March 4, 2026 • 47 mins
We run a spiritual diagnostic before Easter, asking what truly reigns in our hearts and why obedience stops feeling like loss when the kingdom becomes our supreme value. We move from adding more church tasks to choosing Jesus first and letting everything else realign.
• the parable of the treasure and pearl reframing priorities
• discovery over sacrifice as the path to joy
• how distractions and marketing hijack desire
• two diagnostics: first emotional response and mental space
• emotions as servants in worship and daily life
• deciding before you feel and aligning choices
• substitution not subtraction when reordering loves
• Paul’s gain and loss lens in Philippians 3
• Easter preparation as clarity, not guilt
We'd love to hear from you. Let us know how God is using this resource in your life or send any podcast questions or topic ideas to podcast@afreshwind.org
THANKS FOR JOINING US!
Visit afreshwind.org for even more content and resources to help you take steps towards Jesus and discover more in Christ.
DOWNLOAD THE FRESH WIND APP
With the A Fresh Wind Church app, you can now take the WIND wherever you go! Access sermons, articles, videos, resources and more to help you discover more in Christ.
PLAN YOUR VISIT
We know it can be a little weird or even awkward visiting a church for the first time. That's why we created Plan Your Visit. We want to make your first visit as easy as possible, and actually take time to get to know you and your family. Plan Your Visit now to schedule your visit by letting us know you're coming. We will treat you like family from the moment you arrive.
MAKE A DONATION
Give today and help us continue bringing new content each and every week! We're so grateful for your generosity. Click the link below or simply text any amount to the number (844) 620-5380.
DIG DEEPER
Looking for even more content to help you learn and apply this week's message? Subscribe to the Pastor's Blog! New posts are available each Friday at 7am.
Support the Show
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:08):
Welcome and thanks for joining us on this episode
of the Midweek Podcast, broughtto you by a Fresh Wind Church.
Each week our team brings younew content to help you take
steps towards Jesus and discovermore in Christ.
Today's episode is hosted byPastor Ryan.
SPEAKER_02 (00:27):
Hey everyone, welcome back to the Midweek
Podcast.
Pastor Ryan joined as alwayswith Pastor Tim.
And uh Tim on Sunday we kickedoff a brand new series we're
calling In the Shop.
And uh man had some uh somecover guys pretty fired up over
that uh series graphic.
SPEAKER_00 (00:42):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (00:44):
I like it.
I uh you did a good job on that.
I was pointing it out, and I Itold everybody to say, good job,
Ryan.
SPEAKER_02 (00:51):
That was uh Which I appreciate, thank you.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (00:54):
Well, you were a little bit more excited about
this one than you were uh thanyou have been in a while.
You must have really liked it.
SPEAKER_02 (01:00):
I thought it came out pretty good, and uh had some
guys, they were they were likingit.
Uh one guy said, Man, I reallyappreciate the this this series
graphic.
Uh he goes, This is that's myview every day.
And so uh it I guess feltfamiliar uh for him.
But uh in the shop is theseries, and uh we're we're kind
of putting our our spirituallives, I guess, in the shop as
(01:23):
we head into Easter and saying,hey, what what are some of those
things we need to to work on aswe prepare uh for the Easter
season?
SPEAKER_03 (01:30):
And we're not looking uh for a broken axle,
because you know that's wrong.
We're not looking for um, youknow, I got a I got a flat tire.
We're going into the shop for atune-up.
We just want to look.
Um so what if nothing is wrongin your life?
It's just something's out oforder.
(01:52):
It's not working the way itshould.
And that's that's kind of whatwe're looking for.
We all know when we're um we'rewrapped up in something that's
outside of God's will and hedoesn't want for our life.
We we kind of know that.
That's like you know, there's ahole in your radiator, or your
um your head is is cracked.
(02:13):
I had to go through that whenthey stur first started making
all these aluminum heads, andyou get them hot, and the head
would crack, and you'd have toput a whole new head on the top
of your engine block, and you'relooking at me like you have no
idea what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_02 (02:25):
No idea what you're talking about.
SPEAKER_03 (02:28):
Anyways, we're not talking about that uh broken
axle or something like that.
We're talking about everything'srunning fine, but we need to
take it in and and um look ateverything and and get a
tune-up, maybe.
SPEAKER_02 (02:39):
Yeah, and I think that's why starting on Sunday
with this diagnostic um sermonthat that you walked us through
is is great.
Is and it's the first thing theydo, right?
When you take your car in.
We we gotta hook it up to thismachine, we're gonna let it run
its thing, figure out what'sgoing on here, what what's off,
what's what's not firing the wayit's supposed to.
And so that that was Sunday.
(03:00):
Um to go in here and let's let'sjust start there.
Let's let's take a look and seewhere things might be out of
order.
Um and you know, you weretalking about that that passage
where um Jesus, it's a parablethat he gives where this guy
finds a field and uh it's gotthis pearl in it, and he goes,
(03:21):
or treasure, I think, is in thefield.
Um and he goes and he sellseverything uh to buy the field.
And it must have been the verseof the day uh on the Bible app
recently.
Um if it's late at night and wewant to, you know, we try to do
some sort of scripture readingwith our kids every night.
(03:42):
Um so we usually try to workthrough a book, but it was
probably late.
I opened the Bible app, saidlet's just read the verse of the
day.
And it was that verse about thisparable Jesus tells guy goes and
buys a field, uh found treasure,and buys the field, sells
everything to buy this field.
And so I just asked my kids whenit was done.
I was like, What what is yourfavorite thing that you own?
(04:04):
Um, and you know, you startedgetting different answers.
Uh I think Ellie was herelectric scooter and Reese was
um maybe his new uh loft bedthing that he got for Christmas.
You know, they they all had thisthing, and then I at the end of
it I said, All right, would yoube willing to give up your
favorite thing for Jesus?
(04:26):
And they're like um quickly, youknow, all of a sudden it became
real.
I'm like, would would we give upour pool?
Would we give up Benny, our dog?
Would we give up our house, um,our car?
What what would we be willing togive up for the kingdom?
(04:47):
And this guy, when he found it,he sold everything for it.
And so there's obviously, andthis is you know the point I
think you were driving home, isthere's priorities um in the
kingdom, and this guy he foundthe right thing, and he was
willing to sell everything elsefor that thing.
Um and man, I think a lot of uswere like, yeah, I I want to add
(05:12):
God to my life, I want to addchurch to my life, but it gets
somewhere down here.
And if you're if you were to askme, well, would I give up this
thing for that?
I think it'd be for a lot of us,it's just like my kids.
Uh I don't know if I'm ready togo all in like that yet.
SPEAKER_03 (05:30):
Do I have to make that kind of decision to serve
God or or to have my prioritiescorrect?
And I think that's where we getthis wrong.
We think it's about sacrifice,and it's really it's really not
about sacrifice, it's aboutrecognition on of what is most
important.
SPEAKER_00 (05:49):
That's right.
SPEAKER_03 (05:50):
So I was up in, we were up in Colorado and our we
had this uh I think it was aFord Escort.
Trying to think what we weredriving then.
But when we were driving up inthe mountains, it'd get all
sputtery.
You know, what's going on withour car and can't climb
mountains?
That's what I was thinking.
It just can't climb mountains.
(06:11):
So um we get back down and uhwe're back in Ohio.
I said, Yeah, I it had troublegoing up on top of that
mountain.
And uh he said, Well, your yoursensor's probably clogged or
broken.
I said, What sensor?
He said, Your altitude sensor.
(06:32):
I said, Cars don't have altitudesensors.
You know, oh yes, they do.
Uh because they they change thefuel mix.
As you go up in altitude, youneed uh you need more air and
less fuel, and when you getdown, you need more fuel and
less air.
What are you talking about?
But I think sometimes in ourlife we have those sensors um
(06:53):
that are that are not workingfor us.
And God's like, hey, you gottabe a whole person here.
We need to we need to look at itthis all.
And it's not like um that needsto become the number one.
It just needs to work correctly.
Uh so in the situation thatyou're in.
And then and when we talk aboutpriorities and values, that's
(07:14):
what we're trying to do.
What's first and then let'ssubstitute what's first for
what's on top and then getthings in alignment so that uh
we can function the way God isintending us to.
I think um when we get the ideathat the kingdom is the supreme
(07:35):
value, that Jesus is a value, itis the watch you want to buy, it
is the car that or truck thatthe thing.
When the kingdom becomes asupreme value, it's no longer a
religious obligation.
Right?
It's not uh I gotta check thisbox.
(07:57):
No, it's it's the thing.
And we've gotten away from that.
Like you said, trying to add theLord to our lives instead of
letting him be our life.
SPEAKER_02 (08:08):
It's not that all these things in our life are are
bad, right?
Um you know, I don't I don'tknow if following Jesus means I
have to sell my dog.
Um it's if if it was bad, youknow, if you ran over something
and it got stuck up in the wheelwell of your car, you would know
this has got to go, right?
So that's not the things thatwe're we're necessarily talking
about.
Every everybody kind of getsthat.
(08:30):
Um, but it it's yeah, well,where are my priorities out of
order here?
Where where is Jesus not first?
And what do I have over top ofhim?
Um, you know, one of the thingsthat I loved, and and you
pointed this out in the thesermon is and it said that this
man went in joy to selleverything he has.
(08:50):
And I think so often we look atsurrender as being painful, uh
restrictive, like we're losingcontrol.
Um, I don't get to call theshots of my life anymore.
And it feels difficult.
Surrender feels like, you know,when you got caught not going
your hardest on the play, andyour coach said, start running.
(09:13):
It feels like that, you know.
Um, but man, this guy, he wentin joy.
It was a joy for him to sell allof his stuff.
And I thought, man, what whathas to happen in my life?
What has to happen in your life,where putting Jesus at the top,
if that meant selling everythingelse to get him there, would
(09:36):
feel like a joy.
SPEAKER_03 (09:38):
When Jesus talked about it though, there's a an
aspect of a nuance uh of this uhparable with uh with the field,
with the treasure, and and withthe pearl, it's a discovery.
He discovered the pearl of greatprice, he discovered the
(09:59):
treasure.
And and I think that's one ofthe things that um Christians
have let it's all aboutsacrifice, you know.
I gotta sacrifice what I want todo, I gotta sacrifice.
But Jesus says, no, come followme, discover me.
You know, learn learn what thekingdom is really all about, and
(10:21):
it's it's great, but you have todiscover it.
Yeah, you know, um what's thatscripture verse?
