Episode 22: Christian Life Trials: Thriving Amidst Temptation and Change

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Ever found yourself trapped in the wilderness of temptation? Our conversation could be your guide to escape. We navigate through this dense subject, covering everything from personal faith journeys, the Sermon on the Mount, to dealing with the common trials of a modern Christian life. We encourage you to actively engage with us, send in your questions, or share your thoughts - remember, you can always remain anonymous!

We pull back the curtain and reveal how our experiences and faith shape our perspectives, including the impact of prayer in our lives. As we unpack the Sermon on the Mount, we contemplate its many layers and how we can apply its teachings in our everyday lives. We even dive into the process of how Michelle and their life group prepare for their discussions - who knows, it might inspire your next group study session! The conversation takes a deeper turn as we discuss Jesus' comforting words about mourning the old self to step into the new.

As we press on, we reflect on the responsibility of being a light in the darkness and what it truly means to fulfill the law. We aren't shying away from tough topics either, tackling issues like righteous anger, resolving conflicts promptly, and living morally. Lust, temptation, divorce - none of these are off the table either. Listen in for a refreshing perspective rooted in Jesus' teachings and find comfort, guidance, and inspiration in shared wisdom. And perhaps, just perhaps, you'll discover a new way of looking at things.

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Twitter: @FindingFaithPod

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
It's time to wake up and pray up here on the Finding
Faith and Losing Sleep podcast,episode 22.
22.
Is that right, pierre, ourexecutive producer Pierre Hi
Double D's 22.
Is it really?

Speaker 2 (00:19):
It is Crazy, I was totally guessing.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
I was totally guessing 22,.
That's a long time.
That's almost half a year.
If you go by weeks, almost.
Is that right?
Yeah, hey, that is Pierre, theexecutive producer of the
podcast, the guy who puts it alltogether and edits it and gets
it all out there to you.
He is on Twitter at PeeWee31,and his wife, michelle, is
joining us today again, which weare so thankful for.

(00:42):
It is at GopakGo 411 over onTwitter as well.
Good afternoon Wilsons, goodafternoon Wes, and I'm Wes.
He's one of your hosts atLofenit over on Twitter and you
can find the podcast that we'reon Twitter.
Can you find it there?
Hey, we have got some followersover there.
I didn't realize we had thatmany followers, pierre.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
We do.
I don't know where some of themcame from, but I'm glad that
they're there At Finding Faith.
Pod is where you can find usand we're there.
We got an email as well.
If you want to reach out viaemail, we're at
findingfafelosingsleepcom somultiple ways that you can reach
out to us, in addition to ourown separate Twitter handles.

(01:21):
So just looking forward tointeracting and, even if we
don't interact, just thanks forfollowing along.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
Yeah, totally.
Thanks for following along, andif you leave a review over on
whatever listening platformyou'd like to listen to it on,
don't, yeah, yeah, slap a stararound.
That's fine, you can leave.
You know you can hit somereviews there that way, whatever
you want to.
But we would love to hear fromyou.
We would love questions.
I want a question episode and,pierre, I know we got some
questions in the holster.
We're saving them, we're kindof grouping them all together.

(01:46):
I hope we have a questionepisode one day is what we can
have, and I would just love tobe able to do that and interact
with all the listeners andlisten.
If you don't want your nameread or anything like that, or
where the question can come from, we can do all that too.
Just tell us or just write inanonymous.
We don't have to include anykind of email address or any
kind of Twitter handle orwhatever it is that that you
leave it with.
Just, we can do it anonymously.

(02:08):
We aren't worried about that.
I just want to interact withyou guys.
I face to face, I like face toface stuff.
You know what I mean, becausewhenever you start talking to
people over the internet or overthe phone, maybe your
inflections don't get.
I'm a smart Alec, right?
I like to joke.

Speaker 3 (02:23):
I like to have fun, I am.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
I like to have fun, I like that.
But sometimes that doesn't comeacross well on Twitter or on a
podcast or over a phone orsomething, because they can't
see your reaction, they can'tsee your face, they can't see a
little smirk or their smile.
So that's why I like to havethat interaction here and just
to see what people are wantingto do.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
Yeah, I mean, good call out on it being anonymous.
We don't have to tie youtowards the question that you
ask, especially if it's aboutsomething personal or you're
listening to it with someone youmay have a question about.
So definitely send those in andyeah, it's just been an
interesting journey.
I know we've had a question ortwo that have come in.

(03:05):
We've answered one, I believe,early on in episode, like three
or four.
We had a question come in thereand we do look forward to
interacting.
You're correct on it, sometimestough to do that through social
media platforms, texting, etcetera.
Yeah, I mean, I don't know whythe emojis are there, but me
being a sarcastic person,sometimes it just doesn't come

(03:25):
across the way you think itshould come across.
So you try to toss an emoji hereor there to at least lighten
the mood.

Speaker 1 (03:33):
I give you all the benefit of the doubt.
I don't take anything personal,I just let it all roll off my
back, whether it's.
I guess I'd listen to criticisma little bit and look, if you
have a weird wonky question,that's fine.
You've heard me talk aboutweird stuff before.
And if it's a weird wonkyquestion, all Michelle's going
to do is blame me for it.
Anyway, she's just going to sayWes, you probably came up with

(03:53):
that.
You wrote that question inyourself, didn't you, wes?
I think that's what you'll do,michelle.

Speaker 3 (03:57):
Hey, I think I've talked about like maybe I should
send in questions for Pierreanonymously.
So that's still on the table.
So we are okay, not yet.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
Anyway, we are working our way through life
together and we are not any kindof theologians or anything.
I mean we work, we work at it.
We've been studying the Biblefor a long time, michelle and
Pierre.
They've been studying the Bibletoo and they have come to the
faith.
I guess I would roughlyestimate you guys have been
actively involved in pursuing arelationship with God, probably

(04:29):
your whole lives, but like thelast five years, like probably
really actively involved, maybegoing to church and stuff like
that, am I?
Am I guessing that right, causeI don't know that we've ever
laid that timeframe down.

Speaker 3 (04:40):
I think that's correct.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yes, yeah, right around that four to five year
mark.
I'm not.
I'm not smart, you know, in theBible, like I'm not one that
can debate you.
But I can speak to life, I canspeak to experience and how it's
talked to me that way, how myprayers have been answered that
way.
But if you're wanting me to golike toe for toe, like Bible

(05:02):
verse or Bible verse like wekind of talked about a little
bit last week, that's not goingto happen.
I'm not that person.

Speaker 3 (05:07):
And he's probably better at that than I am even.
I think we we really just divein as much as we can and, you
know, rely on what God says tous and how he speaks to our
hearts and what we've seen work.
And you know, in our life groupwe have seen, if we go back and
we really look at all theprayers that have come up and
all of the ways that they havebeen answered, it's really just

(05:29):
mind boggling.

Speaker 1 (05:31):
Oh it is.
It is cool to see that, thatinteraction from God as well,
and I think he wants to interactwith us.
So it's always good to havethat open mind, to be able to
talk to him through prayer,which we're always supposed to
pray, and supplication to himall the time, but also to be
able to receive, and so you wantto take that quiet time to be
able to talk to him.
I've been in the faith for along time now I don't even 30
years, and that's prettystraightforward.

(05:52):
I mean, it's been about 30years.
I know it doesn't sound like itall the time I try to be
amusing and I try to do thingsto where I talk and look, I have
got a bunch of the ways, theway I've always said.
I've got a big filing cabinetand it's really deep, and I've
got a bunch of files in myfiling cabinet on knowledge that
I have in life right, but every, every file has about two or

(06:14):
three papers in it.
None of them are really deep,none of them are really big.
I know a lot about, I know alittle about.
A lot is how I look at it, andwhat we did together is we
started this journey throughlife and we started talking
about topics that were happeningto us or happening around us
and in the news and stuff, andand it has led to where we're
starting to read Genesistogether, we're starting to read

(06:36):
Matthew together and we're overthere in Matthew, chapter five.
If you have a Bible, that'sgreat.
If you don't have a Bible,that's fine too.
Just sit back and listen.
We're going to walk through ita little bit and this is where
Jesus is now starting his publicministry and he's called some
apostles together.
He started to get a following.
We saw him back in walkingaround and healing people and
people really started believingin him and stuff.

