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The Impact of Accountability in Faith · The Reality Is

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: If my heart is desperately wicked and deceitful, if I'm not allowing someone from the outside looking in to speak into my life, then my deceitful, desperately wicked heart is the only God I have left.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: All it wants is what I want, not what God wants for me, absolutely, and so I really encourage people.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Put someone in your life, put a group in your life, a life group, an accountability group that's going to speak in to what you're doing.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Welcome to the Reality Is podcast, where we're here to talk about real life and real faith.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: My name is Joey.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: I'm the worship pastor here at Crossroads Community Church.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: I'm joined here with Richard, our lead pastor, and speaking of Crossroads Community Church, I don't know if a lot of people know this, but there's this softball tournament that goes on that our church is involved with and that we're a part of, and we actually ended up having two teams because we had enough guys sign up to do two teams.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Well, last night was kind of a big night because both teams were actually playing against each other, and I know you were asked a bunch well, which team are you rooting for?
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: Right, and your legit answer was the winning team.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: But, as I would say, as Charles Barkley always says, I guarantee Crossroads is going to win tonight.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: So I was victorious.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Crossroads did win.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: And you'd have to find out which Crossroads team won.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: But they did win.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: Here was the other thing I wanted to bring up.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: It was kind of funny because we kind of reversed roles last night because you are not the late night guy, no.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: I am not.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: But you went out there and you did the late night thing, and I'm actually the one that left early.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: Now, I had my reasons for leaving early.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: One, I had to pick up my kid.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: But two was I was up all night the night before because we just had a baby horse that was born, which was a wonderful experience.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: To see life that way, it was absolutely an amazing thing.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: I sent you a video, like first thing, because I knew you would be the only one up at five o'clock in the morning, like who am I going to tell Richard Richard's up right now, as I'm getting ready to go to bed, he's waking up.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: So let me.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: So it was kind of cool.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: That was really cool and I know it's exciting for your whole family Absolutely.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: It was a family event.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: I was going to ask you yesterday and I didn't, so I'll ask now for everybody Sure absolutely.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: Is that the first time y'all have had a colt come First time ever?
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: Oh, that was awesome.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was one of those experiences that I thought, man, this is something I've never done before, really excited to actually do it and be a part of it.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: And it really was a family thing and the whole family was able to be there a part of this live birth of a horse and then watching.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: And then the process is you've got to watch this horse now try to stand up.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: And so for the next half an hour to an hour, you're just watching this horse beat up the mom literally just beating the mom up and I was going to ask you because you're a farm guy, like you know.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: I'm a city boy.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: I know nothing about this stuff, but have you seen anything?
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: like that I have.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: I've seen it, and what I'm real excited about is we'll just go ahead right now and make an announcement to Podcast World that one year from now, we're going to cover Joey Bronco busting that coat.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: So that will come.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: Stay tuned.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: Yes it is.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: What did you call it?
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: It's a coat, right, it's a boy, so it's a coat, still a coat.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: I just keep calling it a baby horse.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I know, there's real names.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Okay, we'll go with baby horse.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yay, me and my baby horse.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: Well, today we're here to talk about accountability.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: Last week we were talking about friendship and what it means to be a friend, and this week we said we want to talk about accountability and I'm just going to go on record saying I did not hold you accountable to this week's podcast.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: Because you said, all right, cool, I'm ready to go.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: And then I said, okay, great, this is what we're going to talk about.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: You said no, that's not what we're talking about.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: Clarify two minutes ago, but it was not in the spirit of accountability.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: It was not your fault.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: It's all good I simply wrote it down wrong and, as always, I use selective listening to operate in my world.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: Well, this leads into the dictionary definition of the word accountable given an account or to be answerable to, or of a person, organization or institution required or expected to justify actions or decisions to be responsible.
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: And I thought, man, that second one is actually really good.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: I need to be expected to justify my actions and accountability and friendship what we were talking about last week and now accountability being able to sit down with a friend justifying the actions or the decisions that I've made and to be responsible for those actions that I have taken.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: And so what I want to do with you now is say I know the Bible has plenty of things to say about accountability.
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: I've looked up some verses.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: There's some great verses to say about accountability.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: I've looked up some verses.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: There's some great verses in there about accountability.
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: But what do you have to say about the Bible's perspective of what it means to be accountable one to another, brother to brother?
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: You know, I think first of all we have to kind of just ask ourselves what's the reason, and then that takes us to the whole idea and the whole reason.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: I would say that I need to be accountable to someone, and, just in full disclosure for people listening, you and I are accountability partners, absolutely, and not just professionally, but personally.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: Yes, and in 2 Corinthians 2 and verse 11, it says that we should know Satan's devices lest he should take advantage of us, and so I need people in my life to help me see those devices, to help me see those areas of my life that I have glossed over, that I'm not being conscious of in my own life.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: And so I think, when we're talking about accountability, we're talking about making sure that there's someone in our life that is holding our feet to the fire, and so that would be my whole basis or the whole idea, because, honestly, if there's not someone holding us accountable, then we do every man that which is right in his own eyes.