Um you search for me, uh you'llfind me when you search for with
all your heart.
Yeah.
That really applies here becauseI know at preaching Sunday, it's
uh you gotta get your prioritystraight, Jesus needs to be
(10:42):
number one, blah, blah, blah,blah, blah.
Okay, that means something'sgotta go number two, and we
gotta work that down.
And and we, you know, weChristianize it and and talk
about um, you know, if you loveJesus the way you should love
him, you'll love your wife moreand and all these things.
And and not to saying that's nottrue.
(11:02):
That is true.
And but it it's not a platitude,it's actually true.
But you have to discover that,right?
You know, and that's Jesus isalways wanting you, well, come
on, let's let's go see if thisis real.
And I think that's how he drawsus on.
SPEAKER_02 (11:20):
This is why distractions in our life are uh
are so dangerous, and I thinkit's one of the devil's greatest
tactics, uh, at least here inAmerica, is to just keep us
distracted.
It's hard to discover thosethings when I'm constantly
distracted with all this otherstuff going on.
And man, we we have been sold byyou know advertisers and
(11:42):
marketers, all these things.
This is what brings you joy.
This is what brings youhappiness, this is what brings
you pleasure.
And so those things quickly riseto the top for us.
Um, because we've we've boughtit.
It it looks great.
I remember Ellie, she I think Ipicked her up from my mom's
house one day.
My mom and dad um were watchingher, and I pick her up, she gets
(12:06):
in the car, and she startstelling me, Dad, we got to get
this thing for the house, andit's going on and on and on
about all this stuff that thisthing's gonna do.
And I was like, it worked.
She said, What worked?
I said, The marketing.
You you bought it, you bought itall.
Uh, you were ready to pull outthe credit card and order that
thing.
Um, we we buy these things thatthis is gonna bring us pleasure.
(12:29):
And this guy, he discoveredsomething that was so valuable
that he said, Man, I I'm gonnasell everything if I can get
that.
Um and you talked about it onSunday, man.
If we would if we would pursueJesus in that way, it's not a a
subtraction.
It feels, and I think that'swhat a lot of especially people
(12:51):
outside the church, it feelslike a subtraction.
You want me to give up my Fridaynights with my with my boys to
to follow Jesus, or you know,I'm I'm gonna miss the you know,
kick off to the Browns game,especially when they're playing,
you know, in London or wherethey're playing this year,
France, wherever, so I can go tochurch, you know.
It feels like subtraction.
(13:12):
Um man, Jesus said, if you'llseek the kingdom first, all
these other things, your yourneed for for pleasure and
recognition, you talked aboutthat on community.
That's community.
SPEAKER_03 (13:25):
That's what being with your boys is all about.
SPEAKER_02 (13:27):
He'll he'll add to, he'll provide all of those
things.
You'll find it in him and and inlife with him and in his church,
and it'll be better thananything you've ever dreamed of.
And it's why, you know, peoplewho have who have been following
Jesus a long time look at thosethings and they're like, man, I
(13:48):
don't I don't have any desirefor that because I found true
community here in this way, andit comes without the guilt and
without the shame and withoutthe headache on Saturday
morning.
You know, it I'm free from thosethings.
SPEAKER_03 (14:02):
And I don't think Christians are rejecting the
kingdom when the kingdom is notthe first priority in our life.
That's not what we're talkingabout here.
We're talking about you justhaven't discovered how valuable
it is.
And and it's like we have torediscover that every time
there's a crisis, you know?
And uh Jesus wants it, no, Iwant you to live in that
(14:24):
discovery of how valuable I am.
And and so uh it's gonna be aconstant thing.
That's why we're doing thischeckup, because Easter prep
preparation is not about guilt,it's about clarity.
You know, where where do westand?
Where have I I I put him on mypriorities list?
(14:46):
And most Christians that say,well, I love Jesus first, then I
love my family, and then I lovemy church.
And it's like, yes, that'sthat's the way it should be.
But there's nuance in there.
How much do you love yourchurch?
How much do you give to yourchurch?
How much do you serve yourchurch?
How much, you know, and then wego back to our family and say,
(15:06):
Well, how much do you serve yourfamily?
Well, I serve my family a lot.
Do you serve them more than youserve Jesus?
Well, I I can't give up on myfamily here, and we're not
telling you to.
We're telling you to be more toyour family than you are right
now.
We're just saying put Jesus ontop and let him guide you in
(15:27):
that, and when he does, theneverything else becomes more.
SPEAKER_02 (15:33):
When when Jesus becomes our treasure, when we we
uh we see his kingdom for whatit truly is, then then obedience
stops feeling like a loss to us.
Um and that's the thing, wegotta see and recognize it for
how valuable it truly is.
You read this verse on Sunday,but scripture says, No eye has
seen, no ear has heard, no mindcan even conceive what God has
(15:57):
prepared for those who love him.
That's who he is, that's howvaluable it is.
Uh man, was it C.S.
Lewis who talked about howhumanity said we're humans are
far too easily pleased.
Um, you know, we go about makingmud pies here when an offer of a
holiday at the sea is what'sbeing offered to us.
And we're like, nah, just let mesit here in this puddle making
(16:19):
mud pies.
Um we we we settle for thesemomentary pleasures.
We try to string together onehigh after another, and then we
try to call it life and try tocall it happiness.
But man, if we could see, getget a glimpse a little bit of
just how valuable Jesus is andhow valuable his kingdom is and
(16:40):
what he's preparing for us, thenall these other things is like
get out of my way.
Right.
You're you are standing betweenme and in my treasure, the most
valuable thing on the planet,get out of my way.
SPEAKER_03 (16:54):
Obedience stops feeling like loss, right?
unknown (16:57):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (16:58):
So when you're getting married and you fall in
love with a girl, she's gonnahave certain standards that she
wants you, she don't want you tolook like a slob all the time.
And um, and so you're gonna haveto not look like a slob all the
time.
And and she's saying, I don'twant to be seen with you if you
look like that.
Now, this didn't happen to me,so don't go to Teresa and say.
(17:21):
Um, but let's say this is thesituation, then what do you do
if you're in love?
You clean yourself up.
It's not a sacrifice.
You you are in love and you wantto be with her, and so you you
take that, it's not a sacrificeat all.
It this is my step towards her.
SPEAKER_02 (17:43):
Right.
And I'd be willing to give upanything that would get in the
way of that.
SPEAKER_03 (17:47):
Right.
So um I think the um thissubstitution.
You know, we substitute thingsin front of Jesus in our life
all the time.
We don't do it in a way that itstops our life and we crash into
a pole.
You know, it's just a a fewthings that uh the Lord says,
(18:09):
that's not incorrect alignment.
That we need we need to fixthat.
Um there was a time when I wasall into my 401k, I watched the
business news every day, and umand the Lord finally said,
You're gonna I need you to go ona fast.
And I'm like, Oh gosh, I hategiving up food.
He said, No, I want you to giveup the business news.
(18:33):
And it was tough on me.
SPEAKER_02 (18:36):
What's like just let me give up food.
SPEAKER_03 (18:38):
Yeah.
What what this is what I'm intoright now.
It wasn't a major shift in mylife.
It didn't challenge my quiettime with Jesus, it didn't
challenge, you know, my lifewith my family or anything like
that.
He says, You just let this get,you think more about this than
you think about me.
And he's I want you to besuccessful, I want you to be
(18:59):
smart with your money.
I never have been, but he wantsme to be.
And I want to put you, uh youput me on top, and then I'll add
this to you.
This is a substitution.
It's not a I'm gonna jerk thisout of your life and you're
gonna be poor forever becauseyou got out of you got out of
alignment here.
This is that that's not whatwe're talking about.
(19:19):
It's um it's not adding thesethings to me, it's repositioning
the things I already have.
And they slip out of alignment,just like I said, that got
really important to me, and Iwas watching trends and all this
kind of stuff.
And um, but the Lord says, Thisis this is not my purpose for
(19:41):
you.
That's good, you can do that,but you're gonna have to realize
that uh I want number one.
Right.
And he did that, and I can sayright now that I don't do that
anymore at all.
I I hardly ever check the marketor anything like that anymore.
Um, and that's it it's droppedoff my radar, which is not good.
(20:02):
That's not good either.
But uh the point is that makingthat uh correction didn't didn't
tell me that I have to I have togive up on um you know
opportunities, moneyopportunities in this, that, and
the other thing, it just meanshe needs to be first in that.
unknown (20:20):
Right, right.
SPEAKER_02 (20:22):
One of the things that I think especially I I
would say new new Christians,people new to church, but I I I
feel like I've had theseconversations with people who
have been coming to church along time too, is we feel like
man, I I'm coming to church andI'm doing all the the churchy
things, but my life doesn't feelreally any different.
(20:44):
Um and I and I think the problemis we're just trying to add on
the church things to our alreadybusy, overloaded lives, right?
So we we add on church, we addon prayer, we add on uh
discipleship and Bible reading,we add on going to the discovery
class or joining a life groupand getting on a volunteer team.
(21:06):
We add all these things, butwe've never taken the time to do
what what we're talking abouthere is check our alignment,
check our priorities.
Jesus still isn't at the top,and so church and scripture
reading and prayer and all thesethings really feel cumbersome.
They feel um more like a duty,uh something that that I know.
(21:27):
And and and then we start, well,I man, I know I'm supposed to be
doing this.
Now we add on guilt to the wholething.
SPEAKER_03 (21:32):
Right, obligations.
SPEAKER_02 (21:34):
And it's because our alignment is out of whack.
And I and I've had people thathave told me, man, I we and this
has happened, people leaving ourchurch to go find a new church,
or people who have left anotherchurch and have come here.
The story's usually the same alot of times is I just wasn't
growing in that other church.
Or I I don't feel like I'm youknow really growing anymore, and
(21:56):
I we we got to try somethingdifferent.
And a lot of times I'll ask.
Be like, well, how much timehave you been in God's Word?
How how much time are youspending in prayer?
Because you can go to whateverchurch you want.
Or not go at all.
Or not like in China.
SPEAKER_03 (22:12):
And or Orion, which they're going to be able to go
to church again.
That'll be great.
Praise the Lord for that.
Um it's at least I hope so.
SPEAKER_02 (22:21):
Church is is not the thing.
And the problem is we've triedto add it thinking that was
gonna fix it.
Whatever itch you neededscratched, you know, well, I and
a lot of people after CharlieKirk died, started coming to
church.
And praise the Lord for that.
