#1-Rambis-May10-2023

The Jiggin' podcast is a new podcast from Rochdale Christian Church. The name "Jiggin'" has a couple of meanings from Scripture. It can refer to fishing, which relates to Jesus' call to his disciples to be fishers of men. It also stands for "Jesus is the good news," which is the gospel. The host, Nate Bryan, shares verses from 1 Corinthians 15 that explain the gospel, emphasizing that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose on the third day. The first episode features an interview with Chris Rambis, an elder at Rochdale Christian Church. Chris talks about his faith background, how he came to know Jesus, and his journey to Rochdale Christian Church. They also discuss the importance of loving God and loving others, as well as the significance of being doers of the word. Chris shares that he is not perfect, but he strives to put God first in his life and serve Him. They encourage listeners to Well, it's a beautiful day. Welcome to the Jiggin' podcast. This is a new podcast coming from Rochdale Christian Church and Jiggin' has a couple of meanings from Scripture. You could use Jiggin' to also describe fishing and we know that Jesus, when he first called the twelve, he said in Matthew chapter 4 verse 19, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. So, you could say we're Jiggin' for men, I guess. And not only that, but if you look at the words J-I-G-N, it stands for Jesus is the good news and we know that he is the good news. I want to share with us and maybe we were familiar already with 1 Corinthians chapter 15, but I'm going to share a few verses here from the beginning of that chapter where Paul is telling us about the gospel and gospel means good news. And here's what the first several verses say. Now I would remind you brothers of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and which you stand and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believe in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried and he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. Now he appeared to Cephas and then to the Twelve and it continues from there, but the reality that Christ died according to the Scriptures for our sins, that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, that is the gospel and that is the good news of Jesus Christ and that's what we hope to share with you. This is Nate Bryan, I'm the preacher at Rochdale Christian Church and our hope is to put out one of these podcasts each week and I'm happy for our first ever podcast to welcome on our newest elder Mr. Chris Rambis. So Chris, welcome to the first ever Jigging Podcast and so the first question I've got for you is this Chris, tell us about your faith background and how you really came to know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Well, I grew up in a Baptist church so my mother and my grandmother made sure that we went to church every Sunday morning, every Sunday evening, sometimes Wednesday evenings. So I've always been taught and I grew up getting those seeds planted early in my life and it was in grade school. I was sitting there listening to the sermon one day, I heard the invitation many times but that one Sunday I stood up, I just heard, I felt Jesus call me and I went forward and I wanted Jesus Christ to be my Lord and Savior. I wanted to be baptized. I didn't want to wait. I just I knew that's what I wanted. So he's been with me. I feel like my whole life and as I grew up, you know, I was stupid. I guess as you grow older or get older, you think you know a lot of things that you don't. Life experiences. Without Christ, I don't know what that would be like. I always talked to him even though I didn't always listen. And speaking, you know, I love fishing. And so at different times, I look back on my past and I feel like I was the one that was getting away a little bit. And when life happens, Jesus is just reeling me back in. And I just I think I thank him so much for that. You know, the older I've gotten, the more and more and more I've gotten closer to him and realized what's more important. He is. I'm not. Right. He must be more. I must become less. Absolutely. And absolutely. Anyhow. But good stuff. Now you're an elder now at Rochedale Christian Church. And so the next question I just wanted us to share and discuss here is ultimately how did you end up at Rochedale Christian Church and what brought you here? Well, when I was dating my now wife, one of the things that we both came from broken marriages. We both know that we needed God in the center of anything that we were doing. So as our relationship developed, we were attending different churches because we wanted to work together on finding a church that fit us and our future family. And ultimately, we started attending Rochedale because of that. I mean, we both liked the community. I mean, we know a lot of people around here, even in the other areas and places that we visited. This just felt like a home for us to bring our family to. Awesome. We're so glad to have you here. And anyways, excited to see what the good Lord's got planned for all of us here in this community. So let's get down to the fun stuff now. Tell us this. What is your favorite part or portion or verse in Scripture and why? Love the Lord God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. And the second flak into it, love your neighbor as yourself. I know that's mentioned in three of the Gospels. It also comes up from Moses when he delivered the Ten Commandments. You know, when Jesus is questioned and he summed up the law and the prophets, which is the Ten Commandments, by those two things. Whatever we do can be broken down into those two things. Are we putting God first in what we're doing and what we're thinking? And by doing that, is that coming out on how we're treating others? You know, it's in a sense very simple, which I'm a simple person. It's very direct. It sounds so easy. But yet every day you can look at situations and it's hard to do. So anytime you get caught up in, well, what do I do next? Or in a situation, you know, it's always fall back to those two things. The greatest commandment. Jesus said it himself. Moses brought the word to the Jewish people. And to me, that's always stuck with me as very basic. But everything is summed up by that. Right. No, I'm with you. And I think, you know, the thing that, like you said, it sounds so simple. And we like to be simple. But to think about, he says, with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and