May 8, 2023 • 46 mins
Granger Smith Podcast Episode 187: Do not be afraid of society. We raise children up in the society for times like this. Join me as I dive into this topic and more on this week's podcast episode!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Do not be afraid of society. We raised children up
in this society for times like this. Hey, everybody, welcome
to the podcast, episode one eighty seven. Glad you're here.
(00:22):
Happy Monday if you're listening in real time. And we
do these every single Monday, and I'm so thankful for
this platform for you guys coming on and watching and
listening wherever you're coming from. And I want to tell
you a little update on Bernie, who was our guest
last episode, who was saying he was going to go
run this crazy thirty mile altering, crazy man running thing.
(00:46):
He lived, He survived. Everything's good, He's doing great, and
he finished that was his goal. So I had some
people in a meet and greet say, hey, whatever happened
with Bernie? Is he okay? Yeah, he did great, And
so I'm here to report all good on the Bernie front.
And what I do here on this podcast is I
answer your questions and you email me Granger Smith Podcast
(01:10):
at gmail dot com, and we walk through these like
we're just sitting in the cab of a truck and
you have a question. You say, hey, man, can I
run something by you? I got a question for you,
and we talk it out in the podcast form allows
me to talk slowly and think through it and answer
like I would if you were sitting with me as
a friend. Now. The key is I don't have notes
(01:32):
in front of me, or books or quotes, and in fact,
I haven't even read these questions, so this is the
first time I hear the question as I react to
them as you hear them. Okay. Also been talking the
last few weeks about possibly taking this podcast on the road,
doing a live recording of the podcast in your city.
(01:55):
So comment below. If this is a platform that you
can comment on like YouTube, comment or go to my
social media. If it's not a platform you comment on
and go to my latest post on any of the
social media and just say, hey, man, I would love
for you to take the podcast to my city, take
a tour, and then we could have a live audience
as we record. We could answer questions from the live
audience in real time, and then have a meet and
(02:17):
greet and talk to everyone afterward, and then maybe go
over some stuff in person with you live in your city.
What I need to know from you, guys is what
city and what venue. I have no idea. I've been
doing music for twenty four years touring, and I don't
know what it looks like to do a podcast tour.
So you got a venue idea, or at least just
(02:38):
a city that'll give us a good plan. Or we
could look at a map of the US and go,
all right, we need to hit these cities because they're
within driving distance of these towns, these regions. Okay, so
live podcast tour. I think that'd be really cool. And
then leading up to that will be the book, my
first book, Like a River, coming out August first. I'm
(03:00):
so excited for that. I'm starting to read the audiobook.
Actually today, I'm going to start recording that so you
can get that and the copy of the book, and
that'll be just a great conversation starter to a lot
of these questions that we have writer on this podcast.
Enough about me, let's flip the mirror over to you,
pull out the email here, and I'm going to go
(03:21):
randomly and see what we find you guys. Ready, first
question that pops up here says subdecline, how do I
communicate the want of attention? Hey, Grander, been a fan
of you and your podcast for a few months now.
I've been listening to them every night before bed. I'd
(03:43):
like to stay anonymous. My question to you is this,
how do I tell my girlfriend that the amount of
attention she gives me isn't what I'm used to compared
to the past and what I prefer. I feel like
I'm the one making the effort to ask her about
her and how she's feeling, and overall, I feel like
I'm committing seventy five percent of this relationship effort. Everything
(04:07):
is fine in person, but I just don't know how
to bring up this conversation without the fear of upsetting
her or killing the mood. You've helped me give my
life to Christ and to trust his process day by day,
and I am forever thankful. Thank you, God blessed. Okay Anonymous,
thank you for the email, brother, and let's walk through this.
(04:29):
You are feeling it. You're giving everything you have to
this relationship. Seventy five percent is what you say to
this relationship. You're getting hardly anything back. And what you
mean by that is you want someone to ask you
about your day and to pour into you and ask
you how you're feeling and talk. Oh buddy, oh buddy,
(04:57):
I'm hesitant to tell you that. Okay, let me reiterate
what this podcast is. Okay, this is not therapy, this
is not counseling. This is not a psychologist or a psychiatrist.
I am telling you. I'm gonna tell you things to
all these questions, as a friend would say, Okay, so
(05:19):
there's the difference. I'm not a psychologist. I'm a friend
of yours. That's two different answers. Okay, a psychologist is
going to go deep into these feelings and the reason
she's not giving them, and maybe the underlying ways for
you to be able to and on and on. But
as a friend, I'm gonna say this, brother, I don't
(05:42):
think this is the right girl for you, and I
think it's the wrong girl. I think the problem is
this is the wrong girl for you. You could probably
force this to work. You could probably you know, do
the square peg in the round hole for a while.
But some girls and some guys are just not talkers.
(06:02):
They're not people that ask about other people's feelings. And
they don't. It's just not something it's not in their wheelhouse, right,
It's just not something they do. It's not something they
get home from work and they go to dinner and
they just cannot wait to hear all about your day.
But the good news is some girls are and so
(06:26):
I believe, I know that there are girls out there
that would be compatible with you in this but it
feels like this one's not. Now Whise it's so difficult.
Why do I say, I hesitate to say, because you
probably love her, and you probably have a connection, and
you're in deep on this relationship, and that makes it tough.
(06:49):
It makes it tough, man. But when you're sitting here
saying I feel like I'm the one always making the
effort to ask her about her day and how she's feeling,
and overall, I feel like I'm committing seven five percent
of this relationship's effort. I think when you say it
that way, you're saying, I wish this leopard didn't have spots.
(07:13):
And my old drummer Mike used to always tell me
a leopard is always gonna have spots. You can't get
rid of them. And it's so true, and it's just
not a bad thing for her. I'm not saying she's
a bad girl. I'm just saying she's a leopard with
spots and you can't try to wipe them off. That's
just who she is, and you're you're asking for things
(07:34):
that it's very difficult. If you were married, listen to this,
if you're married for ten years, fifteen years, twenty years,
I would say, Okay, let's work through this. Let's work
through this. Let's try to find a way that you're
compatible with her personality in this way that you guys
stay together and you become close friends and lovers and spouses.
(07:55):
But that's not your story. This is just your girlfriend.
I don't mean to minimize it by saying just your girlfriend.
I know you love her, or you wouldn't have emailed me,
But I'm saying there's a way out now, And I'm
saying you if you'd go down this path, which you
can and you might, You're you're you're looking at a
(08:15):
tough road. It's not gonna get easier. You might have
some seasons you go through where she's a little bit
better at asking you about your feelings, but then she's
going to go back to her leopard spots, because that's
just who she is, that's her DNA. She's she's gonna
end up great with a guy that doesn't need to
(08:36):
talk about his feelings or his day. She's going to
be more compatible with that guy. Okay, I know this
is not the advice she wanted. It's probably not what
you wanted to hear. But as a friend and not
a psychiatrist and not a marriage counselor because you're not married,
I say, I think it's I think this is the
wrong girl for you. Next question, subject Cline says interesting
(09:03):
says dying while intoxicated. Hey, grangel, my question is if
you are born again, If you are a born again
Christian but happen to drink alcohol to the point that
you're intoxicated, and then something happens and you die, will
you go to heaven? By the way, love the podcast
and your music and your YouTube channels. Keep out the
(09:23):
good work. Evelyn from California. Evelyn, thank you for emailing
and the answer to your question simple. The answer is yes,
you will go to heaven. Next question, I'm just kidding.
What if I did the next No, let me explain
the answers. Yes, but let me explain it's yes because
you qualified it with one thing. If you are a
(09:46):
born again Christian, regardless of the middle part that you write,
take it all out. Doesn't matter what you say after that.
When you die will you go to heaven? The answers yes,
no matter this is crazy, no, no matter what you
put in the middle. If you were born again, you
will go to heaven. You're regenerated, you're new creature, You're
(10:09):
alive in Christ. Here's the catch. When you're a new creature,
when your new creation, when you are reborn, born again,
born anew, when you are alive, you're dead to your
old self. You're dead to your old self and now
alive a new creature in Christ. You are. You used
(10:30):
to be a caterpillar, now you're a butterfly. When that
happens to you, a lot of these things start falling off,
start shedding off. So the chance of you getting it's
so intoxicated to the point of death. Then you start saying,
(10:51):
were you born again? Maybe you weren't born again? Right,
because if you're a new creature, and it is possible,
because it's not about what you do. It's never about
what you do that gets you to heaven. It's not
about what you do right, it's about what has been
done for you through Christ. That's the story of Christianity.
