March 14, 2026 • 48 mins
This month on the Blue Chair Podcast Pastor Jared and Charles discuss the second half of the Marvel Series. What did worship, repentance, humility, and heart leave us thinking about? Tune in to find out!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:16):
Welcome and thanks for joining us on the Blue Chair
Podcast, brought to you by FreshWind Church.
Each month, we discuss thelatest sermons from the
perspective of the Blue Chairs.
SPEAKER_01 (00:27):
Hello, and welcome to the Blue Chair Podcast.
I am Pastor Jared, and with meas always, we have Charles
Magar.
Say what's up.
How's it going?
It's going well.
SPEAKER_04 (00:38):
I was asking everybody else.
SPEAKER_01 (00:40):
Oh, hardware.
But this month, we actually arejust soloing it.
We don't have anybody else herewith us.
And so it's just me and youhanging out, talking about the
part two of the Marvel series,which I like that one.
Not even just because I got topreach part of it, but I just
like that one in general.
SPEAKER_04 (01:00):
No, it was a good one.
Um like I was telling you beforewe started, I think every topic
from every week, I could youcould talk about it for hours.
SPEAKER_01 (01:10):
Oh, for sure.
I mean, they not even just thetopics and like what humility is
and what repentance is andthings like that, but talking
about understanding like Godlooked at these people and like
He He did good.
Yeah, He nailed it.
Like that's that in and ofitself is awesome to even just
(01:33):
think about.
I don't know.
Maybe I'm crazy.
SPEAKER_04 (01:36):
No, not crazy.
SPEAKER_01 (01:39):
But we have four weeks.
We talked about humility, wetalked about worship, we talked
about repentance, and we talkedabout heart.
And four different preachers,four different sermons.
And I think Ryan with the heart,he touches on everything with
it, and he did a fantastic jobbringing that all together and
(02:00):
leaving us on that note that umnone of this happens without the
heart.
SPEAKER_04 (02:06):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (02:07):
You want to jump into uh Ryan's sermon first?
Sure.
And what we walked away feelingand thinking from the
perspective of the blue chairs,right?
SPEAKER_04 (02:18):
Right.
Um, I mean, one of the thingsthat I got out of it is um I
kind of posed a question formyself is uh what are some ways
people can guard their hearts ina culture that constantly shapes
our desires?
And I know we've talked about itbefore, but you know, when Jesus
tells us that it's what comesout of a heart is what defiles a
(02:41):
man, well, what comes out ofyour mouth defiles a man because
it comes from the heart.
And ultimately I feel, you know,we were just talking about this
at Life Group too, that we'resurrounded in a world of things
that are against us or couldcorrupt us in some way or
another.
And I think about um socialmedia, which is like the biggest
one right now, between TikTok,Facebook, you know, Instagram,
(03:04):
whatever.
How many hours do people spendscrolling through these things,
not realizing, you know, in yourmind you're like, oh, I'm just
reading it, but ultimately itreally is affecting you.
The things we surround ourselveswith are affecting us.
And you know, even friends ofmine have asked, like, why I've
stopped listening to certainmusic, and this all ties in with
(03:25):
the heart stuff, is like what wetake in, whether we realize it
or not, really is changing ourheart posture in one way or
another.
Oh, yeah.
So when I hear like the thingsRyan was talking about, um, I
just think about like if wespent less time scrolling
through these negative thingsand more time doing positive
things, like how much differentwould your heart look if you
(03:47):
were kind of purging yourselffrom the things of the world and
filling it with the things thatwe should be filling it with?
SPEAKER_01 (03:52):
Oh, yeah.
And it happens slow, it's notlike a big abrupt, like you
listen to one Taylor Swift songand you're like hating
everything and terrible.
And uh it's a it's a slow burnwhere it just these things kind
of rub off on you and you becomea little bit more cynical,
maybe, and you you laugh at acouple more jokes that probably
(04:14):
were inappropriate and not agood place to have them, and um
good place, just not a good joketo tell.
Yeah, um, but it's it's a slowburn, and then you get to a
point where you kind of likelook back and you're like, ooh.
Or even worse, that stuffsomeone else notices it in you,
yeah, and you embarrass yourselfa little bit.
SPEAKER_04 (04:37):
Even on the opposite end though, too, is like as like
even for music, for instance,that's one that I think I
drastically changed fast waswhat music I was listening to.
Um, and even now, um, becauseyou said it's like a slow burn
in the sense of how it makes younegative, but at the same time,
it's slow to realize as you'regetting rid of those things, how
(05:01):
much better of a person ingeneral you're becoming.
Um, because like as I started topurge the music out, you know, I
started noticing like adifference in my attitude and a
difference in how I approachcertain things.
SPEAKER_01 (05:13):
And and I I would have never guessed that that
would come from is that whyyou're like unbelievably happy
all the time and that's a lie.
SPEAKER_04 (05:22):
Because I will never say I'm the happiest person all
the time.
No, but it's just like yourealize the change in yourself,
and it's not like you it's aslow burn in the same sense, but
on the opposite end of thespectrum, where it's like you
slowly start to become aware ofthese things that you're no
longer doing things that youused to do.
SPEAKER_01 (05:39):
But I like it.
What stuck out to me on thisone, um, and I think it's just a
pattern.
I noticed this, and it it's whenI hear it, it just makes me
makes me think on it.
You know what I mean?
Um that God entrustsresponsibility to those whose
hearts are aligned with his.
And Ryan points to um Acts 13,22.
(06:03):
It says, I have found David, theson of Jesse, to be a man after
my own heart who will carry outmy will.
And then he goes and points outthe like the order of operations
of that.
It wasn't like, here I am, Lord,send me and I'll fix myself on
the way.
It's hey, my heart's alreadyaligned to you.
I already want what you want.
Now God's like, all right, I cando something with that.
(06:25):
Now it doesn't mean perfection,it doesn't mean we don't sin.
It doesn't mean we never messup, it doesn't mean that we're
always like showing up to churchon Sunday morning in a good
mood, right?
I think Tim was talking about itevery once in a while when he
does uh um the huddle where he'slike, hey, we're usually running
around doing something andfocused.
If we're not smiling, poke us.
Yeah.
And be like, smile.
(06:45):
Like we're it's just we'repeople still, yeah.
But what we want to happen, whatwe want out of life, what we
want to things that we think aregood and beneficial and holy and
things we want to be a part ofare already after God's heart.
And so then God says, All right,I can work with this, we can fix
the rest.
Let's see what let's put youinto action.
(07:07):
And that is so important for uswhen we're in a position where
we want to teach, whether it'steaching the preschool room or
teaching doctorate level classesat liberty.
If our heart is corrupt, if ourheart's not working towards God,
it's going to affect what we'redoing for.
And it's going to, we're notgoing to be the right people for
(07:30):
that.
And it's going to be obvioussometimes.
SPEAKER_04 (07:33):
Yeah, and I like that you said that because it
kind of pairs with, you know, averse that I had here when I was
reading through all this is fromProverbs 4.23, and it says, Keep
your heart with all vigilance,for from it flows the spring of
life.
So it's like, if I'm someonewho's absorbing things that are
constantly making me angry, likehow if that's affecting my
(07:54):
heart, how is my heart flowingthe spring of life out?
And that I think about that withmy kids and stuff too.
It's like if I'm if I'mconstantly taking things in
that's making me angry andeverything else, like I should
be speaking life into my kids,and that comes from the heart.
And if I'm filling my heart fullof all these negative things,
how am I giving life to mychildren?
SPEAKER_01 (08:13):
Oh, yeah.
So and sometimes you have tohave a conversation with people,
um, people you're close to whenyou're like, hey, you've kind of
been a Debbie Downer lately.
No offense to anybody namedDebbie.
It's just a saying.
You've kind of been a downerlately, and uh it's kind of like
making me a little pessimistic.
(08:35):
Can we like what's going onthere and address it?
And I think that's beneficialbecause we are we are the
church, and like obviously youhave to say that kindly and with
love and all of that good stuff.
Um, don't copy my words verbatimif you have this conversation.
All right, and watch what youdo.
Like, sometimes it's not aconversation that needs to be
(08:57):
had, but um if it's someoneyou're invested in, like a
spouse, and you notice that yourspouse is like just in this real
negative headspace lately, andyou're feeling it affects you
too, and how like how you'reacting and how you're thinking
and where your mind goes whenthere's something goes wrong,
like it's sometimes it'sbeneficial, like as the church
to have that question, to havethat conversation and be like,
(09:20):
hey, I'm noticing this stuff.
Is there a reason for it?
Is there like are you listeningto a new podcast?
Maybe that is like I know forme, and I learned this the hard
way.
There is like I have to likewatch the music I listen to
regularly.
I know you just brought this up.
I don't know why it just dawnedon me like it was an epiphany.
(09:42):
But like Ryan always jokes thatI listen to sad cowboy music.
I do, it's kind of cool, but ifI listen to too much, I start
getting like all sadcowboy-esque, and I'm not cowboy
at all.
I was born and raised inLorraine, Ohio, it's the last
cowboy place on earth, right?
But I start getting all like notpessimistic, but I feel like
(10:04):
this heavy dark, or I don't knowhow to describe it, I don't
know.
And it's it's because everythingthat's coming in isn't
necessarily what it should be.
You know what I mean?
It's not necessarily that thismusic is bad, but are you like,
what are you putting in more of?
Am I spending more time in theword or listening to this new
album on repeat?
That sounded really cool.
SPEAKER_04 (10:23):
Yeah, which we talked about that before because
there's a lot of artists outthere that they're not like the
words they use are not badwords, like they're not using
profanity, you know, they'retalking about real life truths,
and their their art form isfantastic.
The way they can put togetherlyrics is amazing, but at the
same time, it's like it's alldepressing music.
(10:44):
So it's like, how long can youlisten to you know five
depressing songs in a row dayafter day before it really
starts to eat away at you?
SPEAKER_01 (10:51):
That's the truth.
Jumping, same same sermon we'retalking about, Pastor Ryan's
sermon about the heart.
Um, I love that he points outthat being after God's heart
does not mean sinlessperfection.
Yeah, the thing about David washe wanted to obey God above
(11:13):
everything else.
That doesn't mean that he neverslipped up, he never messed up,
he wasn't a fool sometimes.
He was.
But he wanted to.
And I've heard a put similar,but same, same, but different,
where it was when he messed up,what did he do?
He didn't run and hide, he wentstraight to God.
SPEAKER_04 (11:31):
Yeah, I actually have a note in here about that
too.
SPEAKER_01 (11:33):
What that he went to God when he messed up?
SPEAKER_04 (11:35):
Well, yeah, it was uh when Nathan approached him
about uh sinning against theLord with Beth Seba or whatever,
and it it wasn't like a delayedresponse, it was he went
instantly to God and repentedfor it.
SPEAKER_01 (11:47):
Yeah.
Well, well, while most of us arelike, well, I mean, there's a
reason why.
Yeah, like I mean, yeah, it waswrong, but I have a reason.
