November 12, 2025 • 43 mins
Growth doesn’t stall because we lack Bible plans or good intentions. It stalls because we carry hidden baggage that chokes the very roots we’re trying to nurture. We kick off our Grow series by naming one of the most overlooked blockers in the New Testament lists: malice. Not mere anger—malice is the quiet wish for someone else to hurt. It hides in our daydreams of payback, in the thrill of the gotcha moment, and in the way our feeds train us to love outrage.
Ryan and Tim unpack why subtraction must come before addition in spiritual formation. You can add church, reading, serving, and still plateau if bitterness, envy, and deceit tag along. Together we trace malice’s path from hurt to unforgiveness to bitterness to hatred, then show how culture, teams, and algorithms amplify it. We talk road rage and text-thread bravado, the resonance that gets people elected, and the subtle ways we justify fantasies we’d never act on. The heart-level work starts with honest definitions and real examples you’ll recognize from your week.
Hope rises when we remember the battle is spiritual and the power is divine. We explore 2 Corinthians 10: demolishing strongholds, taking every thought captive, and refusing the lies that aren’t even ours. You’ll get practical practices: naming triggers, interrupting revenge scripts with prayer, filtering every thought through what honors Christ, limiting outrage inputs, inviting trusted friends into accountability, and journaling wins so you can comfort others with the comfort you’ve received. As malice loses its handle on your heart, the same habits you already practice start bearing real fruit.
Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s stuck on the treadmill of trying harder, and leave a review with one takeaway you’re putting into practice this week. Your story might be the map someone else needs.
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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, 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 uh this Sunday we kicked offa brand new series called Grow.
And um, you know, Tim, I I do alot of the sermon series
planning around here, and youcalled me out of out of the blue
the other day and said, Hey, Igot a great sermon series.
(00:48):
Let's talk about this.
And man, then you read me thepassage of scripture.
Um, and I'm like, right duringThanksgiving.
Um, but man, I it was so youkicked off this series
yesterday, and I'm I'm talkingweek one.
God already started doing someamazing things.
I think this was a this is oneof those God series, man.
(01:11):
I think he's gonna use it.
Um, so kind of uh walk usthrough Grow where this came
from.
SPEAKER_03 (01:19):
Well, I I've been uh noticing these lists all over
the New Testament, and it hasmalice and deceit and envy, and
and uh Peter talks, gives thislist, Paul gives a couple lists,
and you know, we read over thosethings and we like, yeah,
gotcha.
And uh we think, uh, yeah, Igotta I gotta keep that stuff
(01:41):
out of um our lives.
And then uh we're studying firstPeter actually in the forge, and
we came across um Peter's listin in chapter two, and I said,
There's that list again.
And I and I felt like and thatwas that was a couple of months
ago.
We don't go very fast in thecourse.
(02:04):
Um I I said, There's that listagain, and um I called and well
I I began to talk about how deepone part of that list was, uh,
which was deceit and how broadit gets and how much deceit is
(02:27):
in our lives.
Not people trying to deceive us,oh my gosh, we don't have enough
time to talk about that, but howwe have got into the culture of
deceit and we deceive otherswith our life.
And and I thought we weretalking about it in the forge,
and I was like, man, every oneof these malice, deceit, envy,
(02:51):
slander, and we were we weredealing with some slander here
at the church um at that time,and how deep, deeply rooted in
our culture these things are.
It's just how we live.
unknown (03:05):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (03:06):
And I so I called you and I said, Hey, we should
do a week on each of these.
And you're like, malice, deceit,envy, and ego, and you and you
were like, It's Christmas.
SPEAKER_01 (03:20):
Yeah, we normally, you know, November try to talk
about thankfulness andgratitude, and you know, we'll
we'll push back againstconsumerism and that kind of
stuff, but yeah, we're we'rejumping right into the deep end
of the pool here.
SPEAKER_03 (03:34):
Yeah, I I I didn't think we were gonna do it this
year.
I just thought, hey, this wouldmake a great um five-part series
because we just came out ofPhilippians a couple of months
ago, and we talked about workingout your salvation with fear and
trembling, living a life worthyof the gospel, and then Peter is
(03:54):
basically looking me in the faceand say, This is why you don't
grow, this is why you don't workout your salvation, this is why
you don't live a life worthy ofthe gospel, these five things
right here.
SPEAKER_01 (04:07):
And I'm like, No, it's because I'm lazy, right?
SPEAKER_03 (04:13):
Um, and so we we, you know, um we need to
specifically talk about thesethings and get them cleaned up.
It's just one of those everydayChristian life confession
things, and we're just gonnatake a week and and do each one.
And I think it'll be great.
The Lord's already working onit.
Um when I uh read the definitionof malice, not just hatred, not
(04:38):
just anger, but that you wish aharm on someone else.
There were so many people wholooked at each other in that
church.
I'm like, oh, I don't know whatI'm getting into here.
Uh so but we live in a we livein a country who thrives on
vengeance and revenge and thegotcha moment.
(05:00):
I mean, we don't even study a ifwe if we hear a debate on
atheist against Christianity orum politics or even something
that happened in the Bible andyour interpretation of it, it's
(05:20):
all about the gotcha moment.
We don't we don't even study thesource material anymore.
It's like I'm gonna find a videowhere somebody gets someone,
somebody who's on my side andthey get someone else, you know,
and the danger in our society,and I hate to bring this up
every time we talk, but ouralgorithm gets influenced by
(05:41):
that, and we find ourselveshearing what we only want to
hear and seeing what we onlywant to see, and there's no way,
there's no way out of that box.
You you gotta go out there andfind out what's going on.
Right.
And so the Lord said, This wouldbe great.
(06:04):
And I said, I gave it to you,and then I think wasn't we had
something else planned and itdidn't work out, and you were
like, Well, let's just go withTim said.
SPEAKER_01 (06:14):
Here we are, here we are.
Uh man, I think the Lord setthis up for us.
And I I think what you said onSunday as you kind of introduced
this series to the church, isyou know, you you kind of
compared it to being abodybuilder, you know, and a lot
of times we focus if you want tolose weight, well, I gotta start
doing this, start doing this,start doing this, start doing
(06:34):
this.
And it's a lot of addition.
Um, but sometimes it's about thesubtraction and and what you
don't do that's just asimportant as the things that you
are doing.
Um, and so we we will, I thinkthere's a tendency to go about
our Christian life and we say,All right, I need to start going
to church, I need to startreading the Bible, I need to
start praying more, you know, Ineed to get involved in the life
(06:56):
group, I need to serve on avolunteer team.
We got all these things thatwe're doing, all addition.
And then as we do that, ourbitterness and our malice and
our deceit comes right alongwith us.
We never deal with that.
Um and then we wonder, why don'tI grow?
Why am I not growing?
(07:17):
I'm trying all the stuff, I'mdoing all the things that that I
was told I needed to do in orderto grow as a Christian.
SPEAKER_03 (07:24):
And get to know Jesus better and love him more.
And I just feel like now I gotthis burden, I got to do all
this stuff, but I'm not gettinganything out of it.
SPEAKER_01 (07:34):
Right.
And so I'm I'm plateaued.
You know, I I I've hit a walland I'm not growing.
And the truth is there are somethings in our life, and this is
the stuff that we don't like totalk about in church.
We don't like to preach sermonsabout, you know.
Um, you know, even and and Idon't even know if this is a
purely American thing, becauseeven the New Testament rights,
(07:57):
you know, you you look forpeople who just tell you what
you want to hear, um, tickleyour ears, you know, like you
that's you want people to justcome along and just reaffirm
everything you already believeand everything you already do.
But man, we there's some stuffthat and it's yeah, there's so
here's Peter's list, but you'llfind lists just like this,
scattered all across the NewTestament.
SPEAKER_03 (08:17):
And it's interesting that uh we were in discovery
class last night, and I think itwas Julie that said, um, man, we
haven't changed.
It's been 2,000 years, and weare we are the same people they
were back then.
And uh and that's the truth.
We are, and that's why the uhwe're looking for relevance.
(08:39):
Oh, we need to be relevant.
The New Testament is the mostrelevant thing you can pick up.
All the things we're dealingwith in our culture right now,
it looks like the New Testamentwas written specifically for us
right now.
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (08:59):
Yeah, it's it's challenging.
And so we we started with thisone and said, all right, if if
we're gonna grow, yep, there'sall kinds of things you need to
do to add to your life, um, towork out your salvation, um, to
live lives worthy of the gospel.
There's there's a lot that youyou have to do um to be
effective in your walk withChrist, but there's also some
(09:20):
things we got to remove.
Um and first one on the list wasmalice.
