October 30, 2023 • 42 mins
Granger Smith Podcast Episode 212: Join me as I discuss this topic and more on this week's podcast!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It is easy to be a cultural Christian. It is
hard to realize that you have been stuck in it.
What's up, everybody, Welcome back to the podcast. This is
episode two twelve. I'm by myself today answering your questions.
(00:23):
You email me Grangersmith podcast at gmail dot com and
we'll walk through it just like we're sitting in the
cab of a truck just having a friend conversation one
on one. You can look at it like a campfire.
Talks could be about any subject and you'll see, as
we've gone through over two hundred episodes, the questions really
are all over the place, and we'll call it a
(00:44):
safe place. This is a safe place. Let me go
to the first one. And by the way, no notes
in front of me. I like to say that because
I have not prepared. I have not read these questions beforehand.
I don't have a bunch of CS. Lewis quotes on
my desk, or I don't have anything prepared. So I
do that so that you can get my first reaction.
(01:07):
It's that means it's not always right, but it's my
first reaction. Because if we were sitting in the truck
and you you asked me something I will tell you,
and later I might say I probably should have said
this or that, But in the form of this podcast
and for the sake of this show, I want to
keep it where. This is my first reaction. You may
or may not agree with it, but I promise you
(01:29):
it's from my heart, and I'm telling it as if
I was telling my own brother. Okay, So, first question
from Grangersmith podcast at gmail dot com. The subject line says,
fear of the Second Coming. Hey, Granger, I don't want
to be riding in the truck with you for this conversation.
I want to be us fishing for bass and cats.
(01:51):
I've grown up. First of all, Hey, good intro. I
like it. We're fishing me and you. He said, I've
grown up in the church. I'm sorry, it's a she
she said. I've grown up in the church for thirty
three years that I've been alive. And I know that
none of us could ever know the exact day or
time that Jesus will be coming back. However, I do
(02:12):
know that the Bible proves that there will be signs.
With everything going on in Israel, it makes you wonder
if he is coming soon. From growing up in church.
I know his second coming is something all Christians should
look forward to. Is it normal to also be a
little scared? I know I should feel comfort in knowing
(02:35):
that he is coming back, But at the same time,
I thought of forever as a tad bit scary to me.
The thought of forever that a tad bit scary to me.
Should I be questioning in my heart in this situation
or do you think it's a normal thing. I would
love to know your thoughts. Thank you for all you do.
Your podcast encourages the single mama daily and I want
(02:58):
and it makes me want to be a person for
my daughter to look up to. I live and do
things hard, and I'm having trouble on the first question
reading all it says. I live by the do hard
things motto. That's what she says. And your words have
helped me on this journey. Be content in my singleness
and wait on the Lord. Keep getting his word out there.
(03:22):
Natalie from Martin, Tennessee. Thank you, Natalie, and I thank
you for the kind words. Yeah, this is a good question.
It's not straight eschatology as far as the end of times.
You have a little twist to it. Should we be
a little scared of it, and so yeah, it's a
good question, thirty three years in the church. I want
to point out to anyone listening that thirty three years
(03:44):
in the church could mean that you've learned things, but
it also doesn't necessarily mean that you're a Christian. Not
speaking to you specifically, Natalie, I'm just saying for anybody,
it's not the amount of time in church that matters.
It's the heart, right, It's the full surrender of the heart.
And I can attest for someone who was myself in
(04:07):
church most of my life as well, but didn't really
know the Lord until later. And that's that's really my testimony.
And I hope that everybody hears me when I say
that that it is easy to be a cultural Christian.
It is hard to realize that you have been stuck
in it, and that when I talk about cultural Christianity,
(04:27):
it's it's difficult unless your eyes are opened to know
that I'm actually talking to you, right, because our pride
gets in the way. They're like, eh, I'm not me.
I'm definitely a Christian, definitely, But that's a that's a
top conversation for another day. Maybe maybe it's because you
said a prayer and repeated a pastor at some time
(04:48):
in your life, and that gave you this false assurance.
That's another question, and we'll get to your question here, Natalie,
talking about the end times, the second coming of Co
He became the first time in the flesh, the incarnate son,
came God in the flesh to redeem sinners to himself,
(05:09):
went to the cross, took upon himself as a substitution,
took upon himself the sins of his people so that
he could pay for that in full, as the ultimate sacrifice,
as the sacrificial lamb, which was always part of Judaism culture.
Now he became the final sacrifice, this abolishing the sacrificial
(05:30):
system from then on, and then it became faith in him,
belief in him and he his atonement would be transferred
to you. His righteousness would be transferred to you through
faith by grace. Right, that's the first coming. Then he
ascended after he resurrected from the grave after three days, saying,
(05:52):
all who believes in me will have eternal life. He
ascended after a while, after he met with over the
over five hundred people saw him. After the resurrection, he
talked with the disciples. He ate with them, He sang
with them, he prayed with them, and then he ascended
into heaven. That was the first coming. The question here
on the podcast is about the second Coming that he
(06:12):
promised would happen. Here's my thing, you'll know me. You
know about eschatology, that's the study of him times. And
the crazy thing about eschatology is that it becomes a distraction.
I have heard so many people lately saying things like, man,
I've heard a lot of good preaching on the internet
lately because a lot of pastors are putting together all
(06:33):
this eschatology. They're putting together all this end time stuff,
and sure is sounding good. And I have to warn
everybody that that can and I think is becoming the
tickling of the ears, people with itchy ears wanting scratched
the things that they want to hear because it sounds nice,
(06:54):
it sounds it sounds good. But those same people have
to be very careful that they have the full concept
of the gospel. The gospel is what I shared earlier
with the incarnate Son, the first Coming. You know, it's
almost like you could say it this way. We worry
more about the Second Coming these days then we do
the first coming, the Atonement happened the first Coming, right,
(07:16):
he comes to collect his people in the second Coming.
But you don't know his people, you don't know who
they are until the first Coming happens. Then they're separated
by faith, those that believe in him. And so when
he talks about Jesus, when he talks about the end times,
and he talks about the Second Coming, and he talks
about the signs, he talks about the birth pains, he
talks about how you'll know the season. When he says
(07:37):
all that, why does he say it? We should ask
that question. Why is he saying it? Well, the answer
is to be ready so that you will be ready.
So be ready. That's the whole point of eschatology. And
no one talks like this, but I think about it
all the time. No pastor gets up and says this.
(08:00):
Perhaps maybe in your church, maybe he does, But as
far as I know, you don't see it on the internet.
It doesn't get a lot of views on TikTok, it
doesn't get a lot of views on Instagram. Reels a
pastor just saying, hey, be ready, stop worrying about the end,
Stop worrying about using revelation. The book of revelation, like
(08:21):
it's a roadmap, like you're a treasure hunter on Indiana Jones,
Pirates of the Caribbean. We're trying to read a treasure
map using ancient texts of the Bible, going, Look, we'll
put this together and look six six six, and look
at the anti Christ. Look Israel here, looks Syria from
the north, and the look Hamas here. And you know
what Hamas means, oh man, it means evil. And then
(08:41):
these guys are coming, and then Russia if they get
up on the China with the million man army. If
they come, you start reading like this, and what are
you doing. You're just getting distracted. You're using the second
coming to distract you from the first coming, and you're
missing the cross. It's the whole point. The whole point
is the cross. See it. Know that you're a sinner.
(09:03):
Know that he went to the cross, Jesus to redeem
sinners to himself, becoming sin. He who knew no sin,
became sin so that we could be forgiven, so we
could be seen as guilt less. The guilty we are guilty.
