Why Not You? Embracing Your God-Given Dream with Pastor Ed Newton

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Hi, and welcome back to FaithFueled Living.
This is your host, Kristen.
Today I have an exceptionalguest interview for you with Pastor
Ed Newton of Community BibleChurch of San Antonio, Texas.
You guys today, this episodeis powerful.
It's honest, it's vulnerable.
And I hope that it is going tobe those words of encouragement that

(00:21):
you need to be reminded thatGod is calling you into a God dream.
God is calling you intopurpose, into greater things.
And much like Ed's book says,why not you?
He's calling each of us in to something.
He's calling each of us intomoments, into decades, into dreams
that we are going to partnerwith him and be able to do miracles,

(00:46):
to be able to show the worldwho Christ is through and in us.
And I cannot wait to sharethis episode with you because I believe
it's going to put a firewithin you that will just allow you
to step into more of what Godhas for you.
Welcome to Faith FueledLiving, the podcast that equips you
to live well spiritually,emotionally, physically, and purposefully.

(01:07):
Each week, we'll dive intoconversations and biblical truths
to help you strengthen yourfaith, pursue meaningful work, hear
for your whole self, and livein line with what matters most.
Hi.
Today on the podcast, I wouldlike to welcome our guest to the
show, Dr. Ed Newton.
He's the lead pastor ofCommunity Bible Church in San Antonio,
Texas.
He's known for his dynamicpreaching and his passion for people.
He also leads one of thelargest and most influential churches

(01:29):
in the region.
And he has a heart foroutreach and discipleship.
And he seeks to inspire everyperson to receive the good news of
Jesus, but also to be the goodnews of Jesus.
And we're also going to talkabout his new book that's called
why not yout?
And he's also the podcast hostof the Ed Newton Podcast and the
why not you Podcast.
And I'm excited because, youknow, this is a topic I talk about

(01:50):
often, you know, similarthemes, which is we're all called
everything we do is ourministry for God in our lives.
And so I'm just excitedbecause I think this conversation
is going to inspire you.
I think it's going toencourage you, and I hope it puts
a little bit of a fire withinyou to do even more of what God is
calling each of us to do inour own lives in, in different seasons.
And so I'm just excited and I,I, I'm getting goosebumps, actually.

(02:13):
I hope that it's just going tobe one of those things that is a
memorable conversation for you.
So.
So, Ed, welcome to the show.
Thank you so much.
It's an honor.
And I really appreciate youinviting me on.
Absolutely.
I really enjoyed going throughyour book, or I guess your upcoming
book, and listening to some ofyour podcast episodes and sermons.
And so I definitely got a feelfor kind of how you approach faith

(02:39):
and pastoring and things like that.
So, first of all, just thankyou for the work you do, because
I know it is not an easy callto be a pastor or to be in ministry,
and I think it never is, probably.
Don't be wrong.
I don't mean it's notfulfilling, but it is not an easy
call.
I know that there's a lotbehind the scenes, and there's a
lot of burdens.
Right.
You carry because of thepeople that you are there to.

(03:01):
To help and to lift up andencourage and just to point to Jesus.
So, first of all, just thankyou for that.
No, thank you.
It means a lot.
Obviously, pastoring today isnot for the faint of heart.
No, no.
I know.
I see people.
I. I see pastors, you know,ministers, whoever that I.
That I know or follow often,and they're like, you know, if you
look at the data on the numberthat leave, it's, you know, it's

(03:24):
not great.
So, first of all, you know, Iget it.
We all have a lot going on inour lives, but, you know, just.
We do need to just support ourpastors as best we can.
So.
Yeah.
So thanks.
Okay, so first, why don't youjust tell us maybe a little bit more
than that little short bio I told.
I shared with the audience.
Like, just tell us a littlebit about life at your church.
I know you have a very large church.

(03:44):
And then about the book andwhy that was on your heart.
Yeah.
Our church is here in SanAntonio, Texas, and I was a traveling
evangelist for several years,13 years to be exact.
And then this church,Community Bible Church, was started
in 1990.
And in 2016, the pastor,Pastor Robert Emmett, called me and

(04:05):
asked me to be the pastor ofthis church.
And so I became pastor in 2016.
And so I came off the road asa primary, middle school, high school,
Bible preacher, travelingevangelist, and took my very first
pastorate job at a church thatwas one of the largest churches in
America.
And so for a guy that neverhad led a staff team before to inherit

(04:28):
379 staff members, oh, my gosh.
So all that to say, it wastrial by fire, and God began to,
I think, purify my heart inregards to what matters and how to
live for his approval and notthe acceptance of people.
So I. I worked through a lotof the things that you probably picked

(04:51):
up in the book, which wasimposter syndrome, and just a lot
of the things that really,what does a person do when they face
criticism?
And what if fake it till youmake it doesn't work because you
feel like you're fake andyou're not going to make it.
And all of that came out of that.
But grateful for my wife,we've been married 27 years.

(05:11):
Grateful for my kids, we gotfour kids between 17 years old and
22 years old.
And I'm grateful for thischurch that's loved me through.
I just made a recent post.
I just turned 50, and I justmade a recent post.
And I said thank to our church.
I said, thank you for loving me.
Thank you for loving methrough my anxiety.

(05:33):
Thank you for loving methrough my depression.
Thank you for loving methrough moments where I didn't want
to live anymore.
Thank you for loving me when Icussed from the stage.
So just thank you for lovingme for me.
Because I don't think guyslike me would have made it in other
churches.
So, as a dear friend of minesays that CBC is what we call our

(05:54):
church is like the right fitfor the misfits, and I'm one of them,
so.
Well, I think aren't we all,in our own way, right?
I mean, you know, we all mightlook different, we all might talk
different and whatnot, but weall have.
We all bring our burdens.
Right?
And we bring our backgrounds.
And so.
So I love that.
Thanks for sharing that.
And I did wonder how manystaff or how many people you had
on staff, so I'm glad youshared that.
And, yeah, that's not a smallstaff, as we know.

(06:16):
So I can imagine how you werefeeling coming into that from never
having, you know, even had a,you know, a staff at all, probably.
Right?
I mean, if you were on theroad, I love that.
Okay.
So, yeah, there are so manythemes and so many good nuggets in.
In your book, but I guess Iwasn't really sure where I was going

(06:37):
to start.
But I guess I would say thefirst thing is I've had so many podcast
episodes that are about tocome out.
Some are about healing, alldifferent topics.
But.
But what strikes me about yourbook and about what you just said,
imposter syndrome, and usfeeling like we're not enough for
what God maybe wants to do inthe world, is that we.
We come with not believing.

