“How Sound Theology Shapes Real Discipleship (and Real Muscles)”

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the Faithful Fitness Podcast for My Dad. Coach
Alex van Houghten helps you get stronger and mind, body,
and spirit. He believes that your body's a temple, so
taking good care of it is an actual worship.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
I should know.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
I live with him. Every week. He brings truth from
the Bible, tool from science, and stories that will set
your heart on fire. May God bless you to become
everything He made you to be, just one percent better
every single day.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
What's up guys, Coach Alex van Houten here Faithful Fitness Podcast.
Our mission is to help you make the most out
of the body God's given you, and I have a
question for you that comes from today's episode. The question
is where are you getting your spiritual protein? Is it
coming from milk or is it coming from meat. Today's guest,

(00:51):
Gabe Agidri, is an expositional pastor and also the host
of the YouTube channel Expositor ninety nine, and he and
I are going to dig deep into God's word together.
He also has a background as a bodybuilder, and so
we're going to be talking about both the fitness aspect
of digging deep, but also the faith aspect of digging deep.

(01:13):
If you're a Christian, you are not meant to spend
your entire life on the milk of Christianity, just like
babies aren't meant to get all of their protein from
milk for the rest of their lives. Hopefully they grow
and mature to be able to chew on something more substantial.
I can't wait for you to hear this episode, and
if you haven't already, I need you to get meaty

(01:36):
with your faith and fitness by picking up our devotional
at faithfulfitnessdevot dot com. You can find the link in
the show notes. Let's get into it. What's up, guys.
This is coach Alex Vanhuan on the Faithful Fitness Podcast.
I'm super excited to have you today. Thank you for
dropping by. Our mission is to help you make the
most out of the body God's given you, and I

(01:56):
know this conversation we're having today is going to do
just that. I am joined by our awesome guest Gabe Egiriy.
What's up, brother? How you doing? Man?

Speaker 3 (02:05):
Doing good?

Speaker 2 (02:06):
My friend?

Speaker 3 (02:06):
How are you?

Speaker 2 (02:07):
I'm doing so good? And as we were talking pre show,
it's just so good to see you. It's been some years.
You and I had the opportunity to work out together
and to train together before we were It's not like
a past life, you know, because that would be very
not Christian to say, but but it feels kind of
like that because we were both pursuing personal training with
a large corporate gym chain, and I know both of

(02:28):
us are doing very, very different things, but fitness is
still a deep and important part of our life. So
I just wanted to say thank you for taking the
time to hop on here. I'm excited to have this conversation.

Speaker 3 (02:40):
I'm excited to be here. And while you bring up
that memory, you know, when you can when you work
in a gym, and I've worked in a lot and
I worked in a lot of companies. A lot of
times gym teams can be kind of clicky, and we
can experience that, but there's always a few that stand out,
few individuals that stand out to you that have this
welcoming spirit, this kindness, and it can be really apparent

(03:03):
who the believers fellow believers are on a team, and you,
along with a couple of others, really just stood out
to me with the kindness that you guys showed to
me in that time frame. And I'll never forget that.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
Oh man, thanks, thanks for that. At that time of
my life, it's so interesting to reflect back. I was
really struggling with God. Yet That's not something that somebody
would would know just by just by hanging out with
me on the fitness floor or whatever. But I was
really struggling with God. I knew he was there, I
knew he was a deep and important part of my life.
But I hadn't I hadn't submitted my whole life to

(03:35):
Christ yet. And so so I lived in such a
way that or at least I did my best. I
did my best to live in such a way that
I was exemplifying God on earth, trying to But man,
I had I didn't know what I didn't know. Yeah,
So during that time, during that time you come we

(03:56):
come from a time together actually where you were pursuing
personal training in bodybuilding. And we'll talk about bodybuilding later
and some of the pitfalls and some of the cool
things about it as a sport and stuff. But I've
got to ask in when did it occur to you
that it was time to pursue ministry, Because right now
you're a itinerant pastor, you are well I might have

(04:18):
that terminal. Is it a tinerant preacher or a tenant pastor?

Speaker 3 (04:21):
Is there is there if I tend to deal with
the term preacher just because it's more accurate. A pastor
does a lot of stuff in their hats, like counseling,
providing marital counseling. They have a lot of sessions throughout
the week where they do a lot of shepherding and so, uh,
and they do meetings, they do budget meetings. There's a
lot of little things under that iceberg that a true

(04:42):
story pastor does. We're more accurate. I do itinerant preaching.
So the pastor is sick, he needs a sub sub Yeah,
send me in. And then I just approached, so I
really don't do anything else. I just preach. And then
the same thing with the rescue MISSI here in the
Coachella Valley. They need someone to come in and preach

(05:03):
and come in, preach and leave. Yeah awesome, Well probably
with people they need it, but you know what I mean, like, sorry, sure,
you're a specific distinct role. So thank you for uh
shedding light on that terminology.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yeah, yeah, definitely, definitely And and and so you also
have a YouTube channel Expositor ninety nine. If somebody is
listening to this and they want to connect with with
the theological discussion we're having today, your your channels full
of that. I I want it to be very popular
because I think it's extremely important for Christians to understand
and discern good theology. And these are these are terms.

(05:35):
Let's let's dig into it while we're at it. Okay,
what what does exposition mean? Expositor ninety nine, Like, what, Yeah,
what does it mean? And why as as a follower
of Christ is it important to us to be trained
and practiced and exposition?

Speaker 3 (05:51):
Well, it's it's not a term. It's a great question.
It's not a term limited to theology. It's not a
term limited to studying the Bible. But it is how
you should study the Bible. And so exposition, I believe
it means you're exposing the text. That's the literal definition
is you're exposing what is in the text. And so,

(06:11):
if you were taking English literature, if you were taking
something secular and it was a literature class, you would
still do exposition. You would just be exposing that text.
You're diving into that Shakespeare work or that poem or whatever.
It is, and you're exposing what's in the text. And
so when we do exposition of a Bible passage, we're

(06:33):
pulling apart, word for word, phrase for phrase, what is
in that text. So I have a Bible right here,
actually have stacks of them, but my camera is not
low enough. So if I'm here in Genesis one one,
it's gonna read in the beginning, God created the heavens
and the earth. It's justis one to one. So if
I'm going to exposit that text, I'm going to go

(06:55):
through each phrase. I'm going to go through each word
in the Hebrew, and if I'm in the New Testament
in the Greek, and I'm gonna study the meaning and
pull out the meaning from each word. So each line,
I'm pulling out the meaning of that text as I
teach it, and the the value and the necessity in
that is to get the actual intended meaning of the text.

