The Dangers of "Your Truth" | Almost True | Week 1

 Welcome back to the Greater Guild! I'm Brandon, your Guild Master, and today we're diving into a powerful new sermon series, "Almost True." In this episode, "The Dangers of Your Truth," we explore how modern Christian ideals often clash with biblical truths. We break down the concept of "truth," examine its relationship to perspective, and reveal how leaning on personal truths can lead us astray. Join us as we dissect the difference between subjective truths and the absolute truth found in the Bible. Stick around for a fun game of "Two Truths and a Lie," and a deep dive into how our perceptions can deceive us. Don’t miss out on this eye-opening discussion! 

Creators & Guests

Host

Pastor Brandon Holm

What is Church Nerds United?

Welcome to Church Nerds United, the ultimate podcast where the sacred and the geeky collide! Dive deep into the Holy Scriptures with us as we explore sermons sprinkled with your favorite gaming quests, cosplay characters, and anime adventures. Whether you're a Paladin of Prayer, a Cosplay Crusader, or an Otaku of the Old Testament, this is your sanctuary.

Join our fellowship as we level up our faith through the lens of epic battles, legendary heroes, and fantastical worlds. From the wisdom of the Proverbs to the valor of the Apostles, we'll draw parallels between biblical narratives and the beloved realms of gaming, cosplay, and anime.

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Sermon Side Quests: Discover the deeper meaning behind Scripture with analogies from your favorite games and anime.
Cosplay Character Spotlight: Unveil the biblical virtues embodied by iconic characters and how they inspire our spiritual journey.
Anime Apologetics: Engage in lively discussions that bridge the gap between faith and fandom, unraveling the spiritual themes in popular series.

So, grab your controller, don your cosplay armor, and get ready to embark on an epic quest of faith and fandom. Church Nerds United is here to guide you on a heroic journey, one episode at a time. May the faith be with you!

Guild Announcer: 00:02

Hey there, fellow church nerds. Welcome to another episode of Church Nerds United. The podcast where faith meets fandom and sermons are the new superhero stories. That's right. Today, we've got a sermon that's more epic than the battle of Helm's Deep and more inspiring than Captain America's pep talks.

Guild Announcer: 00:19

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Guild Announcer: 00:48

Now without further ado, let's jump into this week's sermon. Grab your bibles, light up your lightsabers, and get ready to dive deep into the word of God.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 01:00

Welcome. Welcome. Welcome back to the creator guild. I am, as you know, Brandon, pastor and guild master here at the guild, but we have a new series. It is titled almost true, and we're gonna be looking at biblical truth in relation to what our modern Christian ideals are.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 01:21

They are not the

Pastor Brandon Holm: 01:22

same half the time. And a

Pastor Brandon Holm: 01:25

lot of peep you know, we did a whole series called, our modern day Jesus, where we looked at the modern day version. And this season, we're going into the biblical, version because you're gonna see that it's totally different. It is not the same. It's not gonna be the same. So with that, let us start in.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 01:43

So we're gonna start with the danger of your truth, and I put that in quotes because truth is based on a perception. Many of people look at what's happening in current politics, and you have 2 very extreme groups, and then you have people in the middle who look at both sides and just going, okay. I I understand both sides. You know, what's you know, why can't you work it out nicely, unfortunately? And that's because one truth is one version that was given to those people, and they strongly hold to to this belief and vice versa.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 02:19

Whereas people in the middle like me who look at both sides, it's like we can see and perceive what they're thinking and what they're seeing on both ends. So that's different from the biblical truth. Biblical truth is is is Roxay, you may say, oh, but there's 9 different versions of the Bible. Yes. But the word doesn't change.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 02:42

Each version is a way for people to understand it, to gain clarity, to understand the motivation behind it. Like, if you look at the message version, it's very it is very oriented to a very modern audience. It has a lot of modern language to it, and it flows like if you're just reading a standard novel. Whereas if you go to ESG, you know, the English standard, American standard, you know, the they're a little bit more rigid in their structure. You will see that in how they format the pages, what they use, you know, when Jesus speaks, which is usually the red format.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 03:15

But as I say, the truth is is that it is rock solid when it comes to biblical truth. Now how about we end stop right there for a second, and I'm gonna play a game with you. And you've probably played this game with many friends. Usually, it's after truth or dare, but here's the thing. There's 2 truths and a lie.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 03:32

Now I'm gonna give you 3 statements. I want you to figure out which one is the lie, and then we'll come back to it later on. Okay? So my first statement is I was a child actor. You know?

