Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
Are you ready to build a life,business and legacy that truly
lasts?
Welcome to Faithfully Investedwith Alan and Stacey, Joe Thorn,
where Faith meets real talk.
Biblical wisdom meets everydaylife and leadership meets
laughter.
Together we will uncover God'sblueprint for leadership,
marriage, and mission, helpingfaith-driven leaders invest in
(00:21):
what matters most.
Each episode, we explorebiblical wisdom, have real
conversations, and of course,have some fun along the way
because let's be real.
Walking in faith is anadventure.
It sure is.
So pull up a seat, grab yourcoffee or your sweet tea, and
join us as we steward ourcallings with intention, because
(00:42):
when we invest in his kingdom,he brings the increase.
Hey friends.
Welcome to Faithfully Invested,the podcast where we explore
God's blueprint for leadership,marriage, and mission, one
Kingdom principle at a time.
(01:03):
Yeah.
We are so glad you're here, andtoday we're wrapping up our very
first season.
Can you believe, Hey, we'rewrapping up our first season,
which has been all aboutbuilding deeper intimacy with
God and that my friends is thefoundation.
For everything else.
Yes.
Intimacy.
Intimacy with God is absolutely.
Mm-hmm.
(01:23):
The foundation for everything.
Today we're gonna be talkingabout what happens when our
intimacy spreads from being fromour personal lives, personal
intimacy from our secret placewith the Lord, when that spreads
to impacting the world around usbecause that's what it's
supposed to do.
Right.
Right.
So friends, when, when we walkas closely as we, we must to
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make that impact.
When we walk as closely to ourTriune Godhead father, son, holy
Spirit, their overflow throughus is inevitable.
Absolutely.
I mean, your time with God wasnever meant to stay in the
prayer closet to begin with.
Right.
You know, when you liveconnected to him, your everyday
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life becomes a vessel forkingdom influence.
Absolutely everything.
And I, I'd go so far as to saythat our, our intimacy doesn't
belong inside the, doesn'tbelong just staying inside the
four walls of the church.
Oh, absolutely.
Right.
Without, yeah.
So we, without a doubt, we'recalled to go out without.
Outside.
Mm-hmm.
Outside the four walls.
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It starts, it starts inside thefour walls.
It starts inside the prayercloset.
Mm-hmm.
Or, you know, the, your secretplace, whatever that might look
like.
Yeah.
That's where it starts.
But we're called to go out, youknow?
Right.
Our, our intimacy begins hereand our impact goes here.
Right.
It goes out.
Yeah.
Um, so let's talk about what itlooks like to move from
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intimacy.
Impact.
Let's do that.
Alright, let's dig in.
So, something that I've learned,uh, through my walk is that the
most lasting thing that I'vehad, uh, the most lasting impact
that I've had in people's life.
Uh, it didn't come from a bigspeech, it didn't come from a
perfect plan.
(03:16):
Uh, and, and I don't believethat anything, uh, that I wanted
to be impactful, uh, came fromme.
It can't just come from me.
However, I do believe that I'vehad some impact, uh, as I
followed my calling under an endJesus Christ authority.
(03:36):
I mm-hmm.
And Stacey too.
And, and you.
If you are, if you are abeliever in Jesus Christ, yeah.
If you believe.
And Jesus Christ, you are, youare under and in you operate
under and in his authority andunder and in his authority.
We're training for reigning.
(03:58):
Ooh, training for reign,training for reigning.
I like that.
Yeah.
I mean it's what it, it'sbrought right directly outta
Genesis.
He said We, we were created maleand female.
He created us and he created usto rule and reign.
Yeah.
Everything around us.
So that's good training forreigning.
So our prayers and our faithfulconversations, uh, for myself
(04:23):
through, through theconstruction field as well as
through several recovery roomshave allowed me to meet people
where they are and offerinsightful, uh, experience,
strength, and hope found only,not, not from me, but found only
in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Yeah.
(04:43):
Amen, babe.
You know, impact does notrequire a platform.
No.
It requires presence.
Right.
And I think we've talked aboutthat before.
Yeah.
You know, when you live rootedin God's presence.
Everything you touch begins toreflect him.
So if you've ever thought, youknow, I really wanna make a
difference, but I'm just aparent, well, well, there's a
(05:05):
good place to make a differenceright there as a parent and to
make an impact.
Absolutely.
Or maybe, you know, I don't havea ministry title.
Friends, I want you to hearthis.
Your intimacy with God alonequalifies you for impact, right?
Don't get hung up on a title,right?
I mean, kingdom Greatnessdoesn't always come, like I
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said, with a title or platform,but it always comes from
obedience to our purposefulcalling.
I mean, simply put your secretplace, as Alan was talking,
those four walls.
Your secret place is yourlaunchpad.
That's it.
Intimacy with.
God qualifies you for impact.
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I love that around here.
Uh, we call that a blammo, ablammo moment.
That's a blammo moment.
You know, I, I love thatintimacy with God qualifies you.
It does.
That's it.
It's all, that's, that's theonly thing you need to qualify
you is intimacy with God, but alimo.
Limo.
(06:09):
So.
But here's, but here's wheremany of us get bound up.
Here's where, where I've gottenbound up several times and, and
probably Stace as well.
I think we can mm-hmm.
Uh, attest to this.
Yeah.
We confuse impact withattention.
Yeah.
And this might, this is, thisnot, this is definitely gonna
step on a few toes.
(06:30):
Mm-hmm.
If no one sees it, we wonder ifwe're making a difference.
So we gotta ask ourselves aquestion.
Uh, whatever we're doing, are wedoing it for the kingdom or are
we doing it for personalattention?
Uh, have, have you beeninstructed to do all that you're
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doing or are you running on yourown volition hoping that the
Lord will bless your efforts forhim?
Are you, are you doing what camefrom him or are you putting
forth efforts for him?
You know, where did it comefrom?
Because it, because if we'rejust, we're, if we're just
asking him to bless our, ourefforts, our finite efforts
(07:14):
mm-hmm.
When we could be living out hisinfinite plan for us.
Uh, it's always higher andgreater that if that's the case
Yeah.
Then there's gonna be a hugeblockade between your intentions
and the impact that you hope tohave.
For sure.
Because true impact doesn'thappen without intimacy.
(07:36):
Right.
I mean, asking yourself, what ismy motivation?
Yeah.
And what is my motivation?
Right.
That's a really good place tostart examining whether you're
seeking his answers.
Or if you're seeking attention.
Yeah.
And I will be the first to tellyou that I've had to ask myself
this question on more than oneoccasion.
(07:57):
Sure.
And the answer wasn't alwayswhat I thought, because there
were times where I thought thatI was seeking his answers and I
really was just seeking.
Attention.
Yeah.
And I've been the one who'sgotten caught up in the world
and sought the wrong attentionof the wrong people and the
wrong, you know, being in thewrong place at the wrong time.
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And, and it took me a while tounderstand that that's not how
the kingdom works.
Yeah.
I mean, God wasn't looking.
Let's be honest, like God wasn'tlooking at my follower account.
Right.
Yeah.
God's not concerned with ourfollower account.
No.
Or how many likes we're getting.
He's only concerned with myfaithfulness to him.
(08:38):
Right.
That's it.
He is looking for ourfaithfulness.
He sees our hearts.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And Matthew six six.
Um, I love the, uh mm-hmm.
The gospel account of, ofMatthew.
Yeah.
He says, uh.
Uh, the Lord Jesus says, whenyou pray, go into your room, uh,
close the door and pray to thefather who is unseen.
(09:00):
And, and then your father whosees what is done in secret will
reward you.
Friends.
Uh, this is intimacy.
This is the intimacy time that'srequired for impact.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, the time alone with him.
Yeah.
Uh, yeah.
That's, uh, it's required tomake the impact.
(09:23):
It's not about us.
Uh, we'll get, we'll get to thatlater on.
Uh, it's the daily discipline ofsilence and solitude.
Uh, where we acquire his plan,we were talking about we wanna,
we wanna acquire his plan, uh,that's always higher and greater
than our own.
And based on my experience, wecannot treat our, our.
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Intimacy.
Uh, we can't put a a time limiton it.
We can't treat it like it gotto.
Right.
It has got to it.
It's, it's always.
The more, the more we set thatdiscipline mm-hmm.
It's, it becomes a greatlyanticipated get to Yeah.
Friends.
We get to sit with the creatorof all we see and gain his
(10:10):
insight.
Mm-hmm.
That alone is rewarding.
That, that is that dessert.
We, we put the title, uh,awesome on so much, but, but
this is actually awesome.
That is awesome.
Yeah.
