What are Mountaintop Experiences and how do we move beyond distractions...?

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tevo Christmann (00:00):
Such as starting with the chicken.

Pastor Joe Liles (00:04):
Welcome to the TNC podcast. There's that voice
right there. Hey the Welcomeback to the TNC podcast. This is
Pastor Joe Liles in the house.
Is that my voice is deeper thismorning, though,

did you hear how Andrea did it last week? No,

I did not. It was beautiful.

It was beautiful.

Tom Helmich (00:20):
It was it was like, We need to bring her back for
that. Oh, this is great. Okay,

we might even just clip it. Okay, this is
great. Pop it in every time.
Yeah, I

was too busy listening to Tom's message and
pulling out his beautifulquotes, right? We definitely

need to, like, clip it out. So when Joe's not here,
we can just, yeah, just set

it in right now, I do have a little bit of,
like, morning voice thismorning, like, I can drop an
octave real quick and it justsits there. And so I'm like,
great, that's just where it'sgonna sit. But I think I don't
have to add any more bass to myvoice. So you don't have to mix
anything into my voice thisweek. It's gonna be great. But
hey, we are full staff in forthe podcast this morning. And so
to my left we have the wonderfulnewest stat, no. Well,

(01:02):
technically, you still are,because you're not on so what is
your name and title here at thechurch?

Roseann Bowlin (01:08):
My name is Roseanne Bowlin, that's great.
And my title is Director ofOperations.

That's amazing. We're going to walk
through what that all means, nottoday. And so Tom, can you tell
everyone who you are and whatyour role will be at the
neighborhood church come the endof June.

So Tom, how much the newest baby pastor here

neighborhood church? Does that mean you
Pastor babies? Oh, that'sneither here,

yeah, that's it. To unpack that, yeah. So now
I want to, we're going to talkabout the

29th of June, into June, coming on here as pastor
of care and education. Sopastoral care, all things
education, faith formation,stuff like that, and being sent
out to Saint Luke also insupport of of that church.

That's awesome. That's awesome. I love
it. And table, can you share whoyou are and what your roles

at the church?
Table? Chrisman and I'm directorof worship, Director of worship,
Director of worship, Director ofworship, Director of Music, and
worship music and worship ofmusic, of course, BMW is what

I am. Yeah, that's good. That's great. I
love it. I love it. All right,so, Roseanne, you and I, we were
gone, right? We were we weregone. We were not together, not
together. You were off at ariver. Roaring River. Roaring
River. Can you explain to thepeople who are listening to the
podcast, what is Roaring Riverlike? Is it a national like that

(02:31):
place that people go from allover the US to come and
experience, I

believe so it's a little place in Missouri that
has a trout farm and so you canfish for trout there. And it's
just an amazing place. They havehiking trails,

nice. And did you go hiking? I did go hiking.
How long was your hike?

Well, all together, the two hikes that we
went on were about five milesNice. That was great.

So good. It was great. And did you go
fishing?

I did not fish, okay, all right, that's a
choice. Yeah, it was a choice.
Have

you fished before?

I have fished before,

okay, all right, that's great. I do not
enjoy fishing, okay, I can sensethat the way you're talking
about it catching,

I would

be all for it.
Okay, that's good, that's great.
I'd rather go read. Okay, that'sgood, that's wonderful. Well,
you had time with family. I did.
That's good, that's good, that'sawesome. I was off in Phoenix.
We had a family reunion inPhoenix, and so I went over
there and hung out for Father'sDay. And all the cousins got to
meet all the cousins for thefirst time, and so, and to be
honest, the kids, right, becamekind of the champions, like

(03:43):
Kaylee and Landon the cousinskind of gravitated. I kind of
lost uncle status, like thecousins were there and, like,
they kind of reigned. And I waslike, this is kind of cool. Jess
and I were just kind of sittingback, going, Oh, this is like a
new generation of, like kidscaring for our kids are, you
know, 13 and 15 now, and comingup on 14 and 16 this year, and
their kids are up, you know,like zero to five, right? So I'm

(04:04):
like, This is great. So they'rethe cool ones. They're the cool
ones. It was great. And I knewthat the moment one child was
coming up to run to give a hug,and ran right by me and ran to
give Landon a hug. And I waslike, All right, well, this is,
this is, I've worked hard for myuncle status, and it's now gone.
It's just straight to the kids.
So so we were not here, but wegot to listen to the message

(04:25):
this last week. We're in ourseries I found Jesus, and we're
going through the differentplaces that Jesus really,
literally walked. We're talkingthrough the spaces that Jesus
occupied as a historicalcharacter in Scripture and and
that way, we can kind of paint apicture of where Jesus is at,
and then really give us somecontext around what's in
Scripture. And I think it's beeninteresting because each week

(04:47):
that I've led, I've asked thechurch, hey, how many of you
know the area that we're talkingabout? How many of you know the
Sea of Galilee? How many of youknow the River Jordan and what
it looks like and where it's at?
And largely, I would say 90 95%are like you. I never really
thought, you know, never reallythought to go look it up, which
I think is a great way to kindof dig deeper into scripture,
which is really cool. And sowe've continued that story. And

(05:08):
I was gone. It was Father's Day,so I thought a great way would
be to talk about camping, right?
And so we brought up somemountain top experiences. So I
think you got a little bitcloser, because you were hiking,
right? You were doing,literally, what was happening in
the text and happening here. ButTom, can you talk us a little
bit through about what storyyou're reading in Scripture and
what that meant after so goodafter we do the

Unknown (05:33):
jungle. Two, a, 1-234-793-6720, 2285,
neighborhood.

Church. You guys are so on. I love it.
That's great. Tom, can you walkus through what story we're
using and kind of what inspiredyou? Let's before we even get to
your message point. Where didyou first think about going in
the message as you were readingthe scriptures? Just

take us through that. Yeah? So, I mean, the
transfiguration, it's a, it's amountaintop moment on this, this
unknown, unknown mountain. Andso in thinking about mountaintop
moments and camping, I've nevercamped out on a mountaintop,
because when you get there it'scold, Yes, true. It's winter.
Yeah, it's Rocky, and it's like,looks much nicer down there at
the bottom. Yeah. So it's worthgoing, worth going up. I've been

(06:20):
able to be at a few mountaintops. I got to climb Ben Nevis
and highest point in the BritishIsles in Scotland, right back in
the late, mid, late 90s,

that time you're a planner and prepare. So
how long did it take you to planfor that trip, to hike that
mountain? About a year. About ayear. Dang, wow.

