EP 19: SCC Savor, Month 5, Days 7-13

Allen, Jeramie, Teddy: Well, welcome back to the S.C.C. Saver podcast where we're savoring God through every bite of scripture. As always, one of your co-hosts, Alan Pastole Prentice of St. Anneville Community Church. I'm looking at two wonderful gentlemen across from me or at least one at least. We'll let the people choose. Let the people decide. Choose this day whom you would decide is attractive. No, I'm kidding. So what are you guys' names? My name is Jeremy Rooney. I'm Teddy Fulkertz. He's the associate pastor of Sanibel Community Church. Yeah, that's right. The AP. AP in the house. Jeremy, you, speaking of pastory things, you just got back from something. Your soul seems refreshed. At least I think from our staff meetings and things, you seem refreshed. That's good. Yeah. Yeah. I was away at a... pastors gathering and then I came back and then got on a plane again and went to see our youngest son Jack graduate ⁓ from college. So it was a great weekend. I find that one of the most refreshing things for me is when I take time off is to go somewhere else. I don't know why it is, but staycations don't refresh me the way going someplace does. It's like my brain can think differently ⁓ when I travel, even if it's not a big like you know, huge epic trip, just going somewhere else helps. Yeah, that's great. Maybe, could you just maybe draw a connection, ⁓ rest, vacation in the believer's life, just like very briefly, like how should we as Christians who love Jesus, love our church members, know the necessity of being in the body, being refreshed, encouraged, also how can we think about vacationing well and breaks? Yeah, I think for those who are working, ⁓ you know, to the extent you can take rest, you should. I mean, we are limited. We are frail. We have ⁓ certain capacities. And I think one of things that I didn't really think about when I was younger is how much I need to rest and how good it is for my soul. You know, I just think like the sabbatical last summer was so refreshing and transformative for me. ⁓ I actually had several people have come up to me and asked if I'm taking one this summer. And when I said no, they were mad. They were like, you should. And I was like, well, you should write angry letters to the elders demanding a sabbatical. Did they want you to take a sabbatical so I could preach more? ⁓ You know what? I didn't drill into that. That could actually be it. That's great. No, but anyway, rest is important in the Christian life. And, ⁓ you know, if you don't rest, then like it catches up with you and God reminds you, you're just a creature. It's great. You have to rest. Yeah, that's great. Well, I'm glad that you are encouraged. And I think what's really cool, what I've experienced from just being under your guys' leadership, teaching, shepherding, it's like, hey, one of the best things ministers can do is to invest in their soul and get close with God. Yeah. Because out of that is your ministry. And so, I mean, that's kind of we'll talk about a little bit Paul in 2 Corinthians, but it's like, hey, the more in touch with God to, you know, lack of better term. The better the ministry is and we all benefit from it. I mean you can only give what you got. That's You can't pour if you're empty cup. you're empty, yeah. What are you gonna give? Hey, pray for your pastors. We ought to pray for our pastors. They will be refreshed and strengthened. ⁓ Well, let's hop into our normal scheduled program ⁓ where we're talking about the Navigators Bible reading plan. This is month five, days seven through 13. you would have finished up 1 Samuel reading chapters 15 to 31 in the Psalms 101 through 106 in the Gospel of Mark 11, 27 through 13, 31 in 2 Corinthians 6 through 11. We have a lot of jam-packed action in the latter half of 1 Samuel here. Jeremy, what did we, what just happened? Like what just happened? It's like a whole like season of Netflix and you know for this whole of the movie called King David. You have both the rise of King David or the anointed the anointing and rise of David is not fully King yet and then you have the decline and deterioration and ultimate demise of King Saul. And what's interesting is that David is a He's anointed to be the next king, but this second half of Samuel is his suffering. He's persecuted. He's hunted. Saul tries to kill him twice. He's the rejected king in hiding, running around in the wilderness. As soon as he's anointed, there's an infamous Bible story, we all probably know it, but it kind of is maybe a little bit of a foreshadow. Kind of of the rest of the book and what would happen with the Davidic throne and this theme is like God chose him. He's anointed. He goes and fights this battle, right? With David and Goliath as you all know it. The Lord is his strength. He depends on him. He slays him, right? ⁓ And then he goes into suffering ⁓ shortly after that. But what is kind of the significance of David being anointed and then this story of David and Goliath and then why he kind of enters into some suffering kind of high level theological themes. What is this supposed to be indicating and telling us throughout this narrative? the significance, you're saying, of David being anointed, but then him not immediately stepping into that role? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, think it's just, ⁓ it shows David's complete submission to God and to God's plan. know, what a crazy scene it is, know, when he's hiding and he has multiple opportunities to kill Saul. Yeah, that's right. And then he says, you know what, I'm not going to do it because... because Saul was anointed by God. And so it just shows David, though he's going to be king, is ultimately under God's authority. Yeah. Yeah. So Saul tries to kill David twice and fails. David has two opportunities to kill Saul and refrains because he says, you know, this is God's king. I'm trusting in the Lord's timing. And so he continues to suffer and to wander. And really, I think that that ⁓ David is a foreshadowing of Jesus who is the son of David. And we see Jesus is anointed at his baptism, but he doesn't immediately take the throne. He wanders in the wilderness. He has to stay away from town sometimes because the Pharisees want to kill him. I mean, in some ways, he's just like David kind of wandering in the desert with his merry band of disciples. Yeah, that's interesting because... Teddy, just before this, mentioned, and I want you to draw down a little bit on this relationship of David and Jonathan, right? So also on Jonathan, David formed this friendship and he kind of, he really bonds with him, protects him. And like you said, Jesus suffers, has to avoid places, but he has his disciples kind of wandering around. David's kind of wandering around with Jonathan. What's kind of the significance of David and Jonathan's friendship, relationship? It's pretty cool. It's really, it's kind of heartwarming. to read, like, ⁓ this is really sweet. His dad wants to kill him, but he's like, no, I got you, brother. Yeah, I mean, for Jonathan's one of my favorite characters just because he, in this narrative, he's not the protagonist, right? We're looking at David, and David's kind of like that main character, the Davidic king, he's foreshadowing Christ. But then you have Jonathan, who's there to back him up, to encourage him. And there's... I don't know the reference, but there are a couple of times where Jonathan comes out to meet him and it just says, and Jonathan strengthened his hand in the Lord. And just that the role of brotherhood and friendship that brothers in Christ can play, think Jonathan really highlights where it's not about him, it's about his brother. And it especially, you know, is clarified and shines brighter when you think about the fact that really if Saul's king Jonathan is in line to take the throne. But instead he gives that up because he trusts the Lord and loves David. So Jonathan actually ends up accepting God's King. Yeah. In fact, there's that famous scene where he gives him his clothes, which is basically him saying, I give you the throne, and I'm making a covenant with you, and I'm swearing my allegiance to David as the king. which Saul picks up on and Saul's like, you you've abandoned me. So I think too then, Jonathan, if David is the picture of Christ, Jonathan is the picture of faith in Christ, of what it means to give yourself to follow the Lord. The suffering king. One thing I also just wanted to highlight, just to backtrack for one second with Saul, is I used to read this book all the time and I had to have a big soft spot for Saul. Because I'm like, all right, he's making sacrifices to the Lord, and then Samuel comes and blasts him, and then he's supposed to go kill these people, but he shows some mercy and doesn't kill this guy. And I'm like, wait, why is God punishing this dude for sacrificing to the Lord and for sparing this king's life? But it's that Saul is not worried about complete obedience to the Lord. And in a sense, even though Saul's king, he's perpetuating judges, in that he's the king, but he still does whatever's right in his own eyes. And now David is so concerned about doing what's right in the Lord's eyes, he's not going to harm Saul, and he's going to spend time in the wilderness even though he's the destined king. And Saul really is doing what he does because he lives in the fear of man. He offers the sacrifice before Samuel comes because the people are getting jittery. And he doesn't kill King Agag because, you know, he wants to keep the treasure for himself and to keep the men happy. And so he's compromising obedience to the Lord in order to please people. Yeah, we really kind of get the contrast in characters of where Saul ⁓ is his ignorance. I mean, his arrogance, haughtiness, rejection of his Yahweh's Lordship over his life and contrasted with Jonathan who would accept God's enthroned in Davidic. So we have kind of example not to follow and an example to follow. And he ends his story going to a witch, getting killed, getting his head and chopped off and hung on a wall. he's, you know, he's the cursed king. He's the ultimate cursed king. other words, David is the blessed king. And that's the curse of God where like he's having his last dinner, you know, with a witch and he ends up beheaded on a wall. Yeah, like so that there's his trajectory. Yeah ends in judgment and ruin help draw connections for our listeners here What does kind of this story of David and and and Saul? What does it demand of us to respond? Hmm? What are what are we to follow? What do we not follow today? How do we kind of learn? do we learn from this book? I'm like