how simple it sounds, but how difficult that can be for us to put into practice. That means with all of our being and all that we do. And like you said, each day there are multiple times. I'm sure that all of us need to rethink back to that with everything, with all of it. And not just that, but I think, too, when I think of the greatest commandment and then the second that is like it, which is to love your neighbor as yourself, how closely they're tied together. You know, and that reality that we're to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind. And the reality that if we don't, if we love God, then we're going to love our neighbor. Right. If we're loving God, we want to be a disciple of God. And what did Jesus show us? You know, right in the Passover, the Last Supper, while the disciples are arguing who's going to be best, He washes their feet. You know, that servant mind that He was the only man to ever walk this earth who's sinless. And that great example that we have from Him, putting this simple scripture into practice, even though we get ourselves in the way sometimes or in situations, but it is still very basic. By honoring God and putting Him first, we let Him use us to serve others. Right. And so that's, to me, that's how I would say it's always been closely related. Absolutely. I mean, He wants us to love others. Yes. Not just our friends. Right. Everybody. Yes. Yep. To love others and to, you know, a part of that too, though, I, you know, as we talk about love, because that's an interesting word and we could talk for hours just on that. But, you know, and loving God too means loving His Word. Something else that always comes back to me that, you know, love God and love your neighbors. And there is that servant side of loving our neighbors. And at the same time, when we love God, we're going to truly love His Word and we're going to learn it. We're going to do all we can to try and live by it. We know that we're not, none of us righteous on our own, but that Jesus Christ ultimately is the one who makes us righteous by what He did on the cross. But that's always another reminder. So. No, and even when things get hard, when it's difficult because of what repercussions may come of what you're doing or what you're saying, but putting Him first, knowing that you're serving Him is always the right thing to do. Like you said, though, we do fall short. We've got to continue to repent, pray for guidance, ask God to use us and be humble. Right. Yeah. And His will is a lot more important than ours. That's right. And oftentimes, as we've all found out, He's got a plan that's different than our will. His will and our will don't. And I say that looking back on, I know we all probably can, but early on in life and I don't know. I know with myself, like you said, be it veering off the path, be it chasing what I think God's plan is, His will is what we ultimately seek to be done and not our own. So let's go on from there. I think that's a good lead in, in many ways, as we're talking about loving God, loving our neighbor. What's your favorite book of the Bible? There are several I like. In particular, the New Testament. I know it's a shorter book, but in James, where he gets pretty much written for instructions for living a Christian life. I like Proverbs, too. I mean, just because of the very simpleness, the very direct quotes that are in there. By James, I think the same way. He's not real wordy, yet very direct, very to the point on Christian living, on what the guidelines that are in there. And simple. Absolutely. Yes, simple and straightforward. I've often heard, in seminary, we refer to James as Proverbs 2.0. So, before that very reason, like you said, you've got Proverbs, which is short and sweet. It's simple for you to repeat. Repeat, absolutely. And then James, if you want to go to, you know, as a matter of fact, just today in FCA, there was a young lady who asked me about, Where do I start reading my Bible? And there's certainly many different ways to look at that. One thing that I've always heard, and I think is a good rule of thumb on that, is read the book of John to get to know Jesus and who he is. And to get to know and understand the gospel. And if you want to learn how to be a Christian, go and read the book of James. And if you can read John and understand Jesus, then go and read the book of James and understand how to live as a Christian. And then continue to read from there. They're all vitally important, and that's not to put any one place above another. But I thought it was interesting that that discussion just got brought up today. So James, just a few things. I mean, as we think about it being short and sweet to the point, I want to look at a couple verses. The first starts just in verse 2 of James' letter. And here's what I'm reading from the ESV. He says, And let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect, incomplete, lacking, and nothing. I'm just curious as we think of that. And that's jumping right into the second verse. What's your takeaways on that verse? Iron sharpens iron. I mean, that's the one thing we need to consider with joy. Whether it's being a Christian or a non-Christian. Iron sharpens iron. I mean, that's the one thing we need to consider with joy. Whether it's being corrected or whether you feel burdened on different things here through different trials that you may be going through. You think back to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul. Because what you don't recognize or what you may not feel as God is that there is a purpose, there is a reason. It may be a very sad situation that you're in, a very hurtful situation that you may be in. God will never leave you. And the endurance that you gain by going through those experiences only will strengthen your faith. Because when you get through those trials, God's never going to leave you. People will. People might. God never will. And even having that faith, knowing that he's there, he's the rock, he will get you through. Absolutely. And so I think that you're an athlete. I'm going to look at me and pray that I wasn't. But those things that you do on, you know, you work out, you practice, you put your body to build up strength. So I think in a way God's will kind of works for us. Those things that we go through strengthen us and brings us closer to God. I mean, that's one of the things that I think even when folks may stray away from God or people that don't know God, I