Yes, I yelled at that person,but like, or I I screamed at my
kids' face, but they were reallyannoying, and they're the reason
they were so close to my facebecause they wouldn't give me
any space.
We try to make up all theseexcuses to like why our sin is
(12:08):
okay.
When David was just like, Man, Imessed that one up.
SPEAKER_04 (12:13):
Yeah, that was all up.
SPEAKER_01 (12:16):
And that's that is so maybe the words encouraging.
SPEAKER_04 (12:22):
No, it I that's why I love reading anything from
David because he made mistakes.
Yeah, he to me, in terms of likethe repentance and everything,
like that, he's a good rolemodel in the sense of like
that's what we should be doing.
SPEAKER_01 (12:37):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (12:37):
Um, not a good role model in other areas of his
life, but yeah, that hisinteraction with God is
undeniably, to me, one of thestrongest you see through
scripture.
SPEAKER_01 (12:49):
So it is.
And just a tangent since we'reon David.
I love David so much too,because he would be able to like
get in his feels and discuss hisfeelings.
SPEAKER_04 (12:58):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (12:58):
As a man.
Like, all right, David wasprobably harder than us all.
SPEAKER_04 (13:01):
And it was like poetic.
SPEAKER_01 (13:03):
Yeah, like David was king, he went to battle, he did
like he was a he was a toughguy.
And then he's writing about likeall this sad, poetic loving the
Lord stuff, and you're like,Man, where are the men that are
doing that today?
Where it's like the toughestdude on the block is also like,
Man, I love the Lord.
Like, that's awesome stuff.
SPEAKER_04 (13:21):
It is literally the whole irony of David is yes, he
was more manly than any of us,but he was also one of the
smallest ones.
Yeah.
A small little shepherd boy whobecomes one of the greatest
warriors while still remainingpoetic and loving with God.
And it's just like you watch hiswhole story unfold and you're
like, where did I go wrong?
(13:42):
But on point with David, andeven with the fact that he went
and repented to God, kind of totie in with your sermon, which I
brought this up to you before westarted, but um a lot of us, and
I am even at fault for it attimes where when I know God is
really like putting his thumb onme a little bit because I'm
getting out of place, whatever,a lot of times like we can see
(14:05):
that as such a negative thing.
And like I was telling you inPsalms 23, when he says, Thy rod
and thy staff that comfort me, II ponder on that verse a lot
because I'm like, here's a guywho obviously was not perfect,
did some wrong things, repentedall the time, but he took
comfort in correction.
Where a lot of times, like wesee correction in such a
negative view, that we're like,no, I'm right, I'm justified in
(14:28):
what I did.
Why are you correcting me?
Well, it's like, no, we needcorrection.
Um, if I trust in myself everyday, I'm gonna fail every day.
Like, I I need to put trust inGod and and accept that
correction.
But what I was telling you, youknow, when I was kind of
studying that verse, justbecause I I don't know, I've
been chewing on it for a while.
The whole, you know, like I wastelling you, the rod being used
on the enemies, you know, that'swhat protected his people, and
(14:51):
the staff was there forcorrection.
So it's like, if I can trust himenough for him to use his rod on
my enemies, like I don't wantthe rod used on me.
And Tim, in one of his sermons awhile back, talked about like
it's a shepherd's job.
If a sheep goes astray enough,sometimes you gotta break his
leg.
You gotta keep it in line.
And I'm like, I don't feel likehaving my leg broken.
SPEAKER_01 (15:11):
Yeah, that's less than ideal.
SPEAKER_04 (15:12):
I'm uh I'm sure at some point, maybe I don't I'm
not trying to guess the future,but I would really hope that uh
I don't need my leg broken.
SPEAKER_01 (15:20):
I volunteer.
SPEAKER_04 (15:22):
I mean, if God says you can do it, I'll accept it.
SPEAKER_01 (15:25):
Fair enough.
I'll walk in there with like abaseball baby, like, sorry, got
some.
SPEAKER_04 (15:29):
Can we find a better way of doing it?
SPEAKER_01 (15:31):
I mean, I suppose, but less fun?
Yes.
SPEAKER_04 (15:36):
But I mean, just that with what you said and just
the whole story of David, likeevery time I feel like I'm
struggling with something, I'mI'm fairly certain if I go back
to any story of David, I canfind an answer to something.
SPEAKER_01 (15:49):
David's David's got some good writings.
Um, what do you want to jump tonext?
Or else we're gonna talk aboutthe heart all time.
SPEAKER_04 (15:59):
Which I mean, it's not a bad thing to talk about
the heart the whole time, butno, I mean we can talk about uh
Mark Brooks's one too.
I forget the title for histhough.
SPEAKER_01 (16:08):
I've named it All Gas No Breaks.
SPEAKER_04 (16:10):
All Gas No Breaks.
I mean, that is an awesomelittle slogan for you.
SPEAKER_01 (16:14):
That is the thing that I walked away from.
He nailed that.
I don't know if why it justclicked with me, but like before
I went up and closed at the endof the sermon, like I wasn't
thinking, like, I don't have anidea of what I'm gonna say until
it's like all right, time to goup.
I'm gonna try to pull somethinghe said, connect it into a
farewell type thing, and moveon.
And he said, all gas, no breaks.
(16:34):
And in my mind, I'm like, that'sgood.
And like that's what I thoughtabout like all week long.
Like, how are we how are weworshiping?
How are we like living oureveryday life for God?
All gas no breaks.
No, I love it.
No questions about what we'redoing, no one's wondering where
our hearts are, no one'swondering um like what our
intentions are or anything.
(16:55):
It's all how can I serve Godbetter?
How can I know God better?
How can I um think God better?
How can I worship God better?
And I'm never gonna let up.
Dude, that's what that's what Iwalked away from thinking for
still to this day.
SPEAKER_04 (17:12):
I just really loved the very beginning when he first
starts talking about um, Icouldn't remember his name, I
still can't remember his name,but the guy who told his
soldiers to go back and burn theboats, because I'm sitting there
thinking, like, first of all,like let's just say, right, we
had to go to a certain piece ofland right to worship God.
(17:33):
And we took boats there andwe're terrified because
something we've never donebefore, or you know, we have no
idea what's awaiting for us onthat piece of land.
And the person leading us says,All right, now go burn the boats
we came in on.
Like, I'd be terrified.
Oh, yeah.
And but at the same time, like,what better of a way to kind of
commit, commit, and also likeit's almost inspiring to the
(17:57):
people in the sense of like youonly have one option now.
Yeah, so that option is win, oryou're just not going home.
So it's like when I think aboutthat in the aspect of like
approaching faith, you know, Iwas telling you that first, that
reminded me of it of no one putshis hand to the plow and looks
back is fit for the kingdom ofGod.
(18:17):
So for me, it's like my old lifeis behind me for a reason, and
it's behind me because none ofit was for God.
So it's like if I'm movingtowards God, I can't keep going
back because it's just gonnakeep tainting me in the same way
that it was before.
So, you know, whether you lookat it like a broken bridge or a
sunken ship, whichever way itis, like at a certain part in
(18:39):
your walk with God, there has tobe a separation from you and
your old self.
So I loved the analogy that hecame out with with the whole
burning the boats and leadinginto that because at a certain
point we really do have to tearthose old bridges down.
SPEAKER_01 (18:53):
Yeah, at some point um we are past the excuse,
right?
When you first come to Christ,like you're still being
sanctified.
God's still working that stuffout of you.
But once God works that stuffout of you, you gotta burn that
bridge.
Yeah, you just you gotta walkaway from it.
(19:15):
When God calls you away from it,you're walking away from it.
And it's it's the only good wayto live.
And it's a way of living inconstant worship, of constantly
being like, Lord, I trust you.
You're number one.
I don't I don't know what theoutcome's gonna be, but I know
(19:37):
I'm not going back.
And um speaking of worship, itmakes me think of uh I was a
made uh made for more made formore.
I got I started going out loudand I was like, no, I'm going to
my head for this one.
SPEAKER_04 (19:53):
Serenade me with the music not happening.
SPEAKER_01 (19:56):
You can hear me sing some Monday nights at youth
group when Allison Second won'tbe at you church.
Otherwise, I'll leave thatsinging to my wife.
SPEAKER_04 (20:06):
I'm glad that you brought up like the not being
ignorant anymore, becausethere's all what is that?
I forget which verse it's in,but it's when it talks about uh
there was a time where Godwinked at ignorance.
So it's like for me, we've whenyou reach a certain point, like
you are kind of enlightened tothe fact that um you know the
(20:28):
truth of the gospel, you knowyou're you're coming to know God
more and more and more.
And at a certain point, like wecan't claim ignorance anymore.
Like what Tim was saying, likehe didn't create a bunch of
babes to remain babes.
Like at a certain point, we'renot warriors for Christ, like
we're not babes anymore.
We should be gaining theknowledge and everything else.
So you know, we were talkingabout it with the repentance
(20:50):
stuff.
We can't come to it with likethis ignorant heart where we can
just blame it on everybody else,or like there has to be a point
where I'm not ignorant of it andI'm at fault.
Do I need to repent?
Yes, but I can't keep shiftingthe blame and pretending that I
don't know I did somethingwrong.
I definitely know I did it.
Oh yeah, but no, that's uh Ireally liked Marxism, uh Marx,
(21:13):
and I like the whole all gas nobreak.
I said Marx's.
SPEAKER_01 (21:18):
Did you just like admit to being a Marxist on the
church podcast?
SPEAKER_04 (21:22):
I totally like pluralized an already plural
word.
SPEAKER_01 (21:28):
Oh, that's great.
Oh man.
You just threw me so far off.
I gotta find where I'm talking.
Oh, 100% staying in there.
What are we gonna talk about?
SPEAKER_04 (21:44):
Uh did we I don't think we've talked about did we
talk about Tim's the humility?
SPEAKER_01 (21:49):
Yeah, I don't want to touch humility.
God's still working that one outof me.
No, I'm kidding.
SPEAKER_04 (21:54):
I was I was just about to say that comment alone
tells me you need to talk abouthumility.
SPEAKER_01 (22:00):
Humility.
Um, the biggest thing thatsticks out to me whenever we
talk about humility, and it'sprobably because it's so common
for people to say, but Godresists the prideful.
And if we look at what we'reable to do and things like that,
and we take all that credit,that's not good.
(22:25):
And Tim points it out in thissermon, and it's one of the big
takeaways I had.
Humility doesn't mean loweringyourself.
Humility doesn't mean thinkingless of yourself, or well, I
mean, if God wasn't helping me,I wouldn't do that.
Well, yeah.
If God wasn't helping you, youcouldn't do that.
(22:46):
If God wasn't helping you, youwouldn't be alive.
Right.
And so, yes, all of that'scoming from God.
And so it's not a I'm not goodenough.
And we kinda we seem to kind ofdo that, especially when it's
like, hey, you guys did a goodjob.
Oh, it wasn't me, it was allCharles.
He he worked like crazy, and Ijust he I he did it all, man.
He I couldn't have done withouthim.