Pastor Brandon Holm: 03:45

My second statement is I ran a half mile, one and a half miles for the PT test and ROTC in under 10 minutes. And my third statement said I drove from California to Florida in 3 days. K. So chew on those things. First one was I was a child actor.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 04:01

2nd one is mile and a half in under 10 minutes when I was in ROTC. And I drove from California to Florida in 3 days. K? So let's do on that for a little bit. So the big question a lot of people say is because the danger comes from when we try to look at the core of of the statement is, what is truth?

Pastor Brandon Holm: 04:22

And many people say, well, it's it's in the Bible. It's in the Bible. Well, yes, it's in the Bible, but what truth are you looking at? You know, are you looking at Old Testament, New Testament? Both are very valid, but in today's society, the New Testament as a Christ follower, that's where you're more looking.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 04:39

Yes. There are some carryovers from the Old Testament to the New Testament. But if you look, about 99% of Deuteronomy and Leviticus, those laws are just gone. They're not even mentioned in the New Testament. They're alluded to as reference saying, well, yeah, this is this and this is that.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 05:02

But when it comes to when Jesus talks about the law, he's talking about just the original Ten Commandments, plus anything that has to do with adultery or murder, you know, as the 2 unforgivable sins. You know, we've heard of in Harry Potter, the unforgivable, the unforgivable, spell, but, you know, the, unforgivable curse. Excuse me. But this is, you know, this is what we're talking about, is what is truth. Now the funny thing is is that if you've read your Bible, you know, this is a question that even Pontius Pilate asked of Jesus.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 05:42

You know, if you really wanna go back, let's look at it from where we pick up where Jesus is brought forth in front of pile Pilate. You know, the Jewish leaders, they've been plotting to kill this guy because, hey. He's just reckoning our you know, reckoning the status quo around here. He's bringing new life. He's bringing new vitality, and the people are listening to him.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 06:00

They don't wanna listen to us. They wanna and their power base is shrinking. But who's ruler over over, over Israel at the time? Yeah. The Romans.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 06:12

And Pilate was there as the, as the governor. He really didn't wanna be there. He just wanted to sit back, relax, enjoy the time. He didn't really have to wanna do matters. And if you read how the questions go towards Jesus, it really thinks, like, this is just like another boring session.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 06:31

And in many aspects, if you look at a lot of movies regarding this, position, you've you've noticed that the actor playing Pontius is just like, okay. The only ones that's different is Jesus Christ Superstar. That guy has passion behind his, words. So but as I said, Pilate is questioning the motives of Jesus, and where we look to how this whole interaction plays out is in John 18, you know, 1837 and 38.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 07:01

And, basically, it goes to then

Pastor Brandon Holm: 07:05

Pilate said to him, so you are a king. Jesus answered, you say that I'm a king. For this purpose, I was born, and for this purpose, I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. Pilate said to him, what is truth?

Pastor Brandon Holm: 07:27

Seriously, we ask this question almost every day. What is true? We ask our kids, what's the truth? You know, did you do this? You know, we ask our colleagues at work, hey.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 07:37

Did you work on this? Did you make this mistake? You know? And that question that Pilate asks of Jesus: What is truth? Is to this day a very important question.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 07:52

Definitely, it needs an answer. Now if you wanna go

Pastor Brandon Holm: 07:56

for the definition of what truth is, truth is absolute, constant, and true for everyone, everywhere all the time.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 08:04

Now many of you are

Pastor Brandon Holm: 08:05

saying, well, the Bible's a fairy tale. It's all this. Like, well, that's your truth. It's not. But here's the thing.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 08:13

The Bible is consistent for everyone everywhere, and it's all the time. It's available all the time. And if you read it, there's a lot of rules that we have in our society that come directly from the Bible. So everybody goes, oh, it's a fairy tale. Well, excuse me.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 08:27

Then why are most of our laws based on that? Think about that. So when I say that, again, it comes down to truth versus perspective. And people really do confuse it because, you know, truth is truth. You know?

Pastor Brandon Holm: 08:46

It's real. Perspective is different. It's based on how you see things. There's a great comic out there that has 2 people facing each other, and on the ground is a number. And if you know what that number is, it's either a 6 or a 9 depending on how you see it.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 09:01

And these 2 people are arguing because one person sees a 6 on the ground says, hey. This is a 6. The other person looking in his in the the first gentleman's direction is looking at in season 9 goes, no. This is 9, and that's where we're at. And if you

Pastor Brandon Holm: 09:15

look at society today, that's really where we're at. You know, my truth is not your truth. Really, in all, my truth is based on the Bible, how I live life, how

Pastor Brandon Holm: 09:29

I do things, Whereas my perspective perspective is I see things of how they're unfolding, and it's just not looking great out there. Many of you can agree with that. So where truth is absolute, I know, Sith level, you know, thinking right here, Perspectives do vary. And the problem is is people who I've known throughout my life are very centrist. We see both sides of the coin.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 09:56

We see both sides of the argument. We see both side because we try to understand everybody's perspective. That's how you get the truth, is you're gonna listen to both, and when things start matching together that both our parties are saying are true, then you have the truth.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 10:13

Yeah. Perspectives are very dude, very they're different. Again, going back to that illustration, is it a 6 or a 9? You know?

