February 4, 2026 • 50 mins
Snow shut us in, but it opened a door to talk about compassion with boundaries and humility that keeps God at the center. We reframe the Widow’s Two Mites, unpack our Compassion Fund, and name practical habits that resist pride while serving real needs.
• how compassion flows from received grace
• the Widow’s Two Mites as a model of mercy
• compassion with boundaries and accountability
• avoiding enabling through structure and follow-up
• prayerful discernment on when to say yes or no
• do for one what you wish for all
• humility practices that starve pride
• honoring small churches and unseen faithfulness
• daily dependence and giving God the credit
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_00 (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_01 (00:27):
Hey, welcome back to the Midweek Podcast.
Pastor Ryan joined as alwayswith Pastor Tim, and we are
continuing our Marvel series.
Tim had to take last week off.
Everybody, I think, just aboutwas snowed in.
And man, for one of the, I mean,only couple few times that we've
ever had to cancel church wasthat Sunday too.
(00:49):
Um, which was a little weird uhbeing home on a Sunday morning,
not used to that.
SPEAKER_02 (00:54):
Yeah.
Um I I wanted to um just have aday off like that, but uh my
grandkids were like, we're goingover to spend the night.
So I was chasing kids on my dayoff.
SPEAKER_01 (01:07):
We uh we got in here on Saturday.
We didn't want anyone to to misschurch, and so we're like, you
know what?
Let's get in there Saturdaybefore the storm comes in.
We'll record service.
Probably should have done thepodcast then too.
Hindsight's 2020.
Yeah.
Then that snow came in, the coldcame in, we're like, man, we
ain't getting out of the house.
Yeah, and I don't think I leftmy house for almost a week.
(01:28):
Um and so missed last week'spodcast.
We're catching up this week, andthen um, just for those uh
regular listeners, um Tim and Iwere taking our wives uh along
with Pat.
He's taking his wife um onvacation this week.
SPEAKER_02 (01:43):
I hope he's taking his wife.
SPEAKER_01 (01:45):
Yeah, we might just get there and it'll just be Pat.
Who knows?
Um, but uh the six of us weregoing on uh a little bit of a
vacation, so we won't have apodcast next week, and then
we'll be back the week afterthat.
So just to keep you up to dateon uh the podcast schedule here,
but um continuing our Marvelseries and uh gonna be looking
at uh sermon from two weeks ago,uh, where you were talking about
(02:08):
compassion and then uh alsowrapping up uh the sermon from
this past week talking abouthumility.
SPEAKER_02 (02:14):
Yeah, two things that are um when you're talking
about Christianity, that's whatpeople expect from you.
Um they expect uh that you'lltake care of them and they'll
expect that they can push youaround.
That's compassion and humility,and those things are hard to
navigate because we haveexpectations from the world on
(02:35):
what that looks like, and thenwe have expectations from God,
what it looks like, and then wehave our own ideas about it too.
So it's kind of hard tonavigate.
It's good to talk about thosethings that we don't talk about
a lot.
Um, yeah, every now and then ina sermon we'll say you need to
have compassion, but we don'tpreach the whole sermon about
it.
Yeah, I think it's importantthat we take these things and uh
(03:00):
break them down and think aboutthem a lot.
Like when I was talking uh aboutthe uh widow with two mites, I
was thinking, and Jesus pointedher out.
I mean, he called the disciplesover and says, Hey, look at
this.
And I was wondering, what'sgoing on here?
You know, she's standing infront of this temple and there's
(03:22):
gold and marble and it's justbeautiful.
And and she puts all her moneyin there, and and I'm thinking,
if I if I was if I was having ahard time, would I drop all my
money in a place that doesn'tlook like it needs any money?
SPEAKER_01 (03:40):
You know, I it I was a little shocked.
Um, you know, we had kind oflaid out the the sermon series
structure, and when it came tocompassion, my mind immediately
went good Samaritan.
You know, that's not everybody'sstory.
And then you came out with thiswidow and her two mites, and I
was like, what the heck is it?
Does he think we're talkingabout giving this week?
Because every time someone talksabout her in this story, it's
(04:04):
almost always about giving andgenerosity.
And man, you took us acompletely different perspective
on it and talked aboutcompassion, and dude, it blew me
away.
I was like, I I I guess I hadnever thought of it that way,
but then as you you laid it out,I'm like, man, that's exactly
what's going on here.
It was amazing.
SPEAKER_02 (04:23):
It had to be, had to be, you know, because obviously
uh one of the um temple's jobsis to take care of the orphans
and the widows, and she had beentaken care of.
And even though that's free andshe's on the rolls and she's
gonna be taken care of, shethought there's other people out
(04:47):
there like me, you know, and II've been provided for, God's
provided for me, and I want himto take what I have and provide
for others too.
So that kind of compassion ishuge.
Um it's hard to figure out, youknow, there's 13 bowls out
there, all designated differentthings.
They actually have a generalfund, which is which is pretty
(05:10):
cool.
And um, but she uh Jesus doesn'tdescribe it, you know.
She wasn't catching up on hertithe, or she wasn't trying to
pay a temple tax because she waspoor and she was a widow, so all
that was taken care of for her.
She was exempt from all that,but she gave, anyways.
(05:32):
Yeah, there was no uh dutyinvolved, no law involved.
She came and she gave all thatshe had.
So much so that Jesus said, Youguys get over here.
I want you to see this.
SPEAKER_01 (05:45):
How amazed amazing is that that it's man, I keep
bringing this up almost everytime we we talk, uh either on
the podcast or in the sermon,but but this whole Marvel idea
that it it's it strikes me everytime when God or Jesus, you
know, I guess that distinctionis always like, well, yes, God
is Jesus.
(06:05):
But anyways, whichever one,whichever character, whichever
person in that moment calls oneof these people out.
And it's like, what would ittake to get the creator?
I mean, what does John tell us?
All things have been created byhim, for him, through him.
He holds it all together.
Nothing that's been created wascreated without him.
(06:27):
And then he goes, Hey, fellas,get over here and look at this.
SPEAKER_02 (06:31):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (06:31):
He marveled at this woman, and I'm like, man, I he
he speaks and things come tolife.
Right.
You know, he he spoke in well,here's the sun and planets and
and here's animals, and hebreathes life into Adam's
nostrils, and and then thiswoman shows up and gives her
last two mites, and he says, Heyguys, come on.
(06:54):
You gotta come see this.
Yeah, this is awesome.
SPEAKER_02 (06:57):
Yeah, and that's uh probably the heart of the sermon
is when the grace God's givenyou turns to compassion for
others.
I mean, that is that is what theChristian life is all about.
And I know that's difficult forus to um the concept of it is
(07:18):
not hard, but uh we have peoplewho are poor and they want
something, and but at the sametime our government takes care
of them or would take care ofthem if they would cooperate.
And uh we kind of like, should Igive if I if I try to help them,
(07:39):
will they just turn around anddo something evil with it?
You know, uh where am I?
What should I do in thesesituations?
Well, true compassion iscompassion that is given um the
kind of compassion God givesyou.
Uh what's he tell you?
So I'm gonna save you, I'm gonnaforgive you, but now I want you
(08:00):
to live this way.
You know, and that's that youhave a right when it comes to
compassion to say, okay, I'mgonna help you.
But you're you're gonna have toyou're gonna have to own up to
your responsibility in this andchange.
And that's that's hard.
So since we see that all thetime and it doesn't come to
(08:23):
fruition like we think itshould, we hesitate.
And we shouldn't be uh hesitant.
We try not to be in ourcompassion fund, we try not to
be hesitant.
Um if people take the money fromthe church and you know you see
them on Facebook buying steakwith it or whatever, then we
just mark a line through themand make sure they don't get any
(08:46):
more money from us.
But we don't ever want to say noand someone, you know, really
needed it.
So we we try to say yes as muchas possible.
And if we get burned, then wethen we make decisions that
we're gonna do.
SPEAKER_01 (09:01):
Well, I actually had a situation um just this past
week.
I was uh talking with Joy, anduh one of my kids had walked in.
Um and I mean we weren't usingnames or anything, but this uh
compassion uh requested came in.
Um and my my son was justbringing up how many people do
we help?
And so he was just wanting toknow how how often do people
ask, and and how many times dowe say yes?
(09:24):
And he had all these questionsabout the compassion fund.
Um and again, we never got intospecifics, so he didn't know
anything other than we have acompassion fund, he was
interested in how it works.
Um I said, Man, you know what?
We try to help everyone we can,we try to say yes as often as we
can say yes.
(09:45):
Um now we do, we we've putstructure in there.
Um, you know, and there's capson things, and um we try not to
hand out cash directly, youknow.
If someone needs food, we try toum have a food delivery to them.
Um something like that.
That way we know what the themoney's going towards, and so we
try to be good stewards of it.
(10:06):
You know, we're not just wellyeah, here, take this cash and
run.
Yeah.
Um but man, we we try to to sayyes as often as we possibly can.
And he's like, Well, don't youthink like people have scammed
the church over that?
And I was like, Yeah.
All the time.
Yeah, I'm sure they have.
Um and he goes, Well, what doyou do about that?
(10:27):
I said, Well, again, we haveboundaries and structures in
place.
So if they did, if they scammedus, here's the most we could be
scammed.
And it's not that big of anumber, right?
You know, um, and at the end ofthe day, they're gonna stand
accountable before God for thosethings.
SPEAKER_02 (10:44):
Um I don't worry about that kind of judgment.
Um But when you're when you'relooking at someone that's uh
wants your help, wants yourhelp, and you help them, um But
you need to help them in a waythat you think God would which
means that you help them in away where they have to be
(11:07):
responsible.
And uh people who want helpmostly don't want that.
Every when we help someone anduh they couldn't pay their light
bill or their water bill orwhatever, and they come to us,
can you help us pay it?
When they come the next monthand say, Hey, I need help with
this, and we want to getinvolved.
We say, Well, can we sit downwith you, get someone to sit
(11:30):
down with you and see where youare with your and help you set a
budget?
And they're like, Nope, callsomeone up.
SPEAKER_01 (11:36):
So that's I I don't think in 17, 18 years of doing
ministry, I don't think we'veever had anybody take us up on
that.
SPEAKER_02 (11:44):
No, but you know, we've had three or four guys
that said, you know what, whenyou find those people, tell me.
SPEAKER_01 (11:50):
I mean, certified CPAs.
Right I mean, if you I I willsit down and help you do a
budget, I'll help these people.
And not one person has said,Yeah, let me let me take that uh
opportunity.
SPEAKER_02 (12:03):
I'm tired of being short all the time and and I'm
tired of living this way.
Come on in.
Uh there's there's not a lot.
And I think that's becausethere's a lot out there to help
people.
And uh, but we found uh aFacebook page uh where these
guys got a Facebook group and uhwhere they uh all talk back and
(12:26):
forth on which church is givingmoney and which church isn't,
and yeah, there's a lot of scamsout there.
And there's still a lot ofpeople out there who just need
their water bill paid just onetime, you know?
SPEAKER_01 (12:37):
And again, we try to say yes as often as we possibly
can.
