J.D. Greear & Shane Pruitt: Sharing the Real Jesus in the Reality of Life | Takeaways with Kirk Cameron

October 20, 2025 | 54:47

Kirk Cameron is joined by pastors J. D. Greear and Shane Pruitt to discuss how to know the real Jesus of the Bible and share the reality of His power and presence in our daily lives with others.

#Jesus #Bible #Christianity #Faith #Salvation #PresenceofGod #SpiritualGrowth #Culture #Lifestyle #Author #Transformation #PersonalStory

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Takeaways with Kirk Cameron | J.D. Greear & Shane Pruitt: Sharing the Real Jesus in the Reality of Life | Takeaways with Kirk Cameron | October 20, 2025

Kirk cameron: how would you describe jesus?
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Think about it.
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If someone came up to you and asked how you would characterize
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Jesus, what words come to mind?
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Kindhearted, intelligent, forgiving, holy, powerful?
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And in that same conversation, would you be able to persuade
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That person to see jesus as the savior that could change
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Their life?
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My guest today, pastors j.d. greer and shane pruitt, will
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Share how to effectively communicate the real jesus of
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Scripture to a secular culture today, coming up on "takeaways."
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J.d. greer: how do you be a person that is filled
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With truth?
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You don't back down from it at all, but also the kind of
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Person, that like jesus, was known as the friend of sinners.
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Really, shane pruitt: jesus has a plan and a purpose that's
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Bigger than my own goals and dreams.
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And at the end of the day, jesus does not exist for my agenda,
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I exist for his mission.
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[music]
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Kirk: my first guest, j.d. greer, is the pastor of summit
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Church in raleigh durham, north carolina, which has grown from
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300 to over 14,000 under his leadership.
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He's authored several books, and his latest release is entitled
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"everyday revolutionary: how to transcend the culture war and
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Transform the world."
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J.d., thanks so much for joining us on "takeaways."
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J.d. greer: grateful to be here.
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Kirk: yeah, good to see you again since a few years ago when
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We met on the set of "lifemark," the kendrick brothers movie
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About adoption.
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J.d. greer: that's right, i brought my kids out, and they
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Loved that movie.
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I mean, we get to see the behind the scenes thing made it
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Even better.
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So every time we were watching, they're like, "oh, dad, we were
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There for that, we saw that."
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Kirk: yeah, yeah, that that's always so much fun to kind of
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See how the movie is made and then watch it on tv.
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J.d. greer: right.
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Kirk: well, you wrote a book that people are talking about,
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And it's so important, i think, in this cultural moment to be
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Able to rise above the fray and the mud-slinging between the
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Right and the left and the christians and the atheists and
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Actually say, wait a minute, this isn't just about owning
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Somebody with rhetoric and ideas, it's really about wanting
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To see healing come to the world and transform this battleground
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Into a bit more of heaven on earth.
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And i think that's what you're talking about here.
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What inspired you to write "everyday revolutionary?"
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J.d. greer: yeah, a lot of christians, like you're alluding
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To, they want to be faithful in our cultural moment.
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They wanna boldly, courageously stand for jesus, but at the same
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Time, they feel like they're drawn into, you know, it's just
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Culture war.
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And i wanna be really clear.
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I mean, standing for jesus means taking unpopular stands and
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Speaking out on truth and speaking against the idols and
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The the sins of our age, but it's not less than that, but it
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Actually is more.
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You know jesus's glory, john tells us, was that he was filled
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With grace and truth, you know?
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I always heard that grace without truth is
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Empty liberalism.
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Truth without grace is kind of judgmental phariseeism.
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Neither one of them are jesus.
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Jesus's glory that it was filled with both, and so what i'm
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Trying to explore is how do you be a person that is filled
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With truth?
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You don't back down from it at all, but also the kind of
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Person, that like jesus, was known as as the friend
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Of sinners.
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And the other person i draw from a lot in this book is daniel in
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The old testament, because here's a guy that was so
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Courageous and truthful that he was thrown in the lions' den
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Because of it, and yet he was so beloved by the king who threw in
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There, that that king stood outside the lions' den all night
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Hoping against hope he would just make it.
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And he's not doing that because he missed his prophetic rebukes.
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He's doing that because he knew daniel loved him, and he
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Couldn't imagine babylon without him.
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And so the question is how do we become like that in our
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Community, where we're filled with with not just truth, but
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Grace and truth?
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Kirk: i think that's one of the biggest struggles that we as
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Believers have, because we have people who are in rebellion to
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God telling us as followers of christ how to be
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Good christians.
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You're not compassionate if you don't not only tolerate but
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Celebrate and help to defend our values, even when they fly in
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The face of your superstitions.
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J.d. greer: right.
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Kirk: and christians are buying into that kind of thing.
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And so for those who are onto the tricks, they want to fight
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Back, but it's hard because we're saying, well, wait
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A minute.
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Sometimes you need to face up to the goliath in our culture, and
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Yet i see jesus saying things like i need to love my enemies,
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I should turn the other cheek, i'm not gonna return evil for
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Evil, and so we need a manual that might help us better
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Understand the biblical strategy for not just fighting the fight
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But transforming the world.
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J.d. greer: yeah, yeah, absolutely.
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I mean it's kind of like--i mean you're alluding to this,
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When it comes to certain issues of morality, people that
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Disagree with what the bible teaches about the proper view of
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Marriage and sex and the gender and those things.
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Our world says the only options are affirmation or alienation.
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Like you have to do one of those two things.
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Kirk: yeah, join us, or you're canceled.
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J.d. greer: that's right, and jesus actually gives a different
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One, which is he did not affirm, but he also did not alienate, he
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Drew people close.
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He was the friend of sinners.
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And i think what our generation needs right now is we need a, if
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You will, manual, and that's not my book, it's the bible, it's
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The manual, but you know, ways that we can understand how jesus
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Was in his community, how daniel was in his, and so we can be
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Like that.
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We have to remind ourselves that, you know, there's, growing
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Up, and i think you and i may have grown up a little bit
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The same.
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I was always warned about the ditch on the left side of the
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Christian road, and that ditch was compromise.
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You gotta stay out of that, and i believe that, i believe that
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Ditch is there, i believe we gotta avoid it, but it's like
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The old scottish proverb says, for every one mile of road, you
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Got two miles of ditch.
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Kirk: for every one mile of road, there's two miles
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Of ditch.
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J.d. greer: that's what was in my head, but i couldn't say it.
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Well, the ditch on the other side of the road is think of it
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As like a christless conservatism, and we have, you
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Know, we have to remind ourselves that jesus's
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Crucifixion was a joint project between the secular left, if you
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Will, and the religious right.
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I'm not saying they're morally the same.
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I'm just saying that both of them opposed jesus.
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One of them opposed--
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Kirk: talking about the jewish leadership and the romans.
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J.d. greer: that's right, one of them opposed him for his clear
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Statements of truth, the other opposed him because of the
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Friend he was to sinners.
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And if we are going to follow jesus in this age, it means,
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Yes, speaking with such truth and such clarity that they throw
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Us in a lion's den, but also doing it in a way that is so
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Befriending and so full of grace and blessing that they stand
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Outside of the lion's den weeping because they can't
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Imagine us being gone.
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Kirk: i have a friend, i call him my wise old owl, he's an
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Older elder of a church, and he would point out what you said
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That jesus was the friend of sinners, but he pointed out that
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The religious people noticed that all of the sinners were
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Gathered around jesus, and they were listening to him, right?
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And he said if sinners are not eagerly listening to us, could
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It be that we're not saying the same kinds of things that jesus
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Was saying?
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J.d. greer: that's right.
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Kirk: and i thought, oh, that's a really good question.
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J.d. greer: yeah, you're hitting both sides of it when you say
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That, because there's some who feel like the way that you be a
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Friend is you compromise, he just did not do that.
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But at the same time, yeah, you're looking at jesus, and
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He's drawing people to him.
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There was something about the clarity of his message that also
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Had this grace element that people just wanted to be around
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Him, and if we're not having that same effect, both the anger
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Side and the drawing side, we have to ask are we like, you
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Know, are we like jesus?
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And i think that's really what the burden is of everyday
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Revolutionary is how do you become like jesus?
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One of the things he said in matthew 23, kirk, is he says
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Beware the pharisees who have these long flowing robes of
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Righteousness, and yet they don't really make any converts,
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They don't bring sinners around them.
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I would think today what he might say to us is beware people
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Who have long diatribes on facebook and x and instagram,
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But when you look around them you don't see sinful, broken
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People that are being drawn to them, because that shows they're
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More like the pharisees than they are jesus.
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Kirk: yeah, oh, that's such good stuff.
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I like how in your book you draw a distinction between the
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Culture war and gospel transformation.
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What do you mean by that?
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J.d. greer: yeah, well, again, i want to be clear.
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I'm not saying it's backing down from speaking hard truths.
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John the baptist, you know, confronted king herod for a
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Sexual sin that was widely accepted in that day, and he
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Lost his head for it, literally.
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And jesus called him the greatest prophet ever to live,
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So it means speaking with clarity on those things, but it
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Just means that beyond just culture war and taking political
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Sides, it means that there's something that goes beyond that,
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And that is where you become the kind of person who loves and
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Blesses your community.
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One of the things i try to bring out in this book is there is
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What paul calls the quiet life, which, you know, that seems odd,
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Quiet life coming from a guy who stood in front of an
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Amphitheater full of angry ephesians telling them they, you
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Know, worship the fake god.
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Kirk: quiet and peaceable while he's stirring up the hornet's
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Fest with words.
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J.d. greer: right, but what he's saying is, is there's a way that
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Christians live that adorns and demonstrates the gospel.
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The quiet life is what sets us up for a loud testimony.
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And it starts by i'm committed to loving and blessing
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This community.
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It's jeremiah 29, where in daniel's day, jeremiah said,
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Hey, seek the welfare of the city god has put you in, seek
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The prosperity of babylon.
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Even though you think of it as your enemy, seek its prosperity,
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Because in its prosperity you'll find your prosperity, and that's
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The quiet life that is trying to bless and to benefit and to lift
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Up, that the apostle peter says, 1 peter 3:15, will make people
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Ask you a reason for the way that you live and the hope that
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You bring and the way that you love.
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Kirk: so, what are some examples of living the quiet life that
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Speaks a loud testimony?
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I'm thinking of 'cause you brought up daniel.
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His silent prayer in that window was like a bullhorn to the king
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Of, what was it, prussia?
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J.d. greer: oh, yeah, kirk: prussia, persia.
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J.d. greer: france, yeah.
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Kirk: that silent prayer was him living his quiet, peaceable life
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In his own house, but it was a loud testimony that got him
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In trouble.
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So prayer is one.
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What are some other things?
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J.d. greer: yeah, so we'll just use life of daniel.
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Daniel 6:4 says daniel had an excellent spirit, and it even
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Defines excellent spirit.
