Dr. John A. King's Personal Meeting Room
Dr. John A. King teaches on Romans 12:1-2 about being transformed rather than conformed to the world. He breaks down the passage into four parts: offering yourself to God as worship, rejecting worldly values, avoiding legalism, and renewing your mind through Scripture. He warns against churches that copy secular entertainment and shares his own struggle with self-righteousness.
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According to the cloud, eh? Hey, welcome to Man Church, folks. Great to have you here. According to the cloud, eh? Hey, welcome to Man Church, folks. Fuck is that echo? Great to have you here. Hey, welcome to Man Church, folks. Here we go. That's better. Maybe don't swear before Man Church. Be a good idea, wouldn't it? Hey, listen, get a cup of coffee, get your Bible. And we'll kick off in about seven minutes if you're on streaming. Listen, if you want to join on Man Church and be able to stop in and have the question and answers, could I suggest you go to manchurch.online, register, and you can actually join the meeting there? Men only, fellas, go there. We host Man Church on live on TikTok and Instagram and YouTube, so the wives at home can. Watch along. So at the end of it, when we get through the the teaching part of it, we stop and we do questions and answers for about twenty minutes. So that's why we do it. So fellas, you have a chance to have a chat, talk about things that are relevant for you, how you can be a better husband, man, father, other fellas. So please, if you want to do that, if you want to join up, guys, and please go to manchurch.online. And we'll be kicking off. Get a cup of coffee. Hey, Instagram, get a cup of coffee. TikTok, get a cup of coffee. YouTube, get a cup of coffee. Get your Bible so you can make sure I'm not making stuff up. Should always take your Bible. How you doing, TikTok? How you doing, Instagram? YouTube? Kick off the meeting at 8 o'clock, and, um, today we're going to be talking about being transformed, not conformed. So get a cup of coffee, get your Bible. Get some notepad paper. Going old school always. Why? Because writing things down neurologically affects your ability to retain information differently than digitally. So pen and papers are great. Here comes Max. Hello, Max. Instagram, TikTok, YouTube. Good to have you here, Man Church. If you're wanting to come on and be a part of Man Church and ask questions to that fellas, Man Church is for fellas only. I go to manchurch.online and you can sign up for Man Church events going forward, and you'll also be able to hit the enter button, go to the Zoom, and then we can have a chat because at the end of the teaching we stop and we do questions and answers.
Here we go.
Oi!
Hello, mate.
How are you, my brother?
I'm great. How you doing?
Not bad. I have no complaints, bro. None. Zero.
That's great. What's the background you got today?
From— it's our buffalo, bro.
I thought that was our buffalo.
It's our buffalo, man.
Which people will tell you not to pat.
Well, that's because they're fucking sissies. We were respectfully close.
We were, we were respectfully close to the car to run away as well, right?
Yes, that is true, because you've got to have a plan B, bro.
You gotta have—
we— yeah, we are, we are, we are plan Bers, that's for sure.
Yeah.
So what's going on with you, brother? Talk to me.
It's all good, man. It's been good enjoying this deck, bro. I want to have breakfast, have you guys around for breakfast sometime, cook up some eggs and sausage on the grill. Do that for a Sunday. Oh, that'd be fun.
You know, that cast iron grill that I gave Mel would fit perfect there.
Yes, she said that.
Yeah, that thing will fit perfect.
Yeah. And I used a little burner the other day. G'day, Nate. I used a little burner the other day to fry up, um, I don't know, fry up some eggs or something. It was great. Yeah, it was really good. How you doing, Nate? Good, good morning, John. Dave's here with me. Max is in, um, hey brother, Missouri, I think.
Nice.
Instagram and TikTok and YouTube are with us, so folks out there, grab your Bibles, grab a coffee.
Okay, I'll grab my Bible.
Hold on, we'll be ticking off in just a couple of minutes. You got to make sure I'm not making it up, Dave. So if you're on Instagram or TikTok or YouTube and you want to be a part of the question and answers at the end, um, go to manchurch.online, register for the events, and you can just hit the, um, you You can just hit the join now button. So love to have you on here, have you a part of it. So what's the weather like where you are? G'day, Ben. What's the weather like up there, Nate?
Turkey?
No.
Okay.
Hey, Ben, where are you based, mate?
Pennsylvania, Baltimore, Washington, West Virginia, all in that Mid-Atlantic region. Oh yeah.
Well, that'd be fun. Be a bit cool up there. You're getting nice, but now, wouldn't it? It's getting there, right?
We we need a couple seventy eighty degree days. Florida and Texas, if you guys got it, send it our way. Man, we got it.
We got us some beautiful days at the moment, mate. It's just about that sweet spot, which remains like that for about a week and a half. And um. Hey Dave, Mel found this trip. It was one of those like Instagram things that gets you. Okay, starts at Lake Havasu and takes you through all the national parks. Um, the big loop. Oh mate, I'm thick. I'm thinking we need to do like a Pluckers road trip, dude.
