January 14, 2026 • 46 mins
We share why Marvel focuses on people whose lives made heaven pause and how faith as allegiance reshapes obedience, church, and daily choices. From the centurion to Noah, we trace long obedience, serving with Jesus’ presence, and anchoring our yes in grace.
• faith defined as allegiance under Jesus’ authority
• humility of outsiders who amazed Jesus
• pushing back against church consumerism
• discerning where God calls you to serve
• obedience as faith made visible in daily choices
• Noah’s long obedience and unseen faithfulness
• walking with God versus working for him
• serving with Jesus’ presence in practical tasks
• anchoring obedience in grace not guilt
• taking the next right yes
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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.
Brought to you by a Fresh WindChurch.
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.
Royan.
Pastor Ryan joined with PastorTim.
And uh man, we had uh a coupleweeks off there for uh Christmas
and then New Year's, andobviously that shows.
I'm excited to be back.
How did you say that?
(00:47):
Royan, Ryan, I don't even know.
Not good.
It was a train wreck right fromthe start.
You think 30 something years ofsaying my name, I could figure
it out.
Um, but man, uh Christmas wasgood for you.
SPEAKER_03 (01:00):
Yeah, we had a great Christmas.
We had a great Christmas and anew year's, and uh, I had uh the
whole family home for Christmas,and uh I got a I got a daughter
who lives in San Diego, so wegot to share with this other
family.
And um, but uh yeah, we had a wehad a great time together.
SPEAKER_04 (01:19):
Awesome.
SPEAKER_01 (01:20):
I mean, I'll tell you one of the highlights for
for me, um, I mean, obviouslylove getting together with
family and all that stuff.
We had great Christmas, but umour Christmas Eve service here
at the church, uh, we did acandlelight Christmas Eve
service.
And man, I I think in yearspast, it's usually, you know, me
and my family, you and yourfamily, and about 30, 40 people
(01:43):
from the church who who gotnothing to do.
And this year, I don't know whatthe difference was, but it was,
I think it was 35 minutes beforeit started, and the room was
more than half full.
And I ran out to someone, Isaid, Did I advertise at the
wrong time?
What is going on here?
Um, but man, the place waspacked, people were everywhere.
(02:04):
Um, and then you and I got up toclose it out.
Teresa and the band were talkinglast year about just how
beautiful it looked with all thecandles lit.
Um, and I didn't get to see thatlast year.
Um, you and I got up on thestage to close it out this year
and just to see the whole roomfilled and all the all these
candles lit.
Man, it was such a a sweetmoment.
SPEAKER_03 (02:24):
It was, it was beautiful.
SPEAKER_01 (02:25):
And so that was uh that was definitely one of the
highlights over that thatChristmas New Year break.
SPEAKER_03 (02:30):
All these people together celebrating the um
greatest present of hispresence.
Um it was it was wonderful.
SPEAKER_01 (02:41):
It was coming out of the new year.
Uh you and I, we have launched abrand new series here.
And uh I joked in week one thatthis is the kind of sermon
series our media team lovesbecause it's uh it's eight weeks
long, which means they don'thave to change the graphics for
a while.
So uh they love this kind ofstuff, but uh we're calling the
series Marvel, and what whatwe're kind of talking about in
(03:04):
the series is those people thatthat God seems to almost marvel
at.
And I mean, I I really struggledwith the word to use here.
Like, can God be surprised?
SPEAKER_03 (03:15):
Can so let you inspire God.
Let's um go ahead and and letyou know what we think
doctrinally.
God can be surprised, he is notum ever disappointed, he knows
what's gonna happen with all ofus.
But then um when he deals withus, he deals with us on a level
that we can uh understand.
(03:37):
So when he speaks to us, hespeaks to us um that day in what
my dad called the everlastingnow.
So yeah, he's existing in thisday and he's living this day
with us, even though he'salready lived this day, he knows
what's gonna happen.
And uh so uh in the scripture,he makes some comments about
(04:00):
people uh that are that areamazing.
Yeah.
And uh so we wanna we wanna takea moment and say, what would
what would it look like in yourlife if God stopped and said,
Wow.
unknown (04:18):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (04:19):
And that that's the been the it was the genesis of
the series, and that just reallyinspiring every week as I'm
studying, and you know, I knowyou got a couple of these
sermons coming up, is you just Imean, we're talking every word
in scripture is God breathed,and God said, We need to stop
and point this out.
(04:40):
And that thought is just amazingto me.
Yeah.
Man, there was something aboutthe way that person responded,
or the faith, or their obediencethat was awesome.
And God, the creator of the andI'm like, what would it take to
again?
I that was the word I wasstruggling with, but like to
amaze God and make him think,that was awesome.
(05:04):
We need to write this down, weneed to write that down, right?
Um, and so there were some ofthose.
I was talking with Jared, he'sgot a sermon coming up um a few
weeks too, and and just lookingover that passage of scripture,
and Jesus is like, man, from nowon, anytime the gospel is
preached, they're gonna talkabout this.
And I'm like, oh my gosh, like,what is it?
(05:26):
And so that's been uh kind ofthe heart behind this whole
series is what would it looklike for for us today to live
lives where heaven pauses totake notice and God says, Man,
that that was awesome.
And not to say God'sdisappointed in you, because
like you said just a minute ago,God knows everything, right?
(05:47):
Um He can't disappoint, yeah,and and He's never gonna love
you anymore than He loves youright now.
This isn't about earning God'slove or more of His love or
attention.
Um, but there are those timeswhen God points out the the
actions or the character of Hispeople, and I was like, man, if
we could begin to capture whatare those things, um, and then
(06:09):
talk through it.
And so we uh we identified eightof those things, and then uh in
the first week we looked atreally the basis for the whole
series is is faith.
Is faith, the kind of faith thatamazes God.
And you know, Hebrews chapter 11is called the Hall of Faith, and
and you read through there, andthere's a bunch of um bunch of
(06:31):
men and women who've who havedone just some amazing things
for God, and all of it isbecause of their faith.
And that their faith promptedtheir obedience.
Um, it prompted their their umtheir faith.
Uh faith prompted theirobedience, it prompted their
their repentance, you know,because of these things, faith
is kind of that underlyingthing.
(06:53):
And so we we started there inweek one um and we looked at and
and this is one of the things Ilove about scriptures because
it's it throws these curveballsin all the time.
Um you know, the whole entiretestament was you know about
really about the Jewish peopleand and God choosing them and
he's gonna bless the whole earththrough them.
(07:14):
And then when scripture startsto point out someone's faith,
Jesus goes to this RomanCenturion um who's not a Jew,
he's a he's a gentile.
The Jews actually despise theseguys, and Jesus says, I've not
seen faith like that in all ofIsrael.
And so you kind of get thisoutsider's look into this whole
(07:35):
thing.
Um, and Jesus marvels at thisguy's faith that he has.
Um and he comes up if if if youmissed that sermon, um, he has a
servant who is in bed, uhcrippled or or you know,
possibly paralyzed.
He's in terrible pain and agony.
And uh he asked Jesus, you know,would you heal him?
(07:57):
And Jesus says, You want youwant me to do it?
And he says, Listen, I'm noteven worthy for you to come to
my house.
If you just say the word, Ibelieve that it'll be done.
And this guy's like, I'm a manwho's under authority and I have
people underneath me, and when Itell them to go, I know that
they're gonna go and they'regonna do what I told them to do.
And if you just say the word, Iknow that he'll be healed.
(08:20):
And Jesus stops to say, Man,that kind of faith.
I I've not seen anything likethat in all of Israel.
This guy's faith stood out.
SPEAKER_03 (08:33):
It did stand out.
I think the the guy had it linedup in his head.
He wasn't looking for, do I haveenough faith uh for this to work
out?
He was like, I have faith notonly in you, but in your
process, you know.
I have faith in the way theuniverse is structured, and
obviously obviously you have theauthority um in this space, and
(08:58):
all you need to say is it's doneand it'll be done.
And I think sometimes we um webelieve in Jesus and we have
faith that Jesus saved us and uhfaith that we're gonna go to
heav heaven and he's gonnagenerally look out for us in our
lives.
And that's all well and good,but that's not deep.
(09:21):
What this guy was saying look, Ihave faith as an allegiance and
I am going to rearrange my lifeunder your authority because it
is anyways.
You know, and that's that's awhole lot deeper than you know,
(09:43):
Jesus is my uh best buddyupstairs, or uh the old man
upstairs, or you know, me andJesus got a good thing going and
all this kind of stuff.
He's like, No, I know how theworld works and I I believe that
the spiritual world uh worldworks the same way.
(10:04):
I'm placing myself and myservant under your authority and
say the word.
Yeah.
And that's that's where we needto go.
That's it's really deep.
You wanna you wanna study this,study this and then uh when a
lady uh asks to have someonehealed and and she's not a a
(10:27):
Jewish person either.
Jesus just flat out calls her adog.
What are you dog here asking?
And instead of this, you know,how dare you it's uh even even
the dogs eat off the scraps ofthe master's table, you know.
And Jesus is amazed, you know.
(10:48):
Um how many Jews could he talkto like that, you know?
And um and get that kind ofhumility.
And I think um they believe uhin Jesus in a way that it
reorients uh their lives.
They are um they've changeddirection and they're placing
(11:11):
themselves um not in alignmentwith uh as Pat Selby would say,
um in alignment with uh Jesus'authority.