Pastor Brandon Holm: 10:25

And if that's the case, well, then we think, okay. The truth is subjective. You know, it changes over time.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 10:33

And that where it goes along

Pastor Brandon Holm: 10:35

with thinking, you know, what's true to me isn't true to you. Well, perspective changes over time. Truth isn't. I mean, I have 2 Bibles here. One's a one's an ESV Bible.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 10:50

This one here, as you can see, the pirate Bible. They both their wordings are all this all different. One's in English. One's in pirate, but both line up in the same way. They speak the same language.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 11:05

They speak the same, message, and that's where the problem is. You know, I could look at this and say, you know, this is the truth. Well, I don't say that. I say have faith in, read your Bible, and then go out. What I'm giving you when I'm teaching and and teaching and and giving you the sermon is you're looking from a perspective of how I interpret it, and you can go with that interpretation or not, or you can go read the Bible and say, hey.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 11:34

I have a question for you, pastor. And that's what I love. If you have a question, go to the Bible and say, hey. You know, I have a question on this. What's your, what's your opinion?

Pastor Brandon Holm: 11:44

I'll say, you know what? My opinion is this, but the Bible says is this this is really what it means,

Pastor Brandon Holm: 11:52

and it's a 100% true. This hasn't changed in in in over a 1000 years. Wording, language, that's changed, and that's where I come to the I to the argument here is since you see your truth is unique to you, you determine your truth. That's not the Bible biblical truth.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 12:17

Your truth. You know, I'm a great Christian. You know, I do this, but I don't, you know, help out with, or I don't donate, or I don't, you know, give to the goodwill or I don't do you know, that's great. Charity, you know, does start in the home, but let's say you have stuff that you can give away. Some people just throw it away.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 12:37

But I'm a good Christian about that. Okay. You know, if it was clothing, somebody else could use it. You know, give it to Goodwill. You may have people in your neighborhood that needs clothes for their kids.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 12:47

You know? And your your kids or your your family has grown out of them. Ask and offer. That's Christianity right there, and that's biblical Christianity. Be charitable is is big one.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 13:00

So if something sound sounds right to you, feels right, obviously, it must be true, really. But if you believe your truth, it is unique to you, then you speak your truth, you live your truth, you own your truth, and your truth is your power. Your truth is you. It's really who you are. Add this to your life.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 13:23

Add the Bibles to your life. Add whatever Bible you wanna use. Don't care, but add the Bible to that. Add that extra truth. And somebody goes in this aspect.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 13:38

It's like, okay. You know, my truth is unique. My truth is this. It's really but is it really? Because if you look at your truth, as admiral Abower would say, it's a trap.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 13:50

What if it is a trap? Well, because this feels right, this seems to be right. We see it all the time on both sides of the aisle, so don't say it's just, you know, the left or the right. Both sides do this. You know, it feels right.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 14:05

And what we get from Proverbs is basically a very strongly worded well, what I'll usually like to say is strongly worded letter to the times. But, really, in reality, it is a very strict warning about when it comes to truth for you. And it goes, there is a way that seems right to a man, but it but its end is the way to death. Okay? I know that sounds a little, you know, hoi ploy, you know, hoi t toi t type of deal, and, yeah, I get it, but here's what it is.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 14:40

Your feelings don't matter, and the reason is because it's based on how you have perceived things over your lifetime, the experience you have. You know, love is a different mat aspect to different people. Nobody knows, you know, what true love is because it's subjected to, you know, what's out there. I've watched people get married, you know, within 24 hours. I don't, you know, I don't like that because I've seen many marriages divorced that way too.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 15:09

But I've seen people say, I found my true love, my soul mate, and they're married all the way until both part, both, couple's death. So you see, the truth is when it comes to feelings, it's not true. It feels that way for you. That's why it's like our that's my truth. Like I and and like I said, you know, just because something seems right doesn't make it true.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 15:34

So let's give you 2 facts about, you know, truth. Okay? Just because you believe something doesn't make it true. Okay? And I'm looking at both sides of the aisle here.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 15:44

Both of you don't care what everybody else says. Both sides need to really just understand just because you believe something doesn't make it true. Yeah. Really, the best, clues we can get that are, like, the Mandela effect or even my favorite are gaming, gaming myths. You really you know, look at the Mandela effect.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 16:03

You know, people think there's a cornucopia in the fruit of the loop. There's never been one. Or let's look at gaming myths. I mean, these are my favorites. You know?

