Tension

Hey, this is Tim Pratt Jr. and I want to welcome you to the Student of Life Podcast. Listen, we're going to get into so many transferable truths throughout the content of these episodes that I believe God is going to use to help you apply, because he's going to reveal what's already been there the entire time. Enjoy.

Hey yo, what's up? So this is your host Tim Pratt Jr. and before I jump into this one, I first and foremost want to say I apologize for how I just dropped off. I think I had like 2 more episodes or 3 maybe to go, and I just stopped. And then I said about, you know, going from a season format to maybe doing once a month, and I don't think I've done an episode since January 27th. And I'm without excuses, but there's been a lot of tension, and that's actually the title of this episode. A lot of tension within my life right now, just primarily because with my wife deployed and working very demanding course, the kids, and just a host of other things. And so I just stopped. I, I didn't come here. I'm here. I had every intent to kind of just do like a bonus episode to get back into it, but, uh, first and foremost, like, I owe the people, like, in general, and especially the ones that really rock with me, because I did get like some feedback, uh, to people hitting the chat because we have a Facebook Instagram page tied to this. And so I appreciate the faithful ones, man, that, that really rock with me, uh, but let's just clarify a few more things, uh, because this episode has been really near and dear to my heart. And I want to go ahead and jump into the content of it because I know time is important to people. But just a few things, uh, the Student Life Podcast, which is when I first started it, I think it was under the name of This Thing That We Call Life. And so then it rebranded Student Life. And within this, this particular format, and typically on Facebook when I'm interacting with that page Uh, this is not to be deep. This is not to be throwing out a bunch of scriptures, uh, because I understand the audience that I'm, that I'm talking to. Uh, now I'm not saying I'm the smartest. I'm not saying I know everything when it comes to the scripture, but I am a student, uh, with just a posture of a student, you know, maintain a teachable spirit. Uh, there's things that I stand on. There's things that I like, okay, thank you. Uh, and then there's things I just hold tension because something like— some things in the Bible are very— a lot of things in the Bible are very clear. It is black and white. And then there's a lot of gray area in the Bible. Like, for example, I used to be the one to say everything needs to be traced back to scripture because that's what I heard, and that's how, how high I hold the Bible in this authority. Uh, but then I was in therapy, uh, one of my counseling sessions, you know, my counselor was like, okay, uh, hey, you need lug nuts on your car, what does the Bible say about putting it on there? Now you can say that's an extreme because the Bible doesn't talk about lug nuts and things like that, but however, you have a brain, you have the ability to think, you have the ability to go talk. So you, in, in general, like in principle, you can trace it back to scripture even though it's indirectly. But anywho, so that it just kind of really started to challenged me. And, you know, really in this concept where God put in my heart, where yes, there's a lot of things that are black and white, but also too, uh, there's a lot of tension, there's a lot of gray area. And we need to have a— like, working knowledge, true enough, but we need to have a contextual knowledge. We need to see the many different ways— not that God is changing, the Holy Spirit is changing— but the many different expressions. Uh, and then trust and believe again that we can be like Paul. Now this is gonna really— and you're gonna see where I'm going with, because when I quote the verse, for example, uh, when Paul was in, I believe, uh, 1 Corinthians— because I'm not looking, I do, I do have this verse in my notes, but I'm not looking at it right now— but when Paul quoted, I believe it was 1 Corinthians 9, when he said, um, I become all things, and he went on in that passage of scripture when every time because God's led me to do a sermon on this. He was not talking about sin, but if I may use modern language here, everyday language, if I was going to preach somewhere and they were very traditional and it was their customs and things of that nature where they say, hey, you need to wear a robe, you need to wear a suit, 2, 3 years ago I would have been like, man, see, this is the problem, you all bound. And I probably would have just lost the opportunity because I'm like, I'm not putting on a robe, I'm not, I'm not doing that. Now I don't have a problem with suits, but I probably be like, man, I want to preach kind of in my— just still dressed up, but I want to preach in my attire. And so I can start saying they're controlling all that, but just reading the scriptures, whether you agree or not, because this episode again, tension, uh, Paul would have just been like, okay, what do you want me to wear, man? I'm so mature in my faith, I'm so grounded, I'm so rooted. And I'm not trying to make this a