July 29, 2025 • 22 mins
Be amazed by the complete turnaround of Josh Poteet, from an alcoholic in a “Jesus adjacent” family to a pastor and author on discipleship in the home. Hear his compelling testimony as he eloquently and humorously comes to the truth and heart of "The Gospel of Done.”
” One by one as my world orbited around drinking, alcoholism started getting a hold of me. . . Everything that I thought gave me value was evaporating. And so my view on God continued in that vein of 'Yeah, God's real, but how could he possibly care about a guy like me?'”
Josh finally comes to the end of himself when he realizes God does care–so much that He gave His son! And the story of Josh’s baptism will have you laughing and crying.
This is a great show to share with those you know who might be suffering from alcoholism. There is hope in Jesus.
Helpful Links
Josh’s book: Parenting Against the Current: Taking Back Discipleship in Your Home
Josh’s Church, 180 Life Church, West Hartford, CT
Josh’s article on The Disciple-Making Family, from Discipleship.org
Help for Alcoholics
Teen Challenge (Adults Too)
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Josh Poteet (00:04):
And me believing that it was about my resume and
not that Jesus stapled hisresume on top, was that
mind-shifting moment for mewhere I had to realize 'Hold on,
like it's not anything that Ihave done on my end.
'
Margaret Ereneta (00:22):
Josh Poteet had a list-- some do's and some
don'ts.
The list would grow and thenget shredded, crushing Josh in
the process, until he realizedthe gospel isn't about do's and
don'ts, it's about dones.
Really, just one done.
This is Margaret Ereneta.
Welcome to Josh's One80.
Josh Poteet (00:52):
I live in West Hartford, Connecticut.
I grew up, though, in Floridaand was really kind of raised in
a household that I would callit Jesus adjacent.
Like we were around the churcha little bit, but church never
really made it into our heartsor into our home, and so we
would go to church on Sundaysand then we would come back home
and kind of do life.
However we did.
It turns out we were reallyjust attending to appease my
grandparents.
I didn't know that at the time,but that's what it ended up
(01:13):
really being.
So when we moved away in middleschool, that kind of just fell
off the grid.
My world at the time was raisedin a larger home.
I have a twin brother, a littlebrother and a little sister,
and having a twin really justmade everything highly
competitive, like we were bestfriends right out of the gate.
But what that meant is, if Iwanted the attention, I wanted
(01:36):
value, I wanted people to giveme the accolades I had to
achieve and perform really welland perform really well, which
is translating directly to myview on how God was.
I never in my life reallystruggled with the idea of God
being real Like who is God?
That was a different question.
But is he real?
(01:56):
Like I couldn't be convincedthat this just happened on
accident.
Margaret Ereneta (01:59):
Have you ever thought about the difference
between just believing God isreal and actually knowing Him?
So interesting.
Josh Poteet (02:08):
But I believed that , like in my house, my value to
Him came from what I pulled off,and so it was about getting the
girlfriend and scoring thetouchdowns and getting the GPA
and the scholarship in theschool or whatever, and that's
what I built the hierarchy of mylife on, which meant that by
the time I got to high school, Ithought I was God's gift to the
(02:30):
world.
I thought it was incredible,everything that I did I was
finding success in and I wasjust like man this is like
you're welcome, I'm here whichled to fun fact about how
parenting works.
That leads to a prettydestructive relationship with
your parents when you think thatyou are God's gift to the world
.
So my relationship with myparents was abysmal.
But again, I thought I wasawesome, went to a really good
(02:53):
school and when I went to thatschool for college, fell into a
different group of friends.
They weren't athletic, theydidn't care about sports, they
didn't care about school.
It wasn't their priority.
And so I had to redefine thewin because I wanted to be
successful in the eyes of thepeople I was around.
What it looked like for thatfraternity was I needed to be
(03:14):
the guy that everybody had themost fun with.
Up to this point in my life, Ibelieved that I was an alcoholic
before I ever drank.
I believed that three out offour of my grandparents died
from the disease, so I just Iknew that we had a lineage of
this thing and so the odds wereit had me.
So I didn't drink until I was19.
(03:34):
But when I drank, because Ifell into that group of friends
where, man, I need to be the guyyou have fun with, everything
shifted for me.
My whole world oriented arounddrinking and the party scene and
treating women in ways that isjust not appropriate or good or
God honoring, although I didn'tknow God at the time and that
(03:55):
was a big shift for me.
I stopped.
I say that I went to school,but I wasn't going to school.
Grades decreased significantlyand the whole goal of Sunday
mornings was how can I getsomebody to drink with me that
night?
When I went into college, I hadthis checklist and it wasn't
written down, but I had a listof things that I would never do,
so my list looked like (04:16):
one, I would never drink because, again
, I thought I was an alcoholicfrom birth.
I was always going to be thefaithful boyfriend or husband.
I have been as a husband, butas a boyfriend, I put myself in
several compromising positions.
