Feel-Good Faith, Easter Silliness, & Pastor Politicians

Before we begin, permit me to thank those of you who have responded already to our encouragement

to join us on our no retreat, advancing the gospel together, spring matching gift campaign.

While that's a long title, but wow, are we glad that so many of you have already said,

we would like to support a ministry that will not retreat, that will proclaim the gospel

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Richard Radio begins in three, two, one. God told me to tell you this. That's paganism. Do you

really expect and anticipate that the divine voice of God can be heard by you? That's horoscope

reading. Standing in the office of the prophet of God. That's reading tea leaves. Can't have a

relationship to God if you can't hear God. That is not biblical Christianity. You want to hear

God speak to you? Read your Bible. If you want to hear God speak to you audibly, read it out loud.

I promise you 100% guaranteed you will hear him speak. It's time for Richard Radio with Tone Freell.

They are you doing great program. I really like it. I was just wondering.

You will be the host. The company. This is Richard Radio Jimmy. Are you prepared to be the host of

this year's Richard Radio program? Oh, here is you are. Here's the task before you. I have

various and sundry clips. Some of them are very sundry. You are going to determine which clip we

listen to. First, second, third, fourth, fifth. Okay. Are you prepared for your responsibility?

Absolutely. Franklin Graham appearing on the Pierce Morgan program. Pierce Morgan. He does a

lot. He went to his website. Who he talks plenty. And Franklin Graham went on to respond to

the Pope saying that people who wage war are who are in favor of war. God doesn't hear their prayers.

That's clip number one. Okay. Clip number two. Here we get to the sundry part. You got yourself

Franklin. Franklin Graham. Raphael Warnock. I confuse the two all the time. And I'm not the only one.

So don't judge me. Raphael, they're both ministers. Raphael Warnock. I've completely different

strife. Raphael Warnock, a senator. And it's amazing. He's being interviewed by Jake Tapper at CNN.

And he mentions inside of this clip that he preaches every Sunday. Now I'm sure it's not every

Sunday. Cut him slack on that. But how is a US senator able to preach every Sunday? Who's

who's writing your sermons preacher? Because you ain't there's no way you're doing that gig.

And preparing your own sermon. Unless, of course, he has an assistant whose initials sound a lot

like a and I. He's on the Jake Tapper program. And he talks about praying for the president.

What he preaches to his congregation, et cetera. Okay. Clip number three.

Carrie Underwood on the American Idol. It was faith night on the American Idol. Did you know that?

And there were songs. Some of them were actually pretty good. Some of them were. They had all

the kids sing. And so clearly all the kids were in Christians, but they forced them to sing.

So they were, they were spiritual songs. Okay. Like one of them included the word faith.

That was pretty much it. You know, believe in yourself. You got to have faith in yourself. But

some of them were whiz bang and Carrie Underwood never fails to slam it with how great that

art. Yeah. All right. Fourth. Why should I be this winded? I don't know. Is this an indicator of

just the type of cardio shape that I'm in? This would be the Patriot coach talking about this

kerfuffle about Christians and sports actually tweeting Bible verses gas. And how they need

to be reeducated. Who would you like to hear first, Jimmy? I think I want to lean towards my past.

I'd like to hear Carrie Underwood. That's a nice way to start.

Oh Lord, my God. Her pitch.

And I am awesome wonder. Consider all the world's like hands and me.

I see the stars. I hear the roll. That ring on her hand. Wow.

My power throughout. The universe displays.

Then sings my song. I save your God. To the. How great.

How great that one. Then sings my song. I save your God.

To the. How great. How great. How great.

That one. Jimmy, I have an idea. Okay. Because I know what we're going to have to endure with

Raphael Warnock. Let's save her so that when we're done listening to Raphael, we can end on a high note.

And I literally mean a high note because I don't know this Raphael. Oh, I'm sorry. You're the host.

We like to hear Raphael Warnock really. I really wouldn't but go ahead.

Do you pray for the president? Oh, absolutely. He needs a lot of prayer. What do you?

That was snarky. That was unless he meant an affirmant like, hey, a president. Okay,

we'll give the benefit of the doubt. Pray for what do you ask God?

Well, I pray. I pray in Precordory. I mean, I pray in as much as he has influence and power

over people I care about. Do you really think he's praying for the president a lot?

When you don't, if you, if you at Jimmy, is there anybody that you're praying for these days,

anybody in your life? Absolutely. Okay. If, okay, so if I said to you, what are you praying for

for them? It wouldn't be this vague. Well, you see in life, there's a lot of difficulties.