And that takes a very specialperson who believes very
specific things about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01 (11:31):
That's one of the ways that we define faith in
that sermon is is allegiance.
Um and I think a lot of us we'vewe have equated faith to simple
belief.
I believe there's a God.
Okay, well scriptures even thedemons believe that, you know.
Um that that's not all thatshocking.
(11:53):
Um there faith is thisallegiance.
I put myself, like you said aminute ago, I put myself under
his authority.
There is this submission, truefaith is a submission to the
authority of Jesus.
He's not just savior, he's alsoLord.
Um and I think we miss that whenwe talk about faith a lot of
(12:14):
times in in the church world, umat least.
It's faith is well, do youbelieve there's a God?
Yes, I believe there's a God.
Um and that's all that faith isfor most people.
But true if true faith is thisallegiance that I am loyal to
someone.
And that that someone is Jesus.
I'm loyal to him.
(12:35):
I have put myself underneath hisauthority and that kind of
humility, um, that kind oftrust.
I think we see it in thiscenturion's life.
We see it in the woman you werejust talking about.
Um, and that's one of the otherthings I love about this series,
and this would be a great studyfor for people listening to go
(12:55):
and do, is to find other peoplein each of these categories,
because we're gonna have eightdifferent categories, and
generally we're only gonna shareone, maybe two of their stories.
But you find these people allover scripture uh where God's
pointing these people out.
Um go and find them.
But man, that kind of humbletrusting allegiance and and
putting themselves underneaththat that's the kind of faith
(13:18):
that I think God marvels at.
And so, you know, maybe a aquestion to to think about is
what areas of your life are youasking Jesus to to visit but not
lead?
SPEAKER_03 (13:29):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (13:29):
I I'd like you to come hang out, but I mean don't
don't be trying to take over.
SPEAKER_03 (13:34):
Here's a good example of that.
Um so listen to me carefullybecause I don't want you to be
confused.
We want everybody to come tothis church.
We want to come, we want topreach you the gospel.
And um we want you to to learn,grow, be equipped, and uh, but
(13:55):
the only people we want to stayhere at our church are the
people who have alignedthemselves with Jesus, and
Jesus, under his authority, hassaid, This is where I want you
to serve.
That's who we want here.
Now, if you don't know theanswer to all that, then come
here and hang out until you do.
(14:16):
But as soon as the Lord says,Um, I want you to move and go
over here, we as a church wantyou to go over there.
Yeah, you know, and we'll blessyou all the way.
We we believe that um a freshwin is uh gonna be a powerhouse
(14:38):
church here in northern Ohio,but we are not the only church
of God's people in northernOhio.
Yep.
And God moves his people around,and uh, we are always looking
for people who just don'tbelieve in Jesus and want to
come to this church because youknow I'm a good preacher, or um
(14:58):
the music's great, or whatever.
We want you to grow until youknow that this is where God has
brought you to serve.
And uh that's important becausesometimes things happen in
church where you don't want tobe here anymore.
And if you don't want to be hereanymore, and God says, This is
where I want you, then you'regonna have to figure that out
(15:20):
how to serve here, uh, whetheryou like it or not.
See, that that is what thatcenturion was saying.
He was saying, I am under yourauthority.
Yeah, and we need to do that inour Christian life.
And just what church you go toum matters to God, and he's
(15:41):
looking to put you in a place umwhere you're you're gonna serve,
where he wants you to serve, andthen you might end up going back
to the church that you were uhuh didn't want to leave in the
first place, but God had a planfor you, and you gotta follow
that plan.
And I think uh with our consumerattitude here in in uh United
(16:05):
States, I'll go to a church tillI find one um that'll listen to
me.
No, I'll find one that I likeand my kids like, and and and we
do that, but as we grow inChrist, uh sooner or later he's
gonna say, Look, are you loyalto me?
Is your allegiance in me?
(16:28):
If it is, then I want you toserve at this church, even
though that you're you're mad atthe pastor.
SPEAKER_01 (16:34):
You know, it definitely pushes back against
uh some of that consumerism uhthat you're talking about.
And you know, I I I thinkespecially when you're trying to
find a church, it's you it'sgood to try to find a church
that you you like and that youconnect with.
That's not the most importantthing.
Um, you know, do they preach thegospel?
Is there good doctrine there?
(16:55):
Those are important questions.
Yeah.
Um, but if you can find a churchthat does that and has a good
kids' ministry program, well,you know, that's that's a great
thing.
But there every church, nomatter how great it is, no
matter how full it is, how manypeople are there, um here's what
I know about churches thatthey're full of people, and
(17:15):
people got problems, you know.
Like eventually there's gonnacome a time when you're angry at
someone or about something, andyeah, I don't man, I don't I
can't even stand thinking aboutgoing because I gotta serve with
that person this week, and Ican't stand that first.
Well, when you know, and I'mloyal not to this church, I'm
loyal to Jesus, and this iswhere he has planted me.
(17:37):
Um, it really pushes againstthat consumerism that that I
think is infected a lot of uhthe American church.
SPEAKER_03 (17:44):
And in the opposite, you know, I've been going to
this church for years, I loveall these people, and I'm
looking at that church overthere, and it's a mess.
I don't want to go over there.
And God might be saying, I Iwant you to go over there, they
need some stability and go overthere and and put your feet on
(18:06):
the ground and let them let themget some traction, and um, and
then maybe you can come back.
But that's all because we livein alignment, in allegiance to
Jesus.
SPEAKER_01 (18:18):
I think there has been uh people over the years,
because we we've had somepeople, and you know,
unfortunately, there's peoplewho uh at times will will come
to your church for a while, thenthey leave, and you don't ever
quite know why.
Um but every now and then we'vehad people that that have come
and told us, hey, I feel likeGod's calling me here or to go
do this thing.
(18:39):
And I think they've been shockedby our our response because if
if someone comes to us and says,Man, this is what God's calling
me to do, you and I, we're like,go do it.
That's awesome.
Don't stay here.
Yeah, like we don't we don'twant that to be.
Yeah, we read Jonah.
Get out of the boat, man.
Um, no, we we love when peopleare are following God's plan and
(19:00):
purpose for their life.
And I tell people, even in thenew here gathering, I I let
people know right up front ifGod's calling here, we want you
here.
Uh we're excited.
Uh, we want you to get involved,we want you to grow, we want to
help you discover more inChrist, take steps towards
Jesus.
If God doesn't want you here,and this is just a stepping
stone, that's okay.
(19:22):
Absolutely.
That's okay.
And I think people have beenshocked by that.
Um, but it it it's because ofthis.
We truly believe this.
Allegiance is to Jesus, not to afresh wind.
It's to his church, capital C.
And God can put you wherever hewants to accomplish whatever he
needs to accomplish in theworld.
And when you're loyal to him,you'll go and do it.
SPEAKER_03 (19:45):
But we will say this church is not optional.
unknown (19:49):
That's right.
SPEAKER_03 (19:50):
Uh, not if you're under the authority of Jesus.
You're gonna have to serve withpeople in a community.
You're just gonna have to.
He he says, Don't stopassembling yourself.
Together.
This is you're the assembly.
You need each other to grow.
This is a this is a groupfunction.
And you are part of that largerbody and you're supposed to
(20:12):
serve it.
I matter of fact, the scripturesays he's given you a gift to
serve the church.
Not yourself, not your boss, buta gift to serve the church.
And I know what that looks likein you.
But you got to serve somewhere.
It might as well be the placethat God wants you.
SPEAKER_01 (20:31):
I've heard so many people over the years, I love, I
love God.
I just, man, I hate the church.
And because church, they've beenhurt by church or whatever, I
tell them, I'm like, man, youbetter be real careful because
uh the church is the bride ofChrist.
And so if you've listened tothis podcast, you've heard me
say this before, but like justgo imagine standing before God
and being like, hey man, loveyou, hate your wife.
(20:52):
Uh, and just see how that goes.
Uh, not well.
Yeah, we we are called to gathertogether um to advance Christ's
kingdom on the planet.
And I just so happen to think,and I'm sure I'm a little
biased, A Fresh One's a greatplace to do it.
SPEAKER_03 (21:07):
It is a great place to do it.
SPEAKER_01 (21:08):
So if you're not sure where God's calling yet,
we'd love to have you join ushere and uh and see what that
looks like.
And as you figure that out, ifit's not here, we'll be the
first to bless you on your wayuh to whatever God has called
you to.
SPEAKER_03 (21:21):
Absolutely.
And if you're here just restingbetween um your assignments
that's the Lord gives, that'sfine too.
Just come relax, um, you know,be with us, serve with us, and
and uh as God uh begins toreveal his plan for you, it
might not be here, and and uh wewant to bless you on your way.
(21:42):
We want to equip you, bless you,uh, do what we can to get you
where God wants you, becauseit's better for the church for
us all to be where God wants usto be.
SPEAKER_01 (21:52):
Absolutely.
So that's uh that's a lot aboutfaith.
And it it truly comes down toallegiance.
Um, am I loyal to Jesus?
Have I placed my trust in him,not just belief, but has I have
I submitted to him, made himLord.
Right.
Um, and so if faith is trustingGod's word, then this is what we
talked about this past week isobedience, then is acting on it.
(22:15):
And I think obedience is thenatural outflow of true faith.
Um every yes to God reveals whator who we truly trust.