That we get to sit with thecreator.
Yeah.
Our creator.
Mm-hmm.
And, uh, and gain his insight.
(10:30):
Yeah.
And, um, and I've found, uh,through my walk with him that,
that one, I gotta slow down andI gotta make time.
Yeah.
Uh, I gotta invest time with himdaily, or I get lost chasing my,
my own plan, uh, my, you know,your own ambition, maybe my own
ambitious plan, you know?
Yeah.
And, and we'll, we'll, we'll diginto that a little more later,
(10:53):
but, you know.
I don't, I don't ever want toget lost in my plan, uh, but I
want to take time to, to sitwith him and, and, and
understand his plan.
And second, uh, when, when Ibecome more content with, with
seeking his face, which is hispresence mm-hmm.
When I get.
More content with seeking hispresence over his hand, which is
(11:16):
his provision than my journey.
Our journey as, as, uh,believers in the One True and
living God as, as Christfollowers.
When we seek His, his face overhis hand, our journey is so much
more fulfilling.
Yeah, and I mean, in otherwords, if we are seeking, only
(11:36):
seeking what he can give us asopposed to just seeking.
The presence with him.
Mm.
The time together with him, theintimacy with him.
Yeah.
We're gonna miss so much.
We're gonna miss a lot.
And I, I've missed a lot beforeI, before I was convicted to
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reset my zeroes and, and getback to that.
Yeah.
And he'll, and he'll let us goaround that mountain as many
times as it takes to learn thoselessons.
Right.
Yeah.
But you know, I think it's, weneed to remember that what's
unseen to the world.
Is seen and celebrated with byGod.
Yeah.
You know, so if you're listeningand thinking, I'm showing up,
(12:17):
but, but no one notices knowthat God sees you, he sees you.
He knows your heart.
He does.
And you have to ask yourself isyour heart, I have to ask myself
this sometimes.
Is my heart the same in thesecret place with him as it is
outside my time with him?
Yeah.
(12:37):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And how does my heart respondwhen it doesn't look like the
plans are going as great as Ihad anticipated?
Right.
Yeah.
Um, sometimes my heart doesn'trespond the right way.
Yeah.
And so then I have to reset myzeroes and I have to do a heart
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check, right?
Yeah.
And make sure my heart's in theright place.
We gotta be careful, uh, ofthose expectations, right?
Yeah.
Um, you know, ask the Lord orthink about what did the Lord
say to you in your timetogether.
Yeah.
But I want you to know this.
That when he gives you a plan towork with him and you are
remaining obedient to his planwith you, it is producing fruit.
(13:23):
Yeah.
Even when you can't see it.
Yeah.
Even when you can't see it, youmight not be able to see it, but
we can't see the full planbecause if we would see the full
plan, I often say if I could seeeverything that God has has
brought me through to where I amright now.
Yeah.
I, uh, I would've run a longtime ago.
It's a little overwhelming.
That's Yeah.
(13:44):
Way overwhelming, right?
I'd be like, nah.
Yeah.
So being in his plan isproducing fruit.
Yeah.
Whether you can see it or not.
Absolutely.
And remember that faith isbelief and what you hope for and
assurance for what we do notsee.
Right on.
So we have to walk.
By faith, not by sight.
That's it.
(14:04):
That's it.
Um, that's so important toremember, especially, uh, in
this busy world that's mm-hmm.
Where we can easily get bound upin the self-sufficient, get it
done, hustle.
Know, we've talked about, uh,self-sufficiency.
Yeah.
That's been something I've,I've, uh, that's very challenged
(14:25):
with self-sufficiency.
No, say it's not self, it'strue.
I do like getting it done, but,uh, but it's, uh, it can be
challenging.
We gotta, you gotta, and we, andthat's what the Holy Spirit's
here for, it's one here formm-hmm.
It's one of his many talents.
Is, is in as many, uh.
Uh, services is that the HolySpirit convicts us.
(14:46):
He's like, Hey, man, got abetter plan.
You wanna check this out?
Hey, slow down, slow down.
Yeah, I like what, uh, one of myfavorite pastors says because if
we're, if we're going toself-sufficiency and the cost of
getting it done, and we're, andwe're outside of the Lord's
well, and we're just trying toget all this done, done, done,
done, dun, dun, dun, dun.
Done.
Uh, man, that's, that'sexhausting.
(15:07):
Right?
And, uh, and, and I get a littlecranky.
A little tired.
Mm.
And a little, little cranky and,uh, but brings me back.
One of my favorite pastors said,uh, I heard this some time ago.
Sometimes the most Christianthing I can do is take a nap.
Yeah.
I think you said that in one ofour other episodes too.
Yeah.
I'll probably say it more thanone.
Yeah.
But, uh, and, and.
(15:28):
And as I'm coming out of thatnap and as I'm refreshed, you
know, maybe reset the zeroes andcheck in and see what, what the
board's got to say about that.
Yeah.
You know,'cause, uh, as whenwe're following, uh, his
calling, when we're followingour calling and his purpose, it,
it's, uh, he'll see us throughit.
Yeah.
But, um.
So, yeah, self-sufficiency canbe, uh, the whole get it done
(15:52):
can be, can be challenging.
But, you know, I believe thecoolest thing that I've, uh,
about any challenge is, is whatwe learn.
Yeah.
You know, it's the teachablemoment for sure.
Uh, what we learn is, uh,whatever the teachable moment is
that the, the Holy Spirit, uh,is, is guiding us through it.
If we allow, if we just slowdown enough to see what.
(16:14):
And, and I have learned to stopand say, Lord, what are you
showing me here?
What do I, what am I missinghere?
Because I get moving so fast,sometimes I'll miss, I'll miss
something.
So, but the Holy Spirit willguide us through it and, and
he'll teach us, man.
And, uh, it's one of my favoriteparts of, of, um, Matthew,
(16:36):
Matthew five is that, uh, the.
Take my yoke upon you and learnfrom me.
Mm-hmm.
And that's what the Lord, that'swhat Jesus sent us the Holy
Spirit to, to teach us, uh,about everything that remind us
of everything Jesus said and toteach us how to live like, like
the Savior.
Yeah.
(16:56):
But, um.
And I would say, you know, as,as I've learned to slow down to
go faster, as I've learned tostop and reset my zeroes, I
would, I would say that, thatnot most, uh, not some of, but,
uh, all of my, my greatest lifelessons were learned once I.
(17:18):
Brought it down, had a old buddyused, say, sim it down.
Now, once I was able to sim itdown and, uh, and humble out,
uh, and discover what theteachable moments were, uh,
through these tough times, uh,yeah, uh, it, it's important,
vital, absolutely crucial to,to.
See these teachable moments, uh,when things aren't going our
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way.
Mm.
Yeah.
I, I get a little testing.
That's one that's mostimportant.
It is when it's most importantif things aren't going my way,
but that's when it's Yeah.
The most difficult too.
It is, it is.
Yeah.
Uh, but I remember, uh,actually.
Several seasons.
There have been several times.
Yeah.
'cause it's a journey.
It's a journey.
Uh, we're not, I'm not claimingperfection over here.
(18:04):
Please don't there.
I don't see a halo up here.
No.
But, uh, but there's beenseveral seasons and we're just,
we're just here learning.
Yeah.
As we go.
Uh, uh, when I was, but there'sbeen several seasons when I
thought I was doing all theright things, you know?
Mm-hmm.
I was leading, well, I was, Iwas teaching others.
But inside, whew, man.
(18:25):
Whew.
I was running off fumes and Iwas running toward empty pretty
darn quickly.
Yeah.
And, uh, I was going way toohard trying to keep up with,
with work, keep up with home,keep up with ministry, trying to
wedge in time for exercise, uh,trying to remember, uh, time to
date my wife, and so on and soforth.
Mm.
But, but what was missing there,you know, see I mentioned work
(18:49):
home ministry.
Exercise.
Uh, wife, you know, wife, youknow, sadly at the, she should
never be at the end of the list,but, but what was, at least she
made the list what didn't makethe list.
Right.
You know?
That's right.
My, my time with Jesus, my time,my, my secret place time.
(19:10):
My, my time for intimacy.
Uh, mm-hmm.
With, with the plan maker?
Yeah.
With the, with the differencemaker, with, with the savior.
Jesus.
That's what was missing.
And I was, I was so focused on,on the impact I neglected to put
God first.
Right.
So, you know, I had to slow.
I, like I said, again, he'llmake, he'll, he won't make us go
(19:35):
around the hill, but he'll letus go around that mountain as
many times as it takes.
Right.
And, uh, but our, our, um.