a high level I mean, I think them, you know, the number one takeaway is is that we need to stand with the crucified Christ ⁓ in a world that tells us that we need to hold on to our power, hold on, you know, grab everything, hold on to your truth. It's, you know, it's all about the self. And it's like, no, like Jonathan, we need to cast our lot with Jesus who appears to be weak, frail, despised in the world's eyes. And we need to, that's the kingdom we need to invest in. The kingdom of the crucified risen Christ. Yeah, that's good. Yeah taking a stand with Jesus with the crucified King. Yeah, that's Psalms I think we did we landed on the same song as we did we did 103 Yeah This song I could just kind of briefly what I wrote down in my journal notes as I was just reading this a Lot of time so what something that I tried to I think I mentioned this one of the episodes is I just pray through Psalm every single morning So when I'm reading the Psalms in this plan, it's I'm essentially just praying through all the Psalms And they are prayers. They are prayers their prayers. That's right pray the Psalms ⁓ If one of the things that struck me about this song was just the promises of God ⁓ So he forgives all iniquity. He heals diseases. He's the Redeemer. He crowns me with steadfast love and mercy He satisfies with good he works righteousness and justice for the oppressed. He's merciful and gracious slow to anger He's abounding at steadfast love. ⁓ yeah, and then like the conclusion kind of 10 through 12 years like greatest comfort is that he does not deal with us according to our sins or pay us according to our Iniquities his love is greater than I ever could imagine because the heavens are above the earth as far as the East is from the West is his Transgression is removed from me and it just brought me to a place of worship adoration on my knees that the Lord is not dealing with me according to my sins ⁓ The song although my sins are many his mercy is more And just comfort for the soul. would happen if God dealt with us according to as our sins deserve? I don't even want to think about it. Yeah. I mean, I just think of like my life and how blessed it's been. Yeah. And even like the people who reject Christ for now, God is not treating them as their sins deserve. Sure. People are living their best life now and they don't believe in God. And it's being so kind. But if he, you know, I guess that's what hell is. Hell is. treating us as our sins deserve. We've committed an eternal offense against an eternally glorious God. And so to be repaid for that is an eternal judgment. ⁓ So yeah, I mean, the fact that Christ died for my sins, that Jesus was treated on the cross as my sins deserve, and I'm being treated as Christ deserves. be ⁓ a beloved son and to be given an eternal inheritance. It's just the most astounding thing. And I love the response at the end which is bless him, bless him, bless him, bless him in every place, bless every person from the greatest to the least, bless him for what he's done for us. Great. It's gospel of Mark the gospel of Mark. We're in that final Yeah, that final passion week that all three of the synoptics end with some of the similar by synoptics Yeah, so it's like what do you mean by that? Those are yeah, sorry that's Matthew mark and Luke mm-hmm and sin means with optics is Like your view so it's a they have a similar view. Yeah, so in other words when you read Matthew mark and Luke you'll you'll notice There's similar stories. Not identical, but there's a lot of the same structure to it versus the Gospel of John, which is rather unique. ⁓ We talked about actually last episode, it's kind like a stained glass window. The these three gospels where the light hits it different and makes the light look different, but it's just shining on different elements of who Jesus is. So it's like Jesus is the stained glass window and the light in the gospels are different lights that shine on who he is recorded, though, but gives us the same picture. That's really good. Yeah. So in Mark. Again, we're kind of coming again to the close here. ⁓ And we have some pretty like interesting story is kind of we get this. There's some foreshadowing here. Jesus is speaking and teaching to the Sadducees ⁓ into Sadducees. They're actually asking about the resurrection ⁓ because the Sadducees is this group. We've got the Pharisees, scribes, Sadducees, some of the religious ⁓ sects of the day. And the Sadducees actually infamously. deny the resurrection of Christ. And so that's why they're actually asking about the resurrection of Christ. And he has this encounter with him that's pretty interesting that concludes. ⁓ One of you maybe want to comment on this interaction between the Sadducees and Jesus about the resurrection? Yeah, I mean, he just, he judo's them. They think they've got him pinned down. And that's one of the things on all of these interactions is that these different groups come, the Sadducees, the scribes, the Pharisees, they think they have Him pinned down. He gives them the right interpretation of God's Word. So, you know, they don't understand the Scriptures, so He explains the Scriptures. And really, I think that's kind of the theme of this whole section, is the kind of undoing of the religious ⁓ establishment. And Jesus... asserting himself as the true ⁓ teacher, the true, you know, Messiah, and exerting his authority over them, which brings judgment to them. I mean, in some ways, it's like King David, right? David was rejected by Saul, and so Jesus is rejected by the authorities and the rulers of his day. And he's the one who's about to be crucified. He's the one who's about to suffer and then rise again on the third day. So, I think a lot of this section is that conflict where he's being rejected and yet he's in the end going to win out and they're going to be cursed. Just like Saul was the cursed king. You know, the temple is cursed, chapter 13. The scribes and the Pharisees are going to receive, you know, a harsher judgment. The Sadducees are going to be judged. yeah, what do we make of, ⁓ like I said, there's this kind of this judgment What is the parable of the the tenants and you get Jesus kind of correct in them? It's pretty stark ⁓ response. He goes, have you never read this scripture, which is their significance because they know the scriptures and he goes, have you never read that the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone? This was the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. What does that mean? Because he's clearly challenging people who know the scriptures. ⁓ What does it mean that he's become the cornerstone? I mean, the stone that the builders rejected, I think, I was just reading Romans 9 the other day, the same saying is there, but Romans 9 says something along the lines that, ⁓ the Israelites, they were pursuing the law as if obedience to the law could justify them instead of ⁓ pursuing the law through faith. And it's just that all these scribes, all these Pharisees, they're seeking to ⁓ to justify themselves or to win themselves into heaven or whatever they conceive as ⁓ power or spiritual life. And just that the idea that you have to give up yourself and receive instead of earn and deserve is the stumbling block. That's great. Yeah, the stone and the stone is Jesus. Right. And he's the rejected stone, ⁓ just as King David was rejected by King Saul. So he's the rejected stone, but he's the one that's going to be the cornerstone for actually the new temple. And I think that's the irony here is that in chapter 13, Jesus is saying that the temple will not ⁓ stand. know, chapter 13 verse 1, the disciples are like, wow, look at the temple, look at these massive stones. And Jesus says, you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another. So the temple in Jerusalem is finished. But that's okay, because God is going to build a new temple of which Jesus is the cornerstone of the new temple. But it's not a temple in Jerusalem. It's the living temple of all who commit themselves, like Jonathan did, to Jesus, who's the true Messiah, the true cornerstone. And so God is tearing down the structure in Jerusalem and He's rebuilding it around Christ. That's good. Restructuring and rebuilding around Christ. Yeah, as the cornerstone. But it's going to be torn down just as Saul was cursed. So the whole thing is cursed now, but now Jesus is the new cornerstone. So what identifies you then as belonging to the people of God is not Jewishness or gentleness. Jesusness. It's like, you have faith in Jesus as the King and the Messiah? Are you built on Him as the cornerstone? Yeah, that's great. I think that's kind of highlighted too in the middle of 12 when that one scribe comes in and asks him the question about, you know, the greatest commandment and such, and that Jesus flips it around on him and he says, you're right, teacher, you've truly said that He is one and there's no one besides Him. And to love Him with all your heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength and to love one's neighbor as oneself. is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. And so that's the point Jesus is getting at too, is just that like this whole system is being upended for love for God in Christ. Yeah. It was never about the system. It was about love for God, which is why he kind of restructures it around himself. It's like, do you love Jesus and do you love the people whom I love? Yeah, that's great. And it's interesting. Jesus says to the guy, you're not far from the kingdom. Yeah. So that is interesting. Yeah, he's like, he's understanding that it's love for God is more important than sacrifices. He just has to make that final step and saying in Christ, in Christ. Yeah. It's like he's so close. Yeah, that's great. ⁓ And kind of just as you're reading kind of to frame out just a little bit of ⁓ as you can finish the gospel of Mark, we get, you know, kind of the signs of the end and end age ⁓ again, this overturning restructuring. And then, of course, ⁓ we'll start to see Jesus as final rejection ⁓ by Judas betrayed. And then we get his death and resurrection, of course, in the end, ⁓ which is the greatest hope in kind of the climax. So now we're at like the climax of the conflict. And then the resolution, of course, will be Christ resurrection in this story, which it's all pointing to. That's all of what Salvation History is really pointing to is this moment where everything turned on Christ. And then now it looks towards the end. And as we look towards the end, we have one of Paul's letters that we've been looking at that's kind of in light of this life, death and resurrection