We are seen as guilt less. With what he did
on the cross, he covers us right, He takes on
(09:24):
the wrath of God, the punishment, so that we don't
have to. So we believe in him, we turn from
our sin, that's repentance. We turn away from our old lives,
and we turn to him. And when we do, we
are forgiven, restored, redeemed, covered, cleansed, gifted eternal life by grace,
(09:45):
not on our own doing, not because of anything we did,
but everything that He did right there on the cross
in the first coming. And so then what do you
think the enemy would do if this was if this
was like you're building a storyline, what's a pretty good
plan for an enemy to do. Ah, let's use this
whole second coming thing as a distraction, because look, y'all,
(10:06):
Jesus is coming. He's coming, that's a fact. It's just
a matter of win. And so if we get so
caught up on the win, the one thing that's going
that's not known. We do know he's coming, but the
one thing that's not known is win. And if we
get so hung up on the win, we forget the
fact the thing we do know, he came, He had toned,
(10:30):
he resurrected, he has risen, and he's coming back. Stop
worrying about the win. He said, no one will know
the day or time. No one will know. But we
get so obsessed as a culture that we think we know,
we think we're the generation. What do you think the
(10:50):
last generation thought that it was them? What do you
think our greatest generation that we call the greatest generation,
the World War two generation? What do you think they
thought when not were just about taking over the world,
they thought, well, this is probably yet. Then they saw
the Holocaust and this is probably yet, this is probably
this has to be the second coming. Then they saw
Israel become a nation again. Oh, this this is the sign.
(11:12):
This has to be it. He's come in any moment now,
and he didn't. And that generation is about to pass away,
if they haven't already. My Granddad's passed away, all of them.
What do you think that? What do you think they
thought in the Civil War when the bodies were piling up,
or World War One, or the Revolutionary War? What do
you think they thought in all the other wars that
(11:33):
the world has seen. What do you think they thought
in the Black Plague in the Middle Ages? They must
have surely thought this is it. He's coming. He's coming, Lord, Lord, Come, quick, Marinatha,
here he comes right. Don't get distracted by reading the
(11:53):
Times and not paying attention to the first coming, losing
the grip, losing the focus on Jesus' first coming, because
you're so distracted by the second. I think. I think
it's a great ploy by the enemy to get us distracted,
to get us, not to get us forgetting the gospel,
to get us not evangelizing the gospel because instead instead
(12:14):
of going out and telling the gospel, which I've done twice.
Now you know why I've told the gospel twice on
this show already is because Roman's one says, the gospel
is the power of God for salvation. Faith comes through hearing.
So I've told you the gospel now twice, so that
you're left with no excuse. To listeners of this podcast,
there's a supernatural power that comes through hearing the gospel
(12:37):
and believing. I'm appealing to your conscious, not appealing to
your mind. I'm appealing to your conscience that knows that
you're a sinner. And so what's happening is preachers are
going out and they're preaching eschatology, they're preaching the end
of times. They're trying to put Israel in a box,
and Syria and Babylon and Egypt and Rush and Palestine
(13:03):
and Hamas and China. They're trying to put all this together,
and it really gets great attention from the church. Everyone
loves it. It gets tons of us, tons of clicks.
People walk out saying, that's the greatest sermon I've ever heard.
And guess what happened. A lot of time was wasted
talking about that and not enough preaching the gospel. Because
(13:24):
the only way to be ready for the end of
times is to be equipped with the Gospel, to believe,
to believe the Gospel, that's how that's how you get ready.
And so to your question, Natalie, you say, I know
his second coming is something all Christians should look forward to. Right,
(13:45):
let me stop you right there, and before I get
to the next sentence, let me just say, his second
coming is something all Christians should look forward to. Yes,
but odds are if we're just playing odds here, you're
going to see him in your lifetime through death, through
physical death. That's what to look forward to, right The
(14:06):
sting of death is gone, so we look forward to
seeing him, but not necessarily the second coming. That's fantastic,
But the odds are you're gonna see him a lot
sooner than that because you only have let's say you're
thirty three years old, do you only have Lord Willing?
You only have fifty sixty seventy years left. So unless
he comes between fifty and seventy years, Lord Willing, if
(14:28):
you live that long, then you're gonna beat everybody to it.
You know what I mean. You're gonna beat the Second
Coming and your own mortality. So think about that first.
Make sure you're equipped with the Gospel, You're ready in
that aspect, and let's get to your second question. Is
it normal to also be a little scared? I know
(14:51):
I should feel comfort in knowing that he will be back,
But at the same time, the thought of forever is
a tad bit scary to me. What's scary to me
is reading that's sin, it's from you, Because yes, forever
is scary if you're not sure where you're going to
end up, right, if you have that blessed assurance, like
(15:13):
the old hymn says, if you have blessed assurance, then
you go. Christ is magnified in my life, whether life
or by death. So hurry Christ, hurry death or keep
me here for as long as I need to tell
everyone else about my treasure right. Either way, I'm Christ.
(15:33):
To live is Christ, and to die is gain That's
the thought, that's the apostle Paul. That's what he's thinking about.
That's what he's preaching, and that's coming from his art.
That's what he feels. To live is Christ, to die
is gain right. And so there is nothing in that
about to live as Christ and to die. Oh man,
I'm scared. If you are scared, then maybe we double
(15:58):
down on here in the Gospel again and a little
bit less eschatology, a little bit less in times, a
little bit more first coming, a little bit less second coming.
Does that make sense? I hope it does, Natalie, and
I thank you for the question, and I hope that
probably answers a lot of other questions and probably riles
up people. People are probably gonna email me and go, man,
(16:19):
don't you know the mark of the Beast is coming?
And you know President Biden and United States and Russia.
And I'm going to be like, please don't read revelation
like it's a treasure map. Yeah. Next question, very different
(16:39):
one sounds like subject line grand old Opry, and the
question says, did you ever get a chance to play
the grand Ole Opry before you retired from music comes
from Teresa. Thanks Teresa. Yeah I did. I played the
Opry two times and it was great. Yeah. I enjoyed
the Opry that I believe. The first time I played,
(17:01):
my grandmother came my grandmother Mini, who's now ninety seven.
She got to be with me. So yeah, playing the
Opry was really cool. I'm not gonna say it was
a the climax of my career or the pivotal moment
of everything, or the apex of music. It was a
beautiful building. The ryman's great, The Opry house is awesome
(17:25):
and gay lord, but it's you know, I'm a Texan.
I most people in the South grow up and they're like, man,
the opry is it. I never thought that. I never
grew up that way. I grew up a big George
Straight fan, so that was never like George wasn't big
on the opery, so I never saw that as like
the thing, so I never pursued it. And the opry
(17:47):
is typically it was like on a Saturday night or
a Tuesday night, and me living in Texas when they
would invite me, it would I would me, and I
would have to travel outside of my own tour to
go and play the Opry for and pay my own
way and play two songs and go home. And I
just never was into it that much. It never mattered
to me that much. And that's not everyone else is
(18:10):
not like that. Most people are like, man, the Opry
is everything. I'll drop everything and go do it. And
so I have great respect for it, great respect for
the history of it. I think it's a fantastic platform
and it has been in the history of country music
for so long. But I never looked at it as
like the top at the top, and so that's why
I never I guess you know what. Oh look behind me.
(18:35):
Oh you can't see it. The camera's not covering it.
But there's a promo poster right above me. If you're
watching on YouTube, that is the live at the Opry
at the Rhyman and it's my promo from when was
that November twenty eighth, twenty and fifteen. So there you go.
(18:55):
We'll take a break, be right back if you want
to get a hold of me, if you want me
to send you a message, I say this a lot
Cameo dot com slash Granger Smith. It's a really good
way to do it. Or you can download the cameo
app and search for me Granger Smith. You ask for
whatever you want me to record, and I pull out
my phone and do a video message specifically to you
(19:19):
or to your son or your boyfriend or girlfriend or
daughter or whatever. It might be a word of encouragement,
happy birthday, happy anniversary, Merry Christmas. I could do it all,
and I have done it all, and it's really easy.
It's a great last minute gift and something for someone
that has everything. So cameo dot com slash Granger Smith.
(19:40):
Back to the podcast, All right, back to the podcast.