Okay, alright, how I roll? I'm working on my next
something that's about it 14months

out. Okay, great. Okay, I love that. That's
great.

But then I got to do another one again in New
Zealand, actually. Well, firstwe did Hawaii, and we got to go,
we're on Amy and I on ourhoneymoon on the island of
Kauai, and it's kind ofmountainous, yeah, like there's
a lot of deep valleys, and we'vegot to one overlook, which is
neat, because the air just blowsthrough so much cool. And we
looked down, saw this littlething, and we realized that

(07:03):
little thing wasn't a bird, thatwas an airplane. Oh, wow. You
know, taking tourists throughthe through the valley, which is
just kind of neat, because itmakes everything else feel so
small. And then got to climb amountain New Zealand. And my
dad, my aunt, got abovecellphone service above the
clouds. So we're looking down atclouds, and then it's weird to
see the top of

clouds. Yeah, that's awesome. That's so cool.
Yeah, yeah, looking at the topof a cloud. I didn't even know
that that was have youexperienced

that before?
No, oh, man, you got to come toGuatemala with us. Always wanted
it cloud. Yeah? So in Guatemala,we do the same thing right up a
volcano, and if the clouds aregreat that day, we'll get above
the clouds and breathe. Oh,yeah, absolutely, there's air.
Absolutely, yeah, the highest

altitude wise ever been is about 14,000 feet, okay?
And walking across a parkinglot, I was winded, right? You
gotta kind of get used to it.
But you can get a lot of thosetype of experiences without
getting that that high, eight or9000 feet, you're going to start
feeling a difference. But a lotof it, you know, that isn't,
isn't an issue. And then thelast one, the most recent one,
was in January, and I show somepictures from that. Yeah, it was

(08:08):
great in Greece, Kalam Bucha,Greece, also known as Meteora,
Greece. It was

a neat point that you explained what Meteor
means, right? It's where we getMeteor Yeah, meteor shower,

because it means, like, lofty or suspended in the
sky, and so you're and theybuilt all these eastern,
Orthodox monasteries on thesereally high precipices, which is
really cool, because you couldsee things coming. You're so far
above the rest of the world, andI could see wanting to camp out
there, yeah? But even though thedisciples said, I can build
tents, and Jesus like, Nah,let's go back down.

Yeah? This is, this is great. So this is the
story of the Transfiguration.
Yep, right. What you're talkingabout is that Jesus coming up to
this mountaintop, bringing somedisciples with him, and then
what happens on the mountaintop,and so kind of relating that to
your own mountaintop experiencesalso. So yeah, let's dig into
scripture, and then kind of openthat up so people can hear this
story, and then we can kind ofunpack some of the points that
you went through

on Sunday. So we're Matthew 17, and we're going to
read a little farther. We did onSunday, actually, because it's
relevant chapter 17, verses onethrough 13. So Rosanna, if
you'll start us off, verses onethrough three.

Sure. Six days later, Jesus took with Him Peter
and James and his brother John,and led them up a high mountain
by themselves, and he wastransfigured before them, and
His face shone like the sun, andhis clothes became dazzling
white. Suddenly, there appearedto them, Moses and Elijah
talking with him.

Then Peter said to Jesus, Lord, it is good
for us to be here. If you wish.
I will make three dwellingshere, one for you, one for Moses
and one for Elijah. And while hewas still speaking, suddenly a
bright cloud overshadowed them,and from the cloud, a voice
said, This is my son, thebeloved, and with him, I'm well
pleased listen to him. When thedisciples heard this, they fell

(09:54):
to the ground and were overcomeby fear. I. God,

but Jesus came and touched them, saying, Get up and
do not be afraid. And when theylooked up, they saw no one
except Jesus Himself, alone. Asthey were coming down the
mountain, Jesus ordered themtell no one about the vision
until after the Son of Man hasbeen raised from the dead, and

the disciples asked him, Why, then, do the
scribes say that Elijah mustcome first? He replied, Elijah
is indeed coming and willrestore all things. But I tell
you that Elijah has alreadycome, and they did not recognize
him, but they did to himwhatever they pleased. So also
the son of man is about tosuffer at their hands. Then the
disciples understood he wasspeaking to them about John the

(10:43):
Baptist.

So Tom take us through, like, what were your
thoughts breaking down thistext? Like, how did you look at
it initially? And then whatpoints initially jumped out at
you to be like, Okay, this iswhere I want to take the message
for this last Sunday.

The first was, was this encounter with the vision
of seeing Moses and Elijahthere. Okay, like, of all the
people, why? Like, why Moses andElijah? And I think it's because
Moses and Elijah are criticalpeople in the story of Judaism
and in that culture, in thatreligion and that faith. I mean,
the Old Testament figures thatare really symbolic of the
faith, is Moses and Elijah.
Moses representing the law, thelaw of Moses, you know, one of

(11:20):
the ways of describing the OldTestament, law, and the one who
went up on Mount Sinai toreceive the 10 Commandments and
bring them down to the peoplebelow twice, because he
shattered the first set and hadto go redo it. So I had to go,
yeah, all people are familiarwith that story. But it's
brought the law, and we knowthat Jesus has come to fulfill

(11:40):
the law, and the other person,Elijah, who is probably next to
Isaiah, one of the mostimportant prophets, if not the
most important prophet, who issaid, who's said to be to come
again before the Messiah. Sothis is not just a prophet that
was important in the faith. Itbecause of what had happened
before, but because they wereexpecting Isaiah to come again.

(12:01):
And so people were thinking,mean Elijah to come again,
Elijah looking back to Moses'slaw, the law God gave to Moses,
looking at Elijah, and lookingfor Elijah to come again. But
now they're presented with thosetwo figures, and here with
Jesus. And this, this statementthat this is my son with whom
I'm well pleased. Listen to him,because that clarifies the

(12:25):
authority of what are theysupposed to do as followers of
God, because they have the law,they have the prophets. And now
here's here's Jesus, what youknow, what are they supposed to
do? And it shows that authorityrests in Jesus. They're supposed
to listen to what he's sayingand follow him.

