A Lot of Words

Welcome back to the A Lot of Words
podcast. I'm Brett Schaening. Joining with

me, as always, Pastor Matt Smith, senior
pastor at Brazos Road Church, drinking one

of our

A Lot of Words podcast mugs. You can find
those A Lot of Words podcast mugs if you

go to alotofwordspodcast.com. Click on the
blue Ask a Question button, submit your

question, and then go... When the form
completes,

go back and click on Shop Our Merch, and
you can go buy one. Uh, what do we do on

this podcast? We are answering the
questions that you, the listener, actually

asks. Today is a special

Q&A episode. Pastor Matt's gonna be
putting all the A's on all your Qs that

you have sent in, and I have a bunch to go
through. Uh, Matt, this episode is

brought to you in part by Logos Bible
Software. You can click on the link below

to get a 60-day free trial of Logos Bible
Software

to take your Bible study to the next
level. They have a rich resource list in

there of commentaries and samples and all
sorts of fun stuff.

Uh, and also,

shout-out to Chauncey in the comments.
He's on vacation right now. He is in

Canada, but he will be back next week, as
will we-

-But he's here
-... to talk about a new topic, but he's

here right now. It's pretty wild. Uh,
Matt, we're talking about interest rates.

Well, no, I was telling Matt that the
betting market

determines... It's rare-- It's almost
never wrong once interest rates-

-Yeah
-... once it's like 90%. So people

listening to this right now will know that
I was right

because the rates went up 0.25 basis
points-

-We'll see
-... and that, that you were you're still

-denying.
-We'll see.

What should I do? If you're right,

-I'll get a, I'll get a tattoo of-
-Okay

-... a baby's bonnet.
-If I'm right, you're gonna get Matt Smith

-tattooed on your low back.
-I'll get a Muppet Babies tattoo.

I'm really--

You wanna... Yeah, you know what? Yeah.
You're gonna get Gonzo.

-Yeah, I'll get Go- I'll, I will-
-Baby Gonzo.

I want a baby... I actually want a Baby
Gonzo tattoo. I'll get a Baby Gonzo. It's

-a deal.
-Okay. When you were doing, um-

-It's a deal
-... when you were doing your intro, I

had... I just... You know how you're
like... Not a, I don't... It's not a

vision. And so I feel like you ha- you
have a-

-I had a vision
-... I'm envisioning-

-Uh-huh
-... and then I was laughing and giggling

at my own envisioning, and I thought,
"I'm-- this isn't probably good for my

sanity." But as you were talking about
Logos, you're like, and it's like,

I had this envision, as you said. I'm
like, and I chimed in at certain words

like, "The best." I'm like, "Best." And
you're like, and it's like, "It'll help to

the next level." And I'm like, "Next
level." And just we had this whole-

-Yes
-... thing, and it just made me giggle.

Every time I do my intro and I look at
you, you're-- there's a huge smirk on your

-face.
-There is. Uh, 'cause I keep thinking of

other things. I'm just watching you do
your thing.

See, now you know. That's in your eyes,
I'm sat when you're talking and I'm not

-listening. Now, it's exactly it.
-I'm fully listening.

-I'm fully listening.
-No, I, I, I've done a lot better at paying

-attention to what you're saying lately.
-Oh, I appreciate that.

-You're welcome.
-Is it because I made you feel bad or what?

Uh-

You realized, "No, I need to listen to
this."

No. Well, I'm doing a lot more, I'm doing
a lot more preparation before our shows,

-and so I feel more locked in.
-Uh-huh.

I've been listening to, like, hours of
debates on whatever topic we're talking

-about.
-Okay.

And so I have some questions at the ready.
I'm also writing a lot more-

-That's fun. Good for you
-... program. Yeah, it's been, it's been

-really helpful for my own study.
-I'm glad you do prep. Um-

-Yeah.
-... I kind of want this episode not to be

Q&A and just reading TikToks, but let's
not do that.

No, we'll... This will be the shortest
episode ever in the history of our

-episodes.
-But we're not trying to make it short

-because we don't love you.
-No. We do love you. Um-

Yeah. And we're not go- we're not gonna go
short all the time.

And we... Yeah, this is just welcome to
it. We appreciate your likes. We

-appreciate your subscribes.
-Yeah, let's appreciate that.

Uh, make sure to like and subscribe. Me
and Matt have committed to-

Do we have to get right into it, though,
because we only have 30 minutes?

We are getting A Lot of Words mug tattoos
when we get 10,000 subscribers, so, um-

I don't know if we said mugs, but we'll do
it, and we're gonna invite others to do

-it with us.
-Yeah, you can get a... If you have robots,

if you know how to use AI to make robots
and, uh, get us fake subscribers,

which I think is ille-

-illegal.
-Is it?

Chauncey, is that illegal on the YouTubes?
I don't think you can make fake-

-Bots?
-... fake bots to-

It's not illegal. You can do anything you
want

-... get subscribers.
-The internet's the Wild West.

It's just not- It's not- ... good
practice. It's not ethical.

No, it's not ethical.

It's highly frowned upon. It's like when
someone fakes their handicap in golf.

But, but what if the bots love our
content?

Yeah, what if we have a fan, a bunch of
bots? Like, AI, if AI does take over the

-world-
-Yeah

... you wanna make sure they're fans of
the show.

Yeah. And what if a guy named Bob makes
those bots?