Thank you guys for listening and watching whatever platform you're
coming from. And this has been This has always been
a treat for me having this podcast, and kind of
it's different than everything else I do because I just
(20:01):
literally sit down and start some cameras and start my
computer recording and dive into your questions, which you email
me Grangersmith podcast at gmail dot com. The next question
going down the list here just randomly it has no
subject and it says, hey Granger, my name is Ian
and I love your podcast. I'm fifteen years old. I'm
a Christian and I like this girl, but I don't
know if she likes me. I've prayed, but I don't
(20:24):
have any clarity on whether or not I should ask
her out or just wait until i'm older. Also, if
I do decide to ask her out, should I ask
her dad first? Thanks? Ian, I believe that's how you
say your name. It's spelled e O. I in Ian.
If we're sitting in the truck or is that one
(20:46):
message said last break? If we're fishing, then I'm in Annita.
I needed a little bit more information from you, Ian.
And one of the questions I would ask is how
old is she? Fifteen? Is that's going to be borderline
of what I'm gonna think is too young? And if
(21:07):
I'm the girl's dad, I would say no. And I
do have a girl that's twelve. I would say no,
it's not time. And I'm probably rare. There's probably not
a lot of dads that would do that. Say you're
not going to date, but I would say, let's hang
(21:29):
out in a group. Right, you could go out with
my daughter and you guys could hang out in a group,
maybe go see the high school football game. Maybe you guys,
we could all go to the town festival. We can
go to the county Fair as a group. And there's
four or five guys and there's four or five girls,
and I'm going to say, you're not going to be
(21:53):
alone with my daughter. It's not you Ian. In fact,
I don't know you at all, and it's not that's
the It's kind of irrelevant to the situation of who
you are. It's your age, that's the deal. However, that
being said, of course I remember being fifteen. I remember
liking girls, and I remember thinking what you're thinking, and
so what you're feeling and what you're asking is not
(22:15):
wrong in itself. I'm just going to counsel you, and
I hope that others will counsel around you and go, hey, buddy, okay,
I got it. You like this girl, I got it.
Let me tell you how we're going to walk through this, right,
I would hope that that's how it's going to go.
I probably won't. I'm glad you emailed this podcast, So
let's walk through it as if you actually are going
(22:38):
to ask her and pretend that the dad's totally cool
with this and this is not my daughter, Okay, let's
talk of it that way. I think, first of all,
it's a fantastic idea to ask the dad for everything
I just for every reason I just gave is a
fantastic thing. You're fifteen years old to talk to the dad,
(23:00):
Because what if the dad says, my daughter's not allowed
to date, okay, and the girl goes ahead and goes
behind his back and goes out with you. What kind
of future does that possibly leave you? None? Because you're
just sneaking around and as soon as the dad finds out,
he's gonna shut this down quickly, and you don't want
to be part of it when dad shuts this down.
(23:22):
So you're gonna go find out for yourself and just
go Hello, mister so and so. My name is Ian,
and I was wondering if I could have permission I
go to your daughter's school. I was wonder if I
could I could have permission to go on a date
with her. And if he says, well, sit down, let's talk.
Let's let's learn who you are a little bit, and
hopefully he does at least that, then then you can
(23:45):
talk about how you're going to take her out and
what time you're going to pick her up and what
time you're going to bring her back when you're fifteen. See,
this is one of the problems that I'm going to
talk to you about before fishing me and you is
that first of all, you're too young to drive, and
so you got to have your parents drive, or he's
got to drive, the dad or the girl. So that's
where it gets complicated. So let's put all that aside.
(24:08):
Let's move on to the next part of your question.
Should I ask her out? I like this girl, you say,
but I don't know if she likes me. I've prayed,
but I don't have any clarity on whether I should
ask her out or not, or just wait until I'm older.
And I'm gonna sa wait to your older. But let's
dive in as if you were going to do this.
(24:29):
What's crazy about a question like this is that what
we so often miss when we're in it and we're
not looking from the outside of it like I am
and all the listeners are listening to it right now,
you miss the key element to the whole thing. I
like her, I don't know if she likes me, and
I've been praying on clarity, but you're missing the one thing.
(24:53):
Just ask her. I know that that seems crazy to you,
but that's the obvious answer. That's what I would say
at any age, At any age, if you like a girl,
you don't know if she likes you. You need some
clarity on the situation. And you've been praying about it.
You don't know if she's gonna say yes on a date.
The obvious answer is ask her, right, I mean, it's like, Man,
(25:20):
I'm gonna ask the podcast, I'm gonna ask my friend's advice,
and I'm gonna pray to God and hope that he
writes something in the cloud for me. And the obvious
answer to you, Ian is you walk up to her,
maybe a little bit awkward in the hallway at school,
and you go, hey, can I ask you something? She's
like yeah, you say sorry, I'm a little bit nervous
(25:45):
right now. But I'm nervous because I don't know the
answer to what you're about to say. And the question
is you think you'd ever be interested in going on
a date with me? I just you seem like a
really cool girl, and you're really pretty, and you seem
like someone I would I would love to get to
(26:05):
know a little bit better and maybe take on a date.
So at that point, Ian, it's going to be awkward,
and it's going to take some nerves and you're going
to be very nervous and awkward. But at that point,
from right there, right at the end of that sentence
I just said, from then on, you all of a sudden,
will have perfect clarity on the situation. You'll have your
(26:26):
answered prayer. You'll have clarity on whether or not she
likes you right then and there, because the next thing
that comes out of her mouth or perhaps her body language,
is going to tell you. She could say, oh I
don't think so okay, good, okay good. It might be
(26:48):
a little hurtful, might be a little humiliating for you,
but bro, then you know, right. So then you walk
away and you go okay, okay, I'll sleep better tonight
knowing that this mysterious question I've been wanting to know,
will she like me? Will she go on a date
with me? The answer is over I have it. She
said no, okay, move on all right, or she says
(27:13):
I'm not allowed to date. Then you go okay, cool,
Then you wait, well, then you go, hey, I totally understand,
I don't really know if I could date either I'm young,
so at least now you know now you know? Wait,
or she says I think that would be really nice,
(27:34):
and you go good because if she says really nice,
then you've got a pretty good indication she likes you,
or at least she kind of likes you for sure.
Then you get to move on and schedule the date.
Clarity just like that magic. Thanks for the question, buddy.
(28:01):
All right, interesting subject line. Here will see what it says,
says punishment email says, hey, grangdear, my name is Caden,
I should say probably my name is Caden. I'm twenty
nine years old. I live in Texas, and my wife
and i've been married for a little over four years.
I'm reading ahead. No, I don't think I stopped. I
(28:29):
stopped myself because I thought, have I read this before?
I don't think I have. My wife and I have
been married a little over four years. Since we got married,
we've been trying for a baby. Now we both have
a child from previous relationships. In four years, we've had
four miscarriages and have seen the fertility specialist and gotten
no answers as to why this keeps happening. I can't
(28:53):
help but feel like I'm being punished by having to
watch the pain this has caused my wife because of
mistakes I made in my first marriage. I'm a believer
and understand that God doesn't operate like this, but it's
a constant thought. I have any advice on dealing with
these thoughts. Thanks in advance. All right, Kayden, I'm sorry
(29:14):
for the pause. I literally thought this sounded familiar, but
it's not. It's a brand new email. So twenty nine
years old, living in Texas, been married four years. You
each have a baby from a previous marriage. You're having
trouble conceiving now and you don't have let's see, you
don't have a baby together. Is that correct? That's correct?
(29:35):
So in four years you've had four miscarriages. Seen a
fertility specialist. I've got no answers to why it keeps happening.
Okay Man, thanks for the email. I know this is
a very sensitive subject and I hope you're listening, and
I appreciate, I prove really appreciate you trusting me in
this podcast for a question like this because I know
it's near and dear to your heart. So I'm gonna
(29:57):
say a couple things here. I'm gonna say. First of all,
it's the lore. If you're a Christian, you'll know this.
It's the Lord that opens the womb. And man just
sit with that, to sit with that for a while.
It's the Lord who opens the womb. We see that
throughout the Bible. We see these stories and we see
(30:20):
that the Lord closes wombs, and we see the Lord
opens wombs. And so, first of all, know that we
have a providential God. We have a God that is
totally sovereign and he's complete. He has complete providence over
even your wife's womb. So know that. And then we
(30:41):
need to get into this guilt that you have from
your previous marriages, not plural for you, but hers and yours.