Um we we do everything we can tosay yes in those situations um
because we want to becompassionate people.
It's why we we even named it,it's not a benevolence fund,
it's a compassion fund.
Right.
That way, that's always themission.
How do we extend compassion inthis moment?
(13:00):
What does that look like?
Um, and it does.
We it it comes with boundaries,it comes with expectation
responsibility.
Like, yeah, if hey, we're gonnahelp you here.
If you need help next time,we're gonna want to sit down,
we're gonna want to talk uhthrough through a budget, what
that looks like for you.
And not so that we can rub thisin your face.
We want to help you.
SPEAKER_02 (13:20):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (13:21):
You know, if it's a recurring thing, well, hey,
maybe there's some opportunitieshere we can help you you build
some structure and somediscipline.
Um and and that's that's stillcompassionate to offer those
things.
SPEAKER_02 (13:33):
Right.
So if you want to be involved inthat compassion fund, uh when
you're when you go on your appand you choose to give, it'll
give you an opportunity to givethe compassion fund.
That is outside the the budget,that's outside the general
offering.
And uh you can give thecompassion fund.
A lot of people give um everymonth, they give to the
(13:54):
compassion fund.
And so uh that makes it so whenwe're out of money, we're out of
money.
SPEAKER_01 (13:59):
Yep.
And yeah, we it the only waythat we're able to do it is
because people in the churchhave said, above and beyond what
I give to the church, I'm gonnagive to this fund.
Um and then the day that thatfund dries up and someone comes
asking for help, the answer isno.
Yeah, we we don't have it.
Um, and so yeah, we you can getinvolved in that and you can
(14:20):
make a difference in someoneelse's life just through saying,
Yep, I'm gonna give, even ifit's five or ten bucks a month
or something like that.
SPEAKER_02 (14:27):
And here's the important thing to know about
that the compassion fund isfirst and foremost for our
brothers and sisters here inthis church.
unknown (14:35):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (14:36):
Okay, it's not for people out there.
I know a lot of people uh in ourchurch would get in a tight
situation and and need somehelp.
That's what the compassion fundis for.
We are we were given gifts toserve our brothers and sisters,
and we want to serve in this waytoo.
So if you go to our church, andI think most people who listen
(14:56):
here go to our church, and youget yourself in trouble and you
need a little help to get youthrough, we're here for you.
SPEAKER_01 (15:02):
Well, what this is one of the things I love about
the New Testament church, right?
It says they came together, theyshared everything in common.
There wasn't uh one person amongthem that had a need.
You know, they they all cametogether, and you know, this
this past week, I'm not tryingto jump ahead here yet, but uh,
you know, you were talking abouthumility.
Um, well man, I I think whathappens is our pride jumps in
(15:24):
the way of this, and so we getin those situations where man, I
could use some some help here.
Um I don't want to ask mychurch.
I go to church with those peopleand all that, you know, we get
all this thing, everybody'sgonna know, they're gonna put it
on a board somewhere.
Nobody knows.
SPEAKER_02 (15:38):
Nobody knows.
It's all we we keep it all on uhhush-hus and and nobody'll know.
But at the same time, thatthat's what the church is here
for.
Yeah, and sometimes the Lorddemands humility in in those
type of situations.
You need to uh let someone knowyou're struggling so the church
can support you.
SPEAKER_01 (15:55):
Yeah.
Well, and you know, another oneof the things that we've done,
both as a safeguard and also umit it does require humility, is
we've had people over the years,hey, uh I I think so-and-so
could use some help.
And I said, Have them fill outthis form.
Well, you know, I was wonderingif have them fill out this form.
Um, but there's that having toput your name on something, it
(16:17):
does, it stops people becausethat pride gets involved there.
Right.
Um, but guys, listen, thischurch wants to help you.
If you go here, we actuallyreserve some of the compassion
fund only for people in thechurch.
We don't let it get below acertain amount.
That way, if someone in ourchurch does need help, we have
the funds to help funds to help.
SPEAKER_02 (16:36):
So I want um that is part of um uh trying to be can
passionate instead of enabling,you know, is to hey, you you're
in this situation, um might notbe your fault, but you're
responsible.
So put your name down and beresponsible.
(16:59):
And let us help you get out ofthat.
And uh we don't we don'treserve, uh we don't have a
group that gets together andpasses judgment on that kind of
stuff.
We don't we don't do that here.
We're here to help you.
Let it let us help.
Let us help.
Uh being humble.
You don't want you're in a badspot already, you don't want God
resisting you right on top ofit.
SPEAKER_01 (17:20):
That's for sure.
You know, one of the otherthings that you brought up about
compassion, and I I do, I thinkit stops a lot of us, is the
problem's just so big.
Right.
Like I I want to get involved,but where do I as soon as I
start, where then where do Istop?
You know, like the the finishline isn't this person, it's
(17:41):
their whole family, and then thewhole system and right, you
know, our whole governancestructure.
Like it the problem is so big.
What do I do?
And and how does it is it worthit?
Am I making a dent?
Um how what how do we addressthat?
SPEAKER_02 (17:58):
Always be compassionate, always let your
grace be compassionate.
But it comes back to uh we'retalking mainly about money here.
What does your budget look like?
And if you've got a budgetthat'll support you helping in
that situation, then I think youshould.
Um if things are tight and uhyou don't give what you can.
(18:23):
And uh a lot of times after yougive that first time, you'll
know whether uh they're gonnastand up to their
responsibility.
And you definitely don't want tobe an enabler in this situation
and get yourself in a situationwhere this person is not
growing, they're not um takingresponsibility for themselves,
they're just leaning back onyou.
(18:45):
Um you know, with all the guilttrips and stuff like that.
But I guarantee you there'sgonna be someone that you help
that said, Thanks, thanks forgetting me out of this.
And then one day they can getyou out of something too.
Um I've had it happen to me.
Um I'm giving away a car, andthen my car breaks down, and I'm
like, Man, I am not prepared topay this much money for the car,
(19:08):
and someone will come along andsay, Well, I'll I'll fix your
car for you.
Uh you just buy the parts.
And you know, the Lord's blessedme in that way because someone
was compassionate, gave theirtime to help me out, and um um
not because I gave a car away,um, but because um I turned
(19:30):
grace into compassion in asituation, and then God has
other people to do that too.
Yeah.
And it it's supposed to workflow through the church like
that.
So um, you know, I don't knowhow many times I've had Dave
Meyer out on my roof.
We gotta find this leak.
And he comes out and and hetakes care of me.
(19:52):
And uh that's um that's part ofwhat we do, you know, when we
can we can give, give some timeor whatever.
You know, if you got a truck,you get called to move people.
Now I just give the truck.
I'm like, here's the keys.
I don't I'm not moving nothing.
Uh but when you uh give thatcompassion, when you're when
(20:14):
your grace that God has givenyou, all the things that He's
blessed you with, if you justopen your hand and let that
flow, um God recognizes thatcompassion and He says, Hey
guys, come over here and look atthis.
SPEAKER_01 (20:28):
Yeah I I read a I can't remember if it was a book
or maybe a sermon.
I wasn't heard a pastor say it,but um he said, Do for one what
you wish you could do foreveryone.
And man, that that stuck with mefor years.
I mean, I I can't the problem'stoo big.
I can't fix all of it.
Um but I can help one person.
I can help this one situation.
(20:50):
And and I'm gonna do as much asI can for this one because I
know I can't fix everything.
I can't fix the whole problem.
Um, you know, we're never gonnacompletely eliminate poverty
here.
Um but I if I can just help thisone person and get back on their
feet today, or if I can justgive them some food, help them
get through tomorrow, or takecare of that electric bill,
because it's cold, man.
(21:12):
I don't know.
Our house is geothermal, butit's all electric.
My electric bill came in thismonth.
I was like, holy smokes, thatnegative 10 is no joke.
Yeah.
Um, you you're like, man,there's people out here
struggling, and and I I can'thelp everybody, I can't pay
everybody's electric bill.
I can pay this guy's, I can helpat least.
Um, so do for one what what youwish you could do for everybody.
(21:35):
And and man, God does.
He uses that, he he refuses tobe out given.
Um, he he sees what's done insecret, you know, and when you
you live that open handed way.
Um, and I remember years ago Iwas preaching on like it was
generosity, but um, I brought aguy up on stage and I told him
to open his hand and I put somemoney in it, and I said, Now
(21:57):
close your hand and grab ontothat money, don't let go.
And then I kept trying to addmore money to it and just kept
falling all over the stage.
And I was like, now try this.
Dump out that money and put yourhand back up and I refilled it.
I said, Now dump that out.
And I refilled it.
And the whole idea being whenyou're holding on to all this
stuff, God can't give you anymore.
You're full.
That's right.
(22:17):
But if you're a conduit throughwhich God can bless other
people, then he can constantlyrefill you.
And he refuses to be outgiven,man.
SPEAKER_02 (22:25):
That's true.
And don't worry, don't worry.
God's going to tell you when tosay no.
God knows their heart too.
And say no.
And if they say, you know, youwere generous before and now
you're leaving me dry, just sayGod said no.
And how does God say no?
Why would God say no to me?
I'm in need or whatever.
But when God says no, it meansno.
(22:47):
And you never know what God'sdoing in someone's life.
And where was that sermon I waspreaching not too long ago?
Because sometimes we try to helppeople that God is under God's
judgment.
You know?
And it don't matter how much youhelp them, it's not going to
work out.
So it's a compassion is aprayerful thing.
unknown (23:06):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (23:06):
It's just not, you know, pulling out the wallet or
or throwing money around orwhatever.
It's something that you at youand the Holy Spirit got to be
aligned with.
SPEAKER_01 (23:15):
Yeah.
Definitely requires discernmentand and just constant
communication with the HolySpirit.
Um as those situations come up.
Lord, what do you what should Ido here?
Um and and listen.
And then respond in obedience.
Um sometimes he's going to askyou to take that budget that you
just put together and he's goingto blow it up.
He's going to be like, We'regoing to, we're going to do this
(23:37):
big here.
Yeah.
And other times you're going tohave the money and he's going to
say, This isn't the right time.
Yeah.
And it's it's not going to makesense.
We don't often alwaysunderstand, but just man, when
if you're in tune with the HolySpirit, you're using wisdom and
discernment, he's going to letyou know.
Um, yeah, you need to step inhere and know this isn't the
right time.
SPEAKER_02 (23:57):
That's the difficult way.
That's the difficult way.
But there's some things that areno-brainers that uh uh that are
easy to be compassionate and youdon't have to worry too much
about it.
Like when we dig those wells.
Um that's an easy one.
They need water, they need thegospel.
We can give them both.
I'm gonna throw 20 bucks in, youknow, and I don't have to worry
(24:19):
about whether they're gonna comeback to me for more or where
they're gonna be the next nightor anything like that.
I uh it's so those things areeasy.
It's it's the hard ones that arepeople are afraid of.
Yeah.
You know, I Kathy uh found thishomeless guy in Vermilion and
told me and Pat to go get himand talk to him.
(24:41):
And so we went and got them anduh got him a meal.
I shared Christ with them.
