#31 - How to Keep Your Fire Lit (Part One) - Unreligious

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
Welcome to the Unreligious Podcast, when we spread the Love
of Jesus without judgment or by laws, focusing solely on
Jesus Christ and the Bible.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
How you doing through by the way, I'm for him?
Oh well, I'm big Drew Ski. Yeah, I'm been pretty
good man. I'm I'm extremely tired, though I don't know why.
I just tonight it's really like, I don't know. I
think it's just like the marathon of life is catching

(00:40):
up to me. But I do have I got like
a week off coming up in June, so I'm looking
forward to kind of recharging my batteries and whatnot on that.
So yeah, man, that's good. It's not like you're busy
or anything. I mean, like, I mean, yeah, church and
cast and yeah you're a kid. I mean I may

(01:05):
or may not be like producing another podcast too on
the side, which I don't know how I'm gonna have
time for that, but that that gig may like pay though,
like so, and I'll just have to basically kind of
do what I'm doing here, but I won't be on camera,
so that'll be nice. I'll just be like, you know,
plugging away on the side or what I haven't had

(01:27):
time to tell you about that one. But I don't
know if that was gonna work or not, Like, I
don't know if it's gonna happen, but it's possibilities. So
prayers for that, because I mean, any little extra money
I could make right now is gonna go a long way. Yeah,
what's that one gonna be based on? Well, so this
one would be real estate. I don't have I didn't

(01:49):
really clear it for permission to talk about the specifics
or whatever it's but but yeah, no, it'll be like
a real estate based one. But I'll just be off
screen just producing it, like just literally just I won't
have to be you won't.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
Have to come up with notes and yeah, yeah, no,
I don't have to babysit an old timer that technic
technology technologically challenge.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
Well, I don't know. I still might have to do
a little bit of that on it, but yeah, you know,
it's just it's one of those things, like I said,
hopefully it works out because a little extra jingle jangle
will help out. But always which by the way, speaking
of jingle jangle, I guess that's a good enough segment
or segue into it. But don't forget those of you.

(02:36):
That's on YouTube you can actually see this. But if
you're listening to this, we do have a tea spring.
We are selling merch and we make very little money
on this merch. We process as cheap as we possibly can.
But there's a little bit of everything. But we are
running a deal right now. Or it's a limited edition design.

(02:57):
I was one of the first five hundred followers. That's
just to celebrate our first five hundred downloads. And this
design is only going to be around until June first.
So we've got coffee mugs, We've got all kinds of stuff.
I mean, we've got some other pretty cool mugs. This
is the one I ordered right here. One side's got

(03:19):
the Unreligious podcast logo, and then on the other side
it's got just a picture of Jesus and then you
can't see in the pictures of here, but it's got
a cool little QR code on it that says, hey,
skin here if you're not perfect, and then if you
scan there, it takes you to the podcast. Same QR
coat on that backpack right there. But we got hats, mugs,

(03:41):
Polo or not polos, hoodie shirts, tumblers, you name it.
We pretty much got it, I will say, though it
is taking mine a while to get here though. They
got ordered it like a month ago, so to keep
that in mind, apparently they're bogged down pretty good right now.
But yeah, so I'll put a link to that in

(04:03):
the in the description there. Again, it's just literally it's
just our tea spring. It's not anything special. We're just
trying to help promote. So it's not a money maker
for sure. I think we, like I said, we literally
make a dollar maybe a dollar fifty per thing we felt.

(04:24):
So you know, we're not like we said, we're not.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
We're not trying to make a career out of selling
merch for the podcast.

Speaker 2 (04:32):
Yeah, it's literally just for promotion purposes, which they're stickers
and some other stuff like that on there as well.
So definitely check that out. And then also if you
haven't already, make sure you follow us on Facebook, YouTube,
and if you have any emails, comments, questions, prayer requests, whatever,

(04:54):
just email them to us at the Unreligious Podcast gmail
dot com. Uh, I think is that all the all?
The uh? All the little bird, Yeah, the blurts, the
I don't know what you call the word I'm looking for,
but yeah, I believe that's it. So how was your

(05:16):
week other than like currently you're dealing with tornadoes? Dude.

Speaker 1 (05:22):
It was hilarious because my mom, like a couple of
weeks ago, we had some storms.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
Come through and my mom calls me and she's like,
if I want to put your car in the garage.
We got like golf ball sized hill coming in tornadoes
and it's just ripping everything up.

Speaker 1 (05:39):
I'm like, all right, well cool, we'll prepare. You know,
Lord's got us.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
Dude. There was nothing, not even a drop of rain.
So she called me again today. She's like, hey, did
you get a tornado warning on your phone? I was like, no,
you can get nothing on mine. Oh I got it online.
I'm like, oh, okay, well I don't got anything on mine.
We'll be listening. And then dude, I hung up. I
kid you. Not.

Speaker 1 (06:00):
Like five minutes later, the sirens started going off, the
tornado sirens.

Speaker 2 (06:04):
I'm like, oh, you're.

Speaker 1 (06:05):
All right, mane yeah, well let's yeah, you texted me.

Speaker 2 (06:09):
Get the animals. Get funny because you texted me and
you were like, uh, You're like yeah, dude, we got
tornado warnings right now. And I was like, oh, well,
like do we need to reschedule or like where you go.
Oh no, I'm just let you know, like you know,
oh okay. I was like, oh man, no, just right, okay. Well,
I was like, now, man, I'll just let you know

(06:30):
so you can pray for us, you know. I mean, yeah,
so dude, that was the crazy thing about it. I mean,
it got nasty here for a while. I thought the
big trees were going to topple over.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
The wind was whipping people's flags in their yards, were
about tearing off of their flagpoles.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
And I was just I was just like, man, you
gotta be kidding me. No power out, it's no nothing.

Speaker 1 (06:52):
And then the storm passes and we hear the thunder
off in the distance and see the light. I'm like,
all right, cool, we're good to go for the podcast.
I come in here and I get everything set up
and I go to get my headphones on and boom,
the whole house feels dark. You gotta be getting me, really,
get behind me. Seeking I'm not putting up with this.
This is not gonna happen If I have to do
this from my phone. We're doing it tonight. And so

(07:15):
I yeah, I texted Drill.

