March 30, 2024 • 44 mins
Embark on a poignant journey with us as we sit down with my dear friend Jeremy Day, whose story is a testament to the resilience of faith and the embrace of grace. Once a young man in Pennsylvania, Jeremy navigated a spiritual odyssey from his Catholic roots through the Pentecostal faith, all the way to the heart of Colorado, where life's tribulations and joys awaited. Together, we trace the contours of his life, from the joys of fatherhood and marriage to the dark valleys of depression and doubt, culminating in a moving return to the faith community—a modern-day prodigal son tale that promises to stir your soul.
In the throes of entrepreneurship, Jeremy's faith serves as his compass, guiding him through the unpredictability of starting and sustaining a business that's not just about profit, but also purpose. Discover the struggles and victories that come with intertwining one's spiritual beliefs with the complexities of the business world, where patience, humility, and grace become not just virtues but necessities. Listen as we share insights on maintaining faith amidst the daily grind and how the teachings of grace shape every interaction, from the boardroom to the dinner table.
Finally, we shed light on the intricacies of living a life steeped in love and grace. Through stories that span from the scriptural to the personal, we explore how Jesus' call to love transform our lives, guiding us to live beyond the letter of the law to a spirit-led existence that radiates love in every choice. As parents, entrepreneurs, and followers of Christ, we examine the profound impact of leading by example, showing love in action, and the incredible way our lives echo with the truths of grace. Join us for a conversation that will leave you contemplating the enduring power of a faith lived out in love.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
and welcome back everyone to another edition of
the simple grace podcast.
I'm very excited today to havespecial guests.
Uh, let's see, I'll just bringyou right in now, jeremy.
This is jeremy day, one of mydearest, closest, oldest friends
.
Uh, we met nearly 20 years ago,maybe more than 20, yeah,
definitely more than 20 yearsago um, in denver, denver, over,
(00:25):
actually, on the west side town, arvada, I think, is where we
met and been close as brothers,thick as thieves, ever since.
And so you live, you've livedin my house, let's see, I did
your wedding, yeah, been therewhen your kids have been born
Not all of them and now you livein Lincoln, nebraska, and so we
(00:48):
don't get to see you nearly asmuch as we should, but we love
you, and so I'm very happy thatyou're with me on the podcast
today, because I know that Godhas used grace and the new
covenant in your life sopowerfully, so much, and so
we'll talk about that today.
But to get us started, I'm goingto read our verse of the day,
which is John 6, 63.
(01:10):
And it says it is the spiritwho gives life.
The flesh profits nothing.
The words that I speak to you,our spirit, and they are life.
And I love that verse becauseit's Jesus saying guys, you were
(01:32):
not intended to live on yourown, independently, but it is my
words that give you life.
It's my words that help you tobe all that you were designed
and meant to be.
It's the spirit who gives life.
When we try to live life by theflesh or outside of the words of
(01:54):
Jesus, the promise of Jesus,the life of Jesus, it doesn't
produce what we want it to.
It doesn't produce life.
It doesn't produce fruit.
It's a sad imitation of thelife that we were supposed to
live and were designed to liveby God himself.
So I love that verse.
It always refocuses me on therelationship that I should have
(02:16):
with Jesus.
Jeremy, why don't you take usdown the road of what it looked
like for you to be fromPennsylvania and where your life
took you and kind of the upsand downs and lefts and rights?
So just take it away, tell usabout yourself.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yeah, so I was born and raised about an hour south
of Pittsburgh, pennsylvania, andpretty much went to church my
whole life and my mom wasCatholic and my dad was saved a
little later in life and weended up going to a Pentecostal
church and I can't say my mom'sdad, my grandfather, was happy
(03:04):
with that because they werepretty much Roman Catholic.
But yeah, so I was raised in aPentecostal church, had a great
youth group and pretty much, youknow, typical Christian
upbringing, walking the straightand narrow, didn't get myself
in too much trouble and wentaway to college in the
(03:29):
University of Pittsburgh and, ofcourse, did plenty of dumb
things up there, very fleshlythings.
But I was lucky to getconnected with a college
ministries group and it's aboutthat time that I started
learning to play guitar and umstarted learning to do worship
(03:52):
music and everything and justhad a really great group of
people that I stuck close with.
That um, you know, kept me um,um, mostly within the walk, the
walk of God.
And then, you know, after Igraduated college, moved out to
Colorado and not long after Imet you I started getting
(04:19):
involved in youth ministry.
Around the same time you were,and I was a camp counselor for a
church and so I was involved onworship teams doing the camp
counselor thing you know,regular church attender, and you
(04:41):
know when I was out there I wasactually moved out with a
friend of mine from back inPennsylvania and you know we
bought a house together as likean investment and it didn't go
so well, so that was kind of astressful place so well, so that
(05:09):
was kind of a stressful uhplace and kind of my what
started my kind of downhill turnwas, um, my uh, grandma had
passed away in 2008 and mysister had her first kid right
around that same time and thatthose two things kind of hit me
like maybe I should move back toPennsylvania.
And I was like and uh, but Iwas in a house and, as you know,
(05:33):
2008 that house was underwaterand uh, uh didn't for multiple
reasons.
Um, it didn't seem like Iwanted to go back to
Pennsylvania, but it wasn't.
My roommate definitely did notwant me to move out of that
house because financially liable, of course, and you know I
(05:57):
agree with that, but withoutgoing too much into that, that
kind of started me on like alittle bit of a road of
depression and I don't know whatI'm doing with my life and I
kind of kind of let myself go,so to speak.
(06:17):
Uh, stopped going to church, um,just did the typical thing
everybody does.
And and uh, um, yeah, just, I,I've.
I've gotten myself to thatplace in life two or three times
where it's just like lettingmyself go and, uh, not walking
(06:43):
that path with the Lord.
And and uh, yeah, I mean Ieventually came back around like
we, we had stopped talking fora number of years and, um, kind
of came back around to uh, youknow, came to your church that
you planted in 2012 or 13timeframe and that started me on
(07:09):
the road to redemption, theprodigal son coming home.
And and after that, you know, Iactually did move back to
Pennsylvania for a year andrealized that wasn't God's plan
for me, and I was visitingColorado and met my wife in
Colorado, of course, and, longstory short, we have four kids
(07:34):
and we moved back to Nebraska tobe close to her family.
So there you go.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Awesome, that was a very abbreviated version.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
A lot happened in there.
We'll get into the detailsmaybe.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Well, you mentioned like kind of that loneliness and
kind of checking out of churchand stuff and like I can really
identify with that.
Like I there's times when Ijust don't feel it.
How do you think God's gracekind of pursues you in that
(08:18):
place or not just meets youthere but kind of chases you
down there?
How did that work out for you?
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Yeah, I think, you know, even though I was in that
spot I know that God didn'tnecessarily let me go, of course
, even though I was running awayand you know, I thought I could
be different or change my life.
(08:48):
I thought a lot of things.
I thought, you know, I could be.
You know, I dated this girl fora while that was not a believer
.
I thought I could make thatwork, I thought I could live
whatever lifestyle I wanted tolive and, you know, still
(09:09):
believe in God and everything'sfine.
But you know, if you're one ofGod's children, he's going to
bring that discipline.
