#8- Smith- June 29- 2023

Well, it's a beautiful day. Welcome to the JIGGIN podcast. JIGGIN spells J-I-G-G-N, and it stands for Jesus is the Good News. This is Nate Bryan. I'm the preacher here at Rochedale Christian Church, and our hope is to share the good news of Jesus with everyone who is listening here today. And ultimately, I wanted to share a verse with us out of Romans chapter 1, and it's verse 16. And here's what it says. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew and then to the Gentile. And so that really does encompass the good news. Again, the gospel is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes. And so just remember that. Our goal here is to point others to Jesus. And just remember, too, that a fishing JIGG is something that a fisherman would be familiar with. And so we know that when the apostles were first called, Jesus said to them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. And so that's something else that we hope to do here on the JIGGIN podcast. Today, I'm happy to welcome our newest deacon, Jake Smith. So, Jake, welcome to the JIGGIN podcast. Hey, how's it going? And so, Jake, just to start off, again, one of our goals is we're going to dive into scripture here today, but we also just want the congregation to have an opportunity to get to know who we are. You know, they see us on Sundays. They see us throughout the week. They see us at events. You know, a lot of us obviously know each other well, but we've got some new people, too. So we wanted to know about Jake. And so, Jake, tell us just about your faith background. You know, how did you come to know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Well, got to give a shout out to my grandma, Mary Smith, Mamal, as I call her. So basically, she started taking out all the grandkids to church. We went to Noblesville Baptist Church growing up and she took us to all the events, VBS, things like that. At that point, my parents and even my grandpa wasn't really, they weren't really involved in the faith. And then through several events, like in 2008, 2009, after they had been married for 40-something years, my grandpa came to the faith, started going to church and everything after, you know, years of prayer and asking and all that. Pestering by my grandma, probably. Right. And then shortly after that, my parents started coming to church. And we actually, my grandparents moved. And so we all started, my whole family started attending Faith Baptist Church in Avon. So there were a pew of Smiths at the, every Sunday at Faith for, gosh, we probably went there more than 10 years. So, yeah, that's kind of my background and thankful for Mamal for taking me to church. Yeah, no, that's awesome. I love to hear the stories of grandma and their faith influence on the faith. You know, that's something, too, which I haven't, you and I haven't talked about, but at least I don't recall if we have. But, you know, my grandma also, I would say in many ways, was the one who, Grandma Bonnie, I hope you listen to this, ultimately sort of led our family in the faith. Sort of similar situation. Grandpa Clark really wasn't attending worship with grandma, but she was dragging her five kids to worship every Sunday. And lo and behold, thankfully, those seeds were planted in my dad. And then ultimately that led to our family. My dad leading myself and his family into church. But thankfully, and Grandpa even said before he passed away here several months ago, you know, I had a chance to interview him and talk about faith. But he had told me that the faith of his mother growing up and his wife, my grandma Bonnie, for so many years is what brought him to the faith later in life. And so grandmas have quite the impact, don't they? For sure. That's awesome. So we've got that part. And so, again, that was where your faith started or began there. Those roots started young with you. But then, so how did you end up at Rochdale Christian Church? So it's actually your brother, Grant. So me and Abby, my wife, we started dating back in the beginning of 2021. So and that was still kind of when like COVID was around and stuff. So we were kind of watching services online, looking for a church to plug into. And I was over at Grand Bethany's house, and they said you ought to try out Rochdale. So we came. They said we could hear you sing in the choir. That's back when you were you're singing with the worship team. And so I was like, yeah, that was worth the price of admission. But but yeah, we so yeah, we started coming. And yeah, we got married here upstairs. And so it's been been great. Yeah, yeah. Well, we've certainly, you know, been thankful to have you and Abby, both of you playing various roles. I know helping with the children's ministry, you know, you serving as a deacon now. And just being involved in many different things here has been great. And yeah, it's funny. I guess it's just you mentioned getting married here, which reminds me that how Phil like that. You guys were getting married right about the time Phil was retiring. So initially, Phil was going to do your wedding. And then one day, I think Phil approached you guys at church. And it was a funny, funny conversation. But but he was like, hey, what do you got to have Nate do it? Because he knew he was retiring. And so it was just that was funny, but thankful to have gotten to be a part of that. And that's cool. So let's move to what I think the fun part now, which is where we just get to talk scripture, open up our Bibles here a little bit. So what is your favorite verse? Maybe, you know, I always feel like that's a difficult question to ask for all of