That was unfair and unkind tothe person that I was supposed
to be caring for, and I had amarker on my list that I was
(04:38):
going to be incrediblysuccessful and make a lot of
money.
Well, that's gone.
I'm in ministry now, so that'snot really the target anymore.
And so, piece by piece, I hadthis, I would say, the list of
things that I would never do wastacked right next to a resume
that I thought gave me value.
And so the resume looked likegetting good grades and being
(04:59):
successful and getting the jobthat everybody envied and being
that guy that everyone wanted tobe around, and both those
things were moving in the wrongdirection.
And, one by one, as my worldorbited around, drinking and
alcoholism started getting ahold of me, I was looking at
this list, seeing one by one, Iwas checking those things off,
and everything that I thoughtgave me value was evaporating.
(05:23):
And so my view on God continuedin that vein of yeah, god's
real, but how could he possiblycare about a guy like me where
my resume was so good?
And then I went and I lit it onfire.
Margaret Ereneta (05:35):
Are you ever, like Josh, feeling like you have
a God resume you're working onand then you blow it?
Josh blew it.
Like, he literally blew it.
Listen in.
Josh Poteet (05:46):
And at that point I started to realize there was an
issue, and I was around 22years old, so pretty early on I
got in a actually my 21stbirthday.
My twin brother and I got in ahorrible fight.
I was drunk.
We beat the bejeebus out ofeach other and he ended up in
(06:07):
the ER.
I had two black eyes and a tornknee.
And I remember waking up thenext morning looking in the
mirror and hating the personthat I saw, thinking I had no
value, I had nothing to offer.
My birthday is around Christmasand my family was like, hey,
you're not invited to Christmasthis year.
And that was one of the hardestand best things I think my
(06:30):
parents have done for me,because I needed some sort of
wake up call that what I wasdoing and the way that I was
living my life was destructiveand was hurtful and not just
hurtful to me but to the peoplearound me that I said I cared
about.
And so that was the turningpoint where I was like all right
, something needs to change.
Jesus not in the picture yet,but something needs to change.
(06:50):
And so I did what anyone who'strying to get sober does I
joined the military becausethat's a great idea.
Like if you watch one militarymovie.
You're like this is a greatidea.
Like if you watch one militarymovie, you're like this is a
horrible idea, Josh, just watchthe movie.
But that was my plan.
I was like I can't drink forbasic training.
I'm going to go there, I'mgoing to serve, it'll be the
National Guard.
So in eight months I'll comeback home, it'll be fine, my
(07:11):
life will be all in order andright again.
So I go and I do that.
The problem is that wherever Igo, there I am, and so I would
just bring my problems with me.
So I got back eight months laterand I fell right back into the
same rhythms, doing the samethings, checking off this list
of things that I said I wouldnever do, thinking that God
didn't care about me, finallygot to the point where I was
(07:32):
committed like hey, I need toget sober, this needs to be
removed.
I thought alcohol was theproblem.
I didn't realize that I wasactually the problem to be
removed.
I thought alcohol was theproblem, I didn't realize that I
was actually the problem, andat that point I started
attending a 12-step program thatwould help me find sobriety,
and in that they encouraged meto figure out who God was.
They didn't tell you who Godwas, they didn't like say, hey,
(07:53):
this is a Christian organization.
But they said, hey, you need tofigure out who God is.
And so I dove in.
I was like, all right, I don'tknow if it's Jesus, I don't know
if it's Islam, I don't know ifit's whatever.
But I know that I'm going tolook at the evidence and try to
figure out what's real and goodand true and then I'll give my
life to that.
And as I looked at the evidence, it was overwhelming in support
(08:14):
that the resurrection occurred,that it was real and that Jesus
is the Messiah.
And so I was like, all right,I'm all in, like I'm gonna
figure out who this Jesus guy is.
And that started this two-yearfloundering period for me where
I was hungry, like I was pluggedinto three churches at the same
time.
Which fun fact, you can't beplugged into three churches at
(08:35):
the same time.
But that's just how hungry Iwas.
And I'm living my life reallythe same as I always had been,
just trying to learn more andmore and more about who Jesus is
.
And I say, over those two years, nothing in me spiritually grew
outside of my hunger.
And there was this night where Iwas driving home from an AA
(09:00):
meeting and I was just, I justfelt convicted.
And it's like the first timethat I like ever like remember
or know that I was convicted bythe Holy Spirit and like the
Holy Spirit wasn't in me, but herested on me in that moment.
And the conviction was thatthere was this girl I was in
relationship with that I justknew in passing that I had
(09:21):
treated horribly and I needed tocall her in that moment and ask
for forgiveness.
And that was it.
And so I call her and I goAshlyn, I'm so sorry, please
forgive me.
The way I treated you was awful.
You didn't deserve that.
And then the conviction keptcoming and I told her this
wasn't planned.
But I told her I was like hey,Ashlyn, I have to tell you that
(09:41):
there is a light in you and it'sso obvious to everybody around
you and I know for a fact Idon't have it.