(11:15):
That's what separates it from every other religion. It's not
about how good you are, How clean your plate is,
how washed, how whitewashed you are, perfect, and how clean
you how clean your hands are, how clean your conscious is,
how little you sin. It's never been. That's never been
the qualifier for heaven. It never has been. Has nothing
(11:37):
to do with what you do. It has to do
with what has been done for you. And when something's
been done, as in Christ dying on the cross as
a replacement of your sins, as a substitute for your sins,
so that you are forgiven, and you repent and you're
reborn through that, and you turn away from your old life.
(12:01):
You turn away from your sins, and you believe, and
you accept Jesus as your lord and savior. Maybe I
shouldn't Eve say I don't even like that word accept.
You know I don't. That's just an old That's like
an old Billy Graham saying I don't even like that
word accept. When you believe and surrender, I like that
word a lot better. You surrender to Jesus as your lord,
(12:23):
you're born again. And those two things are two parallel
lines that intersect only in Heaven. Those two things your
responsibility to respond and believe and Jesus ransoming you as
an adopted son. All that has nothing to do with
you getting intoxicated. But the thing is that as a reflection,
(12:45):
as a response to the new creature that you are,
you're gonna start hating this idea of being intoxicated. You're
gonna start hating the old sin. It's not gonna go
completely away, but you're gonna hate it and you're gonna
be wrestling with it and you're gonna be fighting against it.
That's what a new creature does in Christ. That's that's
(13:06):
a really good sign that you're reborn. Is if you
start hating the old things that you used to do,
and even when you still do them, and you will occasionally,
you still go back into that old life, that old sin,
and you repeat some things that you used to do,
and when you do it, you hate it, and so
you wrestle and you fight against it in that constant battle.
(13:27):
That that is a good sign. That is that's a
good sign that you're battling you're killing sin. Right. So
it's a very complicated way of saying, yes, you go
to heaven if you die intoxicated. Yeah, I was hit
another one. Oh I loved I love doing these guys,
(13:49):
I really do sub decline In the next one says
demonic attacks in spiritual warfare and grand your My name
is James some twenty one from Michigan. Long time listening
to the podcast. It has helped me through so many
hard times. God bless you. I have recently gotten more
serious about my relationship with Christ and have been battling
(14:11):
against lust and alcohol. Along with this, I believe that
I have been under attack from the devil. I've had
nights where I wake up with figures at the foot
of my bed, nightmares, constant anxiety, and just recently I
picked up my phone to watch a video and I
received in the middle of the night. And when I
(14:33):
picked up my phone and I put it to my ear,
and I heard sell your soul, followed by hissing and screaming,
and I felt dozens of hands grabbing me and pulling
me downward. I cried out to Jesus and I felt
him pull me back up. Praise Him for that. But
now I'm always scared to sleep, for I know that
(14:58):
I most likely will be attacked again. What can I do?
God Bless James? All right, my brother, let's discuss let's
talk about this, me and you driving down the truck,
you know, driving down the road in the truck, wind
(15:18):
is down, and this is what you bring up to me,
and I sad. I'm gonna Start's start with the basics.
Let's say first, let's look at what happened, considering that
you're being sincere about all of this. Right there at
the end, it says you cried out to Jesus and
he pulled you back up. Good, right, okay, good. That's
(15:43):
a great acknowledgment, and that's a great understanding of what happened.
You got your answer, right. You don't need me to
tell you that you got your answer. And here's the
bad part next line. But now I'm always scared to
go to sleep, for I know it may most likely
be I may likely be attacked again. What can I do?
You see how you just a circular argument? You just did.
(16:05):
This is what you said. Let me repeat just so
everyone that listens to this podcast knows. When I read
these emails so many times, I see the answer to
your question in your own email, in your own words,
And I don't have to do anything but take this
mirror and turn it back to you. So you see yourself.
Let me repeat these lines. All this stuff happened to you,
these hands pulling you downward. Right, you say this. I
(16:29):
cried out to Jesus and he pulled me back up.
But now I'm scared and I don't know what can
I do. You just answered, what can you do? Cry
out to Jesus. That's what you did, and it worked.
Here's a psychology behind it. I told you I'm not
a psychiatrist, but let me give you Let me change that.
(16:49):
Let me give you the theology behind that. Jesus is victorious,
God Lord of host is victorious. He is victorious over
all satanic activity, all demonic activity. He wins in the end.
(17:10):
We have the book and we could read the last
chapter and we know he wins. Stay on the winning side.
When you know you're on the winning side, when you
trust in Christ, when you cry out to him like that,
then you don't have to worry about going to sleep,
because you're sleeping with the General of the army. He
has got you. He's not only the general of the army,
(17:32):
but he is the victor of the war. And you
already know it. He won the war. So you're sleeping
with him now. When you go to bed, you don't
worry about this. I wouldn't worry. I would not worry
after reading your story, I wouldn't worry. But what can
you do in the meantime?
Speaker 2 (17:49):
What can you do?
Speaker 1 (17:50):
What can you do in the daytime? I would feast
on the word of God. Did you know that the
word of God is very addicting. It's meant to be
that way. Read through the Psalms. Read through Psalm one
nineteen and you start seeing how the psalmist David is
addicted to the word of God. Oh, your word is
(18:10):
like honey to my lips. Honey too much, it's sweeter
the nectar, right, is addicting. And you need to read
this word. It is living and breathing and alive and abiding. Okay,
this word that I'm talking about is the Bible. You
take that word and you open it up and you go,
(18:32):
I'm going to Matthew one victorious today. I'm victorious over
all demonic activity in my life. Why because I've got
I've got the general, I've got the victor. And here
it is, here's his word, living, breathing, alive. This word
is Christ John One. It says in the beginning was
the Word, and the word was with God, and the
(18:53):
word was God. When you read that word, when you
feast on it, you are literally feasting on the Lord.
So you take that book and you take Matthew one
one or any other place you want to start. Maybe John,
we just said that. Start there, Start John one. You
open that up and you go, Lord, I'm reading your
victorious word. Pour this word all over me. Let me
(19:15):
taste the sweetness of it, Let me feast on it.
Let me eat it up, because it is my life
sweeter than honey. I love this word. And if you
don't totally believe that, make that your prayer. God. Let
me see. Let me hunger for this, Let me taste that.
The Lord is good. And when you start tasting and
(19:36):
you start feasting, and you get rid of all that
other fast food that's just filling you up with junk,
so that you're not as hungry for the Word, the living, breathing,
abiding word. When you feast on that in that way,
you ain't got to worry about going to sleep. Brother,
you're sleeping with the general of the army. Well, let's
(19:57):
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(22:08):
All right, let's get back to the podcast here. Going
to your questions, you email me Grangersmith podcast at gmail
dot com. It's super simple. I check these and they
go to a special folder Grangersmith Podcast at gmail dot com,
and I go through these and you could talk about
any subject you want to. Okay, we're gonna read them
randomly without me haveing ever seen them before. Okay, first one,
(22:33):
let's see subject line is question for podcast about giving. Hey, grangerd,
thanks for all you do. Have a question about financial
giving and would love your perspective from someone who is
well off. My husband and I are very fortunate to
have good jobs. We are Christians who work very hard
and try to be generous with our money, with still
(22:56):
having enough left to save and provide for our family.