of Christ, rejection of Christ and others. Paul is up against some of those opponents a little bit. Jesus has had opponents. We have opponents. If you're in Christ, you're guaranteed to have an opponent. And so we get this this framework with Paul, with him being a possible and then these so-called super apostles and there's kind of some conflict in 2nd Corinthians here. So 2nd Corinthians 6 through 11 here. You guys want to jump in, kind of comment on what's going on here. Yeah, I mean, I think one thing to keep in mind here with 2 Corinthians is what Alan said is that he's facing rejection from this church. But the reason he's facing rejection is because of these so-called super apostles. So he's having to simultaneously defend himself and ⁓ teach what he's seeking for them to learn and gain. So he's defending himself against Corinthians who might be swayed by these super apostles, and then he's also trying to teach and exhort those who ultimately stand with him and ultimately with Christ. And so think one, you know, it can sometimes be troublesome to see who he's talking to, but I think like, you know, for example, I know we want to talk about chapter 8. Chapter 8, he's talking about giving, and he's kind of like exhorting them and encouraging them to do something. So I think there, like, we got a picture of him talking to faithful Christians, but then he transitions pretty sharply in Chapter 9 and 10 to defending himself against those who would think he's insufficient, and pretty viciously so, eventually. Yeah, and you know what's interesting about that is that one of the things that the super apostles are picking at in trying to discredit Paul is the fact that he seems weak and suffering. Which again, is kind of this theme in the readings this week, which is, here's David, the persecuted, suffering king. Here's Jesus, the stone the builders reject. Here's Paul, who's bringing the true gospel, but in the eyes of the world, in the eyes of kind of the, you know, the way you'd think of someone who is an important leader in Corinthians, Paul doesn't measure that. In fact, one of the most famous sections is chapter 11 verses 24 to 33, where he lists his sufferings as an apostle. And just go back and read that, know, five times the 40 lashes minus one, three times beaten with rods, once stoned, and he goes down through all of his sufferings. And again, here's Paul, but he's not coming off as like a Marvel superhero. He's coming off as like like Jesus, like David, he's suffering, he's traveling from place to place like Jesus and David did, all for the sake of the gospel. And so, you know, now the Corinthians have to decide, will they stand with all or will they go with the ones who seem to have power in the world's eyes, the super apostles? You know, will they be like Jonathan? Will they stand with the suffering David in the wilderness? Yeah. Where will we stand? You know, which gospel will we hold on to? Yeah. the gospel that calls us to suffer with Christ and to be rejected by the world or the gospel that fits in with the world system and its values. Yeah, that's great. ⁓ Let's shift gears just a little bit so we kind of framed out that ⁓ giving. We've got this kind of section, which is Paul's ministry, right? He's an apostle. He's going strengthening churches, planting churches, raising up elders. ⁓ And we have this kind of section in 9 where infamously, probably most people know this language, for God loves a cheerful giver. Right? So what is this idea of a cheerful giver and why does Paul ⁓ talk about a cheerful giver or in giving? Yeah, I mean, it's easy to give grudgingly. I mean, what negative stereotypes do people have of church? You know, I'm going to go to church. And they ask someone like, why don't you go to church? Well, they always ask for my money. Yeah, and so there's the stereotype that church is always after money. And there are churches like that. And in fact, some of them have turned into a theology that it's like, if you give money, you will get blessed. And sometimes this is a passage they... sort of twist around like that. And it grieves God because in the same way Jesus went in and rejected the temple in turn over tables because they turned it into a storehouse ⁓ or a place where they were doing trade and sale. And so in the same way, yeah, it grieves God. But that's not the intent. There's a good side of it, which is maybe Teddy, what is the good side of a cheerful giver? the good side of a cheerful giver. I mean, I always just think like that's one of ways the Lord like challenges the people in the Old Testament. He's like, you can never out give me, like, and I'll bless you for it. Right. Those blessings don't come in the way that the health, and prosperity gospel would tell us, but that when we give like that, it's so good for our soul. And like Jeremy likes to say, like, it's like sending it ahead of you. Right. You can't keep that money. You can't store it up for yourself. But but you can send it ahead of you. Yeah, I think one of the things it's like, yeah, the verse talks about giving as he's decided in his heart. And I think who's it? I don't remember one of our brothers. I don't remember who it was. Maybe. Oh, maybe it was Mike Beegler. He's like, what shifted for me when I recognized that everything I had was God's anyway. Yeah. It's