(06:58):
And now we get to a very specialsermon, right, the Sermon on
the Mount.
The Sermon on the Mount.
This is probably a sermon thatJesus actually preached all over
the place.
If you, if you ever listen to apreacher and, like you, go hear
a preacher a second time inlike a different city or a
different church, you might getthe same sermon again.
It just it just might be whatyou get, because it doesn't

(07:21):
always have to be fresh thoughts, it doesn't always have to be
something new or anything, butthis is probably a sermon that
Jesus didn't just preach thisone one time.
He probably preached this overa different in different cities,
not all, you know, all the time, not, not the one sermon.
He didn't just have one sermon,I'm sure, but he had different
ones.
So I don't.
I've never thought about thatbefore until I thought about
that and I was like, hey, that'sprobably true.

(07:42):
I think I read it somewhere andI was like that's, that's
probably two.
We got to think about that.

Speaker 2 (07:47):
Yeah, I mean it makes sense.
Like you you think of, likeMartin Luther King Jr, for
example, as one example I have.
You know the I have a dream,you know speech didn't just take
place.
You know that one time.
You know it was done like it ingymnasium, like to start, it
was his first time ever, wasactually like in a high school
gymnasium and it kind of justgot bigger and spread.

(08:08):
And you know you're hittingdifferent people with the same
message and they're taking it in.
And then you have followers,like Jesus has the disciples,
who may pick something updifferent.
You know each time they listento it as well.
And I think that's the casewith with any good speech.
You know you can hear it overand over again and each time
you're going to probably drawsomething new from that speech.

Speaker 3 (08:29):
I agree.

Speaker 1 (08:30):
And it says that the multitudes were around him.
I I see this in verse one.
When he saw the multitudes, hewent up on the mountain and
after he sat down, his disciplescame over to him and all these
people.
So he's up there on themountain, all these people
around him.
The way I see it, michelle, ispeople are sitting down.
People are just, you know, someare on rocks, some are sitting
down on maybe a blanket or acoat or something like that,

(08:51):
just just listening to him speak, and some people may be even
taking notes.
I don't know if they took notes.
I don't know what they tooknotes on back then.
Yeah, parchment paper and allthat.
Are you a note taker, michelle,while you're in services,
whenever you hear a preacherpreach?

Speaker 3 (09:05):
I am mostly on my phone.
We have an app at church thatwe can add our notes in, and so
we usually add them in there toprepare for our life group,
because we usually cover oursermon in our life group.
So I am some are better at itthan I am we have one girl in
our life group who always, like,has her little tablet out and

(09:26):
she's taking notes and she's theperson we defer to if we didn't
catch it.

Speaker 1 (09:31):
So I am, I, I, I.
We have that ability too, andsome people do, some people
don't.
I'm a, I'm a paper guy, youknow.
I like paper, I like paper, Ilike pen, and that's maybe I'm
scared of technology or I'm justan older guy or whatever, but
that's that's how I like to doit.
I makes it stick a little bitmore.

Speaker 2 (09:50):
I hear it on airy episodes.
I believe you.

Speaker 1 (09:56):
Oh, anyway, he's up there on the mountain, he starts
speaking.
Right, he opened up his mouthand he began to teach to him is
what verse two says.
Now, before we get into thislittle part here where it goes,
you know, blessed are the poorin spirit.
You actually have to start thispart, I believe, at the end of
this part.
Wherever you go over to verse11 and 12, jesus says this.
And in conclusion but I thinkyou have to put this at the end

(10:19):
of each one of his blessings, hesays blessed are you when men
cast insults at you andpersecute you and say all kinds
of evil against you, falsely onaccount of me, rejoice and be
glad, for your reward in heavenis great.
And so they persecuted theprophets who were before you.
Blessed are you on account ofme?

(10:40):
I think that's the key part inall of this on account of me,
all these things happen topeople because of Jesus, because
of God, on account of me.
So, as we read this at the endof each one of those little
blesseds and I'm going to bepassing this back and forth to
you guys a little bit here justput the on account of me at the

(11:01):
end of each one of them, becauseI think that that's how it all
ends up.
All right, okay.
So if you could, pierre, whydon't you get started?
I'll give my voice a break.
I just got done teachinghomeschool volleyball.
I was a coach in homeschoolvolleyball.
Just because my voice is rough,that doesn't mean I was yelling
at all the kids.
Okay, I wasn't doing that.

(11:23):
But I like cheering them on, Ilike getting them to go, because
they don't always go as hard asthey should.
I'm like let's go, let's go,let's go, let's go, let's read
these Bible sprints.

Speaker 2 (11:34):
I was just going to say you're making quite the
assumption that I can read rightnow, but really good.

Speaker 1 (11:39):
Hey, pierre Pierre, read it like you live, my friend
Read it like I live.
Okay Hard, okay Hard.

Speaker 2 (11:47):
That means the blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom ofheaven.
Are we stopping at one or arewe keeping on?
Keep it on, keep it on.

Speaker 1 (11:55):
We stop On account of me.

Speaker 2 (11:58):
On account of me.

Speaker 1 (11:59):
On account of me.
See, blessed are the poor inspirit.
There's is the kingdom ofheaven.
On account of me, because ofJesus.
You see, you got to put that onaccount of me at the end of
each one of these, because itsummarizes all those.
Go ahead, pierre, you're goingto be the poor.
Keep going.

Speaker 2 (12:15):
Hard okay.

Speaker 1 (12:21):
Keep going.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
I don't want to keep going.
I want to stop at that one.

Speaker 1 (12:25):
Okay, all right.

Speaker 2 (12:28):
What, when you, when you, when you see that, when you
see blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted,
what do you go to?
What?
What thought process goes intoyour head when you see that
verse or read that verse?

Speaker 1 (12:41):
Usually sadness or death.

Speaker 3 (12:44):
Okay, Michelle for me that, yeah, lost a death or a
loss of some sort comes up forme.

Speaker 2 (12:53):
I think that's the case.
I think most people go to likeyou know the thoughts of, like
funerals, you know folks morningand basically they will be
comforted.
But a way that I read it Maybea couple months ago, it's over.
We're kind of, we're kind oftaught to take up our cross
daily and and be and live likeJesus, and the way it was was

(13:15):
kind of relayed is that you'rekind of mourning yourself, so
bless her of those that kind ofmourn themselves.
You're dying to yourself so youcan be more like Jesus.
Blessed are those, for theywill be comforted.
And I think that makes evenmore sense, west, when you add
that on account of me, becauseyou are, you are dying to

(13:36):
yourself for Jesus, and soblessed are those that mourn
themselves, for they will becomforted on account of me.
What are your thoughts on that?

Speaker 1 (13:46):
Good one.
I like it, I like the thoughts.
That's a good one and and I wasthinking about that how, if you
mourn because you aren't goodenough, you know If you're, if
you're repentful of those thingsthat you are falling short of
in the eyes of God, you wouldfeel poor in spirit, you know
you.
You would feel like like youwere mourning or sad because of
that, yeah, and and you can becounted righteous in God's eyes

(14:09):
because of him, on account ofhim.

Speaker 2 (14:12):
Yeah, and I think again, I think most people go to
you know the deaf and sorrow,family, members of loved ones
which you know, those you know.
Hopefully those comforts arethere as well.
You know I've had thosecomforts myself.
But I think also we got tothink about it and mourning
yourself, you know, and maybeyou're, you're old you.
You know being reborn into newyou.
You got a mourn, the old you,in order for your new, the new

(14:35):
you, to be comforted.

Speaker 3 (14:36):
Yeah, because it'd be like a closure process.

Speaker 1 (14:39):
Yeah that's good, michelle, you want to pick up
there?

Speaker 3 (14:41):
verse five Well, my Bible is a little different, so
I'm gonna steal peers becausemine says God blesses those
versus blessed are so.
Blessed are the meek, for theywill inherit the earth on
account of me.
Blessed are those who hungerand thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled onaccount of me, right.
Blessed are the merciful, forthey will be shown mercy on

(15:04):
account of me.

Speaker 1 (15:06):
Yeah, blessed are the pure in heart, for they will
see God on account of me that isso good, and Could you imagine
being there, though, and andhaving this, and it may not have
been in this exact order, andthen maybe it was in this exact
order, but just here, jesus saythose words, you know yeah, I
know, I know we talk about thisshow all the time, but the

(15:27):
chosen did this.