Hope this doesn't sound like boasting. I'm just trying to
give some context I've been reading in the Bible about
Jesus stating it is harder for the rich to make
it to Heaven than the poor because they give out
their extra So I am wondering what is your take
on this and recommendation to those who want to make
(23:18):
sure that they're on the right path with giving and
helping others financially. I love the direction of your life
and can't wait to see your farewell tour in Fowlerville,
Michigan this summer. Emily. Hey, Emily thank you for the email,
thoughtful email you have here. And you know, this is
one of these questions that I get sometimes when sometimes
I read it and I think, just the thought, just
(23:40):
the thought that just the fact that you're reading into this,
you're digging into the subject like this, gives me an
indication that you're going to be okay because you're processing
this kind of stuff. Because if you're not processing it,
if you're not thinking about it, if you're not always
listen here it is, if you're not always trying to
(24:03):
bounce your lifestyle off of the Bible and make sure
that it's coming right back to you, making sure that
everything you're doing is biblical in every biblical way, and
then wrestling with it and wondering and hoping and praying
and digging back into the Word again and then reflecting
it back on your life and going, I don't know
about this. This is weird right here, because sometimes we
get sanctified in certain areas that other people don't. That
(24:26):
is so important to understand, y'all. What do I mean
by that? It means it means that you could be
doing something that is not a sin to someone else,
but it becomes a sin to you, because it becomes
a form of idolatry, that it's not an idology, it's
not an idol to someone else. Here's my point. I
(24:50):
noticed a few years ago that I was starting to
care a little bit too much for college football in
a way that it was affecting my Saturday morning wake
up on Saturday morning, and I would get a little anxious,
like my heart would start beating. I start watching college
game Day and start thinking about the Aggies and thinking
about whoever they had, and then they would play, and
(25:15):
that would go two different directions for the rest of
the day. Either one direction I'm like on cloud nine
and super happy, or I would be really mad or
sad or upset or frustrated or mildly I'm gonna use
this word lightly depressed. But I realized that my emotions
(25:35):
were being affected by the Aggies in a way that
it was dictating happiness and sadness. And as I started
wrestling with that, I realized, I'm being sanctified in a
way that I need to drop this idol. I need
to get away from college football until I could until
(25:56):
I have learned to manage it in a in a
responsible way. And I remember my tour manager Chris was
like he was hearing me talk about that, and he
was like, wait, worry. So you tell me college football
is a sin. You tell me watching the Longhorns is
a sin. And I'm like, no, no, I'm not. And
(26:16):
that's what I mean that some things can become idols
for certain people, to become a sin and not for others.
So as you feel with your question, with your with
your finances and your giving, and you're reading the word,
and you're you're you're attending church and you're you're plugged
into your community, and you're you're living with your palms up,
hands open, no closed fist, and you say, God, it
(26:39):
is all yours. Everything I have is yours. Let me
be the steward of it. Let me be able to
pour into others with the gifts that you've given me
and anything I have, every penny, every every piece of
food on my plate is from you. So let me
steward that. Don't let me hold back anything, don't let
me be selfish, don't let anything be from self intentions. Right, So,
(27:02):
if you're living that way, then that's when you could
better see the sanctification. As things start coming off and
you go. You know what, I feel weird about getting
those shoes. I feel weird about getting a new car
like that doesn't feel right. I feel strange about taking
(27:24):
this family vacation this year. None of the things I
just said, getting shoes, getting a car, taking a vacation,
none of those are sin. But it could be for
you if you're living and breathing in the word and
you're feasting on it and you realize, oh, the Lord
is sanctifying me here. The Lord's sanctifying me on this
jewelry that I've been shopping for on Amazon that I
(27:46):
don't need. I'm not telling you not to get jewelry.
I'm saying, listen, listen to how you specifically are being sanctified.
That's a general answer to begin the conversation that I
think it's a great question you're asking and that you're
asking it. But what I want to go to next
in your question is I want to make sure that
(28:06):
you are plugged in to a good local church, a
church that's not too big, a church, that there's enough
pastors in your church, even if it's just one, to
be able to shepherd the flock personally and appropriately and responsibly.
So if you have two thousand members in your church.
(28:29):
I hope you don't, but if you do, you're gonna
need about two hundred and fifty pastors or more right,
not really, not really, I'm exaggerating, but you need to
have enough pastors and elders or whatever your church is
run by that could responsibly lead the flock. These shepherds
(28:50):
need to be You don't. I'm just rambling all you
don't want too many sheep for the one shepherd that
he can't be able to tend to the flock in
the personal needs. So I want you to be plugged
into a church like that, Emily, so that you could
walk through this question with your elders or your pastor
(29:11):
or other church members. So you could say, Pastor, we
we just you know, my husband just got a bonus
at work and we are kind of deliberating on what
to do with this with this bonus, the pastor looks
(29:31):
at it from an outside perspective with a biblical foundation,
so that you aren't being self deceived with your own money,
so that you avoid this situation of hoarding our feeling
prideful or feeling greed as you hoard in money, and
at the same time that you're not irresponsible and giving
(29:53):
it all out, so then you have you have nothing
to pay the bills next month with. You could make
that same mistake and be homeless as well. Bible does
not call us to be homeless. So I think a
pastor leading you through this stuff helps you to stay
out of it is. You're not stuck in the vacuum.
So he could say, I would take twenty percent, put
(30:13):
it here, ten percent, put it here, take a couple
hundred dollars, and you guys go enjoy a nice steak
dinner so you could relax away from the kids a
little bit. He might say something like that. In a
situation that you might have felt guilty to take that
steak dinner, the pastor says, I feel like you'd be
good stewards to yourselves by going out and enjoying a
nice meal away from the kids. I think that's a
(30:37):
great idea to have someone else be able to pour
into you that way, and that's what a pastor is
supposed to do. So it's so important to be plugged
into a body of believers around you, and you could say, hey, everybody,
we're trying to be the best stewards of the wealth
that God has blessed us with. How do we do this?
(30:59):
It's really interesting that someone at that very moment might say,
I've got a cousin that's going on a mission trip
in Uganda and they're needing some funding, and you go
there it is the Lord's now put that on my heart.
How much money do you need? He needs forty seven
hundred dollars, and you go, okay, I'm living open handed,
(31:19):
open palmed. Here's a check for forty seven hundred dollars.
It's really interesting how the Lord works through those that
that kind of faithfulness. It's a good question. Sorry for
the long answer, but thanks for asking it. Next question
subject cliente says hil excuse me, homeschool or public school.
(31:43):
Subdecline says homeschool or public school. My husband and I
are becoming increasingly more concerned with the state of our
public schools. We are God fearing people. The indoctrination of
our children is real and it's happening. I feel like
the Lord has placed homeschooling on my heart. The homeschooling
world is evolving and growing. My husband has asked God
(32:04):
to reveal his will to us in this regard what
are your thoughts? Colby from Alabama? Thanks Colby, I appreciate
you listening and writing in shout out to beautiful Alabama.
And let's walk through your question here. What I want
to make sure Colby. I want to make sure that
(32:25):
in Kobe's a girl, I want to make sure you're
not living in fear of man or society. Okay, So
I want to make that distinction. I don't think there's
anything wrong with what you're saying, as long as when
you say we're God fearing people, the indoctrination of our
(32:45):
children is real, as long as you don't mean we
believe in God and we believe that we believe that
we are now fearful that man is going to change
our kids and turn them away from God. So there's
a there's a there that you have to live partly
by saying God is sovereign, God is providential. He has
(33:07):
put us in this community, he has he has the
whole world in his hands, like the song says, and
and the indoctrination doesn't happen to my kids because I'm
bringing them up in the Lord. And so instead of helicoptering,
instead of protecting them from the world, you are preparing
(33:28):
them for the world. How you deal with that is
up to you and your own household. You have to play.
You have to understand the dynamics of your family and
your kids. I don't know that. You have to understand
the dynamic of your your local public school. You have
to understand the dynamic of your wife and you and
(33:49):
your excuse me, your husband, and your ability to be
teachers in your own home and to be stewards of
the curriculum that you're that you need to teach. So
these are things that you have to wrestle with that.
There's too many questions that I don't know from one
message here. As long as you know that the end
(34:12):
goal is not protecting from the world, but preparing for it.
Whatever gets that done, how do you prepare them from
the world, That's really important because I just can't say broadly, oh, yeah,
you're right, everyone should homeschool. Can't say that because I
think in a lot of situations public school is going
(34:34):
to be the best bet to prepare them for the world.
And a lot of people don't have the means for homeschooling,
or they don't have the money or the space or
the ability because they also work full time jobs. So
that's just you can't. I can't say it to everyone. Okay,
(34:57):
that being said, the next part of your question is,
my husband has asked God to reveal his will to us. Well,
his will is revealed through the renewal of our minds.