Pastor Brandon Holm: 16:13

The big biggest myth out there is, you know, video games cause players to be more violent in real life. Well, there's been multiple studies over multiple years, and the mainstream media doesn't wanna care about about these. But in reality, here's the truth based on paper, based on fact, based on 30 years of research. I'm not joking. 30 years of research.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 16:34

And it does say while violent crime has decreased by 50% over the last 30 years, the number of people in hours playing video games has only increased. So what are you what they're saying is prime is decreasing while hours and the number of people are increasing. It should be a curve that goes to get no. That's going in in inverse direction. I'm sorry I'm using it this way, but think about it.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 17:00

It it really doesn't make sense. I mean, really think about it. You know, if if if if if video games are causing violence, the number of hour number of people, the number of hours, we should have a rise in crime, but it hasn't happened. For over 30 years, violent crime has decreased by 50%. So let's think of something else.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 17:21

You know? Imagine you're about to enter a cod battle. Okay? Now a person enters the group. Person enters the group, and they have great stats.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 17:38

Okay? They talks about about how good they are, you know, whatever. You know? Oh, yeah. It shouldn't.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 17:43

Is that true?

Pastor Brandon Holm: 17:45

Oh, maybe. Okay. So you allow them

Pastor Brandon Holm: 17:48

to come into the game and game with your group. Remember, just because you believe something, you saw their stats, you saw how you know, and they're talking great smack. They're saying how great they are. They're going but it doesn't make it true. Now let's be clear.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 18:06

What you experience matter is mat is a matter of fact, and it is a valid point. Now don't think that I'm negating all your experience. Your experience is very valid, and your story is your story, and it is important, no matter what, sharing your story, because then people will know your side of the truth. K? So what if you you know, so you experience something and it doesn't feel it you know, in feeling, it doesn't equate.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 18:38

You know, you have you may have found the absolute truth. You know, it may go against everything you have believed, and all of a sudden, it makes sense. It doesn't feel like it equates to how you you know, what experience, but all of a sudden it's like,

Pastor Brandon Holm: 18:54

Think about it. You know?

Pastor Brandon Holm: 18:56

And a lot of people think, oh, you know what? I should really just follow my heart because that's what this leads into. It's like, well, my feelings in my heart, you know, I should do this. You know? It's all great.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 19:07

Well, that's great, but here's the problem. And, again, we have another warning from the Bible, and it's in Jeremiah, and it says the human heart is the most deceitful of all things and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? Okay? So even our human heart, the one that tells us to, oh, we gotta love this person.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 19:30

Oh, man. You know? She's beautiful. You know? Have these feelings of emotion.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 19:34

Have the anger. Have the sadness. Have the depression. Have have those moments

Pastor Brandon Holm: 19:39

where you're very excited. You're happy. Eliminate from the heart.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 19:44

And the thing is is that the heart's very deceitful as the Bible says, but we don't know how really bad it is because we don't we only experience things from our perspective. K? So when you let your feelings determine the truth, you're in very big trouble because feelings do lie. You know? Again, going back to love, have you noticed that a lot of people think they have found the love of their life, and all of a sudden, they're divorced couple years later?

Pastor Brandon Holm: 20:12

That's sad. I mean, I feel sorry for both parties. Both of you are just so happy. You you know? Even if the high school sweethearts out there that, you know, they think, oh, yeah.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 20:21

We're gonna be get married later on. We're just gonna go to college. 4 years later, it's like, you know, I don't wanna be around you anymore, and they don't get married like they promised they would back in high school. It's sad, but those are our feelings. They don't determine our our our us for anything when it comes to biblical truth because feelings lie.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 20:44

And to see this, let's go way back, again, back to our example where so that your battle starts. You know? And the person is just bad. The person that has been bragging this whole entire time is the worst. You felt in your heart, hey.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 20:57

This guy's great, and you'll look at him. He's yeah. Yeah. He's smack talking. We can understand that.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 21:01

You know, anybody who's that pepped up, ready to go, they're, you know, you know, they're that good, and it's not. It's not going well for them. K? Their truth is not your experience with that individual, and their experience is not your truth with that ex with that individual. K?