Um man, if that's his legacythat all these people joined
(22:41):
church, um I man, praise theLord.
But for some of us, for some ofthem, not all of them, but some
of them, and hopefully aminority, um, but they they felt
something.
And so they tried to add onchurch, but they just tried to
add it in to their life withoutputting Jesus at the top.
And the problem is, and Jesustalked about this, you know, you
(23:03):
were bringing up money.
He says, You can't serve twomasters.
Scripture really says you can'tserve both God and money, but
you could put just aboutanything else at the top of that
too.
Right.
He says, because you'll love oneand you'll hate or despise the
other because it's they're goingto come into conflict.
And so when Jesus isn't at thetop, now I got a problem because
(23:24):
this all feels like anobligation and it's getting in
the way.
SPEAKER_03 (23:28):
And everything feels like that.
Um you need a differentperspective.
Uh, we were talking about it atthe um forge.
You just need to look and say, Ichoose to put him at the top.
And and it's there's notanything more to this, okay?
(23:49):
It's not difficult.
It's needs he's not at the top,he needs to be at the top.
I know in my mind he needs to beat the top, even though in my
heart he's not at the top, but Ichoose to place him up there in
faith that this is what he wantsfrom me.
SPEAKER_02 (24:04):
And as you It's really important what you just
said.
SPEAKER_03 (24:07):
Well, go ahead.
SPEAKER_02 (24:09):
Well, I just the reason because we think this has
got to have some emotion tied tothis, right?
SPEAKER_03 (24:16):
Emotion or some kind of new obligation.
SPEAKER_02 (24:18):
I'm putting Jesus at the top, and so I this has gotta
it's a decision.
Right.
It's a decision.
And then the rest of my decisionis just aligning my life with
that decision I've already made.
Right.
And you don't need goosebumps todo this.
SPEAKER_03 (24:33):
Nope.
And that's good clarification.
Clarity is is most importantwhen we're talking about this.
When we talk about a New Year'sresolutions, I'm gonna lose some
weight, what do we say?
We say, I'm gonna go to the gym.
You know, this is my I'm gonnago to the gym.
But ninety percent of losingweight has nothing to do with
(24:57):
the gym.
It has to do with eating.
Now, you take a perspective ofI'm gonna, and we try to add
that to, you know, I'm gonna,but the whole thing is if I
don't show up at the gym, Ifail.
Well, your perspective's wrong.
If you don't show up at thetable, you win.
Right?
So um there's not uh overweightperson out there.
(25:19):
I've been overweight most of mylife, I can tell you right now,
if you don't eat, you loseweight.
It's uh it's a no thing.
It's not about getting to thegym.
So when when we look at when welook at our priority list and
and we're trying to figure outwhere we are, it's a decision to
see it the way God does.
And and it it's more simple thanwe feel because we always feel
(25:44):
like, okay, there's anobligation here.
I'm gonna have to do this thing,I'm gonna have to feel this way,
I'm gonna No.
It is a decision.
SPEAKER_02 (25:54):
That's right.
Um and so we I want to encourageyou start there and and don't
wait for the your emotions andheart to all get behind.
It's gonna happen.
Um but you just make thisdecision, Jesus, you're at the
top.
And then when something comesup, you gotta remind yourself
(26:17):
now that Jesus is at the top,and you don't feel like it yet.
You don't feel like putting himat the top, but here's what's
gonna happen you you do that,you put them at the top, and
then you start aligning yourlife and your decisions with
that knowledge that nope, I'veput Jesus at the top, and what's
gonna happen is he's gonna proveto you that he's better.
SPEAKER_03 (26:37):
Absolutely.
He's better.
That's the discovery we'retalking about.
SPEAKER_02 (26:40):
That's right.
SPEAKER_03 (26:41):
We need to understand this in in a way that
um that we can trust him.
You don't feel like he's at thetop in your heart.
But he can change your want-tos.
He can change the way um he canchange the way you live.
We're expecting him to do thatwhen we get saved, you know,
(27:03):
sanctified, made holy.
We're expecting him to do thosethings, and when we place him at
the top, then we're giving himfree reign to do that.
The problem is uh FOMO.
Oh, I'm gonna I'm gonna miss outon something.
You're just afraid of missingout on what um something in the
world, and I you know, I'm I'mthis close to making a bunch of
(27:29):
money or I'm this close towhatever.
And the Lord says, I'm nottalking about taking that away.
I'm talking about making mefirst and making that second.
And I think a lot of times we umconfuse control in our life with
security.
We're afraid where God mightsend us and ask us to do, and
(27:52):
and um but he's telling you, no,I want to show you how much I'm
the treasure in your life and uhyou have more security in me
than you ever have in the factthat you can um take care of all
these things that happen inlife.
When a crisis happens, um wedon't go to the bedroom and say,
(28:15):
Okay, you know, uh my heart'sripped out, I'm dying here, I
can't believe this happened.
How can I fix it?
No, we turn to God and werediscover that He's He's number
one in our life.
So I I don't um I think theproblem here is unbelief, is
(28:36):
trust.
SPEAKER_02 (28:38):
I was just gonna say that.
It's it this is what everythingyou're saying, and I mean you
already mentioned it, so thisisn't me saying anything new,
but it it comes down to the wordtrust.
I I I don't trust that that he'sgood enough.
I don't trust that he'spleasurable enough, um, that
he's satisfying enough.
You know, and that's why we weturn to those other things for
(29:01):
that pleasure, for thatrecognition, um, for whatever.
We think, I man, I gotta go lookout in the world.
I gotta I gotta look for thisthing in you know, a person, um,
in a drink or a drug or uh aninternet site, whatever it is
for you.
You think I gotta go to thosethings to to find that.
(29:24):
And he's like, No, no, no, seekfirst my kingdom, and I will add
all those things to you.
I'm not saying Jesus is gonnagive you a drug addiction if
you'd seek him first.
What I'm saying is that thingthat you're chasing in those
drugs, he says, No, no, no.
That pleasure, that that feelingof high euphoria, I I got it.
I got it in amounts you can'teven contain.
(29:47):
Right.
Just come to me.
Come to me, and I'll give youthese things.
And it boils down to trust.
SPEAKER_03 (29:53):
That's beautiful.
I like that.
It goes back to um thatperspective.
It's not looking for what'ssinful in your life, right?
It's looking for what's supreme.
You know, we're not we're nottalking about looking for um
your addiction to drugs,alcohol, porn, whatever.
We're not talking about that.
(30:14):
We're talking about what reignssupreme.
And um so you can ask yourself acouple of questions about that.
What gets my first emotionalresponse?
What makes me emotional?
And um, you know, I I've Istruggled with this when Baker
came to the Browns.
(30:35):
I was excited.
I thought, he's a winner.
We could win.
I was watching, listening, um,everything that was coming out,
surfing the internet for thingsthat are said, and it looked
like we were gonna be good, andthen, you know, it all come.
But that that was my emotionalresponse at that time.
You know, I got a team thatmight win.
(30:57):
That never became true.
But we did go to the playoffsone time, and uh we beat beat
Pittsburgh a few times, which isprobably my Super Bowl, anyways.
Probably the only one.
That's probably all we get, man.
But I had an emotional responsethere, and I'm you know, so that
falls to pieces, and um, so I'mnot getting that emotional
(31:20):
response, and and the Lordconvicted me.
He says, You're too, you're waytoo into this.
You respond more emotionally onsome stupid news that's probably
a lie, anyways, about theBrowns, then you're then your
emotions ever get generated whenwe talk about me.
SPEAKER_02 (31:39):
You know, I watched this uh what do they call them a
reel or whatever on uh YouTubeor Facebook, wherever it was.
Um and this it said putting uhworship music to my to my
husband at a football game.
And he's jumping up, handsraised, he's waving his.
It was probably a Pittsburghgame.
(32:01):
He probably had that terribletowel, he's waving that thing
around.
And honestly, it fit to themusic however this video was
created.
It was hysterical.
I mean, this guy's going allout, but it, you know, it's got
a worship music in thebackground.
You would have thought it was aSunday morning.
Um, and man, I think for a lotof us, we're right there, right?
Uh sports, especially for men,we imagine men, how you watch a
(32:26):
football game.
If you took that same passionand energy and you brought it
into a Sunday morning service.
One, that's what I've beensaying.
Right.
Every time I tell you peoplethis is an interactive worship
experience.
No, you'll come in church,you're so subdued, you're so
serious, right?
And then you go home and you'rescreaming at your TV.
Um, I don't want you screamingat me, but I'd like a little
(32:48):
passion, you know.
Yeah, let us know we're we'redoing okay.
SPEAKER_03 (32:52):
And that's so hard for pastors.
You guys think it's hard for youto bring some emotion, but the
Lord's asking, do I do I doanything with your emotions?
And you're like, Well, we'resupposed to live by faith.
And yes, you are absolutelyright.
It's not about emotions, but thefirst passion in your life, the
(33:13):
things that's on the top, shouldbring some emotions out.
And listen, this is how tough itis to be a pastor, okay?
Every now and then the HolySpirit moves during worship, and
and people start responding tothe Lord.
I don't know what he's tellingthem.
I, you know, that's reallydifficult situation.
(33:35):
Uh, we're singing a song umabout whatever, and people come
forward and they're crying andthey're praying, and and we got
people coming up and praying forthem, and then more people come
up and pray for them.
And so as a pastor, I get up andsay, Okay, God's moving.
So what do I need to do?
I need to open that up.
(33:56):
So I say, hey, if you needsomeone to pray for, we'll pray
for you.
Come up, and we got this wholething going on.
You know what I'm doing?
While all this is happening, I'mlooking at my watch.
I'm like, we got another servicecoming up here.
Are you guys gonna pray thiswhole time?
Uh, how long is this gonna take?
Oh, here come some more people.
Uh, you know, how are we gonnafit all this in?
(34:17):
And the Lord is like, do I haveto shake you physically?
I'm doing something here.
Get out of the way, Tim.
SPEAKER_02 (34:26):
Shut up.
SPEAKER_03 (34:27):
Right.
And and and that's that thatthing.
Where's your emotion, Tim?
These people are are comingforward.
And you know, I get spanked likethat several times.
I'm getting better, you know.
I'm getting better at that.
Um, but you know, we got we gotthis thing, we got a program,
(34:48):
and this program's got to work,and it this program, the next
program is connected to thisprogram.
It don't work right, then andthe Lord says, I don't need you
to preach to to take care of mypeople.
