May 10, 2025 • 53 mins
Join Pastor Jared Persinger and Charles Magyar in this episode of The Blue Chair Podcast as they dive into the powerful sermons delivered throughout April, building up to the celebration of Easter. Reflecting on their thoughts from the blue chairs. Plus, the hosts and special guest share highlights from a special event, A Day of Faith, Hope, and Gratitude, exploring its impact and the stories of connection and inspiration it sparked. Grab a seat and tune in for a heartfelt conversation filled with wisdom, warmth, and encouragement.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Welcome and thanks for joining us on the Blue Chair
Podcast, brought to you by aFresh Wind Church.
Each month, we discuss thelatest sermons from the
perspective of the Blue Chairs.
Hello and welcome to the BlueChair Podcast.
I am Pastor Jared and, asalways, I'm here with Charles.
Say what's up, Charles.
What's up, Charles?
I?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
can't stand you.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
But we have a special guest today and a fun fact for
anybody who didn't know.
Our special guest is Mr ScottPexey, but he was also, in case
you didn't know, my seventhgrade math teacher.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I did not know that.
That is actually awesome.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
So back in the day he was the one who failed me every
time I didn't study for my mathtests.
Say hi, scott.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Hello.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Which I will say, the first dozen times that I talked
to him here at church I calledhim Mr Pexey.
Still, it took him saying justcall me Scott Jared, for me to
actually do it.
I was like I'm not sure exactlyhow I address him, but I'm
going to call him Mr Pexeyforever, probably.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
I mean, that's fair.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Yeah, all good.
So this is going to be aninteresting podcast today.
So we are going to recap thelast sermons.
We were leading up into Easter,we had Good Friday service, we
had Easter service, we had theCome to the Mountain series
leading into that, but we alsohad a super interesting and
(01:42):
amazing event that just happenedat the church on May 3rd.
It is the Faith, gratitude andHope event that Scott and
Ravonda put on and we werediscussing the podcast, what we
were going to talk about, and wereally feel like these Come to
the Mountain sermons and theFaith, gratitude and Hope event
(02:03):
all work together really nicely.
And so, for those of you whodidn't attend, we're going to go
ahead and discuss what thisevent was, where it came from,
what was the genesis of it, andkind of get a sense of that as
we go into it, because it was anevent about you know what.
I'm not even going to try toexplain, I'm going to let you do
it, scott.
What was the genesis of this?
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Well, it came from a couple places.
So very early on after thediagnosis I was sitting down
with Ryan talking to Ravondaback and forth and kind of the
idea right from the get-go waswhat can we do because of our
story?
How can we help people?
What can we do with this?
(02:45):
What's the message that we wantto get out to people?
That sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
So for those who don't know what is the story,
Like what happened.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Well, so Ravonda, my beloved, was diagnosed with
breast cancer last February.
It was a very rare andaggressive form of breast cancer
, so we were kind of freakingout about what you know what was
really going to happen.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Understandably.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
How's this going to go?
But anyway, and then, as youknow, some crazy stuff happened
at the beginning, you know, alittle appendectomy along the
way it held us back.
And then with the aggressivecancer, we wanted to make sure
we got going right away and wehad these little roadblocks and
things.
But anyway, so along that waythere's a few stories that kind
(03:35):
of will tie in later.
But we were kind of talkingwith Ryan, trying to figure out
what we could do to help people,that sort of stuff, and trying
to get the focus on what wecould do through her story.
And as time went on, we wentthrough the process and things
ended up very favorably withGod's help.
But it was getting towards theend of the journey and we were
(04:01):
trying to figure out how wecould thank people.
So that's the gratitude part.
Through this whole processeverybody came to our aid, which
was a little weird too, becausewe're typically givers and now
all of a sudden we're receivingall this help.
But there's a lot of gratitudethere and trying to figure out
how to help everybody.
(04:21):
And then Ravonda was thinkingabout ringing a bell at Fairview
Hospital in this room thatholds about five people and her
list was up to 50 or 60 peoplethat she wanted to come watch
her do that.
So we needed a bigger venue.
So it kind of originallystarted with kind of thanking
(04:42):
those who helped us along theway family, friends, people here
at the church and then itbecame okay, well, we got this
message.
Other people have a similarstory, so let's get that story
out and help people and inspirepeople.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
That is awesome and we talk about it all the time,
Charles how sometimes life isgoing to hit you with something.
Life is going to be difficult.
Life is going to hit you withsomething right.
Life is going to be difficult,Life is going to be hard.
We talked about it in our lifegroup yesterday that as
Christians, we have a target onour back and we have an
adversary, but in the middle ofthat, you were saying how can we
(05:20):
serve God through this?
And you don't see that often,and so that's super commendable.
That is awesome.
Do you have anything you wantto throw in there, Charles?
Speaker 2 (05:31):
I mean it's a lot.
It is so like, reading throughyour speech, like it's really
good to hear this from otherpeople, because you know we've
all had things, things go wrongand a lot of us don't talk about
it, um, and to hear your guys'sstory and to kind of share that
experience with you, um, youknow, through your words, I
(05:55):
think, the the big list of whereyou went on about, um, learning
to pivot in your walk and to beable to adjust based on those
things that are given to you,and I feel like that's a lot.
That's a place where a lot ofpeople struggle and it kind of
ties in with some of the stuffthey were talking about in the
you know the episodes that we'regoing to go through.
Is, you know, wanting a fixerWell, it's not always going to
(06:17):
be a fixer Like there's thingsthat we're going to have to do
and learn to adjust with him andto do it ourselves as well.
So, reading through that storyand trying to tie it in with all
these sermons that you knowwe're also here to talk about,
like it all goes really well inyour guys' story, Like as
heartbreaking it is to hear thatkind of stuff.
It's also very inspirational tosee you know the struggle that
you guys went through and howyou were able to pull out of it
(06:38):
and you know all through thegrace of God.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
I appreciate that very much, God, I appreciate
that very much.
The story of the pivot it'sbasically just standing where
you're at dealing with whatyou're dealing with, seeing
everything around you, and justpivoting one direction or
another.
Just standing where you're atgoing to go this direction,
going to go that direction, andthen every step you take in that
(07:03):
direction brings you furtherand further away from where you
would have been had you notpivoted.
Yeah, and you know, the pivotitself is very easy.
Sometimes that might be alittle conversation with the
spirit kind of thing, but justkind of knowing where you know,
knowing it's time, knowingsomething's got to change, and
(07:25):
you know that something's got tochange and that can be applied
to everything.
But just making a small littlepivot and away you go.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
The fact you are right that it can be applied to
everything and the fact thatyou've applied it to this.
But if we're, I was going topick Lilo from school today,
right, and the Turnpike is doinga million different bridges
right now, and so every bridgethat I was trying to cross, from
going the south side of Lorainto Opendoor, I tried to like go
(07:58):
one way and there was a trainblocking on Oberlin Road and all
kinds of things, and so we'repivoting all these different
ways.
But if we're pivoting all thesedifferent ways, but if we're
struggling with something andwe're trying to in our walk with
Christ, and something happensand we have this plan that we're
going to do that we're going to, we have this five year plan
and we're going to buy thishouse and we're going to do this
to the house and we're going tohave all of these things
something as insignificant asthat but can feel like it's such
(08:21):
a big thing because our plansaren't going the way we want.
If we're just willing to pivotto let God say hey, you're not
going to buy this house, I'mgoing to move you in this area
so you're closer to thiscommunity and you can reach them
, because that's where I needyou.
If we sit there and we try toforce our way into one thing and
we're hitting a brick wallbecause that's not where God
wants us to go, or there'ssomething there that is fighting
(08:41):
against us, something therethat is fighting against us, if
we could just pivot and go theway God wants us to, or the way
God's leading us, or the waythat's available at the moment,
and allow God to do the rest.
That's a lesson that I think alot of us need to learn and walk
away with.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
I agree.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
So let's get into a little bit more of some talking
points and throw anything.
Anybody throw anything out fromeither previous sermons or from
the event.
I didn't give us a good seguethere, did I?
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Oh, I mean I guess I can start it off.
So one of the ones that Ireally liked was the fixer thing
.
When Ryan's talking about youknow, there's a lot of people
that are looking at Christ to bea fixer and I can't say that
I've never done that.
I mean, obviously, as you'regoing through life, you're going
(09:41):
to run into issues and I thinkone of the examples that he
brought up was like finances.
You know that kind of stuffLike you're just saying you know
I want you to fix this for me,I want you to make this better,
I want this or whatever the casemay be.
But, like in listening to himtalk about that, it brought up
some verses in my mind that Iwent back to, like Matthew 11,
28, the you know hisrighteousness and all things
(10:12):
will be added to you.
So I take those verses and whatRyan said and also pair it with
Tim and if we did these things,like it's telling us to do, he's
not going to let us go without.
You know, when it's talkingabout the birds of the air and
the flowers in the field, likehe knows the things that we need
, but he knows when we need them.
So a lot of times when I sitthere and I think about these
(10:32):
things and I think about, youknow, him talking about the
fixer.
It's the answer that we wantright now, but not necessarily
when we need it.
Um, so I think, like even formyself, this is something I need
to work on just being able torest in the idea that he knows
what I need and when I need it,and letting him guide me through
that process.
But, yeah, that's one of thethings that I was.
(10:55):
It kind of hit me a little bitwhen I was hearing him talk
about that.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Now I agree completely and our situation
over the last few years kind ofties into that too.
The verse that comes to my mind, and that one is John 16, 33.
It says I have said thesethings to you that in me you may
have peace In the world.
You will have tribulation, buttake heart, I have overcome the
(11:20):
world.
And kind of put that togetherwith just kind of generally
general life.
You know things are going tohappen to you, things, you know
that's unavoidable.
But through his power andthrough what he has overcome,
through the resurrection andcrucifixion and all that, he
will, you know, bring youthrough.
(11:42):
But you know there has to be adegree of trust there.
And then you know somewhere inyour story that trust is going
to kick in.
You know, for us it was kind ofin the waiting of to get things
started and kind of dealingwith all the things that came
(12:03):
with treatments and everything.
But you know you see all thatand you're thinking that all
these horrible things arehappening.
But if you just trust that thisis all part of his plan, it
kind of puts everything inperspective for you and it's
definitely going to be on histime.
And the other kind of pointthat stuck with us.
It's not necessarily what'sgoing to be best for you in the
(12:25):
long run, but more about what'sgoing to be better for his
people, people in general.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Yeah, I like that point.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
And we know to bring back to my sermon which, in my
opinion, is the best one wecould have recapped in this.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
I'm just going to agree with you, because you're
sitting right here, I controlyour microphone.