Speaker 2 (07:17):
I was like dude, I I'm resetting the router right now.
I'm trying to get on. We just have to. But yeah,
delayed reaction on the powder out. Oh you know. Yeah,
it was like I said, hopefully we make it through without.
I mean, I guess I could wing it if you
do drop. I mean, I've got plenty of notes and stuff,
but it's just not as much fun. Let's see what
happened to me. I had a bust in migraine on Tuesday,

(07:38):
which that's like got to work, and thankfully I had
my my trusty rusty headache cap, which I mean, this
thing is awesome, but literally it's like it's just like
one of those compression headache things, but it's like a
thick pad and you can, you know, you can cool it,
freeze it, a new kid, whatever you need to do.

(08:00):
And so I can technically fade in my lunch box,
which is cool, you know. But I took that with me.
But dude, I took like two tile and all two
ibuprofen and a swig of pep though, and it was like,
all right, let's just do the best we can do,
which don't try that at home. I'm not saying to
try that. It's just in the moment, I was kind
of desperate, but I try, I went to words, tried

(08:20):
to fight through it, and I thought I was not gonna
make it out, which you were telling me about. Uh
what's it called?

Speaker 1 (08:28):
M I just sent you a picture of immatris know,
a matrix was what I used to take and it
was really bad. Dude, that stuff I had a reaction
to you, bre.

Speaker 2 (08:39):
Me is what I Okay, I see it.

Speaker 1 (08:42):
Uh yeah, dude, I take you Brev. It's it's the
best thing I've ever taken for.

Speaker 2 (08:46):
A migrant and I've had in my whole life. Which
you know, again, if you guys are listening to this,
consult with your doctor. Don't don't come with us if
you have a whatever. But yeah, I definitely know if
you have like a bad reaction or something, it's not
our fault. Consult with your doctor. But yeah, no, I'll
probably look into something like that because I just I
just get him and I've had them for as long
as I can remember. And I guess maybe it's from

(09:09):
where I slipped and fell into that drainage ditch when
I was younger. That's the best that I can come
up with or whatever. But but yeah, well sorry, I
just pulled it really sizable medical bill out from under
my laptop. How long has that been there? Anyways? But

(09:29):
uh yeah, I mean so I had a real bad
headache Tuesday. I'm trying to think what all even happened.
Might have the video or might have the podcast gig
you know, producing coming up, so that'll be nice church.
Oh how was your Mother's Day? I forgot his mother?
That was your Mother's Day? Oh? Really?

Speaker 1 (09:49):
I felt, dude. I felt so bad. I ended up
getting sick again. And I don't know what's going on
with my stomach. I don't know why I'm doing this.
But Mother's Day, I'm supposed to meet my mom and
my sister at church and you know, take pictures at
church with my mom and my sister and my wife,
and and.

Speaker 2 (10:10):
I ended up so sick, dude. I couldn't even get up.
I cried.

Speaker 1 (10:13):
I got up, I got the shower, I got out
of the shower, porn, cold sweats. I just I couldn't
make it it. I felt terrible. My wife went, but yeah,
I felt terrible because my mom was really disappointed. She understood,
but really disappointed. So it was not a good one
for me, dude. I spent all the Mother's Day sick,
although on the bright side, I did have one of

(10:33):
my kids message me and tell me Happy Mother's Day.

Speaker 2 (10:37):
Well tell me, dude.

Speaker 1 (10:40):
Well, my kids the younger part of their life, and
I've said in my testimony that you know, with my
ex wife and I could divorce something, we really did
mess the kids up pretty bad. But up until that point,
I was like, mister mom, oh, like literally and the
kids will tell you I did the laundry, I did
the cooking. I'm the one who literally like would put

(11:02):
their hair in braids and ponytails for school and get
them dressed and ready and everything. So yeah, it was
cool because I got a uh happy mother did for one.

Speaker 2 (11:13):
But that makes total sense, so I get it. Let's
see for us, So me and my wife, so I
decided to. I ended up giving her her Mother's Day presence.
It was either I think it was was it Friday,

(11:36):
Friday night? Is it Friday night or Saturday evening because
just Sunday morning getting ready for church and all that
like that, there's just gonna be so much going on.
And I had a media gig Saturday, which did you
see that video I did that was a blast. The
one I did it with my cousin who races NASCAR

(11:57):
and he was like the delivery guy for the ac
it or whatever I need to see that. It was larious.
But we had a media day that was awesome, but
it was so I was gonna be doing. So my
media gig was from like nine o'clock to one, I think,
and then when I came back, I had to do
like a bunch of editing and stuff or whatever, and

(12:17):
so my Saturday was gonna be kind of busy, and
then her you know, or Saturday was busy and then something,
you know. So I ended up giving my wife her gifts.
But I got her like two Christian t shirts. I
got her one of those have you seen those on
like TikTok to Bible jars where it's like when you're
feeling blank, pull this and it's like it's it's little

(12:38):
tiny clips of paper, like almost like fortune cookie papers
any and like it's like Bible verses, but it's like
if you're feeling sad or angry or happy or whatever.
So I got her one of those old Bible verse
jars to where it's like, oh, you know, and so
I was telling her. I was like, we'll get another

(12:58):
Mason jar. That way you can pull it out of
that one and put it in and we'll just go
back and forth. I was gonna get her a Harry
Potter Gift one set, but the TikTok like canceled it
refunded me or whatever. What else there's I think there's
like a candle or two or something, you know, some
of that stuff, and then I feel like I'm forgetting

(13:20):
some tumbler. I don't know. There's probably just a little
knick knacks and different things like that. And then we
went over to my dad and stepmom's after church, which
our church. I don't know if you like streamed it
or whatever. I know you said you wasn't able to go,
but like our church did the panel this year where

(13:42):
the preacher's wife got up and interviewed like five different
women from the church and stuff, and so it was
pretty cool. Like you know, when I first started going there,
the first time they did that, I was kind of like, well,
that's interesting, Like I wasn't expecting it. But they had
like a single mom on their mom who her and
her family had done foster care and also adopted, so

(14:05):
and then she had her own kids, but so that
was kind of cool. And then there was like a
lady on there that was like in her eighties. One
lady talked about how her brother committed suicide and so.
And then oh, there's another lady who had eleven kids
so and her and her husband do ministry together and stuff.