-Yeah, th- th-
-And then it's Bob's bots.

Bob's bots.

-Ugh. All right, let's do it.
-Or, or it'd be, it'd be Rob bots.

-Rob's bots.
-There's... So, so it's robots. It's Robert

is another name for Bob. I mean, there's
so many plays on the word.

Rob bots. Yeah, actually that's really
good.

-Rob bots.
-It's Bob's bots.

-Yeah, Bob's bots.
-I'm a Bob bot.

-I want Robert bot.
-I'm a Bob bot.

-Yeah.
-This is fun. Words are fun.

-Oh, words, a lot of them.
-And we got a lot of them, and we're gonna,

uh, start with AJ. AJ, you wrote in,
uh... When is this dated?

-August 1st. This isn't too long ago, so-
-Uh, August 1st AD.

This is August 1st, 2026. AJ writes in,
uh, subject is Mesas Music. "I have a

tough time singing along in church when
the main premise of a lot of the songs

are, 'I love you, Jesus,' 'I, I, I.' It's
hard for me to focus. It takes me out of

worship until the next song. I feel bad
not singing along, but I don't like

singing about me when I feel like we
should be singing about God. What should I

-do while these songs play?"
-Well, first of all, all I have to say is,

how dare you? I'm just kidding.

-I, I, I get it. Uh, it's fully normal.
-How dare you?

Um,

yeah. I mean,

the only thing I can say is when you're at
a church, the beautiful thing about music

i- towards the Lord is

you're at a congregation of people, uh,
you...

that is worshiping the Lord. And maybe the
way they're doing it, you're like, "Eh."

And barring, like...

I would say this, barring, like, overt
heresy or just things like that, one of

the things that's fun about congregational
singing is there's a sense of which we

just submit. In other words, I'm gonna
join the voices and say amen. Now, it's

hard if the, the content of the song is
vapid.

But on the flip side,

I think God would see your heart in
saying, "Hey, I'm just gonna join in with

the chorus,

singing praises to you."

Um, but yeah, I mean, like, saying, "I
love you, Lord," and all these things are

fine. There's nothing...

I just think it's more, um... It, it's
maybe less mature. It's not done out of

malice, I'm certain. Of any church,
obviously, it's more out of ignorance. And

we just...

You know what I do is when I'm, when I get
to... I don't get to go to other

churches, but if I do,

um, I just basically just overlook
anything I don't like. And remember, love

covers a multitude of sins, and just
celebrate what's good. And just when it

comes to music, sing loudly,

um, take it seriously, submit yourself to
the experience, but remember, you're not

there for you and...

But I, I do s- I do get it. What do they,
what do people say? "I see you. I see you,

AJ. I get, I get you. I get wh- I get wh-
how you feel."

Um,

but having said that,

uh, you know,

it is good just to kind of submit yourself
to singing praise the Lord and enjoying

your voice. I think the exercise in doing
that

is part of the whole experience. And so,

um, it's kind of in one sense not your
responsibility, I guess is the best way to

say it. Remember we talked about in that
music episode, I think we keep feeling

about music, we have opinions about it,
and I, I actually agree with all your

opinions. That's what's so interesting
here.

-Mm-hmm.
-But in the past, it's only been recently

in history where

music was something that was very private.
We had choices and this and that. Uh, I

would think in your mind as an exercise,
just go back to, like, music doesn't exist

unless you go somewhere and someone has
to happen to have a piano or you hear it.

And that's what they chose, and that's
what it is. So I'd just lift your voice up

and, and just, uh,

let it go, and then maybe find a better
church.

-I'm just-
-Yeah.

At a certain point, that's

probably indicative of a church...

Well, well, whatever. You know, I don't
wanna get into that.

You know what another good thing about
music is, Matt?

-It, uh, moves you.
-When it hits you, you feel no pain.

-What is that? Where is that from?
-It's from Bob Marley.

-Oh, yeah. All right.
-Trenchtown Rock, 1970.

-I was... Oh, I was gonna say-
-'71 maybe?

-... uh, what's the C&C Music Factory one?
-See, this is... As, as... So Jesse texts

me, and he's like, "Do you, do you just
have..." He's like, "Are you looking these

musical facts up?" And I told him, I was
like, I said, "Jesse, I have a... My, my

knowledge of '90s and early 2000s rock is
probably better than my knowledge of the

Bible, sadly," because it was such an idol
for me.

I just feel like I wanna checkmate you
with my knowledge of '80s and '90s music-

-Yes
-... where it's like, "Let it take

-control."
-Yeah.

-"Let the mu- rhythm move you down."
-However, Trenchtown Rock was, I think, is

'70. Either '70 or '71, Bob Marley. I was
a big Bob Marley guy too.

-Yeah. Well-
-One good thing about music, when it hits

-you, you feel no pain. Thanks, Bob.
-Mm-hmm.

Uh, hey, he could... Bob, he could be
writer robot. Bob spots. Bob Marley's

-bots.
-Bob Marley's bots.

Uh, thanks, AJ, for writing in. This one
comes from Mike. Uh, "Partnering with

other orgs. Matt, as long as I've known
you, I've sensed a general hesitancy to

partner with other churches, ministries,
and evangelical organizations." Sorry.

-Wait, wait, wait. Say that again.
-Sorry, sorry. That's so true. That's so

-true.
-What is this? What is this?

-Which Mike is this?
-Who is this person?

