Latest / The Living Waters Podcast / Ep. 415 - How to Develop Righteous Confidence

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Ep. 415 - How to Develop Righteous Confidence · The Living Waters Podcast

• 0:51
  SPEAKER_05: Three guys that come into a restaurant, they're uh businessmen willing and dealing millions of dollars.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_05: They've got the little cases there, they've got three-piece suits.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_05: She's not intimidated by the fact that these guys are important businessmen.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_05: She walks up and says, Can I take your order?
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_05: Very boldly.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_05: We hear it happen all the time.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_05: She doesn't stand back and say, I wonder if I should butt in.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_05: She just jumps in.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_05: Why?
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_05: Because she knows she has what they want.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_05: They are there for food, and that's what breeds her boldness, her confidence.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_05: And you and I have what this world wants.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_05: And so how much more should we be confident?
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_05: Because we know we have what the world wants.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_05: And Jesus addressed this with a woman at the well when he said, If you knew who was speaking to you, you'd ask for me, give you living water.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_05: And if the world knew what we had in Christ, they'd be breaking down our door to say, Tell me, how can I find everlasting life?
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_05: If they knew what we have.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_03: Confident, confident, sure, and secure.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_03: Raise your hand.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_03: Raise your hand.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_02: If you're sure.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_03: If you're sure.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_03: That's right.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_02: Oscar's too young for that.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not sure about that song, it's a problem.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_02: Remember that mark?
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_02: That's right.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_02: The Odorant Commercial.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_02: And I love it because in the commercial they have all these people raising their hand, and then the last picture is the Statue of Liberty.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know, confidence.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Interesting, right?
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: When you break down that word, confidence.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: You remember that debate with uh the backyard skeptics uh guy where he goes, I don't have faith, I have confidence.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: It was do you have confidence?
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Because I have confidence because you have faith.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Because I don't have faith, I have confidence.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Confidence.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Confide.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_05: That was confide Bruce when I was having filming them.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_05: Is that the one?
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: This was a different debate that he had had with uh Jeff Durbin and some other guys.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: But to have confidence means to have faith.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's it.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's no different.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_02: That's right.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_02: We're gonna talk about that, yeah.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_02: Speaking of deodorant, you know, if there's anything that Ray is stirred to write people a letter over, it's B.O.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_02: Ray, you're not a confrontational person, but something about B.O.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: over the years.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_05: Well, it's I've got a personal thing in this.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_05: When I meet tall people and they give me a hug, I go straight into the armpit.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_05: That's true.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_05: I say, could you let me out of here?
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_02: That's true.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_05: Didn't Josh McDowell put you like a head?
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, he put me in a headlock.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_05: It's just while he talked to Kirk, we but it was just weird.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_05: People like to do that.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_05: But yeah, when I'm 20 minutes in an armpit, I just gotta get out of here.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_05: Do you mean that when I meet?
• 3:16
  unknown: Good.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_05: No, no, I've finished.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_05: Go ahead.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_05: I've had enough.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Do you do photos with people?
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes like they're trying to get the camera to work and you're just left there with your arm around someone.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_05: That happens a lot on Saturdays.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_05: What happens?
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_05: A guy comes out, can I have a photo?
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_05: Puts his arm around, meaning his wife says, I can't work the phone.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_05: And I said, It's been 12 minutes.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_05: We're standing here hugging in public.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_05: Please work the phone.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_02: And your head's like near his uh his armpit.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_02: Under it.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_02: When people got and the guy was four foot five.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, when people ask how tall Ray is in real life, I say about armpit high.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_05: Guys, I can cut a confession, Mike.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_05: I was late for this podcast.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_05: Did you notice I was a little late, Mike?
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_05: Mark says, It's because I was standing in the control room with the guys saying, let's help see how long it'll take for them to notice I'm not there.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, we didn't even know.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_02: And we waited and waited and waited.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: We were about to start without me.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's right.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_05: I said, don't start without me.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_05: I said, Tony, do something.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_05: You guys ready to start?
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_05: And Mark says, Oh, raise not here.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: The scent.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: It was pleasant.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: What's off?
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_07: We just needed you for slate.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's good.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: All this from BO.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_03: All right, France.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_03: Today we have some special shh, right.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_05: Speaking of BO, I got you gotta feel sorry for Lazarus.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_02: You stinking stinketh?
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_05: No, no, no, no, no.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_05: It's not that he stinketh.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_05: It's the sister discreetly said to Jesus, Don't do that, Lord.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_05: He stink.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_05: And she said it discreetly, just whispered it to Jesus, and suddenly it's in the world's biggest selling book of all time.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_05: And 2,000 years later, still preached from the pulpit, Lazarus stinks.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_05: Maybe the odorant was the problem.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, maybe.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_07: I mean because he was in the grave.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_07: She must have been talking about pre-deck.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_05: My brother's got martiada real bad.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_05: And he comes back and he says, What did you say to Jesus?
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_05: That was nothing.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_05: It won't go anywhere.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_02: Poor Lazarus.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_02: No one will remember this.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_02: The one guy who didn't enjoy the miracle that Jesus did for him.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_02: Bringing up that.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_03: All right, friends, as I was saying today, we have some special guests in the studio.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_03: We have Christina, Lucas, Lucia, and their friend Fernando.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_02: A shout out.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_02: Lucas, you've been listening to the podcast for a long time.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_02: Any others of you guys listen?
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_02: Or just Lucas here?
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, just Lucas.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_02: Everyone else can leave.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_02: Wise one.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_02: They're like, whatever.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_02: Anyway, great to have you guys.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_02: We were blessed to have you out when you came and uh heard us at the table not long ago, witnessing at Huntington Beach.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_02: And we're blessed to have you here.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_02: Blah, blah, blah.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_02: Blessed to have you here.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_02: We're glad to hear you here.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_02: Please, please stay.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_02: Don't disappear.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_02: Living Waters Thumpcast.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_02: And a free concert, too.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_02: Unbelievable.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_02: Living Waters Thumpcast.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome, guys.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_02: Blessed to have you with us.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_02: Time for a cool, classy comment.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_02: This is from Jacob Runner.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_02: That'd be a cool last name.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_02: Runner.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_02: Ray.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_02: I just wanted to start out by saying thank you.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_02: I was sitting in church looking into the masses of people, anxiously thinking about how many are heading for destruction.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_02: Wasn't, but a couple of years ago, I was in the same seat.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_02: I understood the grace of God, but not the justice.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_02: I saw myself as a good person, or at least I worked toward convincing myself I wasn't.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_02: Now there's no convincing.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_02: I measured myself against the law and failed miserably.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_02: This changed everything for me.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_02: I gathered myself with the understanding, truly, I'm in need of a savior.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_02: Now, grace and what Jesus did on the cross makes sense.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_02: Before it was just words, I rehearsed them telling myself Jesus died for my sins.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_02: This was a crazy thought because I didn't even think I should die for my sins.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_02: I rehearsed all of the bad fruit due to a lack of repentance.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_02: Ray, you helped plant a mustard seed in me, and now it's taking over not just me, but the people around me.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_02: I look at my wife with pure gratitude for the genuine love we share for the Lord.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_02: We are expecting our first child in a few months, and I can't wait to share the Lord with her.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_02: Because of your willingness to serve the Lord, you will have affected generations.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_02: I hope this encourages you as much as it should.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_02: The effect Living Waters has had on me is profound and priceless.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_02: P.S.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_02: Easy, please keep singing every podcast.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_02: While it may be controversial, I enjoyed the creativity and humor.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_05: Did you just say this?