(06:57):
Like, our belief is not big enough.
And yet I feel like the morewe hear these people's testimonies,
of course, Right.
About whatever it is, likewalking through something, testimonies
of salvation, testimonies of healing.
But that builds our faith up.
I mean, of course, reading theBible, but so what would you just
share with us?
Because I think at the end ofthe day, for me, that's the theme
that keeps coming up, which iswe might believe in God, but it's

(07:19):
when we allow our belief to.
To wipe everything else outthat he literally will do and set
do the things he says, and hewill give us the promises and the
blessings he says he will.
Yeah, I think for me, I, I hadbig faith.
I really did and still do.
I just had big faith for youand everybody else, but not for me.

(07:40):
Right.
And.
And I think that's the, like,I, I mean, this.
I, I believed in faith thatGod could raise the dead.
I believed in faith that.
That God could heal the sick.
I believed in faith that Godcould give somebody that job or whatever
they came to me and asked meto pray for.
I, I prayed with fervor, believing.
But when it came to me, that's.

(08:01):
That's where I was like, man,God could do this for everybody else,
but not me.
And I think that's the momentwhere I really began to wrestle with,
do I really believe that Godcan do this for me?
And what is it that's actuallylimiting how I actually am being

(08:21):
loved by the Father?
So God didn't stop being goodand God didn't stop being big.
It's just the fact that Ibelieved all of that to be true for
you, but not for me, because Iallowed the things in me to.
And what has happened to meand what other people said about
me and what I felt within mejust speak louder than what God was

(08:42):
trying to tell me.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, I know in the book youtalk in one area, you know, that
too many of us have a low viewof God and ourselves, but I think
what you're saying is that wecan also sometimes get in a place
where we just have a low viewof one or the other.
Right.
So we might have a belief thatGod can do it all, but we don't have
a belief that we're worthy orwhatever it might be.

(09:04):
What would you just say to that?
Because I think some of usmight get stuck with both of it,
all of it.
But some of us are gettingstuck in one of those two places.
Yeah, we end up in one of oneof those places.
And sometimes it is both.
It is like a low view of Godand a low view of self which leads
to a pit of despair.
To be honest with you.
Where you go, it's just alwaysgoing to be this way.

(09:26):
And I think for me it wasn'tlike it's always going to be this
way.
It was more along the linesof, can I ever get to what I know
God has for me, but I don'tknow how to get there.
I don't know.
And it required, in my effortof trying to compartmentalize the
insecurities and theinsufficiencies and like, let me

(09:48):
work on my weaknesses to proveeverybody wrong that has said whatever
they've said about me and thethings that I actually believed about
me because I didn't perform acertain way or I didn't get that
GPA or I couldn't pass thesat, and all those things that were
said along, along thisjourney, I allowed them to become

(10:11):
defining moments for me,actually defining my identity.
And when you don't, this isthe key concept.
So many times in the discoveryof ourself, we begin with ourself
and we don't begin with God.
And that's the hard part.
So we're like, okay.
And yes, discover yourselfbecause we have to ask the question,

(10:34):
what's it like to be on theother side of me?
And I never really asked thatquestion until about maybe seven
years ago.
What's it like to be on theother side of me?
What's my tone like when I speak?
And what's my timing when Isay certain phrases, phrases and
words?
And what's my tactfulness ordo I, do I lack tactfulness and do
I have discretion or do I justspeak unfiltered?

(10:54):
And does my passion getmisunderstood as anger or am I inspiring
or am I confusing?
And so you create a self imageof yourself that's not real because
you haven't taken a moment toask the question to people that you
dearly love.

(11:15):
That's a safe place.
You would never want to askthat on Facebook just randomly.
But it's just a moment whereyou go to the people that know you
love you and are committed tothe journey with you.
What's it like to be on theother side of me?
And it's a scary questionbecause people can go like, you're
really self deprecating andyou use humor to actually make fun

(11:41):
of yourself so you can fit in.
Or you use phrases like I'm so dumb.
Does that make sense?
Yeah.
You don't even know you'redoing it.
And then I began to.
So, God, you're good.
God, you're faithful.
God, you make no mistakes.
So if you made no mistake, I'mnot a mistake.

(12:03):
So why do I keep feeling likeI'm a mistake when you make no mistake.
So.
So then I'm going to trust thefact that you speak in various ways.
You speak through various.
Like, you speak throughcreation, you speak through scripture,
you speak through prayer.
You actually speak through people.
And let me just ask sometrusted people in my life and man,
I. I remember a moment ofrevelation going, oh, my goodness,

(12:24):
I'm a chronic complainer.
Wow.
Yeah, I'm a chronic complainer.
And.
And so I.
Then I realized, like, Ireally do, for example, this water
bottle.
I really do look at this water bottle.
Half empty and not half full.
Right, Right.
My whole life was.

(12:45):
Is what's missing and notwhat's there.
And.
And then I'm like, why?
Why do I think that way?
And then through counselingand through some professional coaching
to two different people in mylife, nature, nurture became the
primary for me.
Like, nature is who you are,how you're wired, your personality

(13:10):
profiles, all those things.
And I think it's importantthat every person understands that,
and there's a lot of those out there.
But I'm not a big fan ofpersonality profiles that label you
in such a way that do not takeinto account what actually contextually
is going around you and whereyou've come from.
And so I'm not a big fan ofpersonality profiles.
Like, that said, this is whoyou are and you will always be this.

(13:33):
Right.
That's nature.
Nurture is man.
I grew up in a home where bothof my parents were deaf.
My mom had cerebral palsy.
I'm an only child.
I was an interpreter for myparents my whole life until they
passed away.
I grew up in governmentsubsidized housing.

(13:53):
And so all those things,whether I like them or not or embrace
them or not, is a part of thecrock pot of who I am.
Yeah.
And I didn't really get to thebottom of that crock pot of understanding.
Like, okay, wow, I think thisway or feel this way, because that's
in my crock pot.

(14:14):
Right.
But instead of that souringthe stew, could it be a seasoning
for the stew that actually makes.
Makes my life what it is?
So.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
I mean, a couple things whenyou were saying that, you know, one
is, I don't think so many ofus realize that we're speaking or
thinking negative thoughts orthoughts that God wouldn't say of

(14:38):
us, right.
Which you address in the book.
And like you said, you mightnot have been doing that to other
people so much because as apastor, right, you were trying to
encourage them and lead themin the Word, but you brought that
in from your whole life, right?
Like, you just kept that sameconstruct of what was going on there.
So that's the first thing Iwas thinking of.
And that we obviously can.
And we can talk about thatmore, but we can replace those words,

(14:58):
right?
We can replace that language.
And we have to.
Right?
It might take time and itmight take counseling, but we have
to do that.
The next is growth does nothappen in comfort, right?
You talk about that in the book.
And it's so true.
It doesn't.
Nobody wants to walk throughfeeling horrible or getting to a
place of, you know, despair orhopelessness or depression.