And so I I I tried to break thisdown in the sermon this past
week, but to say, you know, it'seasy to say, yes, I have faith
in God.
I trust that his plan is good,that he's working all things
(22:37):
together for my good.
It'll give me more pleasure, atleast in the short term.
And so we act on what we trust.
(22:57):
If you truly trusted thatfollowing God's plan and purpose
for your life would bring youthe ultimate joy, ultimate
fulfillment, ultimate peace,ultimate pleasure.
Uh, scripture says at his handsare our pleasures forevermore.
Um, if we truly believe that,then following God wouldn't be
all that hard.
Um, but we we reveal, man, inthose moments when I'm
struggling, it's because there'ssomething in me that says, I
(23:20):
man, God, I trust you.
I just trust this thing more.
Um makes me think of that uhthat guy who asked you know
Jesus to heal his son um who ispossessed by a demon.
He says, I do believe, but helpmy unbelief.
Right.
SPEAKER_03 (23:34):
I think and it's this is a difficult way to to
look at faith and obedience uhfor most people because we we
don't uh we don't think deepabout our sin because it makes
us feel guilty or underconviction or whatever.
We don't think deep about it, wedon't think things like, you
(23:54):
know, this makes me moresatisfied or you know, this
brings me more joy than Goddoes.
We don't do that.
Okay.
Um what we're saying is whatyou're acting out, this is what
it is, you know.
And even though um nobody'sexplained it to you, we're
explaining it to you now, whenyou say, I can't put this down,
(24:16):
but I love Jesus, we're sayingyou love that more than you love
Jesus.
And that's where your struggleis.
And we all got that.
Don't don't we're not pointingour fingers at anybody without
four fingers pointing back atus, right?
So we need to understand that umthat's where we are when we're
doing that.
And Jesus is saying, Hey, I cangive you that joy, I can give
(24:40):
you that satisfaction, I cangive you that peace if that's
what you're looking for, or Ican even give you that um, oh,
what do we call it when we'rejust trying to get out of life,
um watching uh YouTube videos oror playing video games, just
trying to be um escape's the oldwords coming to my head.
(25:05):
Escape will work.
So we'll we'll go with escape.
If you're just trying to escapelife, Jesus says, I got all
that.
I got all that.
Well, you you're not gonna haveyou know a cool video game.
How do you know?
You don't know what I got.
You know, you you gotta comeover here and find out, you
know.
And um, I've had that escape.
(25:26):
I've been in, I've beendownstairs uh with logos on and
uh um AI searching all over theinternet trying to figure out
what is he saying here?
Oh my gosh, you know, this isbig, this is a book, this is a
you know, how come nobody'snoticed this before?
Um, and I'm gone for hours.
(25:49):
Yeah, you know, and um he's gotit all.
He just wants to show it to you.
And um when you're when you'restruggling with that, I know you
never thought like that before,um, but this is this is what
it's come down to are you loyalto Jesus?
Is your faith loyal enough toyou'll obey?
(26:11):
And you'll say no to the thingshe says no for.
And no, you know, and sometimesour no's are different than the
person sitting next to us'knows.
God will say, I don't want youinvolved in that.
And um, well, he's involved init.
SPEAKER_01 (26:26):
I know that I was gonna get ready to say that
four-year-old nuts rises up.
Well, how come he gets to?
Right.
unknown (26:31):
Right.
SPEAKER_03 (26:32):
I remember when um um Peter said to Jesus, um, you
know, well, what uh what aboutwhat about him?
You know, he Jesus told him theywere all he were gonna lead
Peter to where he didn't want togo, talking about Peter's death.
And he says, What do you care ifJohn lives forever?
(26:53):
You got your own road to walk,you know?
And um, so and we all have ourown road to walk.
Jesus is saying, Look, some ofthese things I'm gonna say no to
you, and that's the law of love.
That's the difference uh betweenliving under the law of Moses
and living under the law oflove.
(27:13):
If you love me, don't do this,okay?
Well, you're gonna let everybodyelse do it?
Yeah.
But if you love me, then don'tdo this.
SPEAKER_04 (27:24):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (27:25):
A great example of that is the rich young ruler,
right?
He comes out and says, You know,Jesus, what do I need to do to
have eternal life?
And Jesus says, Well, you know,these things, well, I've kept
all those laws.
And he says, All right, well, gosell all your possessions, give
the money to the poor, then comefollow me.
And the last thing we read aboutthat guy is he went away, say
it.
(27:46):
Wouldn't do it, wouldn't go on.
Now, it's easy to look at thatand be like, Well, is everybody
supposed to sell all theirstuff?
No, it's not what he was sayingat all.
There was this thing in thisguy's life that he was clinging
to, and you said, Listen, I knowyou love what all this looks
like, but you love that stuffmore.
(28:06):
And he, I mean, called that guyright out on the carpet.
Which is it gonna be?
SPEAKER_03 (28:13):
And he didn't chase him down, he didn't try to
flower it up, he didn't try toround the corners, he just laid
it out there and made the guymake a decision, and that's what
God is doing with us.
And that's why we don't elevateour sin to this, oh, this is a
faith issue.
Uh, and you're like, oh, Ibelieve in Jesus and stuff, I'm
(28:34):
just kind of messing around overhere.
No, it's a faith issue.
You know, you're you're sayingI'm gonna do this no matter what
you say, when Jesus is supposedto be your authority.
So um I'm just saying we're allin that same boat, and that's
what we're dealing with whenJesus says, I want you to go
this way and you want to go theother way.
(28:55):
And uh so um Yeah, it's big.
SPEAKER_01 (29:01):
You know, I I think if the easy way to maybe get
this is is obedience is faithmade visible.
Um we make faith this veryinternal personal thing, but how
do you know what faith lookslike?
It looks like the person whosays yes.
Says yes to Jesus.
And that means not just onetime, but every time.
(29:23):
Jesus said, pick up your crossdaily and follow me.
And so the you know, if you'vebeen around fresh wind for any
length of time, you hear all thetime we say yes before we even
get started.
This past Sunday I was tellingeverybody you need to say yes to
the very next thing.
God, what what do I need, wheredo I need to obey you right now?
And just say yes to that.
And that doesn't mean you'regonna get the full map.
(29:46):
Um, you're gonna know all theanswers to everything, that that
life is gonna, you know, justfall right into place as soon as
you say yes.
You know, this past Sunday wewere talking about Noah.
Here's a man who God said everythis whole world is nothing but
evil and wicked all the time.
And he says that Noah foundfavor with them and he tells
(30:08):
Noah what he's gonna do andtells Noah, I want you to build
an ark.
And Noah said yes.
But that yes meant 75,approximately 75 years of
building an ark with no rain andwith everyone around looking at
him like he was crazy.
Um that yes didn't mean Noah'slife got easier.
He had to show up every day,swinging a hammer, cutting wood,
(30:32):
gathering supplies, spreadingthat pitch on the inside and the
outside of the arcade.
I mean, it involved a lot.
That one yes led to a millionother yeses where Noah had to
keep saying yes over and overand over again.
SPEAKER_03 (30:45):
And probably some pretty heavy uh family conflict,
too.
You know.
All right, all right, sons,forget all your plans.
We're gonna build a boat.
What what?
No, Dad, you don't understand.
Um, I'm you know, I'm gonna be apianist or I'm gonna play the
guitar.
Me and my buddy's got a band.
(31:06):
No, you're gonna build a boat.
For 75 years, you're gonna builda boat.
And uh so we we look back atthat and said that's a crazy
story.
But you know what?
These guys in the Bible, theseum Noah, he should be our hero.
You know, um we look at I'veknown men who've lived for God
(31:32):
their entire lives and they passaway and nobody knows their
name.
The only names we know are theones that were famous for
following God and then fell ontheir face.
That's the names we know.
That's the names that getrepeated.
But God marvels at men who canhave a long obedience in the
(31:55):
same direction.
And that's who we need to makeour heroes.
Billy Graham and Noah.
Yeah, I put 'em in the sameBilly Graham uh was tempted in a
modern way.
And um and we've got we got somethey're not dead yet, so I'm not
(32:16):
gonna say anything about 'em,but we we've got a lot of people
who are are walking that way.
And um they should be ourheroes.
The ones that um their faith wasplacing themselves in obedience
under the authority of Jesus.
Um not just believing in Jesus,but submitting to his lordship
(32:39):
in their life.
Those are the heroes out there,those are the ones that marvel
whether you know their name ornot, they're all around you and
they're saying yes every day.
unknown (32:49):
Yep.
SPEAKER_01 (32:49):
And heaven marvels, man, it does.
Um every time those people sayyes to Jesus and in those areas
that look so tough.
Um one of the things I said inthe sermon was faith often or
obedience often looks foolishbefore it looks faithful.
Um a lot of us we look atpeople's life and we want their
success, you know, and we lookat all the things and uh man, if
(33:13):
I had their opportunities, if Ihad this.
Yeah, it it took a lot ofobedient steps to get to that.
You don't just end up that way.
Um, but along the way, they dida lot of things that a lot of
other people said, man, that'sfoolish.
And and not even just in thefaith world.
People who build giantcompanies, you know, you you
want to build thismulti-million, billion, trillion
(33:35):
dollar company, and you know,you wish you could be Jeff Bezos
or Elon Musk or Bill Gates orone of these guys who just
figured something out, and theydid.
They did a lot of things thateverybody else said, that's
stupid.
