January 20, 2024 • 32 mins
As we conclude our exploration of 'The BE YE's', we dive into the essence of Christianity, discussing how the Holy Spirit gives the fortitude needed to face life's challenges. We connect our trials to the eternal, illustrating how perseverance in the present will bear fruit in future rewards.
Join us as we continue to journey together, seeking to deepen our faith walk, and encourage you in yours. Together, we can foster a community ever-growing in the likeness of Christ.
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Episode Transcript
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April (00:00):
Hello and welcome to Simpli Edify's podcast.
Our goal is to encourage womenas we navigate the messiness of
life through biblical studies,personal stories and practical
tips that bolster our walk withJesus daily.
Thank you for joining us in ourepisode today.
Estie (00:17):
Welcome back.
We are going to attempt tofinish up our study on the BE
Ye's found in the New Testamentand there's quite a few left,
but we were talking togetherright before we started and a
lot of it just is talking aboutbeing complete in Christ and our
maturity in Christ, and sowe're going to kind of focus on
(00:39):
that.
But April's going to readthrough our list that we have
and also some verses thatcorrelate with each one of them.
April (00:47):
Yeah, these last ones.
There's a lot, but they allkind of just go together in an
overall arching theme.
So the first one we have is besteadfast, and this is our first
.
Corinthians 15 58 saysTherefore, my beloved brethren,
(01:07):
be steadfast, unmovable, alwaysabounding in the work of the
Lord for as much as you knowthat your labor is not in vain
in the Lord.
And then we have be wise.
Ephesians 5, 17 and 18 saysTherefore, be not unwise, but
understanding what the will ofthe Lord is.
(01:29):
And then it goes on to say andbe not drunk with wine where it
is excess, but be filled withthe spirit, speaking to
yourselves and Psalms and hymnsand spiritual songs singing,
making melody in your heart tothe Lord.
Then we have be doers.
James 122 says but be doers ofthe word and not hearers only
(01:50):
deceiving your own selves.
For if any man be a hearer ofthe word and not a doer, he's
like unto man beholding hisnatural face in a glass, for he
beholdeth himself and go withhis way and straightway,
forgeteth what manner of man hewas.
And then we have be patient andsober.
Be also patient.
(02:12):
This is James 5 8.
Stablish your hearts for thecoming of the Lord.
Draweth nigh.
Judge not one against another,brethren, lest ye be condemned.
Behold, the judge standeth atthe door.
And then 1 Peter, 4, 7 and 8,says but the end of all things
is at hand.
Be therefore sober and watchunto prayer and, above all
(02:33):
things, have fervent charityamong yourselves, for charity
shall cover the multitude ofsins.
And then, last but not least,we have be ye perfect.
Be therefore perfect, even asyour Father, which in heaven is
perfect.
And that verse with thedefinition of perfect.
We know that this sight ofheaven, we will not be sinless.
(02:55):
So, in context and defining theword there, it's talking about
a mature faith, a matureChristian, mature believer,
striving for mastery in thislife.
So we have again just to goover Be steadfast, be wise, be
(03:16):
doers, be patient and sober, andbe perfect and mature in Christ
.
Estie (03:24):
Well, I'm glad that perfect doesn't necessarily mean
sinless perfection, becausethat would be too much for this
girl Too much for any person,for sure.
April (03:37):
Yeah, I found it interesting, especially when
talking about being sober andpatient, those verses that I
read about patient and sober.
In James and Peter it says Bepatient, establish your heart,
for the coming of the Lord isdrawing night.
(03:58):
Okay, so we're being patient,waiting for the Lord to come.
The verse directly after thatsays Grudge, not one against
another, lest ye be condemned.
We're talking about ourrelationship with other
believers, right, how we'resupposed to interact with other
believers.
And then in Peter it says butthe end of all things is at hand
(04:20):
.
Be therefore sober and watchunto prayer.
Above all, have fervent charityamong yourselves.
So both of those passages havebe sober, be patient, the Lord's
coming.
And then how we're supposed tobe interacting with other
(04:41):
believers as this time isapproaching and what our role
and responsibility is towardsother believers.
I found that kind ofinteresting.
Especially when people talkabout the Lord coming, I've
noticed that it has a tendencyto have a little bit of a gloom
(05:01):
and doom type air to it.
Like, look at the world today,the Lord's coming back.
It's not like, oh, jesus iscoming back, we're so excited.
It's just like a way that it'ssaid, a way that it's presented
is like more on the negativeside almost, and it's never
followed up with it's.
It's rarely ever followed upwith.
(05:23):
So how are you doing in yourwalk with the Lord and your walk
with other people?
You know what I mean.
Estie (05:29):
It's not usually more about prepping for Digging your
heels and be prepared for allthe chaos that's gonna happen,
like doomsday.
Yeah and yes, yes, and I dothink that's what I was gonna
say.
I think that we, when we'retalking about looking forward to
Christ's return, which is everysingle day it's getting closer,
(05:49):
regardless of the state of theworld, Every day we're getting
closer to it.
So it is something we have to belooking for, but we sometimes
get so far-sighted that we'rejust looking at that and we get
kind of negative, like you weresaying.
Or we Are so near-sighted andwe're just focusing on care.
(06:11):
I need to be like this.
I need to do this that we'reeither too like inward focused
or too forward focused, butwe're not really focusing on the
the fact that we need to liveout our Christianity right now
with other believers, regardlessof whether Christ is coming
tomorrow or whether he's cominga hundred years from now.
Our relationship with otherChristians still needs to be a
(06:36):
priority.
And and our, our witness withother people, how we engage with
people who aren't Christiansthose things Also need to be a
priority and something that wetake care of Regardless, because
I think sometimes we get likeus against them mentality, but
the more we talk about likedoomsday type things, it's, you
(06:58):
know, us against the world, butwe're still supposed to be
reaching the world.
April (07:03):
Yeah, as far as, like, being being sober, like this,
doesn't mean that like you goaround with a Bloomy look on
your face and you can't everhave fun or enjoy life or
anything like that.