(15:20):
And obviously, if we canaddress this before then, I mean,
not that you chose that.
I'm saying that's good.
But to your point, sometimeswe have to be uncomfortable for us
to actually start looking andasking questions and seeing what
do we need to unearth or whatdoes God need to unearth in us?
Where does he need to changeour heart?
You know, So I think that's.
That's another thing.

(15:41):
But, yeah, I mean, it's, it'sso good.
And you are, you're justreally open and vulnerable in the
book.
You know what you talk aboutpeople we need to be with, with people
we trust and can, can confide in.
And I think that it startsthere, right?
I mean, because you have tobring it to the table, right?
Whatever we're going through.
And then we say, how can weput ourselves back together the way

(16:01):
God sees us?
That's great.
Absolutely.
So true.
So one of the things, youknow, you definitely talk about in
the book, he's first of all, our.
Everything you just talkedabout, everything you, you grew up,
you know, having to be theinterpreter for your parents.
You know, nobody asked for ourpast, nobody asked for our environment,

(16:21):
whether it was good or bad,whether it was hard or easy, whether
your parents got divorced.
But everything in our past,every experience we've had, all of
it is preparing us, right?
And God will use it in our future.
It doesn't mean we need tostay and stuck in that lens, but
we.
He will use it, right, for thebenefit of others in our future.

(16:42):
Whether it's something youwalk through, like depression, had
you never walked through that,you can't have that experience to
help Someone in the futurethat's walked through that.
Right.
I haven't personally walkedthrough that, although I have sad.
You know, my son.
I've had a son that's walkedthrough it, which is.
Was very hard, but.
Right.
But we.
Me not having walked throughthat, I couldn't have talked to another
parent about that or known howthat felt as a parent, to walk through

(17:04):
what felt like despair for me.
And so, you know, first I'dsay, what would you share with us
about taking all the thingsthat we've gone through, our experiences,
because sometimes we don'tunderstand that those hard things,
the broken times in our lives,will be used if we allow them to
be used for God's good.
And it goes back to what I wassaying earlier.

(17:25):
I think when we recognize the.
The goodness of God, eventhough my circumstances may not reveal
that they feel good.
Yeah, I may not be goingthrough something right now that
feels good, but when Irecognize that God is always working
for my good, then it allows meto actually.

(17:47):
And this is what I talk aboutin the book, to flip the frame and
we can go down this road.
And I think it's importantthat we all have cognitive biases
because of our nature,nurture, and our cognitive bias is
basically telling us that thisis how I should respond to what's
happening to me internally and externally.

(18:08):
If I feel bad.
And I.
And this is the truth, like,if I don't feel good, then I don't
think good.
And if I don't think good, Idon't behave good.
That's the pattern of my life.
Like, if I don't feel good,then I'm not thinking really good.
And if I'm not thinking reallygood, then you can pretty much guarantee
that I'm not going to say alot of things that are good, and
I'm not going to do a lot ofthings that are good.

(18:30):
So is it possible not to beheld hostage to my feelings?
And the answer to that is yes,and you could go, so how do I not
get hostage by my feelings?
And so it goes to SecondCorinthians, chapter 10, that talks
about taking every thought captive.
It's Colossians 3:16 that mymind should dwell richly on the words
of Christ, which means that Ireceive a new way of thinking.

(18:55):
That's why Romans 12:2 is so important.
Yeah, we know verse.
Verse two says, don't beconformed to the world.
And that's typically where wekind of like hammer down, preach
that deal, and go, don't beconformed to the world, but it goes.
But be transformed by therenewing of your mind.
Hello.
Ding, ding, ding, ding.
And you go, whoa.
So my mind can be renewed.

(19:15):
You're telling me that themental ruts of cognitive bias.
And cognitive bias is typically.
I've now learned how to deal.
Here's the psychological partof this is when something unexpected
happens, our body and our mindresponds in a way of fight, flight,

(19:35):
freeze, or leads to a positionof fear of some sort.
And I think for us, we kind oflook at things that happen and the
way our mind processes.
What happens to us externallyis it goes back almost in this retrieval
mode of, how did I respond tothat before?

(19:59):
So when some.
When something's alarming,that I've been through that multiple
times, then I don't freeze andI don't fight and I don't flee and
I don't whatever the otherresponses are, because cognitively,
I know how to respond to that.
It's the unknown to us.
Yeah.
That causes us to respond.
But let me go back to what Isaid earlier.

(20:20):
But what if I'm respondingincorrectly in a cognitive bias that.
Yeah, that's happened to memultiple times.
And my response to that is X,Y, or Z.
But what if X, Y, or Z is wrong?
And I'm going to give an example.
Okay.
I was.
I was running and I got chasedby a dog.

(20:40):
True story.
And it was kind of a really,like, I thought I was gonna get injured
by this rottweiler that jumpedoff a porch and chased me.
And then a moment where Ifinally escaped from this dog because
I crossed over an intersectionand didn't choose to follow me anymore.
Here's a cognitive biasbecause of that experience that I

(21:04):
still to this day live by.
Unfortunately, that every timeI'm on a run and I see a dog, that
dog is bad.
That dog wants to hurt me.
That dog, if possible, willchase me.
So when I see a dog, Iimmediately feel something in me
that has caused me to crossover the other side when I see it

(21:27):
coming.
Or what if I were to take itto this extreme?
Then I am never going to runoutside ever again.
And I'm going to only run ontreadmills or take it a step further.
Running is what I'll never do again.
Doesn't matter if I enjoydoing it.
I've allowed that oneexperience to develop a neural pathway

(21:48):
of a response.
And that's where I think manypeople don't even realize what I
was saying.
Many people don't even knowwhat they're doing.
Saying, because no one hasever looked at them and said, hey,
your response to that isactually unhealthy.
That's right.
And that's the cognitive bias.
Reality.
And I think for me, that'swhat I started getting down to the
root of and then believing.