And so I pray that this person will be able to expand their territory of the difficulties of

the relating to the people and their family. It would be like, wait, that was chin boogie. Do you

know what you're praying for or not? I affirm his humanity as I affirm the humanity of anybody

and everybody. That's, that's not a prayer. That's a lot of umin for a preacher.

But part of that prayer is bringing that work in fast. He will, you know, is about accountability.

I have to be honest about what he's doing. His kind of unabashed, unvarnished bigotry.

Huh. The cruelty that he is unleashing on American streets through his version of ice.

Huh. I wonder what his prayers were like for Biden when there was under chaos in the cities. I'm

just, uh, what, uh, pray, pray for his humanity and those things have to be condemned.

And so for me prayer and prophetic speech, which holds power accountable, those two things go hand

in hand. I am not about to be the chaplain blessing that which is ungodly and unjust.

That really didn't answer the question. Did it take it away, Jake?

There are a lot of religious leaders who go to the White House and not only pray for the

president, but make a show of suggesting that that he was chosen by God for this mission.

Yeah, they're wrong. Well, yes and no. If, if, if, if by that, you mean that he's like some sort

of a pointed modern day American Messiah, of course not. But sovereignty would suggest, yeah,

God did choose that he would be the president. Otherwise, he wouldn't be the president.

And there were Christians who thought that slavery was, was, you know, somehow God like American

child slavery. And they just, so the people took it, they're like the people, but okay,

divided. And they use scriptures to promote their beliefs, reverend, support their position.

It just so happens that that I'm the product of a of a countervealing tradition.

Using Bible verses to proclaim what I think is correct.

That was literally born fighting for freedom. That understood that that God didn't create

us to be slaves. That's why the black church was emerged when we say the black church.

We've never met anything racially exclusive about that. We are literally talking about the

anti-slavery church. Okay. Jimmy, do you know what I think we need right now?

Hmm, some carry underwood.

Somebody's joining her.

No idea.

Oh.

Wait, no, who's this?

This is a third guy.

Who are these people?

And they proclaim my God, how could I know?

Certainly competent singers, a lot of notes. I want, I want carry back.

Who's this woman?

Oh, how could I know?

If carry doesn't return, this instant.

Oh, how could I know?

Well, that's enough of that. Thank you, Relit.

Okay. Fine. We'll finish it.

Oh, this is.

I can't carry enough. Enough, carry.

This is Ratchet Radio.

No retreats. That's the name of Fordous Institute's Spring Match campaign.

And we chose that name for a reason. The church has been quietly backing up for years.

A doctrine gets a little uncomfortable, a truth sounds a little too exclusive,

so we set it aside. And before law, the gospel sounds more like an apology than an announcement.

Fordous Institute is determined to push the other direction,

to encourage churches to hold fast a hard truth,

and to proclaim the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ rightly and loudly.

That's why we're inviting you to join us on the No Retreats Spring Match campaign.

Right now, through the end of May, every dollar you give is matched.

Dollar for Dollar, and your gift will help launch two new podcasts.

Publish Todd Freil's new book, Go Serve Your King through HarperCollins,

and fund gospel proclamation on college campuses.

The gospel doesn't move backward and neither should we.

You can find out more right now at Fordous Institute.org slash donate.

To preparing students for the real world hat tip to master's university,

you want to send your kids someplace where they actually still teach the Bible,

not just based on a document that they may be having a file cabinet someplace,

but they actually use the Bible there.

The education at the master's university, not only biblical,

but also practical courses, diplomas, degrees, they can be achieved online,

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To prepare you or your child for the future, I encourage you to visit masters.edu slash wretched

masters dot edu slash wretched.

Know Your Reformers.

William Tyndale provided the first complete translation of the New Testament into English in 1526.

While he was in prison for the crime of translating the Bible,

he continued to translate the Old Testament until he was strangled and burned at the stake in 1536.

This is wretched radio with Todd Freil.

Oh Jimmy, I hope you've got some carry underwood in there.

We're going to need it. This is wretched radio.

The send rev. That's what it says right there on my screen.

Send rev. Raphael Warnock, a D from GA, speaking with CNN's Jake Tapper.

You got any, um, now we don't want Jesus take the wheel.

That's, that's, that's not like the most theological role but song ever written.

What are you going to tell your parishioners Easter Sunday?

What is your message going to be and how do you want them to feel when they leave here?

Tell me Reverend. Tell me about the resurrection.

Tell me about the reminder that Jesus rose from the grave.