Oh, this is great. This is, this is
Bazelle. This is Bazelle.

-Okay.
-This is great.

-All right, Mike.
-I, I saw the email.

Uh, it says, "As long as I've known you,
I've sensed a general hesitancy to partner

with other churches, ministries,
evangelical, evangelical organizations, et

cetera.

If this is the case, can you explain why
this is and what pitfalls or benefits you

-see from doing this?"
-That's actually a great question.

That's a great question, but I just... I
love that.

-He said it so right.
-Well, actually, so I wanna push back. I

-actually-
-Uh, Mike, I'm gonna send you another mug.

Yeah, no, um,

here's, here's where I think it's wrong. I
actually want our s- so I think the, the,

the mistake is,

I want our church to partner... Our,
our... Because the church isn't just the

institution, it's the people. So th- I
think that's what we gotta remember. When

we talk about me partnering, when they say
the word me, they usually mean the

institution called Barabbas Road Church.

What they, what we don't usually mean is
the body of Christ, because I'm not the

body of Christ. I'm one part of it. And so
I have one part in the body of Christ. My

point is I want the body of Christ to
partner with all sorts of ministries.

I think institutionally,

um, partnering with ministries, I'm not
sure what that, that does often, if that

makes sense. First, I'm just not sure what
the partnership does. So in other words,

I'm partnered in the gospel with them,
but, but here's the big reason. So,

uh, fundamentalist Christians, or like IF,

you know, funda- I, oh, I've said
independent fundamentalist Baptist, IFB,

uh, whatever. Um,

you know, they, they get in a lot of
trouble for basically emphasizing what's

called the doctrine of separation, but
they're actually not wrong. Where they get

into trouble is they practice what I call
tertiary separation or whatever.

The, the Bible tells us to separate from,
like, sinful things

and institutions, and we don't wanna be
partnered with things that are bad, right?

We don't wanna... What partnership has
light with darkness? And so the challenge

is, let's say we wanna partner with an
institution, and we find out that that

church that we're partnered with, uh,
happens to also... We... They- they're

great. We're gonna go work with them on,
or to help some orphans, let's say,

and then we find out that that church
also, uh, decides to start ordaining women

pastors. Well, now do we stop supporting
orphans with them, or now are we just,

like, telling people that this other
church that has women pastors is, like,

cool with us too?

And so kind of now I've just linked hands
with a church where I'm basically giving

approval. So remember, the purpose of a
doctrinal statement in any church is

saying, "This is the campfire we're
gathering around."

And so

the, the, the, the less the doctrine, the
wider

the people that can come in. The more

narrow the doctrinal statement is, the
more, like, you know, uh, deep the

fellowship can t- be in a sense, but it's
more narrow. And so what I've always sort

of ascertained is

if there's a partnership we're gonna take
part in in some way,

I don't even know what that looks... Let's
say we, we are.

Usually, there's sort of a, some sort of
doctrinal sort of unity that we have,

and we go forward. And if that doctrinal
unity gets under attack or there's a

problem, we have to break that. But let's
say someone in our church is gonna go help

something, and let's say the Catholics or
the Mormons are like, "Well, our church

now isn't in bed with some other group."
Uh, there's just a member of our church is

going to serve a function, but Barabbas
Road Church is not saying, "Hey, we're

united." So I guess what I'm trying to
protect as a pastor

is linking Barabbas Road Church to other
institutions that might have doctrines

that we don't, um, approve of.

On the flip side, I wanna free all of our
people to join any institution for any

purpose because they're still under sort
of the, uh, this, this sort of pastorate.

They're sort of under this, so they can go
and be in the world but not of it. So

without being too kind of pedantic and
crazy, like, that's basically the issue,

is I wanna give as much freedom to our
people as possible to be ministers, not,

not, you know, not being in the ministry's
rerun. And I'd rather just see, hey, if

that's something we really like, yeah,
recruit all the people you want. I wanna

try to de-emphasize the institutional
footprint of Barabbas Road Church,

-uh, in that. So...
-That's helpful.

Uh, you kept saying a word, and it
reminded me of my, my eight-year-old son

-came up with a joke.
-Okay.

And as far as I could tell, he actually
made this up, and I was very impressed

-with it.
-Okay.

He said, "What do you call a bean
factory?"

-A bean factory?
-Yeah.

Um,

-a fart factory?
-An institute.

Oh.

An institute. He, did he really make that
up?

-He really did.
-That's pretty funny.

-That's pretty funny.
-Oh my goodness.

Um, all right. This next one, thanks,
Mike, for sending that in. Appreciate it,

-man.
-Well, I saw, I saw him because he word,

used the word midget, and someone else
used it the other day.

-Yeah.
-And someone else said, "You can't use that

word." I'm like, "Actually, I think you
can now."

-You can.
-And so it made me-

-You know who uses it? Midgets. There's-
-Well, I just-- But I heard a joke where

someone said, "I saw a midget climbing
down a wall," and someone said, "That's a

-little condescending."
-Oh my goodness, that's really good. That's

-really good.
-That's really funny.

-It's really good.
-It's a little condescending. L- l- l- like

-a little-
-I know. And j-

-... midget prisoner. Yeah.
-Yeah. I mean, it's...

-A little condescending. All right.
-It's good.