(14:27):
So you got to kind of hear like different things
that God was doing in all their lives and their
different perspectives, and they shared their favorite Bible verses and stuff,
and so it was really cool. And then oh, and
my daughter's got baptized or not baptized, but dedicated, So
that was cool at the awesome I love it. Five
soon to be six year old. We never went to

(14:49):
church when she was younger, so and we wanted to
dedicate her and my youngest at the same time. And
my youngest just barely born after the last time that
they did it. So yeah, it was cool. And it
was even cooler too because one of my real good friends,
josh I, invited him to church and he started coming

(15:11):
with us, him and his wife and kids. Well then
on top of that, on top of that, it was like, uh, sorry,
for some reason, my big dreasky tweets or going in
on the thing. But so anyways, but it was cool

(15:32):
because like they ended up joining the church as well,
and so they dedicated all four of their kids. So
like literally we're standing next to each other. So that
was really cool because it was just like, you know,
I got I invited him, they decided to come, and
then it was just one of those things where it
was like, you know, it was just really cool because

(15:53):
it was like a full circle top moment, you know.
But yeah, no, I mean we I had a pretty
good Mother's Day. We had a pretty good Mother's Day.
I hate that you were sick, but you know, it
sounds like it kind of worked out in the end. Yeah, yeah,
I mean it was okay.

Speaker 1 (16:12):
Like I said, it was a disappointment, but I got
together with my mom a couple of days later.

Speaker 2 (16:16):
I think it was Tuesday, Monday.

Speaker 1 (16:18):
We uh we got together and and I got to
give her her birthday cake and pardon on that.

Speaker 2 (16:25):
Let's go, man. I'm glad it worked out. Any prayer
requests I've got currently the neators that you you guys
are fighting, so hopefully the neators will stay away from
you and uh, the power won't go out. Ternators, oh
them ternaders. Okay, your house, past and future, the house

(16:54):
in Portugal cells and your future house will be found.
I left. Thank you for the blessings. My sister, I believe,
has one more She's got one more treatment to go,
I believe, and then she's pretty much done, so that'll
be cool.

Speaker 1 (17:11):
So yep, I have one for my cousin David that
we've had on the prayer request for a little bit.

Speaker 2 (17:18):
Now.

Speaker 1 (17:20):
Yeah, he's he's out of options for his cancer. Dude,
it's it's breaking my heart. This guy was like, he
was an idol of mine when I was a kid.

Speaker 2 (17:29):
He's the one. He was there the first time I.

Speaker 1 (17:30):
Ever wrote a bull and the second time, and he's
just he's been an influence in my life. But yeah,
he's he went and saw the doctor and they're stopping
chemo and stuff.

Speaker 2 (17:42):
It's not working, and so.

Speaker 1 (17:47):
I'm thinking that he's probably not got a whole lot
of time left here.

Speaker 2 (17:51):
We are actually leaving Saturday morning.

Speaker 1 (17:53):
To go down to Davenport where he lives, because when
we left for the island, he's he's a big gun
advocate like me, Second Amendment guy, and uh, so Audrey
and I left our pupews with him, and so we're
going down there Saturday to get him. But I'm hoping
it's not the last time I see him, but there
might be a good chance it is.

Speaker 2 (18:14):
So I'm gonna try to uh do a little witnessing one.
And he said, his name is David. Yeah up a
David's Cancer Journey slash. I can't remember who sern is?

(18:34):
It is it yours mom? I don't remember.

Speaker 1 (18:38):
I don't carry the way, but you want me to
do it, I will if you want to do it,
I'll let you.

Speaker 2 (18:43):
Since that way you could get David's kind of the
newer one or whatever, and then you know you're Deli
in the house or whatever. So I'll let you take
this one. Okay, here we go.

Speaker 1 (19:00):
Okay, Oh Father God, to come to you humbly in
your presence.

Speaker 2 (19:08):
Father. We are so small compared to you, We are
so imperfect compared to you. Father. We love you. We
thank you for all that you do, small blessings, big blessings.
We need to be grateful for all of them. Father.
I pray that tonight.

Speaker 1 (19:26):
In this podcast, as Drew takes on keeping the fire lit,
I just pray that you Phil, Drew and I with
the Holy Spirit. Let's the Holy Spirit guide our conversation
and our discussion. I pray that you guide our words
to be truthful and glorifying you.

Speaker 2 (19:42):
Father.

Speaker 1 (19:43):
I pray that our listeners open their ears, open up
their hearts and their minds and listen to scripture and
what Drew and I have to say about this, and
it is so true, Father, and you've convicted him so.

Speaker 2 (19:55):
Well on his nose that wants of her Father.

Speaker 1 (20:00):
It's just amazing that we have the opportunity to do this.
So again, I pray that you keep our listeners open
minded about everything that we're saying here.

Speaker 2 (20:09):
Father.

Speaker 1 (20:10):
Father, I pray that you keep the Nators away from us.
Thank you for doing that. Looks like more storm tomorrow,
so I just pray that you keep us safe and
keep them nasty nators away from the Father.

Speaker 2 (20:24):
Father. Pray for our house.

Speaker 1 (20:27):
Pray that the house in Portugal sell, and I pray
that you present us with the house.

Speaker 2 (20:32):
We're supposed to have.

Speaker 1 (20:33):
It's been a long way, but we know it's all
in your time and you're setting things up to be
perfect for.

Speaker 2 (20:42):
Father. Thank you for all the blessings again.

Speaker 1 (20:44):
Everything you do for us, we need to count every
single one of them because we are owed nothing.

Speaker 2 (20:50):
You owe us nothing, and we owe you every So
thank you, Father.

Speaker 1 (20:55):
I want to pray for Drew's sister. I want to
pray that she gets through this. I want to pray
that she guide her and she comfort her, and you
bless her father and let her cup runneth over grace
and mercy on her father. I know Drew loves her
so much. I know he's worried about her. Pray you
just put peace on him for that. I also want

(21:17):
to pray for David doesn't Father. I don't know where
he's at with you, For Jesus, I don't know his walk,
but I know that he probably doesn't have a lot
of time with my father, and he's going to meet
you face to faith.

