Becoming Pillars of Truth in a World of Platforms

Lori: [00:00:00] I think sometimes those platforms that we see, some of these super popular, super successful, seemingly successful pastors on I think they’re entertaining the goats

Joe: they’re not really preaching the word, they’re Talking about some scripture, but it’s seeker sensitive. Churches have that name for a reason, because it’s people coming to get their ears tickled and to make ’em feel good then leave for the week feeling good because these false teachers and preachers have lied to ’em and told ’em it’s all.

Rainbows and sunshine And yeah, so that’s quite a quote. And j Packer’s pretty solid, so

Lori: Welcome back to another episode of My Mornings with Jesus and Joe. I’m Lori.

Joe: And I’m Joe.

Lori: And we are here at the kitchen table. Just looking over our week and maybe the past few days and talking and [00:01:00] thinking. And what’s on our heart that we wanna talk to y’all about today is pillars and platforms and what the difference is and why it matters.Joe, tell me what’s been up with you lately.

Joe: we’ve had the Choices Clinic banquet, which was,

Lori: that’s our pregnancy care center.

Joe: Which was a great turnout and a great fundraiser. And it’s just pretty cool to watch the support from the community for something that’s all about God and life.

And so it was a great experience. God was in it and it was just. So encouraging.

Lori: What’s encouraging to me, we’ve been going for years and every year the amount of money they raise exceeds the amount they did the year before. a lot of times we can think we’re losing the battle. I’m not saying we’re winning it, but there’s gotta be some traction in that

Joe: for sure.

Lori: it’s such a blessing.

Joe: Yes.

Lori: For me, I’ve had the grandsons a lot lately, and they’ve blessed me because they love to [00:02:00] go to the garden and this time of year there’s really not a lot I’m doing in the garden. Haven’t been doing a lot for several years in my garden. It looks pretty bad, but they love to get out there and pull weeds and hoe and they’re little, five and

two,

Lori: the 2-year-old maybe not quite so much help, but they just love it. That’s the first thing they wanna do when they get to the house is go out. And I love that. And one of the things that’s really hit me in that is, that’s how they were created. They were created to be connected to the earth, to the soil.

They were formed from the soil. So even though they don’t realize that they’re responding to something in their DNA right now to get out and actually work the earth that’s what man was put here for.

Joe: In Genesis two, it starts off, right off, it tells us we were created to work the garden.

And we’re created for work and we’re created to tend to the garden. But it’s just nature.

Lori: I want to nurture that nature. Natural. Natural, I should say. Yeah. I want, I wanna nurture that in them so that they always [00:03:00] know to stay in contact with that.

And I think a lot of our problems in the world is because we have distanced people from that. They don’t feel that connection in their DNA, that’s in them. Maybe not to garden, but that connection with nature, the world, earth. They don’t feel how God created that anymore.

It’s been replaced by asphalt and video games. And I think that’s where a lot of people lose touch with reality. I know nowadays there’s the young people always saying when you need a reality check to touch grass. And I don’t know if they realize the. Spiritual or foundation of truth, nature of that statement.

Joe: But, and that’s where we get our restoration from. We get our restoration from watching sunsets and sunrises and touching bark and touching rocks and touching dirt, seeing trees, and the full cycle of. Green leaves to fall colored leaves, which we’re fixing to see a bunch of, [00:04:00] and it’s just, it’s a beautiful thing.

And seeing stars in the sky, it’s all part of nature, what God’s created in there, and that’s our restoration. And so these people that talk about that don’t even know what they’re after, but. That’s what they’re after.

Lori: Yeah. If you have grandchildren or children get a pot and plant something in it, no matter where you are.

So that’d be my homework assignment to you today. There you go. So let’s segue from, because I feel like we’re building Little Kingdom Warriors by helping them be in touch with how they were made. That’s right. So we’re gonna talk about. Whose kingdom are we building?

Joe: that’s a good idea.

Lori: And we’re gonna do it from the point of view of pillars and platforms. Joe, tell us what are platforms and pillars? What’s the difference between them? Why is this something we wanna talk about?

Joe: Technically, the difference is platforms are what? [00:05:00] Man typically puts themselves on to do something or be noticed a place to express an opinion.

God gives people platforms. It’s really neat how God does that. But some people stray from what God gives ’em and they turn it into a self platform, which is not. The ideal situation.