We know that the Bible, it's very clear that to
understand God's will for us happens through the renewal of
(35:18):
our minds as we study God's word, as we fellowship
with other brothers and sisters, as we are under sound
teaching from our local pastor that has prepared a message
every week from us and then continues to walk as
the shepherd for us throughout the week. This is I
(35:40):
give you this advice, and I live this advice myself
as well. Okay, all everything I'm saying, I'm living myself.
So this is not something I'm putting on you. I
need to follow this myself as well. But we understand
that God and his will for us revealed doesn't happen,
(36:00):
can But it doesn't happen through a dream revelation or
a wild writing in the sky. Okay, it happens through long,
long games of slow, patient reading and studying and serving
(36:20):
and self denying, and as that happens every day, our
minds are renewed, and then we could we could have
a better sense for what He needs for us. Part
of it, you could say, right here through this podcast,
God uses human agency to enact his will and to
speak to us. So part of it could be what
(36:40):
you're hearing right now through this podcast. But I think
the most important thing to take away is there is
no right or wrong answer. Do not be afraid of society.
We raised children up in this society for times like this.
We need good kids to be raised in this society,
and we shouldn't shy away from it. We should build
them up up from our own homes and send them
(37:01):
out prepared with armor on. They go out into the world,
and we don't care what the world brings. Nothing in
the world surprises us, nothing catches us off off guard
because we have prepared them, we have armed them. So
go out because you're made for a time like this, right.
That's that's how we view our children going into the world,
instead of.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
I'm scared of I'm scared of society because they are
indoctrinating us. They are forcing their ideas on our children,
and their whole plan is to make our children conformed
to their ideas, and so we want to shield them
from that and keep them in our own homes. Make
(37:41):
sure I'm not saying homeschooling is bad. I'm saying in
a lot of cases, it's actually really good. But make
sure that.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
That's not your motivation, because that motivation is driven by
what fear. Stop being on defense and go on offense.
As a parent, we stay on offense. Don't go in this,
don't go in this cave where we're defending against the
crazy ideas of twenty twenty three. The indoctrination of our children.
(38:10):
Oh man, hold their ears, hold their eyes. No, we
prepare them and then we go out with their weapons
on offense. Does that make sense? Please don't take that
literal when I said weapons. You know what I mean.
It's a great question, and I hope I was faithful
in walking through that with you. Next question, here got
(38:31):
another one coming up. Oh man, that's so funny. Ironically,
the next question, subject client says, what is God's purpose
for me? A grand dr. I'm sixteen years old, I'm
finishing my junior year in high school. I don't know
what I want to do. After I graduate high school.
I don't really have interest in college at this point,
(38:52):
and I don't have something specifically that I would love
to do as a career. I want to fulfill God's
purpose for me in life. Do you have any advice
on how to find what God has for me to
do in this life? Is there anything wrong with working
at a non career business instead of getting a career
at college or going to further schooling. Thank you for
(39:13):
doing this podcast. It's so enjoyable and encouraging to listen to.
I love your music too. Yee Okay, And you don't
say Joel is your name? You don't say anonymous. I'm
gonna say Joel, thanks for emailing sixteen years old. I
love it when sixteen year old listens to this podcast.
I'm extremely encouraged by that. So it feeling is mutual. Joel.
(39:36):
Let me talk about this a little bit. The first thing,
those of you all that have heard this a long time,
you'll know that I'm probably gonna lead with this. First things. First,
be sixteen. You're worrying about adult problems, and I don't
want you to worry. I want you to think about them,
(39:56):
but I don't want you to worry about them. I
don't want you to stress over them. Because you're sixteen.
It's cool to have a plan. It's cool to say, yeah,
I'm kind of thinking about this and this and this.
But as soon as you start saying I'm really worried
about this, there's a problem. Because you're sixteen, and really
the most important thing you could do right now is
(40:17):
get good grades. And that's so cliche to say, but
getting good grades prepares you for all of the above,
prepares you for all of the answers. Every scenario is
well equipped when you have good grades going through high school. Okay,
you're finishing your junior year, so these are things that
you know. As you get to be a senior, it
(40:39):
becomes more and more important. So get good grades and
then I'm gonna kind of touch on the God's purpose
that don't get hung up on that. We get hung
up on this God's purpose thing, or as in the
last email, said God's will, trying to discern God's will
for me, trying to find out my purpose. You know
(40:59):
what you're purposes, Joel. Your purpose is at the end
of the Book of Matthew, go forth making disciples of
all nations. Teaching them to obey. That's your purpose. It's
all as believers. If you are a Christian, that's your purpose,
going into all nations preaching the Word, teaching them to
(41:22):
be disciples and to obey Jesus. That's what it is.
That's your purpose, and there's many ways of accomplishing that
through all kinds of different jobs and vocations. Next, I'm
going to say this so that you don't get hung
up on that God's purpose thing. Don't do that. Don't
get hung up on as if God is going to
speak to you through the clouds and giving you a
(41:45):
big announcement that you're doing this Now, it's a slow thing.
You're slowly churning that, butter buddy. I just said that,
didn't I. You're slowly churning that, butter buddy. So don't
be looking for big revelation, be looking for small steps.
They're in the right direction. The next thing I want
(42:06):
to say is the end of your email says should I.
Basically you're saying should I go to college or go
straight into a business, or should I pursue further schooling.
I want to say it this way. If you get
to that crossroads at the end of your senior year
(42:29):
and you still have the same question should I go
into work or should I go into school? If you
still are there and nothing's clear to you yet, which
it might not be, It's okay, I didn't have a
clear picture when I was your age at all. When
I was sixteen, I was an idiot. So if you
still have that question at that point, it's always better
(42:50):
to equip with as many tools as you possibly can
before you go out into the world. And a tool
comes from learning some kind of trade or further schooling
for a some kind of degree, So you're either padding
your resume with a degree or you're gaining another tool
for your belt through a tech, some kind of tech.
(43:14):
That's just the that's just the better way to do it. Always,
instead of going, okay, I'm at a crossroads, which way
should I go? The way that you should always go
if you're there and you still don't know, is equip
equip yourself with tools. Now, you could do that while
you're still working. You want to still work and either
go to night's school or work, or go to school
(43:36):
in the day and work nights. But equip yourself with
some kind of trade will just just matter so much
down the road, it will matter to you in ways
that you can't possibly understand. Personal example, I went to
I went to Texas A and M. And I left
(44:00):
after two years to go write songs for EMI Publishing
in Nashville. But then I was at a crossroads about
twenty two years old, thinking I want to go play music.
All I want to do is play music. That's all
I want to do. It's all I cared about. It's
all I thought about was playing music, touring with a band,
and I was romanticized about that. But I knew probably
(44:22):
the best move is to finish that degree that I
started at Texas A and M. So I went back
to college station, lived with my uncle, slept on his couch,
uncle Johnny, and worked at different places and worked for
him in construction, worked as a painter, worked as a
lawn guy, and hosted some open mic nights. As I
was playing music and was able to finish up school
(44:45):
and I got a history degree because I loved history.
But I didn't know how much that was going to
mean to me until literally twenty years later. I was
called out of music and into industry, and guess what
I was able to go into seminary and pursue a
graduate degree on top of the bachelor's degree. I got
(45:09):
to Texas A and M. And if I hadn't done
that when I was twenty two, if I hadn't thought
about going back, then I would be in a different
situation where I wouldn't be able to go seek that
master's degree in seminary. And so my point is it's
better now to equip when you don't have a lot
of responsibility and a bunch of kids running around and
(45:30):
a wife and bills to pay, it's better to go
grab as many things as you are interested in. And
that could just be a general studies degree at at
a junior college or some kind of tech school. If
you're into something that's techie, do that. I've heard Dave
Ramsey say, You're like a caveman in a cave, and
(45:51):
you want to gather as many tools in your cave
as you can sol when you go out of the
cave to make your kill, which is in business or
life or career, you want to have the right tools
to make the kill. And so your tools are something
you could get right now. Joel, don't forget the first
(46:12):
part of this question. Just be sixteen. Don't dig too deep,
just make plans responsibly, but also enjoy being sixteen. That's
all we got today, guys, love y'all so much, See
you next Monday. Thanks for joining me on the Granger
Smith Podcast. I appreciate all of you guys. You could
help me out by rating this podcast on iTunes. If
(46:33):
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
question for me that you would like me to answer,
email Grangersmith Podcast at gmail dot com. Yi
Do not be afraid of society. We raised children up
in this society for times like this. Hey, everybody, welcome
to the podcast, episode one eighty seven. Glad you're here.