I don't need you at all.
So just calm down.
SPEAKER_02 (35:05):
Yep.
If the only thing you get to dotoday is stand up and say, Amen
until everybody go home.
And I moved, it was a good day.
SPEAKER_03 (35:12):
Yeah.
But we, you know, we're we'reserving the church.
We want to lead them by stillwaters and and take them to the
pasture uh where they can feed,and we got all these things that
we we want to do for our church.
And the Lord says, Today I'm theprior.
That's good.
Yeah, today I'm the priority.
(35:33):
Listen up.
And I can't get my emotions intothat space because I'm worried
about the program.
Yeah.
That's I'm telling you, man,that's that's what we're talking
about here.
If Jesus is number one and hedecides to speak to someone, we
should all shut up and let himspeak.
SPEAKER_02 (35:52):
Just read the Psalms, read about David.
I mean, here's he was he was awarrior, man.
Killed Goliath, um, went on tobe king of Israel.
And man, you read the Psalms andemotion just pours through the
page.
Um, you know, I I think Ibrought it up that sermon a
couple weeks ago, but you know,when they were bringing the ark
(36:14):
back and David's dancing beforeit and ends up dancing right out
of his robe, you know, hiswife's ticked.
How could you expose yourself toall those people?
He said, I'll become even moreundignified than this.
Um, I men, I don't know ifthat's the right answer.
You know, David had some familydysfunction going on too.
But here's a guy who his God wasnumber one.
(36:36):
And he's like, I yeah, myemotions get involved with that.
We've talked about on thepodcast before.
Emotions are terrible masters,but they're great servants.
Absolutely.
And we should we should beexcited about the things that
God's excited about, and ourhearts should break for the
things that break his heart.
Um, and I think that's whyDavid's God said of David, it's
(36:58):
that he's a man after my ownheart, because that was true for
David.
Things that broke God's heartbroke his heart.
And so what gets us emotional,um, if God and your relationship
with him never excites you,never fills you with passion, um
makes you want to jump off thedang couch or you know, maybe
wave that terrible towel around.
SPEAKER_03 (37:20):
Man, we're falling reverence.
Yeah, you know, I we see thatmore in churches than um
terrible tiles.
We just see people just uh letme fall on my face before you.
And that's you know, there'sgotta be some emotion there.
And if he's not number one, thenwe need to we need to really
(37:45):
check that.
That's a good marker.
Number two, the second marker iswhat consumes my mental space.
SPEAKER_02 (37:51):
Well, ever since that cruise we went on for me,
watches.
SPEAKER_03 (37:56):
They sell a lot of watches on those cruise ships.
Watch it when you go in there.
Make sure you've you've bought acheap watch off Amazon that you
really like before you go on acruise.
SPEAKER_02 (38:05):
I told someone they were talking about, man, we've
never really been on cruise,we're thinking about it, you
know, they're all inclusive,right?
Is all the food.
And I was like, you need tounderstand one thing about a
cruise.
They exist to make money.
Right.
They're gonna sell youeverything.
And they're like, we'll feed youthis food over here, but we're
here to make money.
We want you to walk past allthis stuff, and we're gonna try
(38:26):
to get you to buy everything.
SPEAKER_03 (38:28):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (38:28):
That's why they're there.
Um, but yeah, I found some founda really nice watch that I
really wanted.
And uh ever since I've got home,I'm like, oh man, is it on sale
yet?
Is it on sale yet?
Is it on sale yet?
SPEAKER_03 (38:41):
You know what?
This is this is um uh we'll justsay this about a cruise.
They don't make any money on youbuying the cruise and going on
it and eating, you know, eatingyourself sick or whatever.
They make all their money on theextras.
Yep.
So just for you guys who aregoing on a cruise.
SPEAKER_02 (39:00):
Um, we're talking to you.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (39:02):
So we're we're uh we're talking about this mental
space, and it's so easy to getdistracted like that with
watches.
I know you you were justfollowing me.
I was being a bad leader.
I was going, I'm gonna buy thisone and I'm gonna buy that one.
And uh, and man, I wanted awatch so bad I had to buy my
wife one so I could get it.
(39:24):
I know, I know it's terrible,but that's what happens.
Is our mental space consumedwith Jesus?
Not every second of every day,but some days.
Maybe Sunday.
Are you consumed with Jesus?
Are you consumed with gettingout on time?
(39:46):
You know, um, you know, how longare the people gonna pray up
there?
Or is he gonna cut his sermonshort?
Everything that I'm thinking,you're thinking from the chair
out there.
I I just want you guys tounderstand that if he's number
one, there are gonna be timeswhen it consumes your mental
(40:07):
space.
SPEAKER_02 (40:07):
And if not, again, that's a good marker.
Right.
What's going on?
What what has taken his placethat I don't even think about
him anymore?
What are what are you thinkingabout?
What do you find when youdaydream?
Is it ever about him or is italways about something
different?
Watches.
SPEAKER_03 (40:26):
I want everybody to know out there that I I felt
sorry for Ryan because um hemade the logical and smart
decision and didn't buy a watchon the cruise.
So I bought him one uh because Ifelt bad for him and he won't
wear it.
He will not wear it.
SPEAKER_02 (40:42):
And so maybe I'll wear it this Sunday for everyone
to see.
SPEAKER_03 (40:47):
He won't wear it.
Enough time on that.
But if Jesus, if there's nottimes that Jesus consumes your
mental space, what are you doingin this situation, Lord?
Or I just love you so much,Lord.
Um, or give me more, Lord.
I'm reading this verse.
I I see something here, what'sin there?
Help me pull it out.
(41:08):
If that's not happening to you,then maybe, maybe he's not at
the top.
unknown (41:14):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (41:15):
I think if we do these things, man, it would
start to reveal what our truetreasure is, what we find to be
most valuable, and and wherewe're out of alignment.
Um, and then you know, youtalked about, you know, this
isn't how did you word it?
It's not um subtraction, it'ssubstitution.
Um it's a time for us to say,okay, well, what what do I need
(41:36):
to do to realign myself?
Sometimes it's gonna be I needto get this thing out.
And you probably already knowthat thing doesn't belong in my
life.
I'm following Jesus, I gotta getthis thing out.
Um but a lot of times it's it'swhat we're talking about.
It's it's substitution.
We gotta put him at the top.
And yeah, I liked how you wordedon Sunday.
You said we're trading up.
You know, this right.
We're not we're not tradingdown.
(41:57):
This is this is trading up.
And so we need to find thatthing, and those questions that
we just asked are a way to tostart to pinpoint that.
Um, and we need to to confess uhthat thing to the Lord.
Um and and whatever promise youyou believed, you know, this
will satisfy me, this willsecure me, this will define me.
(42:17):
Um we we need to confess that tothe Lord, and then we need to
say, Jesus, I'm gonna trust thatwhatever I was after in this
thing, I trust that you canprovide, and I'm gonna put you
at the top.
You're gonna be number one.
And then, like I said earlier,then it's just that process.
Once I put him at the top, it'sdaily aligning myself or my
(42:39):
decisions, my actions to thatdecision I've already made.
SPEAKER_03 (42:43):
And I think once you do that, you're gonna end up
just like Paul.
You're gonna, you're gonna,you're gonna discover the
treasure.
You're gonna discover thatpearl.
Remember, uh, we talked about uhPhilippians 3, 7 and 8.
It says, but what things weregained to me, those I counted
(43:03):
lost for Christ.
Yet doubtless uh and I count allthings but lost for the
excellency of the knowledge ofChrist Jesus my Lord, for whom I
had suffered the loss of allthings, and do count them but
dung, that I may win Christ.
What what a That is exactly whatwe're talking about.
(43:25):
It's we've come to thisrealization, Paul came to this
realization that everything Ithought was most important has
become excrement dung comparedto knowing Jesus.
And that's what he wants you toknow.
But listen, guys, he's not justgonna give you that, he's gonna
(43:46):
make you discover it.
And it won't be one discovery,it'll be over and over again.
But you gotta make thatdecision.
I think Ryan lined that upperfectly for us.
Just make The mental decision.
I'm going to choose to believethat you'll give me everything I
need and I'm going to place youfirst.
SPEAKER_02 (44:08):
And he'll prove it.
He'll prove that that's rightwhere he belongs.
And you'll live a life that'sfree, a life filled with joy,
with uh uh excitement andanticipation for the future.
Um you'll have peace with Godand in your relationships.
If you you'll just make thatdecision, put him first.
(44:29):
Um this it's not this wholereligious uh or tune-up that
we're doing isn't aboutreligious performance or or mod
behavior modification, all thoseit let's get our alignment
right.
Easter is coming up, man.
Uh, this is the day when Jesuswalks out of the grave.
Um, he is alive and it changedeverything.
(44:50):
And we we want you to experienceall of that, to discover more in
Christ.
That's why we exist.
We want you to discover allJesus has for you.
And so um, through this series,we're we're gonna start with
this alignment this week, thisour this diagnostic, and I think
we're talking about alignment.
Uh, is that this Sunday?
Yeah.
Um, coming up this week.
And so uh we're getting ourhearts, getting our lives
(45:13):
prepared so that we can discoverall that God has for us.
SPEAKER_03 (45:16):
I think one of the the most important things um
that Ryan Ryan has given usclarity on this, you don't have
to.
You you don't have to put himfirst.
He saves you, loves you, and uhhe's gonna change you.
But if you cooperate, you canhave treasure now.
(45:36):
You can have that treasure now.
You don't have to wait foreternity.
You can have it now, or you canchoose your own way and um live
unsatisfied without joy.
You know, what what do you wantto do?
Make that decision today.
Will you pray for us, right?
SPEAKER_02 (45:56):
Father, we thank you so much uh for your word.
And Father, you are um you areour treasure.
You are the thing that is mostvaluable.
And Father, for anything in allthose times where we've gotten
that out of alignment, Father,we confess that to you now.
And Father, I pray that youwould give us all the courage
and the faith that we need torealign our lives, to put you at
(46:20):
the very top, that you would beour top priority, that we'd be
willing to joyfully selleverything else for you.
Because we trust that when wewill seek first year kingdom,
you will provide, you will addall these other things to us,
that we can live a rich andsatisfying, abundant life.
That's what you came to provide,and we trust you with that.
(46:43):
And Father, for where we'restruggling with unbelief, I pray
that you'd help our unbelief.
Amen.
Um, and that as we head intothis Easter season, Lord, give
us a hope and anticipation forall that you're gonna do.