Lori: You can tell too the people who God gave them the platform, it’s a lot more secure and firm.

Versus the ones that put themselves on a platform. That’s some shaky ground.

Joe: There you go. And that’s a good distinction. most platforms are a short term deal. Not always a long term thing.

And you think of a pillar as like in a building where it’s holding the roof up or like on big buildings or big stadiums it’s pillars that hold [00:06:00] up the seating. the roof, a lot of things. So it’s a. Structure designed to support,

Lori: and often you don’t notice the pillar until it’s not there,

Joe: Yep. pillars take a little longer to build, which is different than a platform where it’s short term. That’s the basic difference. And then we can go into a little more into each of them.

Lori: a platform is alsogoing wide, not high necessarily.

when I say platform, I’m talking not about the physical one we stand on at times. The modern usage of the Word platform is how many people are listening to you, how many followers do you have?

That’s your platform. And so that’s more focused on gaining more followers rather than growing up towards the Lord.

Joe: That’s right.

Lori: I wanna point out, as we were thinking about this and talking about it. That the thing that they hang you from is also a platform.

Joe: Yes.

Lori: So there’s danger in [00:07:00] being on a platform at times.

Joe: The wrong platform is not good.

Lori: could get you hung.

Joe: Yes.

Lori: So that’s a bonus thought I had.

Joe: there’s a lot of people that. God may have put in a good platform where they have a place to speak truth then all of a sudden they start caving to whatever culture says and the ways of the world.

that platform is not God honoring. And so that can happen over time ’cause they’re just wanting to gain more audience and more likes and more this and that instead of speaking the truth. that’s that uhoh moment once that happens, things have shifted we gotta watch what we do with our platforms.

Lori: Yeah, it can be tempting. We still have our fleshly, sinful nature, so when you put somebody on top of a platformor you put yourself on top of one, you’re opening yourself up to a lot of temptations and Satan knows how to work those. one of our favorite pastors to listen [00:08:00] to always jokes that he can preach a congregation down to a manageable size.

And he says it with humor, but I think what he is saying is, he’s gonna preach the truth. It’s not soften it, Palatable to everybody. this is the truth. If you’re hungry for the truth, this is where you’ll get it. But I’m not catering to every little dietary, restriction or desire that you have.

I’m not softening it to the culture.

Giving

Lori: you the truth. And a lot of people will fall away because of that. So he’s not gonna have the platform that some of these really popular, name it and claim it. prosperity. Pastors might have, but he is literally a pillar of truth, which is what the church is founded on.

Reaching to God. And that’s why we wanted to share this and talk about this, because there is a difference and it all comes back to truth. And sharing the truth.

So something else I read while I was [00:09:00] researching this is that in biblical times the raised platform, they would call it, it’s an altar.

And that’s what it was. It was a raised platform and it was where sacrifices were made for religious purposes. And I think about when you’re on that platform, you are a sacrifice. You’re sacrificing yourself for the glory of the Lord. Yeah.

Joe: In Romans 12, it talks about to be the living sacrifice, and that’s what we’re to do everywhere.

We are every day.

Lori: So that kind of gives you something to think about. If you want a platform, are you willing to be sacrificed on it? every time you wake up.

Joe: That’s a good word.

Lori: Another possible danger of a platform is that you can make it your idol. I can say that because in the writing community platforms are given a lot of attention.

Yes.

Lori: Because publishers in today’s market don’t wanna invest.

Or don’t have the money to invest in promoting your book. [00:10:00] So they wanna know that you already have a large following of people who will buy your book before they invest in you. a lot of writers almost drift away from focusing on their writing and worrying about their platform, getting those numbers under there.

And I think it can become an idol

Joe: and the other issue with that is they start. Taking truth out of their writing to reach more, to please more Instead of putting the truth out there and just sticking with what God’s got for it.

Lori: Exactly.

I know we talked a little about Samson. Tell us how he fits into what we’ve been talking about. why he came to mind while we were talking about pillars and platforms.

Joe: He was set apart with that Nazarite vow at birth, and there were so many things that he could do, and God gave him extraordinary strength

. He gave him [00:11:00] a platform, and in his platform he started. Using that strength and figuring out what he could do. It went to his head and then he got prideful, which is a lot of people that are on the wrong platform. You can quickly see that pride of life. Kicks in and it becomes a thing.