It was God's receipt on the payment of his suffering and death and his burial so that we could

be forgiven so that we could be justified so that we could be reconciled to God. Tell us preacher.

The story of the resurrection is the story of hope.

Okay. Is it a story of hope? Well, sure.

But if you don't explain the essence of that hope, the foundation of the hope,

that ain't what Easter is about. Certainly not primarily.

Does it give us hope? Yes, it does, but that's not what Easter is.

Easter is the resurrection of the God man Jesus Christ so that our sins could be forgiven

so that we don't have to pay for them. Preach and Baptist,

Sinrev Raphael Warnock, D from GA in the midst of despair.

I talk a lot about hope. I don't talk too much about optimism.

Optimism for me is milk toast. It's thin. Often it denies the tragic character of human

experience. That's weird. Christians are the optimistic people because we know there is a

brighter day coming. That's that's that's kind of a part of the package of being a Christian tragedy

that sits at the heart of our politics. What? Hope recognizes that there is a tomb that there was

a crucifixion and that there are a lot of people all over the world who live right there in a good

Friday world. But resurrection Sunday reminds us that that tomb does not have the last word that

there is always hope. Okay. Yeah. Ancillary, not the point though, is it that there is human

possibility in that and that human possibility. We have a shot at working alongside God and together

with God writing a new chapter for human possibility. John the Baptist called he wants his last name

back. That was just utterly, you know what that kind of it smelled a little bit like James

Taloriko. I don't know if he caught that human possibility in that and that we we have a shot

at working alongside God. Okay. We don't have a shot at it. We've actually been given a title

that is clear. We do work for God. I'm not sure I would say alongside. That's a little gets a

little trickier. We have been assigned by God to do his work. The question of course is what is

his work? Low and behold it out for at a Bible church. We happen to be banking our way through

a first Peter. We are stones living stones being built up into a spiritual house. In other words,

we individually and corporately are building a spiritual kingdom. We are the church. It is our

mandate to do what proclaim his excellencies so that God will be glorified on the day of visitation.

So, Senrev, we don't have a shot at it. We have an assignment from God himself. That's our task

and our proclamation is sure and certain why? Same section because Jesus Christ is the cornerstone.

This sounds like James Telleriko preaching, which actually would make a whole lot of sense. So,

here we go. He's a Baptist. Telleriko is a liberal Presbyterian. Look at the ecumenism those two

share. They both don't know the gospel. And together with God, writing a new chapter for human

possibility, human possibility, whatever that means. Jamie, you got that carry under what?

Uh-huh. No. No. You got nothing for us? No.

I ask you to be the host. You did ask. Let's go to Pierce Morgan who produces more content that I

ever imagined that he did discussing what's going on with the Pope's view of the war with one

Franklin Graham. And right, I don't know if it's one of the, it looks like it must be. He's

probably Franklin is sitting in a studio and behind him is just one of the Samaritans Purse planes.

If Jimmy, would you Google this on the AI machine? Has Samaritans Purse provided over a

buff, buff, billion dollars in aid to people? Most of whom aren't Christians, by the way, it is

a spectacularly huge and effective ministry. We've just had in his Palm Sunday,

homily, the Pope and American obviously declaring that God rejects the prayers of those who wage war.

Would you agree with it? Oh, I don't know. He is being, he's going to make his point. I know

he is, but he's, he's being maybe even too gracious. Franklin, I think you might be being too

gracious here. We're talking about the Pope here. King David, he prayed that God would train his

hands, how to, how to fight his enemies. We know that God does take sides in, in history.

Certainly, as it relates to the biblical history in the Bible, God gave great favor to David

and wisdom to David is every time he went into battle. So, we know that there are, what I believe

appears to be just wars. And you take the Second World War, Hitler. There's close, it's close to

70 million people died during the Second World War. And so to fight that evil, I believe it was the

right thing to do. And to destroy, I bring the Nazis to an end and also the, the Japanese regime.

And I think today with the, with the arrangements, they are a danger to the whole world, not just

the Middle East, but the whole world. And I know you've been talking about Gaza, but all of this

comes down the 70, some thousand Palestinians that have died in Gaza. This is a result of

Iran. The thousands of people that have died in Lebanon as a result of Iran. The people have died in

Yemen, our result of Iran. And the Iranians don't care one thing about the Palestinian people,

in my opinion. They just want to kill the Jews. And they don't care about the Lebanese people.

They just want to kill the Jews. Same thing about the Houthis. They don't care about the Houthis.