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It meant that he was both filled with integrity, and he was also
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Filled with just diligence and excellence.
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He did his work better than anybody else.
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That's two things that believers can do at the workplace every
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Day, whether they're teaching third graders or the cfo of a
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Multinational conglomerate.
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They can do their work with such integrity and such excellence
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That it draws attention to the god behind them.
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We see in daniel 4 that daniel advocated for the poor.
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That was one thing she said to nebuchadnezzar is, hey, you got
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To care about the poor in the city.
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And that, you know, was what was a demonstration of love that
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Drew people to the kingdom of god.
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There's a way that you can live with with integrity and
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Excellence and love.
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One of the stories i tell in there is the story of a guy on
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Wall street, true story of a guy who was a, you know, just take
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One of these like hedge fund managers, tons and tons of money
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At stake, and he had an intern who just made a mistake that
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Cost tens of thousands of dollars, and in that world you
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Don't get second chances, you're gone.
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But this guy goes into the board of directors and said,
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You know what?
00:12:02.444 --> 00:12:03.779
He said i didn't train her well enough.
00:12:03.779 --> 00:12:05.114
Let me--let this one rest on me.
00:12:05.114 --> 00:12:07.082
Give me another chance with her.
00:12:07.082 --> 00:12:08.484
Well she hears about this, and she's just overwhelmed, because
00:12:08.484 --> 00:12:10.986
Nobody does that on wall street.
00:12:10.986 --> 00:12:12.721
She comes in his office, she's got tears in her eyes, and she
00:12:12.721 --> 00:12:15.624
Says i've never-- why would you do this?
00:12:15.624 --> 00:12:17.960
And he said, well, since you asked, i'll tell you that my
00:12:17.960 --> 00:12:20.529
Life was forever changed by someone who took the blame
00:12:20.529 --> 00:12:23.499
For me.
00:12:23.499 --> 00:12:24.834
He tells her about jesus, right?
00:12:24.834 --> 00:12:26.202
It was just a very quiet act, a very generous act that set up a
00:12:26.202 --> 00:12:30.005
Very loud testimony to jesus that was even more compelling
00:12:30.005 --> 00:12:33.409
Because of what he did than if it had been with words alone.
00:12:33.409 --> 00:12:36.545
Kirk: i love that.
00:12:36.545 --> 00:12:37.880
There are the majority of us who are going to be living quiet
00:12:37.880 --> 00:12:40.516
Lives as moms, as dads, as grandparents who are being
00:12:40.516 --> 00:12:44.753
Faithful to god where he has placed us.
00:12:44.753 --> 00:12:46.889
He doesn't put us all on a big stage.
00:12:46.889 --> 00:12:49.058
And those are the things that can transform the world.
00:12:49.058 --> 00:12:52.828
And i'm so excited to talk to you more about the practical
00:12:52.828 --> 00:12:55.264
Steps that we can take right after the break.
00:12:55.264 --> 00:12:57.433
Stay with us, don't go away.
00:12:57.433 --> 00:12:58.767
We're gonna get into some practical tips that can help us
00:12:58.767 --> 00:13:00.970
Live revolutionary lives.
00:13:00.970 --> 00:13:02.705
And then later in the program, shane pruitt is gonna join us to
00:13:02.705 --> 00:13:06.308
Share about his latest bible study that'll show us how we can
00:13:06.308 --> 00:13:09.545
Know jesus from scripture versus the fake jesus.
00:13:09.545 --> 00:13:14.316
So stay with us.
00:13:14.316 --> 00:13:15.684
Shane: and our opinions about jesus does not change who he is.
00:13:15.684 --> 00:13:18.921
He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.
00:13:18.921 --> 00:13:21.390
However, our faith in the real jesus will change who we are,
00:13:21.390 --> 00:13:24.727
Because we're the ones that need to change.
00:13:24.727 --> 00:13:26.362
[music]
00:13:26.362 --> 00:13:32.003
[music]
00:13:32.003 --> 00:13:32.736
[music]
00:13:33.069 --> 00:13:36.706
Kirk: we're back with pastor j.d. greer discussing how to
00:13:39.943 --> 00:13:42.746
Live faithfully in this current secular culture.
00:13:42.746 --> 00:13:47.517
So, j.d., let's get really practical here.
00:13:47.517 --> 00:13:51.187
I want to open up the battle manual.
00:13:51.187 --> 00:13:54.691
How do i get out of the mindset of fighting with people who have
00:13:54.691 --> 00:13:59.763
Different ideas and start transforming the culture and
00:13:59.763 --> 00:14:03.466
Welcoming them in to our christian world?
00:14:03.466 --> 00:14:06.970
So, give me a couple of core practices for believers
00:14:06.970 --> 00:14:12.042
To engage.
00:14:12.042 --> 00:14:13.376
J.d. greer: well, i'll give you maybe slightly more than a
00:14:13.376 --> 00:14:15.011
Couple, but i break it down into two things in "everyday
00:14:15.011 --> 00:14:18.815
Revolutionary," one is the quiet life as prescribed by paul and
00:14:18.815 --> 00:14:22.152
Peter, which consists of doing work that is
00:14:22.152 --> 00:14:25.822
Creation-fulfilling, the original mandate that god gave
00:14:25.822 --> 00:14:28.825
Us, the original commission was the creation mission, to make
00:14:28.825 --> 00:14:32.128
The world a better place and glorify him while we're
00:14:32.128 --> 00:14:33.897
Doing it.
00:14:33.897 --> 00:14:35.265
Holiness-reflecting, which we talked about in the
00:14:35.265 --> 00:14:37.734
Previous segment.
00:14:37.734 --> 00:14:39.102
There is excellence-pursuing, redemption-displaying, and
00:14:39.102 --> 00:14:42.539
Mission-advancing, those are five things that you can do
00:14:42.539 --> 00:14:45.709
Every day whether you go to work teaching third graders at an
00:14:45.709 --> 00:14:49.179
Elementary school, whether you're the cfo of a, you know,
00:14:49.179 --> 00:14:51.881
Humongous company, or if you to work from home, then that's
00:14:51.881 --> 00:14:56.353
Gotta be accompanied by the second thing, which i refer to
00:14:56.353 --> 00:14:59.489
As loud testimony.
00:14:59.489 --> 00:15:01.224
And loud testimony has to do with those ways that you
00:15:01.224 --> 00:15:04.995
Radically demonstrate the gospel whether that's through the
00:15:04.995 --> 00:15:08.398
Hospitality you have in your home.
00:15:08.398 --> 00:15:10.967
You know, one of the most overlooked ministry tools in our
00:15:10.967 --> 00:15:16.172
World today is this gift of hospitality.
00:15:16.172 --> 00:15:19.442
Most people think of hospitality as me inviting my christian
00:15:19.442 --> 00:15:21.911
Friends over, you know, to have--which is great.
00:15:21.911 --> 00:15:24.414
That's fellowship, though.
00:15:24.414 --> 00:15:25.749
Hospitality is specifically for what the bible calls
00:15:25.749 --> 00:15:28.385
The stranger.
00:15:28.385 --> 00:15:29.753
And it means just bringing people in your home, let them
00:15:29.753 --> 00:15:31.454
Sit around your meal table.
00:15:31.454 --> 00:15:33.056
Kirk: you know, for the first time i just thought hospitality
00:15:33.056 --> 00:15:35.692
Has the word hospital in it, and i thought, well, wait a second.
00:15:35.692 --> 00:15:38.461
Hospitals aren't for well people, they're for sick people.
00:15:38.461 --> 00:15:40.063
Invite your neighbors over who are broken and lost and
00:15:40.063 --> 00:15:42.132
Need jesus.
00:15:42.132 --> 00:15:43.466
That's a great definition for hospitality.
00:15:43.466 --> 00:15:45.201
J.d. greer: yeah, and actually if you look back at what they
00:15:45.201 --> 00:15:46.936
Call, you know, the etymology of the word, in greek it was love
00:15:46.936 --> 00:15:50.073
Of a stranger, and then they translated that when they came
00:15:50.073 --> 00:15:52.575
Up with our english word into hospital, taking care of people
00:15:52.575 --> 00:15:55.345
That are, yeah, and so christians can do that.
00:15:55.345 --> 00:15:58.581
It means radical demonstrations of grace.
00:15:58.581 --> 00:16:00.483
One of the most overlooked one, kirk, is radical joy in the
00:16:00.483 --> 00:16:05.922
Midst of suffering.
00:16:05.922 --> 00:16:07.791
Kirk: you know who's great at talking about that is
00:16:07.791 --> 00:16:09.125
John piper.
00:16:09.125 --> 00:16:10.493
"don't waste your cancer."
00:16:10.493 --> 00:16:11.828
He wrote that little book, right?
00:16:11.828 --> 00:16:13.196
It's like how do i demonstrate the superiority of christ in the
00:16:13.196 --> 00:16:16.266
Hard places?
00:16:16.266 --> 00:16:17.600
J.d. greer: right, yeah, i remember hearing a guy one time
00:16:17.600 --> 00:16:19.569
Talk about, you know, how people would give, god would multiply
00:16:19.569 --> 00:16:23.206
Them, and i believe that by the way, but he was just saying, you
00:16:23.206 --> 00:16:25.909
Know, when your neighbors see you driving the new bmw that god
00:16:25.909 --> 00:16:29.846
Gives you because of your generosity, they'll just
00:16:29.846 --> 00:16:31.681
Be amazed.
00:16:31.681 --> 00:16:33.016
And i thought, you know, i mean.
00:16:33.016 --> 00:16:34.684
Kirk: no, they're usually jealous, and they're irritated.
00:16:34.684 --> 00:16:37.487
J.d. greer: yeah, i'm like they're not amazed when you got
00:16:37.487 --> 00:16:39.089
A smile on your face because you're driving a bmw.
00:16:39.089 --> 00:16:40.690
We all smile when that happens.
00:16:40.690 --> 00:16:42.392
What they'll be amazed at is when you don't have the bmw, you
00:16:42.392 --> 00:16:45.395
Got the same broken down car you always had, but you got a joy on
00:16:45.395 --> 00:16:48.531
Your face because it's not dependent on a healthy body
00:16:48.531 --> 00:16:51.568
Or a brand-new car.
00:16:51.568 --> 00:16:53.103
It's based on who you are in jesus.
00:16:53.103 --> 00:16:55.004
And those kinds of things you can see in the new testament,
00:16:55.004 --> 00:16:58.541
God uses that to draw attention to jesus in ways that nothing
00:16:58.541 --> 00:17:02.745
Else in our life can.
00:17:02.745 --> 00:17:05.081
Kirk: let's say someone's going through a really hard time.
00:17:05.081 --> 00:17:07.383
They've gone through a divorce, they've got a health challenge
00:17:07.383 --> 00:17:09.853
That is insurmountable, and the neighbors would be saying my
00:17:09.853 --> 00:17:15.058
World would just be falling apart, and i look at you, and
00:17:15.058 --> 00:17:19.229
You're saying, yes, my world can fall apart around me, but i
00:17:19.229 --> 00:17:23.066
Still have all that i need, because i have the gospel,
00:17:23.066 --> 00:17:25.301
And it is sufficient.