Yeah, that's true too.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
It points back to the God keeping his promises.
God's raw near to us, but Godkeeps his promises and it may
not turn out the exact way youwanted it.
Moses didn't get to go into thepromised land, but God was
faithful that he led his peopleto the promised land and he let
Moses see that.
And there's so much truth inthat that when you're in the
(13:06):
heat of the moment and you haveto trust in those moments where
it's it's difficult, but you'regoing to trust, God's plan is
going to be the best plan foryou, even if you don't see the
outcome.
Having that faith that God willkeep his promises is pivotal in
the walk of a Christian.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Yeah, I think there's a couple of good connections
there too that you know.
Again, getting to thebetterment of the people, you
know the Israelites are the oneswho benefited there and not
Moses.
So you know he was doing whatneeded to be done for the
betterment of the people.
Also, you can make a connectionto Moses's calling.
(13:44):
He followed through on hiscalling, recognized his calling
and, even though it may not havebeen the best thing for him, he
was going to do what God askedhim to do for the betterment of
others.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Yeah and I like that you brought that up too, because
we talked about that in lifegroup the other night too about
everyone, we all have ourcallings for something, um, and
the way we discussed it was thatsome people are afraid, I think
, to accept that calling becausethey don't know what it means
for them.
Yep, um, so I mean it's I.
(14:19):
I just like that you broughtthat up because there's a.
I feel like there's a lot oftimes that we are called to do
something and I agree 100 withwhat you're saying, that it's
not always to the benefit of usbut to everyone.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Like there's a calling for you for a reason,
and it's not just to benefityourself but to benefit those
around you and the thing is wehave to remember that that
that's okay, like as servants toGod, if we surrender to Jesus
and whatever he is calling us todo, we have to be okay to take
(14:55):
one for the team my thought justran out.
We were talking about that lifegroup.
There we go.
If all Jesus does for us is dieon the cross to give us
salvation and we spend eternitywith God, if that's the only
thing that Jesus does for us,that is enough.
If everything else we do in ourlife is work hard for him, and
it's.
We don't have the nicest houseand we don't have everything we
(15:15):
want and we don't have thesethings that would be great and
that other people have.
But we have done everything wecan for him and he has already
forgiven us of our sins andaccepted us as sons and
daughters of God.
That's enough.
And it's hard to reconcile withsometimes because we want these
things and we see other peoplehaving these things.
(15:36):
But trusting God is going tokeep his promises and trusting
that in God's plan and beingwilling to take that hit it's,
it's a big thing.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Yeah, and I think, um , on that point too, one of the
things you were talking aboutwas, you know when he was, when
Moses was up there getting thecommandments and they started
building the calf and everything.
Um, I get something that sitsin my mind, Cause you know he's
up there, obviously a long time.
You know they're sitting downthere waiting.
Know he's up there, obviously along time.
Yep, you know they're sittingdown there waiting.
He's up there, you know,chiseling away in a stone.
(16:07):
And my thing is is that withinthose, like all the things and I
know you said that everyone'slike, oh, I could never do that.
But when I think about it, I'mlike all these things that he
showed them leading up to thispoint, they know he is god, he,
he is our almighty God, but ittook 40 days for them to be like
(16:28):
I'm going to go ahead and makethis calf, but with saying all
that you know you got.
They wanted the signs andwonders to almost, like, never
cease.
They wanted proof all the time.
And my thing is, I feel like westill have that today, like you
mentioned in the service, but alot of times all it takes is for
(16:50):
you to just slow down and lookaround you without using the
lens of the world and just lookat everything that we've been
gifted, the fact that we haveair to breathe in and we have a
there's miracles and wondersthat he does for us.
We're still alive, everythingthat he gave us is still here.
So for me it's.
I may not see these great signsand wonders, like I don't see a
(17:12):
you know a cloud coming downand resting on a mountain or
some giant burning fire, but Ican see the miracles that he's
gifted us with every day, andsometimes it just takes that
slowing down and justrecognizing that we have that,
and sometimes it just takes thatslowing down and just
recognizing that we have that.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
I actually had somebody question me on
Christianity and say, like, ifGod's real, why isn't he just
writing it in the cloudsconstantly?
Like why isn't it just like bigsign in the sky, come to me,
I'm God, do what I tell you.
And I actually, like I was hadonce they asked me this question
(17:49):
and I was like I don't know andlike I really I felt stumped
and I eventually went to myyouth pastor at the time and I
ran it past him and he's likeGod had a pillar of fire to
guide the Israelites and theythey walked away from him
regularly.
He's like it doesn't matter ifGod put it in, like woke you up
every single day and told youlike hey, I'm here, come on,
(18:11):
come to me, I want to draw nearto you, I want to know you.
I like come to the mountain,we're going to just choose
something else.
Like we're people, we're broken,we are.
That's what people do.
And you just made me think ofthat when I said it.
But another thing you weremaking me think of was the 41st
day.
That was a big part of yourwhat do we call that speech
(18:34):
Speech?
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Yeah, I actually really liked that whole concept,
the number 41.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Break it down for us.
What is that?
Speaker 3 (18:42):
Well, it does tie into some of these stories a
little bit, because some of the40s are Moses' 40 days and 40
nights up there and then the 40years of the Israelites trying
to find the promised land.
But this actually came fromRavonda and it's out there more
than you'd think.
But the general idea is in theBible lots of things happen for
(19:04):
40 days.
The number 40 is in the Bibleover 140 times.
I think I saw 148.
But you know, things happen inthe Bible like you know Moses
wandering the Israelites, noahwith the flood, jesus'
temptation before he began hisministry, and another one I kind
(19:25):
of tied in later was Goliathtaunting David for 40 days
before he challenged him.
There's a couple other.
You know there's lots of otherstories Jonah comes to mind.
But all of those stories, asnegative as they are and as
challenging as they are, theycome to an end and on the 41st
day or year or whatever, thingsget better.
(19:49):
So, going through just aboutanything you could possibly be
going through, that's going tohappen.
But there's going to be a wayto turn that around and use that
for good and see the goodthings coming from it, and
that's going to happen on day 41.
(20:10):
41 has kind of been a littlemantra of ours and I think it
really ties into one's biblicaljourney getting to know the
Bible and getting to know thestories.
I think that's a big part of itand just kind of understanding
that these stories are happeningand just by trusting in him and
(20:34):
letting him do what he's goingto do in his time, things are
going to get better.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
On day 41 and keeping track of those 41's of like
what God has done for you iskind of what you were pointing
to.
Like if we look back to see whateverything God has done for us
to get us to this point, if welook back at every time that we
were suffering for 40 days orstruggling or working through it
for 40 days and the 41st daycame and we saw what God did for
(21:02):
us, all of this walk asChristians would be
significantly easier.
And then we can apply that evento our friendships, our
marriages, our situations withkids.
Like right, so every time Itell Jamie to do something, it's
four or five times before hefinally gets around to doing it
and I'm like I'm going to fightyou if you don't figure out how
(21:25):
to listen, kid.
But like, how often is thatactually true?
Because should I be keeping atrack of the times that like,
wow, Jamie, you listened reallyquick or you did this without
even me asking, and how oftenwould that change our
perspective going through life?
How often are we kind of sofocused on the negative because
we're not keeping track of thepositive?
I agree.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Let's see.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
I did like Tim's too.
I think it was tim right, thegod who reigns.
Um, there were some, some keynotes.
That I put down is it was kindof like the signifying aspect of
christ riding in on the donkeyand how you know, everyone at
that time was expecting, likeyou know, someone to come in and
(22:14):
start this great war, riding achariot with these giant horses.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Which would be kind of cool.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
I mean it would make for an action story.
Yes, for sure.
I really like the way that Timpresented it, though, because
the whole story of him coming inthe flesh and experiencing
these things to ultimately diefor us on the cross, like just
seeing that story and seeing ourking riding a donkey, humbling
(22:44):
himself enough to not come in onthis glorious chariot but to
come in on a donkey and justshowing, like I'm here with you.
Like that whole story and I tryto point that out with Charlie
too Like when we read this PastChristmas, when I was reading it
to him it's like that storyalone to me is I guess it's more
(23:06):
heartwarming than anything tosee the man who is going to
sacrifice himself, our God,humbling himself enough to ride
in on a donkey and the way thatTim explained it is obviously
way better than I'm going tosacrifice himself.
Our God humbling himself enoughto ride in on a donkey, and the
way that Tim explained it isobviously way better than I'm
going to explain it.
No.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
I think you were better.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
It really is a good story, but I don't know what
your guys' thoughts are on that.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
There is a when you hear God and you look at any
other God that people worship,you expect that that hero, you
expect that Hercules coming inand being able to whoop anybody
the biggest guy on the block butit is so one of the stories
(23:47):
that, like Lila, gets hung up onwhen we go through the Bible
together.
There's a little Bible app it'sthe Bible app for kids and it
does these illustrated littleall of the Bible stories.
There's a little Bible app it'sthe Bible app for kids and it
does these illustrated littleall of the Bible stories and
it's a really good tool and thekids love it because they have
to find, like little diamondswhere they get little things and
it's all tied into scripture.
But one of the stories thatshe's always like why would God
(24:08):
want that?
Is when, who was it Abrahamtakes sacrifice?
What?
Who brought the kid up tosacrifice him?
What were the names?
I'm terrible with bible names.
For some reason I can neverremember you're talking about
the, the traveling companions?
no, or abraham and isaac andisaac, yeah okay, I was right, I
was going there, but I, I nevertrust myself with names.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
I'm gonna.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
I might fight you right now no, you're aware of
how bad I am with names.
It reflects into this.
I have to like make flash cards, so I remember names sometimes,
um, but anywho, I'll probablycut 90 of that out.
If it's not in, well then I'msorry.
Um, but she gets caught up onabraham taking isaac to
sacrifice and she's like why didgod want that to happen?
(24:50):
A little five-old asking.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
I still get caught up on that, so but that's what God
did for us.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
God, god, brought his son out on a donkey, lowered
him down, said you are going tohumble yourself.
You are going to come in as thesacrifice, as the servant, not
what you deserve.
You deserve that chariot, youdeserve all of the glory, but
you're going to come in as Isaacdid, humbly.
And I'm never going to ask youto sacrifice your child, but I
(25:22):
will sacrifice my child for youand for all of humanity.
And it's such a like deep thingwhen you can connect that old
testament to the new testamentand see what god was doing for
so long and how he has worked toshow these, um, these little
like almost easter eggs in reallife where it's like I'll never
(25:46):
ask you to do that, I willprovide the sacrifice.