(00:22):
Happy Monday if you're listening in real time. And we
do these every single Monday, and I'm so thankful for
this platform for you guys coming on and watching and
listening wherever you're coming from. And I want to tell
you a little update on Bernie, who was our guest
last episode, who was saying he was going to go
run this crazy thirty mile altering, crazy man running thing.
(00:46):
He lived, He survived. Everything's good, He's doing great, and
he finished that was his goal. So I had some
people in a meet and greet say, hey, whatever happened
with Bernie? Is he okay? Yeah, he did great, And
so I'm here to report all good on the Bernie front.
And what I do here on this podcast is I
answer your questions and you email me Granger Smith Podcast
(01:10):
at gmail dot com, and we walk through these like
we're just sitting in the cab of a truck and
you have a question. You say, hey, man, can I
run something by you? I got a question for you,
and we talk it out in the podcast form allows
me to talk slowly and think through it and answer
like I would if you were sitting with me as
a friend. Now. The key is I don't have notes
(01:32):
in front of me, or books or quotes, and in fact,
I haven't even read these questions, so this is the
first time I hear the question as I react to
them as you hear them. Okay. Also been talking the
last few weeks about possibly taking this podcast on the road,
doing a live recording of the podcast in your city.
(01:55):
So comment below. If this is a platform that you
can comment on like YouTube, comment or go to my
social media. If it's not a platform you comment on
and go to my latest post on any of the
social media and just say, hey, man, I would love
for you to take the podcast to my city, take
a tour, and then we could have a live audience
as we record. We could answer questions from the live
audience in real time, and then have a meet and
(02:17):
greet and talk to everyone afterward, and then maybe go
over some stuff in person with you live in your city.
What I need to know from you, guys is what
city and what venue. I have no idea. I've been
doing music for twenty four years touring, and I don't
know what it looks like to do a podcast tour.
So you got a venue idea, or at least just
(02:38):
a city that'll give us a good plan. Or we
could look at a map of the US and go,
all right, we need to hit these cities because they're
within driving distance of these towns, these regions. Okay, so
live podcast tour. I think that'd be really cool. And
then leading up to that will be the book, my
first book, Like a River, coming out August first. I'm
(03:00):
so excited for that. I'm starting to read the audiobook.
Actually today, I'm going to start recording that so you
can get that and the copy of the book, and
that'll be just a great conversation starter to a lot
of these questions that we have writer on this podcast.
Enough about me, let's flip the mirror over to you,
pull out the email here, and I'm going to go
(03:21):
randomly and see what we find you guys. Ready, first
question that pops up here says subdecline, how do I
communicate the want of attention? Hey, Grander, been a fan
of you and your podcast for a few months now.
I've been listening to them every night before bed. I'd
(03:43):
like to stay anonymous. My question to you is this,
how do I tell my girlfriend that the amount of
attention she gives me isn't what I'm used to compared
to the past and what I prefer. I feel like
I'm the one making the effort to ask her about
her and how she's feeling, and overall, I feel like
I'm committing seventy five percent of this relationship effort. Everything
(04:07):
is fine in person, but I just don't know how
to bring up this conversation without the fear of upsetting
her or killing the mood. You've helped me give my
life to Christ and to trust his process day by day,
and I am forever thankful. Thank you, God blessed. Okay Anonymous,
thank you for the email, brother, and let's walk through this.
(04:29):
You are feeling it. You're giving everything you have to
this relationship. Seventy five percent is what you say to
this relationship. You're getting hardly anything back. And what you
mean by that is you want someone to ask you
about your day and to pour into you and ask
you how you're feeling and talk. Oh buddy, oh buddy,
(04:57):
I'm hesitant to tell you that. Okay, let me reiterate
what this podcast is. Okay, this is not therapy, this
is not counseling. This is not a psychologist or a psychiatrist.
I am telling you. I'm gonna tell you things to
all these questions, as a friend would say, Okay, so
(05:19):
there's the difference. I'm not a psychologist. I'm a friend
of yours. That's two different answers. Okay, a psychologist is
going to go deep into these feelings and the reason
she's not giving them, and maybe the underlying ways for
you to be able to and on and on. But
as a friend, I'm gonna say this, brother, I don't
(05:42):
think this is the right girl for you, and I
think it's the wrong girl. I think the problem is
this is the wrong girl for you. You could probably
force this to work. You could probably you know, do
the square peg in the round hole for a while.
But some girls and some guys are just not talkers.
(06:02):
They're not people that ask about other people's feelings. And
they don't. It's just not something it's not in their wheelhouse, right,
It's just not something they do. It's not something they
get home from work and they go to dinner and
they just cannot wait to hear all about your day.
But the good news is some girls are and so
(06:26):
I believe, I know that there are girls out there
that would be compatible with you in this but it
feels like this one's not. Now Whise it's so difficult.
Why do I say, I hesitate to say, because you
probably love her, and you probably have a connection, and
you're in deep on this relationship, and that makes it tough.
(06:49):
It makes it tough, man. But when you're sitting here
saying I feel like I'm the one always making the
effort to ask her about her day and how she's feeling,
and overall, I feel like I'm committing seven five percent
of this relationship's effort. I think when you say it
that way, you're saying, I wish this leopard didn't have spots.
(07:13):
And my old drummer Mike used to always tell me
a leopard is always gonna have spots. You can't get
rid of them. And it's so true, and it's just
not a bad thing for her. I'm not saying she's
a bad girl. I'm just saying she's a leopard with
spots and you can't try to wipe them off. That's
just who she is, and you're you're asking for things
(07:34):
that it's very difficult. If you were married, listen to this,
if you're married for ten years, fifteen years, twenty years,
I would say, Okay, let's work through this. Let's work
through this. Let's try to find a way that you're
compatible with her personality in this way that you guys
stay together and you become close friends and lovers and spouses.
(07:55):
But that's not your story. This is just your girlfriend.
I don't mean to minimize it by saying just your girlfriend.
I know you love her, or you wouldn't have emailed me,
But I'm saying there's a way out now, And I'm
saying you if you'd go down this path, which you
can and you might, You're you're you're looking at a
(08:15):
tough road. It's not gonna get easier. You might have
some seasons you go through where she's a little bit
better at asking you about your feelings, but then she's
going to go back to her leopard spots, because that's
just who she is, that's her DNA. She's she's gonna
end up great with a guy that doesn't need to
(08:36):
talk about his feelings or his day. She's going to
be more compatible with that guy. Okay, I know this
is not the advice she wanted. It's probably not what
you wanted to hear. But as a friend and not
a psychiatrist and not a marriage counselor because you're not married,
I say, I think it's I think this is the
wrong girl for you. Next question, subject Cline says interesting
(09:03):
says dying while intoxicated. Hey, grangel, my question is if
you are born again, If you are a born again
Christian but happen to drink alcohol to the point that
you're intoxicated, and then something happens and you die, will
you go to heaven? By the way, love the podcast
and your music and your YouTube channels. Keep out the
(09:23):
good work. Evelyn from California. Evelyn, thank you for emailing
and the answer to your question simple. The answer is yes,
you will go to heaven. Next question, I'm just kidding.
What if I did the next No, let me explain
the answers. Yes, but let me explain it's yes because
you qualified it with one thing. If you are a
(09:46):
born again Christian, regardless of the middle part that you write,
take it all out. Doesn't matter what you say after that.
When you die will you go to heaven? The answers yes,
no matter this is crazy, no, no matter what you
put in the middle. If you were born again, you
will go to heaven. You're regenerated, you're new creature, You're
(10:09):
alive in Christ. Here's the catch. When you're a new creature,
when your new creation, when you are reborn, born again,
born anew, when you are alive, you're dead to your
old self. You're dead to your old self and now
alive a new creature in Christ. You are. You used
(10:30):
to be a caterpillar, now you're a butterfly. When that
happens to you, a lot of these things start falling off,
start shedding off. So the chance of you getting it's
so intoxicated to the point of death. Then you start saying,
(10:51):
were you born again? Maybe you weren't born again? Right,
because if you're a new creature, and it is possible,
because it's not about what you do. It's never about
what you do that gets you to heaven. It's not
about what you do right, it's about what has been
done for you through Christ. That's the story of Christianity.