I found that our, our, our, ifmy intimacy gets lost in the
hustle, uh, I just becomeunbelievably, uh, frazzled and
exhausted.
And that's not the way it'ssupposed to be.
Right.
(19:55):
You know, kingdom work doesn't,you know, we should, uh, Matt
Chandler says when we're doingkingdom work, we should.
Men, we should go to bed tired,but we, we should never be
exhausted.
We should, you know, we shouldalways be seeking his, his face
and his, his will and his way.
But, uh, you know, but, um, I,I, during those seasons, uh, I
(20:18):
was, it was way beyond time forme.
I let it go way too farsometimes, and it was way beyond
time for me to reset my zeroesand get back to making him first
in all things and, and all.
Things.
So all things.
All things.
Okay.
Right.
Yeah.
I mean, I've had all things all,yeah, I got it.
(20:40):
You know, I've had similarseasons and, and I've talked
about it in previous episodesabout pouring out and just
giving everything I had, but notconsistently going back to the
source.
You know, eventually the wellruns dry and you, you can't pour
from an empty vessel.
Or if you even go back to, Ilike going back to John 15 where
(21:03):
Jesus is talking about beinghim.
Being the vine.
Yeah.
And us being the branches.
And if we are cut off from him.
Mm.
If we're no longer attached tothe vine, we have nothing to
receive life from.
Right.
Nothing.
And we will shrivel up and diewithout that source.
Just like a, I mean, yeah.
(21:23):
Dry.
Perfect example.
Crunchy of the plant, you know,burn pretty easy.
Yeah.
So what was your teachablemoment through that, babe?
Well, that's actually simple intheory.
Not necessarily simple to do,but um, the teachable moment was
that impact that isn't fueled byobedience and intimacy with the
Lord leads to prideful effortsat best.
(21:46):
Oh, no.
Yeah.
I mean his word.
Yeah, pride, his word,recognized that.
Uh, pride comes before the fall.
Mm-hmm.
And the fall here for me wasfrustration.
And just like you were talkingabout, frustration, exhaustion,
and inevitable burnout.
Because if, again, if we're notconnected to him Yeah.
(22:08):
We shrivel up and die and, andburn up.
Right.
But when intimacy comes first,yeah.
When intimacy comes first,that's where real lasting fruit
is born.
That's where we can be fruitfulbecause we are connected to the
source.
We are constantly being fed whatwe need to thrive.
(22:28):
And that's when impact becomeskingdom driven, not self-driven.
I know.
That's good then.
And you know, the time with him,the time with him is what fills
us up.
Yeah.
We gotta, it's the source.
If we're gonna, we, I talkedabout, uh, when we're, when
we're sitting with, with, uh.
(22:50):
Our triune God mm-hmm.
Sitting with the Father, theson, and the, and the Holy
Spirit when that we need thattime to fill us up or Right.
If we, if we don't have, if, ifwe're not being filled up, we
got nothing to, to pour out.
Right.
And when we sit with them, we,we, we overflow.
Yes.
And that's what we're talkingabout here.
It overflows to the communityaround us.
(23:12):
Um, you know, I heard someonesay, we want to be, and I, and I
want to be this, I want to be sofull.
That I don't even have to bendto pour.
Right.
It will just splash.
Just splash everywhere.
People get splashed as I walkpast.
Right.
I love it.
(23:32):
Yeah.
So, so what can we do?
Yeah.
So how, how might we get.
Uh, get better, uh, to, uh,remaining with intimacy,
remaining in intimacy.
Yeah.
Uh, so that we can have the mamaximum kingdom impact that
we're looking to have.
Here are five.
Uh, dare I say, wait, wait.
(23:54):
Five practical truths.
I was gonna say, dare I saypractical, uh, but not only
practical, uh, which of coursethey are and you know, how, how
much I love practical, butthey're all so powerful truths
that we've learned to live byover our, yeah, over our time
together.
Walking with him.
The first one is like stareally.
(24:15):
Um, she really drove that homewell, uh, stay connected to the
vine.
Mm-hmm.
You know, Jesus reminds us in,in, uh, John 15, five, that
apart from him, we can donothing, nothing, nothing apart
from him.
We can do nothing we can get.
So I, uh, early in my recovery,I, I said, uh, of my own
(24:37):
efforts, I reached the peak.
Mediocrity and uh, right.
And, uh, so apart from, uh,apart from Jesus, we can do
nothing.
We gotta stay connected to thatvine.
Yeah.
We, we must know and believethat our impact is only as
strong as our daily connectionwith the Father, with Jesus and
(24:58):
with the Holy Spirit.
We gotta remember that we gotta.
Make that connection, uh,because without that connection,
we're not growing very far inour God-given purpose.
We might be going.
We can go, uh, in our ownvolition, uh, in our own power,
(25:18):
but we're not growing.
Yeah.
We want to grow.
Yeah.
That's good.
Uh, we want to grow into our,into and through our God-given
purpose, we can go, go, go, butwe won't grow, grow, grow, grow,
grow.
Right.
So we gotta stay connected tothe vine.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So number two of the powerful.
And practical and practical waysis to be faithful with what's in
(25:43):
front of you.
Yeah.
You know, don't overlook the, inthe assignment that's right in
your home or in your workplace,or maybe in your neighborhood.
Faithfulness in the small thingsmakes room for so much more.
You know, Luke 1610, we all knowthis.
Scripture says that whoever canbe trusted with little can also
be trusted with much.
(26:04):
But whoever's dishonest withlittle right.
We'll also be dishonest withdishonest.
Dishonest, dishonest with much.
That's for you.
New Yorkers.
That's for Connie.
Yeah.
Oh, there you are, Connie.
So be faithful.
So it all comes back to beingfaithful in the small things,
(26:24):
even when you wonder if whatyou're doing is even making a
difference because yourobedience.
To the smallest things cancreate the biggest blessings for
someone else.
Absolutely, and I often heard itsaid that.
Someone else's blessing is onthe other side of your
obedience.
And it's so true because you andI, neither one would be where we
(26:44):
are right now if it wasn't forsomebody else's obedience to
speak into us.
Yeah, absolutely.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
We could name names there, butwell, we will.
Uh, not uh, but yeah, it's,there's too many to name.
Yeah, there lot people, if we'regonna be really honest, there,
there a lot people that spokento us over.
Over, uh, yeah.
(27:05):
Over the many years.
Number three is, uh, and we, wetalked on this, uh, ask for his
assignment.
What's his plan?
Right.
What's the Lord's plan?
The higher and greater plan?
Yeah.
Uh, it's easy, uh, it's easy toget busy in kingdom work and,
and miss, and while we're busyover here, we're missing our
calling over here.
(27:25):
Mm-hmm.
And all the while he is like,Hey, yeah, over here.
I want you over here.
Oh, this is nice.
But hey.
This is for you here.
Yeah.
This is yours.
How many times have we donethat?
Yeah.
Right.
So in your quiet time with him,what?
Ask him what his plan is.
There's a novel idea.
(27:46):
What?
Yeah.
Lord, what's your plan?
A common question of ours is,Lord, are we operating inside
your will?
Yeah, I've asked that about thispodcast.
Yeah.
Lord.
Is this, is this in your will,even just last week?
Right.
And not because I don't want todo it, but we just want to make
sure that whatever we're doing,whatever we're, we're, we're,
(28:07):
uh.
Spending our time and ourefforts on is inside his will.
Yeah, because I, I'll be honest,I spent a lot of time, you know,
before Jesus way outside hiswill.
And I don't want, and not thatany of that time was wasted
because without those teachablemoments there, there wouldn't
be.
You know, teachable momentshere, right?
(28:28):
If I'm honest.
So, but it's emphatically vital,absolutely crucial, uh, to
invite him into all that he hasgiven you.
Recognize that he's given, givenyou this calling, and invite him
into that and listen to what hehas to say about you moving
forward and his plan.
(28:50):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think that's really good andit's so important.
Um,'cause we don't wanna beoutside of his calling.
Yeah.
I mean, we don't, and, and I'm,and I'm being serious when I
said, we literally asked theLord that last week Right.
About this podcast.
Yeah.
And you know, it's very clearthat he does that.
(29:12):
We are in his will right now.
Right.
That he does want us to be doingthis.
Yeah.
Even when.
It doesn't necessarily look likewe're making an impact, right?
I mean, hey man, we boughtmicrophones.
Come on.
But, but anyway, uh, yeah, so,so what's number four?
Well, on number four.
(29:34):
You're so silly.
Oh, now I gotta get serious.
Oh, try love, like number fouris love like Jesus, even when
it's hard.
Yeah.