And I really, like, I mean, where you're
taking in your message, right?
And talking about the law, andyou're talking about the
prophets, right? We really havethis commandments in prophecy,
right? So the law wasrepresented in the Law of Moses,
which was the 10 Commandments,right? And then you have
prophecy, and it's interesting,because Jesus spoke about both
those in his ministry, right?
That I came to I am thefulfillment of prophecy, right?

(13:02):
So you get the prophet, Elijah,speaking about what was to come,
right, and what's happening. Andthen you get Jesus saying, Hey,
I'm fulfilled here. And then youget Moses, who's the 10
Commandments, and Jesus saying,I am a new commandment, right?
And I give you a newcommandment. And so you get
Jesus fulfilling, right? What'shappening with Moses and Elijah
in here, which is, it's almostbecomes this kind of really
special moment on themountaintop of seeing that the

(13:24):
transfiguration is not justJesus, but it's almost the
transfiguration of how God'srelationship to God's people has
changed. It was through Moses,it was through prophecy, and
then you had this period ofsilence, and now it's through
Jesus, right? And there'salmost, and I would love that
we, if we would have thisconversation, like, it's like,
Oh, they're here, great, but weget nothing from it, right?
That's it. Like, it's like,they're whispering in the

(13:45):
corner, and you can see it.
You're like, I think that'sMoses. I think that's election,
but I don't know what they'retalking about, right? And

that's what we're left with, right? You want to go
talk to him. Like, these are thepeople, yeah, go talk to but
Jesus is here, and God's saying,Listen, you know, listen, listen
to him. And we heard some ofthat in the his baptism. You
know, when he's like, I shouldbe baptized by you, and he's let
us fulfill all righteousness,yeah, to fulfill the things that
were set out in prophecy. Andthen later on, you know, when
Jesus was asked about the themost important commandment You

(14:12):
know, Love the Lord your Godwith basically everything you
have in our and then the otherslike it, love your neighbor as
your as yourself. And on thesetwo commandments hang all the
law and the prophets. Yeah. Sothis thing that Jesus is telling
us to do, the message of Jesusin the world, is in fulfillment
of all of the law and theprophets. Everything in the Old
Testament was building up tothis and and this fulfills all

(14:34):
of that. And the Old Testamentis worthy of reading. We
definitely should, because thatlets us know how we got to where
we are. Oh, absolutely. But allthat is we shouldn't cast throw
it out. It's not abolished, butit's been fulfilled. And how
we're supposed to move forwardis in following Jesus well,

and there's history here. I mean, they
camped out on Mount Sinai whenMoses was receiving the 10
Commandments. They camped out atthe bottom, and then they made
idols, right? And like, like, soyou had this moment where, like,
hey. Let's camp out. And you're,like, been here, like, we've
done, like, there's a hugehistorical narrative that
happens in this text that'sreally not a transfer of power,
but it's this beginning ofsaying, okay, here is the New

(15:11):
Testament. Like, here's the theministry of Jesus Christ, moving
forward, right? And it doesn'tabolish the law, right? It
doesn't remove that. It doesn'tremove props. It fulfills it,
right, in a really neat way. AndI loved because I think as we're
reading this and just glancingat it, we could glance over that
real quick, right? And just say,Oh yeah, there's people there.
We're really concerned about thedisciples in the New Testament,

(15:31):
so we move past it. I thinkconcentrating there, like you
did on Sunday was reallyimportant for the people, right?
So that we can see. And I lovethat you said, like, we have no

idea where the mountain that otherwise we might
try to, you know, makepilgrimages to it, or something
like that. I think it'sprobably, you know, a good thing
that we don't know where it isbecause we focus too much on the
mountain

instead of Revelation. Yeah, is it far
fetched that it could be Sinai?

Yeah, because where Sinai is more like in along
Egypt, okay? And so in thenarrative leading up to this,
where Jesus is and where he'swalking, it's probably around
the Sea of Galilee area. So somehave suggested it could be Mount
Horeb. But there's like threemountains in that area that it
could be, and we just don't knowwhich one, just based based on
what happened immediately beforethis, it would have been walking

(16:12):
distance within, probably withinthe six days, six days later, so
within six days walk of theshore of Galilee, and it would
be weeks to get, yeah, you know,because remember when Moses went
at Mount Sinai, they were infleeing Egypt, and so that's
how, right, how they got tothere. So the second point, I

(16:33):
think, actually, I think, is theone that's the biggest for
application for us today. Okay,you know, Jesus led the
disciples up the mountain. Andinitially, I used to always
think, well, he's leading themto a place that's seen as closer
to God, because another namethat we read from from the Book
of Kings, about Elijah, is theoften known as the mount of God.
Mount Sinai being known themountain of God, but this is a

(16:54):
different mountain, right? ButJesus is leading him up this
mountain. And I don't think it'sto lead them closer to the
mountain, or or closer to God ofthe mountain, but to lead them
away from everything else. Mm,hmm, for this revelation, you
know, he's pulling them awayfrom all the distractions and
all the people and all the otherthings going on. Because when we
look at Mountain Top moments, weknow we can't climb. I mean,

(17:15):
that's the Tower of Babel,right? We can't build anything
to get up closer to God, becauseGod's not in orbit. You know, we
did the astronauts would havebeen, then the highest Grace
spirited leaders then, right?
God's not in a physical placelike that that we can climb up
to or or try to achievesomething to be closer to. I
really think that the mountaintop is just because it's
farthest away from the base,yeah, and farthest away from the

(17:36):
other things, and so fartheraway from the distractions that
are going on, and we can achievethose mountain top moments, I
think, and experience those onclose to sea level simply by
being able to find a space and away to put all those
distractions away to where we'rejust left with ourselves and to
listen to God's voice or to tryto listen for it. Yeah, so it's

(17:57):
about distance from the otherthings.

So what if you're asking that question, is
application in our lives? Right?
I think it's important questionfor each of us to answer then,
right? Like, what are the thingsthat we distance ourselves?
Right, when we go to themountaintop, like, what are the
things? And I think it's aBaptist baptism language, right,
that we go through, right? It'sthis renouncing of the things
that draw us away from God. Welove to say that we seek after
God. We love to say that we'regoing to do these things for
God. And for God, but there areoften times, and I think even in

(18:23):
Lutheran kind of denomination, Iwas just thinking about this
this morning in another context,but I was like, we don't talk
about the enemy a lot. We don'ttalk like, I was talking with
people this last weekend, theirenemy this and enemy that. I was
like, Whoa, dang. And I was Iwent to a church in the Phoenix
Valley that was talking aboutthe enemy, and I was like, whoo,
man. Like, I haven't heard enemylanguage a long time, you know?
And I was like, dang, butthey're all over it, right? The

(18:44):
enemy this and the enemy. Then Iwas like, Okay, it's like,
alright. And I was like, man, wedon't talk about that, but it's
not that. It's not present,right? The things that remove us
from God, right? And so, yeah,just kind of open it up to
people here, like, what are thethings that we face as
distractions? What are thethings that we face as enemies,
or that draw us away from God,that maybe we need to get away
from to go to the mountaintop.