00:17:25.301 --> 00:17:26.803
That is a quiet life that speaks loudly in terms of
00:17:26.803 --> 00:17:31.074
Your testimony.
00:17:31.074 --> 00:17:32.442
J.d. greer: absolutely, if you ever heard of things they call
00:17:32.442 --> 00:17:34.077
Cardboard testimonies?
00:17:34.077 --> 00:17:35.445
You ever heard of these?
00:17:35.445 --> 00:17:36.779
So basically at a church, you play a worship song and people
00:17:36.779 --> 00:17:39.649
Walk out and they have a little piece of cardboard with a word
00:17:39.649 --> 00:17:42.418
That describes their life before christ, and then they flip it
00:17:42.418 --> 00:17:44.654
Over, and it's-- they're pretty powerful.
00:17:44.654 --> 00:17:46.956
Most powerful one i've ever seen, a woman and an older man
00:17:46.956 --> 00:17:49.859
Walk out together, and she flips hers over, and hers says
00:17:49.859 --> 00:17:53.930
Diagnosed with ms.
00:17:53.930 --> 00:17:55.632
He flips his over, and it says atheist and doctor who
00:17:55.632 --> 00:17:58.501
Diagnosed her.
00:17:58.501 --> 00:18:00.904
He flips his over and says baptize this easter, and then
00:18:00.904 --> 00:18:04.274
She flips over hers over and says worth it.
00:18:04.274 --> 00:18:06.576
Well, the back story is she was never healed of ms, but it was
00:18:06.576 --> 00:18:10.847
Her joy and how she had such radiant joy even in the midst of
00:18:10.847 --> 00:18:14.884
Suffering that convinced this atheist doctor that jesus
00:18:14.884 --> 00:18:17.720
Was real.
00:18:17.720 --> 00:18:19.055
I mean, i wanna be really clear.
00:18:19.055 --> 00:18:20.423
I mean, especially to people that might be suffering, god can
00:18:20.423 --> 00:18:23.426
Heal you.
00:18:23.426 --> 00:18:24.794
He wants, you know, he asked us to call out to him.
00:18:24.794 --> 00:18:27.363
But there's something that god does that's even greater than
00:18:27.363 --> 00:18:29.899
Give us physical healing in this life, and that is he gives us
00:18:29.899 --> 00:18:33.803
The treasure of himself.
00:18:33.803 --> 00:18:35.538
And when you have joy in him that goes beyond even the pain
00:18:35.538 --> 00:18:38.808
Of your body, that testifies to the glory of jesus in ways that
00:18:38.808 --> 00:18:42.946
Nothing else can.
00:18:42.946 --> 00:18:44.314
Kirk: this is why the gospel is so important is that we live in
00:18:44.314 --> 00:18:47.584
A messed-up, broken, lost, hurting, rebellious world, and
00:18:47.584 --> 00:18:51.988
Even in the midst of it the gospel heals and redeems and
00:18:51.988 --> 00:18:56.492
Lifts us higher and points us to go higher still and deeper in,
00:18:56.492 --> 00:19:01.898
As lewis says, because we know where this story is leading us.
00:19:01.898 --> 00:19:06.903
J.d. greer: yeah, absolutely.
00:19:06.903 --> 00:19:08.238
Yeah, it's basically we're here to testify that we belong to
00:19:08.238 --> 00:19:12.575
Another kingdom with another king.
00:19:12.575 --> 00:19:15.178
In fact, one of the verses, daniel 12:3, that i really weave
00:19:15.178 --> 00:19:18.381
Into the book is daniel says those who stand with the right
00:19:18.381 --> 00:19:21.818
Testimony will shine like the stars forever and ever.
00:19:21.818 --> 00:19:25.455
And you think about it, a star shines the brightest when it's
00:19:25.455 --> 00:19:29.192
Against the darkest sky.
00:19:29.192 --> 00:19:31.261
And it's so it's the darkness of our world actually sets up
00:19:31.261 --> 00:19:33.997
Places where they say what motivates you?
00:19:33.997 --> 00:19:36.666
Why are you so generous?
00:19:36.666 --> 00:19:38.268
Why are you so--why do you have such joy?
00:19:38.268 --> 00:19:40.937
And it gives us a chance to testify to jesus.
00:19:40.937 --> 00:19:43.473
Kirk: and that's why i'm so glad that you're talking about living
00:19:43.473 --> 00:19:45.775
This quiet life with all of these core principles and ways
00:19:45.775 --> 00:19:48.878
That anybody can do it, to live a life that is more about what's
00:19:48.878 --> 00:19:53.716
Happening inside of here.
00:19:53.716 --> 00:19:55.618
What is god teaching me right now?
00:19:55.618 --> 00:19:56.986
And how can i better live an authentic life with a genuine
00:19:56.986 --> 00:20:02.358
Faith, a clear conscience, so when people look at me, they
00:20:02.358 --> 00:20:06.896
Just say, look, there's not a lot of hoopla going on, but what
00:20:06.896 --> 00:20:11.701
I see is what i'm dying for.
00:20:11.701 --> 00:20:14.537
J.d. greer: yeah, could i use one biblical example to back you
00:20:14.537 --> 00:20:16.472
Up here?
00:20:16.472 --> 00:20:17.840
Kirk: no, no bible references on this show.
00:20:17.840 --> 00:20:19.208
J.d. greer: okay, all right, well, a story was once told
00:20:19.208 --> 00:20:23.446
About the apostle paul going into philippi, and there he
00:20:23.446 --> 00:20:26.716
Preaches the gospel, he does miracles, and a lot of people
00:20:26.716 --> 00:20:30.520
Get saved.
00:20:30.520 --> 00:20:31.888
The last guy to get saved in philippi that we hear about is a
00:20:31.888 --> 00:20:33.790
Guy named the philippian jailor.
00:20:33.790 --> 00:20:35.325
And if you remember, he was saved, because there was this
00:20:35.325 --> 00:20:39.228
Earthquake that came after paul had been singing songs of joy
00:20:39.228 --> 00:20:43.266
After he'd been tortured and put into prison unjustly, right?
00:20:43.266 --> 00:20:46.469
And then in the most dramatic moment in the story, you have
00:20:46.469 --> 00:20:50.073
The walls fall down, and the jailer is about to kill himself,
00:20:50.073 --> 00:20:53.076
Because if you lose your prisoners in those days, you
00:20:53.076 --> 00:20:55.878
Know, they execute you, so he's about to take his own life, and
00:20:55.878 --> 00:20:58.881
Paul says, whoa, we're all still here, don't take your life.
00:20:58.881 --> 00:21:02.051
And what's moving, kirk, to me is here you've got a guy, here
00:21:02.051 --> 00:21:05.221
You've got a guy who has his freedom on his right hand,
00:21:05.221 --> 00:21:07.523
Because the walls are down, and this jailer who had imprisoned
00:21:07.523 --> 00:21:10.526
Him and beaten him the night before on his left hand, and
00:21:10.526 --> 00:21:13.529
Paul turns his back on his freedom so that he can go back
00:21:13.529 --> 00:21:16.265
After the jailer, and that is so moving to that jailer that he
00:21:16.265 --> 00:21:19.902
Falls to his knees and says, "sirs, what must i do to
00:21:19.902 --> 00:21:22.205
Be saved?"
00:21:22.205 --> 00:21:23.573
What's incredible is it wasn't paul's miracle or his preaching
00:21:23.573 --> 00:21:26.809
That convinced him, it was paul's joy in the midst
00:21:26.809 --> 00:21:30.413
Of suffering.
00:21:30.413 --> 00:21:31.881
He was singing songs of joy instead of complaining in the
00:21:31.881 --> 00:21:34.584
Prison, and his radical generosity, that's what got that
00:21:34.584 --> 00:21:37.987
Cynical jailer's attention in ways that nothing else could.
00:21:37.987 --> 00:21:41.357
And i think that's where god has a lot of believers today is he's
00:21:41.357 --> 00:21:44.260
Saying, yes, i will do miracles, ask me, but sometimes what i'm
00:21:44.260 --> 00:21:48.231
Gonna do is in a dark world, in a world filled with culture war,
00:21:48.231 --> 00:21:52.969
The testimony that i'm gonna bring through you is that you've
00:21:52.969 --> 00:21:56.406
Got a joy and a generosity that the world yearns for but doesn't
00:21:56.406 --> 00:22:00.710
Know how to find.
00:22:00.710 --> 00:22:02.044
Kirk: yeah, what would you say to people who are saying, you
00:22:02.044 --> 00:22:04.547
Know, i'm trying to stand for biblical truth, i'm trying to be
00:22:04.547 --> 00:22:08.718
Faithful in this culture that i'm in.
00:22:08.718 --> 00:22:12.121
I've even got a family culture that is in rebellion to god, and
00:22:12.121 --> 00:22:16.559
What i get for it is isolation, i get abandoned by my friends,
00:22:16.559 --> 00:22:24.066
And i got--my job's on the line now, because i'm trying to speak
00:22:24.066 --> 00:22:27.403
Truth to power like john the baptist or like daniel did.
00:22:27.403 --> 00:22:30.406
What would you say to encourage those people?
00:22:30.406 --> 00:22:32.675
J.d. greer: yeah, i mean, i hope this is encouraging, but that
00:22:32.675 --> 00:22:36.512
Kind of is par for the course.
00:22:36.512 --> 00:22:39.015
I mean, you're not alone, doesn't mean you're doing
00:22:39.015 --> 00:22:40.650
Something wrong.
00:22:40.650 --> 00:22:42.218
You could read cover to cover in our bible, and you'll find that
00:22:42.218 --> 00:22:45.588
That the world resists those who stand for jesus.
00:22:45.588 --> 00:22:48.658
I'm grateful to be in a country where there's freedom.
00:22:48.658 --> 00:22:50.693
I'm grateful that, you know, there's a lot of christian
00:22:50.693 --> 00:22:52.962
Values, but i know that even in our great country, if you're
00:22:52.962 --> 00:22:56.933
Really gonna follow jesus, you're gonna experience the
00:22:56.933 --> 00:22:58.901
Opposition of it.
00:22:58.901 --> 00:23:00.336
The good news is, john 16:33, you know, jesus said, "in the
00:23:00.336 --> 00:23:03.339
World you will have tribulation, but be of good courage, because
00:23:03.339 --> 00:23:06.676
I've overcome the world."
00:23:06.676 --> 00:23:08.511
What matters is who stands at the end.
00:23:08.511 --> 00:23:11.013
Sometimes you may end in, you know, the proverbial prison, but
00:23:11.013 --> 00:23:13.983
Jesus is the one standing at the end, and you and i stand
00:23:13.983 --> 00:23:16.619
With him.