(22:09):
If my neural pathways of myresponse, which is not correct, can
that be changed?
And the answer to that is yes.
But who changes it?
The Lord.
And he renews my mind.
So how do I renew my mind?
And that is by actuallyPhilippians, chapter four says.
Says this to us, that thesethings are lovely, good, pure and

(22:32):
true, that we are to dwell onthese things.
And it's like my old youthpastor used to say, garbage in, garbage
out.
And here's the truth.
So if we want to have rightthinking and not, as my youth pastor
said, stinking thinking, thenwe have to choose what to let in

(22:55):
and what and what not to be.
Let's try.
I'm not trying to belegalistic, but we have to be careful
with what we watch, what welisten to, what we expose ourselves
to, the things that we dabblein, the things that we don't even
know, they can seem reallyinnocent, but our mind is retaining
this, and our bodies areabsorbing this, and it could lead

(23:17):
to some unhealthiness.
And I was living in that spacenot because I was doing something
illegal or moral, but I justwasn't believing correctly about
myself.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
So anyway, I hope that helps.
That's so good.
I mean, for instance, in thelast couple years, I've had to tell
my husband, you know, like, Ican't watch this show that you want

(23:40):
to watch, because, like, don'tget me wrong, I still watch action
shows.
He wants to watch CIA, whatever.
But I'm like, yeah, but thisgoes beyond the limit for me.
Like, too many people looklike they're going to get taken out.
Like, I just have these thingswhere I'm like, every episode we
watched, last three episodesseems darker to me.
I'm like, I'm out.
I'm done.
Like, he's Mike still be okaywatching it, But I've just had to
keep putting up differentboundaries for myself because I start

(24:03):
to see how it makes me feel.
Right?
Or content.
You know, I might read anarticle and it's a really good article,
but then I'll read another one.
I'll be like, wait, but am Istarting to allow this to take over
my thoughts?
You know?
And so I have to say, okay, Ineed to put a better boundary up
about this.
Like, not, you Know, it's kindof the whole.
If people leave on the TV newsall the time, I don't really watch

(24:23):
even the TV news at this point.
But you know, it's like youjust have to, to your point, you
do really need to payattention to what you're putting
in.
But in.
In what?
In what's coming out.
But I think so many people,like you said, are on autopilot.
We don't even realize thethings we're saying about ourselves,
whether it's in our minds orverbally or both.
And we don't even realize theway we're interacting with the world.

(24:44):
Right, because we talk about,you know, believing different and
we really want to have, youknow, kingdom vision.
But a lot of us are just,we're just operating from our own
perspective.
We're not seeing ourselveslike you said it so well, from other
people's perspectives.
Like, what do they hear usspeaking of ourselves, what do they
hear us?
Like you said, you know, yougave examples of kind of how you

(25:05):
were operating in the worldand didn't even realize it because
you brought that in from somany years of different experiences.
And I think that's the firstthing is we have to become self aware
and then take those things andreplace that with God's truth, you
know, And I don't think, Ithink there's plenty of people that
still aren't doing that, thatI talk to.
You know, they, they haven'teven started down that path of not,

(25:27):
not.
They're probably readingscripture regularly, things like
that, but they're not actuallyreplacing the thoughts that are not
helping them, that areactually harming them.
They're not replacing those thoughts.
That's great.
And I think what ends uphappening is that we don't know what
to do with those thoughts thatsometimes are so prevalent because
nobody listens to you morethan you, and nobody talks to you

(25:52):
more than you.
If you're like me, you talkout loud to yourself.
So I'm constantly talking tome, right?
Nobody listen.
Nobody's talking more to methan me.
That's right.
And the question is, if lifeand power in the tongue, as the book
of Proverbs says, then what amI saying to myself and am I actually

(26:17):
becoming my own worst enemy?
And so, and for me, we usethis terminology of flipping the
frame.
It's not originalpsychologists and a lot of people
are using this.
But how I perceive this is thephrase I like to use.
How I perceive it or how I seeit is, is, determines how I perceive
it.
But what if how I perceive itis actually wrong?

(26:41):
So I have to flip the frame.
Right.
And how do I flip the frame?
Then I understand the goodnessof God.
The character of God istrustworthy and true.
And no matter how I feel it orperceive it or even see it, I have
to recognize that I have a Godthat's faithful to me, that's never

(27:03):
going to leave me nor forsakeme, fights every battle for me, does
not need to take a nap, doesnot need to be fed, that is sovereign
over the universe, and tellsme in Psalm 139, how vast are the
number of thoughts he hastowards me that are more numerous
than the grains of sand?
So if he thinks about me thatmuch, then I have to recognize he

(27:26):
really does have my bestinterest in mind.
And whatever he brings to meis for me.
And it's what you mentionedearlier, and it's Second Corinthians
that says that in our time ofaffliction, we find comfort from
God so that we could give thatcomfort to those that are going through
affliction.
And so typically, and this iswhat I would say to somebody that's

(27:47):
listening today, typically,through your greatest level of pain,
God gives your greatest levelof purpose.
Yeah, absolutely.
And he.
And he turns it for what theenemy used to destroy you with.
God redeems it, repurposes it,and all he's waiting for you to do
is.
Is reclaim it.
Yeah.
And not as the kryptonite ofyour soul, but ultimately God's giving

(28:11):
you power over it to walk in freedom.
And you can help somebody elsewalk in freedom as well.
Absolutely.
So good.
Yeah.
I mean, so the only otherthing I'd say about that, just about
the thoughts, the patterns,the perception, is I think sometimes,
and I talk about this maybetoo much on the podcast, on some
of my podcasts, but the mind,body, spirit connection is so much

(28:33):
more real than people realizein that what you speak into your
body changes your cells, itchanges your epigenetics and your
expression of what goes onphysically, mentally, and physically
in our bodies.
And.
And so we have to start, youknow, we do have to renew our minds.
We do have to take thosethings captive.
Because if you're saying toyourself all the time, you know,
for instance, women, right, wekind of get a bad rap.

(28:54):
But it's true.
They talk about physicalattributes, maybe more, maybe.
Maybe men do as much.
I don't know what the numberis on that.
But, you know, like, oh, youknow, I don't look good in this,
or I'm this.
But it's like you're speakingthose things that are not true.
Maybe you aren't where youwant to be.
But don't focus on the negative.
Focus on.
On the.
My body's strong or I'm.
I'm doing the right things toget where I want to be.