Speaker 2 (21:32):
Father.

Speaker 1 (21:32):
I just pray he knows. Pray he knows you, Jesus,
and I pray that you lay it on my heart.
I pray you'd give me the words to break through
to him, and I pray that he is open and
rich up to the.

Speaker 2 (21:46):
Father. We love you. We thank you for the podcast.
We thank you for all of our listeners, all of
our love.

Speaker 1 (21:51):
I pray you, guide us tonight, keep us on the
straight back, pray this, and Jesus hey man.

Speaker 2 (21:57):
Yeah, we actually did have quite a bit of a
up to and listeners again, so that was really nice. Yeah,
so Chris teed it up. So if you guys haven't
been or if you didn't listen to last podcast, it's
your first time listening whatever. You know. Me and Chris
basically we decided that just to kind of alternate, so

(22:19):
like He'll take a subject, whether it goes one, two, three, episodes, whatever,
and then I'll take a subject. Because what was happening
was basically, you know, we would work on notes together
and there for a while we were trying to record
Tuesday and Thursday nights. Well we would like wrap up
something on Tuesday and then third, you know, we'd be like, oh, well,

(22:42):
what are we going to do next? And so it's
just kind of hard to balance. So Chris took the
last one. I'm taking this one, and I just wanted
to kind of talk about something and I feel like
a lot of people deal with which is how to
keep your fire lit. Which the fire that I'm referring
to is like literally just like your Christian walk you're

(23:03):
you're you know. You hear people say all the time, Oh,
I'm on fire for God, or you know, oh, or
you know, I was on fire for God. Now I'm not,
you know. And they talked about fire, fire, fire, and
so I just wanted to kind of look at that,
and I think it's one that's gonna be really fun
for me and Chris to do because I think it's

(23:24):
something that we both have struggled with in the past,
but also it's just something that's relevant that a lot
of people struggle with. And so literally, I'm just going
to take an actual fire and just kind of compare
it to the Christian Walk, and like, literally some of
these are kind of interchangeable, but it's just it just
I just want you guys just to like just to

(23:45):
think through the significance of what we're talking about and
how it applies to you. So I'm actually gonna start
with kind of the theme verse for this, and I'm
actually gonna use the n LT just because I like
the way that this reads. But two Timothy one six
through seven. This is why I remind you to fan

(24:07):
the flames, the spiritual gift God gave you when I
laid my hands on you. For God has not given
us a spirit of fear, but uh, fear intimidy? Did
or did I say that timidity? Hard word?

Speaker 1 (24:26):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (24:27):
Yeah, my, my pastor and pastor Jeff. When he gets
into like you know he bacchic and some of those
with all the crazy words, he'll just be reading like
hard word. But uh, but of power, love and self discipline.
So to stay on fire for God, you got to
maintain that fire with an intentional effort. A fire, you know,

(24:50):
and this is just boy scout stuff, but it needs
three things, three essential elements to burn. You gotta have fuel,
You got to have a heat source, and you got
to have oxygen. That's any fire has to have those
three things. But likewise, your spiritual your spiritual fire also
requires heat, oxygen and fire or sorry, heat, oxygen and fuel.

(25:13):
And so I'm gonna kind of break these down that
now there's eight of them, so I'm gonna try to
get through three of them tonight. But we'll see hopefully
this that ends up being like a six part or whatever.
But so the first thing that I want to talk
about though, even before we get into the fire, is
in order for you to even build a fire. There

(25:36):
has to be a need you have to be you know,
either the need to be warmth or the willingness to
be warm, whatever you want to call it. There has
to be a need for a fire, whether you're cooking
or just you just want to build a fire to
you know, roast marshmallows on whatever it is. And so
when it comes to the fire, and when I'm talking

(25:57):
about the need in the spiritual side of things, I
just consider that to be an openness and a willingness
to God, so that on the fire side, you have
to have a fire, a need or want to build
a fire. And if your heart is closed off to
what God has to offer from a spiritual side and
you won't let him in, you're never gonna have that flank,

(26:17):
you know. So the spiritual application is God's not going
to force himself into your life. Love isn't real unless
it's chosen. God gave us free will, right if He
forced us to love him, then it's not real love
because it's just like we're just being forced. Just like
you can't force someone to love you. God desires a
relationship that is freely accepted. He's always near you, ready

(26:42):
and willing, but he wants waits for your invitation. You
have to open the door to your heart. And the
verse that I use there Revelation three twenty Behold, I
stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my
voice and opens the door, I will come in to him,
dine with him, and he with me. And that was
Jesus speaking. So so I just want to open it

(27:05):
up to Chris, just you know, overall thoughts on need
and kind of I guess what you thought just as
I was going through that that first one there, Yeah, man,
I mean I love it. The one that I love out.

Speaker 1 (27:20):
Of that is the spiritual application. Love isn't real unless
it's chosen.

Speaker 2 (27:26):
You know. You hear a lot of people these days
going around talking about it. Oh, it's all about love.
It's just love. Love.

Speaker 1 (27:31):
Everybody love love, love, love, and they have the completely
wrong concept of what true love is. And for me,
that that statement right there, that's our whole existence. We
have free will, literally, we can do anything we want
to on the face of this earth. You know they're

(27:52):
going to be consequences, absolutely, but we still have the
free will to do whatever they want. So I think
you're right there, Dree that you can't force somebody to
love you. I pry, it don't work well. Somebody has
to love you freely. And even on the flip side,
you know, like and think about this, not just your fire,

(28:13):
but you know, people that you love spire people you're
trying to witness to. You know, Like we talked a
little bit last week about evangelizing, and it's like the
person that you're talking to, they've got to be willing
to listen and open to God.