But it's.
It's an aware right, it's anawareness of your surrounding
and who you are as a believerand that your Testimony means
(07:27):
something and it should meansomething.
It you should be taking, howyou live your life soberly.
You should be Asking yourselfwhat do my actions, my thoughts,
my words Say to everyone aroundme About what I believe, who I
(07:49):
believe, and in that type ofthought process.
That that's what it's talkingabout when it Refers to being
sober, like we're not doing justwhatever we want, right, we're
not allowing other influences.
When, when we talk aboutsobriety, as far as, um, like
addictions and stuff like that,what?
What do those addictions do?
(08:10):
They take control ofessentially who we are as a
person.
So when you talk about sobriety, it means you're in your right
mind and you're not affected byalcohol or Drugs or something
else.
Estie (08:24):
Your, your brain is functioning how it should be and
that can cross over into thingslike Not allowing your mind to
be taken over by things aren'ttrue mm-hmm?
And and focusing on what isimportant.
And I was thinking about wherewe're reading through together
the New Testament, and so we'vebeen reading through, like
(08:48):
Matthew, mark, luke, and I thinkwhat struck me is how Jesus had
this like ability to be verywarm and and almost like
light-hearted at times and kindof even funny, I think, but then
also very quickly and when,when it was important, be so
(09:09):
serious, mm-hmm, and Never, everlosing sight of what was
important.
If we obviously this was Christwe're talking about, so duh, but
I just I, you know listening toit, because I was listening to
it on my Bible app and I wasthinking how, in all of this
(09:32):
perfection that Christ was, hewas still human and he was such
a good example of putting thefirst thing first.
Yeah, and having that mindsetof I am living in this world.
We still have to eat.
I was saying so many times hetalks about feeding people, or
(09:55):
like we need to eat, or thesepeople need to eat, or feed the
child, like so many times.
So he focused on like the hereand now, but then always was
focusing on the important thingsof the kingdom of God.
And that needs to be our mindsetas well, and our goal is to
have the mind like Christ right.
So I just think it's importantthat we find that balance I
(10:19):
guess with you, yeah.
April (10:23):
So as we move on, also along the same lines as sobriety
, like, comes wisdom, knowledge.
We can have a ton of headknowledge about the Bible.
We can have all of the.
If you grew up in church,you're going to have all of your
verses memorized right fromlike, maybe Awana's or Bible
(10:47):
clubs or stuff like that.
Like, you can have all of thishead knowledge and it can really
do you no good because there'sno wisdom, there's no real like.
How do I apply what I know?
How do I actually live this outand what is God's will?
Right?
So, in context of this verse,be where for being unwise, but
(11:11):
understanding what the will ofthe Lord is, and then it goes
right into which was like handin hand with the sobriety part
of it.
Right, and be not drunk withwine, we're in his excess but be
filled with the spirit.
Okay, we're not going to beunsober with wine I mean that,
literally, is what it's talkingabout but we're going to be
filled with the spirit.
So what is wisdom?
(11:31):
It's being filled with thespirit.
And how are we filled with thespirit?
Estie (11:38):
And not letting other things control you Right.
April (11:41):
We're filling our mind with Psalms, hymns, spiritual
songs, singing, making melody inyour heart to the Lord, giving
thanks always for all things.
It goes on to submittingyourselves one to another in the
fear of God, like it has it inthose verses basically bull
appointed for us.
(12:02):
That happens a lot.
That happens a lot.
What we're supposed to do.
Estie (12:07):
When we read our Bible in context Right.
So often the answers to all thewho, what, why, how, are there
for us.
April (12:19):
It's not like a complicated thing to process
either, because God made itsimple for us, right?
He didn't want it to be sometrick or something like magic
words like abracadabra, you know, like it's not trying to trip
us up.
He lays it out very plainly forus.
Is just our, our sinful naturegets in the way and complicates
(12:41):
it, right?
So, yeah, I thought those twoaspects of being sober and being
wise just kind of like fitright hand in hand together.
Estie (12:48):
Yeah, and you can.
If you meet someone who is wise, like, if there's someone
you're like, you're thinking oflike, that's the person I would
go to when I'm not sure aboutsomething.
They might be one of the like,a funny person or a lighthearted
person, but they're going tohave a sobriety about them.
You know that's like one oftheir defining traits.
(13:09):
I believe you're going to knowthat they are going to be
serious about what matters.
They take God's word seriously.
Yeah, they do go hand in hand,and that's one of the things.
When you're, you know, with ourkids, we're hoping that they
are developing these things, butthese are also signs of like
maturity that have to bedeveloped over time.
And you can't expect a youngchild or a baby Christian to
(13:34):
necessarily be wise or to besober or all these things,
because there's something thatthey have to grow in and we do
that and we teach them throughGod's word and through knowing
how to fill their minds with theright things.
And that might sound like a nobrainer, except that there's a
(13:57):
lot of time young people arejust even people are Christians
but we spend filling our mindswith lots of things that have
nothing to do with God or Hisword.
I see that so much.
I'm working with kids and sothat's just a practical, just
from a practical standpoint oftraining yourself, training your
(14:17):
children, training, helping thepeople around you see how they
can spend that time in God'sword with the right kind of
music, with the right kind ofinfluences.
Just that makes sense.
April (14:28):
Yeah, where to be an example of what a Christian who
is wise, who is sober, who ispatient, who is all of these
things mature, is towards otherpeople.
We're supposed to emulate that,but we're also supposed to teach
and encourage and build up andput into, invest into the lives
(14:49):
of others who maybe aren't quiteas far along on their journey,
which goes into the next be,which is be doers right.
Be doers of the word and nothearers only deceiving your own
selves.
For if any man be a hearer ofthe word and not a doer, he's
like unto a man beholding hisnatural face in a glass, for he
beholdeth himself and go withhis way and straightway forget
(15:10):
as what manner of man he was,but whoso looketh into the
perfect law of liberty andcontinueeth therein, he being
not a forgetful hearer but adoer of the word.