In Jesus' name.
unknown (46:56):
Amen.
SPEAKER_02 (46:56):
Amen and amen.
SPEAKER_01 (46:58):
Thanks again for joining us for this episode of
the Midweek Podcast.
We'd love to hear from you.
Let us know how God is usingthis resource in your life or
send any podcast questions ortopic ideas to podcast at a
freshwind.org.
If you would like to supportthis ministry financially and
help us continue offering newresources that equip you to
discover more in Christ, simplytext any amount to the number
(47:21):
84321.
We're so grateful for yoursupport.
Make sure to tune in next weekfor a brand new episode of the
Midweek Podcast.
Be blessed and have a greatweek.
Welcome and thanks for joining us on this episode
of the Midweek Podcast, broughtto you by a Fresh Wind Church.
Each week our team brings younew content to help you take
steps towards Jesus and discovermore in Christ.
Today's episode is hosted byPastor Ryan.
SPEAKER_02 (00:27):
Hey everyone, welcome back to the Midweek
Podcast.
Pastor Ryan joined as alwayswith Pastor Tim.
And uh Tim on Sunday we kickedoff a brand new series we're
calling In the Shop.
And uh man had some uh somecover guys pretty fired up over
that uh series graphic.
SPEAKER_00 (00:42):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (00:44):
I like it.
I uh you did a good job on that.
I was pointing it out, and I Itold everybody to say, good job,
Ryan.
SPEAKER_02 (00:51):
That was uh Which I appreciate, thank you.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (00:54):
Well, you were a little bit more excited about
this one than you were uh thanyou have been in a while.
You must have really liked it.
SPEAKER_02 (01:00):
I thought it came out pretty good, and uh had some
guys, they were they were likingit.
Uh one guy said, Man, I reallyappreciate the this this series
graphic.
Uh he goes, This is that's myview every day.
And so uh it I guess feltfamiliar uh for him.
But uh in the shop is theseries, and uh we're we're kind
of putting our our spirituallives, I guess, in the shop as
(01:23):
we head into Easter and saying,hey, what what are some of those
things we need to to work on aswe prepare uh for the Easter
season?
SPEAKER_03 (01:30):
And we're not looking uh for a broken axle,
because you know that's wrong.
We're not looking for um, youknow, I got a I got a flat tire.
We're going into the shop for atune-up.
We just want to look.
Um so what if nothing is wrongin your life?
It's just something's out oforder.
(01:52):
It's not working the way itshould.
And that's that's kind of whatwe're looking for.
We all know when we're um we'rewrapped up in something that's
outside of God's will and hedoesn't want for our life.
We we kind of know that.
That's like you know, there's ahole in your radiator, or your
um your head is is cracked.
(02:13):
I had to go through that whenthey stur first started making
all these aluminum heads, andyou get them hot, and the head
would crack, and you'd have toput a whole new head on the top
of your engine block, and you'relooking at me like you have no
idea what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_02 (02:25):
No idea what you're talking about.
SPEAKER_03 (02:28):
Anyways, we're not talking about that uh broken
axle or something like that.
We're talking about everything'srunning fine, but we need to
take it in and and um look ateverything and and get a
tune-up, maybe.
SPEAKER_02 (02:39):
Yeah, and I think that's why starting on Sunday
with this diagnostic um sermonthat that you walked us through
is is great.
Is and it's the first thing theydo, right?
When you take your car in.
We we gotta hook it up to thismachine, we're gonna let it run
its thing, figure out what'sgoing on here, what what's off,
what's what's not firing the wayit's supposed to.
And so that that was Sunday.
(03:00):
Um to go in here and let's let'sjust start there.
Let's let's take a look and seewhere things might be out of
order.
Um and you know, you weretalking about that that passage
where um Jesus, it's a parablethat he gives where this guy
finds a field and uh it's gotthis pearl in it, and he goes,
(03:21):
or treasure, I think, is in thefield.
Um and he goes and he sellseverything uh to buy the field.
And it must have been the verseof the day uh on the Bible app
recently.
Um if it's late at night and wewant to, you know, we try to do
some sort of scripture readingwith our kids every night.
(03:42):
Um so we usually try to workthrough a book, but it was
probably late.
I opened the Bible app, saidlet's just read the verse of the
day.
And it was that verse about thisparable Jesus tells guy goes and
buys a field, uh found treasure,and buys the field, sells
everything to buy this field.
And so I just asked my kids whenit was done.
I was like, What what is yourfavorite thing that you own?
(04:04):
Um, and you know, you startedgetting different answers.
Uh I think Ellie was herelectric scooter and Reese was
um maybe his new uh loft bedthing that he got for Christmas.
You know, they they all had thisthing, and then I at the end of
it I said, All right, would yoube willing to give up your
favorite thing for Jesus?
(04:26):
And they're like um quickly, youknow, all of a sudden it became
real.
I'm like, would would we give upour pool?
Would we give up Benny, our dog?
Would we give up our house, um,our car?
What what would we be willing togive up for the kingdom?
(04:47):
And this guy, when he found it,he sold everything for it.
And so there's obviously, andthis is you know the point I
think you were driving home, isthere's priorities um in the
kingdom, and this guy he foundthe right thing, and he was
willing to sell everything elsefor that thing.
Um and man, I think a lot of uswere like, yeah, I I want to add
(05:12):
God to my life, I want to addchurch to my life, but it gets
somewhere down here.
And if you're if you were to askme, well, would I give up this
thing for that?
I think it'd be for a lot of us,it's just like my kids.
Uh I don't know if I'm ready togo all in like that yet.
SPEAKER_03 (05:30):
Do I have to make that kind of decision to serve
God or or to have my prioritiescorrect?
And I think that's where we getthis wrong.
We think it's about sacrifice,and it's really it's really not
about sacrifice, it's aboutrecognition on of what is most
important.
SPEAKER_00 (05:49):
That's right.
SPEAKER_03 (05:50):
So I was up in, we were up in Colorado and our we
had this uh I think it was aFord Escort.
Trying to think what we weredriving then.
But when we were driving up inthe mountains, it'd get all
sputtery.
You know, what's going on withour car and can't climb
mountains?
That's what I was thinking.
It just can't climb mountains.
(06:11):
So um we get back down and uhwe're back in Ohio.
I said, Yeah, I it had troublegoing up on top of that
mountain.
And uh he said, Well, your yoursensor's probably clogged or
broken.
I said, What sensor?
He said, Your altitude sensor.
(06:32):
I said, Cars don't have altitudesensors.
You know, oh yes, they do.
Uh because they they change thefuel mix.
As you go up in altitude, youneed uh you need more air and
less fuel, and when you getdown, you need more fuel and
less air.
What are you talking about?
But I think sometimes in ourlife we have those sensors um
(06:53):
that are that are not workingfor us.
And God's like, hey, you gottabe a whole person here.
We need to we need to look at itthis all.
And it's not like um that needsto become the number one.
It just needs to work correctly.
Uh so in the situation thatyou're in.
And then and when we talk aboutpriorities and values, that's
(07:14):
what we're trying to do.
What's first and then let'ssubstitute what's first for
what's on top and then getthings in alignment so that uh
we can function the way God isintending us to.
I think um when we get the ideathat the kingdom is the supreme
(07:35):
value, that Jesus is a value, itis the watch you want to buy, it
is the car that or truck thatthe thing.
When the kingdom becomes asupreme value, it's no longer a
religious obligation.
Right?
It's not uh I gotta check thisbox.
(07:57):
No, it's it's the thing.
And we've gotten away from that.
Like you said, trying to add theLord to our lives instead of
letting him be our life.
SPEAKER_02 (08:08):
It's not that all these things in our life are are
bad, right?
Um you know, I don't I don'tknow if following Jesus means I
have to sell my dog.
Um it's if if it was bad, youknow, if you ran over something
and it got stuck up in the wheelwell of your car, you would know
this has got to go, right?
So that's not the things thatwe're we're necessarily talking
about.
Every everybody kind of getsthat.
(08:30):
Um, but it it's yeah, well,where are my priorities out of
order here?
Where where is Jesus not first?
And what do I have over top ofhim?
Um, you know, one of the thingsthat I loved, and and you
pointed this out in the thesermon is and it said that this
man went in joy to selleverything he has.
(08:50):
And I think so often we look atsurrender as being painful, uh
restrictive, like we're losingcontrol.
Um, I don't get to call theshots of my life anymore.
And it feels difficult.
Surrender feels like, you know,when you got caught not going
your hardest on the play, andyour coach said, start running.
(09:13):
It feels like that, you know.
Um, but man, this guy, he wentin joy.
It was a joy for him to sell allof his stuff.
And I thought, man, what whathas to happen in my life?
What has to happen in your life,where putting Jesus at the top,
if that meant selling everythingelse to get him there, would
(09:36):
feel like a joy.
SPEAKER_03 (09:38):
When Jesus talked about it though, there's a an
aspect of a nuance uh of this uhparable with uh with the field,
with the treasure, and and withthe pearl, it's a discovery.
He discovered the pearl of greatprice, he discovered the
(09:59):
treasure.
And and I think that's one ofthe things that um Christians
have let it's all aboutsacrifice, you know.
I gotta sacrifice what I want todo, I gotta sacrifice.
But Jesus says, no, come followme, discover me.
You know, learn learn what thekingdom is really all about, and
(10:21):
it's it's great, but you have todiscover it.
Yeah, you know, um what's thatscripture verse?
Um you search for me, uh you'llfind me when you search for with
all your heart.
Yeah.
That really applies here becauseI know at preaching Sunday, it's
uh you gotta get your prioritystraight, Jesus needs to be
(10:42):
number one, blah, blah, blah,blah, blah.
Okay, that means something'sgotta go number two, and we
gotta work that down.
And and we, you know, weChristianize it and and talk
about um, you know, if you loveJesus the way you should love
him, you'll love your wife moreand and all these things.
And and not to saying that's nottrue.
(11:02):
That is true.
And but it it's not a platitude,it's actually true.
But you have to discover that,right?
You know, and that's Jesus isalways wanting you, well, come
on, let's let's go see if thisis real.
And I think that's how he drawsus on.
SPEAKER_02 (11:20):
This is why distractions in our life are uh
are so dangerous, and I thinkit's one of the devil's greatest
tactics, uh, at least here inAmerica, is to just keep us
distracted.
It's hard to discover thosethings when I'm constantly
distracted with all this otherstuff going on.
And man, we we have been sold byyou know advertisers and
(11:42):
marketers, all these things.