(29:15):
Right.
So I always try to reframe it.
Much like you said, flip the frame.
Because do not speak thosewords over yourself, you know, about
whatever it is you know.
You know, or I'm so broke.
Right.
I mean, people say a lot oftimes, financially, don't speak the
things you don't want intoyour life.
Into your life.
And so, you know, I would justremind people that it's so important
that we do try to speak to it,speak to ourselves and about ourselves

(29:38):
and about our situation in away that's going to bring us closer
to what we want and what Godhas for us, not what we feel like
where we're stuck.
That's great.
And for me, what I wouldalways say is it's not a.
It's not a self confidence,it's a God confidence.
And so the things that I'mchoosing to speak over myself are
not things that I'm making up.
The things that I'm speakingover myself is what God's already

(30:00):
said about me.
So all I'm doing is claimingwhat he has already said.
Absolutely.
Okay, so let's dig into alittle bit about the.
Why not you.
From the, you know, you talkabout there's good dreams, and those
are fine.
They may not happen, butthere's God dreams.
We all have them.
God is calling us into amazing things.
You know, I loved what yousaid in the book, and I have some

(30:21):
other pastors that talk about that.
I love what they say.
And the thing though is, is Ithink a lot of us put our dreams
on hold, even God dreams.
Or we just don't.
We're afraid.
We're afraid or we're hesitantbecause we're safe in our current
whatever we're doing.
So we don't take the firststep or the second step or any step,
or maybe we take steps, but westop ourselves.
So what can you just sharewith us to encourage us to be the

(30:44):
person that God is callinginto these big God says dreams that
he's put on our heart?
Yeah, absolutely.
I think what happens is a lotof people look at people who stand
on stage as their hostpodcast, like yourself, and they
go, oh, they're living intheir God dream, but that's just
for them because bydefinition, they're special.
We're all special in the eyesof God.

(31:05):
And I think what happens isthat people actually minimize that
their God dream can actuallybegin to be fulfilled.
In the book, I separate theidea between a good dream and a God
dream.
A good dream can actually bethwarted and stopped or fail a God
dream when it's his purposeand plan.
As Job 42, 2 says, his purposecannot be stopped.

(31:28):
So if he.
If he gives you the vision, hegives you the provision.
And walking in that vision ofwhat God's given you.
I'm reminded that 85% ofpeople don't even know why they're
on the earth.
I'm talking about Christians.
They don't even know why theywere actually put on this earth.
85%.
Yeah.
Crazy.
And it's staggering.

(31:48):
So there's two great days inthe life of a human, the day in which
they were born and the day inwhich, and I would say also three
days that you're born, dayyou're born again.
So let's kind of put that together.
But then it's the idea of whyyou were born.
So we always talk about, youknow, you've used this phrase, know
who you are, know whose you are.
And typically there's a period.
But I'm like, but how aboutknow the why you are?

(32:11):
Yeah, and that's what why notyou is all about, is really understanding
the why you are why not you isa statement of, yeah, I want to prophetically
say that over you, but I alsowant to say, why not me?
God's going to use somebody,why not me?
And that God dream, Psalm 37says, Delight yourself in the Lord.

(32:33):
He gives you the desires ofyour heart.
So many times I talk to a lotof young people like Pastor Ed.
How do I know that God dream?
Well, typically, here's acouple things you can do.
If you looked at theconcentric circle circles of your
life that as they divinelyintersect, some of the things that
you find great pleasure doing,like they give you life, like you

(32:55):
enjoy, and you feel a sense ofaccomplishment, like you're really
making a difference.
What is that?
Name it.
And then take, take.
So that would be your passions.
Then take what people havesaid about you, and that's another
circle.
And go actually listen to whatother people are trying to validate
in you.
And if you can remove thefilter of insecurity and actually

(33:16):
hear what they're saying andsee if there is a commonality of
like, oh, she said this, hesaid this, they said this.
And it's all the same thingthen really that's the validation
of what God's been trying totell you.
And then here's the thirdcircle that a lot of people don't
want to add into theconcentric circles is the places
of your deepest pain.

(33:37):
Because what God does in pain is.
It's what C.S.
lewis said.
God shouts through themegaphone with his voice in pain.
And when you face pain, Godjust has a way of shouting louder
sometimes in those momentsthan he does on the mountaintop.
And when we find ourselves inthose moments of pain, we have to

(33:59):
ask the question.
Not that you signed up forsomebody that's listening today for
what you faced, and youprobably wish you never went through
what you went through, butwhat if I were to tell you, if you
take what you've been throughand what God brought you out of,
take that in combination towhat other people were saying about
you and the passions withinyou, and that concentric red hot
circle of that actuallyreveals maybe the God dream that

(34:22):
he's putting inside of youthat ultimately brings him glory
and brings about a greatergood in someone else's life.
And I want to make thisstatement, and this is not in the
book, but there's a bigdifference between talent and anointing.
Talent is a gifting.
We've heard it.
When somebody sings on theVoice, we're like, talented.

(34:46):
But when somebody leadsworship in a declarative, anthemic
song that proclaims thegoodness of God through a woman's
voice or a man's voice thatyou know personally, that's gone
through the fire, and theysing even though they've come out
of a loss of a loved one orthey lost their job, then something's
different.
You don't just listen to themsing and go, wow, that was incredible.

(35:09):
No, their anointing on theirlife broke chains off of you.
Talent and anointing are twodifferent things.
Talent, we recognize it and wego, wow, you're talented.
But when you recognize atalent that has the oil of anointing
on it, it releases freedom in,not just in that person, but it releases

(35:30):
freedom in you who receives it.
And that's what I believe.
And that word anointing hasbeen relegated and delegated to just
people that stand on stagesand hold microphones.
But I would say for the, forevery child of God, the Holy Spirit
of God wants you to walk in aGod given purpose and dream.
And I would say, look at thosethree circles and you could probably

(35:52):
get a good indicator what that is.
Yeah, And I think the otherthing is, is I think sometimes it's
just like everything else.
God doesn't give you the wholeplan necessarily.
He wants you to be faithfuland do right, take one step, be,
be obedient and take an actionin faith.
And when we do that right, youwill start to see more of your.

(36:12):
For instance, you didn't starton day one when you were.
How old were you when youbecame a traveling pastor?
Probably in my 30s.
Yeah, but when did youactually find that you wanted to
become a pastor?
In other words, you didn'tstart out how old?
1997.
So I was 18.

(36:33):
Okay.
So.
And that's.
I mean, I guess plenty ofpeople in ministry, you know, maybe
have to come to it at a moreearly age like that, and some haven't.
But I think my point is, issome of us, it takes a long time
to get to the place.
You're not saying God didn'tuse us on the way.
But for me, I mean, I knew Godwas pursuing me for some things for
a very long time.
But, you know, life and notlike, I mean, I was raising family,

(36:55):
doing lots of other things.
But my point is, I know atleast since college, he was pursuing
me to do something that wasmore about.
About him, not just him in mylife, right.
Like speaking about him.
But it took me till, till thelast couple of years.
So my point there to people isjust, you may not know the whole
thing or the exact call, like,I'm going to be this.

(37:16):
But you might, you are goingto know by what you just said, right?
Those concentric circles thatyou know the direction or, you know,
you have an idea, we'll gotowards it.
In other words, even if you'renot like, oh, this is what that looks
like.
Right?
I think that's, I think it'sabout getting curious and going and
seeing.
Going and trying something onor whatever it might be.