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_05: No, yes, come on.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_05: Sounded like you added that.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_05: We want to see the original manuscript.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_02: I have it in Greek and Hebrew.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_02: You'll enjoy it.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much, Jacob.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_02: Every time you say thank you, I think that's not how you say thank you, friends.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, thank you, Jacob.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, what a blessing uh that you've been impacted.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_02: This means a lot to us.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_02: And yes, I will continue to sing.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_02: You've just entered the quality question section.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_02: Greetings, Living Waters Podcast.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_02: How are you all?
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_02: I hope you're doing well.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_02: Can you mention something about Vodi Bakum in one of your episodes?
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_02: He went home, which is interesting, Mark, because you brought up Vodhi.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah in the last one.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_02: In our last one.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_02: And um He's asking two questions, though.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_02: Sincerely your servant Raimi.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_02: How are you?
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_02: And oh, that's right.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_02: Let's spend an hour.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_02: Mark, how are you?
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_02: We don't want to know.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_02: Here we go again.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_02: Uh yeah, man, Bodhi Bacham.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_02: What could we say about that brother, man?
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_02: What a what a powerhouse.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_02: In fact, it was when he shared that illustration about the strawberry that I heard what was probably the most powerful like gospel sermon ever.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, I mean, the place just this was at a shepherd's conference, the place just blew up.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, when he finished, uh it was so powerful.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_02: And then uh we sat next to him at Dr.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_02: John MacArthur's memorial service.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_02: And I think it was a few weeks after that that he went to be with the Lord.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_02: But praise you know, praise God for technology that we we have his sermons preserved, we have uh his powerful illustrations for generations to come.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: Keep his family in prayer, so many kids.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's easy to just kind of move on out of sight, out of mind.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: He he left behind a precious wife and precious kids.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think was it was it nine kids or at one point it seemed like it changed every year, but it it there's there's a lot there and there's a lot to take care of.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_02: Pray for them for sure.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_02: All right, get ready for a shout out from the Sheik of Shawarma.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_02: And now finally, my friends know who the Sheik of Shawarma is.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yours truly.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_02: The number six top Christian podcasts on Apple in Sierra Leone.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_02: Wow, number 15 in religion and spirituality, number 69 out of all podcasts in the country.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_02: Sierra Leone is on the Atlantic coast of West Africa.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_02: Nine million people.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_02: Official language is English, so they appreciate the podcast.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: I've never heard of the country.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's so that's tremendous.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you all for listening out there.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_02: And hey, again, when we give these shout-outs, shout back at us by going to uh podcast at LivingWaters.com or emailing us there and telling us that you're listening there.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_02: We want to hear from you personally.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_02: We'll give you another shout out, maybe.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_03: And now we're radically revolutionary resources, podcasting.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_02: Bay, God has a wonderful plan for your life.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_02: The myth of the modern message, which is a book.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_02: Oh.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_03: Here it is.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_03: No, I got the Spanish version.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: Is that good, Oscar?
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's not bad.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: I tried.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_05: Did you make that up or not?
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_05: No, that's what it says.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, really?
• 10:31
  unknown: Yeah.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: Easy's fake Spanish is better than most even Luis's fake Spanish.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: If it was actual words, yes.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: And the subtitle is El mito del mensaje Mendorno.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: I'd probably really botch that.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: Junior Fake Spanish.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: Disneyland.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: Usually how it ends.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_02: So the Tology is crazy.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_02: Lucia like it.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, and everyone's laughing.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_02: Encourage him, please.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_02: Please encourage me.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_02: Don't forget that.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_02: And don't forget uh Living Waters mug from which you can chug in a study Bible, all that Living Wathers.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_02: And don't forget Living Waters TV and podcast YouTube channel.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_02: Today we're talking about how to develop righteous confidence.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_02: See, my opening was not in vain.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_02: Goal.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, confidence.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_02: Confidence.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_02: Here's how the dictionary defines it.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_02: This is Cambridge Dictionary.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_02: The quality of being certain of your abilities or having trust and people plans or the future.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_02: That's that's one description of it.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_02: Of course, today we're talking about righteous confidence.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_02: And so I want to kick us off with this question.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_02: When you guys think of the characteristics of righteous confidence, what comes to mind?
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: The first thing that comes to my mind is my weakness, my inadequacy to be able to do anything.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: I I am a lot like Ray, I'm just not the klutz, but I can't do anything.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: But I attempt to do all kinds of things.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: I can't.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: If I had to hang a painting on the wall, I'm not kidding.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: I get down on my knees and I pray for God's help to hang a picture on the wall.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: Because four holes later inside that wall.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_05: Four?
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: Come on.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Less than you.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I can never find the bean.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_05: Whatever it is, the wooden thing there just.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: The stud.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_05: It must be toned deaf because I go like this.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_05: And it sounds the same right across.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_05: You know they have little machines that can.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I've tried that.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_05: That doesn't even work.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_05: There's a little plastic machines.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_05: I can turn it on.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it has batteries.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_02: Mark, it's so funny.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_02: You said you get on your knees and ask the Lord to help you hang a picture.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_02: Rachel gets on her knees and begs that I would just eyeball it because I pull out the tape measure, I pull out the laser, I'm doing math because it has to be exactly perfect.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I a weak man trusting in the omnipotence of God uh is more valuable and useful than a confident man who trusts in himself.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I I think I've realized that it's a beautiful place where you can't do much, where you're just so reliant upon the Lord.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: I remember the first year I owned a car, I paid$200 for it, and I would check the oil, had no idea how to change it, but I checked the oil, and for a whole year I never gave it an oil change because every time I checked it, it was good.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then I had some trouble, and a mechanic friend of mine was looking at it, and he goes, When was the last time you changed your oil?
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I go, God's keeping it running, bro.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't know what to say.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: And he goes, I don't let's take a look.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: And he goes, That's power steering fluid right there.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so I was checking the wrong uh compartment, you know, but that's that's where it's at.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_05: I can't believe you did that.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_05: That's just so dumb.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_05: Ray, what have you done?
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_05: I gotta write a book on it.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_02: How long did you go without changing the oil?
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_02: You said I I I never changed the oil on the case.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_02: Oh man.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's it's crazy to think about how the world beats its drum.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_02: I talked in the the last podcast about the world's bully pulpit and its mantras and its influence uh over people through that.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_02: But but you think about how much self-confidence is pushed.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_02: You know, another one of the mantras is what believe in yourself.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_02: Believe in yourself.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_02: I can't think of anything more ridiculous.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_02: Oscar, on the last podcast, you really did a good job of giving us insight into that.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_02: Like that empty self of like you're looking to yourself as the source of all things.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_02: Like what a what a sad sad existence that is.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_07: Carl Truman writes quite a bit about extress expressive individualism.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_07: And I mean, just think about this to your point, Easy.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_07: Think about this.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_07: The most self-affirming generation is also the most anxious.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_07: Think about the reality.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_07: The most self-affirming generation is also the most anxious.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_07: This uh this expressive individualism tells us to look inside of ourselves, to find our authentic self, to find our purpose and our meaning.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_07: And the problem with that is that that is rooted in performative action.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_07: And you can fail yourself.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_07: Now think about Luther, the reformer.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_07: Uh he was a very insecure, anxious individual until he realized that his righteousness is what he would call an alien righteousness.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_07: His confidence came not in his performance, not who he said he was, not in him proving himself or following God's or keeping God's commands.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_07: His confidence was in realizing that he has taken on through the great exchange, as he called it, the righteousness of God.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_07: That's what he meant by an alien righteousness, a righteousness outside of ourselves, a righteousness given to us by God, by another.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_07: And so his confidence, his righteous confidence, came in the assurance he had in the righteousness of Christ, not his own righteousness.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I think it was the words of Jesus.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_05: Everything he said was just incredible.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_05: Um, come unto me, all you that labor and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_05: Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart, and you shall find rest to your soul.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_05: So, what you're talking about with Luther was the confidence that he had in God to deliver him from sin was a relief that he didn't have to deliver himself.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_05: Because that's a burden on your back.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_05: And you you ask a lot of people say, What do you have to do to go to heaven?