(07:18):
So again not just limited to studying theology and scripture,
I can't make Macbeth about whatever I want it to
be right as an intended meaning by its author William Shakespeare. Likewise,
if I'm reading the Gospel of Matthew, I want to
be able to study it in context, so I can

(07:39):
get with the Holy Spirit and placed on Matthew to
give to the audience. So by studying it expositionally and
and reading it within its full context, line by line,
I'm able to then get the best get the author's
intended meaning for the reader.

Speaker 2 (07:56):
Yeah, I think of this as a and tell me
if i'm I'm I'm wrong here. But in my mind
I think about it is the difference between the milk
and the meat that Paul was talking about. So when
Paul says, Hey, I really love to teach you some
really deep things, I think he's speaking specifically to the
Galatians in this reference, but he says, I really like
to teach you some deep things, but you're not ready

(08:17):
for the meat. I've got milk for you. And and
so he's speaking topically throughout his letter about things that
are important, practical, pertinent to the church. Right, But there's
that underlying as if you know an infant, you don't
give them a ribbi because they'll joke. They won't make it,
you know. So here's some milk, here's some nutrients, here's

(08:38):
some here's things you need to grow immature. But when
when you do start to grow and mature. You don't
stay on the milk. You got to chew on the stuff.
You got to chew on the good. I think of
exposition as chewing on scripture. Is that a decent way
to think about it.

Speaker 3 (08:54):
I think that's a great way to put it. And
so even if that wasn't the direct thing Paul's addressing there,
I think you can definitely apply that phrase to what
we're talking about here. And so why I'm so passionate
about expositional preaching so much so to name the channel
inspire the name of the channel by it is, I
think it's it's really lacking, really lacking today in the

(09:18):
Christian community, within the church with the capital C is.
You know, we're just getting a lot of preaching that
there can be a time and place for topical. So
don't get me wrong, but we're getting Yeah, we're getting
a lot of a lot of milk, a lot of
baby food. And I think we're underestimating how many people
really want to give me give me the word, I
want the meat? Yeah, how many people actually hunger for

(09:41):
God's word?

Speaker 2 (09:42):
Yes? And we.

Speaker 3 (09:44):
What what's the word looking for? We can think, oh,
assume people want to be played down to. We can
assume people want it dumb down, but the reality is
there's so many people there are seeing the pews hungry
for the meat of God's word and passionate about giving
that to them and see the need there for that.

Speaker 2 (10:01):
Amen, well as somebody who serves the church regularly. Thank
you very much for that, because, like you said, I
believe there's there's a time and place for topical preaching.
I think I think sometimes as a pastor, milk to
the congregation lowers the barrier to entry for individuals who
are seeking and want to understand but aren't familiar with
God's word. But at the same time, if that's all

(10:22):
that's coming from the pullpit, we're leaving behind those who
have said, yes, I want to follow Christ, I want
to become a disciple. Give me, give me something to
work with here. And so I got some meat from
a recent conversation you had with doctor Waldron. I wanted
to share it with you because I thought you might
appreciate it, and I also think it might be worth
talking about. And that is uh, you guys dove into it.

(10:46):
It was just one sentence and it's in context, you know,
Peter is recognizing Christ as the Messiah, and Jesus says this,
you are, Peter on this rock, I will build my
church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it.
And doctor Waldron spent some time on that, and you

(11:06):
you kind of you know, bounced it back and forth
with him. He talked about that specific word prevail, and
he said, hey, there's something really encouraging here. He said
that the word prevail, the way it's used there and
the way it's used throughout scriptures, it's actually would be
better translated that the gates of Hell would not be
able to defend against the Church. And what that means

(11:29):
is that the word prevail, as it's used there, is
generally used as like a city that's trying to fortify
itself against an encroaching army and they're not letting them in.
They're they're defending well, that they're they're prevailing in their defense.
And he says, hey, look, the way it sounds is
that Hell is attacking the church, but the Church isn't
going to fall to it. It's like it's actually the

(11:49):
opposite way around. If you actually dig into the meaning
of this word, that that Hell's on the defense. Hell's
on its heels. It's like, oh no, and the Church
is like, no, we're taking territory and you can't keep
it because because God's Church is on the offense.

Speaker 3 (12:04):
And I was like, because, yeah, I've never heard it
put that way before.

Speaker 2 (12:09):
Yeah, right right, And then that changes. You know, when
you wake up in the morning and you're you feel
like you're being attacked on all sides, and you read
something like that, You're like, Okay, I'll stand on God's promise.
Hell will not prevail against the Church, and I'm going
to keep keep you know, fighting the good fight and
dealing with the the burden. Blah blah blah. You can
have that, have that heart toward it. But when the

(12:29):
Holy Spirit says no, you're on offense, yeah, it's not
going to stand our attack, right yeah, right, like we're
taking we're taking territory from Hell. Today. You wake up,
you're like, let's go, let's I'm fired up. Let's get
this thing man. Yeah, that was the.

Speaker 3 (12:44):
Imagery he used. So it's a big book. It's this
theology book right there. It's a it's a thick What
took me all of June to read this book and
he uses our imagery from Lord of the Rings, Return
of the King, and that that imagery is actually really
helpful and understand the concept that he was bringing forth
there from the Greek of you know, you've imagine you've

(13:05):
seen the.

Speaker 2 (13:05):
Movie, yeah, oh yeah, yeah, all right and multiple times.

Speaker 3 (13:09):
Yeah, Eric Gorn is leading uh gon Door and all
the troops with him against the gates of more Door.
And so he's saying you should look at it like that. Yes,
the Church and we they're not going to prevail against
this because we're gonna with we're gonna overcome them.

Speaker 2 (13:27):
Taking the fight to them. Yeah, yes, yes, that's right.
So so that was some meat that I got. And
like that's one that's the cool thing about scripture. It's
one line, man, it's one line. And if and if you'll,
if you'll dig deep enough, that line has deep roots
and it will encourage your spirit. It will it will
change the way you understand your relationship with with God,

(13:52):
his calling on your life, and with Christ. And so
so thank you for what you're doing uh in in
expositional preaching, and thank you for what you're doing in
the YouTube space. It might for some people it might
feel over their head I would encourage them to keep
listening and it will grow on you, I promise. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (14:10):
Actually your question brings it really helpful and bringing an
example to your earlier question on give an example of
helping people understand why expositional preach and why is exposition
important is So you see behind me, these are primarily commentaries.
The average Lakers doesn't know what a commentary is. I
didn't really know any words that I went to seminary.