This man shall be blessed inhis deed.
And I read that whole passageagain because I feel like it
gives a full clarity of what itmeans to be a hearer but not a
(15:34):
doer, right, and it gives thatexample.
Estie (15:37):
Yeah, it's such a good.
It reminds me when people saytell it to me like I'm a child,
Mm.
You know, explain it to me likeI'm a small child, like that's
kind of I feel like what he did,like that's such a vivid and
it's a kind of example you canuse, yeah, easily with a child
to explain this concept, but itapplies to us as well.
It's just if you're staring atyourself with something in your
(16:00):
tooth and you walk teeth and youwalk away and then go smiling
at everybody.
April (16:05):
That's so silly.
Estie (16:07):
Why would you do that?
Right Makes no sense.
And the same way, if you seesomething, if God reveals
through his word things that youneed to change, and you just go
, yeah, I'm fine.
Right, you can't in, walk away.
That's more than silly, that'ssin.
But right, we often see theneed to do things as well.
(16:27):
We're talking about actuallydoing, doing things and we walk
past opportunities to do all thetime, especially when there's
other people around who you knoware gonna fill in the gaps.
Right, or when no one'swatching and you can get away
with it.
April (16:50):
The rest of that passage goes on and it talks about what
pure religion is, and it's tovisit the fatherless, the widow,
and to keep yourself unspottedfrom the world.
And it talks about your tongueand keeping you know your tongue
, bridled, and if you don't like, your religion is vain, it's
empty.
Because if it's you know yourreligion isn't affecting who you
(17:15):
are and what you say, then whatgood is it?
And so, yeah, that wholepassage, I highly recommend
going through the book of James.
It is very convicting.
I love James.
Estie (17:29):
I will go to.
James is my go-to.
It is my absolute go-to bookbecause it's so full of wisdom
and I desperately recognize thatI need wisdom All the time,
always.
And I like how, like you justsaid, it's so practical.
There's no like.
I wonder what this means.
April (17:50):
Right, keep reading and you'll find out.
Estie (17:53):
Yeah, it's very, very simplistic and, yeah, I love it.
April (17:58):
Yeah, we know that as believers, we are given commands
.
These be yeets, right.
These are not even like a full,exhaustive list and we can look
at it and we can say, you know,well, this is just too
difficult, this is too hard,this is unachievable, right, and
(18:19):
we can have this kind of likewell, I can't do it, so I'm just
going to give up and not eventry, and it's not.
That's not the purpose of these.
We've talked about this before.
We talked about this before weeven started the series too is
that this is about what aChristian is supposed to look
like, right, with the power ofthe Holy Spirit, when we walk in
(18:40):
the spirit, when we are in theword, when we're fulfilling our
call as a believer.
Right, and we are going to messup sometimes, but we're just
strive for mastery.
The program that my kids aredoing for classical
conversations it talks about howthe goal is not necessarily
(19:01):
perfection, but mastery, right,and remembering these concepts
and applying these concepts towhat they're learning.
It's mastery over these concepts.
And a master will still like,if you think about, you know, a
master marksman.
They're still going to misssometimes, right, but it's they
(19:27):
practice to not miss, right,they don't practice to miss.
And they don't not practice.
They know that missing is goingto be part of it, but it's the
process and it's the memory andit's the.
It becomes a natural reactionwhen we practice right.
(19:48):
So the more we practice, themore it becomes a part of who we
are and then we become moremasterful in that right.
And when you talk about amaster right, you're talking
about like in being in controlof something, and Christ is to
be our master, and when he isour master, we can find mastery
(20:11):
in these issues, conquering thewills of the flesh, and we can
allow his spirit to guide usinto that mature faith which is,
you know, what we've beentalking about be there for
perfect right.
Does that mean you're nevergoing to miss?
Estie (20:27):
No, no, I just found a letter that my mom's pastor's
wife wrote to me when I was born, and so I was a newborn baby
when I got this little card andmy mom found it recently and
gave it to me and the end of itshe wrote the verse she said one
(20:48):
day in the future you'll needthis verse.
And it said come unto me all yethat labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.
And the rest of that passagetalks about, basically, it's not
saying go have a nap, it'ssaying all this hard stuff that
(21:09):
I've called you to do, I'm goingto help you and you don't have
to do it alone.
Our rest comes from leaning onChrist and not our own effort.
And if we look back at thesethings that we've been through,
we've talked about, they couldseem overwhelming and they could
seem like impossible Justliving the Christian life the
way that we know we need to liveit.
(21:30):
It would be impossible in ourown strength.
But when we recognize andfinally get to that place we're
able to genuinely rest in Christand lean on Christ, I think
that we kind of find the answerof how to make it work Right.
April (21:46):
Which, as we look at the last one.
So be steadfast, therefore, mybeloved brethren.
Be steadfast, unmovable, alwaysabounding in the work of the
Lord, for as much as you knowthat your labor is not in vain
in the Lord.
That's just like anencouragement there, like be
steadfast, don't give up.
Even when you fall down, pickyourself back up, keep going.
(22:09):
It's not in vain, it's notempty.
We know that Christ has told uswe have reward waiting for us
and it's going to be.
You know, this earth is sotemporary and I've just been
thinking about that a lot lately, like how temporary this world
actually is and how everythingthat we do here, this is our one
(22:33):
chance to affect eternity.
Our one chance to affecteternity, and that kind of gives
us, when you think about itlike that, it gives us the
sobriety that we need to knowthere is an end coming and what
I do here matters.
What I do here matters a lotand it's not just waste, and I
(22:56):
can buckle down and I can commitand I can do what God has
called me to do, because I knowthat eternity is what awaits.
You know, and when what I'mdoing over here is going to get
me what my eternity will looklike over there.
You know, like what Christtalked about the sufferings on
(23:18):
this earth as we were just goingthrough the Gospels together,
like that's something that kindof struck me.
He talks a lot with hisdisciples, like what you suffer
here on this earth is it will beyour reward in heaven.
