00:00 Introduction and Greetings

00:25 Theology in Community and Canon

01:10 Personal Journey and Advice

04:41 Discussing Denominational Differences

07:14 Parables in Luke 14 and 15

12:51 Celebrating Faith and Salvation

16:09 Closing Remarks and Prayer

Find out more about Compass Bible Church.

Learn more about our Bible Reading Plan.

Questions or Comments? Email us podcast@compassntx.org

Hey folks.

2

Welcome back to another edition

of the Daily Bible Podcast.

3

Hello.

4

We are back on Monday and so hopefully

you're having a great Monday so far.

5

I know sometimes Mondays

are hard to get into.

6

You get the week started,

get your feet under you.

7

But hey, the weather is looking a

lot better here in Texas, and we're

8

headed into the final week of October.

9

November is right around the corner.

10

Thanksgiving's coming up.

11

We're gonna have Christmas

here before we know it.

12

Yeah, and then it's gonna be 2026.

13

Crazy.

14

Crazy.

15

Absolutely.

16

I welcome the change.

17

Yeah.

18

Hey, I got a question.

19

You mentioned yesterday in the podcast

twice, you said we need to do theology

20

within, I think you said community.

21

Community in Canon, right?

22

Yes.

23

If I find myself beginning to

question something that I've

24

always been taught, repent.

25

Okay.

26

All right.

27

Next question.

28

So, if I find myself, man I'm

rethinking a doctrine that

29

I've always taken for granted.

30

Mm.

31

And I find myself going, okay.

32

Maybe I've listened to somebody

else, I've listened to a

33

YouTube guy, or I've, oh, yeah.

34

Found a guy on Twitter or something

like that, who challenges my

35

traditional understanding and I

begin to think to myself, huh.

36

I've never thought of it that way.

37

Maybe I'm wrong.

38

How does doing theology in the context

of canon and community help us understand

39

what we should do in situations like that?

40

Dear listener and friend, if you

are asking this because you have

41

been there, let me assure you, I

have been there too, and boy was it.

42

hard Many of you know that my wife and

I came from the charismatic church.

43

We grew up in, the Assemblies

of God, grew up as a loosely,

44

we were tied to it early on.

45

We met in the Assemblies of God church.

46

We got married and eventually we

left and we moved ourselves to

47

a conservative Baptist church.

48

And from there we established

ourself in the Bible Church.

49

And here we are today at Compass

Bible Church in North Texas.

50

So we know the pain of moving

from one way of thinking to

51

a whole new way of thinking.

52

And I guess there's several things

that I could point out to you that

53

were helpful to us as we made these

really hard decisions together.

54

And the first thing

was we prayed about it.

55

This is not gonna be

rocket surgery for you.

56

You're gonna know this, but

so many people I think go past

57

that stage far too quickly.

58

You don't make these decisions quickly.

59

You don't do them in a vacuum.

60

And part of this is opening your soul

up to say, Lord, search me and know me.

61

This is David's prayer.

62

Let's see if there's any wicked way in me.

63

Sometimes we like certain doctrinal

positions because they're tradition

64

and sometimes we don't like them

because they don't sit well with us.

65

And if you're a part of a faithful

Bible teaching church, there's gonna

66

be doctrines that you're gonna say,

oh, that one's harder for me to wrap

67

my mind around because it doesn't fit

or sit well with my sensibilities.

68

So prayer number two I want

you to include your pastor.

69

We did this, and this was

probably the hardest thing for us.

70

We brought our pastor in somewhere

along the line of us, kind of getting

71

close to the decision, but really

seeking, like getting a sense of

72

here's what we're thinking, here's

how we're feeling about these things.

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Can you help us work through this

and give us some insight and.

74

He was very gracious and very kind

to us, and we appreciate that.

75

We look back on that and

say, I think we did it right.

76

It didn't feel good, but we appreciated

his wisdom and his insight on the

77

matter, and he did bless us when we left.

78

He was able to say, Hey,

thank you for coming to me.

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Appreciate all the work you guys

have done, and he let us leave.

80

In a gracious way.

81

It was very hard.

82

We hated that.

83

But prayer pastor and I also

included several of my pals just to

84

keep the peas going for you guys.

85

That was a very Baptist of you.

86

You're welcome.

87

I try, I clearly, I've

embraced the identity.