(11:15):
That's what separates it from every other religion. It's not
about how good you are, How clean your plate is,
how washed, how whitewashed you are, perfect, and how clean
you how clean your hands are, how clean your conscious is,
how little you sin. It's never been. That's never been
the qualifier for heaven. It never has been. Has nothing
(11:37):
to do with what you do. It has to do
with what has been done for you. And when something's
been done, as in Christ dying on the cross as
a replacement of your sins, as a substitute for your sins,
so that you are forgiven, and you repent and you're
reborn through that, and you turn away from your old life.
(12:01):
You turn away from your sins, and you believe, and
you accept Jesus as your lord and savior. Maybe I
shouldn't Eve say I don't even like that word accept.
You know I don't. That's just an old That's like
an old Billy Graham saying I don't even like that
word accept. When you believe and surrender, I like that
word a lot better. You surrender to Jesus as your lord,
(12:23):
you're born again. And those two things are two parallel
lines that intersect only in Heaven. Those two things your
responsibility to respond and believe and Jesus ransoming you as
an adopted son. All that has nothing to do with
you getting intoxicated. But the thing is that as a reflection,
(12:45):
as a response to the new creature that you are,
you're gonna start hating this idea of being intoxicated. You're
gonna start hating the old sin. It's not gonna go
completely away, but you're gonna hate it and you're gonna
be wrestling with it and you're gonna be fighting against it.
That's what a new creature does in Christ. That's that's
(13:06):
a really good sign that you're reborn. Is if you
start hating the old things that you used to do,
and even when you still do them, and you will occasionally,
you still go back into that old life, that old sin,
and you repeat some things that you used to do,
and when you do it, you hate it, and so
you wrestle and you fight against it in that constant battle.
(13:27):
That that is a good sign. That is that's a
good sign that you're battling you're killing sin. Right. So
it's a very complicated way of saying, yes, you go
to heaven if you die intoxicated. Yeah, I was hit
another one. Oh I loved I love doing these guys,
(13:49):
I really do sub decline In the next one says
demonic attacks in spiritual warfare and grand your My name
is James some twenty one from Michigan. Long time listening
to the podcast. It has helped me through so many
hard times. God bless you. I have recently gotten more
serious about my relationship with Christ and have been battling
(14:11):
against lust and alcohol. Along with this, I believe that
I have been under attack from the devil. I've had
nights where I wake up with figures at the foot
of my bed, nightmares, constant anxiety, and just recently I
picked up my phone to watch a video and I
received in the middle of the night. And when I
(14:33):
picked up my phone and I put it to my ear,
and I heard sell your soul, followed by hissing and screaming,
and I felt dozens of hands grabbing me and pulling
me downward. I cried out to Jesus and I felt
him pull me back up. Praise Him for that. But
now I'm always scared to sleep, for I know that
(14:58):
I most likely will be attacked again. What can I do?
God Bless James? All right, my brother, let's discuss let's
talk about this, me and you driving down the truck,
you know, driving down the road in the truck, wind
(15:18):
is down, and this is what you bring up to me,
and I sad. I'm gonna Start's start with the basics.
Let's say first, let's look at what happened, considering that
you're being sincere about all of this. Right there at
the end, it says you cried out to Jesus and
he pulled you back up. Good, right, okay, good. That's
(15:43):
a great acknowledgment, and that's a great understanding of what happened.
You got your answer, right. You don't need me to
tell you that you got your answer. And here's the
bad part next line. But now I'm always scared to
go to sleep, for I know it may most likely
be I may likely be attacked again. What can I do?
You see how you just a circular argument? You just did.
(16:05):
This is what you said. Let me repeat just so
everyone that listens to this podcast knows. When I read
these emails so many times, I see the answer to
your question in your own email, in your own words,
And I don't have to do anything but take this
mirror and turn it back to you. So you see yourself.
Let me repeat these lines. All this stuff happened to you,
these hands pulling you downward. Right, you say this. I
(16:29):
cried out to Jesus and he pulled me back up.
But now I'm scared and I don't know what can
I do. You just answered, what can you do? Cry
out to Jesus. That's what you did, and it worked.
Here's a psychology behind it. I told you I'm not
a psychiatrist, but let me give you Let me change that.
(16:49):
Let me give you the theology behind that. Jesus is victorious,
God Lord of host is victorious. He is victorious over
all satanic activity, all demonic activity. He wins in the end.
(17:10):
We have the book and we could read the last
chapter and we know he wins. Stay on the winning side.
When you know you're on the winning side, when you
trust in Christ, when you cry out to him like that,
then you don't have to worry about going to sleep,
because you're sleeping with the General of the army. He
has got you. He's not only the general of the army,
(17:32):
but he is the victor of the war. And you
already know it. He won the war. So you're sleeping
with him now. When you go to bed, you don't
worry about this. I wouldn't worry. I would not worry
after reading your story, I wouldn't worry. But what can
you do in the meantime?
Speaker 2 (17:49):
What can you do?
Speaker 1 (17:50):
What can you do in the daytime? I would feast
on the word of God. Did you know that the
word of God is very addicting. It's meant to be
that way. Read through the Psalms. Read through Psalm one
nineteen and you start seeing how the psalmist David is
addicted to the word of God. Oh, your word is
(18:10):
like honey to my lips. Honey too much, it's sweeter
the nectar, right, is addicting. And you need to read
this word. It is living and breathing and alive and abiding. Okay,
this word that I'm talking about is the Bible. You
take that word and you open it up and you go,
(18:32):
I'm going to Matthew one victorious today. I'm victorious over
all demonic activity in my life. Why because I've got
I've got the general, I've got the victor. And here
it is, here's his word, living, breathing, alive. This word
is Christ John One. It says in the beginning was
the Word, and the word was with God, and the
(18:53):
word was God. When you read that word, when you
feast on it, you are literally feasting on the Lord.
So you take that book and you take Matthew one
one or any other place you want to start. Maybe John,
we just said that. Start there, Start John one. You
open that up and you go, Lord, I'm reading your
victorious word. Pour this word all over me. Let me
(19:15):
taste the sweetness of it, Let me feast on it.
Let me eat it up, because it is my life
sweeter than honey. I love this word. And if you
don't totally believe that, make that your prayer. God. Let
me see. Let me hunger for this, Let me taste that.
The Lord is good. And when you start tasting and
(19:36):
you start feasting, and you get rid of all that
other fast food that's just filling you up with junk,
so that you're not as hungry for the Word, the living, breathing,
abiding word. When you feast on that in that way,
you ain't got to worry about going to sleep. Brother,
you're sleeping with the general of the army. Well, let's
(19:57):
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All right, let's get back to the podcast here. Going
to your questions, you email me Grangersmith podcast at gmail
dot com. It's super simple. I check these and they
go to a special folder Grangersmith Podcast at gmail dot com,
and I go through these and you could talk about
any subject you want to. Okay, we're gonna read them
randomly without me haveing ever seen them before. Okay, first one,
(22:33):
let's see subject line is question for podcast about giving. Hey, grangerd,
thanks for all you do. Have a question about financial
giving and would love your perspective from someone who is
well off. My husband and I are very fortunate to
have good jobs. We are Christians who work very hard
and try to be generous with our money, with still
(22:56):
having enough left to save and provide for our family.