And then later on he provideshis sacrifice, which is his son,
and and it's just goosebumps,goosebumps.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
That is good, absolutely.
My thoughts go a littledifferent direction with that
story.
But you know, getting back tothe donkey and making the
connection to the Old Testament,that was, you know, prophesied
back in Zechariah I'm sureanother bunch of other places
too, but that he would come inon a donkey and he would come in
(26:19):
in peace and be this savior andthe messiah and all.
And even though it wasprophesied that way, people at
the time were still kind oflooking for this powerful king,
military kind of guy who wasgoing to come save him from the
roman empire, as tim was talkingabout.
And uh, tim mentioned that heactually did that eventually,
(26:40):
just 300 years later.
Um, thanks to uh diocletian anduh constantine.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
But anyway, um, I'm gonna keep you around all the
time.
Just for the names, just forthe name recognition.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
Tying it into the history.
But you know he came in and hewas, you know he had the
humility on the donkey andthat's kind of the symbolism
there.
But he was coming in and he waskind of praised as a king and
you got the palms and you gotthe coats and all that kind of
stuff.
But you know little, didanybody else know that he was
(27:16):
going to suffer in a very majorway very, very soon.
And you know, if we can kind oftie that into our lives and
coming into situations withhumility and when it's, you know
, when you're going through somesuffering, kind of remember
that story and just kind of gointo it with humility, go into
(27:39):
it being willing to listen,being willing to accept help,
that sort of thing, if you coulduse his example of humility, I
think that would go a long way.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
That's good and I think that humility because
something that I think it was inthat same sermon the thing
about the sheep that keeps goingastray and he was talking about
what makes a good shepherd, andhe's willing to break that
lamb's leg in order to keep itwith the flock, kind of thing
and it made me laugh when heasked the question.
He's like my leg's stillhurting.
(28:13):
But, it is like a humility thing, because I feel like at some
point in everyone's walk withGod, we're going to get humbled,
and I think mine came a little,I don't know, maybe a year or
so ago, but it's one of thosethings where it's like you can,
he's not going to stop you frombeing rebellious, but he is
(28:34):
going to stop you from beingrebellious, but he is gonna
humble you one day.
Um, and I was one that not thatI was like rebellious and out
doing a bunch of stuff, but itwas one of those things where
it's like you know me and you'vehad this talk, um about where I
was in my faith, but at acertain point I feel like he did
need to humble me, to let meknow like no, this is it and I
need you to listen, um, so I Iliked that he talked about that
(28:55):
because it's not I.
I don't want everyone to thinkthat it's always just sunshine
and rainbows, like there's goingto be times that he's going to
have to humble you and you haveto be willing to accept the good
with the bad, I guess you couldsay, because it's not always
the answer you want, and I knowthat everyone's looking for the
answer that they want, but it'snot always going to be his
(29:16):
answer.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
True, even as parents , we have to smack our kids
sometimes.
We have to put them in timeout,we have to take their favorite
toy away.
Obviously, it's probably at adifferent level, but God has to
teach us.
It takes a bit.
Sometimes you've got to fail atest with Mr Paxi to learn, you
(29:41):
need to study.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
I would point out that you mentioned that you
didn't study.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
I could see it.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
I don't remember which teacher it was, but I
remember a math teacherspecifically was like do you
guys know you can study math?
And I was like what?
And I was genuinely confusedfor a minute.
I was way too old for thatpoint.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
I also like the point that you brought up too, about
the going into that sermon withlaying the cloaks down in front
of him, because I think, likelistening to what Tim was saying
about that, I think that wasone of the hardest parts for me.
I think that's where thathumility part comes in, because
it's so easy for me to say thatit's I'm going to, I'm gonna do
(30:23):
this for my life, but being ableto lay that coat down in front
of him and say, okay, I'msurrendering it all to you and I
trust that you can protect meand and that kind of thing, not
saying that there's probably notthings I'm gonna do in my walk
to uh, listen to the spirit andpivot, like you were saying, um,
but being conscious enough toknow that I need to lay my coat
(30:43):
down and surrender it all to him.
I think that's the scary part.
Um, in the beginning is justacknowledging that I do need to
surrender down.
So that was a another goodtalking point, I think.
What are some?
Speaker 1 (30:57):
valuable things for us that can be our coats.
So we talk about laying ourcoat down and for those who
maybe didn't hear this sermon,like, what is the significance
of the coat, I guess I'll answer.
I don't need to quiz you, I'msorry.
I put you on the spot there.
What Tim was connecting withthe coat was that, in this time,
(31:20):
laying down your coat, yourcoat was your bed, your pillow,
your what kept you warm, whatkept you safe, did all kinds of
things for you to keep youcapable of existing.
It was your shelter, like itwas so much and so important to
you.
Um, but nowadays we're notwalking around with cloaks or
(31:43):
coats or things like that.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
That's why I generalized it in terms of, like
surrendering my life, kind ofthing, yeah, no.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
I'm not disagreeing with you at all, not disagreeing
with you at all.
I'm saying to kind of drivethis point home because it is
such an important point, because, right for me at one point I've
talked about it before.
I play Xbox way too much andit's a small, simple thing.
It wasn't, it wasn't like theend of the world, but I
(32:08):
identified that that wasbecoming an idol and I'm like
all right, we're done with this,it's going to god and I'm
getting rid of it and we're doneplaying it.
For a while, um, I ended upselling it and a year or two
later, or something like that, Ibought a PS5 and I play that
occasionally.
But in our life we have thesethings that we use as crutches.
(32:29):
That could be as simple as anXbox, as something that we use
to just not think about anythingfor a little bit.
Or it could be somethingincredibly serious where it's
our finances.
Tithing is such a big one.
We want to keep that money tokeep us safe and we're not
willing always to tithe what Godis calling us to tithe.
(32:51):
Ryan says give until it stopshurting.
Where it's like giving money islike I could buy so much with
this and when you stop feelingthat pain when you hand over
your money to God.
That's when you're good, whenyou've learned that lesson.
That's a way that we can laydown our coat.
(33:12):
Hopefully I helped out ratherthan making you think that I
wasn't bad.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
No, I didn't think I was just reiterating because I
saw where you were going with it, because I think for me like me
telling you how I was applyingfor that new job because the
money is not, it's noteverything to me anymore.
So and that's one of theconversations that me and Eric
have had a lot is a big majorityof our finances have always
(33:36):
been paid off my paycheck.
So it was always extremelyscary for us to think about me
taking another job because we'relooking at less pay.
But I told her I was likebetween the kids, my faith,
everything else, I was like it'snot worth it to me anymore.
I was like the amount of stressI'm under the fact that I can't
come to church every Sunday,the fact that I'm missing out on
(33:57):
life groups and all these.
I was like it's not.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
Which I do keep note for.
By the way, I will hold youaccountable.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
I kept note that you didn't come to Dad's and
Desserts Just keep telling thatad.
It's like a big thing for menow that I can see where it's
pulling me away from parts of mylife that are way more
important Now.
It's not something that I canjust quit and be okay but I'm
looking for alternatives tobring me closer to God in that
(34:25):
aspect, cause I feel like itdoes take up too much of my time
.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
This is Charles putting out his resume for
anybody who wants to hireanybody.
And he's not telling you whathe's good at, he's just telling
you he's willing to.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
Yeah, I'll work for food, so that's all.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
You just said you know taking your time, taking up
your time, and I I think thethings that people need to think
about putting down are thethings that that take time away
from what god is calling you todo and what you know, drawing
you near to, to god, as as jaredwas talking about.
But you know it, it's it.
(35:00):
Maybe it is the job that takestoo much time, maybe it's
spending too much time on on ahobby or whatever, but just kind
of keeping everything,everything in perspective and
everything in its place, and youknow it's, it's kind of a
product of of the parts, theparts that make a whole.
But you need to have a properfocus and balance and things
(35:23):
like that to make sure that youcan get everything in there that
you need, and faith needs to bea big part of that.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
I agree.
What else do you got Jared?
There's been a lot from thisside of the table.
Not so much from this side ofthe table I like throwing in.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
So come to the the God who saves.
Talk on that sermon.
One of the application pointsthat I walked away from having
was the urge or the calling toforgive somebody.
Forgiveness is such a difficultthing.
(36:05):
Sometimes People have wrongedus, people have hurt us in ways
that are big and small.
I think one we can work on aspeople forgiving instantly for
the small things.
Realistically, how many of usget home from work angry because
someone cut us off on the wayhome from work and we're angry
(36:27):
for way too long about that?
We, we think, when it comes to,like, our humility as
Christians, we should be livinga life that like, oh, they cut
us off, cool, moving on with myday, like it's, it's, it's.
You have this expectation thatpeople need to treat you a
certain way, especially likewhen we're driving.
And I know that's a small thing, but taking it even a step
(36:47):
further, where Tim was callingit, there are big things that we
as Christians need to workthrough and forgive people for
Things that, frankly, they don'tdeserve forgiveness for.
But because we were forgivenfor everything we've done, we
have that same calling.
Forgiveness has been a massivepart of my walk as a christian.
(37:09):
Um, and getting to that pointwhere it's things happened, we
moved past them, and reconcilingthat with the person, but then
also with yourself, that youaren't walking around with all
of that baggage and all of thatexpectation of more pain coming.
I've already explained I'm sureI've said it on here I'm a
(37:30):
pessimist, or more often thannot, I'm like you're going to do
something bad and I'm gettingready for it.
That is like a defensemechanism, and we as Christians,
we like we as people, not evenjust christians we feel like we
need to protect ourselves fromthat all the time, and I think
that's a hindrance in ourforgiveness sometimes.
And so, um, one of the things Ijust wanted to point out just
(37:53):
to like even reiterate it andjust give an amen to what um was
talked about in the sermon isforgiveness being crucial.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
Yeah, I could see where you're coming from with
the preparing for someone to dosomething against you, and I'm
not even saying, obviously I'mnot saying that that's the right
way to go about it, but I feellike just society in a whole has
gotten to a point where youalmost have to feel that way
because no one I shouldn't sayto no one because there's people
out there, but a lot of peopleout there are extremely bitter,
angry people.
(38:31):
I mean, it's hard to go to agrocery store and go into a
checkout line without thecashier just you know the way
they talk to you or anything.
There's just a lot of bitterpeople out there.
So, and there's a lot of hurtout there.
So it's hard to get into arelationship with anyone friend,
friend or not and not expect abad outcome.
(38:52):
Um, so I would agree with youthat I think you know that's a
big area in my life that I hadto work on too.