You can't work those amounthours, you can't do that, you
can't do this.
They did a lot of thingseveryone else said, that's too
foolish.
That's beneath me.
(33:57):
I would never.
And those guys, the ones whomade it to the top, are the ones
who said, it might look foolish,but I'm gonna do it.
Um, Mark Batterson, uh, I justdownloaded this book to read of
his.
So I haven't read it yet.
Might might be good, might beterrible.
Um, but he just came out with abook uh called Gradually, then
suddenly.
(34:17):
And he says every every greatsuccess story, that's its origin
story.
It happens gradually and thensuddenly.
And we think everyone's thisovernight success, but the truth
is it's the day in, day out,sticking with it, putting your
nose to the grind day after day,year after year, for NOAA decade
after decade, before foolishnessfinally looks faithful.
SPEAKER_03 (34:42):
When we went to that leadership summit, you remember
the testimony of Craig Rochelle.
You know, everybody's like,Craig, you know, you're this
amazing guy, and you know, youand uh you get up here in front
of all these leaders from allaround the world that have come
here to talk about leadership,and you're the lead speaker.
(35:03):
You know, how did you get here?
And he said, flossing my teeth.
And everybody went, Huh?
What he said, it was somethingthat I didn't want to do, which
is a skill.
I don't know.
You need to be teaching yourkids this if you don't know it
or not.
(35:24):
Doing something that you don'twant to do is a skill that you
need to master in this life, oryou're gonna struggle.
I know so many kids now um thatthey just can't force themselves
to do something they don't wantto do, whether it's uh clean
their room or put gas in yourcar.
(35:45):
I don't want to do it.
So you're calling me to bringyou gas now.
You well, yeah.
Uh that's you know, we we are inin in a tough situation.
Craig Rochelle said, I got upand did the little things, and
now I'm here.
Right.
If I never got up to do thoselittle things, you wouldn't know
(36:07):
my name.
And uh you gotta say yes everyday.
That's right.
And that is that is a great,great example of what we're
talking about.
SPEAKER_01 (36:16):
Yep.
Faithfulness, obedience.
Um, these are things that man,it God marvels at, and he's just
looking, will you have longobedience in the same direction?
I love that idea.
And maybe because I can pictureit, you know.
SPEAKER_03 (36:31):
I think that I I tell you the best phrase you
said on Sunday was, Am I walkingwith God or just working for
him?
And that is I mean, that is thecrux of the situation here.
We talked about, you know, ifyou're gonna obey him or not, if
you love him more than whatyou're doing and all that kind
of stuff, and it's it's um theproof is in whether you're
(37:00):
walking with God, trying to knowGod, to know him, because that's
love, all right, or you're justworking for him.
You know, I spent a lot of myChristian life just working for
him.
Hey, we got this goodrelationship, God.
You want me to do this thing,I'm gonna do this thing.
So I'm gonna go over here and doit, and you just kind of leave
me alone, and if I need a littlehelp, I'll ask you.
(37:23):
Right.
You know, instead of saying, I'mwith you, God.
Oh, you want me to do this?
Okay, I want to do this becauseI want to be with you.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (37:31):
You know, and it's one super easy trap for people
in ministry to fall into.
But man, I think so many of uswe get into that spot where it's
about checking the box, youknow, and I I got I gotta do
this thing, and I know that'swhat I'm supposed to do, and we
lose the fact, man, God wants towalk with you.
That's what first John was wastalking about that we read on on
(37:53):
Sunday.
If if we say that we know him,that we're in him, what does
that mean?
It means that we should walk ashe walked.
Right.
It's about a relationship.
And so, where are those areaswhere we've settled for
spiritual activity instead ofrelational closeness?
So many of us were so busy doingGod things, church things,
(38:15):
volunteering, showing up, youknow, we'll read our daily Bible
reading plan, we'll throw acouple bucks in the giving box
on the way out the door, we'llwe'll do the churchy stuff.
But when's the last time youtruly were just with God?
God, I don't want to just dothis for you.
I want to do this with you.
Right.
That's what he's after.
(38:36):
God doesn't need you to doanything for him, he's the
creator of the universe, he ownsthe cattle on a thousand hills.
Um what are you gonna do forGod?
He says our good works are likedirty, filthy racks.
We have nothing to offer.
And when we can get that idea inour head and then be like, but
he wants me to do it anyways?
Yes.
Yeah, and he wants to do it withyou.
SPEAKER_03 (38:58):
Yeah, and I I tell you what, your big wins is when
you obey and your obedience isnot ever seen.
That's your big wins.
When you can you can say, I didthis for the Lord, and nobody's
gonna pat me on the back for it.
And um, so let me put it, umflesh this out for you.
(39:20):
When um New Year's Day, I I senta text to Ryan and said, Happy
New Year's.
Easter's coming, and so is BBS.
SPEAKER_01 (39:32):
And uh I haven't been able to sleep well since.
SPEAKER_03 (39:36):
And the the truth is Easter's coming.
It it is it is our biggest dayin Christendom.
Uh we love it here, we celebratelike crazy and act like fools,
and uh but we love Easter andit's and it's coming.
We gotta get ready for it,right?
Um But when we ask you to comeand serve and Help us for Easter
(40:01):
and we're gonna ask a lot ofpeople a lot of things.
We're not asking to come hereand serve without him.
He's here.
We're asking you to come and bewith Jesus in service.
Right.
Not not separating you from himinto a good work.
He's gonna be here with you inthat good work.
(40:25):
We don't wanna we don't wannaseparate that.
I have separated that.
Um my I until I was old, till myforties, I separated, you know,
you want me to do this, okay,I'm gonna go do this.
And it's like now I gotta goback to Jesus.
No, no, no.
He's in that.
Right, right.
(40:46):
He's right there in that.
You're with him when you'redoing that.
And I think in our mind we'vekind of separated that.
Well, there's a differencebetween my Bible study when I
get up in the morning and Ispend time with Jesus and I pray
and I try to commune with himand have a relationship with
him.
That's different than me goingto the church and taking the
(41:08):
garbage out.
No, it's not different at all.
He's gonna be with you takingthat garbage out.
He's gonna be with you servingin the nursery or standing out
in the parking lot when it's 16degrees, making sure nobody
falls down or whatever it isthat you think uh you do for the
church because nobody else will.
You don't want to do it either.
(41:28):
But he is he is gonna be therewith you.
That's walking with God.
SPEAKER_01 (41:35):
And so how do you start?
You start with small dailyobedience.
Just say yes to the next thing.
Man, I I used to be so impressedby people who had the courage or
faith or whatever you want tocall it to start something.
You know, uh start a business,start a organization, start a
(41:56):
book, start a blog, start startanything, start, start running,
start working out, you know,whatever it is.
I was like, man, that's soamazing.
I love people who can who canstart something.
The older I I get though, themore I appreciate the people who
finish things.
SPEAKER_04 (42:13):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (42:14):
It's and I've learned it's a whole lot easier
to start things than it is tofinish.
It takes faithfulness to getthings across the fences.
SPEAKER_03 (42:22):
I've started a lot more things than I've ever
finished.
SPEAKER_01 (42:25):
Yep.
And and God's looking for us tobe faithful, to have long
obedience in the same direction.
And so I want to encourage you,obey even when the results
aren't visible.
Right.
When nobody seems like they'repaying attention or or watching,
there's no applause, there's noaccolades.
Um keep showing up, keep saying,yes, keep being faithful because
(42:49):
heaven marvels at that.
And I and I challenge peoplethis on Sunday.
We'll wrap up here too, and I'llgive you one more chance in case
you got something.
But we need to anchor ourobedience and grace, not guilt.
Um when I I don't think there'sany way to sustain it if we
don't.
If we don't anchor this thing inthe grace of God, um I'm I'm not
(43:11):
doing this for God.
I'm not doing this to impresshim, I'm not doing this to get
any more of his love.
I'm doing this in response towhat he's already done.
I don't have to.
Yep.
I get to Noah, scripture saysNoah found favor with God before
he ever cut a piece of wood,before he ever nailed a single
nail or spike in, before hecollected any of the animals,
(43:34):
Noah found favor with God.
We do this out of response towhat God has already done.
So anchor your obedience and hisgrace.
And uh, when you feel likenobody else notices and the
world doesn't care, and thislooks foolish, and everyone
thinks you're crazy.
Uh if you'll if you'll anchor itthere in the grace of God, um, I
think it'll give you the thepower that you need to sustain
(43:59):
through it um when it getstough.
SPEAKER_03 (44:01):
Ephesians chapter three.
It says God is revealing hismanifold wisdom to the
heavenlies.
What that means, I have I haveno idea.
But I love to speculate aboutit.
Through He's gonna He's gonnashow His manifold witness to
(44:28):
some supernatural whateverthrough the church through you.
SPEAKER_01 (44:38):
Let him let him be obedient, stay faithful, take
the next right instead.
SPEAKER_03 (44:46):
Oh Father, I want to thank you that you love us so
much that you would marvel overthings that um well when we say
yes, Father, I know that youwere tempted in all all points
like we are, and we know that uhyou live this life too, and and
(45:09):
um but you you relish um when wesay yes.
Because in obedience we'rewalking with you.
And um more than anything else,Father, we want to grow our
relationship with you.
So, Father, as we take faith andobedience and we wrestle,
(45:31):
wrestle, wrestle, wrestle.
Uh, you're a God who likes towrestle.