You need to get back into hiswill and back into walking with
him.
And and uh, I think you know, alot of times I think people do
(09:37):
what they perceive as a lot ofbad in life.
Bad in life, um, and you know,they feel like maybe they can't
be forgiven or, uh, you know, orit's not worth it, or it's too
(10:02):
late, or whatever way you wantto phrase that.
(10:30):
And once I started coming around, I I literally came and and sat
in the back of a church andjust cried my eyes out because I
knew I'd given up four plusyears of my life to not walking
with God and and knowing,knowing that, um, you know he
forgave me of everything.
It didn't.
It didn't matter what I did, um, all he wanted me to do was
come home, and I know that'swhat he wants for everybody.
Like you know, the whole Bibleis about God's love and your
relationship with God and andhaving him teach you what grace
(10:55):
means and what, and giving youthe knowledge of Jesus Christ
and what that means and why hedied for us.
And I feel like we understandit a lot on a surface level, but
it takes our whole lifetimesand more to like really deeply,
(11:17):
truly understand what all thatmeans to us, not just personally
but for all.
You know, all mankind.
You know how much love he hasfor us and how much we can't
comprehend it.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
so last week I had uh bk on the podcast and uh, you
know, I know that, you know bk,I think you actually live with
bk also.
Yeah, yeah, actually actually,and yeah, um, I think that, uh,
what?
What question?
I asked him and I'm gonna askyou the same question because,
(11:55):
uh, he had a great answer and Ithink you will too.
Um, so many you.
You mentioned how we we learnabout God's grace.
You know, and it's never fromour successes that we learn
about God's grace, but reallyour failures.
You know, it's when we aredisappointed with ourselves or
(12:16):
we know that we aren't measuringup, and God meets us there.
So when I say that, when I saythat your failure is maybe the
thing that you can boast in themost, what comes to your mind
about your story.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Yeah, it's interesting because at our small
group last night we literallytalked about the same thing of
you know, and how, how bad wealmost feel like, you know, I'm
not.
I'm not close to god unless badthings are happening.
Like why can't we be close togod all the time, even when good
things are happening?
Um, because that's our naturalhuman state, like, oh, we're
fine, we're fine, we're fine.
Oh, bad things are happening,god please help me.
And uh, yeah.
So I thought that wasinteresting and and kind of what
(13:07):
I told the group was you know,we just need to be in this
practice of, uh, you know,gratitude and thanking God every
day for every little thing, andyou know, because he's great.
And yeah, to answer yourquestion, you know.
(13:30):
You know I can't boast in myself, I can boast in God, and God is
most glorified in ourweaknesses.
You know how do you go frombeing a quote-unquote kind of
good Christian boy, your wholelife partake in, you know,
(13:51):
worship ministry, youth ministry, you know, seemingly staying
away from you know anybodylooking at my life would say,
you know, I couldn't see wrongin him and you know you could be
proud and prideful of that.
But then you know I, I fellaway.
(14:15):
And you know, you and I bothknow, we all know people that.
And you know, you and I bothknow and we all know people that
were like, oh man, they seem tobe doing so good and then they
fell away.
You know a pastor that cheatson his wife or you know those
are some of the extreme examples.
(14:35):
But you know, for God, you knowwhen, when we see that as
humans and we see God work inthe situation, and then when we
can say, well, I absolutely didnothing here, god did everything
.
You know I completely walkedaway and God had to come find
(15:03):
his little wayward lamb and getthe old shepherd's hook and pull
me back in.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Yeah, so famously my son who has autism.
John, you were giving him aride somewhere and he was asking
you about your life and justyou guys were having a
conversation and he's likeJeremy, where's your wife and
kids?
And what did you say?
Speaker 2 (15:34):
I don't have any.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
You don't have any.
And he said oh, that's sad.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Sad.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Very sad, and so what's so funny is that that
just it kind of, I feel like,set you on a, on a path where
you started being like I think Ineed the Lord to give me a wife
, and and he did that in apretty cool and amazing way.
And, and once you talk aboutthat, yeah, god can work.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
God can work through anybody in any way, shape or
form.
So, and it could be a kid, itcould be an unbeliever, you know
, it could be anything.
So here's my crazy story.
So, yeah, that that wasprobably 2014.
I had just sold my house.
(16:26):
I was living with you guys, Ithink, right around that time
period.
Um, and, yeah, I was.
He just wanted to ride homefrom church with me and I was
like sure, and uh, yeah, asking20 questions, and that was one
of them.
And uh, yeah, I, I think, um, Idon't know, you could deny a
(16:50):
lot of things in life, but I, Ithink I knew fairly early on, uh
, what God wanted me to do, eventhough I spent, you know, a
good 10-15 years trying todecide what I was going to do,
even though I spent, you know, agood 10, 15 years trying to
decide what I was going to dowith my life.
But, I think, a couple ofthings God wanted me to be
married, he wanted me to havekids, and he also wanted me to
(17:14):
start my own business and all ofthose.
I resisted for a very long timedue to immaturity and other
reasons, but, yes, you know,that was a powerful moment and,
you know, I took it as more thanjust a funny little comment.
(17:34):
I took it as, yeah, ok, I'mback in church, I'm getting
closer to God, and God'sreminding me of his purpose for
me in this life.
And, we know, not everybody'smeant to get married and have
kids.
But you know, if you kind ofknow, you know know what God's
(18:00):
will is for you and you'redenying it and you're walking a
different direction, if you'retrying to be like Jonah and do
the exact opposite of what God'stelling you to do, then you're
going to waste a lot of time inlife and it's going to be a
struggle instead of just thisglorious gift that god wants to
(18:24):
give you.
So, uh, I moved back topennsylvania, which, um, I
thought was god's plan for mylife, but he made it apparent
that it wasn't and, did you like, start a restaurant uh, I
helped somebody start arestaurant.
Uh, that didn't ultimatelysucceed, but I was searching, I,
(18:47):
I had a passion for cooking andum wanted to, um, consider
being a chef.
And uh, that also showed methat that wasn't God's will for
my life.
So, but I, you know, youstubbornly don't give up on your
(19:08):
plans for your life versusGod's plans for your life.
So, continuing to pursue thatand I've always been a gypsy, so
to speak, I like moving arounda lot, I'm pretty transitory.
I guess that's why I stayed atyour house, stayed at PK's house
(19:29):
, like I'm always like goinghere, going there, doing
whatever.
But to get to the point, Idecided I want to take this big
southern road trip and I went tovisit a bunch of people and I
had a connection in Charleston,south Carolina, out going to
(19:49):
this cool little hangout place,and they're telling me and I was
like I don't know ifPennsylvania is right for me,
I'm looking to move somewhereand possibly be a chef, or I
(20:13):
don't know what the heck I'mdoing and they're like, oh, you
should move to Charleston.
There's like all these women'scolleges here and it it's a
three-to-one women-to-men ratio.
I'm like, oh, yeah, that soundsgreat.
They're like you should'tnecessarily believers or
anything, but that's what Iwanted to say.
(20:36):
Like any, god can use anybodyto direct your path.
So I got on Tinder and I'm likeI'm just going to keep traveling
(20:57):
and meet girls as I go alongand, yeah, you can you see, see
where that's going.