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_05: Just do good things.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_05: How many good things do you have to do?
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_05: How many have you done?
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_05: Have you reached it yet?
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_05: Well, say I just do one good thing, will that merit me everlasting life?
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_05: They don't even think about it.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_05: And they have this confidence in that which is not trustworthy.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_05: It's like trusting in a parachute filled with holes.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_05: The etymology of confidence is con where fidir.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_05: Fidir.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_05: To trust.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_05: And that's all it is.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_05: It's to trust with trust, and that's what we have in God.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_05: That's right.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: You know, when David ran towards Goliath, it wasn't because he was strong.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it was that he had his confidence in the Lord.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: He trusted in the Lord.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: And 1 Samuel 17 says that God would deliver him from the lion and the bear and would deliver him again.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: He delivered me from the lion and the bear, he'd deliver me again.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: The first time you go out witnessing, it's hard.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: The hundredth time, it's easier.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: Not because you're smarter, but because you realize that Christ is with you.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: And as you're saying, every time we go out, it's gonna work out.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: It always has, it always will.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_05: So when David was delivered from a lion and a bear, did he kill it with a stone to the head?
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_05: Or did God just deliver him, shut the mouth of the lion?
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_05: I think he hit him with a sling.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_02: You think so?
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_05: Well, that's what he came out uh with to Goliath with that sling in his hand.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_05: So the Lord delivered me.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_05: This has happened before with lions and bears, and it's gonna happen with you now.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_05: And he gave him a headache.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_02: Splitting headache.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_05: I left an impression on his mind.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, speaking of David, um Goliath was stoned.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_02: You know, David, David exuded uh confidence in the Lord.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_02: You know, that that account where when he faced Goliath, you think of all these men that are around him, right?
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_02: Soldiers, warriors.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um you know, they're there, right?
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_02: And and you know, there's there's David was he he was highlighted as a warrior.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_02: Some some have a misunderstanding, I think, of who David all all fully was.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_02: But but you think of the fact though that he was youthful, he looked like a youth, and Saul highlighted that.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_02: He said, This guy, this guy's been a you're a youth, he's been a warrior since his youth.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_02: But think of how he spoke first to Saul.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_02: Like, who's this uncircumcised Philistine?
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_02: He taunts the armies of the living God, you know, I'll take his head today.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_02: And then the way he he speaks to Goliath.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you come to me with a sword and a spear, I come to you in the name of the living God.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_02: Like that that is someone.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's someone who knew his God.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_02: And I can't think of any greater source of confidence than to know your God.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_02: Jeremiah.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_02: David, sorry, carry your mom.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_02: Interrupting the more important.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_05: No, no, go ahead.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_05: No, I'm not sure.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_05: Interrupt the word of God.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: I am so curious what Ray is gonna say as well.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_05: I was just gonna say that uh David mustn't have listened to Goliath, which you don't want to listen to Goliath.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_05: Goliath will taunt you.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_05: He'll tell you you can't go out witnessing, you can't answer questions, you can't do this.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, because remember what Goliath said he was gonna do to David?
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_05: Remember what he said?
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_02: Feed him to the birds of the air.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_05: Which means he's gonna rip them to shreds, probably.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_05: You're gonna rip your arms and legs off, feed you to the birds.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_05: That's uh I wouldn't have liked to think too closely about that if I'd been David.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_02: I said, No, no, let me just No, I mean, and the dude was huge, like nine feet tall.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_02: What I mean massive.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_05: Six feet would have been scary.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: You had a chance to speak to a bunch of prisoners one time, weren't you fearful when you done that?
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_05: Do you did you read my notes?
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_05: Oh no, Tomba.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_05: You no, you didn't.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_05: I have to go back and tell the whole story.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_05: Um, when I used to preach on the square, there was a gang there that really smelt.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_05: They were called the Black Power.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_02: Oh man.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_02: You almost had them go drink at the wrong time.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_02: Where did that come from, Red?
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_02: A gang that really smelt.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, they did.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_05: They were they were called the Black Power.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_05: They wore really old, dirty stuff, and they'd stand around and listen to me, and they look cool.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_05: And there was a guy named Baldy, who was the leader of the gang.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_05: And they kept listening to me day after day as I preached.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_05: And so I walked up to them and I said, Can I take you guys to lunch?
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_05: And they said, Really?
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_05: And I said, Yeah, there was about a dozen of them.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_05: And so I ran ahead of them to the restaurant to speak to the manager because these guys smelt, and I needed to ask his permission.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_05: But the the fact is, they when I went ahead, they came really quickly behind me, and before I could ask permission, they were in all picking out stuff and that.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_05: So I befriended the black power, and we became great friends, even took him home uh for for what did I do there?
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_05: For dinner.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_03: Why did I do that?
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_02: It finally hit him 40 years later.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_02: Why did I do that?
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_02: There's soup.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_02: Did you write him a letter about their own?
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_05: No, I didn't, I let it go, but I remember one instant where I were driving to my house, and I thought I'll talk about our church.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_05: And my pastor's name is was Bill Wade, W-A-D-E.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_05: And I said to the guys that were sitting in the back, I said, Our pastor's name uh Pastor Wade?
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_05: And the guy said, I'm so sorry about that.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_05: He's Pastor Wade.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_05: I didn't mean he'd die.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_05: Anyway, what happened is I made a movie called My Friends Are Dying, based on a book I wrote, and I thought, how on earth am I gonna get this publicized?
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_05: Because no one's interested in a Christian movie about drugs.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_05: And unbeknown to me, my cameraman had gone into the square.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_05: I just said, get some pictures of people standing around, the black power and whatever listening.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_05: And next thing I heard, I think the wizard got hold of me and said, uh there was a fight in the square, a gang fight with axes and knives, and the police arrested, and there was police cars everywhere.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_05: And he said, a news media guy got the all the footage.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_05: And so I called John, my cameraman said, You get that?
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_05: He said, Yeah, I got it.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_05: And he filmed the black power and the mongrel mob, who also smelt, fighting each other with the axes and knives over a woman.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_05: And um so I I called the police and I said, uh we got this footage and I gave it to them.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_05: They wanted to use the Supreme Court evidence because it was a very serious fight.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_05: And uh I said to the police, we missed the footage of you guys arriving because my cameraman was so awed of what he'd seen.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_05: And I said, Would you do it again?
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_05: And they said, You scratched our back, we'll scratch yours.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_05: So we had the joy of going into the square and filming the police screeching down in their car, stopping, jumping out, and running out of nowhere, because there was nobody in the square.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_05: So, anyway, the footage was used for Supreme Court evidence, and the Black Power, my friends, and the Munger mob went to jail.