Paul— because Paul was fa— make this just about Paul and making him as if he's Jesus, because even Paul said, 'Follow me as I follow Christ.' So we know that Jesus is the great example, he's the model, but there are things that I love about Paul because of how he was so submitted to Jesus. So let me just clear that up again. But in this context, Paul would have been like, 'Hey, what's up? I, I, I'm— this about souls, man. I don't really have time to sit up here and get into a debate of who—' And I just believe we don't do a good job at that today. I don't, I really don't. I think sometimes people just become so stern in their approach because of everything that's going on in the church, and you have good reasons why. I believe this will lead to this overcorrection because you see all— I'm not gonna get into names, but you see all these YouTube channels and they're popular and they, they mix in teaching the gospel, but also too there's a lot of mixing even the thumbnails and the words. I think it's a little deception because the reason why is because you're literally talking about other people. And yes, then the justification is like, well, we should call out these people, we should hold them accountable. And that is true. But I'm like, this is what I love about Alan Parr. He said when he first started his podcast— I think he did this episode a few years ago, and he might still be back, I don't know— but I love the context of this episode. He said when I first started my podcast, before what led to him to take a break, he said that it was about teaching the Bible. And then over time, he noticed when he would start to correct ministers and correct things. And one of the biggest, I think he started actually with Michael— Pastor Michael Todd. And he noticed how those episodes, although he was weaving scripture in there and, and holding him accountable and others, somewhere along the line he was like, man, I just— I start to focus more on basically doing my content around really proving how this person is wrong and bad for the culture or not recommended. That I, I slowly got away from the gospel, from the kingdom, from the things that brings us unity. And again, I had to go pull up that episode, it was a while ago, but I really respect that because that's in the heart of what I'm saying. And I really think what Alan Parr was coming to— not, not again saying people don't need to be held accountable, but I start— I think he started to kind of wrestle with the attention because sometimes it does just come down to what we prefer. And I am real big on context. And now I'm not trying to use tension again as an escape, as a lens to be like, well, that's why I act the way I act. No, there are things that the Bible is very clear on. But I— you and I can get into a disagreement right now, in a strong disagreement, and I can say, hey, you know, I'm praying that you hear my heart and you see your ways. And you can be saying, well, I pray you hear your heart and you see your ways. Okay, and this is the thing, both of us could be right. However, what makes us wrong is the Bible is clear on how we should handle situations, but there might not be any scriptural reference on what you and I are arguing about or going back and forth, because there's some good arguments too, debating about it, whatever. So that's tension. So let's unpack it. So in this one, like I said, I want to kind of talk about Paul here. And again, you know, he followed— it was all about following Christ. But I think we live in extremes now because the church— I seen a video where a pastor, uh, clip, and somebody I really respect, I, I seen when they shared the video like a week or two ago, and I was just like, I looked at the clip and then I started seeing like all these clips around the video, and I'm like, okay, what did this dude say? So I went to go check it out, and it was a pastor redefining what, you know, uh, porné or something like that means in the Bible and saying this tradition about sex before marriage, and it was, it was bad. Like, and I know we live in a soundbite culture, but it was, it was really horrible. Uh, he, he has to explain to me because I even went back and found the message and just kind of listened again to see, like, because there's been a lot of times that I've seen clips from people that's supposed to be very studious in the word and, and uniting, and they have took a lot of things out of context. I'm like, okay, now I watched that sermon and that is not right. It's starting to happen to Philip Mitchell right now. Uh, not saying I agree with everything that he says and does, but a lot of it too, when it comes down to it, 95% of it is semantics. And I'm pretty sure he can listen to my podcast or hear me preach or teach or talk to somebody, he could say the same thing. So I don't too much get caught up in that because I understand people speak from life application. They're heavily influenced by the Bible even though they might not be quoting scripture directly. Um, like, just all of it. I— because there's so many nuances. But I can listen to about somebody right now, they start teaching about savings and talking about the Bible teaches us this thing, and then I go look at Proverbs, so I go look at Ecclesiastes. I'm