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Why Most Christians Never Discover Their True Calling · Relish: a Christian podcast

• 0:01
  Relish pleasing or zestful flavor a quantity
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  just sufficient to flavor to be pleased or
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  gratified by enjoy we are hoping that what
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  we bring to your table today might add some spice to your life welcome back
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  to another episode of relish i am roa miller noah miller my brother and my oldest
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  brother and oldest brother let's see how he said that don tatterson Definitely
• 0:29
  oldest in the room. Yeah.
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  More than our ages combined by a little bit. Yeah, and doubled. And doubled, yeah.
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  Ages combined and doubled. Right. Yes, I remember when you were born. Yes. And you too. Yeah.
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  Do you remember when you were born? You were born in St. Louis,
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  so I don't remember that. Yeah, I was.
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  But I did, yeah, you were little when you came. I was pretty small when I was born.
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  Yeah. Oh, yeah. This is going to be good. Hang on, folks.
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  So I've got a question for you guys. The Relish Comedy podcast. Yes.
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  It's sort of supposed to be funny, but sometimes it's funny when it's not really supposed to be.
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  Anyway, what single thing would you absolutely want to do if it were possible during your lifetime?
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  Single thing you'd want to do if it were possible during your lifetime. Okay.
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  I think maybe you play around at Augusta National. I was going to say the same thing.
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  So, Fred Ridley, if you're watching this, Rowan and I would love to come and
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  play your beautiful course in Augusta, Georgia.
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  For those who are wondering what that is, it's a private course.
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  They hold the Masters Tournament, which is like the most prestigious tournament in the world.
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  Invitation only. The most glorious weekend. And members, it's invitation-only membership.
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  And your fee, if you get invited, is like over a million dollars or something.
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  Oh, my. What is it? $200,000?
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  That's bigger than my bank. I think it's $200,000.
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  Okay. That's your initiation fee. They only have X number of members and invite-only membership.
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  And a lot of the members don't even play the course. It's like,
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  you know, the scripture that comes to my mind, if I could only mow the greens in that. Yeah.
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  Or like John felt unworthy to untie the strings on Jesus' sandals.
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  And, you know, I think it would be probably pretty close to like the promised
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  land or heaven equivalent here on earth, at least for a golfer. Yeah. For a golfer.
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  I don't know if that's heresy. it might be but heaven for adults it's parallel
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  really close nonetheless okay cool maybe a more realistic thing it'd be just
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  something fun just be skydiving,
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  yeah I think I want to just free fall for a little bit.
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  As long as I have a parachute, though. Yeah. Yeah. I've had that free fall experience.
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  It's not really what it's cut up to be, but it wasn't hundreds of feet either.
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  Cool. Yeah. What was your free fall experience? Oh, a ladder.
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  Oh, was that a letdown? Goodness gracious. But yeah, let's not go there again.
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  There was no parachute involved.
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  How about you? What's one thing that you would like? oh man to
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  see all my yeah if i could do it see all
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  my kids come to jesus my kids
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  are to jesus but all my grandkids oh sure i
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  want to and i you know it's not something i can do it's not really something
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  i have a lot of control of but that was that would be my what was that place
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  you're augusta augusta yeah augusta golf yes what's your well you know okay so if if uh uh,
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  A 1929 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost.
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  Yeah. Be so my heart. I don't know what that was. Let me drive.
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  I mean. Let me drive the Silver Ghost, please.
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  Oh, yes. Yeah. Now you got that. Anybody out there that has a Silver Ghost?
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  Yeah. Well, no. Yeah. Just around the block would be fine.
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  I don't even know anybody in Iowa who's got a Silver Ghost. I don't know anybody
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  with a Rolls. You don't? No.
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  Okay. I thought maybe you were swinging pretty high up there in the southwest
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  corner of—south? Northwest. Northwest corner of Iowa. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
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  Ron, you got something for us? Start firing away at dawn.
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  Firing away, and you can chime in, you know. You're a theological guru right now. Yeah.
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  And see how it goes. All right. I'll hang on to my stool. Well,
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  this one's not—I don't think this one will be too hard for you,
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  but— Okay. When God created the animals in the beginning, did he create many
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  animals of each kind or two animals of each kind?
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  I believe a couple of each kind.
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  And the reason I go that route is because that's what ended up at the ark.
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  Not gobs and gobs, but enough to get started.
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  And I think partially you'd look at the migratory patterns throughout the world,
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  how they were broke up then when the continents were moved.
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  And you can pretty well trace every species back to one spot.
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  So I'd say the two of each.
