May 12, 2025 • 48 mins
Zach Windahl grew up going to church, but it wasn’t until a low point in 2014—when he seriously questioned if Christianity was even for him—that his faith became real. He packed up and moved to Australia for an intensive Bible study, spending 12 hours a day, six days a week in Scripture. Within a week, everything changed. That transformation sparked a calling: help people actually understand the Bible. After a big failure with his first book (The Bible Study), Zach doubled down, learned from it, and launched The Brand Sunday, which went on to become one of the fastest-growing brands in the country. Now, with The Bible Simplified, he’s making the storyline of the Bible clear, accessible, and deeply relevant—no fluff, no pressure, just real truth for real life. His mission? To meet people where they are, simplify faith, and show that the Bible isn’t just for scholars—it’s for everyone.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Carl Lene, she's a queen and talking and it was
so she's getting really.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Not afraid to fail its episode, So just let it flow.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
No one can do we quid Caryl lne is sounding.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Caroline, Well, I'm very excited to be here with Zach Kwindall.
How's it going?
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Excellent? Thank you so much for having me. This is fun.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
You're always excellent excellent though, aren't you?
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Uh? I would say these days probably ninety percent of
the time.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Okay, why is that?
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yeah? I think a lot of it has to do
with the way that I was raised and just my
mindset on life and the fact that I'm here and
there's a lot of good going on around me, and
if I focus on the good, I think more good
things are going to happen.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
How were you raised?
Speaker 1 (01:08):
So? My mom is a full time cancer survivor, and
so when I was four years old, she was diagnosed
with stage four ovarian and was sent home with a
five percent chance to live. And then she had a
tombor around her satic nerve and was healed from that.
And then she had colon cancer with three quarters of
her colon removed and was healed from that. And then
(01:28):
when I was fifteen, she had breast cancer and double
messtectomy and reconstruction. The whole deal was healed from that.
So my entire childhood is seeing my mom in and
out of the hospital, never knowing if she's actually going
to make it. And she really always taught me, Zach,
life could be so much worse. I could not be
here today, but I am. So you need to learn
(01:50):
to treat every day like the gift that it is.
And even when really bad things are happening around us,
we still believe that God is moving and if you
find where that is and focus on that and try
to be there, that it's going to take over the bad.
Not to disregard the bad by any means, but to
(02:10):
just have your hope and your mindset in the right place.
And so that's that impacted my entire mindset today and upbringing.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Were you living in fear or were you able to
join her in her mindset? Did you know she was
going to be And was each cancer? Was it was
one related to the other or were they just completely
separate cancers?
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Completely separate cancers?
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Is that for one person that four separate cancers?
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Great question. Yeah, we don't know either, but yeah, she
uh had, I mean every every few years, like she
would do colon or she would do chemo and radiation
and so her hair would fall out and then it
would come back a different color, and so like that
was just what I knew. And I don't think there
(03:02):
was a place of fear too much, but it was
more so just knowing that there was a hope and
just the positivity that she brought to it was so
impactful for me. Honestly, I don't remember everything by any means.
I think our bodies do something where when you experience
(03:25):
trauma or things like that, it blocks certain things out.
So I really only remember a lot of the good stuff.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Do you have siblings?
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Only child? I was supposed to have an older sister,
she didn't make it, and then miscarriage, well yeah, miscarriage,
and then after me, my mom after her first cancer,
she couldn't have any more kids, so only me.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
How was it being an only child? I have an
only child who's five, and I've had a bunch of miscarriages,
and I like, I'm crying because it hits such a
nerve because I'm so worried that she's gonna like long
for a sibling and especially like with what you were
going through something so intense as an only child. Is
it hard to be an only child or were you
able to appreciate it? And like being an only child?
(04:16):
What was your experience?
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Like? I loved it. I think it was the greatest
thing ever. Because even though my mom was in the
hospital a lot and my dad traveled a lot, so
I didn't have anywhere to go a lot of the time.
So I grew up with my neighbors a lot of
the time and then our family friends, and so I
basically had like seven sisters growing up, and that was
(04:39):
very transformative for who I became for sure. So even
though I didn't have somebody at home, I was always
with friends. And so for you like and and your
kid is like, let them spend a lot of time
with friends. That's that's their siblings.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Yeah, What was it like growing up with so a
seven females, seven girls that you grew up with so
you were you were the only boy? What was that like?
Did they like do your hair and makeup? Did you
like about your first kiss?
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Like?
Speaker 3 (05:07):
What was what.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Happened when you were seriously? I mean there was like
four four girls that lived down the street, they were
all sisters, and then three sisters that were like my parents'
best friends their kids, and they didn't like do my
hair and makeup and stuff, but it was always just
like I think I think it brought out a side
(05:28):
where it's like more relational and understanding to women and
just more like, I'm not like a dude's dude, if
that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
You're a girl guy.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
I'm more of a girl's guy. So, like everybody when
we just found out that we're pregnant with a boy,
and okay, buddy, because everybody was like, oh, Zach's a
girl dad through and through, and so we were set
that we were having a girl.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
I do like you were sure, yeah, of course it
makes sense.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
And then we did our our gender reveal and we
like poured out this paint and it was blue paint,
and my wife and I were like, oh my goodness,
this is not what we thought was going to happen
at all. And so we're we're prepped, We're we're getting ready.
I don't know how it's going to go. It's gonna,
(06:27):
I mean, it's gonna be amazing, obviously, no matter what's
thrown at us, We're gonna have have fun with it.
But I've just always been more of a girl dad.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
I think, what does a guy's girl? What does that mean?
Because I know like a girl's girl, and I know
like a girl's a boy, a girl guy, a guy's girl.
What is it a guy girl, a girl guy? No? Wait,
how do we say this? What is a girl's guy
a girl's guy?
Speaker 3 (06:55):
What does that mean?
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Like?
Speaker 2 (06:56):
What do you what is your personality? Like? Like, how
do you interact in the world as a girl girls guy?
Speaker 1 (07:01):
That's a great question. I think a lot of it
has to do with just being like relational and understanding
and and talking. I'm not but I'm I'm aware of
sensitivity and I'm I think. I think the biggest thing
is I've learned to be a really good listener and
instead of always having an opinion on things, I allow
(07:21):
other people to talk and also not like super judgmental
in the sense of like you should do things this way,
but more so just open to like, Okay, that's that's
where you're at in your stage of life. And I
can give you the logical answer all day long, and
I can tell you what I think. But a lot
(07:42):
of the times women don't need to hear that, and
they they want to just be heard more, at least
from my experience, and so it definitely taught me how
to be a listener. And then even from like passions,
like growing up, I would make like jewels and my
first business I was nine years old, and it was
(08:04):
making shark tooth necklaces on the beach in Naples, Florida.
And I would like I was an entrepreneur from from
the jump, but I would it would always be like
jewelry or clothing or things like that. And I was
never like super into sports. And even today, all the
guys I'm around can talk sports all day and I
(08:26):
have no idea what anybody's ever talking about. But I'm like, hey,
you know, you can use hemp and and make a
necklace like this. I can teach you how to glass blow,
but I can't teach you anything else. Like I can
play sports, but I just don't care to follow them.
And yeah, I think that was a big factor in
(08:49):
my childhood as well. I've never thought about it like that.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
So when you're hanging out with your wife and y'all
are having like, you know, some friends over you're out
with friends, are you in like you know, like sometimes
it like segregates into like the boys hang out and
the girls hang Now are you like chilling with the
girls or are you like hanging with the guys.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
I'm usually with the girls. Yeah, So we our passion
is hosting people. We love it more than anything else.
It's our hobby. And it's cause I worked in the
hospitality industry for like twelve years.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
What are you doing?
Speaker 1 (09:19):
I was like managing restaurants and helping open restaurants and
just being around people all the time. And so I
love food and I love hosting people. And so we
have people over a few times a week, probably even
if it's just family, and I'm always just in the
kitchen cooking, and I just always want to make sure
everybody else comes to our place and feels a sense
(09:42):
of like peace, and that they walk into our home
and they're like, Wow, something's different about this place. And
every time I leave, I feel refreshed, and so I
want to be there. So even like from like we'll
we'll bake cookies. I'll put cookies in the oven before
people even walk in the door a lot of the time,
so when they walk in, it smells like home, and
(10:04):
little things like that, just to provide people with a
place of refreshment.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
I think, do you think you did that? Because did
you do that growing up and you wanted your mom
to feel comfortable and like feel happy?
Speaker 1 (10:16):
No. Actually I got that by from a guy named
Bob Goff and.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
His oh yeah area, yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Yeah, yeah, so sweet Maria. I had heard did that,
and I was like, oh, I'm taking that and doing
it with everybody that walks in our house. And so
that's where that came from. But I don't know about
at our home for sure. My dad hosted a lot
of people and loves cooking, and so we would have
people over in that regard, But I think my bosses
(10:49):
and my jobs from from probably eighteen to twenty eight
had a major impact on who I am in regard
of of hosting people.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
So you said, when people come to your house, you
want them to have a different experience, to feel comfortable.
A lot of people aren't always thinking about others in
that way. They're more thinking about what their needs are
and what they want. Where did that is that from? Hospitality?
Is like, because you were in the service industry, you're
(11:21):
thinking of how to get people to return to your restaurant.