But I did, I.
I met a couple of girls andkept traveling and and ended up
in Denver, of course, to comeback and visit you guys and
visit a bunch of other friends,back and visit you guys and
(21:24):
visit a bunch of other friends.
And I met this one girl inDenver and, uh, went on a date
with her and we realized weliked each other a lot right off
the bat and then ended up doinga double date, uh, that same
evening.
I met her during the day andthen did a double date the same
evening.
And, yeah, my friend and herfriend and that is such a long
(21:48):
story.
But to get to the point, that'smy wife, jill, that I met
through Tinder and she's likegreat, I met this guy that
(22:10):
doesn't even live in Coloradoand if I can recommend one thing
to anybody, it's you know, Imoved back to a hundred
different questions and got anidea of where we each wanted to
go with our life, and that'sprobably one of the best dating
scenarios you can have is likegetting everything established
(22:34):
up front.
It's not just like going andhanging out and eating dinner
and watching a movie and notreally having deep discussion.
It was like we're having deepdiscussion every single day,
like I was turning 35 at thatpoint and she was turning 32.
So got both getting a laterquote unquote start in life.
(22:59):
But yeah, god intended us to betogether and he found a way to
do it and and uh and here we are.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
So yeah, four kids later yep, thanks, john so you
mentioned starting a business?
Um, yes, yes.
How has that been a journey foryou?
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Uh, it's, it's been amazing, Um, and right off the
bat, just so what do you do?
Speaker 1 (23:32):
What?
What did you?
What did you decide to do?
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Yeah, so I moved.
I moved back to Denver and Iliterally sat down with Jill and
I was like I can go get a jobor I've had this dream, I want
to start my own business foreverand just haven't done it.
What do you think I should do?
And surprisingly enough, shesaid go start your business and
I support you.
And I was like, cool, a littlebackground on her, she's a
(23:59):
farmer's daughter.
Cool, a little background onher, she's a farmer's daughter,
so she's used to kind of conceptof owning a business and you
got to do whatever you need todo to, you know, make that
business run like, uh, if yougot to work 12, 14 hour days to
get the harvest in, then that'swhat you do, and then you get
your downtime in the winter orwhatever.
(24:19):
So, yeah, through through, youknow her support, started my
business and then just got thatup and running.
And another guy from our church,norm, he had a tile business.
So I do painting, I'm apainting contractor, but I did
(24:45):
all kinds of handyman type stuffin the beginning just to get
started.
And Norm had a tile businessand I worked with him a little
bit and one of the things wetalked about all the time was
you have to have so much faithin God to run a business because
you know when you have a jobyou just unless you're getting
(25:08):
laid off or something you knowthat you're going to kind.
Yeah, the workflow is steadybut you still don't know like is
work going to come in.
Am I going to be able to getjobs?
You know, am I going to be ableto do the jobs?
(25:30):
And there's just so much thatgoes into running a business
where having faith helpsimmensely to be able to be
successful at it.
So not sure if I'm answeringyour question there directly,
but yeah, I think it just takesa lot of faith to run a business
(25:54):
.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Yeah, because it runs smooth all the time.
You don't ever have to worryabout anything, right?
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Yeah, I never have unhappy customers or anything.
So, yeah, employees, just moreopportunity for grace upon grace
in every single direction.
In every single direction Me tothe customers, customers to me,
(26:21):
me to my employees, employeesto me and customers and all the
way around.
So no one's perfect.
We make mistakes, some peopleare very forgiving and some
people are not, and yeah, kindof going on 10 years here.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
Yeah, let's dig into that for a minute.
So how do you representhumility in those situations?
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Yeah, you know I don't know if I'm always the
best representative, but I'vehad comments along the lines of
I have immense patience withpeople and give people way more
chances than they deserve.
(27:12):
As far as my employees areconcerned, you know, I really
try to do as much as I can formy customers.
You know, there's alwayssomething and I usually say
things like I don't need everylast dollar, like if there's
(27:34):
something we need to fix or somelittle thing that we can do, uh
, that just shows a lot of valuein what we do and it's kind of
me working for free.
Well, I'm okay, working forfree to, you know, hopefully
make somebody happy.
So you definitely learn that,yes, you want to please people,
(28:00):
but you don't necessarily wantto make it your goal to make
people happy, to make peoplehappy.
So, uh, you know, at the end ofthe day I'm doing what I think
is best for everybody involved,uh, um, and trying to do what I
think, uh, god would want me todo.
(28:24):
And and, of course, I've askedyou a couple of times for advice
on what to do in certainsituations.
And, uh, you haven'tnecessarily run your own
business, but you have very good, uh biblical wisdom to share on
just how to handle people ingeneral.
So I always appreciate youlistening to my business
(28:50):
problems and giving me somespiritual wisdom there.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
So, thank, you the difference in your life from
before you understood grace toafter understanding grace?
How would you describe thatdifference to somebody who maybe
(29:18):
doesn't know a lot about God'sgrace?
Or you know what a youngerbeliever that's just coming to
know him and his character, ayounger believer that's just
come in to know him and hischaracter?
How would you describe that?
The difference between kind oflike the Christian you grew up
as versus what you're like now?
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Yeah, I, I, I want to say right off the bat, it's
definitely been stages Like Imean, I definitely understood
grace as a teenager, um, to acertain degree.
And then, you know, a level ofgrace in my twenties and the
level of grace in my thirtiesand, uh, a whole new level of
(29:57):
grace in my forties here.
But, um, you know, I just even,even as a teenager, you have
the older generation in thechurch telling you what to do
(30:21):
and you know I was prideful, forsure, but I also knew I could
stand on scripture and, uh, tellpeople that we're not just here
to follow a bunch of laws andrules and everything that.
(30:41):
You know we don't want to turninto Pharisees, we're not
keeping burdens on people thatwe're not going to help them
carry.
That.
You know there's only one way,one path, which is Jesus.
And you know, we know we'resaved by grace.
(31:05):
But learning to live that outevery day again goes back to
like you'll spend the rest ofyour life and eternity learning
the deep, how deep grace is andhow amazing and wonderful it is.
And you know, I think you knowyou, you know you come to grace
(31:31):
through Jesus and God can useanybody and everybody to help
direct your path.
But ultimately, you know youpraying and you getting into the
word and knowing it is what'sgoing to deepen your level of
(31:51):
grace.
And you know everybody canpoint your sins out to you all
day, every day, and you know if,if, if that's what people want
to do, then fine.
But you have to have your ownconfidence and that confidence
(32:17):
is based on Jesus and Jesusalone.
(32:43):
And I think, when you're a youngChristian and me specifically,
a bunch of things.
Like you know, the old timeswere better than the new times
and and uh, like you know, theyounger generation is this or
that.
And I literally pulled out ascripture from the old Testament
that says it's not wise to saythat the old times are better
(33:07):
than these times.
I mean, every time is the same.
We're the same humans we were2000 years ago.
We we'd be the same humanscrucifying Christ ourselves if
we were there.
So, yeah, you're not going tohave an understanding of grace
(33:32):
right off the bat.
You just continue to grow in itand embrace it.