(19:06):
And do you think maybe thisquestion to you before that?
Sorry, to double up myquestions. I know what I just
did, but do you think we have toremove those before we get to
the mountain in order to go upthe mountain with God? Or do you
think we can remove those whenwe get to the mountain,

like proverbial mountain? I don't, I don't know
if the timing necessarilymatters. I think that that if
you're going to go be present tohave a conversation with
somebody, Mm, hmm, like when youand I have a meeting, or anybody
has a meeting, somebody, youpick a place that you can hear
each other talk, yeah, where youcan have the conversation.
You're not going to have ameeting with somebody to discuss
an important topic at a concertvenue with a bunch of music

(19:41):
going on, this is true. You gotto have a place where you have
some some peace, some space, aplace and a space that you can
have time and peace to be ableto listen. So I think to be able
to discern the voice isn't aboutthe mountain top. You know, the
experience comes from havingthat, that piece, to be able to
hear that. And so I think it'shaving a. Place and space and
time that we just put all thedistractions aside so that we

(20:04):
can just be present. Yeah, yeah,making ourselves available.
We're always available to God.
We can't take ourselves awayfrom that, but just that, we're
honoring a time and a space tobe present for prayer and to be
able to listen for the Whisperor whatever, you know, whatever
word or voice we get from God orfeeling that would be difficult,
difficult to have with all thedistractions. Like, I think if
you're going to try to sit thereand pray, having the TV on and

(20:27):
the radio on your cell phone anda notification going off on your
watch, it's just going to be bemaddening, but having a place
that as an act of worship, youcan just set everything else
out, yeah, like your cell phonein the other room, no
notifications on your watch, andjust have a space where you can
just go and nothing else mattersor exists at that time, except
for you being present with God.

(20:49):
This is

why you love having an office. Oh, yeah. This
is a Yeah, big partner,

you know, I power my phone off, yeah, yeah, just
shut it off. You know, to havethat kind of space, yeah? They
can be quiet and peaceful, whereyou can sit and read and listen
and discern and have a place setaside for that, for that
purpose, that you that you cando that, that without, you know,
disruptions and interruptions.
So, so

what are some of the distractions we're all
facing that are keeping us backfrom hearing God's voice?

Sorry, I'm scrolling my phone over here.

Can you repeat that, please? Can you say that
one more time? Yeah.

I mean, we've talked about distractions a lot,
yeah, phones and stuff like thatis a common a common
distraction. I think themountain is such a picture in
Scripture, because you you don'tslide up a mountain, you know,
like you can't, you can'taccidentally find yourself at

(21:50):
the top of the mountain. It'snot convenient. It's not
convenient, right? Like it's thegravity, like life is an
escalator going down, right?
Like it's gravity is pushing usback down. And so there's like,
you don't get to the top of themountain without really
intending to get there. Yeah.
And there's something like, youknow, there's, there's two words
for, for worship in the in theBible, in the Greek, right

(22:11):
there. One is, I can't pretendto be able to pronounce it, but
one, one means, like, prayer,you know, pros. Pro something,
you know, where is anintentional, active, aware
moment of worship, yeah, whereyou are focused on worship. But
then there's also another onethat's often translated as
service, last Travis, somethingI can't remember how to

(22:34):
pronounce it, but that's thatmeans your worship is built into
everything that you do. Yeah?
You know, there's that, there'sthat book called The liturgy of
the ordinary, oh, yeah, whereyou see every aspect of what you
do, which I'm I've heard as anew parent, I've heard a lot of
parents really clinging to thatnotion of worship. Because, you

(22:55):
know, caring for kids can becomemenial sometimes, and you want
to, you would love to read abook, you know, you would love
to do other you can't. You'rejust sitting there carrying
freaking, watching the time fly.
And I've, like, I've beenlearning to just accept the hour
that I'm stuck holding babybecause there's nothing else I

(23:19):
can do. Yeah, and just acceptthat, not as watching my time
fly, but as an opportunity forprayer. Opportunity for prayer.
This is opportunity for worship,for embracing the ordinary. So
there is, there is this, thisopportunity to see everything we
do as, I mean, Paul says,Present your bodies as living
sacrifices, right? So that meansit's the era, you know,

(23:43):
sacrifices used to be killed.
We're not being killed, butwe're still a sacrifice. So a
walking, talking, thinking,working, doing, active
sacrifice, still a sacrifice.
And it's also says, you know,take every one of your thoughts
captive. And so this is anexercise. You know, I mentioned
on Sunday too that, you knowthat we are, we're worshiping

(24:06):
creatures at all times we areworshiping right like every
we're at every second we areworshiping something. And one
definition of sin that I thoughtwas interesting is for
temporarily, when, when sintakes hold of our of our mind or
heart, our worship changesdirection, you know. And it is

(24:28):
the act of repentance to changeour worship back, you know. And
so there's this, this ongoingeffort of taking every thought
captive that said. There is alsothe intentional up a mountain,
necessity or desirability ofhaving dedicated time. And I

(24:52):
think God's made it clear howmuch he loves those times. Yeah,
just through scripture, becausehe's chosen to you. So in Moses
life, the most, the mostdefining moment in Moses life is
the the handing, or the handingoff of the tablets, right of the
law, giving, the giving of thelaw. But also, the burning bush
wasn't too different, you know,with with Moses and with Elijah,

(25:14):
it was also away, far away, inin a cave in a mountain
somewhere on Mount Sinai onmountain. It was had a different
name, but it's the samemountain, yeah. And so it seems,
it seems really clear that Godcontinually calls us, not only
it definitely calls us toinvesting all of our activity

(25:35):
with worship, but he's alsocalling us to investing our mind
entirely in worshipperiodically, you know? So
that's which distractions do weneed to get away from all of
them. You know, anything thatmight possibly distract you and