like I'm just giving back to God what's already his. Yeah. To highlight that, too, in in eleven when he's kind of blasting away against false teachers and such. in chapter 11 verse 8, he said, robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. Right? And he's like, you owe, as Christians, as recipients of the gospel, we owe our money. Right? He's not putting a number on it. You don't have to give 10%. He said, be a cheerful giver, be a generous giver. But if you don't, that's robbery because that money ain't yours. Yeah, when he was planting the church in Corinth, other churches were supporting him. And now he's like, hey guys, I'm here trying to collect money for the church in Jerusalem that's hurting. Like guys, like be a part of the cheerfulness. And I think it really, again, giving for the Christian has to flow out of the gospel. It's that we're so thankful for what Christ has done for us. We're so filled up with the love of God that it... just as God's grace has overflowed to us, so when we're filled with His grace, it should overflow, whether that's encouragement, giving, service. It's one of the five currents that we talk about here at San Diego Community Church, which is sacrifice yourself, current number two. But it comes out of Savor God, which is the name of this podcast, the SEC Savor. We savor what God has done for us in Christ, and then it causes us... cheerfully to give as an overflow, as an act of self-sacrifice. So when we hold on tightly to our money and don't do that, we're not just robbing God and others, we're actually robbing ourselves of that joy and of that cheer. Because when we give sacrificially, it's because of savoring God, but then it's like a loop that cycles us right back to savoring God all over again. That's great. How might you encourage maybe one of our brothers or sisters or someone who's listening on this and they're like, I'm not cheerful when I give. It feels more like a duty, like an obligation. Like I just, I need to do it. How would you encourage that brother, that sister to kind of adopt this cheerful giving attitude? Because that's what's clear here. God loves a cheerful giver. You decide in your heart. It's supposed to be a joy to give of our money. think always, you know, the advice I give in that situation is is obey. Follow what Christ says and your heart is eventually going to catch up to it. And it's just like giving to the Lord, but also it's like giving someone else a gift. You'd be like, when you're buying it, when you're doing it, I'd really rather have this thing. But then eventually, it's like when you give it to that person or you see the joy that it brings them, then it's going to well up in your heart. And so, with obedience, the Spirit's working in us, the Spirit's changing us, and that if we obey and give, then the Lord is going to bless that in our heart. And I think, like Teddy said, thinking about the joys of giving and that you also miss if you don't give. So, the joy of, wow, my money... instead of going to buy, you know, another dinner or something to feed me, and then I'll forget about it. Like, this money could actually go to a gospel worker who's going to be able to, you know, preach the gospel to someone else, and, you know, maybe a missionary, maybe a church. And then, you know, when I get to heaven someday, I'm never going to remember like that extra dinner at Trader's, but there's going to be people who've come to know Christ and who are growing in their faith. and we'll get to see the fruit of that to the glory of God. again, it's really giving is Thanksgiving. Giving is Thanksgiving. We give because we're so thankful what Christ has done for us and we're looking forward to the joy of the future eternal payoff. I mean, it's the best way to invest your money. Like whatever stocks or real estate you invest your money in in this world, it's like Ecclesiastes, it's ultimately vanity. But you can't take it with you, but you can send it ahead of you. And I think we store up treasures in heaven when we give to the work of the Lord. And giving, it's an act of faith. ⁓ It is an act of faith that the Lord will provide for my needs as he deems so. And ⁓ just like Jeremy said, you're not taking anything with you. And just that it takes faith to say, I don't need this money. It does. how do you handle giving? How do you and approach giving? ⁓ So we've done, we've always used 10 % as a baseline and we're, and you know, right or wrong, 10%, we give that to the church. But then we want to use our money ⁓ for generosity. so beyond that, we, you know, budget for hospitality and then also for, you know, different times when, when, people need something then, then we give. But, but for sure throughout seminary, there were different times when We didn't have enough money. And so my prior pastor gave us the counsel of, hey, like give generously, but don't give to the point where you are needing other people to support you. And so at different points, that's fluctuated. that's where we're at right now. Yeah. Yeah. Jennifer and I use 10 % as well. So we give 10 % off the top to the church, you know, from my salary, from investments. You know, so end of the year when we look at like, you know, our, you know, what, what our capital, if there have been capital gains, if there have been things like that, then