I mean, and who hasn't had this?
You want me to take this one?
Want me to?
You want me to?
No, no, no.
I got it.
I mean, sit down now people arewatching how you treat others
(29:58):
more than what you say.
How you treat others more thanwhat you say.
Yeah.
And your impact is often in howyou love the most difficult
people.
And it's hard sometimes to lovedifficult people.
It's hard to love the peoplethat are coming against you,
opposing your views.
(30:19):
Yeah.
It's hard to love the people whoare constantly wanting to battle
with you.
Mm-hmm.
Or they don't wanna hear whatyou have to say.
Right.
But we are called to love them.
We are called to love'em, man,regardless.
That's challenging sometimes.
Yeah.
And when, uh, people that getstuck in the old, the old stuff
over there, right?
And they're, and then the, theLord's giving you this new stuff
(30:41):
and they're like, nah, nah,whatever.
I'm like, okay, whatever.
When you can see something forsomeone that you know is gonna
be so much better for them,yeah.
But they don't want it.
Yeah.
That's why.
That's why, but love it.
Yeah.
It's important to know thatwhatever we're doing is inside
(31:01):
his will.
Yeah, because, because ifsomeone, when we know.
And we believe, and we've beentold in our quiet time that from
our creator that our plan, whatwe're doing here, our ministry
is inside his will.
Mm-hmm.
Then the naysayers have nothingto say.
(31:21):
Right.
And, and we, and we're able totake that and, and love people
where they're at.
Right.
But all the while knowingmm-hmm.
That, uh, that we're inside theLord's will, what we're doing is
right.
Yeah.
Loving.
It's not about what man, lovingthem through it.
It's about the Lord and lovingthem through it.
Yeah, loving them through it,regardless.
(31:42):
So number five.
Number five, getting a drink ofyour faithfully invested water.
Yeah.
That's delicious.
So, uh, number five is, issimilar to what you're talking
about.
There's let your life mm-hmm.
Preach louder than your words.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's your life.
Uh, I commonly, uh, there was a,there's a quote out there from,
(32:06):
and, uh, it was, uh.
There's a quote out there, andthen he goes blank.
Uh, spread the word, uh, spreadthe gospel of Jesus Christ.
Always.
Yeah.
And if need be, use words.
Mm.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Now, commonly it was, that was,you know.
(32:29):
That quote was attributed toFrancis of Assisi, but you know,
the scholar say, nah, he neversaid that.
But we don't know who said it,but, but that's what we're
talking about here in, in ourfifth, uh, practical
application.
Yeah.
Let our life preach louder thanour words.
Yeah.
So we don't need a title tolead.
(32:50):
I think we established that wedon't need a stage to have
influential impact.
Mm-hmm.
Um, it's been said that the.
The greatest part of sharing thegospel isn't just our words,
but, but more so our actions,how we treat people, right?
Um, actions always.
I can hear my mom saying thatnow a lane actions always speak
(33:13):
louder in words.
That was one of her favoritethings, man.
Mm-hmm.
And, uh, so.
Just live out your experientialcalling.
Your calling.
Yeah.
Just live out your experientialcalling so that God and those
around you take notice.
In him.
In you.
It's, it's not about me, it'sabout Christ in me.
(33:38):
Yeah.
That's, that's what I wantpeople to see and, and sometimes
I gotta take a step back andremember that.
Right.
And, and when you do that, don'tbe surprised when people start
coming to you, not becauseyou're, you're flashy or you're,
you know, you're wearing theright clothes or you have that,
that ma that massive following,but because they sense peace,
(34:00):
wisdom, and truth and how youlive, and that is the most
credible impact that you canhave.
Yeah.
Is.
Wisdom, peace and truth.
That's it.
Living that way, that's whathappens.
And love, of course.
Love, obviously love.
Yeah.
That's, that's the one, the one,the one the commandment.
(34:23):
Yeah.
Love others as mm-hmm.
As we've been loved.
And but what you're talkingabout there, that's.
That's what happens.
Mm-hmm.
When, when we sit with Jesus,that's what happens.
Yeah.
When we've been with Jesus and,and I, I, I know you've been,
and I can tell you, I've, I'vebeen with Jesus.
Mm-hmm.
And, uh, it's this long storyfor another time.
(34:45):
Mm-hmm.
But, uh, but his impact isundeniable.
Yeah.
And, and we're just called topay that impact forward.
Absolutely.
Share the gospel.
Share the gospel always.
And if leave be love people usewords.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
Well, babe, we're about to wrapthis up.
(35:06):
Yeah.
So yeah, we're, uh, this is,this is the end of season one,
huh?
Yeah.
End of season one.
It was a short season, but stilla season.
Nonetheless, if you missed any,go back and listen to them.
Right.
What you want to do now is.
Binge listen.
Yeah.
Uh, so, but before we close outthis episode and this season, we
(35:29):
just wanted to say thank you.
Mm-hmm.
Thank you for walking with usthrough this, this first step of
our, our invested framework,which is the, the I, uh, and
invested is intimacy with God.
Yeah.
We've talked about prayer, we'vetalked about worship.
Hearing God's voice, spiritualdryness, right.
(35:51):
Marriage last week and nowimpact.
And through it all, we hope, wehope and pray that you've drawn
closer to Jesus through theseepisodes.
Absolutely.
And season two is right aroundthe corner.
Um, literally we're gonna, we'regonna start.
Jumping right in.
(36:12):
You're gonna jump right intoseason two and moving into our
next principle, and we're gonna,we're gonna dive in a little
deeper.
You know, so this has been, thishas been a good season, but next
in season two, we're gonna get alittle deeper.
Mm-hmm.
And we're gonna discussnurturing a servant's heart.
That's so good.
Yeah.
You know, because once you'vebeen with Jesus, like we were
(36:32):
just talking about Yeah.
That the natural step.
Learning to lead like him withlove, humility, compassion, and
joy.
Right on.
Right on.
So here's your challenge thisweek.
You know, we always like to giveyou a challenge.
You gotta end with a challenge.
Yeah, yeah.
You gotta have some actionitems.
That's right.
So here's your challenge thisweek.
(36:54):
Ask God, what does impact looklike in this season of my life?
Lord, what is it?
What do you have for me?
Mm.
What's your plan?
Mm-hmm.
How do you want me to impact theworld around me?
Mm-hmm.
You know, does my plan line upwith your plan?
(37:14):
That's a great question.
Mm-hmm.
And then just sit with them inyour quiet time and in your
intimacy.
Increase your intimacy and askhim, you know, what does, what
does it look like?
What's your plan look like forme, Lord?
And then write that down.
Pray into it and be obedient.
Yes.
Remember, someone's blessing ison the other side of your
(37:35):
obedience.
Right.
Even if it seems small, youknow, through as we're, as we're
building the unbound, uh,reviving recovery unbound
ministry, consistently, we get,uh.
We get, you know, don't despisesmall beginnings.
That's right.
'cause you know, we're rolling.
We are.
We're rolling, and we'retransforming.
He's transforming lives throughhis plan for us.
(37:59):
Right.
That's what it's all about.
Yeah.
So after you've done that, afteryou've sat with God and you've
asked him though that question.
We would love to hear what he isshowing you.
Yeah.
So message us on Instagram atfaithfully invested or visit, or
even Facebook faithfullyinvested on Facebook, right.
Or visit ourwebsite@faithfullyinvested.com
(38:22):
and shoot us a message there.
We really wanna know whetheryou've gotten something out of
this and what the Lord isspeaking to you during this
time.
We would love to hear what he's.
Saying to you.
Yeah.
And, uh, so thanks again, uh,all y'all out there for checking
us out this season.
And remember, stay close to thevine.
Mm.
Walk in obedience and trust thatyour impact that's rooted in
(38:47):
intimacy will always bear fruitregardless of whether you see it
doing so or not.
Yeah.
If, if, if we're operating inhis will.
We're always bearing fruit.
Our efforts are always bearingfruit when we're in his will.
Yeah, and remember, when you'refaithfully invested, God brings
(39:09):
the increase.
God brings the increase everytime.
Bye, y'all.
Take care.
God bless.
Have a blessed day.
Thanks for joining us onFaithfully Invested with Alan
and Stacey.
Joe, if today's conversationencouraged you, challenged you,
or helped you see your callingmore clearly, don't keep it to
yourself.
That's right.
Share it with a friend.
Leave a five star review andkeep leaning into God's
(39:31):
blueprint for your life, yourleadership, and your legacy.
So until next time, remember,when you invest in his kingdom,
he brings the increase.
Are you ready to build a life,business and legacy that truly
lasts?
