want to make this massive jump to be like, from here to here, and then I'm going to be amazing. It's like, no, it's the small steps of obedience. But it's. It's true the other way. Because Satan, Satan in the kingdom of darkness just goes, well, if it's working that way, how can we manipulate this? Because Satan can't create, right? He just. Just counterfeit. So he goes, let me take a similar strategy and work it on them. And they won't even notice it.

[Pastor Britt]

So if you back up to the like 80s, when the gay rights activists were really beginning to form together, a part of the strategy was to get involved in the entertainment business to try to normalize, to just make this. So they worked really, really hard in Hollywood, in Disney and places like this so that they would just normalize what used to be called sin. And it was, it was a ploy, it was a tactic, you know, I mean, I'M all for people having rights, but not. I'm not okay with what God calls sin. Calling normal. That is not okay. And then. And it worked so well that now if you speak against it, you're the evil one.

[Pastor Ona]

Yeah, if.

[Pastor Britt]

And even beyond that, not only if you don't speak against it or not only if you speak against it are you evil. But if you choose not to celebrate it, then now you are on the other side of the ledger and you are the evil one in our society. It was an actual strategy.

[Pastor Chandler]

I was, I heard recently this is an example of how science catches up with some of what you're saying. Habit formation is always happening. So every time you do something, it has the potential to be repeated and reinforce it unto a habit.

[Pastor Ona]

Yeah.

[Pastor Chandler]

You know, and so there is. I forget where it was. I heard it, but it was like there is no neutral action.

[Pastor Ona]

It's.

[Pastor Chandler]

You're either moving this way towards habit formation or away from it. That was interesting. So there. Everything that you're doing has, has consequences. Pastor Joby, you were, you were saying that there, there's really no way around the sensual nature of what's happening here. Kind of like you compared it to a strip club.

[Pastor Britt]

Why don't you tell. Explain to us to the folks listening. What you read in the commentary is about the, about what the commentators say. So a girl comes out and dances and as a result of that everyone is pleased is what the Bible says. And then Herod makes a promise to the girl. I'll give you whatever you want. So give us what the commentators say.

[Pastor Chandler]

I'll. It's a bit like your, your example of rubbish.

[Pastor Britt]

Uhhuh.

[Pastor Chandler]

But you know, when you read about this, it'll say there's questions about whether or not this, this was a sensual dance, that they were impressed or whatever. But I'm like I've. I've definitely have heard the, the sensual part of it, the sensual interpretation of it quite a bit. So I, I actually think that's a strong stripper.

[Pastor Britt]

Okay. So have you ever gone to a birthday party and 10 year old girl does a little appropriate 10 year old dance and you say, I'll give you anything you want. There's not a man alive that that would leverage all of his power and his name. That's not how this works. Sometimes these commentators are so heavenly minded, they're no earthly good, bro. They don't. Because what will happen and, and God bless the commentators. But give me a break, dude. Have you talked to a man lately like this is. This is not A ling. They'll go to linguistics here, you know, all in the Greek. It doesn't say exactly. I'm like, okay, but do you have to say it? They're saying it. Listen, man, the main things are the plain things, and the plain things are the main things. This girl, pretty, young, and there have been some sick men living for a long time. And he gets so stirred up. He makes all kind of promises and it happens all of the time, dude, the lust of the flesh will drive you to make promises that you regret like crazy. It happens. It happens all the time. People torch their lives. I mean, no man in the world woke up today and said, you know what I'm gonna do today? Custody battle for my children. That's what I'm going for. Nobody. You. You would have enough sense to not do that. But what you would do is start flirting with somebody that's not your wife. Looking at something you're not supposed to be. You begin one small step away from what the spirit of God is leading you to. Listen, John 10 is not about right and wrong. The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy. I'm the good shepherd. I came, you should have life, have it abundantly. My sheep, hear my voice, the voice of a stranger. They will not follow. Follow where? It's either to death or abundant life. Right and wrong will not sustain you. When you began to understand that everything God has for you is good. And every time, every time you hear and heed his voice, it leads to life and life abundantly. Because the abundant life is found in obedience. Because you get him.

[Pastor Ona]

Yeah.

[Pastor Britt]

And disobedience leads to death. This is not a snapshot, man. This is a journey. And before we recorded one pointed out and Herod and all the Herods have always and only been on this journey to death. Yeah, it's always been about power. I mean, bro, he's taken his brother's wife. So obviously this is a sexually perverse God that does not appreciate people. He just uses people to get what he wants. So what, are you going to divorce? That his all of his track record now? No, it's just happening.