Pastor Brandon Holm: 21:17

So what could be the truth? Well, the truth is they could be a cheater. They could be using ESP or wall hacks. Seriously. And that's the weirder part in this whole thing is we have people on Twitch, on all these streaming streaming sites.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 21:37

Let's go back in time, 2017. We had, miscue Gemini playing CS GO, and she blamed it all on something else. And every but everybody's watching it, but she's just denying it, because she feels that she is that good, and she has to be that good. Or Faze Jarvis, popular guy, ego. He has a Faze clan behind him.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 21:57

But in 2019, he was playing Fortnite. Guess what? He was caught cheating. Right? So these people who had, you know, you could follow, you could watch, you can do all this stuff, you hear them and they say, oh, man.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 22:09

This is great. You know, look at them. They're doing great, And you feel right knowing that they're great people. Again, it doesn't mean it's right. When the truth came out, both of those pea people have been banned from their respective games.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 22:23

Then not an odd not there's never enough excuses to go around to get around it. So because it's easy seeing my truth or your truth or that way, it is very dangerous. And the thing is you have to like I said, truth has to be constant, but if it isn't constant, it's relative. And if you wanna believe, I can tell you how to believe in god, but it's you who has to have that feeling of, okay. God's real.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 22:55

Jesus is real. He died for my sins and all that. And then when you start reading your Bible, you'll start to gain understanding. K? So as I said, for this, for this for today's survey, it's basically the danger with your truth.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 23:09

And there's a couple of things I wanna get point out here is that there are no absolute truths that apply to all people. K? We're all unique. God made us unique and in his own image. Okay?

Pastor Brandon Holm: 23:22

But it's like every computer out there. They have different specs. So do we. Okay? It's not like having a PS 5 or an Xbox, one, where this pretty much the specs are the same across the board for that particular model.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 23:37

K? Computers are different. People have I and this is really far far out for me. An AMD processor with an NVIDIA graphics card. I've seen it.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 23:50

I don't know how they get it to work, but it works. Okay? So as I said, there are no absolute truths that apply to all people. That's why, you know, having, PC games, which I really love playing instead of my console games. That's why, you know, you have the some people call them the console peasants because, you know, everything is the same for you.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 24:07

Nothing is different. And when we get it, we can modern games. We can you know, as a PC player, we can modern games. We can do that. So it's very different.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 24:17

2nd is morality becomes subjective because right and wrong are relative. K? So how I was brought up may not be the way you were brought up. So the morality you experience as a child and growing up throughout life up to this point is very different from what I probably experienced growing up in my life. Yeah.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 24:38

I was spanked. My grandfather being an airline pilot, you know, as I've told my family on numerous occasions, the reason why he got angry after he had to tell you a second time to do something no matter what it was was because at 36,000 feet, you only get one shot to fix the plane, or else everybody's gone. And that brings us to the next one. My perception determines what's true. So like I said, how a parent treats a child is gonna be different how I perceive it than how that parent does it, because number 1, I don't know the child.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 25:15

So I'm gonna say, oh, man. You know, that kid's really rowdy. You know, the parents should step in. Wherein, in fact, could it be a kid that's having an episode where he could become violent and the parents are doing their best to, you know, destress the situation, not just for them, for for the people around? 3rd you know, 4th in all this is I am the source of truth.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 25:38

Okay. What does that mean? Like I said, for me and my truth for me, that's my source. And if it's true to me, you can't question my truth. That's the danger, k, with all these.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 25:53

And you're thinking, oh, well, hey. You know, you just said, you know, morality becomes subjective because because right and wrong are relative. That's the danger, and these are things that I'm pointing out. You know, my perception determines what true. No.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 26:07

Morality becomes subjective. No. Check your Bible. There are no absolute truths that apply to all people. Check your Bible.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 26:14

I'm the source check the Bible. You know, I'm gonna say this until you you know, you get you know, somebody's gonna start spamming the comments saying, shut up about the Bible. But, seriously, those are the dangers because, again, we're talking about feelings and how we've seen the world through our eyes and how we've been brought up. That's not the truth. The Bible's the truth.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 26:31

It has not changed for a for over a 1000 years. There's the truth right there. And Paul warned us the dangers in of of having false beliefs, these these, these different aspects. And if you look at it, it comes in 2nd Timothy. When it's talking, it says, you know, preach the word of god.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 26:51

Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching. For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myth. And this is why I said of those 5 things I mentioned earlier.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 27:17