00:23:16.619 --> 00:23:17.954
Kirk: another good friend of me always says, remember what job
00:23:17.954 --> 00:23:19.655
Said, though he slay me, yet still will i serve him.
00:23:19.655 --> 00:23:24.093
And that just, oh, that just sends goosebumps all over my
00:23:24.093 --> 00:23:26.796
Body, because that's where it's at.
00:23:26.796 --> 00:23:29.932
You know, think of jesus.
00:23:29.932 --> 00:23:31.267
I mean, it's essentially, that's what he said and did, though he
00:23:31.267 --> 00:23:35.605
Slay me on the cross, yet still will i serve him.
00:23:35.605 --> 00:23:39.242
Not my will be done, but your will, father.
00:23:39.242 --> 00:23:43.246
And i think that's the mindset that we all have to have.
00:23:43.246 --> 00:23:46.048
Much easier said than done.
00:23:46.048 --> 00:23:47.750
When the heat comes and the pressure is on, it is scary.
00:23:47.750 --> 00:23:51.754
But that's why god tells us, remember who i am.
00:23:51.754 --> 00:23:55.691
Remember i defeated pharaoh.
00:23:55.691 --> 00:23:57.159
I brought you across the red sea.
00:23:57.159 --> 00:23:59.061
Remember that i took out goliath.
00:23:59.061 --> 00:24:03.533
I did all these things, and now we're not fighting for
00:24:03.533 --> 00:24:07.136
Victory, boys.
00:24:07.136 --> 00:24:08.504
We're fighting from victory.
00:24:08.504 --> 00:24:09.839
I have overcome the grave.
00:24:09.839 --> 00:24:11.207
J.d. greer: and that's where courage is right there.
00:24:11.207 --> 00:24:12.875
Kirk: yeah, yeah, so what would you say in closing here, j.d.,
00:24:12.875 --> 00:24:16.779
To a younger generation who is maybe waking up to christianity
00:24:16.779 --> 00:24:20.283
For the first time?
00:24:20.283 --> 00:24:21.617
I'm hearing reports of young people turning back to more
00:24:21.617 --> 00:24:24.453
Traditional biblical values in terms of marriage and family and
00:24:24.453 --> 00:24:28.858
Even political values and wanting to go to church because
00:24:28.858 --> 00:24:32.595
They value freedom, and they're sort of swimming upstream and
00:24:32.595 --> 00:24:36.299
Finding that the source is this book called the bible, and
00:24:36.299 --> 00:24:40.403
America's unique because of its christianity.
00:24:40.403 --> 00:24:43.539
What would you say to this young generation who finds themselves
00:24:43.539 --> 00:24:46.375
Embroiled in this culture war, looking for a way to just find a
00:24:46.375 --> 00:24:51.814
Heavenly revolution for themselves?
00:24:51.814 --> 00:24:54.550
J.d. greer: well, they're searching for the right thing.
00:24:54.550 --> 00:24:57.186
That's the first thing i would say.
00:24:57.186 --> 00:24:59.322
One of my favorite story, guy c.s. lewis led to christ
00:24:59.322 --> 00:25:02.191
Described when he finally came to jesus is he says, i knew i
00:25:02.191 --> 00:25:05.328
Had to make a leap of faith, but he said that the issue was that
00:25:05.328 --> 00:25:10.132
The mountain i was standing on, the cliff i was standing on, it
00:25:10.132 --> 00:25:12.101
Was crumbling, so it wasn't like i could stand here or leap.
00:25:12.101 --> 00:25:15.304
He's like this is falling.
00:25:15.304 --> 00:25:16.639
I think a lot of the younger generation are seeing that
00:25:16.639 --> 00:25:20.142
Secular progressivism is without foundation, and it will crumble,
00:25:20.142 --> 00:25:23.679
And that's what they're saying, they're yearning for something.
00:25:23.679 --> 00:25:25.848
Jesus is that--he all the things that you mentioned he
00:25:25.848 --> 00:25:28.918
Gives, whether it's clarity about marriage and gender and a
00:25:28.918 --> 00:25:31.621
World of chaos, he gives all these things, he gives a way for
00:25:31.621 --> 00:25:35.358
Peace, and yes, even prosperity in these things.
00:25:35.358 --> 00:25:38.194
What i would tell them is at its essence christianity is not a
00:25:38.194 --> 00:25:43.599
Political movement, it's not a set of morals, even though
00:25:43.599 --> 00:25:47.503
Politics and morality are important.
00:25:47.503 --> 00:25:48.938
In its essence, christianity is a relationship with god.
00:25:48.938 --> 00:25:52.274
That's what's upstream, and downstream is all
00:25:52.274 --> 00:25:54.977
The transformation.
00:25:54.977 --> 00:25:56.345
And i could see a lot of the younger generation getting
00:25:56.345 --> 00:25:58.347
Caught in just the politics and the morality, which is good, but
00:25:58.347 --> 00:26:03.152
Not going through that, beyond that to a relationship with
00:26:03.152 --> 00:26:05.788
Jesus which is where eternal life is.
00:26:05.788 --> 00:26:07.590
Kirk: mmm, that's so important.
00:26:07.590 --> 00:26:10.426
Any young person who's watching this, rewind and listen again
00:26:10.426 --> 00:26:14.263
To what j.d. just said, because it's absolutely true.
00:26:14.263 --> 00:26:17.299
Christ is the source of all the good stuff.
00:26:17.299 --> 00:26:20.736
It doesn't exist without the fountainhead.
00:26:20.736 --> 00:26:24.106
And that's what charlie kirk understood.
00:26:24.106 --> 00:26:25.708
That's why at his memorial you'd think this would be a big sign
00:26:25.708 --> 00:26:28.611
Up to become a young republican meeting.
00:26:28.611 --> 00:26:30.613
It wasn't.
00:26:30.613 --> 00:26:31.947
It was a revival meeting like a 1950s billy graham crusade,
00:26:31.947 --> 00:26:36.886
Because he was all about the gospel, and then the outworking
00:26:36.886 --> 00:26:40.556
Of the gospel in political and family realms results in all of
00:26:40.556 --> 00:26:44.527
This stuff that he talks about.
00:26:44.527 --> 00:26:46.429
So, hey, this is the book that's gonna help you understand this
00:26:46.429 --> 00:26:50.132
And apply this in your everyday revolution to transform
00:26:50.132 --> 00:26:53.869
The culture.
00:26:53.869 --> 00:26:55.204
Up next, shane pruitt's gonna join us and reveal who jesus
00:26:55.204 --> 00:26:58.908
Actually is from scripture and what this jesus calls us to do
00:26:58.908 --> 00:27:04.246
And to be, so don't miss it.
00:27:04.246 --> 00:27:06.248
[music]
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[music]
00:27:12.003 --> 00:27:12.557
[music]
00:27:12.890 --> 00:27:16.594
Kirk: i am so excited to welcome back my next guest.
00:27:19.430 --> 00:27:22.066
Shane pruitt serves as the national next gen director for
00:27:22.066 --> 00:27:26.003
The north american mission board.
00:27:26.003 --> 00:27:27.705
He's been in ministry for over 20 years as a church planter and
00:27:27.705 --> 00:27:31.309
As a pastor.
00:27:31.309 --> 00:27:32.677
He's also authored several books, including this new bible
00:27:32.677 --> 00:27:35.880
Study called "not my jesus: reclaiming the truth, rejecting
00:27:35.880 --> 00:27:40.852
The idols."
00:27:40.852 --> 00:27:42.286
And, you know, when i first read this, shane, i thought it said
00:27:42.286 --> 00:27:45.256
Rejecting the idiots, and really, there are, there are
00:27:45.256 --> 00:27:49.260
Fools in our culture today that have concocted versions of jesus
00:27:49.260 --> 00:27:53.965
That are nothing more than idols or idiots, because they are lame
00:27:53.965 --> 00:27:59.403
Compared to the real jesus, and you're getting us back to
00:27:59.403 --> 00:28:02.840
The truth.
00:28:02.840 --> 00:28:04.175
Shane: yes, yeah, and kirk, thank you so much for having
00:28:04.175 --> 00:28:06.444
Me on.
00:28:06.444 --> 00:28:07.779
I'm excited to talk about jesus, because honestly, if we don't
00:28:07.779 --> 00:28:11.215
Get jesus right, we don't get anything right.
00:28:11.215 --> 00:28:13.518
If we don't get jesus right, we don't get evangelism right,
00:28:13.518 --> 00:28:16.187
Because we're gonna tell people about a false jesus.
00:28:16.187 --> 00:28:18.790
If we don't get jesus right, we don't get discipleship right,
00:28:18.790 --> 00:28:21.292
Because we're gonna disciple people and bad news of jesus.
00:28:21.292 --> 00:28:24.162
If we don't get jesus right, we don't get missions right.
00:28:24.162 --> 00:28:26.164
We're gonna go tell the nations about the wrong jesus.
00:28:26.164 --> 00:28:28.966
So today i'm excited to talk about who the real jesus is.
00:28:28.966 --> 00:28:32.570
Kirk: well, you've written so many books, and this is more of
00:28:32.570 --> 00:28:35.973
A bible study workbook type of a thing, which i love, because i
00:28:35.973 --> 00:28:40.344
Can write in it, i can, you know, come up with personal
00:28:40.344 --> 00:28:45.082
Applications to the ideas.
00:28:45.082 --> 00:28:47.451
What was your primary inspiration for this topic?
00:28:47.451 --> 00:28:50.488
Shane: so, really, the heartbeat behind "not my jesus" the bible
00:28:50.488 --> 00:28:53.124
Study is that if you look in culture or the public square
00:28:53.124 --> 00:28:58.196
Several years ago, really the cliche was, hey, in the public
00:28:58.196 --> 00:29:01.566
Square, you can talk about god, 'cause most people are okay with
00:29:01.566 --> 00:29:05.236
That term, god.
00:29:05.236 --> 00:29:06.604
That's generic enough where a lot of their definitions can fit
00:29:06.604 --> 00:29:08.773
Under that.
00:29:08.773 --> 00:29:10.107
So you can talk about god, just don't talk about jesus, because
00:29:10.107 --> 00:29:12.476
Then everybody's gonna look at you like you're an odd-for-god
00:29:12.476 --> 00:29:14.812
'jesus' freak.
00:29:14.812 --> 00:29:16.147
But really, in recent years, i would submit that culture's
00:29:16.147 --> 00:29:18.583
Shifted a little bit to really in the public square you can
00:29:18.583 --> 00:29:22.153
Talk about jesus, because whatever your thing is or
00:29:22.153 --> 00:29:25.990
Whatever your cause is or whatever your agenda is, it's
00:29:25.990 --> 00:29:29.293
Almost like jesus is the hero of that movement.
00:29:29.293 --> 00:29:31.696
So what people will say today is like you can talk about jesus,
00:29:31.696 --> 00:29:35.032
Just don't talk about the bible.