we, you know, give 10 % from that. and, ⁓ and then like you said, that's just our baseline and then over and above, know, live generously, live, generous. That's right. That's right. Yeah. Living open-handedly, you know, it's, it could be the small thing. just like, Hey, going out to lunch, someone like, I'll get that for you. or just whatever, just being free with your life and your possessions. And I think this is a good passage too for giving generously, but like you and I both just said, to the church, right? It's not just like live generously for Christians everywhere, which is good, but it's that we ought to use our money specifically for the local church here. Which in turn though, blesses Christians everywhere. Just think about what are we 17 % that goes to our missions budget? Yeah. Yeah. Like there you guys as you're giving faithfully and our church is so generous with this. It's so encouraging. We have such a generous church. It's amazing. Yeah. It goes out to the ends of the world. Gospel seeds that you'll see in heaven one day. You don't even see the benefit and the reward of your act of faith of giving. Yeah, that's great. But I do think, you know, Teddy's right, our first obligation. And this may sound weird because you're like, well, of course you're going to see that. You're the senior pastor whose paycheck is coming from these people's gifts. That's right. But I mean, you know, I believe this before I was a pastor and I will continue to believe this after I'm a pastor receiving a paycheck from the church. My first obligation is to support my local church. And I use 10 percent as my rule of thumb for that. Yeah. And again, I don't think that's a rule. You have to give 10 percent. But a lot of Christians continue to use it. Yeah. I've used it. mean, and I guess because that's what was grounded in the Old Testament. Yeah, it's not just some. ⁓ it's not a random. Yeah, it's not random. ⁓ And for those of us who are math challenged, it's it's easy to do. Move the decimal point. One point. But yeah, just would encourage people to think about that. And, know, and I think I have met Christians who give, but they tend to give to like their pet ⁓ nonprofits or ministries, which is OK. But it's like your church is your I mean, you think about, like, we don't go to a restaurant and like use their facility and eat their food and, you know, make them pay for overhead, but not pay. it's like, you know, and this is where I'm fed. This is where I'm ministered to. So I think you start there, but anyway, I'll get off that hobby horse. Jesus established the church. It's His plan. It's his plan. It's the new temple that's being built. Like nothing that you guys had just said was your idea, which is like the cool part. It's like, this is Jesus's idea. This is the apostle Paul's idea. Yeah. So, you know, we just want to be biblical, faithful Christians and we get to we get to do that. We'd be rapidly losing listeners if it was just Jeremy. That's right. We've got actually we actually are gaining. What's that? Or you could gaining. Yeah, but that'd be probably the. It's great any closing comments for beloved Lovey Church Lovey Church love Teddy being on this Teddy's definitely a game. I think I've got a face for radio He's got a radio face yeah, Teddy Teddy has boyish charm that just exudes out. so good. Don't you think? Oh yeah. Boy, you're so feel about that. Yeah, that's right. Well, I mean, I'm wide open here. You can be like, have like old man charm. You have New England charm. Yeah, that's right. You know, I will say this though. I mean, how old are you, Teddy? How old am I? 32? 32. I think you have... all jokes aside, I think you have wisdom beyond your years. And I think you did before. my boyish years. ⁓ It's just you're like, you just, you know, you just got it great. But I think you have wisdom beyond your years. And I think you did, but I also think the Lord has brought you through so much suffering in the last three years that not only did you have wisdom before that, but I think the Lord has been like fast tracking you with wisdom for leadership and pastoral ministry. You know, I mean, here you are, you're pastoring a church of like with a lot of senior Christians who are going through hard things. And it's like, well, what do you know about going through hard things? Tay's like, well, let me tell you. So I think I feel like God is just equipping you. ⁓ Not that you were really lacking before, like you're just God's got you on a training program. Yeah, he does. I would double down on that in the short time that I've known you. Wisdom beyond your years. Yeah. It's great. Well, praise God. We love you church and keep reading. Keep pressing on. God is growing you. This has been another episode of the SEC Saver podcast. We got our savory brother Teddy, our wise man Jeremy in our young bull Alan. Young bull. Yeah, that's what my family calls me a bull in a china shop. Young bull. No, not young boy, but just a bull in a china shop. Yeah. Yeah. I'm just kind of a bit. Yeah. You know, kind of football, you know. Running back. But you're not like a find the holes like you're just to make the hole right? that's how you ran the ball. That was how I ran the ball. Just run at it. Yeah, that's great. Well, we love you. Apple, YouTube, Spotify. Do it. Share with your friends.