I don't know if I answered thatas directly either.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
No, it's good.
So some people, it's like a,like a shocking revelation,
especially people that grew upreally legalistic, um, or
completely irreligious.
You know they they're prettyshocked by this free grace and
they're like what, what are youtalking about?
Like jesus completely forgivesyou and then promises to supply
(34:08):
everything you need by his holyspirit.
Like this is you know too goodto be true?
Or where is the?
Where is my part?
What do I have to do for him?
You know, to earn this, becausenobody is, you know, that
generous to give everything forfree, yeah, and so they'll call
(34:30):
it cheap grace.
They'll be like oh, you're oneof those cheap grace preachers,
You're one of those guys thatbelieves in cheap grace.
And you know the response tothat is always it's not cheap
grace.
It was very, very, veryexpensive grace, but it is free
grace because the moment thatgrace ceases, or the moment that
(34:53):
grace costs something, itceases to be grace and it's now
works, it's now wages, yeah, andkeeping that line like really,
really solid, uh, can either beshocking or it can be gradual,
like Like it sounds like for youthat was kind of like you were
just learning to keep that line.
I keep grace in its place whereI go to Jesus, and that reminds
(35:17):
me of the verse we read at thebeginning where he says the
words that I speak to you arespirit and they are life.
You get that at the beginning,when you're saved and you're
like, oh, he said he would saveme and I believe it.
So now I'm saved.
But when he said he wouldforgive you when you screw up,
when he said he would be withyou in your trials, when he said
he would lead you and guide youthrough difficult times and
(35:38):
through good times, those aredaily tested out in our lives,
where we can't just say that webelieve them.
It has to be tested moment bymoment.
So that's what I'm kind ofhearing from you is like you
have a really greatobservational skill of like
stepping back and saying I wastested here, I was tested here,
(35:58):
I was tested here and I learnedto trust in the lord, learned to
trust in jesus, learned that hewas going to be faithful to his
word and his promises in mylife, which is exactly what we
said.
His words are spirit and theyare life and they've become your
life.
So how do you teach this toyour kids?
Speaker 2 (36:21):
yeah, I mean gosh a bunch.
I want to just say on that, uhuh, then back up, forget.
Speaker 1 (36:29):
I answered that question.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
No, I can keep that question in my mind, but yeah, I
mean, how do you teach it toyour kids?
How do you teach it to anybody?
How do you live it out yourself?
How do you teach it to yourself?
Um, so, uh, you know, theanalogy is, you know, comparable
to being married to your spouseand, uh, you have a whole lot
(36:57):
of infatuation at the beginningand, um, that love grows and
develops over time and, uh,become something different,
something deeper, and uh, um,it's kind of the same same thing
with Jesus is, um, you know,our love, our love develops over
time and uh, you know, and youknow, for the cheap grace thing
(37:23):
it's, it's like, you know how,what do I want to say?
I want to say how cheap isGod's love, how cheap is your
love back to God for what hegave you?
You know, it's a big deal anduh, I mean, we could talk about
(37:49):
our sins all day, but I want, Iwant, I want to think about all
this in an elevated sense of,like our sins literally don't
matter anymore.
They're covered by the blood ofJesus.
And uh, you know we're, and youknow we're the only ones
holding ourselves captive to sinIf the Son has set you free.
(38:13):
You're free indeed, you know, ifthe Spirit's living in you.
Yes, it's warring against theflesh, but your Spirit gives you
the power to not sin.
And you know, on and on,there's so many verses in the
Bible that are just challengingyou know, he tells the woman
(38:38):
that was going to be stoned like, if anybody has no sin, go to
cast the first stone.
Oh, nobody here anymore.
And then he's like go and sinno more.
Like you know, if god'sempowering you and giving you
his spirit, then you have every,you have all the power in the
(39:02):
world.
You need to not sin and like,and we always do this circle
back to like, but I am going tosin, and that's that's true.
You're still gonna fail andyou're still going to sin, um,
but you just grow.
(39:22):
You grow in in um, you grow ingrace, grow in love, um.
You grow to love your kids morewhen they're coming up to you,
um, so, yeah, this is my son,arlo, walking behind me.
Um, how do you teach your kids?
(39:46):
I mean, we all know it's example, but you know, yeah, just the
other thing I wanted to say iswhen Jesus' last statement
before he left this earth, hesaid if you love me, you would
(40:06):
keep my commandments.
Earth.
He said if you love me, youwould keep my commandments, and
the greatest commandment is loveGod and love each other.
And I said that phrase since Iwas a teenager.
Like, okay, you guys want totell me I have to follow a bunch
of rules and laws.
(40:26):
Well, if we just focus on howto love more, I think we're
going to be a lot further alongthan this human striving to
follow a bunch of laws that youknow, maybe we follow them for a
time, but then we eventuallybreak them them for a time, but
(40:56):
then we eventually break them.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
Yeah, there's this um um idea that that paul, in his
letters he basically sets forththis worldview like listen, the
law, it would tell you what todo at 9 am and 10, 30 and noon
and two o'clock and five o'clock.
And what we're doing here withJesus is we're taking away that
entire structure.
So now you're free to be ahuman and you're free to do what
(41:19):
you want.
Just ask yourself at everymoment, one of those moments,
what is the most loving thing Ican do right now?
And then that then becomes aconversation between you and the
Holy Spirit that lives insideyou, cause you're, you're
seeking like what?
What is it that my spirit wantsto do right now?
That's that.
(41:39):
You know that is the same aslove.
That is love and um.
And if we use that guideliterally every moment, we know
what to do, we know the will ofGod, because it's to love him
and love others, and we'll besuccessful in all the steps that
we have to take.
You know, god never says youneed to know the future.
He never says you need to knowwhere you're going to live or
(42:01):
where your food's going to comefrom, how you're going to make
money.
He never says any of that.
Like, people get really, reallyconfused about the will of God
and like am I doing the will ofGod?
And God's already told us, like, if you want to know, like,
(42:21):
what to do, like on a moment bymoment basis, it's love.
And if you don't know what thelove is, then look to me and ask
the spirit to show you what Iwould do in that situation and
truly, you'll find out thatthat's what you want to do.
Like his desires and our, ourdesires, like line up through,
you know, when we walk in thespirit, um.
So it's a beautiful descriptionof, of um, the spirit life.
Speaker 2 (42:45):
Yeah, love it.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
All right.
Well, I think that is a greatfirst conversation with you.
I'm sure I'll have you back, uh, sometime to get deeper into
grace.
I'm sure there's a lot morethat you could teach us and
practically share with us aboutlife, but, um, it's awesome to
get to spend some time with youand, um, are you out there on
social media?
Is there anything that that youwant?
(43:18):
To promote or talk about Uhseconds here.
Speaker 2 (43:20):
Yeah, not necessarily .
I mean, um, I make friends onFacebook and I'm always doing
this uh, wisdom of the day orsermon of the day on Facebook
and you know, I've had peoplecontinue to encourage me in that
and say I got, I got a lot outof that today, or I actually the
comments I usually get are Ineeded that today, like I needed
(43:43):
that reminder, and yeah, ifanybody wants to find me on
facebook, then, um, love, lovethe chat.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
So so funny story.