(23:08):
That's even that is in myopinion, and I that's a gray
area, is like lowering yourself.
Like, oh, I didn't do anything,it was all Charles.
Like, no, you did something, andso did Charles, and you got this
awesome thing.
And so when we look at humilitywith the Lord, it's just placing
yourself in the correctposition, right?
Like, yeah, everybody knowsGod's number one.
(23:31):
That's important to know.
We did do some good things, butGod did God did better, God did
immensely more.
And it's not a I didn't doenough.
It's God used me and I waswilling, and that's awesome.
SPEAKER_04 (23:47):
See, and I think that's the key right there is
that God used me and I waswilling.
It's can you take credit for thethings that you did yes?
But I think for me it's thereminder that did I do it yes,
but I did it for God and I didit by God.
So it's I like I don't know,it's it's such a hard topic to
talk about sometimes.
SPEAKER_01 (24:08):
Um we kind of branch away when we're how we discussed
it and how we portray it.
It's a little different than theparable that Tim brought up.
Yeah, but I think that parableis super important, and it's
another thing that kind ofleaves you just picturing that
in your mind.
Like, what was the tax collectorgoing through?
Like, meanwhile, the Pharisee'ssitting there, like, Lord, thank
(24:29):
you that I'm not like all ofthese wretched people.
I'm amazing, and I do all ofthese perfect things, and I've
nailed it.
Like, congrats, dude.
Good for you.
And then meanwhile, the taxcollector's like pounding his
chest, God have mercy on me, asinner.
Like, that's it.
Like, think about like we knowwhat tax collectors were.
(24:50):
They were taking money fromtheir own people, they were
hated by everybody, they weren'tgreat, they were objectively not
good people most of the time.
All the time, I believe.
But to have that, like I couldjust picture it like a wave of
understanding on that.
Like he's listening, and thenhe's just like pounding his
chest, like, how did I get it sowrong?
(25:13):
Please have mercy.
Like, I'm not worth it, but ifyou can find a way to give me
some mercy, I'll take everyounce of it I can.
And like that's just like, dude,how do we how do we portray
ourselves more often?
(25:34):
Yeah, like are we saying like Idid all of these great things,
thank you that I'm not like theother people who won't?
Or are we saying, Man, I'vemessed up a whole lot.
Yeah, I might have done somegood things and I was willing to
do some things, but I'm stillbroken, I'm still a sinner, and
God, I need you to have mercy onme.
(25:54):
And God, I need you to workthese things out of me.
And God, I need you.
I just need you.
SPEAKER_04 (25:59):
Well, and that's I mean, in all the in all the
stuff I've watched, whether itbe debates or whatever, the
thing that scares me the most iswhen you come across the videos
of people talking in a way thatthey don't believe that they
deserve the cross.
And I'm like, no, no, no.
Like, we deserved it.
(26:20):
Oh, we still do.
Christ didn't.
We deserve that cross.
And it's like, it doesn't matterif from today till the end of my
life, let's just say I couldlive a perfect life and I never
sin again.
It doesn't mean I don't stilldeserve the cross.
SPEAKER_01 (26:35):
Yeah, and like for the record, I think we sometimes
get caught up in the cross as inlike the whole thing leading
out, like Jesus could have diedanyway.
Yeah.
Jesus, that was the way theywere killing fulfilled prophecy.
That's how Jesus died for oursins.
I don't think the method inwhich Jesus died for our sins is
(26:56):
as important as Jesus dying forour sins.
Right.
And so when if you're listening,you're like, well, I don't
deserve to be crucified.
Yeah, it's kind of a gruesomething, and maybe you'd haven't
done anything worth beingcrucified for.
But in the eyes of the Lord, dowe deserve eternal life with
God?
No, because we're sinners, we'rebroken.
SPEAKER_04 (27:15):
Yeah, we have that's more so my point.
I don't I don't mean thateveryone should be you know hung
up on a crucifixion, but Ididn't think you were.
SPEAKER_01 (27:23):
I just that that popped into my head.
SPEAKER_04 (27:24):
I'm like, We just as humans, like we do deserve
punishment.
You know, we none of us havelived a perfect life, all of us
have made mistakes way, youknow, in ways that you know
Christ never would have.
So it's like to become in amindset where you think that no
matter what you do, you don'tdeserve it, like that's scary to
(27:46):
me.
Yeah, and I've heard many peopletalk about it in a way where
it's like they honestly don'tbelieve that they do, and I'm
like, hmm, no, no, no, no.
I just I don't know.
SPEAKER_01 (27:55):
That's me.
That is honestly a really slicklie, yeah, that Satan has told
them.
It's not that bad.
I mean, we see it now, like wehave the whole pride parade.
Like we have this whole thingsaying, living in a way that God
has told you not to live issomething you should be excited
(28:16):
for.
And you don't deserve thepunishment of that.
And I'm not saying we asChristians should punish anybody
for it.
People have free will.
It's not, it's our place to lovepeople and to speak truth.
That doesn't necessarily mean goyell some of the truth when
they're not wanting to hear it.
Don't do that, not a greatoption.
(28:37):
But being like, if someone asksyou, or if you're close to
someone, you have aconversation, sure, share the
truth.
But we have this this lie hasper been perpetuated that we
should be so excited andcelebrate because you can't tell
me who to love.
(28:58):
And that's that's a lie.
All and it doesn't have to stopthere, right?
We can have pride in our um inour any type of sin.
Any type of sin.
I told a really, really funnyjoke.
Yeah, was it dishonoring to God?
Probably shouldn't be pridefulon that.
Yeah, not probably, definitely,but it's um pride and humility,
(29:25):
and Tim closes with it, that theparable wasn't about the prayer
itself, but it's about ourposture before God and how we
see ourselves before God.
Compared to God, we're all wayworse.
Infinitely worse.
(29:46):
So we don't need to lowerourselves to be humble towards
God.
We need to look at ourselves andjust have an understanding of
who we're working for and howimmensely better God is than we
could ever be.
And that doesn't mean we're notdoing good things, it just means
(30:06):
let's not pretend that we arethe ones saving us.
Because that's kind of where thePharisees' prayer was coming
from.
Like, I'm doing all of thesegreat things because I'm I can
obey.
And then there's these otherwretches over here doing
whatever.
And God's like, no, what youneed to be pointing out is
(30:27):
you've still messed up, and whenyou're talking to me, you gotta
remember that.
SPEAKER_04 (30:33):
Yeah.
I know, like just for myself,like just you know, from the
perspective of the blue chair,it's not necessarily in line
with um the idea behind theparable, but it's just in like
my daily walk.
Uh, going to school is one ofthe big ones for me right now.
It's like, and I know we'vetalked about this topic before,
(30:55):
but it's no matter how muchinformation or how much learning
I get out of going to school orgetting a degree, I am just
constantly reminding myself tonever let it get me to a point
where I become one of thosepeople that's like, well, I have
a degree, I know more than you.
Well, it's the idea behind it.
You can have as much knowledgeas you want in your brain, but
(31:17):
if you're not truly coming at itwith like an open heart to God
and you know, really relying onHim to reveal the truth behind
things to you, and you're notusing it in the correct way,
then it doesn't really matter.
So for me, it's like if I cometo you, like I'm super excited
because I learned something andI just want to talk about it
because I think it's you know,you know, some cool Hebrew word
(31:38):
that I learned, whatever.
To me, that's fine, but it's themoment I start using my
education as a way to makesomeone else in the faith feel
like inferior, it's it's a mootpoint at that.
SPEAKER_01 (31:50):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (31:51):
So it's like I have to remind myself um that that's
not a person that I want tobecome.
And um another quick one is whatI was telling you earlier, too,
like with work, and I know thisis a topic we've talked about a
bunch of times, but um realizingthat I mean it may not be every
situation, but a lot of timeslike you're gonna find
(32:11):
yourselves in places like atwork where you're criticized
about something, or even in yourdaily walk with a friend or a
family member, and realizingthat you're not perfect, and we
should probably listen to someof these criticisms because who
knows if God's the one puttingthem there to try and expose
these things.
And a lot of times I feel likeour pride gets in the way, and
you're like, that's not me,that's not the kind of person I
(32:31):
am.
And it's like, well, if morethan one person's telling you,
you should probably uh youshould probably listen a little
bit.
SPEAKER_01 (32:38):
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (32:39):
And I just feel like in in today's world where we
people rely more on themselvesthan on God, it's super easy to
get into that mindset whereyou're not taking that
criticism, you're not cominginto it with a mindset as is God
putting this person here onpurpose to expose this thing in
me that I need to work on, butinstead you're like, no, that's
(33:01):
not me.
I'm not accepting that at all.
SPEAKER_01 (33:03):
Yeah.
We have to be willing to listento the criticism as a Christian.
Honestly, Christians should bethe best at it.
Because if we understand thatwe're not perfect and we're
broken people and that we have atendency to do wrong inherently,
(33:25):
then when someone says, Hey, yousounded really mean and you said
that, or you're really hurtingmy feelings, we should be like,
ooh, how can I approach thisbetter?
How would what's it how do I dothis correctly?
Not necessarily they were 100%right.
Because I mean, yeah, you cansay something imperfectly to
somebody and they can take itthe wrong way, and that's in
(33:49):
there's no way you could say itwhere they don't, but the thing
needs to be said.
What's important is that we'resaying it or doing it or acting
in a way that God has called usto act in certain situations.
I mean, like when it was time toflip tables, Jesus did it, and
so it's not necessarily makingeveryone feel comfortable and
(34:09):
happy, but it's taking a honestlook at the the reviews or the
criticism that you get and beingaware that they at least need
they need to be heard out andyou need to do some
self-evaluation.
And maybe they're wrong, maybethey're right.
But if we harden our heartbecause we've got this posture
(34:32):
of I've been my second year ofuh Bible school, I know more
than you, that's wrong.
Yeah, they actually made us reada book at Moody, it's one of my
favorite books, it's like apamphlet book, where it's about
the summer after your first yearof Bible school, and they've
they outline like you go home,you learn a couple big
(34:55):
theological words, you startdebating your parents, and then
you're debating your friends,and then you go up to your
pastor and tell him how he waswrong, and this, that, and the
other, and you make yourselflike a fool, and then you go
back to school the second thesecond year, and you're like
learning all the stuff that theywere teaching, yeah.
And it's like, oh like it is soimportant that when you when you
(35:18):
take in knowledge and God Godreveals himself to you, you
honor that by how you interactand disseminate that
information.
SPEAKER_04 (35:30):
I think it's yeah, there's like a a clear line
where it's no longer edifying orfruitful um the way that you
approach certain situations.
Like even if let's say you diddisagree with something your
pastor said because of somethingyou learned, like you have to go
to it in like uh with a softheart and have that conversation
(35:51):
and also be willing to beedified in return.
Like you might think he's wrong,but he could pull something out
of his pocket that proves youwrong, and you gotta be willing
to accept it.
SPEAKER_01 (35:58):
That's why I it's a personal thing.
Can't stand any protest.