-Uh, thanks, Mike, again.
-I had to one-up your son's joke. That's

-all.
-You did. That was a good one. This one

comes from Christian. He writes in about
biblical interpretation. "I've often heard

teachings about the five women in
Matthew's genealogy, but I've noticed that

Matthew never actually names Bathsheba.
Instead, he deliberately writes, 'The wife

of Uriah.' Why do you think Matthew chose
to mention Uriah rather than Bathsheba?

Could Matthew's point be broader than
simply highlighting women or scandalous

circumstances?" And then he go- continues,
"As I've been reading the Old Testament,

it struck me that Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and
Uriah are all Gentiles whose faithfulness

stands in contrast to prominent
Israelites, Tamar to Judah, Rahab to

Achan, Ruth to Elimelech, and Uriah to
David. Do you think Matthew is

intentionally introducing one of the
Gospel's major themes, that outsiders at

times prove more faithful than those who
should have recognized God's work, or am I

-off my rocker?"
-No. I mean, two things can be true at

once. You just-- Uh, like, it's...

Yeah, I mean, there's not... I, I don't
think the idea of using women is even the

issue. I think the issue with the women in
these cases, Ruth is emphasizing the

Moabite connection, right? So

there's a scandal there. But yeah, it does
emphasize women, but the wife of Uriah is

actually more scandalizing David's sin.

It, it, it-- Ba- ba- it's more
scandalizing David's sin than just saying

Bathsheba, because the-- what... In, in
other words, like, what they're doing is

they're emphasizing... So if... So
Bathsheba's significance is he's the wi-

she's the wife of Uriah. Why is that
significant? Oh, the wife

that's of someone else is... That's how
Solomon came, by the wife of Uriah, and

now R- Uriah is the one who David killed.
So David didn't just commit adultery with

someone else's wife, he then murdered
Uriah. So

that reference is basically actually even
more about David's sin. And that kind of

goes back to the, the whole line. It's...
The scandal is just basically showing

that, that Jesus

c- basically comes forth through Adam. In
all of Adam's sin, God protects the line,

even in all the sin, to bring forth
Christ, and the emphasis there is so that

we see the need and the... L- basically,
we see grace, the line of grace, the, what

they call the scarlet thread going from
beginning, you know, all the way through.

And so emphasizing these moments where
God's grace is shining through is really

the emphasis. And so outsiders and women
might be part of that, but the main point

is to emphasize God's grace,

which is what? These are undeserved
people. This is an undeserved line. And so

I... you know, that's the basic way to
take it.

This one comes from Amari. Amari writes
in, "Do Bulgarians, do Bulgarian split

squat slap?

And also, what are the hardest theological
concepts that you wrestle with or don't

-quite understand?"
-Yeah. Bulgarian scrit- split squats are

awesome if you do them right. Um,

they're... You can cheat a little bit, but
like, yeah, when I was doing the rowing

stuff for Olympic training, I really liked
them. I think if you do Bulgarian sp-

split squats where you actually don't have
a bench to put your back foot on or

something, where you just have to hover
it,

it's even better, which would just kind of
be like a one-legged squat. But it looks

like...

You know when you're bowling, how you have
your back foot go across your body

almost?

Uh, it kind of looks like that, but i- it
gets scary when you add weight. Um, but I

do think the only problem with Bulgarian
squit- split squats is, like, how much you

use that back leg, right? Um, but I think
they're phenomenal for building your legs

up, for real. S- they've sp- they slap.
In fact, you just reminded me, I think I'm

gonna change my program

from my squats to the Bulgarian split
squats. They're so good. Thanks. All

-right, what was the ne- next one?
-Uh, any theological concepts that you

-struggle with or don't quite understand?
-No, what I struggle with constantly is

like... You know, I'll tell you what the
big one is.

-Okay.
-What's, what's fascinating to me

is,

you know,

the, the way that the Bible's written is
really understandable when you read it

in total.

And I think the thing I struggle with a
little bit is

how confident people are and, and how
expert they feel

on, like, a word or a thing,

and they feel so expert, and then they
will say, "Hey, you seem confident too,"

and they put us in the same... And like,
my whole,

uh, confidence comes from, like, constant
rereads, where, like, the context and

rereading and then the, the, the genre,
the whole thing itself. And so I might use

a verse, but if you notice, I'd rarely
make my case by the Greek word and...

That, that's all valuable, but I think
when I s- theologically, you start to

think about, like, the canon of scripture
and stuff, I think the struggle I have is,

you know, in history, a lot of people
didn't... I mean, the Pharisees just

didn't read the Bible that way. In other
words, I don't know that people have

enjoyed the benefits of the Word of God in
a normative sense-

-Mm-hmm
-...

for, like, like, very often,

right? Like, even, I mean, in Martin
Luther's time, people got access to it and

they would read it. And you always hear
the stories about the people that do so

well and grow so much, they read the Word
of God, and someone's like, "I read it."

But when you read the Bible the first
time, like, there's a lot you don't

understand. And so I guess my, my struggle
is simply, it's like

God has left this treasure for us and we
have to just go to it, but people don't.

And my job is to preach from it, but I'm
like,

it's...

I struggle a bit because I'm like, it's
right there obvious, and I hate to almost

sound Gnostic, like it's a secret, but I'm
like, w- people don't read it. They just

don't. They just don't read it enough and
get it. That's one of the things I'm just

like, "Wow,

I wish it was... I kind of wish sometimes
it was just, like, a straight instruction

booklet like people want it." I mean,

um, but the bigger one to me

is, uh, let's see, theological concepts.
Like, I mean,

I think things are interesting.