• 23:28
  unknown: Wow.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_05: Because of my film, they went to jail.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_05: And I thought they're gonna be so angry at me because I've been witnessing to them and taking them to church and bringing them home.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_05: And so I was invited because 2,300 people showed up at the premiere because of the footage of the gang fight that was included in the My Friends Are Dying movie.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_05: They had to lock a thousand now, we had to have a second showing.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_05: Then I was invited to speak at the local prison and show the film.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_05: And so many prisoners showed up, we had to have three screenings.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_05: Wow.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_05: And this is what happened.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_05: And I thought the black power are gonna be so mad at me.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_05: First screening, I thought I'm getting up to speak right now as the film finished was 30 minutes.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_05: And as I got up to speak, the guys began rustling, all of them, there's about 100 in the room, and was they gonna leave?
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_05: And I heard this big guard say, Stay where you are, Mr.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_05: Comfort's gonna speak to you.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_05: And nobody moved, and I got up and preached the gospel.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_05: Second screening, same thing happened.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_05: They started rustling, gonna leave.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_07: Stay where you are, Mr.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_05: Comfort's gonna speak to you.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_05: Third time, I was sitting there thinking, ah, I've got great confidence, I know what's gonna happen.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_05: Look up, there's no guard.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_05: Uh-huh.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_05: He'd left.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_05: So I stood up and said, Stay where you are, I'm gonna speak to you.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_05: And nobody moved.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_05: And my confidence was in the fact that I had the authorities in that prison backing up my word.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_05: Wow.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_05: And that's what we need to realize, what we've got in Christ.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_05: That's good with God before you, who can be against you?
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_05: You can say to demons, stay where you are, I'm gonna preach the gospel.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_07: We actually have a surprise for you, Ray.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_07: Behind that door is the entire Mongol game.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_02: Come here, you smelly fella.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_02: Let me tell you what happened.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_02: Finally out of prison.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_05: They um were really angry 60 years later.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_05: I felt like I'm walking in with you.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_05: Um Bully was really angry at me, not because I sent them to prison with my film, but because the film didn't show the black powers winning that fight.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_05: It didn't make it clear that they won.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_05: How do we watch this?
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_02: I got rid of the Okay, Mark, why did you have to why did you have to say that?
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_02: Nothing has made me more upset with Ray.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_05: How do you get rid of a movie?
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_05: There's got to be one else.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_05: I had the master I toss it because it was a man-centered gospel.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_05: It was I my preaching in it was just awful.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_05: We could have removed it, cut it out, you know.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_05: I still got the gang fight footage in in uh still photos.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_05: I think no, we've got the footage somewhere on the internet.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_05: But the movie has to be somewhere.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, we sold we sold hundreds of copies in New Zealand of the state of the video.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_05: If anyone listening and New Zealand copy of it, I mean my friends are dying, 16 millimeter.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_02: And it's been put on video.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_02: Please, please send it.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_02: Someone out there has to have it.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, surely.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, um, as I was gonna quote scripture if I was for really interrupted, so about that easy.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_02: No, no, no, but detour though.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_02: No, no worries.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Jeremiah 9, 23 through 24.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_02: It's really my life passage.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_02: Thus, thus says the Lord, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches, but let him who glories glory in this that he understands and knows me that I am the Lord.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_02: And it goes on from there.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_02: But that's your life first?
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_02: The whole Bible is my life first.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_02: Quote it.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_02: Pride.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah, it's it's uh it's so key to to recognize that that needs to be our only boast.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_02: Let him who glories, glory in this, right?
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_02: I know him.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_02: Mark, when when you do presuppositional apologetics, sometimes you'll highlight the the fact that to really know something, you either have to know everything, or you have a revelation from somebody who does know everything and he's revealed it in such a way where you can know it.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for sure.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's the only way, otherwise, you're surrendering knowledge itself.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_00: You know, John 17 3 says this is life eternal, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: So to say that we know God and we are known by God, there's nothing greater.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: There's no greater thing.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we've been with different peoples, been with uh I've met different celebrities, uh, different things that have come about, but nothing beats the fact that we know the God who made them.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: And that's absolutely mind-boggling.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: And our lives are hidden in Christ so we can move forward.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: First Corinthians 1 27 says that God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: God loves using ordinary people so that no one gets impressed with the messenger.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's not about the messenger, it's about the message that points to one who is the Christ.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's the focus, and that's what it needs to be.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_05: It's very exciting, Oscar.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_05: Oscar is very bored with that.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_05: How many moths have disappeared because of Oscar?
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_02: You're gonna say, right?
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_05: I was gonna say how you sent me a um uh a short.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_05: I like shorts this morning.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_05: Um William Shatner.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_02: We call him Rez.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_05: William Shatner.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_05: Um say that again.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_02: We call him Res.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_02: Shorts.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_05: Have you seen this, Ray?
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_05: All of a sudden, come short.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_05: Um William Shatner talking about his fear of death publicly.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_05: Uh the interviewer said, So what's happened to you makes you not fearful of death anymore?
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_05: And he says, No, I'm fearful of death.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_05: He says, Excuse me.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_05: He said, I'm fearful of death.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_05: He had to really make it strong to the guy, because the guy's young.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_05: And William Shatner was saying, I don't know how I'm gonna go.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_05: It's it's terrifying.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_05: It's such a mystery.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_05: I could do I go screaming in power in pain, or do I go in my sleep?
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_05: And his wife's saying, It's all right.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_05: And I'd love to speak to him, made a little short this morning about him, just addressing the whole fact that if I spoke to William Shatner, I'd just tell him that God's made provision for his fear, is fear of death and the power of death through what Jesus did on the cross and repent, confess, and forsake your sins.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_05: And um, you know, the the way to deal with fear is put on a parachute.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_05: And the reason you put on a parachute isn't for the jump, it's for the landing.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_05: That's why you put on a parachute.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_05: And when you put on the Lord Jesus Christ, you don't put them on just for the jump of passing through death.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_05: You put them put them on for the landing.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_05: You've got to face a holy God that Jesus said you'll be ground to powder with the justice of God.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_05: And so that's why everyone needs a savior.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_05: And um, my heart breaks for William Shatner, and everyone like him because there's millions exactly like him that are horrified by death.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_05: And as Christians, we have the answer.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_05: Past tense, Jesus Christ has abolished death and brought life and immortality light through the gospel.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_05: So, how can we not but speak that which we've seen and heard?
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, confidence and gospel witness.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um so much comes against us in that in that realm.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_02: I I was talking with Rachel last night, she's getting ready to speak at a at a women's conference, and she just talked about how it's just been so hard to focus and finish prepping, and she's just just going through I had to remind her of the reality of spiritual warfare.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we we we sadly see what's happened in the word of faith movement, and everything is spiritual warfare and all this insanity, but we've like tossed it out as if though now it's not relevant.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_02: No, of course it's true.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_02: We don't wrestle against flesh and blood.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_02: And and there is an enemy, and he wants to squash us when it comes to spiritual things.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_02: But but Ray, you you give this great illustration about confidence in gospel witness, and you use a waitress or a waiter when you talk about that.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, it's one of my favorite illustrations, and it's um the whole thought that when a waitress comes up to someone in a in a restaurant, especially we'll take an example of three guys that come into a restaurant, they're uh businessmen wheeling and dealing millions of dollars, they've got the little cases there, they've got three-piece suits.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_05: She's not intimidated by the fact that these guys are important businessmen.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_05: She walks up and says, Can I take your order?