SPEAKER_04 (36:04):
I don't know about you, but if I've never been a
fan, to be honest.
SPEAKER_01 (36:08):
See, I it could be something I agree with.
If you're yelling it from theroad, I'm just like, have a
conversation.
SPEAKER_04 (36:16):
I think everything has a time and a place, but
unfortunately, in in the onesthat I've seen, I don't feel
like people address them in theright way, and it becomes un
I'll use the word again, it'sunedifying.
When you're out there and you'rejust shouting things and anger
and everything, like I just Idon't see a positive outcome
most of the time.
SPEAKER_01 (36:35):
Yeah, and I mean, even the preachers on the
sidewalk yelling, I'm like, Iprefer, I would and it might
just be biased like I'm just Idon't like yelling from the
sidewalk or I don't likehollering out to the world.
SPEAKER_04 (36:51):
I just think it's hard to get someone to listen
when you're preaching or burn.
SPEAKER_01 (36:54):
But if you if you go and have that conversation,
like, hey man, you want to talka minute about this?
And they could be like, Oh, Idisagree with you entirely, but
have a conversation, people arefar more willing, and that's
just a random tidbit ofinformation that has nothing to
do with the topic we're talkingabout.
SPEAKER_04 (37:10):
But well, I mean it it does and it doesn't, but no,
I just it that whole topicthough goes back to something
you mentioned in yours when yousaid something about like
winning an argument with yourspouse or whatever.
SPEAKER_01 (37:23):
So for me, and that counts for online too, by the
way.
Yeah, if you're like one ofthose Facebook warriors just
dropping a comment and making abomb, don't do that.
SPEAKER_04 (37:30):
Yeah, well, I only I only bring the the spouse one up
because it's so easy in thehousehold, like let's say you do
get into an argument and youthink you've won, and you walk
away like I can't be wrong, I'vegot this in the bag, but then
all of a sudden, 10 minuteslater, God puts a little
softening on your heart andyou're like, Oh crap, now I
gotta go back and say I'm sorry.
Because a lot of times, like youcan think you won, but how did
(37:51):
you present yourself in theargument?
Like, did you start yelling?
Did you do this?
Did you do that?
Now you have to go back andyou're gonna be like, whether or
not I won.
I approach that totally wrong.
And it's being able to remainhumble in that situation and
acknowledge the fact that you'rewrong and go back to your spouse
and say that, and even with yourkids or friends or family, you
(38:12):
know, there's a lot of timeswhere I walk away like I'm not
apologizing for nothing, andthen all of a sudden I'm like,
nah, I gotta go apologize.
SPEAKER_01 (38:21):
See, I just want everyone on on listening to know
that when you start talkingabout the like getting the
one-liner in your wife andwalking away, it was a sermon
illustration I used in myrepentance sermon.
And so I was gonna say, I heardsomeone wonderful, like a great
preacher, use that in a sermonone time.
And then you said, It'simportant that you stay humble.
And I was like, Okay, I won't.
(38:42):
Okay, fair enough, fair enough.
SPEAKER_04 (38:45):
But I mean, that did stick out to me though, with
with um I mean that kind of goeswith all of them the heart, the
humility.
Um, but I think that's a a goodone that we should remind
ourselves on a lot becausethere's been many of times that
I've walked away from adisagreement or argument where I
was in the mindset that I didn'tsay anything wrong, I don't need
(39:06):
to apologize, but it's usuallywithin 10 to 20 minutes you're
like, I did something wronghere.
SPEAKER_01 (39:13):
You said the right thing wrong.
unknown (39:15):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (39:16):
And that's a big swell, big pill to swallow.
And usually it's a goodindication that there's
something going on in yourheart.
Maybe it's anger that got in,maybe it's bitterness because
hey, they keep doing this andit's annoying, and so I'm just
going to let them know howannoying it is.
(39:38):
And I'm just gonna lay it allout there.
They should be aware of this, orthey don't, I know they don't
care, and they're doing itanyways.
And we allow this bitterness andanger to get in our heart, and
that's why Ryan finished offwith this heart that like all of
these things are great, all ofthese things that God marvels at
are so good and so important,but all of it is for naught if
(40:01):
we don't get the heart behindit, right?
All of it is an act, it's aPonzi scheme.
We're we're robbing Peter to payPaul, we're gonna be a little
bit more, have a little bit morehumility today, but our
repentance is gonna fail becauseour heart's not in it.
But when we get a heart in it,it works.
Tim pointed out one time thatit's not the fruit of the
(40:22):
spirit.
You can't just have one fruit.
It's not just like, oh, I'mreally good at patience, but
I've got no love.
Right.
Like, that's not how this works.
It's the fruits, it's all ornothing.
Yeah, you can have a gift, butyou have all the fruits.
SPEAKER_04 (40:41):
Now, with you saying that, because this is a legit
question, all fruits, but do youthink you grow in them at
different paces?
So, like, could you grow fasterin patience than you do in in
the Yeah, and I think I think itcan also be I think you can also
(41:02):
just have a less hearty fruit.
SPEAKER_01 (41:07):
Right.
Like I think you could just ingeneral have a less patience,
right?
Like you have you you don't havetime to wait, you always feel
rushed.
But I still that still indicatesa heart problem.
If you are walking in step withthe Lord and God is revealing
the things that you need torepair, then you're going to be
(41:28):
in tune with the fruits and intune with the Holy Spirit that I
need to be patient in here.
It's really, really hard for mebecause that's not how I'm
inclined to be.
But I need to because God hascalled me to this.
And then you do it.
And so whether or not youdevelop those differently, um, I
think there's definitely thedebate for sanctification, and
(41:52):
um, especially like a newChristian might get.
I think new Christians arealways great with love, just in
general, because they've seenwhere they've come from.
Like if you're an adult whobecame Christian and you saw
where you were and you you'vegiven your life to Christ, like
love usually is really, reallystrong there.
SPEAKER_04 (42:09):
Not to mention, like coming into it, you that's like
the first thing I feel like mostpeople say is like, as soon as I
came to Christianity, I just hadthis abundance of love washed
over me.
How easy is it to try and mimicthe same thing that was
overflowed onto you?
SPEAKER_01 (42:22):
Yeah, and there's also the argument that though
it's not necessarily the fruitsof the spirit, it's just your
natural inclination.
Like you might be naturallybetter at suffering.
And that's not the fruits of thespirit.
That's just it's like natureover nurture argument.
Is it God giving you theseabilities because of the fruits
(42:45):
of the spirit, or is it justsomething you already good at
beforehand?
SPEAKER_04 (42:50):
Not that it has anything to do with this, and I
don't know why it's stuck in mybrain, but I have to get it out
before it drives me crazy.
The way you were talking aboutthe um the interaction between
two people, like something thatthis person's doing that really
drives this one crazy, it reallytook me back because I haven't
finished it yet.
I'm almost there.
The screw tape letters, likereading that book put a whole
(43:14):
new spin on how I see likespiritual warfare now.
And I'm like, to to think thatlike the enemy finds something
in like let's say it's you, andthere's something you do that it
really drives me crazy that youdo it, but I just don't say
anything about it.
He's gonna use that one thingthat you do to constantly nag at
me to push me over that edgewhere I just I'm white knuckling
(43:37):
it all the time because I I seeyou doing it constantly.
So when I read that, I was Icouldn't stop talking to Eric
about it.
I'm like, this stuff happensdaily.
I'm like, this puts a whole likedifferent perspective on how I
see spiritual warfare now.
SPEAKER_01 (43:51):
Oh, it is Satan is shrewd, yes, very crafty.
There is no question that theway in Which we fight spiritual
warfare is unfair.
Like if we don't have Jesus,spiritual warfare is 100%
lopsided one way.
If we have Jesus, it's hopsided100% lopsided 100% the other
(44:15):
way.
So it's never a fair fight.
But we sometimes forget thatwe've got the weapon.
SPEAKER_03 (44:21):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (44:21):
And so we we just hide our weapon and then we're
like, oh well, this isn't fair.
But it's it's Satan is soshrewd.
SPEAKER_03 (44:29):
I'm sorry, the way you said that was great.
We hide our weapon, we're like,oh, it's not fair.
Okay.
It is fair.
The weapon's right there.
SPEAKER_01 (44:38):
Yeah.
And so we just need to have haveour weapon, but the screw tape
letters and C.S.
Lewis is one of my favoriteauthors.
All of his stuff is good.
SPEAKER_04 (44:48):
Like the whole book is so simplistic, but it's like
I don't know how he came up withthis stuff.
Like I'm sitting there readingthe interaction between Screw
Tape and his nephew, and I'mjust like, how where did you
like think of this?
It's I don't know.
It just it blew my mind readingthat, and then hearing you say
that just kind of tied it inwith me.
And I'm like, again, it justtotally takes me off on a whole
(45:11):
new level of like how I look atspiritual warfare now.
Sorry, I had to bring it up.
SPEAKER_01 (45:16):
No, that's fine.
We are actually at our our limitright now, and so we're gonna
have to call it here in asecond, but I think that's a
good way to point us back to theheart.
We remember our weapon when wehave our heart, when we have a
heart that is sprinting to God,that we have a heart that wants
nothing more than to not justnot go to hell.
(45:38):
Again, not going to hell isgreat.
But the reason we're a Christianis to have a relationship with
the Lord.
And if we we don't have that,none of these other qualities
we've talked about for the lasteight weeks are going to work,
are are going to be steady, andwe are going to be missing out
(46:01):
on so much, and we won't becalled to action, and we won't
do any of the other things thatPastor Ryan spoke about in his
sermon because we've forgottenthe most important thing.
We've forgotten the heart.
And so if you're listeningtoday, make sure that you get
that heart alignment good, thatheart posture good, and then the
(46:26):
rest of the stuff is gonna come.
Sanctification isn't anovernight process, and it starts
with why are we doing it, whowe're doing it for, and how how
we're going to do it.
And if we do it in a way that isconstantly working towards God,
the rest of the stuff is goingto come.
And hopefully, one day God whenGod talks to you when you get to
(46:49):
heaven, he says, You know, Imarveled when you were super
humble in that era, or Imarveled the way you repented.
That was awesome.
And so that's all we got for youthis month.
Hopefully, you were uhinterested in our insights
today.
We went on a couple tangents,but I think it was a good one.
SPEAKER_04 (47:05):
So it was a good one.
SPEAKER_01 (47:06):
If you want to be on it, go ahead and pull Charles
aside and say, Charles, put meon the podcast.
SPEAKER_04 (47:12):
Yes, we are always looking for people.
Um, so yes, anyone interested,let me or Jared know.
Jared just said let me know,which means he wants you to
bother me.
So, which is not a bother.
SPEAKER_01 (47:25):
I just have like 75 unread texts.
And so if you can't.
SPEAKER_04 (47:29):
Yeah, this is true.
Just reach out to me.
SPEAKER_01 (47:31):
I'm just being realistic, okay?
I'm humbling myself in therecruitment process.
SPEAKER_04 (47:36):
I like what you just did there.
You do?
I do.