Samson got to that point where he got prideful in his own abilities, which were God-given his platform became something where he put himself up there and idolized himself and his strength instead of what God’s purpose was for him.

Lori: And how’d that end?

Joe: It did not end well. he had some situations that he conquered a lot of evil, but he was told what to do and what not to do. one of the things he did was he went after women that [00:12:00] were not of. His dissent. And so he was,

Lori: he was not supposed to.

Marry a woman from another culture.

Joe: And so he went to do that. He was told not to be around dead carcasses and things. He went and did that and didn’t worry about it.

Lori: He ate honey out of a dead lion carcass, and I’m like, that right there should have been a red flag.

Joe: He also was not to have anything to do with the fruit of the vine, grapes, wine, any of that. And he’d walk right down through a vineyard, like it was nothing. I think that’s where he found the dead carcass was in a vineyard with honey in it. So he’s touching a dead carcass, which is not supposed to do, he is basically walking in a vineyard.

Lori: his pride of life said he’s gonna walk wherever he went where he was not supposed to go. He hungered for something he was not supposed to eat. It resulted in him touching he lusted after. He touched something he was not supposed to touch.

Joe: Yep.

Lori: And it started with a single step.

Off the [00:13:00] path. Into the vineyard.

Joe: And so it was just so many things and then it didn’t end well because the lady Delilah, at the end, where he gets intertwined with, he ends up. Spilling his secret and getting caught. the secret to his strength,

They capture him, torture him and gouge his eyes out. they’re putting him out there for show, for entertainment at their party.

Lori: I think it’s judges 1620 says the Lord left him and he didn’t know it.

Joe: That to me is one of the scariest verses in the Bible, is that right there?

Because when that happened and he woke up ’cause she woke him up and said, The Philistines are coming to get you again. And he didn’t have any strength because he told the secret to his strength and they cut his hair off that night.

And when he said he didn’t know the Lord had left him, man, we don’t [00:14:00] ever want to have that.

Lori: Lord had left him, but he didn’t know it. Yes. If you realize it, You can repent and turn. But he was so caught up in his pride and his desires that he didn’t even know the Lord had left him.

Yeah.

Lori: And I think that’s a danger of a platform.

That’s it.

Lori: So to summarize the story of Samson is in judges. And he was born, he was set apart as a nazarite, so he had certain things he was gonna, supposed to follow. And he was gonna do great things for the Lord, but pride of life, lut of the eyes, lut of the flesh, all those things pulled him down.

Yep.

Lori: And he was able, through his foolishness. To be subdued, even though he was super strong, he was able to be captured by the Philistines because he had not kept his secrets that he was not supposed to tell. He revealed his weakness.

Yeah,

Lori: and they captured him. They gouged his eyes out. They were gonna use him for entertainment

He was blind. So what happened at the end?

Joe: That’s on the next part when we talk

Lori: All right

Joe: when we get the pillars, we’ll talk about that a [00:15:00] little bit.

Lori: can I share this quote I found? Yes. I thought it was really good. It’s from J Packer.

So he says, doctrinal preaching certainly bores the hypocrites, but it is only doctrinal preaching that will save Christ sheep. The preacher’s job is to proclaim the faith not to provide entertainment for unbelievers. In other words, to feed the sheep. Rather than amuse the goats And I think sometimes those platforms that we see, some of these super popular, super successful, seemingly successful pastors on I think they’re entertaining the goats

Joe: they’re not really preaching the word, they’re Talking about some scripture, but it’s seeker sensitive. Churches have that name for a reason, because it’s people coming to get their ears tickled and to make ’em feel good then leave for the week feeling good because these false teachers and preachers have lied to ’em and told ’em it’s all.

Rainbows and [00:16:00] sunshine And yeah, so that’s quite a quote. And j Packer’s pretty solid, so

Lori: Yeah. And I think that’s just an important thing to remember right now. As people are coming back to church as they are seeking and searching right now the platform isn’t gonna do it.

You do what God asks you to do and he’ll give you a platform.

right.

Lori: let’s talk about the pillars. Okay. What is. What are some things about pillars of the church?

Joe: Kinda what we talked about a little while ago when we were talking about the differences. They’re more of a long term.

They’re made over time.

Lori: Okay. So most pillars you think about wooden pillars in a building. Like a tree. A tree, the hardwood tree. The one that’s gonna be the most stable and secure. And last the longest are the slowest growing trees. Yep.