What people need anticipating their needs is that your heart
to be thinking of others all the time? Like are
you a people pleaser? Where did that come? Where you
are like wanting to make sure everyone in your presence
is comfortable and happy and having its amazing experience.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
It definitely came from the service industry, from being in
a place where it's like, it doesn't matter how I'm feeling,
I have to essentially perform at that At that stage,
it was it was a performance. Now it's it's different.
I think I've grown and found the positive side of
it for sure, But in the mom and it's like
it doesn't matter if you have the flu, you still
(12:03):
need to work twelve hours today with a smile on
your face and make sure that everybody else is taken
care of. And I was working in like pretty high
end stuff for a really long time where it's like, Okay,
their needs are the most important thing. From the moment
that they walk in the door. They need to feel
like they're at home and that we're finding ways to
(12:26):
please them that they would never even even expected. And
so that definitely transferred to me now where it's like, Okay,
I see how these little touch points can make a
difference in somebody's experience and not to be liked at all,
(12:47):
but it's always to see other people enjoy them. So
if I'm by myself, I might make a tuna fish sandwich,
but if my friends are coming over, I'm making like
filet mignon and like French perade potatoes and like protrudo
rapt asparagus because i want them to have an experience.
(13:08):
That's like we don't do this at our house because
for me, like seeing somebody else's reaction with food and
seeing their smile and their eyes light up for the
first bite of like dulce deh stuff churo is like
that brings me to life. And that's what I do.
(13:30):
I've just figured it out. I mean being around really
great chefs and then also just trying things. So like
for lunch today we had like this Indian corma and
non and roasted carrots, and like we just do fun
stuff every day because I'm just always trying new things
(13:50):
because for lunch, yeah yeah, yeah for sure. And like
my wife and I, because we love hosting so much,
we want to see an experience. All the spots in Orlando,
so that when somebody does come for three days, we
can be like, everything you eat the next three days
is going to blow your mind. I never want to
(14:11):
try a new place with somebody random for the first
time because I want to make sure that they're getting
the best bites that they could possibly have. It's like
it literally fuels me. It's my favorite thing in the world,
probably outside of the Bible and my family.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
So food is definitely your love language.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Yeah, and food in regard of other people.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
But yourself too, because you're making this karm this tiziki
karma thing on a two.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Sure whatever you said, you.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Just explore my wife.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Oh yeah, is your Are you access service? Is that
your also your love language?
Speaker 1 (14:49):
It is? Yes, you're good. You know these things because you.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Like to serve people. I am not access service. I
like that. I am words of affirmation. Like I will
tell you all day long. I will like tell you
how great you are. I will find your strengths, I
will build you up. But like if you want me
to do something for you, yeah, I am fatigued already.
I am like war just thinking about it. Like if
(15:14):
you need me to fix something or repair it, or
I can't cook, so you would not like comes to
my house, but we have great, wonderful get togethers. But
it's definitely not about the food.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
But like, has your love language changed over the years
at all? You know?
Speaker 2 (15:34):
I think I'm still as far as what I give people.
I have started becoming more gifts, Like I'm not strongly gifts,
but I do like to give people things, Like I
like to show up with a gift that's thoughtful. I
like to Now that I have a daughter, I love
to shower her with gifts. That's probably not healthy, but
like I love, I love to like I love, But
ultimately no, it's it's words because I want to tell
(15:57):
you how special you are. I want you to know
that you are very important. I want you to know
your strengths. I want you to walk away from me
feeling valued and then knowing yourself why you have, what
your gifts.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Are and are you Does that go back to you
as well? Do you prefer receiving words of affirmation and
gifts or is it just is that the way you give.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
I think that might have changed because I used to
always love words of affirmation. Now I really appreciate access
service now that I'm adult, because I mean, that's a
lot of my sister's access service and she is the best.
I mean, she just like handles everything. And I'm like,
how do you have this energy? Do you just have
tons of energy? Are you just doing stuff all the time?
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Yeah, And it drives my wife crazy. I think because
I can't sit still. I didn't learn to relax until
we got married. There was because I felt bad, and
there was a time period where I think there was
like it was six years where I worked every single holiday,
I worked, every single weekend. I worked. I didn't take
a day off for all six years, and I didn't
(17:05):
go on vacation or anything. And then we got married
and it was like, oh, I need to make a
change here. If I want to please my wife and
be happy at home, then I need to learn how
to rest and take some time off. And I did
and it's been fantastic. And the funny thing is you
still get the same amount done and everything that you
(17:26):
stress about when you're working twenty four to seven is unnecessary.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
I think, what is your wife's love language.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Words of affirmation and physical touch. Do you receive that
I do? Yes. It's funny because I agree mine has
changed as well. When I was growing up, it was
words of affirmation, and then recently, probably in the last
four years, the way that I receive, the way that
I feel love the most is through acts of service.
(17:57):
And the way that I give is not only of
service but also gifts. But I don't like to receive gifts.
So it's fascinating when you get into like the way
that you give and receive.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
So I have a couple questions that we're going to
get into your books. The Bible Simplify just coming out
July first, and I have a lot of questions about
that because I think it's a great concept. You're like
literally simplifying the Bible into a digestible book that we
can understand, because it's pretty overwhelming. And I want to
talk to about your faith journey because I've had quite
(18:38):
the faith journey and I know you have as well,
and I struggle with the intensity of all these rules
sometimes in Christianity that is sometimes a big turn off
for me, and I want to talk to you about
how you navigate that. So when you grew up with
all these females influencing your life and you're like the
(19:00):
girl's best friends, like you're the girl's guy you're hanging
out all these girls, did you want to date.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
All of them?
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Or how do you know? How do you know when
someone's a friend and someone's someone you want to pursue romantically?
Because I was never friends with guys, Like, I did
not know how to be friends with guys. I always just.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
Had crushes on for sure.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
So how did you what is that line? Because how
did you know who you wanted to pursue and who
was just a friend because I always heard guys and
girls can't be friends.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Yeah, one hundred percent. I mean like as a kid
growing up and stuff, you're like, ooh, that that girl
is kind of cute. I'm going to be her friend
and for a while and we'll see what it turns into.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
The underlying there was sometimes even with the neighbors.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
No, see, that's the issue. Then you can get into
a tricky situation because you can be super friendly with
some people and then all of a sudden they start
expressing feelings for you and you're like, oh, no, I
did that was the last thing on my mind. And
then it makes the relationship or the friendship weird and
(20:06):
you kind of move your own direction. I think so,
But is there a way to tell the difference between
the two. I think no. I think I was treating
people the same and till there was a love interest.
Like with my wife, for example, she wanted to be
friends for uh for a long time, and I wanted
(20:28):
to date her right away. And I thought she was
interested in me right away because she was so friendly
with me, and so being from Minnesota, I was like,
and her being from Miami, it's just a different culture
with dating, and so she was like, oh, yeah, we
just talk from the moment we wake up to the
moment we go to bed.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Oh, so y'all are like chit chatting and texting and
she was just affacting with you, and you're like, oh,
she loves me.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Uh huh from Minnesota. I don't know, maybe it's a
I just attribute it to being from Minnesota and the
dating culture was different. But it's like, yeah, if we're
talking all day, you're for sure into me, and I'm
for sure into you. And so I started expressing interest
after a month and she was like, oh, no, I'm
not interested.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
What did that crush you? Well?
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Yeah, but I didn't believe it. And that was like
a week before Christmas, and I had all of Christmas
off for my job at the time. So I flew
down to Miami with no plans except to see her,
and her her best friend at the time convinced me
that it was a good idea to set up like
this sunset sailboat cruise and like a sushi dinner, and
(21:39):
it was this gonna be this romantic thing. So I
get to the airport at like five am and I
text her and I'm like, hey, I'm coming to Miami
this weekend with no plans except to see you. Can
you pick me up? Can you pick me up from
the airport? And I turned my phone off and I
hopped on the flight and been like, well, then we
figure it out. As the plane's going down into Miami,
(22:02):
I start receiving text from her like wait a second, No,
you aren't, you're kidding. I'm busy, And I was like, well,
I'm here, and she's like, okay, fine, I'll pick you up.
And she picks me up and we go on this
sunset sailboat cruise and it was the most awkward date
of my life. I think.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
It wasn't a date, you just because it wasn't a date.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
In my mind, it was for sure a date, and
in her best friend's mind it was too but and
then afterwards she she was like, all right, well, I
gotta go play volleyball with my friends. Are you good here?
And I'm sitting on the street corner in Miami with
my luggage like, yeah, I'm good. I'll figure it out,
and I like got home a few days later. I
(22:53):
ended up spending a few days with some friends there.
I got home and I reached out to her and
I was like, hey, that was really disappointing, and she's like,
why didn't ask you to come? And I was like,
it's not wrong.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
She's not wrong.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
So that was a bold move, Zach.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
I mean, if some dude that I had in the
total friend zone just surprised me with a sunset sushi date,
it could break.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Me out totally. And I think it did for her,
and it did. For like six months. We were like,
we talk a little, and then we'd start flirting and
she's like nah, And it took from that point. It
took nine months until we finally started like talking and
then we started dating, fell in love.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Dating happened. What was that line that switched?