(25:55):
me, and it's like, no, it's notlike I do perfectly at it, or
even very well, yeah, but, youknow, it's, it's a convicting

thought. I think that's the effort to climb a
mountain is, is, is a parallelto the effort it takes to
actually push these distractionsaway from, really, is, yeah, you
know, because you have to beintentional. Yeah, about it,
because there's so much aboutsociety that is geared and a lot
of psychological study goes intoit to be able to get our
attention to something else,yeah? And you have to find that

(26:23):
with the energy that it wouldtake to climb a mountain, yeah,
to have those times, and I don'tthink you should try to fight to
stay there, but to be have theability, the fitness level,
mentally and discipline, thediscipline to be able to get
there, to set that time asidefor God, yeah,

well, I think about retreats that I've been on
and those mountain topexperiences. So I've been to
retreats where you can't have awatch, you can't have a phone,
there's no connection to theoutside world. And that's a
mountain top experience. Youexperience God, you experience

(27:03):
relationship with other peoplein the group, but then so you
have this mountain topexperience, and it's a wonderful
experience. What do you do withit after that? I mean, and the
just distractions are just that.
I mean, it could be it could befamily. It could be your phone,
it could be your job, it couldbe anything that takes your

(27:26):
thoughts, your heart, away fromcommunicating and serving. God,
I think

one of the big ones right now is politics and world
events. Oh, my gosh. Oh yeah.
You know, the news media are afor profit institution, and they
can put up that bad news, thatscary stuff all the time to make
us constantly turn back to themfor a sense of security, want to
know what's going on, and beingable to turn that off. Yeah, you
know, is difficult also, butyeah, I mean, that's a benefit.

(27:58):
The beauty of a retreat youknow, going into it, you're
going to turn that stuff off andfocus on something else, right?

So I think those are beautiful experiences, but
it's just like anything else. Ifyou have this experience and you
put it on the shelf and go,Well, that was fun, but you
don't do anything with it. Youdon't grow into that experience.
I mean, how awesome would it beto go up a mountain and see

(28:27):
Jesus and Elijah and Moses? Imean, I would be coming down
from that mountain a little bitchanged. Mm,

hmm, which is a great segue into the third
point, unless, well, yeah, Iwanted to share something from
my experiences last week on themountain, right? So I was with
Kaylee on the mountain, and Ithink there's something
important here. I was readingback in this first verse, right?
Six days later, Jesus took withHim Peter and James, right? So
this is take language, right? Sonow you have a calling in the
disciples, right, you know. Andso he called them off the

(28:56):
seashore. Now he took them, butit's very interesting, because
right away and says, and withbrother, and with his brother,
John, and led them up a highmountain. So you have this take
and then lead, and then bythemselves. So you have this
really interesting languagehappening right away in the
first text. And there's almostas taking says, We have no
choice in this matter. Likeyou're about to go up a
mountain, right, leading themsays, hey, when we get to the
mountain, you have a choice. I'mgoing to take you there, but you

(29:18):
have a choice once you getthere. Like to follow right. And
the text right before this isthe cross and self denial, which
is, take up your cross andfollow me right? It's this, Hey,
if you're going to choose this,choose it, but then follow me
right. The take up the cross isfirst. And so I think there's a
choice in getting to themountain right. And it's kind of
shared from last week. Haley andI signed up for a race. I
wouldn't have run the mountainhad we not signed up for this

(29:41):
race. I don't typically go outand be like, I'm gonna run a
mountain. This is exciting,right? I have to sign up for
race, and then I have toquestion it all week long before
I get there, and then realize Ipaid money for it. And so it's
almost like it takes me there,and then I have to make a choice
once I get there, to say, Okay,I'm gonna go run this race. And
and the race was eight miles,and Kaylee. It's her longest run
ever in the dark, because we runa night race, and because it's

(30:04):
Arizona, because it's Arizona,absolutely three degrees. And
the first five miles was up themountain. Five miles legit, two
to four to 5% grade, right? Soyou're just trotting up for five
miles. And two miles in, Kayleegoes, Hey, I got, I got a hot
spot, right? And what that meansis that, you know, in her shoes,
she's forming a blister, right?
And basically you can't get ridof it because you're just, you

(30:26):
keep on grinding on the trails,and it just keeps on, and
without an aid station, you'renot getting to it right? And so
I said, Hey, you're just gonnahave to run through it. Like,
this is part of the trail, youknow, like part of the trail is
getting the hot spot. Well, wehave five miles up. She has
three more miles to go, right?
And she's like, Hey, I'm gettinga hot spot. I'm spot on my other
foot. I was like, well, this canit's gonna suck real bad. It's

(30:46):
like, it's not gonna be good andso, but I said, Hey, look. I
said, just so you know, like thereward is when we get to the
top, because we have three milesdown that we'll just be having
fun, right? We'll just be gone.
And I thought about that a lotwith this text, right? Like,
part of it is that I read acouple things this week that the
reward is not in the mountain.

(31:06):
All the work happens before themountain, right? The experience
of God on the mountain is notthe moment of all the work and
all the experience. All at thesame time you've done all the
work, you've come to Scripture,you've come to God, you're
trying to renounce the thingsthat draw you away, like the
work that's going into themountain has had, there's no
work being done on the mountainright now. Like, if you look
into this text, the disciplesaren't doing something amazing
on the mountain. They walked upthe mountain. They experienced

(31:29):
God. They come down themountain. Like, that's it,
right? And so there's thismoment where, like, trusting
God, picking up your crossesthere. But then I think when we
got to the top of the mountain,here's a quick part, we
immediately start running downthe mountain. At this aid
station, we have coldwatermelon, right? Kaylee got
some glitter on her face. Theyhad, like, this glow in the dark
glitter. So she got glitteredup. I got glittered up. It's a
thing. So it was great. We gotglitter. It was good. We had

(31:52):
good cold water, cold like, likeScratch, which is, like a that's
basically an electrolyte drink.
And we just eat. I had a peanutbutter and jelly sandwich on the
mountain. So good, close toJesus, right. Here we go. And
say, Kelly, this is it. This iswhat we've earned five miles in,
right? We're basically an hourinto the run, right? We've been
running straight for an hour,and I said we're gonna go
downhill. The downhill was atechnical downhill, which means