You know what we go throughhere on this earth, how we live
(23:39):
down here, is going to be howwe're going to.
You know our reward is going tobe that much.
Our reward is going to be thatmuch greater in heaven.
Estie (23:45):
So to keep that in mind, yeah, and we sometimes want
everything to like work out thisside of heaven and we kind of
have that expectation of like ifI'm going through something bad
right now, I'm going to seethis beautiful end result on
earth and that's not actuallyever promised us.
We can know that God's workingout something for our good and
(24:09):
his glory, but that doesn'tnecessarily mean that we're
going to get like a fairy tale,happy and happily ever after
ending either.
Think about all the amazing,like the people who have just
sacrificed their life for Christ.
Often their lives end in hardways.
That's why our mind has to beon eternity, because that is
(24:32):
where the reward is going tocome, like you were saying, and
that's why we're supposed tohave that mindset of the Kingdom
of God, realizing it's morethan just our temporary comfort.
We really focus a lot on ourimmediate comfort and that's
like the standard of whetherthings are good or bad, and
(24:55):
that's a hard thing to shake.
But we need to set our mind onthings above.
April (25:00):
Yeah, go ahead and read that passage in Romans.
Estie (25:04):
This is from Romans 5.
Let me just read the passage.
April (25:45):
And I feel that ties what we've been talking about all
together, like tribulation workas patience, patience,
experience, experience, hope,right, and it's a process toward
maturity.
It's a process of understandingwhat God's will is for us, with
the wisdom and the Holy Spirit,and we have that hope, just
(26:10):
like what we're talking about.
We have the hope that eternityawaits us in the promises of God
.
We have hope in that and wedon't need to be ashamed, we
don't need to be like what isthis?
Why are we doing this?
It's not worth it.
It's not feeling like it'sempty or vain or all of the
trials that we face here on thisearth, that it's not worth it.
(26:32):
We have hope.
We know that tribulation itworks, patience it works in us
to produce mature believers andto produce a closer walk with
the Lord.
And then we have the hope thatonce we get to heaven, we'll see
the why, we'll see all that Godhas for us.
(26:53):
We can't even fathom it.
Estie (26:56):
I really think a lot of our questions are going to just
dissipate when we see Christ.
I think that the things thatare so heavy on our minds right
now just really won't matterwhen we're with Christ.
I'm not saying we won't get anyanswers to any questions.
I don't know how all that willwork, but I truly believe that
(27:17):
the burdens that we carry willbe lifted.
April (27:19):
Yeah, the hymn.
When we see Christ, it justspeaks to that so clearly.
It's just absolutely truth.
It will all fade away.
Yeah, that's why speaking toyourselves in Psalms, hymns and
spiritual songs is so important.
It is.
Estie (27:36):
I'm just so many times in the last few weeks even I've
sat down.
I'm just sitting down foldingclothes, which is probably my
least favorite thing to do inlife.
April (27:45):
I just paid my daughter $5 to fold clothes.
We do chores for money Afterthey've done their regular
chores.
I was like hey do you want?
To earn money.
I've done that with some stuff,not with my personal clothes.
Estie (28:04):
That's a good idea, that's a really good idea.
But a lot of times, because I'mjust sitting there and miserable
I was also praying and I don'tremember I asked for.
I asked God a question.
I can't hear him, but I waslike I don't know what to do
about this.
(28:24):
Instantly a verse came to mindand that just gave me clarity in
whatever I was stressing outabout.
And I'm like you know, if Ididn't have that scripture
memorized, it wouldn't be thereto recall.
And I'm not saying good job onme for memorizing it.
(28:47):
I don't even remember when Idid.
I was probably a kid when I did.
I'm just saying it's reallyhelpful.
It's really really helpful toknow your scripture and to have
it, something that you can fallback on.
And, honestly, there are timeswhere I don't remember the whole
verse.
But I remember the truth of averse Because it is ingrained,
(29:08):
whether it's fully memorized ornot.
And if you're not good atmemorizing, don't be like I can
never do that If you readsomething over and over and over
again, whether you have itmemorized or not, the weight of
it is going to be in your mindand the truth of it is going to
be in your mind and you're goingto be able to recall the truth,
whether you remember word forword the passage or not, and
(29:30):
then you can use that littlephrase that you do remember and
look it up on your Bible app.
April (29:36):
Yeah, the convenience of technology, yes.
Estie (29:39):
When all those little.
April (29:40):
You know how they would have the things in the back of
your Bible where you could lookup like basically the
concordance thing, but it wasjust a very small one I can
remember, like being little andtrying to look up like because
I've always been the absoluteworst at remembering references
Like I can't I just somethingabout the numbers just makes it
(30:03):
more difficult for me I canremember.
Estie (30:05):
the first is almost word for word.
April (30:07):
And it's either 323 or 623.
But I will find it.
Estie (30:14):
I've had to highlight the Romans road because I can't
remember all the references.
I just have to like highlightit so I can flip through and
find it.
Yeah.
April (30:22):
I remember using that as a kid and being like, oh yeah,
this is great.
And now I'm like I wish I hadthis.
This is so much easier on aBible app.
Just put it to two words and itgenerates all the verses.
Yeah, it makes it so mucheasier.
Estie (30:38):
It is really nice, and it's one of those things like it
is an absolute like.
Use it, absolutely.
Use it because it's availableto us and do it because it does
really help.
You can do such great wordstudies that way too.
Just, I want us to research.
I just want to read versesabout hope.
Yeah, and there they are yeah,all right.
April (31:01):
Well, thank you for joining us in our series on the
bees, and I know this onecovered a lot of ground, but I
just we kind of going throughthem, we were like these kind of
all just tie together andinstead of, you know, belaboring
the point in the series, justdecided to kind of condense it.
Anyhow, we are looking forwardto in this new year, addressing
(31:25):
some other type of issues andtopics that maybe we haven't
really explored some kind ofcultural issues and things that
we've seen in as far as liketrends in you know, Christian
circles and beyond.
So, yeah, stay tuned.