Like what do I need to do?
Margaret Ereneta (09:55):
It's amazing that Josh calls out to this
friend that he knows casually inpassing, he says.
Don't downplay the impact yourfaith may have on other people,
friends.
Josh Poteet (10:09):
She unpacked the gospel for me and she shared who
Jesus was.
She asked about my story andshe asked how my relationship
with Jesus was, and I was like Idon't even know how to answer
that question.
And she just walked throughwhat walking with Jesus is meant
to look like and can be.
So she really took time, satdown with me and said hey, let
me share what Jesus did for meand how it wasn't just about
(10:36):
being good enough, but it's thathe has already done that.
While we were still sinners,Christ died for her and fun fact
that I didn't realize He alsodied for me, not that I had it
together, but because I couldn't.
And so in that moment shesharing the gospel was that
moment where I was like I'm allin, like this is it.
It's not just head knowledge,now it's I'm going to place the
(11:03):
weight of my life on Jesus, whoI believe went onto the cross
for me, who I believe went intothe tomb and then on the third
day he rose again.
And so that was that turningpoint for me where I placed the
full weight of my being on Jesus.
It was as if, like those lasttwo years, the only thing grew
was my hunger.
And then somebody pointed me tothe fridge and I was like all
right, this is it.
Like this is an all-you-can-eatbuffet, I am all in.
(11:24):
And so I dove in.
Three months later, I'm sittingin church and they're doing this
mass baptism which I have verymixed opinions on.
But they're doing this massbaptism where they're like hey,
like, if you've signed up to getbaptized, get baptized, and if
you didn't sign up but you'reconvicted, get baptized too.
And there I am, like I've beenat this church for two years.
(11:46):
I've been serving, didn't knowJesus while I was doing it, but
I was there and I'm in an armwrestling match with God.
I'm like God, please don't makeme do this.
Like I don't want these peopleto see that I am like brand new
to this thing.
I don't want to have to getbaptized in front of everybody.
Like can't this just be cool?
Like let's not make this a bigdeal.
Margaret Ereneta (12:04):
Josh is so like "be cool.
I love God's sense of humor inthis story.
Listen in.
Josh Poteet (12:10):
And I remember just sitting there and the Holy
Spirit again just saying yousaid you would do anything to
follow me, like it's time, andso I get in this line of it was
probably about 100 people, likeit was massive.
So I'm in this line saying, allright, god, I have changed my
prayer.
Like my prayer, like I'mgetting baptized, I'm doing it,
(12:31):
let the service be done.
Like let it.
I'm at the end of this line,let the service be done by the
time I get up there.
And the reason I share this isone, god is hilarious.
And two, he did somethingunbelievable here for me.
One, I get up into this giantpool and the guy, the pastor
that was baptizing people goeshey, josh, stay up here real
(12:53):
quick, we have to close, we'regoing to close from here and
then we'll baptize you as thegrand finale.
So I am up on this screen.
I prayed like God, let them notnotice.
I'm up on the screen for atleast 10 minutes just standing
next to this guy as he's closing.
But God likes to soften myheart through very funny things.
So he's over there playinggames with me.
(13:14):
But the reason I share that isand he doesn't always do this,
this isn't his promise, but hedid this.
For me in this moment was afterI chose to step forward in
obedience when he called me toget baptized.
I met the guy who woulddisciple me, would walk beside
me through maturity and have animpact on who I am as a husband
(13:35):
me choosing to marry my bride,who I am as a father, like huge
impact on my life and journey.
So within two weeks I met him.
I met my best friend who wouldmove into my house one day and
what he did was he got meconsistent in the word.
Like every day he was like, hey, man, where are we doing our
quiet time?
And it got me consistent ingetting to know God's character
through his scripture.
(13:56):
And then, within the same twoweeks, I met my wife.
All in different places, allnot His promise, and yet I
stepped forward in obedience.
And God I say he always showsup, but sometimes he shows off
and he showed off tremendously.
I was reading scripture at thetime but a lot of that was head
knowledge-based.
It was really like I'm hungryand I was doing that for the
(14:18):
last two years.
The truth that came to me inthat moment with Ashlyn and that
really has kind of carried onthrough is from Galatians 2.21,
where it says I do not nullifythe grace of God, for if
righteousness were through thelaw, then Christ died for no
purpose.
If it was about works, christdied for nothing.
(14:39):
And me believing that it wasabout my resume and not that
Jesus stapled his resume on top,was that mind-shifting moment
for me where I had to realizehold on, like it's not anything
that I have done on my end.
In fact, I'm not living todayto earn something from Jesus.
(15:02):
I'm responding to an undeservedfavor that he's already offered
me.
And that was a shift, becausethat was my entire mindset up
until, really, that conversationwith Ashlyn was I need to
provide value, because if Idon't provide value, I don't
have value.
Instead, receiving the valuethat Jesus put himself up on the
(15:23):
cross and then calling me a son, like that's where my value
comes from.