I was meeting with the guyearlier for coffee and uh, and
he's like uh, do you know jeremyday?
And I was like, oh yeah, you'relike my best friend.
And he's like oh yeah, uh,jeremy and I are meeting later
and we're doing this.
We're having coffee and I'mlike what?
Like are you going to lincoln?
And he's like, no, I'm going tobroomfield.
(44:16):
And I'm like I don't thinkwe're talking about the same guy
.
It turns out there's anotherjeremy day that is a purchasing
manager at some big company inBroomfield.
Speaker 2 (44:24):
So yeah, that's funny .
Speaker 1 (44:26):
Don't get confused.
So anyway, all right, man.
Well, thank you so much.
Uh, we're going to end it here,but, uh, we'll talk to you
again soon.
and welcome back everyone to another edition of
the simple grace podcast.
I'm very excited today to havespecial guests.
Uh, let's see, I'll just bringyou right in now, jeremy.
This is jeremy day, one of mydearest, closest, oldest friends
.
Uh, we met nearly 20 years ago,maybe more than 20, yeah,
definitely more than 20 yearsago um, in denver, denver, over,
(00:25):
actually, on the west side town, arvada, I think, is where we
met and been close as brothers,thick as thieves, ever since.
And so you live, you've livedin my house, let's see, I did
your wedding, yeah, been therewhen your kids have been born
Not all of them and now you livein Lincoln, nebraska, and so we
(00:48):
don't get to see you nearly asmuch as we should, but we love
you, and so I'm very happy thatyou're with me on the podcast
today, because I know that Godhas used grace and the new
covenant in your life sopowerfully, so much, and so
we'll talk about that today.
But to get us started, I'm goingto read our verse of the day,
which is John 6, 63.
(01:10):
And it says it is the spiritwho gives life.
The flesh profits nothing.
The words that I speak to you,our spirit, and they are life.
And I love that verse becauseit's Jesus saying guys, you were
(01:32):
not intended to live on yourown, independently, but it is my
words that give you life.
It's my words that help you tobe all that you were designed
and meant to be.
It's the spirit who gives life.
When we try to live life by theflesh or outside of the words of
(01:54):
Jesus, the promise of Jesus,the life of Jesus, it doesn't
produce what we want it to.
It doesn't produce life.
It doesn't produce fruit.
It's a sad imitation of thelife that we were supposed to
live and were designed to liveby God himself.
So I love that verse.
It always refocuses me on therelationship that I should have
(02:16):
with Jesus.
Jeremy, why don't you take usdown the road of what it looked
like for you to be fromPennsylvania and where your life
took you and kind of the upsand downs and lefts and rights?
So just take it away, tell usabout yourself.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yeah, so I was born and raised about an hour south
of Pittsburgh, pennsylvania, andpretty much went to church my
whole life and my mom wasCatholic and my dad was saved a
little later in life and weended up going to a Pentecostal
church and I can't say my mom'sdad, my grandfather, was happy
(03:04):
with that because they werepretty much Roman Catholic.
But yeah, so I was raised in aPentecostal church, had a great
youth group and pretty much, youknow, typical Christian
upbringing, walking the straightand narrow, didn't get myself
in too much trouble and wentaway to college in the
(03:29):
University of Pittsburgh and, ofcourse, did plenty of dumb
things up there, very fleshlythings.
But I was lucky to getconnected with a college
ministries group and it's aboutthat time that I started
learning to play guitar and umstarted learning to do worship
(03:52):
music and everything and justhad a really great group of
people that I stuck close with.
That um, you know, kept me um,um, mostly within the walk, the
walk of God.
And then, you know, after Igraduated college, moved out to
Colorado and not long after Imet you I started getting
(04:19):
involved in youth ministry.
Around the same time you were,and I was a camp counselor for a
church and so I was involved onworship teams doing the camp
counselor thing you know,regular church attender, and you
(04:41):
know when I was out there I wasactually moved out with a
friend of mine from back inPennsylvania and you know we
bought a house together as likean investment and it didn't go
so well, so that was kind of astressful place so well, so that
(05:09):
was kind of a stressful uhplace and kind of my what
started my kind of downhill turnwas, um, my uh, grandma had
passed away in 2008 and mysister had her first kid right
around that same time and thatthose two things kind of hit me
like maybe I should move back toPennsylvania.
And I was like and uh, but Iwas in a house and, as you know,
(05:33):
2008 that house was underwaterand uh, uh didn't for multiple
reasons.
Um, it didn't seem like Iwanted to go back to
Pennsylvania, but it wasn't.
My roommate definitely did notwant me to move out of that
house because financially liable, of course, and you know I
(05:57):
agree with that, but withoutgoing too much into that, that
kind of started me on like alittle bit of a road of
depression and I don't know whatI'm doing with my life and I
kind of kind of let myself go,so to speak.
(06:17):
Uh, stopped going to church, um,just did the typical thing
everybody does.
And and uh, um, yeah, just, I,I've.
I've gotten myself to thatplace in life two or three times
where it's just like lettingmyself go and, uh, not walking
(06:43):
that path with the Lord.
And and uh, yeah, I mean Ieventually came back around like
we, we had stopped talking fora number of years and, um, kind
of came back around to uh, youknow, came to your church that
you planted in 2012 or 13timeframe and that started me on
(07:09):
the road to redemption, theprodigal son coming home.
And and after that, you know, Iactually did move back to
Pennsylvania for a year andrealized that wasn't God's plan
for me, and I was visitingColorado and met my wife in
Colorado, of course, and, longstory short, we have four kids
(07:34):
and we moved back to Nebraska tobe close to her family.
So there you go.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Awesome, that was a very abbreviated version.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
A lot happened in there.
We'll get into the detailsmaybe.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Well, you mentioned like kind of that loneliness and
kind of checking out of churchand stuff and like I can really
identify with that.
Like I there's times when Ijust don't feel it.
How do you think God's gracekind of pursues you in that
(08:18):
place or not just meets youthere but kind of chases you
down there?
How did that work out for you?
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Yeah, I think, you know, even though I was in that
spot I know that God didn'tnecessarily let me go, of course
, even though I was running awayand you know, I thought I could
be different or change my life.
(08:48):
I thought a lot of things.
I thought, you know, I could be.
You know, I dated this girl fora while that was not a believer
.
I thought I could make thatwork, I thought I could live
whatever lifestyle I wanted tolive and, you know, still
(09:09):
believe in God and everything'sfine.
But you know, if you're one ofGod's children, he's going to
bring that discipline.
You need to get back into hiswill and back into walking with
him.
And and uh, I think you know, alot of times I think people do
(09:37):
what they perceive as a lot ofbad in life.
Bad in life, um, and you know,they feel like maybe they can't
be forgiven or, uh, you know, orit's not worth it, or it's too
(10:02):
late, or whatever way you wantto phrase that.
(10:30):
And once I started coming around, I I literally came and and sat
in the back of a church andjust cried my eyes out because I
knew I'd given up four plusyears of my life to not walking
with God and and knowing,knowing that, um, you know he
forgave me of everything.
It didn't.
It didn't matter what I did, um, all he wanted me to do was
come home, and I know that'swhat he wants for everybody.
