Plays On Word Radio
An in-depth look at the Word of God, the Plays On Word community, and the Plays - with original music - we perform, that are based on the Word of God. New episodes drop Fridays at 7AM EST! To find out how Plays On Word Theater can perform 'LIVE on YOUR STAGE' and to support this missionary & podcast visit: https://playsonword.org/
Plays On Word Radio
Ep 135: From Synagogue to Sanctuary - One Man's Search for God (Part 2)
"What happens when God uses a series of personal crises to redirect your path and purpose? Pastor Geoffrey Eckstein's continuing powerful testimony reveals just how God did it in his life."
Pastor Geoffrey Eckstein shares his transformative journey from pursuing business success to embracing God's call to ministry through a series of personal crises that led to complete surrender.
• The reward for obedience is deeper obedience - God gives us more opportunities to be faithful when we first respond to His call
• God is the only contractor who uses broken tools - our weaknesses showcase His power and glory
• Small deviations (just one degree off) in our spiritual direction can lead us drastically off course
• Trials often bring us to the end of ourselves so we learn to trust God completely
• During difficult times, keep your eyes on the Shepherd rather than obsessing over the enemy's schemes
• The world doesn't need Christians to be mirrors of culture but lights in darkness
• Exegetical preaching through entire books ensures teaching the whole counsel of God
Visit Bethlehem Community Church near Albany, NY or connect with Pastor Geoffrey Eckstein through the links in our show notes.
Pastor Geoff's email: pastorgeoff@bccdelmar.org
Bethlehem Community Church: https://bccdelmar.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BCCdelmar/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bccdelmar
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Lord, you know You're now listening to Playful Water. It's the best. Amen, that's right. It goes right back to Psalm 23,. Right, he is there leading us into these paths. He is there leading us to the places of still water. But it's his right, those are his paths, those are his fields, it's his water right and it's his valley we're walking through. We grow in our trust to know, look at the valley and go oh, this is, this is too much. I can't do this, but trusting the Shepherd's leading us to the place that he needs us to be, you're the only name. You're the only name.
Speaker 2:You're the only name.
Speaker 3:Hello and welcome to Plays on Word Radio, where we discuss, analyze, work and play on the Word of God. Thank you for joining us on this excursion. Today let's join Pastor Teddy, also known as Fred David Kenny Jr, the founder of Plays on Word Theater, as he does a deep dive into the Word of God.
Speaker 2:All right, we are going to continue with Jeffrey Eckstein.
Speaker 1:I think, one of the things that really is encouraging to me and, I think, challenging to me as well. You look at the Apostle Paul, right? Yes, you know, when you think about boldness, when you think about courage, you think about a man who is able to stand in his faith, in his faith alone, able to stand in his faith, in his faith alone, and yet, when he asks the church to be praying for him, he's asking that they would pray that he have greater boldness and courage, and you go. Well, he needs more boldness and courage. Well, and how about us? Right? And so, yeah, I think we're given these moments where and I share I've come to kind of this understanding, right, where we're called into this place of courage and boldness, which is a representation of our obedience to the Word of God. Right, and the reward for obedience is obedience. Every time that we step into a place of obedience, god gives us another opportunity to be obedient.
Speaker 1:Yes, it just drives us deeper and deeper into this place of obedience to his word and his call upon our lives. Yeah, and it's such a beautiful thing and we don't have to then worry about.
Speaker 1:Well, how is this person going to take it, and you know what is their you know expectation going to wind up being, and we can't be invested in the outcome. No, you're right. Hey look, you know I need to do this in order that somebody else does this, right, you know, you think that you're being kind in that way, you think that you're serving them by thinking about their feelings, but the truth, is that you're just selfish, thinking about your own.
Speaker 2:You're right. Yeah, I've often preached. I say listen, god's looking for people to be faithful and obedient. He's not looking—leave the results to Him. The results are in His hands. And if you can be faithful and obedient, he's not lookingleave the results to Him. The results are in His hands and if you can be faithful and obedient, he's going to produce results. Don't worry about the results. You worry about being faithful. Like if I go to my toolbox and I grab a hammer because I have to hit a nail, I don't expect the hammer to be worried about what the screwdriver's doing. I need the hammer to just do what I'm asking it to do. This is the amazing thing about the Lord that blows my mind. He's the only contractor I know that uses broken tools to bring about what he, and that shows how spectacular. No contractor uses broken tools. Man, I don't know one that uses a broken hammer or a broken saw. But the Lord grabs us as broken tools and says watch what I'm going to do.