You have things that you have done in your past.
You've made mistakes. Right, well, when you're believer, when you
(31:03):
have put your faith in Christ, your trust is in Christ.
You are redeemed, you are restored and renewed by Jesus's
finished work on the cross right, And I gave the
full Gospel twice on the first break of this podcast.
(31:23):
When that is you, one of the benefits you get
as an adopted son of God is your sins are covered,
Your guilt is covered. Your sins are remembered no more.
Your sins are as far apart as the earth is
(31:47):
from the heavens. They are forgotten. You're covered and forgiven.
That's what forgiveness means. That's what Jesus says when he's
talking as you read the Gospel narrations, and he says
your sins are forgiven. That's what he means. He doesn't mean,
your sins are forgiven and I will still remember them
(32:09):
and punish youth for them. That's not what he says.
It's not what he's saying, and that's not what it means. However,
sins are sins. Every sin is a sin against God himself,
and they all are a rebellion to our creator. However,
some sins have different repercussions, different consequences that last longer
(32:36):
in our lives. Not supernaturally hurting a pregnancy of a
woman that you're with now, not that kind of not
that kind of hurt. Right. The sins that you're talking about,
I don't know what they are, but I'm assuming they're great.
The sins of your past marriage, whatever happened, that is
(33:00):
not God is not punishing you in this new marriage
by making your new wife not be able to get pregnant.
But the consequences of those first sins are affecting your mind.
They are bringing you down because the consequences are great,
and you're carrying those burdens of the great sins with you,
(33:21):
and you're carrying it into this marriage so much so
that you have four miscarriages, and you go, this must
be divine punishment. Now, the Lord definitely disciplines, right, The
Lord definitely disciplines those that he loves for their own good.
But he's not going to take a sin that you
did and then make you make it hurt this new
(33:45):
wife of yours physically, where now her womb is closed,
even though remember what I said at the very beginning,
it's the Lord that opens wombs and close wombs. Right.
So the more biblical way to look at this is
why am I having? Why have we had four miscarriages?
(34:05):
So that God's glory will be known? That's what he
would say. It's like, why is this man blind that
would ask Jesus so that God's glory may be known
through him? So that so that you could see what's happening.
I don't know what that is for you, But whatever
is happening is for his glory. That's always what his
(34:28):
plan is. And so four miscarriages are significant, that that's
a significant number. That's like, Okay, something's going on here.
What is it? Maybe let me throw a few things
out here. Maybe it's so that we rely on him.
Maybe it's so we could start saying, you two, Lord,
we come to you. You know our heart, you know
(34:51):
we want a baby. Please God open open her womb,
please hear our prayers. And then she gets pregnant, and
then what happens? What happens when she gets pregnant? Then
then you go, ah, it was you, God, It was
always you, but now we see we see you God.
It took four miscarriages for us to stop thinking about
(35:14):
ourselves and start thinking about You. Got to bring everything
to you. Maybe not for sure, but maybe that sounds
that sounds like my God right. Or maybe Lord has
adoption plans for you. Maybe adoption is in your plan.
But maybe you wouldn't have ever gotten to that point
(35:36):
if you had just kept creating biological babies with your wife.
Maybe the Lord goes, I have different plans for you
than you think My plans are better. My plans are greater.
It's not what you think. I've got better ones. And
you're gonna think that this is suffering. You're gonna think
that this particular suffering of these four miscarriages. You're gonna
(35:57):
think whatever you might think about it. You're gonna think
you're disciplined because of some past sins, which I told
you are forgiven child. But the truth is I have
greater plans for you, and these four miscarriages are making
you turn to me, look at me. Here's what I
have for you. Stop worrying about yourself. What follow me? Right?
(36:21):
That sounds that sounds like my God. I think that
being twenty nine years old and having this problem, you
have so much life ahead of you as well. I
would take all of this to the Lord, and I
would I would meditate through the Psalms. I would meditate,
(36:42):
meditate through the through some of the gospel narratives. I
would meditate through Isaiah and Ezekiel and Elijah and Elishah
and Jeremiah. I would just kind of go through some
of these these biblical stories and and feel God's presence
through his ever living word as it's being poured over you,
(37:06):
hear his promises, hear his promises of a chosen child
of God poured over you. Go Yes, I trust you God,
And even if this womb is closed forever, even if
I never have another baby again, I trust you that
your plan is better than what I think my plan
is for myself. When you start praying stuff like that,
you stop worrying about Oh man, is this my past
(37:30):
sins haunting me? You stop worrying about that, and you
start instead focusing on the promises of God. Thanks for
the question, brother, Let's hit when we're here how to
grainde your My name is Matt. I'm twenty years old
(37:51):
from Pottstown, PA. Have always been a fan of your
music and a longtime listener of the podcast. I was
so excited to see you perform at the Clearfield County
Fair back in August. My question is what camera setup
do you use for vlogs? Recently I've been watching a
restoring Earl's Old Truck series and it's inspired me to
start a channel for my truck. I have a nineteen
(38:12):
ninety four Silverado See thirty five hundred six point five
liter diesel with five speed manual. God bless everything you do, Matt.
Thank you Matt, And he actually put a picture on
here as well, so I appreciate you. Bro. There's the
there's the truck. Oh man, it's white and it's a Duley.
I don't think you said that. It's awesome, okay, buddy.
(38:35):
I use Sony cameras. In fact, I'm using Sony cameras
right now and I'm using two of them here. The
one I've logged with the Smiths is not with me,
but I use Sony DSLR and Sony lenses. So the
lens I use with the Smiths and with that restoring
(38:58):
Earl's truck was a sixteen to thirty five Sony camera
and it's got an f stop of two point eight.
It's a great lens. It's good, really expensive. It's very expensive.
It's like I want to say, probably used. A used
(39:20):
one's like fifteen hundred bucks and a brand new one
is about two thousand dollars. That's that's just the lens.
It's an awesome lens and I've started using it after
Rob Turklet from Lunkers TV told me about it, and
I've then used it for years. For five years now,
(39:41):
I've used that lens the camera body itself is expensive
as well. It's almost the same price for the camera
body for a for a good Sony DSLR. Okay, and
I've had different ones, but those are that's the look
and that's the that is the most trustworthy cameras. So
(40:02):
to get to that, I mean you're looking at dropping,
say you go used three to four grand. It's it's
quite a bit. It's quite a bit of cash. So
I guess I should say I should end with in
your question with this, don't do that. Don't do that yet.
Is always my advice to someone starting content creating is, hey,
(40:22):
use your phone first, and remember that the content you're
getting is more important than the media you're using to
capture the content itself. So if your content is good,
then you could be using a phone. Matt Chrricter demo.
Matt has for the longest time just used a little
point and shoot camera. His content is so good that
(40:45):
he doesn't need good cameras and good lenses because his
content he likes the camera just that fits on the
little side pocket. So if that's what you're going for,
I would start with just filming on your phone and
editing right there on your phone and throwing them up
on you. If you get traction, if people are like, man,
I love your channel, I love what you do, then
you can go Okay, I'm actually making a little bit
(41:06):
of money on YouTube, and I could start using that
to pour back into the actual stuff, the equipment I'm
using to film. I would wait a long time. I
would wait till you reach some landmarks on YouTube, like
five thousand subscribers. I would wait until you get to
five thousand subscribers before you get a decent camera, and
(41:30):
then I would wait till ten thousand subscribers before you
get a decent lens. Right I would. I think that's
a pretty good thing to think about. But I appreciate
you and your encouragement to me on my channels and
have fun with that truck. Man, it's a beautiful white
four door crew cab Duley. That's a that's a really,
(41:52):
really beautiful truck. So all you, thank you for listening,
and we'll see you next Monday. Thanks for joining me
on the Grangersmith Podcastiate all of you guys, you could
help me out by rating this podcast on iTunes. If
you're on YouTube, subscribe to this channel. Hit that little
like button. And the notification spell so that you never
miss anytime I upload a video. If you have a
(42:14):
question for me that you would like me to answer,
email Grangersmith Podcast at gmail dot com. Yi
It is easy to be a cultural Christian. It is
hard to realize that you have been stuck in it.