And as we wrestle these thingsinto our lives, I pray that
you'll give us uh freedom andunderstand that this is grace.
Uh we don't have to, we get towalk with you.
Thank you, Father, in Jesus'name.
(45:52):
Amen.
unknown (45:52):
Amen.
SPEAKER_00 (45:53):
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
(46:17):
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.
Brought to you by a Fresh WindChurch.
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.
Royan.
Pastor Ryan joined with PastorTim.
And uh man, we had uh a coupleweeks off there for uh Christmas
and then New Year's, andobviously that shows.
I'm excited to be back.
How did you say that?
(00:47):
Royan, Ryan, I don't even know.
Not good.
It was a train wreck right fromthe start.
You think 30 something years ofsaying my name, I could figure
it out.
Um, but man, uh Christmas wasgood for you.
SPEAKER_03 (01:00):
Yeah, we had a great Christmas.
We had a great Christmas and anew year's, and uh, I had uh the
whole family home for Christmas,and uh I got a I got a daughter
who lives in San Diego, so wegot to share with this other
family.
And um, but uh yeah, we had a wehad a great time together.
SPEAKER_04 (01:19):
Awesome.
SPEAKER_01 (01:20):
I mean, I'll tell you one of the highlights for
for me, um, I mean, obviouslylove getting together with
family and all that stuff.
We had great Christmas, but umour Christmas Eve service here
at the church, uh, we did acandlelight Christmas Eve
service.
And man, I I think in yearspast, it's usually, you know, me
and my family, you and yourfamily, and about 30, 40 people
(01:43):
from the church who who gotnothing to do.
And this year, I don't know whatthe difference was, but it was,
I think it was 35 minutes beforeit started, and the room was
more than half full.
And I ran out to someone, Isaid, Did I advertise at the
wrong time?
What is going on here?
Um, but man, the place waspacked, people were everywhere.
(02:04):
Um, and then you and I got up toclose it out.
Teresa and the band were talkinglast year about just how
beautiful it looked with all thecandles lit.
Um, and I didn't get to see thatlast year.
Um, you and I got up on thestage to close it out this year
and just to see the whole roomfilled and all the all these
candles lit.
Man, it was such a a sweetmoment.
SPEAKER_03 (02:24):
It was, it was beautiful.
SPEAKER_01 (02:25):
And so that was uh that was definitely one of the
highlights over that thatChristmas New Year break.
SPEAKER_03 (02:30):
All these people together celebrating the um
greatest present of hispresence.
Um it was it was wonderful.
SPEAKER_01 (02:41):
It was coming out of the new year.
Uh you and I, we have launched abrand new series here.
And uh I joked in week one thatthis is the kind of sermon
series our media team lovesbecause it's uh it's eight weeks
long, which means they don'thave to change the graphics for
a while.
So uh they love this kind ofstuff, but uh we're calling the
series Marvel, and what whatwe're kind of talking about in
(03:04):
the series is those people thatthat God seems to almost marvel
at.
And I mean, I I really struggledwith the word to use here.
Like, can God be surprised?
SPEAKER_03 (03:15):
Can so let you inspire God.
Let's um go ahead and and letyou know what we think
doctrinally.
God can be surprised, he is notum ever disappointed, he knows
what's gonna happen with all ofus.
But then um when he deals withus, he deals with us on a level
that we can uh understand.
(03:37):
So when he speaks to us, hespeaks to us um that day in what
my dad called the everlastingnow.
So yeah, he's existing in thisday and he's living this day
with us, even though he'salready lived this day, he knows
what's gonna happen.
And uh so uh in the scripture,he makes some comments about
(04:00):
people uh that are that areamazing.
Yeah.
And uh so we wanna we wanna takea moment and say, what would
what would it look like in yourlife if God stopped and said,
Wow.
unknown (04:18):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (04:19):
And that that's the been the it was the genesis of
the series, and that just reallyinspiring every week as I'm
studying, and you know, I knowyou got a couple of these
sermons coming up, is you just Imean, we're talking every word
in scripture is God breathed,and God said, We need to stop
and point this out.
(04:40):
And that thought is just amazingto me.
Yeah.
Man, there was something aboutthe way that person responded,
or the faith, or their obediencethat was awesome.
And God, the creator of the andI'm like, what would it take to
again?
I that was the word I wasstruggling with, but like to
amaze God and make him think,that was awesome.
(05:04):
We need to write this down, weneed to write that down, right?
Um, and so there were some ofthose.
I was talking with Jared, he'sgot a sermon coming up um a few
weeks too, and and just lookingover that passage of scripture,
and Jesus is like, man, from nowon, anytime the gospel is
preached, they're gonna talkabout this.
And I'm like, oh my gosh, like,what is it?
(05:26):
And so that's been uh kind ofthe heart behind this whole
series is what would it looklike for for us today to live
lives where heaven pauses totake notice and God says, Man,
that that was awesome.
And not to say God'sdisappointed in you, because
like you said just a minute ago,God knows everything, right?
(05:47):
Um He can't disappoint, yeah,and and He's never gonna love
you anymore than He loves youright now.
This isn't about earning God'slove or more of His love or
attention.
Um, but there are those timeswhen God points out the the
actions or the character of Hispeople, and I was like, man, if
we could begin to capture whatare those things, um, and then
(06:09):
talk through it.
And so we uh we identified eightof those things, and then uh in
the first week we looked atreally the basis for the whole
series is is faith.
Is faith, the kind of faith thatamazes God.
And you know, Hebrews chapter 11is called the Hall of Faith, and
and you read through there, andthere's a bunch of um bunch of
(06:31):
men and women who've who havedone just some amazing things
for God, and all of it isbecause of their faith.
And that their faith promptedtheir obedience.
Um, it prompted their their umtheir faith.
Uh faith prompted theirobedience, it prompted their
their repentance, you know,because of these things, faith
is kind of that underlyingthing.
(06:53):
And so we we started there inweek one um and we looked at and
and this is one of the things Ilove about scriptures because
it's it throws these curveballsin all the time.
Um you know, the whole entiretestament was you know about
really about the Jewish peopleand and God choosing them and
he's gonna bless the whole earththrough them.
(07:14):
And then when scripture startsto point out someone's faith,
Jesus goes to this RomanCenturion um who's not a Jew,
he's a he's a gentile.
The Jews actually despise theseguys, and Jesus says, I've not
seen faith like that in all ofIsrael.
And so you kind of get thisoutsider's look into this whole
(07:35):
thing.
Um, and Jesus marvels at thisguy's faith that he has.
Um and he comes up if if if youmissed that sermon, um, he has a
servant who is in bed, uhcrippled or or you know,
possibly paralyzed.
He's in terrible pain and agony.
And uh he asked Jesus, you know,would you heal him?
(07:57):
And Jesus says, You want youwant me to do it?
And he says, Listen, I'm noteven worthy for you to come to
my house.
If you just say the word, Ibelieve that it'll be done.
And this guy's like, I'm a manwho's under authority and I have
people underneath me, and when Itell them to go, I know that
they're gonna go and they'regonna do what I told them to do.
And if you just say the word, Iknow that he'll be healed.
(08:20):
And Jesus stops to say, Man,that kind of faith.
I I've not seen anything likethat in all of Israel.
This guy's faith stood out.
SPEAKER_03 (08:33):
It did stand out.
I think the the guy had it linedup in his head.
He wasn't looking for, do I haveenough faith uh for this to work
out?
He was like, I have faith notonly in you, but in your
process, you know.
I have faith in the way theuniverse is structured, and
obviously obviously you have theauthority um in this space, and
(08:58):
all you need to say is it's doneand it'll be done.
And I think sometimes we um webelieve in Jesus and we have
faith that Jesus saved us and uhfaith that we're gonna go to
heav heaven and he's gonnagenerally look out for us in our
lives.
And that's all well and good,but that's not deep.
(09:21):
What this guy was saying look, Ihave faith as an allegiance and
I am going to rearrange my lifeunder your authority because it
is anyways.
You know, and that's that's awhole lot deeper than you know,
(09:43):
Jesus is my uh best buddyupstairs, or uh the old man
upstairs, or you know, me andJesus got a good thing going and
all this kind of stuff.
He's like, No, I know how theworld works and I I believe that
the spiritual world uh worldworks the same way.
(10:04):
I'm placing myself and myservant under your authority and
say the word.
Yeah.
And that's that's where we needto go.
That's it's really deep.
You wanna you wanna study this,study this and then uh when a
lady uh asks to have someonehealed and and she's not a a
(10:27):
Jewish person either.
Jesus just flat out calls her adog.
What are you dog here asking?
And instead of this, you know,how dare you it's uh even even
the dogs eat off the scraps ofthe master's table, you know.
And Jesus is amazed, you know.
(10:48):
Um how many Jews could he talkto like that, you know?
And um and get that kind ofhumility.
And I think um they believe uhin Jesus in a way that it
reorients uh their lives.
They are um they've changeddirection and they're placing
(11:11):
themselves um not in alignmentwith uh as Pat Selby would say,
um in alignment with uh Jesus'authority.
And that takes a very specialperson who believes very
specific things about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01 (11:31):
That's one of the ways that we define faith in
that sermon is is allegiance.
Um and I think a lot of us we'vewe have equated faith to simple
belief.
I believe there's a God.
Okay, well scriptures even thedemons believe that, you know.
Um that that's not all thatshocking.