[Pastor Chandler]

Once again, his dad was Herod the Great, who was the. That builder but killed several members of his own family because of his paranoia.

[Pastor Britt]

Correct.

[Pastor Chandler]

And somehow he survived. So.

[Pastor Britt]

And a bunch of kids.

[Pastor Chandler]

Yeah, and. And this is the one who wanted the.

[Pastor Ona]

Yeah.

[Pastor Chandler]

I mean, good grief.

[Pastor Britt]

But here's the thing. If you don't think you can't be heard in about two seconds, you're too dumb to talk to.

[Pastor Ona]

Right?

[Pastor Chandler]

Yeah.

[Pastor Britt]

I mean, you could, you know, the lust of the flesh will scream so loud in your life. You think, if I don't eat this, if I don't drink this, if I don't take this, if I don't touch this, if I don't watch this, if I don't take the next step, you know, I'm gonna die. It's kind of like, it's kind of like Esau.

[Pastor Chandler]

Right, right.

[Pastor Britt]

He goes out hunting, the lust of the flesh takes over. Because when he comes in to see his brother Jacob, who has made some red lentil stew, he's like, I am perishing. You're not actually perishing. 8 minutes ago you were stalking stag in the hills. Okay, you're going to be fine. Give it a break. Take a nap, you know, have a Twix or something, a Snickers. But he's willing to, to trade all of his birthright for some stew. And you go, how dumb are you? We all have a tendency to do that. The question just is, what is your stew? And you should war against that. Like, like if somebody offered me drugs, I honestly, they would have to explain what it is. I don't know anything about drugs. I've never really. I remember first time I was in a room and somebody smoking pot, I was like, I've got to get out of here. I was just like, the SWAT team is going to kick the door down. Like I, you know, that's just not my world, bro. It wouldn't have, there would be no chance I'm going down that road. But there's a thousand other things. Yeah, that, that if I don't war against those things, and if I didn't have decades of gospel driven victories in my past, then I would be more tempted to walk down that road. I mean, how many guys in our seats have gone for the stew? They sacrifice all their ministry, all the moral authority, their marriage, their relationship with their kids because they went for the stew. So this is Harry.

[Pastor Ona]

It's.

[Pastor Chandler]

The phrasing here is. It's kind of interesting. It. Because he made a prom, he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. And it makes me think, have you ever heard, like, and I've talked to Charles Martin about this, like you make promises to yourself and you kind of touched on it just a minute ago. You make agreements like you, you. And they're very like just behind your consciousness. It's like I've made a promise with myself to see this through or like that this is worth it to me or whatever. You know, so it's like he, he makes a promise in front of his, in front of his guests, but it now puts him in a situation where he's obligated to it.

[Pastor Ona]

Yeah.

[Pastor Chandler]

You know,

[Pastor Ona]

obligated because of the fear of man.

[Pastor Britt]

Correct.

[Pastor Ona]

That's like crazy. He could have any point gone. You know what? Hold on. I can't. Hey, I'm gonna, I repent. But, but he doesn't. He double downs on it. So it's from one trap to the next trap to the next trap to the next trap. And, and I don't care who you are. But, but, but power without peace will always feel like a prison regardless of how you got the power. Right? Like whether, whether you, you know, how you got it was wrong or how you're keeping it is wrong. But I'm telling you, you will never, never, you will never find peace. I don't care who you are. And, and, and that silence. You'll sit with the silence. But, but one day when the light shines on it and it will, it's going to be way louder and way heavier than it originally was. So, so I. Sorry, Apostle Joby, I just. For me, it's like you, you, you said it and you had the opportunity still to go, hold on. No, I can't do this.

[Pastor Britt]

Yeah. He could have been poor in spirit. He had the opportunity to humble himself and say I was wrong. I overstepped. Can you imagine if politicians would do that today?

[Pastor Ona]

Oh my gosh.

[Pastor Britt]

So like my bad. I was wrong. It'd be crazy. But we don't. Here's what's, here's what's unbelievable about us. We will double down on some sort of man made bro code and have no problem rejecting the revealed word of God.

[Pastor Ona]

Oh my God.

[Pastor Britt]

I mean, the word says, don't even make an oath. Let your yes be yes and you know, be no. Don't be swearing by nobody else. Just say yes and do what you say and say no. And if you get jacked up, just say my bad. Come empty handed. And so, I mean, his posture never changes. Yeah, his posture was all about me and mine trying to protect him. He arrests John the Baptist to protect himself. He makes the promise to try to get what he wants and then he follows through on it because he, he doesn't want to lose credibility with the crowd he's in front of. And I'm not just talking about Harry. I mean, you might be sitting in your cubicle right now and you've done the same thing, you know.