(32:14):
that it was over like bouldersand rocks prone to injury. So
look, we could not run it. Webasically it slowed us down
trying to go downhill, and wehad to work almost even harder
to go downhill than we didn'thave to go uphill because of all
the technical in the dark. And Ithink that there's a good
metaphor in here for themountain. We assume that going

(32:35):
up the mountains the hard part,we assume that we meet Jesus at
the top, and great, we're goingto walk off the mountain. And
it's beautiful. I just want tosay that, like, once you meet
Jesus, it's not easy downhill,like it just doesn't exist, like
it's it's more so, like, theyexperience this amazing thing.
And Jesus says, don't tellanyone. Like, you got to hold
this. You're meant to carry thisforward in ministry now, like,

(32:56):
you can't use this as the easyout that this is how ministry
works. You have to carry thiswith you, and your testimony of
an experience of God is going tobe your ministry going forward.
And I don't think it's easiergoing down. I think the hard
work begins, right? Like you getup there and you walk it, and
then the hard work begins goingon. Definitely some excitement
there.

Yes, I was just going to share the point that
for me on my hikes, going up waslike questioning every life
choice I ever made, but comingdown was so much harder, yeah,
because the gravel was slippery.
I mean, it had rained, so therewas mud and it was slippery, and
so coming down was a lot harder.

(33:39):
And by the time I got down, mylegs were jello, yeah, lime
yellow. But the other point Idon't want to gloss over, is
that Jesus, that Peter, wantedto serve Jesus. He wanted to
build tents, yeah? So he waseager to serve. That's an

(34:00):
interesting take. He just didn'tknow how

right, he's like what you know, and part of the
culture, they want to build amonument to what's going on, you
know, up here. But it's prettyclear that up there isn't, you
know, isn't the point. Whichgets us to the third point, that
the mountain top moments arepreparation for something off
the mountain. Yeah, you know,down below the a lot of people
think about mountain top momentsas it being an achievement, like

(34:25):
I've worked hard to get here. Ipushed through this thing that
other people can't do, and I getto the pinnacle of success. But
then, if that's your mountaintop moment, then that's kind of
a self serving kind of thing.
And the real mountain top momentthat we're talking about in this
is about Revelation. It's aboutputting the other things aside
so that God can reveal Himselfto us, yeah, and reveal things.
And in this the thetransfiguration wasn't a, I

(34:46):
mean, it's about Jesus, but itwasn't for Jesus, because Jesus
was that person they saw thewhole time. It was revealed to
the disciples so they could dosomething with it when they got
off the mountain. That's theheart. Part hit when they hit
the ground, right because nowthey have to go out into a
society that's not ready toaccept that message, and they
have to experience the death,the threats, the fear, the

(35:11):
suffering, all these things, andthen continue in that with what,
what they got on the mountaintop, you know, out out into the
world. But that, that's theimportant thing to know that,
like that, it's not about anachievement like that. You you
push all the distractions asideso you can hear God's voice. I'm
like, oh, you know, I finishedthe race. I'm good, no, because,
like, to your point, it's, it'sa revelation for you to do

(35:31):
something with off the mountain.
So what do you know now? What doyou do with that? Otherwise,
there's no point of, of havingthat. It's like, it's like,
signing up for the race andtraining for it and then never
running it. Yeah, it's horrible,which, after sounding I'll be
like, Oh yeah, that sounds likeit's going to suck. I'm going to
not do that. Yeah, right. Butit's, it's, it's wasting what
you've what you've got, whatyou've been what you've been

(35:52):
given, to not go down off themountain with it, or out of that
space, like we when you put allthe distractions aside, so we
can hear God's voice, and wefeel like suddenly we've got
this, this relationship where wecan we've gotten to the place of
discipline where we can pusheverything else aside and not
worry about our phone and have aquiet space to sit there and

(36:12):
read God's word and tocontemplate what it means for
us, and to pray and To hearsomething in response. That's
just the beginning, because nowthey've we've been called out
into something in the world withthat, in how we live and how we
raise our children, and how weinteract with people, and how we
live as a witness, as a, as a asa living sacrifice in the world.

(36:36):
You know, we have to do thatwith it. We can't just stay in
that

moment. Yeah, you have this mountain top
experience, no distractions.
You've heard from God, and youget down off the mountain very
carefully. But God wants us togo out and represent He wants us
to be there.

And I think it's important that we line out to
that Moses was called up themountain by God. Elijah was
called out to go where he wentto experience God in the sign
where Elijah experienced God inthe silence Jesus led the
disciples up the mountain. Itwasn't about what they were
doing, it's what they're beingled into. And then something

(37:20):
revealed to them each time.
Moses was called up themountain, and then the law
revealed to him. Elijah was ledup the mountain and told when to
go out to hear God's voice inthe silence and to get his
direction. The disciples wereled up the mountain by Jesus,
and then something revealed tothem for something to to use off
the mountain. Which leads into,actually, a fourth point that I
didn't put on the on the email,which is the gospel message of
it, which is that the good newsis that we don't have to rely on

(37:43):
achieving these mountain topmoments, either on a literal
mountain or just in a space, ina quiet space, to do this,
because God has come to us. Youknow, God has come to us in the
form of Jesus Christ to be ableto lead us to those spaces.
Because on our own, we won't.
We'll get lost before we make itup the mountain, or we won't. We
won't try, but God has come tous so that we we can have that

(38:07):
and be inspired by Scripture andbe led in that word and in those
testimonies to be able to go, goup that mountain and have that
experience. I

think there's an interesting narrative here,
in this identity of Elijah andMoses, right, being represented
here, and the disciples saying,Hey, this is great. This is what
we expected. They always said,These people would come back,
right? But they're living intothis with Jesus. They're living
into this old reality, right?
Wanted to happen their way well,and I think that's an important
narrative, right? In even in themidst of having Jesus in our

(38:40):
life, we still yearn for thethings that we know and
understand, even if they seemlike they're faithful. But
there's still something that weneed to transform from. We need
to transfigure from. And I thinkthere's a narrative of here when
Jesus says, Hey, don't tellanyone, because the disciples
are still going, Hey, Elijah.
Great. Like, who was it? Whendid it happen? And what's going

