Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 981 | “Doubt Your Doubts:” Resisting the Lies of Deconstruction | Guest: Paul Pitts III

Episode Date: April 8, 2024

Today, we're sitting down with Paul Pitts III, preacher and director of spiritual life at the Village Christian School in Los Angeles. Paul explains his personal testimony, how he began to come to the Lord in the sixth grade, and how family, church, and reading Scripture played important roles in his faith journey. He shares how the trajectory of his life changed from his goal of playing in the NFL to eventually attending seminary. We also discuss the authority and power of Scripture, dealing with doubts and temptations, the definition of "saints," the power of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, and more. --- Timecodes: (01:40) Paul's testimony / NFL & pastoral dreams (06:30) Masters Seminary (09:50) Pastoral ministry / good churches (27:30) Doubts and temptations (48:11) Saints & Catholicism (58:10) Praying to Saints --- Today's Sponsors: We Heart Nutrition — nourish your body with research-backed ingredients in your vitamins at WeHeartNutrition.com and use promo code ALLIE for 20% off. Jase Medical — get up to a year’s worth of many of your prescription medications delivered in advance. Go to JaseMedical.com today and use promo code “ALLIE". Covenant Eyes — protect you and your family from the things you shouldn't be looking at online. Go to coveyes.com/ALLIE to try it FREE for 30 days! Balance of Nature — Balance of Nature's proprietary blend of 31 fruits and vegetables come in easy to swallow capsules to give your body the nourishment it needs. Go to BalanceofNature.com and use code ALLIE for 35% off. --- Relevant Episodes: Ep 416 | Once Saved, Always Saved? Q&A https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/relatable-with-allie-beth-stuckey/id1359249098?i=1000520439147 Ep 137 | 5 Solas https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/relatable-with-allie-beth-stuckey/id1359249098?i=1000444489645 Ep 672 | Should Catholics & Protestants Get Married? | Q&A https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-672-should-catholics-protestants-get-married-q-a/id1359249098?i=1000578450694 --- Buy Allie's book, You're Not Enough (& That's Okay): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love: https://alliebethstuckey.com/book Relatable merchandise – use promo code 'ALLIE10' for a discount: https://shop.blazemedia.com/collections/allie-stuckey

Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort.

We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. How do we deal with our doubts? How do we find a healthy, faithful church? Where do we start if we're wanting to learn theology and dig into the Bible for the first time? Also, should we be praying to saints? What are saints? According to God's word, we have an amazing and incredibly encouraging conversation for you today. I personally was so uplifted and I learned so much from our guest today. It's preacher Paul Pitts, and he's got so much insight and so much wisdom. As you hear him talk,

you can tell that he is a natural-born preacher that the Lord is using to advance his kingdom. You are going to be praising God throughout this conversation. I can't wait for you to hear it. This episode is brought to you by our friends at Good Ranchers. Go to Good Ranchers.com. Use Code Alley at checkout. That's goodranchors.com. Code Allie. Paul, thanks so much for taking the time to join us. Glad to be here. It's a privilege. Who you are and what you do?

Yes. So my name is Paul Pitts, the third. I am a Christian, a disciple whom Jesus loves. Most grateful for that, a husband to my wife, Cassidy, a father, to my son, Paul the 4th. But I am a doctoral student at the Master's Seminary in the Doctor of Ministry program, along with a director of spiritual life or a Christian school in Los Angeles. Okay. And were you raised a Christian?

Yes, yes. I think my testimony is a lot like Timothy in the Bible. You read in 2 Timothy of Lois and Eunice, his mother and grandmother, who were very influential in his childhood. In 2 Timothy 3, Paul says that he was well acquainted with the scriptures, which made him wise for salvation. And from a young age, my parents were. faithful to raise us, pointing us to the Lord. My mom was a consistent just woman of God before us, praying with us, pointing us to Christ, being intentional with His Word. And it was in the sixth grade that I began to see my dad pray and read the Bible in a way that I wasn't seeing before for various reasons. And as I would walk to school after seeing that, I remember thinking, if my dad needs God, I know I do. And I know it was through my parents' influence, going to church week by week, hearing the gospel preach that God was drawing my heart.

And I started reading the Bible. I said I need to start reading the Bible. And through reading the gospel of Matthew in conjunction with hearing the gospel preached at church, the spirit, definitely opened my heart and I received Christ in the sixth grade. I loved what you said, that you saw that if your dad needs God, then you know that you do too. And I wonder if that's what it is, why the father, when it comes to the spiritual direction of a family, is so formative. I mean, he's just crucial. If the dad is going to church, the data shows that the rest of the family is going to follow, I mean, a godly mom is wonderful, but she doesn't have the exact same effect as a godly father.

does. And I just wonder if a lot of it is what you just said, that if this big, strong man, if he needs Christ and he is on his knees praying to God, then, wow, everyone else needs God, too. Yeah, to see the picture of manhood, this superhero to me on his knees praying, opening the word of God, which says, I'm not self-sufficient. I need the revelation of God. I need the wisdom of God. I need to commune with God. I need to commune with God. I need. I need to commune. need a savior. It was so obvious to me at that point. I need Christ. And the Lord worked marvelously from there. And I'm grateful. And you played football in college. Yes. And when did you feel a call to go to seminary and be called in a ministry? Yeah, it's a great question. So I grew up only desiring

to play in the NFL. I really didn't think about careers beyond that. My junior year in high school, actually, I was helping my coach move. He said it'll take two hours, took like eight. because that's just how moving goes. Ended up meeting his father-in-law. He talked to all of my teammates that helped my coach move. And I don't even remember what we were talking about, but apparently he pointed to my chair after

and said that young man's going to be a preacher one day. And my coach's wife was like, my dad doesn't do stuff like that. They weren't that type of branch of Christianity, you could say. And I just remember laughing. Yeah. Like, there's no way. I am very influenced by my youth pastor, grateful for my faith, but the care of souls, handling God's word.