[Pastor Chandler]

Yeah.

[Pastor Britt]

Like Chandler Was here for his book tour thing and he writes about it in his book becoming like Jesus there. There's a guy, an high end executive at the Village, he was talking about persecution and in Dallas and Jacksonville, we're not going to face the kind of persecution today like they do in Nigeria. All right? But you might get labeled, you might get left out because of your beliefs. And this guy is a faithful Jesus follower, high end executive for this conglomeration that bought this like worldwide bunch of website stuff. And they bring it to him to run this. All pornhub would be one of the customers. And this guy goes, I'm not doing this. And the company's like, yes, you are. I mean, they're, they're like one of our most lucrative. Our most lucrative ones. And they're, they're, they're like, you better keep your faith to yourself. That's fine. Whatever you believe is fine. But you work here. This is what you do. And he's like, no. The answer is no. Then they're like, well, then just give it to somebody on your team. He's like, hold on one second. So I think this is not just immoral, but poison. You want to hand it, you want me to hand it to my 35 year old, married with little kids employee that works for me and you want me to blow his family up? I don't think so. So they didn't fire him. They couldn't because the guy had too much credibility. So they just locked him out of everything. They just said, okay, fine, they isolated and put him over here and boop, they plopped him. You know, everybody else goes into the rooms to talk about the future of the company. So what are you going to do in that moment? I mean, Galatians 1:10 is a sweet verse. It's cool as long as you don't have to apply it to anything. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. Am I now trying to win the approval of man or of God? All right, but when it cost you your job? Okay, now that, that's the kind of thing that will ruin you. That's power without peace.

[Pastor Ona]

Yeah.

[Pastor Britt]

And you are locked up, bro.

[Pastor Ona]

Yeah, yeah.

[Pastor Chandler]

It's like, it's like quoting Philippians 4:13

[Pastor Britt]

without 12 and 14 about persecution and starving. Yeah.

[Pastor Chandler]

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

[Pastor Britt]

As long as they're on a football field and not in life.

[Pastor Chandler]

Hunger, want, prisons.

[Pastor Britt]

I can do all things right.

[Pastor Chandler]

Exactly.

[Pastor Ona]

But people go, where is that? Where did you read all that other stuff? It's like, it's Just keep reading.

[Pastor Chandler]

Yeah, right, right. I'm so glad you said that because it's a perfect example of, I mean, you mentioned it before with John the Baptist, it's not always going to go good. Like, it's really the, like you, you don't come to Jesus because of the prosperity. It's going to be cotton, cotton candy and Cadillacs like you say. But also you, it still might be hard or it, it might go badly for you. And John the Baptist is the perfect example of that.

[Pastor Britt]

Yeah, let's unpack that a little bit more. Okay. So if you follow Jesus for cotton cat, cotton candy and Cadillacs, Cotton candy and Cadillacs are your God. And Jesus is a means correct to you, to worship you. And he doesn't, he refuses to be a part of your idolatry. Now quite honestly though, in America, in Jacksonville today, if you follow Jesus and act like it, it probably is going to go better. I mean honestly, your marriage will be better. If you're full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control and you love your wife like Christ loved the church, your marriage is probably going to go better. If everything you do, you do as unto the Lord and you show up early and you work late and you're a servant and you love people and you tell the truth and you don't cut corners, you're probably going to get promoted. And God's a good dad and he loves to give good gifts to his kids. But the experience that we are having in 2026 in Jacksonville, Florida is unique among the history of Christianity. I mean, bro, we are in the Disneyland of what it means to be a believer right now. We get a, we get applauded, awarded, rewarded. I mean, how many people in all of Christianity got a full time salary in health benefits to be a preacher? And we get to sit in these seats. So don't waste it. Make hay. The harvest is plentiful. Let's go. And simultaneously, it is unique to our little postage size stamp spot of the geography of the world. It isn't working out too good in Nigeria right now for the people that are claiming Christ. And so, I mean Hebrews is like, look, man, by faith, some people push back armies, some people shut the mouths of lions, others were sawn into left or dead. They all had the same faith in the same Jesus. So the order matters. If you follow Jesus because you think he can help you make your life better, you've missed it. Yeah, you follow Jesus because He loves you and he saves you and then you follow after him, and depending on your context, it might go good, might go bad. It'll probably be a lot of both.