88

I'm no longer assemblies of God,

but I wanted pals to know what I was

89

wrestling with, and I included several

wise people in my circle to say, here

90

are things that I'm working through.

91

Can you help me think about these things?

92

Am I thinking about it right?

93

Do I need resources?

94

Maybe I, I mean, I don't

want, I didn't wanna leave.

95

I did not wanna leave.

96

I had every reason to stay.

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I'm comfortable there.

98

I love the people there.

99

Everyone thinks well of me.

100

They want me to serve

in these major areas.

101

I had wanted to stay so bad,

but my convictions were changing

102

and I could not deny that.

103

So I included my pals in this and I

asked 'em to pray for me and helped me

104

think this through and challenged me.

105

Poke holes in what I'm thinking so

that if I'm wrong I can be corrected.

106

And those are three small things.

107

They're big individually,

three small things that helped

108

me process through this.

109

And it took a long time.

110

And I guess that would be my final

piece of advice is to do it very slowly.

111

Sorry, that's not a p, but

patiently, patiently do it slowly.

112

Don't, don't make this decision quickly.

113

I mean, it, it took us.

114

I prob probably months.

115

Mm-hmm.

116

Maybe even close to a year

before we decided to move.

117

And then when we went to the new

church, we planted our feet there.

118

We were there for years.

119

Mm-hmm.

120

And that also was a slow move for us,

even though it was from a good church

121

to another good church, or from one

denomination to another denomination.

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We still took our time with that.

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And I think that's the

safest course of action.

124

And you invite people in the process,

please poke holes in my thinking.

125

Show me biblically, help me see

this from God's perspective,

126

and I want you to challenge me.

127

Give people permission to do that,

and they'll help you with that.

128

Yeah, man, that's so good and helpful

and such a wise way to go about it.

129

I would add to that, if this is

denomination to denomination, right?

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Like obviously going

from assemblies, God to.

131

Baptist theology or Bible church,

non-denominational theology.

132

There's differences there.

133

Denominational differences there.

134

Huge.

135

Yeah.

136

And significant large ones big

enough to where you couldn't stay

137

in fellowship with that church.

138

Though you could probably say at the end

of the day, I think there were brothers

139

and sisters in Christ in that church.

140

Absolutely.

141

This is not tier one issue.

142

Yeah.

143

Right.

144

There are other situations where

some of the things that will

145

intrigue us are going to begin to

call into question tier one issues.

146

And that's where I think when

community is given to us by God to

147

say, Hey, you're in danger here.

148

It's good for us to have the

humility and, to be teachable

149

enough to say, you know what?

150

You're right.

151

I appreciate that.

152

Because part of our job as Christians

is to hold one another to orthodoxy.

153

Mm-hmm.

154

Orthodoxy being what is.

155

In line with tier one issues.

156

Right.

157

And the Bible.

158

And Jesus says A disciple is gonna be

like his teacher when he is fully formed.

159

Yep.

160

So the more that a person gives

themself over to teachers that are

161

not teaching biblical truth, the

more they are giving themselves over

162

to become like them that do that.

163

Mm-hmm.

164

There's a difference in listening with

discernment versus listening to be taught.

165

And there's a teachability that should

come with like-minded believers, but

166

there's a weariness and a caution that

we need to bring to the table anytime

167

we're dealing with somebody that is

outside the pale of Christianity that

168

wants to tell us what the Bible actually

means or what our doctrine should be.

169

Yeah.

170

And.

171

Your point is well taken.

172

I think one of the challenges

I wish I had this back then.

173

I didn't have GPT, I didn't

have options to say, gimme the

174

best 10 books on the subject.

175

Now, today, there's a lot of ways

that you could say, all right, if I

176

were going to research this topic,

this theology, I could go to GPT.

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But why not go to my pastors?

178

Why not go to my pals and

say, Hey, I'm studying this.

179

Help me think through this.

180

Or Will you read these books with me?

181

Yeah.

182

Will you?

183

Walk with me through these things, and

if you have good friends, I think a lot

184

of people would be willing to do that,

especially Christians who know you, love

185

you and have an vested interest in you.

186

Yeah.

187

The challenge is of course, that there's

so many people online who develop niche

188

communities around a certain idea,

a certain framework, and because the

189

worldwide web is so large, you could have

thousands of people following a certain.

190

Idea, a certain train of thought, and all

those people together form a community.