SPEAKER_01 (47:39):
All right, guys.
We love you.
We'll talk to you next month,and we will see you on Sunday.
Welcome and thanks for joining us on the Blue Chair
Podcast, brought to you by FreshWind Church.
Each month, we discuss thelatest sermons from the
perspective of the Blue Chairs.
SPEAKER_01 (00:27):
Hello, and welcome to the Blue Chair Podcast.
I am Pastor Jared, and with meas always, we have Charles
Magar.
Say what's up.
How's it going?
It's going well.
SPEAKER_04 (00:38):
I was asking everybody else.
SPEAKER_01 (00:40):
Oh, hardware.
But this month, we actually arejust soloing it.
We don't have anybody else herewith us.
And so it's just me and youhanging out, talking about the
part two of the Marvel series,which I like that one.
Not even just because I got topreach part of it, but I just
like that one in general.
SPEAKER_04 (01:00):
No, it was a good one.
Um like I was telling you beforewe started, I think every topic
from every week, I could youcould talk about it for hours.
SPEAKER_01 (01:10):
Oh, for sure.
I mean, they not even just thetopics and like what humility is
and what repentance is andthings like that, but talking
about understanding like Godlooked at these people and like
He He did good.
Yeah, He nailed it.
Like that's that in and ofitself is awesome to even just
(01:33):
think about.
I don't know.
Maybe I'm crazy.
SPEAKER_04 (01:36):
No, not crazy.
SPEAKER_01 (01:39):
But we have four weeks.
We talked about humility, wetalked about worship, we talked
about repentance, and we talkedabout heart.
And four different preachers,four different sermons.
And I think Ryan with the heart,he touches on everything with
it, and he did a fantastic jobbringing that all together and
(02:00):
leaving us on that note that umnone of this happens without the
heart.
SPEAKER_04 (02:06):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (02:07):
You want to jump into uh Ryan's sermon first?
Sure.
And what we walked away feelingand thinking from the
perspective of the blue chairs,right?
SPEAKER_04 (02:18):
Right.
Um, I mean, one of the thingsthat I got out of it is um I
kind of posed a question formyself is uh what are some ways
people can guard their hearts ina culture that constantly shapes
our desires?
And I know we've talked about itbefore, but you know, when Jesus
tells us that it's what comesout of a heart is what defiles a
(02:41):
man, well, what comes out ofyour mouth defiles a man because
it comes from the heart.
And ultimately I feel, you know,we were just talking about this
at Life Group too, that we'resurrounded in a world of things
that are against us or couldcorrupt us in some way or
another.
And I think about um socialmedia, which is like the biggest
one right now, between TikTok,Facebook, you know, Instagram,
(03:04):
whatever.
How many hours do people spendscrolling through these things,
not realizing, you know, in yourmind you're like, oh, I'm just
reading it, but ultimately itreally is affecting you.
The things we surround ourselveswith are affecting us.
And you know, even friends ofmine have asked, like, why I've
stopped listening to certainmusic, and this all ties in with
(03:25):
the heart stuff, is like what wetake in, whether we realize it
or not, really is changing ourheart posture in one way or
another.
Oh, yeah.
So when I hear like the thingsRyan was talking about, um, I
just think about like if wespent less time scrolling
through these negative thingsand more time doing positive
things, like how much differentwould your heart look if you
(03:47):
were kind of purging yourselffrom the things of the world and
filling it with the things thatwe should be filling it with?
SPEAKER_01 (03:52):
Oh, yeah.
And it happens slow, it's notlike a big abrupt, like you
listen to one Taylor Swift songand you're like hating
everything and terrible.
And uh it's a it's a slow burnwhere it just these things kind
of rub off on you and you becomea little bit more cynical,
maybe, and you you laugh at acouple more jokes that probably
(04:14):
were inappropriate and not agood place to have them, and um
good place, just not a good joketo tell.
Yeah, um, but it's it's a slowburn, and then you get to a
point where you kind of likelook back and you're like, ooh.
Or even worse, that stuffsomeone else notices it in you,
yeah, and you embarrass yourselfa little bit.
SPEAKER_04 (04:37):
Even on the opposite end though, too, is like as like
even for music, for instance,that's one that I think I
drastically changed fast waswhat music I was listening to.
Um, and even now, um, becauseyou said it's like a slow burn
in the sense of how it makes younegative, but at the same time,
it's slow to realize as you'regetting rid of those things, how
(05:01):
much better of a person ingeneral you're becoming.
Um, because like as I started topurge the music out, you know, I
started noticing like adifference in my attitude and a
difference in how I approachcertain things.
SPEAKER_01 (05:13):
And and I I would have never guessed that that
would come from is that whyyou're like unbelievably happy
all the time and that's a lie.
SPEAKER_04 (05:22):
Because I will never say I'm the happiest person all
the time.
No, but it's just like yourealize the change in yourself,
and it's not like you it's aslow burn in the same sense, but
on the opposite end of thespectrum, where it's like you
slowly start to become aware ofthese things that you're no
longer doing things that youused to do.
SPEAKER_01 (05:39):
But I like it.
What stuck out to me on thisone, um, and I think it's just a
pattern.
I noticed this, and it it's whenI hear it, it just makes me
makes me think on it.
You know what I mean?
Um that God entrustsresponsibility to those whose
hearts are aligned with his.
And Ryan points to um Acts 13,22.
(06:03):
It says, I have found David, theson of Jesse, to be a man after
my own heart who will carry outmy will.
And then he goes and points outthe like the order of operations
of that.
It wasn't like, here I am, Lord,send me and I'll fix myself on
the way.
It's hey, my heart's alreadyaligned to you.
I already want what you want.
Now God's like, all right, I cando something with that.
(06:25):
Now it doesn't mean perfection,it doesn't mean we don't sin.
It doesn't mean we never messup, it doesn't mean that we're
always like showing up to churchon Sunday morning in a good
mood, right?
I think Tim was talking about itevery once in a while when he
does uh um the huddle where he'slike, hey, we're usually running
around doing something andfocused.
If we're not smiling, poke us.
Yeah.
And be like, smile.
(06:45):
Like we're it's just we'repeople still, yeah.
But what we want to happen, whatwe want out of life, what we
want to things that we think aregood and beneficial and holy and
things we want to be a part ofare already after God's heart.
And so then God says, All right,I can work with this, we can fix
the rest.
Let's see what let's put youinto action.
(07:07):
And that is so important for uswhen we're in a position where
we want to teach, whether it'steaching the preschool room or
teaching doctorate level classesat liberty.
If our heart is corrupt, if ourheart's not working towards God,
it's going to affect what we'redoing for.
And it's going to, we're notgoing to be the right people for
(07:30):
that.
And it's going to be obvioussometimes.
SPEAKER_04 (07:33):
Yeah, and I like that you said that because it
kind of pairs with, you know, averse that I had here when I was
reading through all this is fromProverbs 4.23, and it says, Keep
your heart with all vigilance,for from it flows the spring of
life.
So it's like, if I'm someonewho's absorbing things that are
constantly making me angry, likehow if that's affecting my
(07:54):
heart, how is my heart flowingthe spring of life out?
And that I think about that withmy kids and stuff too.
It's like if I'm if I'mconstantly taking things in
that's making me angry andeverything else, like I should
be speaking life into my kids,and that comes from the heart.
And if I'm filling my heart fullof all these negative things,
how am I giving life to mychildren?
SPEAKER_01 (08:13):
Oh, yeah.
So and sometimes you have tohave a conversation with people,
um, people you're close to whenyou're like, hey, you've kind of
been a Debbie Downer lately.
No offense to anybody namedDebbie.
It's just a saying.
You've kind of been a downerlately, and uh it's kind of like
making me a little pessimistic.
(08:35):
Can we like what's going onthere and address it?
And I think that's beneficialbecause we are we are the
church, and like obviously youhave to say that kindly and with
love and all of that good stuff.
Um, don't copy my words verbatimif you have this conversation.
All right, and watch what youdo.
Like, sometimes it's not aconversation that needs to be
(08:57):
had, but um if it's someoneyou're invested in, like a
spouse, and you notice that yourspouse is like just in this real
negative headspace lately, andyou're feeling it affects you
too, and how like how you'reacting and how you're thinking
and where your mind goes whenthere's something goes wrong,
like it's sometimes it'sbeneficial, like as the church
to have that question, to havethat conversation and be like,
(09:20):
hey, I'm noticing this stuff.
Is there a reason for it?
Is there like are you listeningto a new podcast?
Maybe that is like I know forme, and I learned this the hard
way.
There is like I have to likewatch the music I listen to
regularly.
I know you just brought this up.
I don't know why it just dawnedon me like it was an epiphany.
(09:42):
But like Ryan always jokes thatI listen to sad cowboy music.
I do, it's kind of cool, but ifI listen to too much, I start
getting like all sadcowboy-esque, and I'm not cowboy
at all.
I was born and raised inLorraine, Ohio, it's the last
cowboy place on earth, right?
But I start getting all like notpessimistic, but I feel like
(10:04):
this heavy dark, or I don't knowhow to describe it, I don't
know.
And it's it's because everythingthat's coming in isn't
necessarily what it should be.
You know what I mean?
It's not necessarily that thismusic is bad, but are you like,
what are you putting in more of?
Am I spending more time in theword or listening to this new
album on repeat?
That sounded really cool.
SPEAKER_04 (10:23):
Yeah, which we talked about that before because
there's a lot of artists outthere that they're not like the
words they use are not badwords, like they're not using
profanity, you know, they'retalking about real life truths,
and their their art form isfantastic.
The way they can put togetherlyrics is amazing, but at the
same time, it's like it's alldepressing music.
(10:44):
So it's like, how long can youlisten to you know five
depressing songs in a row dayafter day before it really
starts to eat away at you?
SPEAKER_01 (10:51):
That's the truth.
Jumping, same same sermon we'retalking about, Pastor Ryan's
sermon about the heart.
Um, I love that he points outthat being after God's heart
does not mean sinlessperfection.
Yeah, the thing about David washe wanted to obey God above
(11:13):
everything else.
That doesn't mean that he neverslipped up, he never messed up,
he wasn't a fool sometimes.
He was.
But he wanted to.
And I've heard a put similar,but same, same, but different,
where it was when he messed up,what did he do?
He didn't run and hide, he wentstraight to God.
SPEAKER_04 (11:31):
Yeah, I actually have a note in here about that
too.
SPEAKER_01 (11:33):
What that he went to God when he messed up?
SPEAKER_04 (11:35):
Well, yeah, it was uh when Nathan approached him
about uh sinning against theLord with Beth Seba or whatever,
and it it wasn't like a delayedresponse, it was he went
instantly to God and repentedfor it.
SPEAKER_01 (11:47):
Yeah.
Well, well, while most of us arelike, well, I mean, there's a
reason why.
Yeah, like I mean, yeah, it waswrong, but I have a reason.
Yes, I yelled at that person,but like, or I I screamed at my
kids' face, but they were reallyannoying, and they're the reason
they were so close to my facebecause they wouldn't give me
any space.