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Yeah? She was just praying through it, and one day
she felt like God was like, as crazy as you think,
this is, like, give Zack a chance. And she started
talking to me, and all of a sudden, she said,
it was like a veil lifted up over her eyes
and she saw me for who I really am and
(23:57):
was like, oh, I'm in love with this guy. Actually,
And she called me and was like, hey, I know
that this is gonna sound crazy, but I'm interested. And
she said like she saw me at this at this
like Cuban Club were we were both at for somebody's
birthday party, and she said, like a green she saw
(24:18):
like a green light above my head, and it was
like it's go time. And we literally started dating and
we got engaged four months later, and we got married
two months later. And that was five years ago, and
we have our first kid come in in just a
couple months here.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
So y'all are completely friend zone the whole time, like
no kiss, no nothing.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Yeah yeah, yeah, Fort And.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
You just were pursuing her like you just knew.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Yeah, one hundred percent, And I just kept showing up
and then like we'd run into each other because I
was living halftime in Miami and halftime in Minnesota at
that point, and so we'd we had the same friend group,
so we'd always be around each other. And I was
just really nice to her and she would kind of
confused her early on because she's like anybody else in
Miami would have been like, well you got a big
(25:04):
forehead anyways, or like something mean like that. And I
was just always like kind and like, hey, if it
works out, great, If it doesn't, so be it. And
I think that was that won er over for sure.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
How did you know right away that she was the one?
Speaker 1 (25:20):
I just, man, that's a good question. I there was
just something so unique about her that I was like,
I want to spend the rest of my life getting
to know her, and just the way that she was
with people, the way that she carried herself, the way
that she spoke to people, the wisdom that she had,
and her love for the Lord, and yeah, that was huge.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Well that's a great story that stay persistent.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
Thank you, Thank you. Consistency over long periods of time
is how you win people.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
You know, even in marriage and love.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
True love too.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Yes, Okay, so you've had quite a journey with God. Yeah,
and God, I mean God should should be the center
of all people's lives. But as far as like your life,
it is like you do all your work is with God.
You're an author, your content creator, everything is to bring
people to God. And I think that is so amazing
(26:16):
and I feel like right now we are in such
a spiritual awakening. Do you feel that?
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Yeah, yeah, one hundred percent. And I think it's more
so people that are like reaching out for the first
time than people that like grew up in church and
fell away and are coming back to the church. But
it's people that are like, oh, I've never even held
a Bible before, and I'm walking in the door of
a church for the first time. I don't know what
I'm doing. And that's where I'm come into play.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Okay, So I want to talk to you about your book,
The Bible Simplified, and also your your whole brand that
you made, the brand Sunday, Like that is like a big, big,
big thing that you created that has like impacted the world.
It's like a huge brand.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
I want to talk about how you came up with
that too. But I have a few questions because I I'm
deeply spiritual and I have been on a faith journey forever.
Because like you, I feel like you grew up in
the church, right, Yeah, But then when you were in
your teens, you hit a spot where you didn't even
know if you how you felt about the Bible. I
don't know if you questioned your whole relationship with God.
(27:16):
And then you went to Australia and have like a deep, deep, deep,
immersive Bible study where you were like studying the Bible
six days a week, twelve hours a day, which is
so intense and crazy, but it like transported your life completely.
So I struggled, and I have come to my own
faith now and I have a super super super close
relationship with God. But it is I would definitely say
(27:37):
it is my own relationship with God and not necessarily
all from the church, because I have found a lot
of the rules in the church to be very restrictive,
and they can. I just feel like sometimes it leaves
people out for no good reason, if that makes sense.
(27:58):
Do you ever feel that way?
Speaker 1 (28:00):
I think yeah, I think, uh, that's often been twisted
in a lot of ways, and I think a lot
of people I think you need to understand the heart
behind the rules, if you will. We believe that God
is like a holy God more so than anything else,
(28:22):
and that His ways are the best ways, and that
he's given us the Bible to teach us how to
live a life that's holy, and that's that's in line
with him. And so yes, the Bible does have a
lot of rules to it.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
But a lot lot there to keep you, to keep
you out of your own way, honestly, a.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Lot of yeah. And I think a lot of people
will read books like Leviticus or the second half of
Exodus and they're like, oh, the whole Bible is rules,
but we are no longer if you're if you're a
New Testament Christian, you're no longer held to the laws
of the Old Testament. Explain so so like like there's
(29:09):
a rule that's like no tattoos.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Or or noticing your army.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Yeah, I have tattoos all over.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
And I've seen a lot of people who say, like,
if you tattoo certain things on your body, it can
create like a portal that's like demonic on your body
or something. Because I have tattoos.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
Awesome.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
It's like if you have a certain certain types of tattoo,
it can invite negative But to see, that's the part
that's freaking me out because then everybody has all these
things to say, and it's like, oh, my gosh, who
do I believe? How do you know? And this person
doesn't and why are you the authority and you're not.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
Yeah, So we believe that Jesus was the fulfillment of
the law, and so like there is a law in
the Old Testament, it's like six hundred and thirteen rules,
things like you can't eat cheeseburgers, for instance, because you
can't have like milk, or you can't have cheese and
meat at the same time, or you can't like you
have to grow out certain parts of your But those
(30:01):
rules we believe were fulfilled through Jesus. And so that
now like the greatest laws are to love God and
to love others as yourself. And then also like the
moral laws are still there, but the sacrificial laws and
the cleanliness laws, certain laws like that from the Old
(30:23):
Testament aren't no longer necessary for the New Testament Christian today.
And so yes, like we should like follow the ten
Commandments for sure, and Jesus kind of rewrote a lot
of the law in what's called the Sermon on the
Mount in Matthew five through seven, and it's like, Okay,
(30:43):
you've heard it said this, but I'm actually gonna flip
it upside down a little bit and show you that
the Kingdom of God is something pretty different than you
thought it was, and I'm gonna invite you into that
and to help spread the Kingdom throughout the world, because
that's been the goal and the and our our job
(31:04):
from the beginning is to take God's presence, or to
take take what he created originally garden of Eden, and
expand that throughout the rest of the world. And so
for us as Christians today, we're supposed to take our areas,
our home, our neighborhood, our job, and we're supposed to
bring the Kingdom of Heaven to that. And that looks
(31:25):
like love and hope and peace and kindness and justice
and also living a lifestyle of holiness and worship dedicated
to the Lord. And I think in the church a
lot of the time, or even just like through social media,
(31:47):
it'll be like people will take one verse and run
with it, but not understand the full heart behind it,
or if it even still applies to us today. And
so that's what I'm trying to bring some clarity to
because I think a lot of people don't actually understand
their faith. And I think a lot of people are
(32:08):
just so overwhelmed and confused by the Bible without realizing
that it's a story. It's fifty percent of it is
a story, but we look at it like, oh, it's
just a bunch of rules of how I should live
my life. But that's not the case at all. It's
a really small portion of it. And so if I
can get somebody to grab the Bible for the first time,
(32:28):
hold their hand, and build their foundational understanding of it
so that they can read the Bible and wrestle with
things and figure it out the rest of their life,
that makes me happier than anything.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
How do you make that in your book the Bible simplified?
How do you make this becomes someone's own personal faith
and not just something they've been taught. Because that's another
thing that I feel like a bunch of people will
have resistance to it, and me myself, I had resistance
to this for a long time. Was I felt like
I was just learning about what the Bible said and
(33:05):
trying to follow these rules and feeling like I was
going to hell if I didn't. I am thankful for
all of my exploration and the moments that I doubted
God and the moments that I questioned my faith, because
now I actually have a true faith.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
I think a big thing for me when I fell
away is I was seeing other Christians that were more hypocritical,
and I was seeing people that weren't Christian of maybe
of other faith or or no faith at all, and
they were like so kind and nice, and I was like,
why is it that the Christians are living one way
and the people that aren't Christian are living a different way.
(33:42):
I was like, I'm not going to allow another person
to impact my view of God. I'm going to actually
explore it myself. And that's when I really went in
and dove deep into the Bible and was like, Okay,
if I really believe that this is truth, and then
this is how I need to live my life from
here on out. And as you as you said, like
(34:02):
the rules and everything, that's yes, for sure, like we
we have put up like barriers and boundaries on how
we should live our life. But like the word gospel,
so we say, like the Gospel of Jesus, and like
the word gospel isn't a Christian word, it's actually it
was used all over the ancient Near Eastern Roman Greek
(34:26):
world where it was like, Okay, if a new leader
was in town, this is what their kingdom is going
to look like. And so when the Gospel of Jesus
was spread, it was saying, okay, Jesus. We believe Jesus
is king, and the Kingdom of God looks like this.
It looks like there's healing and there's peace, and there's love,
(34:47):
and there's joy, and people are being set free and
relationships are being restored and there's forgiveness, and that's the king.
That's the true Kingdom of God that we're trying to
spread all aro instead of just being over here like ooh,
I had four drinks instead of one, and so now
I'm going to Hell. I think that's just a complete
(35:10):
miss of what the actual gospel message is. But we're
sent here. We're like, if you have the Holy Spirit,
you're here to bring the Kingdom of God to our
surrounding area and say that, hey, this is like the
world says that life is meant to be done this way.