like, well, that's not necessarily, you know, word for word in there. And I'm like, okay, bro, can I trace the heart, the theme of what they're saying back to scripture? Um, and so again, that's tension. What audience uh, like, because I'm a person where I'm not— I don't really just like a whole lot of motivational when it comes to the text. I, I like— I don't. But also too, I know that a lot of people do. They like a lot of stories and things of that nature. And if you look at a 45-minute sermon or message, like 10 minutes of it might be just really sound. It's not that they said anything bad, but it's just also too, it wasn't like heavy in scripture. And so like when I listen to stuff like that, uh, for me, depending on like— cuz my kids kind of like messages like that, uh, I know I have associates and people, friends, it's like, man, I kind of like this, like they're teaching, but you know, whatever. Okay, now that's attention I have to hold because y'all can sit up here and say, well, they just need to go be a motivational speaker. And maybe you can argue that, man, this— they need to get out the pulpit, you know, probably just go do this. Go start a podcast and, you know, use this format or something. Could be true. But here's tension: could they be pointing to something else? Are they intentionally leading people astray, or do they just have a ministry where they just literally talk in so simple, and, and at the end of the day they are uniting people to Jesus? And they might just be overly using what Paul did in Acts 17. I don't know. But again, it's tension because they could be up here doing God knows what Like, it's just, it's just so much. So in, so in that, let's get back on track. So this, but this is what I believe made Paul very effective, is because Paul knew how to model the tension that Jesus taught and demonstrated with his life. Again, now let's talk about themes, because Jesus was so effective, man, and, and Paul, I believe, is because he really knew how to build, um, cultural bridges without diluting the Bible. He knew how to build cultural bridges without diluting biblical truth. Like, Paul knew how to hold that tension. Like, he— like, and we're going to get into it, like, especially, like I said, just Acts 17. We can go through Romans, Galatians, Corinthians, and all that. Paul, he spoke the language of the people, is what I'm trying to say. Like, he spoke in modern language, uh, he spoke— he was very sound. Sometimes we're going to see, like, even with Peter said that it's hard things, you have to wrestle with this. He held space He said things that invited conversation and dialogue, uh, but he knew how to do this without endorsing the lies of the culture. And again, like, I just believe now, truthfully— I don't want to get ahead of myself— but today, by— if Paul was— I'm, I'm gonna get back on that. But Paul, like, he stayed anchored. He was very anchored in the gospel, uh, like, I love how he— again, because I think I posted a video where somebody's saying, and I agree with the, the context of it, whatever, saying we new methods. But I believe in the context what they were saying is like, hey, we don't need this new type of teaching, a word is, we need the word, the sound word. So in that context, they were right, we don't really need new methods. But here go now, here's the tension, but Paul adapted his methods to reach a diverse audience. So I have one person I just shared on Facebook not too long ago saying we don't need new methods, we just need to preach the gospel. But now here I am saying that Paul adapted his method. Context, context matters, like it matters so much. And I think that's why we get into so much trouble and so much back and forth, because again, what is the context around the whole thing? And, and so with Paul, it was all about Christ. It was like, man, I'm not gonna get into all these controversies, I'm not gonna get into this and that. I am keeping the focus on Christ, and I'm going to do whatever I need, uh, without sin, without going against God, to reach souls, to reach the lost. And so I just believe that Paul today, uh, again, but because of this soundbite culture, because people live in so many extremes, I believe it would have been a lot of videos going up about Paul simply because he was holding tension. Like, I believe it would have been so much— hear me when I say this— it would have been so much about Paul without knowing his heart and the full biblical context of his ministry. Let me say that again. It would have been so much said about Paul without knowing his heart and the full biblical context of his ministry. You know, he— we would hear things probably now, like, see, like, sound bites and thumbnails around, he's platforming pagan voices because of what he did in Acts 17. If I model what Paul did in Acts 17 and somebody only seen a sound bite of that with me quoting somebody like a rapper, a well-known rapper, or a well-known band, or a well-known person that's not biblical, that's not of the word, I would be crucified. Why are you bringing that garbage and theological garbage in the pool? Why, not knowing that, okay, do you understand the context? Do you follow me? Do you know the wordplay perfectly? Now, I'm— again, I'm not saying I say