us. There are many places in the scripture that that are so meaningful. And so many times we can go back to, you know, a lot of us probably appreciate those key verses of salvation, et cetera. But if you're going to just maybe pick one verse, what would it be? So I would say the Romans 10, 13 says for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. So kind of, you know, the great hope, you know, of scripture. I mean, Paul lays it out here in Romans. And it's just and I could even like before that. He says in 9, going back to 9. He says, if you declare it to your mouth, Jesus is the Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved for it is with your heart that you believed and are justified. And it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. So it kind of goes along with that with 13 as well. But it just how it doesn't matter your background. You know, if you believe in Jesus and that he died on the cross and then you have an eternal home in heaven. Right. Yeah. And how Jesus is the way and the only way for any of us. Right. And so like you said, so much hope. And ultimately, I think the question that comes to be asked, you know, as we talk about being saved is, you know, well, what do we need to be saved from? You know, I mean, and that's the question. But again, I think as we talk Romans or look at Romans, you know, I think first off, the reality is that we need to look at Romans 3.23 and Romans 3.23 says all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So we know that we're all sinners. Right. We acknowledge that. But then Romans 6.23 says that the wages of sin is death, but that the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And so just with that in mind, like I think about, again, you know, we do need to be saved. We need a savior. We are sinners in need of a savior and the importance of us placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And then, you know, I guess I'm jumping ahead, but I think you already mentioned to me as we get to talking about what's your favorite book of Scripture, Jake? It'd be Romans. Romans, right. So we kind of, you and I mentioned that just briefly beforehand. And so as we talk about that, and I'm getting going here, I guess, too, but as we talk about, you know, we're sinners, we need a savior. That's the hope that we have through Jesus. You know, again, like we said, Romans 6.23 says that wages of sin is death, which is, you know, the reality is if we live in sin, the wages of that is death. But that the free gift of God is, you know, eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And, you know, that kind of leads me into, and I always think, too, in Romans, because there's so many good places to study in Romans. But I think of Romans chapter 6, which there he hits on it. And I'm going to just read the first several verses here as we talk Romans a little bit of Romans 6. And here's what it says. What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means. We are those who have died to sin. How can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him, so the body ruled by sin may be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. Because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. And we can go on there. But I just think about, again, that message of being free, being free from our sin. I mean, here he's talking about how baptism, he's talking about that correlation there of, you know, the ways in which baptism symbolizes that death, burial, and resurrection that comes through Jesus. And so, again, I know I'm bouncing around, but just there's so much in Romans that we could ultimately dive into. But those were, I guess, some that I thought were really relevant to your, you know, your favorite verse there. I'm just talking about, again, Jesus, Jesus is the way. You know, he is the way, the truth, and the life as we know. And as we consider Romans 2 a little bit more here today, Jake, let's go back to Romans 1. And I actually, at the very beginning, I guess, shared that verse out of Romans 1 where Paul writes, he says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel because it's the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes versus a Jew and a Gentile. So I shared that. But, you know, Romans 1, really, he talks about, I allude to the fact how we know we've established we are all sinners. We all need a Savior. And I thought it might be worth us reading, and I'm just going to pick up about verse 25 in Romans 1 here, and just read through the end of the chapter. But as we read here, this is Paul writing to Rome, you know, 2,000 years ago. But, boy, does it remind me of what we're seeing in our country today. And maybe we'll just chat about that for a moment. So I'll pick up at verse 25. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator, who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way, the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lusts for one another. The men committed shameful acts with other men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error. Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind so that they would do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossipers, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, and boastful. They invent ways of doing evil. They disobey their parents. They have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things, but also approve of those who practice them. Paul jumps in and Romans. We've talked before a little bit about Romans. In many ways, some people would say this is like the Constitution of the faith. You've got the Gospels, and we learn about Jesus and his life. Then we've got the book of Acts, which tells us about the history and the start of the church. There's so much more in Acts, but there's so much there. Then Romans lays out the faith. Here, Paul's really laying out the sinfulness of humanity. He's talking about the sin of the world. He's talking about things that we see in our culture, all this stuff. I think Romans 1 here too, and just quite literally, it's certainly a sensitive topic. But here we are in today's world, in 2023, where quite literally, as everyone probably sees on their news, I know it's all over mine, they call this month Pride Month. That is something that is troublesome. I think it's something that is confusing for our children. Well, what is that? What does that entail? I think that as we look and understand what that month represents, we see that very thing addressed by Paul here in the Scriptures. It's not only that, but then there are obviously many other things. All this sin is laid out, and then the reality is that all the sin of our lives and of the world, we need to be freed from it, as we discussed earlier. But I think it's an important thing that the way that that section, the way Romans 1 ends, he lays out the sinfulness of humanity. He's talking about homosexual behavior and those things, and goes into so many other aspects of lust, and talks about wickedness, evil greed, depravity, full of envy, murder, strife, on down through, slanderers, god-haters, insolent, arrogant, boastful, disobeying parents. I mean, it goes on and on. But then in verse 32 he says, And I disagree with that. I think that's something that we, unfortunately, as we are diving in, and I know I'm probably doing way too much talking here, but as we look at that and the reality, unfortunately there are churches that are doing that very thing. There are churches also that are approving of some of these sins that are being discussed here in the Scriptures by Paul. There are people who call themselves Christians, and some of these things that are clearly laid out as sin in Scripture, it's like we somehow want to turn a blind eye to what the Scripture says and support or enable others in this sin. And the reality is we just absolutely, when we recognize God's Word as the inerrant Word of God, as it truly being God's Word, we cannot do that. And the church must stand firm on God's Word. So anyways, I know I went on a little bit of a side note, but as we get to talking about Romans, I think that all of it comes down to, and we said this, we're all sinners. We all fall short. None is perfect. None is good. Not even one. But we're sinners. We need a Savior. Jesus is the only way out. And anyhow, that's just obviously something that we must keep our eyes on. I thought, too, that then picking up from there, that we know that then chapter 2 of Romans gets into talking about how really God is the only, that He is the ultimate judge. But look at verses 6 through 8 in Romans 2, and here's what they say. God will repay each person according to what they have done. To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, He will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking, and who reject the truth, and who follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. And so as we consider all these different things, and again, I know, but as we know, as the Scripture tells over and over again, and as we see here, there is eternal life, or there is wrath. I mean, we see that in those verses 6 through 8. We see it in John 3, 16, which most everybody knows. John 3, 16, right? For God so loved the world, He gave His one and only Son, who ever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. So there's the road to perishing, or there's eternal life. There's the wide road to perishing, or there's the narrow road, or the narrow gate to eternal life. And so that's just something that we all know. We all have to come to the reality of. And I guess I'm sharing all this because as we are sitting here, and as members of the church listen, as people listen, what we want you to know is that there's salvation available to us through Jesus. It doesn't matter what the sin is in our life. It doesn't matter because we're all sinners like we established. We're sinners. We need a Savior. But if you will repent of your sin, if you believe Jesus Christ is Lord, repent of your sin. Repent means turn away. Turn away from your sin. Confess your faith in Jesus Christ. And then we'd love to talk to you about baptism and be baptized. Your sins are washed away. That is available to every last one of us if we will pursue it. So just wanted to share that. And so I'll get off my little high horse for a moment, Jake. But what other... Through Romans, there's so many good things. How about... Jake, do you mind reading Romans chapter 12 verses 1 and 2? And I share that because I think, too, as we think of Romans and we think about, man, what's worship? I mean, Romans 12, 1, and 2 is a place that we ought to go a lot. And really it relates all back to these things we've been talking about. So do you mind reading that for us? It says, Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, His good, pleasing, and perfect will. Good. Thanks. That's just what I always go back to. So the first part there, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy. So he's recognizing God's mercy on us. And we talk about how God's mercy, and I think I've shared before as we think about, looking at grace and mercy is an interesting thing. Grace is that, or I guess we'd say grace is getting a gift that we don't deserve. But mercy is where we don't get what we do deserve. And