191

And it feels like, man, there's so

many people that believe this thing,

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how could I have been so foolish

just to believe this other thing?

193

Right?

194

It gives a misperception of

what's really taking place.

195

And so again, I noticed I didn't

talk about go to the internet and

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look up this book or that book.

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Go to your go to people.

198

Go to people in community that you're with

and have them help you with these things.

199

It's better to do that than to go

online and find your favorite Discord

200

community and have them tell you right.

201

Yeah.

202

Amen to that.

203

Well, hey, we're in Luke 14 and 15

today for our DBR and one of the

204

things, we talked about it yesterday,

how there's kind of a smattering

205

of things that Jesus is talking

about and it's true here in Luke 14.

206

Again, you've gotta, Sabbath situation

here where Jesus is gonna heal, where

207

he's at dinner and the Pharisees

are wondering, is he gonna heal?

208

And what's this gonna look like?

209

And then you've got this Jesus teaching

them about humility and true generosity.

210

And then you've got a banquet.

211

Story, a banquet parable.

212

Counting the cost, considering the

cost of what it's to follow him.

213

I think when we look back, even

at yesterday's reading and today's

214

reading, this is in some ways Jesus

preparing his followers to know what

215

it's gonna be like to follow him.

216

What this looks like.

217

That he's here to do something

different, that he's not here, as

218

we've talked about before, just to

do what's always been status quo.

219

He's not here to be another Pharisees.

220

He's not here to be another religious

leader, but, at the same time

221

he's here to pursue the unlikely.

222

And that's what he even

talks about in this parable.

223

And when he is talking about

the Pharisees, he's saying,

224

Hey, careful who you invite.

225

Don't invite the people

that can repay you.

226

Don't go and sit in the

highest seat of honor.

227

And he says, these are not

the things that, that it looks

228

like to be a follower of Jesus.

229

Cost that's associated with that.

230

And I think that's why at the

end of chapter 14, that's what he

231

lands on and with pretty stark and

startling language when he says,

232

look, if you wanna come follow me,

then following me, your love for me

233

has to make every other relationship

that you hold dear look like hatred.

234

And that's what he's after here.

235

He's not commanding you to hate

the people that are closest to you

236

because that would be to go against

what the Bible says in other places.

237

He's commanding you to love him so much.

238

That you are willing to let go of any

of those other relationships, that

239

your love for him is foremost that

your love for him takes center stage.

240

It is the pinnacle.

241

And if any of those other relationships

came to compete with your love

242

for Christ, that you would choose

Jesus over those relationships.

243

That's the cost of following Christ.

244

I love the way Jesus says it.

245

He says.

246

And if not, while the other is yet

a great way off that he sends a

247

delegation and asks for terms of peace.

248

So therefore, any one of you

who does not renounce all that

249

he has, cannot be my disciple.

250

The terms of peace, the terms

of the relationship being

251

reconciled is full surrender.

252

Jesus doesn't ask for you to say,

well, can I keep these three things?

253

Can I keep this pet sin

that I particularly enjoy or

254

can I stay in my hometown?

255

Jesus asked for terms of full surrender.

256

Yeah.

257

That's what it is to be a Christian.

258

Yeah, that's what it's to be a follower.

259

He's not even saying

Christian, varsity level.

260

He's talking about just a disciple, a low

level learner to be one of his learners

261

is full surrender, which is what he says.

262

Renounce all that you have so.

263

That's not the command for you to

say, okay I'm gonna have a yard

264

sale and sell everything that I

have because I have to do that.

265

But it's that, yeah, you're right.

266

It, everything that I have

is Christ's, I'm a steward of

267

everything down to my very life.

268

The breath that I have is mine because

Christ gives it to me to use for him.

269

Yep.

270

Well, chapter 15, we get into.

271

Again, really familiar territory.

272

Here.

273

He tells three parables, all having to do

with something that's lost being found.

274

So he begins with the lost sheep

and the leaving the 99 to find

275

the wand and finding the wand.

276

Then there's great joy over that.

277

Then he tells the parable, the woman

who loses a coin, and she sweeps the

278

house to find it, and when she finds

it, she rejoices and throws this great.

279

Feast invites her neighbors there.

280

And again, he says, this is like what

happens in heaven when a sinner repents.

281

And then he gives the

parable, the prodigal son.

282

And the prodigal son is a familiar

story for us who have been around

283

the church for any period of time.