Even as a junior in high school, I understood the weight of pastoral ministry, and I felt so ill-equipped, so not ready, and I just wanted to go to the NFL. Yeah. So with that, went to San Diego State by God's grace, got a scholarship to play football, and first day of spring ball, my sophomore year, tore my ACL. So I've been playing football since I was eight. And then at 19, I'm told I won't be able to run for nine months, let alone play for the next year and a half. And in that season, when so much changed in my life, Jesus didn't change. Hebrews. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.

And his word was my anchor. Psalm 119 says, if it wasn't for your word, I would have perished in my affliction. And that's certainly my testimony in that season. And the local church I was a part of in that time was so supportive, so helpful. So it was in this season of relative suffering, 19 knee surgery, not able to play football, that I developed a deeper love for God's word, a deeper love for the local church. And as I delighted in the Lord in a rough season, he changed desires my heart and gave me the aspiration for gospel ministry. And it just became very clear post-San Diego State that I,

I need to handle the word of God properly. I had this MacArthur Study Bible. I wanted to be an expositional preacher, but knew that I wasn't close. So I applied to the Master's Seminary. And tell us about that experience. I mean, what did you learn there? I mean, I'm sure you can't distill it down to a minute or so.

Right. But if you could describe, like, the biggest thing that you took away from your experience in seminary, what would you say? my biggest learning point in seminary was definitely Mark 314 or 2nd Corinthians 113. Mark 314 is when Jesus was selecting his apostles in the gospel of Mark. But it says, and he chose his apostles, that they might be with him, then go out to preach, then go out to do ministry.

And 2 Corinthians 113 talks about how believers ought to have a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. Being at the Master's Seminary and naturally at Grace Community Church, because they're on the same campus, I was able to see up close and personal so many faithful pastors like Austin T. Duncan, like John MacArthur, like Nathan Boosnitz, like Paul Twiss, like Marksakov, just faithful men of God who were husbands, fathers, and professors who love the Lord and of the overflow of that love and commitment to His Word, they were examples to us and they taught us. So a sincere devotion to Christ was preeminent. I learned that you can't rightly handle the Word of God if you don't deeply know the God of the Word. Furthermore, just a love for the local church. There are tons of great seminaries across America, across the world, really. But it's so unique with Masters that it's on the campus of Grace Community Church,

and you're able to apply all that you're learning and see a majority of your professors pastoring, shepherding. And though Masters is known as the place where you go to be an expositor, to be an exeget and to rightly handle the Word of God, I certainly learned that, and I'm grateful for it, but I seen expositors who were shepherds. who care for the flock of God. And I'm so grateful for that. Yeah, there is a distinction between just being a good expositor and also being a shepherd. There's a difference between a preacher, which there is a place for that and a pastor, because the pastoral position is one of shepherding and caring for the flock.

And I think we lose that today when we have access to some of the best teachers, some of the best preachers, and they are very, very good at exeating God's word. Now, some are more motivational speakers, and we can talk about the difference in that. But I think it is kind of lost what the purpose of a pastor actually is in shepherding. So I'm wondering if you can talk about that a little bit more, because being a pastor really is more than just understanding and teaching the Word of God. Absolutely. When you just look at the qualifications for a pastor in 1st Timothy 3 and Titus 1, there's really only one skill laid forth, and that is rightly handling the Word of God, being able to teach and also to refute false doctrine and to teach sound doctrine. But besides that, it's character.

It's being above reproach, the husband of one wife, and rightly caring for your home, because if you don't rightly care for your home, how will you care for God's church? How will you shepherd the church? In 1 Peter 5, it's not so much a qualifications type text, but Peter is speaking to shepherds and how they ought to be there willingly, not under compulsion, and to be amongst the flock, and to care for the flock. And this is Peter, the one who denied Christ and in John 21 was restored by Christ. And when he was restored, Jesus asked him, do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? And when Peter answered in the affirmative, Jesus told them, feed my sheep, tend my lambs, care for the sheep that I died for.

So we need to be preachers. We need to cut it straight to rightly handle the word of truth. But we need to be pastors, to shepherd God's people, to care for their souls. And even to be a shepherd in the pulpit, which I think shows up. most in application. When you know your people, the members of your church, and you know what's going on in their life, it's not just randomly interpreting a text, illustrating a text, and then applying a text, but it's thinking about the one lady who is going through a particular trial that directly applies to this text. And you're not speaking directly to her, because you're

speaking to the congregation, but you are speaking for her in that moment. It's preaching with a knowledge of the flock and feeding them even specifically caring for the flock even as you preach. And that's something that just practically speaking in our day, Christianity and America, the benefits of our resources, the internet, all these things, it's great to admire preachers online. There are tons. And I learned so much from guys, I'm not. nowhere near close to, H.B. Charles, Michael Reeves. I mean, HBs in Jacksonville, Michael Reeves is in the UK. However, I would encourage Christians today. Online preachers are great, and the resources we have online are great, but you don't know them. Those pastors and preachers