Joe: Like a mighty Oak. And yeah they’re just that good hardwood. They’re able to sustain the weathering of life and that’s the way we’re supposed to be as pillars.

Lori: I just had another thought with the trees, because you do have [00:17:00] trees that are softwood, they grow fast, they get up.

If you as a believer or someone as a believer suddenly takes off and just shoots up, they’re probably not as sturdy as the one that is growing slowly and really understanding why they’re growing and what they’re growing towards.

Joe: Yeah. so the pillars and being a pillar the biggest thing I take away from being a pillar is it’s connecting heaven to earth.

It is just connecting the two and it’s not all the fluff around it, It’s truth, and it’s connecting heaven to earth.

it’s built on the foundation of Jesus Christ. And that’s a huge difference between that and a platform. Some platforms are built on Jesus Christ, but not all. And so we have to have our discernment to know what is and what isn’t.

Lori: So what does it look like though in impractical terms to be a pillar in the church?

Joe: So it’s somebody that’s the [00:18:00] main thing when you look at what you’re doing in the church. Or in your personal life is you’re taking the information in the Bible. God turns it to Revelation so it starts making sense. He illuminates in you what those words are saying, and then it turns into transformation and we start applying it to our life.

Lori: being transformed into the image of Christ.

Joe: Correct. And so we’re doing that so that others see that, and then they want that peace and joy that you have because you’re standing on the solid rock of Jesus Christ.

Lori: I like Mark. 9 35 where it says, if anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.

Joe: Yeah. And so pillars are servants pillars are reflecting Christ pillars are support, which is serving

Lori: our pillars. Always seen.

Joe: No, that’s a good point. There’s pillars. In buildings that you don’t [00:19:00] see and there’s pillars in the church you don’t see. There’s some that are prayer warriors like crazy or they give like crazy and they’re just silently serving you.

Lori: but you’ll know when they’re gone. Just like in the physical church, if that pillar that’s holding it up is suddenly gone. You’re gonna know it when it comes crashing down. The pillars of the church are the same way. You may not see them every day, but you’ll know when they’re gone.

Joe: Yeah. And so the other part of that is, we were talking about Samson. So after they did that, they got his eyes out and they got him standing down there to entertain the people. There’s this whole bunch of people there. And so they put him between these two pillars that are holding up the roof, the support pillars of the whole thing.

Lori: And because they weren’t very smart.

Joe: No they weren’t, but they also didn’t know what was going on with Samson and his strength. But he knew and see he prayed for God. One more time.

Lori: So he recognized, he finally saw that God had left him and he [00:20:00] repented and turned back to God and his strength was restored.

Samson asked the men that were guarding him to put one hand on a pillar on each side of him. Are you ready to go on?

Joe: And so he is sitting in there doing this is all in judges 16, and he’s sitting there and he prayed to God. And what he did was he pushed these pillars out because they didn’t know his hair had been growing back, so he was getting his strength back,

He pushes these pillars.

Lori: It pushes the pillars and the whole arena collapses.

Joe: And he lost his life in that, but he did it for the glory God. ’cause it also took care of a whole bunch of the problem people in the Philistines that were causing all these issues.

And he knew what was gonna happen when he asked that prayer. But he was, [00:21:00] he knew it was, he knew he was die. He knew it was worth the risk to glorify God one more time.

Lori: So he went from a man who was enraptured, idolizing his platform to a man, surrendered to the Lord. he went from being a platform person to a pillar.

Joe: Yep.

Lori: I like that. hebrews, talks a lot about the heroes of the faith. Yes. And one of them is Moses In Hebrew three, five, it says, Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant for a testimony of all things, which would be spoken afterward. Moses was a pillar?

Joe: Yes.

Lori: By just being obedient to God. Moses didn’t set out to. Be over all of Israel. That wasn’t his goal. God gave him that platform.

Yeah.

Lori: God gave him the platform, but Moses became the pillar that held the platform up.

Joe: Yep.

Lori: And then you have Abraham and it says, by faith Abraham obeyed when he was [00:22:00]called to go out to the place, which he would receive as an inheritance.

And he went out not knowing where he was going. By faith. He by faith, he dwelt in the land of promise, as in a foreign country. Dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise for he waited for the city, which has foundations whose builder and maker is God.