[Pastor Chandler]

Yeah.

[Pastor Britt]

But he is more than enough.

[Pastor Chandler]

It's also. I mean, it's difficult for us to understand what real persecution is. And it's easy for many of us in here in Jacksonville to think, oh, I'm being persecuted. And what. What you mean is it's inconvenient or these little inconveniences.

[Pastor Britt]

I do think there are. I do think there is a spectrum of persecution. I read this. I think it was Voice of the Martyrs, because it.

[Pastor Ona]

It.

[Pastor Britt]

There was an article about it. Yeah.

[Pastor Chandler]

The.

[Pastor Britt]

Like, level 10 is loss of life, physical harm, you know, for sure.

[Pastor Chandler]

Yeah.

[Pastor Britt]

But getting passed over at work, I mean, that is a level of it. People saying all kind of vile and untrue things about you. Like, you know, when. When people have been out there, you know, protesting against the church and there are signs about me personally, and then I have to explain to my children, that is a level of persecution. I'm not getting my head chopped off, but there is some of that. So we're not trying to. You. You shouldn't compare it, but it should help you put it in its proper perspective. You know, it's good. And I do think that is helpful.

[Pastor Ona]

That's really good. I think the perspective piece is massive because. Well, first of all, when the kingdom of darkness pushes back, it's the kingdom of darkness pushing back regardless of, like, just recognize that. That the kingdom of darkness is pushing back. And then the perspective is to go, well, what are the implications of this? So a light push here will have massive implications further along down the road. And so when you stand for truth here, same thing. It's like, man, the impact. So there's a generational thing that's happening here, and hence the weight in which you lead us and carry all of this is like, yeah, we live in Jacksonville, and God's doing some amazing things through here, like in this place. But we have a responsibility. It doesn't mean we get to sit back and go, this is great, but we go, okay, well, God, what is it that you are calling us to? Because the kingdom of darkness is constantly pushing back. So the perspective matters a ton. That your obedience today, Scripture doesn't say this, but this is what I like to say to my kids is that one day when we're all standing in front of the throne to the one who's seated on it and we're worshiping him, there's going to be people that are going to show up and go, I just want to say, you don't know who I am, but I want to say thank you for your faithfulness. And you'll be like, Jonah's like, who is that? And it's like your great, great, great, great grandkids who are just going, hey, man. Because of your obedience, because you chose to push back, because you said no, because you stood on the truth of the gospel. This was the implications. I think we need to start thinking about that. We cannot live in our isolated, individualistic, yes, what I'm doing today matters, but the ripple effects matter as well.

[Pastor Britt]

Yeah. One of the places you see it in churches is a church will be very big and very popular and very influential and it will decide because of the pressures of the community. We're just not doing. There are many things that the Bible addresses and we're going to choose not to address those because we don't want to push people away. We don't want to be offensive. And anybody that gets a little wishy washy there, it just begins to slide. Because the gospel is offensive. You see it over and over. I'm not going to name names. You, you guys know some of the folks we're talking about, they begin to slide into tickling ears and saying true things instead of just preaching the whole counsel of the truth of God. One of the reason we teach through books of the Bible, dude, there's so many passages. I, I mean, on the one hand, for my own, just for my own personal benefit, I don't necessarily just want to teach, like about divorce. It's going to stir up some stuff. But what I do know is I will not apologize for anything Jesus taught because it's always only for our good and our best. And if you don't understand it, it's because you don't understand it. But he only has good things for us. And so to not preach what the Bible says about sex and sexuality, you're not helping your people, you're hurting your folks, man.

[Pastor Chandler]

Yeah.

[Pastor Britt]

I mean, if you just feed cotton candy all the time, you are not going to have a well nourished child.

[Pastor Chandler]

Yeah.

[Pastor Britt]

And then when they're old enough to understand, they'll actually hate you because you gave him diabetes, whatever, instead of feeding them a well balanced diet. And so you got to just teach what the word says.

[Pastor Chandler]

Yeah.

[Pastor Britt]

And, and of course there, there are lots of places in the scripture or very faithful believers come down on a couple of sides of okay, neat, Share it all.

[Pastor Ona]

Yeah.

[Pastor Britt]

That's what I try to do when we get to some places, you know, women's role in the church, divorce, things like that, I'll just kind of say, here's some faithful interpretations of this and here's where I land. But what I know is that what I. What I try to pre. Decide to refuse to do that because of the fear of the crowd, because that's actually just self preservation.