Hope this doesn't sound like boasting. I'm just trying to
give some context I've been reading in the Bible about
Jesus stating it is harder for the rich to make
it to Heaven than the poor because they give out
their extra So I am wondering what is your take
on this and recommendation to those who want to make
(23:18):
sure that they're on the right path with giving and
helping others financially. I love the direction of your life
and can't wait to see your farewell tour in Fowlerville,
Michigan this summer. Emily. Hey, Emily thank you for the email,
thoughtful email you have here. And you know, this is
one of these questions that I get sometimes when sometimes
I read it and I think, just the thought, just
(23:40):
the thought that just the fact that you're reading into this,
you're digging into the subject like this, gives me an
indication that you're going to be okay because you're processing
this kind of stuff. Because if you're not processing it,
if you're not thinking about it, if you're not always
listen here it is, if you're not always trying to
(24:03):
bounce your lifestyle off of the Bible and make sure
that it's coming right back to you, making sure that
everything you're doing is biblical in every biblical way, and
then wrestling with it and wondering and hoping and praying
and digging back into the Word again and then reflecting
it back on your life and going, I don't know
about this. This is weird right here, because sometimes we
get sanctified in certain areas that other people don't. That
(24:26):
is so important to understand, y'all. What do I mean
by that? It means it means that you could be
doing something that is not a sin to someone else,
but it becomes a sin to you, because it becomes
a form of idolatry, that it's not an idology, it's
not an idol to someone else. Here's my point. I
(24:50):
noticed a few years ago that I was starting to
care a little bit too much for college football in
a way that it was affecting my Saturday morning wake
up on Saturday morning, and I would get a little anxious,
like my heart would start beating. I start watching college
game Day and start thinking about the Aggies and thinking
about whoever they had, and then they would play, and
(25:15):
that would go two different directions for the rest of
the day. Either one direction I'm like on cloud nine
and super happy, or I would be really mad or
sad or upset or frustrated or mildly I'm gonna use
this word lightly depressed. But I realized that my emotions
(25:35):
were being affected by the Aggies in a way that
it was dictating happiness and sadness. And as I started
wrestling with that, I realized, I'm being sanctified in a
way that I need to drop this idol. I need
to get away from college football until I could until
(25:56):
I have learned to manage it in a in a
responsible way. And I remember my tour manager Chris was
like he was hearing me talk about that, and he
was like, wait, worry. So you tell me college football
is a sin. You tell me watching the Longhorns is
a sin. And I'm like, no, no, I'm not. And
(26:16):
that's what I mean that some things can become idols
for certain people, to become a sin and not for others.
So as you feel with your question, with your with
your finances and your giving, and you're reading the word,
and you're you're you're attending church and you're you're plugged
into your community, and you're you're living with your palms up,
hands open, no closed fist, and you say, God, it
(26:39):
is all yours. Everything I have is yours. Let me
be the steward of it. Let me be able to
pour into others with the gifts that you've given me
and anything I have, every penny, every every piece of
food on my plate is from you. So let me
steward that. Don't let me hold back anything, don't let
me be selfish, don't let anything be from self intentions. Right, So,
(27:02):
if you're living that way, then that's when you could
better see the sanctification. As things start coming off and
you go. You know what, I feel weird about getting
those shoes. I feel weird about getting a new car
like that doesn't feel right. I feel strange about taking
(27:24):
this family vacation this year. None of the things I
just said, getting shoes, getting a car, taking a vacation,
none of those are sin. But it could be for
you if you're living and breathing in the word and
you're feasting on it and you realize, oh, the Lord
is sanctifying me here. The Lord's sanctifying me on this
jewelry that I've been shopping for on Amazon that I
(27:46):
don't need. I'm not telling you not to get jewelry.
I'm saying, listen, listen to how you specifically are being sanctified.
That's a general answer to begin the conversation that I
think it's a great question you're asking and that you're
asking it. But what I want to go to next
in your question is I want to make sure that
(28:06):
you are plugged in to a good local church, a
church that's not too big, a church, that there's enough
pastors in your church, even if it's just one, to
be able to shepherd the flock personally and appropriately and responsibly.
So if you have two thousand members in your church.
(28:29):
I hope you don't, but if you do, you're gonna
need about two hundred and fifty pastors or more right,
not really, not really, I'm exaggerating, but you need to
have enough pastors and elders or whatever your church is
run by that could responsibly lead the flock. These shepherds
(28:50):
need to be You don't. I'm just rambling all you
don't want too many sheep for the one shepherd that
he can't be able to tend to the flock in
the personal needs. So I want you to be plugged
into a church like that, Emily, so that you could
walk through this question with your elders or your pastor
(29:11):
or other church members. So you could say, Pastor, we
we just you know, my husband just got a bonus
at work and we are kind of deliberating on what
to do with this with this bonus, the pastor looks
(29:31):
at it from an outside perspective with a biblical foundation,
so that you aren't being self deceived with your own money,
so that you avoid this situation of hoarding our feeling
prideful or feeling greed as you hoard in money, and
at the same time that you're not irresponsible and giving
(29:53):
it all out, so then you have you have nothing
to pay the bills next month with. You could make
that same mistake and be homeless as well. Bible does
not call us to be homeless. So I think a
pastor leading you through this stuff helps you to stay
out of it is. You're not stuck in the vacuum.
So he could say, I would take twenty percent, put
(30:13):
it here, ten percent, put it here, take a couple
hundred dollars, and you guys go enjoy a nice steak
dinner so you could relax away from the kids a
little bit. He might say something like that. In a
situation that you might have felt guilty to take that
steak dinner, the pastor says, I feel like you'd be
good stewards to yourselves by going out and enjoying a
nice meal away from the kids. I think that's a
(30:37):
great idea to have someone else be able to pour
into you that way, and that's what a pastor is
supposed to do. So it's so important to be plugged
into a body of believers around you, and you could say, hey, everybody,
we're trying to be the best stewards of the wealth
that God has blessed us with. How do we do this?
(30:59):
It's really interesting that someone at that very moment might say,
I've got a cousin that's going on a mission trip
in Uganda and they're needing some funding, and you go
there it is the Lord's now put that on my heart.
How much money do you need? He needs forty seven
hundred dollars, and you go, okay, I'm living open handed,
(31:19):
open palmed. Here's a check for forty seven hundred dollars.
It's really interesting how the Lord works through those that
that kind of faithfulness. It's a good question. Sorry for
the long answer, but thanks for asking it. Next question
subject cliente says hil excuse me, homeschool or public school.
(31:43):
Subdecline says homeschool or public school. My husband and I
are becoming increasingly more concerned with the state of our
public schools. We are God fearing people. The indoctrination of
our children is real and it's happening. I feel like
the Lord has placed homeschooling on my heart. The homeschooling
world is evolving and growing. My husband has asked God
(32:04):
to reveal his will to us in this regard what
are your thoughts? Colby from Alabama? Thanks Colby, I appreciate
you listening and writing in shout out to beautiful Alabama.
And let's walk through your question here. What I want
to make sure Colby. I want to make sure that
(32:25):
in Kobe's a girl, I want to make sure you're
not living in fear of man or society. Okay, So
I want to make that distinction. I don't think there's
anything wrong with what you're saying, as long as when
you say we're God fearing people, the indoctrination of our
(32:45):
children is real, as long as you don't mean we
believe in God and we believe that we believe that
we are now fearful that man is going to change
our kids and turn them away from God. So there's
a there's a there that you have to live partly
by saying God is sovereign, God is providential. He has
(33:07):
put us in this community, he has he has the
whole world in his hands, like the song says, and
and the indoctrination doesn't happen to my kids because I'm
bringing them up in the Lord. And so instead of helicoptering,
instead of protecting them from the world, you are preparing
(33:28):
them for the world. How you deal with that is
up to you and your own household. You have to play.
You have to understand the dynamics of your family and
your kids. I don't know that. You have to understand
the dynamic of your your local public school. You have
to understand the dynamic of your wife and you and
(33:49):
your excuse me, your husband, and your ability to be
teachers in your own home and to be stewards of
the curriculum that you're that you need to teach. So
these are things that you have to wrestle with that.
There's too many questions that I don't know from one
message here. As long as you know that the end
(34:12):
goal is not protecting from the world, but preparing for it.
Whatever gets that done, how do you prepare them from
the world, That's really important because I just can't say broadly, oh, yeah,
you're right, everyone should homeschool. Can't say that because I
think in a lot of situations public school is going
(34:34):
to be the best bet to prepare them for the world.
And a lot of people don't have the means for homeschooling,
or they don't have the money or the space or
the ability because they also work full time jobs. So
that's just you can't. I can't say it to everyone. Okay,
(34:57):
that being said, the next part of your question is,
my husband has asked God to reveal his will to us. Well,
his will is revealed through the renewal of our minds.