Um-

You know, what do I struggle with here?

Um,

that's like already hard on the spot. I'm
like-

-I don't, yeah, I c- nothing... I mean-
-I s- it's not fair to say I don't struggle

-with things.
-It's true.

I just don't wanna come across I don't
str- like, ev- let me say it this way.

The, the best thing I can say is every
single week

I study in such a way where I struggle so
much. So there's not one sermon I preach

where I'm like, "Yeah, I know this." In
fact, I would say, and you've seen me in

my process, I probably am

more humble

in that process than people, normal people
are. Like-

-Yeah
-... our inductive study people are jumping

to conclusions. I'm like, I go in and I,
like,

s- struggle with all the basic things.

So and that's what I mean I struggle with
everything. I struggle with all of it. I

wrestle with all of it, and I,

I get stuck in all of it for so long. And
by the time I come through, I've wrestled

so often,

um,

but

yeah, I guess

the Bible's so clear and awesome, but I
struggle through all of it. But I've been

doing it so faithfully for a long time,
and that I just enjoy that, and God's

never let me down. But if you looked at my
prayer journal

every week, "God help me, God help me, God
help me."

-Yeah.
-So I, I-

-Yeah.
-You know, that's the best I got. I can't

think of anything right off the top of my
head-

-Yeah
-... but I'm sure there's a million things.

-I don't know.
-Yeah. I can affirm that. Um, yeah, your

humble approach to the text is,

um, it's, it's probably the thing that
people-

-I'm the most humble.
-Well, it's probably, it's probably the

thing that people would least suspect you
of-

-Correct
-... but it's, in my opinion, what makes

-you so good at what you do.
-Yeah. But, but that's, that's, that's the

irony of, of the, the comment type things.
"This guy doesn't know anything." I'm

like, "All right." It's like I guarantee

two things. I think people are really
comfortable behind a keyboard saying

-things they wouldn't say live.
-Yeah.

And secondly, I think people who are very
ignorant are really comfortable acting

-like they know stuff.
-Yeah.

Someone's like, "He doesn't know
anything." And he goes on, and he's like,

"The moon doesn't exist." You're like, "Oh
my goodness." You know, you're like-

-Yes
-... "Oh, wow."

Well, and, and we love all of you, but if
you go to our inductive class, you're

like, "I listened to one John MacArthur
sermon. This is it." And you're like-

Okay. You know, that's actually, that's
one of the things that gets me the most is

that- ...

like I said, I'll have, I have like, you
know, 60 commentaries, let's say, on that

subject. Someone will get their one
commentary they wanna tell everyone, and

I'm like, "Look, that guy..."

It, the...

You can't just hold up this one thing you
read and be like, "Well, the, according to

this equal thing, nuh-uh, and have equal
space."

-Mm-hmm.
-Um, anyways, so...

I do need to get to, uh, Will, Will the
Thrill, Will of the Lord.

-Yes, Will .
-Will has been asking... He texts me after

every time an episode is released, and now
he's starting a counter in the comments

section of another week where my question
has not been answered.

-Oh, dear.
-And, uh, and I even told him, I was like,

"If you adulate, I'll get it in there."
And then I still didn't do it. I just keep

-forgetting.
-Oh, gosh. Okay.

-Will, it's finally happening.
-This is the moment.

Will, if we ever get someone- ... to
donate mugs,

-I'll get you one.
-All right.

Uh, he writes in, "Thank you, brothers,
for your continuing faithful ministry in

serving the saints and sharing the wisdom
that God has given.

Amen." Uh, thanks for the, the compliment.
Um, "After watching the intro plug of

Logos Bible Software," best Bible software
you can buy.

-Yep.
-Um, "60-day trial."

-60-day trial. See, it's-
-In the comments.

This is good. We adulate. We got the plug.
Uh, "In the conspiracy theory video, I'm

wondering what sort of tablets you both
use for Logos and how to install it

if it's not an iPad or a Samsung pad.

Those are nice, but having the E Ink of a
Kindle is certainly preferable for long

reads."

Okay, this is why we haven't answered this
question, Will.

-Yeah, Will...
-All right, let me just go back. Um-

-The E Ink of a Kindle, just get-
-So tablets are great. So do you, does he

use an iPhone?

No. I think he has, like, a Google dumb,
some dumb Google thing.

Like a dumb phone, or like is it, is it
like-

It's not a dumb phone. I think he's on an
Android.

-Okay. Well, it's-
-Wait, wait, wait, wait. Let me, let me

look. I'll text him right now and see if
it's a blue bubble.

-Well, no, no, but my...
-No, we need to do this on the, on air.

-No, no. My point, my, it simply is-
-Da, da, da, da, da.

-Okay. How dare, how dare I?
-Uh...

The first thing I have to say to you,
Will, is how dare you? Uh-

-It's green. Nope, he's got an Android.
-He has an Android.

-Will, I just texted you.
-Okay.

-Android.
-So Android's fine.

-Boo.
-I mean, like, God loves Android people

-too.
-Yeah.

-Like he... Like the Samaritans.
-As long as they repent.

-Androids are like Samaritans, people.
-Yeah, as long as they repent.

Um, so the...

-Your phone will work Logos just fine.
-Mm-hmm.

-An Android will work Logos just fine.
-Yeah.

Um, laptops work it just fine, and the
tablets you mentioned work it just fine.