284

The son basically goes to his father and

says, dad, you're as good as dead to me.

285

Can you go ahead and gimme my inheritance?

286

And the father acquiesces and does.

287

So the son goes off to a far country

and squanderers it in reckless

288

living is what it says there.

289

And he ends up.

290

Regretting that, ruining that as he

finds that he doesn't have food to

291

eat and he thinks back to his father's

house and he says, well, maybe I can go

292

back and just be a slave in my father's

house because they at least got food.

293

And so he goes back rehearsing

what he's gonna say to the dad.

294

The dad, while he's still a long way,

Jesus multiple times stresses the distance

295

between the father and the son here.

296

And while the son is still a long

way away, the father runs to close

297

the gap and meets him and greets

him and throws his arm around him.

298

And the son can't even get the repentance

out of his mouth yet before the father.

299

Calling for the robe and calling

for the fat and calf and celebrating

300

the lost son coming back, just like

the lost coin and the lost sheep.

301

And yet then there's the older

brother and the older brother in.

302

This is I think without much of a

stretch here, to be understood as the

303

Pharisees and the religious leaders

of the Jews that are, upset that

304

Jesus would call the gentiles or call

those at the byways and the highways,

305

or call the sinners to himself.

306

And they're thinking, we've been

so righteous this whole time, as

307

the son says, look, I've been here.

308

I haven't squandered anything.

309

And when have you killed

the fatten calf for me?

310

And the father's response is, you've

been with me this whole time, and

311

all that I have is already yours.

312

It's right for us to celebrate

the return of the rebellious son.

313

Yeah.

314

A couple quick comments here On

chapter 15, you'll notice that in

315

each of these parables, they go from

larger numbers to smaller numbers.

316

And so with the first one in verses

three through seven you have a woman or

317

a shepherd rather who loses one sheep.

318

Out of the 100.

319

So it's one 100th, and then in the

next parable, the one of the lost coin,

320

the woman loses one coin out of 10.

321

You have one 10th now.

322

And then finally with the parable of the

prodigal son, you have one out of two.

323

So one half is, I think the idea here

is that crescendos in this moment and

324

Jesus is trying to make the point of

something lost being found and the joy

325

that is felt because of that thing.

326

And on top of that here in verses.

327

Seven, 10 and 32.

328

Each of the responses is

meant to be a joyful response.

329

Now, we've talked about this before.

330

Some people, profess faith in Christ,

and yet because we don't know what soil

331

they are, we wonder and we get hesitant.

332

Should I celebrate this?

333

Do I join in the party that God is having?

334

Or maybe he's not having a party at all.

335

Maybe this is a false conversion.

336

So talk quickly for us or just as

quickly longly, however you want, tell

337

us how to respond and enjoy the party of

Heaven without being naive that someone

338

might be professing a false faith.

339

Yeah.

340

Or should we even care about that?

341

Yeah.

342

I think about this with my kids.

343

My kids growing up in a pastor's

home, they have been exposed to

344

the gospel from a very young age.

345

We rehearse it with

them on a regular basis.

346

Jesus died on the cross so

that your sins can be forgiven.

347

He rose against so that you

can live with him forever.

348

And that's what, our faith is

in so that we can be saved.

349

And so I've had my kids at various stages

of youthfulness say that I believe that.

350

And I've always told my kids

there's no age limit to salvation.

351

And that's true for anyone really.

352

And so one of the things that we

follow up up with though is if that's

353

true, if you've made that profession

of faith, praise God for that.

354

That's awesome.

355

You'll start to see a change in your life.

356

You'll start to see how

God transformed your life.

357

But I'm always gonna commend faith.

358

I'm always gonna say,

that's such a good thing.

359

That's such a good thing.

360

That's awesome.

361

I love that you're thinking that.

362

I love that you've said that I

love that you're trusting in Jesus

363

for the forgiveness of your sins

and for your future eternal life.

364

Because I don't wanna

undermine their faith.

365

I don't wanna make their

faith something that they're

366

like, okay, it's out of reach.

367

I can't ever get it.

368

And I don't wanna do that with anyone.

369

Right.

370

Somebody repents.

371

I don't want to look at them

and be like, well, we'll see.

372

We're not so sure.

373

Yeah.

374

Now if they repent and they're like,

Hey, let me be baptized right now.

375

Right now, I wanna be baptized.

376

We see that with the Ethiopian eunuch.