We try to make up all theseexcuses to like why our sin is
(12:08):
okay.
When David was just like, Man, Imessed that one up.
SPEAKER_04 (12:13):
Yeah, that was all up.
SPEAKER_01 (12:16):
And that's that is so maybe the words encouraging.
SPEAKER_04 (12:22):
No, it I that's why I love reading anything from
David because he made mistakes.
Yeah, he to me, in terms of likethe repentance and everything,
like that, he's a good rolemodel in the sense of like
that's what we should be doing.
SPEAKER_01 (12:37):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (12:37):
Um, not a good role model in other areas of his
life, but yeah, that hisinteraction with God is
undeniably, to me, one of thestrongest you see through
scripture.
SPEAKER_01 (12:49):
So it is.
And just a tangent since we'reon David.
I love David so much too,because he would be able to like
get in his feels and discuss hisfeelings.
SPEAKER_04 (12:58):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (12:58):
As a man.
Like, all right, David wasprobably harder than us all.
SPEAKER_04 (13:01):
And it was like poetic.
SPEAKER_01 (13:03):
Yeah, like David was king, he went to battle, he did
like he was a he was a toughguy.
And then he's writing about likeall this sad, poetic loving the
Lord stuff, and you're like,Man, where are the men that are
doing that today?
Where it's like the toughestdude on the block is also like,
Man, I love the Lord.
Like, that's awesome stuff.
SPEAKER_04 (13:21):
It is literally the whole irony of David is yes, he
was more manly than any of us,but he was also one of the
smallest ones.
Yeah.
A small little shepherd boy whobecomes one of the greatest
warriors while still remainingpoetic and loving with God.
And it's just like you watch hiswhole story unfold and you're
like, where did I go wrong?
(13:42):
But on point with David, andeven with the fact that he went
and repented to God, kind of totie in with your sermon, which I
brought this up to you before westarted, but um a lot of us, and
I am even at fault for it attimes where when I know God is
really like putting his thumb onme a little bit because I'm
getting out of place, whatever,a lot of times like we can see
(14:05):
that as such a negative thing.
And like I was telling you inPsalms 23, when he says, Thy rod
and thy staff that comfort me, II ponder on that verse a lot
because I'm like, here's a guywho obviously was not perfect,
did some wrong things, repentedall the time, but he took
comfort in correction.
Where a lot of times, like wesee correction in such a
negative view, that we're like,no, I'm right, I'm justified in
(14:28):
what I did.
Why are you correcting me?
Well, it's like, no, we needcorrection.
Um, if I trust in myself everyday, I'm gonna fail every day.
Like, I I need to put trust inGod and and accept that
correction.
But what I was telling you, youknow, when I was kind of
studying that verse, justbecause I I don't know, I've
been chewing on it for a while.
The whole, you know, like I wastelling you, the rod being used
on the enemies, you know, that'swhat protected his people, and
(14:51):
the staff was there forcorrection.
So it's like, if I can trust himenough for him to use his rod on
my enemies, like I don't wantthe rod used on me.
And Tim, in one of his sermons awhile back, talked about like
it's a shepherd's job.
If a sheep goes astray enough,sometimes you gotta break his
leg.
You gotta keep it in line.
And I'm like, I don't feel likehaving my leg broken.
SPEAKER_01 (15:11):
Yeah, that's less than ideal.
SPEAKER_04 (15:12):
I'm uh I'm sure at some point, maybe I don't I'm
not trying to guess the future,but I would really hope that uh
I don't need my leg broken.
SPEAKER_01 (15:20):
I volunteer.
SPEAKER_04 (15:22):
I mean, if God says you can do it, I'll accept it.
SPEAKER_01 (15:25):
Fair enough.
I'll walk in there with like abaseball baby, like, sorry, got
some.
SPEAKER_04 (15:29):
Can we find a better way of doing it?
SPEAKER_01 (15:31):
I mean, I suppose, but less fun?
Yes.
SPEAKER_04 (15:36):
But I mean, just that with what you said and just
the whole story of David, likeevery time I feel like I'm
struggling with something, I'mI'm fairly certain if I go back
to any story of David, I canfind an answer to something.
SPEAKER_01 (15:49):
David's David's got some good writings.
Um, what do you want to jump tonext?
Or else we're gonna talk aboutthe heart all time.
SPEAKER_04 (15:59):
Which I mean, it's not a bad thing to talk about
the heart the whole time, butno, I mean we can talk about uh
Mark Brooks's one too.
I forget the title for histhough.
SPEAKER_01 (16:08):
I've named it All Gas No Breaks.
SPEAKER_04 (16:10):
All Gas No Breaks.
I mean, that is an awesomelittle slogan for you.
SPEAKER_01 (16:14):
That is the thing that I walked away from.
He nailed that.
I don't know if why it justclicked with me, but like before
I went up and closed at the endof the sermon, like I wasn't
thinking, like, I don't have anidea of what I'm gonna say until
it's like all right, time to goup.
I'm gonna try to pull somethinghe said, connect it into a
farewell type thing, and moveon.
And he said, all gas, no breaks.
(16:34):
And in my mind, I'm like, that'sgood.
And like that's what I thoughtabout like all week long.
Like, how are we how are weworshiping?
How are we like living oureveryday life for God?
All gas no breaks.
No, I love it.
No questions about what we'redoing, no one's wondering where
our hearts are, no one'swondering um like what our
intentions are or anything.
(16:55):
It's all how can I serve Godbetter?
How can I know God better?
How can I um think God better?
How can I worship God better?
And I'm never gonna let up.
Dude, that's what that's what Iwalked away from thinking for
still to this day.
SPEAKER_04 (17:12):
I just really loved the very beginning when he first
starts talking about um, Icouldn't remember his name, I
still can't remember his name,but the guy who told his
soldiers to go back and burn theboats, because I'm sitting there
thinking, like, first of all,like let's just say, right, we
had to go to a certain piece ofland right to worship God.
(17:33):
And we took boats there andwe're terrified because
something we've never donebefore, or you know, we have no
idea what's awaiting for us onthat piece of land.
And the person leading us says,All right, now go burn the boats
we came in on.
Like, I'd be terrified.
Oh, yeah.
And but at the same time, like,what better of a way to kind of
commit, commit, and also likeit's almost inspiring to the
(17:57):
people in the sense of like youonly have one option now.
Yeah, so that option is win, oryou're just not going home.
So it's like when I think aboutthat in the aspect of like
approaching faith, you know, Iwas telling you that first, that
reminded me of it of no one putshis hand to the plow and looks
back is fit for the kingdom ofGod.
(18:17):
So for me, it's like my old lifeis behind me for a reason, and
it's behind me because none ofit was for God.
So it's like if I'm movingtowards God, I can't keep going
back because it's just gonnakeep tainting me in the same way
that it was before.
So, you know, whether you lookat it like a broken bridge or a
sunken ship, whichever way itis, like at a certain part in
(18:39):
your walk with God, there has tobe a separation from you and
your old self.
So I loved the analogy that hecame out with with the whole
burning the boats and leadinginto that because at a certain
point we really do have to tearthose old bridges down.
SPEAKER_01 (18:53):
Yeah, at some point um we are past the excuse,
right?
When you first come to Christ,like you're still being
sanctified.
God's still working that stuffout of you.
But once God works that stuffout of you, you gotta burn that
bridge.
Yeah, you just you gotta walkaway from it.
(19:15):
When God calls you away from it,you're walking away from it.
And it's it's the only good wayto live.
And it's a way of living inconstant worship, of constantly
being like, Lord, I trust you.
You're number one.
I don't I don't know what theoutcome's gonna be, but I know
(19:37):
I'm not going back.
And um speaking of worship, itmakes me think of uh I was a
made uh made for more made formore.
I got I started going out loudand I was like, no, I'm going to
my head for this one.
SPEAKER_04 (19:53):
Serenade me with the music not happening.
SPEAKER_01 (19:56):
You can hear me sing some Monday nights at youth
group when Allison Second won'tbe at you church.
Otherwise, I'll leave thatsinging to my wife.
SPEAKER_04 (20:06):
I'm glad that you brought up like the not being
ignorant anymore, becausethere's all what is that?
I forget which verse it's in,but it's when it talks about uh
there was a time where Godwinked at ignorance.
So it's like for me, we've whenyou reach a certain point, like
you are kind of enlightened tothe fact that um you know the
(20:28):
truth of the gospel, you knowyou're you're coming to know God
more and more and more.
And at a certain point, like wecan't claim ignorance anymore.
Like what Tim was saying, likehe didn't create a bunch of
babes to remain babes.
Like at a certain point, we'renot warriors for Christ, like
we're not babes anymore.
We should be gaining theknowledge and everything else.
So you know, we were talkingabout it with the repentance
(20:50):
stuff.
We can't come to it with likethis ignorant heart where we can
just blame it on everybody else,or like there has to be a point
where I'm not ignorant of it andI'm at fault.
Do I need to repent?
Yes, but I can't keep shiftingthe blame and pretending that I
don't know I did somethingwrong.
I definitely know I did it.
Oh yeah, but no, that's uh Ireally liked Marxism, uh Marx,
(21:13):
and I like the whole all gas nobreak.
I said Marx's.
SPEAKER_01 (21:18):
Did you just like admit to being a Marxist on the
church podcast?
SPEAKER_04 (21:22):
I totally like pluralized an already plural
word.
SPEAKER_01 (21:28):
Oh, that's great.
Oh man.
You just threw me so far off.
I gotta find where I'm talking.
Oh, 100% staying in there.
What are we gonna talk about?
SPEAKER_04 (21:44):
Uh did we I don't think we've talked about did we
talk about Tim's the humility?
SPEAKER_01 (21:49):
Yeah, I don't want to touch humility.
God's still working that one outof me.
No, I'm kidding.
SPEAKER_04 (21:54):
I was I was just about to say that comment alone
tells me you need to talk abouthumility.
SPEAKER_01 (22:00):
Humility.
Um, the biggest thing thatsticks out to me whenever we
talk about humility, and it'sprobably because it's so common
for people to say, but Godresists the prideful.
And if we look at what we'reable to do and things like that,
and we take all that credit,that's not good.
(22:25):
And Tim points it out in thissermon, and it's one of the big
takeaways I had.
Humility doesn't mean loweringyourself.
Humility doesn't mean thinkingless of yourself, or well, I
mean, if God wasn't helping me,I wouldn't do that.
Well, yeah.
If God wasn't helping you, youcouldn't do that.
(22:46):
If God wasn't helping you, youwouldn't be alive.
Right.
And so, yes, all of that'scoming from God.
And so it's not a I'm not goodenough.
And we kinda we seem to kind ofdo that, especially when it's
like, hey, you guys did a goodjob.
Oh, it wasn't me, it was allCharles.
He he worked like crazy, and Ijust he I he did it all, man.
He I couldn't have done withouthim.
(23:08):
That's even that is in myopinion, and I that's a gray
area, is like lowering yourself.
Like, oh, I didn't do anything,it was all Charles.