Speaker 2 (15:30):
End of Season two maybe I think it's two and and
basically, like Jesus is withMatthew at the time, you know,
obviously because Matthew's theone that wrote this book and
kind of going over this, likekind of practicing this speech
Before he delivers it,practicing this sermon, and when

(15:51):
he's kind of going over each ofthese he's has flashbacks,
moments of his own life with thedisciples, and so when he goes,
blessed are the poor in spirit,you know, he flashes back to a
moment with one of the discipleshe goes.
You know, blessed are those whomourn.
He flashes back to another whowas mourning.
And so each time he does this,blessed are.

(16:13):
It triggers a reflection on thelife that he's lived and
usually tied into a disciple andthe last one that we actually
are starting with, the number 11was was actually Matthew.
His reflection on Matthew wasthe Blessed are you when people
insult you and persecute you,because Matthew, you know, was
the tax collector and he helived through all that type of

(16:36):
persecution, insults himself,and it continued even once he
started to follow Jesus.
So I just thought that the waythey did that was putting pretty
neat, just to see that thatJesus had a thought in mind,
tied to a disciple, when he wasgoing through these.

Speaker 1 (16:51):
No, I like that.
And then tying it into Matthew,right there being the tax
collector, and if you thinkabout all these, all these
blessings, and what's gonnahappen to these Disciples as
apostles later on, that we learnin the book of Acts and and so
forth, and and other disciplesand throughout history, and
these are very comforting words,and I remember starting reading

(17:13):
my Bible after I got baptizedand all that stuff.
I this is where I startedMatthew, matthew chapter 5, you
know, I started Matthew chapter1.
I made it through thatgenealogy and then I then I kept
marching through and I got toMatthew chapter 5 and I'll tell
you where I quit.
I'll show you guys where I quit.
And there was, there was onepart of it that just I was like
huh, and we'll get there, but uh, pier, how about keep going

(17:35):
right there where we get toeight or nine, nine?

Speaker 2 (17:37):
I think we're on nine .
Blessed are the peacemakers,for they will be called the
children of God on account of me.
Blessed are those who arepersecuted because of
righteousness, for theirs is thekingdom of heaven On account of
me, and it goes into 11, whichis where we kind of started.
Blessed are you when peopleinsult you, pursuant you and

(17:58):
falsely say all kinds of evilagainst you because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, becausegreat is your reward in heaven,
for in the same way theypersecuted the prophets who were
before you.

Speaker 1 (18:11):
Now, in that I mean, all these things are for us as
well, right, it's not just forthem, for poor in spirit, right?
I think about myself in thesethings If I mourn.
Uh, if you're gentle, you'llinherit the earth.
Bless are you who hunger andthirst for righteousness.
Blessed are the merciful.
Blessed are the pure in heart.
Blessed are the peacemakers andand and those who have been

(18:32):
persecuted for the sake ofrighteousness, and blessed are
you and men cast insults.
Listen, that's happened to meFor whatever reason, maybe not
all at one time or anything, butit's happened to me over my
period of christianity, and Iremember this, and I remember
why these things happened wasbecause of jesus.
It's not always going to beroses and sunshine.

(18:53):
Whenever you're a christian,I'm going to be left out of some
things that maybe I wanted tobe a part of in the past, but I
realized that I can't really doit because I I don't need to be
in that environment anymore,right?
So guess what?
Blessed am I on account ofchrist and, and?
Whether that's because I'mbeing a peacemaker, whether
that's because I'm just being alittle bit different than the

(19:15):
crowd or Different than thepeople I used to run around with
and I don't get included in allthe same things.
That's okay.
Blessed am I on account of him,and I may not be able to see it
now, but I'll see it later andI'll see the fruit coming from
that blessedness.
I remember one time we were atthe back of a store.
All I delivered bread for aliving and all that stuff and

(19:38):
and a bunch of it was rainingoutside and whenever it rains
outside, the different vendorsit's it's like it's it's like
rats coming inside.
You know, we just all, we allget inside as quick as we can
with all of our product andwe're all jumbled up back there
in the back and this one guy waswas having just a terrible day,
it was a bad day and and he was, he was saying, man, I need to
get the blank out of here, Ineed to hurry the blank up.

(19:59):
You know stuff like that.
And I was listening to him andI realized people were having a
bad day, it was raining andstuff, and we were all kind of
just all huddled together andand, uh, we'd never really seen
this guy before, but he was, hewas being very vocal and I
finally just had it had enoughand I looked up.
I said, hey, man, if you don'tmind, can you stop talking that
way?
I'm a christian.

(20:19):
That's just really hurting myears.
I'm uh, my ears are born again,okay.
And he looked at me and he said, oh, shut the blank up Right.
And then he and he's.
And he laughed.
And then he looked around andhe saw all the other people that
I already knew and they helooked at their faces and they
were all like, yeah, he's notjoking, you're talking about me.

(20:40):
And I wasn't threatening the guyor anything, I was asking him
to do that politely.
And he he said man, I'm sorry,I was just having a real bad day
and he went into this thing andthen we all got to talking
about stuff and everything likethat.
But you know, it's just one ofthose times where sometimes you
have to stand up for what youdon't want to necessarily take
part in.
You know what I mean.
And and I felt blessed at thattime on account of Jesus, and

(21:04):
somebody else later on that wasin that group said I can't
believe you said that to thatguy because the guy was a big
guy.
I mean, he was a big guy andI'm not a real big guy even
though I was soaking wet.
I wasn't a real big guy then anduh, he said I can't believe you
said that to him.
I said, well, I just, you know,I was having a bad day too.
It wasn't the greatest of daysand I just didn't want to hear
those words, so it was making iteven worse for me.

(21:25):
He said that took a lot of gutsand and I said well, I don't
know if it took guts orstupidity, but I had, I had one
of them.
And he said I appreciate youdoing that.
I need to do that more.
So I encouraged that guy Tostand up for what he knew, what
was right too, and he was aChristian.
We had this ongoingconversation, so it was real
good, you know, to do that.
And it was on account of christIs the whole reason why he got

(21:48):
encouraged, while I gotencouraged, and all those things
on account of him.
So I've always liked thatMatthew.
Uh, chapter five, that firstpart right there, on account of
jesus, that's.
I've always liked it.

Speaker 2 (21:59):
Well, I mean, it kind of comes off as a a peacemaker
as well.
Um, just because you don't knowwho else was, like you said,
you had at least one personother than you feeling Kind of
the same way with the, the wordsthat were being used.
And you know, sometimes ittakes that person stepping out
of their box, their comfort zone, to Kind of confront the
situation.

(22:19):
Um, thankfully it ended well.
It doesn't always end well, butit's still.
It still takes, you know,someone to kind of take a stand
and you took a stance and itworked out, which is which is
great, and you know it should berewarding.
You know to look back at thisand know that.
You know you are blessed, youknow, for being that type of
person, to to try to, you know,bring the peace and be a

(22:41):
peacemaker In certain situations.

Speaker 3 (22:45):
I think you were god's seasoning less.

Speaker 1 (22:49):
You're what a great little intro, but you know we'll
get to that.
Michelle, that was good job.
I I thought, oh, I don't wantto ruin that, but I I do want to
say that you know it was.
It's fun Doing stuff like that,and I know I said that last
time whenever I talked aboutAsking somebody.
You know, hey, what's yourrelationship with god like?
Are you saved?
And and, and listening for theresponse, and helping that

(23:09):
person saying something likethat, like I did that day, and
it is fun to do that, to putyour faith out there on the line
.
It makes life exciting and itmakes your faith exciting.
It gives you something to wakeup for.
I think that's zeal, as whatthe bible calls that zeal as
zealous person, as zealous man,and that's what we should be
like.
We should desire everybody outthere to be saved, just like god

(23:33):
does, and I love that.
And, by the way, michelle, pierWest, listeners, you are the
salt of the earth, but if thesalt becomes tasteless, how will
it be made salty again?
It is good for nothing anymoreexcept to be thrown out and
trampled by the foot of men.
You are the light of the world.
A city set on a hill cannot behidden.

(23:53):
Nor do men light a lamp and putit under a peck measure.
But the lampstand and it giveslight to all those who are in
the house.
So let your slight shine beforemen in such a way that they may
see your good works and glorifyyour father who is in heaven.
Isn't that cool?