Speaker 1:Amen Brother, mic drop, there you go.
Speaker 2:That is so true. He gets us focused on results and gets us looking at other ministers and other ministries. And now we're veering off and all it takes is one degree, man. We veer off of the call that we've been called to. The hammer is veering off from just dealing with hitting the nail, being strong in the master's hand to hit the nail and to drive it into the wood. Now it's looking at other things and it's one degree. And I've used the example. I said, man, if I went down to the Atlantic Ocean, to the beach, and two of us went down there and we set our course and we were one degree away from each other if we went across the ocean, I'd end up in England and you'd end up in North Africa or France.
Speaker 1:If we were one degree away from each other. If we went across the ocean, I'd end up in england and you'd end up in like north africa or france if we were one degree off, that's right, that's right. And it's so hard to see that one degree.
Speaker 2:You can't see it, but that's exactly right that's where the enemy attacks, though he's like let me, I don't need to get them 10 degrees off, I need one degree off, that's it. And now they're not being faithful to the call. Hey, if I can shut them up or mess up God's call on them somehow, then that's good. That's how the enemy works.
Speaker 1:Right right.
Speaker 2:I didn't mean to preach at you, rabbi. Hey, listen, brother. You preach it, brother. Yeah, man, tell me. Okay now Jeff is saved, his wife is saved. So now, how does he end up in the pulpit? How do we?
Speaker 1:get there. So you know it's really interesting, right you talk about.
Speaker 1:You know broken tools, you know being used by the Lord and you know, even after getting saved, right and being, you know being faithful to the Lord and being in the Word and being in prayer and being in discipleship relationships where I had men who were speaking into my lives and being engaged in the life and the body of the church, there was still a lot of me in me, right, a lot of selfishness, a lot of pursuits of things that were really tied to my understanding of what success was right.
Speaker 1:It goes back to what we were just talking about here. Stop worrying about the results. You just be obedient, faithful to the Lord. Well, everything that I grew up believing my father and my grandfather were CPAs accountants grew up believing my father and my grandfather were CPAs accountants, right, and you know their friends were very successful business people, and so understanding of success was in dollars and cents, it was in notoriety, it was in you know who you were and all this sort of stuff, right? So there was still a lot of that understanding that God had to kind of drown out of me, if you will. And so here I was, pursuing after things, monetary things, right. Oh, and I convinced myself, right, here's a lie from the enemy. I convinced myself oh, these pursuits, which I'm going to make a lot of money, are going to put me in a position in which I can support all these incredible ministries. I can help God, oh, I can help. Exactly, right. Right. I remember sitting at the desk of my pastor, you know at the time, here at the church, and you know saying to him hey, just, you just come up with a list of all the ministries that you need support on, and you know, give me a year and I'm just going to start writing checks to make this thing happen. Right. And he basically laid his head in his hands. We'll see, right. And so here I was, pursuing all these particular things and I came to this point. Was it was in the building industry, right? Not getting into the whole big thing? Right, In the home building and technology side of things. It was this thing I was doing with another guy who wasn't saved Don't be unequally yoked, right. But I thought, oh, I'm going to share the gospel with him. You know, I'm going to light's going to rub off on him. That's not a good idea, right. And so I found myself in.
Speaker 1:There was a series of things that happened all at once and in a very short period of time. And so I was down at a builder's show in Atlanta and it was a three-day show and I was exhausted from being there and at the very end I decided, hey, I'm going to go and tour around see some of the other vendors who were there. And so I walked over and I found some guy who's got a cool new tool Right and I'm like talking to him a little bit and he goes how was the show for us? You know, I just can't wait to get back to the hotel and have a beer and relax. And the guy says to me you know, there is a much better way to find rest. And he starts to witness and share the gospel with me.
Speaker 1:And here I am in Atlanta as a saved man, as a born again follower of Christ, and he looked at me and felt it was necessary for him to witness to me and that hurt. And I went where is the light of Christ in my life? Where's the witness through who I am and the way in which I behave, the way in which I engage the world? Where is that? And then, shortly after that, I had the first migraine of my entire life, I think.