I said, Are you interested inyou know accepting Jesus as your
savior?
And he goes, No, I don't believein any of that stuff, but you
Christians always pick me up andyou take me and feed me and take
care of me, and I reallyappreciate you.
I I I know a lot of people hateChristians, but we I love you,
(25:03):
you guys, and uh you alwaysshare the same thing with me,
you know.
And he says, That's okay.
I just um I'm not gonna do thatright now.
And uh we put him up in a moteland and uh for a couple nights,
so it was cold outside, and hewas carrying these big old
blankets trying to stay warm,and um he was on his way to
(25:26):
Chicago, and I was like,Michael, go to Florida.
What are you going to Chicagofor?
And uh, but uh he was kind, sowe gave what we could give, and
uh he had a couple good nights,and and he left town and was
heading for Chicago.
(25:46):
Um but it was interesting uh forhim to smile at us and say, You
Christians are the greatestpeople, you always try to take
care of take care of me and tryto get me saved and into heaven.
SPEAKER_01 (25:59):
So what a testimony, man.
Uh, you know, like uh I wisheveryone could say that about
us.
Yeah.
Um even if they don't make adecision to follow Jesus.
Imagine if that was our church'sreputation.
Man, I love you people at FreshWind because you're always
helping me.
You're always telling me aboutJesus, and I'm not ready to make
any of those decisions, but man,uh, you guys are faithful to
(26:20):
help.
Um that'd be that'd be anincredible reputation for us to
have in our community.
SPEAKER_02 (26:25):
I appreciate everybody who gives the
compassion fund, and and there'sa lot of people out there, I
could name a bunch of people,but I don't want to embarrass
them right now, that have reallygone overboard to help people
with um addiction problems andand uh homeless problems and
don't have a bed for the kidproblem and and that have done
(26:49):
great things here at A FreshWind.
And I want you to know I Iappreciate you.
Absolutely.
You give what you can give andlet God handle the rest.
That's all good.
And that's what we need that wthat's what we need to do.
We need to be I'm making atransition here.
Um we need to be humble enoughto know that we can't fix the
(27:13):
whole problem, but becompassionate enough to try to
help.
That's good.
And that means we gotta work onour humility.
SPEAKER_01 (27:25):
Yeah, this is uh this is a tough one for all of
us.
Um we just man, we loveourselves, don't we?
Like, yeah, you're talking aboutuh, you know, God, I love you.
I want you to be in thespotlight.
I just want to be up on stagewith you a little bit, you know?
Right.
(27:46):
Look how much I love you.
Shouldn't people know?
Shouldn't everybody know howmuch I love you?
Um even I mean we're we just gotdone talking about compassion.
Even that one's tricky becauseall of a sudden our compassion
become this badge of honor, youknow, like look at me.
I'm a compassionate person.
Look at me, and and we do.
Uh man, I I was able to helpthis family over here and do all
(28:07):
this, and it feels good.
And you're like, I gotta go tellsomebody that I did that.
And it's like, whoa, where didthat come from?
Right.
That's that pride sneaking up inthere.
SPEAKER_02 (28:18):
Yeah, and we want, and we know God has seen it, and
we all know we've heard this allour lives.
You know, if if someone sees youdo it, then you get your
accolades down here, you don'tget them in heaven.
And uh so, but we're like, man,heaven's a long way off.
I'd rather I'd rather havesomeone uh tell me how great I
(28:40):
am.
SPEAKER_01 (28:40):
I went to lunch uh a couple weeks ago with a buddy of
mine, and there was uh it lookedlike half the Lorraine police
force uh was in the restaurant.
I mean, there had to be 10, 12of those guys sitting over there
um having lunch.
So we sat down, we're eating ourlunch.
Uh server comes over and hegoes, Hey, that table over there
to all the the police.
(29:01):
Um, I want to pick up theirbill.
And I'm looking at him like,have you lost your mind?
There's like 12 guys sittingover there.
You know how much that's gonnacost you?
Um, but he's like, I wanna Iwant to take take care of that
for him.
And the guy looks at him like,Are you crazy?
Dude, how many guys are um buthe didn't.
He he wanted to pay for the payfor their bill, which I thought
was awesome.
Um, well, the server must havetold him who paid for his bill.
(29:22):
Uh, because one by one, afterthey were leaving, they started
coming over.
Hey, did you take care of ourlunch?
Thank you so much for doingthat.
Thank you so much for doingthat.
Well, after the last guy saysthank you, uh he looks at me and
goes, Well, so much for rewardsin heaven.
I was like, Yep, that's probablyall you're gonna get out of that
one now.
SPEAKER_02 (29:42):
Yeah.
Yeah, I we need to, we gotta getrid of uh get rid of that type
of pride.
Um and he'll get rewards forheaven.
He didn't expect that to happen.
He just uh uh but it's good,it's good to be humbled down
every now and then, yeah,especially when you give uh you
don't want to be embarrassed,um, and you don't want to look
(30:04):
like you're trying to besomebody that you're not, you
know?
And then when someone like myson, he hated wearing his
uniform out when he was uh inIraq, and because everybody was
like, Let me buy you lunch, letme, you know, let just drove him
insane.
I said he's like, Dad, itembarrasses me, you know.
And I said, Okay, um, but let melet me borrow your uniform.
SPEAKER_01 (30:29):
I was gonna say, what size does it I'll keep it
over here?
SPEAKER_02 (30:32):
Yeah.
Um, but he uh we don't we westruggle with that.
Um, you know, Tim's like, I justran a gun, you know, to protect
the base.
I didn't do much.
It's like okay, if that's theway you see it.
Um but we have uh we have a hardtime um getting caught out in
(30:56):
our pride, you know, and and weknow it we shouldn't be that
way, but it happens to us everynow and then and we we embarrass
ourselves.
Um but the Lord, you don't haveto worry about the Lord in this.
This is one thing.
Compassion is something thatyou're deciding to be on your
own, and the Holy Spirit mightbe pushing you to do that, but
(31:18):
when it comes to pride andhumility, you get a lot of help
from God.
SPEAKER_01 (31:22):
Yeah, I love you standing up and uh oh man, who
did you bring up in service one?
Um Cody.
Cody.
Yeah, yeah.
You get up there and bump chestwith them, and I'm like, yeah,
uh, you ain't gonna do that forreal.
Cody's biceps are about you know32 inches round.
SPEAKER_02 (31:41):
Yeah, um yeah, it's it's uh what God gets in your
face when you and when yourpride starts filling you up, and
you you don't know what that youdon't want that you don't want
that to happen to you.
Number two is if you let thathappen to you, it it'll grow.
Yeah, it'll grow.
And I've seen a lot of preacherswho were very good preachers and
(32:05):
were told how good they were,and people drove miles to hear
them speak, and they crash andburn.
And you gotta be careful ofthat.
And uh, I had one uh guy that Ireally liked.
He said, Don't don't tell methat, Tim.
Don't tell me that.
And um I was like, Oh, you'regoing through it, man.
(32:27):
Okay.
Um but I would travel a long wayto hear him speak.
And he um he says, I don't Idon't want to get myself in that
situation where you know uhthese people need me.
No, they don't need you, theyneed Jesus.
And um we need to be we need tobe those type of people.
(32:48):
God might use you to stand inthe gap for people and it might
be an amazing thing, but hedidn't need you to stand in the
gap, he lets you stand in thegap.
SPEAKER_01 (32:57):
That's what's so tricky.
Um in and it man, it starts atyou know, volunteering for the
church.
Um and then, you know, if you'reon staff, you know, uh it all
the stakes just get higherbecause you're doing all sorts
of these things for God.
You know, I'm God, I'm doingthis for you.
Um and there's there's plenty ofSundays when you know you come
(33:19):
down off the stage and peopleare talking about your sermon
and um how great it was and howit spoke to them, and you know,
man, were you following mearound this week?
You know, all those things.
And it's it's easy to listen tothose things and be like, oh
God, see that?
Yeah, see how you know all thatstudy of time I was putting in
(33:39):
this week, you see what that allthat did?
Um and that pride, man, it itcreeps in.
And I man, I'm there's so manypastors, and it it almost makes
you nervous to, you know, forthe church to grow and get big
or to to write a book and youknow, sell a bunch of copies, or
(34:00):
because so many of them whenthey get that success, just
start falling.
Yeah.
Um and I think a lot of it, man,pride gets in the way.
And you start thinking, man,I've done something here, and
these people, they like tolisten to me, and I'm important.
Um and it's like, man, as soonas you get there, yeah, it like
(34:23):
you said, God gets involvedhere.
This is one of those you'regonna get a lot of help because
he he opposes you, right?
He's not gonna sit here and putup with that, he's not gonna
ignore you.
No, no, no, he actively worksagainst you when you're
operating in pride.
Um, this is man, it's soimportant that the humble spirit
it's tricky.
SPEAKER_02 (34:43):
I know I said it a thousand times on Sunday
preaching it, and you said it athousand times right here.
But man, that guy who waspraying, the first guy, the
Pharisee praying, he was givingthanks to God.
He was saying, Yeah, look at me.
This is because of God.
This is because of God.
And it was still pride.
And we need to realize we haveto have a complete dependence on
(35:06):
God, even to serve God.
You know, he didn't call mebecause I was a great speaker or
because um I knew the Bible oranything like that.
He let me get involved with whathe was doing, and and that's
that's all he did.
That's it.
Yeah, and and I thank God forit.
Thank God we've seen another tenbaptized last week uh or
(35:29):
yesterday.
That is wonderful.
Um and I I love that, but Igotta watch the pride.
You know, when I see my pastorfriends and stuff, that's the
first thing I want to say.
You know how many we havebaptized?
And I'm praising and thankingGod for that, but at the same
time, there's that little pridething there.
SPEAKER_01 (35:48):
I remember a couple years ago, you and I we drove
out, oh, is that Illinois,Indiana, one of those states.
Uh, went to this pastorconference thing.
And it's what all the churches,you know, pastors get together
and oh, how many people are youguys running?
And and a lot of it is pastorsjust celebrating and seeing what
God's doing.
Um, but man, there there's thisit it that pride starts to
(36:10):
swell.
And oh, we're running about 70,oh, we're running about 100, and
you're like, oh, we're okay.
We're yeah, we're we're doingbetter than those guys.
Um even in the we had a new hairgathering this past Sunday, and
um there was just a couple inthe church um talking about how
they went to you know smaller,more traditional church, um and
(36:31):
you know, came here and fell inlove with our church.
I absolutely love it.
Um and I celebrate that.
Uh uh man, every time someonecomes in, um I'm so so grateful
and excited when they talk aboutjust how welcoming our church,
our church is.
Um, makes me proud of you guys.
Uh a fresh win.
(36:51):
Uh that you you welcome peopleand you love our people so it's
hard not to be.
SPEAKER_02 (36:54):
It's hard not to be proud of you guys.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (36:57):
You guys, you're awesome.
And I just want you to know inthose new here gatherings,
people rave on you.
Um, Emily and her team, youknow, the greeters, the the
welcome desk people, um, thecheck-in, check-out teams, kids'
ministry teams.