Speaker 3 (24:10):
Uh-huh.
That's that's what I was saying.
Like you know, salt isseasoning and you know if it
doesn't have any flavor, it's nogood.
And so you know, if, ifseasoning brings out the best
flavor in food, then we need tobring out the best flavor, and

(24:30):
in god's word and With eachother, and I think you were a
great representation of that.
That.
You know, you, you providedthat flavor and the seasoning to
others and you encourage them,and I think that's the intent of
the bible and what Jesus camefor.
So Good job, bliss.

Speaker 1 (24:49):
Well, it's not to toot my horn.
I'm not tooting horn, I'mhoping to encourage others to do
the same, because if a realsimple man like me who could
could do it, then Anybody can dosomething like that, and I did
it in a very nice way.
Now Let me say this I, you knowI do, I do things like that
often.
I just do things like thatoften, and I don't think that
you have to have a lot of timein the faith to be able to Do
something like that.

(25:10):
You don't have to have a greatreputation.
Just do it and allow and allowthe lord to work in your life
through you To help others beencouraged as well and I would
love to hear about those stories.
And once again, you can do itHonestly.
You can send it into all thoseplaces that pier talked about
sending it into.
Hey, pier, while I do this here, do you mind?
Do you have something to whereyou can get the king james

(25:31):
version?
Pier, I can, maybe can yougoogle that a little bit like
matthew, chapter 5.

Speaker 2 (25:38):
Which, which, which version versus 17?
.
I'm looking at up.
So we touched on, you know, thesalt, which you know as someone
that's recently had a bloodpressure issue, who's awful
without salt.
So I can understand the need ofsalt and seasoning, but when it

(25:59):
comes to light and it says youare the light of the world, what
I found really interesting so Igo down a lot of rabbit hoses
we talked about on this potquite a bit, but one of the
rabbit holes was a kind of likea near deaf experience rabbit
hole and this lady passed awayand she came back and she could

(26:19):
basically see all humans, allthe humans you know, kind of
roaming the earth.
What the one thing she said isthat she noticed that every
human had access internally tothis light.
There was light internally thatevery human had access to, but
not everyone tapped into thatlight and this potential.

(26:43):
And I don't know exactly whatthat meant, but I just found it
unique to know that there wasjust this ray of light walking
with every single person, thatthis person who says they passed
over to the other side couldsee, that they could tap into
that light and just be somethingspecial, but not everyone
tapped into the light itself.

(27:04):
So I found that just unique,especially saying that you are
the light of the world.

Speaker 3 (27:09):
It would make sense if we're the light of the world
and we all have access to thatlight somewhere and all we have
to do is tap into that potentialand then that light would shine
bright out to others well, andso my version of the Bible
breaks down at the bottom for meand the light part on there,

(27:30):
this is literally what it says,and it's kind of funny that
Pierre just said that, becausepart of this kind of talks about
that.
It says can you hide in a citythat's sitting on top of a hill?
Its light at night can be seenfor miles.
If we live for Jesus, we willglow like lights shining
brightly with his love.
Many who are living in spiritualdarkness will be attracted by

(27:50):
our light and want to step intoit.
Jesus's light always revealstruth.
We hide our light by beingquiet when we should speak,
going along with the crowd,denying God's truth, letting sin
dim our light, not explainingour light to others or ignoring
the needs of others.
Be a beacon of truth.
Don't shut your light off fromthe rest of the world.

(28:11):
So basically what he was sayingis kind of in this that if
we're living in spiritualdarkness then our light's not
shining.

Speaker 1 (28:21):
So it kind of makes sense based on what he said to
there totally, and I was goingto point out that you may think
well, my light's not that big, Idon't have a lot to offer, I
don't have any.
Listen.
Listen, if the room is dark,right, think about the middle of
the night and it's dark.
All you want is a little bit oflight.

(28:43):
You know, whenever you openyour eyes and it's dark and you
hear a bump or something likethat, or you're trying to walk
through the house, just give mea little bit of light so I can
see, right, and that that littlebit of light that somebody
might be able to offer somebodyelse, well, that's opening a
door for someone.
You know, just a little bit oflight, you might make their day,
just just saying hello, insteadof ignoring people.

(29:08):
You are the light of the world,so let your light shine before
men.
Don't be ashamed of the light.
Shine before men that they maysee your good works and then
glorify your father who is inheaven.
That's coming from Jesus.
Now I mean, you know, but wegot to make it real, we got to

(29:29):
apply that and we got to listen.
He's daring us to do that stufftoo.
He's daring us to do thesethings, and I think that we
could take this there and justlet it go and see where God
takes it and try and apply thesethings to our life and to other
people's lives the best that wepossibly can and have fun with
it.

Speaker 2 (29:47):
Have fun, pierre we do a really cool thing real fast
in church, yeah, oh, usuallyaround Christmas it's like that,
during a silent night, and sothe pastor basically shuts off
all the lights in the worshipcenter and there's one candle
that he lights and he basicallypasses that candle around to the

(30:09):
next person and then they usetheir candle and they light the
next, and on and on and on andbasically what it demonstrates
is that you know, one, onecandle can eventually light up a
room if that lights passed onto others and basically at the
end everyone has their candlelit by someone that shares their
light and all of a sudden thatworship center that was dark is

(30:33):
full of light from each candlebecause each person shared that
light basically within them, andpass it to another person.
But I do have King Jamesversion 17 open for you yeah,
and really quickly.

Speaker 3 (30:47):
We've seen Silent Night when we do that and it's
especially poignant and I don'tknow if you've ever been to like
a concert where everybody turnson the flashlights on their
phones like, and how it lightsup, and I mean it's just, it's
beautiful and you know I thinkthat's the whole point like
Jesus's light is beautiful andyou know we can make that a

(31:10):
personal goal right now we couldstart thinking about those
people that we want to invite tochurch, that we might want to
have a Bible study with or adiscussion with, maybe single
out those, that one family,those individuals because
Christmas time is a special time.

Speaker 1 (31:27):
People know what it's about, people know that it's
about the birth of Jesus.
They know that and people areintrigued at that time.
Those can.
Those candlelight services arespecial right at churches and it
might be one of those.
Just just put that people onyour heart, pray for those
people, ask the Lord to open upa door or window of opportunity
for you to be able to go throughand invite them to the

(31:50):
candlelight service.
And that's a couple of monthsaway right, I mean, it's a
couple of months away, but wegot to have a plan and we start
praying for those people alittle bit and we got to be open
for other people to come to,not just that one family that we
have.
Allow God some wiggle roomthere to allow him to work some
way in other people's lives aswell, to be open to that

(32:10):
reception or that invitation.
So, but maybe we can startdoing that now because it is
almost November.
I mean it's October, it's goingto be November.
It always flies the end of themonth, the end of the year
always flies.
So let's just single out thosepeople in our mind listeners.
I'm going to do it for myself.
I hope here Michelle do thatand I hope you guys do it as
well just to start praying forthose people, to invite them to

(32:30):
some kind of candlelight serviceor maybe you're listening for
the first time and you're like acandlelight service.
What is that?
Hey, I'm.
You get to play.
You get to play with fire inchurch does that sound?
appealing.
Alright, because it's appeal.
My kids can't wait to do thatwhen they love that, when
they're hoping something happensis what they're hoping but no,
I'm serious like a candlelightservice.

(32:51):
It is really, really cool.
It's, it's fun to be a part of.
Agree, alright.
Alright, pierre, go ahead andgive me in the King James
version, matthew, chapter 5,verses 17 and 18 think not that
I am come to destroy the law orthe prophets.

Speaker 2 (33:07):
I am not come to destroy but to fulfill.
For verily I say unto you tillheaven and earth pass one jot or
one little shall in no wisepass from the law till all be
fulfilled.

Speaker 3 (33:22):
I had to do it now I want to read it.

Speaker 1 (33:25):
There's your word see , I, yeah, at first I remember
the jot and tittle episode andyou're like what are we just
talking about?
Wes, what are you talking about?
And so this is what I wastalking about the jot and
tittles bait and switch.
That's what that was so Jesuscame to fulfill it.
And this is look, the author ofMatthew is Matthew.