can't be real life, real-time examples to you, like a faithful shepherd camman in your own local church. Those online preachers, even the faithful ones, and that's what I'm talking about right now, they may teach you sound theology and you're growing, and that's phenomenal. Let the Lord use that to sanctify you, to encourage you, to draw you deeper into the truths of the word. But we need shepherds who are near, who know us, who can encourage us specifically, who can be there on that hospital visit, or when you get that call you weren't expecting, or something happens with your kid or your spouse or just a dark night of the soul or deep repentance is needed. Whatever it is, we need shepherds. And that's something that being an online Christian or just watching

church online can't afford you. Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Alley, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions

and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this T-Day show

right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. And I think that is part of the problem with the Seeker Sensitive Movement, and part of the problem with treating church as only an evangelistic tool in which you are trying to appeal to the person always and exclusively who knows the least about the Bible, is that you abandon your role to equip the saints for the work of ministry as a pastor, and then to shepherd your own flock.

And another problem with the Seeker Sensitive Movement is that it is not very often expository, and you're not exegedian scripture. And I'm realizing that even though we've talked about exegesis, Iso-Jesus, not everyone who is listening knows what that is. So can you talk about that? What is exegesis versus Issa-Jesus? What does it mean to be an expository preacher? Yeah, great question.

So exegesis, to simply explain it, is just explicating, bringing out from the text, while isogesis is reading into the text. And expository preaching is, to very simply say it, preaching the Bible, as opposed to using the Bible to preach, would be, I have a topic, I'm going to search the canon of Scripture, and I'm going to find different verses and popcorn verse around, passage to package, passage to just prove or to just show or communicate what I want to say and use the Bible to support whatever my thesis main idea is. Expositional preaching is preaching where the main point of the passage is the main point of the sermon or the shape of the sermon, the outline, the flow of the

sermon is guided and governed by bringing out from what the text is already giving you. So it's, so it's, expositional preaching is rooted in scripture. It's preaching the word, as Paul said in 2nd Timothy 2.4. It's Holy Spirit empowered preaching of the Word of God, where the shape and point of the passage is the shape and point of the sermon. And that's so important. And it often looks like preaching through books of the Bible, verse by verse. There's other ways that people can do it, preached through whole books. Mark Deverson a great job at that, and he has some books that shows how he did it. But most often it looks like preaching through books of the Bible verse by verse, which is how God gave it. And we should handle God's word and teach God's word exactly how he's

given it. And that really should be the meat, the bread, and the butter of what a church is getting on a weekly basis. Like I will say that there are times when John McArthur, for example, when he will have a topical sermon. Like he'll say, okay, we're talking about how basically Satan targets children. I think that's a sermon that he gave not too long ago. And he will use verses to back up his point. But the reason why that is okay is because he is using all of those verses in context. And there's a difference in that and saying, well, I have a thesis. I have a topic. I'm going to pull all of these random verses out of their context that don't even really support. what I'm trying to say and use them that way. I mean, that's something that I see, for example,

like Stephen Ferdick do a lot. I've got this thesis. I'm going to kind of twist this verse to somehow fit into that. So, like, topical is not always wrong, but it depends on, as you said, like, how you are handling those verses, how you are handling the word. And that shouldn't be the consistent nourishment of your church, right? I would agree. Yeah. I would certainly agree. Yeah. Yeah. And, And I think a lot of people, you know, I don't think I really even considered that growing up. I grew up Southern Baptist, which I'm still Southern Baptist. I'm thankful for it. But I never really thought about exe Jesus versus Issa Jesus, what expository preaching is.

And it is tempting to think, well, you know, whatever gets someone in the door, whatever gets someone coming back, you see all these like huge health and wealth prosperity churches. And it's easy to think, well, they must be doing something right. No one wants to sit under the teaching of just preaching verse by verse. But that's not really the right way to think about it. Absolutely. And drawing a crowd doesn't necessarily mean you have disciples. Just think about John 6th. One of my favorite chapters in the Bible.

Jesus feeds the 5,000 men, John says. So you add women and children. It's 15,000 to 20,000 people, most likely. He feeds them with a little boy's lunch, essentially, and has this crowd. And they want to make him king. thousands of people. And he tells them, you're missing it. You're seeking me wrongly. I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger. Whoever believes in me shall never thirst. And he's continuing to explain that. And by the end, it literally says it was too hard for them to listen. They didn't care for what he

was saying. They thought it was gross, disgusting. They didn't understand it. The spirit wasn't giving them insight to what he was saying. And the crowd left. The crowd left. The crowd left, even some of those who were saying they were his disciples. And then he famously looks to the apostles and says, well, you go too. And Peter says to Jesus, to whom shall we go? It's a wonderful passage, but it shows even Jesus, when he had a big crowd, he didn't necessarily have disciples all in that crowd. There were only a few. So the results or the apparent fruit isn't always indicative of the health of a ministry. And what you win people with is oftentimes what you have to keep them with. So if you win them and the church service looks like a pep rally, that's what they're

going to expect next time. And that's just not helping them grow in Christ, become more like Christ and sanctification. It's not giving them a theology of suffering. It's not deepening their communion with God and knowledge of God, himself. it's giving a good time. And sometimes in reaching or trying to be an outreach, reaching non-Christians, you overreach Christians and leave them hungry and stagnant in the faith. Right. You know, there was a time in my life where I didn't see anything wrong with the messages that Joel Osteen preached, the health and wealth gospel. I just hadn't really thought about it. This was probably later high school when I really started taking theology seriously and then someone gifted me,

my freshman year of college, the ESV study Bible, which really just, like, changed the game for me and redirected where I was looking for theological insights and, you know, helped me become reformed in my theology. What encouragement and advice would you give someone who maybe for the first time, either they just became a Christian or they've, you know, been a Christian for a long time, and they're kind of waking up to some false teachings that they've believed and they really want to start studying the word for themselves, but they're overwhelmed. They don't know where to start. They don't know who to listen to. Like, what would you encourage that person to do first? First, I just want to encourage that person that we pursue sound doctrine because we want to know