Preachers, the preachers, don'tforget the preachers.
I mean the how you treat peopleis is awesome.
And so these people come hereand they're just they're loving
(37:17):
our church.
Um, but I man, in that new heregathering, I I pause.
I'm like, hey, I love that youguys love being here.
Um, but I want you to know we wecelebrate in honor of those
small churches too.
There's a lot of pastors showingup faithfully week after week
after week, spending hourspreparing sermons for 30 or 40
(37:37):
people.
Um and and a lot of times we canlook at it and say, man, there's
something wrong with thatchurch, or that pastor's not
doing something right.
And um and I there's there'sprobably a whole lot of reasons
that go into that kind of stuff,but the truth is there's a lot
of really faithful pastors outthere um leading a lot of really
small churches.
(37:57):
I I I think the average, like Idon't know if it's 80 or 90
something percent of churches inAmerica today are around 100
people in attendance, um, orless than 110, something like
that.
That means most churches are aresmall churches, you know.
Um but man, faithful pastors.
Um and just showing up and Iwant you to know if you're one
(38:21):
of those faithful pastors, wehonor you.
Absolutely.
And thank you for the workyou're doing.
SPEAKER_02 (38:26):
I had a lady come into the church today and and um
said she was going throughsomething and and she got over
the hump and she was praisinglittle church in Lorraine,
pastor that's faithful.
Um she went in there and um andhe started preaching, and she
said he just he preached rightat me and um pulled me out of my
(38:50):
funk.
And um I I was like, praise theLord for him.
I said, when you go to church onSunday, tell him I appreciate
him.
I love him for what he does.
And uh we we need to be um awhole church, not just one
church.
And some people are gonna growin one church, and then they're
gonna hit a spot where they needto go to another church and grow
(39:12):
or help people grow in thatchurch and might get moved to
another church.
We celebrate that if God'smoving you around.
If you're running around gettingmad at everybody, we don't
celebrate that.
No, but um, but if you if youfeel like the Lord's uh moved
you here to to uh be part of us,then we celebrate that.
If he moves you from here tosomewhere else so you uh can be
(39:33):
a part of that, then wecelebrate that.
SPEAKER_01 (39:35):
We celebrate that too, yeah.
Man, I years ago, uh I thinkchurch was just getting ready to
start one of the um, I don'tknow, the bathroom needed clean
or mopped or something.
Um, and I ran and I grabbed amop bucket and I was getting
ready to mop it.
And I don't know if I waspreaching that day or you were
preaching that day, but someonecomes up to me and they're like,
(39:56):
hey, you you shouldn't be doingthis.
Um, and the truth is pastorprobably shouldn't be mopping
the bathrooms on Sunday morning.
SPEAKER_02 (40:03):
But I I looked at it and I said, Man, Pastor should
have known the bathroom neededmopped on Saturday.
SPEAKER_01 (40:10):
I was like, you know what?
The day I become too big to mopthis floor, you fire me.
Right.
Um and I I want to keep thatspirit and and I want you to
know that we need to have that.
Man, I whatever it takes, um,there's nothing beneath me.
Um, if we're if we're sharingthe gospel, if we're helping
people discover more in Christ,there's nothing beneath me.
(40:30):
I'll do whatever it takes tohelp someone take a step towards
Jesus.
And if that doesn't lookglamorous, that's all right.
Um, if it means I'm you knowchanging diapers in the nursery,
that's all right.
SPEAKER_02 (40:41):
You would never change diapers in the nursery.
SPEAKER_01 (40:43):
I'd get my you have to do it.
SPEAKER_02 (40:46):
You have you have weasled out of everything every
time I try to get you in there,you're like, I don't do kids.
SPEAKER_01 (40:53):
Okay.
Parking cars out in the cold.
I would do it.
Um, whatever it takes.
Um, and and I just want toencourage you, man, keep that
humble posture before the Lord.
Um, because as soon as thatpride comes in, and like I said,
it's sometimes it's so insidiousbecause you're doing great
things.
Um this church is doing greatthings.
(41:13):
We're seeing God move and changelives, and we are seeing um
people show up and fall in lovewith this church and and just
the baptism videos that we werehearing on Sunday, and all the
people coming and just lovingwhat God's doing here, yeah, and
then choosing to follow Him andBaptist.
Oh, that's exciting.
Um, but man, we we need to weneed to stay humble um in all of
(41:33):
this and just say, Lord, we arecompletely and utterly dependent
on you.
SPEAKER_02 (41:38):
Yeah, we need to we need to thank God and uh not
thank a fresh win.
Fresh win is here because ofJesus Himself.
Uh He called us uh He startedthis ministry and we're just
aligning ourselves with whatHe's doing.
And we don't want to be, youknow, a Fresh Win is my church,
and that just that doesn't evenmake sense here.
(42:02):
A freshwind is not your church,it's Jesus' church, and you've
jumped in on what he's doing,and that's what we want to,
that's who we want to be.
And um pride is a tricky thing,and uh you'll know when you
stepped across or you stepped upon stage with Jesus, um he won't
let it slide.
His glory is his own and hewon't share it with you.
(42:25):
Now he'll exalt you one day, andthat'll be great.
Um then you can bask in whateverthat looks like in heaven, but
uh you're just gonna takewhatever he gives you and throw
it at his feet because it's allabout him.
SPEAKER_01 (42:39):
Right.
That's that's the key to thiswhole thing, man.
Um we feel like someone needs tonotice.
SPEAKER_02 (42:48):
Um the right to be recognized.
SPEAKER_01 (42:51):
And it it feels good.
It does.
I I think that's I mean that'spart of the human experience.
It feels good to be noticed, tobe recognized, to be seen.
Um, and we feel like, man,someone's gotta know.
Someone's gotta, someone needsto see this.
Yeah.
One time you got done doingsomething at the church and you
called me and said, Hey, I justgot done doing this at the
church.
(43:12):
Tell me, tell me I'm awesome.
I'm like, you're awesome, Tim.
SPEAKER_02 (43:15):
My love language is is um oh, what do you call it?
Words of affirmation.
Words of effort.
I need some affirmation, everynow.
And I can always trust you tosay, you're awesome, Tim.
Yeah, you're awesome.
Can you hang up now?
SPEAKER_01 (43:31):
But man, if if we could get this, if we will
humble ourselves before theLord, he will exalt us at the
right time.
That's that's the key.
And we feel like, no, no, Igotta get in here and I gotta
make people see what I've done,and I gotta make people exalt
me.
And when you do that, you robthe creator of the universe the
opportunity to exalt you.
(43:52):
And man, there's nothing anybodycould ever say or do that's
gonna mean more than Jesuslooking at his disciples and
saying, hey.
Hey you guys, come watch whatthey just did.
SPEAKER_02 (44:02):
Yeah.
I love that um when Jesus toldthat parable about the the
wedding and um and he wassitting at the head of the table
and someone went and sat downnext to him and he had to
tell 'em, This this spot's notfor you.
You don't want to be that guy.
You don't want to be that guy.
(44:22):
So sit down there at the end ofthe table, and when the Lord
wants you sitting next to him,he'll call you up there.
And and then you can celebratebecause you've been recognized
by him, not by yourself.
That's right.
Um pride is a tough thing.
Here's the thing about talkingabout being humble and living in
(44:43):
pride.
We all know.
We all know when it's us, youknow?
And um so just respond to theHoly Spirit and say, Lord, I'm
gonna turn this around, thisthing I think I I've done well,
and we'll give that back to you.
The only reason I could do thatfor you is because you let me.
(45:05):
And I just want to thank you forthe opportunity.
Say the words.
Uh, even though you you think,well, I don't feel it in my
heart, you know, someone needsto affirm me.
Let the Lord affirm you.
What did what did uh David say?
Encourage myself in the Lord.
Right.
Right.
Sometimes we got to do that.
And uh, but we here at ourchurch, we want to encourage
(45:28):
you.
We want to thank all you guyswho work so hard to make our
Sundays possible.
We affirm you, we recognize you.
Um we couldn't we couldn't havethis ministry without you.
That's right.
And um we want to thank you forsaying yes to the Lord and and
aligning your life to what he'sdoing here at A Fresh Wind.
And that's a great thing um topraise.
(45:51):
Um, but we're try not to takepride in it.
unknown (45:54):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (45:55):
Um, you know, practically, um, a couple things
you can do.
Number one, what Pastor Tim justsaid, just daily, man,
acknowledge your dependence onthe Lord.
Um next, when He when God doessomething for you, thank Him for
it.
Um, recognize it was Him.
He is the giver of every goodand perfect gift.
Um so whether that's a raise,whether that's uh you know a new
(46:19):
job opportunity came your way,um whatever it is, um, Lord
thank you for that and and justlet him know you recognize that
was Him.
You're you're dependent on Him.
And then personally, you know,when you're when you're in a a
conversation with someone, avoidthat temptation to one up.
You know, we we love those.
We hate the one uppers, but welove to be them.
(46:40):
Right.
Um you and I were sitting heretalking about vacation, sharing
sunburn stories, and we're like,oh yeah, well, hold on, mine was
worse than yours.
Um avoid that temptation andman, be interested in other
people instead of and and Istruggle with this because when
I'm in a conversation withsomeone, I I'm more interested
in my rebuttal to what they'resaying than I am in what they're
(47:02):
actually saying.
Um and I love to tell about mylife and my story and my kids
and my job and my church.
And I very rarely want to askabout your job and your kids and
your family.
Um, and so just be be the kindof person who asks more
questions than than you giveanswers and and be interested in
people and those I think you dothose things and you'll you'll
(47:23):
start to develop a humblespirit.
SPEAKER_02 (47:26):
Humility um is something we need to pray for
and to say, Lord, keep me small,keep me small enough to need you
every day.
And uh when we do that, um theLord will exalt you, so you
don't have to worry.
But even in that exaltation, youneed to keep saying, Lord, I
(47:47):
need to need you.
Yeah, I need to need you.
Um and that's that's where we westay protected.
Yeah, but don't get all worriedabout this, because um this is
something the Lord gets involvedin.
SPEAKER_01 (48:01):
Yeah, he's he's gonna work this out one.
He's gonna work this one out foryou.
SPEAKER_02 (48:05):
That's it.
Will you pray for us?
Father, I want to thank you forum The Widow with Two Mites.
And um Lord, she gave backbecause you had given to her,
and she gave it all.
Lord, teach us to have that kindof compassion, to understand
that we've had grace and that wecan hand it off to others.
(48:29):
And we want to thank you forthis tax collector who so um
showed us what it means to behumble before God.
He beat his chest and said, God,forgive me for my sins.
And that's where we want to be.
At your feet on our knees uhbecause it's all about you.
(48:51):
Thank you for letting us alignourselves with your mission here
at A Fresh Wind and letting usum serve people and reach people
with you.
And uh because we couldn't do itwithout you.
Lord, I know um these thingswhen we focus in on them, we we
see all the failures in ourlife.
(49:14):
But Lord, tonight as we go tosleep, um tonight as as we uh uh
say our prayers and get in bed,I pray that you'll you'll exalt
us in our dreams.