(33:46):
We've already talked about thata little bit, but Matthew was a
Jewish man writing to Jewishpeople, and one of the points of
his letter was that Jesus cameto fulfill the law.
Jesus was that promise, theprophecy was coming true in all
the things that he did, and thiskind of proves that a little
bit too.
And Jesus hammering that homethat he didn't come to abolish
it, he didn't come to get rid ofit, but he came to fulfill it

(34:09):
until everything wasaccomplished.
Alright, that's what he said.
And he said whoever then onthose one of these least of
these commandments and soteaches others, shall be called
least in the kingdom of heaven.
But whoever keeps it andteaches them shall be called
great in the kingdom of heaven.
For I say to you that unlessyour righteousness surpasses
that of the scribes and thePharisees, you shall not enter

(34:30):
the kingdom of heaven.
You talk about a mic drop rightthere in front of all those
people, a mic drop that they hadto be better than and I'm gonna
put it in today's terms thepastors right, the preachers,
until you and I.
What do you guys think that heis trying to emphasize there
about being better than thePharisees and scribes.

Speaker 2 (34:53):
I just think they had their own faults.
Clearly, we kind of see thatthey're.
They're pretty set on what theyfeel the law is.
They speak to the law and theprophecies and I think there's
even a, again a chosen quote,where Jesus responds on this and
says that he is the law I amthe law, moses when they're kind

(35:14):
of questioning the law itself.
So it's saying to be betterthan those who have these faults
.
I don't don't focus on them andtheir teachings.
I need you to basically exceland exceed past them to better
understanding, because they'rethey're not.
They're not where they need tobe.
So you need to be to theirlevel, but better than them,

(35:36):
because even those that you'regetting your teachings from
aren't where they need to be inorder to get to the kingdom of
heaven.

Speaker 3 (35:42):
Yeah, I think they were content to obey the laws
outwardly, but not allowing Godto change their hearts or their
attitudes.
So I think it's a good, youknow, eye opening moment to help
us realize that God's concernedabout our hearts as well as our
deeds and, you know, becauseour, our hearts show where our

(36:04):
real allegiance lies.

Speaker 1 (36:06):
No, and I do too, and I think that even for Pharisees
, scribes, pastors, preachers,whoever you want want to say
sometimes they can go throughthe motions too.
You know what I mean.
Like they just go through thosemotions and Jesus says, hey,
we're not just going throughemotions here, we're going
through.
We're trying to get better eachand every day.
We're trying to get better here, and I think that he's also
telling those people don't ridethe coattails of the Pharisees

(36:30):
and scribes, don't, don't write,you can't ride their coattails
into heaven.
I don't care who your Phariseeis, I don't care who your pastor
is.
You can't, just because youhave a pastor at your church,
don't sit there and think thathis righteousness is going to be
imputed on to you.
You have to get into heavenyourself.
You know you got to get thereand you can do that.
They're just men, just the sameas you are women, excuse me,

(36:53):
michelle and they, they have atake.
They have their own path thatthey have to go, and you have to
have your own path to get intoheaven as well, but it's up to
you.
It's not up to your pastor toget you there, it's up to you to
get there.
You know, on account of him, bythe way, on account of him, and
Jesus is just raising thesestandards, I think a little bit

(37:15):
too around town, and and I thinkthat today in our society we
could probably raise spiritualstandards a little bit more.
I don't know if you guys agreewith me there, but I mean we, we
could probably raise thosestandards a little bit.
We've probably been lax a day'sa call in some areas as a
society on what a spiritualnessis or godliness is and what

(37:35):
righteousness is.
I think that we can kind oftake these things to heart, to
that don't just sit there andthink you know, because I go to,
I go to church so and so downthe road we got, we got our
pastor so, and so he's a realgood speaker and I go there
every Sunday.
Okay, what about the rest ofthe week?
That's what you got to askyourself, what do you do the
rest of the week?

Speaker 2 (37:54):
and I think that's what Jesus is doing just kind of
raising up those standards alittle bit yeah, I mean it's,
it's a dangerous ground to you,like I know we talk about it,
like at church our pastor bringsit up all the time.
Don't just be here, you knowonce a month, once a week, and
then you know not.
You know being that righteousperson Monday through Saturday,

(38:17):
etc.
And again, it's tough groundsbecause I mean, we all see it,
you know whether you're inchurch, you see it.
You know those that you knowmaybe outside of church, are
acting the way that they should.
If you're outside of church,you know who goes to church and
you know who you know oncethey're not in church, you know
kind of acts, the way they wantto act.
So it's just a tough.

(38:38):
It's a tough line.
You don't want to judge.
Only God can judge.
But there are situations whereyou can lead by example.
I think would be the the bestway of kind of going about it,
leading by example with who youare.
You know, sunday to Sunday,ultimately out in public, in
your homes, in your workplace.

(38:58):
I think that's the best way tokind of spread that.

Speaker 1 (39:03):
Sure, sure, and I think Jesus is about to raise
the standards even more.
Michelle, you want to read forus right there, starting at
verse 21?
And I'll stop you, I'll go, youjust keep going until I stop
you.

Speaker 3 (39:15):
Okay, just so you stop me.
I'm just saying so.
You've heard that.
It was said to the people longago you shall not murder and
anyone who murders will besubject to judgment.
But I tell you that anyone whois angry with a brother or
sister will be subject tojudgment Again.
Anyone who says to a brother orsister is that rocker.

Speaker 1 (39:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (39:35):
Is answerable to the court, and anyone who says you
fool will be in danger of thefire of hell.

Speaker 1 (39:41):
Well, I feel I feel sorry for Mr T.
Every time I read this I'm likeman, mr T, he ain't got a shot.
But you know the rock, they'regetting mad.
Somebody asked me just theother day hey, is it okay if I
get mad?
And he said I don't ever takeit out physically on anything,
but just inside I'm just angry.
I'm just angry all the time.

(40:02):
So what were you angry at?
He said, well, just life.
And this guy, this guy had been,he'd been a.
His mother abandoned him andhis family a little bit, or him
and his brothers and sisters.
His grandma had to raise him,his grandpa had to raise him,
the kids were split up, justdifferent things like that were
going on.
He just his past.
He was just angry, his pastright.

(40:23):
And I said well, let me tell you, jesus had an anger.
And he looked at me.
He said Jesus was angry.
I said, yeah, jesus wasn'talways just, you know, loving
sunshine.
He had some anger about him,but it was righteous anger.
He was mad at things that heknew wasn't right.
And I told him the story ofJesus overturned the money
tables and the temple and stufflike that, and I said it's a
righteous anger and I said soyou got to ask yourself if your

(40:45):
anger is righteous or not.
And I said I think you've donereally well at not taking your
anger out on things, you know.
Just he said well, I used toget into a lot of fights and I
said well, that's, that's inyour past, so we're just moving
forward now.
You know, but but you know, butbut no, I mean, it's something
that people struggle with alittle bit and getting that
temper under control All right.

(41:06):
So I think people did All right.
Verse 23, michelle.

Speaker 3 (41:08):
Okay.
Therefore, if you are offeringyour gift at the altar and there
remember that your brother orsister has something against you
, Leave your gift there in frontof the altar First.
Go and be reconciled to them.
Then come and offer your gift,Settle matter.

Speaker 1 (41:24):
And then you know the offering was important to do
and the offering like when itwas your turn, you're supposed
to do the offering and that wasimportant to do.
And Jesus is saying oh, no, no,no, make your peace, that comes
, that comes.
That's more important thanmaking your offering Right.
I don't know if you've everbeen in that place, pierre.

Speaker 2 (41:38):
I mean, I've had some quarrels with my sister,
honestly, and a lot of thingshappen just growing up on kind
of how I felt she'd treated mymom, et cetera, and even after
my mom's passing, like we, wehad a little bit of a falling
out when it came to things thatreally didn't matter.
In my opinion, it didn't takepriority.

(42:01):
So, yeah, I'm, I'm familiar andI kind of understand the the
need of just making sure there'snot any bitterness or anger,
you know, towards not just yourbrother and sister, but really
anyone.
You know you read differentverses.
You know don't let the sun godown while you're anger and just
so many things can happen.

(42:21):
And yeah, even though you knowyour, your, your offering is
important, how important is itgoing to be if you don't get the
chance to kind of right thewrong with a family member, for
example, if something mighthappen to them?
So I think this is just kind ofsaying that to really give
priority to to making sureyou're you're in good standing

(42:46):
with the folks you care about.
Oftentimes that happens like ona hospital bed, like you'll see
situations where someone's ontheir, their death bed and all
of a sudden they're thinking andthey're wanting to make amends
with loved ones and they, theyworry is it too late?
You know what's going to happen.
Some people even hold on, Ifeel, until they get to see or

(43:07):
speak to that one person they'rewaiting for.
And you don't really have to toworry about that if you're.
You're constantly, you know,making sure that you're you're
not holding your, your familymember, your loved one in
contempt of anything.
If you're just working thingsout immediately, then that's a
stress, of pressure burdenthat's now lifted when you're

(43:29):
giving your offering or justmoving out throughout life.