(11:53):
Um there faith is thisallegiance.
I put myself, like you said aminute ago, I put myself under
his authority.
There is this submission, truefaith is a submission to the
authority of Jesus.
He's not just savior, he's alsoLord.
Um and I think we miss that whenwe talk about faith a lot of
(12:14):
times in in the church world, umat least.
It's faith is well, do youbelieve there's a God?
Yes, I believe there's a God.
Um and that's all that faith isfor most people.
But true if true faith is thisallegiance that I am loyal to
someone.
And that that someone is Jesus.
I'm loyal to him.
(12:35):
I have put myself underneath hisauthority and that kind of
humility, um, that kind oftrust.
I think we see it in thiscenturion's life.
We see it in the woman you werejust talking about.
Um, and that's one of the otherthings I love about this series,
and this would be a great studyfor for people listening to go
(12:55):
and do, is to find other peoplein each of these categories,
because we're gonna have eightdifferent categories, and
generally we're only gonna shareone, maybe two of their stories.
But you find these people allover scripture uh where God's
pointing these people out.
Um go and find them.
But man, that kind of humbletrusting allegiance and and
putting themselves underneaththat that's the kind of faith
(13:18):
that I think God marvels at.
And so, you know, maybe a aquestion to to think about is
what areas of your life are youasking Jesus to to visit but not
lead?
SPEAKER_03 (13:29):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (13:29):
I I'd like you to come hang out, but I mean don't
don't be trying to take over.
SPEAKER_03 (13:34):
Here's a good example of that.
Um so listen to me carefullybecause I don't want you to be
confused.
We want everybody to come tothis church.
We want to come, we want topreach you the gospel.
And um we want you to to learn,grow, be equipped, and uh, but
(13:55):
the only people we want to stayhere at our church are the
people who have alignedthemselves with Jesus, and
Jesus, under his authority, hassaid, This is where I want you
to serve.
That's who we want here.
Now, if you don't know theanswer to all that, then come
here and hang out until you do.
(14:16):
But as soon as the Lord says,Um, I want you to move and go
over here, we as a church wantyou to go over there.
Yeah, you know, and we'll blessyou all the way.
We we believe that um a freshwin is uh gonna be a powerhouse
(14:38):
church here in northern Ohio,but we are not the only church
of God's people in northernOhio.
Yep.
And God moves his people around,and uh, we are always looking
for people who just don'tbelieve in Jesus and want to
come to this church because youknow I'm a good preacher, or um
(14:58):
the music's great, or whatever.
We want you to grow until youknow that this is where God has
brought you to serve.
And uh that's important becausesometimes things happen in
church where you don't want tobe here anymore.
And if you don't want to be hereanymore, and God says, This is
where I want you, then you'regonna have to figure that out
(15:20):
how to serve here, uh, whetheryou like it or not.
See, that that is what thatcenturion was saying.
He was saying, I am under yourauthority.
Yeah, and we need to do that inour Christian life.
And just what church you go toum matters to God, and he's
(15:41):
looking to put you in a place umwhere you're you're gonna serve,
where he wants you to serve, andthen you might end up going back
to the church that you were uhuh didn't want to leave in the
first place, but God had a planfor you, and you gotta follow
that plan.
And I think uh with our consumerattitude here in in uh United
(16:05):
States, I'll go to a church tillI find one um that'll listen to
me.
No, I'll find one that I likeand my kids like, and and and we
do that, but as we grow inChrist, uh sooner or later he's
gonna say, Look, are you loyalto me?
Is your allegiance in me?
(16:28):
If it is, then I want you toserve at this church, even
though that you're you're mad atthe pastor.
SPEAKER_01 (16:34):
You know, it definitely pushes back against
uh some of that consumerism uhthat you're talking about.
And you know, I I I thinkespecially when you're trying to
find a church, it's you it'sgood to try to find a church
that you you like and that youconnect with.
That's not the most importantthing.
Um, you know, do they preach thegospel?
Is there good doctrine there?
(16:55):
Those are important questions.
Yeah.
Um, but if you can find a churchthat does that and has a good
kids' ministry program, well,you know, that's that's a great
thing.
But there every church, nomatter how great it is, no
matter how full it is, how manypeople are there, um here's what
I know about churches thatthey're full of people, and
(17:15):
people got problems, you know.
Like eventually there's gonnacome a time when you're angry at
someone or about something, andyeah, I don't man, I don't I
can't even stand thinking aboutgoing because I gotta serve with
that person this week, and Ican't stand that first.
Well, when you know, and I'mloyal not to this church, I'm
loyal to Jesus, and this iswhere he has planted me.
(17:37):
Um, it really pushes againstthat consumerism that that I
think is infected a lot of uhthe American church.
SPEAKER_03 (17:44):
And in the opposite, you know, I've been going to
this church for years, I loveall these people, and I'm
looking at that church overthere, and it's a mess.
I don't want to go over there.
And God might be saying, I Iwant you to go over there, they
need some stability and go overthere and and put your feet on
(18:06):
the ground and let them let themget some traction, and um, and
then maybe you can come back.
But that's all because we livein alignment, in allegiance to
Jesus.
SPEAKER_01 (18:18):
I think there has been uh people over the years,
because we we've had somepeople, and you know,
unfortunately, there's peoplewho uh at times will will come
to your church for a while, thenthey leave, and you don't ever
quite know why.
Um but every now and then we'vehad people that that have come
and told us, hey, I feel likeGod's calling me here or to go
do this thing.
(18:39):
And I think they've been shockedby our our response because if
if someone comes to us and says,Man, this is what God's calling
me to do, you and I, we're like,go do it.
That's awesome.
Don't stay here.
Yeah, like we don't we don'twant that to be.
Yeah, we read Jonah.
Get out of the boat, man.
Um, no, we we love when peopleare are following God's plan and
(19:00):
purpose for their life.
And I tell people, even in thenew here gathering, I I let
people know right up front ifGod's calling here, we want you
here.
Uh we're excited.
Uh, we want you to get involved,we want you to grow, we want to
help you discover more inChrist, take steps towards
Jesus.
If God doesn't want you here,and this is just a stepping
stone, that's okay.
(19:22):
Absolutely.
That's okay.
And I think people have beenshocked by that.
Um, but it it it's because ofthis.
We truly believe this.
Allegiance is to Jesus, not to afresh wind.
It's to his church, capital C.
And God can put you wherever hewants to accomplish whatever he
needs to accomplish in theworld.
And when you're loyal to him,you'll go and do it.
SPEAKER_03 (19:45):
But we will say this church is not optional.
unknown (19:49):
That's right.
SPEAKER_03 (19:50):
Uh, not if you're under the authority of Jesus.
You're gonna have to serve withpeople in a community.
You're just gonna have to.
He he says, Don't stopassembling yourself.
Together.
This is you're the assembly.
You need each other to grow.
This is a this is a groupfunction.
And you are part of that largerbody and you're supposed to
(20:12):
serve it.
I matter of fact, the scripturesays he's given you a gift to
serve the church.
Not yourself, not your boss, buta gift to serve the church.
And I know what that looks likein you.
But you got to serve somewhere.
It might as well be the placethat God wants you.
SPEAKER_01 (20:31):
I've heard so many people over the years, I love, I
love God.
I just, man, I hate the church.
And because church, they've beenhurt by church or whatever, I
tell them, I'm like, man, youbetter be real careful because
uh the church is the bride ofChrist.
And so if you've listened tothis podcast, you've heard me
say this before, but like justgo imagine standing before God
and being like, hey man, loveyou, hate your wife.
(20:52):
Uh, and just see how that goes.
Uh, not well.
Yeah, we we are called to gathertogether um to advance Christ's
kingdom on the planet.
And I just so happen to think,and I'm sure I'm a little
biased, A Fresh One's a greatplace to do it.
SPEAKER_03 (21:07):
It is a great place to do it.
SPEAKER_01 (21:08):
So if you're not sure where God's calling yet,
we'd love to have you join ushere and uh and see what that
looks like.
And as you figure that out, ifit's not here, we'll be the
first to bless you on your wayuh to whatever God has called
you to.
SPEAKER_03 (21:21):
Absolutely.
And if you're here just restingbetween um your assignments
that's the Lord gives, that'sfine too.
Just come relax, um, you know,be with us, serve with us, and
and uh as God uh begins toreveal his plan for you, it
might not be here, and and uh wewant to bless you on your way.
(21:42):
We want to equip you, bless you,uh, do what we can to get you
where God wants you, becauseit's better for the church for
us all to be where God wants usto be.
SPEAKER_01 (21:52):
Absolutely.
So that's uh that's a lot aboutfaith.
And it it truly comes down toallegiance.
Um, am I loyal to Jesus?
Have I placed my trust in him,not just belief, but has I have
I submitted to him, made himLord.
Right.
Um, and so if faith is trustingGod's word, then this is what we
talked about this past week isobedience, then is acting on it.
(22:15):
And I think obedience is thenatural outflow of true faith.
Um every yes to God reveals whator who we truly trust.
And so I I I tried to break thisdown in the sermon this past
week, but to say, you know, it'seasy to say, yes, I have faith
in God.
I trust that his plan is good,that he's working all things
(22:37):
together for my good.
It'll give me more pleasure, atleast in the short term.
And so we act on what we trust.
(22:57):
If you truly trusted thatfollowing God's plan and purpose
for your life would bring youthe ultimate joy, ultimate
fulfillment, ultimate peace,ultimate pleasure.