We need to go on a road trip.
It looked beautiful, bro.
Does it go through like Mount Zion and all that stuff?
Yes.
Yeah, that'd be cool.
Yeah, that would be really, really cool.
I'm in. We're in, dude. We want to take our RV out.
Yeah, it's about time, man, to get on the road again. Heck yeah.
Oh, I'll be right back.
All right, mate. Fellas, you got coffee? You got your Bible?
Something?
So what do you do, Ben? I'll just give fellas two more minutes and then we'll kick off, guys. Instagram and TikTok and YouTube. Hello, how you going? Hey, if you're a guy, fellas, Manchurch is guys only. Go on to manchurch.online, register, hop in. You can ask questions and latest. So it's 8 o'clock, boys. So let's pray and let's start, because that's what we do. Father, we thank you, uh, for the grace you've extended to us through Jesus Christ. And we ask, Lord, that you continue with us today, that you'd be with us. You help me as I open up the word. Give me courage to preach it correctly. Give me wisdom and discernment.
Amen.
On what to say and how to say it. In Jesus' name, amen.
Amen.
G'day, Ned. Good to see you, mate. So guys, turn to Romans 12, um, verse 1. So Romans— the best place to find Romans in your Bible is in the index. So don't ever get confused about wondering where something is in the Bible. Look it up in the index. That's why they put it there. And anyone who goes, oh, you should really know where it is, like, kick them in the nuts and never see them again. It's the best way to deal with that mob because they're at some point, they're not going to be friends for you. So Romans. So you got Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And then once you come to that, you got the Book of the Acts, which is kind of like the 5th gospel, talks about the life of Christ, the journey of the church. Then he gets into the epistles, which are the writing by people like Paul and other people, and it starts off with Romans. So Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, and then you're going to get into Romans. So Romans 12. Romans 12 is a very interesting chapter. And Romans 12:1. So from Romans 1 through to 11, people will read that and go, man, that is like reading sludge because it's, it's an incredible mind activity because it's doctrine and theology. Now theology, theo and ology, is the logic around God. So that's what theology is. And I promise I won't, you know, treat you as being stupid if you don't believe you are, because it's not that difficult. And doctrine is understanding the nature and character of God. So from Romans 1 through to 11, coming up into 12, we've got Paul outlining some of the basic fundamental theology and doctrine of the church. Then in chapter 12, he starts to apply it. So that's where we are. So be transformed, not conformed is the title of what I would call today. So Romans 12:1. I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercy of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. I'll get admin assistant to handle the Admitting from now on. Thank you. Hey, Rocky. And not— we're in Romans 12:1, fellas. And not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So today I want to actually start at the end, and I want to give you a summary of what I'm going to be teaching and then teach it and then come back to it, because I think that might be helpful. In getting your head around the concepts that I'm wanting to try and touch on. So to be transformed and not conformed means the following, and we're in Romans. Romans 12:1. Offer your whole self to God. This is your reasonable and intellectual and spiritual worship. Number one. Number two. Do not let the world shape your thinking. Its assumptions, values, methods, and moral judgments must not govern you. Number 3, do not overreact into legalism. Scripture, not the world, and not man-made tradition must govern your mind. And number 4, be transformed by renewing of your mind. In other words, know the truth. Understand the truth, apply the truth, and live the truth for all to see. All right, so let's unpack it, and then we'll have a chat at the end. It's a big thought for you, and that I want you to track all the way through this is that the Christian life is not meaningless or mindless religion. Christian obedience. is not detached from doctrine. Now, doctrine— again, doctrine is simply the understanding of the nature and character and ways of God. Very simple. Understanding the nature, the character, and the ways of God. So Christian obedience is not detached from that understanding. If you don't understand the nature and the character and the ways of God, you won't be obedient to God. If your kids don't understand what you're asking them to do, They're not going to do what you ask them to do. So that's why we have to understand the nature, the character, and the ways of God. So obedience actually flows from doctrine. It flows out of it. If you don't know what you stand for, you'll fall for anything. That's why we're seeing a lot of the things that we're seeing in our world today. That's why preachers are preaching total crap. Like, you can't get into the pulpit and preach some of this stuff which is so obviously against the tenet of Scripture. And just bloody common sense. People call themselves Scripture— Scripture Christians, and yet they espouse non-biblical beliefs, and they're very confident in their ability to do so. Oh, I don't care what you think. I think— I feel we should— well, you can feel all you want, sunshine, but the Bible says this, so don't be a dick. Read the Bible, and one of them is going to change. Either you're going to change or the Bible's going to change. Now, unfortunately, we're in an age where they're actually starting to change the Bible, and that's— you have to be very careful with that. They're literally starting to change scripture to start to conform to the value of the world. Very 1984. And you've got things like the Pope putting a prayer room in the middle of the Vatican. Like, okay, like, it's not making much sense for me here. It's, you know, like putting a