(14:31):
So if I'm doing a passage on the Gospel of John,
pull this out and this is an entire book on
the Gospel of John. It's a commentary. So they'd be
a scholar, and that's his expertise, is the Gospels or
or the Gospel of John says by da Carson. Okay,
And so if I'm doing a passage on John chapter three,
then I would come in here and there is all

(14:53):
of this explanation, pages and pages on John chapter three.
So if I'm going to teach this, then I go
and refer to what these experts have done. So how
doctor Waldren would know that one you often have to
take Greek when you go to seminary, but two you
would dive into a commentary like this on I believe
the passages quoting was in Matthew, or it might have

(15:15):
been in Mark, and you would study that and that's
where you would get those little insights from now to
the average person that isn't going to preach or or
isn't leading a Bible study, maybe they don't need, you know,
an entire library of commentaries, but I would recommend just
getting a good study Bible. I have a ESV Study
Bible right here. There's the NIV Theological Study Bible that

(15:39):
we used in seminary. So a good study Bible that
you come to a phrase and you don't understand would
that mean? Come down to the bottom and there's little
footnotes and so it's not as extensive as a commentary.
But those study Bibles are made so that you can
get a scholarly explanation to those little questions that should

(16:00):
pop up in your mind as you're reading it. You
know it's written thousands of years ago. You should have
questions as you're reading this text, and then explains that
and then you can read on as you understand more.

Speaker 2 (16:11):
Mm hmmmm, awesome. Thanks for that, man. I appreciate that.
And I there's a quote. I want to say it
was D. L. Moody, but I could be wrong, and
and so I might need to look this one up
before I keep quoting it. But but it was the
quote was so powerful that stuck in my mind. It
was like, this could be timeless, it doesn't matter who
said it. And it was that that the the powerful
thing about God's word for for him was that that

(16:36):
it's it's shallow enough that a child can get in
without drowning, but it's so deep that we've been swimming
around in it for thousands of years and we still
haven't reached the bottom. That was his That was his
his look at at both the how how the milk
can be nurturing, but that that you know, you're not

(16:58):
made to splash around on the kiddie pool for the
rest of your your walk with Christ. Like get in
the deep end man, learn learn how to swim around
because because it doesn't stop, it doesn't stop going to
the bottom. And that that is a corollary, in my mind,
to the parable of the sower. And and I want
to I want to bring our conversation to this piece

(17:19):
because I believe in our world today this is very
relevant and that that is, as the parable of the
sower goes. Jesus tells a story where a man is
sowing seeds and it lands on four different types of soil,
the path, the thorns, the rocky soil, the shallow soil,
and the good soil. And what Jesus tells us is
that when when the seed falls on on rocky soil

(17:41):
the shallow soil, the root is too shallow. The plant
springs up quickly, but the root is too shallow to
withstand the scorching sun. And when he explains it to
his disciples, he says, this is this is like those
who hear the word. They receive it with gladness, but
they're not rooted deeply enough for when life happens. Basically,

(18:06):
but plus remind us a few phrases there, and I
believe this is so pertinent and important in the church,
particularly with what just happened over the last couple of
weeks in our nation. There are people flocking to the church.
I don't know if you saw church attendants in your
area go up for our church. We saw thirty percent
more adults and children in our congregation in the weeks

(18:30):
following the Charlie kirkincident. And when you look at that,
it's like, oh my gosh, the spirit's moving in the world.
People are people are seeking truth, they're looking for God,
which is amazing. But if we as Christians do not
have deep roots, then how are we going to show
them how to grow deep roots? That like this idea

(18:54):
of expositional preaching, being able to dig deep into the
word also has a lot to do with the soil
of our church, the soil of our hearts to grow
deep roots and show other people how to do the same.
And I wondered if if you had anything to add there,
because I think like, you didn't start your YouTube channel

(19:14):
because of what happened in our nation. You've been at
this for years, you went to seminary school, you're you're
you know, preaching. You you start a YouTube channel, and
I know that's not easy work, doesn't even sound like
it has a lot to do with your actual job,
But but you're doing it because because the deep rooted
thing is is necessary and important regardless of the time frame,

(19:39):
but right now it seems particularly important. How's your how's
your heart? And thoughts on that?

Speaker 3 (19:45):
Well, there's a lot of directions where you go right there.
So you asked me as we were getting ready to
start and kind of build live here, I want to
ask what is theology and why does theology matter? And
I'm going to bring back to going deep and all
that theology is the study of God. You know. Uh,

(20:06):
in seminary we kind of go more specific called theology proper.
You're studying the real God, the God of the Bible.
But yeah, theology is the study of God.

Speaker 2 (20:15):
You know.

Speaker 3 (20:15):
If anything, ology is the study of that theme. Theology
is the study of theos God. And I was going
through with final chapters in Mere Christianity with our small
group with the men's group, and there's this chapter where C. S.
Lewis is talking about He's saying, there's a lot of
people that think, oh, we don't need theology, we just

(20:35):
want a practical religion. Well give it, just give us
practical stuff. We don't need theology. And the reality is
if why that thought process is so wrong is if
you don't study it and get to know who God
is by his revealed word God. We have we worship
with God who has spoken and he's told us what

(20:56):
he's like and who he is, and we don't engage
then stay that and gets and see who he is,
who he's declared himself to be. Then we don't really
know God, we don't really know him. And so and
our theology impacts the practical living. Our theology impacts all
our other aspects of theology.

Speaker 2 (21:16):
And so.

Speaker 3 (21:18):
If you look at any of Paul's letters Romans we
mentioned Galatians earlier, Colossians, he always starts with the gospel.
He always starts with theology. Well he has agreed, you know,
but the bulk of the first three chapters in any
Appaulline letter is theology. And then he gets super practical.
So here's the gospel, Here's what Jesus has done for you.

(21:39):
Here's how you've been reconciled to God through the work
of Christ. Now here's what you should do about it. Now,
here's how you should live. Here's how you apply it
in society. Then you get into Ephesians chapter four and five.
You know, then this is how it plays out in
your house, this is how it plays out in government.
Here's how it plays out society. So you have the
need for theology to then know how to actually apply

(22:02):
Christianity in your day to day life. You're asking me, Oh,
the need to go deep and and the need for
that depth. Otherwise you're like that seed that got that
got choked because it was on shallow ground. Okay, so uh,
without getting getting too personal in the details, you know,

(22:25):
I I went through divorce in the last two years
and a very painful thing. And and when you go
through tragedy and loss like that, you you question everything.
You know, if you lose a loved one, you you
question anything. Do I really believe this? Do I really
want to continue to follow this guy? You know, you
see someone go through a lot of loss and they question,

(22:46):
is this really what I wanted it to be? You know?
And so it was important that I had good theology
then yes, because I had to. I had to reckon
with the fact that you know, if I believed some
kind of prosperity gospel message that hey, God promised me
that I would, I wouldn't ever endure these kind of

(23:06):
hard times, that I'd just be healthy, wealthy and wise.
Because I tied. No, Because I understood good theology, I
knew that that suffering is part of it that Jesus says,
you know, in this world you will have tribulation, but
be of good cheer. I have overcome the world because
I faithfully studied theology, because I faithfully knew was about.