It's good teaching. The Bible's the greatest teacher on

Pastor Brandon Holm: 27:20

the planet. I'm not. I I'm just a pastor giving you the information as I can see it and help to help you along so that you can understand it from your angle. Okay? Feelings, opinions, perspectives, you know, they're not in the Bible.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 27:36

The word of God is never changing. It's in black and white. It is printed. It is a 100% in here. It has never changed in a 1000 years.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 27:45

The only time it changes when they were organizing the bloody thing. And even then, it never changed because what they got from the documents, they just stuck in there. It was basically a copy and paste job. Control c, control v. But here's the thing.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 28:05

I always wanna hear from people's perspective. What is your experience with reading the Bible? You know, what do you think about it? This is how we get discourse and how we understand God's truth. Because when we mesh together and say, well, I believe it's this, and I believe it's or we go, I believe it's that.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 28:21

You know? And then all of a sudden you get together and goes, yo. That makes sense. Both of us it's not about an agreement about it. But when we see the same thing as each other, then you have the absolute truth if it came from the Bible.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 28:34

You know, we don't wanna go around where people where we wanna hear people I mean, this is where we get our entitlement situation with with, everyone these days. You know? Oh, you are the winner. You can be anything you want. Yes.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 28:47

You can be. What's reality? Is everybody gonna be the

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president of the United States? No. Definitely not. And that's the best part is there's only gonna be one person who's gonna be president of the United States, but then there's all

Pastor Brandon Holm: 29:02

the rest of us who are working hard to become the best of who we are going to be because it's based on, again, what are what the dangers of our truths are. You know? I became a pastor because I believe strongly in the word of of God. I believe teaching it is very important, and it's very, you know, it's very fulfilling for me. But as, you know, as Paul said in see Paul yeah.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 29:32

Paul, I have to remember these things. As Paul said in second Timothy, you know, we have to go with people who are good teachers, who's gonna get you down the narrow path, who's gonna make sure that you stay in line. Now does that mean that you lose your freedom? Oh, heck no. You can say to me yeah, and stick your middle finger up at me and say, I don't believe what you're saying.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 29:51

Fine. Everything's coming from Bible. Everything that I'm saying is is from the Bible. K? I'm just breaking it down like a teacher would in a university classroom.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 30:02

That's what my job is. It's so that you take the esoteric aspects of the Bible, put it and make sure that that truth does not change when it's coming to to you to talk to you. So God's truth does not change. But here's the thing. You get these people who want the easy way out, the easy things in life.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 30:22

That's great. But, you know, if it's what we wanna hear, then, you know, even as Christians, and I'm telling those Christians out there that you're like, we want the easy way out. That's not gonna work. The Bible isn't easy. Everybody in there has had a hard time, and we have it hard here on earth.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 30:41

Going by what the Bible and I'm not saying just go absolute by the Bible. I mean, you have to understand you live in the modern world. We have laws out here that we have to obey as Romans says Romans 8 says that we have to obey the laws of the land. But it's difficult in practice to do it because life happens. But don't beat yourself up.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 31:01

You know, there are times that, you know, there are people on the street when I go and do Lyft that, you know, hey. You know, do you have money? And it's like, I don't carry cash on me. Because, usually, if I get a cash tip, that goes to those people, definitely. But that's a rarity when you drive for Lyft, and how I'm funding, you know, the Greater Guild right now is is through the Lyft funds.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 31:24

A 100% of all my Lyft money goes into the greater guild right now. Oh, and with that, you know, hit the QR code, help out. That being said, what we wanna hear is often different for what we need to hear. Have we heard this? The best advice my grandfather has ever given me, and you've heard me say it on numerous occasions here is, you know, there are gonna be times we are gonna have to do something we don't wanna do, but we have to do it.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 31:50

Trust me. 40 years later, I'm still hearing that in my head. There's like, oh, man. Or if you're old enough, and, yes, I'm gonna age a lot of you out there, is if you remember Super Chicken and, that cartoon yeah. Well, if you remember the song, a portion of it is, Fred, if you're afraid, you have you'll have to overlook it because you knew the job was dangerous when you took it.

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Same thing. But let's get some real world example. Okay? Think about it. You know, here's what you wanna hear.

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You have a right to be angry. You're a victim, and they should pay depending on what happened. Okay. I get it. We hear it all the time.

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You know, justice for for these people, justice for this. Like, here's what you really need to hear. Okay? Jesus invites you to forgive. He says it in numerous occasions in his teachings.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 32:47

Now I'm not saying that you should set the prisoner free if they did committed a a crime. That's the law of the land, but the prisoner would actually be you for not forgiving that person. Now I don't mean you don't forget about the crime. You just go, oh, forgive and forget. That's not how it works.