Like you know, the whole Bibleis about God's love and your
relationship with God and andhaving him teach you what grace
(10:55):
means and what, and giving youthe knowledge of Jesus Christ
and what that means and why hedied for us.
And I feel like we understandit a lot on a surface level, but
it takes our whole lifetimesand more to like really deeply,
(11:17):
truly understand what all thatmeans to us, not just personally
but for all.
You know, all mankind.
You know how much love he hasfor us and how much we can't
comprehend it.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
so last week I had uh bk on the podcast and uh, you
know, I know that, you know bk,I think you actually live with
bk also.
Yeah, yeah, actually actually,and yeah, um, I think that, uh,
what?
What question?
I asked him and I'm gonna askyou the same question because,
(11:55):
uh, he had a great answer and Ithink you will too.
Um, so many you.
You mentioned how we we learnabout God's grace.
You know, and it's never fromour successes that we learn
about God's grace, but reallyour failures.
You know, it's when we aredisappointed with ourselves or
(12:16):
we know that we aren't measuringup, and God meets us there.
So when I say that, when I saythat your failure is maybe the
thing that you can boast in themost, what comes to your mind
about your story.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Yeah, it's interesting because at our small
group last night we literallytalked about the same thing of
you know, and how, how bad wealmost feel like, you know, I'm
not.
I'm not close to god unless badthings are happening.
Like why can't we be close togod all the time, even when good
things are happening?
Um, because that's our naturalhuman state, like, oh, we're
fine, we're fine, we're fine.
Oh, bad things are happening,god please help me.
And uh, yeah.
So I thought that wasinteresting and and kind of what
(13:07):
I told the group was you know,we just need to be in this
practice of, uh, you know,gratitude and thanking God every
day for every little thing, andyou know, because he's great.
And yeah, to answer yourquestion, you know.
(13:30):
You know I can't boast in myself, I can boast in God, and God is
most glorified in ourweaknesses.
You know how do you go frombeing a quote-unquote kind of
good Christian boy, your wholelife partake in, you know,
(13:51):
worship ministry, youth ministry, you know, seemingly staying
away from you know anybodylooking at my life would say,
you know, I couldn't see wrongin him and you know you could be
proud and prideful of that.
But then you know I, I fellaway.
(14:15):
And you know, you and I bothknow, we all know people that.
And you know, you and I bothknow and we all know people that
were like, oh man, they seem tobe doing so good and then they
fell away.
You know a pastor that cheatson his wife or you know those
are some of the extreme examples.
(14:35):
But you know, for God, you knowwhen, when we see that as
humans and we see God work inthe situation, and then when we
can say, well, I absolutely didnothing here, god did everything
.
You know I completely walkedaway and God had to come find
(15:03):
his little wayward lamb and getthe old shepherd's hook and pull
me back in.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Yeah, so famously my son who has autism.
John, you were giving him aride somewhere and he was asking
you about your life and justyou guys were having a
conversation and he's likeJeremy, where's your wife and
kids?
And what did you say?
Speaker 2 (15:34):
I don't have any.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
You don't have any.
And he said oh, that's sad.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Sad.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Very sad, and so what's so funny is that that
just it kind of, I feel like,set you on a, on a path where
you started being like I think Ineed the Lord to give me a wife
, and and he did that in apretty cool and amazing way.
And, and once you talk aboutthat, yeah, god can work.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
God can work through anybody in any way, shape or
form.
So, and it could be a kid, itcould be an unbeliever, you know
, it could be anything.
So here's my crazy story.
So, yeah, that that wasprobably 2014.
I had just sold my house.
(16:26):
I was living with you guys, Ithink, right around that time
period.
Um, and, yeah, I was.
He just wanted to ride homefrom church with me and I was
like sure, and uh, yeah, asking20 questions, and that was one
of them.
And uh, yeah, I, I think, um, Idon't know, you could deny a
(16:50):
lot of things in life, but I, Ithink I knew fairly early on, uh
, what God wanted me to do, eventhough I spent, you know, a
good 10-15 years trying todecide what I was going to do,
even though I spent, you know, agood 10, 15 years trying to
decide what I was going to dowith my life.
But, I think, a couple ofthings God wanted me to be
married, he wanted me to havekids, and he also wanted me to
(17:14):
start my own business and all ofthose.
I resisted for a very long timedue to immaturity and other
reasons, but, yes, you know,that was a powerful moment and,
you know, I took it as more thanjust a funny little comment.
(17:34):
I took it as, yeah, ok, I'mback in church, I'm getting
closer to God, and God'sreminding me of his purpose for
me in this life.
And, we know, not everybody'smeant to get married and have
kids.
But you know, if you kind ofknow, you know know what God's
(18:00):
will is for you and you'redenying it and you're walking a
different direction, if you'retrying to be like Jonah and do
the exact opposite of what God'stelling you to do, then you're
going to waste a lot of time inlife and it's going to be a
struggle instead of just thisglorious gift that god wants to
(18:24):
give you.
So, uh, I moved back topennsylvania, which, um, I
thought was god's plan for mylife, but he made it apparent
that it wasn't and, did you like, start a restaurant uh, I
helped somebody start arestaurant.
Uh, that didn't ultimatelysucceed, but I was searching, I,
(18:47):
I had a passion for cooking andum wanted to, um, consider
being a chef.
And uh, that also showed methat that wasn't God's will for
my life.
So, but I, you know, youstubbornly don't give up on your
(19:08):
plans for your life versusGod's plans for your life.
So, continuing to pursue thatand I've always been a gypsy, so
to speak, I like moving arounda lot, I'm pretty transitory.
I guess that's why I stayed atyour house, stayed at PK's house
(19:29):
, like I'm always like goinghere, going there, doing
whatever.
But to get to the point, Idecided I want to take this big
southern road trip and I went tovisit a bunch of people and I
had a connection in Charleston,south Carolina, out going to
(19:49):
this cool little hangout place,and they're telling me and I was
like I don't know ifPennsylvania is right for me,
I'm looking to move somewhereand possibly be a chef, or I
(20:13):
don't know what the heck I'mdoing and they're like, oh, you
should move to Charleston.
There's like all these women'scolleges here and it it's a
three-to-one women-to-men ratio.
I'm like, oh, yeah, that soundsgreat.
They're like you should'tnecessarily believers or
anything, but that's what Iwanted to say.
(20:36):
Like any, god can use anybodyto direct your path.
So I got on Tinder and I'm likeI'm just going to keep traveling
(20:57):
and meet girls as I go alongand, yeah, you can you see, see
where that's going.
But I did, I.
I met a couple of girls andkept traveling and and ended up
in Denver, of course, to comeback and visit you guys and
visit a bunch of other friends,back and visit you guys and
(21:24):
visit a bunch of other friends.
And I met this one girl inDenver and, uh, went on a date
with her and we realized weliked each other a lot right off
the bat and then ended up doinga double date, uh, that same
evening.
I met her during the day andthen did a double date the same
evening.
And, yeah, my friend and herfriend and that is such a long
(21:48):
story.