This is what brings you joy.
This is what brings youhappiness, this is what brings
you pleasure.
And so those things quickly riseto the top for us.
Um, because we've we've boughtit.
It it looks great.
I remember Ellie, she I think Ipicked her up from my mom's
house one day.
My mom and dad um were watchingher, and I pick her up, she gets
(12:06):
in the car, and she startstelling me, Dad, we got to get
this thing for the house, andit's going on and on and on
about all this stuff that thisthing's gonna do.
And I was like, it worked.
She said, What worked?
I said, The marketing.
You you bought it, you bought itall.
Uh, you were ready to pull outthe credit card and order that
thing.
Um, we we buy these things thatthis is gonna bring us pleasure.
(12:29):
And this guy, he discoveredsomething that was so valuable
that he said, Man, I I'm gonnasell everything if I can get
that.
Um and you talked about it onSunday, man.
If we would if we would pursueJesus in that way, it's not a a
subtraction.
It feels, and I think that'swhat a lot of especially people
(12:51):
outside the church, it feelslike a subtraction.
You want me to give up my Fridaynights with my with my boys to
to follow Jesus, or you know,I'm I'm gonna miss the you know,
kick off to the Browns game,especially when they're playing,
you know, in London or wherethey're playing this year,
France, wherever, so I can go tochurch, you know.
It feels like subtraction.
(13:12):
Um man, Jesus said, if you'llseek the kingdom first, all
these other things, your yourneed for for pleasure and
recognition, you talked aboutthat on community.
That's community.
SPEAKER_03 (13:25):
That's what being with your boys is all about.
SPEAKER_02 (13:27):
He'll he'll add to, he'll provide all of those
things.
You'll find it in him and and inlife with him and in his church,
and it'll be better thananything you've ever dreamed of.
And it's why, you know, peoplewho have who have been following
Jesus a long time look at thosethings and they're like, man, I
(13:48):
don't I don't have any desirefor that because I found true
community here in this way, andit comes without the guilt and
without the shame and withoutthe headache on Saturday
morning.
You know, it I'm free from thosethings.
SPEAKER_03 (14:02):
And I don't think Christians are rejecting the
kingdom when the kingdom is notthe first priority in our life.
That's not what we're talkingabout here.
We're talking about you justhaven't discovered how valuable
it is.
And and it's like we have torediscover that every time
there's a crisis, you know?
And uh Jesus wants it, no, Iwant you to live in that
(14:24):
discovery of how valuable I am.
And and so uh it's gonna be aconstant thing.
That's why we're doing thischeckup, because Easter prep
preparation is not about guilt,it's about clarity.
You know, where where do westand?
Where have I I I put him on mypriorities list?
(14:46):
And most Christians that say,well, I love Jesus first, then I
love my family, and then I lovemy church.
And it's like, yes, that'sthat's the way it should be.
But there's nuance in there.
How much do you love yourchurch?
How much do you give to yourchurch?
How much do you serve yourchurch?
How much, you know, and then wego back to our family and say,
(15:06):
Well, how much do you serve yourfamily?
Well, I serve my family a lot.
Do you serve them more than youserve Jesus?
Well, I I can't give up on myfamily here, and we're not
telling you to.
We're telling you to be more toyour family than you are right
now.
We're just saying put Jesus ontop and let him guide you in
(15:27):
that, and when he does, theneverything else becomes more.
SPEAKER_02 (15:33):
When when Jesus becomes our treasure, when we we
uh we see his kingdom for whatit truly is, then then obedience
stops feeling like a loss to us.
Um and that's the thing, wegotta see and recognize it for
how valuable it truly is.
You read this verse on Sunday,but scripture says, No eye has
seen, no ear has heard, no mindcan even conceive what God has
(15:57):
prepared for those who love him.
That's who he is, that's howvaluable it is.
Uh man, was it C.S.
Lewis who talked about howhumanity said we're humans are
far too easily pleased.
Um, you know, we go about makingmud pies here when an offer of a
holiday at the sea is what'sbeing offered to us.
And we're like, nah, just let mesit here in this puddle making
(16:19):
mud pies.
Um we we we settle for thesemomentary pleasures.
We try to string together onehigh after another, and then we
try to call it life and try tocall it happiness.
But man, if we could see, getget a glimpse a little bit of
just how valuable Jesus is andhow valuable his kingdom is and
(16:40):
what he's preparing for us, thenall these other things is like
get out of my way.
Right.
You're you are standing betweenme and in my treasure, the most
valuable thing on the planet,get out of my way.
SPEAKER_03 (16:54):
Obedience stops feeling like loss, right?
unknown (16:57):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (16:58):
So when you're getting married and you fall in
love with a girl, she's gonnahave certain standards that she
wants you, she don't want you tolook like a slob all the time.
And um, and so you're gonna haveto not look like a slob all the
time.
And and she's saying, I don'twant to be seen with you if you
look like that.
Now, this didn't happen to me,so don't go to Teresa and say.
(17:21):
Um, but let's say this is thesituation, then what do you do
if you're in love?
You clean yourself up.
It's not a sacrifice.
You you are in love and you wantto be with her, and so you you
take that, it's not a sacrificeat all.
It this is my step towards her.
SPEAKER_02 (17:43):
Right.
And I'd be willing to give upanything that would get in the
way of that.
SPEAKER_03 (17:47):
Right.
So um I think the um thissubstitution.
You know, we substitute thingsin front of Jesus in our life
all the time.
We don't do it in a way that itstops our life and we crash into
a pole.
You know, it's just a a fewthings that uh the Lord says,
(18:09):
that's not incorrect alignment.
That we need we need to fixthat.
Um there was a time when I wasall into my 401k, I watched the
business news every day, and umand the Lord finally said,
You're gonna I need you to go ona fast.
And I'm like, Oh gosh, I hategiving up food.
He said, No, I want you to giveup the business news.
(18:33):
And it was tough on me.
SPEAKER_02 (18:36):
What's like just let me give up food.
SPEAKER_03 (18:38):
Yeah.
What what this is what I'm intoright now.
It wasn't a major shift in mylife.
It didn't challenge my quiettime with Jesus, it didn't
challenge, you know, my lifewith my family or anything like
that.
He says, You just let this get,you think more about this than
you think about me.
And he's I want you to besuccessful, I want you to be
(18:59):
smart with your money.
I never have been, but he wantsme to be.
And I want to put you, uh youput me on top, and then I'll add
this to you.
This is a substitution.
It's not a I'm gonna jerk thisout of your life and you're
gonna be poor forever becauseyou got out of you got out of
alignment here.
This is that that's not whatwe're talking about.
(19:19):
It's um it's not adding thesethings to me, it's repositioning
the things I already have.
And they slip out of alignment,just like I said, that got
really important to me, and Iwas watching trends and all this
kind of stuff.
And um, but the Lord says, Thisis this is not my purpose for
(19:41):
you.
That's good, you can do that,but you're gonna have to realize
that uh I want number one.
Right.
And he did that, and I can sayright now that I don't do that
anymore at all.
I I hardly ever check the marketor anything like that anymore.
Um, and that's it it's droppedoff my radar, which is not good.
(20:02):
That's not good either.
But uh the point is that makingthat uh correction didn't didn't
tell me that I have to I have togive up on um you know
opportunities, moneyopportunities in this, that, and
the other thing, it just meanshe needs to be first in that.
unknown (20:20):
Right, right.
SPEAKER_02 (20:22):
One of the things that I think especially I I
would say new new Christians,people new to church, but I I I
feel like I've had theseconversations with people who
have been coming to church along time too, is we feel like
man, I I'm coming to church andI'm doing all the the churchy
things, but my life doesn't feelreally any different.
(20:44):
Um and I and I think the problemis we're just trying to add on
the church things to our alreadybusy, overloaded lives, right?
So we we add on church, we addon prayer, we add on uh
discipleship and Bible reading,we add on going to the discovery
class or joining a life groupand getting on a volunteer team.
(21:06):
We add all these things, butwe've never taken the time to do
what what we're talking abouthere is check our alignment,
check our priorities.
Jesus still isn't at the top,and so church and scripture
reading and prayer and all thesethings really feel cumbersome.
They feel um more like a duty,uh something that that I know.
(21:27):
And and and then we start, well,I man, I know I'm supposed to be
doing this.
Now we add on guilt to the wholething.
SPEAKER_03 (21:32):
Right, obligations.
SPEAKER_02 (21:34):
And it's because our alignment is out of whack.
And I and I've had people thathave told me, man, I we and this
has happened, people leaving ourchurch to go find a new church,
or people who have left anotherchurch and have come here.
The story's usually the same alot of times is I just wasn't
growing in that other church.
Or I I don't feel like I'm youknow really growing anymore, and
(21:56):
I we we got to try somethingdifferent.
And a lot of times I'll ask.
Be like, well, how much timehave you been in God's Word?
How how much time are youspending in prayer?
Because you can go to whateverchurch you want.
Or not go at all.
Or not like in China.
SPEAKER_03 (22:12):
And or Orion, which they're going to be able to go
to church again.
That'll be great.
Praise the Lord for that.
Um it's at least I hope so.
SPEAKER_02 (22:21):
Church is is not the thing.
And the problem is we've triedto add it thinking that was
gonna fix it.
Whatever itch you neededscratched, you know, well, I and
a lot of people after CharlieKirk died, started coming to
church.
And praise the Lord for that.
Um man, if that's his legacythat all these people joined
(22:41):
church, um I man, praise theLord.
But for some of us, for some ofthem, not all of them, but some
of them, and hopefully aminority, um, but they they felt
something.
And so they tried to add onchurch, but they just tried to
add it in to their life withoutputting Jesus at the top.
And the problem is, and Jesustalked about this, you know, you
(23:03):
were bringing up money.
He says, You can't serve twomasters.
Scripture really says you can'tserve both God and money, but
you could put just aboutanything else at the top of that
too.
Right.
He says, because you'll love oneand you'll hate or despise the
other because it's they're goingto come into conflict.
And so when Jesus isn't at thetop, now I got a problem because
(23:24):
this all feels like anobligation and it's getting in
the way.
SPEAKER_03 (23:28):
And everything feels like that.
Um you need a differentperspective.
Uh, we were talking about it atthe um forge.
You just need to look and say, Ichoose to put him at the top.
And and it's there's notanything more to this, okay?
(23:49):
It's not difficult.
It's needs he's not at the top,he needs to be at the top.