It comes from the relationshipFast forward.
I'm plugged into a life groupand I'm leading a life group and
I'm participating in a youngadults ministry and I'm actually
attending just one church, butfully plugged in growing and
maturing and failingmiraculously at the same time,
(15:44):
but really being stretched inwho God's called me to be.
Eventually, I get married.
Right after I get married to mybride, jenny, I get convicted
again that God's call on my lifewasn't the military, like I
thought, wasn't EMS like Ithought.
I had a job in EMS, I loved it,but he was calling me into
(16:04):
ministry and I again was likeLord, please don't make me do
this.
Like I don't want to, like I'vegot a plan and it's awesome.
And God again was like Josh,that's really cute, but that's
not what I have for you.
So then, all right, I'mpursuing ministry, I step into a
young adults ministry role,eventually a student pastor role
, and really just startedgetting stretched in ways that I
(16:26):
didn't know that he was callingme to grow, found out that I
was a okay communicator, eventhough I really fought against
that too.
I was like God, I don't want toteach from a stage.
And he was like yeah, but Igave you this gifting, you
should do that.
So, over and over again, god isjust showing off and leading me
to press into relationshipswith other men to help lead them
(16:48):
into maturity.
Helping other people who arestruggling with alcoholism or
struggling in figuring out whata relationship with Jesus is
meant to look like, or otherdads trying to figure out.
How do I be intentional with mytwo-year-old or my
five-year-old, how do I shepherdtheir hearts, which became a
huge passion of mine.
God called us to pray on movingto Connecticut, and so that
(17:10):
started a two-year trainingprocess with my lead pastor in
Houston of growing and maturingand being stretched, it being a
great training ground.
And then eventually we acceptedthe call to come to Connecticut
.
We heard that the ground herein New England was hardened
toward the gospel, and that'swhere we felt called to be.
(17:31):
So me, my bride and our kidsstepped out over here, and we've
been here for almost two years.
And God is moving, he is alive,he is speaking truth over the
lost and he's whispering thingsstill over me of lies that I
used to believe, lies like hey,it's not about what you do, josh
(17:54):
, because I thought it was aboutmy performance.
It's about what Jesus did onthe cross.
It's not the gospel of do, it'sthe gospel of done.
And so this idea of contendingand competing is really meant to
be more of a community walkingtogether, lifting each other up,
giving praise to a God whoalready did the work.
So that's a shifting.
(18:15):
That is like a daily.
Like he says deny yourself.
Pick up your cross and followme Like that's my daily cross
that I need to pick up and bereminded of.
Like Josh, you're not asawesome as you thought you were,
and you don't have to be,because what I couldn't do,
jesus did for me.
Margaret Ereneta (18:35):
Josh has a new book called Parenting Against
the Current Taking BackDiscipleship in your Home and
we'll link it in the show notes.
Josh Poteet (18:44):
This passion of parents discipling their kids
first was started with me tryingto figure out how do I lead my
family.
Well, like, kids don't come outwith a tutorial or a book of
like a how-to.
Don't come out with a tutorialor a book of like a how-to.
And I know that for me there'sa current in this world pulling
away from intentionality in thehome.
Busy just finds its way intothe home and with busy,
(19:08):
intentionality kind of fallsaway.
And so I've really kind of tooksome discipleship strategies
that I knew, one from what Jesusmodeled and two practices from
the churches that I've been apart of and really wrestled
through hey, how can we scalethis into the home?
So that guy who discipled me,Matt Nations, is the co-author
of this book.
He's the best dad that I'veever met and I really wanted to
(19:30):
partner with him and like let'screate something practical,
helpful for parents where theycan grow and mature as disciples
of Jesus and then really acceptthat primary calling that they
have as parents, which isn't toraise successful kids, it's not
to raise well-behaved kids, it'sto raise up disciples of the
King.
And so how do we raise up godlymen and women in our homes?
Margaret Ereneta (19:55):
Since Josh's story kind of started out with
him not knowing who God is andsearching for that and finding
it, we wanted to close withasking him to tell us who God is
.
Josh Poteet (20:09):
So the God of the Bible is the triune God.
He's the Father, Son and HolySpirit.
Three persons, one God.
So we've got the Father whoreigns on the throne.
He doesn't fall off his throne.
He is a perfect judge and callsus to perfection, even though
we can't reach it.
And because we can't reach it,he sent his Son to pay the
(20:30):
penalty for my debt.
That's what forgiveness is.
It's a canceled debt, but nodebt is truly canceled, it's
just repurposed right.
And so my debt, that my sin owed, was repurposed onto Jesus on
the cross.
He took on the wrath of Godthat I could be made clean,
infused as clean through thelens of Jesus.
And then the Holy Spirit comesas the great sanctifier and
(20:52):
convictor of my life, BecauseI'm still and you can ask my
wife still not perfect, Like Istill have not arrived yet, and
because of that, like I need theHoly Spirit in me to lead me,
to shepherd me, to press mecloser to Jesus and the Father
in the way that I'm meant to be,and so the Holy Spirit is
constantly convicting andleading me throughout my days.