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_05: Very boldly.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_05: We hear it happen all the time.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_05: She doesn't stand back and say, I wonder if I should bot in.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_05: She just jumps in.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_05: Why?
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_05: Because she knows she has what they want.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_05: They are there for food, and that's what breeds her boldness, her confidence.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_05: And you and I have what this world wants.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_05: And here's the illustration again.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_05: I'm going to get into trouble, but right at this moment there are millions of people in torture chambers we call gyms, lifting weights that are far too heavy for them, straining their face, sweating the brow, and they're drinking green slime that tastes like chewed grass.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_05: Why they're doing it, and I believe in physical fitness, as you can see from my physique.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_02: Wait, what?
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_02: Sorry.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_07: You believe it's in A-shape.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_05: I'm trying to get it done.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_05: I'm getting in shape, yeah.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_05: It's a beach ball.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_05: Um and by the way, as you get older, your stomach protrudes.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_05: That's the most horrible thing.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_05: I heard Arnold Schwarzenegger talking about it, and how he couldn't believe when he had a body that looked like a doorknob, really thin waist, and massive chest and a biceps as big as my head, and I've got a big head.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_05: I never thought this would happen to me.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_05: He's just gone like a deflated balloon with a protruding stomach, which is muscle that weakens on your stomach.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_05: It happens as you get older, and that's why men like Spurgeon and Moody looked a little round, had the little in pulpit.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_05: Rotund.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, rotunda.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_05: So rotunda.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_05: They're in the gym to try and extend their life.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_05: Stay healthy, just live a little longer.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_05: But as Christians, we don't have a little longer message.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_05: We have eternal life in Christ.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_05: And so, how much more should we be confident?
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_05: Because we know we have what the world wants.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_05: And Jesus addressed this with a woman at the well when he said, if you knew who was speaking to you, you'd ask if I may give you living water.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_05: And if the world knew what we had in Christ, they'd be breaking down our door to say, Tell me how can I find everlasting life?
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_05: If they knew what we have.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we don't just have the testimony of Scripture that speaks to the power of the gospel.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_02: We don't just have the testimony of our own lives that have been transformed by the gospel.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_02: But you think of the multiple testimonies we have of people that have gotten radically saved.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_02: Not just people that we've heard about, people that we personally know, and yet we still struggle with confidence in bringing the gospel to others.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_02: And we need to recognize that for what it is.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_02: And I think, like we talked about in a recent episode on, you know, how do we become impressed with the Lord again, right?
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_02: It's intentionality, it's meditation on what we know is true.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_02: And we have to go back and remember that, right?
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_02: How's the gospel transformed our lives, the lives of others in Scripture, the lives of others that we know and don't know?
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_02: And be reminded of that.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_02: And then think, what's the obstacle?
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_02: The obstacle is rejection, the obstacle is this feeling that I don't like that I get when someone won't listen to me.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_02: The obstacle is, oh no, I might sound stupid or look dumb.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_02: All of those obstacles are pathetic.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not saying that the nervousness and anxiety and insecurity we we deal with is not real.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_02: There's an empathy there because we all struggle with it.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_02: But we have to see those obstacles for what they really are.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_02: And we need to just take out this flamethrower and incinerate them.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_02: Why?
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_02: Because as Christ did, for the joystep before him, he endured the cross.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_05: You're talking about the fears.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_05: I thought you were talking about sinners.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_05: What?
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_02: Incinerate the sinners?
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_05: But easy, you're talking about confidence in the gospel.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_05: Um we have confidence in the quality of the seed that we are sowing.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_05: When Jesus spoke about it, he said to sow a sowed good seed.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_05: And the seed that we sow in the gospel is good seed.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_05: It doesn't return void, it brings forth that which God requires it to bring forth because He is the author of the gospel, and that's what we're being entrusted with.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_02: Aaron Ross Powell Mark, what's the difference between confidence in the Lord and self-confidence, right?
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_02: Because there is there is a difference, and I think sometimes people can can mix them up.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_02: How do we gain confidence in the Lord, righteous confidence versus self-confidence?
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: Well it's kind of goes back to what we were talking about earlier that we can't do anything.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_00: Apart from him, we can't do anything.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_05: We could do nothing.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_00: We can do nothing.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_00: We can do so dumb.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_05: Carry on the thing.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing is like it's like a rimless donut, right?
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_00: A rimless zero.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_00: There's nothing there.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_00: We can't do anything.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_00: That's a donut.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's something.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's something.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: We can't do anything, and Christ can do all things.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: He is omnipotent.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_00: There is nothing too hard, nothing too difficult.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, you have the atheist or the skeptic that comes along.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_00: Can God make a one-ended stick?
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_00: Can God make a married bachelor?
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_00: Can God, you know, and all those things are illogical.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_00: So therefore they don't apply to God because God lives within the realm of logic.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: And he's not logic, but he deals within within the realm of logic.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_00: So it's an irrational question.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_00: And in philosophy 101.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_00: So, but he can't make a one-ended stick, is my point, right?
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_00: Because it goes against logic.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_00: So within logic, philosophy 101, if somebody comes along and says, Let's suppose for a moment that the moon is made out of cheese, you pause the conversation and you stop.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because the the foundation is faulty, the conclusion is going to be faulty.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_00: So we as Christians, we argue according to logic because we're logical people, right?
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's the same way with that, right?
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_00: So God cannot make a married bachelor.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's illogical, right?
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_00: So we don't move into that illogical claim.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, you answer that fool and you be like his folly.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_00: So we don't we don't end up doing that.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_00: So God is omni, uh omnipotent.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_00: He can do anything he wants.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, and he is sovereign.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_00: He does whatever he wants to whomever he wants.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_00: Answers to no one doesn't care what you think about it.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_00: God's in heaven, he does what he pleases.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_00: So there is nothing too hard for God.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so one with God will always be in the majority.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so it doesn't matter who's against you if God is for you.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_00: So when we enter into a scene and we can't see what's happening, we trust him.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_00: God does not give us grace for tomorrow.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_00: He gives us grace for today.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_00: And grace for today is sufficient until tomorrow hits.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_00: And the grace that he's given you today, he's not given to you tomorrow.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_00: That's a different set of grace.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_00: So you can walk with him in confidence, not relying on your own, but upon his.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_05: I found that.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_05: Ray would like to say something more.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_05: I just got to say something interesting.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_05: Chat GPT came back to me and said the closest thing to a one-ended stick would be an infinitely long stick, which has one accessible endpoint and no other because it never ends.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_07: It kind of reminds me of 2 Kings chapter 6.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_07: Stop, Oscar.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_02: You're looking at my my my notes.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um Well, you think of you know Elisha and his servant, right?
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_02: Uh they're surrounded.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_02: There's chariots, uh, there's you know, are you still in Oscar's No, he's still in my giant.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, probably.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, whoa, whoa.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_02: Humility, humility.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um they're surrounded, right?
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_02: And the servant says, Alas, Master, what shall we do?
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_02: And Elisha says, So he answered, Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_02: And Elisha prayed and said, Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_02: Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_02: So when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, Strike this people, I pray with blindness, and he struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_02: Oscar, what you said?