Um, not necessarily lettingwell, I guess you could just say
letting my guard down to acertain degree, in the sense of
I need to work on allowingpeople in, because a lot of
times I did push people away andthat's because of hurt that I
experienced in the past.
So yeah, I can relate to thatanyway.
Speaker 3 (39:18):
I mean, this is the Good Friday story with him on
the cross.
I mean, this is the Good Fridaystory with him on the cross.
And one of the parts of thatstory that comes to my mind that
Tim talked about was you know,he's hanging on the cross and
all these people are, you know,shouting insults and that sort
of stuff, and he yelled out youknow, do not weep for me, father
(39:39):
, forgive them.
They do not know what they do.
And I kind of look at that asthe ultimate what would Jesus do
story and, in terms offorgiving, he's looking at and
talking to the people who puthim on a cross and are poking
him and throwing stuff at himand whatever else, and he's
(40:00):
still willing to forgive them,whatever else, and he's still
willing to forgive them.
Um, and I, you know, I kind ofthink that's a that was kind of
predestined in some way, um,kind of to to be an example for
us.
You know, um, they talk aboutthat some of that was prophesied
and all, but just in general,that this story itself was kind
of put in place just to teach usthat lesson.
(40:22):
You know, our forgiveness isnever going to be hopefully
never going to be as extreme aswhat he was dealing with, but he
still found a way to forgiveand also reached out to the big
man to make sure that he forgavethem too.
Speaker 2 (40:41):
Yeah, that's good.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
And we can, that's good and we can.
That same concept of forgivingsomeone because they don't
understand what they're doing.
How often are we running intothat?
Like parents parent how theirparents parented.
People treat people how theyget treated more often than not,
and so they may like when it'sto them, they may understand
(41:06):
that it's not great and it hurts.
But if they don't know how totreat other people or how to
handle a situation any other waythan a negative way, it's going
to happen.
Like for years, all of my how Ishowed hurt was through anger
and it took a lot for me andAllison to like sit down and
(41:26):
like figure that out.
Like, hey, when you're, whensomething happens and you get
super angry out of like, waymore angry than you should be
over a subject, is it hurting?
Like is that?
Are you emotionally feelingsomething and you don't know how
to like express that thing,something?
And you don't know how to likeexpress that thing.
(41:47):
Um, and so, as we walk throughlife keeping that in mind, like
you said that that example thatwe get from that of forgive them
they don't know what they'redoing, they don't know any
better.
They're broken people just likewe are.
It's uh, his example wasn'tjust like we are, but from our
perspective it is just like weare.
But that's my two cents on that, charles, sorry, making sure
(42:07):
I'm coming in enough.
What else we got?
We got, we can.
We can touch on one or two morethings real quick um, I had, um
, I mean, we kind of talked.
Speaker 2 (42:19):
We talked about a little bit in life group the
other day but and I can'tremember what I was tying it
into in this sermon but I thinkthey were talking about somewhat
of like a conflating themessage kind of thing based on
feelings.
It was in the God of Victory oneand I can't remember exactly
what they were talking about andI should have made a better
(42:41):
note on that.
But you know, we talked aboutit in Life Group in terms of
when we're reading Scripture andwe're trying to grow closer to
God.
A lot of times you hear peopletalk about these stories, but
they're not talking it inScripture, they're talking it
through their feelings.
So a lot of times you startgetting people who interject
(43:03):
their feelings into scripture,which then ends up conflating
the scripture to match what theywant it to be versus what it
actually is.
Um, so for me, like what wewere talking about in life group
is taking a step back andrealizing that the scripture is
his word and it's alreadyfinished, like we should not be
interjecting our feelings intoit.
Um, I don't know, I don't knowexactly where I'm going with
(43:29):
this.
It was kind of just a half note,but hey, that's good too it was
something that I know they weretouching on and I can't
remember exactly what they weretying into it, but I do think
it's important because, like Isaid, we were talking the fact
that we brought it up in lifegroup because of what we were um
think it's important because,like I said, we were talking the
fact that we brought it up inLife Group because of what we
were watching.
It's dangerous, more now sothan I feel like it has been in
the past, only because of thefact that social media is so big
(43:52):
right now, and I know that, interms of Scripture and our faith
, we do need to leave ourpersonal feelings out of the
Scripture itself and let thescripture speak to you the way
that it should be I think that'sentirely true.
Speaker 1 (44:10):
Um, not that we can't have emotion when it comes to
scripture, uh, but to manipulatescripture in any way is
obviously bad.
And there is a there issomebody who's listening to this
right now who you justcompleted the other half of
their thought.
I'm sure that they were halfwaythere and you got it to them
(44:32):
and they're like okay, this isall clicking now.
Speaker 2 (44:33):
They're probably yelling at it and being like
this is the word you're lookingfor.
Speaker 1 (44:42):
Scott, you got any final thoughts?
Speaker 3 (44:43):
yeah, I got a couple things on that the Easter
service, the God of victory butwhen he was kind of setting that
up, he was talking about themountain and what that looked
like and you know he was makingsome references to some of the
mountains he had been on.
But the one point that he madeis that one of the cool things
(45:05):
about being at the top of amountain is that you can see,
and you can see a long way andyou can see everything in a
variety of directions.
So being able to see all ofthat, you know I think is a you
know, just in life in general,is a point that we should all be
aware of.
And he was talking about howGod is a promise keeper.
(45:31):
He made promises to us in hisword and in his own way, in his
own time.
He will fulfill that.
He will fulfill that.
And then he went on to talkabout doubt and how that kind of
affected some of the stories,and he was talking about how
(45:57):
John the Baptist doubted andPeter doubted and Thomas doubted
and the Israelites doubted andultimately, in the doubt, it
provides an opportunity forone's faith to become even
stronger.
You know, in our own walk, youknow we've always been faithful
people and you know, beeninvolved in church and all.
But you know when all of thishappened to us and if you talk
(46:19):
to other people, talk to Amy,who was also a very important
part of our our event the otherday along with steve.
But anyway, we kind of talkedabout that moment when, when the
you know the journey you'regoing through and what you're
seeing kind of changed into,into trust and you know, seeing
(46:40):
that moment and making kind of Ithink it was described by Ryan
is that doubt is the pathway toa deeper faith and you explore
those doubts and use them inyour story and use them in your
path and along your journey infaith and just in life in
(47:00):
general.
Speaker 1 (47:02):
That's so true.
Any like.
If we remove this subject fromit, religion from it.
If you have a question aboutanything, you have an
opportunity to test it and proveit right.
Like.
Is it like basic ninth gradescience of the doing a test, or
(47:25):
the scientific theory orwhatever the scientific method?
There we go.
Thank you the teachers here.
Scientific method and havingthe hypothesis and working it
out like there is always anopportunity within doubt to come
away knowing more.
We have to have that trust orthat.
(47:47):
I don't want to say trustbecause you might be growing in
trust.
You have to have reverence andwillingness to see where God is
taking it.
I think I always talk aboutdoubt when I talk with the youth
, that it can be like a ladder,like every doubt you have, every
question you have about yourfaith is a rung.
That could be the last rung yougo up.
You can allow that to be likeI'm going back down, I'm not
(48:09):
dealing with any of that, orthat could just be one more rung
where it ends up strengtheningyour faith, because you went and
asked God for the answer andyou trusted him to provide that
answer and you're using that asyour next step as you draw
closer to christ.
Um, I love that doubt.
Doubt is always thought to be abad thing.
It's not necessarily one not atall um, I'll close with this.
(48:33):
One thing that I've picked up onall of these sermons and
stories and experiences thatwe've talked about today is that
we, as Christians, have one acommunity and two a shared
mission.
We're called to make disciplesand draw people closer to Christ
(48:53):
, and, as a church, our missionis to have 30,000 gospel
conversations.
Our purpose is to help othersdiscover more in Christ, and so
maybe you're listening to thispodcast and you're in the camp
of I don't need to go to church,I practice my faith alone, and
you listen to podcasts andthings like that.
(49:14):
I just want to urge you likecome to a community.
It doesn't need to be Freshwindit's probably the best church
ever, though but find acommunity of believers and have
church with them and see whereyou could be a giver for your
whole life, and then you'regoing to be an opportunity where
you're going to be a receiver,and it's going to help you and
it's going to benefit you, andyou wouldn't have that unless
(49:36):
you had a community of believersaround you.
Um, and with all of these, wehave that opportunity to have
community and have a sharedmission, and that's it's amazing
, and so, if you're ever on thefence about it.
My vote is go find a communityand find that mission and live
(49:59):
for Christ.
And we all have one-assChristian and it's the Great
Commission.
But see what the churches aredoing around you and see how you
can help out.
And even if you come to FreshWind and you're like I want to
help out more, maybe there's aministry here you can help out
with.
Or Val Val does stuff with.
Again, names, they're the worstCrisis Pregnancy Center.
(50:20):
What's it called?
Anybody got it?
Anybody got it?
Speaker 2 (50:25):
The one in Elyria, yeah, it looks even worse for me
because I volunteered for alittle bit and I still can't
remember the name.
Speaker 1 (50:31):
So everyone, keep in mind that he can't remember the
name either.
I can't.
It's going to come with me assoon as I hit the record button
and stop the recording.
But she found she's connectingus in there and I'm gonna stop
talking now because I've stuckon it.
But, anywho, find a communitythat you can help out with a
shared mission, and it's superbeneficial and it's amazing, and
(50:54):
that's that's my point on thatone.
But um, we're, we're fiveminutes longer than we usually
go, and so this was a good onegood, that means you can cut out
the last five minutes.
Speaker 2 (51:03):
Yep, it'll work.
Speaker 1 (51:05):
All right.
Thanks for joining us thismonth, scott.
We appreciate it and we lovedhearing about your journey and
your story and everything that'sbeen going on, and we're so
happy it's all good news rightnow.
Speaker 2 (51:15):
I would have to agree .
It's inspirational.
At least for anybody that isgoing through a fight Like your
guys' story really isinspirational.
Speaker 3 (51:25):
Yeah, I appreciate that and everybody has a similar
story.
You know, in some capacity youwere talking about being part of
a community.
When you move into thatcommunity and become a part of
that community, your story mightbe an inspiration to somebody
else.
So you know you can be givingat the same time you're
receiving in that.
Speaker 1 (51:47):
I love it.
All right, guys, as always, ifanything in this podcast piqued
your interest and you want toshare something maybe it's a
story of something you'restruggling with and you want to
let Scott know that, hey, he's,he's encouraged you, so you can
send that to the Blue ChairPodcast and I'll forward it
along to him.