Just want to say thank you toone, my Lord and Savior, Like I
(21:16):
could not be anything of valuewithout him and so just so
grateful for what God is doingand how he's moving in the
people around me.
Obviously grateful for my bride, Jenny and our son Ezra and our
daughter Lilla.
And thanks for One80 Podcastfor letting me join you guys and
share what Jesus has done in mylife.
And me believing that it was about my resume and
not that Jesus stapled hisresume on top, was that
mind-shifting moment for mewhere I had to realize 'Hold on,
like it's not anything that Ihave done on my end.
'
Margaret Ereneta (00:22):
Josh Poteet had a list-- some do's and some
don'ts.
The list would grow and thenget shredded, crushing Josh in
the process, until he realizedthe gospel isn't about do's and
don'ts, it's about dones.
Really, just one done.
This is Margaret Ereneta.
Welcome to Josh's One80.
Josh Poteet (00:52):
I live in West Hartford, Connecticut.
I grew up, though, in Floridaand was really kind of raised in
a household that I would callit Jesus adjacent.
Like we were around the churcha little bit, but church never
really made it into our heartsor into our home, and so we
would go to church on Sundaysand then we would come back home
and kind of do life.
However we did.
It turns out we were reallyjust attending to appease my
grandparents.
I didn't know that at the time,but that's what it ended up
(01:13):
really being.
So when we moved away in middleschool, that kind of just fell
off the grid.
My world at the time was raisedin a larger home.
I have a twin brother, a littlebrother and a little sister,
and having a twin really justmade everything highly
competitive, like we were bestfriends right out of the gate.
But what that meant is, if Iwanted the attention, I wanted
(01:36):
value, I wanted people to giveme the accolades I had to
achieve and perform really welland perform really well, which
is translating directly to myview on how God was.
I never in my life reallystruggled with the idea of God
being real Like who is God?
That was a different question.
But is he real?
(01:56):
Like I couldn't be convincedthat this just happened on
accident.
Margaret Ereneta (01:59):
Have you ever thought about the difference
between just believing God isreal and actually knowing Him?
So interesting.
Josh Poteet (02:08):
But I believed that , like in my house, my value to
Him came from what I pulled off,and so it was about getting the
girlfriend and scoring thetouchdowns and getting the GPA
and the scholarship in theschool or whatever, and that's
what I built the hierarchy of mylife on, which meant that by
the time I got to high school, Ithought I was God's gift to the
(02:30):
world.
I thought it was incredible,everything that I did I was
finding success in and I wasjust like man this is like
you're welcome, I'm here whichled to fun fact about how
parenting works.
That leads to a prettydestructive relationship with
your parents when you think thatyou are God's gift to the world
.
So my relationship with myparents was abysmal.
But again, I thought I wasawesome, went to a really good
(02:53):
school and when I went to thatschool for college, fell into a
different group of friends.
They weren't athletic, theydidn't care about sports, they
didn't care about school.
It wasn't their priority.
And so I had to redefine thewin because I wanted to be
successful in the eyes of thepeople I was around.
What it looked like for thatfraternity was I needed to be
(03:14):
the guy that everybody had themost fun with.
Up to this point in my life, Ibelieved that I was an alcoholic
before I ever drank.
I believed that three out offour of my grandparents died
from the disease, so I just Iknew that we had a lineage of
this thing and so the odds wereit had me.
So I didn't drink until I was19.
(03:34):
But when I drank, because Ifell into that group of friends
where, man, I need to be the guyyou have fun with, everything
shifted for me.
My whole world oriented arounddrinking and the party scene and
treating women in ways that isjust not appropriate or good or
God honoring, although I didn'tknow God at the time and that
(03:55):
was a big shift for me.
I stopped.
I say that I went to school,but I wasn't going to school.
Grades decreased significantlyand the whole goal of Sunday
mornings was how can I getsomebody to drink with me that
night?
When I went into college, I hadthis checklist and it wasn't
written down, but I had a listof things that I would never do,
so my list looked like (04:16):
one, I would never drink because, again
, I thought I was an alcoholicfrom birth.
I was always going to be thefaithful boyfriend or husband.
I have been as a husband, butas a boyfriend, I put myself in
several compromising positions.
That was unfair and unkind tothe person that I was supposed
to be caring for, and I had amarker on my list that I was
(04:38):
going to be incrediblysuccessful and make a lot of
money.
Well, that's gone.
I'm in ministry now, so that'snot really the target anymore.
And so, piece by piece, I hadthis, I would say, the list of
things that I would never do wastacked right next to a resume
that I thought gave me value.
And so the resume looked likegetting good grades and being
(04:59):
successful and getting the jobthat everybody envied and being
that guy that everyone wanted tobe around, and both those
things were moving in the wrongdirection.