We believe that it's different, and we believe that God
has something bigger for us, and there's hope for the future,
(35:34):
and you can be a part of that too. And
God is a part of this. He's in the middle
of this restoration process where he's going to be making
all things new at the end, and we can join
in on that right now. We won't see it the
fruition of it fully until the end of time, but
for now we can begin that restoration process and be
(35:57):
used by him and co labor with him to bring
the Kingdom to our surrounding areas. And so for me,
it's like, okay, with my stuff, I'm trying to bring
hope to people's lives. I'm trying to let them be
less stressed out and overwhelmed by the Bible and trying
to hold their hand as they read through it. And
(36:17):
I'm trying to let them know that, hey, God has
a plan for your life and you have a calling
and he wants to partner with you to help other
people also realize the same thing. And so if I
can do that, that brings me so much joy that
I can't even imagine get anywhere else.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
So when you wrote the Bible simplified, yeah, what are
your goals with this? And tell me the layout of it,
Why this book is different than others, how we can
digest it.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
So the Bible is fifth twenty percent story, and it's
about a third poetry, and the rest is like pros
or discourse. And so for a lot of us, we
look at the Bible where we're like, oh, it's only rules.
But that's just not the case. And so I really
focus on the storyline of scripture from beginning to end
and where we're at in the process and what that
means for us living out our lives. So I really
(37:21):
zoom out and I see it from a whole, unified perspective,
and I break it down into forty really short chapters
that are like three to four pages a piece, so
that you don't get overwhelmed by that either, because if
I don't want you overwhelmed by the Bible, I don't
want you overwhelmed by this book. And so you can
go through it in forty days. You can go through
it in a day if you want. But it's really
(37:42):
taking the big picture story and showing you, Okay, this
is where you're at in the timeline, this is what's
going on, this is what's going on in history, so
that all of these little pieces make so much more
sense to us. And I think by doing so, by
bringing in the historical side to it, it shows, Okay,
this is what I'm I'm a part of, this is
(38:02):
what my ancestors did, this is what I'm signing up for,
and it shows me how to how to live Kingdom
lifestyle today. There was this fascinating study that came out
recently where if somebody reads the Bible or go or
just goes to church, not much happens in their life.
If somebody reads the Bible twice a week and one
(38:24):
of those times is going to church, not much happens
in their life. If they read the Bible three times
a week and one of those times is going to church,
not much happens in their life. But for anybody that
interacts with the Bible four times a week minimum, like
the stats are through the roof of forgiveness and hope
and joy and purpose and like less depression and anxiety.
(38:51):
And it's like at four times is when everything shifts.
So if I can get people to do that in
some way and not just open the Bible because they
feel obligated to, but open it because they understand what
they're reading and where they're going, and they have a
purpose in their interaction with the Bible, then I'm all
about that.
Speaker 2 (39:12):
So what happened to you when you were in Australia
and you were like deeply immersed in the Bible for
twelve hours a day, six days a week, because before
then you were questioning your faith? What happened?
Speaker 1 (39:23):
Yeah? Yeah, I think. I think a lot of us
that grow up in church we know certain Bible verses
and we know certain stories, but we don't know how
they all work together and how they are real historical
books as well. And so when I got to Australia,
we were studying twelve hours a day, six days a week,
and we read the Bible five times through in nine months,
(39:45):
and like wrote our own commentary on it essentially. And
it was during that process, like I think day two
probably is when everything changed for me, and like some
light bulb went off where it was like, oh, Philippians
was written to the church in Philippi by a guy
(40:05):
named Paul, Like it just became so much more real
and tangible and historical, and by having that, it made
it more real to me than just like this woo
woo like thing that you read and it teaches you
how to live a good life. But it was, No,
this is a story that I'm signing up for and
I'm saying that I'm a part of this. And now
(40:28):
it's showing me, historically, over over thousands of years, how
to how to live a life and be set apart
and to be holy for God and to bless other people,
because from the beginning God has chosen a group of
people in order to bless other people and bring them in.
It's it's never been to like, oh, I'm blessing these
(40:50):
people and everybody else is out of here. It's I'm
blessing these people in order to bring other people in.
And if the people that are brought in want to
be a part of it, they can be. And so,
as gentile non Jewish believers in God, we believe that
we were brought into that and that we're receiving that
(41:14):
blessing as well. And that's pretty amazing.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
So how did you is that when you felt like
you started to develop your own personal relationship with God?
And how is that? How is that different from you
than just knowing about the Bible? Like, what is the
difference for anyone listening, Like, how would you describe the
difference of like actually feeling God and like feeling God
(41:40):
in your life, seeing it, knowing God's there from a
personal standpoort standporn't yeah, versus just following what you've learned.
Speaker 1 (41:51):
Yeah, it's like going from that on that eighteen inch
journey from like your head to your heart. And I
think we can know a ton and we can be
around a ton of thing is because we feel like
we should. But there needs to be some time in
your relationship where you transfer it from Okay, this is
just what I know to this is how I feel,
and this is impacting who I become today. And I
(42:13):
think we become transformed by spending time in the Bible
and spending time in prayer and spending time in worship.
And I think the more that you do that, and
the more you understand God's heart behind things, it impacts
who you become as a person and can learn how
to go about the world and show love and hope
(42:35):
to others. And so for me, it's every morning spending
time in the Bible, spending time in prayer, and then
spending time in like listening prayer and believing that the
Holy Spirit's going to speak to me and that he
has something to say and that our relationship with God
is two way, and it's not just one way, So
(42:57):
we aren't just only talking to him, but He also
something to say to us at all times. And so
I believe that the more that you do that, the
more he will speak and the louder his voice will get.
And it's gonna take a long time, and it's going
to take trying and and mishearing from him, but I
think eventually he's so faithful and good to us that
(43:20):
he does show up and and you can learn to
hear from him.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
How does God speak to you?
Speaker 1 (43:27):
Uh? For me, it's like a like a still small voice,
like deep within me where you just like I've heard
it say like like you just know when you're nowhere.
And so for me it's like, oh, I just know
that I either need to do this thing or or
say like life is chaotic, and then all of a sudden,
(43:48):
you he like gives you some random idea over here
to like reach out to this person or to say
this thing to somebody. A lot of the times, it's
it's like you're being stopped in your tracks with a
thought that you didn't have before or that didn't even
really make sense in the moment, but it can be
of help to somebody else, because that's why he speaks
(44:08):
to us. It's in order to love the people around
us and to show them that He's good.
Speaker 2 (44:16):
Why do you think awful terrible things happen to good people?
Speaker 1 (44:21):
Especially because yeah, of course, I mean it's I think
bad things happen to people and then they're like, God,
why did you do this to me?
Speaker 3 (44:30):
Without where are.
Speaker 1 (44:32):
Yeah, yeah, for sure, But it's just the result of
sin from like from the beginning, and it's been a
spiral ever since then. So every bad thing that happens
in our lives is the result of sin spiraling for
thousands and thousands of years. And so, yes, God is good,
(44:53):
and yes he's like using us and spreading his kingdom
around us, but that doesn't mean that Satan isn't real,
and that he's also empowering people all around us in
major ways and also in like hidden small ways, and
over time, it's all piled up, and I believe that
(45:16):
that heaven and like the new Heaven and the new Earth,
is going to be a time where there isn't any
of the impacts from sin. So like food for us
right now doesn't taste the way it should because of sin.
Trees don't look the way they should because of sin us,
and our skin don't look the way that they should
because of sin. And but we're we're on the direction
(45:40):
of this restoration process where God's going to redeem everything,
and when that happens, all of it will be brought
to the way that it's supposed to be, where food
will taste the way it's supposed to be, the sky
will look the way it is, and you and I
are going to look different as well. And that's something
that's really aiting.
Speaker 2 (46:01):
I always wrap up with leave your Light, and it's
just a super open ended question and basically, what do
you want people to know? Just to drop some inspiration hmmm.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
I would say, give reading the Bible a chance and
don't stop when you hit Leviticus, but understand it from
a big picture perspective.
Speaker 2 (46:22):
Is Leviticus the chapter that turns it gets everybody? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (46:25):
Typically most people, most people stop their Bible into your
reading plan when they get to all the rules and
it's like not a big part of the Bible at all,
but most people stop there.
Speaker 2 (46:36):
Okay, okay, I love that, Zagen. We didn't even talk
about the Brand Sunday. Can you just tell us quickly
what that is because it's such a it impacted on
such a big level.
Speaker 1 (46:46):
Yeah, it's uh, the Brand Sunday. They make resources to
help people grow in their faith and be less overwhelmed
by the Bible. I owned it for five years. We
were acquired a couple of years back, but I still
work with them in a ton of ways, basically creating
Bible studies and books to literally help people as they
read through the whole Bible.
Speaker 2 (47:06):
I love that, Okay, And what do you want to
tell someone like me who is still who believes in Jesus,
who has a strong faith, but just is still a
little bit like I don't know, I don't know, I
don't know. What do you want to tell tell that
kind of person?
Speaker 1 (47:21):
I would say, start by reading this book because it
will be your foundation, and then go from there because
once you understand the history of it, it'll shift what
you're taught in church a lot of the time, or
what you were taught growing up, and you'll realize that, oh,
this is way bigger than just Jesus being a good person,
(47:43):
but this is the God of the universe coming in
human form to transform everything to save me. And that's
a big deal.
Speaker 2 (47:55):
I love it. Well, thank you so much, Zach. And
where can everybody find you? Where can they keep up
with you?
Speaker 1 (48:00):
Instagram and under Zach Wendell and then everywhere books are sold.
Speaker 2 (48:05):
And you do a lot of content like you do,
like Bible studies in your content, and like you do
a lot of like little quick like little bites for
people if they need motivation a.