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, and we see that a lot in the Bible.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: And again, they did what was right in their own eyes and I've spoken to people who were doing things that look right in their own eyes and until somebody tells them, hey, what you're doing is wrong, sometimes they don't even know, like I've shared this with other men that I've been accountable with, and I even shared this story with you where I was doing a sin in my life and I don't need to mention the sin.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: But there was a sin that I was doing in my life that I did not realize was a sin.
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: I didn't know it until one day I'm talking to a brother and this brother says to me hey, do you realize that you're not supposed to do that?
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: I said, well, no, I didn't realize that.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: And he took the time and this was on a Super Bowl Sunday and it started at halftime and we missed the rest of the game, which was OK because the Raiders were playing.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: I was rooting for the Raiders and the Raiders lost.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: So I ended up not having to watch them lose, but he spent the rest of that time explaining to me biblically what I was doing wrong, why it was wrong and why I needed to change.
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: That's the accountability.
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: We're talking about a brother pouring into another brother's life, because sometimes they may come to you and just shoot shooting the breeze, talking about something happening in their life and not even realizing hey, you know that's wrong and that's where he was to come and tell me man, I'm going to have to sit down and talk to you real quick.
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: What you're doing in your life is wrong.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: Here's what it says in the Bible.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: So he wasn't just making it up.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: This wasn't something where he was going.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: Hey, well, you know, this is not something I do.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: He was like this is what the Bible says about what you're doing and this is why it's wrong.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: You know, and that's what's so important.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: We spoke last week on the podcast about friendship and we talked about what a true friend is and how important that is, and you really can't say I would argue that I'm your friend and, at the same time, I would let you have sin in your life and say nothing about it.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: Exactly, and you really can't say this is my friend and not give them permission to speak into your life.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah Right, there's nothing in us that we were built to be relational people Absolutely.
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: And as relational people, we need something beyond surface, and accountability is what takes us beyond that, and I think it's so important that we understand what that is and what that's all about.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: And, as you said, there's a number of scriptures that we could go to.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: We could look at the accountability.
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: We know that even the Apostle Paul speaking to Peter, who was also an apostle- but, Peter was with one group acting one way.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: Yes, indeed.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: And another group came and he starts acting a different way acting one way yes indeed, and another group came and he starts acting a different way, and Paul witnessed this and Paul called him out on it and put him accountable to what he was doing.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: And I think we could go on and on.
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: We could find areas Absolutely.
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: I mean, even in 1 Corinthians 5, paul was instructing the people in the church hey, this is what's happening in the church and you need to hold them accountable to that.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: And as I was looking things up, I found out there were two different types of accountability that I saw.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: There's the accountability individually to God.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: We have our own accountability to God.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: And then we're accountable to each other, holding each other accountable but also helping bear each other's burdens.
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: I saw in Galatians 6, 1 through 3, it says Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you, who are godly, should gently and humbly let's make sure we hear that gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path.
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: That's what I was talking about before.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: This guy helped me back onto the right path.
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself.
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: Share each other's burdens and in this way, obey the law of Christ.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: And then this is where I thought in verse three it was so cool it says if you think you're too important to help someone, you're only fooling yourself.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: You are not that important, and I know I've heard you say that before.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: You are not that important you, I know, I've heard you say that before.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: You are not that important.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: You know, I think one of the I love that section right there.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: I've used that in numerous men's retreats and opportunities.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: I've had to speak both to groups as well as individuals, and I think one of the keys about that is, as you look at what Paul's writing there, you're not always the spiritual one, and so today you and I may be talking and you may be the spiritual one that's having to hold me accountable to something, and next week the tables could be reversed, and that's the reason.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: As we think about that and we think about being accountable, you have to realize that you're not.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: My role is not to be the overseer of accountability to where I'm only speaking to people but never being spoken to, if that is what I think accountability is, and unfortunately that's what some people there's a lot of people who just look out and go.
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: Let me tell you what you're doing wrong in your life.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: And you know, when we talk about accountability, I think one of the first things that you have to set right up front.
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: And so, if we're going to talk about setting accountability as something in our life, then I will be honest with you someone speaking into my life has got to earn that right.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: And we have to know that God did not call us to be spiritual cops if you will and charge everyone.
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: We're called to have relationships with people and enter into those, and that friendship that we talked about last week brings us to this earning that right to be able to speak.