(37:37):
Like, for instance, when you,when you said that thing, I was like,
yeah, I'm the person out of myfriends that I always liked reading
Christian authors and likepastor books.
That's something my friends goaround doing.
Like, I mean, some of them do,but, like, mine's a lot.
You know what I mean?
And it's like, I can say halfmy friends, you know, they do not.
They've probably read not oneChristian book, even if they say
they're Christian.

(37:58):
I'm like, no, that's, that'slike a thing, right?
And that's not everybody.
And so my point is, it's like,what are Those little breadcrumbs.
What are those things?
Like you said, like, I like.
I'm gonna like reading otherbooks, too, too.
But not everybody likes doing that.
So that's a signal.
Right.
Towards an interest I havethat not everybody has.
And so you have to payattention to those things, you know?
I think so.

(38:18):
That's exactly it.
Most people don't payattention to that.
Right?
Yeah.
Agreed.
Agreed.
All right.
So what else would you justwant to share with us about the book
that you think, you know,whatever you want to talk about that's
just coming to you, whetherit's about changing your mindset
or just, you know, one of thethings you talk about is how many
Christians, we don't operatewith the power of Christ.

(38:42):
Right.
Like, we don't.
So I don't know if you want totalk about one of those or just anything
else that's coming to you.
Yeah.
Max Okedo.
Pastor Max has been like aspiritual father to me here in San
Antonio, and he asked me aquestion one day, and it's in the
book.
He said, ed, do you open upevery gift at Christmas?
And I go, yeah, I do.

(39:02):
Who doesn't?
And Pastor Max style, who'svery thought provoking, goes, christians.
I was like, pastor Max, whatare you talking about?
He's like.
He goes, think about this.
How many Christians is.
The Book of Corinthians saysthat every Christian has spiritual
gifts.
He goes, but how manyChristians have their name written
on their spiritual gift thatsits under not the Christmas tree,

(39:24):
but the cross of Calvaryunopened and lived their whole life
never opening their spiritual gifts?
And I thought to myself, wow.
And it began to really lead meto pray a prayer like this.
God, whatever you have writtenmy name on in a spiritual gift, I
want to open up every gift.
I don't want my grave to bethe richest treasure of unopened

(39:49):
gifts.
I want to use and utilizeevery gift that God's given me for
his glory.
And I want to be.
I like, I love your word,curious and very much the awe of
wonder of, like, could it be?
And someone said this about me.
They said, ed, you live inprophetic frustration.

(40:11):
And I said, tell me what youmean by that.
They're like, you're alwaysliving in the future, and you seem
frustrated with today.
And so I said, yeah, because I always.
I don't know, I just believethat something.
Something bigger and better is coming.
Now.
The shadow side of that is Icould lose sight of today always
thinking about tomorrow.

(40:33):
But I just feel like in thedepths of my bones that there is
a.
There's just something more.
There's.
That's to be discovered or theadventure to be taken.
And I think there's a lot ofpeople that may be listening to this
podcast that are sitting,sitting in a desk or in an office

(40:53):
space that hates their job andbemoans the fact that they gotta
go.
They live for Friday at 5 anddespise Monday at 9.
And I'm like, man, life is waytoo short.
God's way too good to livelife like that.

(41:15):
And I get it.
You know, people live in.
There's levels of comfort thatpeople want to have and obviously
not discouraging people fromhaving jobs.
And it's unrealistic to thinkthat everybody will have a job that
they 100% love.
But if you hate your job at70%, at least 30% of our job is always

(41:35):
going to be something we don'treally enjoy doing.
But if the majority of yourjob is something that actually drains
you of everything that, thatyou feel God's calling you to do,
would you pray a bold prayer,God, what is it that you want me
to do?
And give me the step of faithto take it.
Just my thought.
I 100 agree with you.

(41:56):
The first podcast I startedbefore this one is called building
a life you love.
And it was actually more forthat reason, right?
To help people reignite theirpassion, to step into their purpose.
But it's because that was whatI was seeing, is exactly what you
just described.
And it makes me very sad.
Like, I can give one example,someone I know, they work in the
school system, they hate theirjob at least 70%.

(42:18):
I mean, don't be wrong, theylove the kids, but they hate.
They're a specialist.
And they told me years ago,yeah, I have this dream for opening
this thing and doing whatever.
And I was like, oh, my gosh,you should go do it.
But what I see is people havefalse security, but if I only stay
longer, I will get my pension.
If I only stay longer, thenI'll have a safety net.

(42:39):
But I hate to tell you, butthe world we live in, I don't know
that there's any future safety net.
In other words, I don't knowwhat my, my 401ks are going to do.
I don't know what our, youknow, my.
All our investments are goingto do.
I don't know what tomorrow isgoing to bring.
And So I am 100% sent withyou, which is.
I'm not saying go and be, youknow, fiscally Irresponsible.
You know what we're saying islike, take that one step.

(43:02):
Like we already said earlier,be curious.
I love Mark Batterson when hetalks in his books about, you know,
like, oh, I just went andbought the, the map for the area
or whatever.
You know, like these littlethings where he's like, it was just
like, I didn't really need tospend $100 on whatever the thing
was, but it was towardssomething that was kind of on his
heart right about they end upbuying property.
But it's like that, like,okay, well, maybe you're not going

(43:23):
to go buy the shop or get arent, but maybe you can perfect the
recipe that.
Was that your vision for inthe shop or maybe, you know what
I'm saying, like, do it on asmall scale, sell it at the holidays.
So to me it's, we're notsaying go quit your job, do all the
things, but, but at least takea step to believe God, that He will

(43:43):
show you the way forward if itis the dream he put on your heart
that he wants you to step into.
No, it's great.
I love that.
I love that.
Yeah.
Okay.
So, yeah, just what else?
Like, like I said, there's somany things in your book and I have
to actually tell you, myhusband's a huge sports guy.
I'm not so much, although Ihave three sons, college age and

(44:03):
just, just beyond.
So of course I've.
I've been the sports mom plenty.
Right.
Over all the years.
But my husband is sports obsessed.
Right?
Like, he played all thesports, he loves sports.
He.
I don't know if you were, buthe was up till three in the morning
watching the end of the WorldSeries game last night.
I came, I woke up at 2 and I'mlike, we hear in the world.
And I went downstairs thinkinghe fell asleep and he's like, no,
this is the longest WorldSeries Series game ever.

(44:25):
So.
But your story about.
I don't know if you said itwas a legend of the third string.
Yeah, it literally.
I had tears down my face.
Like, literally I was like,I'm not even a sports person, but
it doesn't matter.
It was kind of like the, likewatching Rudy or an underdog movie.
Like.
So I don't know what you mightwant to share about that, but that
end of that story.