Kindle's not meant for Logos. It's, it's,
it's too slow. You would never wanna put

it on a Kindle, and I'll explain why.
Kindle takes forever. The E Ink is

wonderful to read, but it is extremely
slow. Like, when you press it, it takes

forever to then, like, react, right?

Um, I don't know if they have that one
tablet, the writing one, if... I still

don't know if it's fast and snappy, but I
don't think it is. And so Logos is a very

big program, and I would say the, the
modern tablets and everything, they can

run it. But back in the day, like, your
tablet might not be able to run it.

They're, they're big programs, and a
Kindle just doesn't have the horsepower to

do it, period. So my suggestion is, if
you want... My suggestion is an iPad Mini

would run it just fine, but even still,
just get an iPad Air. Or, like, I hate s-

that's like, that's probably the best bang
for the buck is get an iPad Air and run

it. Or here's what I do. In my bag,

in my backpack, I have a laptop and I have
an iPad Mini. And so if, if... In your

case, you could do a Kindle and a laptop
or what have you. And if you're gonna

carry a Kindle, you can carry a laptop.
Just put them in your bag,

and so either have a satchel or backpack.
There you have it. And so now my iPad's

for reading and little things, and then
when I wanna do stuff, I do it on a

-laptop. But-
-All right, I'm gonna end, I'm gonna end

this question right now because I, you,
you-

-Are you keep going?
-... you love this.

-Let me tell you more.
-But, but in my mind, this is us devolving

-into nonsense.
-This is, this is what, this is what...

-Give me-
-But you want, you wanna-

I, I should start my own channel called
Things I Like.

People... Exactly. What... If this show
gets big enough, you can have your own

-channel called-
-Oh

... Matt Just Talks About His Weird
Idiosyncrasies and-

-They're not weird. They're genius
-... backpacks. E- I, I-

-Everyone needs to benefit from it
-... I saw a look in your face where you

were about to keep talking for 10 minutes.
And stop it.

-It's called a lot of words, but-
-There you go, Will. Um, yeah, I... For me

personally, I mostly do use Logos on my
phone when I need it, when I'm not

preaching. For sermons, it'll, it'll be on
my, on my laptop or on my... Yeah, on my

laptop for sure.

Uh, I wanna get to... I think it's Mia,

-M-Y-A, or Maya.
-Uh, Maya.

Either way, I like, I love the spelling. I
love the Y.

-It's Maya.
-Maya?

-No, I'm just kidding.
-Oh.

-Uh, well, my daughter-
-It's fine

... Layla, uh, I, I like a, I like a Y in
a name. I don't know why.

Ah.

-Ah.
-Did you do that on purpose?

I did not. I, I just caught myself and
laughed at myself.

-Oh. How dare you?
-See, th- this would be something I would

think of in my element. "Jesus is at the
right hand of God and on the throne."

It is stated, implied that Jesus is sat on
the throne, and at the same time

expressed that Jesus is sat at the right
hand of the throne.

I do not doubt this, and I believe Jesus
is on the throne, but how do I explain

this concept to someone? I love, love,
love, love the podcast. Every card I

-listen to-
-Yeah

... you two yap on, and I learn so much.
God has truly blessed you, uh, both with

His wisdom. I hope that, uh, gets me a
free mug and my favorite two podcasters in

-the world.
-Maya.

-Let's go.
-It's Maya. I think it's, yeah, it's Maya.

-It's Maya?
-You go, Maya.

-Maya, let's go.
-You go, girl.

-Yeah.
-Uh, or, and maybe Maya's a boy.

Names.

Well, okay.

Um,

well, is one of my answering now?

I got stuck on that. Okay, I got it. Uh,
okay, the throne, there's more than one

throne. Let's just start with that. So

the, the Father isn't totally visible. You
see in Revelation 4, I believe it is, the

throne, which is the Father, and you see
the Son-

-Mm-hmm
-...

um, come to the throne and get the scroll.
Um, the references to Jesus sitting on

the throne, there's a couple references.
One is the throne of David, and so you get

the picture of sort of

different

spheres and different thrones in those
spheres. And so, like, is David, will be

David resurrected to, like, rule over the
earthly Israel? Like, who knows? Um, will

there be a heavenly Jerusalem where
there'll be a throne there? I mean, we're

gonna be sitting on little thrones, right?
If that's the way to look at it. Um, so I

just think that one thing is there's not
just one throne, I guess is the ba- way to

say it. And then secondly, depending on
which realm you're in, uh,

the Father's not Jesus, so it's not like

we... but you can't even see the Father.
He's unapproachable. Like, so,

uh, that's the best way I got it. Like,
there's different thrones. It's not like

Jesus sitting there, then the Father's
Jesus. Like, they're separate in the sense

that they're one God,

separate persons. Um, the Father's not the
Son,

the Son's not the Spirit, the Spirit's not
the Father, but there's one God. And so

the Son has a throne, and it would be
different, you know? There's like... so

he's at the right hand of the Father, or
who's at the right hand of Christ? And so

those types of things to speak of, like,
multiple

thrones is, I guess, be- the best way I'd
say it.

So it's a Trinitarian answer.