00:29:35.032 --> 00:29:36.801
In fact, some people will go, hey, i love jesus, i just don't
00:29:36.801 --> 00:29:39.770
Believe the bible.
00:29:39.770 --> 00:29:41.138
The problem with that is, is when they're talking about their
00:29:41.138 --> 00:29:44.041
Jesus, they're not talking about the jesus of the scriptures,
00:29:44.041 --> 00:29:47.378
They're talking about a jesus that's been shaped, molded, and,
00:29:47.378 --> 00:29:51.682
You know, really put together by their own opinions, their own
00:29:51.682 --> 00:29:54.819
Preferences, their own tolerances, but if they're
00:29:54.819 --> 00:29:57.855
Shaping and molding jesus to be someone they're comfortable
00:29:57.855 --> 00:30:00.491
With, all they did was create an idol named jesus.
00:30:00.491 --> 00:30:03.895
We don't need fake idols named jesus, we need the real jesus,
00:30:03.895 --> 00:30:07.331
The son of god, the king of kings, the lord of lords, the
00:30:07.331 --> 00:30:09.634
One found in the scriptures, because he's the one who
00:30:09.634 --> 00:30:11.969
Forgives sins, he's the one who transforms us, he's the one who
00:30:11.969 --> 00:30:14.772
Gives eternal life.
00:30:14.772 --> 00:30:16.107
Kirk: so look at, i love this.
00:30:16.107 --> 00:30:17.475
You've got the multiple jesus.
00:30:17.475 --> 00:30:18.809
There's one of our idols.
00:30:18.809 --> 00:30:20.177
You've got the personal genie jesus.
00:30:20.177 --> 00:30:21.612
Oh, oh, a lot of people love the personal genie jesus.
00:30:21.612 --> 00:30:25.049
We've got the non-judgmental jesus.
00:30:25.049 --> 00:30:26.951
I know someone who follows that jesus.
00:30:26.951 --> 00:30:29.253
We've got the participation trophy jesus, the distant jesus,
00:30:29.253 --> 00:30:32.356
The comfortable, the boring jesus, and the national jesus,
00:30:32.356 --> 00:30:36.794
That's fascinating.
00:30:36.794 --> 00:30:38.195
But before we get into them, talk to us again about who the
00:30:38.195 --> 00:30:42.934
Real jesus is.
00:30:42.934 --> 00:30:44.435
Shane: yeah, the real jesus, the son of god has always existed.
00:30:44.435 --> 00:30:50.474
You know, i think that's one of the things we need to be
00:30:50.474 --> 00:30:52.443
Reminded of as believers is that jesus did not start 2,000 years
00:30:52.443 --> 00:30:56.080
Ago in a little town called bethlehem.
00:30:56.080 --> 00:30:58.082
That's when the son of god took a mission trip from heaven to
00:30:58.082 --> 00:31:00.851
Earth and became a human to die as a human for humanity but
00:31:00.851 --> 00:31:04.455
Never stopped being god.
00:31:04.455 --> 00:31:05.790
Fully god, fully man, lived a perfect sin-free life that you
00:31:05.790 --> 00:31:08.993
And i could not live, took our place on the cross as a perfect
00:31:08.993 --> 00:31:12.063
Sacrifice of sin, as a perfect substitute in our place, died,
00:31:12.063 --> 00:31:16.033
Was buried three days later, overcame the grave, showing that
00:31:16.033 --> 00:31:19.603
God the father had accepted god the son's sacrifice on
00:31:19.603 --> 00:31:22.606
Our behalf.
00:31:22.606 --> 00:31:24.075
The tomb is empty, but the throne of god is full of the
00:31:24.075 --> 00:31:26.844
Risen king of kings and lord of lords, jesus christ.
00:31:26.844 --> 00:31:29.213
And because jesus lives, hope lives, because jesus lives,
00:31:29.213 --> 00:31:32.583
Peace lives, because jesus lives, life lives, because jesus
00:31:32.583 --> 00:31:36.454
Lives, love lives.
00:31:36.454 --> 00:31:37.888
Jesus lives, and that's the real jesus whom we need.
00:31:37.888 --> 00:31:42.293
He is the only way to the father, and that's the real
00:31:42.293 --> 00:31:45.062
Jesus we need to proclaim, not some fake cultural view of
00:31:45.062 --> 00:31:48.499
Jesus, but the real jesus found in the bible.
00:31:48.499 --> 00:31:51.068
And i love to say this all the time, because i believe it, the
00:31:51.068 --> 00:31:54.038
Word of god points to the word of god, and the word of god has
00:31:54.038 --> 00:31:57.842
A name, and that name is jesus.
00:31:57.842 --> 00:32:00.978
Kirk: that's all so good.
00:32:00.978 --> 00:32:02.980
So why do we do it?
00:32:02.980 --> 00:32:05.649
Why do we create these other versions of jesus when the real
00:32:05.649 --> 00:32:10.121
One is just so good?
00:32:10.121 --> 00:32:11.722
Shane: yeah, so much better, right?
00:32:11.722 --> 00:32:13.357
Than our opinions.
00:32:13.357 --> 00:32:14.692
Kirk: apparently, or maybe not.
00:32:14.692 --> 00:32:16.460
Why do we create this alternate version of jesus?
00:32:16.460 --> 00:32:19.997
Shane: yeah, i think really this goes back to the fall.
00:32:19.997 --> 00:32:22.933
You go back to the garden.
00:32:22.933 --> 00:32:24.368
You think of the original temptation, wasn't even eating
00:32:24.368 --> 00:32:28.406
An apple.
00:32:28.406 --> 00:32:29.740
You know, we'll go, well, eve ate the apple.
00:32:29.740 --> 00:32:31.075
Well, first of all, we don't even know if it was an apple.
00:32:31.075 --> 00:32:32.810
The bible says fruit.
00:32:32.810 --> 00:32:34.145
It could have been a tangerine, you know?
00:32:34.145 --> 00:32:36.047
But really, the fruit was the fruit of the real temptation
00:32:36.047 --> 00:32:39.583
When the serpent tells eve, you can be like god.
00:32:39.583 --> 00:32:44.188
And then that was the temptation.
00:32:44.188 --> 00:32:46.724
And so ever since the fall of mankind, we've all wanted to be
00:32:46.724 --> 00:32:51.062
God, we've all wanted to be in control.
00:32:51.062 --> 00:32:52.897
I say this all the time.
00:32:52.897 --> 00:32:54.231
Honestly, the biggest problem we have with god is that he's god
00:32:54.231 --> 00:32:58.102
And we're not.
00:32:58.102 --> 00:32:59.470
And so in the old testament, it gives this view of how the lord
00:32:59.470 --> 00:33:04.108
Is the potter and we're the clay, where he shapes and
00:33:04.108 --> 00:33:07.711
Molds us.
00:33:07.711 --> 00:33:09.080
But in our sinful nature, we want to be the potter and him be
00:33:09.080 --> 00:33:12.950
The clay.
00:33:12.950 --> 00:33:14.318
We want to shape and mold him to be somebody we're
00:33:14.318 --> 00:33:15.986
Comfortable with.
00:33:15.986 --> 00:33:17.354
Instead of being made in his image, we want to shape jesus
00:33:17.354 --> 00:33:20.091
Into our image, and again, that is a false view of jesus, and
00:33:20.091 --> 00:33:25.663
All we're doing is shaping and molding idols and really
00:33:25.663 --> 00:33:28.632
Impressions of ourselves and slapping jesus's name to it.
00:33:28.632 --> 00:33:32.536
But at the end of the day, jesus doesn't need to change, we need
00:33:32.536 --> 00:33:35.840
To change.
00:33:35.840 --> 00:33:37.174
He's perfect, and our opinions about jesus does not change who
00:33:37.174 --> 00:33:40.678
He is.
00:33:40.678 --> 00:33:42.012
He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.
00:33:42.012 --> 00:33:43.747
However, our faith in the real jesus will change who we are,
00:33:43.747 --> 00:33:47.084
Because we're the ones that need to change.
00:33:47.084 --> 00:33:50.087
Kirk: man, this is so important, especially for a young
00:33:50.087 --> 00:33:52.756
Generation that is just not-- they're not--they don't have a
00:33:52.756 --> 00:33:56.560
Diet of healthy theology coming from the word.
00:33:56.560 --> 00:34:00.531
It's often from good communicators, influential,
00:34:00.531 --> 00:34:05.002
Charismatic people who like to tell stories and jokes, and they
00:34:05.002 --> 00:34:09.073
End up molding a jesus that they know that their followers will
00:34:09.073 --> 00:34:12.610
Love because of what he gives them, like maybe the personal
00:34:12.610 --> 00:34:15.346
Genie jesus, or one that doesn't get--that that meets up with
00:34:15.346 --> 00:34:19.250
Them on sundays, but doesn't get involved in their weekends, like
00:34:19.250 --> 00:34:22.153
The distant jesus.
00:34:22.153 --> 00:34:24.989
And yet that's the same jesus, these fake, false jesus-s that
00:34:24.989 --> 00:34:29.126
Leave them so empty, so lonely, without purpose,
00:34:29.126 --> 00:34:31.862
Without identity.
00:34:31.862 --> 00:34:33.197
They feel like they're lost, god's not hearing their prayers,
00:34:33.197 --> 00:34:35.633
And i think you've nailed it.
00:34:35.633 --> 00:34:37.268
It's because they're not even praying to the real
00:34:37.268 --> 00:34:40.337
Jesus, right?
00:34:40.337 --> 00:34:41.705
They don't know the real jesus, and they almost need to like
00:34:41.705 --> 00:34:44.408
Break the whole system down and start over.
00:34:44.408 --> 00:34:46.577
Shane: yeah, that's why we got to go to the word of god,
00:34:46.577 --> 00:34:49.847
Because biblical truth is always better than our own opinions.
00:34:49.847 --> 00:34:54.218
So we go to the word of god, to discover who the real jesus is.
00:34:54.218 --> 00:34:58.622
You know, and i think it's real easy a lot of times for us to
00:34:58.622 --> 00:35:01.325
Go, all right, hey, well, i'm gonna do a bible study like this
00:35:01.325 --> 00:35:04.428
So i can see all the false things everyone else is
00:35:04.428 --> 00:35:07.531
Believing so i can go tell them they're all wrong.
00:35:07.531 --> 00:35:10.334
And i'm saying really what we need to do is open
00:35:10.334 --> 00:35:12.970
The scriptures.
00:35:12.970 --> 00:35:14.305
That's why this is really a bible study through the four
00:35:14.305 --> 00:35:16.273
Gospels, matthew, mark, luke, and john, and then we need to
00:35:16.273 --> 00:35:18.943
Look at this and do some self-reflection, going is there
00:35:18.943 --> 00:35:22.179
Some false things that may be i'm believing about jesus?