[Pastor Chandler]

Yeah.

[Pastor Britt]

You know, man, I was writing, actually, when I was writing, it's been every book. So publishers will just tell you if you say this. You get left out of a bunch of lists. Just telling you. And I'm like, well, listen, I'm just saying what the Bible says. Okay. I didn't get into this for popularity. And then the books start doing well, and then you get to stand firm and act like men. What they don't want you to say, I mean, what will get you kind of blackballed is anything about gender and anything about marriage or anything that is perceived as anti lgbtq, all the letters. But I just. I just. I just say what the Bible says because I'm trying to make disciples. I'm not trying to make an awards list. And it doesn't always work out this way. But, like, on I Think Anything Is Possible or Grace Train, one of those two, the numbers should have made all the list, and we just got left off. And, dude, I mean, my. Our publishers were ticked because all that stuff matters to them. Like, that's fine. Then act like man comes out, and it was just undeniable, you know, and that was the one I was most aggressive in. We're talking about what it means to be a godly man. Well, first you got to define what a man is. You know, that there is such a thing as a man and a woman, and there's just two teams you can play for there. And so. So it doesn't always work out like that. It's not like, just be faithful and by number four, you'll make the times. That's not how it always goes, but, you know, sometimes it does.

[Pastor Ona]

Yeah.

[Pastor Britt]

But if. If the next one, if I'm chasing after the applause of man, I book be damned. I just want to be faithful. I just want to be helpful. That's what it really is.

[Pastor Chandler]

Yeah.

[Pastor Britt]

And the most helpful thing is to teach the word of God.

[Pastor Chandler]

Yeah.

[Pastor Britt]

And if you don't, you're not playing for Team Jesus. You're playing on Team Herod.

[Pastor Ona]

Yeah.

[Pastor Britt]

And nobody would be like, oh, you're a Herod. Nobody would see that in the. In the mirror.

[Pastor Chandler]

You said earlier we all think we're John the Baptist, but. Sorry, nobody.

[Pastor Britt]

Right. But it's.

[Pastor Chandler]

But what a contrast, because here's John the Baptist in the situation that he's in because he tells the truth to the government. Yes.

[Pastor Britt]

You got to add that part. He doesn't just tell his truth to his. To the TV in his living room. Yeah.

[Pastor Chandler]

Okay, but what a contrast against Herod, who is afraid to tell who or address the truth, you know?

[Pastor Britt]

Yeah. But let's hang on this one for a second, because there's somehow. There has been this incredible confusion in this country, this false understanding of a phrase that Thomas Jefferson wrote in a letter about a prayer meeting to some Baptist about the separation of church and state, that there would be a wall that would separate the church from the state. That's what he said as he's attending church inside the Capitol building, by the way of which he voted that the US Government would pay to build. How about that? And every state constitution, almost every state constitution, had a requirement to attend a Christian church in order to be in office during that time.

[Pastor Chandler]

Wow.

[Pastor Britt]

He's got this one little line. All right, so now there are people, and what they actually are worshiping at is the altar of a bifurcated life that I need church life to be church life and then my other life to be my other life. And I don't want these things to mix. And so. Pastor, you make me uncomfortable when you talk politics. We'll take it up. What would. Okay, so what would you say to John the Baptist and William Wilberforce.

[Pastor Chandler]

Right.

[Pastor Britt]

And Nietzsche and. And what's his name? Germany.

[Pastor Chandler]

Yeah. It's on the tip of my brain.

[Pastor Britt]

Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Yeah. Right. What would you say to him? See, now we hold these men up as heroes. And in the moment, what they were doing is they were. They were actually speaking the truth to the people in power.

[Pastor Ona]

Yeah.

[Pastor Chandler]

It's so ridiculous. Because separation of church and state means the state is not the church.

[Pastor Britt]

Correct.

[Pastor Chandler]

You know that's what I mean. That's what it means. It means the state is not the same thing as the church, and it can't force you to be a part of its church. Yeah, correct. Because that was what it was like in England.

[Pastor Britt]

But it doesn't mean. That doesn't mean never talk about it. It doesn't mean your community can't put a nativity scene out. Correct. You know what I mean?

[Pastor Ona]

Yeah.

[Pastor Britt]

Or that a teacher can't pray.

[Pastor Chandler]

Yeah.