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: Now, that's the reason when Paul said to the Galatians you, who are spiritual, how are you going to know who's spiritual if you don't have a relationship?
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: And I think that's why it's absolutely so important that we see that, and so earning the right to speak into someone's life leads you to that ability to be able to do that, and so I think that's absolutely essential, and can I add to that to say, even in the relationship that has to be established from the beginning, is you guys have to be true to each other, because it says here accountable to God, yeah, and I can go and I can tell God, hey, this is what's happened in my life.
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: But if I never come to you and say, hey, this is what's going on in my life, am I really being accountable to you?
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: Am I telling you the reason why I'm doing what I'm doing, which is what the definition said earlier, or am I just playing a game?
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: And a lot of times and I've seen this in different men's groups that I've been a part of where you've got these group of guys who are trying to hold each other accountable, but then there's a couple of people who just don't want to be open and honest and say what's happening in their life.
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: Therefore, they could never be held accountable for what's going on in their life.
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: But they really shouldn't be accountable for what's happening in my life because you haven't been honest with what's going on in your own life.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: Well too often we see accountability as a sign of weakness.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: So if I allow you into my life, I'm a like a lot of men and I'm probably that on steroids is.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: I'm not an open book, right, and a lot of us aren't.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: But if I'm going to have an accountability relationship with someone, I'm going to let someone and give that person permission.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: It is not a sign of weakness for me to open up to that person and that's key to here.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: And that's what's so important.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: So often, though, we view it as a sign of weakness.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: If I admit I have a struggle, if I admit I have a difficulty in my life, in my walk with God or in my, Am I admitting I'm weak or am I admitting that I'm a fallen human in a fallen world that has been redeemed by Christ and he has placed redeemed brothers around me that can speak into my life?
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: Exactly, and that I mean the Bible calls us to do that.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: James 5, 16 says confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed, and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: But if I'm not confessing anything to you, then how can you actually be praying for me in areas that I'm really struggling in?
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: I mean, if I keep everything surface and you know, hey, joey, what's going on in your life?
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: Man, everything's good, everything's great.
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: I'm having a wonderful time.
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: You're going to think, okay, either he's lying because everybody's got something that they need prayer for, or you're going to go.
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: Okay, everything is going good with him this week because we have that weekly.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: Hey, joey, what do you need prayer for?
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: And if I continually write to you and say nothing, nothing, you're going to go.
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: Man, this guy is spiritually solid, he's like great, which we all know is not true.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: Therefore, you won't be praying for anything in my life, or you're going to go.
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: That guy is lying to me, I know.
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: I can tell in his action and how he reacts to certain things there's something bugging him.
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: He's just not willing to say it.
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: You know, you just said something and I'm not correcting what you said, because what you said was correct.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: But I want to add to that, and that is I honestly don't think this person's lying to me.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: I think this person's lying to themselves.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: Okay, I'll take that.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: And so because if I ask you, hey, what's going on in your world, man, how can I pray for you?
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: And you go man, nothing, all's good, Then I'm like, not, this side of heaven, it's not, there's something.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: And so I think all too often we deceive ourselves.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, when you read in Galatians, he goes on to say, as he works through this, if you think more highly of yourself, in verse 3 there, he said what you're deceiving yourself, you fool yourself.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: Yes you're fooling yourself, and so, if I can't admit that there's something in my world, yes, I am lying to you, very much so, but I'm also lying to myself in that.
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: But you know, one of the things that we find a problem in that, Joey, when we talk about accountability, is that genuine person that actually cares.
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: When they ask me Because we have used how are you doing today or how can I pray for you we just use them and we don't think through.
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: It's just passing conversation words, that's all they are now.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: I mean, I got a text yesterday from a young man in our church and he listens to us each week, so he's going to hear this.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: But anyway, I got a text from him yesterday and, man, it was great because, I mean, this young man, just out of the blue, just sent me a text and said hey, I was just thinking about you, pastor, and wanted to know how can I pray for you.
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: You know that to me that's what it's all about Beginning to develop friendships, beginning to develop relationships.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: And I was honest with him, man, I sent him something back.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: You know, at first I was going to say something, you know, just kind of surfaced, but then I just sent him back hey, man, you can pray for me in this.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: And I think, if we're not willing to do that and we're not willing to say I don't have all the answers, and so I think that's important and we do that?
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: And I know you and I have been talking about person to person, one-on-one.
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: But there's also an accountability in an organization.
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: It says a corporate accountability, such as work.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: And now again, I'll bring up our institution, our organization, which is our church, here on staff, we're accountable to each other on staff and you know, again, we all say, hey, this is what's happening, this is what's going on, how can we pray for you?
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: But there's an accountability that takes place not just one-on-one but in a corporate setting.