Welcome to Faithfully Investedwith Alan and Stacey, Joe Thorn,
where Faith meets real talk.
Biblical wisdom meets everydaylife and leadership meets
laughter.
Together we will uncover God'sblueprint for leadership,
marriage, and mission, helpingfaith-driven leaders invest in
(00:21):
what matters most.
Each episode, we explorebiblical wisdom, have real
conversations, and of course,have some fun along the way
because let's be real.
Walking in faith is anadventure.
It sure is.
So pull up a seat, grab yourcoffee or your sweet tea, and
join us as we steward ourcallings with intention, because
(00:42):
when we invest in his kingdom,he brings the increase.
Hey friends.
Welcome to Faithfully Invested,the podcast where we explore
God's blueprint for leadership,marriage, and mission, one
Kingdom principle at a time.
(01:03):
Yeah.
We are so glad you're here, andtoday we're wrapping up our very
first season.
Can you believe, Hey, we'rewrapping up our first season,
which has been all aboutbuilding deeper intimacy with
God and that my friends is thefoundation.
For everything else.
Yes.
Intimacy.
Intimacy with God is absolutely.
Mm-hmm.
(01:23):
The foundation for everything.
Today we're gonna be talkingabout what happens when our
intimacy spreads from being fromour personal lives, personal
intimacy from our secret placewith the Lord, when that spreads
to impacting the world around usbecause that's what it's
supposed to do.
Right.
Right.
So friends, when, when we walkas closely as we, we must to
(01:49):
make that impact.
When we walk as closely to ourTriune Godhead father, son, holy
Spirit, their overflow throughus is inevitable.
Absolutely.
I mean, your time with God wasnever meant to stay in the
prayer closet to begin with.
Right.
You know, when you liveconnected to him, your everyday
(02:10):
life becomes a vessel forkingdom influence.
Absolutely everything.
And I, I'd go so far as to saythat our, our intimacy doesn't
belong inside the, doesn'tbelong just staying inside the
four walls of the church.
Oh, absolutely.
Right.
Without, yeah.
So we, without a doubt, we'recalled to go out without.
Outside.
Mm-hmm.
Outside the four walls.
(02:31):
It starts, it starts inside thefour walls.
It starts inside the prayercloset.
Mm-hmm.
Or, you know, the, your secretplace, whatever that might look
like.
Yeah.
That's where it starts.
But we're called to go out, youknow?
Right.
Our, our intimacy begins hereand our impact goes here.
Right.
It goes out.
Yeah.
Um, so let's talk about what itlooks like to move from
(02:56):
intimacy.
Impact.
Let's do that.
Alright, let's dig in.
So, something that I've learned,uh, through my walk is that the
most lasting thing that I'vehad, uh, the most lasting impact
that I've had in people's life.
Uh, it didn't come from a bigspeech, it didn't come from a
perfect plan.
(03:16):
Uh, and, and I don't believethat anything, uh, that I wanted
to be impactful, uh, came fromme.
It can't just come from me.
However, I do believe that I'vehad some impact, uh, as I
followed my calling under an endJesus Christ authority.
(03:36):
I mm-hmm.
And Stacey too.
And, and you.
If you are, if you are abeliever in Jesus Christ, yeah.
If you believe.
And Jesus Christ, you are, youare under and in you operate
under and in his authority andunder and in his authority.
We're training for reigning.
(03:58):
Ooh, training for reign,training for reigning.
I like that.
Yeah.
I mean it's what it, it'sbrought right directly outta
Genesis.
He said We, we were created maleand female.
He created us and he created usto rule and reign.
Yeah.
Everything around us.
So that's good training forreigning.
So our prayers and our faithfulconversations, uh, for myself
(04:23):
through, through theconstruction field as well as
through several recovery roomshave allowed me to meet people
where they are and offerinsightful, uh, experience,
strength, and hope found only,not, not from me, but found only
in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Yeah.
(04:43):
Amen, babe.
You know, impact does notrequire a platform.
No.
It requires presence.
Right.
And I think we've talked aboutthat before.
Yeah.
You know, when you live rootedin God's presence.
Everything you touch begins toreflect him.
So if you've ever thought, youknow, I really wanna make a
difference, but I'm just aparent, well, well, there's a
(05:05):
good place to make a differenceright there as a parent and to
make an impact.
Absolutely.
Or maybe, you know, I don't havea ministry title.
Friends, I want you to hearthis.
Your intimacy with God alonequalifies you for impact, right?
Don't get hung up on a title,right?
I mean, kingdom Greatnessdoesn't always come, like I
(05:26):
said, with a title or platform,but it always comes from
obedience to our purposefulcalling.
I mean, simply put your secretplace, as Alan was talking,
those four walls.
Your secret place is yourlaunchpad.
That's it.
Intimacy with.
God qualifies you for impact.
(05:48):
I love that around here.
Uh, we call that a blammo, ablammo moment.
That's a blammo moment.
You know, I, I love thatintimacy with God qualifies you.
It does.
That's it.
It's all, that's, that's theonly thing you need to qualify
you is intimacy with God, but alimo.
Limo.
(06:09):
So.
But here's, but here's wheremany of us get bound up.
Here's where, where I've gottenbound up several times and, and
probably Stace as well.
I think we can mm-hmm.
Uh, attest to this.
Yeah.
We confuse impact withattention.
Yeah.
And this might, this is, thisnot, this is definitely gonna
step on a few toes.
(06:30):
Mm-hmm.
If no one sees it, we wonder ifwe're making a difference.
So we gotta ask ourselves aquestion.
Uh, whatever we're doing, are wedoing it for the kingdom or are
we doing it for personalattention?
Uh, have, have you beeninstructed to do all that you're
(06:50):
doing or are you running on yourown volition hoping that the
Lord will bless your efforts forhim?
Are you, are you doing what camefrom him or are you putting
forth efforts for him?
You know, where did it comefrom?
Because it, because if we'rejust, we're, if we're just
asking him to bless our, ourefforts, our finite efforts
(07:14):
mm-hmm.
When we could be living out hisinfinite plan for us.
Uh, it's always higher andgreater that if that's the case
Yeah.
Then there's gonna be a hugeblockade between your intentions
and the impact that you hope tohave.
For sure.
Because true impact doesn'thappen without intimacy.
(07:36):
Right.
I mean, asking yourself, what ismy motivation?
Yeah.
And what is my motivation?
Right.
That's a really good place tostart examining whether you're
seeking his answers.
Or if you're seeking attention.
Yeah.
And I will be the first to tellyou that I've had to ask myself
this question on more than oneoccasion.
(07:57):
Sure.
And the answer wasn't alwayswhat I thought, because there
were times where I thought thatI was seeking his answers and I
really was just seeking.
Attention.
Yeah.
And I've been the one who'sgotten caught up in the world
and sought the wrong attentionof the wrong people and the
wrong, you know, being in thewrong place at the wrong time.
(08:17):
And, and it took me a while tounderstand that that's not how
the kingdom works.
Yeah.
I mean, God wasn't looking.
Let's be honest, like God wasn'tlooking at my follower account.
Right.
Yeah.
God's not concerned with ourfollower account.
No.
Or how many likes we're getting.
He's only concerned with myfaithfulness to him.
(08:38):
Right.
That's it.
He is looking for ourfaithfulness.
He sees our hearts.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And Matthew six six.
Um, I love the, uh mm-hmm.
The gospel account of, ofMatthew.
Yeah.
He says, uh.
Uh, the Lord Jesus says, whenyou pray, go into your room, uh,
close the door and pray to thefather who is unseen.
(09:00):
And, and then your father whosees what is done in secret will
reward you.
Friends.
Uh, this is intimacy.
This is the intimacy time that'srequired for impact.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, the time alone with him.
Yeah.
Uh, yeah.
That's, uh, it's required tomake the impact.
(09:23):
It's not about us.
Uh, we'll get, we'll get to thatlater on.
Uh, it's the daily discipline ofsilence and solitude.
Uh, where we acquire his plan,we were talking about we wanna,
we wanna acquire his plan, uh,that's always higher and greater
than our own.
And based on my experience, wecannot treat our, our.
(09:47):
Intimacy.
Uh, we can't put a a time limiton it.
We can't treat it like it gotto.
Right.
It has got to it.
It's, it's always.
The more, the more we set thatdiscipline mm-hmm.
It's, it becomes a greatlyanticipated get to Yeah.
Friends.
We get to sit with the creatorof all we see and gain his
(10:10):
insight.
Mm-hmm.
That alone is rewarding.
That, that is that dessert.
We, we put the title, uh,awesome on so much, but, but
this is actually awesome.