(39:02):
on? Like we can plant this, andthey're going, this is the old
narrative still, and I

think that's they needed to hear that to see that,
because they were expectingElijah to come first, and God
showed them on the mountain,Elijah, yeah, and then Jesus
there with him, yeah. So ithelped. You know, God comes to
us sometimes with what we needto be able to understand things.
Mm, hmm, because we're calledfor faith, not understanding.
And so sometimes we put too muchemphasis in the academic I do, I

(39:29):
know, but it still shows thatGod came to them to reveal to
them what they needed, what theyneeded to

see, what I wonder, too. If it's not that we
need to

renounce the things that draw us away from God,
right? So I'm taking your point.
I'm not renouncing well,correct? But put distance. Well,
distance is great, because it'sabout who is, about where we put
our focus. Yeah, it's aboutwhat's the most important thing
in our life, and what we're whatwe're focusing on at that time,
it's like sitting at a tablehaving a conversation with
somebody, and you're going,Yeah, and texting while they're
talking, oh, man, brutal. Youknow, it's about where we're,
where we're giving. Ourattention, yep,

I wonder, though, if there's an extension
from this into how we have faithin Jesus Christ, and this might
be a far draw, but I believe thedisciples are pulling forward
and like, hey, this was thefaith that you started from.
This was your faith in infancy,almost in relationship to me, is
that you still had the 10Commandments, you still had the
prophecies, right? And now thatI fulfill this, I need you to

(40:24):
move from that into morespiritual maturity. I

think that's definitely, I mean, that's the
in seminary that talk about thethe law being the babysitter.
Yeah, that's the babysitteruntil and you'll talk to wait
and you know what? Well, that

brought we have the baby pastor. I mean, so
baby pastor, babysitter. I thinkthis is all working out. Yeah,
it's great for the baby pastor

in seminary was being the babysitter until,
until the coming of the Son ofman, yeah, of the Christ, yeah.

I think the point that Moses was called up
to there's encounters with Godcome in in various many ways,
right? And we need to be justwary of sometimes we talk about
the the disciplines and thethings that we are supposed to
do, as though we can fashion ormanufacture for ourselves the

(41:19):
faith with which to do them. Andthat's just not the case that
has been given to us. It isgiven to us. And Moses
encounters the burning bush on awalk in the desert, you know.
And just it was curiosity thatdrew him to the burning bush,
you know. Then he's called toMount Sinai. Elijah is running

(41:41):
away from Jezebel, and inwhatever King was in place
there, and he was, he wasexhausted, and he was just
running away. And there he foundGod, and the Jesus led the
disciples up the mountain. Andthere's, there's, there's a
sense in which, like, we don'tmanufacture these experiences.

(42:06):
They kind of happen as we sortof go, Yeah, you know, and, but
I think it's very true thatcoming down the mountaintop is
the hard part. Yeah, you know,sometimes you seek the mountain
because you're seeking respite,and God does meet us there
sometimes, like he met Elijah,sometimes we didn't know we were

(42:26):
supposed to be going up amountain this afternoon, but
that's where we ended up,because life or something, and
off we go. You know, we'respending time with God all of a
sudden, and that's something'shappening. I mean, I went
through, I think Tom's pointthat these experiences prepare
you for what's next is very, isvery key. The like, sometimes,

(42:51):
if you're a new Christian,you're going through an intense
season of discovering newthings, you know. And sometimes
I've seen people who too quicklyjump into, like, ministry, yeah,
and things like that, and you'renot fully prepared yet. Like,
there is a season you got to go,you know, like Jesus tells the

(43:14):
disciples, don't tell anybodyyet you're not ready. Yeah, to
explain everything that'shappened to you. This is one
part, but you haven't seen theresurrection yet, yeah, and when
you see the resurrection, thenyou have a more full picture to
to go out and do. And so there'sa, you know, there's, there's an
eagerness to go out and do that.
We that we need to resistsometimes, but, but there is a

(43:35):
season of intensity where youstart to see, yeah, I mean, you
see Jesus face shining, yeah,and, and, and you want to stay
there like this is, I want tobuild up a tense confirmation of
all your confirmation,everything makes sense, yeah?
Clarity. I want to stay here,yeah, and Jesus says, No, you we
do need to go down that saidyou're not ready yet to do a

(44:00):
whole lot. You know, you need tocontinue following me, and
there's going to be otherexperiences like that. But all
of this is in like is inpreparation for something that
God's calling you to do and buthe's still in control over the
whole thing. I

think that one point of fear that can come in
is whether or not we're strongenough to make the job. To make
the journey. Yeah, you knowwhether or not we have what it
takes to do it. And then whatyou said about Elijah reminded
me, because So Elijah, when heran here, right was Jezebel, ran
and sat under a broom tree andgave up and just said, Lord,
take

my life from That's right, yeah, right. He
literally said, I want to die.

To die I'm I'm done, I'm done. But then he
slept, and God brought like inthe picture is the crow bringing
the food, right? There's asuddenly, there's a cake, there
was water. God providedeverything you need, and woke
him up and saying, wake up andeat, or you will not be strong
enough from the journey, yeah,to give him the strength to to
go. And that journey that theangel was speaking to him about

(44:58):
was that journey up Mount Hor. Awhich is the other name for, I
just remember that other namefor Mount Sinai. And then he
went to that cave, and then thehe heard the voice, presumably,
it was presumably an angeltelling him, come out. The Lord
is passing by. So we, not onlydo we get guided, we get the
sustenance we need to make it.
And it's not about our ownstrength, because our own

(45:19):
strength will fail if we don'thave that guidance from from God
to give us what we need to getto where we're going. So it is.
It's not about us failing. It'swhether or not we're going to be
willing to to go on the journey,or just say, No, I'm good, right
here. Just take my life. I'mready. I'm done.

One I think that's the important part. Is
that the journey is neverrevealed. I mean, I think the
ultimate journey is right, withJesus Christ, kingdom, right? We
have this promise of forgivenessand eternity with God, that's
where the eternal glory and thelight shines, right? Is in that
space. But this next spot is,hey, I'm going to lead you up a
mountain, right? Like that.
That's all you're getting. Like,you're not getting more than
what's happening on themountain. They don't that's not

(45:58):
revealed to the mountaintop oncethe mountaintops are like,
great. Like, hey, we're headingdown the mountain, and you're
like, it's just this next partwhere, like, hey, the Lord's
walking by. Come on out, youknow. Like, okay, what's, what's
the whole journey, you know?
Like, I would love to know thewhole journey so I can be in and
I don't think that's what Godgives us when God's meeting us
in that space.