Speaker 1:The following weekend and I was absolutely convinced I had a brain aneurysm and I was dying and I just you know my wife is driving me to the hospital I called pastor and he said you need to pray for me. I think I'm dying and it turned out to be a migraine. But that moment of hey, if I have to stand before my Lord, you know where am I? What is this saying? Right, not questioning my salvation, but questioning my commitment to Christ. Questioning my commitment to Christ.
Speaker 1:The third thing was that my wife wound up with pulmonary embolus. She wound up with blood clots in her lungs and spent eight days in the hospital and it was scary. It was really, really scary. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't catch her breath. Really scary, she couldn't breathe, she couldn't catch her breath. I wasn't sure if my wife was going to die. And I remember this man who I had been in business with called me while I'm in the hospital room with my wife and yelling at me that I wasn't available to do these business deals and have these conversations, and how I was letting him down.
Speaker 2:Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 1:And, uh wow, my wife was in the hospital for eight days. I was broken. I was like what have I done? What's happening here? And so I get to Monday morning, I'm driving my kids off to school and I call this guy and I say listen, I have no idea what you're doing, but I'm dropping the kids off at school, I'm going to the church to pray and I'm not coming back.
Speaker 1:And we walked away from a huge amount of money. I just signed everything over to him, walked away from this entire thing, and I literally spent the next four months in prayer every day at the church, anywhere from four to six or more hours, just on my knees on my face in the word, my knees on my face in the Word, crying out to the Lord. And what became clear in that moment was now, are you ready to be used by me? Oh, amen, I love it. Yeah. And I came home and I said to my wife I think that God is calling me into ministry to be a pastor. And my wife said that's what I thought before you ever got involved in this foolishness.
Speaker 2:Ah, so she had the confirmation going on already.
Speaker 1:She had the confirmation, and so it was—.
Speaker 2:That's good.
Speaker 1:And I spent the next four years in ministry making absolutely nothing right In ministry, just submitting myself, going through you know, internal seminary, if you will right the Word of God, and being trained up here by our pastor and then getting ordained in 2012. Nice, and serving here as pastor since.
Speaker 2:Praise God man, praise the Lord. That's such an encouraging story, even though you were going through a difficult time.
Speaker 1:you know Amen right, and I think that that's the thing that the Lord has taught me through the midst of all of this stuff is that he's not unaware of the things that are going on in your life and, to a very large extent, he's allowing these things in our lives that we would come to the end of ourselves and just you know, trust in him.
Speaker 1:Not that the circumstances of our lives are always going to be wonderful and amazing. When we're faithful and obedient because that's not what the gospel tells us we're going to face trials and difficulties and challenges as men, to build perseverance and and that our faith would grow and be proven to ourselves and to the world that it's real. So that's not the—but how we see those circumstances and that we aren't pursuing after the things the world says is what's going to bring us satisfaction. But it's in fact that our satisfaction is, in total, our relationship with Christ.
Speaker 2:That is just an amazing story. I love it, man. And you know I told our congregation down in North Carolina a few months back. Basically, I just posed the question. I said is he not our good shepherd? Is he not our shepherd? It's really, if we go through difficult times, I know one person that's not surprised about it. I might be surprised, but I know somebody who's not surprised.
Speaker 2:And do we not have a good shepherd? I mean, even if we go through something difficult, the shepherd is still right there and sees what's happening and is allowing it, and so the best thing we can do is just pursue him wherever he has us. Yeah, because he is a good shepherd, you know what I mean. And so he's—.
Speaker 1:Amen, that's right. It goes right back to Psalm 23,. Right, it's. You know, he is there leading us into these paths. He is there leading us to the places of still water, but it's his right, those are his paths, those are his fields, it's His water right and it's His valley that we're walking through. We grow in our trust to know, look at the valley and go oh, this is too much, I can't do this, but trusting that the shepherd's leading us to the place that he needs us to be, yes, I'm 100% agreement.
Speaker 2:I think, and I've even said a lot of times, we give the enemy way too much credit, because, you know what, if the Lord's behind this, allowing us to purge something out of me or to make me stronger, for whatever reason, to make me more something? I'm not. I don't care what the enemy's—we're not unaware of his schemes, but I don't obsess over what the enemy's doing. My question is whatever the enemy has been allowed to do, what's the shepherd's reason in allowing—okay, I'm looking for the shepherd.
Speaker 2:I'm not looking for the enemy, you get all caught up in the enemy. It's whatever man. Watch out, the enemy's doing. No, what's the shepherd doing? Because the shepherd is the one who. He's the one who protects us, he's the one who leads us, he's the one who guides us.