They want to use them to kill the Jews. And so this regime, there needs to be a regime change

in my opinion. And I hope that, and pray that that will take place. And the fastest growing church

in the world is in Iran. You know, I've heard that, I don't know, those statistics, I've heard

that quoted before. And I think we all love the idea of that don't we? I just would love to see

some sort of verification about that. But as long as I brought up the subject, okay, Franklin

brought it up. So I guess you can blame him. A lot of these online testimonies of individuals

Muslims who presumably had dreams about Jesus Christ. Could they have had a dream about Jesus?

Of course they could have. Of course they could. They've heard about Jesus. They've got the internet.

They perhaps have seen even Christian videos. So could they have had a dream because they've

already learned something about Jesus? Yes. But is that a dream where Jesus is appearing directly

to them? I believe the biblical answer is no. Why? Because in former times he spoke to people,

one of the methods, one of the means were dreams. But now he has spoken to us through his son.

In other words, Jesus doesn't, doesn't need to appear to people. He has his Bible. And so these,

I know that these stories we share because we want to hear about anybody actually getting saved.

And I don't doubt for a second they had a dream about Jesus. But it was no different than a dream

of you desiring a Coney Island while you're playing in the semi-final doubles matches at Wimbledon.

Because that's kind of dreams. Get a little wonky. Dreams happen. Dreams of Jesus happen. But Jesus

appearing in dreams would be to go outside of his mean and method of the proclamation of the word.

Jimmy, how big is that Samaritan purse ministry? So over the course of a lifetime since the

ministry's been going on well over $15 billion provided in aid. Those hateful questions. They're

terrible. Jimmy, do a quick Islamic care, C-A-I-R, the council of Islamic, some relations,

the C-A-I-R. How many billions of dollars have they given away to people?

Don't bother. The answer is zero. And even if it is something, it ain't $15 billion. What a

testimony. Remember that statistic, by the way. When you hear a guy like Raphael Warnock saying,

well, you know, we've got to have the government with social, it's Christians who are the most

generous. And that's actual charity taking money out of somebody's pocket via taxation to give it

and put it into somebody else's pocket. Oh, that's not charity. That's a crime. This is Wretched Radio.

And it's now time for your Daily Fortes News break a production of Fortes Institute.

We start with The Daily Wire, which recently settled a censorship lawsuit against

the State Department with a binding consent decree. The deal acknowledges the targeted speech,

vaccines, election integrity, abortion and transgenderism is protected by the first amendment.

The Daily Wire and the Federalist will monitor compliance through 2036 with the authority

to take the State Department back before a federal judge if it happens again.

And Canada's Senate is preparing to debate Bill C9, the so-called combating hate act.

The bill would criminalize quoting portions of scripture, including passages on homosexuality

and gender. It passed the House of Commons 186 to 137 recently, pushed by liberals, of course,

over opposition from conservatives and the Green Party. The Justice Center for Constitutional

freedoms is urging Canadians to light up their senator's phones.

Where Republicans and Kansas have recently overrode Governor Lori Kelly's veto on the

Pregnancy Center on Tonneby and Rights of Expression Act, the override passed 87-35 in the House

in 30-9 in the Senate. The law protects pro-life pregnancy centers from government mandates that

would force them to promote abortion. House Speaker Dan Hawkins summed it up by saying the

governor talks about choice until the choice is light. Funny how that works.

Ohio lawmakers are responding after an investigation found a child welfare agency tracking

whether parents affirm their children's gender confusion. Parents labeled as rejecting could

be flag-for-reeducation programs and even face child removal by CPS. The act would also bar

state agencies from treating a parent's refusal to use preferred pronouns as abuse or neglect.

When journalists testified agency officials communicated with Biden administration

contact about scaling the program nationally. And Costco is also in the news saying they will offer

IVF drugs at 80% off through a new partnership following President Trump's push to expand

access to fertility treatments. The pro-life concern isn't in small print. It is a core reality

of IVF. It's estimated that 93% of embryos created through IVF are eventually destroyed.

Lower prices means more embryos created in more lives discarded as medical waste.

And the mayor of Boise Idaho, Lauren McLean, held a solemn ceremony retiring the LGBT flag from

City Hall after Iowa's governor signed a law banning non-approved flags from municipal buildings.

McLean insisted the flag was not political or religious or even ideological.

Then she folded it like a military funeral flag while attendees sang hymns.

And that wraps up today's Fortis News Break. I'm Jimmy Higgs. If you want more,

you can download Fortis Plus or sign up to become a Fortis insider for exclusive daily content.