We know that the Bible, it's very clear that to
understand God's will for us happens through the renewal of
(35:18):
our minds as we study God's word, as we fellowship
with other brothers and sisters, as we are under sound
teaching from our local pastor that has prepared a message
every week from us and then continues to walk as
the shepherd for us throughout the week. This is I
(35:40):
give you this advice, and I live this advice myself
as well. Okay, all everything I'm saying, I'm living myself.
So this is not something I'm putting on you. I
need to follow this myself as well. But we understand
that God and his will for us revealed doesn't happen,
(36:00):
can But it doesn't happen through a dream revelation or
a wild writing in the sky. Okay, it happens through long,
long games of slow, patient reading and studying and serving
(36:20):
and self denying, and as that happens every day, our
minds are renewed, and then we could we could have
a better sense for what He needs for us. Part
of it, you could say, right here through this podcast,
God uses human agency to enact his will and to
speak to us. So part of it could be what
(36:40):
you're hearing right now through this podcast. But I think
the most important thing to take away is there is
no right or wrong answer. Do not be afraid of society.
We raised children up in this society for times like this.
We need good kids to be raised in this society,
and we shouldn't shy away from it. We should build
them up up from our own homes and send them
(37:01):
out prepared with armor on. They go out into the world,
and we don't care what the world brings. Nothing in
the world surprises us, nothing catches us off off guard
because we have prepared them, we have armed them. So
go out because you're made for a time like this, right.
That's that's how we view our children going into the world,
instead of.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
I'm scared of I'm scared of society because they are
indoctrinating us. They are forcing their ideas on our children,
and their whole plan is to make our children conformed
to their ideas, and so we want to shield them
from that and keep them in our own homes. Make
(37:41):
sure I'm not saying homeschooling is bad. I'm saying in
a lot of cases, it's actually really good. But make
sure that.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
That's not your motivation, because that motivation is driven by
what fear. Stop being on defense and go on offense.
As a parent, we stay on offense. Don't go in this,
don't go in this cave where we're defending against the
crazy ideas of twenty twenty three. The indoctrination of our children.
(38:10):
Oh man, hold their ears, hold their eyes. No, we
prepare them and then we go out with their weapons
on offense. Does that make sense? Please don't take that
literal when I said weapons. You know what I mean.
It's a great question, and I hope I was faithful
in walking through that with you. Next question, here got
(38:31):
another one coming up. Oh man, that's so funny. Ironically,
the next question, subject client says, what is God's purpose
for me? A grand dr. I'm sixteen years old, I'm
finishing my junior year in high school. I don't know
what I want to do. After I graduate high school.
I don't really have interest in college at this point,
(38:52):
and I don't have something specifically that I would love
to do as a career. I want to fulfill God's
purpose for me in life. Do you have any advice
on how to find what God has for me to
do in this life? Is there anything wrong with working
at a non career business instead of getting a career
at college or going to further schooling. Thank you for
(39:13):
doing this podcast. It's so enjoyable and encouraging to listen to.
I love your music too. Yee Okay, And you don't
say Joel is your name? You don't say anonymous. I'm
gonna say Joel, thanks for emailing sixteen years old. I
love it when sixteen year old listens to this podcast.
I'm extremely encouraged by that. So it feeling is mutual. Joel.
(39:36):
Let me talk about this a little bit. The first thing,
those of you all that have heard this a long time,
you'll know that I'm probably gonna lead with this. First things. First,
be sixteen. You're worrying about adult problems, and I don't
want you to worry. I want you to think about them,
(39:56):
but I don't want you to worry about them. I
don't want you to stress over them. Because you're sixteen.
It's cool to have a plan. It's cool to say, yeah,
I'm kind of thinking about this and this and this.
But as soon as you start saying I'm really worried
about this, there's a problem. Because you're sixteen, and really
the most important thing you could do right now is
(40:17):
get good grades. And that's so cliche to say, but
getting good grades prepares you for all of the above,
prepares you for all of the answers. Every scenario is
well equipped when you have good grades going through high school. Okay,
you're finishing your junior year, so these are things that
you know. As you get to be a senior, it
(40:39):
becomes more and more important. So get good grades and
then I'm gonna kind of touch on the God's purpose
that don't get hung up on that. We get hung
up on this God's purpose thing, or as in the
last email, said God's will, trying to discern God's will
for me, trying to find out my purpose. You know
(40:59):
what you're purposes, Joel. Your purpose is at the end
of the Book of Matthew, go forth making disciples of
all nations. Teaching them to obey. That's your purpose. It's
all as believers. If you are a Christian, that's your purpose,
going into all nations preaching the Word, teaching them to
(41:22):
be disciples and to obey Jesus. That's what it is.
That's your purpose, and there's many ways of accomplishing that
through all kinds of different jobs and vocations. Next, I'm
going to say this so that you don't get hung
up on that God's purpose thing. Don't do that. Don't
get hung up on as if God is going to
speak to you through the clouds and giving you a
(41:45):
big announcement that you're doing this Now, it's a slow thing.
You're slowly churning that, butter buddy. I just said that,
didn't I. You're slowly churning that, butter buddy. So don't
be looking for big revelation, be looking for small steps.
They're in the right direction. The next thing I want
(42:06):
to say is the end of your email says should I.
Basically you're saying should I go to college or go
straight into a business, or should I pursue further schooling.
I want to say it this way. If you get
to that crossroads at the end of your senior year
(42:29):
and you still have the same question should I go
into work or should I go into school? If you
still are there and nothing's clear to you yet, which
it might not be, It's okay, I didn't have a
clear picture when I was your age at all. When
I was sixteen, I was an idiot. So if you
still have that question at that point, it's always better
(42:50):
to equip with as many tools as you possibly can
before you go out into the world. And a tool
comes from learning some kind of trade or further schooling
for a some kind of degree, So you're either padding
your resume with a degree or you're gaining another tool
for your belt through a tech, some kind of tech.
(43:14):
That's just the that's just the better way to do it. Always,
instead of going, okay, I'm at a crossroads, which way
should I go? The way that you should always go
if you're there and you still don't know, is equip
equip yourself with tools. Now, you could do that while
you're still working. You want to still work and either
go to night's school or work, or go to school
(43:36):
in the day and work nights. But equip yourself with
some kind of trade will just just matter so much
down the road, it will matter to you in ways
that you can't possibly understand. Personal example, I went to
I went to Texas A and M. And I left
(44:00):
after two years to go write songs for EMI Publishing
in Nashville. But then I was at a crossroads about
twenty two years old, thinking I want to go play music.
All I want to do is play music. That's all
I want to do. It's all I cared about. It's
all I thought about was playing music, touring with a band,
and I was romanticized about that. But I knew probably
(44:22):
the best move is to finish that degree that I
started at Texas A and M. So I went back
to college station, lived with my uncle, slept on his couch,
uncle Johnny, and worked at different places and worked for
him in construction, worked as a painter, worked as a
lawn guy, and hosted some open mic nights. As I
was playing music and was able to finish up school
(44:45):
and I got a history degree because I loved history.
But I didn't know how much that was going to
mean to me until literally twenty years later. I was
called out of music and into industry, and guess what
I was able to go into seminary and pursue a
graduate degree on top of the bachelor's degree. I got
(45:09):
to Texas A and M. And if I hadn't done
that when I was twenty two, if I hadn't thought
about going back, then I would be in a different
situation where I wouldn't be able to go seek that
master's degree in seminary. And so my point is it's
better now to equip when you don't have a lot
of responsibility and a bunch of kids running around and
(45:30):
a wife and bills to pay, it's better to go
grab as many things as you are interested in. And
that could just be a general studies degree at at
a junior college or some kind of tech school. If
you're into something that's techie, do that. I've heard Dave
Ramsey say, You're like a caveman in a cave, and
(45:51):
you want to gather as many tools in your cave
as you can sol when you go out of the
cave to make your kill, which is in business or
life or career, you want to have the right tools
to make the kill. And so your tools are something
you could get right now. Joel, don't forget the first
(46:12):
part of this question. Just be sixteen. Don't dig too deep,
just make plans responsibly, but also enjoy being sixteen. That's
all we got today, guys, love y'all so much, See
you next Monday. Thanks for joining me on the Granger
Smith Podcast. I appreciate all of you guys. You could
help me out by rating this podcast on iTunes. If
(46:33):
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
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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On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!