Speaker 1:And he's the one who's going to anoint our head with oil as we come in. He's providing the salve on the wounds, so stop right. Yeah, don't look for Satan around every corner of the room oh yeah, yeah right, Just keep your eye on the shepherd. 100% with you, brother.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:so you ended up there and now you're—tell us a little bit about the church we're running low on time here, but tell us a little bit about your— I don't want to take all your—I could talk to you for hours, bro, that's all good. That's all good, man, I'm with you here, right? So you know, look, the Lord has really called us here in this. You know little town of Bethlehem, right, that's Bethlehem Community Church, right outside of Halsey. But you know we are in what has been proven to be one of the on these lists right of the top. You know, post-christian areas across our country, albany, new York, ranks in the top three just about every year. Oh, it is, you know. It is absolutely, you know, crazy. We refer to ourselves up here as the frozen chosen, you know being up here.
Speaker 1:And so there is a lot of not just people who aren't interested in the gospel. There is antipathy towards the gospel. There are people who are absolutely outright offended by the gospel of Jesus Christ and are doing everything that they can to shut those voices down. And so you know, we live in an incredibly liberal area, in a liberal, progressive state, and it is difficult, right. But what we really clearly understand is our call is to be faithful to the Word of God. Really clearly understand is our call is to be faithful to the Word of God.
Speaker 1:And so we are a Bible believing, bible preaching, Bible-focused church. And so we stand rightly and boldly and courageously upon the Word of God and we preach the whole counsel of God's Word. And we understand that that may be offensive to some. We understand that that may be difficult for some. Listen, there are things that the Word of God has to preach and has to speak to that are difficult for me, and I recognize that as well. And so we walk through it faithfully and we put the Bible first, not our experiences or our feelings first, our experiences or our feelings first. And so you know that is increasingly to some extent more isolating from a cultural standpoint but it is increasingly unifying for the people who are coming here to BCC.
Speaker 1:And so we have people where at one point, you know, 80 or more percent of the people who are coming to our church were from within three or four miles here within the town of Bethlehem. Now, less than 40 percent of our church is from that demographic, and we have people who are traveling as far as an hour to come here. And they're not just coming here, and I think this is what's really important, it's really special, and I think what you experienced on Saturday night was that it's not just coming and showing up on a Sunday morning for our Sunday worship service to sing praises to the Lord and to join in with the Lord's Supper and to open God's Word, but that we are actively participating and engaging in each other's lives. And so, you know, we're a church on recognizing that if we are born again followers of Christ, we are called children of God, the Son of the Most High, and my wife is a daughter of the Most High. That makes us brothers and sisters, and so we're a family.
Speaker 1:Church is meant to be a family, and so that's really the purpose that we see, you know, as a church, and so we love the Lord, we love the Word of God, we love God's people and we love being together, and that really is the you know kind of the heart of who we are. As a church, we're unapologetic about what we believe. We put right on our website our statement of faith, which includes 72 bullet points, under you know 18 or so points that we're sharing. You know 18 or so points that we're sharing, and so we take a conservative Orthodox you know view of the scriptures and we're going to be unapologetic about that. So we're going to stand with the Lord, we're going to stand in His Word and we're going to preach the gospel.
Speaker 2:Amen. And you know what I think, the—i know I don't even think I know that the world and the culture does not need another mirror. The Lord is not calling us to be a mirror to the culture. He's calling us to be lights and darkness. And the beauty of going through the entire Bible is you're going to deal with every topic there's nowhere to hide.
Speaker 2:And some places. Sometimes you get some pastors that will just stick with what they are comfortable with, but the uncomfortable stuff they won't touch. And when you go through the entire Bible, if you're faithful to go through it, you can't hide there's certain things you're going to come across that are going to make even you uncomfortable. But it's the Word of God and the culture does not need a mirror.
Speaker 1:Yeah, amen, brother. Yeah, you know I preach exegetically and so we go verse by verse. You know we just went through the book of James. It took us almost nine months to go through the five chapters of the book of James. We went through 1 Peter last year. Right, and so doing Peter was just, you know, was just wonderful.