Speaker 2 (28:29):
Like you can't force them to hear you either. And
so you know, like we talked about last week, I
think when it comes to evangelizing, a lot of us
just telling your story and getting to know what makes
that person tick and like how you can connect the
dots and you know, relate God to them. And I

(28:50):
think in some cases all you can do is just
tell them you love them and just every so often
just kind of chip away at them. But you know,
I think it's the same thing even when you're trying evangelize,
even you know, there has to be an openness and
a willingness. You know, Atheists a lot of times can
be the hardest to witness to, not because not because
God isn't powerful enough to reach them, but because they

(29:12):
often don't believe in anything, so without a spiritual openness,
conviction can't even take root. Right, So it's like agnostics
or I was talking to a guy in my connection group.
I'm not gonna tell his business, but you know, he's
got a brother who is like really into It's not

(29:34):
the Abrishes, it's like the Ananachi, but like essentially he
believes that like aliens created us to mine gold, and
but he thinks that like essentially Christianity is like fake
because it was written by man. Is like that's his words,
and that's I'm like, well, what does he use for
truth then, like because if somebody wrote it in a book,

(29:56):
you can't use it. Yeah, you know, but U right,
you know, But it's just like I think a lot
of times, you know, but he's open to a higher power.
It's just he doesn't know if it's you know, the
God of Bible or you know, the Ananochi or whatever.
But even somebody like that, a lot of times it's
easier to talk to than somebody that doesn't believe in anything.

(30:19):
It's like, well, I just I don't believe, you know,
I believe in the statistically improbability that everything comes from nothing.
It's like, okay, you know, but I think it kind
of goes both ways. I agree it does go both ways,
but I think that you're right.

Speaker 1 (30:34):
I think that at least with an agnostic, they believe
in something, so there's an open door there to present
evidence that they're willing to look at because they want
to know.

Speaker 2 (30:45):
They don't know what it is, but they'd like to know.

Speaker 1 (30:47):
So there's there's a little crack in the door there
with them that you can present the evidence to them
and tell them, hey, this is why it's real. With
an atheist, typically, your atheist is so far away from
God that like literally there is no fire through.

Speaker 2 (31:04):
It's just cold.

Speaker 1 (31:06):
It's like ice cold cold there. And they're so far
away from the Father. They don't want that that flame fan.
They don't want that burning desire. You know why, because.

Speaker 2 (31:17):
They want to do what they want to do in life.

Speaker 1 (31:19):
They love their free will, they love their free choice,
so they choose to live without that flame. And for me,
just as an analogy for this, you know, you got
to keep the flame. Live without the flame, it's cold
and dark. Think about that, be in a cave if
you don't got a fire. It's cold and dark in there.
It's kind of like your heart. It's the same thing.
And for me it's dude, the atheists are all I

(31:42):
think for for most part. All you can do is
you can try to approach an atheist and if you
are shut down with attitude or anger, pray for it.

Speaker 2 (31:50):
That's all.

Speaker 1 (31:50):
Yeah, pray that that them coals get warmed up a little.

Speaker 2 (31:56):
I'm actually I didn't have brought up point, you know,
And like I was talking to the same guy and
he's like, yeah, man, I just don't know, you know,
I just don't know like how to reach uh. You know,
He's like, I just He's like, I just you know,

(32:16):
it's like everything I do is it makes it hard
or whatever. And you know, I just basically told him,
I said, look, man, I'm really into apologetics. I know
you enjoy apologetics as well, you know, Frank Turrit Clyft, cannetal,
you know. I mean I even go into like Sam Schimone,
David Wood and like all these guys. But it's like
I like knowing all that stuff so I can answer

(32:38):
hard questions and talk to people. But like at the
end of the day, past a certain point, there has
to be a faith element, and the Bible talks about
Jeremiah thirty one thirty three, for this is the covenant
I will make with the people of Israel. After that time,
declares the Lord, I will put my law in their

(33:01):
minds and write it on their hearts. I will be
their God, and they will be my people. Hebrews eight
ten basically echoes that Proverbs three three. Let love and
faithfulness never leave you behind them around your neck, write
them on the tablet of your heart. There's several verses

(33:24):
that talk about basically how God's wrote his like DNA
on our heart, and so past a certain point, you
can you can talk with people on like a an
analytical level. You can talk to them on a intellectual level.
You can talk to them on facts and you know,

(33:44):
archaeology and proof and evidence, and to me, there's plenty
of that, But past a certain point, you just have
to speak to their heart. Because I believe that God
wrote on our hearts his DNA like literally, when you
know he formed Adam from the dust of the earth,

(34:04):
He forms him and then breathes the breath of life
into him. And so I believe that like essentially it's
in our DNA that God's is His DNA is like
in us, and it's like, you know, we have this
like almost like this software that's already preprogrammed, and so
when he when he touches our life, he just goes

(34:26):
in and flips that software on. And so past a
certain point, you know, I think you just have to
talk to like their heart because somewhere in their DNA.
God is in their DNA because he wrote it on us,
you know. And so but past a certain point, like
we said that free will, dude, it just it if

(34:48):
they don't want it. Unfortunately, there's nothing that we can do.
But in those moments if I feel like I've done
everything I can and they just don't want it, it's
just to me, it's kind of like a reminder of
like it's almost like God, like, well, how many times
have I tried to say, if you'll just listen to me,
I've got so many more blessings for you, I've got
such a better job for you, or you know, you

(35:08):
just won't listen. It's like I'm trying to talk to
you and I just can't get through to you. You know.
It's just kind of like a reminder because we're that
stubborn as well, you know. Yeah, I mean the DNA
is in us.

Speaker 1 (35:24):
But I think, like I was saying a minute ago,
through with the they let that fire die or that
fire was never lit. The embers are there, the coals
are there because God put that there. He's part of us,
like you said, part of our DNA.

Speaker 2 (35:42):
So he's in there.

Speaker 1 (35:43):
But it's like people just keep pouring dirt and sand
on top of them coals to keep them from igniting it.
And everything that they're thinking they're finding happiness in is
all surface dye. Yeah, if you if you take any
atheist I have ever met, deep deep, deep down inside,

(36:05):
they're not happy.