Christ rightly and deeply. This is eternal life, Jesus said, that they may know you the one true God and Jesus Christ whom you sent. We want to rightly know the word of God because we want to deeply know the God of the Word, to have a sincere and pure devotion to Christ, to abide in Him. So keep doing what you're doing. Keep the pursuit. Press on to know the Lord, Hosea 6.3. This is not just abstract rightness and wrongness. This is about knowing God and becoming more like Christ, which is all things true, good, and beautiful. But practically what you're saying, I would encourage that person to get a study Bible, was transformative in my life, the MacArthur study Bible, the ESV study Bible, the Reformation Study Bible, put on by Ligonier, it's excellent.

So many good study Bibles. I would also encourage you, if you're not in a church that has consistent preaching of the gospel, the right handling of the word, which will often look like expositional preaching, faithful qualified elders, and a plurality of elders is what is most biblical and preferred. If those aren't the basis for what your church is looking like, you may want to pray, seek some wise counsel on if there's a better church, a more healthy church to look for. And they're really helpful church search engines. The Nine Marks church search engine is going to be excellent because that whole ministry is devoted to healthy churches. Master's Seminary has one, where you could just type in your address, and they will tell you healthy, biblical, sound churches

that I'm pretty confident won't let you down. I have no idea about every single church, of all who's on there. Couldn't guarantee that. But it's a good place to start. It's a great place to start. And there are a lot of churches. And I just think that you want to have a good basis for your Bible reading, And I think a study Bible is helpful for that, just on a personal level. And you've got to go to a good church. Christianity is not a lone ranger religion. Isolation wasn't even good before the fall.

You're not meant to follow Jesus alone. You need to be in a healthy local church with faithful pastors who will care for your souls, with brothers and sisters in Christ whom you can follow Jesus together with. You have to be in a healthy local church. That will do wonders. for you growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ. When parents ask me, okay, what advice would you give my daughter, my son, who's about to go to college?

I really want them to keep their faith. And often that's when your faith is really tried. And the first thing I say is go to a Bible believing church, join a Bible study, join a campus ministry so that you are not alone. Because when you're alone, I think that's when you really start to question, wait, am I the crazy one? Am I the uptight one? Am I just the goody two shoes prude? When your professor starts questioning the things that you believe,

I had a professor who told me that God was too big to just provide Jesus as the only mode of salvation or when you have friends or people in your sorority or fraternity telling you, you know what, this is your time to party and to live it up and all those things. You have to be able to go to other believers who remind you what the Word of God. says, tell me what you would tell that young person who is, say they've done those things, say they're in the Bible study or they already are a part of a community, but they're starting to doubt. Like this is the first time that their faith has really been tested.

And they're starting to have doubts about their faith because they just don't feel equipped apologetically, theologically, to kind of contend for the things that they believe in. what do you tell anyone, but especially that kind of young, vulnerable person who is doubting? It's a great question. And just a personal anecdote really quick. When I went to San Diego State, remember, I only want to go to the NFL. So I wasn't taking very seriously what my major would be. And I thought, I love football, love my family, and I love Christ.

So I just chose the major in religious studies. San Diego State is nothing like the Masters University. I can imagine. religious studies at San Diego State looks nothing like a Christian school or anything, the average Christian parent or pastor would even encourage you to put yourself in. So I had a lot of professors who were intentional about trying to poke holes in Christianity. And if they found out you were a Christian, they would push you to try to doubt your faith. But even beyond that, because that's kind of an extreme, unique circumstance. Just as you grow, especially as you're on your

own, perhaps becoming more independent in certain areas and realms of your life. All Christians at some point doubt have questions, wonder things, are confronted with apologetic situations, evangelistic opportunities. And I would encourage that young person to doubt your doubts. Doubt your doubts. What makes your doubts trustworthy? Ask yourself that question. What makes my doubts so worthy of me completely surrendering to to where it paralyzes me completely and now I am questioning everything that God and His Providence has allowed to be the foundation for my life thus far? Doubt your doubts because your doubts aren't necessarily trustworthy.

But Jesus is always trustworthy. but I would also encourage that young person to consider how Jesus dealt with doubting disciples. You think about the dad in Mark 9 whose son was demon possessed. He said to Jesus, I believe, help my unbelief. And Jesus answered his prayer of healing his son. And I would guess that he helped that dad in his belief too. But it's amazing that that dad's, said, I believe Jesus, but help me to deal with my unbelief. I trust you to help me trust you more. That is a great prayer. And you can pray that prayer to God. I believe, help my unbelief. And be encouraged by the apostles. In Matthew 28, seeing the resurrected Jesus that says,

and they worshipped him, right? And we would all expect that. But then, Matthew adds and some of them doubted. For one, that speaks to the truthfulness of scripture. If this was made up, Matthew would not have added that in. And because Matthew himself added that in, he was eyewitness to that doubt, whatever it looked like, and perhaps may have been a part of it. But it says they worshipped him and some of them doubted. And what I love about that is they kept worshiping. They worship through their doubts. It didn't say they worshiped Jesus, but some doubted, and they ceased to follow him, and they looked up on YouTube people who were already apostates and deconstructioning, and they just forsake Christ. No, they kept worshiping, and more so

in that text, what did Jesus do? He drew near to them. And he said, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me, and then he gives them the great commission. So what's incredible about that is Jesus doesn't do away with these doubting disciples who not that long ago also deserted and denied him. He drew near to them. And he drew near to them in his resurrected glory and said, look at me. All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. So young Christian, for every one look at yourself, take ten looks at Christ. For every one look at your faith, take ten looks at the object of your faith. So often we are consumed with the quality or the depth of our faith that our eyes are shifted away from the object of our faith, who is Christ. Hebrews tells us he is the author and finisher of our faith.