things perfectly all the time. No one does. All of us should have a teachable spirit. But I think it's very important that we get context, because again, by this, I would have probably said, dang, Paul, you, you trying to be a little bit too culturally relevant, man. I'm talking about if he was just acting right now, living out the scriptures that we study, and then we pray, and then we try to apply and work through the power of Holy Spirit to, um, to apply to our life. I believe he would have been, you know, very soft to the legalistic crowd. It would have been like, man, you're too soft on people. Oh man, this is what's wrong with preachers today. Uh, again, to the overcorrecting people, uh, to the people that are, uh, hyper literal, he would have been too firm. It's like, wait a minute, man, you're teaching a doctrine now, and it's just like, no, that's what's wrong because people abuse, and I'm not gonna do that, and you're just, you're just too firm. Like, you, you talking about submitting myself, man? I— you don't understand how I've been, uh, weaponized and led astray and beat. Like, we just would have been saying all of these things because we would have been filtering it through our experiences and not truly healing. We do not do a good job in the church with holding tension, just like as when people pray. Like, I, I used— this is how, like, I would hear things. Oh, don't, don't say that out loud. Don't speak that. Somebody comes and it's like, hey, I'm, I'm thinking about committing my life. I can't, I can't walk this thing out anymore. Um, hey, I think I'm about to go do this or do that. Hey, I'm really thinking about porn. I'm really thinking about adultery. I'm really thinking about fornication. It's like we would say things like, no, don't, don't do that, don't speak that, because you're gonna end up doing it. But then when I read through the Psalms, when I see the gospels primarily focusing around the Garden of Gethsemane, when I um, look at these, these passages of scriptures, even reading Proverbs, but especially the Book of Psalms and David. And, and, and I see Jesus and how he, he did. I'm gonna use, like, he— what does it— in a marriage, like, there's a— there, there's submission. Now, I can't— I know the world is redefining marriage and things of that, but a marriage is about bringing two people together, right? Two, two people together different but united around marriage. Jesus Christ should be, and they should become one. But even in that marriage, there's order, there's submission first and foremost to God, and then you have the order where the husband rolls, the wife rolls, and children if they have children. So the Bible is clear on that, okay? You have things, uh, in that where if it's a biblical marriage, there should be ultimately submission no matter what you agree on in that marriage. There should be submission to the— to God, which is— he's the final authority. His word, there should be submission to that. Okay, what is biblical discernment? Like, what— what— like, discernment is basically in the heart of it. It comes from God. It is learning to know, uh, essentially know the will of God, know what's of God, and know what is of not, essentially. Now, I can get true— and I'm not trying to show off or anything by that mean— but yes, I can get way more technical with that. But keep in mind, we're talking about everyday marriage. So Jesus, when he came on because this is what we do to people. No, no, no, you, you don't— you, you, you shouldn't feel that. You like— and then so now it's okay. So now when the Bible talks about loving God with all my mind, my soul, and all this type of stuff, like my heart, with my strength, do you want me to separate that now because this is how I feel? So no, I want you— that, that is you. You can't separate them. They're, they're one. Like Jesus showed us that. But ultimately, again, there's submission to— discernment teaches us, okay, you, you feel this way and you should express that, but now through the lens of discernment, through God's word, what do you do? Again, using just like— like submission, that's a bad word today, but I'm just learning. It's so like, it's really trying to use with Paul not justifying or stretching the text, but a working knowledge. Because like, what, what do I gain by going to somebody, even if I am just very biblical sound, but I go out and I'm talking to people that don't know the Bible from— they don't know the Bible is someone don't know left or right, or they're, they're, uh, front from their behind. Why am I gonna go in there with scripture and verse? So like, when I, when I hear things say things like, hey, you know, right now, man, you don't always need scripture and verse, Uh, or not scripture, but you don't always need chapter and verse. Um, I am not saying throw away the Bible. Now listen to the context of what I'm saying. That is a moment where, man, I might talk about sports, I might use things, I might communicate, uh, themes of the Bible, I might communicate principles of the Bible, but I am not going to say any scripture at all if there's a strong rejection in these people. Now I know the word of God it's what does it through the power of the Holy Spirit. Yes, but I'm saying to build that