I know in my mind he needs to beat the top, even though in my
heart he's not at the top, but Ichoose to place him up there in
faith that this is what he wantsfrom me.
SPEAKER_02 (24:04):
And as you It's really important what you just
said.
SPEAKER_03 (24:07):
Well, go ahead.
SPEAKER_02 (24:09):
Well, I just the reason because we think this has
got to have some emotion tied tothis, right?
SPEAKER_03 (24:16):
Emotion or some kind of new obligation.
SPEAKER_02 (24:18):
I'm putting Jesus at the top, and so I this has gotta
it's a decision.
Right.
It's a decision.
And then the rest of my decisionis just aligning my life with
that decision I've already made.
Right.
And you don't need goosebumps todo this.
SPEAKER_03 (24:33):
Nope.
And that's good clarification.
Clarity is is most importantwhen we're talking about this.
When we talk about a New Year'sresolutions, I'm gonna lose some
weight, what do we say?
We say, I'm gonna go to the gym.
You know, this is my I'm gonnago to the gym.
But ninety percent of losingweight has nothing to do with
(24:57):
the gym.
It has to do with eating.
Now, you take a perspective ofI'm gonna, and we try to add
that to, you know, I'm gonna,but the whole thing is if I
don't show up at the gym, Ifail.
Well, your perspective's wrong.
If you don't show up at thetable, you win.
Right?
So um there's not uh overweightperson out there.
(25:19):
I've been overweight most of mylife, I can tell you right now,
if you don't eat, you loseweight.
It's uh it's a no thing.
It's not about getting to thegym.
So when when we look at when welook at our priority list and
and we're trying to figure outwhere we are, it's a decision to
see it the way God does.
And and it it's more simple thanwe feel because we always feel
(25:44):
like, okay, there's anobligation here.
I'm gonna have to do this thing,I'm gonna have to feel this way,
I'm gonna No.
It is a decision.
SPEAKER_02 (25:54):
That's right.
Um and so we I want to encourageyou start there and and don't
wait for the your emotions andheart to all get behind.
It's gonna happen.
Um but you just make thisdecision, Jesus, you're at the
top.
And then when something comesup, you gotta remind yourself
(26:17):
now that Jesus is at the top,and you don't feel like it yet.
You don't feel like putting himat the top, but here's what's
gonna happen you you do that,you put them at the top, and
then you start aligning yourlife and your decisions with
that knowledge that nope, I'veput Jesus at the top, and what's
gonna happen is he's gonna proveto you that he's better.
SPEAKER_03 (26:37):
Absolutely.
He's better.
That's the discovery we'retalking about.
SPEAKER_02 (26:40):
That's right.
SPEAKER_03 (26:41):
We need to understand this in in a way that
um that we can trust him.
You don't feel like he's at thetop in your heart.
But he can change your want-tos.
He can change the way um he canchange the way you live.
We're expecting him to do thatwhen we get saved, you know,
(27:03):
sanctified, made holy.
We're expecting him to do thosethings, and when we place him at
the top, then we're giving himfree reign to do that.
The problem is uh FOMO.
Oh, I'm gonna I'm gonna miss outon something.
You're just afraid of missingout on what um something in the
world, and I you know, I'm I'mthis close to making a bunch of
(27:29):
money or I'm this close towhatever.
And the Lord says, I'm nottalking about taking that away.
I'm talking about making mefirst and making that second.
And I think a lot of times we umconfuse control in our life with
security.
We're afraid where God mightsend us and ask us to do, and
(27:52):
and um but he's telling you, no,I want to show you how much I'm
the treasure in your life and uhyou have more security in me
than you ever have in the factthat you can um take care of all
these things that happen inlife.
When a crisis happens, um wedon't go to the bedroom and say,
(28:15):
Okay, you know, uh my heart'sripped out, I'm dying here, I
can't believe this happened.
How can I fix it?
No, we turn to God and werediscover that He's He's number
one in our life.
So I I don't um I think theproblem here is unbelief, is
(28:36):
trust.
SPEAKER_02 (28:38):
I was just gonna say that.
It's it this is what everythingyou're saying, and I mean you
already mentioned it, so thisisn't me saying anything new,
but it it comes down to the wordtrust.
I I I don't trust that that he'sgood enough.
I don't trust that he'spleasurable enough, um, that
he's satisfying enough.
You know, and that's why we weturn to those other things for
(29:01):
that pleasure, for thatrecognition, um, for whatever.
We think, I man, I gotta go lookout in the world.
I gotta I gotta look for thisthing in you know, a person, um,
in a drink or a drug or uh aninternet site, whatever it is
for you.
You think I gotta go to thosethings to to find that.
(29:24):
And he's like, No, no, no, seekfirst my kingdom, and I will add
all those things to you.
I'm not saying Jesus is gonnagive you a drug addiction if
you'd seek him first.
What I'm saying is that thingthat you're chasing in those
drugs, he says, No, no, no.
That pleasure, that that feelingof high euphoria, I I got it.
I got it in amounts you can'teven contain.
(29:47):
Right.
Just come to me.
Come to me, and I'll give youthese things.
And it boils down to trust.
SPEAKER_03 (29:53):
That's beautiful.
I like that.
It goes back to um thatperspective.
It's not looking for what'ssinful in your life, right?
It's looking for what's supreme.
You know, we're not we're nottalking about looking for um
your addiction to drugs,alcohol, porn, whatever.
We're not talking about that.
(30:14):
We're talking about what reignssupreme.
And um so you can ask yourself acouple of questions about that.
What gets my first emotionalresponse?
What makes me emotional?
And um, you know, I I've Istruggled with this when Baker
came to the Browns.
(30:35):
I was excited.
I thought, he's a winner.
We could win.
I was watching, listening, um,everything that was coming out,
surfing the internet for thingsthat are said, and it looked
like we were gonna be good, andthen, you know, it all come.
But that that was my emotionalresponse at that time.
You know, I got a team thatmight win.
(30:57):
That never became true.
But we did go to the playoffsone time, and uh we beat beat
Pittsburgh a few times, which isprobably my Super Bowl, anyways.
Probably the only one.
That's probably all we get, man.
But I had an emotional responsethere, and I'm you know, so that
falls to pieces, and um, so I'mnot getting that emotional
(31:20):
response, and and the Lordconvicted me.
He says, You're too, you're waytoo into this.
You respond more emotionally onsome stupid news that's probably
a lie, anyways, about theBrowns, then you're then your
emotions ever get generated whenwe talk about me.
SPEAKER_02 (31:39):
You know, I watched this uh what do they call them a
reel or whatever on uh YouTubeor Facebook, wherever it was.
Um and this it said putting uhworship music to my to my
husband at a football game.
And he's jumping up, handsraised, he's waving his.
It was probably a Pittsburghgame.
(32:01):
He probably had that terribletowel, he's waving that thing
around.
And honestly, it fit to themusic however this video was
created.
It was hysterical.
I mean, this guy's going allout, but it, you know, it's got
a worship music in thebackground.
You would have thought it was aSunday morning.
Um, and man, I think for a lotof us, we're right there, right?
Uh sports, especially for men,we imagine men, how you watch a
(32:26):
football game.
If you took that same passionand energy and you brought it
into a Sunday morning service.
One, that's what I've beensaying.
Right.
Every time I tell you peoplethis is an interactive worship
experience.
No, you'll come in church,you're so subdued, you're so
serious, right?
And then you go home and you'rescreaming at your TV.
Um, I don't want you screamingat me, but I'd like a little
(32:48):
passion, you know.
Yeah, let us know we're we'redoing okay.
SPEAKER_03 (32:52):
And that's so hard for pastors.
You guys think it's hard for youto bring some emotion, but the
Lord's asking, do I do I doanything with your emotions?
And you're like, Well, we'resupposed to live by faith.
And yes, you are absolutelyright.
It's not about emotions, but thefirst passion in your life, the
(33:13):
things that's on the top, shouldbring some emotions out.
And listen, this is how tough itis to be a pastor, okay?
Every now and then the HolySpirit moves during worship, and
and people start responding tothe Lord.
I don't know what he's tellingthem.
I, you know, that's reallydifficult situation.
(33:35):
Uh, we're singing a song umabout whatever, and people come
forward and they're crying andthey're praying, and and we got
people coming up and praying forthem, and then more people come
up and pray for them.
And so as a pastor, I get up andsay, Okay, God's moving.
So what do I need to do?
I need to open that up.
(33:56):
So I say, hey, if you needsomeone to pray for, we'll pray
for you.
Come up, and we got this wholething going on.
You know what I'm doing?
While all this is happening, I'mlooking at my watch.
I'm like, we got another servicecoming up here.
Are you guys gonna pray thiswhole time?
Uh, how long is this gonna take?
Oh, here come some more people.
Uh, you know, how are we gonnafit all this in?
(34:17):
And the Lord is like, do I haveto shake you physically?
I'm doing something here.
Get out of the way, Tim.
SPEAKER_02 (34:26):
Shut up.
SPEAKER_03 (34:27):
Right.
And and and that's that thatthing.
Where's your emotion, Tim?
These people are are comingforward.
And you know, I get spanked likethat several times.
I'm getting better, you know.
I'm getting better at that.
Um, but you know, we got we gotthis thing, we got a program,
(34:48):
and this program's got to work,and it this program, the next
program is connected to thisprogram.
It don't work right, then andthe Lord says, I don't need you
to preach to to take care of mypeople.
I don't need you at all.
So just calm down.
SPEAKER_02 (35:05):
Yep.
If the only thing you get to dotoday is stand up and say, Amen
until everybody go home.
And I moved, it was a good day.
SPEAKER_03 (35:12):
Yeah.
But we, you know, we're we'reserving the church.
We want to lead them by stillwaters and and take them to the
pasture uh where they can feed,and we got all these things that
we we want to do for our church.
And the Lord says, Today I'm theprior.
That's good.
Yeah, today I'm the priority.
(35:33):
Listen up.
And I can't get my emotions intothat space because I'm worried
about the program.
Yeah.
That's I'm telling you, man,that's that's what we're talking
about here.
If Jesus is number one and hedecides to speak to someone, we
should all shut up and let himspeak.
SPEAKER_02 (35:52):
Just read the Psalms, read about David.
I mean, here's he was he was awarrior, man.
Killed Goliath, um, went on tobe king of Israel.
And man, you read the Psalms andemotion just pours through the
page.