Speaker 1 (43:33):
And not.
And if you do sell somebody,your sorry for something that
you know you guys have had aquarrel or something like that.
You've done your part.
That doesn't mean that somebodyelse has to forgive you for
that.
For that time, all you, all youhave to do and all you can do
is tell them you're sorry.
You might even explain why youdid that, tell them you feel
really bad about it.
Is there any way I can makethat up to you and they don't

(43:54):
have to even tell you?
Well, I forgive you.
They don't have to tell youthat.
You did your part.
You know, and yes, I would sayto pray for the right timing in
some of those things, that thesituation kind of present itself
to you, but also don't dragyour feet on it.
You know, just pray for thatperson to have an open heart and
have an open mind, and if thattime becomes available to them,

(44:17):
I think it's the right timing.
And keep in mind what Jesussaid.
He said you know, don't, don't,don't sit there and leave.
Make an offering before you dothat.
So you got to.
He's saying remedy that stuffpretty quickly, remedy it as
best you can.
And I think that's it.
Michelle, you got the lastlittle stretch here, 25 and 26,
please.

Speaker 3 (44:34):
Okay, settle matters quickly with your adversary, who
is taking you to court.
Do it while you are stilltogether on the way, or your
adversary may hand you over tothe judge, and the judge may
hand you over to the officer andyou may be thrown into prison.
Truly, I tell you, you will notget out until you have paid the
last penny.

Speaker 1 (44:53):
I think the owner of the Annapolis Colts found that
out with Jonathan Taylor righthere.

Speaker 3 (45:00):
We're happy, we're happy.

Speaker 2 (45:01):
I know, I know.
So one thing that usually comesup there is child support.
I know we've had that.
You can come up in like group.
You know at times like how doesit kind of work out when you're
you know you've been in love,wherever it is, with someone and
you're at a point now where youknow you're no longer together
and you're trying to basicallyget the money to take care of

(45:24):
your child.
I don't know, that's a toughsituation.
I feel that it's a kind ofthink about.
When you think about you know,do it while you're still
together.
That's not really something youthink about together.
Usually it's some type ofdisagreement or maybe even
bitterness.
That kind of takes place towhere someone just in need of
help, the other person's notwanting to help, and so that's

(45:46):
what kind of leads it to thecourt and to the judge.
But just that type of situationis kind of unique.
When you think about why peopleget taken to court and I know
it even speaks to you knowtrying to avoid court and you
know not having you know anyonein that situation, but it does
happen, and so just trying totie that into today, I feel like

(46:07):
it's a little difficult.

Speaker 1 (46:09):
Totally.
And you've heard it said thatyou should not commit adultery.
But I say to you that everyonewho looks on a woman and loves
her, her, already has committedadultery in his heart.
And if your right eye makes youstumble, tear it out, throw it
from you, for as better than oneof your body parts perish than
for your whole body to be throwninto hell.
If your right hand makes youstumble, cut it off.
Throw it from you, for asbetter for one of your body

(46:30):
parts to burn than it is foryour whole body to go to hell.
And it is said whoever sendshis wife away, let her give him
a certificate of divorce.
But I say to you everyone whodivorces his wife, except for
the cause of unchastity, makesher commit adultery.
And whoever marries a divorcedwoman commits adultery.
That's it.
So you know what Jesus says,that about his eyes, or

(46:50):
somebody's eyes, his hand.
Better for one part of yourbody to burn than for your whole
body to burn in hell.
He ain't wrong.
You know what I mean.
Like he's not wrong.
This, right here, is where Istopped, because I went wait a
minute, what People are supposedto?
I'm supposed to what?
And I went to my uncle who wasan elder of church.

(47:12):
I lived with him and his familyand I said what's Jesus saying
here?
I don't get this part.
And he said, well, he's justusing illustrations, he doesn't
mean it.
And I looked at my uncle and Isaid are you sure?
You know, I was like really hedoesn't mean it, because I do
think he kind of means it.
You know, I don't think hedoesn't mean it, but I

(47:34):
understand how it could be.
You know, just an example ofsomething.
But at the same time, jesusain't wrong whenever he says to
do something like that and I dothink it stumbles into the
pornography region and stuff,all those things, adult
conversations that we could haveright now, and this may be a
family show.
So I don't necessarily want todo that, particularly because if
you are an adult, you couldprobably read between the lines
on some of this stuff or whatit's talking about.

(47:55):
But he's now whatever causesyou to stumble.
So maybe you don't have to goto the extreme of your eyes
being plucked out or your handsbeing plucked out, but maybe you
have to go to the extreme ofputting covenant eyes on all of
your devices so that otherpeople can see what you're
looking at and that you're heldaccountable for what your eyes

(48:16):
see.
Right?
Maybe that's not allowinginternet access, right?
Maybe that's having to cut offNetflix and throw it into the
fire If all you could do iswatch things that are, you know,
of adult nature.
I don't know where that all.
I don't know what adult naturesare anymore.
I don't know how people get theadult natures, necessarily, but

(48:36):
whatever I know, back in theday when I was a young man, I
had to cut off all the adultnatures in order to not have to
cut off my body parts.
You know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (48:46):
Yeah, and so kind of what your uncle said.
I don't know if people, like,take these as serious as they
should.
Obviously, I think you knowdivorce is pretty high.
I'm a daughter even higher.
But even like in the church, Idon't I don't feel like like
these are taking that seriously.

(49:06):
So, for example, I know we'vehad the homosexual conversation.
I don't think that these aretaking as serious as
homosexuality.
You bring up homosexuality andthere's like pitchforks and you
know fires and you talk aboutadultery and divorce and
everyone just kind of brushes itoff.
But when you look at these atleast these last three are for

(49:27):
sure they're in the tencommandments, like they're there
written in stone from Goditself, but the church and
people just don't take them asserious.
So I don't know why.
That is Something that bothersme at times, just because every
sin is supposed to be equal.
But I also don't know why.

(49:50):
So what color are these lettersthat you're reading right now?

Speaker 1 (49:56):
Mine are red, Pierre Red letters.

Speaker 2 (49:58):
Why are there no red letters in the Old Testament?

Speaker 1 (50:04):
I don't know why.

Speaker 2 (50:05):
I don't know, that's just something I think about.
So I know we got Jesus speakinghere.
Okay, yeah, reading through theOld Testament, you know God
speaks quite a bit himself.
So why aren't those lettersread?
And again, I don't know whatthat is or why that is, but I
would feel these red letters areimportant.
You know, they're red for areason.

(50:26):
They're highlighting red for areason they want to draw your
attention to what Jesus wastrying to get across.
And so to me, you know murder,adultery, fulfilling a law,
something like divorce, whatwe're getting to next with those
.
These are important.
That's why they're in red.
So why don't we treat them asimportant as we treat some
things that aren't in red?

Speaker 1 (50:48):
And he's raising the standard.
Like I said, you know you thinkabout all these things that
he's saying.
You heard it said you know notto murder.
I say don't get mad at anybody,you know.
I mean he's just raising thestandard a little bit, raising
the bar, and so I I think aboutthis adultery and and lusting
and stuff like that too.
Ladies, can I just tell youfrom a male's perspective, men

(51:10):
don't need a lot of help inletting their imaginations to go
.
Okay, that's me being frank,that's me being honest, and I
don't know when yoga pantsbecame fashionable and
acceptable in life, but I'm likethe yoga pants would turn the
other way.
You know we don't listen.
I don't need yoga pants inchurch, of all places, but let

(51:31):
it all out there in public too.
I'm not sure that I need yogapants all the time.
It's one of those things wheremen's eyes don't need help in
lusting after something.
It takes a man to be able totrain something.

Speaker 2 (51:42):
On the website what it's not.
It's not their fault that youcan't control your eyes and
they're, they're wearingsomething comfortable.

Speaker 1 (51:50):
Yeah, but, but we all need help.