(44:45):
Yeah, I hit me.
Well, I'm glad it did becauseit makes me cry every time I say
it.
And hopefully we'll shed atear at this one, but I did the audiobook
a couple of months ago and gotto that part of that book and it

(45:06):
was, man, just a reminder ofreally what this is all about.
And for those that don't know,I call it an urban legend because
it's just, it's just the storyhas been shot, shared and modified
along the way.
But if anything, it's a modernday parable of a third string football
player that is about to get ona bus and is.

(45:27):
And he's a senior in collegeand they're about to go play a significant
game and his coach pulls himaside and says, I got some bad news
to tell you.
And that is, son, that yourfather's passed away.
And so this is on a Monday,the game's on Saturday.
He says, hey, don't worryabout the game.
Go be with your mom and yoursisters and take care of all the
affairs of that.
And his response was, yes, sir.

(45:49):
So he goes back, takes care ofall his family, there's a funeral
service, he honors his dad,but then he goes to the stadium and
he shows up at the game and hegets there on his own and he gets
into a locker room and he getsall the equipment necessary and ends
up on the sideline.
And all his teammates are justbaffled by the fact that his dad
just died and he's there.

(46:10):
And I use this in the storythat the chin strap is tight, mouthpiece
is in, and he walks right upto the coach and basically just kind
of mumbles to the coach, Igotta play today.
And the coach was overwhelmedby the fact his father just died
and he's here at this game.
And so, but he's third string,so he's not really good enough to
play in this significant game.
So he leans over to thespecial teams coach and just says,

(46:32):
put him on the kickoff team.
And you know, what damage canhe do in that moment?
Well, he ends up getting theF. He hits the young man, picks up
the fumble.
It's their team's ball.
He comes off the sideline,excuse me, onto the sideline and
tells his coach, he says, Itold you I got to play today.
And long story short, they puthim on offense, defense, special

(46:53):
teams, into the game, he'smost valuable player.
And all these reporters aretrying to get a report from him because
they've never heard of himbecause he's third string.
And the coach breaks throughthe crowd and he says this to third
string.
He kind of lifts him up by theface mask, he's down on one knee
and he said, son, for fouryears I've never seen you play like
this.
And he said, I gotta ask you,what got into you today?

(47:15):
He said, coach, on Monday, youtold me that my daddy died.
And he said, but you didn'tknow my dad.
My dad was a Christian.
And he said, my daddy was blind.
And my daddy showed up atevery Pop Warner game, middle school
game, high school game, andeven all these college games, even
when I didn't play.
And he said, but, coach, yougot to understand something about
being a Christian.
He says, when you get toheaven, you get a whole new set of

(47:36):
everything.
And he said, and the reasonwhy I had to play today was because
this is the first time I gotto play football.
My daddy got to watch me.
And he says, all I could hearin my ears was my daddy telling me
to go.
Just.
And this was the phrase, go,son, go.
Go, son, go.

(47:57):
And I conclude the book byreminding people that you have a
heavenly father that says toevery daughter of God, every.
Every son of God, go,daughter, go.
Go, son, go.
Well, here's the crazy partthat's not in the book.
In 2022, my dad died, and mymom died in 2020, my dad died in

(48:21):
2022, and in 2022, I was aguest preacher at a church in Nashville.
And my phone starts ringing,and the production manager says to
me, he goes, ed, there's, youknow, one more song, and then you're
walking out.
I'd already preached, like, aservice before, so I knew that was

(48:41):
my time.
And so.
But my phone, which was set ona counter, just kept ringing and
ringing and ringing.
And, like, the song is almostover, and it's almost time for me
to walk out, and I pick upthis phone, and I look at it, and
it's 381, which is the areacode of where my dad lives in Palm

(49:02):
Coast, Florida, at an assistedliving facility.
And so I answer it, because mydad's deaf.
He doesn't communicate to methat way.
Okay.
So I answer it, and.
And this is what I hear.
Is this Ed Newton?
I said, yes, sir.
He goes, I'm the lead hospicenurse at the Sable Palms Assisted

(49:24):
Living Facility, and I'm sosorry to tell you that your father
just passed away.
So.
And I'm holding my phone, andthis guy's saying, hey, like, you
got to come out.
I collapse on my knees in thislittle green room, and.

(49:45):
And I'm weeping that my dad'sjust passed away, and there's a.
A thousand people sitting in aroom waiting for me to come out.
I said, thank you.
I will be there.
As soon as I can today, I hangup the phone and the gentleman goes.

(50:05):
The production director goes,are you okay?
I said, my.
My dad just died.
Yeah.
He goes, he goes, hey, man,you don't have to go out there.
We have the video.
We'll just press play.
It's okay.
I said, no.
I said, I'm gonna go out thereand preach.

(50:26):
And I walked out after likeliterally 60 seconds of just hearing
my dad died.
I'm weeping.
I'm the guest preacher.
They don't even know me.
I go, hey, my name's Ed, and Ilove your pastor and it's an honor
to be here today.
I said, but just about twominutes ago, I just found out my
dad just died.

(50:47):
And I had the choice backstageto not preach.
I said, but you don't know this.
My dad's deaf and my dad hasnever gotten to hear me preach.
So today I'm gonna preach andI'm gonna get some amens from my

(51:12):
mom and my daddy, if that's okay.
Oh, my gosh.
Yeah.
So that story means a lot because.
Yeah, it became, it was mystory when my dad died, so.
Wow.
Yeah, of course that gave metears for those that are listening.

(51:33):
I mean, how could it not?
Oh, wow.
So powerful.
Thank you for sharing that.
Oh, thank you.
Okay, so anything you want to.
Just.
As we start wrapping up here,is there any last words of encouragement
you just want to share withthe, with the listeners?
No.
Thank you for just, for evenhighlighting the book.
This is not a, this is not abook as we reference books.

(51:55):
This is, this is a miracle Goddid in my life and I think he can
do in somebody else's life.
And I pray to God it would letsomebody know that they're not alone,
that even preachers havestruggles and battles too.
And if I could encouragesomebody, God's not done with you.
God sees you, so he's for you.
So thank you so much.

(52:16):
Okay, last thing, Is thereanything that's fueling you right
now?
So whether that's your faithor just something that's bringing
you joy or just some greatadventure you, you've recently had?
Yeah.
I think for me right now I'mliving in the fullness of my kids,
living for Jesus, you know, 22year old, 20 year old, 19 year old,

(52:39):
17 year old, and in the midstof a lot of young people that we're
seeing nationally, love God,live for God.
This, this global awakening ofwhat we're reading on the news, of
all of this, of Gen Z and evenJenny, it's in my home.
It's not just a.