(23:28):
I knew that going through loss wasn't anything that I
had been promised I wouldn't have if anything every day
is a gift from God, and God doesn't owe me
anything that A lot of times when we have bad theology,
we can have a more entitled attitude. We go about, well,
a good God wouldn't let me go through this, or

(23:50):
or I went to church this many times, so I
should have this like no, no, no. When you study theology,
you know is by God's grace that we're here talking.
And so I needed to have good theology in that moment.
I needed the apologetics that I studied to hold on
and understand the truth. Because when you go through loss,

(24:12):
you want to believe a lot of lies, a lot
of lies of despair come your way, you know, of
wanting to give up and so forth. But I knew
the truth of God's word, and so I hung tight
to that. I hung tied to the fact that now
I need to cling to the Gospel. Right now, I
can't get into despair. I need to cling to the

(24:33):
beauty of the gospel beauty, that I've been saved by
grace through faith, and that it's nothing that I've done.
So what do I have to be entitled about?

Speaker 2 (24:44):
Mm hm, you know, yes, well said and that. So
as you were speaking, there was thinking two things. The
first thing that came to mind is probably the most relevant.
But is that that when when we do go through suffering,
and we will like that's the Jesus said, follow me.
He didn't say it was going to be easy. He said, yeah, right,

(25:08):
he said, he said, my burden is light, which is
a little different from this is this might be a
hard road, the narrow way, the straight path is difficult
that leads to life, and few there will be that
find it. Uh. But but when when he says that
we know we are going to go through suffering, whether

(25:29):
it's the illness of ourselves or a loved one loss,
or grief like like you're you're mentioned there with divorce.
There's there's all kinds of things that we are going
to go through. And when we go through those things,
if we are deeply rooted, like a plant can wilt,
a plant can can cease to bear fruit for a season.

(25:51):
But if we're deeply rooted, we'll come back, we'll keep growing,
like it'll be okay, you know, next next season's leaves
will be be greener and and whatnot. But but if
we're not deeply rooted, then then trials and tribulations will
will eat us all the way up. And those are
the times when when Satan and his minions like to

(26:12):
inject lies into our life, and and we might not
even need his help. We can come up with playing
of them all on our own. And and and when
when we are deeply rooted, those those lies they might
be like I just had a conversation with somebody about
I've got a rosebud tree out front, and it grows
these little sucker plants on it. It's still rosebud tree.

(26:35):
But but these little sucker roots will steal nutrients from
the rest of the tree. And so so every year
I've got to go out there and make sure I
cut those off at the bottom and yank them out
and throw throw them out. But it's because the tree
already has good, deep roots that I can recognize the
suckers for what they are, right and and in my mind,
that's that's what good theology is, good deep strong roots

(26:58):
that when the suckers show up, you're not a sucker. Yeah,
I'm gonna I'm going to root that sucker out because
because it's not going to steal from the tree of
my life. It's not going to steal from from what
what God has has taught me, which is to be
rooted as as Jesus said to be to be joined
to the vine. I am the vine the branches. And

(27:19):
when you abide in me and I and you, you
will bear much fruit. But apart from me you can
do nothing, he says in John. And so so that
that that theological truth and the study of theology is
necessary for the depth roots. Now I have a confession
to make.

Speaker 3 (27:35):
Yeah, before you get to that, I was thinking of
something as you were talking. Go ahead, how suffering and
tribulation and how that's relevant to the first question of
why expositional preaching? Why expositions as here and so especially
the answer this other answer that popped in my head
here is uh, shallow or water down preaching doesn't prepare

(27:56):
the listener for trials and tribulations. True that, and so
there's some difficult things in this book. You know, there's
some difficult things in this Bible I avoid those because
I'm like, I don't want to offend people are Oh,
let's just go with this easy top a message here.
But if I actually preach line by line through the

(28:17):
Bible and xpos about it's more difficult. Let's there's gonna
be more uncomfortability. But the here, the congregate, the person
listening online, they're going to be more prepared and equipped
for trials and tribulations that are going to come away.

Speaker 2 (28:30):
That's that's so well said. I was walking through TJ
Max with my wife. I don't I don't like TJ
Max and I don't like the shop, but but you know,
this is a good husband will walk through TJ Max.
And there was a there was a mug, a coffee
mug said uh and no harm shall befall her psalms, YadA, YadA.
I don't remember what the And I was like, I've

(28:51):
been a Christian for a while, I've read the Bible
through multiple times, and I'm thinking like, it never makes
that promise that like like some poor, some poor chick
somewhere is holding this off mug, thinking like I'm not
going to get flat tires and everything's going to go
my way, you know, And so I looked it up
and it was Jerusalem. It was it was talking about
the city of Jerusalem under God's protection in the in

(29:13):
the Promise of the future. Right, no armshall befall her,
which makes plenty of sense to me. Right, But if
some poor person has taken they don't understand what the
verse means, they don't understand it in the context that
it was written. They don't, they don't, they don't have
deep roots. Then then this faith, this faith is very

(29:34):
shallow and easily broken, easily easily overcome by by just
the everyday vicissitudes of life. Is that that will that
will eat shallow root up and and what you're saying
there has so much, so much power and validity. Did
you have another thought?

Speaker 3 (29:50):
Uh? No, I think it was sos. I'm forty six
to two. I want to say, because I think it's
the Lord's with or she shall not fall. And I
see a lot of He's trying to this is my
this is my life verse.

Speaker 2 (30:02):
She is Jerusalem, Yeah, she is Jerusalem. Yeah. Probably more
like if you're going to relate it to anything, it
might be close more closely related to the Bride of Christ.
Not the same thing, but more closely related to the
Bride of Christ than some individual chick who everything's going
well for her. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (30:18):
Absolutely, context matters. Yeah, you were asking me how that
pertained to the assassination of Charlie Kirk or could you
make uh specify what you were asking with there that
I can give my best answer possible.

Speaker 2 (30:34):
Well, so, in my mind, we're in this very important time,
and I think this brings me to this conversation about
the body. Actually two, so we can we can We're
in this very important time where it's obvious. It's obvious
to me. I don't know if it's obvious to you
as a believer, but I believe it's obvious that that
God's moving in our land in such a way that individuals,

(30:55):
even despite themselves, are turning in His direction. Doesn't mean,
like you know, there's some like magical conversion peppering the
land or anything, but but the spirit of God is
obviously moving in the hearts of individuals who would never
have anything to do with church, wouldn't pick up a Bible.
It's it's obvious to me that this is the case.