Speaker 1 (48:14):
Few times a day, devotionals, teachings and anything to give
you a little bit of hope throughout your day.
Speaker 2 (48:21):
I love it, Okay, Zach, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (48:25):
Yes, thank you so much. Have a great day you too.
Speaker 2 (48:28):
Bye.
Carl Lene, she's a queen and talking and it was
so she's getting really.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Not afraid to fail its episode, So just let it flow.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
No one can do we quid Caryl lne is sounding.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Caroline, Well, I'm very excited to be here with Zach Kwindall.
How's it going?
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Excellent? Thank you so much for having me. This is fun.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
You're always excellent excellent though, aren't you?
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Uh? I would say these days probably ninety percent of
the time.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Okay, why is that?
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yeah? I think a lot of it has to do
with the way that I was raised and just my
mindset on life and the fact that I'm here and
there's a lot of good going on around me, and
if I focus on the good, I think more good
things are going to happen.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
How were you raised?
Speaker 1 (01:08):
So? My mom is a full time cancer survivor, and
so when I was four years old, she was diagnosed
with stage four ovarian and was sent home with a
five percent chance to live. And then she had a
tombor around her satic nerve and was healed from that.
And then she had colon cancer with three quarters of
her colon removed and was healed from that. And then
(01:28):
when I was fifteen, she had breast cancer and double
messtectomy and reconstruction. The whole deal was healed from that.
So my entire childhood is seeing my mom in and
out of the hospital, never knowing if she's actually going
to make it. And she really always taught me, Zach,
life could be so much worse. I could not be
here today, but I am. So you need to learn
(01:50):
to treat every day like the gift that it is.
And even when really bad things are happening around us,
we still believe that God is moving and if you
find where that is and focus on that and try
to be there, that it's going to take over the bad.
Not to disregard the bad by any means, but to
(02:10):
just have your hope and your mindset in the right place.
And so that's that impacted my entire mindset today and upbringing.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Were you living in fear or were you able to
join her in her mindset? Did you know she was
going to be And was each cancer? Was it was
one related to the other or were they just completely
separate cancers?
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Completely separate cancers?
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Is that for one person that four separate cancers?
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Great question. Yeah, we don't know either, but yeah, she
uh had, I mean every every few years, like she
would do colon or she would do chemo and radiation
and so her hair would fall out and then it
would come back a different color, and so like that
was just what I knew. And I don't think there
(03:02):
was a place of fear too much, but it was
more so just knowing that there was a hope and
just the positivity that she brought to it was so
impactful for me. Honestly, I don't remember everything by any means.
I think our bodies do something where when you experience
(03:25):
trauma or things like that, it blocks certain things out.
So I really only remember a lot of the good stuff.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Do you have siblings?
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Only child? I was supposed to have an older sister,
she didn't make it, and then miscarriage, well yeah, miscarriage,
and then after me, my mom after her first cancer,
she couldn't have any more kids, so only me.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
How was it being an only child? I have an
only child who's five, and I've had a bunch of miscarriages,
and I like, I'm crying because it hits such a
nerve because I'm so worried that she's gonna like long
for a sibling and especially like with what you were
going through something so intense as an only child. Is
it hard to be an only child or were you
able to appreciate it? And like being an only child?
(04:16):
What was your experience?
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Like? I loved it. I think it was the greatest
thing ever. Because even though my mom was in the
hospital a lot and my dad traveled a lot, so
I didn't have anywhere to go a lot of the time.
So I grew up with my neighbors a lot of
the time and then our family friends, and so I
basically had like seven sisters growing up, and that was
(04:39):
very transformative for who I became for sure. So even
though I didn't have somebody at home, I was always
with friends. And so for you like and and your
kid is like, let them spend a lot of time
with friends. That's that's their siblings.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Yeah, What was it like growing up with so a
seven females, seven girls that you grew up with so
you were you were the only boy? What was that like?
Did they like do your hair and makeup? Did you
like about your first kiss?
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Like?
Speaker 3 (05:07):
What was what.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Happened when you were seriously? I mean there was like
four four girls that lived down the street, they were
all sisters, and then three sisters that were like my parents'
best friends their kids, and they didn't like do my
hair and makeup and stuff, but it was always just
like I think I think it brought out a side
(05:28):
where it's like more relational and understanding to women and
just more like, I'm not like a dude's dude, if
that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
You're a girl guy.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
I'm more of a girl's guy. So, like everybody when
we just found out that we're pregnant with a boy,
and okay, buddy, because everybody was like, oh, Zach's a
girl dad through and through, and so we were set
that we were having a girl.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
I do like you were sure, yeah, of course it
makes sense.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
And then we did our our gender reveal and we
like poured out this paint and it was blue paint,
and my wife and I were like, oh my goodness,
this is not what we thought was going to happen
at all. And so we're we're prepped, We're we're getting ready.
I don't know how it's going to go. It's gonna,
(06:27):
I mean, it's gonna be amazing, obviously, no matter what's
thrown at us, We're gonna have have fun with it.
But I've just always been more of a girl dad.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
I think, what does a guy's girl? What does that mean?
Because I know like a girl's girl, and I know
like a girl's a boy, a girl guy, a guy's girl.
What is it a guy girl, a girl guy? No? Wait,
how do we say this? What is a girl's guy
a girl's guy?
Speaker 3 (06:55):
What does that mean?
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Like?
Speaker 2 (06:56):
What do you what is your personality? Like? Like, how
do you interact in the world as a girl girls guy?
Speaker 1 (07:01):
That's a great question. I think a lot of it
has to do with just being like relational and understanding
and and talking. I'm not but I'm I'm aware of
sensitivity and I'm I think. I think the biggest thing
is I've learned to be a really good listener and
instead of always having an opinion on things, I allow
(07:21):
other people to talk and also not like super judgmental
in the sense of like you should do things this way,
but more so just open to like, Okay, that's that's
where you're at in your stage of life. And I
can give you the logical answer all day long, and
I can tell you what I think. But a lot
(07:42):
of the times women don't need to hear that, and
they they want to just be heard more, at least
from my experience, and so it definitely taught me how
to be a listener. And then even from like passions,
like growing up, I would make like jewels and my
first business I was nine years old, and it was
(08:04):
making shark tooth necklaces on the beach in Naples, Florida.
And I would like I was an entrepreneur from from
the jump, but I would it would always be like
jewelry or clothing or things like that. And I was
never like super into sports. And even today, all the
guys I'm around can talk sports all day and I
(08:26):
have no idea what anybody's ever talking about. But I'm like, hey,
you know, you can use hemp and and make a
necklace like this. I can teach you how to glass blow,
but I can't teach you anything else. Like I can
play sports, but I just don't care to follow them.
And yeah, I think that was a big factor in
(08:49):
my childhood as well. I've never thought about it like that.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
So when you're hanging out with your wife and y'all
are having like, you know, some friends over you're out
with friends, are you in like you know, like sometimes
it like segregates into like the boys hang out and
the girls hang Now are you like chilling with the
girls or are you like hanging with the guys.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
I'm usually with the girls. Yeah, So we our passion
is hosting people. We love it more than anything else.
It's our hobby. And it's cause I worked in the
hospitality industry for like twelve years.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
What are you doing?
Speaker 1 (09:19):
I was like managing restaurants and helping open restaurants and
just being around people all the time. And so I
love food and I love hosting people. And so we
have people over a few times a week, probably even
if it's just family, and I'm always just in the
kitchen cooking, and I just always want to make sure
everybody else comes to our place and feels a sense
(09:42):
of like peace, and that they walk into our home
and they're like, Wow, something's different about this place. And
every time I leave, I feel refreshed, and so I
want to be there. So even like from like we'll
we'll bake cookies. I'll put cookies in the oven before
people even walk in the door a lot of the time,
so when they walk in, it smells like home, and
(10:04):
little things like that, just to provide people with a
place of refreshment.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
I think, do you think you did that? Because did
you do that growing up and you wanted your mom
to feel comfortable and like feel happy?
Speaker 1 (10:16):
No. Actually I got that by from a guy named
Bob Goff and.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
His oh yeah area, yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Yeah, yeah, so sweet Maria. I had heard did that,
and I was like, oh, I'm taking that and doing
it with everybody that walks in our house. And so
that's where that came from. But I don't know about
at our home for sure. My dad hosted a lot
of people and loves cooking, and so we would have
people over in that regard, But I think my bosses
(10:49):
and my jobs from from probably eighteen to twenty eight
had a major impact on who I am in regard
of of hosting people.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
So you said, when people come to your house, you
want them to have a different experience, to feel comfortable.
A lot of people aren't always thinking about others in
that way. They're more thinking about what their needs are
and what they want. Where did that is that from? Hospitality?
Is like, because you were in the service industry, you're
(11:21):
thinking of how to get people to return to your restaurant.
What people need anticipating their needs is that your heart
to be thinking of others all the time? Like are
you a people pleaser? Where did that come? Where you
are like wanting to make sure everyone in your presence
is comfortable and happy and having its amazing experience.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
It definitely came from the service industry, from being in
a place where it's like, it doesn't matter how I'm feeling,
I have to essentially perform at that At that stage,
it was it was a performance. Now it's it's different.