cultural bridge, to establish that relationship, if God leads me, I am not going to touch any of that because it's about the souls. Because sometimes, like, yes, we can sit up here and say we hate it for Christ's sake, we hate it because his name, but I'm gonna keep it real with you, man. A lot of us, we just hate it because we just, we just too extreme. We hate it because we too loose. Like we just too loose, we recklessly handle the word of God, and then we're hated primarily because we're just too strict, we're too much fire. And what I mean by that, you just burning up everything, burning up everybody around you, because it's, it's just there's this need to just overcorrect, or if I may use the term, undercorrect. Again, two extremes. But what about the tension? What about the tension like we should hold? So I just believe Paul, like, all these things would have been said, and I could go come up with a lot more But I believe this is what made Paul so unique, as he was submitted to Christ, submitted to the power of the Holy Spirit. In one minute, we'll see something like in Romans where Paul would be like, you know, we are not under the law but under grace. But then he'll turn right around and preach something again. Here we go with 1 Corinthians: I beat my body and make it a slave. In context, that kind of balance, like that type of maturity, you don't see it a lot today. It, it would get misconstrued. It's, it's so easy to mislabel when we always live in like this either-or, a black and white mindset. Now some people's hearts are— they are just made up. We've seen it again, going back to Acts 17, where some people wanted to hear Paul, some people weren't, some people mocked, some people wanted to invite and have deeper conversations. I like— you see the tension in that? The tension because Paul was inviting, he was saying things, he used— like I said, it's just working knowledge he had, man. I just like— oh man, I wish I had time to really do that. But, but what I'm learning is that the reason why I believe Paul would get crucified today, even by the, the, the people that are really sincere and very theologically and biblically sound, is because of the soundbite culture. When Paul was nowhere near a soundbite preacher, when he was nowhere near— he, he was rooted in truth, but he was also sensitive to context. And that is danger that Paul would have literally frustrated both extremes. But the thing is, like, also too, Paul was so simple at times where it's like, man, okay, that is clear as day. I don't even know if you need the Holy Spirit to unpack that. But then there are things when he get into, like, you know, the, uh, it's— Lord help me, what's, what's the verse, uh, where it doesn't make sense to the carnal mind? And then there was, like, things that was like, okay, like, bro, what are you doing? Like, I see where people get lost. Again, going back to Peter, when Peter literally said, man, he, he could be very deep, he could be hard to understand. Like, this is noted in scripture. So how in one minute can you be super simple and then the next minute, man, you got the most elite debating and holding space and holding tension because it is so complicated and we have to really work hard to try to grasp through the Holy Spirit, of course, what you were trying to say, what you were communicating, the intent behind your words. Without— so what am I saying? Look, now I can't access Paul and talk to him. The only thing, the only person that I have, uh, right now is, of course, you know, talk to other people in community. But also too, like, I can't directly just pull up and be like, Paul, what do you mean by this? What, what were you saying in this? Yes, I can talk about all day the power and illumination of the Holy Spirit, which is true, But why do you take 10 people that I believe are spirit-filled and they still kind of debate around what was the intent behind it? No deception. They are not striving to deceive. They are students. They are historians. Even some people might say they're scholars, but then there's still a lot of debate. So man, just stop with all the like everything is just super clear and black and white. Like let's just stop with it. And I think like we argue over a lot of that type of stuff. And we really get away from the very, uh, the very concept, if I may say— maybe this is the wrong word— but we get away from the concept of when the Holy Spirit— the Holy Spirit was depicted by Jesus as a bonding agent. Now hear me on that, a bonding agent to you, uh, to unify the church. Like, straight up, if we boil it down to, to just scripture— now again, this is not word for word but we can trace this back to scripture. We can trace the idea of the theme of what I'm saying back to scripture. But Jesus, it was the Holy Spirit, he was an abundant agent. But isn't it crazy that the very person that God say, the counselor, the advocate that I am going to send back to you, I am going to— when I leave and I, and I go back to be with, with God, Jesus and his humanity I'm going to send you a helper. And isn't it crazy that we have allowed in the man's hand, through the teaching and handling and depiction of things, um, that now he seems to be someone that has become the divided agent of