And, one by one, as my worldorbited around, drinking and
alcoholism started getting ahold of me, I was looking at
this list, seeing one by one, Iwas checking those things off,
and everything that I thoughtgave me value was evaporating.
(05:23):
And so my view on God continuedin that vein of yeah, god's
real, but how could he possiblycare about a guy like me where
my resume was so good?
And then I went and I lit it onfire.
Margaret Ereneta (05:35):
Are you ever, like Josh, feeling like you have
a God resume you're working onand then you blow it?
Josh blew it.
Like, he literally blew it.
Listen in.
Josh Poteet (05:46):
And at that point I started to realize there was an
issue, and I was around 22years old, so pretty early on I
got in a actually my 21stbirthday.
My twin brother and I got in ahorrible fight.
I was drunk.
We beat the bejeebus out ofeach other and he ended up in
(06:07):
the ER.
I had two black eyes and a tornknee.
And I remember waking up thenext morning looking in the
mirror and hating the personthat I saw, thinking I had no
value, I had nothing to offer.
My birthday is around Christmasand my family was like, hey,
you're not invited to Christmasthis year.
And that was one of the hardestand best things I think my
(06:30):
parents have done for me,because I needed some sort of
wake up call that what I wasdoing and the way that I was
living my life was destructiveand was hurtful and not just
hurtful to me but to the peoplearound me that I said I cared
about.
And so that was the turningpoint where I was like all right
, something needs to change.
Jesus not in the picture yet,but something needs to change.
(06:50):
And so I did what anyone who'strying to get sober does I
joined the military becausethat's a great idea.
Like if you watch one militarymovie.
You're like this is a greatidea.
Like if you watch one militarymovie, you're like this is a
horrible idea, Josh, just watchthe movie.
But that was my plan.
I was like I can't drink forbasic training.
I'm going to go there, I'mgoing to serve, it'll be the
National Guard.
So in eight months I'll comeback home, it'll be fine, my
(07:11):
life will be all in order andright again.
So I go and I do that.
The problem is that wherever Igo, there I am, and so I would
just bring my problems with me.
So I got back eight months laterand I fell right back into the
same rhythms, doing the samethings, checking off this list
of things that I said I wouldnever do, thinking that God
didn't care about me, finallygot to the point where I was
(07:32):
committed like hey, I need toget sober, this needs to be
removed.
I thought alcohol was theproblem.
I didn't realize that I wasactually the problem to be
removed.
I thought alcohol was theproblem, I didn't realize that I
was actually the problem, andat that point I started
attending a 12-step program thatwould help me find sobriety,
and in that they encouraged meto figure out who God was.
They didn't tell you who Godwas, they didn't like say, hey,
(07:53):
this is a Christian organization.
But they said, hey, you need tofigure out who God is.
And so I dove in.
I was like, all right, I don'tknow if it's Jesus, I don't know
if it's Islam, I don't know ifit's whatever.
But I know that I'm going tolook at the evidence and try to
figure out what's real and goodand true and then I'll give my
life to that.
And as I looked at the evidence, it was overwhelming in support
(08:14):
that the resurrection occurred,that it was real and that Jesus
is the Messiah.
And so I was like, all right,I'm all in, like I'm gonna
figure out who this Jesus guy is.
And that started this two-yearfloundering period for me where
I was hungry, like I was pluggedinto three churches at the same
time.
Which fun fact, you can't beplugged into three churches at
(08:35):
the same time.
But that's just how hungry Iwas.
And I'm living my life reallythe same as I always had been,
just trying to learn more andmore and more about who Jesus is
.
And I say, over those two years, nothing in me spiritually grew
outside of my hunger.
And there was this night where Iwas driving home from an AA
(09:00):
meeting and I was just, I justfelt convicted.
And it's like the first timethat I like ever like remember
or know that I was convicted bythe Holy Spirit and like the
Holy Spirit wasn't in me, but herested on me in that moment.
And the conviction was thatthere was this girl I was in
relationship with that I justknew in passing that I had
(09:21):
treated horribly and I needed tocall her in that moment and ask
for forgiveness.
And that was it.
And so I call her and I goAshlyn, I'm so sorry, please
forgive me.
The way I treated you was awful.
You didn't deserve that.
And then the conviction keptcoming and I told her this
wasn't planned.
But I told her I was like hey,Ashlyn, I have to tell you that
(09:41):
there is a light in you and it'sso obvious to everybody around
you and I know for a fact Idon't have it.
Like what do I need to do?
Margaret Ereneta (09:55):
It's amazing that Josh calls out to this
friend that he knows casually inpassing, he says.
Don't downplay the impact yourfaith may have on other people,
friends.
Josh Poteet (10:09):
She unpacked the gospel for me and she shared who
Jesus was.
She asked about my story andshe asked how my relationship
with Jesus was, and I was like Idon't even know how to answer
that question.
And she just walked throughwhat walking with Jesus is meant
to look like and can be.