But we're in the doubt seriesright now as a church, and so if
(52:07):
you have any thoughts orcomments on the sermons, as
always, email them to the BlueChair Podcast.
We'd love to hear from you, butthat's all we've got this month
.
We will talk to you next month.
Thanks for listening, thank you.
Welcome and thanks for joining us on the Blue Chair
Podcast, brought to you by aFresh Wind Church.
Each month, we discuss thelatest sermons from the
perspective of the Blue Chairs.
Hello and welcome to the BlueChair Podcast.
I am Pastor Jared and, asalways, I'm here with Charles.
Say what's up, Charles.
What's up, Charles?
I?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
can't stand you.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
But we have a special guest today and a fun fact for
anybody who didn't know.
Our special guest is Mr ScottPexey, but he was also, in case
you didn't know, my seventhgrade math teacher.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I did not know that.
That is actually awesome.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
So back in the day he was the one who failed me every
time I didn't study for my mathtests.
Say hi, scott.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Hello.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Which I will say, the first dozen times that I talked
to him here at church I calledhim Mr Pexey.
Still, it took him saying justcall me Scott Jared, for me to
actually do it.
I was like I'm not sure exactlyhow I address him, but I'm
going to call him Mr Pexeyforever, probably.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
I mean, that's fair.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Yeah, all good.
So this is going to be aninteresting podcast today.
So we are going to recap thelast sermons.
We were leading up into Easter,we had Good Friday service, we
had Easter service, we had theCome to the Mountain series
leading into that, but we alsohad a super interesting and
(01:42):
amazing event that just happenedat the church on May 3rd.
It is the Faith, gratitude andHope event that Scott and
Ravonda put on and we werediscussing the podcast, what we
were going to talk about, and wereally feel like these Come to
the Mountain sermons and theFaith, gratitude and Hope event
(02:03):
all work together really nicely.
And so, for those of you whodidn't attend, we're going to go
ahead and discuss what thisevent was, where it came from,
what was the genesis of it, andkind of get a sense of that as
we go into it, because it was anevent about you know what.
I'm not even going to try toexplain, I'm going to let you do
it, scott.
What was the genesis of this?
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Well, it came from a couple places.
So very early on after thediagnosis I was sitting down
with Ryan talking to Ravondaback and forth and kind of the
idea right from the get-go waswhat can we do because of our
story?
How can we help people?
What can we do with this?
(02:45):
What's the message that we wantto get out to people?
That sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
So for those who don't know what is the story,
Like what happened.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Well, so Ravonda, my beloved, was diagnosed with
breast cancer last February.
It was a very rare andaggressive form of breast cancer
, so we were kind of freakingout about what you know what was
really going to happen.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Understandably.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
How's this going to go?
But anyway, and then, as youknow, some crazy stuff happened
at the beginning, you know, alittle appendectomy along the
way it held us back.
And then with the aggressivecancer, we wanted to make sure
we got going right away and wehad these little roadblocks and
things.
But anyway, so along that waythere's a few stories that kind
(03:35):
of will tie in later.
But we were kind of talkingwith Ryan, trying to figure out
what we could do to help people,that sort of stuff, and trying
to get the focus on what wecould do through her story.
And as time went on, we wentthrough the process and things
ended up very favorably withGod's help.
But it was getting towards theend of the journey and we were
(04:01):
trying to figure out how wecould thank people.
So that's the gratitude part.
Through this whole processeverybody came to our aid, which
was a little weird too, becausewe're typically givers and now
all of a sudden we're receivingall this help.
But there's a lot of gratitudethere and trying to figure out
how to help everybody.
(04:21):
And then Ravonda was thinkingabout ringing a bell at Fairview
Hospital in this room thatholds about five people and her
list was up to 50 or 60 peoplethat she wanted to come watch
her do that.
So we needed a bigger venue.
So it kind of originallystarted with kind of thanking
(04:42):
those who helped us along theway family, friends, people here
at the church and then itbecame okay, well, we got this
message.
Other people have a similarstory, so let's get that story
out and help people and inspirepeople.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
That is awesome and we talk about it all the time,
Charles how sometimes life isgoing to hit you with something.
Life is going to be difficult.
Life is going to hit you withsomething right.
Life is going to be difficult,Life is going to be hard.
We talked about it in our lifegroup yesterday that as
Christians, we have a target onour back and we have an
adversary, but in the middle ofthat, you were saying how can we
(05:20):
serve God through this?
And you don't see that often,and so that's super commendable.
That is awesome.
Do you have anything you wantto throw in there, Charles?
Speaker 2 (05:31):
I mean it's a lot.
It is so like, reading throughyour speech, like it's really
good to hear this from otherpeople, because you know we've
all had things, things go wrongand a lot of us don't talk about
it, um, and to hear your guys'sstory and to kind of share that
experience with you, um, youknow, through your words, I
(05:55):
think, the the big list of whereyou went on about, um, learning
to pivot in your walk and to beable to adjust based on those
things that are given to you,and I feel like that's a lot.
That's a place where a lot ofpeople struggle and it kind of
ties in with some of the stuffthey were talking about in the
you know the episodes that we'regoing to go through.
Is, you know, wanting a fixerWell, it's not always going to
(06:17):
be a fixer Like there's thingsthat we're going to have to do
and learn to adjust with him andto do it ourselves as well.
So, reading through that storyand trying to tie it in with all
these sermons that you knowwe're also here to talk about,
like it all goes really well inyour guys' story, Like as
heartbreaking it is to hear thatkind of stuff.
It's also very inspirational tosee you know the struggle that
you guys went through and howyou were able to pull out of it
(06:38):
and you know all through thegrace of God.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
I appreciate that very much, God, I appreciate
that very much.
The story of the pivot it'sbasically just standing where
you're at dealing with whatyou're dealing with, seeing
everything around you, and justpivoting one direction or
another.
Just standing where you're atgoing to go this direction,
going to go that direction, andthen every step you take in that
(07:03):
direction brings you furtherand further away from where you
would have been had you notpivoted.
Yeah, and you know, the pivotitself is very easy.
Sometimes that might be alittle conversation with the
spirit kind of thing, but justkind of knowing where you know,
knowing it's time, knowingsomething's got to change, and
(07:25):
you know that something's got tochange and that can be applied
to everything.
But just making a small littlepivot and away you go.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
The fact you are right that it can be applied to
everything and the fact thatyou've applied it to this.
But if we're, I was going topick Lilo from school today,
right, and the Turnpike is doinga million different bridges
right now, and so every bridgethat I was trying to cross, from
going the south side of Lorainto Opendoor, I tried to like go
(07:58):
one way and there was a trainblocking on Oberlin Road and all
kinds of things, and so we'repivoting all these different
ways.
But if we're pivoting all thesedifferent ways, but if we're
struggling with something andwe're trying to in our walk with
Christ, and something happensand we have this plan that we're
going to do that we're going to, we have this five year plan
and we're going to buy thishouse and we're going to do this
to the house and we're going tohave all of these things
something as insignificant asthat but can feel like it's such
(08:21):
a big thing because our plansaren't going the way we want.
If we're just willing to pivotto let God say hey, you're not
going to buy this house, I'mgoing to move you in this area
so you're closer to thiscommunity and you can reach them
, because that's where I needyou.
If we sit there and we try toforce our way into one thing and
we're hitting a brick wallbecause that's not where God
wants us to go, or there'ssomething there that is fighting
(08:41):
against us, something therethat is fighting against us, if
we could just pivot and go theway God wants us to, or the way
God's leading us, or the waythat's available at the moment,
and allow God to do the rest.
That's a lesson that I think alot of us need to learn and walk
away with.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
I agree.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
So let's get into a little bit more of some talking
points and throw anything.
Anybody throw anything out fromeither previous sermons or from
the event.
I didn't give us a good seguethere, did I?
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Oh, I mean I guess I can start it off.
So one of the ones that Ireally liked was the fixer thing
.
When Ryan's talking about youknow, there's a lot of people
that are looking at Christ to bea fixer and I can't say that
I've never done that.
I mean, obviously, as you'regoing through life, you're going
(09:41):
to run into issues and I thinkone of the examples that he
brought up was like finances.
You know that kind of stuffLike you're just saying you know
I want you to fix this for me,I want you to make this better,
I want this or whatever the casemay be.
But, like in listening to himtalk about that, it brought up
some verses in my mind that Iwent back to, like Matthew 11,
28, the you know hisrighteousness and all things
(10:12):
will be added to you.
So I take those verses and whatRyan said and also pair it with
Tim and if we did these things,like it's telling us to do, he's
not going to let us go without.
You know, when it's talkingabout the birds of the air and
the flowers in the field, likehe knows the things that we need
, but he knows when we need them.
So a lot of times when I sitthere and I think about these
(10:32):
things and I think about, youknow, him talking about the
fixer.
It's the answer that we wantright now, but not necessarily
when we need it.
Um, so I think, like even formyself, this is something I need
to work on just being able torest in the idea that he knows
what I need and when I need it,and letting him guide me through
that process.
But, yeah, that's one of thethings that I was.
(10:55):
It kind of hit me a little bitwhen I was hearing him talk
about that.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Now I agree completely and our situation
over the last few years kind ofties into that too.
The verse that comes to my mind, and that one is John 16, 33.
It says I have said thesethings to you that in me you may
have peace In the world.
You will have tribulation, buttake heart, I have overcome the
(11:20):
world.
And kind of put that togetherwith just kind of generally
general life.
You know things are going tohappen to you, things, you know
that's unavoidable.
But through his power andthrough what he has overcome,
through the resurrection andcrucifixion and all that, he
will, you know, bring youthrough.
(11:42):
But you know there has to be adegree of trust there.
And then you know somewhere inyour story that trust is going
to kick in.
You know, for us it was kind ofin the waiting of to get things
started and kind of dealingwith all the things that came
(12:03):
with treatments and everything.
But you know you see all thatand you're thinking that all
these horrible things arehappening.
But if you just trust that thisis all part of his plan, it
kind of puts everything inperspective for you and it's
definitely going to be on histime.
And the other kind of pointthat stuck with us.
It's not necessarily what'sgoing to be best for you in the
(12:25):
long run, but more about what'sgoing to be better for his
people, people in general.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Yeah, I like that point.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
And we know to bring back to my sermon which, in my
opinion, is the best one wecould have recapped in this.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
I'm just going to agree with you, because you're
sitting right here, I controlyour microphone.
Yeah, that's true too.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
It points back to the God keeping his promises.
God's raw near to us, but Godkeeps his promises and it may
not turn out the exact way youwanted it.