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_07: I I love that you you are bringing up Second Kings because over and over again in the scriptures, what's incredible about how God works is that he takes away the greatest perceived strengths of Israel, and then at their weakest, they are delivered.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_07: They are delivered by him.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_07: And uh, it kind of reminds me of C.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_07: S.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_07: Lewis's perspective on humility and confidence, in which he talks about like, if if we we ultimately our problem is that we're too focused on ourselves, that we think about ourselves too much.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_07: He talked about like the false kind of confidence.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_07: False kind of confidence is especially in evangelism, is thinking that I have the right answer, that I have the right way of speaking, the right disposition, that this person could get saved.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_07: And uh it's gonna be another notch on my belt, you know.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_07: But that's a false sense of confidence.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_07: It's a hot air balloon ready to pop.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_07: And what's amazing, it's an actually, it's an act of grace that God would humble the arrogant person.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_07: Because when we come to the end of ourselves, is when we start to depend on God.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_07: And that is exactly what he does with Israel over and over and over again.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_07: He takes away their greatest strengths in the heat of battle so that they depend on him and him alone.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_07: But the opposite is also true.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_07: Lacking confidence, as C.S.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_07: Lewis puts it, is also so focused on ourselves.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_07: It's a high view of ourselves.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_07: It's thinking, this all depends on me.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_07: My marriage depends on me, raising my kids depend on me, uh, preaching the gospel to this person and getting them saved depends on me.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_07: When in reality, all of those things God is working in and through us first and foremost.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_07: And I think of the night I got saved.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_07: Like the person who preached the gospel that night said nothing special.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_07: He didn't say anything new.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_07: I knew the gospel, I could explain substitutionary atonement.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_07: I just thought it was barbaric and awful because I was an atheist.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_07: I thought it was dumb, you know?
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_07: And I don't remember him being a particularly good communicator.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_07: What are you trying to say?
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_07: It was you, Mark.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_07: But uh twist.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_07: But the Holy Spirit moved.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_07: It was my time, and that's the kind of confidence that we have going into these important matters, knowing that we go with a God that when we get to the end of ourselves, his strength will be made known.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_05: You see that in the Soul of Tarsus.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_05: You know, doing his own thing, stopped in his tracks, stopped on the road to damnation.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_05: Jesus transformed him.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_02: I I love that you highlighted the fact, Oscar, that the Lord so often chooses to do that.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you think of Gideon, right?
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_02: And his his army that he brought and how the Lord kept thinning them out.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_02: But I still think what's Gideon thinking?
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_02: Like, we're done, you know.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_02: But the Lord delights to fulfill that which is right and proper, which is what he alone gets the glory.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you know, when you hear unbelievers and atheists especially talk about, oh, God is so arrogant, it's all about him, of course, because he is period done.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_02: He is, and beside him, there would be nothing, and there's nothing worse than someone trying to steal what is so utterly not theirs, right?
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_02: So anytime someone is trying to take glory, it there's there's nothing but cosmic theft happening because this doesn't belong to them, and it's the last thing that would belong to them because they don't exist apart from the Lord.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_02: And so what's best for man is that God gets what only belongs to him, otherwise you're you're entering really treason and treachery.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_02: And it's so important to remember that, right?
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_05: I'm just thinking about does God fill the universe?
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_05: Absolutely.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_05: Is the essence of his mind in his throne room, or is his mind throughout the whole universe?
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_05: If you know what I'm trying to say.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_05: It's just it's mind-blowing.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it it's hard to to even yeah, wrap our little heads around, right?
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_02: We're talking about a universe that we can't measure and the God who holds it in the span of his hand, whom heaven and the heaven heavens can't contain.
• 43:59
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, based on what we talked about last time, like that is fodder for awe.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_02: Like that in and of itself, you know, when you try to to grasp those things.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_05: But that produces a bold confidence and understanding that we can do all things through Christ who strengthened us, of God before us, who can be against us.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_05: Sorry, Easy Carol.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_05: No, amen.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I was thinking of you know, you'll see this scenario replayed in sitcoms in different ways, right?
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_02: Where there'll be this kid who is afraid and scared, and then suddenly he gets this spurt of confidence and he'll stand up to the bullies, and the bullies will be like, Okay, oh no, no problem.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, sorry.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_02: And they'll stop me walking away, and the kid's like, oh, but behind him is this this huge guy, right?
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_02: His friend or brother or dad or whatever.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_05: How come I never get sick of seeing things like that?
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_05: I just keep clicking on bully picks on his weak kid, and I go, Yeah, yeah, and I can't wait till they're gonna be like, Yeah.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_05: I remember once this gentleman chased me across the square because I'd mentioned something.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_05: He was a very committed Catholic, very anti-God.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_05: His wife was a Christian and he was angry at me and he chased me across the square and I went and sat next to the third highest policeman in the country who was a Christian that used to come and with me.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_05: And I just sit there next to him.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_05: I did not sit on the next law.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_05: But I couldn't help but think of how we were the Lord, because I was sitting there thinking, you hit me.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_05: Come on.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_05: I'm next to the third highest policeman in our country who loves our ministry, and I had strong confidence and no fear whatsoever.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_07: And that it that confidence does come when we realize our standing before God.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_07: You know, you just mentioned.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, I mean, think of just I want us to slow down and think of the think of what you were just talking about, Easy.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_07: Um, which is that God holds it all in his hands.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_07: Think about how vast our world is.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_07: You know, we we know 3% of the ocean.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_07: That means 97% of the ocean is undiscovered.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_07: Which means we've got to water.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_07: It is underwater, that's true.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_07: We think we've discovered, I think they think it's like 50% of the animals that and plants and insects that live on this planet.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_07: So we have so much undiscoverable space on our planet.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_07: Then you think of that one planet in our solar system that contains multiple other planets, which with multiple other canyons and hills and valleys that we know nothing of.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_07: And that's one solar system in a galaxy full of millions of solar systems.
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_07: That's one galaxy in a universe full of countless galaxies with their own countless solar systems, and God holds it all in the palm of his hand.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_07: And our confidence is our standing before him.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_07: And it reminds me, I know I've said it before, but I absolutely love it, that picture of John F.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_07: Kennedy and his son.
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_07: And that is like he's in the Oval Office, and we all know you would imagine whether you like the president or don't, doesn't matter.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_07: When you walk into an Oval Office, you know there's this prestige, there's this process, there's red tape, you've got to look him in the eye and shake his hand, and yes, sir, no, sir.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_07: And you might get two minutes with him, and then out the other door, there's a properness, you dress a certain way because you're seeing the president of the United States of America.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_07: He's to be respected, he's in some ways unapproachable.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_07: And there's this incredible picture of John F.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_07: Kennedy's son playing with toys under the desk of the Oval Office while John F.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_07: Kennedy is sitting there doing his work.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_07: And it reminds me, like to that boy, John F.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_07: Kennedy wasn't the president, he was his dad.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_07: And he joyfully played with confidence under his father.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_07: In that same way, our father who holds everything in his hands, we can approach him with the confidence that a son approaches his father.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_07: Wow.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I think of John the Apostle with his head against the chest of Jesus.
• 48:05
  SPEAKER_02: Man, like that's that's that picture, right?
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_02: He's sitting with God incarnate and he's just reclining on him, like Lord, you know, just oh man.
• 48:15
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, I was thinking about what you just said, Oscar, in terms of like what it took in terms of the scope of the mission of God Almighty condensing himself into the form of man.
• 48:30
  SPEAKER_02: You're talking about all these solar systems and all these galaxies and then the whole universe, right?
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_02: You know, after 9-11, I took a team of guys and we drove across the country to New York, and I remember seeing the the two towers, right?