We're looking forward to someinteresting topics here, as
(31:48):
always.
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(32:09):
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Thank you.
Hello and welcome to Simpli Edify's podcast.
Our goal is to encourage womenas we navigate the messiness of
life through biblical studies,personal stories and practical
tips that bolster our walk withJesus daily.
Thank you for joining us in ourepisode today.
Estie (00:17):
Welcome back.
We are going to attempt tofinish up our study on the BE
Ye's found in the New Testamentand there's quite a few left,
but we were talking togetherright before we started and a
lot of it just is talking aboutbeing complete in Christ and our
maturity in Christ, and sowe're going to kind of focus on
(00:39):
that.
But April's going to readthrough our list that we have
and also some verses thatcorrelate with each one of them.
April (00:47):
Yeah, these last ones.
There's a lot, but they allkind of just go together in an
overall arching theme.
So the first one we have is besteadfast, and this is our first
.
Corinthians 15 58 saysTherefore, my beloved brethren,
(01:07):
be steadfast, unmovable, alwaysabounding in the work of the
Lord for as much as you knowthat your labor is not in vain
in the Lord.
And then we have be wise.
Ephesians 5, 17 and 18 saysTherefore, be not unwise, but
understanding what the will ofthe Lord is.
(01:29):
And then it goes on to say andbe not drunk with wine where it
is excess, but be filled withthe spirit, speaking to
yourselves and Psalms and hymnsand spiritual songs singing,
making melody in your heart tothe Lord.
Then we have be doers.
James 122 says but be doers ofthe word and not hearers only
(01:50):
deceiving your own selves.
For if any man be a hearer ofthe word and not a doer, he's
like unto man beholding hisnatural face in a glass, for he
beholdeth himself and go withhis way and straightway,
forgeteth what manner of man hewas.
And then we have be patient andsober.
Be also patient.
(02:12):
This is James 5 8.
Stablish your hearts for thecoming of the Lord.
Draweth nigh.
Judge not one against another,brethren, lest ye be condemned.
Behold, the judge standeth atthe door.
And then 1 Peter, 4, 7 and 8,says but the end of all things
is at hand.
Be therefore sober and watchunto prayer and, above all
(02:33):
things, have fervent charityamong yourselves, for charity
shall cover the multitude ofsins.
And then, last but not least,we have be ye perfect.
Be therefore perfect, even asyour Father, which in heaven is
perfect.
And that verse with thedefinition of perfect.
We know that this sight ofheaven, we will not be sinless.
(02:55):
So, in context and defining theword there, it's talking about
a mature faith, a matureChristian, mature believer,
striving for mastery in thislife.
So we have again just to goover Be steadfast, be wise, be
(03:16):
doers, be patient and sober, andbe perfect and mature in Christ
.
Estie (03:24):
Well, I'm glad that perfect doesn't necessarily mean
sinless perfection, becausethat would be too much for this
girl Too much for any person,for sure.
April (03:37):
Yeah, I found it interesting, especially when
talking about being sober andpatient, those verses that I
read about patient and sober.
In James and Peter it says Bepatient, establish your heart,
for the coming of the Lord isdrawing night.
(03:58):
Okay, so we're being patient,waiting for the Lord to come.
The verse directly after thatsays Grudge, not one against
another, lest ye be condemned.
We're talking about ourrelationship with other
believers, right, how we'resupposed to interact with other
believers.
And then in Peter it says butthe end of all things is at hand
(04:20):
.
Be therefore sober and watchunto prayer.
Above all, have fervent charityamong yourselves.
So both of those passages havebe sober, be patient, the Lord's
coming.
And then how we're supposed tobe interacting with other
(04:41):
believers as this time isapproaching and what our role
and responsibility is towardsother believers.
I found that kind ofinteresting.
Especially when people talkabout the Lord coming, I've
noticed that it has a tendencyto have a little bit of a gloom
(05:01):
and doom type air to it.
Like, look at the world today,the Lord's coming back.
It's not like, oh, jesus iscoming back, we're so excited.
It's just like a way that it'ssaid, a way that it's presented
is like more on the negativeside almost, and it's never
followed up with it's.
It's rarely ever followed upwith.
(05:23):
So how are you doing in yourwalk with the Lord and your walk
with other people?
You know what I mean.
Estie (05:29):
It's not usually more about prepping for Digging your
heels and be prepared for allthe chaos that's gonna happen,
like doomsday.
Yeah and yes, yes, and I dothink that's what I was gonna
say.
I think that we, when we'retalking about looking forward to
Christ's return, which is everysingle day it's getting closer,
(05:49):
regardless of the state of theworld, Every day we're getting
closer to it.
So it is something we have to belooking for, but we sometimes
get so far-sighted that we'rejust looking at that and we get
kind of negative, like you weresaying.
Or we Are so near-sighted andwe're just focusing on care.
(06:11):
I need to be like this.
I need to do this that we'reeither too like inward focused
or too forward focused, butwe're not really focusing on the
the fact that we need to liveout our Christianity right now
with other believers, regardlessof whether Christ is coming
tomorrow or whether he's cominga hundred years from now.
Our relationship with otherChristians still needs to be a
(06:36):
priority.
And and our, our witness withother people, how we engage with
people who aren't Christiansthose things Also need to be a
priority and something that wetake care of Regardless, because
I think sometimes we get likeus against them mentality, but
the more we talk about likedoomsday type things, it's, you
(06:58):
know, us against the world, butwe're still supposed to be
reaching the world.
April (07:03):
Yeah, as far as, like, being being sober, like this,
doesn't mean that like you goaround with a Bloomy look on
your face and you can't everhave fun or enjoy life or
anything like that.
But it's.
It's an aware right, it's anawareness of your surrounding
and who you are as a believerand that your Testimony means
(07:27):
something and it should meansomething.
It you should be taking, howyou live your life soberly.
You should be Asking yourselfwhat do my actions, my thoughts,
my words Say to everyone aroundme About what I believe, who I
(07:49):
believe, and in that type ofthought process.