So she really took time, satdown with me and said hey, let
me share what Jesus did for meand how it wasn't just about
(10:36):
being good enough, but it's thathe has already done that.
While we were still sinners,Christ died for her and fun fact
that I didn't realize He alsodied for me, not that I had it
together, but because I couldn't.
And so in that moment shesharing the gospel was that
moment where I was like I'm allin, like this is it.
It's not just head knowledge,now it's I'm going to place the
(11:03):
weight of my life on Jesus, whoI believe went onto the cross
for me, who I believe went intothe tomb and then on the third
day he rose again.
And so that was that turningpoint for me where I placed the
full weight of my being on Jesus.
It was as if, like those lasttwo years, the only thing grew
was my hunger.
And then somebody pointed me tothe fridge and I was like all
right, this is it.
Like this is an all-you-can-eatbuffet, I am all in.
(11:24):
And so I dove in.
Three months later, I'm sittingin church and they're doing this
mass baptism which I have verymixed opinions on.
But they're doing this massbaptism where they're like hey,
like, if you've signed up to getbaptized, get baptized, and if
you didn't sign up but you'reconvicted, get baptized too.
And there I am, like I've beenat this church for two years.
(11:46):
I've been serving, didn't knowJesus while I was doing it, but
I was there and I'm in an armwrestling match with God.
I'm like God, please don't makeme do this.
Like I don't want these peopleto see that I am like brand new
to this thing.
I don't want to have to getbaptized in front of everybody.
Like can't this just be cool?
Like let's not make this a bigdeal.
Margaret Ereneta (12:04):
Josh is so like "be cool.
I love God's sense of humor inthis story.
Listen in.
Josh Poteet (12:10):
And I remember just sitting there and the Holy
Spirit again just saying yousaid you would do anything to
follow me, like it's time, andso I get in this line of it was
probably about 100 people, likeit was massive.
So I'm in this line saying, allright, god, I have changed my
prayer.
Like my prayer, like I'mgetting baptized, I'm doing it,
(12:31):
let the service be done.
Like let it.
I'm at the end of this line,let the service be done by the
time I get up there.
And the reason I share this isone, god is hilarious.
And two, he did somethingunbelievable here for me.
One, I get up into this giantpool and the guy, the pastor
that was baptizing people goeshey, josh, stay up here real
(12:53):
quick, we have to close, we'regoing to close from here and
then we'll baptize you as thegrand finale.
So I am up on this screen.
I prayed like God, let them notnotice.
I'm up on the screen for atleast 10 minutes just standing
next to this guy as he's closing.
But God likes to soften myheart through very funny things.
So he's over there playinggames with me.
(13:14):
But the reason I share that isand he doesn't always do this,
this isn't his promise, but hedid this.
For me in this moment was afterI chose to step forward in
obedience when he called me toget baptized.
I met the guy who woulddisciple me, would walk beside
me through maturity and have animpact on who I am as a husband
(13:35):
me choosing to marry my bride,who I am as a father, like huge
impact on my life and journey.
So within two weeks I met him.
I met my best friend who wouldmove into my house one day and
what he did was he got meconsistent in the word.
Like every day he was like, hey, man, where are we doing our
quiet time?
And it got me consistent ingetting to know God's character
through his scripture.
(13:56):
And then, within the same twoweeks, I met my wife.
All in different places, allnot His promise, and yet I
stepped forward in obedience.
And God I say he always showsup, but sometimes he shows off
and he showed off tremendously.
I was reading scripture at thetime but a lot of that was head
knowledge-based.
It was really like I'm hungryand I was doing that for the
(14:18):
last two years.
The truth that came to me inthat moment with Ashlyn and that
really has kind of carried onthrough is from Galatians 2.21,
where it says I do not nullifythe grace of God, for if
righteousness were through thelaw, then Christ died for no
purpose.
If it was about works, christdied for nothing.
(14:39):
And me believing that it wasabout my resume and not that
Jesus stapled his resume on top,was that mind-shifting moment
for me where I had to realizehold on, like it's not anything
that I have done on my end.
In fact, I'm not living todayto earn something from Jesus.
(15:02):
I'm responding to an undeservedfavor that he's already offered
me.
And that was a shift, becausethat was my entire mindset up
until, really, that conversationwith Ashlyn was I need to
provide value, because if Idon't provide value, I don't
have value.
Instead, receiving the valuethat Jesus put himself up on the
(15:23):
cross and then calling me a son, like that's where my value
comes from.
It comes from the relationshipFast forward.
I'm plugged into a life groupand I'm leading a life group and
I'm participating in a youngadults ministry and I'm actually
attending just one church, butfully plugged in growing and
maturing and failingmiraculously at the same time,
(15:44):
but really being stretched inwho God's called me to be.
Eventually, I get married.
Right after I get married to mybride, jenny, I get convicted
again that God's call on my lifewasn't the military, like I
thought, wasn't EMS like Ithought.