And this isn't a word that weuse a whole lot, you know.
Uh, and and so I I appreciatedthe fact that you took time to
kind of define this for thechurch because it's not a word
that comes up in conversation.
Uh, you know, I got all thismalice in my heart.
Right.
When's the last time you heardsomeone say that?
SPEAKER_04 (09:42):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (09:42):
Um, I got malice towards you.
Nobody talks like this.
Yeah.
But I I think the way youdefined it Sunday, like it it's
beyond anger, right?
Like I'm I wish ill will towardsyou.
Is that how you defined it?
SPEAKER_03 (09:58):
Yeah.
And that's that's important toestablish that.
And uh, I think that's why thatword's so shocking.
You know, we all know that it'sanother level of hatred.
Um, so we kind of kind of avoidit.
We don't want to know about it,but it slips into our lives a
(10:19):
lot, and uh like I said onSunday, there's there's three
ways that it it slips in.
But let's uh we'll talk aboutthat in a minute.
But I want to talk about malicecoming from hurt when you don't
forgive you get bitter.
(10:40):
And when you get bitter, youstart to hate.
And when you start to hate, thenext level is malice.
I just want them to hurt.
I just wish they could hurt.
I wish I could do to them whatthey did to me.
You know, and it doesn't have tobe murder.
It can be I want to embarrassthem the way they embarrassed
(11:02):
me.
That's malice too.
SPEAKER_01 (11:04):
I think for a lot of us we you know, we're we're
Christian enough that we're notgoing out there and slicing
people's tires, you know, likebut in so I think malice is
deceptive in this way becausewe're like, well, I never do
that.
But it's the fantasy, you know.
Right.
We sit around and dream up allthe ways that we could get back,
(11:28):
all the ways that we could geteven, all the ways that we could
make them feel like I feel rightnow.
Um, and man, if I if they if Iwould just say this and they
would feel this, yeah, and wejust we let those fantasies
start to play out, and andthat's malice growing right in
our heart.
And here's the thing about theselists is you know, it's we treat
(11:52):
them a lot like genealogies inthe Bible.
We just ride right past it.
Uh so-and-so begat so-and-so.
It's like, okay, what's next?
We get to the list and we justread it.
Next, man, stop and pause for asecond.
What he's saying here, it isit's that shock to the system.
Wait a minute.
Do I have that going on in me?
(12:14):
And the truth is, I think a lotof us, a lot of us do.
SPEAKER_03 (12:19):
So think back uh a year or so ago, and if you ask
the country, are you harboringmalice?
They would say, No, I'm notharboring.
Maybe towards the president ifyou're on that side or whatever.
But when um Elon Musk joined upwith the president and started
(12:40):
going through um AEID that it'snot it's not our aid program to
other countries, don't get thatin your head.
But when they started findingall that stuff and and everybody
started screaming about it.
And you and everybody who wouldhave said, I don't have any
malice in me, found themselvesin front of a uh Tesla and
(13:06):
thought, you know what?
Here's how I can get back atthem.
And what what a what a crazywhat a crazy was it a month that
people were just attacking carsuntil until they realized that
the Tesla are is recording themdoing it.
(13:27):
Um I and attacking and bombingTesla dealerships.
Now I I don't know if that wouldsomeone was paid to do that.
It it always looks like thatsomeone is trying to get other
people involved in malice.
So number one, there's otherpeople out there who want you to
be malicious, so you we gottafight them.
(13:49):
But there was a lot of peopleout there who who didn't know
they had malice until they havean an opportunity for it to come
out.
And uh they didn't go, and I Ididn't see any place where it
looked like people were going upand down parking lots looking
for Teslas.
They just happened to be next toone and said, I'm gonna key this
(14:11):
car.
And that's maliciousness, that'smalice, and a little bit of
malice will grow into a forestfire of malice.
Uh you've gotta, you've gotta beyou've gotta be very careful as
a Christian.
Now, this happened to ourcountry, it didn't happen in
(14:32):
church, can't happen in church,but the only way to stop that is
for Christians to stand up andsay, No, look right here what
the Word of God says.
You're not to have this in yourlife, and we've got to get rid
of it, and then we have to prayin resistance to it in our
country.
(14:52):
Every uh civil discourse thatturns into a revolution, there's
malice involved.
Right?
It was tea that we dumped in thein the bay before the
Revolutionary War, uh, theBoston Tea Party, and then some
(15:12):
people got killed.
And that fired everybody up.
And that's where that maliceleaks in.
Everybody quits thinking andjust starts doing.
And uh this is how riots start,you know.
It wasn't a big deal until I gotshot with a rubber bullet, and
(15:32):
then I wanted to hurt 'em.
You know, and these things areit's in us.
If we don't if we don't takecare of it, it can roll right
over your decision making.
And uh suddenly you're a monsterand you don't know how you got
there.
If you ever been in a fight, youknow what I'm talking about.
(15:52):
You know?
Um there's just a a place you gothat you don't think no more.
And so I just I wanted to leteverybody know that this this
maliciousness, this malice thingis something that Satans use to
break up relationships.
And we say that in a churchifiedway, you know, your relationship
(16:15):
with your pastor, yourrelationship with your wife and
your kids and and your bestfriends and the rest of your
family.
He wants to break those up, buthe also wants to break up our
relationships with ourneighbors.
And so the only way we canresist is for Christians to
stand up and say no.
And uh we see it in all thesecountries that are that are
(16:38):
having terrible problems, it'stheir maliciousness, their
malice takes over.
And it's very dangerous.
SPEAKER_01 (16:46):
You brought up in the sermon that um guy from was
it New Jersey who just gotelected?
No, it was Virginia.
Virginia.
And he had, I mean, some textmessages had come out, he had
said some horrible things aboutthis other guy and his family,
and yeah, I mean, just stuffthat and and you even said, I
don't think if this guy had theopportunity, he would have never
(17:07):
acted on that.
He never would have done that.
But he said it in a textmessage.
And for a lot of us, we'd think,well, man, no way that guy gets
elected now.
You say that kind of stuff,you're done.
I mean, you you just wished hiswhole family would die, his kids
too.
You're out.
But but he got elected, and why?
(17:29):
And and I thought the point youbrought up was right on the
money.
The truth is a lot of us canrelate to say, I've had that
feeling before.
SPEAKER_03 (17:41):
We resonate with it.
Yeah, you know, it's just like,yeah, that's what I feel.
He just said what I feel, youknow.
I would never do it either.
I don't think he would ever doit, but he's like me.
I'm gonna I'm gonna vote forhim.
And that's uh that'sunfortunately, um that's how
malice spreads.
(18:02):
I was we were talking aboutJoseph and his brothers.
Not everybody said let's killhim.
Just one guy said let's killhim, and they all rose up to do
it.
Yeah and um because it resonatedwith him, we would be better off
without him.
SPEAKER_01 (18:20):
That's that's how we begin to spot that that malice
in us.
Because it's something that Ithink a lot of us, like you
said, it we don't think we'rethese people until that
opportunity's there.
Right.
Um and but you start to look,man, how often do I fantasize
about these things?
And and when those opportunitiescome up, what am I thinking
(18:42):
about?
And and those temptations thatthat come along with it.
And you can begin to spot alittle bit of that malice in
your heart.
Um Ty just got his driver'slicense, so he's 16 years old
and had an eye doctor'sappointment the other day.
And I told him as soon as heturned 16, I'm like, I'm not
driving anymore.
You will drive everywhere.
Um, I'm like, I'll pull you outof school to run errands.
(19:05):
So he had an eye doctorappointment, and uh, so he
drove.
It was out in Avon Lake, and umwe're he pulls in, we go in for
the appointment 45 minuteslater, we're pulling back out,
and he goes, he gets to theroad, he goes, Dad, do I turn
left or right?
Which was a little shocking forme because I'm like, you just
did this 45 minutes ago.
Just do the opposite.
(19:27):
Um we're still working, he'sdirectionally challenged like
me.
Um, I can get lost in my ownneighborhood, and it's a you.
Um my wife, Joy, she can getanywhere.
Ellie, shockingly, can tell youhow to get anywhere, like
step-by-step directions.
SPEAKER_03 (19:44):
I've experienced that myself.
SPEAKER_01 (19:46):
Her recall is just phenomenal.
But Ty was a little panickedabout which way to go.
So I'm telling him which way togo, and a car's coming, and he's
a little bit nervous trying toget out in front of that car, so
he waits.
Guy behind him starts to beep.
Well, now another car's coming,and Ty's like, oh dad, I don't
know if I can make it.
This guy beeps again.
By the time Ty's like, okay, I'mgetting ready to, now the dude's
(20:07):
laying on his horn.