Moses didn't get to go into thepromised land, but God was
faithful that he led his peopleto the promised land and he let
Moses see that.
And there's so much truth inthat that when you're in the
(13:06):
heat of the moment and you haveto trust in those moments where
it's it's difficult, but you'regoing to trust, God's plan is
going to be the best plan foryou, even if you don't see the
outcome.
Having that faith that God willkeep his promises is pivotal in
the walk of a Christian.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Yeah, I think there's a couple of good connections
there too that you know.
Again, getting to thebetterment of the people, you
know the Israelites are the oneswho benefited there and not
Moses.
So you know he was doing whatneeded to be done for the
betterment of the people.
Also, you can make a connectionto Moses's calling.
(13:44):
He followed through on hiscalling, recognized his calling
and, even though it may not havebeen the best thing for him, he
was going to do what God askedhim to do for the betterment of
others.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Yeah and I like that you brought that up too, because
we talked about that in lifegroup the other night too about
everyone, we all have ourcallings for something, um, and
the way we discussed it was thatsome people are afraid, I think
, to accept that calling becausethey don't know what it means
for them.
Yep, um, so I mean it's I.
(14:19):
I just like that you broughtthat up because there's a.
I feel like there's a lot oftimes that we are called to do
something and I agree 100 withwhat you're saying, that it's
not always to the benefit of usbut to everyone.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Like there's a calling for you for a reason,
and it's not just to benefityourself but to benefit those
around you and the thing is wehave to remember that that
that's okay, like as servants toGod, if we surrender to Jesus
and whatever he is calling us todo, we have to be okay to take
(14:55):
one for the team my thought justran out.
We were talking about that lifegroup.
There we go.
If all Jesus does for us is dieon the cross to give us
salvation and we spend eternitywith God, if that's the only
thing that Jesus does for us,that is enough.
If everything else we do in ourlife is work hard for him, and
it's.
We don't have the nicest houseand we don't have everything we
(15:15):
want and we don't have thesethings that would be great and
that other people have.
But we have done everything wecan for him and he has already
forgiven us of our sins andaccepted us as sons and
daughters of God.
That's enough.
And it's hard to reconcile withsometimes because we want these
things and we see other peoplehaving these things.
(15:36):
But trusting God is going tokeep his promises and trusting
that in God's plan and beingwilling to take that hit it's,
it's a big thing.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Yeah, and I think, um , on that point too, one of the
things you were talking aboutwas, you know when he was, when
Moses was up there getting thecommandments and they started
building the calf and everything.
Um, I get something that sitsin my mind, Cause you know he's
up there, obviously a long time.
You know they're sitting downthere waiting.
Know he's up there, obviously along time.
Yep, you know they're sittingdown there waiting.
He's up there, you know,chiseling away in a stone.
(16:07):
And my thing is is that withinthose, like all the things and I
know you said that everyone'slike, oh, I could never do that.
But when I think about it, I'mlike all these things that he
showed them leading up to thispoint, they know he is god, he,
he is our almighty God, but ittook 40 days for them to be like
(16:28):
I'm going to go ahead and makethis calf, but with saying all
that you know you got.
They wanted the signs andwonders to almost, like, never
cease.
They wanted proof all the time.
And my thing is, I feel like westill have that today, like you
mentioned in the service, but alot of times all it takes is for
(16:50):
you to just slow down and lookaround you without using the
lens of the world and just lookat everything that we've been
gifted, the fact that we haveair to breathe in and we have a
there's miracles and wondersthat he does for us.
We're still alive, everythingthat he gave us is still here.
So for me it's.
I may not see these great signsand wonders, like I don't see a
(17:12):
you know a cloud coming downand resting on a mountain or
some giant burning fire, but Ican see the miracles that he's
gifted us with every day, andsometimes it just takes that
slowing down and justrecognizing that we have that,
and sometimes it just takes thatslowing down and just
recognizing that we have that.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
I actually had somebody question me on
Christianity and say, like, ifGod's real, why isn't he just
writing it in the cloudsconstantly?
Like why isn't it just like bigsign in the sky, come to me,
I'm God, do what I tell you.
And I actually, like I was hadonce they asked me this question
(17:49):
and I was like I don't know andlike I really I felt stumped
and I eventually went to myyouth pastor at the time and I
ran it past him and he's likeGod had a pillar of fire to
guide the Israelites and theythey walked away from him
regularly.
He's like it doesn't matter ifGod put it in, like woke you up
every single day and told youlike hey, I'm here, come on,
(18:11):
come to me, I want to draw nearto you, I want to know you.
I like come to the mountain,we're going to just choose
something else.
Like we're people, we're broken,we are.
That's what people do.
And you just made me think ofthat when I said it.
But another thing you weremaking me think of was the 41st
day.
That was a big part of yourwhat do we call that speech
(18:34):
Speech?
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Yeah, I actually really liked that whole concept,
the number 41.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Break it down for us.
What is that?
Speaker 3 (18:42):
Well, it does tie into some of these stories a
little bit, because some of the40s are Moses' 40 days and 40
nights up there and then the 40years of the Israelites trying
to find the promised land.
But this actually came fromRavonda and it's out there more
than you'd think.
But the general idea is in theBible lots of things happen for
(19:04):
40 days.
The number 40 is in the Bibleover 140 times.
I think I saw 148.
But you know, things happen inthe Bible like you know Moses
wandering the Israelites, noahwith the flood, jesus'
temptation before he began hisministry, and another one I kind
(19:25):
of tied in later was Goliathtaunting David for 40 days
before he challenged him.
There's a couple other.
You know there's lots of otherstories Jonah comes to mind.
But all of those stories, asnegative as they are and as
challenging as they are, theycome to an end and on the 41st
day or year or whatever, thingsget better.
(19:49):
So, going through just aboutanything you could possibly be
going through, that's going tohappen.
But there's going to be a wayto turn that around and use that
for good and see the goodthings coming from it, and
that's going to happen on day 41.
(20:10):
41 has kind of been a littlemantra of ours and I think it
really ties into one's biblicaljourney getting to know the
Bible and getting to know thestories.
I think that's a big part of itand just kind of understanding
that these stories are happeningand just by trusting in him and
(20:34):
letting him do what he's goingto do in his time, things are
going to get better.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
On day 41 and keeping track of those 41's of like
what God has done for you iskind of what you were pointing
to.
Like if we look back to see whateverything God has done for us
to get us to this point, if welook back at every time that we
were suffering for 40 days orstruggling or working through it
for 40 days and the 41st daycame and we saw what God did for
(21:02):
us, all of this walk asChristians would be
significantly easier.
And then we can apply that evento our friendships, our
marriages, our situations withkids.
Like right, so every time Itell Jamie to do something, it's
four or five times before hefinally gets around to doing it
and I'm like I'm going to fightyou if you don't figure out how
(21:25):
to listen, kid.
But like, how often is thatactually true?
Because should I be keeping atrack of the times that like,
wow, Jamie, you listened reallyquick or you did this without
even me asking, and how oftenwould that change our
perspective going through life?
How often are we kind of sofocused on the negative because
we're not keeping track of thepositive?
I agree.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Let's see.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
I did like Tim's too.
I think it was tim right, thegod who reigns.
Um, there were some, some keynotes.
That I put down is it was kindof like the signifying aspect of
christ riding in on the donkeyand how you know, everyone at
that time was expecting, likeyou know, someone to come in and
(22:14):
start this great war, riding achariot with these giant horses.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Which would be kind of cool.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
I mean it would make for an action story.
Yes, for sure.
I really like the way that Timpresented it, though, because
the whole story of him coming inthe flesh and experiencing
these things to ultimately diefor us on the cross, like just
seeing that story and seeing ourking riding a donkey, humbling
(22:44):
himself enough to not come in onthis glorious chariot but to
come in on a donkey and justshowing, like I'm here with you.
Like that whole story and I tryto point that out with Charlie
too Like when we read this PastChristmas, when I was reading it
to him it's like that storyalone to me is I guess it's more
(23:06):
heartwarming than anything tosee the man who is going to
sacrifice himself, our God,humbling himself enough to ride
in on a donkey and the way thatTim explained it is obviously
way better than I'm going tosacrifice himself.
Our God humbling himself enoughto ride in on a donkey, and the
way that Tim explained it isobviously way better than I'm
going to explain it.
No.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
I think you were better.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
It really is a good story, but I don't know what
your guys' thoughts are on that.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
There is a when you hear God and you look at any
other God that people worship,you expect that that hero, you
expect that Hercules coming inand being able to whoop anybody
the biggest guy on the block butit is so one of the stories
(23:47):
that, like Lila, gets hung up onwhen we go through the Bible
together.
There's a little Bible app it'sthe Bible app for kids and it
does these illustrated littleall of the Bible stories.
There's a little Bible app it'sthe Bible app for kids and it
does these illustrated littleall of the Bible stories and
it's a really good tool and thekids love it because they have
to find, like little diamondswhere they get little things and
it's all tied into scripture.
But one of the stories thatshe's always like why would God
(24:08):
want that?
Is when, who was it Abrahamtakes sacrifice?
What?
Who brought the kid up tosacrifice him?
What were the names?
I'm terrible with bible names.
For some reason I can neverremember you're talking about
the, the traveling companions?
no, or abraham and isaac andisaac, yeah okay, I was right, I
was going there, but I, I nevertrust myself with names.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
I'm gonna.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
I might fight you right now no, you're aware of
how bad I am with names.
It reflects into this.
I have to like make flash cards, so I remember names sometimes,
um, but anywho, I'll probablycut 90 of that out.
If it's not in, well then I'msorry.
Um, but she gets caught up onabraham taking isaac to
sacrifice and she's like why didgod want that to happen?
(24:50):
A little five-old asking.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
I still get caught up on that, so but that's what God
did for us.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
God, god, brought his son out on a donkey, lowered
him down, said you are going tohumble yourself.
You are going to come in as thesacrifice, as the servant, not
what you deserve.
You deserve that chariot, youdeserve all of the glory, but
you're going to come in as Isaacdid, humbly.
And I'm never going to ask youto sacrifice your child, but I
(25:22):
will sacrifice my child for youand for all of humanity.
And it's such a like deep thingwhen you can connect that old
testament to the new testamentand see what god was doing for
so long and how he has worked toshow these, um, these little
like almost easter eggs in reallife where it's like I'll never
(25:46):
ask you to do that, I willprovide the sacrifice.
And then later on he provideshis sacrifice, which is his son,
and and it's just goosebumps,goosebumps.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
That is good, absolutely.
My thoughts go a littledifferent direction with that
story.