[Pastor Britt]

Do you know what The. The. The U.S. government in. the beginning of the school system In America, the primary textbook was the Bible and they were paid for and printed by the government like, bro. So this thing that we have now when people get uncomfortable with it is because they're uncomfortable being uncomfortable. And if you were a Christian, this was day one of football practice, bro, when we would hand out helmets. And it's 100 degrees in North Florida in August when fall ball starts and you're just running around with your helmet on. And if you're not a ball player, if you're new to this, it's very uncomfortable. And we would say it all the time, if you're gonna play on this team, you gotta learn how to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. If you are going to be a Christian in this lost and crooked world, you better be comfortable being uncomfortable.

[Pastor Chandler]

There's a little thing you can go to at the Museum of the Bible that talks about all the scripture that's all around Washington, D.C. right? Did you do that?

[Pastor Britt]

Yes.

[Pastor Chandler]

It is wild.

[Pastor Ona]

It's not.

[Pastor Chandler]

Not to mention the entire judicial system is essentially based out of the Mosaic Law.

[Pastor Britt]

So, yeah, the Museum of the Bible. Bible people are awesome. They've reached out to us. So help me make this happen. I want to take. We've been invited to go up there to get a private tour. You can. Some of us can actually stay there. I want to take all the teachers of the Bible from 1122. That'd be us, some of the 1825 folks, and all the youth ministers, and do a private Museum of the Bible tour there so that we understand this book more that we open up and speak from.

[Pastor Chandler]

Yeah, it's incredible.

[Pastor Ona]

I have cleared my schedule. Prepare the plane.

[Pastor Britt]

You're in, bro.

[Pastor Ona]

It's amazing. But let me just say this real quick, is that all of this is not to say that being in prison doesn't suck. Like. Like, I don't want to be like those commentators, like those know, individuals write commentaries. It's like, this sucks. But the reason that the prison didn't break John the Baptist is because he didn't live there. He. He was living in the certainty of who Jesus was. And. And so even like that perspective is like, we're not trying to say, like, whatever you're in, it doesn't suck. It's like, oh, just, you know, suck. No suck up is like, that's not it. It's. It's recognize where you are. Like, my location is in who Jesus is. And so therefore what I'm going through, while it does suck, it's not going to break me.

[Pastor Britt]

So Pastor Britt has a really good take on what was John the Baptist actually asking when he said, are you the one or should we look for another? And then the people. It's a little bit of speculation, but I like this a lot. And the disciples come back and say, he is the one. Here's the things of Isaiah that he has fulfilled. And he left off the one about. About getting you out of prison. Right.

[Pastor Ona]

So good.

[Pastor Britt]

And then John the Baptist goes, okay, worth it. Worth it. To your. To your comments about where we live, I love this. At the very beginning of Philippians, we talked through Philippians here years ago, and I did a right now media Bible teaching with those folks. And sometimes we read. Sometimes we read past some parts of the Bible as if the whole thing isn't inspired and all of it's not useful.

[Pastor Ona]

Right.

[Pastor Britt]

So he says, paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, ready to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi.

[Pastor Ona]

So good, bro.

[Pastor Britt]

Come on, you're not in Jacksonville, man. Like, where is your identity? Where is your residence? You are in Christ at Johannesburg, Jacksonville, or wherever you live.

[Pastor Ona]

Yeah.

[Pastor Britt]

That's just where you're at.

[Pastor Ona]

Yeah.

[Pastor Britt]

Right. Now the problem is what most American Christians do is they're in Jacksonville, but they're at church sometimes instead of being in Christ and at work. You get that, right? And then in this book, he can say things like, when he is in prison, he doesn't even. I mean, he gets to the place where he says, I've learned the secret of being content in every situation. He goes on to say, who am I that I would be counted worthy to get to suffer the way Christ suffered? He ends Galatians with my. My body bears the marks of Christ, and those are trophies to him. Not. Not days that he's sad about. That's a different level of freedom, brother. To live as Christ, to die is gain.

[Pastor Ona]

Yeah.

[Pastor Britt]

That's a freedom that we're all jealous for.

[Pastor Ona]

There's an anchoring that Paul the apostle has in Christ. I mean, and we all can have that. But to say some things like, I am completing what is lacking in Christ's afflictions. And you're like, well, hold on. And it's that whole thing of going, no, no, no, I am. I am in. And because I am in, then I am participating. And because I am participating, well, if you run the thing all the way, then I get to rule and reign.

[Pastor Britt]

That's right. Yeah. And he's like, what did Christ came to do? His desires that all would be saved are all saved. No so Christ's finished work on the cross is sufficient for anyone who would believe fully and finally to be saved. What is insufficient is the message has not made it to every tribe, tongue and nation.