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: So can you kind of talk to that as well?
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think we'll kind of start with the staff and we'll go out from there, you know one of the things unfortunately, a lot of people miss out of is every one of us here are pastors.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: Every one of us here are pastors and we all have different roles, different functions, but all too often I think people kind of lose sight of the fact we're all pastors.
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah Well, we just witnessed that last night, right, somebody came up, gave me a big hug and then he came to you, right, he came to you and he says and you're like, yeah, sure, I'm like Richard doesn't like hugs, but okay, he came you this big bear hug and he says I've never hugged a pastor before.
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: And he just hugged you.
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I know.
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: And so I think, recognizing that we're all pastors, people hear that and they kind of say, oh, but you're the lead pastor.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: Well we all have roles, truly, but equally, we're all accountable to one another.
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: Yes indeed.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: And so when we sit in a room and have our conversation, it's not a boss and subordinate conversation, it's an accountability conversation.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: It is pastors called by God to specific roles in a church, talking to one another.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: And so I think that is the beginning to break that out.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: But there's also the Hebrews 10, 24, and 25 tells us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: And then he tells us the purpose of that is to stir up love and good works.
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: It is impossible to have corporate accountability if you're not coming together.
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: And you're coming together to do something specific and you're stirring up, you're producing love, love God, love others, the great commandment, and then good works.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: Ephesians 2, 8, 9 tells us for by grace are we saved, not of works, but he says we're saved for a purpose, in verse 10.
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: And so that's our corporate accountability.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: So in a corporate accountability, that, honestly, is where you should be able to be in your life groups, and you should be able to develop those relationships.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: Yes, indeed, the larger a church gets and we see this in our church everybody has their place.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: They sit every week and kind of the people they sit with every week.
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we should just start putting reserves for it, because we know you're going to sit there.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: Exactly.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: But there becomes I mean honestly, there becomes almost a level of accountability in that and people look around and they go, oh, so-and-so's not here, You're not there, yep.
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: And so there's a lot of different ways that we see that, but that corporate accountability is absolutely essential.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: In Scripture he tells us how clear it is.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: He also tells us in Matthew 18 that if there's a problem between two brothers, two people, that it starts one-on-one and then he starts talking about corporate from there.
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: So it's one-on-one.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: And then if there's no resolution to that, then you bring in a couple of witnesses.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: If there's no resolution to that, the final step is then you take it to the church corporate, and that's that corporate accountability.
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: And so it's absolutely essential that you have individual accountability and that you do put yourself in corporate accountabilities.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: Now there's accountability groups.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: We hear people talk about that?
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: Yes indeed.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: And they become more difficult.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: I would argue that they're important and essential, but I would say that accountability groups are much more difficult to build the trust in.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: That's necessary, but it's also essential.
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: It is.
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: It's absolutely necessary.
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: Because here's the other thing that you'll discover in groups when you have other people, a lot of times one-on-one look.
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: Everybody knows you and I are completely different people.
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: I know we look alike.
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: People mistake us for twins oftentimes, but we're different people.
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: Your passions are different from my passions.
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: That doesn't mean we can't hold each other accountable, doesn't mean we can't be close friends, but sometimes I've discovered in groups you are actually going to find somebody who's struggling with the same exact thing that you're struggling with, and you'll only know that in a group, if you're in a group and if you actually open up and start talking in your group.
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: That's kind of a key factor is talking about what you're struggling with, what's going on in your life.
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: Because what I've discovered and what I've noticed is when people start speaking in the group, somebody else will start saying, oh man, I know exactly what you're going through In fact, I've been there and then they'll start connecting with each other on a deeper level.
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: They now start having one-on-onesones and they're able to do this accountability thing that we're talking about.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because I mean, think about it when, when you think you're fighting the fight and you're the only one that's ever fought it and so you're you feel like you're out here on an Island, somewhere that no one else can ever imagine what you're going through, then then you literally feel like the Lone Ranger.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: You're just hung out here by yourself.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: But when you're sitting in that group and then you hear someone literally verbalize almost your picture and you're like I'm not in this by myself, and now there's someone that you can come alongside, someone that can speak into your life, you can speak into their life, and that's why it's absolutely essential, because and there's something to be said for like experience yes, there is.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: Now you don't have to have done everything I've done in order to be accountable and have that relationship, but there is absolutely something to be said for someone with like struggles, like difficulties, and someone that can speak into that, yeah, and you've shared that from the pulpit before.
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: There's a difference between sympathy and empathy and it's great to have it.
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: It's great to have somebody in your life to say man, I'm so sorry for you.
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: I don't understand exactly what you're going through because I've never been through it, but I can be there for you, I'll encourage you, I'll pray for you, and it makes that person feel good to know.