So keep looking to Jesus, because as the author and finisher, the founder and perfector of your faith, he will keep you, he will deepen your faith. But a few more things practically. I would say scrutinize and question your doubts as much as you may be tempted to scrutinize and question the Bible or Christ himself. I think people, are so eager to say, well, how do we get the Bible and just all these questions, but they don't scrutinize and question themselves, why they're even at that point. And I think you should doubt your doubt, scrutinize and question yourself, how you're getting to this place, just as much as you would perhaps go down the course of questioning the Bible. But also be aware

that God's not afraid of your question. So you can doubt with God, not against him. You can pray even when you're struggling with doubt. You can still pursue God in His Word. You can still go to church and surround yourself with brothers and sisters in Christ who can help you in that season where you may be doubting. I also think you have to consider church history. We are not the first Christians. Our faith has been around for 2,000 years and people by the providence of God have been writing. So many Christians have worked through so many doubts. and so many questions, and I guarantee whatever question you have, someone's already worked through it and written about it in a way that is encouraging and shows you why keeping on following Jesus

will be true, good, and beautiful for you. I also just think that you have to pray. You have to confess your doubt to the Lord. Seek him, and he will help you. God is not afraid of your doubts. He's not afraid of your struggles. He is all knowing. He's all powerful. He has written all your days in his book. He is a faithful, loving and holy father. You can trust him. He is trustworthy. He has given you his spirit and his word. So God is faithful. You can pursue him even in such a season. Gosh, there's so much insight in what you said. One thing that I was thinking of when you talked about Matthew 28, that in the midst of that worship and the doubts, God, at the very end, Christ declares his authority. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. And in that authority, he sends them out. And I thought

about Job, how Job had doubts. Job had questions. And God, in another way, also responds to those questions and doubts with his authority, basically saying, you know, where were you when I created? the earth, where were you when I did all of these things? I am so far outside of your comprehension. And so I think we also can't be surprised when, even though it is okay for us to take our questions to God and ask for help in believing and help and strengthening our faith, I think we can't be surprised when God simply points us back to his authoritative word answers with a reminder of his authority, which emphasizes what you said so well that it's not our doubts that have the authority, that have the final word. We shouldn't be respecting them as much as we do,

honoring our doubts as much as we do. We can just remember and fall back on the fact that God is in charge, that our doubts are not. And that's something I see a lot in this kind of deconstructing movement is this pridefulness that honors doubts and questions way too much and assumes that the questions that they have are so profound and so original and so nuanced that no one else has ever questioned in the same way and just assumes and kind of leaves it there that well look I kind of you know I caught God red-handed and you know he can't answer all of these very new questions that I have, and they've done exactly what you've said. They've given way too much authority to themselves and to their own doubts have assumed that no other person has ever

asked or answered those questions, and that they have now become bigger and better and wiser and deeper than God is. That's really, I think, what it comes back to many times. Not that the asking of the questions is bad, but the assumption that those questions cannot be answered by God's word and authority. That's what leads us astray. I mean, you think about John the Baptist in Matthew 11. At this point, he was in prison. This is the forerunner to Jesus. You would think that he would have the best place when Jesus is thriving. He's in ministry, all these things, but crosses before the crown. And if Christ himself came, not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many, his forerunner and endured some really hard struggles and was eventually,

killed. And in Matthew 11, John the Baptist sends some of his disciples to ask Jesus, are you really the one? What is going on? And Jesus responds to him and says, tell John that the blind are receiving sight, the dead are being raised, he says various things, which are all pointing back to specific prophecies that were said in Isaiah of what would happen when the Messiah is actually here. So even in that circumstance, much like you said with Job, Jesus, he pointed John back to his word. He pointed John back to his word and that assumes that my word is sufficient for you. You can trust my word. You can trust me even when you're sitting in prison cell. And I think so many of our doubts and struggles, whatever it may be, come from seasons of

suffering and grief. And I think that if you are a suffering Christian, a doubting Christian, I encourage you to measure God's love for you, his faithfulness, his care, all of those things, not by what you're going through, but what Christ has already gone through for you. Measure God's faithfulness to you by the cross, not by your circumstances. That's not a measure of God's faithfulness. That's just the reality of his sovereignty and providence and his will for your life. and also if you're grieving in that suffering, going through hard times, it's okay to trust God with tears in your eyes. And I think sometimes people doubt and they suffer and they struggle and their faith falls apart because they can't get over this grief or this hardship and it's

really something terrible. We live in a fallen world. I just would encourage that Christian trust God even with tears in your eyes. It is okay if you have a heavy heart but are still holding on to your hope. It doesn't mean the hope is null and void. Paul says to the Thessalonians that he doesn't want them to grieve as those without hope. He doesn't say he doesn't want them to grieve when they actually have a reason to grieve in a fallen world. It's just don't do it hopelessly. So you can hold on to hope with the heavy heart, with the hurting heart. You can trust God with tears in your eyes. And sometimes doubt comes from, well, I don't know how to deal with grief. I don't know how to deal with suffering. Am I even a real Christian? It's just this spiral. But the Lord Jesus was a man of