(53:00):
It's not a report from cbn.
It's not a report from FOXNews or cnn.
It's not some podcast.
It's like it's in my house.
And I'm loving watching mykids love and live for Jesus, and
it just brings great joy to mywife and I.
So that's.
So at the end of the day, inthe midst of a lot of the criticism
I face for preaching truth ofwhat's happening in the world and,

(53:20):
and calling out sin and yeah,even saying the name Charlie Kirk
from a pulpit, you know wherethat was up for debate for.
For some crazy reason is togo, no.
At the end of the day, mywife, my kids, them living for God's
the most important thing in my life.
So that's what fuels me, justbeing faithful to them.

(53:42):
I love that.
And yeah, I mean, I have threesons similar ages, and one of them
is definitely coming to Christ.
Not that they didn't grow up,you know, when they were younger,
but my other two, they're atdifferent stages and grappling with
their feelings about all that.
So, you know, lots of prayersthere that I pray.
But, but, you know, and, andit's okay, like, because there's
conversation, there's dialogue.

(54:03):
But my point is, my youngestis definitely in that same place
you just described.
And so, and I'm very thankfulfor that.
But, yeah, so it's, it'sbeautiful to watch on their own coming
to these things or trying tounderstand these things and work
through these things.
So.
So.
All right, so Pastor Ed, just.
Can you share with us wherecan people find out more about the
book, the podcast in your church?

(54:25):
Yeah, our church is communitybible.com.
if it's easier onlinechurch.com you could.
We all, we own that domain as well.
And you can download my app.
I have an app that's free onapp stores that gives you a daily
devotional every day for free.
All that's for free.
And you can get content there.
So if you go to the app store,download the Ed Newton app, Apple

(54:49):
Music, Spotify is the why notyou podcast.
And if you're ever in SanAntonio, pull up.
We'd love to see you.
You can buy the book on Amazonand where you ever.
Where you find books.
But yeah, thank you for theincredible opportunity just to share
why not.
Oh, thank you so much forcoming on and joining us.
You're obviously a.

(55:09):
A busy guy.
You have lots going on.
Busy pastor.
So, yeah, we just thank youfor sharing your Heart sharing the
message, you know, and justencouraging people in their faith,
but encouraging them in thoseGod sized dreams as well.
Because it's, it's what he, hewants us to do.
And in that we will find somuch joy and peace and fulfillment
and purpose.
And so I just, I wish thatfor, you know, for everybody.

(55:30):
Amen.
Thanks so much.
Wow.
What a powerful conversationwith Pastor Ed today.
And as we wrap up, I just wantto share a couple other things from
his book, why not you?
That I think were justpowerful statements, ideas that I
thought you might connect withas well.

(55:50):
Okay, so one of the thingsthat he says is to be battle ready,
right?
To stay battle ready.
So we're talking about knowingyou're covering, right?
Covering ourselves withbalance, the armor of God, walking
in courage that God gives usand speaking with confidence.
But this is one of the thingshe says.
The moment you begin to walkin that power, the moment you start

(56:12):
walking in your purpose anddecide you will not be defined by
your past, the moment youunderstand that your future has been
written and it's what God hasalways wanted for your life, that
is the moment your life goesto new levels.
But with new levels comes new devils.
So once again, first of all,like he said, 85, I think he said
85% of people do not knowtheir purpose.

(56:34):
They do not know why they'rehere, what they're being called to.
So we've got to take hold ofthat, right?
We have to understand we havepower from the Holy Spirit and we
have purpose and God wants towork in and through us, but we also
have to have that armor, thatcovering, and we have to protect
ourselves with scripture.

(56:55):
And then he shares a fewthings about the anointing beyond
what he said in the episode today.
He says your anointing is notjust about you.
It's about what God wants todo in other people's lives through
you, your anointing.
He kind of mentioned this inthe episode.
It sets people free.
And he says when you walk inyour anointing, you walk in the supernatural

(57:17):
ways of God.
And he has the space to do inand through you what you could not
do with your own talent alone.
How good is that?
He also talks about having abuffalo mentality.
And what that is is basically,well, he says you either have a buffalo
or a cow mentality.

(57:37):
And he says cows run away from storms.
He says buffaloes, they runinto the storm.
But the reason that is is soif they run into the storm, they
can run through it soonerinstead of a storm Chasing them and
coming after them like thathappens with cows.
And the reason that's relevantto us is because it means we can

(57:57):
confront our trials andopposition when they come towards
us.
Instead of letting them chaseus and staying, we stay in them.
Right?
If we confront them, even ifwe bring God into it for us and with
us, we can confront them andmove past them.
Much like our feelings, wehave to feel the feelings.

(58:17):
We have to understand ourperspective, but we often need to
change it or let go of it andsee God or that kingdom vision instead.
Okay.
Pastor Ed also sharessomething that Pastor Craig Groeschel
says, which is what you worryabout the most, reveals where you
trust God the least.
And he explains that we put our.

(58:39):
We plan out our worst casescenarios, but God's already mapped
out our, our plan, right?
He has an A, B and A for us already.
And so that's the first thingis like, where are we trusting God
in our lives?
Where, where are we notbelieving God, that he's bigger than
our problems, that he canconquer all things?

(59:01):
And another thing is that Ithink is really important is I, I
kind of mentioned this, Imentioned this a little bit in the
episode, but I talked abouthow that a lot of us don't actually
take up the power of Christthat's already in us.
And so he says we must come togrips with the fact that Jesus, who
taught all of this to hisdisciples, is calling us with the
same power he gave to them.

(59:22):
Believe that power isaccessible to you.
We're talking about the powerthat raised Christ from the dead,
the power of the Holy Spiritwithin us.
We have that power, whetherit's the power to heal, whether it's
the power to make, you know,be part of miracles happening, all
of these things.
But we have to believe God forthat power.

(59:46):
We have to operate in Christ's power.
Okay.
As I wrap up today's episode,I just wanted to say there were so
many good reminders in this episode.
There were some prayers thatyou can take away from this episode
that Pastor Ed shared with us.
There was obviously scripture,reference to scripture in this episode.

(01:00:07):
And then there was justtestimony and life story.
Right.
That Ed, Pastor Ed shared withyou, that I shared with you.
God wants to use us.
And the question is, why not you?
If you enjoyed today'sepisode, if you could leave a rating
review on Apple Podcast orwherever you listen to podcasts,
it helps the show getdiscovered by more people so that

(01:00:29):
we can continue to uplift andencourage people in their faith journey
as well as all of the otherparts of their lives.

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Why Not You? Embracing Your God-Given Dream with Pastor Ed Newton