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Forgive them for the transgression against you. I've had a lot of people in my life make so many transgressions against me. They've called me every name in the book, and I look at them. I'm like, you know what?

Pastor Brandon Holm: 33:17

I can't get angry at you. I forgive you for your for how you feel about me.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 33:22

I forgive you for everything else because I'm not you. How about this? You know, we have a great, you know, the the the the, positive, the the, fat positive group. It's like, here's what they wanna hear.

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Oh, it's my body. I can do what I want. I'm sorry. But what you need to hear is, no. Your body is a temple.

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It should be maintained as a temple. And as you can see, I'm not I hadn't done that

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in the past, but I'm working on that. I have lost a £100. I am working out. So that's the thing. And in Christ, it's the same thing.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 34:01

The body belongs to God, and it's very set apart from the world here. And the reason is because, like I said, our body's a temple. You know, you have a legacy to give to people in your presence. You know, my somebody said to me, you know, you should go, self delete yourself. And I've said, you know, no.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 34:20

No. No. No. I'm not gonna do that. You know why?

Pastor Brandon Holm: 34:23

Because every day I'm alive is torment for somebody because that's how they feel. And I forgive them for that because they need the forgiveness, and they need to understand that just because I'm an inconvenience to them does not mean I have to live 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in their head. And if they let go and for you know, forgive all of

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the transgressions against me or any transgressions I have given them, believe me, it

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takes a while to do it. It took me about 30 years to do it, but I have learned to forgive a lot of people in my time. It's not easy to do. It's very difficult.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 35:01

Yeah. And I can go on and on and on.

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Getting to that point where I'm getting overboard here. So, like I said, what we want

Pastor Brandon Holm: 35:10

to hear and what we need to hear are totally different. And the truth isn't about something we believe. The truth is something we follow. See? Bibles.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 35:21

We follow scripture not because it rules our life. Okay? It's not just because that. It It is because this is the truth of how we should act in life. How do you better communities?

Pastor Brandon Holm: 35:33

It's right here in the Bible. How do we better ourselves? It's in the Bible. Tells you know, as I've said on numerous occasions, the Bible's a great aspect of where you can go to get your, you know, for people who have lived a very amoral life, you go there. It'll start getting you on the way because it'll make you think, okay.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 35:51

Really? You know? And as new believers, I've seen this too, is they question and say, am I really a bad person? I'm like, you're never you never start out as a bad person. And if you see, you know, little video clips out there of of a a baby and another person who's of, who's a minority race, and they just look at each other and the kids like, he's cool.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 36:16

That's a teaching method, but that baby has no clue about, you know, being a racist, being intolerant or anything. He just looks at this person. She's cool, man. She's on my side. And that's how I

Pastor Brandon Holm: 36:28

I very much go and live my life. Everybody out there. Now are there bad actors out there? Definitely. And that happens.

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But if we go to scripture, it tells us how we do it. So when we're looking at this,

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Thomas has asked Jesus, you know, in the end, where are we going? Where are you going? You know? Because there's a fulfillment and prophecy that has to

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be fulfilled. And Thomas asked, where are you going? And here's the response, and it's absolutely just spot on. Jesus answered, I am

Pastor Brandon Holm: 37:04

the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. So we already know Jesus is heading out on way on his way to heaven, but if you notice what he says, he says he's the truth. He's not a truth. He's not, you know, one of many.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 37:22

He is the truth. Why? Well, if you look at how Jesus tells us how to live, he teaches us how to live life. That's a truth, and it's never changed from the Bible. Not at all.

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Now and people get really upset that you have to go through Jesus.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 37:39

But keep in mind, Jesus said, you know, love the sinner, hate the sinful lifestyle. K? I've met so many people on Lyft, and many of them do, you know, sinful things. Okay.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 38:01

But that's not my priority. That's not my job. I'm not gonna judge the person. I still talk to the same. I talk to a person who is probably a a a naughty lady of the evening as compared to somebody who's an upstart, you know, works at a 5 star restaurant or even better is a CEO of a company.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 38:18

They're all the same to me because I love talking to people. I love hearing people's stories. I love people in the general. But am I gonna say, oh, well, you do this. You're you're a bad person.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 38:29

No. It's just I've actually had a naughty lady of the evening actually ask me. So what do you think about me being, you know, a stripper and all that? I'm like, that's your life. Goes, but you're a pastor.

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I said, yes.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 38:40

I'm a pastor. Well, you you know, what's the judgment on that? I said, that's not my job.