Uh, scripture says at his handsare our pleasures forevermore.
Um, if we truly believe that,then following God wouldn't be
all that hard.
Um, but we we reveal, man, inthose moments when I'm
struggling, it's because there'ssomething in me that says, I
(23:20):
man, God, I trust you.
I just trust this thing more.
Um makes me think of that uhthat guy who asked you know
Jesus to heal his son um who ispossessed by a demon.
He says, I do believe, but helpmy unbelief.
Right.
SPEAKER_03 (23:34):
I think and it's this is a difficult way to to
look at faith and obedience uhfor most people because we we
don't uh we don't think deepabout our sin because it makes
us feel guilty or underconviction or whatever.
We don't think deep about it, wedon't think things like, you
(23:54):
know, this makes me moresatisfied or you know, this
brings me more joy than Goddoes.
We don't do that.
Okay.
Um what we're saying is whatyou're acting out, this is what
it is, you know.
And even though um nobody'sexplained it to you, we're
explaining it to you now, whenyou say, I can't put this down,
(24:16):
but I love Jesus, we're sayingyou love that more than you love
Jesus.
And that's where your struggleis.
And we all got that.
Don't don't we're not pointingour fingers at anybody without
four fingers pointing back atus, right?
So we need to understand that umthat's where we are when we're
doing that.
And Jesus is saying, Hey, I cangive you that joy, I can give
(24:40):
you that satisfaction, I cangive you that peace if that's
what you're looking for, or Ican even give you that um, oh,
what do we call it when we'rejust trying to get out of life,
um watching uh YouTube videos oror playing video games, just
trying to be um escape's the oldwords coming to my head.
(25:05):
Escape will work.
So we'll we'll go with escape.
If you're just trying to escapelife, Jesus says, I got all
that.
I got all that.
Well, you you're not gonna haveyou know a cool video game.
How do you know?
You don't know what I got.
You know, you you gotta comeover here and find out, you
know.
And um, I've had that escape.
(25:26):
I've been in, I've beendownstairs uh with logos on and
uh um AI searching all over theinternet trying to figure out
what is he saying here?
Oh my gosh, you know, this isbig, this is a book, this is a
you know, how come nobody'snoticed this before?
Um, and I'm gone for hours.
(25:49):
Yeah, you know, and um he's gotit all.
He just wants to show it to you.
And um when you're when you'restruggling with that, I know you
never thought like that before,um, but this is this is what
it's come down to are you loyalto Jesus?
Is your faith loyal enough toyou'll obey?
(26:11):
And you'll say no to the thingshe says no for.
And no, you know, and sometimesour no's are different than the
person sitting next to us'knows.
God will say, I don't want youinvolved in that.
And um, well, he's involved init.
SPEAKER_01 (26:26):
I know that I was gonna get ready to say that
four-year-old nuts rises up.
Well, how come he gets to?
Right.
unknown (26:31):
Right.
SPEAKER_03 (26:32):
I remember when um um Peter said to Jesus, um, you
know, well, what uh what aboutwhat about him?
You know, he Jesus told him theywere all he were gonna lead
Peter to where he didn't want togo, talking about Peter's death.
And he says, What do you care ifJohn lives forever?
(26:53):
You got your own road to walk,you know?
And um, so and we all have ourown road to walk.
Jesus is saying, Look, some ofthese things I'm gonna say no to
you, and that's the law of love.
That's the difference uh betweenliving under the law of Moses
and living under the law oflove.
(27:13):
If you love me, don't do this,okay?
Well, you're gonna let everybodyelse do it?
Yeah.
But if you love me, then don'tdo this.
SPEAKER_04 (27:24):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (27:25):
A great example of that is the rich young ruler,
right?
He comes out and says, You know,Jesus, what do I need to do to
have eternal life?
And Jesus says, Well, you know,these things, well, I've kept
all those laws.
And he says, All right, well, gosell all your possessions, give
the money to the poor, then comefollow me.
And the last thing we read aboutthat guy is he went away, say
it.
(27:46):
Wouldn't do it, wouldn't go on.
Now, it's easy to look at thatand be like, Well, is everybody
supposed to sell all theirstuff?
No, it's not what he was sayingat all.
There was this thing in thisguy's life that he was clinging
to, and you said, Listen, I knowyou love what all this looks
like, but you love that stuffmore.
(28:06):
And he, I mean, called that guyright out on the carpet.
Which is it gonna be?
SPEAKER_03 (28:13):
And he didn't chase him down, he didn't try to
flower it up, he didn't try toround the corners, he just laid
it out there and made the guymake a decision, and that's what
God is doing with us.
And that's why we don't elevateour sin to this, oh, this is a
faith issue.
Uh, and you're like, oh, Ibelieve in Jesus and stuff, I'm
(28:34):
just kind of messing around overhere.
No, it's a faith issue.
You know, you're you're sayingI'm gonna do this no matter what
you say, when Jesus is supposedto be your authority.
So um I'm just saying we're allin that same boat, and that's
what we're dealing with whenJesus says, I want you to go
this way and you want to go theother way.
(28:55):
And uh so um Yeah, it's big.
SPEAKER_01 (29:01):
You know, I I think if the easy way to maybe get
this is is obedience is faithmade visible.
Um we make faith this veryinternal personal thing, but how
do you know what faith lookslike?
It looks like the person whosays yes.
Says yes to Jesus.
And that means not just onetime, but every time.
(29:23):
Jesus said, pick up your crossdaily and follow me.
And so the you know, if you'vebeen around fresh wind for any
length of time, you hear all thetime we say yes before we even
get started.
This past Sunday I was tellingeverybody you need to say yes to
the very next thing.
God, what what do I need, wheredo I need to obey you right now?
And just say yes to that.
And that doesn't mean you'regonna get the full map.
(29:46):
Um, you're gonna know all theanswers to everything, that that
life is gonna, you know, justfall right into place as soon as
you say yes.
You know, this past Sunday wewere talking about Noah.
Here's a man who God said everythis whole world is nothing but
evil and wicked all the time.
And he says that Noah foundfavor with them and he tells
(30:08):
Noah what he's gonna do andtells Noah, I want you to build
an ark.
And Noah said yes.
But that yes meant 75,approximately 75 years of
building an ark with no rain andwith everyone around looking at
him like he was crazy.
Um that yes didn't mean Noah'slife got easier.
He had to show up every day,swinging a hammer, cutting wood,
(30:32):
gathering supplies, spreadingthat pitch on the inside and the
outside of the arcade.
I mean, it involved a lot.
That one yes led to a millionother yeses where Noah had to
keep saying yes over and overand over again.
SPEAKER_03 (30:45):
And probably some pretty heavy uh family conflict,
too.
You know.
All right, all right, sons,forget all your plans.
We're gonna build a boat.
What what?
No, Dad, you don't understand.
Um, I'm you know, I'm gonna be apianist or I'm gonna play the
guitar.
Me and my buddy's got a band.
(31:06):
No, you're gonna build a boat.
For 75 years, you're gonna builda boat.
And uh so we we look back atthat and said that's a crazy
story.
But you know what?
These guys in the Bible, theseum Noah, he should be our hero.
You know, um we look at I'veknown men who've lived for God
(31:32):
their entire lives and they passaway and nobody knows their
name.
The only names we know are theones that were famous for
following God and then fell ontheir face.
That's the names we know.
That's the names that getrepeated.
But God marvels at men who canhave a long obedience in the
(31:55):
same direction.
And that's who we need to makeour heroes.
Billy Graham and Noah.
Yeah, I put 'em in the sameBilly Graham uh was tempted in a
modern way.
And um and we've got we got somethey're not dead yet, so I'm not
(32:16):
gonna say anything about 'em,but we we've got a lot of people
who are are walking that way.
And um they should be ourheroes.
The ones that um their faith wasplacing themselves in obedience
under the authority of Jesus.
Um not just believing in Jesus,but submitting to his lordship
(32:39):
in their life.
Those are the heroes out there,those are the ones that marvel
whether you know their name ornot, they're all around you and
they're saying yes every day.
unknown (32:49):
Yep.
SPEAKER_01 (32:49):
And heaven marvels, man, it does.
Um every time those people sayyes to Jesus and in those areas
that look so tough.
Um one of the things I said inthe sermon was faith often or
obedience often looks foolishbefore it looks faithful.
Um a lot of us we look atpeople's life and we want their
success, you know, and we lookat all the things and uh man, if
(33:13):
I had their opportunities, if Ihad this.
Yeah, it it took a lot ofobedient steps to get to that.
You don't just end up that way.
Um, but along the way, they dida lot of things that a lot of
other people said, man, that'sfoolish.
And and not even just in thefaith world.
People who build giantcompanies, you know, you you
want to build thismulti-million, billion, trillion
(33:35):
dollar company, and you know,you wish you could be Jeff Bezos
or Elon Musk or Bill Gates orone of these guys who just
figured something out, and theydid.
They did a lot of things thateverybody else said, that's
stupid.
You can't work those amounthours, you can't do that, you
can't do this.
They did a lot of thingseveryone else said, that's too
foolish.
That's beneath me.
(33:57):
I would never.
And those guys, the ones whomade it to the top, are the ones
who said, it might look foolish,but I'm gonna do it.
Um, Mark Batterson, uh, I justdownloaded this book to read of
his.