Buddhist shrine In the middle of your church. It's like, if you want to get into Buddha or Islam or whatever you're into, like, that's on your deal, dude. It's not on our turf. Like, you just can't mix those. It's water and oil that's happening here. So people who have no doctrine, people who have no understanding of the nature and the character and the ways of God, have no foundation. And that includes leaders in our church. And if you, as head of your home, um, are not leading your family from a place of sound doctrine, then who is? Um, how do you know that a preacher's on track? How do you know that what you're listening to— and because we all do it on YouTube or on a podcast or whatever— if you don't know the truth, how do you know that that person that's telling you, oh, I've got insight or truth, how do you know that they're accurate? Now, I'm not giving you permission to be arrogant, and this is the fine line, because many rules make small men. But what I am doing is giving you permission to stare into eternity with fear and trembling and hope that you get it right, because that's really what it is to lead your family into walk with Christ. It's like, okay, I'm trying my best and I'm listening. I, I, I want to give you permission to know the word so that you can tell if the word that is coming into your house is true and correct. And we'll talk a little bit about that as we go. So let's look at this phrase, reasonable service. Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. So the context is to present or give or hand over your whole being, not just your flesh, for what the word says, or in the King James Version, a reasonable service. So reasonable in English means moderate or fair. And service is an activity or work. So we might read this as giving our bodies to God for moderate or fair work, you know, mowing the church lawn, giving our bodies to God by going to church. Well, that's reasonable service. Giving an offering. Well, that's reasonable service. Dropping an old lady home. You see what I mean? All of it is these are things that we do, but that's actually not what this scripture means. What this scripture means is that reasonable service is actually something that you think. Reasonable here means something that you've reasoned, your ability to reason. It's something that's rendered by your mind. It means something that is mental and intellectual. It's an intellectual service as an act of worship. Now, if you look at the English version, translation, the ESV, it says present your bodies holy and acceptable as a spiritual worship. And many of you would have heard that in either way, but it misses the mark because it makes what you do as ethereal and what you believe as some feeling-based thing as opposed to a fact-based thing. Whereas what this verse actually means is that by taking action with your mind awake You can move forward and your life will be transformed. Taking action with your mind awake— it's not doing things like mowing the church lawn. It's not lifting your hands in church or sitting under a mirror ball. It is taking actions in life with your mind awake. Paul does not separate body and mind as a spiritual thing. Now, Monasticism, being a monk. They would go away and beat, you know, flagellate the body because they thought that that somehow would bring them spiritual revelation. You know, it's not true. There's nothing in the Bible that says that. Does the Bible talk about fasting? Yes, but for very specific times, for very specific things. It's not the sort of thing you should do all the time because somehow you'll get some great spiritual revelation. Again, you're trying to curb the flesh to engage the spirit. It's actually this this way: curb the mind, engage the mind to experience the spirit. Reasonable service, reason ability, serve it, serve it with your reason, your ability to reason. So, all right, we'll leave that. I was just ranting. All right, so what is shaping your mind? Romans 12:2, and be not conformed to the world. The world is mentioned here is not the physical universe, or not just the physical universe. It's an outlook. It's your worldview. So often as men, we think about life apart from God. We think of our business, our money, our family. We reduce the concept of the world and worldliness to bad things, bad habits, bad activities. I call them the 6 PM sins. They're the sins that you see on the 6 PM news. Someone embezzled this, someone shagged this one, someone did that. And they're the big general sins that everybody else has got because we're too holy other now to actually have. When in fact the world here, when it means here, do not be conformed to the world, it actually means do not think in such a way that excludes God. Again, we're coming back to reasoned service. Do not think in such a way that excludes God. So often we, again, we define it narrowly— drugs, drinking, pornography, violence— the things we do as opposed to the things we think. But, but worldliness by its definition includes the whole person, especially your thinking. So you can drink a light beer, you can turn off a violent or sex-filled movie, You can avoid a whole lot of things that might have been conveyed to you at some point in time as being worldly, but you're still embracing the way that the world thinks. Worldliness is allowing the world around you to define your belief system. Worldliness is allowing the world around you to define your belief system. It is allowing the fearmongering of social media to define your faith. It is allowing the lust and desires for possession to define how you live your life, how you steward yourself financially. Rocky does a great talk on that. I encourage you guys to go back to some of his early podcasts and have a listen to some of that. Very good. When you allow someone else to define your world for you, They will make it too small in anything in life. Write it on a bit of sticky note and put it on your computer. If you allow someone else to define your world for you, they will always make it too small. You're too old to work out, John. You're 