I think I've grown and found the positive side of
it for sure, But in the mom and it's like
it doesn't matter if you have the flu, you still
(12:03):
need to work twelve hours today with a smile on
your face and make sure that everybody else is taken
care of. And I was working in like pretty high
end stuff for a really long time where it's like, Okay,
their needs are the most important thing. From the moment
that they walk in the door. They need to feel
like they're at home and that we're finding ways to
(12:26):
please them that they would never even even expected. And
so that definitely transferred to me now where it's like, Okay,
I see how these little touch points can make a
difference in somebody's experience and not to be liked at all,
(12:47):
but it's always to see other people enjoy them. So
if I'm by myself, I might make a tuna fish sandwich,
but if my friends are coming over, I'm making like
filet mignon and like French perade potatoes and like protrudo
rapt asparagus because i want them to have an experience.
(13:08):
That's like we don't do this at our house because
for me, like seeing somebody else's reaction with food and
seeing their smile and their eyes light up for the
first bite of like dulce deh stuff churo is like
that brings me to life. And that's what I do.
(13:30):
I've just figured it out. I mean being around really
great chefs and then also just trying things. So like
for lunch today we had like this Indian corma and
non and roasted carrots, and like we just do fun
stuff every day because I'm just always trying new things
(13:50):
because for lunch, yeah yeah, yeah for sure. And like
my wife and I, because we love hosting so much,
we want to see an experience. All the spots in Orlando,
so that when somebody does come for three days, we
can be like, everything you eat the next three days
is going to blow your mind. I never want to
(14:11):
try a new place with somebody random for the first
time because I want to make sure that they're getting
the best bites that they could possibly have. It's like
it literally fuels me. It's my favorite thing in the world,
probably outside of the Bible and my family.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
So food is definitely your love language.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Yeah, and food in regard of other people.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
But yourself too, because you're making this karm this tiziki
karma thing on a two.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Sure whatever you said, you.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Just explore my wife.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Oh yeah, is your Are you access service? Is that
your also your love language?
Speaker 1 (14:49):
It is? Yes, you're good. You know these things because you.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Like to serve people. I am not access service. I
like that. I am words of affirmation. Like I will
tell you all day long. I will like tell you
how great you are. I will find your strengths, I
will build you up. But like if you want me
to do something for you, yeah, I am fatigued already.
I am like war just thinking about it. Like if
(15:14):
you need me to fix something or repair it, or
I can't cook, so you would not like comes to
my house, but we have great, wonderful get togethers. But
it's definitely not about the food.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
But like, has your love language changed over the years
at all? You know?
Speaker 2 (15:34):
I think I'm still as far as what I give people.
I have started becoming more gifts, Like I'm not strongly gifts,
but I do like to give people things, Like I
like to show up with a gift that's thoughtful. I
like to Now that I have a daughter, I love
to shower her with gifts. That's probably not healthy, but
like I love, I love to like I love, But
ultimately no, it's it's words because I want to tell
(15:57):
you how special you are. I want you to know
that you are very important. I want you to know
your strengths. I want you to walk away from me
feeling valued and then knowing yourself why you have, what
your gifts.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Are and are you Does that go back to you
as well? Do you prefer receiving words of affirmation and
gifts or is it just is that the way you give.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
I think that might have changed because I used to
always love words of affirmation. Now I really appreciate access
service now that I'm adult, because I mean, that's a
lot of my sister's access service and she is the best.
I mean, she just like handles everything. And I'm like,
how do you have this energy? Do you just have
tons of energy? Are you just doing stuff all the time?
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Yeah, And it drives my wife crazy. I think because
I can't sit still. I didn't learn to relax until
we got married. There was because I felt bad, and
there was a time period where I think there was
like it was six years where I worked every single holiday,
I worked, every single weekend. I worked. I didn't take
a day off for all six years, and I didn't
(17:05):
go on vacation or anything. And then we got married
and it was like, oh, I need to make a
change here. If I want to please my wife and
be happy at home, then I need to learn how
to rest and take some time off. And I did
and it's been fantastic. And the funny thing is you
still get the same amount done and everything that you
(17:26):
stress about when you're working twenty four to seven is unnecessary.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
I think, what is your wife's love language.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Words of affirmation and physical touch. Do you receive that
I do? Yes. It's funny because I agree mine has
changed as well. When I was growing up, it was
words of affirmation, and then recently, probably in the last
four years, the way that I receive, the way that
I feel love the most is through acts of service.
(17:57):
And the way that I give is not only of
service but also gifts. But I don't like to receive gifts.
So it's fascinating when you get into like the way
that you give and receive.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
So I have a couple questions that we're going to
get into your books. The Bible Simplify just coming out
July first, and I have a lot of questions about
that because I think it's a great concept. You're like
literally simplifying the Bible into a digestible book that we
can understand, because it's pretty overwhelming. And I want to
talk to about your faith journey because I've had quite
(18:38):
the faith journey and I know you have as well,
and I struggle with the intensity of all these rules
sometimes in Christianity that is sometimes a big turn off
for me, and I want to talk to you about
how you navigate that. So when you grew up with
all these females influencing your life and you're like the
(19:00):
girl's best friends, like you're the girl's guy you're hanging
out all these girls, did you want to date.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
All of them?
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Or how do you know? How do you know when
someone's a friend and someone's someone you want to pursue romantically?
Because I was never friends with guys, Like, I did
not know how to be friends with guys. I always just.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
Had crushes on for sure.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
So how did you what is that line? Because how
did you know who you wanted to pursue and who
was just a friend because I always heard guys and
girls can't be friends.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Yeah, one hundred percent. I mean like as a kid
growing up and stuff, you're like, ooh, that that girl
is kind of cute. I'm going to be her friend
and for a while and we'll see what it turns into.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
The underlying there was sometimes even with the neighbors.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
No, see, that's the issue. Then you can get into
a tricky situation because you can be super friendly with
some people and then all of a sudden they start
expressing feelings for you and you're like, oh, no, I
did that was the last thing on my mind. And
then it makes the relationship or the friendship weird and
(20:06):
you kind of move your own direction. I think so,
But is there a way to tell the difference between
the two. I think no. I think I was treating
people the same and till there was a love interest.
Like with my wife, for example, she wanted to be
friends for uh for a long time, and I wanted
(20:28):
to date her right away. And I thought she was
interested in me right away because she was so friendly
with me, and so being from Minnesota, I was like,
and her being from Miami, it's just a different culture
with dating, and so she was like, oh, yeah, we
just talk from the moment we wake up to the
moment we go to bed.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Oh, so y'all are like chit chatting and texting and
she was just affacting with you, and you're like, oh,
she loves me.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Uh huh from Minnesota. I don't know, maybe it's a
I just attribute it to being from Minnesota and the
dating culture was different. But it's like, yeah, if we're
talking all day, you're for sure into me, and I'm
for sure into you. And so I started expressing interest
after a month and she was like, oh, no, I'm
not interested.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
What did that crush you? Well?
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Yeah, but I didn't believe it. And that was like
a week before Christmas, and I had all of Christmas
off for my job at the time. So I flew
down to Miami with no plans except to see her,
and her her best friend at the time convinced me
that it was a good idea to set up like
this sunset sailboat cruise and like a sushi dinner, and
(21:39):
it was this gonna be this romantic thing. So I
get to the airport at like five am and I
text her and I'm like, hey, I'm coming to Miami
this weekend with no plans except to see you. Can
you pick me up? Can you pick me up from
the airport? And I turned my phone off and I
hopped on the flight and been like, well, then we
figure it out. As the plane's going down into Miami,
(22:02):
I start receiving text from her like wait a second, No,
you aren't, you're kidding. I'm busy, And I was like, well,
I'm here, and she's like, okay, fine, I'll pick you up.
And she picks me up and we go on this
sunset sailboat cruise and it was the most awkward date
of my life. I think.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
It wasn't a date, you just because it wasn't a date.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
In my mind, it was for sure a date, and
in her best friend's mind it was too but and
then afterwards she she was like, all right, well, I
gotta go play volleyball with my friends. Are you good here?
And I'm sitting on the street corner in Miami with
my luggage like, yeah, I'm good. I'll figure it out,
and I like got home a few days later. I
(22:53):
ended up spending a few days with some friends there.
I got home and I reached out to her and
I was like, hey, that was really disappointing, and she's like,
why didn't ask you to come? And I was like,
it's not wrong.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
She's not wrong.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
So that was a bold move, Zach.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
I mean, if some dude that I had in the
total friend zone just surprised me with a sunset sushi date,
it could break.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Me out totally. And I think it did for her,
and it did. For like six months. We were like,
we talk a little, and then we'd start flirting and
she's like nah, And it took from that point. It
took nine months until we finally started like talking and
then we started dating, fell in love.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Dating happened. What was that line that switched?