Joe: How awesome is that?

Lori: He was a pillar.

Joe: Yes.

Lori: I think about Noah. By faith, Noah. Being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an arc for the saving of his household by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness, which is according to faith. And those are in Hebrew 11.

I think about Noah, like if ever anybody had a platform,

Joe: oh man,

Lori: It was Noah.

Joe: He had a great platform.

Lori: building this giant arc in front of everybody. [00:23:00] And they had never even seen rain. So the idea of a flood he was loon by all their standards and God elevated him up on this physical platform for everybody.

Joe: High above.

Lori: Yes. So everybody would’ve seen him and everything. But from his platform. Nobody was saved. The people that were watching him did not come to the Lord. They thought he was crazy and they went the other way. Having a platform doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re gonna save people for the Lord.

But Noah was a pillar because he was obedient to the Lord. He did what God told him to do, even in the face of what would probably be a definite cancel culture. They were absolutely. Making fun of him.

Yep.

Lori: And it made no sense what God asked him to do, but he was doing it by faith and he became the pillar that saved mankind.

Joe: And that’s very similar to what’s going on now. That was A preview of what’s to come when [00:24:00] Jesus comes back, Noah, and the arc, the saving of. A few. And the ones that are mocking and ridiculing, it looks just like it does today. People, it is no different. And so that’s why we have to take care of our platforms and treat ’em right and we have to be pillars in our community and it starts at our house and then it’s pillar at church and then pillar in our community.

Lori: Another parallel, I think we just talked about Samson. So he had this platform that easily made people follow him. He was. Strong. He was set apart by God. I’m gonna say he was probably charismatic. People liked him, he drew people to him. Had away with the women, was a great fighter. So naturally people flocked to his platform and his platform crashed.

Joe: Yep.

Lori: Whereas Noah had the platform and everybody mocked him. And made fun of him they thought he was a loon. Nobody wanted to follow Noah, and yet he was the pillar [00:25:00] of the faith.

Joe: That’s right.

Lori: That’s, a good point. How are we called to be pillars in our local churches?

So I like Galatians two nine and it says, and when James Fuss and John who seem to be pillars. So it was referring to P pillars in the ear early church and see there as Peter. Basically pillars in the church are really ordinary people in ordinary pews filled and overflowing with the truth.

Joe: And that’s exactly right. And we all know ’em. You see ’em in church. You’re sitting beside ’em in church.

You sit beside ’em at ministry events, but we are called to be the pillars and focus on that being a pillar of faith, being a pillar of truth, and that’s what we’re after.

Lori: And you can do that as an ordinary person in an ordinary pew.

Yes.

Lori: Revelation three 12 says, behold I’m coming quickly. Hold fast.

What you have that [00:26:00] no one may take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God and he should go out no more. And I like that. It doesn’t say we’ll be made into platforms.

Joe: It says will be made into pillars.

Lori: Exactly. So Joe, we need to wrap this up. What verse do you wanna share? That really sums up,

Joe: I’ve got a verse that I really like that sums up the idea of being a pillar. And it’s one Timothy three 15 says, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the Church of the Living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.

And that just pretty much sums it up it’s a good place to be. And it’s all about the truth. All about the truth.

Lori: tell us where people can read that verse.

Joe: It’s first Timothy three 15.

Lori: All right, I like it. So we’re gonna wrap this up, but one more [00:27:00] thing we wanna tell y’all about, because we do want to be servants of all, and we know that right now there is.

a spirit of death going around in the form of outrageous numbers of suicide. It’s just climbing all the time. the other day someone shared with us a video that we listened to, that we thought had. Real impact in what he said to somebody who might be struggling with depression, maybe with suicidal thoughts, I am gonna put a link to that in the show note. That’s extra. It doesn’t go with our topic this time, but we didn’t wanna delay on sharing this because if it might help, at least one person’s totally worth it.

Joe: And it’s about a five minute video, so it’s not very long. But it’s well worth your time.

Lori: I’m gonna listen to it on repeat, I think. Yeah. Because it’s just encouraging. It is. I’m gonna have several other things in the show notes that you can use as resources. Please feel free to do that

Joe: now. I just did.

Lori: this isn’t the end,

Joe: but it’s the end for now.

Lori: See you next time [00:28:00] on another My Mornings with Jesus and Joe.