• 48:42
  SPEAKER_02: And just you went over to help.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we went to go and share the gospel and and reach out to people.
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_02: And I remember seeing the the rubble from the buildings.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_02: And this was like a few days after 9-11 had hit.
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_02: And I remember seeing that they were starting to try to haul away the debris, and I'm sitting there thinking, what a monumental task.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_02: Like how massive of a job is that to clean that up, right?
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_02: Then I then I thought of Hiroshima and and the decimation across that entire city, uh that nuclear blast of all the buildings that were destroyed, the cleanup involved in that, right?
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_02: But then you take the God that you described, and you you take the this whole universe that he made and created, and you think of his infinitude and his massiveness, the scope of the mission of then this God condensing himself into a microscopic being and walking this planet to die at the hands of his enemies to give us life.
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah, he is cleans.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like that we need to think that that needs to give us confidence.
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_02: That in and of itself, like that he did that to redeem me and then to make me an instrument, 2 Corinthians 5, through which he pleads to the world to be reconciled together.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_00: And then we question the love of God and where is God when I'm going through these different things.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and God demonstrated his love for us.
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_00: Now, while we were yet sinners, he died for us.
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_00: And if he's gonna die for me, what would he not do for me?
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I was reading James earlier today, you know, you have not because you asked not.
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_00: And why do you not receive?
• 50:30
  SPEAKER_00: Because you want to spend it on your pleasures.
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, what are you thinking life is all about?
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, it's not about a box of roses and chocolates and a white picket fence life and the smoking hot 2026 wife, you know, always upgrading to the latest version of the iPhone.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_00: The idea is listen, walking with Christ in simplicity today, obeying what he's commanded us to do, and that's enough.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know, don't worry, don't think about tomorrow.
• 50:57
  SPEAKER_00: Get a big glimpse of God.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_00: I have a plaque hanging up inside my house that says, pray bigger.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_00: God can handle it.
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_00: And we pray small because we we consider God to be small, right?
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_00: We we're limited only by what we study and what we hear and know, but he is so altogether different and other.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_00: And he spans the universe by the palm of his hands.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_00: I have no idea how long it would take to get to Alpha Centuri or anything like that.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I know that it would take a very long time, but he spans it inside of his hand.
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he does, man.
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, all right.
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_05: Just want to say, I was listening to you guys talk about the Lord and thinking how this world has heroes, superheroes, imaginary superheroes.
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_05: We have a hero that never disappoints.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_05: Never.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_05: Every area where you look at Jesus incarnate is just just so wonderful and admirable and worthy and honorable, and we think of the greatness of God, the bigness of God, never disappointing.
• 51:57
  unknown: Wow.
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I I was thinking, Mark, as you were talking about just uh how much he loves us and all that he did.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_02: I I think that one of the things that robs us of confidence, righteous confidence, is the knowledge of our sinfulness, the past, the present, and what we fear will be future.
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_02: And yet we have the greatest confidence because we know that it is finished.
• 52:27
  SPEAKER_00: We've read the final chapter.
• 52:28
  SPEAKER_00: We know that God wins.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_00: Why are we so worried?
• 52:31
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't, it doesn't make any sense.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_00: We have the final chapter, God wins, we're on his side.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_00: With confidence, go forward.
• 52:40
  SPEAKER_00: With confidence, confess that thing that you've been holding on to.
• 52:42
  SPEAKER_00: With confidence, you know, do whatever you need to do.
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_00: So you've read the final chapter?
• 52:47
  SPEAKER_00: Read the final chapter.
• 52:48
  SPEAKER_05: Easy.
• 52:49
  SPEAKER_05: Have you read the final chapter?
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_05: What is it?
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_02: Because Mark goes to the end of a book to see how it works out.
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_02: That's the only final chapter that's appropriate to read.
• 52:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's so my it my kids, it drives my wife and kids crazy because I always look up the ending of a movie before I watch it.
• 53:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 53:06
  SPEAKER_02: That's wrong.
• 53:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 53:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I'll tell you uh one of the verses that encourages me and reminds me, and Oscar, I'd love you to speak to this.
• 53:16
  SPEAKER_02: Uh 2 Timothy 1.7, for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
• 53:25
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, I think that that spirit, that spirit is uh influenced and made confident by the power of the Holy Spirit.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_07: The fact, I mean, think about his breakdown, right?
• 53:38
  SPEAKER_07: Like it's not uh a spirit of fear, but of love, uh love for God first and foremost, and love for others.
• 53:46
  SPEAKER_07: As it comes to proclaiming the gospel, like our when we approach people with our own sense of self-worth and confidence, we come across as arrogant.
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_07: If we approach people with a lack in confidence in God, we'll come off insecure.
• 54:01
  SPEAKER_07: But when you approach people with the confidence that Christ is giving you through the promise that he is at work through the Holy Spirit, we can approach people with confidence in love.
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_07: In love, because we know that his power goes before us.
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_02: Amen.
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and and that power that is available to us is his power.
• 54:22
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I mean, it's like I'm not gonna be boasting and bragging if I'm facing a bunch of enemies and I have a tank.
• 54:32
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not gonna be boasting and bragging in my strength.
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_02: It's the tank that's given me the confidence, it's protecting me, and it's giving me firepower that's going to be able to counter that enemy.
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, Ray, um there are scenarios where we hear people say to other people when they're sharing something, you don't seem very confident about that, right?
• 54:55
  SPEAKER_02: But how important is confidence not just in us approaching people, but in how we present the gospel?
• 55:03
  SPEAKER_05: I I think our confidence is founded upon a sincerity that what we believe is absolutely true.
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_05: There's when an insurance salesman or a vacuum cleaner salesman has confidence in this product, he has an ulterior motive.
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_05: He wants to sell it.
• 55:21
  SPEAKER_05: We're not selling anything.
• 55:22
  SPEAKER_05: Our concern is for the person's salvation, so we've got to have confidence in God for the sake of the person we're listening to, or speaking to, should I say.
• 55:31
  SPEAKER_05: And remember, I think I've shared this before, obviously, because um you've heard it before.
• 55:36
  SPEAKER_05: I received a phone call many years ago from a guy who saw the building I was in was on fire.
• 55:41
  SPEAKER_05: It was a big dome, it had the drug prevention center in it.
• 55:44
  SPEAKER_05: And he called me at before seven o'clock in the morning, woke me up, and he just said, Ray, the Regent Theatre building's on fire.
• 55:52
  SPEAKER_05: And I believed him the second he spoke because he spoke with this confidence.
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_05: There was no like, you know, April in his voice.
• 56:04
  SPEAKER_05: You know, April.
• 56:06
  SPEAKER_05: Um I knew by his tone.
• 56:09
  SPEAKER_05: And when we share the gospel, we should have such a confidence that the tone is seen as being sincere.
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_05: They know what we're saying is true, but by the way we say it.
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_07: It's really hard to have confidence as a vacuum cleaning salesperson when you know your product sucks.
• 56:26
  SPEAKER_05: Do you know that what they do is they um they want to make you uh lose conference this the vacuum cleaner salesman wants to make you lose confidence in the vacuum cleaner you've got at present because his is better.
• 56:43
  SPEAKER_05: And that's the way all advertising seems to work.
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_05: You've got such and such, that's useless.
• 56:47
  SPEAKER_05: This is the newest, this is the latest.
• 56:49
  SPEAKER_05: And I've learned that it's just not true that new is better because we've got a brand new washing machine.