62. Well, okay. Well, you know, you're 65 and you're fat and ugly. I can't do anything about you being ugly, but like, at least you could lose some weight, you know. You'll never make it to that. That's going to be impossible. Well, you know, you can go and frog-toad yourself because I'm going to give it a go and I'm going to die trying. So why? Because it's my reasonable service. I think I can have a go at this and I think this is what I'm supposed to do. You know, like Caleb looked up the hill and said, okay, so here's, here's my thought, God. Like, so I can either have the flat ground and live with all these losers, or I can go up there and kill a few giants and have the best view in the valley. And I'm 80. Yeah, I'm going upstairs. I want the view, and there's water up there. But you're old, you're 80. You can go and frog toad yourself. I'm going up the hill. Intellectually, that's where I want to be, and that's what I want to achieve. So don't allow— if you allow this world and the words, the thoughts, and the expectations of others to define your world, they will always make it too small for you. So the modern church does this all the time. Take worship for example when I'm talking about worldliness and allowing the world and the measure of the world to define our church. So who the hell ever invented mirror balls for church? Okay, so a whole bunch of boomers grow up in the '70s and they get their Saturday Night Live on. And everyone likes going to a concert. Everyone loves going to a concert. Lights off, get your lighter out. Or if you're not old enough to do that, Brian, You get your phone out and you do that thing. Why the hell have we brought that into church? Like, number one, like, active shooter can come through the door. Absolutely silly. And why do I need to turn the lights off so I can encounter God? God sees me naked in the shower. Like, he knows exactly what I look like. So why the hell am I embarrassed about lifting my hands or singing a song or standing out wide or applauding or doing whatever it is in church? Well, because the church says that we need to entertain people. Church leadership said we need to entertain people because we're seeing a drop in church numbers. Well, okay, okay. Now we're in competition with Led Zeppelin or whoever is the new thing, like, or whatever. I'm old. So we're in competition for that, and it makes no— we spend millions of dollars on a Christmas pageant, um, and we preach a gospel so weak it challenges no one and no one repents. Offends no one, there's no one to get saved. But not that the aim of all preaching should be to offend, but it probably should, you know, got to challenge. Offense means to challenge, to stir up iron on iron. Um, does God need a mirror ball? I don't think God really cares about a mirror ball. Like, if you as a pastor need a mirror ball, um, then have a mirror ball, but don't tell me this is worship or God's doing this. just because you're confirming to the way the world does something. So there's a nuance there, making sure that we're not taking our leadership or our instruction from the world, but rather we're taking it from the Word and what God wants. And we can make a lot of excuses in that. You know, we're very smart and very clever at justifying whatever we want based upon the Word. We'll go flipping through the Bible and try and find something that'll justify our point of view, as opposed to changing our point of view to what the overall context of doctrine and theology says. David danced foolishly, so foolishly he ended up getting a divorce because his wife was embarrassed by his zeal. Now, I'm not necessarily advocating you be that pain-in-the-neck guy, but it kind of would be nice if you met a Christian man every now and again who was as passionate about church and Christ as he was about his hobby. You know, I just think that, that, that's a good thing. I think for people to know that we are Christian men is not something we need to be ashamed of. I'm not talking about shoving it down anyone's throat, but, you know, if you've ever met a pilot, you'll know they're a pilot because they'll tell you in the first, like, minute of any conversations. It's like golfers. It's like, okay, you're a golfer, congratulations. Um, but, you know, I think there should be something where we're comfortable saying, yeah, I'm a Christian man. Look, this, this is just who I am. You know, just, we need to be comfortable with that in ourselves. So conforming to the world When as men we replace the word and will of God with public opinion, we are conforming to the world. Now some will say, I'm not conforming, I don't listen to the libtards on CNN. Okay, well then you listen to the fascists on Fox. You know, I don't believe in either of them, and I'm not— I'm just making broad generalizations. But it doesn't matter who you're listening to, it doesn't matter their political views. What matters is that whatever their opinion is is probably an opinion of the world, and you're conforming yourself and you're allowing yourself To be a part of it. If the world is the basis of your thought life and your actions are not rooted in theology and the word of God, then you are conforming to the world. So let's talk about being transformed versus— how you going, fellas? You doing all right? We good? All right. I'm on a roll. I love this. I'm so challenged. I'm so convicted at the moment. I just want to crawl under my table and die. So, um, but Which I probably— I can see it coming Monday, you know what I mean? I've got one of those, uh, post-Man Church conviction blues coming on. It's going to be fantastic. We're weeping, wailing, gnashing my own teeth. It's going to be great. So transform. And this one, this one kicked my butt all week. Anyway, transformed versus conformed. Romans 12:2: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by By the renewal of your mind. Refusing conformity does not mean being rigid, legalistic, or monastic. In other words, locking yourself off. Why? If I can't— I can't ever watch television again because I'm