Well, I'm sitting there in thepassenger seat.
I come up out of the seat andI'm looking through the back
windshield, going to town onthis guy, um, letting him have
it.
He looks at me, gives me thiscome on signal, and opens his
door and starts getting out ofhis truck.
(20:28):
And I'm thinking, man, I'm in myfresh wind shirt, and I'm gonna
have to go punch this guy.
And he drives a truck, so he'sgonna win.
You know, I drive a traverse,I'm not winning that fight.
So I'm about to get my buttkicked here, but I'm gonna have
to at least try to punch him orkick him in the shins.
Something.
And then I think he saw in mymouth, I said he's 16 years old
(20:51):
and he shut his door, is I thinkwhat happened.
And Ty pulls out, and all that Itell you that because I pull
away, and for the next, like,I'm not kidding you, Tim, two,
three hours.
All I can think about was thatmoment with that guy.
And I'm like, man, if what whatwould it I have done if he had
gotten out of that car?
What would I have said in thatmoment?
(21:12):
And I would have told him this,and I would have told him that.
And all of a sudden you're like,hey, there's that malice.
That's what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_03 (21:19):
I found it.
I found it.
And we all have a little bit ofthat uh in us, and that's why
it's so dangerous, and that'swhy we need to confess it and
keep it out of us.
Because someone else, someoneelse, not even you, can fire
that up to where it takescontrol of you.
(21:40):
And that's why Malice um whenthe Disney character made
Malibescent, is that how you sayyour name?
SPEAKER_01 (21:50):
I know what you're talking about.
I don't know.
SPEAKER_03 (21:52):
She she was hurt, they embarrassed her um when she
was young, and you put a curseon the baby and that whole
thing.
And that's what they weretalking about.
You know, that's in us, and itjust grew and grew until she was
a monster.
And we need to understand thatthat little bit in us that makes
(22:17):
you freak out when someone'sbeeping at your kid is something
that someone else can useagainst you.
SPEAKER_01 (22:25):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (22:26):
And that someone is Satan, and he is looking for
those things in our lives so hecan put a ring in our nose and
lead us around.
SPEAKER_01 (22:34):
You mentioned on Sunday that so I mean, you know,
I think there's there'sdifferent sources of malice,
right?
Where it where it comes from inour life, and um some of it, you
know, in this Disney character,it was external.
Something some things thathappened to her and that grew
up.
Um you mentioned some others, uhyou know, culturally, we're
(22:58):
right, we're this culture, we'rethe get even culture.
Um and so that's part of it.
SPEAKER_03 (23:05):
Um your team.
That's another one.
Uh your team.
Um I heard someone say comingout pointed to her husband and
said he wants the otherquarterbacks to get hurt.
And sometimes, you know, ourteam leads us to that.
(23:28):
Um but yeah, culturally we'rewe're just we're in a team.
Uh look what happened at 9-11.
You know, boom, brought down thethe buildings, the whole country
was like, who was it?
Yeah, yeah.
We're all everybody assigned.
We had football players leavethe NFL to join um join the
(23:52):
army.
Yeah, we had uh, you know, whenyour team gets hurt, it'll bring
up your malice.
And uh unfortunately, you know,a whole country can get steered
by it and uh not do the rightthing or even the wise thing in
the middle of it.
Yeah, we're all gonna getrevenge, but on who?
(24:14):
We're just waiting for someoneto raise their hand and say,
pick me.
Yeah.
And I feel like that that wholething back then was basically we
were overrun with malice.
And we need leaders that can laythat down and make the right
decision.
SPEAKER_01 (24:34):
One of the ones that you brought up that is a little
less obvious, maybe, is um thatthat some of it is stuff that
we've we've internalized, um,and then there's stuff that
that's not even our ownthoughts.
Right, you know, and and yousaid there are some things that
(24:56):
some thoughts that you entertainthat are not who you are.
Um but like you're saying, theenemy whispers these thoughts
into our ears, um so that hecan.
He can drag us around and pullus into this mess and pull us
deeper into that anger and thatbitterness and that resentment
until we begin to lose control.
(25:18):
Um and all of a sudden we'llstep back and be like, man, what
did I just say?
How did I go that far?
Right.
What did I just do?
Um and it's it's this root of ofmalice in our in our life that
we have not taken the time todig up.
You know, I I don't even knowhow this happened.
(25:42):
I walked outside.
We had been pulling some weeds,getting ready for a birthday
party for our kids, and I wentback in the house.
And when I went back outside,like 30, 45 minutes later, there
was this weed puller tool leanedup against my shed.
No idea where it came from.
I've never bought one in mylife.
(26:02):
Here it was.
I don't know if a neighbor sawme out there on my hands and
knees pulling weeds, was like,this guy needs some help.
But they didn't knock on thedoor, didn't tell me whose it
was.
I don't know who to return itto, other than just start
knocking on all my neighbors'doors.
Or if God just dropped it fromheaven.
I don't know.
Here it was.
But man, this thing, you stickit in the ground, you step on
it, and you pull back on it, andit just starts ripping weeds
(26:26):
out.
You don't even got to bend down.
I'm like, where has this been mywhole life?
I don't know.
I want one to I'll be praying.
One shows up at your shed.
No, I want that one.
You want this one?
That's envy.
We're gonna talk about that too.
SPEAKER_03 (26:41):
That's right, we're talking about that.
SPEAKER_01 (26:43):
But man, we we need a little bit of that when it
comes to this malice.
You know, we need somethingthat's gonna rip this thing out.
Yeah.
Um, because if not, it it getscontrol and and you look up and
you're like, there's just a pathof destruction behind you that
you didn't even know you werecapable of.
SPEAKER_03 (27:01):
This kind of plays into what Paul was talking about
in Corinthians, that um we don'tbattle against flesh and blood,
but we're or we don't wage warwith um carnal weapons or or
natural weapons that we wage warin the spirit, and that we have
(27:22):
to tear down these strongholdsin our life.
Now, when I used to preach thatwhen I was younger, I used to
get a big stuffed animal like astuffed bear or something, and
I'd take uh PVC and I'd make alittle U and then I would sew it
in the back of the bear so itlooked like a handle.
Right?
(27:43):
And I said, This'll probably ummake more sense to you when we
talk about strongholds, becausestrongholds what he's what he's
talking about, he's building acastle uh that has to be torn
down uh in your heart and mind.
But I I think that symbologyworks with my little teddy bear
because there's a handle on yourlife where Satan can get a
(28:08):
strong hold on you and malice isone of 'em.
And if you there's no way uhthat handle's sticking out of
you all the time.
And if he knows, if you'vereacted and he says there's
something there, he's gonna he'sgonna work on building it.
(28:29):
He's gonna work on uh what hecan do to have a person um who's
kind of like the person you'remad at, you know, embarrass you,
do stuff to you.
He's planning so that he has ahe's has a strong hold on your
life.
Those things have to be rippedout.
(28:52):
And the way the way we do it isby taking every thought and
making it obedient to Christ.
And when we read that, we thinkI need to take every one of my
thoughts.
No, no, not every one of yourthoughts.
(29:12):
Every thought, every thoughtthat comes out of that YouTube
video, every thought that comesout of that TikTok, every
thought that's coming over theradio, on TV, your thoughts, and
every thought that Satan putsinto your mind has to be rung
(29:34):
through and made obedient toChrist.
And and that's the only way thatwe can not just get rid of
malice, but keep it out, is tosay, Hey, you know what?
I feel like I want to kill thatguy who's beeping at my son.
I feel like I wanna I I just Iwanna, I know I'm gonna lose.
(29:59):
But I I want to protect my son.
I want him to know I'm standingup for him and who is this guy?
Who does he think he is?
And you need to run that throughthe filter in what's what's
obedient to Christ.
That man behind you beeping thathorn is made in my image.
What if something terriblehappens?
(30:20):
And you knock him out and henever wakes up and he never gets
a chance to profess me.
I'm sorry, I'm going back to thewrong thing.
SPEAKER_01 (30:28):
Yeah, this has gotten deep, man.
I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_03 (30:31):
To profess me as his savior and Lord.
We need to understand that Goddoes not think this way about
people even when they deserveit.
He thinks, I want to save youbefore you have to face your
consequences.
And and we have to take allthose thoughts, and I'm telling
(30:52):
you, you I don't think youunderstand because we've
naturalized our walk.
It's it's about my willpower andmy knowledge of the Bible, and
this is how I live my Christianlife.
No we do not fight with naturalweapons.
(31:16):
And you're trying to fight withnatural weapons.
We have a spiritual battle goingon, and somebody's whispering
you thoughts all the time thatare contrary to being obedient
to Christ.