Speaker 2 (51:53):
We do, we do and what it says.
If you need help, you know,figure it out.
Basically is what Jesus issaying Gouge it out, throw it
away.
So if you, if something causesyou to stumble, you need to
figure out a way to throw itaway.
It's not up to her to dressdifferently.
You need to address what it isyou're battling, what's causing

(52:14):
you to stumble.
That's on your end.
That's not on the person's endthat you're watching.

Speaker 1 (52:19):
Okay.
Well then where's the line?
Because if the line is, youknow I know everybody's line
could be a little bit different.
But let's say we're at a nudistcolony, let's just go to nudist
colonies, then Don't go tonudist colonies.

Speaker 2 (52:29):
There you go, there's the line.

Speaker 1 (52:32):
Don't show up there.
But what if somebody wanted towalk around nude?

Speaker 2 (52:35):
Okay, Then you walk away, you remove yourself from
that situation.

Speaker 1 (52:40):
Uh huh.

Speaker 2 (52:41):
It's kind of like you you're taught as a kid when I
think I even sent this to mydaughter the other day when she
was kind of copying some of herfriends.
If everyone jumps off amountain, off a roof, are you
going to jump off?

Speaker 1 (52:53):
Well, what's below me ?
What's below me you?

Speaker 2 (52:56):
make a smarter decision and remove yourself
from that situation.
If I'm whether it be a nudistbeach or someone shows up nude
if I'm anywhere and some somedanger or something bad happens,
it's up to me to try to removemyself from that equation.
It's not up to everyone else toprotect me or to keep me from

(53:18):
stumbling over.
That's my job to figure out howbest to escape that situation.

Speaker 1 (53:23):
No, I agree, I know, I know the.
I know that scenario.
For me it's always invitingthat person to church.
Like you know, I, if there, ifthere's a lady and and she's in
the same you know area that I'malways putting bread in, or
something like that, she comesover there or whatever.
I look her straight in the eyes, I talk to her about her family
.
I try to get personal with heras far as like, hey, do you got

(53:45):
a husband?
Do you got kids?
You know, I know how to removemyself from that situation.
I was going to go there and saythat's how you stop looking at
yoga pants, so that's how youstop looking or lusting after
women.
In my particular instance,that's how I learned to conquer
that.
I guess, or I don't even know.
I say it's conquered becauseit's not conquered I'm still
flesh and blood and all.
But that's how I get better atthose things and that's how I

(54:06):
stopped doing those things and Itry to look them in the eyes
and I try to have a relationshipwith them that goes beyond a
physical nature.
You know what I mean.
Like I don't, I don't want itto be a physical attraction.
I want her to know that I'mmarried, that I have kids.
I want to be able to relate inthat kind of personal level so
that it doesn't ever escalateinto something else and all of a

(54:28):
sudden, now she's become aperson instead of an object.
Does that make sense?
I don't know if I've said allthat stuff right?

Speaker 2 (54:34):
Yeah it does I mean?
We're ultimately getting testedin the wilderness.
We just came from number four,where Jesus was tested.
You know, temptation is a partof being tested.
So these are situations thatwill continue to be faced with.
If that's what causes you tostumble, the devil's going to
bring you many opportunities tostumble over those types of
situations.

(54:54):
Sorry, michelle.

Speaker 3 (54:55):
Oh, it's okay.
So do you think a blind personcan lust?

Speaker 1 (55:00):
The scent of a woman who are in that Al Pacino movie
or something.
Yeah, so, yeah, I did think so.

Speaker 3 (55:09):
So I think, kind of like when he's talking about
gouging your eye out, if youknow, if you're lusting and
you're seeing something, I thinkit's figurative, basically
saying to kind of removeyourself from what's destroying

(55:29):
us.
So you know, just because it'sa visual thing doesn't mean that
a blind person can't lust aswell.
So it's the act of removingthat sin from our lives and
gouging that out for lack of abetter term like removing that
habit, or for us to experiencethat pain of removal of worldly

(55:53):
things that are tempting to usand that sort of thing,
something that we treasure.
It could be a bad habit, itcould be something that we just
enjoy, obviously, like wetypically enjoy looking at
someone of the opposite sex orsomeone that we're attracted to.
So it's just removing thatthing that is causing us to sin,

(56:15):
I agree.

Speaker 2 (56:17):
I think that if it was literal, like it's saying
that you would literally bebetter off just removing that
body part than basically tossingyour whole body in the hell,
like that's what it's saying.
So if that's what's causing youto stumble, if your eyes are
your issue, you'd be better togo blind than to go to hell.

(56:37):
At the end of the day, Some menbecome.

Speaker 1 (56:40):
Some men are born eunuchs and some become eunuchs
for the kingdom of God.
I think I'm quoting Bible thereeven there you go, I'm telling
you.

Speaker 3 (56:48):
This is a struggle in here and I've had a lot of
conversations about the divorcepiece because I'm divorced and
he's married to me.
So we've had a lot ofconversations around that and
it's something, quite frankly, Istill wrestle with.
It was the one thing for methat promised to God that really

(57:11):
kind of made me hang in therefor lack of a better term in my
first marriage, because I madethe biggest promise that there
was and I made that promise toGod.
To think about breaking thatwas really, really difficult for
me and ultimately I just had toreconcile that in my heart with

(57:33):
God and I don't know yet if Iwas right or wrong.
I mean, we'll find that out.
I'll find that out when I getup there, hopefully.
But I just had to say there'sfree will.
Did I make a mistake in my ownfree will?
Do I believe in my heart thatthis is what God had planned for

(57:56):
me?
And the answer to that was no.
I felt like God had much betterand I honestly believe that
Pierre is that right person andthat this is what God had
planned for me.
And I feel like it's beenpretty clear since I met Pierre
just the way things lined up andhow it all happened.
We can have that wholeconversation too, but I

(58:21):
literally just feel like thiswas God led and God driven,
versus me making the decision100% on my own.
So I feel like God has blessedme and that he forgives me, but
that's something, honestly, wecould go about all day.
But it's just between God and I, and really God and Pierre too,

(58:43):
since he's brought into it, butI guess it's a tough one for me
.

Speaker 1 (58:50):
People have to figure out too.
I wasn't even a Christian then,and whenever I was married or
stuff like that, that's whatpeople should ask themselves I
wasn't even trying to live forGod at that point in my life.
And then you got to think well,two wrongs don't make a right
either.
So now, if I divorced Pierrebecause I was divorced before, I
can't absolve that relationshipeither.

(59:11):
Two wrongs don't make a rightAlways.
I always try to think of it thisway, and I went through
recovery process and stuff likethat, and one of the things that
we always emphasized and wasemphasized to me as well, and it
made a lot of sense always makethe next best decision.
And so the next best decisionis to go back, necessarily to a
harmful relationship orsomething that's in the past.

(59:33):
But the next best decision iswhat for you or for the person?
And so when somebody's tryingto work their way through
difficult struggles like thatand trying to think of things
that they've done in the past,the past is the past.
We're moving forward.
What's the next best thing todo?
And that isn't always to gobackwards.
That isn't always to do that.
You can always make amends forthings that you've done in the

(59:55):
past, but you can't always undothings that you've done in the
past.

Speaker 2 (59:59):
So, anyway.

Speaker 1 (01:00:01):
All right, listen, we got a boogie on this, because
we're almost done here, pierre,let's see.
Let's see where we go.
We went 34 there.
I'm just going to start and I'mgoing to start whizzing through
these things, okay, okay, Idon't know.
Again, you heard that the angelswere told you shall not make
false vows, but you shallfulfill your vows to the Lord.
And I say to you, make no oathat all, either by heaven or by

(01:00:22):
the throne of God, or by theearth, and that shall be the
footstool of Jerusalem, for isthe city of great king.
I think I skipped words there,but you guys get the point.
Nor shall you make any oath,either by heaven, for is the
throne of God, or by earth, foris the footstool of his feet, or
by Jerusalem, for the city ofthe great king.
Nor shall you make an oath ofyour head, because you cannot

(01:00:42):
make one hair white or one hairblack.
But let your statement be yes,yes, or your note, no, and
anything beyond these is evil.
So, be a man of your word, be awoman of your word.
If you say you're going to doit, do it.
If you say yes, say yes.
If you say no, say no, okay,and that just be a person of
your word.
You've heard it said that.
I said that it was said, and Ifor an eye and a tooth for a
heart.
But I say to you, do not resisthim.