like we talked about earlier, but not getting that death is the mercy of God. In view of God's mercy, in view of what He offered us through Jesus, He says, offer your bodies as a living sacrifice. He says that's your true and proper worship. I'm sure we've heard that before, but it doesn't matter what our profession is. Jake, you do all kinds of construction work, roofing, different things, but whether you're in that setting or you're in a setting of a minister or whatever else, we can offer our bodies and what we do everyday as a living sacrifice. Right. I think there's a lot of hope. We can find purpose. All of us can. Right? In that verse, I think. And then that second verse. Tell me this. What's your thought? It says, do not conform to the pattern of this world. Jake, give us your thoughts. What does it look like if we conform to the pattern of the world? Well, I mean, I think you kind of laid it out earlier, but I mean, not only the sexual immorality, but it also, there in one, it also discussed disobeying your parents, giving in to different lusts. And I think, to me, in America, one of the biggest lusts we have is with money. Worshipping the almighty dollar. I think that would definitely be conforming to the world or lying to get ahead. That kind of goes along with money. But yeah, things like that. This whole, I guess you would call it personal empowerment, which on the face isn't a bad thing, but I think recognizing that you're in need of God is just really important. And like you say, it can be so easy for us to conform. I mean, because conforming is where we just go along with the world and what the world does. Like you said, it's chasing the money. It's keeping up with the Joneses sometimes, because it's like our world, we all work a job, but we want to have a nice place. But sometimes it's like, well, I need to or I'm going to work, work, work, because I want to make sure my house isn't the worst looking house on the block. But before we know it, if we're spending all our time doing things of the world, chasing things of the world, chasing money, chasing whatever it is, those things of the world, we conform to it before we know it. And then all our time spent there, and we're not spending any time worshipping God or thinking about God. Before we know it, our Bible's collecting dust and we have no relationship, no ongoing relationship with our Lord and Savior. And I think that's kind of evident that you see in the trends of divorce rates in this country and kids not growing up in church. I mean, just general church attendance being at an all-time low in this country. I think those are, you see that as a big problem, but you talk about the root is those kind of things. Absolutely. Yeah, we see it everywhere. We talk about it in various capacities, but there's so many things. Even just one of them you mentioned, church attendance down across the country. We're at the first point here in the last several years where there's actually regular attenders or members of a local congregation. First time in the history of the country that less than half have been members of a local church. But then you see it in every aspect because it used to be where nothing happened on Sundays. I mean, businesses weren't even open on Sundays, but now there's all kinds of stuff going on on Sundays. Everything from pretty much every business is open on Sunday except for Chick-fil-A. So, hey, more power to Chick-fil-A. Chick-fil-A ranked, what, I think the best fast food restaurant or chain or something. So I think that's proof in the pudding there, I guess. But it's something, too, when we talk about conforming. It's the world we live in. We have to make choices. As parents, there's all kinds of sports things. There's so many activities that'll get planned on Sundays now, and it makes it so difficult where we've got to make decisions. I think we've got to be careful to the powers of the world. But again, be transformed by the renewing of our minds, which is going to come from going in our faith, spending time in God's Word, that the Holy Spirit working within us and God's Word is going to transform us, transform our minds. And as you look at that, be transformed by the renewing of your mindsets, then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is, His good, pleasing, and perfect will. So it comes down to God's will and living our lives for Him and His will. There's just so many good aspects, things to consider there. So yeah, let me just share what I think is, and I've probably shared before, I think I've shared on the podcast before, actually, but I think the most hope-filled verse in the entire, maybe the entire Bible, I know in John 3, 16, there's so many good ones, is chapter 8, verse 1. And, you know, we talk about life and we talk about, right, that we're sinners, we need a Savior. All of us are sinners and need a Savior. Like, we have to humble ourselves to that point of recognizing that and that there is freedom available to us from all the sins that have enslaved us for so long. But when we do, when we are in Christ, you know, verse, chapter 8, verse 1 says, Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And I think about that, like, just think about it, Jake, like, there's no condemnation for you. How much more hope could you or I, either one, have that we're not going to be condemned when we're in Christ Jesus? Right? And that's the hope that we want everyone who listens to the Jigging Podcast to hear and to know that if you place your faith in Jesus Christ, if you are in Christ, there is no condemnation for you. 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