What's up, everybody, Welcome back to the podcast. This is
episode two twelve. I'm by myself today answering your questions.
(00:23):
You email me Grangersmith podcast at gmail dot com and
we'll walk through it just like we're sitting in the
cab of a truck just having a friend conversation one
on one. You can look at it like a campfire.
Talks could be about any subject and you'll see, as
we've gone through over two hundred episodes, the questions really
are all over the place, and we'll call it a
(00:44):
safe place. This is a safe place. Let me go
to the first one. And by the way, no notes
in front of me. I like to say that because
I have not prepared. I have not read these questions beforehand.
I don't have a bunch of CS. Lewis quotes on
my desk, or I don't have anything prepared. So I
do that so that you can get my first reaction.
(01:07):
It's that means it's not always right, but it's my
first reaction. Because if we were sitting in the truck
and you you asked me something I will tell you,
and later I might say I probably should have said
this or that, But in the form of this podcast
and for the sake of this show, I want to
keep it where. This is my first reaction. You may
or may not agree with it, but I promise you
(01:29):
it's from my heart, and I'm telling it as if
I was telling my own brother. Okay, So, first question
from Grangersmith podcast at gmail dot com. The subject line says,
fear of the Second Coming. Hey, Granger, I don't want
to be riding in the truck with you for this conversation.
I want to be us fishing for bass and cats.
(01:51):
I've grown up. First of all, Hey, good intro. I
like it. We're fishing me and you. He said, I've
grown up in the church. I'm sorry, it's a she
she said. I've grown up in the church for thirty
three years that I've been alive. And I know that
none of us could ever know the exact day or
time that Jesus will be coming back. However, I do
(02:12):
know that the Bible proves that there will be signs.
With everything going on in Israel, it makes you wonder
if he is coming soon. From growing up in church.
I know his second coming is something all Christians should
look forward to. Is it normal to also be a
little scared? I know I should feel comfort in knowing
(02:35):
that he is coming back, But at the same time,
I thought of forever as a tad bit scary to me.
The thought of forever that a tad bit scary to me.
Should I be questioning in my heart in this situation
or do you think it's a normal thing. I would
love to know your thoughts. Thank you for all you do.
Your podcast encourages the single mama daily and I want
(02:58):
and it makes me want to be a person for
my daughter to look up to. I live and do
things hard, and I'm having trouble on the first question
reading all it says. I live by the do hard
things motto. That's what she says. And your words have
helped me on this journey. Be content in my singleness
and wait on the Lord. Keep getting his word out there.
(03:22):
Natalie from Martin, Tennessee. Thank you, Natalie, and I thank
you for the kind words. Yeah, this is a good question.
It's not straight eschatology as far as the end of times.
You have a little twist to it. Should we be
a little scared of it, and so yeah, it's a
good question, thirty three years in the church. I want
to point out to anyone listening that thirty three years
(03:44):
in the church could mean that you've learned things, but
it also doesn't necessarily mean that you're a Christian. Not
speaking to you specifically, Natalie, I'm just saying for anybody,
it's not the amount of time in church that matters.
It's the heart, right, It's the full surrender of the heart.
And I can attest for someone who was myself in
(04:07):
church most of my life as well, but didn't really
know the Lord until later. And that's that's really my testimony.
And I hope that everybody hears me when I say
that that it is easy to be a cultural Christian.
It is hard to realize that you have been stuck
in it, and that when I talk about cultural Christianity,
(04:27):
it's it's difficult unless your eyes are opened to know
that I'm actually talking to you, right, because our pride
gets in the way. They're like, eh, I'm not me.
I'm definitely a Christian, definitely, But that's a that's a
top conversation for another day. Maybe maybe it's because you
said a prayer and repeated a pastor at some time
(04:48):
in your life, and that gave you this false assurance.
That's another question, and we'll get to your question here, Natalie,
talking about the end times, the second coming of Co
He became the first time in the flesh, the incarnate son,
came God in the flesh to redeem sinners to himself,
(05:09):
went to the cross, took upon himself as a substitution,
took upon himself the sins of his people so that
he could pay for that in full, as the ultimate sacrifice,
as the sacrificial lamb, which was always part of Judaism culture.
Now he became the final sacrifice, this abolishing the sacrificial
(05:30):
system from then on, and then it became faith in him,
belief in him and he his atonement would be transferred
to you. His righteousness would be transferred to you through
faith by grace. Right, that's the first coming. Then he
ascended after he resurrected from the grave after three days, saying,
(05:52):
all who believes in me will have eternal life. He
ascended after a while, after he met with over the
over five hundred people saw him. After the resurrection, he
talked with the disciples. He ate with them, He sang
with them, he prayed with them, and then he ascended
into heaven. That was the first coming. The question here
on the podcast is about the second Coming that he
(06:12):
promised would happen. Here's my thing, you'll know me. You
know about eschatology, that's the study of him times. And
the crazy thing about eschatology is that it becomes a distraction.
I have heard so many people lately saying things like, man,
I've heard a lot of good preaching on the internet
lately because a lot of pastors are putting together all
(06:33):
this eschatology. They're putting together all this end time stuff,
and sure is sounding good. And I have to warn
everybody that that can and I think is becoming the
tickling of the ears, people with itchy ears wanting scratched
the things that they want to hear because it sounds nice,
(06:54):
it sounds it sounds good. But those same people have
to be very careful that they have the full concept
of the gospel. The gospel is what I shared earlier
with the incarnate Son, the first Coming. You know, it's
almost like you could say it this way. We worry
more about the Second Coming these days then we do
the first coming, the Atonement happened the first Coming, right,
(07:16):
he comes to collect his people in the second Coming.
But you don't know his people, you don't know who
they are until the first Coming happens. Then they're separated
by faith, those that believe in him. And so when
he talks about Jesus, when he talks about the end times,
and he talks about the Second Coming, and he talks
about the signs, he talks about the birth pains, he
talks about how you'll know the season. When he says
(07:37):
all that, why does he say it? We should ask
that question. Why is he saying it? Well, the answer
is to be ready so that you will be ready.
So be ready. That's the whole point of eschatology. And
no one talks like this, but I think about it
all the time. No pastor gets up and says this.
(08:00):
Perhaps maybe in your church, maybe he does, But as
far as I know, you don't see it on the internet.
It doesn't get a lot of views on TikTok, it
doesn't get a lot of views on Instagram. Reels a
pastor just saying, hey, be ready, stop worrying about the end,
Stop worrying about using revelation. The book of revelation, like
(08:21):
it's a roadmap, like you're a treasure hunter on Indiana Jones,
Pirates of the Caribbean. We're trying to read a treasure
map using ancient texts of the Bible, going, Look, we'll
put this together and look six six six, and look
at the anti Christ. Look Israel here, looks Syria from
the north, and the look Hamas here. And you know
what Hamas means, oh man, it means evil. And then
(08:41):
these guys are coming, and then Russia if they get
up on the China with the million man army. If
they come, you start reading like this, and what are
you doing. You're just getting distracted. You're using the second
coming to distract you from the first coming, and you're
missing the cross. It's the whole point. The whole point
is the cross. See it. Know that you're a sinner.
(09:03):
Know that he went to the cross, Jesus to redeem
sinners to himself, becoming sin. He who knew no sin,
became sin so that we could be forgiven, so we
could be seen as guilt less. The guilty we are guilty.