That is awesome.
Yeah.
That we get to sit with thecreator.
Yeah.
Our creator.
Mm-hmm.
And, uh, and gain his insight.
(10:30):
Yeah.
And, um, and I've found, uh,through my walk with him that,
that one, I gotta slow down andI gotta make time.
Yeah.
Uh, I gotta invest time with himdaily, or I get lost chasing my,
my own plan, uh, my, you know,your own ambition, maybe my own
ambitious plan, you know?
Yeah.
And, and we'll, we'll, we'll diginto that a little more later,
(10:53):
but, you know.
I don't, I don't ever want toget lost in my plan, uh, but I
want to take time to, to sitwith him and, and, and
understand his plan.
And second, uh, when, when Ibecome more content with, with
seeking his face, which is hispresence mm-hmm.
When I get.
More content with seeking hispresence over his hand, which is
(11:16):
his provision than my journey.
Our journey as, as, uh,believers in the One True and
living God as, as Christfollowers.
When we seek His, his face overhis hand, our journey is so much
more fulfilling.
Yeah, and I mean, in otherwords, if we are seeking, only
(11:36):
seeking what he can give us asopposed to just seeking.
The presence with him.
Mm.
The time together with him, theintimacy with him.
Yeah.
We're gonna miss so much.
We're gonna miss a lot.
And I, I've missed a lot beforeI, before I was convicted to
(11:57):
reset my zeroes and, and getback to that.
Yeah.
And he'll, and he'll let us goaround that mountain as many
times as it takes to learn thoselessons.
Right.
Yeah.
But you know, I think it's, weneed to remember that what's
unseen to the world.
Is seen and celebrated with byGod.
Yeah.
You know, so if you're listeningand thinking, I'm showing up,
(12:17):
but, but no one notices knowthat God sees you, he sees you.
He knows your heart.
He does.
And you have to ask yourself isyour heart, I have to ask myself
this sometimes.
Is my heart the same in thesecret place with him as it is
outside my time with him?
Yeah.
(12:37):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And how does my heart respondwhen it doesn't look like the
plans are going as great as Ihad anticipated?
Right.
Yeah.
Um, sometimes my heart doesn'trespond the right way.
Yeah.
And so then I have to reset myzeroes and I have to do a heart
(12:58):
check, right?
Yeah.
And make sure my heart's in theright place.
We gotta be careful, uh, ofthose expectations, right?
Yeah.
Um, you know, ask the Lord orthink about what did the Lord
say to you in your timetogether.
Yeah.
But I want you to know this.
That when he gives you a plan towork with him and you are
remaining obedient to his planwith you, it is producing fruit.
(13:23):
Yeah.
Even when you can't see it.
Yeah.
Even when you can't see it, youmight not be able to see it, but
we can't see the full planbecause if we would see the full
plan, I often say if I could seeeverything that God has has
brought me through to where I amright now.
Yeah.
I, uh, I would've run a longtime ago.
It's a little overwhelming.
That's Yeah.
(13:44):
Way overwhelming, right?
I'd be like, nah.
Yeah.
So being in his plan isproducing fruit.
Yeah.
Whether you can see it or not.
Absolutely.
And remember that faith isbelief and what you hope for and
assurance for what we do notsee.
Right on.
So we have to walk.
By faith, not by sight.
That's it.
(14:04):
That's it.
Um, that's so important toremember, especially, uh, in
this busy world that's mm-hmm.
Where we can easily get bound upin the self-sufficient, get it
done, hustle.
Know, we've talked about, uh,self-sufficiency.
Yeah.
That's been something I've,I've, uh, that's very challenged
(14:25):
with self-sufficiency.
No, say it's not self, it'strue.
I do like getting it done, but,uh, but it's, uh, it can be
challenging.
We gotta, you gotta, and we, andthat's what the Holy Spirit's
here for, it's one here formm-hmm.
It's one of his many talents.
Is, is in as many, uh.
Uh, services is that the HolySpirit convicts us.
(14:46):
He's like, Hey, man, got abetter plan.
You wanna check this out?
Hey, slow down, slow down.
Yeah, I like what, uh, one of myfavorite pastors says because if
we're, if we're going toself-sufficiency and the cost of
getting it done, and we're, andwe're outside of the Lord's
well, and we're just trying toget all this done, done, done,
done, dun, dun, dun, dun.
Done.
Uh, man, that's, that'sexhausting.
(15:07):
Right?
And, uh, and, and I get a littlecranky.
A little tired.
Mm.
And a little, little cranky and,uh, but brings me back.
One of my favorite pastors said,uh, I heard this some time ago.
Sometimes the most Christianthing I can do is take a nap.
Yeah.
I think you said that in one ofour other episodes too.
Yeah.
I'll probably say it more thanone.
Yeah.
But, uh, and, and.
(15:28):
And as I'm coming out of thatnap and as I'm refreshed, you
know, maybe reset the zeroes andcheck in and see what, what the
board's got to say about that.
Yeah.
You know,'cause, uh, as whenwe're following, uh, his
calling, when we're followingour calling and his purpose, it,
it's, uh, he'll see us throughit.
Yeah.
But, um.
So, yeah, self-sufficiency canbe, uh, the whole get it done
(15:52):
can be, can be challenging.
But, you know, I believe thecoolest thing that I've, uh,
about any challenge is, is whatwe learn.
Yeah.
You know, it's the teachablemoment for sure.
Uh, what we learn is, uh,whatever the teachable moment is
that the, the Holy Spirit, uh,is, is guiding us through it.
If we allow, if we just slowdown enough to see what.
(16:14):
And, and I have learned to stopand say, Lord, what are you
showing me here?
What do I, what am I missinghere?
Because I get moving so fast,sometimes I'll miss, I'll miss
something.
So, but the Holy Spirit willguide us through it and, and
he'll teach us, man.
And, uh, it's one of my favoriteparts of, of, um, Matthew,
(16:36):
Matthew five is that, uh, the.
Take my yoke upon you and learnfrom me.
Mm-hmm.
And that's what the Lord, that'swhat Jesus sent us the Holy
Spirit to, to teach us, uh,about everything that remind us
of everything Jesus said and toteach us how to live like, like
the Savior.
Yeah.
(16:56):
But, um.
And I would say, you know, as,as I've learned to slow down to
go faster, as I've learned tostop and reset my zeroes, I
would, I would say that, thatnot most, uh, not some of, but,
uh, all of my, my greatest lifelessons were learned once I.
(17:18):
Brought it down, had a old buddyused, say, sim it down.
Now, once I was able to sim itdown and, uh, and humble out,
uh, and discover what theteachable moments were, uh,
through these tough times, uh,yeah, uh, it, it's important,
vital, absolutely crucial to,to.
See these teachable moments, uh,when things aren't going our
(17:42):
way.
Mm.
Yeah.
I, I get a little testing.
That's one that's mostimportant.
It is when it's most importantif things aren't going my way,
but that's when it's Yeah.
The most difficult too.
It is, it is.
Yeah.
Uh, but I remember, uh,actually.
Several seasons.
There have been several times.
Yeah.
'cause it's a journey.
It's a journey.
Uh, we're not, I'm not claimingperfection over here.
(18:04):
Please don't there.
I don't see a halo up here.
No.
But, uh, but there's beenseveral seasons and we're just,
we're just here learning.
Yeah.
As we go.
Uh, uh, when I was, but there'sbeen several seasons when I
thought I was doing all theright things, you know?
Mm-hmm.
I was leading, well, I was, Iwas teaching others.
But inside, whew, man.
(18:25):
Whew.
I was running off fumes and Iwas running toward empty pretty
darn quickly.
Yeah.
And, uh, I was going way toohard trying to keep up with,
with work, keep up with home,keep up with ministry, trying to
wedge in time for exercise, uh,trying to remember, uh, time to
date my wife, and so on and soforth.
Mm.
But, but what was missing there,you know, see I mentioned work
(18:49):
home ministry.
Exercise.
Uh, wife, you know, wife, youknow, sadly at the, she should
never be at the end of the list,but, but what was, at least she
made the list what didn't makethe list.
Right.
You know?
That's right.
My, my time with Jesus, my time,my, my secret place time.
(19:10):
My, my time for intimacy.
Uh, mm-hmm.
With, with the plan maker?
Yeah.
With the, with the differencemaker, with, with the savior.
Jesus.
That's what was missing.
And I was, I was so focused on,on the impact I neglected to put
God first.
Right.
So, you know, I had to slow.
I, like I said, again, he'llmake, he'll, he won't make us go
(19:35):
around the hill, but he'll letus go around that mountain as
many times as it takes.