377

We see some other examples of that in

the, even in the book of Acts, there were

378

thousands being added to the church day

by day, and they were being baptized.

379

Repenting for forgiveness of

sins and then being baptized.

380

Mm.

381

But to be baptized in that context was

different than it is in our context,

382

because it was such a high counting of

the cost, as we talked about in the last

383

chapter, that to be baptized, they were.

384

Declaring publicly I'm all

in, and that might mean that

385

I'm put outta the synagogue.

386

That might mean an end of my

relationship with my family.

387

That might mean that I

have to find a new job.

388

That might mean persecution,

but I'm willing to do it here.

389

The cost is so low for someone

to stand up and be baptized.

390

And the last thing that I want is

for somebody to say, I'm a Christian

391

because Pastor PJ baptized me, or,

I'm a Christian because dad told

392

me that I could be baptized at the

age of seven or eight years old.

393

Right.

394

And not, I'm a Christian because

my faith is completely in Jesus.

395

And so I think there's a balance

we can celebrate, we can commend,

396

we can say, yes, faith is good,

saving faith is awesome, is great.

397

And that's awesome that you're

saying you believe in Jesus

398

Christ, you're Lord savior.

399

Praise God.

400

That's so good.

401

That makes me happy to hear that.

402

And at the same time, we can

be slow to give them too much

403

confidence so that we make sure

that this isn't a false profession.

404

Amen to that.

405

Yeah.

406

We really don't know.

407

We never know.

408

We never know.

409

And I guess at the end of the day.

410

I would rather celebrate and

if at, some point in the future

411

they turn away, then okay, right.

412

I lament that, right?

413

But I don't want to neglect

to join in heaven celebration.

414

God is the one celebrating here.

415

He's the one who's pictured as

rejoicing over the loss being found.

416

I think I would rather join in that party

and potentially be sad at the end of it,

417

rather than missing a party to celebrate.

418

The salvation of someone who was lost and

now is found, I guess I just never know.

419

And so I'd rather celebrate and I'd

rather have my heart broken later on.

420

Yeah.

421

Than be cynical and say,

ah, really we'll see.

422

We'll see.

423

You know?

424

Right.

425

We will see if there's proof for this.

426

I don't want to get that to that place,

and I think that's not a good place

427

where my heart to be, so I'd rather

just say, I'll celebrate and I'll thank

428

God for it and I'll just, I'll hope.

429

Yeah.

430

I'd rather hope.

431

Yeah.

432

I'm with you.

433

I'm with you.

434

Well, let's pray.

435

Yeah.

436

We want to have more of that.

437

We want to be able to be a church where we

have plenty of reasons to celebrate faith,

438

and we pray that you would do that for us.

439

We pray for the kids in our church that

you would lead them to faith and that

440

that would even come at an early age.

441

As I often pray during child dedication,

I mean it, Lord, pray that you'd save

442

the children in our church early and

that it would be genuine and that

443

they would grow up to follow Christ

and that they would grow up to speak.

444

Come the future leaders of the church

even what would help us to have plenty

445

of reasons to celebrate with the angels

as people give their lives to Christ.

446

I pray that you would even just

this next year as we think about

447

where we talked about it this

morning or yesterday, morning's

448

podcast of 2026 is almost upon us.

449

God, I pray that 2026 would be a year

fruitfulness for us as a church, that

450

we would double down on reaching people

for Christ and that people would.

451

Hear the gospel from us, and that we

would see salvations and more baptisms

452

because people are coming to believe

in Jesus as the Lord and Savior.

453

And so we know that

you're able to do that.

454

We pray that you do that in our midst.

455

We pray in Jesus' name.

456

Amen.

457

Amen.

458

Keep reading your Bibles.

459

Tune in again tomorrow for another

edition of the Daily Bible podcast.

460

Right.

461

Bye.

462

Bernard: Well, thank you for

listening to another episode of

463

the Daily Bible Podcast, folks!

464

We're honored to have you join us.

465

This is a ministry of Compass

Bible Church in north Texas.

466

You can find out more information

about our Church at compassntx.org.

467

We would love for you to leave a

review, to rate, or to share this

468

podcast on whatever platform you're

listening on, and we hope to see

469

you again tomorrow for another

episode of the Daily Bible Podcast.

470

Ya'll come back now, ya hear?

471

Yeah.

472

I would agree with

everything that you said