[Pastor Ona]

Yeah.

[Pastor Britt]

So we got work to do.

[Pastor Ona]

We got work to do.

[Pastor Chandler]

There's this amazing little phrase. So after this whole account ends, John is beheaded, and verse 12 says his disciples came, took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus. And Pastor on. You were pointing out that what you can pull out, the application you can pull out of that is even when it's painful, go tell Jesus. Bring it to Jesus.

[Pastor Ona]

Go to Jesus. That's. I mean, at the end of every service, the call is, go to Jesus. And there's various ways that we. We do that in creating the space for that, but it's go, go to Jesus. Why? Because he's the only one that'll satisfy. He's the only one that'll heal. He's the only one that will restore. He's the only one that saves. So go to Jesus. I can say some things, but they've got to be pointing to. And so this isn't against, like, my friends or should I go see a therapist? It's not against that, but those things should be saturated in. They should be carried by. They should be encapsulated by all the things in Go to Jesus. For me, that's the tale to the. It's like, if you're trying to figure out, is this a good idea, is it telling you to go to Jesus if. If. No. Even. Even 1% of no is enough for you to pack up and leave.

[Pastor Britt]

And they don't go to Jesus because Jesus needs them. It's not like Jesus doesn't know what happened. I mean, he knows the thoughts of people before they say them.

[Pastor Ona]

Yeah.

[Pastor Britt]

He knows the attitudes of the heart. They think stuff. Who's this man to forgive sin? He's like, hey, here's. I'm about to tell you who I am. Okay. So some. You don't need to tell Jesus because he needs to be informed. You need to tell Jesus because you need to say things. Yeah. And Jordan Peterson, I love this. Pray for him, man. He's been really sick lately. Pray for him. He says that talking is actually the highest level of thinking because you can. You can have all of these jumbled thoughts simultaneously in your head, and it only makes sense to you. You've done this before. You ever try to, like, you wake up, you've had a dream, and then you. You're like, hey, let me Tell you this dream, and then when you try to make it into words, you're like, hold on, hold on. I can't. I can't funnel it out. Okay, so what. What speech requires of you is to take thoughts, encapsulate them, order them, make words. They make sentences that convey ideas. And for your sake, you need to tell Jesus. No, if you've sinned, you need to go tell Jesus. You say it. If you're struggling, if you have doubts, if you've. If you're like, I don't know what you're doing. He's like, I know what I'm doing.

[Pastor Chandler]

Yeah.

[Pastor Britt]

So I don't need you to explain things to me, but you need to tell me. You ever do this with your kids? Like, you know what they did, but you require them to say it. That's a thing, right? It's, like, really good for their own discipline.

[Pastor Chandler]

Yeah.

[Pastor Britt]

And then also, man, there's just a thing. Back when they used to let me counsel, I don't ever do. I didn't want to, so I quit. But I'm the worst, because I'm too mean and too straightforward and break all the rules and whatever. But. But people would say. I would make people say things out loud. Remember, I'm sitting with this guy one time, and he's trying to beat around the bush and on the one hand, say that he has a lust issue. And then simultaneously, he's trying to convince me how pornography is positive for his marriage.

[Pastor Chandler]

Wow.

[Pastor Britt]

And I'm like, just say it out loud. Just tell me what happened last Tuesday night. Just say it out loud. I'm sitting in my living room with no pants on, watching some abused girl naked while my wife is 30 yards away. And when you say that, you're like, that's the craziest thing. Like that. That's what. Right. You know?

[Pastor Chandler]

Yeah.

[Pastor Britt]

Or I want to reconcile with my wife, and in order to do that, I yell at her. And you're like, hold on one second. Does that make sense? I want my wife back. So I'm going to scream at her until she comes back. I'm just telling you, sometimes the reason you need to tell Jesus is so that your ears hear what your mouth say so that your mind can understand it and your heart can actually believe it's good. So the end of our services. We will happily shave off anything else to make sure we don't miss that. Because that's your opportunity to worship God in song. Receive the word of God. Let the spirit of God do what he's Going to do, convict you of sin, call you to do a thing, and then come and get down on your face and then tell Jesus some stuff and then let him tell you some stuff.

[Pastor Ona]

Yeah.

[Pastor Britt]

And then marinate in it for a second and then be free to go do it.