Right.
And, uh, but our, our, um.
I found that our, our, our, ifmy intimacy gets lost in the
hustle, uh, I just becomeunbelievably, uh, frazzled and
exhausted.
And that's not the way it'ssupposed to be.
Right.
(19:55):
You know, kingdom work doesn't,you know, we should, uh, Matt
Chandler says when we're doingkingdom work, we should.
Men, we should go to bed tired,but we, we should never be
exhausted.
We should, you know, we shouldalways be seeking his, his face
and his, his will and his way.
But, uh, you know, but, um, I,I, during those seasons, uh, I
(20:18):
was, it was way beyond time forme.
I let it go way too farsometimes, and it was way beyond
time for me to reset my zeroesand get back to making him first
in all things and, and all.
Things.
So all things.
All things.
Okay.
Right.
Yeah.
I mean, I've had all things all,yeah, I got it.
(20:40):
You know, I've had similarseasons and, and I've talked
about it in previous episodesabout pouring out and just
giving everything I had, but notconsistently going back to the
source.
You know, eventually the wellruns dry and you, you can't pour
from an empty vessel.
Or if you even go back to, Ilike going back to John 15 where
(21:03):
Jesus is talking about beinghim.
Being the vine.
Yeah.
And us being the branches.
And if we are cut off from him.
Mm.
If we're no longer attached tothe vine, we have nothing to
receive life from.
Right.
Nothing.
And we will shrivel up and diewithout that source.
Just like a, I mean, yeah.
(21:23):
Dry.
Perfect example.
Crunchy of the plant, you know,burn pretty easy.
Yeah.
So what was your teachablemoment through that, babe?
Well, that's actually simple intheory.
Not necessarily simple to do,but um, the teachable moment was
that impact that isn't fueled byobedience and intimacy with the
Lord leads to prideful effortsat best.
(21:46):
Oh, no.
Yeah.
I mean his word.
Yeah, pride, his word,recognized that.
Uh, pride comes before the fall.
Mm-hmm.
And the fall here for me wasfrustration.
And just like you were talkingabout, frustration, exhaustion,
and inevitable burnout.
Because if, again, if we're notconnected to him Yeah.
(22:08):
We shrivel up and die and, andburn up.
Right.
But when intimacy comes first,yeah.
When intimacy comes first,that's where real lasting fruit
is born.
That's where we can be fruitfulbecause we are connected to the
source.
We are constantly being fed whatwe need to thrive.
(22:28):
And that's when impact becomeskingdom driven, not self-driven.
I know.
That's good then.
And you know, the time with him,the time with him is what fills
us up.
Yeah.
We gotta, it's the source.
If we're gonna, we, I talkedabout, uh, when we're, when
we're sitting with, with, uh.
(22:50):
Our triune God mm-hmm.
Sitting with the Father, theson, and the, and the Holy
Spirit when that we need thattime to fill us up or Right.
If we, if we don't have, if, ifwe're not being filled up, we
got nothing to, to pour out.
Right.
And when we sit with them, we,we, we overflow.
Yes.
And that's what we're talkingabout here.
It overflows to the communityaround us.
(23:12):
Um, you know, I heard someonesay, we want to be, and I, and I
want to be this, I want to be sofull.
That I don't even have to bendto pour.
Right.
It will just splash.
Just splash everywhere.
People get splashed as I walkpast.
Right.
I love it.
(23:32):
Yeah.
So, so what can we do?
Yeah.
So how, how might we get.
Uh, get better, uh, to, uh,remaining with intimacy,
remaining in intimacy.
Yeah.
Uh, so that we can have the mamaximum kingdom impact that
we're looking to have.
Here are five.
Uh, dare I say, wait, wait.
(23:54):
Five practical truths.
I was gonna say, dare I saypractical, uh, but not only
practical, uh, which of coursethey are and you know, how, how
much I love practical, butthey're all so powerful truths
that we've learned to live byover our, yeah, over our time
together.
Walking with him.
The first one is like stareally.
(24:15):
Um, she really drove that homewell, uh, stay connected to the
vine.
Mm-hmm.
You know, Jesus reminds us in,in, uh, John 15, five, that
apart from him, we can donothing, nothing, nothing apart
from him.
We can do nothing we can get.
So I, uh, early in my recovery,I, I said, uh, of my own
(24:37):
efforts, I reached the peak.
Mediocrity and uh, right.
And, uh, so apart from, uh,apart from Jesus, we can do
nothing.
We gotta stay connected to thatvine.
Yeah.
We, we must know and believethat our impact is only as
strong as our daily connectionwith the Father, with Jesus and
(24:58):
with the Holy Spirit.
We gotta remember that we gotta.
Make that connection, uh,because without that connection,
we're not growing very far inour God-given purpose.
We might be going.
We can go, uh, in our ownvolition, uh, in our own power,
(25:18):
but we're not growing.
Yeah.
We want to grow.
Yeah.
That's good.
Uh, we want to grow into our,into and through our God-given
purpose, we can go, go, go, butwe won't grow, grow, grow, grow,
grow.
Right.
So we gotta stay connected tothe vine.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So number two of the powerful.
And practical and practical waysis to be faithful with what's in
(25:43):
front of you.
Yeah.
You know, don't overlook the, inthe assignment that's right in
your home or in your workplace,or maybe in your neighborhood.
Faithfulness in the small thingsmakes room for so much more.
You know, Luke 1610, we all knowthis.
Scripture says that whoever canbe trusted with little can also
be trusted with much.
(26:04):
But whoever's dishonest withlittle right.
We'll also be dishonest withdishonest.
Dishonest, dishonest with much.
That's for you.
New Yorkers.
That's for Connie.
Yeah.
Oh, there you are, Connie.
So be faithful.
So it all comes back to beingfaithful in the small things,
(26:24):
even when you wonder if whatyou're doing is even making a
difference because yourobedience.
To the smallest things cancreate the biggest blessings for
someone else.
Absolutely, and I often heard itsaid that.
Someone else's blessing is onthe other side of your
obedience.
And it's so true because you andI, neither one would be where we
(26:44):
are right now if it wasn't forsomebody else's obedience to
speak into us.
Yeah, absolutely.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
We could name names there, butwell, we will.
Uh, not uh, but yeah, it's,there's too many to name.
Yeah, there lot people, if we'regonna be really honest, there,
there a lot people that spokento us over.
Over, uh, yeah.
(27:05):
Over the many years.
Number three is, uh, and we, wetalked on this, uh, ask for his
assignment.
What's his plan?
Right.
What's the Lord's plan?
The higher and greater plan?
Yeah.
Uh, it's easy, uh, it's easy toget busy in kingdom work and,
and miss, and while we're busyover here, we're missing our
calling over here.
(27:25):
Mm-hmm.
And all the while he is like,Hey, yeah, over here.
I want you over here.
Oh, this is nice.
But hey.
This is for you here.
Yeah.
This is yours.
How many times have we donethat?
Yeah.
Right.
So in your quiet time with him,what?
Ask him what his plan is.
There's a novel idea.
(27:46):
What?
Yeah.
Lord, what's your plan?
A common question of ours is,Lord, are we operating inside
your will?
Yeah, I've asked that about thispodcast.
Yeah.
Lord.
Is this, is this in your will,even just last week?
Right.
And not because I don't want todo it, but we just want to make
sure that whatever we're doing,whatever we're, we're, we're,
(28:07):
uh.
Spending our time and ourefforts on is inside his will.
Yeah, because I, I'll be honest,I spent a lot of time, you know,
before Jesus way outside hiswill.
And I don't want, and not thatany of that time was wasted
because without those teachablemoments there, there wouldn't
be.
You know, teachable momentshere, right?
(28:28):
If I'm honest.
So, but it's emphatically vital,absolutely crucial, uh, to
invite him into all that he hasgiven you.
Recognize that he's given, givenyou this calling, and invite him
into that and listen to what hehas to say about you moving
forward and his plan.
(28:50):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think that's really good andit's so important.
Um,'cause we don't wanna beoutside of his calling.
Yeah.
I mean, we don't, and, and I'm,and I'm being serious when I
said, we literally asked theLord that last week Right.
About this podcast.
Yeah.
And you know, it's very clearthat he does that.
(29:12):
We are in his will right now.
Right.
That he does want us to be doingthis.
Yeah.
Even when.
It doesn't necessarily look likewe're making an impact, right?
I mean, hey man, we boughtmicrophones.
Come on.
But, but anyway, uh, yeah, so,so what's number four?
Well, on number four.
(29:34):
You're so silly.
Oh, now I gotta get serious.