Speaker 2 (36:07):
They're not and it's because they don't have that fire. Yeah,
I agree. And before we get to that spark, just
to wrap that up, the analogy, you know, to God
knocking on the door of your heart. You know, just
imagine someone standing outside of your house with a gift,
arms outstretched, knocking, but unless you open the door, they

(36:29):
can't come in. God's not going to break down the door.
He respects your free will and he loves us, right,
so he's gonna keep knocking, patiently, waiting for you to
let him in, but you know at the end of
the day, he's not going to force his way in.
So the application is is just be honest with God.
If you're spiritually closed off, pray that he softens your
heart and you know, you got to recognize your need

(36:52):
for him before that fire can end. So number two
is the spark slash heat source. That's the part of
the fire and the way that I'm applying that to
our spiritual the spiritual side is your spiritual conviction as
well as just your encounter with Jesus. So you need

(37:12):
a spark to ignite the fuel. If you have no spark,
you have no flame. A fire always begins with a spark,
a source of heat. You can have all the fuel
in the world. And when I say fuel, I mean
I'm not just talking about like lighter fluid. I'm talking
about like logs, kindling, you know, fire starters, whatever, grass,

(37:34):
you know, whatever it is that you're trying to use
start the fire. I'm just that's what fuel is. But
you can have all the fuel in the world, but
without that initial ignition, there's never going to be a flame.
So spiritually, that spark is conviction. When the Holy Spirit
awakens your soul to your need for Jesus. Right, so,
like you know, I believe that, Like you know, one

(37:58):
of the ways that you kind of truly know that
you're saved is like usually right before you know, the
Holy Spirit starts knocking on your heart and it's like
you know that, don't don't, don't don't. Like, dude, you know,
if I was to die right now in my sin,
either A I'm not going to go to heaven or

(38:18):
B I don't know if I'm going to go to heaven.
And so a lot of times the Holy Spirit is
start knocking on your heart, you know, I know, like
when I got to saved, That's how it was for me.
But like you know, that initial spark is when you
first feel that conviction and at some point when you
feel that, in that moment, you know I am a sinner.

(38:40):
The wages of the Bible says the wages of sin
are death. No man comes to the Father, meaning God,
but through Jesus. Jesus says, I'm the way the truth
of life. Nobody comes to God but through me. And
you know, he comes down, which we talked about, He
comes down, dies on the cross for all of our
sin and basically pays the debt for every sin that

(39:03):
we could ever possibly you know. And he was the
most perfect lamb, the most horrific death so that we
could make it to Heaven on his sacrifice. But we
have to accept that gift and we have to accept
him as our lord and savior. And there's a lot
of people that are like, oh, well, you know, I'm good,
I'm a good person, you know, maybe, and they think

(39:25):
about it like works and merit, and it's not how
it works. Literally, it's just a gift that we accept, right,
we just accept that gift and profess Jesus as the
Lord of our life and then we serve him. And
you know, but before that, when you have the initial spark,
the first initial encounter, the Holy Spirit knocks on your

(39:45):
heart and you know, and then it just leads you
to where you're like, dude, I've got to accept Jesus
or like I if I was to die in my
sin my free will, God doesn't send anybody to hell
we choose to, uh to basically reject him, you know.

(40:07):
And so if so, if you have to have that spark,
that initial you know, in order to start your fire
literally but also spiritually, you have to have that, you know,
that that conviction, that initial encounter with Jesus, because you
can't have a flame if you don't have the encounter
with Jesus, you're building a Christian walth that doesn't exist.

(40:29):
Like if you didn't ever accept him as your savior,
you're just trying to work your way to heaven. It
just doesn't work like that. I think you nailed it.

Speaker 1 (40:41):
Jesus is the spark because without Jesus you can't have
the Holy Spirit. Without Jesus, you can't have God. So,
like you said, the only way to God is through Jesus.
He is the spark. Once he gets once he sparks
your life, and he sparks that flame inside your heart. Well,

(41:04):
now now things start taking place. Now your life starts changing.
Now you start seeing the difference in things, You start
seeing the world a different way because the spark is there.
So I agree with you one hundred percent. Jesus is
the spark because without him you can't have the flame,
you can't have any of the rest. He is the
key to all of it.

Speaker 2 (41:24):
Now. The spiritual application of this is literally the point
of why we started this podcast. The spiritual application is
before salvation. The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, draws
us initially to Christ so that we can have that encounter,
we can accept him as our Lord and savior. It's
more than a label or religion. It's just a supernatural encounter.

(41:45):
And you know, if you've never encountered Jesus and you've
never had that conviction pulling you to where you're like, dude,
if I was to die right now, I would go
to Hell. And if you've never had that where you
accept Jesus as you Lord and savior and that peace
that comes after it, you know, you got to have
that head on a collision with Jesus. But coming a

(42:06):
Christian is it just about checking a box or claiming
a label. It's it's about recognizing your sin, surrendering your
life to Jesus, and it's fully submitting to God. You know.
It's kind of like that old thing of like, you know,
being a Christian isn't a an adjective, it's a verb,
you know. But the spark is when you first come

(42:29):
to know Jesus and accept him. It's the moment your
heart is convicted and you bow your life before Jesus
receiving him as your Lord and savior. A true encounter
with Jesus results in radical transformation you and I used
a real old school terminology here, but like most people
have got like fire starters and all this stuff, but

(42:50):
I'm using the old analogy of like a flint, you
know where you know those of you if you ever
started a natural fire, you get your flint and you
take like a blade or something, and you still chipping
that flint to get that spark. Well, essentially you are
the flint and Jesus is the still to get that spark.
The Holy Spirit is the hand striking them together. But

(43:12):
you've got to be willing to be used. And God
is ready to set your heart on fire, but he's
not going to do it against your will when you
truly accept Jesus Christ as the Lord of all, which
Keith Boggs and I think you might be quoting somebody else,
but at our Bible study, he said, if Jesus isn't
Lord of all, then he's not lord at all, which

(43:33):
it's me very impactful, but there's going to be a
radical transformation. And if you've never had that radical transformation,
that one point eighty I think you kind of have
to question whether or not, like, well, did I ever
really get saved? Did I ever have this encounter? And
if you haven't, then I think you got to kind
of search within yourself. So I'm just gonna read some

(43:54):
real quick verses here again, John six forty four. No
one can come to me unless the Father who sent
me draws him, and I will raise him up. In
that last day, that was Jesus talking. Jesus talking again,
John sixteen eight. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. Truth
is to your vantage that I go away, for I

(44:16):
do not go away. For if I do not go away,
the helper will not come to you. But if I depart,
I will send him to you. He's talking about the
Holy Spirit, and when he's come to you, he will
convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.
That's the Holy Spirit's job to convict us. And then

(44:38):
I'm just gonna list a few of these and I'll
put them in the notes. But Romans two four, second
Crimtians seven ten, Second Corinthians five seventeen, and then there's
a couple of acts there. But the application is conviction
is the spark that sets your heart a blaze. Many
people try to live the Christian life without ever truly

(44:59):
experiencing the Holy Spirit's call. Without a spark, there just
can't be a fire. It just doesn't work like that.
So if you ever fill that tug, or if you're
filling that tug right now, or if you don't remember
ever here and filling that tug, don't ignore that tug
on your heart. Don't silence the Holy Spirit. Let him
show you your need for a savior and surrender. Oh yeah,

(45:21):
I did put that in there. I didn't. I thought
I didn't put that quote in there by Keith. But so,
but any last thoughts on spark conviction.