SPEAKER_01 (31:26):
You talk about the algorithm a lot.
Scripture tells us that ourenemy, Satan, prowls around like
a roaring lion, seeking those todevour.
He is the original algorithmbuilder against you.
He has been watching, he hasbeen waiting, he sees the things
that push your buttons.
(31:46):
Um and then he builds up thisalgorithm.
And when those things come up,he's like, Oh, I can pull on
this string and I can push, anduh, they're a little, they're a
little uptight, a littleoverwhelmed today.
If I just have this thing here,um it'll set them off.
SPEAKER_03 (32:05):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (32:06):
And he this is what he does.
He he seeks to steal, kill, anddestroy.
That's who he is.
Um, you talked on something,he's he's a liar and a deceiver.
This is this is who we're we'regoing to to war against.
And so when he speaks, thesethings, and I and I love how
(32:26):
Paul says this, he says, youtake every thought captive and
make it obedient to Christ.
Like there is it's verb, it'saction.
It doesn't just happen.
And it's not even just readingscripture that does it.
That's important, but then it'staking my thoughts that I have,
and now I have to force them tobe obedient to scripture, be
(32:49):
obedient to God's word.
There's we can't be passive inthis fight, you know.
It I I've got to engage in thisso that I take every thought
that comes, and like you said,not not just my thoughts, every
thought that comes my way.
And I have to make it obedientto Christ.
What does God's word say aboutthis?
What does God think about thissituation?
(33:10):
What does God think about thatperson that I'm I'm plotting my
revenge against?
What would God want to happen inthat situation, in that
relationship?
And I got to start making all ofthose thoughts obedient to
Christ.
SPEAKER_03 (33:25):
And when we look at this, we think, man, it's a
mountain.
But that passage of scripture isfound in uh 2 Corinthians
chapter 10.
And we need there's a there's apart of it that we that we leave
out.
And I think that is also asatanic attack.
We won't get into that though.
Um it's just I'm just gonna readyou the verses we're talking
(33:47):
about.
Verse 4 says, the weapons wefight with are not the weapons
of the world.
On the contrary, we have divinepower to demolish strongholds.
What we're saying here, this isnot an act of your will.
I'm not gonna think like that.
(34:08):
I'm not gonna, I'm going to makethis obedient to Christ.
A lot of times we can we canmake that in our head, you know,
God doesn't want me to thinklike this, but it never reaches
our heart.
We have divine power.
There is no reason why you can'ttear this out of you.
(34:30):
There is no reason.
Satan can't stop you.
All you have to say in Jesus'name, I tear this out.
I confess it as sin and I rejectit.
And nobody can stop you.
Satan can't stop you.
You have divine power.
The Holy Spirit lives inside ofyou.
This is a this is a spiritualthing.
(34:54):
It's not a worldly thing.
Quit trying to resist thatthought or that thing, rip it
out and resist the devil tryingto stir it up in you again.
That's b that's how you do itwith divine power.
And uh, we need to keep givingit up every time it comes up,
(35:14):
and pretty soon um Satan willknow that every time he tries to
get you fired up and go in thisdirection, yell at your kids and
embarrass them, uh, which is theworst thing you can do and to
your kids, especially if youwant them to uh grow up in the
grace and knowledge of the LordJesus Christ.
(35:35):
You gotta stop that.
And the way to stop it is tosay, hey, I'm not gonna do that
anymore in Jesus' name.
I tear this stronghold out, I'mnot gonna do it anymore, and
then pray.
And then Satan realizes everytime I try to lead, grab his
nose ring, and pull him aroundon this, he ends up praying, I'm
gonna go somewhere else.
(35:56):
I'm done.
Yeah, I'm gonna find somethingelse.
SPEAKER_01 (35:58):
Yeah, I man, I I was talking to uh a buddy of mine
the other day, and he's justwrestling through some stuff,
and you know, he's he'sstruggling with some of these
ideas and these thoughts, andhe's like, Man, how do how have
I become the kind of guy that'sI gotta convince myself that's
(36:19):
not who I am?
I was like, what are you talkingabout?
I said, for the past two orthree weeks, you've been
fighting and wrestling with thisthing, proving that that's not
who you are.
I said, the devil's losing hisgrip.
I said, every time thosethoughts come, every time you
have that outside pressure, thatinfluence, that whatever it is
(36:41):
in in your situation, and you,you know, you pray or you don't
act on it, or you begin to go toGod's word and say, God, what do
you have to say about this?
Every time you you turn thatfrom you know fear or whatever,
and and now you just begin to toworship, Satan loses his grip,
and you prove this is not who Iam, and it doesn't matter how
(37:05):
many times you bring it againstme.
And so to even say, Well, youknow, how do I gotta you give
too much weight to the devil?
Absolutely, he's powerless overyou.
You have divine power.
And I I told him, I was like,buddy, you're you're in the last
rounds of this fight becausethis isn't fun anymore.
Right.
It was fun when I could whisperthings into your ear and get you
(37:27):
all riled up, but now you pray.
Now you go to God's word infront of the enemy.
SPEAKER_03 (37:35):
Now you sink count, you seek counsel.
SPEAKER_01 (37:37):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (37:37):
And these are the things that um you're gonna have
to go through.
You cannot let Satan build acastle in your territory.
That's right.
You have to tear it down.
And it's and sometimes um you'retrying to decide, is is that me
or is that him?
I guarantee you, I guaranteeyou, it's 90%.
(38:02):
If you ask that question, if youeven ask it, then you know it's
him.
You know it's him.
Because what he wants is for youto think it's you.
So if all of a sudden you askthis question, is that me?
Then it's it's ninety-nine pointnine percent sure not you.
(38:22):
Yeah.
And that that is the that is theproblem that he wants to make it
you if you receive it.
Don't receive it.
And this is the thing.
He always starts from thatbranch.
No, this is you, this is whatyou feel like.
So I think uh I don't want tomake too big of this.
(38:44):
We're making we're making toobig.
So let's uh let's just go likethis and I'll pray.
Uh we need to be a people whosees this in our hearts and rips
it out in the name of Jesus andthen goes on with our life.
We need to be the the Christiansthat recognize that we have an
(39:09):
enemy, and that enemy is tryingto destroy us.
So don't let him convince youit's you.
You have a brand new life inJesus Christ, and you simply
say, in the name of Jesus, Itear down this stronghold, I
tear it out, and all thosethoughts, I'm gonna compare them
(39:29):
to Jesus' thoughts, and Jesus isgonna win.
And when you do that, you don'tsecond guess yourself.
You'll be doing it tomorrow, andthen you'll be doing it the next
day, and then pretty soon thatthing will be dug out
completely, and just make sureyou thank the Lord for it when
(39:50):
you're done.
Lord, thank you for showing methat, because that's exactly
what's happening.
Thank you for letting me know Ihad a big ring in my nose and
helping me take it out.
And if there's any other ringsanywhere around, Lord, you know,
let me find those two.
And this is how you grow.
unknown (40:10):
Yep.
SPEAKER_03 (40:11):
And pretty soon those things, uh a year from
now, those things that youstruggled with today, you'll
think, did I struggle with that?
I can't remember.
I think I I think I did, but Ican't even remember what
happened now.
And that's that's where that'show you grow.
And and you won't remember.
(40:32):
That's why I always say um youneed a little journal for when
you win those battles, you know,uh, so you can look back and
say, hey, you know what?
I was in that too.
I'm not in it anymore.
And let me give you hope.
SPEAKER_01 (40:46):
Yeah, and scripture tells us that the God of all
comfort comforts us so that wecan comfort others in their time
of need.
And so one day, God's gonna usethis battle so that He can He
can comfort somebody else goingthrough it, He can provide them
hope while they're sitting therestruggling, trying to figure out
how they're gonna get throughthis thing and let that
bitterness go.
(41:06):
And you're gonna come alonginside and say, Man, I know
exactly what you're talkingabout.
This is what God did for me.
SPEAKER_03 (41:13):
I think um we need to get serious about this stuff,
and we need to get serious aboutmalice fast because deceit's
coming up on Sunday.
SPEAKER_01 (41:25):
Well, with that, Pastor Tim, why don't you pray
for us?
SPEAKER_03 (41:29):
Father, I want to thank you that you have given us
divine power over these things.
But Lord, we have to dig downdeep and find those things.
Um, we want you to search ourheart and find any wicked way in
us.
And I know that's what you'redoing as you bring these things
out, as you've led us to thispassage of scripture to preach
(41:51):
to the people here at A FreshWind, that you're gonna reach
down in there and say, Hey, seethis ring?
We need to rip that out.