But to get to the point, that'smy wife, jill, that I met
through Tinder and she's likegreat, I met this guy that
(22:10):
doesn't even live in Coloradoand if I can recommend one thing
to anybody, it's you know, Imoved back to a hundred
different questions and got anidea of where we each wanted to
go with our life, and that'sprobably one of the best dating
scenarios you can have is likegetting everything established
(22:34):
up front.
It's not just like going andhanging out and eating dinner
and watching a movie and notreally having deep discussion.
It was like we're having deepdiscussion every single day,
like I was turning 35 at thatpoint and she was turning 32.
So got both getting a laterquote unquote start in life.
(22:59):
But yeah, god intended us to betogether and he found a way to
do it and and uh and here we are.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
So yeah, four kids later yep, thanks, john so you
mentioned starting a business?
Um, yes, yes.
How has that been a journey foryou?
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Uh, it's, it's been amazing, Um, and right off the
bat, just so what do you do?
Speaker 1 (23:32):
What?
What did you?
What did you decide to do?
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Yeah, so I moved.
I moved back to Denver and Iliterally sat down with Jill and
I was like I can go get a jobor I've had this dream, I want
to start my own business foreverand just haven't done it.
What do you think I should do?
And surprisingly enough, shesaid go start your business and
I support you.
And I was like, cool, a littlebackground on her, she's a
(23:59):
farmer's daughter.
Cool, a little background onher, she's a farmer's daughter,
so she's used to kind of conceptof owning a business and you
got to do whatever you need todo to, you know, make that
business run like, uh, if yougot to work 12, 14 hour days to
get the harvest in, then that'swhat you do, and then you get
your downtime in the winter orwhatever.
(24:19):
So, yeah, through through, youknow her support, started my
business and then just got thatup and running.
And another guy from our church,norm, he had a tile business.
So I do painting, I'm apainting contractor, but I did
(24:45):
all kinds of handyman type stuffin the beginning just to get
started.
And Norm had a tile businessand I worked with him a little
bit and one of the things wetalked about all the time was
you have to have so much faithin God to run a business because
you know when you have a jobyou just unless you're getting
(25:08):
laid off or something you knowthat you're going to kind.
Yeah, the workflow is steadybut you still don't know like is
work going to come in.
Am I going to be able to getjobs?
You know, am I going to be ableto do the jobs?
(25:30):
And there's just so much thatgoes into running a business
where having faith helpsimmensely to be able to be
successful at it.
So not sure if I'm answeringyour question there directly,
but yeah, I think it just takesa lot of faith to run a business
(25:54):
.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Yeah, because it runs smooth all the time.
You don't ever have to worryabout anything, right?
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Yeah, I never have unhappy customers or anything.
So, yeah, employees, just moreopportunity for grace upon grace
in every single direction.
In every single direction Me tothe customers, customers to me,
(26:21):
me to my employees, employeesto me and customers and all the
way around.
So no one's perfect.
We make mistakes, some peopleare very forgiving and some
people are not, and yeah, kindof going on 10 years here.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
Yeah, let's dig into that for a minute.
So how do you representhumility in those situations?
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Yeah, you know I don't know if I'm always the
best representative, but I'vehad comments along the lines of
I have immense patience withpeople and give people way more
chances than they deserve.
(27:12):
As far as my employees areconcerned, you know, I really
try to do as much as I can formy customers.
You know, there's alwayssomething and I usually say
things like I don't need everylast dollar, like if there's
(27:34):
something we need to fix or somelittle thing that we can do, uh
, that just shows a lot of valuein what we do and it's kind of
me working for free.
Well, I'm okay, working forfree to, you know, hopefully
make somebody happy.
So you definitely learn that,yes, you want to please people,
(28:00):
but you don't necessarily wantto make it your goal to make
people happy, to make peoplehappy.
So, uh, you know, at the end ofthe day I'm doing what I think
is best for everybody involved,uh, um, and trying to do what I
think, uh, god would want me todo.
(28:24):
And and, of course, I've askedyou a couple of times for advice
on what to do in certainsituations.
And, uh, you haven'tnecessarily run your own
business, but you have very good, uh biblical wisdom to share on
just how to handle people ingeneral.
So I always appreciate youlistening to my business
(28:50):
problems and giving me somespiritual wisdom there.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
So, thank, you the difference in your life from
before you understood grace toafter understanding grace?
How would you describe thatdifference to somebody who maybe
(29:18):
doesn't know a lot about God'sgrace?
Or you know what a youngerbeliever that's just coming to
know him and his character, ayounger believer that's just
come in to know him and hischaracter?
How would you describe that?
The difference between kind oflike the Christian you grew up
as versus what you're like now?
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Yeah, I, I, I want to say right off the bat, it's
definitely been stages Like Imean, I definitely understood
grace as a teenager, um, to acertain degree.
And then, you know, a level ofgrace in my twenties and the
level of grace in my thirtiesand, uh, a whole new level of
(29:57):
grace in my forties here.
But, um, you know, I just even,even as a teenager, you have
the older generation in thechurch telling you what to do
(30:21):
and you know I was prideful, forsure, but I also knew I could
stand on scripture and, uh, tellpeople that we're not just here
to follow a bunch of laws andrules and everything that.
(30:41):
You know we don't want to turninto Pharisees, we're not
keeping burdens on people thatwe're not going to help them
carry.
That.
You know there's only one way,one path, which is Jesus.
And you know, we know we'resaved by grace.
(31:05):
But learning to live that outevery day again goes back to
like you'll spend the rest ofyour life and eternity learning
the deep, how deep grace is andhow amazing and wonderful it is.
And you know, I think you knowyou, you know you come to grace
(31:31):
through Jesus and God can useanybody and everybody to help
direct your path.
But ultimately, you know youpraying and you getting into the
word and knowing it is what'sgoing to deepen your level of
(31:51):
grace.
And you know everybody canpoint your sins out to you all
day, every day, and you know if,if, if that's what people want
to do, then fine.
But you have to have your ownconfidence and that confidence
(32:17):
is based on Jesus and Jesusalone.
(32:43):
And I think, when you're a youngChristian and me specifically,
a bunch of things.
Like you know, the old timeswere better than the new times
and and uh, like you know, theyounger generation is this or
that.
And I literally pulled out ascripture from the old Testament
that says it's not wise to saythat the old times are better
(33:07):
than these times.
I mean, every time is the same.
We're the same humans we were2000 years ago.
We we'd be the same humanscrucifying Christ ourselves if
we were there.
So, yeah, you're not going tohave an understanding of grace
(33:32):
right off the bat.
You just continue to grow in itand embrace it.
I don't know if I answered thatas directly either.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
No, it's good.
So some people, it's like a,like a shocking revelation,
especially people that grew upreally legalistic, um, or
completely irreligious.
You know they they're prettyshocked by this free grace and
they're like what, what are youtalking about?
Like jesus completely forgivesyou and then promises to supply
(34:08):
everything you need by his holyspirit.
Like this is you know too goodto be true?
Or where is the?
Where is my part?
What do I have to do for him?
You know, to earn this, becausenobody is, you know, that
generous to give everything forfree, yeah, and so they'll call
(34:30):
it cheap grace.
They'll be like oh, you're oneof those cheap grace preachers,
You're one of those guys thatbelieves in cheap grace.
And you know the response tothat is always it's not cheap
grace.