Yeah, Trinitarian answer's fine. But also,
it's not always just... everything's not

in the same realm. So for example, like,
the throne of David is the throne that

Jesus is supposed to be sitting on, and
that's a reference to his rulership over

the millennial kingdom and earthly r- so
you would have a throne in heaven, and

then you'd have Jesus, the incarnate
God-man, um,

the, the, the re- and the, the resurrected
God-man, you know,

occupying the throne of David, perhaps, is
the best way to look at it, which would

be

the reference to the throne, or being
given the title deed of creation, which

would be ruled from Jerusalem,

his holy hill. That's Psalm 2. So that's
the best way I'd say it. So it's not so

much that they're all in... it's not like
they're all

in the same, like, quote unquote,
"palace," let's say, but it's like imagine

different castles and one is on Earth,

for, for example. And so... but also in
heaven, there'd be other

things too. But I think that answers the
question.

-Yeah, that's really helpful.
-So.

-Um, I like the different castles analogy.
-Yeah.

Uh, we'll do one... Thank... Mia, thank
you for your adulation.

Thank you for your question.

It's, it's,

-it's... you can't say that.
-I can say that. Uh-

-Ugh
-... and then,

uh, this one, last one we're gonna do for
this episode.

-So short.
-I know, it's so short.

-Oh my goodness.
-Thirty minutes.

It's so sh- it's so short. Thirs- Chauncey
goes, "Thirty minutes."

Uh, comes from Brady. He writes in,
continuation ver- continuationism versus

-cessationism.
-Okay.

He says, "Hi, Pastor Brett and Pastor
Matt. I love the podcast. I appreciate

that you guys put yourselves on the spot
to answer these questions boldly,

regardless of the backlash you may get."
And we do get a backlash. People on TikTok

-think Matt is a moron.
-Hmm.

An uds- unstudied,

steroid-injected,

-old moron.
-I love it.

I love it.

Uh, "What is your stance on
continuationism versus cessationism? From

my research so far, it seems like the
interpretation of First Corinthians 13 is

a major factor in where you land,
specifically what, 'when the perfect

comes' is referring to in verse 10. It
seems like cessationists believe it is

referring to the canon of scripture and
continuationists believe it is referring

-to Christ's return."
-No.

"I have heard, I have heard people argue
both sides, and I'm curious what your,

-what position you hold."
-Yeah, and it's not built on that at all.

And so, so, so when some people, some
people do. In fact, I, I don't know if it

was Busenitz or someone who made the case,
or no, it was Tom Pennington.

I don't, I don't think it's a good
interpretation to say that the perfect is

-a canon of scripture.
-Oh, Tom Pennington.

Yeah, Pen- so, so, eh, what... that's sort
of...

it's a fake argument, not that you're
making it, but, like, when people make and

they build... this is one of the biggest
problems that we can make in an argument.

So there's a lot of good arguments for
cessationism, but what, what happens is

someone sticks to one, and so then what
someone does is they defend that one and

think they defeat the argument.
Cessationism is not based on,

um, the, the perfect being the, the
completed canon. You could say that. I

don't think... I actually don't think
that's the interpretation. I think it's

probably speaking of

the glorified state and body and whatnot.
But, um,

so, okay, so that's it. So, but I'm a
cessationist. A cessationist does not mean

God doesn't do miracles. It does not mean
that God's not working. It doesn't mean

you can't pray to God for healing. A
cessation, a cessationist simply means

that the apostles aren't here. That's
essentially it, that the apostolic

ministry that came out, which, which had
a... so it's all based not on, um...

if you go back to Sunday's sermon,
whatever time you hear this, I can't...

whatever's the...

and he shall... do the sermon, he shall
come in. The intro to that sermon deals

with what I'm getting at right now.

Th- this isn't based on a verse, but an
implication. Here's the implication.

There's many gifts in the Bible, many
miracles in the Bible, and their function

was not just to do miracles, but it was to
do something. So Moses doesn't cross the

Red Sea and then every time he comes
across water, just split it, right? There

was an event, and that event meant to do
something. It was the Exodus, right? But

God goes on and he talks about a lot of
the miracles that Moses did, and they were

also to authenticate Moses and the
authority of Moses, so that when Moses

wrote the law, they were like, "Oh, this
comes from God." And the same thing

happened with the apo- with the, uh, uh,
prophets, where they would speak and God

would do miracles through them, which
authenticated that they were the

mouthpiece of God. So the miracle was
serving to-

... authenticate the revelation. And in
the New Testament, Jesus, miracles, and

the apostles, miracles, and they, uh, they
wrote the, the word and it says, you

know,

uh, God vindicated the word or whatever
with the, with the miracles. And so the

basic picture is that these guys have
demonstrated this is from God. They're,

they're speaking from God. This apo-
apostolic ministry is from God.

And so this, a cessationist is simply
saying, "And they did that." In other

words, Moses, the next guy, like, doesn't
need to keep it. Like, Moses did the

miracles and it was authenticated, and

you move forward. And so in this case, the
apostles' teaching, the word of God,

has been authenticated

by these sign gifts, right? Um, there's a
difference between healing and having the

gift of healing. These things were, like,
little announcements that these guys are

the, the thing. That's the, that's the
basic o- observation.

Um,

and then going forward from that, uh,
there's different arguments you can make.

But that's, that's what a cessationist is,
where he's like, "I just don't believe

there's an apostolic succession of
miracles today. And anyone that says there

is, uh, their miracles are lame."