I had a job in EMS, I loved it,but he was calling me into
(16:04):
ministry and I again was likeLord, please don't make me do
this.
Like I don't want to, like I'vegot a plan and it's awesome.
And God again was like Josh,that's really cute, but that's
not what I have for you.
So then, all right, I'mpursuing ministry, I step into a
young adults ministry role,eventually a student pastor role
, and really just startedgetting stretched in ways that I
(16:26):
didn't know that he was callingme to grow, found out that I
was a okay communicator, eventhough I really fought against
that too.
I was like God, I don't want toteach from a stage.
And he was like yeah, but Igave you this gifting, you
should do that.
So, over and over again, god isjust showing off and leading me
to press into relationshipswith other men to help lead them
(16:48):
into maturity.
Helping other people who arestruggling with alcoholism or
struggling in figuring out whata relationship with Jesus is
meant to look like, or otherdads trying to figure out.
How do I be intentional with mytwo-year-old or my
five-year-old, how do I shepherdtheir hearts, which became a
huge passion of mine.
God called us to pray on movingto Connecticut, and so that
(17:10):
started a two-year trainingprocess with my lead pastor in
Houston of growing and maturingand being stretched, it being a
great training ground.
And then eventually we acceptedthe call to come to Connecticut
.
We heard that the ground herein New England was hardened
toward the gospel, and that'swhere we felt called to be.
(17:31):
So me, my bride and our kidsstepped out over here, and we've
been here for almost two years.
And God is moving, he is alive,he is speaking truth over the
lost and he's whispering thingsstill over me of lies that I
used to believe, lies like hey,it's not about what you do, josh
(17:54):
, because I thought it was aboutmy performance.
It's about what Jesus did onthe cross.
It's not the gospel of do, it'sthe gospel of done.
And so this idea of contendingand competing is really meant to
be more of a community walkingtogether, lifting each other up,
giving praise to a God whoalready did the work.
So that's a shifting.
(18:15):
That is like a daily.
Like he says deny yourself.
Pick up your cross and followme Like that's my daily cross
that I need to pick up and bereminded of.
Like Josh, you're not asawesome as you thought you were,
and you don't have to be,because what I couldn't do,
jesus did for me.
Margaret Ereneta (18:35):
Josh has a new book called Parenting Against
the Current Taking BackDiscipleship in your Home and
we'll link it in the show notes.
Josh Poteet (18:44):
This passion of parents discipling their kids
first was started with me tryingto figure out how do I lead my
family.
Well, like, kids don't come outwith a tutorial or a book of
like a how-to.
Don't come out with a tutorialor a book of like a how-to.
And I know that for me there'sa current in this world pulling
away from intentionality in thehome.
Busy just finds its way intothe home and with busy,
(19:08):
intentionality kind of fallsaway.
And so I've really kind of tooksome discipleship strategies
that I knew, one from what Jesusmodeled and two practices from
the churches that I've been apart of and really wrestled
through hey, how can we scalethis into the home?
So that guy who discipled me,Matt Nations, is the co-author
of this book.
He's the best dad that I'veever met and I really wanted to
(19:30):
partner with him and like let'screate something practical,
helpful for parents where theycan grow and mature as disciples
of Jesus and then really acceptthat primary calling that they
have as parents, which isn't toraise successful kids, it's not
to raise well-behaved kids, it'sto raise up disciples of the
King.
And so how do we raise up godlymen and women in our homes?
Margaret Ereneta (19:55):
Since Josh's story kind of started out with
him not knowing who God is andsearching for that and finding
it, we wanted to close withasking him to tell us who God is
.
Josh Poteet (20:09):
So the God of the Bible is the triune God.
He's the Father, Son and HolySpirit.
Three persons, one God.
So we've got the Father whoreigns on the throne.
He doesn't fall off his throne.
He is a perfect judge and callsus to perfection, even though
we can't reach it.
And because we can't reach it,he sent his Son to pay the
(20:30):
penalty for my debt.
That's what forgiveness is.
It's a canceled debt, but nodebt is truly canceled, it's
just repurposed right.
And so my debt, that my sin owed, was repurposed onto Jesus on
the cross.
He took on the wrath of Godthat I could be made clean,
infused as clean through thelens of Jesus.
And then the Holy Spirit comesas the great sanctifier and
(20:52):
convictor of my life, BecauseI'm still and you can ask my
wife still not perfect, Like Istill have not arrived yet, and
because of that, like I need theHoly Spirit in me to lead me,
to shepherd me, to press mecloser to Jesus and the Father
in the way that I'm meant to be,and so the Holy Spirit is
constantly convicting andleading me throughout my days.
Just want to say thank you toone, my Lord and Savior, Like I
(21:16):
could not be anything of valuewithout him and so just so
grateful for what God is doingand how he's moving in the
people around me.
Obviously grateful for my bride, Jenny and our son Ezra and our
daughter Lilla.
And thanks for One80 Podcastfor letting me join you guys and
share what Jesus has done in mylife.
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