pursuing Jesus, all of the Jesuses. I can't do that. And here's my list of things I've got to do. Okay, great. Constipated sort of thing. It's actually not what that means. You've got to be careful not to swing in opposite directions. Some say they're rejecting the world, world, but what they're actually doing is replacing scripture with tradition, prejudice, fear, and man-made rules. Don't swing into the other ditch. Many rules make small men. It started with one: don't touch the tree, mate. Listen. Don't touch the tree. Okay, you stuffed up. You touched the tree. Here's ten. All right. Okay. You can't even do the ten. I'm going to come up with six hundred thirty-two, which is all of Leviticus, to try and help you meet the ten. And then Jesus comes along and says, "Listen, we're back to two now." So many rules make small men because you're constantly looking for an external measure to conduct an internal audit, and that's not what it love God. Love man. Well, what does that mean? We'll work it out. Well, that's a bit vague. Ah, yeah, you know, work it out. So here are three things I use as simple guidelines. Worldliness says let the world decide. Legalism says let my rules decide. Biblical Christianity says let God's word decide. Worldliness says let the world. decide. Legalism says, let my rules decide. Biblical Christianity says, let God's word decide. So that's when you know if you're moving into transformed or if you're being conformed. So conformed means to wear a false outward shape. A liar who lies has integrity. A thief who steals has integrity. A sinner who sins and admits it has integrity. There's grace for every one of those people, for all of us. A Christian who professes one thing and deliberately leads and lives another has no integrity. They are liars, thieves, and sinners with no excuses. And when we act like this, we are living worldly and conformed to the world. Conformity means assuming an outward expression That does not come from within, does not represent your inner life, or it actually does represent your inner life. And that's the problem. We've got to live from the inside out, not the outside in. That's what it means. When the outside, the pressure, is making you conform and act like it wants you to do, then you're being conformed to the world, not transformed by the word. So what is transformed? It's the opposite of conformity. It means that the inward nature comes out. Remember when Peter, James, and John, they went up to the Mount of Configuration in Matthew and Jesus was transfigured or transformed before them? Intelligently, what they realized, that his inner glory was coming out. And there was one verse in 17:8 where it says in Matthew, and they lifted up their eyes and they saw no one but Jesus only. So what was transformed before them, or what appeared before them, was Jesus in his true form, the inner Christ manifested in such a way as they could visibly see who Jesus really was. The Christian is to let the new life of Christ become visible and overwrite and make the foundation of their daily walk. We have to let our insight out. If you have a challenge doing that, guys, then I urge you to ask yourself the deeper question: why? Because it's not an issue of controlling the behavior on the outside, it's an issue of controlling the understanding on the inside. Reasoned service. I keep on doing this thing. I keep on watching porn. I keep on stealing from work. I keep on— I keep on lying about why I'm late. I keep on being late and making excuses, which is a lie. Okay. Why? What's your reasoned intellectual act of worship behind that? Because why do you lie to the boss because you're 10 minutes late? Well, because I don't want to get in trouble.
Why?
Because I fear man and I feel the consequence. Okay, so you fear the consequence enough to lie, but you don't want to be man enough to leave 10 minutes early because you want to stay up 10 minutes late by scrolling on your phone. And so there's this series of consequences. So turn it around from trying to be conformed by what fear of man and fear of the boss— turn it around and say, I need to take responsibility and reorganize my nighttime schedule so I can manifest in my morning schedule. Well, that's a very simple excuse, John. Reason, John. Example, John. Yeah, most of life is a series of very reasonable, simple things that just need to be addressed in order to produce a massive outcome. The principle of 1% is simply being able to steer the plane off course 1% and you're hundreds of miles away. So if you want to change your life, just change 1%. Just 1%, 1% a month. Not 1% a day or a week. That's rubbish. It'll never happen. But 1% a month. If you do that, by the end of this year, you'll have changed 12%. By the end of next year, you'll be a quarter. Okay, 4 years, you're close to 50%. 8 years, you're 100% totally renewed. If I was to tell you, I believe, Ryan, in 8 years' time, you'd be 100% a different man in a totally different position, he'd go, I mean, I mean, that'd be fantastic, man. It's a long way off, but I can work towards that. Okay, you just got to do 1%, just one thing. And it's the same when we transform our life. We're looking at these big changes, but it's really small things that get us there. So Christianity is not behavior management. And I say this because I want to balance this thing up. Jesus did not demand merely a reformation of behavior, but a transformation of character. Religion focuses on external behavior. It's based on rules and regulations. Christianity is focused on a person, Jesus Christ, and focuses on the person who follows him. So what about the logs in our eyes? Remember that scripture in Matthew where it talks about, you know, don't judge the dot or the speck in someone else's eye, the little grain of sawdust, Because you got a splinter or a log in your own. I want you to reverse that today, and I don't want you to think that this is something external to somebody else, but this is internal to you. Often what happens is that we get overwhelmed with our very own logs, with our very