(01:01:03):
Who is evil?
But whoever slaps you on theright cheek, turn to him the
other also.
If anyone wants to sue you, lethim take your shirt, let him
have your coat also, and whoevershall force you to go one mile,
go with him to give to him.
Who asked you and do not turnaway from him.
Who wants to borrow from you.
I think this has a lot to dowith just trusting God for these
things.
You know, if somebody needssomething, if somebody wants
something, if somebody is goingto take something of yours, let

(01:01:24):
them have it.
God will replenish it.
Just let them have it.
Don't make a big to-do.
Let them have it.
You know what I mean.
Like, don't try to get revenge,don't try to be angry about it
and get mad about it.
Just let them have it.
God's gonna give it to you.
Just think about the story ofJoe Beard and stuff like that,
that God has replenished peoplea million times over for things

(01:01:45):
that have been taken from them.

Speaker 2 (01:01:46):
It really just prevents conflict as well Versus
kind of retorting or outwardlycoming back with something.
It kind of just brushes it offa bit and it avoids things
escalating further into whatthey need to be.
Both the eye for the eye, twofor the two.

(01:02:07):
Turn the other cheek.
If you get slapped, like mosttimes, you want to slap back
Like no, you didn't, you didn't,just slap me, I'm gonna slap
you back.
But this is saying you know,kind of take the high road in
these situations Same for likethe walking, you know the extra
mile I think we were talkedabout some there kind of like
serving.

(01:02:27):
So whether you're like a slaveor anything along those lines
that have been kind of discussedyou know versus just you know
taking that backpack of thatsoldier that maybe you're kind
of enslaved to a mile, just goto go to two miles, just to go
above and beyond incircumstances, even when you're
not necessarily comfortablegoing above and beyond, because

(01:02:49):
it's gonna, it's gonna basicallyresolve conflict, who's gonna
argue if you for going the extramile?
No one really argues aboutgoing above and beyond.
So that's kind of a I thinkit's a good message to relax and
kind of resolve conflict insome of these situations.

Speaker 3 (01:03:06):
What is and you know we talked about this at church
Sunday was, you know, kind ofkeeping your mouth shut when you
want to speak up and when it'snatural for you to like belt it
out and want to get it out.
And I'll be the first to say,like I am that person, that I
want to talk through it, and Iwant to talk through it right
now and I want to get it handledbefore in my brain it becomes

(01:03:29):
something bigger and bigger andbigger and bigger.
And I will say that Pierre isvery good at walking away, which
is super frustrating to me attimes, but he's good at like
letting it not come out of hismouth.
And I'm trying to do better.
And I was really proud of myselfSunday because he actually made
me really angry and I wanted tosay something and I remembered

(01:03:53):
our sermon.
I did not say a word and youknow what.
You know what the beautifulthing in that was is it went
away and it was good and wedidn't have to rehash it and
talk about it and it didn't blowup into something bigger.
I prayed about it and I wassuper thankful that God just

(01:04:14):
removed that from me, so I cansee the blessing in that I do.
I will say I do believe thatthere are times you do have to
come back and talk about it, butthis was not one of those and
it wasn't important and I wasable to let it go, so I'm
thankful for that.

Speaker 1 (01:04:28):
You have heard.
It said, Michelle, that youshall love your neighbor and
your husband and hate your enemy.

Speaker 2 (01:04:32):
Right.

Speaker 1 (01:04:33):
But I say to you love your enemies and pray for those
who persecute you, in orderthat you may be sons of your
father, who is in heaven, for hecauses the son to rise on evil
and good and sends rain on therighteous and the unrighteous.
For if you love those who loveyou, what reward is it?
What reward have you?
Do not even the tax gatherersdo the same.
We got to love those peoplethat are hard to love and it

(01:04:55):
kind of goes back to even thethings that we were talking
about earlier.
I didn't realize it was going togo this direction about
thinking about those familiesthat you would want to bring,
maybe to some kind of Christmasservice or candlelight service
or something to pray for thosepeople.
We got to love on them and beavailable to love on them, not
just close our doors all thetime, maybe even inviting them
over for dinner or just to talkabout things, just to get to

(01:05:17):
know them a little bit better,because the tax gatherers love
people who love them.
Sometimes we got to love peoplewho are hard to love and that
we don't necessarily love, andthat's where God does the same
thing.
We're hard to love, but Godloves us.
He just doesn't love the peoplewho love him.
He loves everybody.
He desires all men everywhereto be saved, and so we can learn

(01:05:41):
from that as well.

Speaker 2 (01:05:43):
I mean it says the sun rises on evil and good.
I know we're all familiar withthe rain falls on the just and
the unjust.
That's God telling you rightthere.
There's going to be good daysand bad days for good people and
bad people.
That's just how life's going togo, but you still need to love
each other in the process andobviously Jesus did that the

(01:06:07):
best.
We dragged His cross, he gotwhipped, he got mocked, he got
embarrassed.
At the end of the day he saidforgive them, Father, but they
don't know what they've done.
That's love.
How many of us can get treatedthat way by others and still
show that type of love andforgiveness to die for the

(01:06:27):
people that are basicallymocking you and killing you?

Speaker 3 (01:06:30):
It's really tough.

Speaker 1 (01:06:32):
It is.
You think you winked at Matthewwhenever he said even the tax
gatherers do the same, I am sure.
So if you greet your brothers,only what do you do more than
others?
Do not even the Gentiles do thesame, and that's a big slap in
the face of Jewish people too,who are probably all gathered
around Him.
The Gentiles do it.

(01:06:53):
The Jewish people looked likeGentiles.
They were second class, thirdclass citizens.
They weren't Jewish, theyweren't inheriting the kingdom
of God like they were.
So he says you got to do that.
The Gentiles even do it.
Therefore, you are to be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is
perfect.
Jesus once again raised inthose standards.
And for us, as a believer hereon this earth, our goal is to be

(01:07:16):
perfect.
It's to not tempt other people,it's not to make other people
angry.
It's to try and do as best thatwe possibly can because of what
Jesus has done for us and totrust that he's going to be able
to lead us through that path,no matter what path we are on
and where we're positioned onthat path.
He's going to be able to do it,and we may receive persecution
and all those things, but it'llbe because of Him and we may

(01:07:38):
have success, but it'll bebecause of Him.
On account of Him, all thosethings that happen to us are
just simply because it's onaccount of Him, and I think that
that's why we should do allthese things too, pierre and
Michelle, is because on accountof Him, because of what he's
done for us, and it's worth it.
He thought we were worth it.
So, if we really honestlybelieve that he thought we were

(01:08:00):
worth it, isn't he worth it too,to be able to lay our lives
down, to take up His cross, totake up our cross, and to try
and be perfect, as our HeavenlyFather is perfect?
I think so.

Speaker 2 (01:08:14):
I agree Absolutely, and as a reminder, every day and
again that's the whole pick upyour cross daily.
That's what you got to do.
Each day is a new day, full ofnew grace, new mercy, and you
got to really start over eachday and try to be perfect.
If you fail one day, you got to.
If you're blessed with anotherday, you have another chance to

(01:08:37):
be perfect.
So each day, that's what you'repicking up the cross for and
your morning, your old self andyou will be confident for that.

Speaker 3 (01:08:45):
Well, you know they say practice makes perfect, but
that's not necessarily true.
Only perfect practice makesperfect, because if you practice
something badly every day,you're not going to be perfect
In the end, you're just going tostill be bad.
So you have to really practiceyour perfection every day and it

(01:09:07):
has to be a choice.
And you know, there are dayswe're going to fail and there
are days we're going to excel.
And it's really just abouttaking up that cross daily and,
you know, doing the very bestthat you can.

Speaker 1 (01:09:20):
Well, listen, I am a busy man.
I got to go.
I've got to go make sure all myJots and Tiddles are crossed
and dotted.
I got to.
I have to go around and buy allthe yoga pants and mini skirts
and throw them into the fire sothat I don't have to worry about
any young men being thrown intothe fire, so I got to go do
that too.
But listen, listeners, pleasejust leave a review, send in

(01:09:40):
your questions, give us somefeedback.
We'd love to interact with youand we'd love to hear from you.
It's always a blessing to beable to talk to you and thank
you so much for tuning inwhenever we do put out a podcast
and we want to get these out toyou as soon as we possibly can.
But thank you so much forlistening to the Finding Faith
and Losing Sleep Podcast.
Feel free to pass this along toanybody that you feel like
needs it, because that's whatwe're here for, and if you pray

(01:10:02):
for us, we will pray for you.