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I could care less. I care for you as the human being. And one thing I

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said is, what are you looking to do in your future? And this one girl goes, not this. I'm like, good. Focus on your goals. Get out of this lifestyle.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 39:04

You'll be a great person. I don't know if it helps. I hope it did.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 39:10

So anyone who claims to know the truth is arrogant and dangerous. I will never say I know the truth because I don't know what the big man upstairs wants. Okay? It's basically like the big admin on cod. You could say one thing and it's a the admin doesn't like it

Pastor Brandon Holm: 39:24

and you get booted off. It's the same thing. Unfortunately, it's

Pastor Brandon Holm: 39:28

a little more harsher in the in the lobbies nowadays. So if Jesus' truth is different for what you believe, go ahead and die in your truth, but live according to the truth. Okay? Your your your body, yourself, that's all gonna go, but your spirit, your soul, that's important. That's the truth you have to live with.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 39:53

That's Jesus' truth, telling you that your soul is just is it's the most important thing. Take care of it like it is the most important thing on life, and make sure it's to the truth.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 40:04

Okay? Because, you know,

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real really boils out to is is basically, no. If it's not god's will, it's you know, it really didn't happen. You know? Pictures that didn't happen. And if I'm doing something, that's not God's will.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 40:24

That's just me doing it. You know, being judgmental, being prideful, lust, hurt, you know, those things. And you do it to someone, that's not being God's will. God's will is saying, love the person. You can hate the sin all you want.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 40:37

Love the person. And that's why I really like supporting, gays against groomers. They have a great, great philosophy behind them. I may not like their lifestyle, but what they're doing to protect children is a 100% what I'm behind. And it's what's this, guild is behind.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 40:56

So going back all

Pastor Brandon Holm: 40:59

the way oh, and ready for this. If you remember from the 2 truths and a lie, so here are the 2 truths. I was a child actor. I did commercials and did some modeling work, did some print work for cars and stuff like that. You know, you gotta have the big happy family.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 41:17

I did drive from California to Florida in 3 days because I was meeting my first wife out there. And I'll tell you later for tell you this. 4 years later, divorced because she committed adultery. K? But, again, I forgive her for for that because I need to go on with my life.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 41:33

She can go on with her life, and I don't need to dwell on it. I've got my family now. I've got my second wife, Liz, who I adore because she tolerates my craziness. So the lie is I ran one and a half miles for a PT test in ROTC in under 10 minutes. I could never even break sometimes 20 minutes.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 41:53

Okay?

Pastor Brandon Holm: 41:54

I had a hard time running, and that's just how it is. So when we talked about the beginning, we talked about how Pilate

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asked Jesus about the truth. What is the truth?

Pastor Brandon Holm: 42:13

So here's the thing. In this confrontation with Jesus, Pilate knows Jesus is innocent because

Pastor Brandon Holm: 42:19

the man's done has not done anything wrong. He hasn't gone against the Romans. He hasn't stirred this. But also the problem is this pilot's not the most popular guy, and he's afraid of the crowd. So this is what he asked, and, unfortunately, we don't have a we don't have a, slide for this.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 42:36

It's like, what is truth? Retorts Pilate. With this, he went out again to the Jews gathering there and said, I find no basis for a charge against Jesus, but it is your custom for me to release you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release the king of the Jews? They shout back, no.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 43:01

Not Jesus. Give us Barabbas. And that you can see in John 1838 to 40. So

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they release Barabbas.

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Fascinating, isn't it? And they go on from there. And yet he dies on the cross, absolves us with our sins, and does the right thing. And that's the truth.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 43:34

If Jesus' truth is different in what we feel, what we want, and what we believe, then do so. Die on it, but live according to the truth. K? Live your life according to Jesus. Jesus may go against what you feel, and believe me, there are a lot of times and I've talked with a lot of people that what they feel and what the truth is with Jesus, it's not the same.

Pastor Brandon Holm: 44:04

But I will tell you this. If you think about it, you will know the truth. And when

Pastor Brandon Holm: 44:12

you come to know Jesus, come to know him, trust me, you'll be more freer in that truth than you will ever be free in any country around the world. Well, that ends it for this one. Thank you for joining us.

Guild Announcer: 44:28

Wow. That was powerful. Pastor Brandon never fails to deliver a sermon that's both thought provoking and nerd tastic. We hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and donate if you want to keep the sermons and geeky discussions coming.

Guild Announcer: 44:44

And remember, you can always connect with us on social media. Just search for the Greater Guild on all your favorite platforms. We'd love to hear your thoughts and geek out with you. Thanks for tuning in, Guild Nerds. Until next time, keep the faith and stay nerdy.