(31:15):
And and so so we we have individuals who are
coming seeking the truth, whether to Christians they know are
outwardly Christians. Uh, to churches that you have, you know,
a billboard somewhere, and they're like, I'm going to church.
I don't know anything about church, but I'm going, you know, yeah,
and so and so this there's this this obvious seeking

(31:36):
for truth and and I have a this is related
to fitness in my mind. You'll you'll appreciate this. Other
my listeners might be like, what are you talking about, Alex.
But but you know how you go to a gym
and there's a dude doing curls in the squat rack.
You know that feeling inside you're both like frust when

(31:57):
you have.

Speaker 3 (31:58):
A client and they're supposed to do squad and there's
this guy just and there's this guy.

Speaker 2 (32:03):
What are you doing? Bro? You're doing curls in the
squat rack. You can do curls anywhere in the gym.
The squat rack is for squats and and and you know,
because you can't do heavy barbell squats anywhere else in
the gym, not without hurting yourself real good so so uh,
but the guy's at the gym, which which separates him

(32:23):
from everybody else who didn't come to the gym today, right,
So there's this like pain in my heart for for
individuals who have come to the right place, are willing
to do the work, but the work they're doing is wrong,
Like they're like that, there's a there's a pain in
my heart from a fitness perspective, but also from a

(32:46):
faith perspective. I came to church, I got my family up,
but you know it's hard, as it's so hard to
get a three year old out of bed and dressed
and ready for church. It's just so hard if you
had a few of those little ones running around, Like
it's a big deal for somebody to bring their family
to church. And then we're going to sing some songs

(33:07):
and stuff. And then they hear from the pulpit milk
and it's like, okay, cool, I'm picking up what you're
putting down. And then they do it again next week,
and then they do it again react next week, and
then something happens in their life where milk's not enough
and they don't know where to find the meat. So
for me that I see this and I'm like, oh,

(33:27):
it's such an important time right now for Christians to
be deeply rooted to understand truth from lies to understand
how to open the Bible. And I love I love preaching,
I love things coming from the polepit, but you got
to be able to open the Bible and feed yourself too.
You got to be able to find the sustenance that's

(33:49):
in the words. So I guess that's what I'm talking about,
is it's obvious that in our present world there are
things happening that are causing people to turn and look
to find the truth. And and it's uh, I'm asking you,
you know, part of part of your work, I feel like,
is equipping the body of Christ to be able to
expositionally read the Word, to to to understand the difference

(34:12):
between bad theology and actually sound doctrine and so and
so that's what I was talking about.

Speaker 3 (34:19):
Thoughts on that, Yeah, as far as seeing this response
within the last few years of you're seeing you're noticing
a lot of people that were adamant atheists. You know,
I see a lot of attention on like, Hey, Joe
Royan was this adamant atheist, and now you see him
open to going to church and having biblical scholars on
the show. And you see other celebrities and you see

(34:40):
this move of people wanting to embrace the at least,
at the very least the values of the Bible. And
it reminds me of in First Corinthians, there's this there's
this individual that is excommunicated, uh and he's committing uh
incests with most scholars believe his stepmother. And Paul says,

(35:04):
we're going to hand him over to Satan. And so
it's a strange, it's interesting phrase to use, but essentially, uh,
we're going to give him over to this worldliness. We're
going to let him go and then with the intention
that he will come to repentance and come back.

Speaker 2 (35:21):
Right.

Speaker 3 (35:22):
So in Second Corinthians, now Paul saying, receive him back
as a brother, receive this guy back in repentance. And
I think we're seeing something very similar within society, within
our nation is I think in a lot of ways
there was this Uh. There's a lot of worldly answers given.
There's a lot of people being turned over to worldliness

(35:44):
and they tasted it and they're spinning out like no,
thanks that whatever truth is, it wasn't that. What do
you have to offer?

Speaker 2 (35:55):
Like the prodigal son, right, you got the one the
one who stayed with dad, who had this problem. By
the way, it was a little frustrated with the prodigal Yeah.
But but then the one who went and ended up,
you know, hanging out with the pigs actually talked about
it in uh. I talked about in the devotional work
we're putting out this month, which is which we call
it a mud moment. But but the moment I'm down
with the pigs and the mud and I'm like, this

(36:18):
isn't this isn't right, This isn't how I was supposed
to live. This is not what my father wanted for me.

Speaker 3 (36:23):
I think a lot of a lot of people in
our society today in the last few years, they're there
in the pig slop and and they they tried the
answers that the world was shoveling to them and there
and they came to this realization, this isn't what I
thought it was. This isn't the answers that I thought
it was. And now they're coming and they're open to
hearing the truth. They're open to hearing the Gospel, and

(36:44):
they're saying, Okay, this what what you're saying here about jeus,
what you're saying about the Bible, this explanation of creationism.
This makes more sense. Tell me more.

Speaker 2 (36:53):
Mm hm.

Speaker 3 (36:53):
We at least have people hooked right here where they're
they're at least you're seeing a lot of people that
are open to tell me more. And that's a great
place to be. We need to be ready and equipped
for that to hand those answers over.

Speaker 2 (37:04):
Well said.

Speaker 3 (37:05):
Well said, Now you also see within these last couple
of weeks, you've also seen a very negative response. And
I like being optimist, and I do see the glory
on God at that memorial service and all these people
sharing the gospel. But we also saw a response of
a lot of hatred and a lot of negativity towards
the body of Christ and towards Christianity. But this goes

(37:28):
back to what you're asking me about the necessity of
being in the Word. Because as I pondered just through
this response, and I looked at particularly from gen Z,
you know gen Z on this side, on the political lifside,
but particularly from gen Z what I observed, and there
were some people being really negative and hateful that we're older.

(37:51):
But primarily what I saw I was observing from gen Z,
and I think what we're seeing is a biblically illiterate generation.
We're seeing a generation that they're so removed from understanding
the Bible as their worldview, understanding God's word as their

(38:13):
authoritative lens of right and wrong, that it's literally that
pronouncement of judgment. Jeremiah, woe to you who call good
evil and evil good. And the answer is that you
just got to be in the word. You got to
be in a word and allow that to be authoritative
in your life. Allow that to direct your understanding of

(38:35):
right and wrong. Otherwise you know the world is going
to shape it and direct you in the opposite direction.
And so my advice to someone listening that you're not
in you're about carve out a time in your day
that you do it every day.

Speaker 2 (38:52):
Every day.