Like, no, you did something, andso did Charles, and you got this
awesome thing.
And so when we look at humilitywith the Lord, it's just placing
yourself in the correctposition, right?
Like, yeah, everybody knowsGod's number one.
(23:31):
That's important to know.
We did do some good things, butGod did God did better, God did
immensely more.
And it's not a I didn't doenough.
It's God used me and I waswilling, and that's awesome.
SPEAKER_04 (23:47):
See, and I think that's the key right there is
that God used me and I waswilling.
It's can you take credit for thethings that you did yes?
But I think for me it's thereminder that did I do it yes,
but I did it for God and I didit by God.
So it's I like I don't know,it's it's such a hard topic to
talk about sometimes.
SPEAKER_01 (24:08):
Um we kind of branch away when we're how we discussed
it and how we portray it.
It's a little different than theparable that Tim brought up.
Yeah, but I think that parableis super important, and it's
another thing that kind ofleaves you just picturing that
in your mind.
Like, what was the tax collectorgoing through?
Like, meanwhile, the Pharisee'ssitting there, like, Lord, thank
(24:29):
you that I'm not like all ofthese wretched people.
I'm amazing, and I do all ofthese perfect things, and I've
nailed it.
Like, congrats, dude.
Good for you.
And then meanwhile, the taxcollector's like pounding his
chest, God have mercy on me, asinner.
Like, that's it.
Like, think about like we knowwhat tax collectors were.
(24:50):
They were taking money fromtheir own people, they were
hated by everybody, they weren'tgreat, they were objectively not
good people most of the time.
All the time, I believe.
But to have that, like I couldjust picture it like a wave of
understanding on that.
Like he's listening, and thenhe's just like pounding his
chest, like, how did I get it sowrong?
(25:13):
Please have mercy.
Like, I'm not worth it, but ifyou can find a way to give me
some mercy, I'll take everyounce of it I can.
And like that's just like, dude,how do we how do we portray
ourselves more often?
(25:34):
Yeah, like are we saying like Idid all of these great things,
thank you that I'm not like theother people who won't?
Or are we saying, Man, I'vemessed up a whole lot.
Yeah, I might have done somegood things and I was willing to
do some things, but I'm stillbroken, I'm still a sinner, and
God, I need you to have mercy onme.
(25:54):
And God, I need you to workthese things out of me.
And God, I need you.
I just need you.
SPEAKER_04 (25:59):
Well, and that's I mean, in all the in all the
stuff I've watched, whether itbe debates or whatever, the
thing that scares me the most iswhen you come across the videos
of people talking in a way thatthey don't believe that they
deserve the cross.
And I'm like, no, no, no.
Like, we deserved it.
(26:20):
Oh, we still do.
Christ didn't.
We deserve that cross.
And it's like, it doesn't matterif from today till the end of my
life, let's just say I couldlive a perfect life and I never
sin again.
It doesn't mean I don't stilldeserve the cross.
SPEAKER_01 (26:35):
Yeah, and like for the record, I think we sometimes
get caught up in the cross as inlike the whole thing leading
out, like Jesus could have diedanyway.
Yeah.
Jesus, that was the way theywere killing fulfilled prophecy.
That's how Jesus died for oursins.
I don't think the method inwhich Jesus died for our sins is
(26:56):
as important as Jesus dying forour sins.
Right.
And so when if you're listening,you're like, well, I don't
deserve to be crucified.
Yeah, it's kind of a gruesomething, and maybe you'd haven't
done anything worth beingcrucified for.
But in the eyes of the Lord, dowe deserve eternal life with
God?
No, because we're sinners, we'rebroken.
SPEAKER_04 (27:15):
Yeah, we have that's more so my point.
I don't I don't mean thateveryone should be you know hung
up on a crucifixion, but Ididn't think you were.
SPEAKER_01 (27:23):
I just that that popped into my head.
SPEAKER_04 (27:24):
I'm like, We just as humans, like we do deserve
punishment.
You know, we none of us havelived a perfect life, all of us
have made mistakes way, youknow, in ways that you know
Christ never would have.
So it's like to become in amindset where you think that no
matter what you do, you don'tdeserve it, like that's scary to
(27:46):
me.
Yeah, and I've heard many peopletalk about it in a way where
it's like they honestly don'tbelieve that they do, and I'm
like, hmm, no, no, no, no.
I just I don't know.
SPEAKER_01 (27:55):
That's me.
That is honestly a really slicklie, yeah, that Satan has told
them.
It's not that bad.
I mean, we see it now, like wehave the whole pride parade.
Like we have this whole thingsaying, living in a way that God
has told you not to live issomething you should be excited
(28:16):
for.
And you don't deserve thepunishment of that.
And I'm not saying we asChristians should punish anybody
for it.
People have free will.
It's not, it's our place to lovepeople and to speak truth.
That doesn't necessarily mean goyell some of the truth when
they're not wanting to hear it.
Don't do that, not a greatoption.
(28:37):
But being like, if someone asksyou, or if you're close to
someone, you have aconversation, sure, share the
truth.
But we have this this lie hasper been perpetuated that we
should be so excited andcelebrate because you can't tell
me who to love.
(28:58):
And that's that's a lie.
All and it doesn't have to stopthere, right?
We can have pride in our um inour any type of sin.
Any type of sin.
I told a really, really funnyjoke.
Yeah, was it dishonoring to God?
Probably shouldn't be pridefulon that.
Yeah, not probably, definitely,but it's um pride and humility,
(29:25):
and Tim closes with it, that theparable wasn't about the prayer
itself, but it's about ourposture before God and how we
see ourselves before God.
Compared to God, we're all wayworse.
Infinitely worse.
(29:46):
So we don't need to lowerourselves to be humble towards
God.
We need to look at ourselves andjust have an understanding of
who we're working for and howimmensely better God is than we
could ever be.
And that doesn't mean we're notdoing good things, it just means
(30:06):
let's not pretend that we arethe ones saving us.
Because that's kind of where thePharisees' prayer was coming
from.
Like, I'm doing all of thesegreat things because I'm I can
obey.
And then there's these otherwretches over here doing
whatever.
And God's like, no, what youneed to be pointing out is
(30:27):
you've still messed up, and whenyou're talking to me, you gotta
remember that.
SPEAKER_04 (30:33):
Yeah.
I know, like just for myself,like just you know, from the
perspective of the blue chair,it's not necessarily in line
with um the idea behind theparable, but it's just in like
my daily walk.
Uh, going to school is one ofthe big ones for me right now.
It's like, and I know we'vetalked about this topic before,
(30:55):
but it's no matter how muchinformation or how much learning
I get out of going to school orgetting a degree, I am just
constantly reminding myself tonever let it get me to a point
where I become one of thosepeople that's like, well, I have
a degree, I know more than you.
Well, it's the idea behind it.
You can have as much knowledgeas you want in your brain, but
(31:17):
if you're not truly coming at itwith like an open heart to God
and you know, really relying onHim to reveal the truth behind
things to you, and you're notusing it in the correct way,
then it doesn't really matter.
So for me, it's like if I cometo you, like I'm super excited
because I learned something andI just want to talk about it
because I think it's you know,you know, some cool Hebrew word
(31:38):
that I learned, whatever.
To me, that's fine, but it's themoment I start using my
education as a way to makesomeone else in the faith feel
like inferior, it's it's a mootpoint at that.
SPEAKER_01 (31:50):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (31:51):
So it's like I have to remind myself um that that's
not a person that I want tobecome.
And um another quick one is whatI was telling you earlier, too,
like with work, and I know thisis a topic we've talked about a
bunch of times, but um realizingthat I mean it may not be every
situation, but a lot of timeslike you're gonna find
(32:11):
yourselves in places like atwork where you're criticized
about something, or even in yourdaily walk with a friend or a
family member, and realizingthat you're not perfect, and we
should probably listen to someof these criticisms because who
knows if God's the one puttingthem there to try and expose
these things.
And a lot of times I feel likeour pride gets in the way, and
you're like, that's not me,that's not the kind of person I
(32:31):
am.
And it's like, well, if morethan one person's telling you,
you should probably uh youshould probably listen a little
bit.
SPEAKER_01 (32:38):
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (32:39):
And I just feel like in in today's world where we
people rely more on themselvesthan on God, it's super easy to
get into that mindset whereyou're not taking that
criticism, you're not cominginto it with a mindset as is God
putting this person here onpurpose to expose this thing in
me that I need to work on, butinstead you're like, no, that's
(33:01):
not me.
I'm not accepting that at all.
SPEAKER_01 (33:03):
Yeah.
We have to be willing to listento the criticism as a Christian.
Honestly, Christians should bethe best at it.
Because if we understand thatwe're not perfect and we're
broken people and that we have atendency to do wrong inherently,
(33:25):
then when someone says, Hey, yousounded really mean and you said
that, or you're really hurtingmy feelings, we should be like,
ooh, how can I approach thisbetter?
How would what's it how do I dothis correctly?
Not necessarily they were 100%right.
Because I mean, yeah, you cansay something imperfectly to
somebody and they can take itthe wrong way, and that's in
(33:49):
there's no way you could say itwhere they don't, but the thing
needs to be said.
What's important is that we'resaying it or doing it or acting
in a way that God has called usto act in certain situations.
I mean, like when it was time toflip tables, Jesus did it, and
so it's not necessarily makingeveryone feel comfortable and
(34:09):
happy, but it's taking a honestlook at the the reviews or the
criticism that you get and beingaware that they at least need
they need to be heard out andyou need to do some
self-evaluation.
And maybe they're wrong, maybethey're right.
But if we harden our heartbecause we've got this posture
(34:32):
of I've been my second year ofuh Bible school, I know more
than you, that's wrong.
Yeah, they actually made us reada book at Moody, it's one of my
favorite books, it's like apamphlet book, where it's about
the summer after your first yearof Bible school, and they've
they outline like you go home,you learn a couple big
(34:55):
theological words, you startdebating your parents, and then
you're debating your friends,and then you go up to your
pastor and tell him how he waswrong, and this, that, and the
other, and you make yourselflike a fool, and then you go
back to school the second thesecond year, and you're like
learning all the stuff that theywere teaching, yeah.
And it's like, oh like it is soimportant that when you when you
(35:18):
take in knowledge and God Godreveals himself to you, you
honor that by how you interactand disseminate that
information.
SPEAKER_04 (35:30):
I think it's yeah, there's like a a clear line
where it's no longer edifying orfruitful um the way that you
approach certain situations.
Like even if let's say you diddisagree with something your
pastor said because of somethingyou learned, like you have to go
to it in like uh with a softheart and have that conversation
(35:51):
and also be willing to beedified in return.
Like you might think he's wrong,but he could pull something out
of his pocket that proves youwrong, and you gotta be willing
to accept it.
SPEAKER_01 (35:58):
That's why I it's a personal thing.
Can't stand any protest.
SPEAKER_04 (36:04):
I don't know about you, but if I've never been a
fan, to be honest.
SPEAKER_01 (36:08):
See, I it could be something I agree with.