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: But then when somebody else steps up in their life and says, oh my goodness, I'm going through that same exact thing, or I have gone through that same exact thing and this is how I've come out on the other side, it changes that person's whole outlook.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: It makes all the difference in the world and you know, when we talk about that accountability and having those people in our life, I had a definition that I've used in the past and I probably got it somewhere.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: As I've told you before, if I have an original thought it scares me to death.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: But accountability is a check and balance system to protect us from harm from ourselves and from others, and so when I'm talking about accountability, sometimes I need somebody to protect me from me.
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yes, you do.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: Where I get stubborn or hardheaded and think I have answers I don't have or think I can defeat something I can't defeat.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: And then there's the others, and that's why that corporate and that individual.
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: But when you're in a corporate setting and you're sitting with and I want to clarify something I think it's got to be people of like walks in life.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: So otherwise, if I'm in a, if you will, a marriage accountability group, then obviously then there's couples sitting there.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: But if I'm in a straight accountability group, it needs to be men with men and women with women, yeah, 100%.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: And that can be discussed another day.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: But that's not only biblical, that's just common sense.
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: And if I'm going to talk with someone with like struggles, like problems, like understandings, it's men with men, women with women.
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, and there's some things that men will never want to bring up with a woman in the room.
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: Same thing, vice versa.
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: There's things that my wife will not discuss with other guys in the room.
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: You can't do that.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: No, and again there's a whole set of issues that could come up.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: So when I'm talking about accountability, we need to make sure that our accountability partners, the people we select, are definitely not people of the opposite sex, and they're people that have—and I would argue this has got to be one of the main things it's got to be someone that's demonstrated themselves to be that spiritual one that Paul talks about in Galatians.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: All too often, what we gravitate to are people in the same mess we're in.
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, right, yeah, very true, very true.
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: Well, that brings up something else, and I'm sure this is going to be a topic for another day.
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: But there's accountability and then there's mentorship.
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: There's somebody who is able to pour into your life.
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: There is an older person spiritually not older person in age physically, but spiritually who's able to speak into your life.
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: So there's a difference between accountability and mentorship, but it's still so important.
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: It's this ongoing thing.
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: It's like what we preach here, making disciples who make a difference.
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: What is discipleship?
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: It's this ongoing thing where I'm pouring into somebody's pouring into me and I'm taking this information from them.
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: Now I'm pouring into somebody else and then they're pouring into somebody else.
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: If not, what's the word?
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: You say If I'm not doing that, I'm not a disciple, I'm a teacher.
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: You call it.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I just become a teacher at that point, not a disciple maker.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: I'm not a disciple maker, right, and so it's absolutely essential that we do differentiate between those two.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because I would argue that mentoring almost has to be a one-on-one relationship.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: Yes, and it really can.
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: Excuse me, it can really never go any further than that one-on-one, because if I'm moving beyond one-on-one and now I'm back into an accountability group, I'm not mentoring.
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: And, plus, mentoring has an entirely different direction yes, it does Than my accountability has.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: When we're talking about accountability, though, there are a number of what might cross over a little bit, but specifically I would argue, mentoring is to help someone develop and grow from point A to point B, and accountability is to hold someone in what they are allowing in their life or keeping them in check.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, keeping you in check.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: I like that, and so it is absolutely something that we have to have.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: When we're talking about corporate, there's so many areas that you can involve yourself in.
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: I would argue that, obviously, worship attendance is essential.
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: There is a level of accountability to that yes, there is.
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: And of course we say it just about every Sunday here at Crossroads.
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: They got to get in a life group, Get into your life group.
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: You say it, I say it when I say goodbye.
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: We make sure you're in your life groups.
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: We want to see you in your life groups.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: There's such an accountability that takes place in life groups and that's something that I've seen over the years.
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: It's something that I see every semester when we have our life groups and about once a year our life group cycles through, starts new life groups.
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: Not all of them do that, but ours tries to do that and it's painful, if you will, when you see people leaving to go and do what God's called them to do.
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly Because you've grown in a relationship with them and you're able to be accountable, and so you're able to sit in your life group, you're able to have life discussions, and that's accountability?
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: Yes, it is, and so that corporate idea behind that is essential, and so I really want to encourage people to first of all, think through that individual accountability.
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: Yes indeed.
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: And think through that corporate and understand that that is something that none of us can say.
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: I don't need that in my life because we all do.
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: Isn't that that koinonia?
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: That's the word koinonia doing it together, doing that life together.
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: It's so important and the way that you can hold each other accountable in that.
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: But I also want to say, if I can add to when you're accountable and I know I'm probably an over-encouraging person, but I believe encouragement is a real good thing Hebrews says Encourage one another daily while it's still today, lest your heart is heartened by sin's deceit.