We are seen as guilt less. With what he did
on the cross, he covers us right, He takes on
(09:24):
the wrath of God, the punishment, so that we don't
have to. So we believe in him, we turn from
our sin, that's repentance. We turn away from our old lives,
and we turn to him. And when we do, we
are forgiven, restored, redeemed, covered, cleansed, gifted eternal life by grace,
(09:45):
not on our own doing, not because of anything we did,
but everything that He did right there on the cross
in the first coming. And so then what do you
think the enemy would do if this was if this
was like you're building a storyline, what's a pretty good
plan for an enemy to do. Ah, let's use this
whole second coming thing as a distraction, because look, y'all,
(10:06):
Jesus is coming. He's coming, that's a fact. It's just
a matter of win. And so if we get so
caught up on the win, the one thing that's going
that's not known. We do know he's coming, but the
one thing that's not known is win. And if we
get so hung up on the win, we forget the
fact the thing we do know, he came, He had toned,
(10:30):
he resurrected, he has risen, and he's coming back. Stop
worrying about the win. He said, no one will know
the day or time. No one will know. But we
get so obsessed as a culture that we think we know,
we think we're the generation. What do you think the
(10:50):
last generation thought that it was them? What do you
think our greatest generation that we call the greatest generation,
the World War two generation? What do you think they
thought when not were just about taking over the world,
they thought, well, this is probably yet. Then they saw
the Holocaust and this is probably yet, this is probably
this has to be the second coming. Then they saw
Israel become a nation again. Oh, this this is the sign.
(11:12):
This has to be it. He's come in any moment now,
and he didn't. And that generation is about to pass away,
if they haven't already. My Granddad's passed away, all of them.
What do you think that? What do you think they
thought in the Civil War when the bodies were piling up,
or World War One, or the Revolutionary War? What do
you think they thought in all the other wars that
(11:33):
the world has seen. What do you think they thought
in the Black Plague in the Middle Ages? They must
have surely thought this is it. He's coming. He's coming, Lord, Lord, Come, quick, Marinatha,
here he comes right. Don't get distracted by reading the
(11:53):
Times and not paying attention to the first coming, losing
the grip, losing the focus on Jesus' first coming, because
you're so distracted by the second. I think. I think
it's a great ploy by the enemy to get us distracted,
to get us, not to get us forgetting the gospel,
to get us not evangelizing the gospel because instead instead
(12:14):
of going out and telling the gospel, which I've done twice.
Now you know why I've told the gospel twice on
this show already is because Roman's one says, the gospel
is the power of God for salvation. Faith comes through hearing.
So I've told you the gospel now twice, so that
you're left with no excuse. To listeners of this podcast,
there's a supernatural power that comes through hearing the gospel
(12:37):
and believing. I'm appealing to your conscious, not appealing to
your mind. I'm appealing to your conscience that knows that
you're a sinner. And so what's happening is preachers are
going out and they're preaching eschatology, they're preaching the end
of times. They're trying to put Israel in a box,
and Syria and Babylon and Egypt and Rush and Palestine
(13:03):
and Hamas and China. They're trying to put all this together,
and it really gets great attention from the church. Everyone
loves it. It gets tons of us, tons of clicks.
People walk out saying, that's the greatest sermon I've ever heard.
And guess what happened. A lot of time was wasted
talking about that and not enough preaching the gospel. Because
(13:24):
the only way to be ready for the end of
times is to be equipped with the Gospel, to believe,
to believe the Gospel, that's how that's how you get ready.
And so to your question, Natalie, you say, I know
his second coming is something all Christians should look forward to. Right,
(13:45):
let me stop you right there, and before I get
to the next sentence, let me just say, his second
coming is something all Christians should look forward to. Yes,
but odds are if we're just playing odds here, you're
going to see him in your lifetime through death, through
physical death. That's what to look forward to, right The
(14:06):
sting of death is gone, so we look forward to
seeing him, but not necessarily the second coming. That's fantastic,
But the odds are you're gonna see him a lot
sooner than that because you only have let's say you're
thirty three years old, do you only have Lord Willing?
You only have fifty sixty seventy years left. So unless
he comes between fifty and seventy years, Lord Willing, if
(14:28):
you live that long, then you're gonna beat everybody to it.
You know what I mean. You're gonna beat the Second
Coming and your own mortality. So think about that first.
Make sure you're equipped with the Gospel, You're ready in
that aspect, and let's get to your second question. Is
it normal to also be a little scared? I know
(14:51):
I should feel comfort in knowing that he will be back,
But at the same time, the thought of forever is
a tad bit scary to me. What's scary to me
is reading that's sin, it's from you, Because yes, forever
is scary if you're not sure where you're going to
end up, right, if you have that blessed assurance, like
(15:13):
the old hymn says, if you have blessed assurance, then
you go. Christ is magnified in my life, whether life
or by death. So hurry Christ, hurry death or keep
me here for as long as I need to tell
everyone else about my treasure right. Either way, I'm Christ.
(15:33):
To live is Christ, and to die is gain That's
the thought, that's the apostle Paul. That's what he's thinking about.
That's what he's preaching, and that's coming from his art.
That's what he feels. To live is Christ, to die
is gain right. And so there is nothing in that
about to live as Christ and to die. Oh man,
I'm scared. If you are scared, then maybe we double
(15:58):
down on here in the Gospel again and a little
bit less eschatology, a little bit less in times, a
little bit more first coming, a little bit less second coming.
Does that make sense? I hope it does, Natalie, and
I thank you for the question, and I hope that
probably answers a lot of other questions and probably riles
up people. People are probably gonna email me and go, man,
(16:19):
don't you know the mark of the Beast is coming?
And you know President Biden and United States and Russia.
And I'm going to be like, please don't read revelation
like it's a treasure map. Yeah. Next question, very different
(16:39):
one sounds like subject line grand old Opry, and the
question says, did you ever get a chance to play
the grand Ole Opry before you retired from music comes
from Teresa. Thanks Teresa. Yeah I did. I played the
Opry two times and it was great. Yeah. I enjoyed
the Opry that I believe. The first time I played,
(17:01):
my grandmother came my grandmother Mini, who's now ninety seven.
She got to be with me. So yeah, playing the
Opry was really cool. I'm not gonna say it was
a the climax of my career or the pivotal moment
of everything, or the apex of music. It was a
beautiful building. The ryman's great, The Opry house is awesome
(17:25):
and gay lord, but it's you know, I'm a Texan.
I most people in the South grow up and they're like, man,
the opry is it. I never thought that. I never
grew up that way. I grew up a big George
Straight fan, so that was never like George wasn't big
on the opery, so I never saw that as like
the thing, so I never pursued it. And the opry
(17:47):
is typically it was like on a Saturday night or
a Tuesday night, and me living in Texas when they
would invite me, it would I would me, and I
would have to travel outside of my own tour to
go and play the Opry for and pay my own
way and play two songs and go home. And I
just never was into it that much. It never mattered
to me that much. And that's not everyone else is
(18:10):
not like that. Most people are like, man, the Opry
is everything. I'll drop everything and go do it. And
so I have great respect for it, great respect for
the history of it. I think it's a fantastic platform
and it has been in the history of country music
for so long. But I never looked at it as
like the top at the top, and so that's why
I never I guess you know what. Oh look behind me.
(18:35):
Oh you can't see it. The camera's not covering it.
But there's a promo poster right above me. If you're
watching on YouTube, that is the live at the Opry
at the Rhyman and it's my promo from when was
that November twenty eighth, twenty and fifteen. So there you go.
(18:55):
We'll take a break, be right back if you want
to get a hold of me, if you want me
to send you a message, I say this a lot
Cameo dot com slash Granger Smith. It's a really good
way to do it. Or you can download the cameo
app and search for me Granger Smith. You ask for
whatever you want me to record, and I pull out
my phone and do a video message specifically to you
(19:19):
or to your son or your boyfriend or girlfriend or
daughter or whatever. It might be a word of encouragement,
happy birthday, happy anniversary, Merry Christmas. I could do it all,
and I have done it all, and it's really easy.
It's a great last minute gift and something for someone
that has everything. So cameo dot com slash Granger Smith.
(19:40):
Back to the podcast, All right, back to the podcast.
Thank you guys for listening and watching whatever platform you're
coming from. And this has been This has always been
a treat for me having this podcast, and kind of
it's different than everything else I do because I just
(20:01):
literally sit down and start some cameras and start my
computer recording and dive into your questions, which you email
me Grangersmith podcast at gmail dot com. The next question
going down the list here just randomly it has no
subject and it says, hey Granger, my name is Ian
and I love your podcast. I'm fifteen years old. I'm
a Christian and I like this girl, but I don't
know if she likes me. I've prayed, but I don't
(20:24):
have any clarity on whether or not I should ask
her out or just wait until i'm older. Also, if
I do decide to ask her out, should I ask
her dad first? Thanks? Ian, I believe that's how you
say your name. It's spelled e O. I in Ian.