That that's what it's talkingabout when it Refers to being
sober, like we're not doing justwhatever we want, right, we're
not allowing other influences.
When, when we talk aboutsobriety, as far as, um, like
addictions and stuff like that,what?
What do those addictions do?
(08:10):
They take control ofessentially who we are as a
person.
So when you talk about sobriety, it means you're in your right
mind and you're not affected byalcohol or Drugs or something
else.
Estie (08:24):
Your, your brain is functioning how it should be and
that can cross over into thingslike Not allowing your mind to
be taken over by things aren'ttrue mm-hmm?
And and focusing on what isimportant.
And I was thinking about wherewe're reading through together
the New Testament, and so we'vebeen reading through, like
(08:48):
Matthew, mark, luke, and I thinkwhat struck me is how Jesus had
this like ability to be verywarm and and almost like
light-hearted at times and kindof even funny, I think, but then
also very quickly and when,when it was important, be so
(09:09):
serious, mm-hmm, and Never, everlosing sight of what was
important.
If we obviously this was Christwe're talking about, so duh, but
I just I, you know listening toit, because I was listening to
it on my Bible app and I wasthinking how, in all of this
(09:32):
perfection that Christ was, hewas still human and he was such
a good example of putting thefirst thing first.
Yeah, and having that mindsetof I am living in this world.
We still have to eat.
I was saying so many times hetalks about feeding people, or
(09:55):
like we need to eat, or thesepeople need to eat, or feed the
child, like so many times.
So he focused on like the hereand now, but then always was
focusing on the important thingsof the kingdom of God.
And that needs to be our mindsetas well, and our goal is to
have the mind like Christ right.
So I just think it's importantthat we find that balance I
(10:19):
guess with you, yeah.
April (10:23):
So as we move on, also along the same lines as sobriety
, like, comes wisdom, knowledge.
We can have a ton of headknowledge about the Bible.
We can have all of the.
If you grew up in church,you're going to have all of your
verses memorized right fromlike, maybe Awana's or Bible
(10:47):
clubs or stuff like that.
Like, you can have all of thishead knowledge and it can really
do you no good because there'sno wisdom, there's no real like.
How do I apply what I know?
How do I actually live this outand what is God's will?
Right?
So, in context of this verse,be where for being unwise, but
(11:11):
understanding what the will ofthe Lord is, and then it goes
right into which was like handin hand with the sobriety part
of it.
Right, and be not drunk withwine, we're in his excess but be
filled with the spirit.
Okay, we're not going to beunsober with wine I mean that,
literally, is what it's talkingabout but we're going to be
filled with the spirit.
So what is wisdom?
(11:31):
It's being filled with thespirit.
And how are we filled with thespirit?
Estie (11:38):
And not letting other things control you Right.
April (11:41):
We're filling our mind with Psalms, hymns, spiritual
songs, singing, making melody inyour heart to the Lord, giving
thanks always for all things.
It goes on to submittingyourselves one to another in the
fear of God, like it has it inthose verses basically bull
appointed for us.
(12:02):
That happens a lot.
That happens a lot.
What we're supposed to do.
Estie (12:07):
When we read our Bible in context Right.
So often the answers to all thewho, what, why, how, are there
for us.
April (12:19):
It's not like a complicated thing to process
either, because God made itsimple for us, right?
He didn't want it to be sometrick or something like magic
words like abracadabra, you know, like it's not trying to trip
us up.
He lays it out very plainly forus.
Is just our, our sinful naturegets in the way and complicates
(12:41):
it, right?
So, yeah, I thought those twoaspects of being sober and being
wise just kind of like fitright hand in hand together.
Estie (12:48):
Yeah, and you can.
If you meet someone who is wise, like, if there's someone
you're like, you're thinking oflike, that's the person I would
go to when I'm not sure aboutsomething.
They might be one of the like,a funny person or a lighthearted
person, but they're going tohave a sobriety about them.
You know that's like one oftheir defining traits.
(13:09):
I believe you're going to knowthat they are going to be
serious about what matters.
They take God's word seriously.
Yeah, they do go hand in hand,and that's one of the things.
When you're, you know, with ourkids, we're hoping that they
are developing these things, butthese are also signs of like
maturity that have to bedeveloped over time.
And you can't expect a youngchild or a baby Christian to
(13:34):
necessarily be wise or to besober or all these things,
because there's something thatthey have to grow in and we do
that and we teach them throughGod's word and through knowing
how to fill their minds with theright things.
And that might sound like a nobrainer, except that there's a
(13:57):
lot of time young people arejust even people are Christians
but we spend filling our mindswith lots of things that have
nothing to do with God or Hisword.
I see that so much.
I'm working with kids and sothat's just a practical, just
from a practical standpoint oftraining yourself, training your
(14:17):
children, training, helping thepeople around you see how they
can spend that time in God'sword with the right kind of
music, with the right kind ofinfluences.
Just that makes sense.
April (14:28):
Yeah, where to be an example of what a Christian who
is wise, who is sober, who ispatient, who is all of these
things mature, is towards otherpeople.
We're supposed to emulate that,but we're also supposed to teach
and encourage and build up andput into, invest into the lives
(14:49):
of others who maybe aren't quiteas far along on their journey,
which goes into the next be,which is be doers right.
Be doers of the word and nothearers only deceiving your own
selves.
For if any man be a hearer ofthe word and not a doer, he's
like unto a man beholding hisnatural face in a glass, for he
beholdeth himself and go withhis way and straightway forget
(15:10):
as what manner of man he was,but whoso looketh into the
perfect law of liberty andcontinueeth therein, he being
not a forgetful hearer but adoer of the word.
This man shall be blessed inhis deed.
And I read that whole passageagain because I feel like it
gives a full clarity of what itmeans to be a hearer but not a
(15:34):
doer, right, and it gives thatexample.
Estie (15:37):
Yeah, it's such a good.
It reminds me when people saytell it to me like I'm a child,
Mm.