Remind us of all the things thatwe did do, not the things that
we didn't do.
And um we want to be people whoremember what you've done and
(49:39):
remember what you've donethrough us because we made
ourselves available.
And we thank you for thoseopportunities.
Not that you need us, but thatyou used us in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Amen.
SPEAKER_00 (49:52):
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
(50:15):
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_01 (00:27):
Hey, welcome back to the Midweek Podcast.
Pastor Ryan joined as alwayswith Pastor Tim, and we are
continuing our Marvel series.
Tim had to take last week off.
Everybody, I think, just aboutwas snowed in.
And man, for one of the, I mean,only couple few times that we've
ever had to cancel church wasthat Sunday too.
(00:49):
Um, which was a little weird uhbeing home on a Sunday morning,
not used to that.
SPEAKER_02 (00:54):
Yeah.
Um I I wanted to um just have aday off like that, but uh my
grandkids were like, we're goingover to spend the night.
So I was chasing kids on my dayoff.
SPEAKER_01 (01:07):
We uh we got in here on Saturday.
We didn't want anyone to to misschurch, and so we're like, you
know what?
Let's get in there Saturdaybefore the storm comes in.
We'll record service.
Probably should have done thepodcast then too.
Hindsight's 2020.
Yeah.
Then that snow came in, the coldcame in, we're like, man, we
ain't getting out of the house.
Yeah, and I don't think I leftmy house for almost a week.
(01:28):
Um and so missed last week'spodcast.
We're catching up this week, andthen um, just for those uh
regular listeners, um Tim and Iwere taking our wives uh along
with Pat.
He's taking his wife um onvacation this week.
SPEAKER_02 (01:43):
I hope he's taking his wife.
SPEAKER_01 (01:45):
Yeah, we might just get there and it'll just be Pat.
Who knows?
Um, but uh the six of us weregoing on uh a little bit of a
vacation, so we won't have apodcast next week, and then
we'll be back the week afterthat.
So just to keep you up to dateon uh the podcast schedule here,
but um continuing our Marvelseries and uh gonna be looking
at uh sermon from two weeks ago,uh, where you were talking about
(02:08):
compassion and then uh alsowrapping up uh the sermon from
this past week talking abouthumility.
SPEAKER_02 (02:14):
Yeah, two things that are um when you're talking
about Christianity, that's whatpeople expect from you.
Um they expect uh that you'lltake care of them and they'll
expect that they can push youaround.
That's compassion and humility,and those things are hard to
navigate because we haveexpectations from the world on
(02:35):
what that looks like, and thenwe have expectations from God,
what it looks like, and then wehave our own ideas about it too.
So it's kind of hard tonavigate.
It's good to talk about thosethings that we don't talk about
a lot.
Um, yeah, every now and then ina sermon we'll say you need to
have compassion, but we don'tpreach the whole sermon about
it.
Yeah, I think it's importantthat we take these things and uh
(03:00):
break them down and think aboutthem a lot.
Like when I was talking uh aboutthe uh widow with two mites, I
was thinking, and Jesus pointedher out.
I mean, he called the disciplesover and says, Hey, look at
this.
And I was wondering, what'sgoing on here?
You know, she's standing infront of this temple and there's
(03:22):
gold and marble and it's justbeautiful.
And and she puts all her moneyin there, and and I'm thinking,
if I if I was if I was having ahard time, would I drop all my
money in a place that doesn'tlook like it needs any money?
SPEAKER_01 (03:40):
You know, I it I was a little shocked.
Um, you know, we had kind oflaid out the the sermon series
structure, and when it came tocompassion, my mind immediately
went good Samaritan.
You know, that's not everybody'sstory.
And then you came out with thiswidow and her two mites, and I
was like, what the heck is it?
Does he think we're talkingabout giving this week?
Because every time someone talksabout her in this story, it's
(04:04):
almost always about giving andgenerosity.
And man, you took us acompletely different perspective
on it and talked aboutcompassion, and dude, it blew me
away.
I was like, I I I guess I hadnever thought of it that way,
but then as you you laid it out,I'm like, man, that's exactly
what's going on here.
It was amazing.
SPEAKER_02 (04:23):
It had to be, had to be, you know, because obviously
uh one of the um temple's jobsis to take care of the orphans
and the widows, and she had beentaken care of.
And even though that's free andshe's on the rolls and she's
gonna be taken care of, shethought there's other people out
(04:47):
there like me, you know, and II've been provided for, God's
provided for me, and I want himto take what I have and provide
for others too.
So that kind of compassion ishuge.
Um it's hard to figure out, youknow, there's 13 bowls out
there, all designated differentthings.
They actually have a generalfund, which is which is pretty
(05:10):
cool.
And um, but she uh Jesus doesn'tdescribe it, you know.
She wasn't catching up on hertithe, or she wasn't trying to
pay a temple tax because she waspoor and she was a widow, so all
that was taken care of for her.
She was exempt from all that,but she gave, anyways.
(05:32):
Yeah, there was no uh dutyinvolved, no law involved.
She came and she gave all thatshe had.
So much so that Jesus said, Youguys get over here.
I want you to see this.
SPEAKER_01 (05:45):
How amazed amazing is that that it's man, I keep
bringing this up almost everytime we we talk, uh either on
the podcast or in the sermon,but but this whole Marvel idea
that it it's it strikes me everytime when God or Jesus, you
know, I guess that distinctionis always like, well, yes, God
is Jesus.
(06:05):
But anyways, whichever one,whichever character, whichever
person in that moment calls oneof these people out.
And it's like, what would ittake to get the creator?
I mean, what does John tell us?
All things have been created byhim, for him, through him.
He holds it all together.
Nothing that's been created wascreated without him.
(06:27):
And then he goes, Hey, fellas,get over here and look at this.
SPEAKER_02 (06:31):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (06:31):
He marveled at this woman, and I'm like, man, I he
he speaks and things come tolife.
Right.
You know, he he spoke in well,here's the sun and planets and
and here's animals, and hebreathes life into Adam's
nostrils, and and then thiswoman shows up and gives her
last two mites, and he says, Heyguys, come on.
(06:54):
You gotta come see this.
Yeah, this is awesome.
SPEAKER_02 (06:57):
Yeah, and that's uh probably the heart of the sermon
is when the grace God's givenyou turns to compassion for
others.
I mean, that is that is what theChristian life is all about.
And I know that's difficult forus to um the concept of it is
(07:18):
not hard, but uh we have peoplewho are poor and they want
something, and but at the sametime our government takes care
of them or would take care ofthem if they would cooperate.
And uh we kind of like, should Igive if I if I try to help them,
(07:39):
will they just turn around anddo something evil with it?
You know, uh where am I?
What should I do in thesesituations?
Well, true compassion iscompassion that is given um the
kind of compassion God givesyou.
Uh what's he tell you?
So I'm gonna save you, I'm gonnaforgive you, but now I want you
(08:00):
to live this way.
You know, and that's that youhave a right when it comes to
compassion to say, okay, I'mgonna help you.
But you're you're gonna have toyou're gonna have to own up to
your responsibility in this andchange.
And that's that's hard.
So since we see that all thetime and it doesn't come to
(08:23):
fruition like we think itshould, we hesitate.
And we shouldn't be uh hesitant.
We try not to be in ourcompassion fund, we try not to
be hesitant.
Um if people take the money fromthe church and you know you see
them on Facebook buying steakwith it or whatever, then we
just mark a line through themand make sure they don't get any
(08:46):
more money from us.
But we don't ever want to say noand someone, you know, really
needed it.
So we we try to say yes as muchas possible.
And if we get burned, then wethen we make decisions that
we're gonna do.
SPEAKER_01 (09:01):
Well, I actually had a situation um just this past
week.
I was uh talking with Joy, anduh one of my kids had walked in.
Um and I mean we weren't usingnames or anything, but this uh
compassion uh requested came in.
Um and my my son was justbringing up how many people do
we help?
And so he was just wanting toknow how how often do people
ask, and and how many times dowe say yes?
(09:24):
And he had all these questionsabout the compassion fund.
Um and again, we never got intospecifics, so he didn't know
anything other than we have acompassion fund, he was
interested in how it works.
Um I said, Man, you know what?
We try to help everyone we can,we try to say yes as often as we
can say yes.
(09:45):
Um now we do, we we've putstructure in there.
Um, you know, and there's capson things, and um we try not to
hand out cash directly, youknow.
If someone needs food, we try toum have a food delivery to them.
Um something like that.
That way we know what the themoney's going towards, and so we
try to be good stewards of it.
(10:06):
You know, we're not just wellyeah, here, take this cash and
run.
Yeah.
Um but man, we we try to to sayyes as often as we possibly can.
And he's like, Well, don't youthink like people have scammed
the church over that?
And I was like, Yeah.
All the time.
Yeah, I'm sure they have.
Um and he goes, Well, what doyou do about that?
(10:27):
I said, Well, again, we haveboundaries and structures in
place.
So if they did, if they scammedus, here's the most we could be
scammed.
And it's not that big of anumber, right?
You know, um, and at the end ofthe day, they're gonna stand
accountable before God for thosethings.
SPEAKER_02 (10:44):
Um I don't worry about that kind of judgment.
Um But when you're when you'relooking at someone that's uh
wants your help, wants yourhelp, and you help them, um But
you need to help them in a waythat you think God would which
means that you help them in away where they have to be
(11:07):
responsible.
And uh people who want helpmostly don't want that.
Every when we help someone anduh they couldn't pay their light
bill or their water bill orwhatever, and they come to us,
can you help us pay it?
When they come the next monthand say, Hey, I need help with
this, and we want to getinvolved.
We say, Well, can we sit downwith you, get someone to sit
(11:30):
down with you and see where youare with your and help you set a
budget?
And they're like, Nope, callsomeone up.
SPEAKER_01 (11:36):
So that's I I don't think in 17, 18 years of doing
ministry, I don't think we'veever had anybody take us up on
that.
SPEAKER_02 (11:44):
No, but you know, we've had three or four guys
that said, you know what, whenyou find those people, tell me.
SPEAKER_01 (11:50):
I mean, certified CPAs.
Right I mean, if you I I willsit down and help you do a
budget, I'll help these people.
And not one person has said,Yeah, let me let me take that uh
opportunity.
SPEAKER_02 (12:03):
I'm tired of being short all the time and and I'm
tired of living this way.
Come on in.
Uh there's there's not a lot.
And I think that's becausethere's a lot out there to help
people.
And uh, but we found uh aFacebook page uh where these
guys got a Facebook group and uhwhere they uh all talk back and
(12:26):
forth on which church is givingmoney and which church isn't,
and yeah, there's a lot of scamsout there.
And there's still a lot ofpeople out there who just need
their water bill paid just onetime, you know?
SPEAKER_01 (12:37):
And again, we try to say yes as often as we possibly
can.
Um we we do everything we can tosay yes in those situations um
because we want to becompassionate people.
It's why we we even named it,it's not a benevolence fund,
it's a compassion fund.
Right.
That way, that's always themission.
How do we extend compassion inthis moment?
(13:00):
What does that look like?
Um, and it does.