00:35:22.179 --> 00:35:25.115
And really what the hope is, is for people who don't know jesus
00:35:25.115 --> 00:35:28.919
That they would discover the real jesus and realize he's
00:35:28.919 --> 00:35:32.089
Better than anything the world has to offer.
00:35:32.089 --> 00:35:34.058
Kirk: what are some ways that we could sort of have some litmus
00:35:34.058 --> 00:35:38.262
Tests and be able to spot a false jesus in our
00:35:38.262 --> 00:35:41.765
Own worldview?
00:35:41.765 --> 00:35:43.100
Like, let me give you an example.
00:35:43.100 --> 00:35:44.435
Sometimes people are like, they're just parroting what
00:35:44.435 --> 00:35:47.571
They've heard their pastor say or someone else, and they think
00:35:47.571 --> 00:35:50.274
That is the benchmark of spiritual maturity, so they want
00:35:50.274 --> 00:35:53.077
To talk like them.
00:35:53.077 --> 00:35:54.411
And all of a sudden, it's like, oh, i feel led, the lord
00:35:54.411 --> 00:35:57.548
Confirmed this to me with this confirmation in my heart, and
00:35:57.548 --> 00:36:01.619
All of a sudden they're speaking such christianese that i know
00:36:01.619 --> 00:36:04.622
That they don't know what the heck they're even talking about.
00:36:04.622 --> 00:36:06.857
All they know is they're depressed, and they're
00:36:06.857 --> 00:36:09.560
Discouraged, because i want to say, wait a minute.
00:36:09.560 --> 00:36:14.064
You're trying to find god's will for your life, but you're acting
00:36:14.064 --> 00:36:18.102
Like god's supposed to send you a text.
00:36:18.102 --> 00:36:20.904
He's given you his word, and he tells you his will for your
00:36:20.904 --> 00:36:24.475
Life, right?
00:36:24.475 --> 00:36:26.043
And so, like, it's a different kind of god than the
00:36:26.043 --> 00:36:28.412
Texting jesus.
00:36:28.412 --> 00:36:29.847
It's the one that gave you a bible.
00:36:29.847 --> 00:36:32.416
Shane: yes, right?
00:36:32.416 --> 00:36:33.751
That's why you have to go to the scriptures.
00:36:33.751 --> 00:36:35.919
I feel like one of the greatest problems in the church today is
00:36:35.919 --> 00:36:40.724
Bible illiteracy.
00:36:40.724 --> 00:36:42.626
Go to the scriptures, and so any kind of view that you have about
00:36:42.626 --> 00:36:47.131
Jesus that does not line up with the word of god, you don't move
00:36:47.131 --> 00:36:51.101
The word of god to line up with your opinion, you repent of your
00:36:51.101 --> 00:36:54.505
Opinion and line up with god's truth.
00:36:54.505 --> 00:36:56.740
Now, i'm not saying that the bible is above jesus, but what
00:36:56.740 --> 00:37:01.712
I'm saying is in the trinity of god, god the father, god the
00:37:01.712 --> 00:37:05.883
Son, god the holy spirit, the author of the scriptures, we
00:37:05.883 --> 00:37:10.554
Know this, is god the holy spirit moving through
00:37:10.554 --> 00:37:13.691
Human authors.
00:37:13.691 --> 00:37:15.059
Now, in the trinity, there's a perfect unity.
00:37:15.059 --> 00:37:17.861
They always say the perfect relationship is the trinity
00:37:17.861 --> 00:37:20.531
Of god.
00:37:20.531 --> 00:37:21.899
God the father, god the son, god the holy spirit, perfect
00:37:21.899 --> 00:37:24.435
Relationship there.
00:37:24.435 --> 00:37:25.769
So the holy spirit is not going to lead and inspire human
00:37:25.769 --> 00:37:30.474
Authors to write something that contradicts who the real son of
00:37:30.474 --> 00:37:34.345
God is, it's gonna complement one another.
00:37:34.345 --> 00:37:37.281
So any kind of view that you have about the son of god,
00:37:37.281 --> 00:37:40.751
Jesus, that does not line up with the bible, i promise you
00:37:40.751 --> 00:37:44.188
You're wrong, not the bible's wrong.
00:37:44.188 --> 00:37:46.724
Kirk: yeah, this study is gonna basically help act as like a
00:37:46.724 --> 00:37:52.696
Guide maybe as we work through the scriptures.
00:37:52.696 --> 00:37:55.532
So you haven't written a book here that tells me, oh, this is
00:37:55.532 --> 00:37:58.669
Who the real jesus is.
00:37:58.669 --> 00:38:00.104
You're just helping to guide me into the book that the holy
00:38:00.104 --> 00:38:03.507
Spirit wrote that tells me who the real jesus is.
00:38:03.507 --> 00:38:06.610
Shane: absolutely, and that's what it is.
00:38:06.610 --> 00:38:08.379
It's more than anything to drive you to the scriptures, because
00:38:08.379 --> 00:38:11.348
The scriptures will point you to who the real jesus is.
00:38:11.348 --> 00:38:13.884
Kirk: we're gonna come back to your books.
00:38:13.884 --> 00:38:15.819
I wanna dive in deep into them.
00:38:15.819 --> 00:38:18.622
After the break, we're gonna talk more with shane about how
00:38:18.622 --> 00:38:20.924
We can rediscover the nearness of jesus when we go through
00:38:20.924 --> 00:38:24.661
Seasons of doubt.
00:38:24.661 --> 00:38:25.996
So don't go away, we'll be right back.
00:38:25.996 --> 00:38:27.331
[music]
00:38:27.331 --> 00:38:33.001
[music]
00:38:33.001 --> 00:38:33.404
[music]
00:38:33.737 --> 00:38:37.441
Kirk: we are talking to evangelist and bible teacher
00:38:40.344 --> 00:38:42.946
Shane pruitt on having the proper view of jesus from
00:38:42.946 --> 00:38:46.950
The scripture.
00:38:46.950 --> 00:38:48.752
Shane, you've talked with us about how important it is to go
00:38:48.752 --> 00:38:51.622
To the word of god, the living word of god so that we can
00:38:51.622 --> 00:38:57.494
Understand who jesus really is.
00:38:57.494 --> 00:38:59.963
How do we get a right view of scripture when there's a lot of
00:38:59.963 --> 00:39:04.101
Hard things to believe in there, and there's such wild
00:39:04.101 --> 00:39:07.070
Apocalyptic symbolism?
00:39:07.070 --> 00:39:08.806
How do i know if it's history or it squares with science or
00:39:08.806 --> 00:39:13.143
Whether this is just some good moral teachings like confucius?
00:39:13.143 --> 00:39:17.414
Shane: mm-hmm, yeah, i think, first of all, having a high view
00:39:17.414 --> 00:39:20.818
Of scripture.
00:39:20.818 --> 00:39:22.186
In fact, at the beginning of "not my jesus," the bible study,
00:39:22.186 --> 00:39:26.256
We did it in the adult version and the student version.
00:39:26.256 --> 00:39:29.159
The first part of it is why you can trust the bible.
00:39:29.159 --> 00:39:32.162
You know, 'cause you have to start there, because people may
00:39:32.162 --> 00:39:34.264
Go, well, i don't care what the bible says about jesus, i don't
00:39:34.264 --> 00:39:37.534
Trust the bible.
00:39:37.534 --> 00:39:38.902
And to really see the bible as this miracle of god, this gift
00:39:38.902 --> 00:39:42.873
From god, this is god speaking to us, and i believe this, that
00:39:42.873 --> 00:39:46.844
One of the primary ways that god speaks to us is through
00:39:46.844 --> 00:39:50.647
His word.
00:39:50.647 --> 00:39:52.282
It's not just an old book, it's a living book.
00:39:52.282 --> 00:39:55.185
It's not just a history book, it's an eternal book.
00:39:55.185 --> 00:39:57.321
This is god speaking to us.
00:39:57.321 --> 00:39:59.389
So if you wanna know what god's like, go to the scriptures.
00:39:59.389 --> 00:40:02.392
People go, well, we know that god can also speak to us through
00:40:02.392 --> 00:40:06.430
Nature and those kind of things.
00:40:06.430 --> 00:40:07.798
I was like, well, the only reason we know that is because
00:40:07.798 --> 00:40:09.600
The bible tells us, you know, and so you can't say, hey, god's
00:40:09.600 --> 00:40:13.370
Silent in my life.
00:40:13.370 --> 00:40:14.705
You know, some people go, well, god's not speaking to me, god's
00:40:14.705 --> 00:40:16.707
Silent in my life.
00:40:16.707 --> 00:40:18.041
If you want god to speak, then open his word, because when the
00:40:18.041 --> 00:40:20.444
Bible speaks, god speaks.
00:40:20.444 --> 00:40:21.812
So, i always say you can't complain that god is silent
00:40:21.812 --> 00:40:24.615
While you got his word closed, collecting dust.
00:40:24.615 --> 00:40:26.717
Like open that up, that's god speaking, and that's god
00:40:26.717 --> 00:40:29.753
Revealing himself to us.
00:40:29.753 --> 00:40:31.822
The holy spirit in you as the believer is reconnecting with
00:40:31.822 --> 00:40:36.326
His own work, because he's ultimately the author, and when
00:40:36.326 --> 00:40:39.296
The holy spirit in you is reconnecting with his own work,
00:40:39.296 --> 00:40:42.666
You know what happens in that?
00:40:42.666 --> 00:40:44.134
Illumination and life transformation.
00:40:44.134 --> 00:40:46.537
Like that's a holy ground, that's a miracle.
00:40:46.537 --> 00:40:48.305
And i want you to even see as a believer that your daily
00:40:48.305 --> 00:40:52.242
Scripture reading is more than just a checklist.
00:40:52.242 --> 00:40:54.645
Like, that's you meeting with the lord through his work, and
00:40:54.645 --> 00:40:59.016
Lives are changed when that happens.
00:40:59.016 --> 00:41:00.584
Kirk: that is one of the most profound things about, i think,
00:41:00.584 --> 00:41:05.188
About this interview and about the uniqueness of the bible, is
00:41:05.188 --> 00:41:09.793
That i got another friend named landon who likes to say it's the
00:41:09.793 --> 00:41:13.497
Only book where the author himself comes down and reads it
00:41:13.497 --> 00:41:17.801
To you and teaches you what it means.
00:41:17.801 --> 00:41:20.037
Could you imagine having tolkien sit down next to you and read
00:41:20.037 --> 00:41:23.473
"lord of the rings" to you and explain all the symbolism
00:41:23.473 --> 00:41:25.576
To you?
00:41:25.576 --> 00:41:26.910
You'd be like wah!
00:41:26.910 --> 00:41:28.278
And you have god doing that through his own words.
00:41:28.278 --> 00:41:29.713
Shane: isn't that incredible?
00:41:29.713 --> 00:41:31.081
Kirk: that's crazy.