Both can be done at FortisInstitute.org and don't forget you can also subscribe to

Fortis News on your favorite podcast app in order to get these updates daily. And until tomorrow,

go serve your king.

Important dates in Christian history.

325 AD

The Council of Nysir was called to address debates perplexing the church by Maranick

concerning the nature of Jesus. The Nysine Creed was drafted and is still one of the

standards of orthodoxy among Christians. This is wretched radio with Todd Freel.

You tell me this is wretched radio, man.

I wonder if you'll want some of the night.

Lots of people are.

If you know someone says the roads are stained, it's an easy way to play a part.

They hit me with a flinging flap, barely in them.

Oh, plus tanks.

It's going sideways free.

If you're in July and select, it's never really.

You never miss it, you.

They came back to it.

You've got the words.

They've been changed.

You have restraints in life.

Pull it together, you.

Come on.

Whoever did it is.

Now.

Honey, come and talk to him.

Oh, boy.

You lie.

And you said you love me.

You're simple.

I had no cross the doubt, you know.

I was like, well, remember, remember.

Really going during your life.

All this hurts my heart when you're all living without you.

And the sage is bare.

And I'm standing there without a new hair.

I know.

If you don't come back to me,

I'm going to hang with you.

Get it together, Albus.

Come on.

Here's your horn.

Kill the pain.

Shall I come back?

Have a day.

Are you long?

I wonder if it's possible.

The solution for your personal loneliness pandemic

could be found right on the street from your house in a Bible teaching church.

That's right.

We're experiencing what is what is widely believed to be an unprecedented

epic of loneliness.

And yet we shouldn't be.

Should we?

We got all the bells and whistles.

All the razzle dazzle getting all the serotonin hits.

We should be happy as clams.

But we're more miserable.

And we are more separated.

And we are feeling more alone than ever before.

And maybe, maybe, maybe.

This is an opportunity for us to read.

Just our thinking about the beauty and the value of the local church and start touting it.

But somebody becoming a participant in a church doesn't make them a Christian.

But could we not for the people who are feeling so desperately alone say,

hey, I know a place.

There's a place of community.

And it's centered around something loftier than ourselves.

Would you like to come and see what that community is like?

And so I believe because of the loneliness pandemic,

we have an evangelistic opportunity.

And we have an opportunity to genuinely help those who are professors of Jesus Christ,

not be so lonely by encouraging them.

Please become a serving member of a local church, an article in the Christian post.

Why you're searched for the perfect church is making you

lonelyer.

Perhaps you're one of those people.

And I, I can relate to you because I was one of those people.

Gotta find a perfect church.

Gotta be perfect.

Second, I walk in the door.

If everything isn't right, those two end shares.

One of them is crooked.

The Feng Shui is off.

We're out of here, kids.

This church is no good.

And we keep thinking we're just, we got away until we find the perfect church,

then we'll sink into that.

But that mindset, it almost guarantees, give it time.

And you will find something that will cause you to say,

we are out of here because this is not the perfect church.

And I thought this article was particularly helpful,

a written by a fellow from Hope International,

to help us perhaps readjust our standard for the local church.

Especially if you're not currently serving in one,

it might explain why you two are feeling like Elvis.

Okay, that probably wasn't the right way to phrase it.

But if you're Lonesome tonight,

perhaps this adjustment will help Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

He wrote, he who loves his dream of a community more than Christian community itself

becomes a destroyer of the latter.

Did you catch it?

He who loves his dream of community.

It's going to look like this.

It's going to feel like that.

Everybody's going to treat me like this.

And we're all going to do that.

We're going to be on the same page.

There'll be no disagreement.

Everybody will do what I think is best.

But you don't love the community itself.

You will destroy the community itself.

Because our expectations are off.

This fellow writes, community is costly.

Isolation is far costlier.

Maybe that will help you to give this a hearing that you maybe would consider

re-igniting your passion and your commitment to the local church because it is better.

It can be harder, but it's better than loneliness.

Question, do I care enough about community to allow myself to be inconvenienced for it?

Because there is a myth of cozy community where everything is going to be perfect.

It can't be perfect.

That's the whole point of the local church.

It's the very thing that helps us grow in sanctification.

If we hope to experience the beautiful life-giving community that God intended,

we must begin not with our calendars, but with our expectations.

The way we think about community, either shapes or sabotages are experience of it.

I know this feeling all too well.

I do.

When you go to church with a scorecard, look out.

You are going to be disappointed.

Look, we know there's tons of stinkers.

I'm not talking about those places.

They never preach the gospel.