See this little castle in yourterritory?
We need to tear the enemy out ofthere.
And Father, as we begin to dothat in faith, that you'll make
us grow.
(42:11):
As we take away the barriers toour growth, that we'll grow.
And thank you, Father, for thispassage of scripture that
reaches right down into ourheart and helps us grow in
Jesus' name.
unknown (42:25):
Amen.
Amen.
SPEAKER_00 (42:26):
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
(42:50):
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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 uh this Sunday we kicked offa brand new series called Grow.
And um, you know, Tim, I I do alot of the sermon series
planning around here, and youcalled me out of out of the blue
the other day and said, Hey, Igot a great sermon series.
(00:48):
Let's talk about this.
And man, then you read me thepassage of scripture.
Um, and I'm like, right duringThanksgiving.
Um, but man, I it was so youkicked off this series
yesterday, and I'm I'm talkingweek one.
God already started doing someamazing things.
I think this was a this is oneof those God series, man.
(01:11):
I think he's gonna use it.
Um, so kind of uh walk usthrough Grow where this came
from.
SPEAKER_03 (01:19):
Well, I I've been uh noticing these lists all over
the New Testament, and it hasmalice and deceit and envy, and
and uh Peter talks, gives thislist, Paul gives a couple lists,
and you know, we read over thosethings and we like, yeah,
gotcha.
And uh we think, uh, yeah, Igotta I gotta keep that stuff
(01:41):
out of um our lives.
And then uh we're studying firstPeter actually in the forge, and
we came across um Peter's listin in chapter two, and I said,
There's that list again.
And I and I felt like and thatwas that was a couple of months
ago.
We don't go very fast in thecourse.
(02:04):
Um I I said, There's that listagain, and um I called and well
I I began to talk about how deepone part of that list was, uh,
which was deceit and how broadit gets and how much deceit is
(02:27):
in our lives.
Not people trying to deceive us,oh my gosh, we don't have enough
time to talk about that, but howwe have got into the culture of
deceit and we deceive otherswith our life.
And and I thought we weretalking about it in the forge,
and I was like, man, every oneof these malice, deceit, envy,
(02:51):
slander, and we were we weredealing with some slander here
at the church um at that time,and how deep, deeply rooted in
our culture these things are.
It's just how we live.
unknown (03:05):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (03:06):
And I so I called you and I said, Hey, we should
do a week on each of these.
And you're like, malice, deceit,envy, and ego, and you and you
were like, It's Christmas.
SPEAKER_01 (03:20):
Yeah, we normally, you know, November try to talk
about thankfulness andgratitude, and you know, we'll
we'll push back againstconsumerism and that kind of
stuff, but yeah, we're we'rejumping right into the deep end
of the pool here.
SPEAKER_03 (03:34):
Yeah, I I I didn't think we were gonna do it this
year.
I just thought, hey, this wouldmake a great um five-part series
because we just came out ofPhilippians a couple of months
ago, and we talked about workingout your salvation with fear and
trembling, living a life worthyof the gospel, and then Peter is
(03:54):
basically looking me in the faceand say, This is why you don't
grow, this is why you don't workout your salvation, this is why
you don't live a life worthy ofthe gospel, these five things
right here.
SPEAKER_01 (04:07):
And I'm like, No, it's because I'm lazy, right?
SPEAKER_03 (04:13):
Um, and so we we, you know, um we need to
specifically talk about thesethings and get them cleaned up.
It's just one of those everydayChristian life confession
things, and we're just gonnatake a week and and do each one.
And I think it'll be great.
The Lord's already working onit.
Um when I uh read the definitionof malice, not just hatred, not
(04:38):
just anger, but that you wish aharm on someone else.
There were so many people wholooked at each other in that
church.
I'm like, oh, I don't know whatI'm getting into here.
Uh so but we live in a we livein a country who thrives on
vengeance and revenge and thegotcha moment.
(05:00):
I mean, we don't even study a ifwe if we hear a debate on
atheist against Christianity orum politics or even something
that happened in the Bible andyour interpretation of it, it's
(05:20):
all about the gotcha moment.
We don't we don't even study thesource material anymore.
It's like I'm gonna find a videowhere somebody gets someone,
somebody who's on my side andthey get someone else, you know,
and the danger in our society,and I hate to bring this up
every time we talk, but ouralgorithm gets influenced by
(05:41):
that, and we find ourselveshearing what we only want to
hear and seeing what we onlywant to see, and there's no way,
there's no way out of that box.
You you gotta go out there andfind out what's going on.
Right.
And so the Lord said, This wouldbe great.
(06:04):
And I said, I gave it to you,and then I think wasn't we had
something else planned and itdidn't work out, and you were
like, Well, let's just go withTim said.
SPEAKER_01 (06:14):
Here we are, here we are.
Uh man, I think the Lord setthis up for us.
And I I think what you said onSunday as you kind of introduced
this series to the church, isyou know, you you kind of
compared it to being abodybuilder, you know, and a lot
of times we focus if you want tolose weight, well, I gotta start
doing this, start doing this,start doing this, start doing
(06:34):
this.
And it's a lot of addition.
Um, but sometimes it's about thesubtraction and and what you
don't do that's just asimportant as the things that you
are doing.
Um, and so we we will, I thinkthere's a tendency to go about
our Christian life and we say,All right, I need to start going
to church, I need to startreading the Bible, I need to
start praying more, you know, Ineed to get involved in the life
(06:56):
group, I need to serve on avolunteer team.
We got all these things thatwe're doing, all addition.
And then as we do that, ourbitterness and our malice and
our deceit comes right alongwith us.
We never deal with that.
Um and then we wonder, why don'tI grow?
Why am I not growing?
(07:17):
I'm trying all the stuff, I'mdoing all the things that that I
was told I needed to do in orderto grow as a Christian.
SPEAKER_03 (07:24):
And get to know Jesus better and love him more.
And I just feel like now I gotthis burden, I got to do all
this stuff, but I'm not gettinganything out of it.
SPEAKER_01 (07:34):
Right.
And so I'm I'm plateaued.
You know, I I I've hit a walland I'm not growing.
And the truth is there are somethings in our life, and this is
the stuff that we don't like totalk about in church.
We don't like to preach sermonsabout, you know.
Um, you know, even and and Idon't even know if this is a
purely American thing, becauseeven the New Testament rights,
(07:57):
you know, you you look forpeople who just tell you what
you want to hear, um, tickleyour ears, you know, like you
that's you want people to justcome along and just reaffirm
everything you already believeand everything you already do.
But man, we there's some stuffthat and it's yeah, there's so
here's Peter's list, but you'llfind lists just like this,
scattered all across the NewTestament.
SPEAKER_03 (08:17):
And it's interesting that uh we were in discovery
class last night, and I think itwas Julie that said, um, man, we
haven't changed.
It's been 2,000 years, and weare we are the same people they
were back then.
And uh and that's the truth.
We are, and that's why the uhwe're looking for relevance.
(08:39):
Oh, we need to be relevant.
The New Testament is the mostrelevant thing you can pick up.
All the things we're dealingwith in our culture right now,
it looks like the New Testamentwas written specifically for us
right now.
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (08:59):
Yeah, it's it's challenging.
And so we we started with thisone and said, all right, if if
we're gonna grow, yep, there'sall kinds of things you need to
do to add to your life, um, towork out your salvation, um, to
live lives worthy of the gospel.
There's there's a lot that youyou have to do um to be
effective in your walk withChrist, but there's also some
(09:20):
things we got to remove.
Um and first one on the list wasmalice.
And this isn't a word that weuse a whole lot, you know.
Uh, and and so I I appreciatedthe fact that you took time to
kind of define this for thechurch because it's not a word
that comes up in conversation.
Uh, you know, I got all thismalice in my heart.
Right.
When's the last time you heardsomeone say that?
SPEAKER_04 (09:42):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (09:42):
Um, I got malice towards you.
Nobody talks like this.
Yeah.
But I I think the way youdefined it Sunday, like it it's
beyond anger, right?
Like I'm I wish ill will towardsyou.
Is that how you defined it?
SPEAKER_03 (09:58):
Yeah.
And that's that's important toestablish that.
And uh, I think that's why thatword's so shocking.
You know, we all know that it'sanother level of hatred.
Um, so we kind of kind of avoidit.
We don't want to know about it,but it slips into our lives a
(10:19):
lot, and uh like I said onSunday, there's there's three
ways that it it slips in.
But let's uh we'll talk aboutthat in a minute.
But I want to talk about malicecoming from hurt when you don't
forgive you get bitter.
(10:40):
And when you get bitter, youstart to hate.
And when you start to hate, thenext level is malice.