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: You've got to be encourageable too, because we spoke earlier about the what'd you?
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: say it was like a cop like.
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: All I'm trying to do is find a spiritual cop.
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: All I'm trying to do is find the things that's wrong, like.
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: You can't be that guy in an accountability relationship.
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: You can't just be the person who's looking out for what you did wrong.
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: And now this is how I need to correct you.
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: There's some encouragement that needs to take place in that relationship as well.
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, we need accountability, and I think first of all it starts with because it's clear mandate of Scripture, and in that clear mandate is that encouragement that you're talking about.
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: And so I made kind of a touchstone a moment ago.
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: But what we tend to do is gravitate to the people in the same mess we're in.
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: So if I'm going through sin whatever you just define it, as you will If I'm going through sin, I have two choices I can either put someone in my life that's going to speak against what I'm allowing, or I can put someone in my life that's going to speak for what I'm doing, and so I want that person in my life is going to say well, you're only human, what can you expect?
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: Well, that's just someone in the same mess I'm in, and so we're both drowning, we're just treading water and we're both going under.
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: Well, that's not what I need in my life.
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: I want somebody in my life that's going to say okay, what's happening is you're making really dumb choices, absolutely, and you've got to have that.
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: And so it's a clear mandate of Scripture, and we touched on that, but I just can't say it enough that Scripture tells us we're not ignorant of Satan's devices.
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: Thank you, all right.
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: I become ignorant of Satan's devices when, somehow or another, I think that I can go out here and be a Lone Ranger which God never intended for me to be cut everybody out of my life, except people who agree with me and will only say what I want them to say and will always agree with what I'm doing.
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: There's no accountability.
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: No accountability at all.
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: But a lot of people like to gravitate towards that and they like to.
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: I'm sure you've dealt with these people before they come to you and they ask you a question.
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: You know, hey, what do you think about, or what does the Bible say about?
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: And then you give them the biblical answer and your opinion on that biblical answer and why you feel they're not doing the things that they're called to do according to Scripture.
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: What do they do?
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: They go to the next pastor and see if the next pastor will give them a different answer, you know.
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: And they just keep going until they get to the fifth or sixth person down the line, typically the youth pastor I'm joking Kind of and then, oh yeah, they finally got the answer they want to hear, and now the pastor told them.
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: So now they feel like they're in the right account.
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: You know, and that's absolutely true, or they just separate themselves altogether.
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: Yes, they do.
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: And you know, it always amazes me when someone starts their conversation with me, that people disagree and then they go from there, even though they've been given Scripture for the disagreement.
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: And so accountability and you said it as we began it's got to be anchored in Scripture, but it absolutely has to be done with a sense of humility, it has to be done with encouragement in mind, but it's got to be done.
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: I look back in the Old Testament.
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: We find Moses and Aaron.
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: Moses said I'm going up on the mountain, god's called me up, I'm going to get the Ten Commandments.
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: And he told Aaron you're in charge, right?
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: And so as he's coming off the mountain, he hears this raucous celebration going on.
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: It's anything but what should be happening.
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: And so he gets down and this golden calf has been made and the people are worshiping it yes, they are.
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: And so he comes up to Aaron and he goes.
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: Really.
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: And then what is Aaron saying?
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: He's like well, I don't know, I don't know how this happened.
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: It just came out, we put the jewelry in there and it came out like this it breathed.
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: I mean he literally says I threw it in, it just jumped out.
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: Where's the accountability?
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: In that bro Come on, but Moses called him out.
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: Yes, he did.
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: I don't think so.
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: Aaron.
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: And so what you find there both is a corporate, because Moses called out the group yes, he did.
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: But also we find an individual where he specifically called Aaron out for his sin.
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: And you see, accountability is not always easy.
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: But we also know that Moses himself had been called out by his father-in-law.
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: Yes, he did.
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: Because his father-in-law said Moses, who do you think you are?
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: You cannot do everything.
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: And so the accountable was able to hold someone else.
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: But what if Moses would have rejected Jethro's argument when that first began and he would have said, oh, I can.
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: And if he would have rejected accountability, then there would have been no accountability for Aaron, absolutely.
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: And then we find Joshua, as he's passing the mantle, and there would have been no accountability there.
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: And so when accountability starts breaking down, the whole network, the whole organization literally, is going to break down.
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and you've used this scripture so many times Proverbs 27, 17,.
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: So before we get out of here today, I know we've been talking about the word accountability, but I believe, and I just feel this in my heart there's a lot of people listening.
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: You know, and I know we have people that don't go to our church and listen, but probably even some people in our church.
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: They hear that word accountability and go okay, I hear what you're talking about, I hear what you mean.
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: You have broken down the definition of accountable, but practically I really don't understand how this works in my life.