The word is tertiary.

It's a silly center.

I'm not talking about that.

I'm talking about just a good faithful Bible teaching church.

Is it going to be like what you hear on the radio from radio preachers?

No, there's a reason those guys are on the radio.

They are the exception, not the rule.

But remember, the sermon that is prepared by your local pastor in your local church is better

than any sermon that John MacArthur RC scroll.

Albert, you pick your favorite preacher.

That sermon prepared for you as stammering and as lacking and eloquent as it might be

is better than any sermon preached by any famous radio preacher on radio in human history,

which would only go back to Marconi's invention of the radio.

Why?

Because it was prepared for you.

But if you go thinking it's got to be like that disappointment.

If you go thinking nobody's going to bug you.

If you go thinking I've got to find a parking place that is close to the front door.

If you go thinking the music has to be your preference.

And believe me, I've got preferences by bargains.

And then you're going to be disappointed.

Now, can you shop for a church that checks more of your preferential boxes?

Sure, but those are those are not supreme.

Supreme is are the elders, godly men who are desiring to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ

and to shepherd you.

You got a good church.

If they are preaching faithfully, you got a good church.

If they are serious about serving the Lord, you got yourself a good church.

They don't have good kid programs.

That's not a bad church.

It's just a church that doesn't have kids programs.

You want the basics, the foundations.

When they are laid for you in the context of a local, it's a good church.

Join it.

And don't just visit it on Sunday.

Participate in the life of the church.

This article is very helpful.

We've been culturally conditioned to value quick, easy, and hassle free experiences.

We want our friends to have AAA roadside assistance so that we don't have to go pick them up.

We don't have to go change it tire.

We want people to make sure that they've got a well-playing job so that we don't have to give

any money or buy them any groceries. We want to make sure that people's marriages are really

strong because if they're not, I might need to get involved to help them out.

We like easy. We like clean.

But that is not what church is designed to be.

Common phrases like, I tried, but it just didn't work out.

Or I wasn't getting anything out of church.

Reveals the consumer mindset that can seep into our relationships.

Consumer relationships where you scratch my back.

I scratch yours, but you got to scratch my back first.

Otherwise, I'm out here.

I'm taking my back.

I'm taking my scratcher and I'm out of here.

That's a consumer relationship and it collapses when things are not perfect or difficult

or challenging. They can't bear the weight of sacrifice or inconvenience or conflict.

So when this idealized version of church is your mindset, you're never going to find a good

little local church. You just won't. You won't. This isn't what I've signed up for.

And you go searching for greener pastures over and over and over again.

Met a fellow once who talked about church shopping. He literally said,

my wife and I, I don't know if he said it like this, but I am.

My wife and I, we've been to 39 churches.

We just can't find a good one. And I'm thinking to myself, maybe at this point,

the problem isn't the church. Maybe there's something else going on here.

If you can never find a perfect church, well, you got to know you're never going to find a

perfect church. But the problem isn't the local church. The problem is our attitude.

And here's the irony that cycle, seeking, finding, disappointing, seeking, finding

disappointment. It's that it just deepens the loneliness epidemic. Personally,

the consumer approach to relationships is going to fail you and leave you lonely. But there

is an alternative. And you're going to love this one, my Presbyterian friends.

The covenantal approach to the local church. What exactly is that?

Next on wretched radio.

You know, those really big questions you get when your kid comes home from college.

Feel out the ones about whether God exists. If the Bible can be trusted,

why there's evil in the world or what's wrong with everyone else's view on sexuality.

Yeah, those. Road trip to true doesn't dodge them. This resource is hosted by John for

Boris and it goes straight to college campuses and talks to students who are asking these very

same questions. But it doesn't just stop there. No, no, then there are the experts that give the

real answers with topics like science and faith, pornography, social media, and mental health,

critical race theory, marriage, eternity, and that's not even the half of it. If you have teenagers,

this is the stuff they need to hear before the world gives them its version. And if you don't have

teenagers, you'll still learn something. Road trip to truth. All four seasons available right now

on Fortis Plus for free. Download it now where you download apps on your smartphone, your smart

TV, or just simply go to fortisplus.org. Hey, thanks for listening to wretched radio today.