I just want them to hurt.
I just wish they could hurt.
I wish I could do to them whatthey did to me.
You know, and it doesn't have tobe murder.
It can be I want to embarrassthem the way they embarrassed
(11:02):
me.
That's malice too.
SPEAKER_01 (11:04):
I think for a lot of us we you know, we're we're
Christian enough that we're notgoing out there and slicing
people's tires, you know, likebut in so I think malice is
deceptive in this way becausewe're like, well, I never do
that.
But it's the fantasy, you know.
Right.
We sit around and dream up allthe ways that we could get back,
(11:28):
all the ways that we could geteven, all the ways that we could
make them feel like I feel rightnow.
Um, and man, if I if they if Iwould just say this and they
would feel this, yeah, and wejust we let those fantasies
start to play out, and andthat's malice growing right in
our heart.
And here's the thing about theselists is you know, it's we treat
(11:52):
them a lot like genealogies inthe Bible.
We just ride right past it.
Uh so-and-so begat so-and-so.
It's like, okay, what's next?
We get to the list and we justread it.
Next, man, stop and pause for asecond.
What he's saying here, it isit's that shock to the system.
Wait a minute.
Do I have that going on in me?
(12:14):
And the truth is, I think a lotof us, a lot of us do.
SPEAKER_03 (12:19):
So think back uh a year or so ago, and if you ask
the country, are you harboringmalice?
They would say, No, I'm notharboring.
Maybe towards the president ifyou're on that side or whatever.
But when um Elon Musk joined upwith the president and started
(12:40):
going through um AEID that it'snot it's not our aid program to
other countries, don't get thatin your head.
But when they started findingall that stuff and and everybody
started screaming about it.
And you and everybody who wouldhave said, I don't have any
malice in me, found themselvesin front of a uh Tesla and
(13:06):
thought, you know what?
Here's how I can get back atthem.
And what what a what a crazywhat a crazy was it a month that
people were just attacking carsuntil until they realized that
the Tesla are is recording themdoing it.
(13:27):
Um I and attacking and bombingTesla dealerships.
Now I I don't know if that wouldsomeone was paid to do that.
It it always looks like thatsomeone is trying to get other
people involved in malice.
So number one, there's otherpeople out there who want you to
be malicious, so you we gottafight them.
(13:49):
But there was a lot of peopleout there who who didn't know
they had malice until they havean an opportunity for it to come
out.
And uh they didn't go, and I Ididn't see any place where it
looked like people were going upand down parking lots looking
for Teslas.
They just happened to be next toone and said, I'm gonna key this
(14:11):
car.
And that's maliciousness, that'smalice, and a little bit of
malice will grow into a forestfire of malice.
Uh you've gotta, you've gotta beyou've gotta be very careful as
a Christian.
Now, this happened to ourcountry, it didn't happen in
(14:32):
church, can't happen in church,but the only way to stop that is
for Christians to stand up andsay, No, look right here what
the Word of God says.
You're not to have this in yourlife, and we've got to get rid
of it, and then we have to prayin resistance to it in our
country.
(14:52):
Every uh civil discourse thatturns into a revolution, there's
malice involved.
Right?
It was tea that we dumped in thein the bay before the
Revolutionary War, uh, theBoston Tea Party, and then some
(15:12):
people got killed.
And that fired everybody up.
And that's where that maliceleaks in.
Everybody quits thinking andjust starts doing.
And uh this is how riots start,you know.
It wasn't a big deal until I gotshot with a rubber bullet, and
(15:32):
then I wanted to hurt 'em.
You know, and these things areit's in us.
If we don't if we don't takecare of it, it can roll right
over your decision making.
And uh suddenly you're a monsterand you don't know how you got
there.
If you ever been in a fight, youknow what I'm talking about.
(15:52):
You know?
Um there's just a a place you gothat you don't think no more.
And so I just I wanted to leteverybody know that this this
maliciousness, this malice thingis something that Satans use to
break up relationships.
And we say that in a churchifiedway, you know, your relationship
(16:15):
with your pastor, yourrelationship with your wife and
your kids and and your bestfriends and the rest of your
family.
He wants to break those up, buthe also wants to break up our
relationships with ourneighbors.
And so the only way we canresist is for Christians to
stand up and say no.
And uh we see it in all thesecountries that are that are
(16:38):
having terrible problems, it'stheir maliciousness, their
malice takes over.
And it's very dangerous.
SPEAKER_01 (16:46):
You brought up in the sermon that um guy from was
it New Jersey who just gotelected?
No, it was Virginia.
Virginia.
And he had, I mean, some textmessages had come out, he had
said some horrible things aboutthis other guy and his family,
and yeah, I mean, just stuffthat and and you even said, I
don't think if this guy had theopportunity, he would have never
(17:07):
acted on that.
He never would have done that.
But he said it in a textmessage.
And for a lot of us, we'd think,well, man, no way that guy gets
elected now.
You say that kind of stuff,you're done.
I mean, you you just wished hiswhole family would die, his kids
too.
You're out.
But but he got elected, and why?
(17:29):
And and I thought the point youbrought up was right on the
money.
The truth is a lot of us canrelate to say, I've had that
feeling before.
SPEAKER_03 (17:41):
We resonate with it.
Yeah, you know, it's just like,yeah, that's what I feel.
He just said what I feel, youknow.
I would never do it either.
I don't think he would ever doit, but he's like me.
I'm gonna I'm gonna vote forhim.
And that's uh that'sunfortunately, um that's how
malice spreads.
(18:02):
I was we were talking aboutJoseph and his brothers.
Not everybody said let's killhim.
Just one guy said let's killhim, and they all rose up to do
it.
Yeah and um because it resonatedwith him, we would be better off
without him.
SPEAKER_01 (18:20):
That's that's how we begin to spot that that malice
in us.
Because it's something that Ithink a lot of us, like you
said, it we don't think we'rethese people until that
opportunity's there.
Right.
Um and but you start to look,man, how often do I fantasize
about these things?
And and when those opportunitiescome up, what am I thinking
(18:42):
about?
And and those temptations thatthat come along with it.
And you can begin to spot alittle bit of that malice in
your heart.
Um Ty just got his driver'slicense, so he's 16 years old
and had an eye doctor'sappointment the other day.
And I told him as soon as heturned 16, I'm like, I'm not
driving anymore.
You will drive everywhere.
Um, I'm like, I'll pull you outof school to run errands.
(19:05):
So he had an eye doctorappointment, and uh, so he
drove.
It was out in Avon Lake, and umwe're he pulls in, we go in for
the appointment 45 minuteslater, we're pulling back out,
and he goes, he gets to theroad, he goes, Dad, do I turn
left or right?
Which was a little shocking forme because I'm like, you just
did this 45 minutes ago.
Just do the opposite.
(19:27):
Um we're still working, he'sdirectionally challenged like
me.
Um, I can get lost in my ownneighborhood, and it's a you.
Um my wife, Joy, she can getanywhere.
Ellie, shockingly, can tell youhow to get anywhere, like
step-by-step directions.
SPEAKER_03 (19:44):
I've experienced that myself.
SPEAKER_01 (19:46):
Her recall is just phenomenal.
But Ty was a little panickedabout which way to go.
So I'm telling him which way togo, and a car's coming, and he's
a little bit nervous trying toget out in front of that car, so
he waits.
Guy behind him starts to beep.
Well, now another car's coming,and Ty's like, oh dad, I don't
know if I can make it.
This guy beeps again.
By the time Ty's like, okay, I'mgetting ready to, now the dude's
(20:07):
laying on his horn.
Well, I'm sitting there in thepassenger seat.
I come up out of the seat andI'm looking through the back
windshield, going to town onthis guy, um, letting him have
it.
He looks at me, gives me thiscome on signal, and opens his
door and starts getting out ofhis truck.
(20:28):
And I'm thinking, man, I'm in myfresh wind shirt, and I'm gonna
have to go punch this guy.
And he drives a truck, so he'sgonna win.
You know, I drive a traverse,I'm not winning that fight.
So I'm about to get my buttkicked here, but I'm gonna have
to at least try to punch him orkick him in the shins.
Something.
And then I think he saw in mymouth, I said he's 16 years old
(20:51):
and he shut his door, is I thinkwhat happened.
And Ty pulls out, and all that Itell you that because I pull
away, and for the next, like,I'm not kidding you, Tim, two,
three hours.
All I can think about was thatmoment with that guy.
And I'm like, man, if what whatwould it I have done if he had
gotten out of that car?
What would I have said in thatmoment?
(21:12):
And I would have told him this,and I would have told him that.
And all of a sudden you're like,hey, there's that malice.