own dust. So with that. We focus on a persistent sin that we feel is separating us from God and our pursuit of him, and we get into condemnation because of it. We focus on that one thing. When you're focused on a single issue or multiple issues, if you're just being honest with yourself, you're missing the bigger picture. We are caught in the trap of imperfection. And it will stall our progress and lead to condemnation and guilt cycle. Something I've seen often with dealing with men is men aren't stupid. And we've been told many times that we're unemotional and we don't really care and we're not intuitive. All of that is crap and just not true. Men are the most emotionally in tune beings that walk this planet. We just don't often want to talk about it in a public setting or with a range of people. But we will have a conversation with God about it and with our mates about it. You will carry the weight of the imperfections of your life harder than just about anybody else in the world, particularly Christian men who are trying to follow Christ. You will be overwhelmed with the imperfections that you know are yours. And sometimes the weight of those imperfections, the weight of those imperfections Overwhelm everything else in your knowledge of anything else. You focus so much on that single issue that you're missing the bigger picture, and you get caught in this condemnation and guilt loop. So here's just a simple way to stop that. You have to stop and focus on. You have to stop focusing on that thing, and you have to even transform the way that you're looking at that thing. When you're doing something and you're caught up in this cycle of negativity, stop. Okay, what has God done for me? Okay, saved my soul. I'm married. I've got a job, or I've got retirement. My bills are covered. Okay, what is salvation? I'm saved. I'm so— Jesus Christ loves me. Okay, what kingdom do I belong in now? Well, I belong in the kingdom of God. Okay, what does it mean to be a Christian? It means a Christian because who I am in Christ. And you literally stop that cycle of condemnation and remember who you are in Christ. You have to understand and come to understand who you are in Christ, and theology is very important. And I want to— before I bring this to our conclusion, I want to talk about this. So how are we going on confirmation and transformation? Got an idea with where we're heading in it? Okay, because I want to show you how. Now, we've talked about being confirmed to the world. We've talked about being transformed by the world. And I want to talk about how you renew your mind, because what it actually says here in Romans 12:2, do not be conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewal of your mind. Remember, reasonable, reasoned ability, worship, service. Our reason, our intellectual service is going to be the thing that transforms us, not conforms us. 4 things: acquaint yourself with the truth. Read and receive teaching from the scripture. Got to do that. Be in fellowship with other Christians. Man Church is one of the very important to me because I'm in fellowship with brothers. I've met a lot of guys along the way who have got hurt by church, and they run off and they just read their Bible at home. I get it. I understand it. But I don't encourage anyone to do it because you're either going to end up following a Jim Jones or become a Jim Jones. Because when you're in isolation like that, it's incredibly dangerous. So I go, I go to church not because I need church, but because I need the accountability. I need to make sure that who I am and what I'm doing— I've studied, I've studied, I've studied theology for 40 years, fellas. Like, I've got a doctorate in theology, and I'm strong and opinionated. Like, stay hand around me, you know, 3 and a half. Okay, thank you for the smile, Al. So I can very easily get into the, you know, You know, frog's legs, all of you. I know everything. I've got a doctorate in theology. I can do that. I can do that. I can do it really well. I don't want to be that guy. I want to continually humble myself. And if that means going to a church where every 4th sermon is going to be okay and will give me a little bit of something, then I'll do that.
Why?
Because if I don't, then I'm in isolation by myself. And that is a very dangerous place. Now, do I want a church that I can go and embrace and get involved in? Yeah, man, I ran one of those once and it totally changed my life and changed the life of people around me. And I loved it so much. It was one of the happiest periods in my life. But that's no more. So I have to do something else because I don't want to fall and fail. So how do you transform your mind? Okay, you transform by the renewal. So here are some books. I'm going to give you some titles for some books. And I'm going to hold them up so it gets in the video and you can see it at the at the end and when you get the replay. These are very simple books. Now, some of them aren't simple to understand. Like knowing God, it's taken me what month are we in? May. All right, I started in December and I'm I've still got this far to go. Why? Because it's like chewing steak. But I will sit down and I'll read a page or two of this and I'll get a headache and I'll have to put it aside. But if you look through it, it's all lined up. It's all marked up because I scribble all the way through the thing. Knowing God, phenomenal book, but it's difficult to read. So don't pick it up and go, well, I don't know, just pick it up, read it, and put it down and go back to Superman. That's what I did. Okay, so a couple which I encourage you to get soonish. Now, I spoke on this once. Stop asking Jesus into your heart. Um, it's a great little book on this, on the, on the doctrine of salvation and the assurance of salvation. Why? Because most people wonder if they die if they're going to go to hell or they're going to go to heaven. It doesn't matter how long they've known Christ. Great little book. So, okay, love this. Um, what's so great about the doctrines of grace? It's a little tiny book.
Yes.