the church? Like, because again, we live in this mindset thinking the kingdom of God is either-or, when a lot of times it's both-and. Now, it's not contradictive But we see, we, we don't respect the tension of the text because a lot of times, again, it comes through the things that we have experienced. I just seen again Philip, to quote him, Philip, Pastor Philip, when he was like, man, a lot of people, they hate the American church because today, the westernized church, because of a lot of people that's in it. He's telling the truth. But look at two extremes. You have people that are so loose, again, then you have people that are so strict. And so all of it, it just looks like to the world that, man, it's just, it's just bad. It's bad. So at the end of the day, regardless of how you feel or regardless of what you might be saying in the moment, like, it really comes down because a lot of us don't know how to hold tension. We don't know how to have conversations. We really don't know how to correct. We don't know how to have context. Right now I say the name Tim Ross. Um, Tim Ross used to be one of my favorite people because I'm one of the— I'm a person where, yes, there's people that I can follow. I love Pastor Brandon Clack. I love, uh, the teachings of Jackie Hill Perry. Um, I, I like them. Uh, I like Dr. Tony Evans. I like Pastor Skip. I, uh, like Pastor Greg Croshell. Like, but now it's like I sit up and I see videos where people are pulling up stuff from 4 or 5 years ago when it's like, man, let me pull up something from you 4 or 5 years ago. And what if I did a whole video around your era of your ways and then come to find out you done been repented for that, you can say I don't even hold that view anymore, but yeah, I'm doing a video to make a point. Like, that's, that's crazy, man. That I, like, listen, I've seen people do it. There's people that I've listened to and I've gotten messages, there's clips that I've put out, and I'm literally like, oh, you, you're supporting them, you, you're validating like what, what they're teaching and this, this and that. And I'm like, okay, man, like, just because you don't know how to hold tension I don't see this person intentionally trying to lead people astray. There are definitely some things I strongly disagree with, with that person, but the way they just communicated this, I— they life might be in opposition to the text. Now, I, I don't think it— I just think we just disagree on some things fundamentally. I do. Like, I just think we just fundamentally disagree on some things. Um, but they believe Jesus is God, they believe he's the only way, but they're like that— their application of the text but can I also, regardless of my disagreement with them, can I admit that they told the truth? I don't know everything about it. How do you know everybody that you look at or you walk with or you share, you study, is living it? Like, like, I mean, they could be as close to Matthew 7, and all of us can be deceived. But again, this is tension. So I can say, okay man, listen, now I'm not saying I will follow them per se, if I do know that to be found out. But right now, somebody can— I can— it could be— this is tension right here. There can be somebody that says something. Take Diddy. He is a popular name right now. Diddy can get up and speak truth, and most of the time this is where it will go, man. He ain't even repented, man. You see all this mess that he done, and all of that is true. It's very true. But two things can be true. Diddy cannot come into repentance Diddy can be whatever, evil, whatever you want to call him, like straight up. And based on just what I understand now, I, you know, it ain't nothing that I, I want to like even learn from him on anything like that. And just in the context of this, I shouldn't say learn, but like there's nothing that I just want to sit up and hear Diddy talk. But Diddy can get up and like say, he can say, man, God loves you, God is full of love, man. He's motivated by love. Okay, here's the tension. Is what he said true? Yes, he's true. Now, extremists— well, he's also a God of justice, he's also this. Okay, yes, he is. He's all those things. So he's slow to anger and all of that. But in the context of what he's saying, is it true? So I can say, man, you know what, did he look like he don't live none of what he's saying about this God? But also too, in the same breath, what he said is true. We don't know how to hold tension. And this is why it's the Bible and the Holy Spirit. Why do we separate them? It's thinking and feeling, it's teaching and experiences, it's completive and charismatic, it's biblical exegesis and it's words of prophecy. I could go on and on and on, but I was reading this in Pastor Tyler's book The kingdom of God is not either-or, it is a kingdom of God of both ends in the context of what I'm saying. And this is why I believe that again, we, we go to these major extremes. And so again, with Paul, to tie this all off, I just believe that Paul would have been labeled horribly today. I believe he would have been mislabeled. I believe he would have been taken out of so much because a lot of people wouldn't have understand the heart in the full biblical context of his ministry and what God called him