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Yeah? She was just praying through it, and one day
she felt like God was like, as crazy as you think,
this is, like, give Zack a chance. And she started
talking to me, and all of a sudden, she said,
it was like a veil lifted up over her eyes
and she saw me for who I really am and
(23:57):
was like, oh, I'm in love with this guy. Actually,
And she called me and was like, hey, I know
that this is gonna sound crazy, but I'm interested. And
she said like she saw me at this at this
like Cuban Club were we were both at for somebody's
birthday party, and she said, like a green she saw
(24:18):
like a green light above my head, and it was
like it's go time. And we literally started dating and
we got engaged four months later, and we got married
two months later. And that was five years ago, and
we have our first kid come in in just a
couple months here.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
So y'all are completely friend zone the whole time, like
no kiss, no nothing.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Yeah yeah, yeah, Fort And.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
You just were pursuing her like you just knew.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Yeah, one hundred percent, And I just kept showing up
and then like we'd run into each other because I
was living halftime in Miami and halftime in Minnesota at
that point, and so we'd we had the same friend group,
so we'd always be around each other. And I was
just really nice to her and she would kind of
confused her early on because she's like anybody else in
Miami would have been like, well you got a big
(25:04):
forehead anyways, or like something mean like that. And I
was just always like kind and like, hey, if it
works out, great, If it doesn't, so be it. And
I think that was that won er over for sure.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
How did you know right away that she was the one?
Speaker 1 (25:20):
I just, man, that's a good question. I there was
just something so unique about her that I was like,
I want to spend the rest of my life getting
to know her, and just the way that she was
with people, the way that she carried herself, the way
that she spoke to people, the wisdom that she had,
and her love for the Lord, and yeah, that was huge.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Well that's a great story that stay persistent.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
Thank you, Thank you. Consistency over long periods of time
is how you win people.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
You know, even in marriage and love.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
True love too.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Yes, Okay, so you've had quite a journey with God. Yeah,
and God, I mean God should should be the center
of all people's lives. But as far as like your life,
it is like you do all your work is with God.
You're an author, your content creator, everything is to bring
people to God. And I think that is so amazing
(26:16):
and I feel like right now we are in such
a spiritual awakening. Do you feel that?
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Yeah, yeah, one hundred percent. And I think it's more
so people that are like reaching out for the first
time than people that like grew up in church and
fell away and are coming back to the church. But
it's people that are like, oh, I've never even held
a Bible before, and I'm walking in the door of
a church for the first time. I don't know what
I'm doing. And that's where I'm come into play.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Okay, So I want to talk to you about your book,
The Bible Simplified, and also your your whole brand that
you made, the brand Sunday, Like that is like a big, big,
big thing that you created that has like impacted the world.
It's like a huge brand.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
I want to talk about how you came up with
that too. But I have a few questions because I I'm
deeply spiritual and I have been on a faith journey forever.
Because like you, I feel like you grew up in
the church, right, Yeah, But then when you were in
your teens, you hit a spot where you didn't even
know if you how you felt about the Bible. I
don't know if you questioned your whole relationship with God.
(27:16):
And then you went to Australia and have like a deep, deep, deep,
immersive Bible study where you were like studying the Bible
six days a week, twelve hours a day, which is
so intense and crazy, but it like transported your life completely.
So I struggled, and I have come to my own
faith now and I have a super super super close
relationship with God. But it is I would definitely say
(27:37):
it is my own relationship with God and not necessarily
all from the church, because I have found a lot
of the rules in the church to be very restrictive,
and they can. I just feel like sometimes it leaves
people out for no good reason, if that makes sense.
(27:58):
Do you ever feel that way?
Speaker 1 (28:00):
I think yeah, I think, uh, that's often been twisted
in a lot of ways, and I think a lot
of people I think you need to understand the heart
behind the rules, if you will. We believe that God
is like a holy God more so than anything else,
(28:22):
and that His ways are the best ways, and that
he's given us the Bible to teach us how to
live a life that's holy, and that's that's in line
with him. And so yes, the Bible does have a
lot of rules to it.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
But a lot lot there to keep you, to keep
you out of your own way, honestly, a.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Lot of yeah. And I think a lot of people
will read books like Leviticus or the second half of
Exodus and they're like, oh, the whole Bible is rules,
but we are no longer if you're if you're a
New Testament Christian, you're no longer held to the laws
of the Old Testament. Explain so so like like there's
(29:09):
a rule that's like no tattoos.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Or or noticing your army.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Yeah, I have tattoos all over.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
And I've seen a lot of people who say, like,
if you tattoo certain things on your body, it can
create like a portal that's like demonic on your body
or something. Because I have tattoos.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
Awesome.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
It's like if you have a certain certain types of tattoo,
it can invite negative But to see, that's the part
that's freaking me out because then everybody has all these
things to say, and it's like, oh, my gosh, who
do I believe? How do you know? And this person
doesn't and why are you the authority and you're not.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
Yeah, So we believe that Jesus was the fulfillment of
the law, and so like there is a law in
the Old Testament, it's like six hundred and thirteen rules,
things like you can't eat cheeseburgers, for instance, because you
can't have like milk, or you can't have cheese and
meat at the same time, or you can't like you
have to grow out certain parts of your But those
(30:01):
rules we believe were fulfilled through Jesus. And so that
now like the greatest laws are to love God and
to love others as yourself. And then also like the
moral laws are still there, but the sacrificial laws and
the cleanliness laws, certain laws like that from the Old
(30:23):
Testament aren't no longer necessary for the New Testament Christian today.
And so yes, like we should like follow the ten
Commandments for sure, and Jesus kind of rewrote a lot
of the law in what's called the Sermon on the
Mount in Matthew five through seven, and it's like, Okay,
(30:43):
you've heard it said this, but I'm actually gonna flip
it upside down a little bit and show you that
the Kingdom of God is something pretty different than you
thought it was, and I'm gonna invite you into that
and to help spread the Kingdom throughout the world, because
that's been the goal and the and our our job
(31:04):
from the beginning is to take God's presence, or to
take take what he created originally garden of Eden, and
expand that throughout the rest of the world. And so
for us as Christians today, we're supposed to take our areas,
our home, our neighborhood, our job, and we're supposed to
bring the Kingdom of Heaven to that. And that looks
(31:25):
like love and hope and peace and kindness and justice
and also living a lifestyle of holiness and worship dedicated
to the Lord. And I think in the church a
lot of the time, or even just like through social media,
(31:47):
it'll be like people will take one verse and run
with it, but not understand the full heart behind it,
or if it even still applies to us today. And
so that's what I'm trying to bring some clarity to
because I think a lot of people don't actually understand
their faith. And I think a lot of people are
(32:08):
just so overwhelmed and confused by the Bible without realizing
that it's a story. It's fifty percent of it is
a story, but we look at it like, oh, it's
just a bunch of rules of how I should live
my life. But that's not the case at all. It's
a really small portion of it. And so if I
can get somebody to grab the Bible for the first time,
(32:28):
hold their hand, and build their foundational understanding of it
so that they can read the Bible and wrestle with
things and figure it out the rest of their life,
that makes me happier than anything.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
How do you make that in your book the Bible simplified?
How do you make this becomes someone's own personal faith
and not just something they've been taught. Because that's another
thing that I feel like a bunch of people will
have resistance to it, and me myself, I had resistance
to this for a long time. Was I felt like
I was just learning about what the Bible said and
(33:05):
trying to follow these rules and feeling like I was
going to hell if I didn't. I am thankful for
all of my exploration and the moments that I doubted
God and the moments that I questioned my faith, because
now I actually have a true faith.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
I think a big thing for me when I fell
away is I was seeing other Christians that were more hypocritical,
and I was seeing people that weren't Christian of maybe
of other faith or or no faith at all, and
they were like so kind and nice, and I was like,
why is it that the Christians are living one way
and the people that aren't Christian are living a different way.
(33:42):
I was like, I'm not going to allow another person
to impact my view of God. I'm going to actually
explore it myself. And that's when I really went in
and dove deep into the Bible and was like, Okay,
if I really believe that this is truth, and then
this is how I need to live my life from
here on out. And as you as you said, like
(34:02):
the rules and everything, that's yes, for sure, like we
we have put up like barriers and boundaries on how
we should live our life. But like the word gospel,
so we say, like the Gospel of Jesus, and like
the word gospel isn't a Christian word, it's actually it
was used all over the ancient Near Eastern Roman Greek
(34:26):
world where it was like, Okay, if a new leader
was in town, this is what their kingdom is going
to look like. And so when the Gospel of Jesus
was spread, it was saying, okay, Jesus. We believe Jesus
is king, and the Kingdom of God looks like this.
It looks like there's healing and there's peace, and there's love,
(34:47):
and there's joy, and people are being set free and
relationships are being restored and there's forgiveness, and that's the king.
That's the true Kingdom of God that we're trying to
spread all aro instead of just being over here like ooh,
I had four drinks instead of one, and so now
I'm going to Hell. I think that's just a complete
(35:10):
miss of what the actual gospel message is. But we're
sent here. We're like, if you have the Holy Spirit,
you're here to bring the Kingdom of God to our
surrounding area and say that, hey, this is like the
world says that life is meant to be done this way.
We believe that it's different, and we believe that God
has something bigger for us, and there's hope for the future,
(35:34):
and you can be a part of that too. And
God is a part of this. He's in the middle
of this restoration process where he's going to be making
all things new at the end, and we can join
in on that right now. We won't see it the
fruition of it fully until the end of time, but
for now we can begin that restoration process and be
(35:57):
used by him and co labor with him to bring
the Kingdom to our surrounding areas. And so for me,
it's like, okay, with my stuff, I'm trying to bring
hope to people's lives. I'm trying to let them be
less stressed out and overwhelmed by the Bible and trying
to hold their hand as they read through it. And
(36:17):
I'm trying to let them know that, hey, God has
a plan for your life and you have a calling
and he wants to partner with you to help other
people also realize the same thing. And so if I
can do that, that brings me so much joy that
I can't even imagine get anywhere else.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
So when you wrote the Bible simplified, yeah, what are
your goals with this? And tell me the layout of it,
Why this book is different than others, how we can
digest it.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
So the Bible is fifth twenty percent story, and it's
about a third poetry, and the rest is like pros
or discourse. And so for a lot of us, we
look at the Bible where we're like, oh, it's only rules.