But you know, getting back tothe donkey and making the
connection to the Old Testament,that was, you know, prophesied
back in Zechariah I'm sureanother bunch of other places
too, but that he would come inon a donkey and he would come in
(26:19):
in peace and be this savior andthe messiah and all.
And even though it wasprophesied that way, people at
the time were still kind oflooking for this powerful king,
military kind of guy who wasgoing to come save him from the
roman empire, as tim was talkingabout.
And uh, tim mentioned that heactually did that eventually,
(26:40):
just 300 years later.
Um, thanks to uh diocletian anduh constantine.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
But anyway, um, I'm gonna keep you around all the
time.
Just for the names, just forthe name recognition.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
Tying it into the history.
But you know he came in and hewas, you know he had the
humility on the donkey andthat's kind of the symbolism
there.
But he was coming in and he waskind of praised as a king and
you got the palms and you gotthe coats and all that kind of
stuff.
But you know little, didanybody else know that he was
(27:16):
going to suffer in a very majorway very, very soon.
And you know, if we can kind oftie that into our lives and
coming into situations withhumility and when it's, you know
, when you're going through somesuffering, kind of remember
that story and just kind of gointo it with humility, go into
(27:39):
it being willing to listen,being willing to accept help,
that sort of thing, if you coulduse his example of humility, I
think that would go a long way.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
That's good and I think that humility because
something that I think it was inthat same sermon the thing
about the sheep that keeps goingastray and he was talking about
what makes a good shepherd, andhe's willing to break that
lamb's leg in order to keep itwith the flock, kind of thing
and it made me laugh when heasked the question.
He's like my leg's stillhurting.
(28:13):
But, it is like a humility thing, because I feel like at some
point in everyone's walk withGod, we're going to get humbled,
and I think mine came a little,I don't know, maybe a year or
so ago, but it's one of thosethings where it's like you can,
he's not going to stop you frombeing rebellious, but he is
(28:34):
going to stop you from beingrebellious, but he is gonna
humble you one day.
Um, and I was one that not thatI was like rebellious and out
doing a bunch of stuff, but itwas one of those things where
it's like you know me and you'vehad this talk, um about where I
was in my faith, but at acertain point I feel like he did
need to humble me, to let meknow like no, this is it and I
need you to listen, um, so I Iliked that he talked about that
(28:55):
because it's not I.
I don't want everyone to thinkthat it's always just sunshine
and rainbows, like there's goingto be times that he's going to
have to humble you and you haveto be willing to accept the good
with the bad, I guess you couldsay, because it's not always
the answer you want, and I knowthat everyone's looking for the
answer that they want, but it'snot always going to be his
(29:16):
answer.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
True, even as parents , we have to smack our kids
sometimes.
We have to put them in timeout,we have to take their favorite
toy away.
Obviously, it's probably at adifferent level, but God has to
teach us.
It takes a bit.
Sometimes you've got to fail atest with Mr Paxi to learn, you
(29:41):
need to study.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
I would point out that you mentioned that you
didn't study.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
I could see it.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
I don't remember which teacher it was, but I
remember a math teacherspecifically was like do you
guys know you can study math?
And I was like what?
And I was genuinely confusedfor a minute.
I was way too old for thatpoint.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
I also like the point that you brought up too, about
the going into that sermon withlaying the cloaks down in front
of him, because I think, likelistening to what Tim was saying
about that, I think that wasone of the hardest parts for me.
I think that's where thathumility part comes in, because
it's so easy for me to say thatit's I'm going to, I'm gonna do
(30:23):
this for my life, but being ableto lay that coat down in front
of him and say, okay, I'msurrendering it all to you and I
trust that you can protect meand and that kind of thing, not
saying that there's probably notthings I'm gonna do in my walk
to uh, listen to the spirit andpivot, like you were saying, um,
but being conscious enough toknow that I need to lay my coat
(30:43):
down and surrender it all to him.
I think that's the scary part.
Um, in the beginning is justacknowledging that I do need to
surrender down.
So that was a another goodtalking point, I think.
What are some?
Speaker 1 (30:57):
valuable things for us that can be our coats.
So we talk about laying ourcoat down and for those who
maybe didn't hear this sermon,like, what is the significance
of the coat, I guess I'll answer.
I don't need to quiz you, I'msorry.
I put you on the spot there.
What Tim was connecting withthe coat was that, in this time,
(31:20):
laying down your coat, yourcoat was your bed, your pillow,
your what kept you warm, whatkept you safe, did all kinds of
things for you to keep youcapable of existing.
It was your shelter, like itwas so much and so important to
you.
Um, but nowadays we're notwalking around with cloaks or
(31:43):
coats or things like that.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
That's why I generalized it in terms of, like
surrendering my life, kind ofthing, yeah, no.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
I'm not disagreeing with you at all, not disagreeing
with you at all.
I'm saying to kind of drivethis point home because it is
such an important point, because, right for me at one point I've
talked about it before.
I play Xbox way too much andit's a small, simple thing.
It wasn't, it wasn't like theend of the world, but I
(32:08):
identified that that wasbecoming an idol and I'm like
all right, we're done with this,it's going to god and I'm
getting rid of it and we're doneplaying it.
For a while, um, I ended upselling it and a year or two
later, or something like that, Ibought a PS5 and I play that
occasionally.
But in our life we have thesethings that we use as crutches.
(32:29):
That could be as simple as anXbox, as something that we use
to just not think about anythingfor a little bit.
Or it could be somethingincredibly serious where it's
our finances.
Tithing is such a big one.
We want to keep that money tokeep us safe and we're not
willing always to tithe what Godis calling us to tithe.
(32:51):
Ryan says give until it stopshurting.
Where it's like giving money islike I could buy so much with
this and when you stop feelingthat pain when you hand over
your money to God.
That's when you're good, whenyou've learned that lesson.
That's a way that we can laydown our coat.
(33:12):
Hopefully I helped out ratherthan making you think that I
wasn't bad.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
No, I didn't think I was just reiterating because I
saw where you were going with it, because I think for me like me
telling you how I was applyingfor that new job because the
money is not, it's noteverything to me anymore.
So and that's one of theconversations that me and Eric
have had a lot is a big majorityof our finances have always
(33:36):
been paid off my paycheck.
So it was always extremelyscary for us to think about me
taking another job because we'relooking at less pay.
But I told her I was likebetween the kids, my faith,
everything else, I was like it'snot worth it to me anymore.
I was like the amount of stressI'm under the fact that I can't
come to church every Sunday,the fact that I'm missing out on
(33:57):
life groups and all these.
I was like it's not.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
Which I do keep note for.
By the way, I will hold youaccountable.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
I kept note that you didn't come to Dad's and
Desserts Just keep telling thatad.
It's like a big thing for menow that I can see where it's
pulling me away from parts of mylife that are way more
important Now.
It's not something that I canjust quit and be okay but I'm
looking for alternatives tobring me closer to God in that
(34:25):
aspect, cause I feel like itdoes take up too much of my time
.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
This is Charles putting out his resume for
anybody who wants to hireanybody.
And he's not telling you whathe's good at, he's just telling
you he's willing to.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
Yeah, I'll work for food, so that's all.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
You just said you know taking your time, taking up
your time, and I I think thethings that people need to think
about putting down are thethings that that take time away
from what god is calling you todo and what you know, drawing
you near to, to god, as as jaredwas talking about.
But you know it, it's it.
(35:00):
Maybe it is the job that takestoo much time, maybe it's
spending too much time on on ahobby or whatever, but just kind
of keeping everything,everything in perspective and
everything in its place, and youknow it's, it's kind of a
product of of the parts, theparts that make a whole.
But you need to have a properfocus and balance and things
(35:23):
like that to make sure that youcan get everything in there that
you need, and faith needs to bea big part of that.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
I agree.
What else do you got Jared?
There's been a lot from thisside of the table.
Not so much from this side ofthe table I like throwing in.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
So come to the the God who saves.
Talk on that sermon.
One of the application pointsthat I walked away from having
was the urge or the calling toforgive somebody.
Forgiveness is such a difficultthing.
(36:05):
Sometimes People have wrongedus, people have hurt us in ways
that are big and small.
I think one we can work on aspeople forgiving instantly for
the small things.
Realistically, how many of usget home from work angry because
someone cut us off on the wayhome from work and we're angry
(36:27):
for way too long about that?
We, we think, when it comes to,like, our humility as
Christians, we should be livinga life that like, oh, they cut
us off, cool, moving on with myday, like it's, it's, it's.
You have this expectation thatpeople need to treat you a
certain way, especially likewhen we're driving.
And I know that's a small thing, but taking it even a step
(36:47):
further, where Tim was callingit, there are big things that we
as Christians need to workthrough and forgive people for
Things that, frankly, they don'tdeserve forgiveness for.
But because we were forgivenfor everything we've done, we
have that same calling.
Forgiveness has been a massivepart of my walk as a christian.
(37:09):
Um, and getting to that pointwhere it's things happened, we
moved past them, and reconcilingthat with the person, but then
also with yourself, that youaren't walking around with all
of that baggage and all of thatexpectation of more pain coming.
I've already explained I'm sureI've said it on here I'm a
(37:30):
pessimist, or more often thannot, I'm like you're going to do
something bad and I'm gettingready for it.
That is like a defensemechanism, and we as Christians,
we like we as people, not evenjust christians we feel like we
need to protect ourselves fromthat all the time, and I think
that's a hindrance in ourforgiveness sometimes.
And so, um, one of the things Ijust wanted to point out just
(37:53):
to like even reiterate it andjust give an amen to what um was
talked about in the sermon isforgiveness being crucial.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
Yeah, I could see where you're coming from with
the preparing for someone to dosomething against you, and I'm
not even saying, obviously I'mnot saying that that's the right
way to go about it, but I feellike just society in a whole has
gotten to a point where youalmost have to feel that way
because no one I shouldn't sayto no one because there's people
out there, but a lot of peopleout there are extremely bitter,
angry people.
(38:31):
I mean, it's hard to go to agrocery store and go into a
checkout line without thecashier just you know the way
they talk to you or anything.
There's just a lot of bitterpeople out there.
So, and there's a lot of hurtout there.
So it's hard to get into arelationship with anyone friend,
friend or not and not expect abad outcome.
(38:52):
Um, so I would agree with youthat I think you know that's a
big area in my life that I hadto work on too.
Um, not necessarily lettingwell, I guess you could just say
letting my guard down to acertain degree, in the sense of
I need to work on allowingpeople in, because a lot of
times I did push people away andthat's because of hurt that I
experienced in the past.
So yeah, I can relate to thatanyway.