Speaker 3 (38:53):
I get up, I set my coffee to brew. I'm
half awake, the dogs are just looking in like where's
the dog food? And then I know in that coffee things,
I'm gonna get my black coffe. I'm gonna sit down
and be in the word. And this obviously has parallels
to fitness. If you want this to get rolling, you
need to just make it a part of your day,

(39:14):
no matter what, and that's how you will be shaped
by God's word and it will then gradually become your worldview.
And I think too many people today, even within the
conservative sphere, will often allow the news to shape their worldview,
you know, and it's like, okay, well that's missing the market.

(39:36):
We want God's word to shape our worldview. We want
God's word to be our anchor to truth. Nothing on television,
not reels, not social media, not the newspaper. Dating myself here, No,
we want God's word to direct our understanding of what
truth is.

Speaker 2 (39:57):
Amen and that even if somebody's listening to this or not,
they're not really really deep into their faith, because that
that could easily be preaching to the choir. You got
people who are like, yeah, Bible every day done, Like
I couldn't live without it, right, But if you're if
you're not in your Bible every day, I want to
challenge you and encourage you at the same time. Here,
here's the thing over at ninety five percent, and this

(40:19):
is this is actually a well researched fact. Stanford and
Harvard did very similar studies on this front with a
large sample size. Over ninety five percent of what you'll
be exposed today has been produced in the last forty
eight hours, so YouTube channel, social media, TV production, all
that stuff. Even if you don't understand what you're always

(40:41):
reading in God's word. God's word is old, it's ancient.
It's like it's way way before you remember anything. A
lot of people can't even tell me their great great
great grandfather's name, Like that's only four generations. I don't know.
I don't know. Unless you've done some genieology work, you
don't know either. But the words written in the Bible

(41:05):
are they're ancient, and they they were powerful then. And
what's really cool is they're going to live on way
after you, Like they're going to keep going. Jesus said
that heaven and earth will pass away, but my word
will not pass away, Like that's going to continue. And
so like, think about it. If I'm going to go
about my day today and I'm going to deal with

(41:27):
whatever the world's thrown at me, whatever my family's thrown
at me, whatever I've thrown at myself, whatever is God's
asked me, whatever path he's asked me to walk in
the good work he has in front of me today,
doesn't it make sense that I should be deeply rooted
in something that has been and will be as opposed

(41:47):
to allowing myself to be rooted in I think of
it as bitter water. But as as as something that's
that's going to change every twenty four hours, every forty hours,
it's gonna shift, it's going to change, that's right. Psalms
one says that that blessed is the man who walks

(42:08):
not on the council of the young godly, nor stands
with sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful.
For his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on it he meditates day and night. And it
goes on about him being a tree planted by rivers
of living water. But it says this in five and six.
It says the ungodly are not so, for they are
blown about like a chaff in the breeze, and they

(42:28):
will not stand in the day of judgment. Like that's
such a to me, that's such a poignant picture. It's
just a point like I can be rooted by rivers
of living water. I can bring forth good fruit, my
leaves will not wither faith because I'm rooted in God's word,
or or I can just like every day. Oh no,
now we're mad at this person. Oh now we're worried

(42:48):
about this thing. Oh now I gotta go do this,
and like, man, what a way to live? Like what
a rough way to live. If that's you, I'm so sorry.
Stop it. Like, get in the Bible.

Speaker 3 (43:02):
I'm so glad you bring up the how timeless or
how long the longevity of scripture because it's interesting. A
lot of skip, a lot of skeptics will attack Christianity
and say, oh, well, the Bible's outdated or you believe
that book it's so old. It's like, well, actually, that's
its strength, is uh is standing the test of time? Yes,

(43:24):
speak of a concept that someone brings up a concept
and then it just dies away. Well, yeah, it didn't
stand the test of time. And there's this interaction in
Acts where the the apostles are brought before the Sanhedrin
and they're being questioned and they're the Pharisees are deliverering
what do we do with them? They really want to

(43:45):
execute them and so forth, but they're they're boldly saying,
we're not going to stop preaching the name of Jesus.
And then it talks about this wise versus named Gamaliel
and Gamaliel says to him, if he mentions a bunch
of false messiahs that popped up, if this guy had
a big following and then he died and it fell apart,
and then they all dispersed. And then this guy came

(44:07):
up and he had a big following, and then he
died and the movement stopped. And so then he tells
the other the other people in the fand the Sanhedrin,
he says, if this isn't from God, it'll go away
on its own, it'll die off. And then he warns them.
It's so interesting how prophetically warns him, but if this
is from God, you may find yourself in the position

(44:28):
of fighting God. And I was like, whoa. And the
thing about that, he says this two thousand years ago,
over two thousand years ago. Yes, and that's the timeless
nature scripture. That is scripture, the truth of Scripture standing
the test of time.

Speaker 2 (44:44):
Mm hmmmm hmmm. Yes, such such a testament. And if
and if you want to live your life in a
way that's rooted in something that stands the test, you
don't have a choice. You gotta get to scripture. There's
nothing else that has that staying power in life. And
and so I guess it in a strange way, this
kind of brings me to the body and I'm so
glad this is a scriptural conversation. I love talking Bible,

(45:07):
and I'm so grateful for the work that you're doing.
And here on the Faith and Fitness podcast, my goal
is to bring the intersection of faith and fitness. I
like to say a tongue in cheek tagline, put more
faith in your fitness. I don't think you need to
put faith in fitness as opposed to faith in Christ.
But I do believe that fitness is a space that

(45:29):
faith can be injected into and is necessary because because
otherwise we as a as a body of Christ, in
many ways, we kind of seed that that seed ce
d e seed. We we we relinquish, We surrender that
space to the enemy. We let the enemy have fitness
and nutrition and here yeah, yeah, yeah, here, here have it.

(45:53):
We don't want anything to do with bodybuilding. You should
you let Satan own that? Like no, no, So I
want to I want to ask. I want to ask
for you. You and I. You and I met on
the on the fitness floor working with clients and whatnot.
We've gotten to work out together, which I can't say
that about everybody that I've interviewed on this podcast, which

(46:14):
is great. You you undertook the discipline of bodybuilding, and
I have a lot of respect for for bodybuilding as
a discipline because there's a what it's not easy, I mean,
it's like it's like intentionally one of the hardest things,
I think, one of the hardest sports you can do.
They say that hitting a golf ball really well is

(46:36):
the hardest thing you can do athletically, and they obviously
haven't trying to grow good lads, because calves grow grow,
calves grow, lads grow grow quads, you know. But but bodybuilding.
But I have a contention with the bodybuilding community as
as a as a trainer and as a health coach
and nutritionists because for many people in the bot not everybody.