We it it comes with boundaries,it comes with expectation
responsibility.
Like, yeah, if hey, we're gonnahelp you here.
If you need help next time,we're gonna want to sit down,
we're gonna want to talk uhthrough through a budget, what
that looks like for you.
And not so that we can rub thisin your face.
We want to help you.
SPEAKER_02 (13:20):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (13:21):
You know, if it's a recurring thing, well, hey,
maybe there's some opportunitieshere we can help you you build
some structure and somediscipline.
Um and and that's that's stillcompassionate to offer those
things.
SPEAKER_02 (13:33):
Right.
So if you want to be involved inthat compassion fund, uh when
you're when you go on your appand you choose to give, it'll
give you an opportunity to givethe compassion fund.
That is outside the the budget,that's outside the general
offering.
And uh you can give thecompassion fund.
A lot of people give um everymonth, they give to the
(13:54):
compassion fund.
And so uh that makes it so whenwe're out of money, we're out of
money.
SPEAKER_01 (13:59):
Yep.
And yeah, we it the only waythat we're able to do it is
because people in the churchhave said, above and beyond what
I give to the church, I'm gonnagive to this fund.
Um and then the day that thatfund dries up and someone comes
asking for help, the answer isno.
Yeah, we we don't have it.
Um, and so yeah, we you can getinvolved in that and you can
(14:20):
make a difference in someoneelse's life just through saying,
Yep, I'm gonna give, even ifit's five or ten bucks a month
or something like that.
SPEAKER_02 (14:27):
And here's the important thing to know about
that the compassion fund isfirst and foremost for our
brothers and sisters here inthis church.
unknown (14:35):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (14:36):
Okay, it's not for people out there.
I know a lot of people uh in ourchurch would get in a tight
situation and and need somehelp.
That's what the compassion fundis for.
We are we were given gifts toserve our brothers and sisters,
and we want to serve in this waytoo.
So if you go to our church, andI think most people who listen
(14:56):
here go to our church, and youget yourself in trouble and you
need a little help to get youthrough, we're here for you.
SPEAKER_01 (15:02):
Well, what this is one of the things I love about
the New Testament church, right?
It says they came together, theyshared everything in common.
There wasn't uh one person amongthem that had a need.
You know, they they all cametogether, and you know, this
this past week, I'm not tryingto jump ahead here yet, but uh,
you know, you were talking abouthumility.
Um, well man, I I think whathappens is our pride jumps in
(15:24):
the way of this, and so we getin those situations where man, I
could use some some help here.
Um I don't want to ask mychurch.
I go to church with those peopleand all that, you know, we get
all this thing, everybody'sgonna know, they're gonna put it
on a board somewhere.
Nobody knows.
SPEAKER_02 (15:38):
Nobody knows.
It's all we we keep it all on uhhush-hus and and nobody'll know.
But at the same time, thatthat's what the church is here
for.
Yeah, and sometimes the Lorddemands humility in in those
type of situations.
You need to uh let someone knowyou're struggling so the church
can support you.
SPEAKER_01 (15:55):
Yeah.
Well, and you know, another oneof the things that we've done,
both as a safeguard and also umit it does require humility, is
we've had people over the years,hey, uh I I think so-and-so
could use some help.
And I said, Have them fill outthis form.
Well, you know, I was wonderingif have them fill out this form.
Um, but there's that having toput your name on something, it
(16:17):
does, it stops people becausethat pride gets involved there.
Right.
Um, but guys, listen, thischurch wants to help you.
If you go here, we actuallyreserve some of the compassion
fund only for people in thechurch.
We don't let it get below acertain amount.
That way, if someone in ourchurch does need help, we have
the funds to help funds to help.
SPEAKER_02 (16:36):
So I want um that is part of um uh trying to be can
passionate instead of enabling,you know, is to hey, you you're
in this situation, um might notbe your fault, but you're
responsible.
So put your name down and beresponsible.
(16:59):
And let us help you get out ofthat.
And uh we don't we don'treserve, uh we don't have a
group that gets together andpasses judgment on that kind of
stuff.
We don't we don't do that here.
We're here to help you.
Let it let us help.
Let us help.
Uh being humble.
You don't want you're in a badspot already, you don't want God
resisting you right on top ofit.
SPEAKER_01 (17:20):
That's for sure.
You know, one of the otherthings that you brought up about
compassion, and I I do, I thinkit stops a lot of us, is the
problem's just so big.
Right.
Like I I want to get involved,but where do I as soon as I
start, where then where do Istop?
You know, like the the finishline isn't this person, it's
(17:41):
their whole family, and then thewhole system and right, you
know, our whole governancestructure.
Like it the problem is so big.
What do I do?
And and how does it is it worthit?
Am I making a dent?
Um how what how do we addressthat?
SPEAKER_02 (17:58):
Always be compassionate, always let your
grace be compassionate.
But it comes back to uh we'retalking mainly about money here.
What does your budget look like?
And if you've got a budgetthat'll support you helping in
that situation, then I think youshould.
Um if things are tight and uhyou don't give what you can.
(18:23):
And uh a lot of times after yougive that first time, you'll
know whether uh they're gonnastand up to their
responsibility.
And you definitely don't want tobe an enabler in this situation
and get yourself in a situationwhere this person is not
growing, they're not um takingresponsibility for themselves,
they're just leaning back onyou.
(18:45):
Um you know, with all the guilttrips and stuff like that.
But I guarantee you there'sgonna be someone that you help
that said, Thanks, thanks forgetting me out of this.
And then one day they can getyou out of something too.
Um I've had it happen to me.
Um I'm giving away a car, andthen my car breaks down, and I'm
like, Man, I am not prepared topay this much money for the car,
(19:08):
and someone will come along andsay, Well, I'll I'll fix your
car for you.
Uh you just buy the parts.
And you know, the Lord's blessedme in that way because someone
was compassionate, gave theirtime to help me out, and um um
not because I gave a car away,um, but because um I turned
(19:30):
grace into compassion in asituation, and then God has
other people to do that too.
Yeah.
And it it's supposed to workflow through the church like
that.
So um, you know, I don't knowhow many times I've had Dave
Meyer out on my roof.
We gotta find this leak.
And he comes out and and hetakes care of me.
(19:52):
And uh that's um that's part ofwhat we do, you know, when we
can we can give, give some timeor whatever.
You know, if you got a truck,you get called to move people.
Now I just give the truck.
I'm like, here's the keys.
I don't I'm not moving nothing.
Uh but when you uh give thatcompassion, when you're when
(20:14):
your grace that God has givenyou, all the things that He's
blessed you with, if you justopen your hand and let that
flow, um God recognizes thatcompassion and He says, Hey
guys, come over here and look atthis.
SPEAKER_01 (20:28):
Yeah I I read a I can't remember if it was a book
or maybe a sermon.
I wasn't heard a pastor say it,but um he said, Do for one what
you wish you could do foreveryone.
And man, that that stuck with mefor years.
I mean, I I can't the problem'stoo big.
I can't fix all of it.
Um but I can help one person.
I can help this one situation.
(20:50):
And and I'm gonna do as much asI can for this one because I
know I can't fix everything.
I can't fix the whole problem.
Um, you know, we're never gonnacompletely eliminate poverty
here.
Um but I if I can just help thisone person and get back on their
feet today, or if I can justgive them some food, help them
get through tomorrow, or takecare of that electric bill,
because it's cold, man.
(21:12):
I don't know.
Our house is geothermal, butit's all electric.
My electric bill came in thismonth.
I was like, holy smokes, thatnegative 10 is no joke.
Yeah.
Um, you you're like, man,there's people out here
struggling, and and I I can'thelp everybody, I can't pay
everybody's electric bill.
I can pay this guy's, I can helpat least.
Um, so do for one what what youwish you could do for everybody.
(21:35):
And and man, God does.
He uses that, he he refuses tobe out given.
Um, he he sees what's done insecret, you know, and when you
you live that open handed way.
Um, and I remember years ago Iwas preaching on like it was
generosity, but um, I brought aguy up on stage and I told him
to open his hand and I put somemoney in it, and I said, Now
(21:57):
close your hand and grab ontothat money, don't let go.
And then I kept trying to addmore money to it and just kept
falling all over the stage.
And I was like, now try this.
Dump out that money and put yourhand back up and I refilled it.
I said, Now dump that out.
And I refilled it.
And the whole idea being whenyou're holding on to all this
stuff, God can't give you anymore.
You're full.
That's right.
(22:17):
But if you're a conduit throughwhich God can bless other
people, then he can constantlyrefill you.
And he refuses to be outgiven,man.
SPEAKER_02 (22:25):
That's true.
And don't worry, don't worry.
God's going to tell you when tosay no.
God knows their heart too.
And say no.
And if they say, you know, youwere generous before and now
you're leaving me dry, just sayGod said no.
And how does God say no?
Why would God say no to me?
I'm in need or whatever.
But when God says no, it meansno.
(22:47):
And you never know what God'sdoing in someone's life.
And where was that sermon I waspreaching not too long ago?
Because sometimes we try to helppeople that God is under God's
judgment.
You know?
And it don't matter how much youhelp them, it's not going to
work out.
So it's a compassion is aprayerful thing.
unknown (23:06):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (23:06):
It's just not, you know, pulling out the wallet or
or throwing money around orwhatever.
It's something that you at youand the Holy Spirit got to be
aligned with.
SPEAKER_01 (23:15):
Yeah.
Definitely requires discernmentand and just constant
communication with the HolySpirit.
Um as those situations come up.
Lord, what do you what should Ido here?
Um and and listen.
And then respond in obedience.
Um sometimes he's going to askyou to take that budget that you
just put together and he's goingto blow it up.
He's going to be like, We'regoing to, we're going to do this
(23:37):
big here.
Yeah.
And other times you're going tohave the money and he's going to
say, This isn't the right time.
Yeah.
And it's it's not going to makesense.
We don't often alwaysunderstand, but just man, when
if you're in tune with the HolySpirit, you're using wisdom and
discernment, he's going to letyou know.
Um, yeah, you need to step inhere and know this isn't the
right time.
SPEAKER_02 (23:57):
That's the difficult way.
That's the difficult way.
But there's some things that areno-brainers that uh uh that are
easy to be compassionate and youdon't have to worry too much
about it.
Like when we dig those wells.
Um that's an easy one.
They need water, they need thegospel.
We can give them both.
I'm gonna throw 20 bucks in, youknow, and I don't have to worry
(24:19):
about whether they're gonna comeback to me for more or where
they're gonna be the next nightor anything like that.
I uh it's so those things areeasy.
It's it's the hard ones that arepeople are afraid of.
Yeah.
You know, I Kathy uh found thishomeless guy in Vermilion and
told me and Pat to go get himand talk to him.
(24:41):
And so we went and got them anduh got him a meal.
I shared Christ with them.
I said, Are you interested inyou know accepting Jesus as your
savior?
And he goes, No, I don't believein any of that stuff, but you
Christians always pick me up andyou take me and feed me and take
care of me, and I reallyappreciate you.
I I I know a lot of people hateChristians, but we I love you,
(25:03):
you guys, and uh you alwaysshare the same thing with me,
you know.