Speaker 1:We're going to be starting a short series here on what we believe we're going to. Every other year we go through our statement of faith and we preach through it from the pulpit, get us realigned and understanding, and it becomes a challenge to everybody else to say, hey, listen, it's not enough to just believe what I believe or what you know. You do agree with what the church believes, but you need to have your own personal statement of faith. So that's going to be our focus this year. And then we're going to be getting in the book of Exodus Nice and so I am excited to go through the book of Exodus and and and. Who knows how long that's going to take us. It's going to take as long as the Holy Spirit wants us to take in the book of Exodus, and just excited to get you know again into God's Word and hear from Him.
Speaker 2:Amen, amen. So, man, we could probably talk a whole other hour. What we'll do is we'll schedule another play and come back and do another interview.
Speaker 1:Listen, everybody in the church is like we need that back. We need to get him back. Amen, we're going to work with Andrew and get you back.
Speaker 2:Amen, we are For Christmas.
Speaker 1:Alright man.
Speaker 2:That's a blessing I'm looking forward to. Maybe we can catch the end of our Genesis Joe season. I think you would like that, because we're straight out the Torah man and yeah, so there's other rabbi incidences in that as well, and it points to Christ too, so you can't leave out of there without going oh wow, yeah, we'll get together with you and we'll set up another play or another interview. Thank you for joining the Plays Onward radio family.
Speaker 2:My pleasure being on this and now we're going to put a link in the show notes for the church and your, I guess, socials or whatever and online stuff. If you have any of that, we'll'll put a link all of that up in there. And if you want to reach out to Rabbi Jeff, please feel free to. If you want to contact him and you can't find him, you can contact me and we can. We'll make it possible. And if anybody's in the Albany area, Amen feel free to go visit.
Speaker 2:This is another brother and they've been. They have been gracious to Plays on Word and they're part of the Plays on Word family. Now we, you know we. It was such a blessing man to do the play and to have such a warm reception from everybody because and it was funny too, because during the play, pete says those of you that were there, you guys remember, and I see people nodding their head, going, that's right, I remember the feeding of the 5,000. I think I was there and that's part of the beauty of it, because you end up feeling, wow, I really am part of the Scripture here because I've read it, so it's familiar. Yes, so anyway, rabbi, will you just close us in prayer, sir?
Speaker 1:Absolutely, I sure will. Father, god, we thank you and praise you for your glorious presence. Lord, we thank you for who you are and how you have revealed yourself in powerful and amazing ways in each one of our lives that you have specifically designed us to seek after you. And, father, I thank you that you aren't hiding, but you are available right there, in plain sight for us. Father, I thank you for Ted, I thank you for Plays Onward.
Speaker 1:I thank you, father, for the great gifting and the heart that you have given him, the commitment that he has made to be obedient to what you have set before him, and so I ask for a great blessing upon all of those who are going to hear these plays, that are going to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and who are going to have to come to that place. Lord, that crucible moment of standing and saying is this really what I believe? Crucible moment of standing and saying is this really what I believe? And so, father, I thank you for what you have accomplished, not only in my life, in the life of my wife and family, in the life of the church, in the life of Ted and his wife and the family and all those, lord, that he has touched as a pastor and as a playwright.
Speaker 1:Lord, we just look forward to what you are going to continue to do, lord, not because you have to do anything, lord, I think about this recognition that Jews have been singing for millennia, about their understanding of the Exodus and of the Passover. That, father, it would have been enough for you just to hear their cries. It would have been enough for you to respond and to bring about the plagues. It would have been enough, lord, for you to move upon Pharaoh that he would release, lord, your chosen people. It would have been enough that you would have led them to the Red Sea. It would have been enough, lord for you to part and, lord, it would have been enough.
Speaker 1:There's nothing more that you have to do to prove that you are our God. And yet, and yet, lord, you continue to pour yourself out upon your children and upon your creation, not because we are good, but because you are good and because you want us all to be and to see the revelation of your one and only son, jesus. And so, father, I just thank you for all the amazing ways that you make yourself known. I thank you for all those who are listening today, lord, to this podcast, this interview, to this podcast, this interview, lord, and I just ask that you would shake all of us, shake all of us, lord, that our faith would grow, that our trust in you would grow, that our obedience would be the result, father, and that you would be glorified In the name of Jesus, be lifted on high and may your children truly be blessed. And we ask you these things in Jesus' precious name.
Speaker 2:Amen, amen. Well, thank you, sir, god bless you. Thank you, brother, god bless you. Thank you for being on. Plays All Word Radio.
Speaker 3:This program was made possible by the Plays on Word family of supporters. To find out more, check out our website at playsonwordorg.