You know, explain it to me likeI'm a small child, like that's
kind of I feel like what he did,like that's such a vivid and
it's a kind of example you canuse, yeah, easily with a child
to explain this concept, but itapplies to us as well.
It's just if you're staring atyourself with something in your
(16:00):
tooth and you walk teeth and youwalk away and then go smiling
at everybody.
April (16:05):
That's so silly.
Estie (16:07):
Why would you do that?
Right Makes no sense.
And the same way, if you seesomething, if God reveals
through his word things that youneed to change, and you just go
, yeah, I'm fine.
Right, you can't in, walk away.
That's more than silly, that'ssin.
But right, we often see theneed to do things as well.
(16:27):
We're talking about actuallydoing, doing things and we walk
past opportunities to do all thetime, especially when there's
other people around who you knoware gonna fill in the gaps.
Right, or when no one'swatching and you can get away
with it.
April (16:50):
The rest of that passage goes on and it talks about what
pure religion is, and it's tovisit the fatherless, the widow,
and to keep yourself unspottedfrom the world.
And it talks about your tongueand keeping you know your tongue
, bridled, and if you don't like, your religion is vain, it's
empty.
Because if it's you know yourreligion isn't affecting who you
(17:15):
are and what you say, then whatgood is it?
And so, yeah, that wholepassage, I highly recommend
going through the book of James.
It is very convicting.
I love James.
Estie (17:29):
I will go to.
James is my go-to.
It is my absolute go-to bookbecause it's so full of wisdom
and I desperately recognize thatI need wisdom All the time,
always.
And I like how, like you justsaid, it's so practical.
There's no like.
I wonder what this means.
April (17:50):
Right, keep reading and you'll find out.
Estie (17:53):
Yeah, it's very, very simplistic and, yeah, I love it.
April (17:58):
Yeah, we know that as believers, we are given commands
.
These be yeets, right.
These are not even like a full,exhaustive list and we can look
at it and we can say, you know,well, this is just too
difficult, this is too hard,this is unachievable, right, and
(18:19):
we can have this kind of likewell, I can't do it, so I'm just
going to give up and not eventry, and it's not.
That's not the purpose of these.
We've talked about this before.
We talked about this before weeven started the series too is
that this is about what aChristian is supposed to look
like, right, with the power ofthe Holy Spirit, when we walk in
(18:40):
the spirit, when we are in theword, when we're fulfilling our
call as a believer.
Right, and we are going to messup sometimes, but we're just
strive for mastery.
The program that my kids aredoing for classical
conversations it talks about howthe goal is not necessarily
(19:01):
perfection, but mastery, right,and remembering these concepts
and applying these concepts towhat they're learning.
It's mastery over these concepts.
And a master will still like,if you think about, you know, a
master marksman.
They're still going to misssometimes, right, but it's they
(19:27):
practice to not miss, right,they don't practice to miss.
And they don't not practice.
They know that missing is goingto be part of it, but it's the
process and it's the memory andit's the.
It becomes a natural reactionwhen we practice right.
(19:48):
So the more we practice, themore it becomes a part of who we
are and then we become moremasterful in that right.
And when you talk about amaster right, you're talking
about like in being in controlof something, and Christ is to
be our master, and when he isour master, we can find mastery
(20:11):
in these issues, conquering thewills of the flesh, and we can
allow his spirit to guide usinto that mature faith which is,
you know, what we've beentalking about be there for
perfect right.
Does that mean you're nevergoing to miss?
Estie (20:27):
No, no, I just found a letter that my mom's pastor's
wife wrote to me when I was born, and so I was a newborn baby
when I got this little card andmy mom found it recently and
gave it to me and the end of itshe wrote the verse she said one
(20:48):
day in the future you'll needthis verse.
And it said come unto me all yethat labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.
And the rest of that passagetalks about, basically, it's not
saying go have a nap, it'ssaying all this hard stuff that
(21:09):
I've called you to do, I'm goingto help you and you don't have
to do it alone.
Our rest comes from leaning onChrist and not our own effort.
And if we look back at thesethings that we've been through,
we've talked about, they couldseem overwhelming and they could
seem like impossible Justliving the Christian life the
way that we know we need to liveit.
(21:30):
It would be impossible in ourown strength.
But when we recognize andfinally get to that place we're
able to genuinely rest in Christand lean on Christ, I think
that we kind of find the answerof how to make it work Right.
April (21:46):
Which, as we look at the last one.
So be steadfast, therefore, mybeloved brethren.
Be steadfast, unmovable, alwaysabounding in the work of the
Lord, for as much as you knowthat your labor is not in vain
in the Lord.
That's just like anencouragement there, like be
steadfast, don't give up.
Even when you fall down, pickyourself back up, keep going.
(22:09):
It's not in vain, it's notempty.
We know that Christ has told uswe have reward waiting for us
and it's going to be.
You know, this earth is sotemporary and I've just been
thinking about that a lot lately, like how temporary this world
actually is and how everythingthat we do here, this is our one
(22:33):
chance to affect eternity.
Our one chance to affecteternity, and that kind of gives
us, when you think about itlike that, it gives us the
sobriety that we need to knowthere is an end coming and what
I do here matters.
What I do here matters a lotand it's not just waste, and I
(22:56):
can buckle down and I can commitand I can do what God has
called me to do, because I knowthat eternity is what awaits.
You know, and when what I'mdoing over here is going to get
me what my eternity will looklike over there.
You know, like what Christtalked about the sufferings on
(23:18):
this earth as we were just goingthrough the Gospels together,
like that's something that kindof struck me.
He talks a lot with hisdisciples, like what you suffer
here on this earth is it will beyour reward in heaven.
You know what we go throughhere on this earth, how we live
(23:39):
down here, is going to be howwe're going to.
You know our reward is going tobe that much.
Our reward is going to be thatmuch greater in heaven.
Estie (23:45):
So to keep that in mind, yeah, and we sometimes want
everything to like work out thisside of heaven and we kind of
have that expectation of like ifI'm going through something bad
right now, I'm going to seethis beautiful end result on
earth and that's not actuallyever promised us.