And he says, That's okay.
I just um I'm not gonna do thatright now.
And uh we put him up in a moteland and uh for a couple nights,
so it was cold outside, and hewas carrying these big old
blankets trying to stay warm,and um he was on his way to
(25:26):
Chicago, and I was like,Michael, go to Florida.
What are you going to Chicagofor?
And uh, but uh he was kind, sowe gave what we could give, and
uh he had a couple good nights,and and he left town and was
heading for Chicago.
(25:46):
Um but it was interesting uh forhim to smile at us and say, You
Christians are the greatestpeople, you always try to take
care of take care of me and tryto get me saved and into heaven.
SPEAKER_01 (25:59):
So what a testimony, man.
Uh, you know, like uh I wisheveryone could say that about
us.
Yeah.
Um even if they don't make adecision to follow Jesus.
Imagine if that was our church'sreputation.
Man, I love you people at FreshWind because you're always
helping me.
You're always telling me aboutJesus, and I'm not ready to make
any of those decisions, but man,uh, you guys are faithful to
(26:20):
help.
Um that'd be that'd be anincredible reputation for us to
have in our community.
SPEAKER_02 (26:25):
I appreciate everybody who gives the
compassion fund, and and there'sa lot of people out there, I
could name a bunch of people,but I don't want to embarrass
them right now, that have reallygone overboard to help people
with um addiction problems andand uh homeless problems and
don't have a bed for the kidproblem and and that have done
(26:49):
great things here at A FreshWind.
And I want you to know I Iappreciate you.
Absolutely.
You give what you can give andlet God handle the rest.
That's all good.
And that's what we need that wthat's what we need to do.
We need to be I'm making atransition here.
Um we need to be humble enoughto know that we can't fix the
(27:13):
whole problem, but becompassionate enough to try to
help.
That's good.
And that means we gotta work onour humility.
SPEAKER_01 (27:25):
Yeah, this is uh this is a tough one for all of
us.
Um we just man, we loveourselves, don't we?
Like, yeah, you're talking aboutuh, you know, God, I love you.
I want you to be in thespotlight.
I just want to be up on stagewith you a little bit, you know?
Right.
(27:46):
Look how much I love you.
Shouldn't people know?
Shouldn't everybody know howmuch I love you?
Um even I mean we're we just gotdone talking about compassion.
Even that one's tricky becauseall of a sudden our compassion
become this badge of honor, youknow, like look at me.
I'm a compassionate person.
Look at me, and and we do.
Uh man, I I was able to helpthis family over here and do all
(28:07):
this, and it feels good.
And you're like, I gotta go tellsomebody that I did that.
And it's like, whoa, where didthat come from?
Right.
That's that pride sneaking up inthere.
SPEAKER_02 (28:18):
Yeah, and we want, and we know God has seen it, and
we all know we've heard this allour lives.
You know, if if someone sees youdo it, then you get your
accolades down here, you don'tget them in heaven.
And uh so, but we're like, man,heaven's a long way off.
I'd rather I'd rather havesomeone uh tell me how great I
(28:40):
am.
SPEAKER_01 (28:40):
I went to lunch uh a couple weeks ago with a buddy of
mine, and there was uh it lookedlike half the Lorraine police
force uh was in the restaurant.
I mean, there had to be 10, 12of those guys sitting over there
um having lunch.
So we sat down, we're eating ourlunch.
Uh server comes over and hegoes, Hey, that table over there
to all the the police.
(29:01):
Um, I want to pick up theirbill.
And I'm looking at him like,have you lost your mind?
There's like 12 guys sittingover there.
You know how much that's gonnacost you?
Um, but he's like, I wanna Iwant to take take care of that
for him.
And the guy looks at him like,Are you crazy?
Dude, how many guys are um buthe didn't.
He he wanted to pay for the payfor their bill, which I thought
was awesome.
Um, well, the server must havetold him who paid for his bill.
(29:22):
Uh, because one by one, afterthey were leaving, they started
coming over.
Hey, did you take care of ourlunch?
Thank you so much for doingthat.
Thank you so much for doingthat.
Well, after the last guy saysthank you, uh he looks at me and
goes, Well, so much for rewardsin heaven.
I was like, Yep, that's probablyall you're gonna get out of that
one now.
SPEAKER_02 (29:42):
Yeah.
Yeah, I we need to, we gotta getrid of uh get rid of that type
of pride.
Um and he'll get rewards forheaven.
He didn't expect that to happen.
He just uh uh but it's good,it's good to be humbled down
every now and then, yeah,especially when you give uh you
don't want to be embarrassed,um, and you don't want to look
(30:04):
like you're trying to besomebody that you're not, you
know?
And then when someone like myson, he hated wearing his
uniform out when he was uh inIraq, and because everybody was
like, Let me buy you lunch, letme, you know, let just drove him
insane.
I said he's like, Dad, itembarrasses me, you know.
And I said, Okay, um, but let melet me borrow your uniform.
SPEAKER_01 (30:29):
I was gonna say, what size does it I'll keep it
over here?
SPEAKER_02 (30:32):
Yeah.
Um, but he uh we don't we westruggle with that.
Um, you know, Tim's like, I justran a gun, you know, to protect
the base.
I didn't do much.
It's like okay, if that's theway you see it.
Um but we have uh we have a hardtime um getting caught out in
(30:56):
our pride, you know, and and weknow it we shouldn't be that
way, but it happens to us everynow and then and we we embarrass
ourselves.
Um but the Lord, you don't haveto worry about the Lord in this.
This is one thing.
Compassion is something thatyou're deciding to be on your
own, and the Holy Spirit mightbe pushing you to do that, but
(31:18):
when it comes to pride andhumility, you get a lot of help
from God.
SPEAKER_01 (31:22):
Yeah, I love you standing up and uh oh man, who
did you bring up in service one?
Um Cody.
Cody.
Yeah, yeah.
You get up there and bump chestwith them, and I'm like, yeah,
uh, you ain't gonna do that forreal.
Cody's biceps are about you know32 inches round.
SPEAKER_02 (31:41):
Yeah, um yeah, it's it's uh what God gets in your
face when you and when yourpride starts filling you up, and
you you don't know what that youdon't want that you don't want
that to happen to you.
Number two is if you let thathappen to you, it it'll grow.
Yeah, it'll grow.
And I've seen a lot of preacherswho were very good preachers and
(32:05):
were told how good they were,and people drove miles to hear
them speak, and they crash andburn.
And you gotta be careful ofthat.
And uh, I had one uh guy that Ireally liked.
He said, Don't don't tell methat, Tim.
Don't tell me that.
And um I was like, Oh, you'regoing through it, man.
(32:27):
Okay.
Um but I would travel a long wayto hear him speak.
And he um he says, I don't Idon't want to get myself in that
situation where you know uhthese people need me.
No, they don't need you, theyneed Jesus.
And um we need to be we need tobe those type of people.
(32:48):
God might use you to stand inthe gap for people and it might
be an amazing thing, but hedidn't need you to stand in the
gap, he lets you stand in thegap.
SPEAKER_01 (32:57):
That's what's so tricky.
Um in and it man, it starts atyou know, volunteering for the
church.
Um and then, you know, if you'reon staff, you know, uh it all
the stakes just get higherbecause you're doing all sorts
of these things for God.
You know, I'm God, I'm doingthis for you.
Um and there's there's plenty ofSundays when you know you come
(33:19):
down off the stage and peopleare talking about your sermon
and um how great it was and howit spoke to them, and you know,
man, were you following mearound this week?
You know, all those things.
And it's it's easy to listen tothose things and be like, oh
God, see that?
Yeah, see how you know all thatstudy of time I was putting in
(33:39):
this week, you see what that allthat did?
Um and that pride, man, it itcreeps in.
And I man, I'm there's so manypastors, and it it almost makes
you nervous to, you know, forthe church to grow and get big
or to to write a book and youknow, sell a bunch of copies, or
(34:00):
because so many of them whenthey get that success, just
start falling.
Yeah.
Um and I think a lot of it, man,pride gets in the way.
And you start thinking, man,I've done something here, and
these people, they like tolisten to me, and I'm important.
Um and it's like, man, as soonas you get there, yeah, it like
(34:23):
you said, God gets involvedhere.
This is one of those you'regonna get a lot of help because
he he opposes you, right?
He's not gonna sit here and putup with that, he's not gonna
ignore you.
No, no, no, he actively worksagainst you when you're
operating in pride.
Um, this is man, it's soimportant that the humble spirit
it's tricky.
SPEAKER_02 (34:43):
I know I said it a thousand times on Sunday
preaching it, and you said it athousand times right here.
But man, that guy who waspraying, the first guy, the
Pharisee praying, he was givingthanks to God.
He was saying, Yeah, look at me.
This is because of God.
This is because of God.
And it was still pride.
And we need to realize we haveto have a complete dependence on
(35:06):
God, even to serve God.
You know, he didn't call mebecause I was a great speaker or
because um I knew the Bible oranything like that.
He let me get involved with whathe was doing, and and that's
that's all he did.
That's it.
Yeah, and and I thank God forit.
Thank God we've seen another tenbaptized last week uh or
(35:29):
yesterday.
That is wonderful.
Um and I I love that, but Igotta watch the pride.
You know, when I see my pastorfriends and stuff, that's the
first thing I want to say.
You know how many we havebaptized?
And I'm praising and thankingGod for that, but at the same
time, there's that little pridething there.
SPEAKER_01 (35:48):
I remember a couple years ago, you and I we drove
out, oh, is that Illinois,Indiana, one of those states.
Uh, went to this pastorconference thing.
And it's what all the churches,you know, pastors get together
and oh, how many people are youguys running?
And and a lot of it is pastorsjust celebrating and seeing what
God's doing.
Um, but man, there there's thisit it that pride starts to
(36:10):
swell.
And oh, we're running about 70,oh, we're running about 100, and
you're like, oh, we're okay.
We're yeah, we're we're doingbetter than those guys.
Um even in the we had a new hairgathering this past Sunday, and
um there was just a couple inthe church um talking about how
they went to you know smaller,more traditional church, um and
(36:31):
you know, came here and fell inlove with our church.
I absolutely love it.
Um and I celebrate that.
Uh uh man, every time someonecomes in, um I'm so so grateful
and excited when they talk aboutjust how welcoming our church,
our church is.
Um, makes me proud of you guys.
Uh a fresh win.
(36:51):
Uh that you you welcome peopleand you love our people so it's
hard not to be.
SPEAKER_02 (36:54):
It's hard not to be proud of you guys.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (36:57):
You guys, you're awesome.
And I just want you to know inthose new here gatherings,
people rave on you.
Um, Emily and her team, youknow, the greeters, the the
welcome desk people, um, thecheck-in, check-out teams, kids'
ministry teams.
Preachers, the preachers, don'tforget the preachers.
I mean the how you treat peopleis is awesome.
And so these people come hereand they're just they're loving
(37:17):
our church.
Um, but I man, in that new heregathering, I I pause.
I'm like, hey, I love that youguys love being here.
Um, but I want you to know we wecelebrate in honor of those
small churches too.