It was very, very, veryexpensive grace, but it is free
grace because the moment thatgrace ceases, or the moment that
(34:53):
grace costs something, itceases to be grace and it's now
works, it's now wages, yeah, andkeeping that line like really,
really solid, uh, can either beshocking or it can be gradual,
like Like it sounds like for youthat was kind of like you were
just learning to keep that line.
I keep grace in its place whereI go to Jesus, and that reminds
(35:17):
me of the verse we read at thebeginning where he says the
words that I speak to you arespirit and they are life.
You get that at the beginning,when you're saved and you're
like, oh, he said he would saveme and I believe it.
So now I'm saved.
But when he said he wouldforgive you when you screw up,
when he said he would be withyou in your trials, when he said
he would lead you and guide youthrough difficult times and
(35:38):
through good times, those aredaily tested out in our lives,
where we can't just say that webelieve them.
It has to be tested moment bymoment.
So that's what I'm kind ofhearing from you is like you
have a really greatobservational skill of like
stepping back and saying I wastested here, I was tested here,
(35:58):
I was tested here and I learnedto trust in the lord, learned to
trust in jesus, learned that hewas going to be faithful to his
word and his promises in mylife, which is exactly what we
said.
His words are spirit and theyare life and they've become your
life.
So how do you teach this toyour kids?
Speaker 2 (36:21):
yeah, I mean gosh a bunch.
I want to just say on that, uhuh, then back up, forget.
Speaker 1 (36:29):
I answered that question.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
No, I can keep that question in my mind, but yeah, I
mean, how do you teach it toyour kids?
How do you teach it to anybody?
How do you live it out yourself?
How do you teach it to yourself?
Um, so, uh, you know, theanalogy is, you know, comparable
to being married to your spouseand, uh, you have a whole lot
(36:57):
of infatuation at the beginningand, um, that love grows and
develops over time and, uh,become something different,
something deeper, and uh, um,it's kind of the same same thing
with Jesus is, um, you know,our love, our love develops over
time and uh, you know, and youknow, for the cheap grace thing
(37:23):
it's, it's like, you know how,what do I want to say?
I want to say how cheap isGod's love, how cheap is your
love back to God for what hegave you?
You know, it's a big deal anduh, I mean, we could talk about
(37:49):
our sins all day, but I want, Iwant, I want to think about all
this in an elevated sense of,like our sins literally don't
matter anymore.
They're covered by the blood ofJesus.
And uh, you know we're, and youknow we're the only ones
holding ourselves captive to sinIf the Son has set you free.
(38:13):
You're free indeed, you know, ifthe Spirit's living in you.
Yes, it's warring against theflesh, but your Spirit gives you
the power to not sin.
And you know, on and on,there's so many verses in the
Bible that are just challengingyou know, he tells the woman
(38:38):
that was going to be stoned like, if anybody has no sin, go to
cast the first stone.
Oh, nobody here anymore.
And then he's like go and sinno more.
Like you know, if god'sempowering you and giving you
his spirit, then you have every,you have all the power in the
(39:02):
world.
You need to not sin and like,and we always do this circle
back to like, but I am going tosin, and that's that's true.
You're still gonna fail andyou're still going to sin, um,
but you just grow.
(39:22):
You grow in in um, you grow ingrace, grow in love, um.
You grow to love your kids morewhen they're coming up to you,
um, so, yeah, this is my son,arlo, walking behind me.
Um, how do you teach your kids?
(39:46):
I mean, we all know it's example, but you know, yeah, just the
other thing I wanted to say iswhen Jesus' last statement
before he left this earth, hesaid if you love me, you would
(40:06):
keep my commandments.
Earth.
He said if you love me, youwould keep my commandments, and
the greatest commandment is loveGod and love each other.
And I said that phrase since Iwas a teenager.
Like, okay, you guys want totell me I have to follow a bunch
of rules and laws.
(40:26):
Well, if we just focus on howto love more, I think we're
going to be a lot further alongthan this human striving to
follow a bunch of laws that youknow, maybe we follow them for a
time, but then we eventuallybreak them them for a time, but
(40:56):
then we eventually break them.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
Yeah, there's this um um idea that that paul, in his
letters he basically sets forththis worldview like listen, the
law, it would tell you what todo at 9 am and 10, 30 and noon
and two o'clock and five o'clock.
And what we're doing here withJesus is we're taking away that
entire structure.
So now you're free to be ahuman and you're free to do what
(41:19):
you want.
Just ask yourself at everymoment, one of those moments,
what is the most loving thing Ican do right now?
And then that then becomes aconversation between you and the
Holy Spirit that lives insideyou, cause you're, you're
seeking like what?
What is it that my spirit wantsto do right now?
That's that.
(41:39):
You know that is the same aslove.
That is love and um.
And if we use that guideliterally every moment, we know
what to do, we know the will ofGod, because it's to love him
and love others, and we'll besuccessful in all the steps that
we have to take.
You know, god never says youneed to know the future.
He never says you need to knowwhere you're going to live or
(42:01):
where your food's going to comefrom, how you're going to make
money.
He never says any of that.
Like, people get really, reallyconfused about the will of God
and like am I doing the will ofGod?
And God's already told us, like, if you want to know, like,
(42:21):
what to do, like on a moment bymoment basis, it's love.
And if you don't know what thelove is, then look to me and ask
the spirit to show you what Iwould do in that situation and
truly, you'll find out thatthat's what you want to do.
Like his desires and our, ourdesires, like line up through,
you know, when we walk in thespirit, um.
So it's a beautiful descriptionof, of um, the spirit life.
Speaker 2 (42:45):
Yeah, love it.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
All right.
Well, I think that is a greatfirst conversation with you.
I'm sure I'll have you back, uh, sometime to get deeper into
grace.
I'm sure there's a lot morethat you could teach us and
practically share with us aboutlife, but, um, it's awesome to
get to spend some time with youand, um, are you out there on
social media?
Is there anything that that youwant?
(43:18):
To promote or talk about Uhseconds here.
Speaker 2 (43:20):
Yeah, not necessarily .
I mean, um, I make friends onFacebook and I'm always doing
this uh, wisdom of the day orsermon of the day on Facebook
and you know, I've had peoplecontinue to encourage me in that
and say I got, I got a lot outof that today, or I actually the
comments I usually get are Ineeded that today, like I needed
(43:43):
that reminder, and yeah, ifanybody wants to find me on
facebook, then, um, love, lovethe chat.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
So so funny story.
I was meeting with the guyearlier for coffee and uh, and
he's like uh, do you know jeremyday?
And I was like, oh yeah, you'relike my best friend.
And he's like oh yeah, uh,jeremy and I are meeting later
and we're doing this.
We're having coffee and I'mlike what?
Like are you going to lincoln?
And he's like, no, I'm going tobroomfield.
(44:16):
And I'm like I don't thinkwe're talking about the same guy
.
It turns out there's anotherjeremy day that is a purchasing
manager at some big company inBroomfield.
Speaker 2 (44:24):
So yeah, that's funny .
Speaker 1 (44:26):
Don't get confused.
So anyway, all right, man.
Well, thank you so much.
Uh, we're going to end it here,but, uh, we'll talk to you
again soon.
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