We can know that God's workingout something for our good and
(24:09):
his glory, but that doesn'tnecessarily mean that we're
going to get like a fairy tale,happy and happily ever after
ending either.
Think about all the amazing,like the people who have just
sacrificed their life for Christ.
Often their lives end in hardways.
That's why our mind has to beon eternity, because that is
(24:32):
where the reward is going tocome, like you were saying, and
that's why we're supposed tohave that mindset of the Kingdom
of God, realizing it's morethan just our temporary comfort.
We really focus a lot on ourimmediate comfort and that's
like the standard of whetherthings are good or bad, and
(24:55):
that's a hard thing to shake.
But we need to set our mind onthings above.
April (25:00):
Yeah, go ahead and read that passage in Romans.
Estie (25:04):
This is from Romans 5.
Let me just read the passage.
April (25:45):
And I feel that ties what we've been talking about all
together, like tribulation workas patience, patience,
experience, experience, hope,right, and it's a process toward
maturity.
It's a process of understandingwhat God's will is for us, with
the wisdom and the Holy Spirit,and we have that hope, just
(26:10):
like what we're talking about.
We have the hope that eternityawaits us in the promises of God
.
We have hope in that and wedon't need to be ashamed, we
don't need to be like what isthis?
Why are we doing this?
It's not worth it.
It's not feeling like it'sempty or vain or all of the
trials that we face here on thisearth, that it's not worth it.
(26:32):
We have hope.
We know that tribulation itworks, patience it works in us
to produce mature believers andto produce a closer walk with
the Lord.
And then we have the hope thatonce we get to heaven, we'll see
the why, we'll see all that Godhas for us.
(26:53):
We can't even fathom it.
Estie (26:56):
I really think a lot of our questions are going to just
dissipate when we see Christ.
I think that the things thatare so heavy on our minds right
now just really won't matterwhen we're with Christ.
I'm not saying we won't get anyanswers to any questions.
I don't know how all that willwork, but I truly believe that
(27:17):
the burdens that we carry willbe lifted.
April (27:19):
Yeah, the hymn.
When we see Christ, it justspeaks to that so clearly.
It's just absolutely truth.
It will all fade away.
Yeah, that's why speaking toyourselves in Psalms, hymns and
spiritual songs is so important.
It is.
Estie (27:36):
I'm just so many times in the last few weeks even I've
sat down.
I'm just sitting down foldingclothes, which is probably my
least favorite thing to do inlife.
April (27:45):
I just paid my daughter $5 to fold clothes.
We do chores for money Afterthey've done their regular
chores.
I was like hey do you want?
To earn money.
I've done that with some stuff,not with my personal clothes.
Estie (28:04):
That's a good idea, that's a really good idea.
But a lot of times, because I'mjust sitting there and miserable
I was also praying and I don'tremember I asked for.
I asked God a question.
I can't hear him, but I waslike I don't know what to do
about this.
(28:24):
Instantly a verse came to mindand that just gave me clarity in
whatever I was stressing outabout.
And I'm like you know, if Ididn't have that scripture
memorized, it wouldn't be thereto recall.
And I'm not saying good job onme for memorizing it.
(28:47):
I don't even remember when Idid.
I was probably a kid when I did.
I'm just saying it's reallyhelpful.
It's really really helpful toknow your scripture and to have
it, something that you can fallback on.
And, honestly, there are timeswhere I don't remember the whole
verse.
But I remember the truth of averse Because it is ingrained,
(29:08):
whether it's fully memorized ornot.
And if you're not good atmemorizing, don't be like I can
never do that If you readsomething over and over and over
again, whether you have itmemorized or not, the weight of
it is going to be in your mindand the truth of it is going to
be in your mind and you're goingto be able to recall the truth,
whether you remember word forword the passage or not, and
(29:30):
then you can use that littlephrase that you do remember and
look it up on your Bible app.
April (29:36):
Yeah, the convenience of technology, yes.
Estie (29:39):
When all those little.
April (29:40):
You know how they would have the things in the back of
your Bible where you could lookup like basically the
concordance thing, but it wasjust a very small one I can
remember, like being little andtrying to look up like because
I've always been the absoluteworst at remembering references
Like I can't I just somethingabout the numbers just makes it
(30:03):
more difficult for me I canremember.
Estie (30:05):
the first is almost word for word.
April (30:07):
And it's either 323 or 623.
But I will find it.
Estie (30:14):
I've had to highlight the Romans road because I can't
remember all the references.
I just have to like highlightit so I can flip through and
find it.
Yeah.
April (30:22):
I remember using that as a kid and being like, oh yeah,
this is great.
And now I'm like I wish I hadthis.
This is so much easier on aBible app.
Just put it to two words and itgenerates all the verses.
Yeah, it makes it so mucheasier.
Estie (30:38):
It is really nice, and it's one of those things like it
is an absolute like.
Use it, absolutely.
Use it because it's availableto us and do it because it does
really help.
You can do such great wordstudies that way too.
Just, I want us to research.
I just want to read versesabout hope.
Yeah, and there they are yeah,all right.
April (31:01):
Well, thank you for joining us in our series on the
bees, and I know this onecovered a lot of ground, but I
just we kind of going throughthem, we were like these kind of
all just tie together andinstead of, you know, belaboring
the point in the series, justdecided to kind of condense it.
Anyhow, we are looking forwardto in this new year, addressing
(31:25):
some other type of issues andtopics that maybe we haven't
really explored some kind ofcultural issues and things that
we've seen in as far as liketrends in you know, Christian
circles and beyond.
So, yeah, stay tuned.
We're looking forward to someinteresting topics here, as
(31:48):
always.
Thanks for listening, and ifyou care to share with a friend,
we are honored that you chosesimply edified to be a part of
your day.
If this episode was a blessingto you, would you consider
subscribing to our podcast, aswell as writing a review or
giving us a rating?
This would be such a help toour ministry.
(32:09):
We would love for other peopleto find us, and this is one of
the ways that they can.
Thank you.
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