Let me ask you a question. Have you experienced any type of real change in the areas of your life

that really need it the most? Or do you find yourself just getting by just figuring out a way to

manage to the next day? Look, a lot of people have gotten really good at managing. Their anger,

managing their anxiety, managing the habits that they've formed, but management. It's not the same

as transformation. That's why one of the world's leading podcasts today is transform

with Dr. Greg Gifford. Greg is a professor at the Masters University and a fellow here at Fortis

Institute as well. His whole focus is helping people experience the kind of change that only comes

to the sufficient word of God. And this kind of content is only possible because of our gospel

partners. If you've been blessed by our ministry, I would love to ask you to prayerfully consider

joining us as an ongoing monthly gospel partner. I know you have questions about that and we have

answers at fortisinstitute.org. Ratchet, amazing grace, amazing gospel. Most men don't make one big

decision that takes them off course. Now it happens gradually. And eventually you look up and you

realize I've been coasting for years. Well, Dr. Adam Tyson has created walk like a man. It's

available now on Fortis Plus. Dr. Tyson knows that's the story for way too many guys right now.

And so he gets into God's word and he lays out what it actually looks like to walk with wisdom

and live with real conviction. And the way he teaches it, you'll walk away from every episode

knowing exactly what to do and why it matters. This is biblical teaching that puts solid ground

under your feet and gives you a clear path forward. It's streaming right now with new episodes

dropping every Monday on Fortis Plus for free. Download the Fortis Plus app right now wherever you

download apps on your smartphone, your smart TV or just go to fortisplus.org and walk like a man.

Titles of Christ

In the Bible Jesus has given many titles that teach us about who he is and what he has done.

Jesus is called the cornerstone. When laying a foundation every stone must be aligned in reference

to the cornerstone. God is building his church as a holy temple and as believers we are being

brought into line with the cornerstone, Jesus Christ. This is wretched radio with Todd Freel.

Give me another shot at it man.

Is your heart flutting? Shall I come back again?

1972.

Thank you very much. This is wretched radio. Oh Jimmy, if I'm not mistaken, do we not have a loneliness

resource coming out sometime soon? I think so. When? This year. Close enough.

Just be sitting on the edge of our seed waiting for that when this year.

This year. That's it. All right. Fine. Because it's such a big issue these days. So many people

are struggling with it and that we are creating a resource. And when I say we, I mean, Dr. Greg

Gifford. And by the way, if you're not listening to the podcast or Dr. Greg Gifford, you are

really, you're missing a blessing. That podcast is so helpful. It is so good. And it is

exploding like a nobody's business. It's called transformed. He deals with biblical counseling

issues. In fact, do you remember? Hold on. I've got a thing here with the deal.

He wrote an art call because this, oh, here it is right here. This, this always struck me.

You'll remember this. If you heard us share what Dr. Greg Gifford said is the number one

predictor of ADHD and kids. The number one, do you know what it is? It is in gender. It is in

height. It is in zip code. It's if you were born in August. Do you remember that? Because if you

are in a state and there's a number that all of the states where you can be registered, I think

it would like for from kindergarten by five years old by September 1st to start kindergarten.

Kids born in August are 30% more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD, but in the states where

that's not the case, the rates are the same. What is the implication? Because these kids are born

in August. They're the youngest ones in the class. That means they struggle with higher level

concepts. What is that then cause? Figidiness, distraction, boredom, twiddlediddle, diagnosis,

medication. If you're born in the month of August, that it was just shocking to me and it's

another reason. Got to tell you, I affirm what Greg wrote in this article. The mental health

complex, it is busted. These resources, they're not working. We have a mental health awareness

month. He writes, we should all be able to agree. Mental healthcare is not objective medicine.

Despite all the advances of science, we do not use any empirical way of verifying whether a

person truly has a mental illness. We have no biological tests for psychiatric disorders

and none are in the pipeline. And so people are going to continue to be misdiagnosed as if they

have a diagnosis in the first place, given medicines that tinker with the mind. Yes, there can be

times when it is necessary. They're the exception, not the rule, but there can be times.

But millions, I think it's one in six now are on psychotropic medications.

We're a therapeutic culture that is being given pharmacy, pharmaceuticals in order to make

us feel better. Join Dr. Greg Gifford on his Transform podcast. By the way, Jimmy, as long as you're

just they found of information, can we talk, can we talk about the new podcasts that are going to

be arriving this year at Fortis Institute? I think you can, but that may be sound real declarative

there. The question I think that I'm asking is, well, Matt, get mad. That's really what I'm

okay. Then let's do it. Two podcasts are coming out this year. Okay, I can't tell you that it's

Dr. Jason Lyle, but I'm just telling you, it's going to be a new podcast. I've heard it. He's

already got a number of episodes in the can. Have you been listening to him, Jimmy? You're already

getting him prepped. Yep. Oh, he's so good. And then another podcast coming out called Exalt

the King. That's right. Exalt the King. Why it is my belief that evangelism's goal must be the

exaltation of Jesus Christ. That's the goal. It can't be conversion because you and I can't do that.