sorrows. He's acquainted with grief. Hebrews 4, he sympathizes with our weaknesses. He is our chief shepherd. He can sustain you. His grace is sufficient for you in seasons of suffering, hardship, and grief. I have been there. And Christ is so faithful. so kind and his word remains true, even in those seasons. Yes, and I think of when Jesus was led out into the desert and he was tempted. What does he do? He relies on God's word. God's word. He quotes God's word back to Satan. Every single time. And Satan, you know, he's done it from the beginning and he does it still today, is that he takes a portion of truth, a portion of God's word, and twists it and says, did God really say? And it puts those doubts in our mind. And this is when our theology matters.

This is when knowing the word of God matters. So kind of going back to what we were talking about earlier, why is it so important to be in a church that's actually preaching the word? Why does it matter what the theology is of the preacher of the pastor that's teaching? It's in these moments of trial of temptation that we need to be able, it's almost like muscle memory. We've got to be able to recall, but what does God's word say? Because Satan's voice, it's cunning, it's powerful, and when he tempts you to say or to think, did God really say this? We've got to know, well, what did God really say? And Jesus is the one who sets the example for that, who is tempted in every way as we were, yet was without sin. Amen. That's so good. And the connection to

the local church back is so good because it's going to be really, really hard, not impossible, because the spirit works through our own personal Bible reading, through fellowship with other Christians, through, you know, online sermons, whatever, but it's really hard to grow past the pulpit you sit under. It's so true. It just is. And if the pulpit you sit under is theologically anemic, doctrinally minimal, just kind of hints and tips, fun stuff like that, really playing around, a lot of skits, and it's the illustration that's actually the point of the sermon.

And the Bible is just like the tie-in as opposed to preaching the Bible and then illustrating it briefly. If that's what you're sitting under, it's really going to be hard for one to grow in Christ, to be sanctified and to grow progressively more like Christ. But when it comes to suffering, when it comes to doubt, when it comes to apologetics, or trying to evangelize and people have some really big questions or serious thoughts about Christianity, it's just going to be rough in those moments. Doubting, suffering, it will happen. So sitting under sound preaching of the word with shepherds who will care for your soul so incredibly important because it prepares you for trials. you don't want to wait for a trial, a doubt, or a temptation even.

And all of a sudden in that moment think, well, I got to strap my boots on and I'm going to fight this. You got to fight it before it's even happening. And that's just by faithful Christian living, the ordinary means of grace of a local church, seeing people be baptized and seeing the beauty of the gospel, being raised to life anew with Christ, taking the Lord's supper with your church, fellowshiping week by week, sitting under the preaching of the word, taking the word in yourself, praying those daily, ordinary means of grace are building muscles and strength for when the temptation comes. The doubt comes. The adversary comes. The questions, the suffering, whatever it is,

it's building spiritual muscles for that moment. So important. The ordinary means of grace, but in a context that is shaping you, theologically, helping you to grow in Christ and to grow doctrinally so that you can lean on what is true even when life is crazy. You know, we read this verse in the last episode, but it relates to what we're talking about. My last guest brought it up, and I was like, wow, I haven't read that verse in so long. and it was such a good reminder. And it's 1 Peter 419. Therefore, let those who suffer according to God's will

entrust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good. That really sums up kind of everything that you said while doing good while living that normal Christian life. The Holy Spirit empowers you to keep doing good even while you're suffering because you don't have to do the work of ministering to your own spirit because God is doing that for you, the God who created you, even while you are suffering, is taking care of your soul so you can keep going about doing the business that Christians are called to do. And it also speaks to, we've got a higher authority than our doubts and our suffering and our trials and temptations. Thank God for that. Yeah, Jesus is Lord. Yes, yes, and amen. All right, I want to kind of switch directions a little bit because,

I think the first video that I saw you do that made me start following you and looking at your stuff was about Catholicism and about saints. Now, we've got a lot of Catholics who listen to this podcast, and I'm thankful for their friendship. We, of course, agree on a lot of things when it comes to politics and morality, especially on the issue of life and the body. but there are distinct differences, obviously, going back many, many years with Protestants and Catholics and certainly reformed Protestants and Catholics. And you specifically were talking about, I believe, All Saints Day and kind of the Roman Catholic theology surrounding saints. Who can be called Saints and all that? So can you talk about a little bit why you were addressing that and the distinctions that you were drawing? Sure. So that was for the For the Gospel ministry that I've done with Kosti Hinn, sound doctrine for everyday people. We're just trying to think through different practical realities that we faced in All Saints Day, every November, right? Day after Halloween. So we wanted to address it in a video. And like you, I have Catholic family members and friends and even a most profound disagreement. I think it's important to say,

there's no personal disdain. Second Timothy 2.24 says that a teacher of God's word needs to be kind, not quarrelsome, gentle, even in correcting. So I see them as fellow image bears of God. And I think such conversations and the question you're asking is important. If only, it brought us to both go to God's word and to more deeply study the scriptures and to say, what does God's word say? in doing some research for that video, I've seen that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, whoever they are, they define saints from a Catholic perspective as persons in heaven who lived heroically virtuous lives, offered their life for others, were martyred for the faith, or who are worthy of imitation. And to become a saint, one has to be approved by the Pope of

that heroic virtue and examine with their writings and whether they've been martyred or some miracle has been accomplished through someone who's prayed to them. And there's a lot that could be said there. But what I see off top is Roman Catholic theology teaches that sainthood is something personally achieved and bestowed by the church rather than receive. by grace through faith in Christ. And I think that is a major difference that speaks to the Five Solis even, that we look to Scripture alone, we're saved by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone, to the glory of God alone, because Scripture differently asserts who can be called saints. The saints in Scripture aren't someone who has lived as heroically virtuous life necessarily.