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  Maybe three of each. Maybe two. So you think when they were called onto the
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  ark, then there weren't any animals left behind?
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  No. No, I'd say there were animals left behind. Because they had to call for re-referges.
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  Yeah, he called the two of each species so that those species would be protected during the flood.
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  And what's interesting is the accounts that verify that actually come out of
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  other cultures. That's cool.
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  Have you been down to the art museum? We have, yeah. Yeah, it's cool.
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  I like it. Yeah. They've done a good job.
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  Yeah, it's a nice place. I heard somebody said they were going to put in an amusement park or?
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  Yes, they've been talking about that. Something like that. I'm not sure how
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  amusing creation could be.
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  But anyway, you know, that's what Noah did.
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  That's after he landed, you know. Oh, Noah. The other Noah. Yeah. Okay.
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  Yeah, when he was with the ark, I'm pretty sure he built a big amusement park.
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  I think that was the first six flags, actually.
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  Oh, okay. Originally it was seven flags because that's the number of completion,
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  but. Completions. Right.
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  Seven flags. Sorry, don't.
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  Where's the salt? Take that with salt. Salt. Salt.
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  We ought to have a block of salt in here so we can say, you know,
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  take it with a grain of salt or a block of salt, whichever.
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  And then just hold it up every time. Yeah. Well, yeah. Right.
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  There you go. I'll just stop being sarcastic. No, that's all right.
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  That adds to the flavor here.
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  We relish those kind of comments. Sounds good. It's good.
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  Notice that yeah that is yeah I needed to spice up my life so we put some relish
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  to it all right sticking sticking in Genesis,
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  back to the subject that's what the moderator does right yes,
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  Uh, would Eve have been surprised that a snake spoke to her since they were,
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  or not since they were living in harmony at that time?
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  That is a really good question. That's a really good question.
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  Probably not. Not to the same extent I'd be shocked if a garter snake out in
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  my backyard started talking to me.
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  I would be shocked if a garter snake, if a rattler, I probably wouldn't give him time.
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  I'd be running.
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  Run, get the shovel. Uh, but, uh,
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  probably not to the extent we would be, uh, shocked because things were different
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  than the harmony in the, in the, uh, in the garden was much different than the
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  harmony in our backyards.
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  Do you think other animals could talk to them?
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  At least to the fellowship level, you know, like you talk to a horse,
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  do you talk to her? I don't. I talk to my dog.
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  Yeah. And once in a while she thinks she understands me.
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  Sure. Yeah. Well, yeah, like dogs can understand us to a certain extent,
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  right? Like you can train a dog with English commands. Right.
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  They don't necessarily understand English.
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  Susie has this awful habit that when I do the morning prayer for breakfast, then she talks to you.
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  So it's, oh man.
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  I think it's her way of saying, please shut up, dad. I'm hungry.
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  Maybe she's adding to your prayer. But the idea of the snake talking in a way
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  that Eve could understand is about the only way we can take that text.
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  Because, yeah, there probably wasn't surprise.
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  Might have been surprise what he said. So you think they had conversations with
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  other animals before that? Yeah, sort of like Doolittle.
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  Talk to the animals. Yeah.
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  Not too familiar with that, but. Dr. Doolittle? Oh.
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  I'm not. I'm sorry. Too young. I've heard of him. It was before your time, huh? Okay.
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  Well, I've always, I think it was Sunday school the other day,
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  we were talking about Balaam and his donkey.
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  Yes. And Balaam was yelling at his donkey, and then just right away his donkey
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  answered back, and then he answered again without.
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  Without any pause. No solitary, no pause, no nothing. Precisely.
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  Do you think he was surprised or was it just like?
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  Yeah, Balaam seemed to be oblivious to what was going on.
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  I mean, and the whole thing going on, he was a prophet of God and yet he was
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  being bought out to do the prophecy against Israel that he was doing.
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  And yeah, that's a whole weird thing that he would be willing to speak out against God's people.
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  And then at the end, you know, as he ended every prophecy, he couldn't get there.
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  Balaam's donkey comes after the Tower of Babel.
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  So if God confused English language or people's language, human's language,
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  I imagine he confused the animals too.
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  So they didn't they barked or they mooed or that's interesting i've never thought
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  about this before yeah well that's i'm just trying to put it in the context
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  of what i know of scripture yeah,
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  and uh that's that would be more where i'd come from that's why eve could understand
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  the snake she'd had to understand the snake uh balaam doesn't come out and surprise
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  that his donkey talks which seems weird right but uh.
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  He's awfully mad at that donkey, terribly mad at that donkey.