If you're yelling it from theroad, I'm just like, have a
conversation.
SPEAKER_04 (36:16):
I think everything has a time and a place, but
unfortunately, in in the onesthat I've seen, I don't feel
like people address them in theright way, and it becomes un
I'll use the word again, it'sunedifying.
When you're out there and you'rejust shouting things and anger
and everything, like I just Idon't see a positive outcome
most of the time.
SPEAKER_01 (36:35):
Yeah, and I mean, even the preachers on the
sidewalk yelling, I'm like, Iprefer, I would and it might
just be biased like I'm just Idon't like yelling from the
sidewalk or I don't likehollering out to the world.
SPEAKER_04 (36:51):
I just think it's hard to get someone to listen
when you're preaching or burn.
SPEAKER_01 (36:54):
But if you if you go and have that conversation,
like, hey man, you want to talka minute about this?
And they could be like, Oh, Idisagree with you entirely, but
have a conversation, people arefar more willing, and that's
just a random tidbit ofinformation that has nothing to
do with the topic we're talkingabout.
SPEAKER_04 (37:10):
But well, I mean it it does and it doesn't, but no,
I just it that whole topicthough goes back to something
you mentioned in yours when yousaid something about like
winning an argument with yourspouse or whatever.
SPEAKER_01 (37:23):
So for me, and that counts for online too, by the
way.
Yeah, if you're like one ofthose Facebook warriors just
dropping a comment and making abomb, don't do that.
SPEAKER_04 (37:30):
Yeah, well, I only I only bring the the spouse one up
because it's so easy in thehousehold, like let's say you do
get into an argument and youthink you've won, and you walk
away like I can't be wrong, I'vegot this in the bag, but then
all of a sudden, 10 minuteslater, God puts a little
softening on your heart andyou're like, Oh crap, now I
gotta go back and say I'm sorry.
Because a lot of times, like youcan think you won, but how did
(37:51):
you present yourself in theargument?
Like, did you start yelling?
Did you do this?
Did you do that?
Now you have to go back andyou're gonna be like, whether or
not I won.
I approach that totally wrong.
And it's being able to remainhumble in that situation and
acknowledge the fact that you'rewrong and go back to your spouse
and say that, and even with yourkids or friends or family, you
(38:12):
know, there's a lot of timeswhere I walk away like I'm not
apologizing for nothing, andthen all of a sudden I'm like,
nah, I gotta go apologize.
SPEAKER_01 (38:21):
See, I just want everyone on on listening to know
that when you start talkingabout the like getting the
one-liner in your wife andwalking away, it was a sermon
illustration I used in myrepentance sermon.
And so I was gonna say, I heardsomeone wonderful, like a great
preacher, use that in a sermonone time.
And then you said, It'simportant that you stay humble.
And I was like, Okay, I won't.
(38:42):
Okay, fair enough, fair enough.
SPEAKER_04 (38:45):
But I mean, that did stick out to me though, with
with um I mean that kind of goeswith all of them the heart, the
humility.
Um, but I think that's a a goodone that we should remind
ourselves on a lot becausethere's been many of times that
I've walked away from adisagreement or argument where I
was in the mindset that I didn'tsay anything wrong, I don't need
(39:06):
to apologize, but it's usuallywithin 10 to 20 minutes you're
like, I did something wronghere.
SPEAKER_01 (39:13):
You said the right thing wrong.
unknown (39:15):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (39:16):
And that's a big swell, big pill to swallow.
And usually it's a goodindication that there's
something going on in yourheart.
Maybe it's anger that got in,maybe it's bitterness because
hey, they keep doing this andit's annoying, and so I'm just
going to let them know howannoying it is.
(39:38):
And I'm just gonna lay it allout there.
They should be aware of this, orthey don't, I know they don't
care, and they're doing itanyways.
And we allow this bitterness andanger to get in our heart, and
that's why Ryan finished offwith this heart that like all of
these things are great, all ofthese things that God marvels at
are so good and so important,but all of it is for naught if
(40:01):
we don't get the heart behindit, right?
All of it is an act, it's aPonzi scheme.
We're we're robbing Peter to payPaul, we're gonna be a little
bit more, have a little bit morehumility today, but our
repentance is gonna fail becauseour heart's not in it.
But when we get a heart in it,it works.
Tim pointed out one time thatit's not the fruit of the
(40:22):
spirit.
You can't just have one fruit.
It's not just like, oh, I'mreally good at patience, but
I've got no love.
Right.
Like, that's not how this works.
It's the fruits, it's all ornothing.
Yeah, you can have a gift, butyou have all the fruits.
SPEAKER_04 (40:41):
Now, with you saying that, because this is a legit
question, all fruits, but do youthink you grow in them at
different paces?
So, like, could you grow fasterin patience than you do in in
the Yeah, and I think I think itcan also be I think you can also
(41:02):
just have a less hearty fruit.
SPEAKER_01 (41:07):
Right.
Like I think you could just ingeneral have a less patience,
right?
Like you have you you don't havetime to wait, you always feel
rushed.
But I still that still indicatesa heart problem.
If you are walking in step withthe Lord and God is revealing
the things that you need torepair, then you're going to be
(41:28):
in tune with the fruits and intune with the Holy Spirit that I
need to be patient in here.
It's really, really hard for mebecause that's not how I'm
inclined to be.
But I need to because God hascalled me to this.
And then you do it.
And so whether or not youdevelop those differently, um, I
think there's definitely thedebate for sanctification, and
(41:52):
um, especially like a newChristian might get.
I think new Christians arealways great with love, just in
general, because they've seenwhere they've come from.
Like if you're an adult whobecame Christian and you saw
where you were and you you'vegiven your life to Christ, like
love usually is really, reallystrong there.
SPEAKER_04 (42:09):
Not to mention, like coming into it, you that's like
the first thing I feel like mostpeople say is like, as soon as I
came to Christianity, I just hadthis abundance of love washed
over me.
How easy is it to try and mimicthe same thing that was
overflowed onto you?
SPEAKER_01 (42:22):
Yeah, and there's also the argument that though
it's not necessarily the fruitsof the spirit, it's just your
natural inclination.
Like you might be naturallybetter at suffering.
And that's not the fruits of thespirit.
That's just it's like natureover nurture argument.
Is it God giving you theseabilities because of the fruits
(42:45):
of the spirit, or is it justsomething you already good at
beforehand?
SPEAKER_04 (42:50):
Not that it has anything to do with this, and I
don't know why it's stuck in mybrain, but I have to get it out
before it drives me crazy.
The way you were talking aboutthe um the interaction between
two people, like something thatthis person's doing that really
drives this one crazy, it reallytook me back because I haven't
finished it yet.
I'm almost there.
The screw tape letters, likereading that book put a whole
(43:14):
new spin on how I see likespiritual warfare now.
And I'm like, to to think thatlike the enemy finds something
in like let's say it's you, andthere's something you do that it
really drives me crazy that youdo it, but I just don't say
anything about it.
He's gonna use that one thingthat you do to constantly nag at
me to push me over that edgewhere I just I'm white knuckling
(43:37):
it all the time because I I seeyou doing it constantly.
So when I read that, I was Icouldn't stop talking to Eric
about it.
I'm like, this stuff happensdaily.
I'm like, this puts a whole likedifferent perspective on how I
see spiritual warfare now.
SPEAKER_01 (43:51):
Oh, it is Satan is shrewd, yes, very crafty.
There is no question that theway in Which we fight spiritual
warfare is unfair.
Like if we don't have Jesus,spiritual warfare is 100%
lopsided one way.
If we have Jesus, it's hopsided100% lopsided 100% the other
(44:15):
way.
So it's never a fair fight.
But we sometimes forget thatwe've got the weapon.
SPEAKER_03 (44:21):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (44:21):
And so we we just hide our weapon and then we're
like, oh well, this isn't fair.
But it's it's Satan is soshrewd.
SPEAKER_03 (44:29):
I'm sorry, the way you said that was great.
We hide our weapon, we're like,oh, it's not fair.
Okay.
It is fair.
The weapon's right there.
SPEAKER_01 (44:38):
Yeah.
And so we just need to have haveour weapon, but the screw tape
letters and C.S.
Lewis is one of my favoriteauthors.
All of his stuff is good.
SPEAKER_04 (44:48):
Like the whole book is so simplistic, but it's like
I don't know how he came up withthis stuff.
Like I'm sitting there readingthe interaction between Screw
Tape and his nephew, and I'mjust like, how where did you
like think of this?
It's I don't know.
It just it blew my mind readingthat, and then hearing you say
that just kind of tied it inwith me.
And I'm like, again, it justtotally takes me off on a whole
(45:11):
new level of like how I look atspiritual warfare now.
Sorry, I had to bring it up.
SPEAKER_01 (45:16):
No, that's fine.
We are actually at our our limitright now, and so we're gonna
have to call it here in asecond, but I think that's a
good way to point us back to theheart.
We remember our weapon when wehave our heart, when we have a
heart that is sprinting to God,that we have a heart that wants
nothing more than to not justnot go to hell.
(45:38):
Again, not going to hell isgreat.
But the reason we're a Christianis to have a relationship with
the Lord.
And if we we don't have that,none of these other qualities
we've talked about for the lasteight weeks are going to work,
are are going to be steady, andwe are going to be missing out
(46:01):
on so much, and we won't becalled to action, and we won't
do any of the other things thatPastor Ryan spoke about in his
sermon because we've forgottenthe most important thing.
We've forgotten the heart.
And so if you're listeningtoday, make sure that you get
that heart alignment good, thatheart posture good, and then the
(46:26):
rest of the stuff is gonna come.
Sanctification isn't anovernight process, and it starts
with why are we doing it, whowe're doing it for, and how how
we're going to do it.
And if we do it in a way that isconstantly working towards God,
the rest of the stuff is goingto come.
And hopefully, one day God whenGod talks to you when you get to
(46:49):
heaven, he says, You know, Imarveled when you were super
humble in that era, or Imarveled the way you repented.
That was awesome.
And so that's all we got for youthis month.
Hopefully, you were uhinterested in our insights
today.
We went on a couple tangents,but I think it was a good one.
SPEAKER_04 (47:05):
So it was a good one.
SPEAKER_01 (47:06):
If you want to be on it, go ahead and pull Charles
aside and say, Charles, put meon the podcast.
SPEAKER_04 (47:12):
Yes, we are always looking for people.
Um, so yes, anyone interested,let me or Jared know.
Jared just said let me know,which means he wants you to
bother me.
So, which is not a bother.
SPEAKER_01 (47:25):
I just have like 75 unread texts.
And so if you can't.
SPEAKER_04 (47:29):
Yeah, this is true.
Just reach out to me.
SPEAKER_01 (47:31):
I'm just being realistic, okay?
I'm humbling myself in therecruitment process.
SPEAKER_04 (47:36):
I like what you just did there.
You do?
I do.
SPEAKER_01 (47:39):
All right, guys.
We love you.
We'll talk to you next month,and we will see you on Sunday.
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