There's a lot of pastors showingup faithfully week after week
after week, spending hourspreparing sermons for 30 or 40
(37:37):
people.
Um and and a lot of times we canlook at it and say, man, there's
something wrong with thatchurch, or that pastor's not
doing something right.
And um and I there's there'sprobably a whole lot of reasons
that go into that kind of stuff,but the truth is there's a lot
of really faithful pastors outthere um leading a lot of really
small churches.
(37:57):
I I I think the average, like Idon't know if it's 80 or 90
something percent of churches inAmerica today are around 100
people in attendance, um, orless than 110, something like
that.
That means most churches are aresmall churches, you know.
Um but man, faithful pastors.
Um and just showing up and Iwant you to know if you're one
(38:21):
of those faithful pastors, wehonor you.
Absolutely.
And thank you for the workyou're doing.
SPEAKER_02 (38:26):
I had a lady come into the church today and and um
said she was going throughsomething and and she got over
the hump and she was praisinglittle church in Lorraine,
pastor that's faithful.
Um she went in there and um andhe started preaching, and she
said he just he preached rightat me and um pulled me out of my
(38:50):
funk.
And um I I was like, praise theLord for him.
I said, when you go to church onSunday, tell him I appreciate
him.
I love him for what he does.
And uh we we need to be um awhole church, not just one
church.
And some people are gonna growin one church, and then they're
gonna hit a spot where they needto go to another church and grow
(39:12):
or help people grow in thatchurch and might get moved to
another church.
We celebrate that if God'smoving you around.
If you're running around gettingmad at everybody, we don't
celebrate that.
No, but um, but if you if youfeel like the Lord's uh moved
you here to to uh be part of us,then we celebrate that.
If he moves you from here tosomewhere else so you uh can be
(39:33):
a part of that, then wecelebrate that.
SPEAKER_01 (39:35):
We celebrate that too, yeah.
Man, I years ago, uh I thinkchurch was just getting ready to
start one of the um, I don'tknow, the bathroom needed clean
or mopped or something.
Um, and I ran and I grabbed amop bucket and I was getting
ready to mop it.
And I don't know if I waspreaching that day or you were
preaching that day, but someonecomes up to me and they're like,
(39:56):
hey, you you shouldn't be doingthis.
Um, and the truth is pastorprobably shouldn't be mopping
the bathrooms on Sunday morning.
SPEAKER_02 (40:03):
But I I looked at it and I said, Man, Pastor should
have known the bathroom neededmopped on Saturday.
SPEAKER_01 (40:10):
I was like, you know what?
The day I become too big to mopthis floor, you fire me.
Right.
Um and I I want to keep thatspirit and and I want you to
know that we need to have that.
Man, I whatever it takes, um,there's nothing beneath me.
Um, if we're if we're sharingthe gospel, if we're helping
people discover more in Christ,there's nothing beneath me.
(40:30):
I'll do whatever it takes tohelp someone take a step towards
Jesus.
And if that doesn't lookglamorous, that's all right.
Um, if it means I'm you knowchanging diapers in the nursery,
that's all right.
SPEAKER_02 (40:41):
You would never change diapers in the nursery.
SPEAKER_01 (40:43):
I'd get my you have to do it.
SPEAKER_02 (40:46):
You have you have weasled out of everything every
time I try to get you in there,you're like, I don't do kids.
SPEAKER_01 (40:53):
Okay.
Parking cars out in the cold.
I would do it.
Um, whatever it takes.
Um, and and I just want toencourage you, man, keep that
humble posture before the Lord.
Um, because as soon as thatpride comes in, and like I said,
it's sometimes it's so insidiousbecause you're doing great
things.
Um this church is doing greatthings.
(41:13):
We're seeing God move and changelives, and we are seeing um
people show up and fall in lovewith this church and and just
the baptism videos that we werehearing on Sunday, and all the
people coming and just lovingwhat God's doing here, yeah, and
then choosing to follow Him andBaptist.
Oh, that's exciting.
Um, but man, we we need to weneed to stay humble um in all of
(41:33):
this and just say, Lord, we arecompletely and utterly dependent
on you.
SPEAKER_02 (41:38):
Yeah, we need to we need to thank God and uh not
thank a fresh win.
Fresh win is here because ofJesus Himself.
Uh He called us uh He startedthis ministry and we're just
aligning ourselves with whatHe's doing.
And we don't want to be, youknow, a Fresh Win is my church,
and that just that doesn't evenmake sense here.
(42:02):
A freshwind is not your church,it's Jesus' church, and you've
jumped in on what he's doing,and that's what we want to,
that's who we want to be.
And um pride is a tricky thing,and uh you'll know when you
stepped across or you stepped upon stage with Jesus, um he won't
let it slide.
His glory is his own and hewon't share it with you.
(42:25):
Now he'll exalt you one day, andthat'll be great.
Um then you can bask in whateverthat looks like in heaven, but
uh you're just gonna takewhatever he gives you and throw
it at his feet because it's allabout him.
SPEAKER_01 (42:39):
Right.
That's that's the key to thiswhole thing, man.
Um we feel like someone needs tonotice.
SPEAKER_02 (42:48):
Um the right to be recognized.
SPEAKER_01 (42:51):
And it it feels good.
It does.
I I think that's I mean that'spart of the human experience.
It feels good to be noticed, tobe recognized, to be seen.
Um, and we feel like, man,someone's gotta know.
Someone's gotta, someone needsto see this.
Yeah.
One time you got done doingsomething at the church and you
called me and said, Hey, I justgot done doing this at the
church.
(43:12):
Tell me, tell me I'm awesome.
I'm like, you're awesome, Tim.
SPEAKER_02 (43:15):
My love language is is um oh, what do you call it?
Words of affirmation.
Words of effort.
I need some affirmation, everynow.
And I can always trust you tosay, you're awesome, Tim.
Yeah, you're awesome.
Can you hang up now?
SPEAKER_01 (43:31):
But man, if if we could get this, if we will
humble ourselves before theLord, he will exalt us at the
right time.
That's that's the key.
And we feel like, no, no, Igotta get in here and I gotta
make people see what I've done,and I gotta make people exalt
me.
And when you do that, you robthe creator of the universe the
opportunity to exalt you.
(43:52):
And man, there's nothing anybodycould ever say or do that's
gonna mean more than Jesuslooking at his disciples and
saying, hey.
Hey you guys, come watch whatthey just did.
SPEAKER_02 (44:02):
Yeah.
I love that um when Jesus toldthat parable about the the
wedding and um and he wassitting at the head of the table
and someone went and sat downnext to him and he had to
tell 'em, This this spot's notfor you.
You don't want to be that guy.
You don't want to be that guy.
(44:22):
So sit down there at the end ofthe table, and when the Lord
wants you sitting next to him,he'll call you up there.
And and then you can celebratebecause you've been recognized
by him, not by yourself.
That's right.
Um pride is a tough thing.
Here's the thing about talkingabout being humble and living in
(44:43):
pride.
We all know.
We all know when it's us, youknow?
And um so just respond to theHoly Spirit and say, Lord, I'm
gonna turn this around, thisthing I think I I've done well,
and we'll give that back to you.
The only reason I could do thatfor you is because you let me.
(45:05):
And I just want to thank you forthe opportunity.
Say the words.
Uh, even though you you think,well, I don't feel it in my
heart, you know, someone needsto affirm me.
Let the Lord affirm you.
What did what did uh David say?
Encourage myself in the Lord.
Right.
Right.
Sometimes we got to do that.
And uh, but we here at ourchurch, we want to encourage
(45:28):
you.
We want to thank all you guyswho work so hard to make our
Sundays possible.
We affirm you, we recognize you.
Um we couldn't we couldn't havethis ministry without you.
That's right.
And um we want to thank you forsaying yes to the Lord and and
aligning your life to what he'sdoing here at A Fresh Wind.
And that's a great thing um topraise.
(45:51):
Um, but we're try not to takepride in it.
unknown (45:54):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (45:55):
Um, you know, practically, um, a couple things
you can do.
Number one, what Pastor Tim justsaid, just daily, man,
acknowledge your dependence onthe Lord.
Um next, when He when God doessomething for you, thank Him for
it.
Um, recognize it was Him.
He is the giver of every goodand perfect gift.
Um so whether that's a raise,whether that's uh you know a new
(46:19):
job opportunity came your way,um whatever it is, um, Lord
thank you for that and and justlet him know you recognize that
was Him.
You're you're dependent on Him.
And then personally, you know,when you're when you're in a a
conversation with someone, avoidthat temptation to one up.
You know, we we love those.
We hate the one uppers, but welove to be them.
(46:40):
Right.
Um you and I were sitting heretalking about vacation, sharing
sunburn stories, and we're like,oh yeah, well, hold on, mine was
worse than yours.
Um avoid that temptation andman, be interested in other
people instead of and and Istruggle with this because when
I'm in a conversation withsomeone, I I'm more interested
in my rebuttal to what they'resaying than I am in what they're
(47:02):
actually saying.
Um and I love to tell about mylife and my story and my kids
and my job and my church.
And I very rarely want to askabout your job and your kids and
your family.
Um, and so just be be the kindof person who asks more
questions than than you giveanswers and and be interested in
people and those I think you dothose things and you'll you'll
(47:23):
start to develop a humblespirit.
SPEAKER_02 (47:26):
Humility um is something we need to pray for
and to say, Lord, keep me small,keep me small enough to need you
every day.
And uh when we do that, um theLord will exalt you, so you
don't have to worry.
But even in that exaltation, youneed to keep saying, Lord, I
(47:47):
need to need you.
Yeah, I need to need you.
Um and that's that's where we westay protected.
Yeah, but don't get all worriedabout this, because um this is
something the Lord gets involvedin.
SPEAKER_01 (48:01):
Yeah, he's he's gonna work this out one.
He's gonna work this one out foryou.
SPEAKER_02 (48:05):
That's it.
Will you pray for us?
Father, I want to thank you forum The Widow with Two Mites.
And um Lord, she gave backbecause you had given to her,
and she gave it all.
Lord, teach us to have that kindof compassion, to understand
that we've had grace and that wecan hand it off to others.
(48:29):
And we want to thank you forthis tax collector who so um
showed us what it means to behumble before God.
He beat his chest and said, God,forgive me for my sins.
And that's where we want to be.
At your feet on our knees uhbecause it's all about you.
(48:51):
Thank you for letting us alignourselves with your mission here
at A Fresh Wind and letting usum serve people and reach people
with you.
And uh because we couldn't do itwithout you.
Lord, I know um these thingswhen we focus in on them, we we
see all the failures in ourlife.
(49:14):
But Lord, tonight as we go tosleep, um tonight as as we uh uh
say our prayers and get in bed,I pray that you'll you'll exalt
us in our dreams.
Remind us of all the things thatwe did do, not the things that
we didn't do.
And um we want to be people whoremember what you've done and
(49:39):
remember what you've donethrough us because we made
ourselves available.
And we thank you for thoseopportunities.
Not that you need us, but thatyou used us in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Amen.
SPEAKER_00 (49:52):
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
(50:15):
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