(47:00):
I've met some awesome people in the bodybuilding community, but
in the bodybuilding community, it looks like vanity. It looks
like look how good I look? Look how look the
poses I can strike? You know, look, look how bodybuilders
aren't really that concern with how much weight they can
bench press. We know better, like hyperturr fhee doesn't require
really really heavy weight and you have to spend your

(47:21):
shoulder as well. Right. But you in your life, God
has brought you into a place where you have been
able to take on a cool physical discipline like bodybuilding.
But I know that in your training as a preacher
that there's no room for vanity, there's no room for

(47:44):
the pursuing of vanity. Yet you're not done being You're
not done lifting weights. So can you talk to me
about some of the work God's done in your heart
to show you what the discipline of bodybuilding, the discipline
of pursuing that every day, what does that have to
do with His work in your life and growing your faith?

Speaker 3 (48:09):
Absolutely?

Speaker 2 (48:09):
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (48:10):
So that is a question that I've gotten a couple
of times. Uh. Sometimes people haven't asked it as kindly.
They'll ask, you know, like, uh, how how do you
reconcile being a bodybuilder and being a Christian or being
a preacher and busy impliance not compatible? But I think
what the cautions that i'd bring it to, you know,

(48:31):
bring let's say someone newly saved and they're they're looking
to have a bodyguling in their life. One I would
just caution, well, with anything, be cautious of idolatry and
idolatry you know, we know from Renal Testament licture, we
have this imagery of oh yeah, there's a giant statue

(48:52):
and they're bringing sacrifice to it. Well, idolatry is just
putting anything in the place of God. So granted we're
not making giant statues like nab a Kanazar statue or
Dagon statue falling the arc, No, but are we putting
things in the place of God? And idolatry can very
easily be a good thing that we're turning into a
God thing. So you know, when you're when you're in

(49:16):
your single years, you can put getting married and finding
that spouse on this pedestal where it is idolatry, like
you're making it more important than your walk with Christ.
But your career on this pedestal where you're making it
more important than your walk with Christ. Whatever the case,
those are good things. As you as you parent kids
that get to sport age and you go like, I

(49:38):
want them in sports, Okay, are they are you missing
church and fellowship with the body because they have to
go and do these tournaments? You know, are you making
a good thing into a god thing? You know, and
so that that that would be my caution, and that
would be where where things are totally different now is

(49:59):
is things need to be in their proper place, you know.
And so fitness can be great to steward your body.
To see, God's blessed me with the body, I need
to properly take care of it in the same way
He's blessed me with a house, blessed me with the car,
blessed me with with dogs that are loving and kind.
I need to steward these things He's give me. I
need to take care of them and take care of

(50:19):
them well. And so essentially, bodybuilding is more the style
in which I exercise, if that makes sense. And so
a lot of people exercise in a CrossFit style or
a what's the race thing with the like a spartan
race kind of style of.

Speaker 2 (50:37):
Fish obstacle course racing, yeah, iron training, sure.

Speaker 3 (50:41):
Right, or maybe what gets them in the gym is
doing like group style classes or so forth. Bodybuilding is
the style in which I exercise because I feel high
perchavy in the long run is going to a high
perchy focused regimen and the long run is going to
to the best metabolism and ultimately allow me to have

(51:03):
a more healthy body, fat and eat the foods I enjoy. That.
That's why I look at my style of training is
still a bodybuilding style. I still train like a like
a bodybuilder in the gym, though I don't compete anymore.
And so yeah, I touched on the and then I

(51:26):
would also explain the vanity aspect to the to the
person outside the fitness community. I can definitely see why
they think that. But what drew me to bodybuilding was
a lot of my love for art. It just kind
of mixed really well. I was really into drawing when
I was in middle school. I've been drawing back there
from an old Testament scene, but the glare doesn't really

(51:48):
allow you to see it. But bodybuilding is almost more
like a performing art sport at times. Yes, so if
you were to watch me make this drawing and again,
and you can't see the details in the glare, But
if you and I have a painting in my living room,
I stared at it a lot. I stared at this
painting a lot. I had to look at every little

(52:09):
imperfection and look how it could improve it and see
if these colors are mixing well or do I want
to shade this more and what's this lacking? And it's
that eye that you see a lot of bodybuilders in
the gym doing when they're looking at themselves in the
mirror and they're having the eye of a sculptor. They're
having the eye of a painter or someone putting a

(52:30):
lot of time into a drawing, and they're looking, how
can I perfect this art? So is that some of
that There is there some vanity going on at times
with people glorifying themselves and trying to get as much
likes as the count social media. Yeah, that does take place. Sure,
there's also an aspect where the bodybuilder's looking at themselves
in the mirror and the gym is like an artist

(52:53):
just looking at their canvas trying to think how they
can make it a better painting.

Speaker 2 (52:56):
M h. Yeah, very well, said very well, said I
I have. I have a deep appreciation for for the
bodybuilding style of training. I have. I have a genetic
disorder called Elers dan Loos. So my attendons and ligaments
don't do the job that they're supposed to do holding
my joints together. So we only have one other connective
tissue and that's muscle. So for for me, hyperchaphy training

(53:20):
that's a fancy word for those of you who don't know,
for for muscle growth. That's that's what we're talking about.
And I'm so grateful that you're a you're a seminary
graduate who doesn't say hypertrophy, hyperchurvy. Uh, the growth of
muscle tissue. That is a very powerful health benefit that
if you, if you train it in your life, your

(53:42):
your muscle can serve you very very well. For me,
it keeps me healthy, It keeps my uh, my brain
and my body functioning in the way that they need to.
But also, man, you know, sometimes we were talking about
suffering earlier and it kind of brings it full tilt
for me. Yeah. The root word for a disciple of
Christ is the same root word for discipline. And when

(54:06):
I approach the weights, what's really cool is whether I
feel like it today, no matter what's going on, whether
I'm grieving or happy and joyful, whether I've been an
awesome dad or not an awesome dad, whether I've you know,
loved my wife as Christ loved the church, or I've

(54:27):
really blown it as a whatever. It is a come
to the weights, and the weights are like they're like, well,
they're always a bit of suffering. If you're not suffering
a little bit, you're doing it wrong, like you need
to work out a little harder. But the weights allow
the opportunity to You were talking about an artist. I'm

(54:48):
going to bring drama into it to dramatize that process.
I am on purpose with discipline, coming back to this
thing I've done ten thousand times, and I'm going to
do it well, and I'm going to do it with focus.
I'm going to do it with intention. My body's going
to respond to it, and then that's going to shape
the way that I eat. That's going to shape the

(55:09):
way that I rest. Hopefully it shapes the way that
I think. And what's really cool and the reason I've
got a big giant cross here in my garage gym
and the reason for writing a forty a devotional about it,
is that in that arena of purposeful suffering, in that arena,

(55:31):
God's Word comes to life in a memorable and powerful
way for me, and I regularly encourage my clients to
engage in God's Word in that way to set an
intention for their workout that's scriptural, to pray through some
difficult things sometimes, Man, I don't know if you've ever
had this experience. I'm in the middle of something hard.
I don't know. Dumbbell snatches come to mind. That's not

(55:53):
a very bodybuildings move, but it's.