But that's just not the case. And so I really
focus on the storyline of scripture from beginning to end
and where we're at in the process and what that
means for us living out our lives. So I really
(37:21):
zoom out and I see it from a whole, unified perspective,
and I break it down into forty really short chapters
that are like three to four pages a piece, so
that you don't get overwhelmed by that either, because if
I don't want you overwhelmed by the Bible, I don't
want you overwhelmed by this book. And so you can
go through it in forty days. You can go through
it in a day if you want. But it's really
(37:42):
taking the big picture story and showing you, Okay, this
is where you're at in the timeline, this is what's
going on, this is what's going on in history, so
that all of these little pieces make so much more
sense to us. And I think by doing so, by
bringing in the historical side to it, it shows, Okay,
this is what I'm I'm a part of, this is
(38:02):
what my ancestors did, this is what I'm signing up for,
and it shows me how to how to live Kingdom
lifestyle today. There was this fascinating study that came out
recently where if somebody reads the Bible or go or
just goes to church, not much happens in their life.
If somebody reads the Bible twice a week and one
(38:24):
of those times is going to church, not much happens
in their life. If they read the Bible three times
a week and one of those times is going to church,
not much happens in their life. But for anybody that
interacts with the Bible four times a week minimum, like
the stats are through the roof of forgiveness and hope
and joy and purpose and like less depression and anxiety.
(38:51):
And it's like at four times is when everything shifts.
So if I can get people to do that in
some way and not just open the Bible because they
feel obligated to, but open it because they understand what
they're reading and where they're going, and they have a
purpose in their interaction with the Bible, then I'm all
about that.
Speaker 2 (39:12):
So what happened to you when you were in Australia
and you were like deeply immersed in the Bible for
twelve hours a day, six days a week, because before
then you were questioning your faith? What happened?
Speaker 1 (39:23):
Yeah? Yeah, I think. I think a lot of us
that grow up in church we know certain Bible verses
and we know certain stories, but we don't know how
they all work together and how they are real historical
books as well. And so when I got to Australia,
we were studying twelve hours a day, six days a week,
and we read the Bible five times through in nine months,
(39:45):
and like wrote our own commentary on it essentially. And
it was during that process, like I think day two
probably is when everything changed for me, and like some
light bulb went off where it was like, oh, Philippians
was written to the church in Philippi by a guy
(40:05):
named Paul, Like it just became so much more real
and tangible and historical, and by having that, it made
it more real to me than just like this woo
woo like thing that you read and it teaches you
how to live a good life. But it was, No,
this is a story that I'm signing up for and
I'm saying that I'm a part of this. And now
(40:28):
it's showing me, historically, over over thousands of years, how
to how to live a life and be set apart
and to be holy for God and to bless other people,
because from the beginning God has chosen a group of
people in order to bless other people and bring them in.
It's it's never been to like, oh, I'm blessing these
(40:50):
people and everybody else is out of here. It's I'm
blessing these people in order to bring other people in.
And if the people that are brought in want to
be a part of it, they can be. And so,
as gentile non Jewish believers in God, we believe that
we were brought into that and that we're receiving that
(41:14):
blessing as well. And that's pretty amazing.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
So how did you is that when you felt like
you started to develop your own personal relationship with God?
And how is that? How is that different from you
than just knowing about the Bible? Like, what is the
difference for anyone listening, Like, how would you describe the
difference of like actually feeling God and like feeling God
(41:40):
in your life, seeing it, knowing God's there from a
personal standpoort standporn't yeah, versus just following what you've learned.
Speaker 1 (41:51):
Yeah, it's like going from that on that eighteen inch
journey from like your head to your heart. And I
think we can know a ton and we can be
around a ton of thing is because we feel like
we should. But there needs to be some time in
your relationship where you transfer it from Okay, this is
just what I know to this is how I feel,
and this is impacting who I become today. And I
(42:13):
think we become transformed by spending time in the Bible
and spending time in prayer and spending time in worship.
And I think the more that you do that, and
the more you understand God's heart behind things, it impacts
who you become as a person and can learn how
to go about the world and show love and hope
(42:35):
to others. And so for me, it's every morning spending
time in the Bible, spending time in prayer, and then
spending time in like listening prayer and believing that the
Holy Spirit's going to speak to me and that he
has something to say and that our relationship with God
is two way, and it's not just one way, So
(42:57):
we aren't just only talking to him, but He also
something to say to us at all times. And so
I believe that the more that you do that, the
more he will speak and the louder his voice will get.
And it's gonna take a long time, and it's going
to take trying and and mishearing from him, but I
think eventually he's so faithful and good to us that
(43:20):
he does show up and and you can learn to
hear from him.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
How does God speak to you?
Speaker 1 (43:27):
Uh? For me, it's like a like a still small voice,
like deep within me where you just like I've heard
it say like like you just know when you're nowhere.
And so for me it's like, oh, I just know
that I either need to do this thing or or
say like life is chaotic, and then all of a sudden,
(43:48):
you he like gives you some random idea over here
to like reach out to this person or to say
this thing to somebody. A lot of the times, it's
it's like you're being stopped in your tracks with a
thought that you didn't have before or that didn't even
really make sense in the moment, but it can be
of help to somebody else, because that's why he speaks
(44:08):
to us. It's in order to love the people around
us and to show them that He's good.
Speaker 2 (44:16):
Why do you think awful terrible things happen to good people?
Speaker 1 (44:21):
Especially because yeah, of course, I mean it's I think
bad things happen to people and then they're like, God,
why did you do this to me?
Speaker 3 (44:30):
Without where are.
Speaker 1 (44:32):
Yeah, yeah, for sure, But it's just the result of
sin from like from the beginning, and it's been a
spiral ever since then. So every bad thing that happens
in our lives is the result of sin spiraling for
thousands and thousands of years. And so, yes, God is good,
(44:53):
and yes he's like using us and spreading his kingdom
around us, but that doesn't mean that Satan isn't real,
and that he's also empowering people all around us in
major ways and also in like hidden small ways, and
over time, it's all piled up, and I believe that
(45:16):
that heaven and like the new Heaven and the new Earth,
is going to be a time where there isn't any
of the impacts from sin. So like food for us
right now doesn't taste the way it should because of sin.
Trees don't look the way they should because of sin us,
and our skin don't look the way that they should
because of sin. And but we're we're on the direction
(45:40):
of this restoration process where God's going to redeem everything,
and when that happens, all of it will be brought
to the way that it's supposed to be, where food
will taste the way it's supposed to be, the sky
will look the way it is, and you and I
are going to look different as well. And that's something
that's really aiting.
Speaker 2 (46:01):
I always wrap up with leave your Light, and it's
just a super open ended question and basically, what do
you want people to know? Just to drop some inspiration hmmm.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
I would say, give reading the Bible a chance and
don't stop when you hit Leviticus, but understand it from
a big picture perspective.
Speaker 2 (46:22):
Is Leviticus the chapter that turns it gets everybody? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (46:25):
Typically most people, most people stop their Bible into your
reading plan when they get to all the rules and
it's like not a big part of the Bible at all,
but most people stop there.
Speaker 2 (46:36):
Okay, okay, I love that, Zagen. We didn't even talk
about the Brand Sunday. Can you just tell us quickly
what that is because it's such a it impacted on
such a big level.
Speaker 1 (46:46):
Yeah, it's uh, the Brand Sunday. They make resources to
help people grow in their faith and be less overwhelmed
by the Bible. I owned it for five years. We
were acquired a couple of years back, but I still
work with them in a ton of ways, basically creating
Bible studies and books to literally help people as they
read through the whole Bible.
Speaker 2 (47:06):
I love that, Okay, And what do you want to
tell someone like me who is still who believes in Jesus,
who has a strong faith, but just is still a
little bit like I don't know, I don't know, I
don't know. What do you want to tell tell that
kind of person?
Speaker 1 (47:21):
I would say, start by reading this book because it
will be your foundation, and then go from there because
once you understand the history of it, it'll shift what
you're taught in church a lot of the time, or
what you were taught growing up, and you'll realize that, oh,
this is way bigger than just Jesus being a good person,
(47:43):
but this is the God of the universe coming in
human form to transform everything to save me. And that's
a big deal.
Speaker 2 (47:55):
I love it. Well, thank you so much, Zach. And
where can everybody find you? Where can they keep up
with you?
Speaker 1 (48:00):
Instagram and under Zach Wendell and then everywhere books are sold.
Speaker 2 (48:05):
And you do a lot of content like you do,
like Bible studies in your content, and like you do
a lot of like little quick like little bites for
people if they need motivation a.
Speaker 1 (48:14):
Few times a day, devotionals, teachings and anything to give
you a little bit of hope throughout your day.
Speaker 2 (48:21):
I love it, Okay, Zach, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (48:25):
Yes, thank you so much. Have a great day you too.
Speaker 2 (48:28):
Bye.
Host
Caroline Hobby
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