Little tiny book. That'll absolutely give you months to read on and chomp on. Phenomenal. What's So Good About the Doctrines of Grace? John Stott's Basic Christianity. If I could just live basic Christianity, I'd be a happy man. I'm flat out doing that, you know what I mean? Well, it's only a tiny book. I've only got a tiny brain. If I can get this tiny book in my tiny brain, I'm a happy man. Um, Concise Theology by Packer. So if you want to know about Bible on things like angels, demons, the Judgment Seat, the Lord's Supper, you know, all that sort of bits and pieces, this is a tremendous book that covers all sorts of concise theology and what Reformed theology— which is, I'm a Reformed in my theology, Pentecostal in my experience. What does that mean, Pentecostal? I believe in miracles, the Holy Ghost, and, you know, walking on water, man. I'm in for everything. I want Everything that God's got. Reformed is I'm extremely conservative. You know, one Bible, you know, seven days, whatever. All the good, good. Don't kill babies. All that stuff. Why am a Christian? John Stott. Phenomenal little book. If you could just get your head around these books before the end of the year, which you can, like, come on. You spend too much time watching football anyway, and why watch American football? If it was rugby, it'd be different. But Anyone? You could get yourself and read those. And like, this is a devotional book. This is coffee in the morning for 20 minutes, and you're going to get through this, and you're going to chew on it all day long. Like, and you'll have to come back and read the same thing over and over again. And what will happen is it'll totally change your life. So how do you conform yourself? Acquaint yourself with the truth, number one. Number 2, Understand the truth. Wrestle with it. That's why I am still reading Packer five months on, because every time I pick it up, I go, oh! I picked it up before Manchurch this morning, and it was so incredible and just way too much to understand in twenty minutes. So number one, acquaint yourself with the truth. Number two, understand the truth. Number three, apply the truth consistently. Old thought patterns. The mind continually tries to fall into old grooves, and you got to get it out of those. Number number next is renewal means remembering your new position. Who I am in Christ. I've been delivered from darkness. I'm a citizen of heaven. I don't walk like an Egyptian. I think like a Christian. Number next. Is transformation— is truth becoming outlook. In other words, by the time you get to transformation, your worldview has changed from what is coming in to what is going out, and you're seeing the world in a totally different light. So the first things we started with— offer your whole self to God. That is reasonable intellectual spiritual worship. Don't let the world shape your thinking. Its assumptions, values, methods, and moral judgments not what govern you. Don't overreact with legalism and be transformed by the renewal of your mind. YouTube, Instagram, TikTok—you're out of here. Time for questions and answers, fellas. And what am I doing now? Okay. All right, boys, let's hit enter record. So there you go. Unmute yourself and let's have a chat. Got any questions?
I don't really have a question, but one of the things I wanna talk when we talk about incremental change, right? Matt Kelly and I talk about this a lot, where every single day, if we just do better than we did yesterday, that's the win. And our life is literally in a 3 to 5 year sliding scale, right? And it brings us in and out of cycles. So just remember, the past is always going to go past, right? It's a— there's no reason to dwell on that. Whatever your gap was today to being better tomorrow, those are the things you can ask for guidance for from God, Right. And the goal when you wake up in the morning is just to be that slightly better than I was yesterday. Yeah. Right. 3 years from now, it's a complete transformation, you know, and don't get stuck in that because 5 years from now, you're gonna be in a new life cycle of, of what your, your life is dealing with. So.
Yeah. Very good, Ben. I, I came to that myself. I was trying to do some radical changes in my life and I kept failing because disappointment arises out of unmet expectations. And when I changed my expectations to something more realistic, I started to change. Um, and so we're saying the same thing. So that very well done. That's great. Very well done. Any other thoughts or questions? Did you, did you get it, guys? I know there was a lot of information there, but I, you know, I didn't wanna treat you like lemmings.
No, it was good, Doc. I mean, like, A lot of it resonates, and everything I heard today was one. There was a there was a point where I could pat myself on the back and say, "Oh, okay, I'm doing some good stuff." And then there was also the challenge, like, "Oh crap, there's some gaps there. There's some things that I could do better." You know, so I appreciate it. You know, when when you were talking about living from the inside out, not being influenced from the inside or the outside in, um, you know, like extreme ownership with Jocko came to mind, and uh. He, he always talks about discipline and discipline. And if you can be disciplined in the way you think and then the way that you live from the inside out, I think that's huge. And that's what I've been trying to do, you know, for the last, last few years. And Ben and I have worked for a company where their rules were so many. And that was the other thing you said, many rules make small men. Well, same thing goes with companies. You know, we worked for some companies that had rules that were crazy. Yeah. And then when we get down with the business that we have to just, hey, what's our North Star? You know, well, we're Christian men. We want to save human life, protect the general public, and then any clients that we happen to work for. So it's pretty simple. Very profound. Very good one.
Anything else, fellas? Any questions? Comments? Clarifications. All right, well, we'll leave it there. I'll pray out and we'll get it done. Have a great Saturday, and thanks for being here, guys, and thanks for believing in what we're doing with Man Church. I hope you find it encouraging. I hope you find it equipping, you know, and I hope you find it something that, you know, you walk off and, you know, something to get you through the next couple of, next couple of months. And I appreciate it very selfishly. Um, as I said, I, I look forward to spending, you know, 10 or 15 hours preparing this for you guys.
Um, and so, Doc, real, real quick, you said you were challenged with this sermon. Yeah. Can you kind of, can you kind of talk us through that? Because, I mean, that's, that's a Very well put together the way it all came together. But just what were some of the challenges that you were seeing as a man trying to get this message across? And then obviously, your faith saw you through to get to this end product. So if you could kind of walk us through that, I mean, that would be fascinating to me.