Um, you know, I I think Ibrought it up that sermon a
couple weeks ago, but you know,when they were bringing the ark
(36:14):
back and David's dancing beforeit and ends up dancing right out
of his robe, you know, hiswife's ticked.
How could you expose yourself toall those people?
He said, I'll become even moreundignified than this.
Um, I men, I don't know ifthat's the right answer.
You know, David had some familydysfunction going on too.
But here's a guy who his God wasnumber one.
(36:36):
And he's like, I yeah, myemotions get involved with that.
We've talked about on thepodcast before.
Emotions are terrible masters,but they're great servants.
Absolutely.
And we should we should beexcited about the things that
God's excited about, and ourhearts should break for the
things that break his heart.
Um, and I think that's whyDavid's God said of David, it's
(36:58):
that he's a man after my ownheart, because that was true for
David.
Things that broke God's heartbroke his heart.
And so what gets us emotional,um, if God and your relationship
with him never excites you,never fills you with passion, um
makes you want to jump off thedang couch or you know, maybe
wave that terrible towel around.
SPEAKER_03 (37:20):
Man, we're falling reverence.
Yeah, you know, I we see thatmore in churches than um
terrible tiles.
We just see people just uh letme fall on my face before you.
And that's you know, there'sgotta be some emotion there.
And if he's not number one, thenwe need to we need to really
(37:45):
check that.
That's a good marker.
Number two, the second marker iswhat consumes my mental space.
SPEAKER_02 (37:51):
Well, ever since that cruise we went on for me,
watches.
SPEAKER_03 (37:56):
They sell a lot of watches on those cruise ships.
Watch it when you go in there.
Make sure you've you've bought acheap watch off Amazon that you
really like before you go on acruise.
SPEAKER_02 (38:05):
I told someone they were talking about, man, we've
never really been on cruise,we're thinking about it, you
know, they're all inclusive,right?
Is all the food.
And I was like, you need tounderstand one thing about a
cruise.
They exist to make money.
Right.
They're gonna sell youeverything.
And they're like, we'll feed youthis food over here, but we're
here to make money.
We want you to walk past allthis stuff, and we're gonna try
(38:26):
to get you to buy everything.
SPEAKER_03 (38:28):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (38:28):
That's why they're there.
Um, but yeah, I found some founda really nice watch that I
really wanted.
And uh ever since I've got home,I'm like, oh man, is it on sale
yet?
Is it on sale yet?
Is it on sale yet?
SPEAKER_03 (38:41):
You know what?
This is this is um uh we'll justsay this about a cruise.
They don't make any money on youbuying the cruise and going on
it and eating, you know, eatingyourself sick or whatever.
They make all their money on theextras.
Yep.
So just for you guys who aregoing on a cruise.
SPEAKER_02 (39:00):
Um, we're talking to you.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (39:02):
So we're we're uh we're talking about this mental
space, and it's so easy to getdistracted like that with
watches.
I know you you were justfollowing me.
I was being a bad leader.
I was going, I'm gonna buy thisone and I'm gonna buy that one.
And uh, and man, I wanted awatch so bad I had to buy my
wife one so I could get it.
(39:24):
I know, I know it's terrible,but that's what happens.
Is our mental space consumedwith Jesus?
Not every second of every day,but some days.
Maybe Sunday.
Are you consumed with Jesus?
Are you consumed with gettingout on time?
(39:46):
You know, um, you know, how longare the people gonna pray up
there?
Or is he gonna cut his sermonshort?
Everything that I'm thinking,you're thinking from the chair
out there.
I I just want you guys tounderstand that if he's number
one, there are gonna be timeswhen it consumes your mental
(40:07):
space.
SPEAKER_02 (40:07):
And if not, again, that's a good marker.
Right.
What's going on?
What what has taken his placethat I don't even think about
him anymore?
What are what are you thinkingabout?
What do you find when youdaydream?
Is it ever about him or is italways about something
different?
Watches.
SPEAKER_03 (40:26):
I want everybody to know out there that I I felt
sorry for Ryan because um hemade the logical and smart
decision and didn't buy a watchon the cruise.
So I bought him one uh because Ifelt bad for him and he won't
wear it.
He will not wear it.
SPEAKER_02 (40:42):
And so maybe I'll wear it this Sunday for everyone
to see.
SPEAKER_03 (40:47):
He won't wear it.
Enough time on that.
But if Jesus, if there's nottimes that Jesus consumes your
mental space, what are you doingin this situation, Lord?
Or I just love you so much,Lord.
Um, or give me more, Lord.
I'm reading this verse.
I I see something here, what'sin there?
Help me pull it out.
(41:08):
If that's not happening to you,then maybe, maybe he's not at
the top.
unknown (41:14):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (41:15):
I think if we do these things, man, it would
start to reveal what our truetreasure is, what we find to be
most valuable, and and wherewe're out of alignment.
Um, and then you know, youtalked about, you know, this
isn't how did you word it?
It's not um subtraction, it'ssubstitution.
Um it's a time for us to say,okay, well, what what do I need
(41:36):
to do to realign myself?
Sometimes it's gonna be I needto get this thing out.
And you probably already knowthat thing doesn't belong in my
life.
I'm following Jesus, I gotta getthis thing out.
Um but a lot of times it's it'swhat we're talking about.
It's it's substitution.
We gotta put him at the top.
And yeah, I liked how you wordedon Sunday.
You said we're trading up.
You know, this right.
We're not we're not tradingdown.
(41:57):
This is this is trading up.
And so we need to find thatthing, and those questions that
we just asked are a way to tostart to pinpoint that.
Um, and we need to to confess uhthat thing to the Lord.
Um and and whatever promise youyou believed, you know, this
will satisfy me, this willsecure me, this will define me.
(42:17):
Um we we need to confess that tothe Lord, and then we need to
say, Jesus, I'm gonna trust thatwhatever I was after in this
thing, I trust that you canprovide, and I'm gonna put you
at the top.
You're gonna be number one.
And then, like I said earlier,then it's just that process.
Once I put him at the top, it'sdaily aligning myself or my
(42:39):
decisions, my actions to thatdecision I've already made.
SPEAKER_03 (42:43):
And I think once you do that, you're gonna end up
just like Paul.
You're gonna, you're gonna,you're gonna discover the
treasure.
You're gonna discover thatpearl.
Remember, uh, we talked about uhPhilippians 3, 7 and 8.
It says, but what things weregained to me, those I counted
(43:03):
lost for Christ.
Yet doubtless uh and I count allthings but lost for the
excellency of the knowledge ofChrist Jesus my Lord, for whom I
had suffered the loss of allthings, and do count them but
dung, that I may win Christ.
What what a That is exactly whatwe're talking about.
(43:25):
It's we've come to thisrealization, Paul came to this
realization that everything Ithought was most important has
become excrement dung comparedto knowing Jesus.
And that's what he wants you toknow.
But listen, guys, he's not justgonna give you that, he's gonna
(43:46):
make you discover it.
And it won't be one discovery,it'll be over and over again.
But you gotta make thatdecision.
I think Ryan lined that upperfectly for us.
Just make The mental decision.
I'm going to choose to believethat you'll give me everything I
need and I'm going to place youfirst.
SPEAKER_02 (44:08):
And he'll prove it.
He'll prove that that's rightwhere he belongs.
And you'll live a life that'sfree, a life filled with joy,
with uh uh excitement andanticipation for the future.
Um you'll have peace with Godand in your relationships.
If you you'll just make thatdecision, put him first.
(44:29):
Um this it's not this wholereligious uh or tune-up that
we're doing isn't aboutreligious performance or or mod
behavior modification, all thoseit let's get our alignment
right.
Easter is coming up, man.
Uh, this is the day when Jesuswalks out of the grave.
Um, he is alive and it changedeverything.
(44:50):
And we we want you to experienceall of that, to discover more in
Christ.
That's why we exist.
We want you to discover allJesus has for you.
And so um, through this series,we're we're gonna start with
this alignment this week, thisour this diagnostic, and I think
we're talking about alignment.
Uh, is that this Sunday?
Yeah.
Um, coming up this week.
And so uh we're getting ourhearts, getting our lives
(45:13):
prepared so that we can discoverall that God has for us.
SPEAKER_03 (45:16):
I think one of the the most important things um
that Ryan Ryan has given usclarity on this, you don't have
to.
You you don't have to put himfirst.
He saves you, loves you, and uhhe's gonna change you.
But if you cooperate, you canhave treasure now.
(45:36):
You can have that treasure now.
You don't have to wait foreternity.
You can have it now, or you canchoose your own way and um live
unsatisfied without joy.
You know, what what do you wantto do?
Make that decision today.
Will you pray for us, right?
SPEAKER_02 (45:56):
Father, we thank you so much uh for your word.
And Father, you are um you areour treasure.
You are the thing that is mostvaluable.
And Father, for anything in allthose times where we've gotten
that out of alignment, Father,we confess that to you now.
And Father, I pray that youwould give us all the courage
and the faith that we need torealign our lives, to put you at
(46:20):
the very top, that you would beour top priority, that we'd be
willing to joyfully selleverything else for you.
Because we trust that when wewill seek first year kingdom,
you will provide, you will addall these other things to us,
that we can live a rich andsatisfying, abundant life.
That's what you came to provide,and we trust you with that.
(46:43):
And Father, for where we'restruggling with unbelief, I pray
that you'd help our unbelief.
Amen.
Um, and that as we head intothis Easter season, Lord, give
us a hope and anticipation forall that you're gonna do.
In Jesus' name.
unknown (46:56):
Amen.
SPEAKER_02 (46:56):
Amen and amen.
SPEAKER_01 (46:58):
Thanks again for joining us for this episode of
the Midweek Podcast.
We'd love to hear from you.
Let us know how God is usingthis resource in your life or
send any podcast questions ortopic ideas to podcast at a
freshwind.org.
If you would like to supportthis ministry financially and
help us continue offering newresources that equip you to
discover more in Christ, simplytext any amount to the number
(47:21):
84321.
We're so grateful for yoursupport.
Make sure to tune in next weekfor a brand new episode of the
Midweek Podcast.
Be blessed and have a greatweek.
Popular Podcasts
Hey Jonas!
Hey Jonas! The official Jonas Brothers podcast. Hosted by Kevin, Joe, and Nick Jonas. It’s the Jonas Brothers you know... musicians, actors, and well, yes, brothers. Now, they’re sharing another side of themselves in the playful, intimate, and irreverent way only they can. Spend time with the Jonas Brothers here and stay a little bit longer for deep conversations like never before.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com