That's what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_03 (21:19):
I found it.
I found it.
And we all have a little bit ofthat uh in us, and that's why
it's so dangerous, and that'swhy we need to confess it and
keep it out of us.
Because someone else, someoneelse, not even you, can fire
that up to where it takescontrol of you.
(21:40):
And that's why Malice um whenthe Disney character made
Malibescent, is that how you sayyour name?
SPEAKER_01 (21:50):
I know what you're talking about.
I don't know.
SPEAKER_03 (21:52):
She she was hurt, they embarrassed her um when she
was young, and you put a curseon the baby and that whole
thing.
And that's what they weretalking about.
You know, that's in us, and itjust grew and grew until she was
a monster.
And we need to understand thatthat little bit in us that makes
(22:17):
you freak out when someone'sbeeping at your kid is something
that someone else can useagainst you.
SPEAKER_01 (22:25):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (22:26):
And that someone is Satan, and he is looking for
those things in our lives so hecan put a ring in our nose and
lead us around.
SPEAKER_01 (22:34):
You mentioned on Sunday that so I mean, you know,
I think there's there'sdifferent sources of malice,
right?
Where it where it comes from inour life, and um some of it, you
know, in this Disney character,it was external.
Something some things thathappened to her and that grew
up.
Um you mentioned some others, uhyou know, culturally, we're
(22:58):
right, we're this culture, we'rethe get even culture.
Um and so that's part of it.
SPEAKER_03 (23:05):
Um your team.
That's another one.
Uh your team.
Um I heard someone say comingout pointed to her husband and
said he wants the otherquarterbacks to get hurt.
And sometimes, you know, ourteam leads us to that.
(23:28):
Um but yeah, culturally we'rewe're just we're in a team.
Uh look what happened at 9-11.
You know, boom, brought down thethe buildings, the whole country
was like, who was it?
Yeah, yeah.
We're all everybody assigned.
We had football players leavethe NFL to join um join the
(23:52):
army.
Yeah, we had uh, you know, whenyour team gets hurt, it'll bring
up your malice.
And uh unfortunately, you know,a whole country can get steered
by it and uh not do the rightthing or even the wise thing in
the middle of it.
Yeah, we're all gonna getrevenge, but on who?
(24:14):
We're just waiting for someoneto raise their hand and say,
pick me.
Yeah.
And I feel like that that wholething back then was basically we
were overrun with malice.
And we need leaders that can laythat down and make the right
decision.
SPEAKER_01 (24:34):
One of the ones that you brought up that is a little
less obvious, maybe, is um thatthat some of it is stuff that
we've we've internalized, um,and then there's stuff that
that's not even our ownthoughts.
Right, you know, and and yousaid there are some things that
(24:56):
some thoughts that you entertainthat are not who you are.
Um but like you're saying, theenemy whispers these thoughts
into our ears, um so that hecan.
He can drag us around and pullus into this mess and pull us
deeper into that anger and thatbitterness and that resentment
until we begin to lose control.
(25:18):
Um and all of a sudden we'llstep back and be like, man, what
did I just say?
How did I go that far?
Right.
What did I just do?
Um and it's it's this root of ofmalice in our in our life that
we have not taken the time todig up.
You know, I I don't even knowhow this happened.
(25:42):
I walked outside.
We had been pulling some weeds,getting ready for a birthday
party for our kids, and I wentback in the house.
And when I went back outside,like 30, 45 minutes later, there
was this weed puller tool leanedup against my shed.
No idea where it came from.
I've never bought one in mylife.
(26:02):
Here it was.
I don't know if a neighbor sawme out there on my hands and
knees pulling weeds, was like,this guy needs some help.
But they didn't knock on thedoor, didn't tell me whose it
was.
I don't know who to return itto, other than just start
knocking on all my neighbors'doors.
Or if God just dropped it fromheaven.
I don't know.
Here it was.
But man, this thing, you stickit in the ground, you step on
it, and you pull back on it, andit just starts ripping weeds
(26:26):
out.
You don't even got to bend down.
I'm like, where has this been mywhole life?
I don't know.
I want one to I'll be praying.
One shows up at your shed.
No, I want that one.
You want this one?
That's envy.
We're gonna talk about that too.
SPEAKER_03 (26:41):
That's right, we're talking about that.
SPEAKER_01 (26:43):
But man, we we need a little bit of that when it
comes to this malice.
You know, we need somethingthat's gonna rip this thing out.
Yeah.
Um, because if not, it it getscontrol and and you look up and
you're like, there's just a pathof destruction behind you that
you didn't even know you werecapable of.
SPEAKER_03 (27:01):
This kind of plays into what Paul was talking about
in Corinthians, that um we don'tbattle against flesh and blood,
but we're or we don't wage warwith um carnal weapons or or
natural weapons that we wage warin the spirit, and that we have
(27:22):
to tear down these strongholdsin our life.
Now, when I used to preach thatwhen I was younger, I used to
get a big stuffed animal like astuffed bear or something, and
I'd take uh PVC and I'd make alittle U and then I would sew it
in the back of the bear so itlooked like a handle.
Right?
(27:43):
And I said, This'll probably ummake more sense to you when we
talk about strongholds, becausestrongholds what he's what he's
talking about, he's building acastle uh that has to be torn
down uh in your heart and mind.
But I I think that symbologyworks with my little teddy bear
because there's a handle on yourlife where Satan can get a
(28:08):
strong hold on you and malice isone of 'em.
And if you there's no way uhthat handle's sticking out of
you all the time.
And if he knows, if you'vereacted and he says there's
something there, he's gonna he'sgonna work on building it.
(28:29):
He's gonna work on uh what hecan do to have a person um who's
kind of like the person you'remad at, you know, embarrass you,
do stuff to you.
He's planning so that he has ahe's has a strong hold on your
life.
Those things have to be rippedout.
(28:52):
And the way the way we do it isby taking every thought and
making it obedient to Christ.
And when we read that, we thinkI need to take every one of my
thoughts.
No, no, not every one of yourthoughts.
(29:12):
Every thought, every thoughtthat comes out of that YouTube
video, every thought that comesout of that TikTok, every
thought that's coming over theradio, on TV, your thoughts, and
every thought that Satan putsinto your mind has to be rung
(29:34):
through and made obedient toChrist.
And and that's the only way thatwe can not just get rid of
malice, but keep it out, is tosay, Hey, you know what?
I feel like I want to kill thatguy who's beeping at my son.
I feel like I wanna I I just Iwanna, I know I'm gonna lose.
(29:59):
But I I want to protect my son.
I want him to know I'm standingup for him and who is this guy?
Who does he think he is?
And you need to run that throughthe filter in what's what's
obedient to Christ.
That man behind you beeping thathorn is made in my image.
What if something terriblehappens?
(30:20):
And you knock him out and henever wakes up and he never gets
a chance to profess me.
I'm sorry, I'm going back to thewrong thing.
SPEAKER_01 (30:28):
Yeah, this has gotten deep, man.
I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_03 (30:31):
To profess me as his savior and Lord.
We need to understand that Goddoes not think this way about
people even when they deserveit.
He thinks, I want to save youbefore you have to face your
consequences.
And and we have to take allthose thoughts, and I'm telling
(30:52):
you, you I don't think youunderstand because we've
naturalized our walk.
It's it's about my willpower andmy knowledge of the Bible, and
this is how I live my Christianlife.
No we do not fight with naturalweapons.
(31:16):
And you're trying to fight withnatural weapons.
We have a spiritual battle goingon, and somebody's whispering
you thoughts all the time thatare contrary to being obedient
to Christ.
SPEAKER_01 (31:26):
You talk about the algorithm a lot.
Scripture tells us that ourenemy, Satan, prowls around like
a roaring lion, seeking those todevour.
He is the original algorithmbuilder against you.
He has been watching, he hasbeen waiting, he sees the things
that push your buttons.
(31:46):
Um and then he builds up thisalgorithm.
And when those things come up,he's like, Oh, I can pull on
this string and I can push, anduh, they're a little, they're a
little uptight, a littleoverwhelmed today.
If I just have this thing here,um it'll set them off.
SPEAKER_03 (32:05):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (32:06):
And he this is what he does.
He he seeks to steal, kill, anddestroy.
That's who he is.
Um, you talked on something,he's he's a liar and a deceiver.
This is this is who we're we'regoing to to war against.
And so when he speaks, thesethings, and I and I love how
(32:26):
Paul says this, he says, youtake every thought captive and
make it obedient to Christ.
Like there is it's verb, it'saction.
It doesn't just happen.
And it's not even just readingscripture that does it.