If we're sitting in the truck or is that one
(20:46):
message said last break? If we're fishing, then I'm in Annita.
I needed a little bit more information from you, Ian.
And one of the questions I would ask is how
old is she? Fifteen? Is that's going to be borderline
of what I'm gonna think is too young? And if
(21:07):
I'm the girl's dad, I would say no. And I
do have a girl that's twelve. I would say no,
it's not time. And I'm probably rare. There's probably not
a lot of dads that would do that. Say you're
not going to date, but I would say, let's hang
(21:29):
out in a group. Right, you could go out with
my daughter and you guys could hang out in a group,
maybe go see the high school football game. Maybe you guys,
we could all go to the town festival. We can
go to the county Fair as a group. And there's
four or five guys and there's four or five girls,
and I'm going to say, you're not going to be
(21:53):
alone with my daughter. It's not you Ian. In fact,
I don't know you at all, and it's not that's
the It's kind of irrelevant to the situation of who
you are. It's your age, that's the deal. However, that
being said, of course I remember being fifteen. I remember
liking girls, and I remember thinking what you're thinking, and
so what you're feeling and what you're asking is not
(22:15):
wrong in itself. I'm just going to counsel you, and
I hope that others will counsel around you and go, hey, buddy, okay,
I got it. You like this girl, I got it.
Let me tell you how we're going to walk through this, right,
I would hope that that's how it's going to go.
I probably won't. I'm glad you emailed this podcast, So
let's walk through it as if you actually are going
(22:38):
to ask her and pretend that the dad's totally cool
with this and this is not my daughter, Okay, let's
talk of it that way. I think, first of all,
it's a fantastic idea to ask the dad for everything
I just for every reason I just gave is a
fantastic thing. You're fifteen years old to talk to the dad,
(23:00):
Because what if the dad says, my daughter's not allowed
to date, okay, and the girl goes ahead and goes
behind his back and goes out with you. What kind
of future does that possibly leave you? None? Because you're
just sneaking around and as soon as the dad finds out,
he's gonna shut this down quickly, and you don't want
to be part of it when dad shuts this down.
(23:22):
So you're gonna go find out for yourself and just
go Hello, mister so and so. My name is Ian,
and I was wondering if I could have permission I
go to your daughter's school. I was wonder if I
could I could have permission to go on a date
with her. And if he says, well, sit down, let's talk.
Let's let's learn who you are a little bit, and
hopefully he does at least that, then then you can
(23:45):
talk about how you're going to take her out and
what time you're going to pick her up and what
time you're going to bring her back when you're fifteen. See,
this is one of the problems that I'm going to
talk to you about before fishing me and you is
that first of all, you're too young to drive, and
so you got to have your parents drive, or he's
got to drive, the dad or the girl. So that's
where it gets complicated. So let's put all that aside.
(24:08):
Let's move on to the next part of your question.
Should I ask her out? I like this girl, you say,
but I don't know if she likes me. I've prayed,
but I don't have any clarity on whether I should
ask her out or not, or just wait until I'm older.
And I'm gonna sa wait to your older. But let's
dive in as if you were going to do this.
(24:29):
What's crazy about a question like this is that what
we so often miss when we're in it and we're
not looking from the outside of it like I am
and all the listeners are listening to it right now,
you miss the key element to the whole thing. I
like her, I don't know if she likes me, and
I've been praying on clarity, but you're missing the one thing.
(24:53):
Just ask her. I know that that seems crazy to you,
but that's the obvious answer. That's what I would say
at any age, At any age, if you like a girl,
you don't know if she likes you. You need some
clarity on the situation. And you've been praying about it.
You don't know if she's gonna say yes on a date.
The obvious answer is ask her, right, I mean, it's like, Man,
(25:20):
I'm gonna ask the podcast, I'm gonna ask my friend's advice,
and I'm gonna pray to God and hope that he
writes something in the cloud for me. And the obvious
answer to you, Ian is you walk up to her,
maybe a little bit awkward in the hallway at school,
and you go, hey, can I ask you something? She's
like yeah, you say sorry, I'm a little bit nervous
(25:45):
right now. But I'm nervous because I don't know the
answer to what you're about to say. And the question
is you think you'd ever be interested in going on
a date with me? I just you seem like a
really cool girl, and you're really pretty, and you seem
like someone I would I would love to get to
(26:05):
know a little bit better and maybe take on a date.
So at that point, Ian, it's going to be awkward,
and it's going to take some nerves and you're going
to be very nervous and awkward. But at that point,
from right there, right at the end of that sentence
I just said, from then on, you all of a sudden,
will have perfect clarity on the situation. You'll have your
(26:26):
answered prayer. You'll have clarity on whether or not she
likes you right then and there, because the next thing
that comes out of her mouth or perhaps her body language,
is going to tell you. She could say, oh I
don't think so okay, good, okay good. It might be
(26:48):
a little hurtful, might be a little humiliating for you,
but bro, then you know, right. So then you walk
away and you go okay, okay, I'll sleep better tonight
knowing that this mysterious question I've been wanting to know,
will she like me? Will she go on a date
with me? The answer is over I have it. She
said no, okay, move on all right, or she says
(27:13):
I'm not allowed to date. Then you go okay, cool,
Then you wait, well, then you go, hey, I totally understand,
I don't really know if I could date either I'm young,
so at least now you know now you know? Wait,
or she says I think that would be really nice,
(27:34):
and you go good because if she says really nice,
then you've got a pretty good indication she likes you,
or at least she kind of likes you for sure.
Then you get to move on and schedule the date.
Clarity just like that magic. Thanks for the question, buddy.
(28:01):
All right, interesting subject line. Here will see what it says,
says punishment email says, hey, grangdear, my name is Caden,
I should say probably my name is Caden. I'm twenty
nine years old. I live in Texas, and my wife
and i've been married for a little over four years.
I'm reading ahead. No, I don't think I stopped. I
(28:29):
stopped myself because I thought, have I read this before?
I don't think I have. My wife and I have
been married a little over four years. Since we got married,
we've been trying for a baby. Now we both have
a child from previous relationships. In four years, we've had
four miscarriages and have seen the fertility specialist and gotten
no answers as to why this keeps happening. I can't
(28:53):
help but feel like I'm being punished by having to
watch the pain this has caused my wife because of
mistakes I made in my first marriage. I'm a believer
and understand that God doesn't operate like this, but it's
a constant thought. I have any advice on dealing with
these thoughts. Thanks in advance. All right, Kayden, I'm sorry
(29:14):
for the pause. I literally thought this sounded familiar, but
it's not. It's a brand new email. So twenty nine
years old, living in Texas, been married four years. You
each have a baby from a previous marriage. You're having
trouble conceiving now and you don't have let's see, you
don't have a baby together. Is that correct? That's correct?
(29:35):
So in four years you've had four miscarriages. Seen a
fertility specialist. I've got no answers to why it keeps happening.
Okay Man, thanks for the email. I know this is
a very sensitive subject and I hope you're listening, and
I appreciate, I prove really appreciate you trusting me in
this podcast for a question like this because I know
it's near and dear to your heart. So I'm gonna
(29:57):
say a couple things here. I'm gonna say. First of all,
it's the lore. If you're a Christian, you'll know this.
It's the Lord that opens the womb. And man just
sit with that, to sit with that for a while.
It's the Lord who opens the womb. We see that
throughout the Bible. We see these stories and we see
(30:20):
that the Lord closes wombs, and we see the Lord
opens wombs. And so, first of all, know that we
have a providential God. We have a God that is
totally sovereign and he's complete. He has complete providence over
even your wife's womb. So know that. And then we
(30:41):
need to get into this guilt that you have from
your previous marriages, not plural for you, but hers and yours.
You have things that you have done in your past.