00:41:31.081 --> 00:41:32.416
Shane: absolutely, and that's where it's like it elevates to
00:41:32.416 --> 00:41:34.718
Go, man, the author is inside of me and then illuminating his own
00:41:34.718 --> 00:41:40.424
Work, that's amazing.
00:41:40.424 --> 00:41:41.792
Kirk: yeah, okay, so i wanna get into some of these false
00:41:41.792 --> 00:41:44.561
Idol jesus.
00:41:44.561 --> 00:41:45.896
You tell me who they are and what's wrong with them.
00:41:45.896 --> 00:41:47.564
Okay, so who is the personal genie jesus, and what's wrong
00:41:47.564 --> 00:41:50.500
With him?
00:41:50.500 --> 00:41:51.868
Shane: yeah, personal genie jesus, i think that's
00:41:51.868 --> 00:41:53.203
So relevant.
00:41:53.203 --> 00:41:54.571
That's where people think, oh, my jesus, he's just there to say
00:41:54.571 --> 00:41:56.373
Yes to all my prayer requests.
00:41:56.373 --> 00:41:58.075
Or i think especially in sometimes our kind of american
00:41:58.075 --> 00:42:01.678
Christianity mindset is we tend to think, okay, i have goals for
00:42:01.678 --> 00:42:05.215
My life, dreams for my life, desires for my life, and jesus
00:42:05.215 --> 00:42:08.719
Just exists to make sure i accomplish my own dreams and my
00:42:08.719 --> 00:42:11.855
Own desires.
00:42:11.855 --> 00:42:13.190
But really, jesus has a plan and a purpose that's bigger than my
00:42:13.190 --> 00:42:16.326
Own goals and dreams, and at the end of the day, jesus does not
00:42:16.326 --> 00:42:19.796
Exist for my agenda, i exist for his mission, and that's real
00:42:19.796 --> 00:42:23.934
Purpose in life.
00:42:23.934 --> 00:42:25.268
Kirk: oh, okay, well then how about the moldable clay jesus?
00:42:25.268 --> 00:42:30.073
Yeah, i mean, what's wrong with him?
00:42:30.073 --> 00:42:33.810
Shane: yeah, and that's the jesus we've kind of been talking
00:42:33.810 --> 00:42:36.213
About this whole time where it's like, okay, i kind of use the
00:42:36.213 --> 00:42:39.616
Example in the bible study of play-doh.
00:42:39.616 --> 00:42:41.251
Remember when we were growing up with, you know, play-doh that we
00:42:41.251 --> 00:42:44.354
Loved to shape and mold play-doh?
00:42:44.354 --> 00:42:45.689
Kirk: oh, like play-doh?
00:42:45.689 --> 00:42:47.024
Shane: yeah, yeah, not the philosopher, yeah.
00:42:47.024 --> 00:42:48.792
So like, you know, and so the reason we love play-doh is
00:42:48.792 --> 00:42:51.595
Because we could have an imagination, we could shape and
00:42:51.595 --> 00:42:54.431
Mold play-doh become what we want it to become, and then the
00:42:54.431 --> 00:42:57.334
Moment it doesn't, we can roll it back up, put it in a little
00:42:57.334 --> 00:43:00.103
Yellow container, put it back on the shelf.
00:43:00.103 --> 00:43:01.905
It doesn't affect our life.
00:43:01.905 --> 00:43:03.240
And a lot of people approach jesus like that.
00:43:03.240 --> 00:43:05.075
I shape and mold him to be what i'm comfortable with, and the
00:43:05.075 --> 00:43:07.911
Moment he becomes something i'm not comfortable with, then i put
00:43:07.911 --> 00:43:10.013
Him on the shelf, and it really doesn't affect my life.
00:43:10.013 --> 00:43:12.049
But that's not the real jesus.
00:43:12.049 --> 00:43:13.784
Kirk: that's not the real jesus.
00:43:13.784 --> 00:43:15.452
He is who he is regardless of whether we believe him to be
00:43:15.452 --> 00:43:19.056
That, he doesn't change.
00:43:19.056 --> 00:43:20.424
Shane: right.
00:43:20.424 --> 00:43:21.758
Kirk: yeah, okay, and what about the non-judgmental jesus?
00:43:21.758 --> 00:43:24.094
I mean, jesus doesn't judge, right?
00:43:24.094 --> 00:43:26.496
He take the speck out of your own eye, shane.
00:43:26.496 --> 00:43:28.932
Shane: yeah, you know, i feel like we could do like a whole
00:43:28.932 --> 00:43:32.102
Like series of conversations just on this one, because this
00:43:32.102 --> 00:43:35.739
Is like the most probably prevalent false view of jesus in
00:43:35.739 --> 00:43:39.976
Our world today, in our culture today, is people go, well, my
00:43:39.976 --> 00:43:43.080
Jesus doesn't judge anybody, my jesus is only love, he's only
00:43:43.080 --> 00:43:47.551
Affirming, he's only compassionate, and it's ironic
00:43:47.551 --> 00:43:51.054
Where people go my jesus doesn't judge anybody, because the real
00:43:51.054 --> 00:43:54.424
Jesus, that's one of his main roles is judge, and so it's like
00:43:54.424 --> 00:43:58.128
When people go my jesus doesn't judge anybody, no, no, no, the
00:43:58.128 --> 00:44:01.231
Real jesus judges everybody.
00:44:01.231 --> 00:44:03.533
The good news is, is if you're a believer, you've been ultimately
00:44:03.533 --> 00:44:06.470
Judged on the cross, otherwise you're gonna stand before him as
00:44:06.470 --> 00:44:10.674
Judge and so when you go, well, my jesus doesn't judge anybody,
00:44:10.674 --> 00:44:13.744
No he judges everybody, but he's the perfect judge, and at the
00:44:13.744 --> 00:44:16.880
Same time he is love, he is holy, he is compassionate, but
00:44:16.880 --> 00:44:20.817
He's also just, and one of the stories we use in there is the
00:44:20.817 --> 00:44:25.055
Story of john 8, the woman caught in adultery, and that's
00:44:25.055 --> 00:44:28.325
The one that i feel like a lot of times the celebrities want to
00:44:28.325 --> 00:44:31.928
Use to go, see, you know, jesus says, hey, i don't condemn you.
00:44:31.928 --> 00:44:36.433
He without sin cast the first stone, they dropped their
00:44:36.433 --> 00:44:38.568
Stones, walk away.
00:44:38.568 --> 00:44:39.903
He goes does anybody condemn you?
00:44:39.903 --> 00:44:41.271
She goes no, lord.
00:44:41.271 --> 00:44:42.606
And he goes well, neither do i. and he goes, well, see?
00:44:42.606 --> 00:44:44.474
You know, jesus is only love, he's not condemning.
00:44:44.474 --> 00:44:46.910
Well, the bible keeps going.
00:44:46.910 --> 00:44:48.512
He then looks at her and says, well, go and sin no more, that
00:44:48.512 --> 00:44:51.715
There's a change there, so you need to know, yes, jesus loves
00:44:51.715 --> 00:44:55.018
You so much he wants you just how you are, but he also loves
00:44:55.018 --> 00:44:57.754
You so much he ain't gonna leave you that way.
00:44:57.754 --> 00:44:59.456
That's what repentance is all about.
00:44:59.456 --> 00:45:01.291
And you could also say it like this, jesus loves you too much
00:45:01.291 --> 00:45:05.328
To affirm you in your sin.
00:45:05.328 --> 00:45:07.264
He loves you so much he wants to transform you and change your
00:45:07.264 --> 00:45:11.902
Life and that you would walk in repentance, and that is what the
00:45:11.902 --> 00:45:16.139
Work of the gospel is in your life.
00:45:16.139 --> 00:45:17.674
It not only changes who you are, but it also changes what you do.
00:45:17.674 --> 00:45:20.977
Kirk: okay, who is the participation trophy jesus?
00:45:20.977 --> 00:45:25.215
I mean, what's wrong with participation trophies?
00:45:25.215 --> 00:45:27.284
Shane: yeah, so participation trophy jesus, you know, is i
00:45:27.284 --> 00:45:30.353
Think a lot of times people view life like this, and sadly this
00:45:30.353 --> 00:45:33.490
Is crept into the church where you go, okay, if i play the game
00:45:33.490 --> 00:45:36.593
Of life, and i try really hard, and i'm a good person, then i
00:45:36.593 --> 00:45:41.198
Get the participation trophy of heaven.
00:45:41.198 --> 00:45:44.267
And you know, i think a lot of times people go, well,
00:45:44.267 --> 00:45:46.703
That's me.
00:45:46.703 --> 00:45:48.038
You know, i'm being a good person, i'm a good spouse, you
00:45:48.038 --> 00:45:50.006
Know, i pay my taxes, you know, i got a job, i help little old
00:45:50.006 --> 00:45:54.244
Ladies across the street or open the doors for people, so then i
00:45:54.244 --> 00:45:57.514
Get to go to heaven one day, and i think one thing we need to
00:45:57.514 --> 00:46:00.851
Realize is that good people don't go to heaven, those who
00:46:00.851 --> 00:46:04.254
Are saved by jesus do, because we're all sinners in need of a
00:46:04.254 --> 00:46:07.224
Savior, and there's no one good but jesus.
00:46:07.224 --> 00:46:09.292
And so we look at john 14 in there where he says, "i'm the
00:46:09.292 --> 00:46:12.195
Way, the truth, and the life.
00:46:12.195 --> 00:46:13.563
No one comes to the father except through me."
00:46:13.563 --> 00:46:15.699
And i think that's where we even got to be careful, because
00:46:15.699 --> 00:46:18.134
Sometimes i'll even see christian leaders like when a
00:46:18.134 --> 00:46:20.770
Celebrity dies or an athlete dies, they'll say rest in peace,
00:46:20.770 --> 00:46:24.808
And that athlete might have been an outspoken proponent of
00:46:24.808 --> 00:46:29.746
Another religion or outspoken, you know, follower of some other
00:46:29.746 --> 00:46:34.951
Religion other than being a follower of jesus, and then
00:46:34.951 --> 00:46:37.387
We'll still say rest in peace, and do we really understand what
00:46:37.387 --> 00:46:40.490
We're saying?
00:46:40.490 --> 00:46:41.825
Only those who know the prince of peace get to rest in peace,
00:46:41.825 --> 00:46:44.928
You know?
00:46:44.928 --> 00:46:46.263
And so i think we got to be even careful with some of
00:46:46.263 --> 00:46:47.998
Our language.
00:46:47.998 --> 00:46:49.332
Kirk: yeah, okay, how about the distant jesus?
00:46:49.332 --> 00:46:50.667
Who is that?
00:46:50.667 --> 00:46:52.002
Is that the one that stays out of my weekends and what happens
00:46:52.002 --> 00:46:55.438
After midnight?
00:46:55.438 --> 00:46:56.773
He just kind of hangs out at church, and he stays there
00:46:56.773 --> 00:46:59.476
Unless i invite him.