to, the way this man maneuvered and the way he held tension. Now again, if your heart posture is to take this again like and use grace as a license to sin— because when I first used to hear that, I struggled with that when I started hearing the grace message. I used to be the one said, oh man, just people gonna do what they want to do. That's that. It was hard to hear. But also too, I had to mature and grow up because I'm like, really, it comes down to the disposition of someone's heart. If you take everything that I say and you just see the bad in it That's where your heart posture— I don't, I don't have time to always think of how things can be used. And so, no, no, so let me say this, like, I remember when I was preaching, uh, a few years ago at my dad's pastoral, my mom and dad, you know, I was like their 18th year. And I just not too long ago seen the clip. And before I opened that message, because I had an awareness that it was a lot of people there, it was my first time doing like a pastoral anniversary, and I wasn't— my dad, like, I never make it about him, but I was using just their leadership over the years to, you know, weave in and out of with the scripture because of the audience was there. It was a lot of people with all different— my dad pastor, uh, was there and his wife, Dr. Carl and Dr. Virginia. And I was nervous, man, because they are so theological sound, uh, and, and there's things that I'm sure, like, I probably wouldn't agree with them on certain things, um, like, and I'm pretty sure they can say the same about me, but this is not about that. And it's very rare, uh, that, you know, I'm not gonna get into that because like, man, they're just, they're so wise. And sometimes I have learned it, like, okay, they say something and I just gotta, you know, keep living. But the point that I'm trying to make is that, um, they're so wise. And I was nervous, like, like I was used to be like that with my dad. But it's like before I opened up and I went into it, the Holy Spirit had just prompt me to, hey, you're about to go into talking about what faithful pastoral leadership looks like, so I want you to address the tension with not making light of the word. Basically, I put in your heart, but I also want you to address the situation that there has been a lot of abuse. And so I need you to address that so people can really focus in on what you're about to teach here. Biblically of what shepherding looks like, what faithful and true biblical shepherding, uh, looks like according to the scripture. Because there are some people here that have been abused, that have been mishandled, and when they hear this message, all they're going to do is see it through the lens of what has happened to them. So I need you to— so God allowed me, like, in real time— that wasn't in my notes when I got up there, because I do strive to truly submit. So I hit it And literally, like, I kid you not, right after that message, it was another person there that's— that was just— that was very studious and, you know, of the word. And I learned a lot from them. And they literally, in so many words, approached me and they say, man, that was so much wisdom in how you navigated that. And I was like, man, that was really just yielding to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Um, because he was like, man, I was kind of— some people I knew that he's seen, and he was like, man, you know, pastoral message in the context of talking about pastoral leadership faithfulness, like all they're gonna do is just like point out everything that why you're wrong and why you need to be careful. But he was like, man, God really used you to disarm that. I give God all the glory, but that was like a defining moment where God really started to put address intention, uh, on my heart. And so again, man, remain teachable, uh, always have a teachable spirit, uh, you know, be coachable in this proper context, but at the same time stand on what you know. There are certain things, man, that people try to push their personal convictions and their preferences on us when it's really— that's what it is. There are certain things I'm like, oh man, I— oh, I wouldn't say that like that. But then I can't really say that it was bad. I've had these conversations with my dad, I've had them at work, I've had it with my wife. But the same thing can be said about me. Ah man, I don't know if I would say it like that. And sometimes I'm led to like correct it on the spot especially, you know, it didn't happen with teaching and preaching, it didn't happen with things in the secular, has nothing to do with— in this context, the gospel. It's just like, man, Tim, you know, maybe you need to think about this and the audience that you're talking to. I'm like, oh, okay, cool. And then there's things I'm like, okay, you know, I understand, yes, but I'm not doing it. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not convicted. I'm not doing that because I've had to learn how to distinguish what is correction and what is preference. And, and it gets muddy sometimes. Like, I'm not gonna lie to you, it's not always black and white. But what I'm saying is that also too, uh, it's a little bit harder for me when I see people that don't know how to hold tension well. I don't— I, I like— it's hard for me. I have to kind of work with it and really pray. And, uh, that's what I'm just seeing in this society. So with a lot of these YouTube videos is going up now, with so many ministries becoming popular Like, I hate it, man. I, I do think we should be holding people accountable, no lie. And I hate the people that are loosely using the gospel, I really do. But I just hate the extremes, uh, and maybe I should be using a, a different word than hate, but I just strongly like— I dislike— I don't like how we have to continue leaving to living extremes. And man, we don't know how to hold attention in the text, and we're literally losing people. Uh, we are, and we're really just teaching people through our experiences versus like pointing them truly to, yes, the Bible, but pointing people to the Holy Spirit, where even the Holy Spirit himself draws people back to Jesus. Look, this thing is all about God, man. It's, it's all about God. And so I just want to say, like, with this episode Uh, man, just really think about that. You do the work. And again, look through the Psalms, look through the Gospels, and respect the gray areas, uh, of the text. My closing: we write Judas off, you know. We sit up there and say, 'Oh, I would have never done that if I was Judas.' And we don't look at the tension. We just all— we talk about just, 'Yeah, Judas, this, he was, he was this, he was that.' And he was. He, he did everything that the Bible say he does. But Have you ever considered, uh, the areas that, uh, you have sold God for far less? Can you hold that tension when you know you weren't supposed to be fornicating, but you sold God out because you wanted that thang thang more than you wanted to submit to Jesus? You, you wanted to cheat on your spouse more than you want to be faithful to your marriage and what God called you to. You wanted to get drunk over submitting to the Lord and saying, no, you don't, you don't need to have those drinks. Like, you wanted to snap off and pop off at the mouth when the Holy Spirit was saying, I want you to submit to me and model me so you can win this person over. But you're so headstrong that you didn't know how to hold the tension of like, no, I want you to submit. The world gonna look like you're getting punked, but I'm, I'm trying to, uh, God is saying through you, I want to win a soul over. Like, man, I can go on and on. So like, I'm just— I'ma tell it what it is, man. Like, we gotta grow up, we gotta mature. Now, I am not saying I am perfect in this area. Trust me, your boy is still growing, he's still maturing. Um, but we have to learn how to hold tension. Two things can be true. This has nothing to do with the Bible, like, in the context of like, well, no, no, it can't because it's a contradiction. No. Two things can be true in this proper context. Two things can be true. Going back to the Diddy example, and I'll be done, or somebody like him, they can be full of hell and they can also say the truth. Aren't— in that context, aren't both things true? So stop with all of this, no, no, no, it can't, no, no, it can't, yeah, not, not according to the Bible. I can— at that point, I can be like, oh, okay. Like, all right, I'm just— I'm not really going to engage. And that's what I'm learning. I used to debate, man. I used to really, really debate, and sometimes I get caught up into it. But now I'm just like, all right, cool, okay, and I'm done with it. I'm done with it, man. So I love you all, man. I— if this episode touches you, like, man, please rock it. This is a bonus episode, but God has really— this has been on my heart for a long time. Uh, because of how I'm just learning to navigate. And it's really just even talking and laying this out is really forcing me to just ask God's information to grow up, man, because I want to model Christ. I want to model the things that Paul did, and I just want to make sure that I'm healed, I'm healthy, and I'm— I can fully live in that submission to again not contradict Christ, but to be so free but at the same time so sound that, man, it's just like, how do you move like that? How? How? Yes, people are going to hate me. Yes, there are people going to be like, ah, is this and that. But I'm like, man, I want to be effective. I want to be effective in the kingdom of God. So yes, I believe Paul was well hated, but I believe he was well liked by a lot of people. So you can miss me with all of that because a lot of us don't have the ability to hold tension. Um, in, in, in our heads, in our space, in the text. So, man, love you all. Be blessed. I know this was a long episode. I'm going to get back to the shorter ones like my boy Ryan Leak, uh, does. He's not literally my boy, but because I follow him so much and read this stuff, I just— I'm gonna get back to kind of following that format. But y'all be blessed, man. Praying for y'all, uh, man, to get into that word. Love you all. Hey, what's up?

I want to thank you for taking the time to listen to the Student Life Podcast today. If this content has impacted you in any kind of way, please take some time to share it on your social media feeds. And also, if you want to connect with me or just learn more about me, go over to www.timothypratt.org. Once again, thanks.