You've made mistakes. Right, well, when you're believer, when you
(31:03):
have put your faith in Christ, your trust is in Christ.
You are redeemed, you are restored and renewed by Jesus's
finished work on the cross right, And I gave the
full Gospel twice on the first break of this podcast.
(31:23):
When that is you, one of the benefits you get
as an adopted son of God is your sins are covered,
Your guilt is covered. Your sins are remembered no more.
Your sins are as far apart as the earth is
(31:47):
from the heavens. They are forgotten. You're covered and forgiven.
That's what forgiveness means. That's what Jesus says when he's
talking as you read the Gospel narrations, and he says
your sins are forgiven. That's what he means. He doesn't mean,
your sins are forgiven and I will still remember them
(32:09):
and punish youth for them. That's not what he says.
It's not what he's saying, and that's not what it means. However,
sins are sins. Every sin is a sin against God himself,
and they all are a rebellion to our creator. However,
some sins have different repercussions, different consequences that last longer
(32:36):
in our lives. Not supernaturally hurting a pregnancy of a
woman that you're with now, not that kind of not
that kind of hurt. Right. The sins that you're talking about,
I don't know what they are, but I'm assuming they're great.
The sins of your past marriage, whatever happened, that is
(33:00):
not God is not punishing you in this new marriage
by making your new wife not be able to get pregnant.
But the consequences of those first sins are affecting your mind.
They are bringing you down because the consequences are great,
and you're carrying those burdens of the great sins with you,
(33:21):
and you're carrying it into this marriage so much so
that you have four miscarriages, and you go, this must
be divine punishment. Now, the Lord definitely disciplines, right, The
Lord definitely disciplines those that he loves for their own good.
But he's not going to take a sin that you
did and then make you make it hurt this new
(33:45):
wife of yours physically, where now her womb is closed,
even though remember what I said at the very beginning,
it's the Lord that opens wombs and close wombs. Right.
So the more biblical way to look at this is
why am I having? Why have we had four miscarriages?
(34:05):
So that God's glory will be known? That's what he
would say. It's like, why is this man blind that
would ask Jesus so that God's glory may be known
through him? So that so that you could see what's happening.
I don't know what that is for you, But whatever
is happening is for his glory. That's always what his
(34:28):
plan is. And so four miscarriages are significant, that that's
a significant number. That's like, Okay, something's going on here.
What is it? Maybe let me throw a few things
out here. Maybe it's so that we rely on him.
Maybe it's so we could start saying, you two, Lord,
we come to you. You know our heart, you know
(34:51):
we want a baby. Please God open open her womb,
please hear our prayers. And then she gets pregnant, and
then what happens? What happens when she gets pregnant? Then
then you go, ah, it was you, God, It was
always you, but now we see we see you God.
It took four miscarriages for us to stop thinking about
(35:14):
ourselves and start thinking about You. Got to bring everything
to you. Maybe not for sure, but maybe that sounds
that sounds like my God right. Or maybe Lord has
adoption plans for you. Maybe adoption is in your plan.
But maybe you wouldn't have ever gotten to that point
(35:36):
if you had just kept creating biological babies with your wife.
Maybe the Lord goes, I have different plans for you
than you think My plans are better. My plans are greater.
It's not what you think. I've got better ones. And
you're gonna think that this is suffering. You're gonna think
that this particular suffering of these four miscarriages. You're gonna
(35:57):
think whatever you might think about it. You're gonna think
you're disciplined because of some past sins, which I told
you are forgiven child. But the truth is I have
greater plans for you, and these four miscarriages are making
you turn to me, look at me. Here's what I
have for you. Stop worrying about yourself. What follow me? Right?
(36:21):
That sounds that sounds like my God. I think that
being twenty nine years old and having this problem, you
have so much life ahead of you as well. I
would take all of this to the Lord, and I
would I would meditate through the Psalms. I would meditate,
(36:42):
meditate through the through some of the gospel narratives. I
would meditate through Isaiah and Ezekiel and Elijah and Elishah
and Jeremiah. I would just kind of go through some
of these these biblical stories and and feel God's presence
through his ever living word as it's being poured over you,
(37:06):
hear his promises, hear his promises of a chosen child
of God poured over you. Go Yes, I trust you God,
And even if this womb is closed forever, even if
I never have another baby again, I trust you that
your plan is better than what I think my plan
is for myself. When you start praying stuff like that,
you stop worrying about Oh man, is this my past
(37:30):
sins haunting me? You stop worrying about that, and you
start instead focusing on the promises of God. Thanks for
the question, brother, Let's hit when we're here how to
grainde your My name is Matt. I'm twenty years old
(37:51):
from Pottstown, PA. Have always been a fan of your
music and a longtime listener of the podcast. I was
so excited to see you perform at the Clearfield County
Fair back in August. My question is what camera setup
do you use for vlogs? Recently I've been watching a
restoring Earl's Old Truck series and it's inspired me to
start a channel for my truck. I have a nineteen
(38:12):
ninety four Silverado See thirty five hundred six point five
liter diesel with five speed manual. God bless everything you do, Matt.
Thank you Matt, And he actually put a picture on
here as well, so I appreciate you. Bro. There's the
there's the truck. Oh man, it's white and it's a Duley.
I don't think you said that. It's awesome, okay, buddy.
(38:35):
I use Sony cameras. In fact, I'm using Sony cameras
right now and I'm using two of them here. The
one I've logged with the Smiths is not with me,
but I use Sony DSLR and Sony lenses. So the
lens I use with the Smiths and with that restoring
(38:58):
Earl's truck was a sixteen to thirty five Sony camera
and it's got an f stop of two point eight.
It's a great lens. It's good, really expensive. It's very expensive.
It's like I want to say, probably used. A used
(39:20):
one's like fifteen hundred bucks and a brand new one
is about two thousand dollars. That's that's just the lens.
It's an awesome lens and I've started using it after
Rob Turklet from Lunkers TV told me about it, and
I've then used it for years. For five years now,
(39:41):
I've used that lens the camera body itself is expensive
as well. It's almost the same price for the camera
body for a for a good Sony DSLR. Okay, and
I've had different ones, but those are that's the look
and that's the that is the most trustworthy cameras. So
(40:02):
to get to that, I mean you're looking at dropping,
say you go used three to four grand. It's it's
quite a bit. It's quite a bit of cash. So
I guess I should say I should end with in
your question with this, don't do that. Don't do that yet.
Is always my advice to someone starting content creating is, hey,
(40:22):
use your phone first, and remember that the content you're
getting is more important than the media you're using to
capture the content itself. So if your content is good,
then you could be using a phone. Matt Chrricter demo.
Matt has for the longest time just used a little
point and shoot camera. His content is so good that
(40:45):
he doesn't need good cameras and good lenses because his
content he likes the camera just that fits on the
little side pocket. So if that's what you're going for,
I would start with just filming on your phone and
editing right there on your phone and throwing them up
on you. If you get traction, if people are like, man,
I love your channel, I love what you do, then
you can go Okay, I'm actually making a little bit
(41:06):
of money on YouTube, and I could start using that
to pour back into the actual stuff, the equipment I'm
using to film. I would wait a long time. I
would wait till you reach some landmarks on YouTube, like
five thousand subscribers. I would wait until you get to
five thousand subscribers before you get a decent camera, and
(41:30):
then I would wait till ten thousand subscribers before you
get a decent lens. Right I would. I think that's
a pretty good thing to think about. But I appreciate
you and your encouragement to me on my channels and
have fun with that truck. Man, it's a beautiful white
four door crew cab Duley. That's a that's a really,
(41:52):
really beautiful truck. So all you, thank you for listening,
and we'll see you next Monday. Thanks for joining me
on the Grangersmith Podcastiate all of you guys, you could
help me out by rating this podcast on iTunes. If
you're on YouTube, subscribe to this channel. Hit that little
like button. And the notification spell so that you never
miss anytime I upload a video. If you have a
(42:14):
question for me that you would like me to answer,
email Grangersmith Podcast at gmail dot com. Yi
Host
Granger Smith
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