00:46:59.476 --> 00:47:00.810
Shane: yeah, absolutely, that's one view of it, and then another
00:47:00.810 --> 00:47:03.480
View, and this one kind of breaks my heart, because we've
00:47:03.480 --> 00:47:06.049
All gone through difficult things.
00:47:06.049 --> 00:47:08.118
You know, we even have, my wife and i had a son who we adopted
00:47:08.118 --> 00:47:12.255
From uganda that had really severe unique special needs that
00:47:12.255 --> 00:47:16.426
Went to be with jesus over two years ago, and so i think
00:47:16.426 --> 00:47:19.496
Sometimes when you're going through suffering, you're going
00:47:19.496 --> 00:47:22.032
Through grief, you're going through a difficult season of
00:47:22.032 --> 00:47:24.501
Life, you tend to in those moments think that jesus is off
00:47:24.501 --> 00:47:27.704
In the distance.
00:47:27.704 --> 00:47:29.039
Kirk: he's far away.
00:47:29.039 --> 00:47:30.407
Shane: yeah, he's far away, he's forgotten me.
00:47:30.407 --> 00:47:32.242
Kirk: i see.
00:47:32.242 --> 00:47:33.610
Shane: there's, you know, that he--and even if he remembers,
00:47:33.610 --> 00:47:35.545
There's nothing he can do about it.
00:47:35.545 --> 00:47:37.514
And one of the stories we call to attention in the bible study
00:47:37.514 --> 00:47:41.484
On that one is the death of lazarus.
00:47:41.484 --> 00:47:45.055
And in that story, you see the compassion side of jesus, 'cause
00:47:45.055 --> 00:47:49.626
He cried.
00:47:49.626 --> 00:47:50.961
So you see the compassion side of jesus, so he remembers his
00:47:50.961 --> 00:47:54.497
Family, his sisters are showing, he, jesus hurt 'cause he loved
00:47:54.497 --> 00:47:57.701
Lazarus, but then you also see the power side of jesus when he
00:47:57.701 --> 00:48:01.104
Calls lazarus from the grave.
00:48:01.104 --> 00:48:02.572
So i'm just saying in those moments when you're going
00:48:02.572 --> 00:48:04.374
Through difficulty, you do not worship some weak savior off in
00:48:04.374 --> 00:48:08.278
The distance.
00:48:08.278 --> 00:48:09.646
You worship an all-powerful savior who's up close
00:48:09.646 --> 00:48:11.247
And personal.
00:48:11.247 --> 00:48:12.615
He remembers you, he loves you, he's compassionate, but he also
00:48:12.615 --> 00:48:15.018
Has power to do something about it.
00:48:15.018 --> 00:48:16.953
Kirk: okay, how about the boring jesus?
00:48:16.953 --> 00:48:19.756
'cause i know some people who are familiar with the
00:48:19.756 --> 00:48:22.625
Boring jesus.
00:48:22.625 --> 00:48:23.960
What jesus is that, and what's wrong with it?
00:48:23.960 --> 00:48:26.896
Shane: yeah, i think that's when we tend to look at christianity
00:48:26.896 --> 00:48:29.766
And god as this like cosmic killjoy.
00:48:29.766 --> 00:48:32.502
Like i said, i didn't become a christian until i was 21.
00:48:32.502 --> 00:48:35.438
Kirk, i always joked that, you know, the first 21 years of my
00:48:35.438 --> 00:48:38.074
Life i was building my testimony, you know what i mean?
00:48:38.074 --> 00:48:40.443
So in high school and college, you know, my trinity was not
00:48:40.443 --> 00:48:43.480
Father, son, holy spirit, my trinity were sports as an
00:48:43.480 --> 00:48:45.482
Athlete, party, and chasing girls.
00:48:45.482 --> 00:48:47.751
God got ahold of my heart at 21, but i remember even in high
00:48:47.751 --> 00:48:50.587
School going all right, i know i need to be a follower of jesus.
00:48:50.587 --> 00:48:53.656
I remember that and people sharing the gospel with me and
00:48:53.656 --> 00:48:56.659
My christian friends invite me to church, but in my head i'd be
00:48:56.659 --> 00:48:59.829
Like, well, if i become a follower of jesus, then i'm not
00:48:59.829 --> 00:49:02.699
Gonna have anything to do, because all my life is about
00:49:02.699 --> 00:49:05.168
Partying and and going to clubs.
00:49:05.168 --> 00:49:07.337
Kirk: i need to have fun first before i become a christian.
00:49:07.337 --> 00:49:09.606
Shane: yeah, exactly, so if i become a christian, i'm not
00:49:09.606 --> 00:49:11.374
Gonna have anything to do.
00:49:11.374 --> 00:49:12.709
If i become a christian, i'm not gonna have any friends.
00:49:12.709 --> 00:49:14.244
And what a lie that is that following jesus isn't boring.
00:49:14.244 --> 00:49:17.080
You wanna talk about an adventure, the greatest cause
00:49:17.080 --> 00:49:20.483
There is is the great commission of jesus.
00:49:20.483 --> 00:49:23.019
And as you know, being a follower of jesus, there's more
00:49:23.019 --> 00:49:25.688
Than enough to do.
00:49:25.688 --> 00:49:27.023
You know, and i thought, well, i'm not gonna have any friends.
00:49:27.023 --> 00:49:28.691
All my friends are partiers.
00:49:28.691 --> 00:49:30.026
Well, no, god replaced them with the right friends, so jesus is
00:49:30.026 --> 00:49:32.829
Not boring.
00:49:32.829 --> 00:49:34.264
The greatest life there is is being a follower of jesus,
00:49:34.264 --> 00:49:38.101
Because now everything you do has eternal impact.
00:49:38.101 --> 00:49:40.937
Kirk: this is so important.
00:49:40.937 --> 00:49:43.206
Shane, thank you so much.
00:49:43.206 --> 00:49:44.574
Thanks for coming back on "takeaways."
00:49:44.574 --> 00:49:45.909
Thanks for writing this study for adults and for students,
00:49:45.909 --> 00:49:48.878
This is perfect.
00:49:48.878 --> 00:49:50.246
I'm gonna take it home and share this with my kids.
00:49:50.246 --> 00:49:51.748
Shane: thank you, friend, for having me on, this was fun.
00:49:51.748 --> 00:49:53.483
Kirk: yeah, after the break, we're gonna review
00:49:53.483 --> 00:49:56.186
Today's takeaways.
00:49:56.186 --> 00:49:57.520
[music]
00:49:57.520 --> 00:50:03.002
[music]
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[music]
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Kirk: i really enjoyed our time today with j.d. greer and
00:50:10.433 --> 00:50:13.403
Shane pruitt.
00:50:13.403 --> 00:50:14.737
What important conversations about living a real and
00:50:14.737 --> 00:50:17.373
Courageous faith in a world that is often so fake and dangerous.
00:50:17.373 --> 00:50:21.811
Let's review some of our takeaways.
00:50:21.811 --> 00:50:25.615
Living a quiet life can be a loud testimony.
00:50:25.615 --> 00:50:28.785
Wasn't it a great reminder from j.d. that our greatest impact
00:50:28.785 --> 00:50:32.689
Often comes from a quiet life?
00:50:32.689 --> 00:50:35.758
He talked about how daniel had such an excellent spirit in his
00:50:35.758 --> 00:50:39.229
Daily work that it drew attention to him.
00:50:39.229 --> 00:50:42.599
That quiet life of integrity and excellence is what can set us up
00:50:42.599 --> 00:50:47.604
For a loud testimony for jesus.
00:50:47.604 --> 00:50:49.873
It is such a great word picture.
00:50:49.873 --> 00:50:52.175
Practice radical hospitality and joy.
00:50:52.175 --> 00:50:55.478
I love j.d.'s point about hospitality.
00:50:55.478 --> 00:50:58.381
It even has the word hospital in it, and it's not just for our
00:50:58.381 --> 00:51:02.152
Healthy christian friends, but for the broken and lost who
00:51:02.152 --> 00:51:06.022
Need jesus.
00:51:06.022 --> 00:51:07.390
And what about the story of the woman with ms whose joy in her
00:51:07.390 --> 00:51:11.327
Suffering convinced her atheist doctor that jesus was real?
00:51:11.327 --> 00:51:15.999
Now, that's the kind of joy that gets the world's attention.
00:51:15.999 --> 00:51:20.203
Our greatest pain can become the platform for god's glory.
00:51:20.203 --> 00:51:25.775
Let the potter shape the clay.
00:51:25.775 --> 00:51:29.212
When we fashion a jesus in our own image, one who is more
00:51:29.212 --> 00:51:33.583
Comfortable, less judgmental, and serves our agenda, we're
00:51:33.583 --> 00:51:37.687
Actually not worshiping him, we're worshiping a glorified
00:51:37.687 --> 00:51:42.025
Version of ourselves.
00:51:42.025 --> 00:51:44.360
Shane reminded us we must return to the truth of isaiah 64:8,
00:51:44.360 --> 00:51:48.598
Which says, "but now, o lord, you are our father; we are the
00:51:48.598 --> 00:51:53.670
Clay, and you are our potter."
00:51:53.670 --> 00:51:57.373
We don't shape him, we must surrender to be shaped by him.
00:51:57.373 --> 00:52:04.314
Get to know the real jesus.
00:52:04.314 --> 00:52:06.716
Shane reminded us that if we don't get jesus right, we don't
00:52:06.716 --> 00:52:09.919
Get anything right.
00:52:09.919 --> 00:52:11.588
The only way to know the real jesus is to get into the word
00:52:11.588 --> 00:52:15.124
Of god.
00:52:15.124 --> 00:52:16.459
He said that one of the biggest problems in the church today is
00:52:16.459 --> 00:52:19.462
Biblical illiteracy.
00:52:19.462 --> 00:52:21.731
So let's be a people that opens his word so that we can reject
00:52:21.731 --> 00:52:25.935
The fake idols and follow the one true sovereign savior king.
00:52:25.935 --> 00:52:32.909
Well, that's all for this episode of "takeaways."
00:52:32.909 --> 00:52:35.111
Thanks for watching, and if you've enjoyed this show, don't
00:52:35.111 --> 00:52:37.947
Forget to set your dvr so you never miss an episode.
00:52:37.947 --> 00:52:41.317
And of course, you can always catch up on past episodes by
00:52:41.317 --> 00:52:44.320
Searching for takeaways on tbn+ or by visiting the kirk cameron
00:52:44.320 --> 00:52:48.958
On tbn youtube channel.
00:52:48.958 --> 00:52:51.327
See you here next time for more great conversations.
00:52:51.327 --> 00:52:55.031
[music]
00:52:55.031 --> 00:52:55.031

J.D. Greear & Shane Pruitt: Sharing the Real Jesus in the Reality of Life | Takeaways with Kirk Cameron

October 20, 2025 | 54:47

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