[Pastor Ona]

Hebrews 4, 6, 16 tells us that we should boldly approach the throne of grace. Boldly, with confidence. But we do that because of what the verse before that tells us. For we do not serve a high priest who's unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, yet in every way was tempted as we are, yet did not sin. So while I'm pro. All the things, therapists and groups and all the things, Jesus is different because he's more than a therapist who understands your situation. Jesus is a survivor. He's going, he's going, yo, the scars. Yeah, I got him. I got him. And, and, But I, I'm victorious over that. That's why you can come to me. That's why you can bo. Because I've always wondered why so boldly. It's because he's like, well, it's the. I survived it, I conquered it, I defeated it, so come to me. And so that's why we read here. Go. They went to Jesus. This is more than just an ordinary man. This is, I mean, this, the Savior of the world is inviting you to come to him. I, I, I can't get my head around that.

[Pastor Britt]

And he. There's no pain that you've experienced that he hasn't. Yeah, I mean, if you're like, whatever, friend betray you, people lie about you. Physical pain, financial pain, sometimes be like, well, he never got cheated on. You should read your Bible. He is the bridegroom, and the Bible calls Israel a. That's how his wife has treated him. I mean, bro, whatever it is, you know, and you cannot look at God and say, you never lost a kid. He's done that too. So what else. What is there? And here's what's really cool. Reminds me of John 11. And he will meet you right where you are. So Samartha comes running to him. If you'd been here, my brother would have lived. And he meets her with a theological discourse about, I'm the resurrection, Right. And explains theologically what's happening. And that's very comforting to her because she's just, you know, she's wired to, like, when he's at the house, she's not sitting at the feet of Jesus singing Kumaya. She's, she's like a type A, driven She needs to know what's going on. She's washing the dishes, you know, and she chooses the lesser thing in that moment. But he knows this about her and meets her there and answers the theological questions about why good things happen to bad people. I'm the resurrection and the life. And then he hits Mary, the one that would kneel at his feet, the one that was, like, really present at being present. He just sits down, puts his arm around, and he just cries. Doesn't explain a thing. And so when you come, tell Jesus that's what you can look forward to. Yeah, he's. It depends on who you are. Sometimes the spirit of God is gonna go suck it up, Buttercup, I didn't give you the strength for you. Come on, man. I put that backbone in you. Let's go. And that's what you need from him sometimes. He's gonna put his arm around you and go, I'm so sorry.

[Pastor Ona]

I know

[Pastor Britt]

this is the living Christ.

[Pastor Chandler]

Amen. How shall we end, gentlemen?

[Pastor Britt]

Pastor. Hey. How many do you. How many languages do you know? Do you know more than English?

[Pastor Ona]

Yes.

[Pastor Chandler]

Yes. It's at least five, right?

[Pastor Ona]

Yes.

[Pastor Britt]

What languages? What are you most fluent in? Other than English?

[Pastor Ona]

Other than English, I guess my native tongue, which is Setswana. Okay. And then there's a few languages that are similar to that, so that's another two. Then I learned Afrikaans at school, so there's that. And then my wife speaks Chavenda, so I can't speak it because my tongue can't do the things it's like I like. No, let me give you that line. I just can't speak it, but I can understand it.

[Pastor Chandler]

Okay.

[Pastor Ona]

And. And then I understand a bit of Zulu because it's the. The biggest tribe in South Africa, and if you want to navigates certain spaces, you need to be able to understand what's going on.

[Pastor Britt]

So I want you to close in prayer.

[Pastor Ona]

Oh, not in English, but that I cannot do.

[Pastor Britt]

You can't pray in any language.

[Pastor Ona]

It's. It's. It requires me to think deeply, but I can. I can chop it up a bit and.

[Pastor Britt]

Well, nobody knows what you're saying but Jesus.

[Pastor Ona]

All right.

[Pastor Britt]

I don't know how I didn't. I'm an African.

[Pastor Ona]

I'm going to pray it and mix it up because that's how I would normally do it because it's such a melting pot.

[Pastor Britt]

Okay.

[Pastor Ona]

In any case, there you go. So let's do.

[Pastor Britt]

And a part of it is just as a reminder that this Christ that we come to worship and talk about and is for every tribe, tongue and nation. So choose your language, use as many as you want. Close us that way.

[Pastor Ona]

Let's do it. Let's pray. And so Jesus, would you come in a powerful and profound way? Would you meet every single one of us, those who are listening where they are? We love you Lord. We need you.

[Pastor Britt]

Thank you for listening to the podcast. The end.

[Pastor Joby Martin]

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