Speaker 3 (55:54):
Explosive, right, any of those.

Speaker 2 (55:57):
But I don't know, but I do. And dumbell snatches, man,
And and something in me I'm I'm wrestling with with
something that I need to give to God, and I'm broken,
I can't continue, And and a prayer comes out of
me that wouldn't have come out of me if I
wasn't lifting weights, like something's real, and and and rite

(56:17):
about that. And then by the end of my session, Uh,
not not only have have I come closer to God's heart,
but but it's something that I get to carry with
me today. And and so I I think of my
my weight training. I didn't start out thinking of weight
training as a spiritual practice. But the more Christ's lordship

(56:40):
over over over arches my entire life, my weight training
has no choice but to be a spiritual practice. At
a certain point. It sounds like you went through something similar.

Speaker 3 (56:51):
Yeah, where you come to this realization that your relationship
with Christ should permeate every aspect of your life that
I didn't just check a box this morning. Well, I
spent time with God. Close the door. No, Now I'm
going to meditate on his word as I go to
the as I go train my morning client, and then

(57:11):
we'ren't engage in dialogue there that's glorifying to God. And
my drive home, I'm thinking about that and ruminating on
the truth that I read this morning.

Speaker 2 (57:21):
And then.

Speaker 3 (57:23):
Everything that I go about my day says I work
remotely and emailing back and interacting with parents and students.
I'm doing this to the glory of God. I'm doing
this as a servant of Christ. It wasn't just a
box I checked at the start of the day or
on Sunday. Close the door. No, everything I do twenty
four to seven is as a follower of Christ, and

(57:46):
so and every aspect of that. You have a very
secular job, You're doing it unto the glory of God.
You're doing it Christ. But on that last question, before
I forget to kind of summarize my answer, because I
know I give along with it answer three different directions
to summarize my answer, like how how can a preacher

(58:08):
or how can a believer engage in bodybuilding, I would
give it with these two qualifiers that I would tell
someone how they engage in anything that to avoid idolatry,
everything needs to have its proper place. Nothing comes before
the priority, nothing comes before the nothing comes before Christ Christ.

(58:32):
It needs to always have that prominent place in your life.
And so avoid any extremes of idolatry and do all
things unto the glory of God that we're looking at.
You're talking about invading space that we're looking at, these
to gain platforms to glorify God. You see football players
do it all the time, microphone in their mouth. They're Oh,

(58:53):
God gave me this ability. Now I'm gonna put the
glory back on Him, and I'm gonna point the direction
to the Gospel. And so whatever we do, you know,
we could be in ministry specifically, and we could be
doing it to the glory of ourself, and we could
be putting our ministry in our platform on display instead

(59:13):
of pointing to Christ. So we could do something that's specific,
you know, but if we're doing it with the wrong motive,
then it's not glorifying to God. So my answer is, yes,
you can engage in in bodybuilding as a hobby, as
even a lifestyle, as long as you are not engaging
in idolatry of any kind, that you understand that Christ

(59:35):
is Lord above all, and that whatever you do, you're
doing it unto the glory of God. Whatever your hobby,
you're you're what you like to re find for exercise,
whatever you do it unto the glory of God.

Speaker 2 (59:50):
Amen. Amen. I think that's a that's a great note
to close down this conversation. I just wanted to say
thank you so much for coming. I'll pray over you
in just a second. But this this has been a
very powerful conversation. If individuals want to connect with your
work more, the YouTube channel is exposor Groom ninety nine.

Speaker 3 (01:00:09):
Correct, precisely perfect.

Speaker 2 (01:00:11):
I'm going to put that on there.

Speaker 3 (01:00:12):
You'll find a preaching archive that I've gradually just been
putting together all the books of the Bible, and one
day I'll have every chapter on there. But yeah, gradually
building a preaching archive. You'll find a lot of YouTube
short highlights and then a lot of interviews with apologists
and theologians that I've just been gradually accumulating.

Speaker 2 (01:00:34):
Awesome, awesome, very good, Thank you. For that work. Let
me pray over you, Gabe, and let me pray over
your ministry, and then we'll close down this conversation. Okay,
Father God, thank you so much for this day. Thank
you for the opportunity to reconnect with my brother Gabe,
and thank you for the path that you have led
him to walk. God, I pray your blessing over his ministry.

(01:00:54):
I pray your blessing over his life. I pray that
you would imbue him with wisdom and knowledge so that
when he speaks, he can speak with boldness and with
the assurance of the backing of your Holy Spirit. Lord.
I also pray for his body. Bless him as he exercises,
and bless him as he helps others to do the same.
As an example of somebody who's doing his best to

(01:01:17):
steward the body you've given him. I pray Lord that
in that ministry as well, you're a glorified and how
he moves and you're a glorified and how he stands
in when other pastors are sick or need a break. Lord,
bless him and bless his channel in Jesus' name. Amen.

Speaker 3 (01:01:34):
Amen, awesome, Well, thank you so much. I'm honored to
be the interviewee for.

Speaker 2 (01:01:41):
Yeah man, Yeah, well we'll do this again soon because
we're not done talking about theology.

Speaker 3 (01:01:46):
I'm sure no. Now, we could have kept going and going,
but yeah, I got to get back to work and
imagine you've got a lot of duties due to yourself.

Speaker 2 (01:01:53):
One hundred percent. So to our audience, guys, thank you
so much for joining us on the Faithful Fitness podcast.
This has been coach Alex vn Houghton And until next time,
you guys know what I'm going to say next, train hard,
but pray harder.

Speaker 1 (01:02:07):
Hey, if this episode helps you, jare it with someone
who needs to hear it, and don't forget to subscribe
and leave us a raving review so more people can
find Faithful Fitness. Oh and my dad's new devotional is
almost out now. You can grab a copy for yourself
and then join our free community at Better Daily by

(01:02:30):
clicking on the links in the show notes below. We
all have a cross to carry, but it's lighter when
we do it together, so check out both links in
the show notes. Don't be a big well Bob, just
do it. Until next time, don't forget, Train hard and
pray even harder.

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