who has had miracles affirm because someone prayed to them or has been martyred. Saints in Scripture are everyone who repents and believes on the Lord Jesus Christ and is saved by grace alone through faith alone and Christ alone. We are saints. All Christians are holy ones that word means. And one can say, what makes you a holy one? Is your life perfectly holy? And I would say, no, especially not when you put that word perfectly in there, but that gets at the gospel.

Christ, our Savior, he is my representative in his righteous life. He is my substitute and his sacrificial death upon the cross. He bore my sins and trespasses. He was pierced for my transgressions, crushed for my iniquities. Jesus on the cross said, it is finished, paid in full. No purgatory needed. Christ rose on the third day signifying his sacrifice was all sufficient. Hebrew says multiple times. His sacrifice was once for all. It's not happening every time we go to the Lord's supper. It was once for all on the cross. Christ paid for our sins. He is an all sufficient savior. And by the spirit, we are united to him, the doctrine of union with Christ. And being united to Christ, as Ephesians 1 says, I'm holy and blameless before God. justified, legally declared righteous, not becoming righteous in some process, legally declared righteous by grace alone through faith alone and Christ alone, clothed with the very righteousness and holiness of Jesus. So in Christ, we are saints. We are holy ones. And it's a gift of grace. It gets at the very beauty of the gospel. We are saints by grace alone through faith alone in Christ.

Christ alone, and we are progressively becoming in life who we are in Christ. Or to put another way, we're becoming in practice what we already are in position. But in position and in Christ, believers are saints. That's Old Testament. Psalm 34 verse 9, oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, those who fear him lack no good thing. In 1st Corinthians 1, 2, Paul says all those who call upon the Lord Jesus are saints. Ephesians 4, you referenced it earlier. It says that Jesus gives, pastors and teachers and teachers to the church to equip the saints for ministry. Paul's not making distinctions there. He's talking about every Christian. And that is a wonderful gospel reality. It's a gift that it's not earned or achieved. It's received by grace through faith in Christ.

And why wouldn't we be saints when Ephesians 1 3 says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. That's the immeasurable grace we've been shown in the gospel as a free gift. When you understand the sovereign, infinite, unsearchable grace of God given to us in the gospel, us being saints, that makes sense. And it's just biblical. Yes. And I want to read specifically, I love that you brought up Ephesians 4 because I hadn't thought about that in relation to this Saints conversation that really just emphasizes your point even more because he doesn't just say saints. He explains actually specifically who the saints are. So and he gave, this is verse 11 in

chapter 4 and he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry for building up the body of Christ. Okay, so we've got it right there until we all attain, all of us, attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. And I could go on. I mean, it's a great chapter. But, I mean, he says right there, this is building up the saints. Who's the saints?

It's the body of Christ. And we read elsewhere in Ephesians also that you become saints and fellow members of the household of God that you are no longer strangers and aliens. But you get to be transferred into the kingdom of light and become saints. What good news? What good news? And you're right. It actually is important.

It's not just like this small issue because it gets to the heart of the gospel that he who knew no sin became sin so that we could become the righteousness of God. We are the righteousness of God. We are saints, not because of what we've earned, but because of what Christ has already done for us. So that's, I mean, that's big. That's a gospel issue. And just a really helpful verse, I think, in this conversation is Romans 1213. the apostle has laid down the theology of the gospel in Romans 1 through 11. In Romans 12, he gets really practical.

Give your life as a living sacrifice. He gets really practical. And in Romans 1213, he says, contribute to the needs of the fellow saints. Well, Christians, saints in heaven, they have no needs. So who's he talking about there? He's talking about brothers and sisters in Christ that have needs. And in that context, back then, they were all type of needs because Christians were a very much so persecuted people in the Roman Empire. So the saints were poor Christians who had needs, but who were saved by grace through faith and rich in Christ.

So who the saints are, when believers are recognized as saints, and the research I've done, it seems like the Catholic Church just objectively teaches that saints become saints after some process or approval. by the Pope or Catholic authorities, once they're in heaven, already deceased and passed away. But in what we've talked about already, it's clear that Christians become saints, not when they die and go to heaven, but when they are raised to life and come to faith in Jesus. Just when they come to faith in Christ, when they repent and believe, when the Spirit regenerates us and unites us to Christ, and we become Christians, believers, that's when we become saints. And what we do is obviously different because if saints aren't just these approved people in heaven and it's Christians here on earth who believe in and follow Jesus, that has profound

implication for what the saints do. We are equipped for the work of ministry. We evangelize. We're salt and light. We're in this world living the ordinary Christian life or the extraordinary Christian life as the Lord works through us and whatever good works he's prepared beforehand. for us and prayer just becomes a huge thing. Christians pray to God. We Hebrews 4 draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Christ, our all-sufficient, great high priest gives us access to the throne of God. We don't need to go through saints who have passed away. I so appreciate Peter. Paul, Mary, I mean, name them. The great brothers and sisters of Christ of church history, Charles

Spurgeon, Susanna Spurgeon, I appreciate them. But I don't have any biblical warrant to pray to them. Especially when 1st Timothy 2.5, there's one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Christ is our mediator. Christ is our great high priest. He is all sufficient. He has made a way. He welcomes us to draw near to the Father through him and to pray in his name, empowered by the Spirit, crying out Abba Father, and to be heard. So we certainly pray for each other. The Bible commands that, but that in no way implies that we should pray to passed on Christians in heaven and even assume that they hear us.