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  Yet the donkey sees, the other piece of that story is, the donkey sees the angel.
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  And here the prophet of God doesn't see the angel.
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  I mean, if this is a spiritual situation, I would think that Balaam would see the angel.
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  But, you know, he's closed his eyes to what God has.
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  And, but the donkey didn't.
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  Yeah. The very start of that story, doesn't it say that the Lord was angry with
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  Balaam? Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
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  So he is too focused on his own desires and stuff.
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  Yeah, for sure. Pride of the flesh. Mm-hmm.
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  Yeah. He had his own thing he was doing and focused on that.
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  And it all had to do with money at that point. It always does.
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  Well, it tends to, seems like. Yeah.
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  Yeah, so you got another one? I do. Ephesians 4, 1. Mm-hmm. Yep.
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  Do you know this off the top of your head? Well, not quite to the top,
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  but off the side and in one corner.
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  And I brought the old Bible, so it takes me longer to get the floppy pages.
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  I'll just read it quick. Yeah, please. This is CSB. Therefore,
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  I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received. Mm-hmm.
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  So, what if we don't, the NIV says live a life,
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  or what if we don't walk a life worthy of
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  the calling that has been given and is our calling
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  a hard set calling or like is
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  there a certain thing that our calling is
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  or is there multiple things or well i
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  i think there's seasons of call and and sometimes those seasons will change
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  uh paul seems to be saying okay he's a prisoner he urged them to live a life
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  worthy of the calling you have received.
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  So it's making the assumption the call has been given by Almighty God and they have received it.
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  There is the possibility of being called by God and not receiving it.
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  So that's one part of this is the fact that God has created us uniquely so to do a certain thing.
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  And I think when you get to Ephesians 2.10, created works in advance,
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  not by works so that no one can boast.
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  For we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
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  which God prepared in advance for us to do.
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  So that calling, like Mr. Engineer, it's a calling.
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  You've felt that for a long time to go into that kind of work.
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  And it's not something that you just, oh, hey, I think I'd like to be an engineer.
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  It's something that God has given you the math skills to do,
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  the mechanical reasoning to sort of think through.
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  So those are skills he's given you. Right. And, you know, he's uniquely given you skills, Ron.
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  And both of you guys have athletic skills. I mean, in addition to all those,
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  those came as part of how you were created.
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  Well, that's part of the calling. The second piece is God's given you the passion for a task.
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  And that's where God's calling. Well, it's sort of like the gift of salvation. We can receive it.
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  It's given. We can receive it or not.
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  So the gift of this calling that God has uniquely physically created us for
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  and then spiritually called us to is given by God.
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  And Paul's encouragement is live into it.
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  And I've seen some guys that has shifted over time to a different calling,
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  but usually it builds from one calling to another over the course of time.
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  So when he says, here I go, get back, live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
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  Be completely humble, gentle, patient, bearing with one another. It's a way of life.
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  You you accept can you imagine okay even on christmas can you imagine being
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  given a gift underneath the tree that is wrapped by almighty god and that's
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  how you receive this calling,
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  hey cool thank you lord uh you know what's that mean and how does that mean
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  for my future and how does that create relationships around that call and how
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  do i then move it into the future and then what are you calling me to in the
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  here and now as far as time and space.
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  So even if he calls you to be a pastor, and then it's got to be,
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  okay, how does that work in time and space?
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  Does it work alongside an engineering situation?
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  Or is that beyond and above? Or, you know, I don't know.
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  But I do know the one has an idea of the plan, and that's God.
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  Yeah, I think, uh, the, the gifts and talents thing is, is what my mind jumped to first.
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  Um, I always, I've said it before. Uh,
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  I, I believe I would be of the belief that, uh, every person on this earth has been given a skillset,
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  uh, by God that if used to the best ability, uh, there would be no like job
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  shortages, like anywhere.
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  Like, uh, God would have, uh, given everybody, uh, the right skills,
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  uh, for a specific task that if they can, uh, dive into that,
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  embrace it and find something they're passionate about while,
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  uh, using the skills to their best, the best of their ability, uh,
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  whether that's people skills, analytical skills, you name it.
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  It's, it's anything, uh, that every, every spot in not only are like local economy
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  would be filled, but like for the kingdom would be filled too in like a bigger picture.
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  So I don't know, maybe that's wishful thinking, but I think that that, I believe that.
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  But it does fit because not long back in this passage, he says, some to be apostles,
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  some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be pastors,
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  some to be teachers, to prepare the kingdom goal is to prepare God's people for works of service.
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  So that the body of Christ may be built up.