That's important, but then it'staking my thoughts that I have,
and now I have to force them tobe obedient to scripture, be
(32:49):
obedient to God's word.
There's we can't be passive inthis fight, you know.
It I I've got to engage in thisso that I take every thought
that comes, and like you said,not not just my thoughts, every
thought that comes my way.
And I have to make it obedientto Christ.
What does God's word say aboutthis?
What does God think about thissituation?
(33:10):
What does God think about thatperson that I'm I'm plotting my
revenge against?
What would God want to happen inthat situation, in that
relationship?
And I got to start making all ofthose thoughts obedient to
Christ.
SPEAKER_03 (33:25):
And when we look at this, we think, man, it's a
mountain.
But that passage of scripture isfound in uh 2 Corinthians
chapter 10.
And we need there's a there's apart of it that we that we leave
out.
And I think that is also asatanic attack.
We won't get into that though.
Um it's just I'm just gonna readyou the verses we're talking
(33:47):
about.
Verse 4 says, the weapons wefight with are not the weapons
of the world.
On the contrary, we have divinepower to demolish strongholds.
What we're saying here, this isnot an act of your will.
I'm not gonna think like that.
(34:08):
I'm not gonna, I'm going to makethis obedient to Christ.
A lot of times we can we canmake that in our head, you know,
God doesn't want me to thinklike this, but it never reaches
our heart.
We have divine power.
There is no reason why you can'ttear this out of you.
(34:30):
There is no reason.
Satan can't stop you.
All you have to say in Jesus'name, I tear this out.
I confess it as sin and I rejectit.
And nobody can stop you.
Satan can't stop you.
You have divine power.
The Holy Spirit lives inside ofyou.
This is a this is a spiritualthing.
(34:54):
It's not a worldly thing.
Quit trying to resist thatthought or that thing, rip it
out and resist the devil tryingto stir it up in you again.
That's b that's how you do itwith divine power.
And uh, we need to keep givingit up every time it comes up,
(35:14):
and pretty soon um Satan willknow that every time he tries to
get you fired up and go in thisdirection, yell at your kids and
embarrass them, uh, which is theworst thing you can do and to
your kids, especially if youwant them to uh grow up in the
grace and knowledge of the LordJesus Christ.
(35:35):
You gotta stop that.
And the way to stop it is tosay, hey, I'm not gonna do that
anymore in Jesus' name.
I tear this stronghold out, I'mnot gonna do it anymore, and
then pray.
And then Satan realizes everytime I try to lead, grab his
nose ring, and pull him aroundon this, he ends up praying, I'm
gonna go somewhere else.
(35:56):
I'm done.
Yeah, I'm gonna find somethingelse.
SPEAKER_01 (35:58):
Yeah, I man, I I was talking to uh a buddy of mine
the other day, and he's justwrestling through some stuff,
and you know, he's he'sstruggling with some of these
ideas and these thoughts, andhe's like, Man, how do how have
I become the kind of guy that'sI gotta convince myself that's
(36:19):
not who I am?
I was like, what are you talkingabout?
I said, for the past two orthree weeks, you've been
fighting and wrestling with thisthing, proving that that's not
who you are.
I said, the devil's losing hisgrip.
I said, every time thosethoughts come, every time you
have that outside pressure, thatinfluence, that whatever it is
(36:41):
in in your situation, and you,you know, you pray or you don't
act on it, or you begin to go toGod's word and say, God, what do
you have to say about this?
Every time you you turn thatfrom you know fear or whatever,
and and now you just begin to toworship, Satan loses his grip,
and you prove this is not who Iam, and it doesn't matter how
(37:05):
many times you bring it againstme.
And so to even say, Well, youknow, how do I gotta you give
too much weight to the devil?
Absolutely, he's powerless overyou.
You have divine power.
And I I told him, I was like,buddy, you're you're in the last
rounds of this fight becausethis isn't fun anymore.
Right.
It was fun when I could whisperthings into your ear and get you
(37:27):
all riled up, but now you pray.
Now you go to God's word infront of the enemy.
SPEAKER_03 (37:35):
Now you sink count, you seek counsel.
SPEAKER_01 (37:37):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (37:37):
And these are the things that um you're gonna have
to go through.
You cannot let Satan build acastle in your territory.
That's right.
You have to tear it down.
And it's and sometimes um you'retrying to decide, is is that me
or is that him?
I guarantee you, I guaranteeyou, it's 90%.
(38:02):
If you ask that question, if youeven ask it, then you know it's
him.
You know it's him.
Because what he wants is for youto think it's you.
So if all of a sudden you askthis question, is that me?
Then it's it's ninety-nine pointnine percent sure not you.
(38:22):
Yeah.
And that that is the that is theproblem that he wants to make it
you if you receive it.
Don't receive it.
And this is the thing.
He always starts from thatbranch.
No, this is you, this is whatyou feel like.
So I think uh I don't want tomake too big of this.
(38:44):
We're making we're making toobig.
So let's uh let's just go likethis and I'll pray.
Uh we need to be a people whosees this in our hearts and rips
it out in the name of Jesus andthen goes on with our life.
We need to be the the Christiansthat recognize that we have an
(39:09):
enemy, and that enemy is tryingto destroy us.
So don't let him convince youit's you.
You have a brand new life inJesus Christ, and you simply
say, in the name of Jesus, Itear down this stronghold, I
tear it out, and all thosethoughts, I'm gonna compare them
(39:29):
to Jesus' thoughts, and Jesus isgonna win.
And when you do that, you don'tsecond guess yourself.
You'll be doing it tomorrow, andthen you'll be doing it the next
day, and then pretty soon thatthing will be dug out
completely, and just make sureyou thank the Lord for it when
(39:50):
you're done.
Lord, thank you for showing methat, because that's exactly
what's happening.
Thank you for letting me know Ihad a big ring in my nose and
helping me take it out.
And if there's any other ringsanywhere around, Lord, you know,
let me find those two.
And this is how you grow.
unknown (40:10):
Yep.
SPEAKER_03 (40:11):
And pretty soon those things, uh a year from
now, those things that youstruggled with today, you'll
think, did I struggle with that?
I can't remember.
I think I I think I did, but Ican't even remember what
happened now.
And that's that's where that'show you grow.
And and you won't remember.
(40:32):
That's why I always say um youneed a little journal for when
you win those battles, you know,uh, so you can look back and
say, hey, you know what?
I was in that too.
I'm not in it anymore.
And let me give you hope.
SPEAKER_01 (40:46):
Yeah, and scripture tells us that the God of all
comfort comforts us so that wecan comfort others in their time
of need.
And so one day, God's gonna usethis battle so that He can He
can comfort somebody else goingthrough it, He can provide them
hope while they're sitting therestruggling, trying to figure out
how they're gonna get throughthis thing and let that
bitterness go.
(41:06):
And you're gonna come alonginside and say, Man, I know
exactly what you're talkingabout.
This is what God did for me.
SPEAKER_03 (41:13):
I think um we need to get serious about this stuff,
and we need to get serious aboutmalice fast because deceit's
coming up on Sunday.
SPEAKER_01 (41:25):
Well, with that, Pastor Tim, why don't you pray
for us?
SPEAKER_03 (41:29):
Father, I want to thank you that you have given us
divine power over these things.
But Lord, we have to dig downdeep and find those things.
Um, we want you to search ourheart and find any wicked way in
us.
And I know that's what you'redoing as you bring these things
out, as you've led us to thispassage of scripture to preach
(41:51):
to the people here at A FreshWind, that you're gonna reach
down in there and say, Hey, seethis ring?
We need to rip that out.
See this little castle in yourterritory?
We need to tear the enemy out ofthere.
And Father, as we begin to dothat in faith, that you'll make
us grow.
(42:11):
As we take away the barriers toour growth, that we'll grow.
And thank you, Father, for thispassage of scripture that
reaches right down into ourheart and helps us grow in
Jesus' name.
unknown (42:25):
Amen.
Amen.
SPEAKER_00 (42:26):
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
(42:50):
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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Are You A Charlotte?
In 1997, actress Kristin Davis’ life was forever changed when she took on the role of Charlotte York in Sex and the City. As we watched Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte navigate relationships in NYC, the show helped push once unacceptable conversation topics out of the shadows and altered the narrative around women and sex. We all saw ourselves in them as they searched for fulfillment in life, sex and friendships. Now, Kristin Davis wants to connect with you, the fans, and share untold stories and all the behind the scenes. Together, with Kristin and special guests, what will begin with Sex and the City will evolve into talks about themes that are still so relevant today. "Are you a Charlotte?" is much more than just rewatching this beloved show, it brings the past and the present together as we talk with heart, humor and of course some optimism.
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.