There's just no need for that. When we can draw near to our Father, through our Savior, empowered by the spirit. That's wonderful gospel reality that the Bible makes clear, for one, so it's a matter of obedience when it comes to prayer. And it's just too beautiful to do anything else. Yes, and amen. I saw a comedian on Instagram the other day. She said that she was raised Catholic, and she was joking, but it was a true story. And I don't know, it just made me sad. She said, you know, I grew up going to Catholic school, and they taught me that there are, there's a long line of people that you have to bother with your request before you bother Jesus. So you can go to this saint,

this saint, if you lost something, this saint, if you, you know, if you need something else, this saint. And then you can go to Mary. And the thought is in kind of Catholic theology that Mary is closest to Jesus and he could never deny Mary because he has a special relationship with her, even though in the New Testament over and over again, he repudiates that special relationship altogether. And so, but Catholic theology says that if you pray to Mary, she's closest to Jesus. And so you have a pretty good success rate, I guess. But that does make me sad because of what she said, because it is the gospel. But no, you have already been made righteous.

You have already been justified and made a saint. You have access to the throne of God through that one mediator, 1 Timothy 2.5, as you said, Jesus Christ, yes, you get to pray through the Holy Spirit. who with groans too deep and profound for words is interceding on your behalf. Like, that is the power of the gospel. That has been accomplished for you by the blood of Jesus on the cross. You do not have to go through any other mediator to get there. Right.

Or else, I'm not sure that you fully understand what Christ has accomplished for you on the cross. And, Ellie, that's, you know, you saying that it makes you sad mirrors my heart in this. And that's why it's impossible for me to come on. off as quarrelsome or angry or just whatever it is, it grieves my heart. It grieves my heart because it puts a Catholic believer in a distant place from the Lord, or at least with a theology that feels very distant, but it also diminishes the glory of Christ, the excellence of Jesus who came to seek and save the loss, who said he is the good shepherd who leaves the 99 to pursue the one. Jesus literally loved us and gave himself for us. He has an undying love. That love has not changed

in his resurrection and ascension. Hebrew 725, one of my favorite verses said Jesus is the savior to the uttermost. That means completely, totally, and eternally. Those who draw near to God through him, the verse then says. So Jesus is a savior to the uttermost, completely, totally, and eternally for those who draw near to God specifically and exclusively through him. And then it says, and he always lives to make intercession for them. So just the wonder of Hebrew 725 and the beauty and glory of Jesus that it sets forth, a savior to the uttermost, he saves completely, and he intercedes for us constantly as we draw near to God through Him, as we have faith in Him. What a wonderful savior we have, altogether sufficient and glorious. Why would we go to his mom? Why would we go

to the apostle who praise God for Peter? Denied him and needs the same grace that I do. The same grace to be saved. And so does Mary. Right. Mary in her Magnificat, said God my Savior. I am so thankful for Mary. I'm thankful for how God providentially used her. I'm not trying to disrespect anyone, but they are sinners who needed a savior, and that great savior is Christ. Paul says in Colossians 128,

Him we proclaim. In 1 Corinthians 1, he says, we preach Christ. In 2 Corinthians 4, 6, he says, we come to and being born again, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. Why would I take my eyes off the glory of God in the face of Christ to look at some saints? Why would I so think ill of Jesus who always lives to intercede for me, who sympathizes

with my weaknesses, Hebrews 4, that I need to go through someone else for him to even consider me? When Scripture says he endlessly intercedes for us, when Scripture in Ephesians 3 says, we ought to consider the love of Christ, the height, the length, the depth, the breadth of Jesus's love. So it really diminishes the glory, the beauty, and the loveliness of Christ. The sufficiency of Christ, Jesus is enough. It's good news that I'm not enough. It's good news that you're not enough because Jesus is enough and his enoughness, if I can say it that way, is for our good.

It's amazing that God's glory is so wonderful. and magnificent, that it's self-giving. Jesus is self-giving in his glory. The highest peak of his glory was the cross. And what was he doing? Giving himself for us. If you want to know who God is, look to the cross. That's the God we serve, who came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. If Jesus loved us like that in his life and death, certainly in his resurrection and ascension. Yes. Amen. You know, Sometimes I ask particular guests to end the episode by sharing the gospel, but I think you covered it. I think you covered it there and praise God.

And I can just, gosh, I can sense the calling that he has placed on your life. And I'm so thankful for your testimony and how he has equipped you and thankful for the love that you have for the Word of God. And there are many like you out there. I just want to encourage people. There are many Christians who have this boldness, who have this. this love of Christ, to have this love for God's flock. And you are one of many. And I'm so thankful that he has given you a platform to multiply and to advance his kingdom by His grace. So thank you. Thank you for your courage. And thank you for your ability to articulate his word. It really is a gift.

Praise God. Thanks for having me on. As a kid, I was a stutterer. So by the grace of God, I am what I am. In so many ways. That is how God works. He redeems all of that and he uses it for. His glory. So thank you so much. Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase

narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us.