think that's how he sometimes brings them in. He's jigging, right? He wants to make those fish. So it's like they go through those things. Where do they go? That emptiness that they feel, that help that they need, that's that void that they have. That's God bringing them in. And that's that void that we have and all have in our life that can only be filled by relationship with Jesus Christ. And I look back at that too and, you know, count all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials. And as you're saying, we know that the trials are coming. They're a part of this life. And it's just that there is good that can come from that. And can only ultimately do it with the relationship with Jesus Christ and letting him lead us through those. I want to read another verse here. And again, it ties all into what we're talking about. But verse 22 of James 1. This is probably some of that short and sweet stuff that you enjoy and I enjoy. Probably falls under the love of the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind. And it sounds so simple and it's not always easy to do. But it's just always a good reminder, I think, for us to be doers. But the other thing I'd say, and I know I'm just rambling a little bit, but being doers of the Word, we must know the Word. We must study the Word to be able to put it into practice. And just that importance for all of us as Christians to remember of let's spend time in the Word. Yes, absolutely. And that's where you get the refreshing part of that relationship with the Lord. The more time you spend with him, the more you get built up for that. And to put it into practice. That's not just lip service. It's actions speak louder than words. Absolutely. And I thought just one last point from James is I was just looking through a few things here. And I love just the closing last couple of verses here of James 1. He's writing about religion. And here's what he has to say. If anyone thinks he's religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that's pure and undefiled before God the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself from being unstained from the world. And to keep oneself unstained from the world. And I think about, you know, that's a big one. Well, you think about when that was written compared to where we are today. With the influence, the worldly influences that probably are a lot more widespread than they were back then. But the social media, the internet, everything. Yeah. It's, you think about the way that is today. It's hard. It's rough. Yeah. Yeah, and all this relates back to being doers of the word, really, at the end of the day. I mean, they're first talking about taming the tongue, and James has got a lot to say about that. And we know how difficult that can be for us. But ultimately, to be taming, to be bridling the tongue. But then, that religious that's pure and undefiled is to visit orphans and widows, to look after those that are— Vulnerable. Vulnerable, underprivileged in this world. And that's action. That's going out and taking care of them. And I think, you know, as being doers of the word, it's not just saying, I'll pray for you. Let's go take care of those orphans and widows. And then to keep oneself unstained. And I think, too, that the reality of what Paul writes in Romans 12 about, you know, don't conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the new England. And that's what I see is, let's not conform. He says, keep yourself from being unstained by the world. In other words, don't conform to the world. Let's be transformed by the word of God. And we know the word of God, and we seek to be doers of that word. And it's just like faith in action. I mean, that's where he goes on to say there later, show me your faith by your deeds. You know, I'll show you my faith by my deeds. Yep. And absolutely. It's a great book. Lots of good stuff there. Well, that'll conclude our brief discussion on Scripture here today. But last question here for you, Chris, before we finish up here. What do you want the congregation of Rochesdale Christian Church to know about you? What do you want them to know about Chris Ramos? I mean, what are they getting? What do you want them to just know about you? I guess, like them, I'm not perfect. I don't want to look downward, too judgmental toward anybody. I know the Lord has saved me. I know the Lord is what we all have to strive for putting first in our lives. I'm not perfect. They're not either. And, you know, I'm an open book for the most part. I'm usually pretty easy to talk to. I don't know, you know, I don't like talking about myself. I got the best wife in the world, I can tell you that. A lot of people know her. And, you know, without her, I just, I wouldn't be complete. At some point in my life, I was never considering ever getting married again. I think the good Lord definitely put us together. And together, serving Him is what we're making a priority. And having a blended family like we do, it is a challenge. But without God, and she would say this too, without Him in our marriage, we know it wouldn't work. He gets us through that. Absolutely. As far as, you know, what I want to know about Zernuda is about me. I guess that's first. I'm simple. I don't try to complicate things. You know, I do want to live right by God. I do want to serve Him with all my heart, with all my soul. Yep. And I hope that we continue to grow in knowledge of the Word. And get the Word out to those that don't know Christ. Yep. I mean, we don't want to have the closed door mentality of not sharing the Gospel with others. Absolutely. We want to be that infectious spirit, those kind people that show God through our actions. Yep. And show His love to others through what we do and how we act. Yep. So, hey, I think that's a great thing to, as we close on and think about a summary of the day, of loving the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind. Loving our neighbors as ourselves. Trying to be doers of the Word. And I certainly relate in that reality that none of us are perfect. And the reality is we are all just sinners in need of a Savior. And praise the Lord for Jesus Christ and what He did for us on that cross. Amen. Unfortunately, that He rose from the dead three days later. So, that's what we want to be sharing with the world. Go out and share that message with someone this week if you get a chance. Thanks for listening to the Jigging Podcast. And go out and do yourself some jigging yourself. Amen.