Speaker 1 (45:32):
I love the fact that you use the phrase that
you have to meet Jesus head on to head on collision. Like, hm,
you could be going to church, going to church every Sunday,
evolved in a small group. What have you dropped to
your knees and have you called out to Jesus and

(45:53):
asked him to be your Lord savior? Or have you
gone like, oh.

Speaker 2 (45:56):
Jesus, hey, what, Nope, Hey, Jesus what nope? To the
site you keep dodging him. He's a head on collision
and every time you Dodge getting to know Jesus. And
what I mean by getting to know him, I mean
getting to know him personally reading.

Speaker 1 (46:12):
About him in the Bible, as well as having a
personal connection with him, because let me tell you, people,
he's real and he's there and he's listening and he's.

Speaker 2 (46:20):
With us all the time.

Speaker 1 (46:21):
So the head on collision has to happen because every
time you kind of jumped to the side or whatever,
you're kicking dirt on those coals and putting them out
again rather than fanning them and letting them turn into
a plane, You're just you're turning it away.

Speaker 2 (46:35):
Yeah, and I mean again, there's people. I mean, you
might have been in the praising worship man for twenty years.
You might have been you know, I see so many
videos of people walking, you know, these like deconstructing pastors.
I was watching one the other day, and you know,
he was like, you know, talking about how he's pastor
megachurch and this and that whatever, and then he started

(46:57):
deconstructing his faith and he basically left his faith and
doesn't believe it anymore. But then as he was talking
about this, he was like he started talking about like
how he became a pastor, and he basically was like
I was a preacher's kid, and I basically started like
preaching sort of at like a young age, and I'd

(47:18):
get up and I'd be like in middle school up
there preaching, and everybody was just like, wow, you know
he's got that. He's like I just started doing it,
and you know, he just never had that head on collision.
But he didn't. That's not what he said, but that
when he was telling his story, there was never like
a salvation story at all. It was literally just like, yeah,
well I just started preaching and I was pretty good

(47:38):
at it, and then you know, da da da da
grew up and then went to seminary and it's like
and then he had this like way with words and whatever.
But like to me, when I was listening to that,
I was like, I don't think that you were ever saved.
But you know, but there's so many people, like you said,
they go to church every Sunday and they think, oh, well,
you know one time I helped to build a church,

(48:00):
or oh I did this or you know this. It's
like all the things that I do and it's like, dude,
that's not like get you to heaven. It's literally a
gift that you accept and you turn your life around
and serve Jesus like it's it's a it's a gift.
But uh, we're probably we're not gonna have time to
get all the way through flame. I'm just gonna tee
it up. But uh, the flame is what I'm considering

(48:24):
your actual salvation. So it's like, you know, you you
have the need, you're open to God. And again sometimes
it's not that you have to like bow down right now,
if if you if you're not into religion or Christianity, whatever,
just be open to it. But there's the openness, and
then there's the spark, the initial spark where you start

(48:46):
filling the Holy spirit, the holy ghost work. You have
that first initial encounter with Jesus. Like Chris said, you
got to blow on that spark and turn it into
a flame. And then once you get your flame, that's
what I'm considering your south slash Christian walk slash the
fruit of your life. The flame is the result of

(49:08):
the spark catching onto the fuel and it's a visible
result of combustion. That spiritual application is some people will
try to walk the Christian walk without ever having that spark.
That's why they feel spiritually dry or disconnected. They never
encountered the source, which is Jesus. True salvation brings change.

(49:32):
You can't fake fruit. When you're saved, the Holy Spirit
begins to produce visible fruit in your life. The Bible
says faith without works is dead, but works isn't required
for salvation. It's evidence they'reof. And so I'm kind of
just we can talk about flame a little bit. But
we got about like ten ish minutes left, so I've

(49:55):
got like way more notes just on flame. Now. Some
of these are quick, but I want to make sure
we do the du do diligence, hard work. But you know,
just quick thoughts on flame or any other thoughts that
we talked about, and then we'll catch you guys up.
I'll kind of like just briefly hit them next week

(50:17):
and then we'll just keep rolling the flame next week.

Speaker 1 (50:20):
So well as far as the flame goes, It's like
we were talking about, you want people, and I don't
know if you've seen it, I have Personally, you can
tell when somebody's on fire for Christ just by looking
at them, just by looking in their eyes. They're smiling,
they're almost glowing, and to me, that's the glow of

(50:44):
that fire you're talking about. Incite you that spiritual fire man.
You're you're on fire for Christ right now. And then
you can tell the people who don't fan that flame.
You can tell the people who go through the motions
every week or every day, not really because they want to,
but because that's just what they know. Just it's routine

(51:05):
for a lot of people. And I think that when
you get to that point, if you if you ever
find yourself as a Christian feeling that flame cool off,
you have got to do something now because if you wait,
I promise you, listeners, I promise you.

Speaker 2 (51:24):
It's happened to me. It will die out.

Speaker 1 (51:27):
If you don't feed it like Yourew's talking about, that
flame will go out. And when that flame goes out,
it is so easy to leave it out, so hard
to bring it back.

Speaker 2 (51:38):
So that's kind of where I'm out on the flame.

Speaker 1 (51:39):
You got to keep it lit, because once it goes out, dude,
it's not easy to get back.