Speaker 3 (39:18):
I mean, this is the Good Friday story with him on
the cross.
I mean, this is the Good Fridaystory with him on the cross.
And one of the parts of thatstory that comes to my mind that
Tim talked about was you know,he's hanging on the cross and
all these people are, you know,shouting insults and that sort
of stuff, and he yelled out youknow, do not weep for me, father
(39:39):
, forgive them.
They do not know what they do.
And I kind of look at that asthe ultimate what would Jesus do
story and, in terms offorgiving, he's looking at and
talking to the people who puthim on a cross and are poking
him and throwing stuff at himand whatever else, and he's
(40:00):
still willing to forgive them,whatever else, and he's still
willing to forgive them.
Um, and I, you know, I kind ofthink that's a that was kind of
predestined in some way, um,kind of to to be an example for
us.
You know, um, they talk aboutthat some of that was prophesied
and all, but just in general,that this story itself was kind
of put in place just to teach usthat lesson.
(40:22):
You know, our forgiveness isnever going to be hopefully
never going to be as extreme aswhat he was dealing with, but he
still found a way to forgiveand also reached out to the big
man to make sure that he forgavethem too.
Speaker 2 (40:41):
Yeah, that's good.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
And we can, that's good and we can.
That same concept of forgivingsomeone because they don't
understand what they're doing.
How often are we running intothat?
Like parents parent how theirparents parented.
People treat people how theyget treated more often than not,
and so they may like when it'sto them, they may understand
(41:06):
that it's not great and it hurts.
But if they don't know how totreat other people or how to
handle a situation any other waythan a negative way, it's going
to happen.
Like for years, all of my how Ishowed hurt was through anger
and it took a lot for me andAllison to like sit down and
(41:26):
like figure that out.
Like, hey, when you're, whensomething happens and you get
super angry out of like, waymore angry than you should be
over a subject, is it hurting?
Like is that?
Are you emotionally feelingsomething and you don't know how
to like express that thing,something?
And you don't know how to likeexpress that thing.
(41:47):
Um, and so, as we walk throughlife keeping that in mind, like
you said that that example thatwe get from that of forgive them
they don't know what they'redoing, they don't know any
better.
They're broken people just likewe are.
It's uh, his example wasn'tjust like we are, but from our
perspective it is just like weare.
But that's my two cents on that, charles, sorry, making sure
(42:07):
I'm coming in enough.
What else we got?
We got, we can.
We can touch on one or two morethings real quick um, I had, um
, I mean, we kind of talked.
Speaker 2 (42:19):
We talked about a little bit in life group the
other day but and I can'tremember what I was tying it
into in this sermon but I thinkthey were talking about somewhat
of like a conflating themessage kind of thing based on
feelings.
It was in the God of Victory oneand I can't remember exactly
what they were talking about andI should have made a better
(42:41):
note on that.
But you know, we talked aboutit in Life Group in terms of
when we're reading Scripture andwe're trying to grow closer to
God.
A lot of times you hear peopletalk about these stories, but
they're not talking it inScripture, they're talking it
through their feelings.
So a lot of times you startgetting people who interject
(43:03):
their feelings into scripture,which then ends up conflating
the scripture to match what theywant it to be versus what it
actually is.
Um, so for me, like what wewere talking about in life group
is taking a step back andrealizing that the scripture is
his word and it's alreadyfinished, like we should not be
interjecting our feelings intoit.
Um, I don't know, I don't knowexactly where I'm going with
(43:29):
this.
It was kind of just a half note,but hey, that's good too it was
something that I know they weretouching on and I can't
remember exactly what they weretying into it, but I do think
it's important because, like Isaid, we were talking the fact
that we brought it up in lifegroup because of what we were um
think it's important because,like I said, we were talking the
fact that we brought it up inLife Group because of what we
were watching.
It's dangerous, more now sothan I feel like it has been in
the past, only because of thefact that social media is so big
(43:52):
right now, and I know that, interms of Scripture and our faith
, we do need to leave ourpersonal feelings out of the
Scripture itself and let thescripture speak to you the way
that it should be I think that'sentirely true.
Speaker 1 (44:10):
Um, not that we can't have emotion when it comes to
scripture, uh, but to manipulatescripture in any way is
obviously bad.
And there is a there issomebody who's listening to this
right now who you justcompleted the other half of
their thought.
I'm sure that they were halfwaythere and you got it to them
(44:32):
and they're like okay, this isall clicking now.
Speaker 2 (44:33):
They're probably yelling at it and being like
this is the word you're lookingfor.
Speaker 1 (44:42):
Scott, you got any final thoughts?
Speaker 3 (44:43):
yeah, I got a couple things on that the Easter
service, the God of victory butwhen he was kind of setting that
up, he was talking about themountain and what that looked
like and you know he was makingsome references to some of the
mountains he had been on.
But the one point that he madeis that one of the cool things
(45:05):
about being at the top of amountain is that you can see,
and you can see a long way andyou can see everything in a
variety of directions.
So being able to see all ofthat, you know I think is a you
know, just in life in general,is a point that we should all be
aware of.
And he was talking about howGod is a promise keeper.
(45:31):
He made promises to us in hisword and in his own way, in his
own time.
He will fulfill that.
He will fulfill that.
And then he went on to talkabout doubt and how that kind of
affected some of the stories,and he was talking about how
(45:57):
John the Baptist doubted andPeter doubted and Thomas doubted
and the Israelites doubted andultimately, in the doubt, it
provides an opportunity forone's faith to become even
stronger.
You know, in our own walk, youknow we've always been faithful
people and you know, beeninvolved in church and all.
But you know when all of thishappened to us and if you talk
(46:19):
to other people, talk to Amy,who was also a very important
part of our our event the otherday along with steve.
But anyway, we kind of talkedabout that moment when, when the
you know the journey you'regoing through and what you're
seeing kind of changed into,into trust and you know, seeing
(46:40):
that moment and making kind of Ithink it was described by Ryan
is that doubt is the pathway toa deeper faith and you explore
those doubts and use them inyour story and use them in your
path and along your journey infaith and just in life in
(47:00):
general.
Speaker 1 (47:02):
That's so true.
Any like.
If we remove this subject fromit, religion from it.
If you have a question aboutanything, you have an
opportunity to test it and proveit right.
Like.
Is it like basic ninth gradescience of the doing a test, or
(47:25):
the scientific theory orwhatever the scientific method?
There we go.
Thank you the teachers here.
Scientific method and havingthe hypothesis and working it
out like there is always anopportunity within doubt to come
away knowing more.
We have to have that trust orthat.
(47:47):
I don't want to say trustbecause you might be growing in
trust.
You have to have reverence andwillingness to see where God is
taking it.
I think I always talk aboutdoubt when I talk with the youth
, that it can be like a ladder,like every doubt you have, every
question you have about yourfaith is a rung.
That could be the last rung yougo up.
You can allow that to be likeI'm going back down, I'm not
(48:09):
dealing with any of that, orthat could just be one more rung
where it ends up strengtheningyour faith, because you went and
asked God for the answer andyou trusted him to provide that
answer and you're using that asyour next step as you draw
closer to christ.
Um, I love that doubt.
Doubt is always thought to be abad thing.
It's not necessarily one not atall um, I'll close with this.
(48:33):
One thing that I've picked up onall of these sermons and
stories and experiences thatwe've talked about today is that
we, as Christians, have one acommunity and two a shared
mission.
We're called to make disciplesand draw people closer to Christ
(48:53):
, and, as a church, our missionis to have 30,000 gospel
conversations.
Our purpose is to help othersdiscover more in Christ, and so
maybe you're listening to thispodcast and you're in the camp
of I don't need to go to church,I practice my faith alone, and
you listen to podcasts andthings like that.
(49:14):
I just want to urge you likecome to a community.
It doesn't need to be Freshwindit's probably the best church
ever, though but find acommunity of believers and have
church with them and see whereyou could be a giver for your
whole life, and then you'regoing to be an opportunity where
you're going to be a receiver,and it's going to help you and
it's going to benefit you, andyou wouldn't have that unless
(49:36):
you had a community of believersaround you.
Um, and with all of these, wehave that opportunity to have
community and have a sharedmission, and that's it's amazing
, and so, if you're ever on thefence about it.
My vote is go find a communityand find that mission and live
(49:59):
for Christ.
And we all have one-assChristian and it's the Great
Commission.
But see what the churches aredoing around you and see how you
can help out.
And even if you come to FreshWind and you're like I want to
help out more, maybe there's aministry here you can help out
with.
Or Val Val does stuff with.
Again, names, they're the worstCrisis Pregnancy Center.
(50:20):
What's it called?
Anybody got it?
Anybody got it?
Speaker 2 (50:25):
The one in Elyria, yeah, it looks even worse for me
because I volunteered for alittle bit and I still can't
remember the name.
Speaker 1 (50:31):
So everyone, keep in mind that he can't remember the
name either.
I can't.
It's going to come with me assoon as I hit the record button
and stop the recording.
But she found she's connectingus in there and I'm gonna stop
talking now because I've stuckon it.
But, anywho, find a communitythat you can help out with a
shared mission, and it's superbeneficial and it's amazing, and
(50:54):
that's that's my point on thatone.
But um, we're, we're fiveminutes longer than we usually
go, and so this was a good onegood, that means you can cut out
the last five minutes.
Speaker 2 (51:03):
Yep, it'll work.
Speaker 1 (51:05):
All right.
Thanks for joining us thismonth, scott.
We appreciate it and we lovedhearing about your journey and
your story and everything that'sbeen going on, and we're so
happy it's all good news rightnow.
Speaker 2 (51:15):
I would have to agree .
It's inspirational.
At least for anybody that isgoing through a fight Like your
guys' story really isinspirational.
Speaker 3 (51:25):
Yeah, I appreciate that and everybody has a similar
story.
You know, in some capacity youwere talking about being part of
a community.
When you move into thatcommunity and become a part of
that community, your story mightbe an inspiration to somebody
else.
So you know you can be givingat the same time you're
receiving in that.
Speaker 1 (51:47):
I love it.
All right, guys, as always, ifanything in this podcast piqued
your interest and you want toshare something maybe it's a
story of something you'restruggling with and you want to
let Scott know that, hey, he's,he's encouraged you, so you can
send that to the Blue ChairPodcast and I'll forward it
along to him.
But we're in the doubt seriesright now as a church, and so if
(52:07):
you have any thoughts orcomments on the sermons, as
always, email them to the BlueChair Podcast.
We'd love to hear from you, butthat's all we've got this month
.
We will talk to you next month.
Thanks for listening, thank you.
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