So I haven't read it yet.
Might might be good, might beterrible.
Um, but he just came out with abook uh called Gradually, then
suddenly.
(34:17):
And he says every every greatsuccess story, that's its origin
story.
It happens gradually and thensuddenly.
And we think everyone's thisovernight success, but the truth
is it's the day in, day out,sticking with it, putting your
nose to the grind day after day,year after year, for NOAA decade
after decade, before foolishnessfinally looks faithful.
SPEAKER_03 (34:42):
When we went to that leadership summit, you remember
the testimony of Craig Rochelle.
You know, everybody's like,Craig, you know, you're this
amazing guy, and you know, youand uh you get up here in front
of all these leaders from allaround the world that have come
here to talk about leadership,and you're the lead speaker.
(35:03):
You know, how did you get here?
And he said, flossing my teeth.
And everybody went, Huh?
What he said, it was somethingthat I didn't want to do, which
is a skill.
I don't know.
You need to be teaching yourkids this if you don't know it
or not.
(35:24):
Doing something that you don'twant to do is a skill that you
need to master in this life, oryou're gonna struggle.
I know so many kids now um thatthey just can't force themselves
to do something they don't wantto do, whether it's uh clean
their room or put gas in yourcar.
(35:45):
I don't want to do it.
So you're calling me to bringyou gas now.
You well, yeah.
Uh that's you know, we we are inin in a tough situation.
Craig Rochelle said, I got upand did the little things, and
now I'm here.
Right.
If I never got up to do thoselittle things, you wouldn't know
(36:07):
my name.
And uh you gotta say yes everyday.
That's right.
And that is that is a great,great example of what we're
talking about.
SPEAKER_01 (36:16):
Yep.
Faithfulness, obedience.
Um, these are things that man,it God marvels at, and he's just
looking, will you have longobedience in the same direction?
I love that idea.
And maybe because I can pictureit, you know.
SPEAKER_03 (36:31):
I think that I I tell you the best phrase you
said on Sunday was, Am I walkingwith God or just working for
him?
And that is I mean, that is thecrux of the situation here.
We talked about, you know, ifyou're gonna obey him or not, if
you love him more than whatyou're doing and all that kind
of stuff, and it's it's um theproof is in whether you're
(37:00):
walking with God, trying to knowGod, to know him, because that's
love, all right, or you're justworking for him.
You know, I spent a lot of myChristian life just working for
him.
Hey, we got this goodrelationship, God.
You want me to do this thing,I'm gonna do this thing.
So I'm gonna go over here and doit, and you just kind of leave
me alone, and if I need a littlehelp, I'll ask you.
(37:23):
Right.
You know, instead of saying, I'mwith you, God.
Oh, you want me to do this?
Okay, I want to do this becauseI want to be with you.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (37:31):
You know, and it's one super easy trap for people
in ministry to fall into.
But man, I think so many of uswe get into that spot where it's
about checking the box, youknow, and I I got I gotta do
this thing, and I know that'swhat I'm supposed to do, and we
lose the fact, man, God wants towalk with you.
That's what first John was wastalking about that we read on on
(37:53):
Sunday.
If if we say that we know him,that we're in him, what does
that mean?
It means that we should walk ashe walked.
Right.
It's about a relationship.
And so, where are those areaswhere we've settled for
spiritual activity instead ofrelational closeness?
So many of us were so busy doingGod things, church things,
(38:15):
volunteering, showing up, youknow, we'll read our daily Bible
reading plan, we'll throw acouple bucks in the giving box
on the way out the door, we'llwe'll do the churchy stuff.
But when's the last time youtruly were just with God?
God, I don't want to just dothis for you.
I want to do this with you.
Right.
That's what he's after.
(38:36):
God doesn't need you to doanything for him, he's the
creator of the universe, he ownsthe cattle on a thousand hills.
Um what are you gonna do forGod?
He says our good works are likedirty, filthy racks.
We have nothing to offer.
And when we can get that idea inour head and then be like, but
he wants me to do it anyways?
Yes.
Yeah, and he wants to do it withyou.
SPEAKER_03 (38:58):
Yeah, and I I tell you what, your big wins is when
you obey and your obedience isnot ever seen.
That's your big wins.
When you can you can say, I didthis for the Lord, and nobody's
gonna pat me on the back for it.
And um, so let me put it, umflesh this out for you.
(39:20):
When um New Year's Day, I I senta text to Ryan and said, Happy
New Year's.
Easter's coming, and so is BBS.
SPEAKER_01 (39:32):
And uh I haven't been able to sleep well since.
SPEAKER_03 (39:36):
And the the truth is Easter's coming.
It it is it is our biggest dayin Christendom.
Uh we love it here, we celebratelike crazy and act like fools,
and uh but we love Easter andit's and it's coming.
We gotta get ready for it,right?
Um But when we ask you to comeand serve and Help us for Easter
(40:01):
and we're gonna ask a lot ofpeople a lot of things.
We're not asking to come hereand serve without him.
He's here.
We're asking you to come and bewith Jesus in service.
Right.
Not not separating you from himinto a good work.
He's gonna be here with you inthat good work.
(40:25):
We don't wanna we don't wannaseparate that.
I have separated that.
Um my I until I was old, till myforties, I separated, you know,
you want me to do this, okay,I'm gonna go do this.
And it's like now I gotta goback to Jesus.
No, no, no.
He's in that.
Right, right.
(40:46):
He's right there in that.
You're with him when you'redoing that.
And I think in our mind we'vekind of separated that.
Well, there's a differencebetween my Bible study when I
get up in the morning and Ispend time with Jesus and I pray
and I try to commune with himand have a relationship with
him.
That's different than me goingto the church and taking the
(41:08):
garbage out.
No, it's not different at all.
He's gonna be with you takingthat garbage out.
He's gonna be with you servingin the nursery or standing out
in the parking lot when it's 16degrees, making sure nobody
falls down or whatever it isthat you think uh you do for the
church because nobody else will.
You don't want to do it either.
(41:28):
But he is he is gonna be therewith you.
That's walking with God.
SPEAKER_01 (41:35):
And so how do you start?
You start with small dailyobedience.
Just say yes to the next thing.
Man, I I used to be so impressedby people who had the courage or
faith or whatever you want tocall it to start something.
You know, uh start a business,start a organization, start a
(41:56):
book, start a blog, start startanything, start, start running,
start working out, you know,whatever it is.
I was like, man, that's soamazing.
I love people who can who canstart something.
The older I I get though, themore I appreciate the people who
finish things.
SPEAKER_04 (42:13):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (42:14):
It's and I've learned it's a whole lot easier
to start things than it is tofinish.
It takes faithfulness to getthings across the fences.
SPEAKER_03 (42:22):
I've started a lot more things than I've ever
finished.
SPEAKER_01 (42:25):
Yep.
And and God's looking for us tobe faithful, to have long
obedience in the same direction.
And so I want to encourage you,obey even when the results
aren't visible.
Right.
When nobody seems like they'repaying attention or or watching,
there's no applause, there's noaccolades.
Um keep showing up, keep saying,yes, keep being faithful because
(42:49):
heaven marvels at that.
And I and I challenge peoplethis on Sunday.
We'll wrap up here too, and I'llgive you one more chance in case
you got something.
But we need to anchor ourobedience and grace, not guilt.
Um when I I don't think there'sany way to sustain it if we
don't.
If we don't anchor this thing inthe grace of God, um I'm I'm not
(43:11):
doing this for God.
I'm not doing this to impresshim, I'm not doing this to get
any more of his love.
I'm doing this in response towhat he's already done.
I don't have to.
Yep.
I get to Noah, scripture saysNoah found favor with God before
he ever cut a piece of wood,before he ever nailed a single
nail or spike in, before hecollected any of the animals,
(43:34):
Noah found favor with God.
We do this out of response towhat God has already done.
So anchor your obedience and hisgrace.
And uh, when you feel likenobody else notices and the
world doesn't care, and thislooks foolish, and everyone
thinks you're crazy.
Uh if you'll if you'll anchor itthere in the grace of God, um, I
think it'll give you the thepower that you need to sustain
(43:59):
through it um when it getstough.
SPEAKER_03 (44:01):
Ephesians chapter three.
It says God is revealing hismanifold wisdom to the
heavenlies.
What that means, I have I haveno idea.
But I love to speculate aboutit.
Through He's gonna He's gonnashow His manifold witness to
(44:28):
some supernatural whateverthrough the church through you.
SPEAKER_01 (44:38):
Let him let him be obedient, stay faithful, take
the next right instead.
SPEAKER_03 (44:46):
Oh Father, I want to thank you that you love us so
much that you would marvel overthings that um well when we say
yes, Father, I know that youwere tempted in all all points
like we are, and we know that uhyou live this life too, and and
(45:09):
um but you you relish um when wesay yes.
Because in obedience we'rewalking with you.
And um more than anything else,Father, we want to grow our
relationship with you.
So, Father, as we take faith andobedience and we wrestle,
(45:31):
wrestle, wrestle, wrestle.
Uh, you're a God who likes towrestle.
And as we wrestle these thingsinto our lives, I pray that
you'll give us uh freedom andunderstand that this is grace.
Uh we don't have to, we get towalk with you.
Thank you, Father, in Jesus'name.
(45:52):
Amen.
unknown (45:52):
Amen.
SPEAKER_00 (45:53):
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
(46:17):
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.
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