I think that's the faith and the trust. Yeah,
there's the faith. Just get inthe bus.

That's it. And I think taking that step is what
leads us into that deeperrelationship with God. Because
we're not trusting the journey,we're trusting the next step.
We're trusting that God is goingto be at the next step, and that
God's going to continue to bethere. And when we don't go up
the mountain, we're going to beled up the mountain. And if it's
not there, and we didn't know itwas today, God's going to invite
us up there, right? We're goingto meet God in those

(46:41):
experiences. And so I think alot of our story comes with the
fear of the whole journey, whenwe just need the next step in
the journey. We just need thatone next step to be a cure. We
go again. That's on the run,right? Yeah, one more step. Oh,
yeah, one more aid station.
That's it. I ain't running 100miles. I'm running 3.7 to the
next aid station

before we run out of time. We got to clarify on
the last bit of the reading,because it sounds almost like a
reincarnation issue. Oh, yeah,John the Baptist. So we gotta
talk about what this this means.
Yeah, great. 13. When he said,You know that, disciples asked
him, Why did the scribes saythat Elijah must come first and
then the scribes? Those are theJewish, the educated, the
theologians of the time, thealong with the priests, and

(47:22):
they're talking about prophecy.
That's that the belief thatElijah would come first before
the Messiah. And Jesus replied,Elijah is indeed coming and will
restore all things. But I tellyou that Elijah has already
come, and they did not recognizehim, but they did to him
whatever they pleased. And sothe the reading that I used was,

(47:42):
if you are willing to, I don'tremember where that which gospel
it came from. I said, if you arewilling to accept it, you know
Elijah has already come. Yeah,you because what he's he's
talking about John the Baptistcoming as the prophet, and the
Elijah, his identity beingsynonymous with the identity of
the prophet that would preparethe way from God. And that's
John the Baptist saying, the onewho, who, who's the voice cries

(48:05):
out in the wilderness, Preparethe prepare the way of the Lord.
Make the way of the Lordstraight, or make the path
straight. That John the Baptistwas fulfilling the role of the
Prophet to prepare the way, notnecessarily the specific human
being, Elijah, yeah, but the therole of the Prophet to prepare
the way, it was fulfilled inJohn the Baptist. So it's not a
reincarnation narrative, it's

he was fulfilling the prophecies that
Elijah was telling us about,

right? He was fulfilling that role of the
Prophet to prepare the way forthe Messiah. Because otherwise
it's like, well, then John theBaptist wasn't John. He was
actually a light. And then weget to the then we get the

whole reincarnation thing, yeah,
right, yeah, resurrection of thebody. And, like, I don't
understand what's happening

anymore. Yeah, that all said there's, this is
one of the passages, along withthe passage where Saul goes out
to a necromancer to and summonsthe spirit of Samuel in the in
the Old Testament. Yeah, andSamuel comes as a ghost and
talks to Saul, right? Yeah. Youknow, it's a trippy Stephen
King, should admit it,

people like, I won't read my Bible now. And I
was like, let's go, Yeah, but

this is one of the passages along with that one
from Saul that that we get thesense that, like, we don't get
any further explanation. Butthere's some other realm, yeah,
where I guess people live orspirits live. I mean, it's the
end of our knowledge. This is asmuch as we get, yeah? Because
here it says the Elijah andMoses showed up. And, you know,
many people say it was becauseit's Elijah never actually saw

(49:35):
death, right? He was taken up ina carriage, correct? Yeah, which
presumably a fire that doesn'tburn otherwise, yeah,

but then Moses did die. Well, we know where Moses
died, where he was buried, andso I mean that, but yeah, you're
actually right. This is the partwhere we have something we're
like, what's next? And we, wedon't know,

against the limit. Sense of our I mean, so
in

relation also, that informs how we interpret
Scripture, though, about thedanger of taking this style of
of writing as a word for wordtestimony, like in a scientific
sense, or something like that,rather than looking not at the
words, but at the message beyondthe words, yeah, right,

the the Jesus's face shining is a parallel to
Moses's face shining when hecame down from from Sinai. Did
his face literally shine? Or wasit perceived as shining? Or was
it so bright or full ofrevelation that I can only
describe it as shining? We don'tknow. We won't know, and that's

(50:42):
just what it is.

Unknown (50:43):
Yeah, I mean, it

goes back to, and I love this, the we don't
know, it goes back to thisbeautiful space where, like,
there is an element of ourknowledge that then becomes
faith and belief, right? Like ithas to it's inescapable, right?
That we get to a place wherewe're like, we cannot read any
more into this, right? We loveit, and it's here, and we study
it and we understand it. Andthat's why, I think a historical

(51:05):
series that we're in talkingabout real places in real time,
yeah? Bring this to here, andthen we say, and that's where we
live, yeah, right. And then wecome off the mountain, right?
And we were back into this

moment of, yeah, our faith isn't based on
our being able to explain everydetail of it, just as the
disciples weren't able toexplain what in the world was
going on, yeah, but it's basedon our own mountain top
experiences that we've had thatwe can look back and say, I
can't deny that it happened.
Yeah. And

I think that's the the kicker with faith, right? Is
we have to be careful to resistthe temptation to explain away
things that we can't understand,right, or that we might have
dissonance with. And that's onething in like in my my advanced
Old Testament, course, one ofthe warnings of the professor
is, don't fall to the temptationto explain away things that we
don't understand or don't like,yeah, because it's the revealed

(51:52):
word of God, and if God did it,then it's right, and that's the
standard. And there are thingsbe things that we might not
agree with or might under andnot understand, but yet they're
there, yeah? And we have to beable to sit in that, because
that's what that's for, therequirement of faith, right? You
have to have faith and trust.
And if you want to dig deeper onthat, biblingo has a great,
like, two hour long podcast onthe one word, pista, yeah, it's
great. How you get into this,and it's, it's, yeah, it's a lot

(52:14):
deeper

than, I mean, as we read the Bible, we learn
from it what it is saying, Yeah,we don't try to infer from it.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

24/7 News: The Latest

The Joe Rogan Experience

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}What are Mountaintop Experiences and how do we move beyond distractions...?

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Stuff You Should Know

24/7 News: The Latest

The Joe Rogan Experience

All Episodes

What are Mountaintop Experiences and how do we move beyond distractions...?

Stuff You Should Know