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: Can you just give us a brief walkthrough, maybe an example of a one-on-one this is what accountability looks like, so that they can walk away from this podcast saying, okay, now I know what it means to actually have an accountable relationship and I can start this relationship today?
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: Right?
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: Well, I think the first thing you have to do is Galatians 6, 1 through 3 has got to be your foundation for an accountability group, and so that would be step one.
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: And again, we've really talked about that a lot and an understanding in that group you're not always the spiritual one.
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: I think one of the main things about an accountability group if there's always one person in that group, that's always the spiritual one.
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: He needs to be held accountable and somebody needs to do that.
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: But I think, as we're talking about what it looks like, it's talking about developing those relationships with people that you're opening yourself up, and I would argue that, again, it starts with friendship, yes, but it's opening myself up to people and letting people into my life that are going to speak into my life in such a way that it's going to grow me Now just real quickly.
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: I think one of the best examples of that is Paul and Barnabas took John Mark.
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: Yes, and while on this journey, john Mark bailed.
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: Now, we have no idea why he bailed.
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: We can make a lot of assumptions, but he bailed, he took off, yeah, and so when they were getting ready to go out on another missionary journey, barnabas says well, let's grab John Mark and go, and Paul said that man ain't going nowhere with me, and Barnabas is like well, wait a minute, paul, and Paul's like no, yeah in my world they call him a sellout.
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: That brother sold out.
• 39:54
  Speaker 2: There's no way.
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: And Barnabas took John Mark, and yet on Paul's deathbed, when he was getting ready to be executed, who'd he call for?
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: John Mark, right?
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: And so somewhere there was some accountability in there, and we see where that accountability grew him.
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: So we have to always recognize that that accountability is.
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: That's what it does it grows people.
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: And so how do we do that?
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: Number one I find people that are walking with God.
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: Not people in the same mess I'm in Now.
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: They may be in the same mess I'm in, yeah, but they're growing, developing and trying to get out of the mess.
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: I find people that are not going to agree with me, but people that are going to speak God's word into my life.
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: And so then I find people and we've touched on this but I find people that are trustworthy.
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: There's one thing about an accountability group the first time trust is violated, that group's over, and it doesn't matter if there's four people in the group and one of them violate the trust, the group's over.
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: I mean, it'll never be the same at that point.
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: And so you got to have people that you can trust, people you can depend on.
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: It's got to be people that are humble, that recognize you may be suffering through this and I may be suffering through that.
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: You've heard me say every one of us are one bad decision away, and if all of us would be mindful of that, I am one bad decision away from being everything I say I'll never be Now.
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: That may be a decision in the past, that may be a decision that I'll make today, it may be a decision I'll make tomorrow, but I'm one bad decision away, and so if I keep that in mind, then I can hold people accountable.
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: Holding somebody accountable is also allowing yourself, quite frankly, to be under a microscope at times.
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: Here at our church, we use Covenant Eyes.
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: Covenant Eyes is a blocking.
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: Covenant Eyes is a blocking tracking software that sends notices to each of us if there's a problem with a webpage or something.
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: And every time I say that somebody goes oh so you've got a problem with one or somebody on your church, I said, no, we don't.
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: We have blocking software and yet, but in, that is an accountability.
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: Yes, indeed, all right, it's an accountability when you have someone that will speak into your life about pitfalls that you could step into.
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: Yes, indeed, it doesn't always have to be one I have been in, but one that I could step in and nobody's above that.
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: And that's why these corporate groups and these smaller groups are so important.
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's why these corporate groups and these smaller groups are so important?
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because when I hear that another pastor has stumbled and fallen, oh, that hurts.
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: I realize, though, that the same choice they made is a choice I can make.
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I'm not above them.
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: I am no better than they are.
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: I'm not some rock that's solid.
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: No, I am fortunate enough that, where they made a bad choice, I've made good choices, but we've all had those choices.
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: But, like you said, you are that one choice away.
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: Every time I meet with somebody I talk about building hedges, of protection Right, but I like the way you say it and my wife uses yours all the time now.
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: She says build a wall, build it high and check it.
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: Often you have to, because if you're not doing that, something's going to happen to that wall, something's going to happen to that fence, that gate, whatever you're building, and once you get a little crack in it or something, now it's easy, it's easy for it to break.
• 43:31
  Speaker 2: I was going through I'm in Jeremiah and they're going through the besiege.
• 43:35
  Speaker 2: You know where they're being taken away and I didn't really understand this, how you know there's sieges and all these type of things and wars.
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: And we only know like war, like my life, we only know war, we're dropping bombs, we're going and we're fighting.
• 43:47
  Speaker 2: But back then it was about just surrounding an area and waiting for the weak point.