Speaker 2 (51:43):
Oh, don't worry. If you're if you're thinking to yourself, well, Chris,
how do I keep my flame lit? Don't you worry.
We're gonna talk about that next.

Speaker 3 (51:51):
Week, but uh exactly why further so in between now
and then, though, I want you guys to think about,
you know, just how open are you to God?

Speaker 2 (52:04):
Have you ever had that spark, that conviction that you know,
that combustion that happens when that spark hits that initial flame.
If you haven't, you know, talk to us, talk to
your pastor. If you don't have a pastor, like I said,
reach out or you know, like I said, And I

(52:26):
don't care if it's two, three, four years down the road.
If you're just now listening to this, you know, if
you're already rooted in a church and you're like, man,
but what is people going to think? What? You know? Well,
what I mean, dude again, I'm not gonna I'm not
gonna tell his business. But there's a guy, you know,

(52:46):
like mid twenties that goes to our church, who he's
grown up in church his whole life. His family's very
rooted in church. His wife is very rooted in church.
His wife's family is very rooted in church. They've built

(53:06):
their entire marriage on God Jesus biblical foundation. And just
like literally like it was not even a month ago,
he said he was listening to a podcast and the
it was a as a preacher and he was talking
about like apostacy and salvation and stuff, and he's like, man,

(53:28):
he's like I was listening and he's like, I've always
had this spiritual disconnection. And he's like, I just kind
of going through it, going through the motions and like,
you know, you know, why are some people stronger than me?
You know, and this and that, and he's like, I
started listening to this and he's like, as I'm listening
to it, he's like, I realized, dude, I don't think

(53:50):
I'm saved. Like I don't think I ever had that spark,
that combustion that and like he's he was talking about
how he was like, dude, like I think I need
to get saved. And then the second thought was like, well,
what's everybody gonna think? What's my wife gonna think? What's
you know, like I'm rooted in church and it's like
all this stuff and you know, and he started thinking

(54:11):
about what's everybody gonna think. But then he's like, dude,
and he's like I felt like my heart was gonna
be out of my chest. My heart was racing, and
you know, which if you want to listen to mine
and Christ's testimonies, go back and listen to him. But
you know I talked the first time I got to save.
That's how it was for me. I thought I was
about to have an aneurism and I was like seven,
But and he just was like, he's like, dude, I

(54:33):
think I need to get saved. And so he reached
out to I don't remember who he reached out to,
but and he accepted Jesus as his Lord and savior
and locked it in and got that peace. And and
he dude, I mean, you want to talk about like
KONE's I mean, went up in front of the church.

(54:53):
My church is like you know, two services, sixteen hundred
seeds and goes up in front of the whole church
live stream and everything tells his story and how he
just now got saved, And of course everybody was like whoa,
like just you know, right, but it's like this dude
was saved. Beho again it's like, well, dude, Like dude,

(55:15):
that's awesome, but like to have the courage to be
able to do that and be like, dude, you know
I didn't saved. It's no, and the Devil's gonna do that, Like, no, dude,
you got that. And that's what I had a false
conversion before I got saved, and that's what happened to me. Dude.
It was like the Devil's like, no, dude, you got
you already got this this figured out. Don't worry about it. Well,

(55:37):
the Bible says, don't doubt your faith, you know, and
it's like, and I just don't. Don't don't. I'm like, dude, man, Like,
I don't think I ever locked this in so super
important and I just hope that we've done this with justice.
And I think this is gonna be a fun series
and I think it's something that will give you guys
something to chew on, you know. So I think that

(56:04):
you were talking about.

Speaker 1 (56:05):
I'm just gonna be transparent as I always am. I'm
not gonna lie, dude. I have been struggling the last
couple of weeks with all the crap I've been going through,
the broken tooth, the stomach sickness, the flu, house not selling,
the stress. I have caught myself a couple of times
over the past week where I've started letting that flame

(56:29):
kind of flicker instead of feeding it, and I started
I'm not lying.

Speaker 2 (56:35):
I started thinking, you know what, maybe.

Speaker 1 (56:37):
We just pulled the plug on the podcast. It's not
like the big hit anyway. You know, everything that we
try to do, it always gets shut down. It's always
some kind of a hassle. And then I had to
catch myself, brother, and I had to say, what are
you doing? No no, no, no, no no no. You
can't go back down that road. Grab your Bible, start

(56:58):
reading some scripture, Listen to some of your old podcasts,
get on YouTube, watch some other good podcasts. You know,
Alan Parr something. You need to fan that plane because
that flame is starting to die out of and it, dude,
it's an all too familiar feeling. And I swore this
time I'd never go back to that, but that's where
I'm at. I and everybody listening. You have to fan

(57:21):
the flame, especially when you feel attacked by When you
feel attacked by Satan, you better try to get the
roar and his bonfire you ever had going insight, because
that's what it's gonna take toward him off. I mean,
I'm telling you he's total and when he don't like a.

Speaker 2 (57:35):
Little nose scripture too. So just to give you guys
an outline something look forward to. Again. We just you know,
we were just talking about flame, but some of the
next one. You're the environment around your fire, the fuel
that you use to fuel your fire. Uh, the oxygen
which is the breath of God. Ye'all, it's gonna get heavy,

(57:57):
the oxygen, the breath of God, and the Holy Spirit,
vigilance guarding your flame, discipline, reusing the colds. And then
there's there's all kinds of I mean, we're gonna break
this down and it's I think you guys are really
gonna enjoy it. So again, if you haven't already, make
sure you click like, click, subscribe, share, leave us a review.

(58:18):
I forgot to plug that at the beginning, but we're
trying to get everybody to leave reviews because it helps
us spread the word. But we're trying to get this
thing ranked that way more people can listen to it
and again, follow us on YouTube. We're a pretty active
on Facebook. I need to get better about that. But

(58:38):
check out the tea spring, all the links, all the
Bible verses, all that stuff's in the description. But that's
all that I have. And I am Big Drew Ski
and I am Chris and we're gonna roll on up
out of here. I hope y'all have it pro Yeah,
we did.

Speaker 1 (59:00):
Got

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#31 - How to Keep Your Fire Lit (Part One)

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}#31 - How to Keep Your Fire Lit (Part One)