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  And I don't know about you, but we've got some of those missing.
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  It's been a long time since I've heard an apostle called.
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  It's been a really long time since I've heard a prophet being called.
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  And back in my early years, there were evangelists that were called,
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  but even those aren't very many anymore.
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  Pastors and teachers, we still got called, but not as many as we used to.
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  Hmm. Sure. Yeah. So, yeah, I agree.
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  We talked in the past episode, two, three, or four, about people that have heard
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  God's call. and said no, yeah, what that can do for them and also for the church.
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  Right, and it just seems to cripple them spiritually and make them sort of critical.
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  And, you know, it's as if, okay, you got called to the, what is the big thing in golf?
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  Augusta National. Okay, Augusta National. Okay. So you, you,
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  you, you get called to the, uh, to this master's tournament. Okay.
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  Master's tournament. And you say, well, okay, nah, nah, I think maybe I don't want to do that.
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  That'd be insane. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
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  Well, so if you're called to be a pastor, it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
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  To pass it up is to pass the call of God up.
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  Right. And so all of a sudden you live with this, well, I was called to be a pastor.
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  Well, boy, you're sure a poor pastor. I was called to be a pastor,
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  but you're a poor pastor.
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  It's that kind of mental thing that is played
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  and it really is corrosive to the
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  church right i think another thing too is oftentimes when we think about these
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  roles that that people have in the church in society whatever uh we tend to
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  rank them like like based on frankly salary uh being the number one thing right
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  uh you think you're better than someone because you make more money than them.
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  Uh, you think your job is more valuable, uh, to society as a whole because you're
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  bringing in more money than them.
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  Uh, and God's eyes, everyone's job has equal value from the,
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  the top of the top of the biggest bank in the world to, uh, a retail cashier. Mm-hmm.
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  Yeah. The the power that those people have in the eyes of God is like it's it's
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  maybe not powers the same, but but they hold equal value in the kingdom.
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  And that's kind of a beautiful thing. I think it's sort of interesting how we're
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  living in an age of reckoning, because all of a sudden we don't have skilled
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  labor like for welders and machinists and electricians and carpenters,
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  especially Finnish carpenters.
• 20:47
  It's hard to find a really good Finnish carpenter. And some of those skill sets
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  are getting paid more and more as time goes on compared to, you know,
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  we get into other degrees and you think that four years of extra money and effort should.
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  And it's amazing what's happening in the workplace there.
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  That serves, maybe it's God's way of leveling things out in our here and now. Yeah.
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  But how did we get there?
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  Did we get the question answered bro i think we
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  calling yeah ask and
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  calling might just have to call an episode too oh there
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  you go yeah yeah that was a good
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  question but i i really that's the layers to that i you uniquely i uniquely
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  believed like you do that god has that skill set for each of us and uh he he
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  gives us the task of discovering it and uh a lot of times help not without help. Yeah.
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  And then I remember it was my church that helped call out the skill set and
• 21:55
  that I use today to this very day.
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  So what's the role of the faith community in calling out our unique skill sets,
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  recognizing them spiritually as well as.
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  Authentically. I've got the ability to add one more thing.
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  So you saying that, uh, like having a group of people around you,
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  uh, to help identify your, your skills.
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  Uh, I remember doing exercise somewhere in my education. I can't remember what it was.
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  Um, but there are certain things that only you can see about yourself.
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  There are certain things that you can see that other people don't see.
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  There's things that, uh, other people see and you see,
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  and then there's things that only other people can see about you
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  and it's that that only other
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  people can see about you that category
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  is is why we need the community right we
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  can uh lift each other up speak uh life into people based on the skills that
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  we see right uh abilities that we see on display in their lives and uh yeah
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  i guess all that to say uh find a community and get get plugged in because it's
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  you're not alone in your journey with the skills that God has given you.
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  And it's important to your Christian walk, not only in your calling,
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  but also in your daily spiritual walk.
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  And iron sharpens iron. Yeah. We need that. So iron sharpens iron.
• 23:24
  We need to be a little sharper. I always need a little bit sharper. Yeah.
• 23:28
  Yeah. Good. All righty. Well, thanks for coming on, Noah, Don, for having me.
• 23:34
  Hope you guys enjoyed. Maybe share it with somebody. That'd be great.
• 23:38
  And we'll see you next time.
• 23:40
  Thank you for joining us for this podcast. Feel free to become part of this
• 23:44
  ministry by sharing it with others.
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  Our goal is to help each other grow deeper in our understanding of who God is
• 23:49
  and is calling to us in our daily lives.
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  Thank you again for joining us and may God bless your day.