• 43:53
  Speaker 2: And so for 18 months the Babylonians were just sitting there at their wall, boom, boom, boom, just hitting it, just waiting on this thing for 18 months, trying to starve them out, not letting them go out and get anything.
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: And they're just constantly hitting that wall and 18 months later that wall came down and they went in there and they took over, right, You've got.
• 44:17
  Speaker 2: All it takes is a little, and once that link, once it breaks, it's over, right, and that's when the flood takes you over, right?
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: You know, as you think about the necessity of accountability, we see that it's over time.
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: It's small steps.
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: Rarely do I decide to get up this morning and say I've been married 40 years, I've got a phenomenal wife, I've got two wonderful daughters, I've got four granddaughters.
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: I think today I'll go blow all that.
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: That doesn't work that way.
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: It's steps, it's steps.
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: It's steps.
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: It's not that we just decide one day that I think I'm going to All right.
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: It kind of goes back to the old computer adage.
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: Years and years ago, you know, there was the garbage in, garbage out.
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: A computer only gives back what you put in.
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, now, I would argue, mine has a mind of its own.
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: It, a computer only gives back what you put in Now, I would argue mine has a mind of its own it does its own thing, Our you know our rat who does our computers and stuff here at the church, argues I'm wrong about that.
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: Well, weekly, he's trying to fix yours Exactly.
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: Well, but it's clearly not my fault.
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: And so, but if I put garbage in and garbage out, then I'm right back to Proverbs 15, where it says a wise person is hungry for knowledge, while the fool feeds on trash.
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: Is what the New Living tells us.
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: And so what am I putting in, and who is holding me accountable to what I put in?
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: And I would just say man, we've got to do that, we've got to guard our mind.
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: And if I'm not guarding my mind, then there I am in Romans 12, 1 and 2.
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: What does he tell us?
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: That we renew our mind.
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: And so the mind is the battleground.
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: And so I have got to have someone accountable making sure that I'm putting the right end, and only then can the right come out man, good stuff, good stuff.
• 46:17
  Speaker 2: Definitely didn't want to interrupt you.
• 46:19
  Speaker 2: I just want to make sure we're coming up, but earlier we talked about friendship, last week, this week accountability, what that looks like.
• 46:28
  Speaker 2: But we brought up a word mentorship and I think that's another one of those important words where people are thinking, okay, is that the same thing?
• 46:37
  Speaker 2: Is that what you're talking about?
• 46:38
  Speaker 2: And you brought it up earlier?
• 46:39
  Speaker 2: No, mentorship is completely different.
• 46:41
  Speaker 2: So next week I'm thinking, hey, let's talk about mentorship, right, because I think there's a real understanding that needs to take place in what it means to have a mentor in your life.
• 46:54
  Speaker 2: But, closing out, today, the reality is accountability.
• 46:58
  Speaker 2: Accountability is taking responsibility for your own actions and making the choice to allow God and others to come into your life to help you accomplish the things that are right, the things that are biblically sound and right.
• 47:14
  Speaker 2: And if you have somebody in your life who knows Scripture and they're keeping you accountable and you are accountable to them, you're accountable to God.
• 47:22
  Speaker 2: I think that can easily happen.
• 47:24
  Speaker 2: So I thank you for breaking down, walking us through what an accountability partner actually looks like.
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: You know, and I'll close with this, in Jeremiah we read that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked and who can know it?
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: So if my heart is desperately wicked and deceitful, if I'm not allowing someone from the outside looking in to speak into my life, then my deceitful, desperately wicked heart is the only God I have left.
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: And my deceitful, wicked heart all it wants is what I want, not what God wants for me Absolutely.
• 48:03
  Speaker 2: And so I really encourage people put someone in your life, put a group in your life, a life group, an accountability group that's going to speak in yeah, breaking it down, starting the church, go into church, be accountable at church, break it down to a smaller, get into a life group, break it down even smaller than that, get into some type of group Right, and then definitely have a one-on-one partner that can hold you accountable.
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: Got to have it.
• 48:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, love that man.
• 48:29
  Speaker 2: Hey, thank you so much for joining us here on the reality is podcast, where we have been talking about real life and real faith and what it means to be accountable.
• 48:36
  Speaker 2: Go on, like us, subscribe, let us know that you guys are there and go into the comment section and tell us what does accountability look like in your life?
• 48:44
  Speaker 2: Do you have somebody that you're accountable to?
• 48:47
  Speaker 2: And, if not, we'd like to pray for you to actually find somebody to be accountable to in your life.
• 48:54
  Speaker 2: For now, we'd like to say God bless you.
• 48:56
  Speaker 2: Have a wonderful day.
• 48:57
  Speaker 2: Goodbye now.