Oh, try love, like number fouris love like Jesus, even when
it's hard.
Yeah.
I mean, and who hasn't had this?
You want me to take this one?
Want me to?
You want me to?
No, no, no.
I got it.
I mean, sit down now people arewatching how you treat others
(29:58):
more than what you say.
How you treat others more thanwhat you say.
Yeah.
And your impact is often in howyou love the most difficult
people.
And it's hard sometimes to lovedifficult people.
It's hard to love the peoplethat are coming against you,
opposing your views.
(30:19):
Yeah.
It's hard to love the people whoare constantly wanting to battle
with you.
Mm-hmm.
Or they don't wanna hear whatyou have to say.
Right.
But we are called to love them.
We are called to love'em, man,regardless.
That's challenging sometimes.
Yeah.
And when, uh, people that getstuck in the old, the old stuff
over there, right?
And they're, and then the, theLord's giving you this new stuff
(30:41):
and they're like, nah, nah,whatever.
I'm like, okay, whatever.
When you can see something forsomeone that you know is gonna
be so much better for them,yeah.
But they don't want it.
Yeah.
That's why.
That's why, but love it.
Yeah.
It's important to know thatwhatever we're doing is inside
(31:01):
his will.
Yeah, because, because ifsomeone, when we know.
And we believe, and we've beentold in our quiet time that from
our creator that our plan, whatwe're doing here, our ministry
is inside his will.
Mm-hmm.
Then the naysayers have nothingto say.
(31:21):
Right.
And, and we, and we're able totake that and, and love people
where they're at.
Right.
But all the while knowingmm-hmm.
That, uh, that we're inside theLord's will, what we're doing is
right.
Yeah.
Loving.
It's not about what man, lovingthem through it.
It's about the Lord and lovingthem through it.
Yeah, loving them through it,regardless.
(31:42):
So number five.
Number five, getting a drink ofyour faithfully invested water.
Yeah.
That's delicious.
So, uh, number five is, issimilar to what you're talking
about.
There's let your life mm-hmm.
Preach louder than your words.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's your life.
Uh, I commonly, uh, there was a,there's a quote out there from,
(32:06):
and, uh, it was, uh.
There's a quote out there, andthen he goes blank.
Uh, spread the word, uh, spreadthe gospel of Jesus Christ.
Always.
Yeah.
And if need be, use words.
Mm.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Now, commonly it was, that was,you know.
(32:29):
That quote was attributed toFrancis of Assisi, but you know,
the scholar say, nah, he neversaid that.
But we don't know who said it,but, but that's what we're
talking about here in, in ourfifth, uh, practical
application.
Yeah.
Let our life preach louder thanour words.
Yeah.
So we don't need a title tolead.
(32:50):
I think we established that wedon't need a stage to have
influential impact.
Mm-hmm.
Um, it's been said that the.
The greatest part of sharing thegospel isn't just our words,
but, but more so our actions,how we treat people, right?
Um, actions always.
I can hear my mom saying thatnow a lane actions always speak
(33:13):
louder in words.
That was one of her favoritethings, man.
Mm-hmm.
And, uh, so.
Just live out your experientialcalling.
Your calling.
Yeah.
Just live out your experientialcalling so that God and those
around you take notice.
In him.
In you.
It's, it's not about me, it'sabout Christ in me.
(33:38):
Yeah.
That's, that's what I wantpeople to see and, and sometimes
I gotta take a step back andremember that.
Right.
And, and when you do that, don'tbe surprised when people start
coming to you, not becauseyou're, you're flashy or you're,
you know, you're wearing theright clothes or you have that,
that ma that massive following,but because they sense peace,
(34:00):
wisdom, and truth and how youlive, and that is the most
credible impact that you canhave.
Yeah.
Is.
Wisdom, peace and truth.
That's it.
Living that way, that's whathappens.
And love, of course.
Love, obviously love.
Yeah.
That's, that's the one, the one,the one the commandment.
(34:23):
Yeah.
Love others as mm-hmm.
As we've been loved.
And but what you're talkingabout there, that's.
That's what happens.
Mm-hmm.
When, when we sit with Jesus,that's what happens.
Yeah.
When we've been with Jesus and,and I, I, I know you've been,
and I can tell you, I've, I'vebeen with Jesus.
Mm-hmm.
And, uh, it's this long storyfor another time.
(34:45):
Mm-hmm.
But, uh, but his impact isundeniable.
Yeah.
And, and we're just called topay that impact forward.
Absolutely.
Share the gospel.
Share the gospel always.
And if leave be love people usewords.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
Well, babe, we're about to wrapthis up.
(35:06):
Yeah.
So yeah, we're, uh, this is,this is the end of season one,
huh?
Yeah.
End of season one.
It was a short season, but stilla season.
Nonetheless, if you missed any,go back and listen to them.
Right.
What you want to do now is.
Binge listen.
Yeah.
Uh, so, but before we close outthis episode and this season, we
(35:29):
just wanted to say thank you.
Mm-hmm.
Thank you for walking with usthrough this, this first step of
our, our invested framework,which is the, the I, uh, and
invested is intimacy with God.
Yeah.
We've talked about prayer, we'vetalked about worship.
Hearing God's voice, spiritualdryness, right.
(35:51):
Marriage last week and nowimpact.
And through it all, we hope, wehope and pray that you've drawn
closer to Jesus through theseepisodes.
Absolutely.
And season two is right aroundthe corner.
Um, literally we're gonna, we'regonna start.
Jumping right in.
(36:12):
You're gonna jump right intoseason two and moving into our
next principle, and we're gonna,we're gonna dive in a little
deeper.
You know, so this has been, thishas been a good season, but next
in season two, we're gonna get alittle deeper.
Mm-hmm.
And we're gonna discussnurturing a servant's heart.
That's so good.
Yeah.
You know, because once you'vebeen with Jesus, like we were
(36:32):
just talking about Yeah.
That the natural step.
Learning to lead like him withlove, humility, compassion, and
joy.
Right on.
Right on.
So here's your challenge thisweek.
You know, we always like to giveyou a challenge.
You gotta end with a challenge.
Yeah, yeah.
You gotta have some actionitems.
That's right.
So here's your challenge thisweek.
(36:54):
Ask God, what does impact looklike in this season of my life?
Lord, what is it?
What do you have for me?
Mm.
What's your plan?
Mm-hmm.
How do you want me to impact theworld around me?
Mm-hmm.
You know, does my plan line upwith your plan?
(37:14):
That's a great question.
Mm-hmm.
And then just sit with them inyour quiet time and in your
intimacy.
Increase your intimacy and askhim, you know, what does, what
does it look like?
What's your plan look like forme, Lord?
And then write that down.
Pray into it and be obedient.
Yes.
Remember, someone's blessing ison the other side of your
(37:35):
obedience.
Right.
Even if it seems small, youknow, through as we're, as we're
building the unbound, uh,reviving recovery unbound
ministry, consistently, we get,uh.
We get, you know, don't despisesmall beginnings.
That's right.
'cause you know, we're rolling.
We are.
We're rolling, and we'retransforming.
He's transforming lives throughhis plan for us.
(37:59):
Right.
That's what it's all about.
Yeah.
So after you've done that, afteryou've sat with God and you've
asked him though that question.
We would love to hear what he isshowing you.
Yeah.
So message us on Instagram atfaithfully invested or visit, or
even Facebook faithfullyinvested on Facebook, right.
Or visit ourwebsite@faithfullyinvested.com
(38:22):
and shoot us a message there.
We really wanna know whetheryou've gotten something out of
this and what the Lord isspeaking to you during this
time.
We would love to hear what he's.
Saying to you.
Yeah.
And, uh, so thanks again, uh,all y'all out there for checking
us out this season.
And remember, stay close to thevine.
Mm.
Walk in obedience and trust thatyour impact that's rooted in
(38:47):
intimacy will always bear fruitregardless of whether you see it
doing so or not.
Yeah.
If, if, if we're operating inhis will.
We're always bearing fruit.
Our efforts are always bearingfruit when we're in his will.
Yeah, and remember, when you'refaithfully invested, God brings
(39:09):
the increase.
God brings the increase everytime.
Bye, y'all.
Take care.
God bless.
Have a blessed day.
Thanks for joining us onFaithfully Invested with Alan
and Stacey.
Joe, if today's conversationencouraged you, challenged you,
or helped you see your callingmore clearly, don't keep it to
yourself.
That's right.
Share it with a friend.
Leave a five star review andkeep leaning into God's
(39:31):
blueprint for your life, yourleadership, and your legacy.
So until next time, remember,when you invest in his kingdom,
he brings the increase.
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