Sure. Thank you, Matt. First challenge was I Run a company and a medical company, and I had one of our business partners, a professing Christian man, embezzle probably $20,000, $21,000 off us. And we only found out about this probably 2 weeks ago. So, you know, I would have loved to call 2 old she-bears down from the woods and consume him, or, you know, call up one of you guys and say, whose car have we taken? And go and, you know, go and answer a few questions to the fella. But I didn't. But what got me thinking was, so this guy, first of all, he drives an electric F-150, which should always be a big flag for any man. Caesar, now someone else drives an electric truck. So I probably made my first mistake going in the business with a guy who wears skinny jeans and drives an F-150. So I had to acknowledge that. And I say that in all sincerity, believe it or not. Because I am a certain sort of person and I've got to make sure that I'm with certain sort of people. And this person is so obsessed with the external nature, the Instagram, the trips, the making sure. And I'm with all compassion watching this younger man. He's probably 20 years younger than me. Make these mistakes based upon, and he got himself in a situation. He commingled funds and spent company money. to take his kids on, um, you know, spring breaks trips, his wife on a cruise, and his son— because he needed quality time to bond with his 16-year-old boy, he spent company money to go and bond with his boy for spiritual and discipleship reasons. And he's in church every week. I'm in man church, you know, and I'm irritable most Sundays. And like last Sunday, I was glad that Al came over. We were building a deck. Uh, that was good because that was more church than I've had. The last time I had great church was that within a deer stand with Alan Dave. Alan, yeah. So I'm looking at all of this and I'm thinking, how does this guy get to this error of mistakes? And I am judging the crap out of this guy. I mean, I'm judging. I am so fucking self-righteous. I know everything. Look at this pussy. Look what he's done. He's not a real Christian. And then at some point I stopped and thought, oh, hang on, hang on just a minute. How— look at the church that he grew up in. Look at the lack of theology he had. Look at the brokenness that in his life led him in, not as excuses but as reasons. And then I started to examine myself. All right, in what areas of my life am I being conformed to the value and the judgment of the world? Like, how am I allowing the world to come in and And I'm not making excuses for this guy. But I was finding it really difficult because, like, he walked up behind me and took $20 grand out of my pocket for my family. Now I'm going to do what it is legally. I'm going to report it to the police and do all that because that's just— he needs to own up. And I mean it sincerely. I started to think through him and say, what's the best thing for this man? The best thing for this man is to bring a pastor along, get on a phone call with me. And have a conversation about how he stole money, and what is he going to do to make that make you know retribution for that, you know restore that money. That's the if he doesn't do that, then I'm going to report him to the police because he needs to understand there's consequences for his actions. And I and I looked at that, and then I'm still I'm reflecting in my own life about how God's done that for me. Then I come up to trying to you know. Prepare this, and it's like, okay. Timothy talks. Paul talks to Timothy about how the teacher of the word is twice judged. You're judged by teaching the word, and you're judged according to the word. Hearing the word, you're only judged once, which is your response. You are judged once because you've heard this word. If you turn around and teach this word, you'll be judged twice based on the fact that you've heard it and based on the fact that you're now responsible for teaching it. So I find myself twice judged. Like, how many times in my life have I been conformed to the world coming in? And how many times have I been arrogant? How many times have I pulled out of church? And how many times have I done these things? So it was a— it wasn't necessarily the presentation or the writing of it, Matt, because that's a craft and that's a different craft. And it's a different— it was the embodiment of it is Man, this is incredibly simple but profoundly difficult to live on a daily basis. And I think that is the, you know, I hear people say, well, I've read the Bible, you know, I've read it once, you know, I don't need to read it again. I think, man, because I understand, I think, well, you need to read mine because I've been reading it for 50 years now and it confuses the heck out of me. Like, mine is, mine must have a really complicated edition. I want the simple edition. I want the Golden Book Bible, you know. I know this one is like— I'll read the same. Have you ever read that same passage over and over in 20 years? You only go, that was never there. Like, when did Jesus sneak that bit in there? Like, now I'm convicted on a passage I thought I was going to get away with. So anyway, there's— there you go. Long answer to a short question. Good question, Brother Dave. Oh, he's off again. Come on.
Well, thank you, brother. I mean, I appreciate it. I, I gotta look internally, you know. I do. I have to look. I, I gotta really look internally and figure out how to live outwardly instead of letting it influence me. I really do. Thank you for that.
And why don't you pray us out, Dave? That was a good way to end. Why don't you pray for us all, brother?
Lord, thank you for this time that you've given us. Thank you for the fellowship. Be with us as we go about our day. Release your angels. Keep us protected, and we'll thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.
Love you guys. Hey, hop on Signal if you want to talk about anything. You need anything, please just let me know, and we'll do what we can. All right. Peace and grace, fellas.