That's God's territory. Not ours. Our job is faithfulness. And what does it look like to be

faithful? Consider what Peter said. We are here as living stones as a royal priesthood,

as a holy nation, as a chosen race to do what to proclaim. Not good news.

Excellencies. Excellencies to present Jesus Christ to lift him up so high that people stare at his

beauty and go, okay, I want that. I want that. If he did all of that for me, he must be so magnificent.

I want him. That's the goal of evangelism. It's my hope that you'll hear that.

We're on a Georgia Tech. We're going to more campuses. I think we're going to be on a canisol.

Next, we're actually going to try to do the radio program from there.

It's going to be like the state fair days. If you remember that, where we just did radio,

right in the midst of the kids walking by and we try to engage them and witness to them.

And the goal will be to exalt Christ so that they desire him. It's the kindness of God that

leads to repentance. And so this podcast is going to seek to do that. It's just one of the things

that we're adding. And as long as Jimmy has brought all of this up, right now we do have a

spring matching gift campaign. We would love love it if you would participate in it. It means

that every dollar you give it is simply doubled so that we can do more podcasts. We can produce more

books, more resources. We're in all free. All the resources here are free courtesy of our gospel

partners. The campaign is called no retreat because we have no desire and no plans to go backwards

in a number of ways. We're not going to water things down and we're not going to stop producing

more stuff. There are things I can't tell you yet. Wait to you here. What we're going to be doing

later this year. Wait till you see the new social media rollout that we've got coming. Wait until

you see the new. Oh, somebody's going to get mad at me for this conferences that we're working

on all coming up. And we would love it if you would join us in the no retreat campaign. You may

do that at no, you can do that. No, you can't, you can do it. You may do that at Fortis Institute

dot org slash donate Fortis Institute dot org slash donate. And speaking of finally,

the epidemic of loneliness that so many people experience, how might you get over it?

Well, the encouragement of an article that was written in the Christian post that was titled

why your search for the perfect church is making you lonely or think of church not as a consumer

experience, but as a covenantal relationship, covenantal relationship, that should make every

Presbyterian thrill to pieces. Yes, we do love the covenants. This is, this is where relationship,

outranks, short term desires. In other words, your consumer desires that you are going to work

like crazy to have deep human relationships. One on the night before is crucifixion. What did

Jesus say? Love one another. Love one another. Then the new Testament epistles, they talk about

covenantal love, serve, build up, welcome, pray for, bear burdens, care for all of that can go on

in the context of the local church. But if you're not working at it and seeing it as a covenantal

relationship of love with people that might not be the ones that you would pick on Instagram to follow

because they're the ones that God has put into your life in the covenantal context of a local

church. Here's some tips that might help you. Number one, expect messiness and stay there.

Stay there. Don't interpret friction as failure. This is how he matures us and grows us so you

can plan on things getting kind of, it's not exactly what I like it. Oh, do I need to do that again?

Oh, that person always expected and stay. Number two, trade convenience for commitment.

Choose presence over preference, faithfulness over expedience. Stop prioritizing me and start

thinking in terms of we that is why we're living stones being built up together. We're not

manufactured bricks. We're not all the same. We're different and we've all got to be working

together to build up a spiritual kingdom. So expect messiness and trade convenience for commitment.

Number three, trade screen time for face time. I know. It can be nice on occasion to just chill.

And now nobody would say you can never do that. But how much chilling are you and I doing?

And maybe that also contributes to our loneliness. Just watching people live on a TV screen or

a computer screen, that's not living itself. Sometimes it's good to just get off the couch,

go do stuff with people that you don't even particularly like to do. And it will be better for you.

Number four, practice the one another verbs. You start start small repeat and let mutual

take root. It will happen more and more, but you must persist at it because it is a priority to

be in these covenantal relationships. And then finally number five, dismantle the dream of perfect

community. Don't think that you're going to find it because you ain't. Instead, find the best

Bible teaching church you can probably not too far away from your house. And even if it is,

it's worth the drive. And start investing it by changing your mind about the local church

instead of it being what will they do for me. But who can I find there to live in a covenantal

relationship as as royal priests as holy priests as a spiritual kingdom of God's own possession

and low and behold the next thing you know, you won't be so lonesome tonight, man.

No, I won't do it with the accent. And until tomorrow, go surf your king.