Like, basically they have lame miracles.
Like, they, they're like, "Wow, that's a

terrible succession. God kind of blew it.
He used to be cool, and now I guess he

blew it," 'cause the, today's miracle, uh,
apostles can,

I guess, heal scoliosis or something, but-

-Mm-hmm.
-So-

-They could make a squircle.
-A squircle, yeah. So they, they can't

do... Well, do you hear the story about
the Awaken pastor who's, like, apparently

healed someone from cancer, but then he
got cancer and he goes to Mexico to get s-

get

help? Um, but the point is, God works. God
does miracles. You can pray for Him to do

things. The point is we just, I don't
have... There's not an office of apostle

that's authenticating the word of God.
It's already been done. That's the whole

argument. And it's not an argument because
God says it's gonna stop. It's that the

thing it was supposed to do has been done,
which is it authenticated that this is

the word of God. And so

that's the, that's the entire... It's a
very modest argument. I mean, anyone that

believes apostles aren't here today is a
cessationist. That's it. That's what it,

-that's what it means.
-That argument was so modest it wore a

dress down to its ankles.

That's stupid.

That was a good one. I feel, I feel like
we should keep going. I wanna keep doing

-it, but I guess we gotta head out.
-Uh, I've never used that in a...

That wasn't even good. You shouldn't, you
shouldn't cut that.

-Yeah, you laughed. Do not-
-I just laughed for the sheer stupidity of

-it.
-Shaun, do not cut that. There will be

-laughs.
-That was so bad.

-If you were listening-
-No, stop. No, stop. I'm embarrassed.

If you were listening and laughed at that
joke-

-That's embarrassing.
-... laughed-

You should be embarrassed.

-That's fourth.
-That's fourth of you who laughed at the

-joke.
-Ugh.

Uh, thanks, man. That i- that is, that was
a, that was a great response.

-That was a great response, I think.
-Uh-

-We should start evaluating my responses.
-Brody, thanks for the que-- Was it Brody?

-Brady.
-Brady. It was Brady who sent it in. Yeah.

-Brady's awesome.
-Brady is awesome. Uh, Brady, thanks for

sending that in. If you have more
questions you want us to answer, go to

louderwordspodcast.com. Click on the blue
Ask a Question button, send them in. We'll

get them answered on the show, either in
the next Q&A before one of our longer

episodes, or, uh, we'll turn it into a
topic. We'll be back next week.

Uh, as long as Shaun T is not

taken captive in Canada,

we'll be back next week with a full-length
episode, another hour and a half.

-This is a full-length episode.
-This is a-

We can make our episodes as long or short
as we want. You'll have to like it.

-That's true.
-Do you wanna give a teaser of what you're

gonna be talking

-about, or...
-Uh, I don't even... I don't know.

-Well, let's just wait, yeah.
-Yeah, let's wait.

-Maybe we should always do-
-It'll be a surprise

... Q&A episodes 30 minutes. I think
that's smart.

-What, um-
-Every once in a while, just do Q&A

episodes for 30 minutes. I think it's a
great idea.

Yeah, and if you have a t-- You can also
leave in a comment the, any topic that you

want us to talk about. Uh, the YouTube
comments, I'll usually check those.

We have higher respect, I think, for
YouTube comments as, like, that means you

-probably watched the video.
-Yeah, the full-length YouTube comments.

But the Shorts comments, like, I just
enjoy them, but-

-Mm-hmm
-... they're not... I, you're probably not

-a fan.
-We only like pants comments.

-Yeah, no. Yeah, just pants comments.
-YouTube pants.

-All right. Good job, Brett.
-We will s-

-Good job, Shaun T.
-Good job, Matt.

-Yeah, tell, tell Brett-
-Good job, Shaun T.

You know, we always say, "Good job, Shaun
T," but good job to Brett. You do all this

prep. I'm just the guy that shows up, so,
I mean, good job, you guys.

-No, Shaun T does everything.
-Yeah, we should all just applaud

ourselves. Like, good job. This is great,
right?

-Yeah.
-Yeah.

-Someone adulate Shaun T.
-Yeah, Shaun T's great. All right, so-

That's it.

-Anything you wanna add?
-See you at church. barabas.com.

-Okay.
-And, uh, Tuesday night.

-Like and subscribe.
-Like and subscribe. Are you trying to-

-Tuesday nights
-... get me to, yeah, come to...

Um, all right. We'll see you next week on
there.

-Download the Barabas app.
-It's too many, it's too many things. I'm-

-barabas.com.
-You got a meeting, Matt.

You gotta go.

-Ugh.
-Oh, that's big. This... I'll just continue

by myself.

-Does anybody else wanna sit down?
-an hour late.

No, this is great. I'm late to a meeting,
but I'm gonna keep talking. I'm gonna try

to make this longer than a half hour.

Um,

no.

You didn't like that I was by myself? You
knew I was gonna-

-You gotta end it.
-You knew I was gonna-

You gotta end it where we did the short
episode and then we're bantering at the

other end.

It's like a balloon. You try to squeeze a
banjo off and it pops up on this side.

-That's a great analogy.
-It was a good analogy. Okay.

-Hey, Matt, you know what really slaps?
-What?

Our subscribers, the people who watch the
show, you, each week. So thank you. We

appreciate you tuning in each week to
listen to the Louder Words podcast.

Make sure you like and subscribe and watch
the videos to the very end. It's great

for us. Make sure you comment, and it
really supports the channel. And we really

love hearing from what you have to say,
and we're excited to keep doing this.

And buy a mug.