• 56:55
  SPEAKER_05: I was all excited about it.
• 56:56
  SPEAKER_05: The old one we had was better because they took the time to make the product quality, and this new one, which is supposedly better, was just cheaper and done quicker and sold faster.
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_05: And and we look back at our old washing machine and think, wish we had it, because this whole thing, the new one, shakes the whole house.
• 57:13
  SPEAKER_05: Stupid.
• 57:14
  SPEAKER_02: Seriously.
• 57:15
  SPEAKER_02: They don't make them like they used to, do they?
• 57:17
  SPEAKER_02: No.
• 57:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I I think of what uh what uh the Lord said to Joshua.
• 57:25
  SPEAKER_06: I appreciate that.
• 57:27
  SPEAKER_02: Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
• 57:35
  SPEAKER_02: Joshua 1.9.
• 57:37
  SPEAKER_02: And um and Isaiah 41.10, fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed, for I am your God.
• 57:44
  SPEAKER_02: I will strengthen you.
• 57:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
• 57:50
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, Mark, you've you've spoken to this in one of your sermons where you talk about Moses, right, and his excuse to God.
• 57:58
  SPEAKER_02: I I've I've never been eloquent in speech, you know, in past or present or whatever.
• 58:04
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but but that wasn't an excuse, right?
• 58:06
  SPEAKER_02: What did God say to Moses in that regard?
• 58:08
  SPEAKER_00: Who made man's mouth?
• 58:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, who makes the deaf, deaf, and the blind, blind?
• 58:12
  SPEAKER_00: We we are quick to cast that off as we're we're living in a fallen world, so that people have ailments and handicaps.
• 58:19
  SPEAKER_00: But if we examine the text properly, we we see the sovereign hand of God in his creation order.
• 58:25
  SPEAKER_00: We see what God did.
• 58:27
  SPEAKER_00: That people that are born blind, God does that.
• 58:30
  SPEAKER_00: In John chapter 9, who sinned?
• 58:32
  SPEAKER_00: Was it this man or was it his parents?
• 58:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there was some rabbinic teaching that that led to that idea.
• 58:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so neither, but that the works of God, that the glory of God might be made manifest for such a time as this, right?
• 58:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so, yeah, God, God knows what he's doing and he does what we do and we hide behind our handicaps.
• 58:51
  SPEAKER_00: Matthew Henry, inside of uh one of his commentaries, points out that uh 13 of the 14 judges found in the book of Judges all had a handicap.
• 59:00
  SPEAKER_00: They all had a legitimate excuse why they couldn't step out of the boat, right?
• 59:04
  SPEAKER_00: But uh we have to always remember that God made us the way we are for his glory.
• 59:08
  SPEAKER_07: It's also just a such a good reminder of God's upside-down kingdom.
• 59:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
• 59:14
  SPEAKER_07: You know, the kingdom of man comes about through power and authority and forcing submission and money and praise and kingships.
• 59:24
  SPEAKER_07: The kingdom of man gravitates towards the strong man.
• 59:27
  SPEAKER_07: Throughout history, you see the strong man rise to power, right?
• 59:31
  SPEAKER_07: But the kingdom of God has always been ushered in through the humble and the meek, from the unextraordinary.
• 59:40
  SPEAKER_07: I mean, just think about God inaugurating his kingdom through his son, who was not born, who was not born on a throne, who was not ignore them, who was not born with with a with a powerful army behind him.
• 59:55
  SPEAKER_07: He was born in a barn to a small little working family.
• 1:00:01
  SPEAKER_07: He grew up in an impoverished community where no one knew him as anything particular or special.
• 1:00:07
  SPEAKER_07: And that's God's way through history.
• 1:00:09
  SPEAKER_07: He uses the smallest family member, a poet to become a warrior to beat Goliath.
• 1:00:15
  SPEAKER_07: He uses a stuttering nomad to be the mouth of God.
• 1:00:20
  SPEAKER_07: And to this day, nothing has changed.
• 1:00:23
  SPEAKER_07: He is not interested in using the powerful.
• 1:00:27
  SPEAKER_07: He's interested in using the week in the meat, because his kingdom is utterly different than the kingdom of man.
• 1:00:34
  SPEAKER_02: Amen.
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_02: Amen.
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_02: And if friends, you want anything to give you confidence, just see that God uses Mark and Ray.
• 1:00:42
  SPEAKER_02: You just watch their shenanigans right here.
• 1:00:45
  SPEAKER_02: Oscar is waxing profound and deep and spiritual.
• 1:00:50
  SPEAKER_02: It's the evangelist you gave me.
• 1:00:52
  SPEAKER_02: No.
• 1:00:53
  SPEAKER_05: No, no.
• 1:00:55
  SPEAKER_05: How did you know it was me?
• 1:00:56
  SPEAKER_05: I was throwing my voice.
• 1:00:57
  SPEAKER_02: I just I just gave it.
• 1:00:58
  SPEAKER_05: I was tossing my voice across there.
• 1:01:00
  SPEAKER_05: So you couldn't.
• 1:01:01
  SPEAKER_02: Your old pantrology said, Hey, Charlie!
• 1:01:03
  SPEAKER_03: Hey Charlie!
• 1:01:05
  SPEAKER_05: Mark mentioned Matthew Henry, and um, what an incredible guy that was.
• 1:01:09
  SPEAKER_05: He didn't have a word processor.
• 1:01:11
  SPEAKER_05: And he wrote a whole he died before he finished it.
• 1:01:13
  SPEAKER_05: You better, didn't you, right?
• 1:01:15
  SPEAKER_05: Matthew Henry.
• 1:01:17
  SPEAKER_05: 16th century or so.
• 1:01:19
  SPEAKER_02: Ah, well, there you have it, friends.
• 1:01:21
  SPEAKER_02: Look, this is the foundation for your confidence.
• 1:01:23
  SPEAKER_02: First of all, you know who you are.
• 1:01:27
  SPEAKER_02: You are nothing.
• 1:01:28
  SPEAKER_02: And apart from him, you can do nothing.
• 1:01:30
  SPEAKER_02: You know who he is.
• 1:01:32
  SPEAKER_02: He is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent.
• 1:01:35
  SPEAKER_02: He's chosen to take residence up in you.
• 1:01:39
  SPEAKER_02: You need to know who you are, you need to know who he is, you need to know who you are in him and who he is in you.
• 1:01:47
  SPEAKER_02: And then with that, you can go forward in confidence.
• 1:01:50
  SPEAKER_02: Here's why.
• 1:01:51
  SPEAKER_02: Because he's for you.
• 1:01:53
  SPEAKER_02: And if God is for you, who can be against you?
• 1:01:56
  SPEAKER_02: So remember I'm ready to go preach tonight.
• 1:01:58
  SPEAKER_02: Let's go.
• 1:01:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, preach it up.
• 1:01:59
  SPEAKER_02: So may you go in the confidence of the Lord and may He use you.
• 1:02:02
  SPEAKER_02: There you have it.
• 1:02:03
  SPEAKER_02: Friends.
• 1:02:04
  SPEAKER_02: And don't forget, God has a wonderful plan for your life.
• 1:02:07
  SPEAKER_03: The myth of the modern message.
• 1:02:08
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, the Bradanla no casino, brothando and candles.
• 1:02:11
  SPEAKER_03: Ray Combord.
• 1:02:12
  SPEAKER_02: And don't forget to like, subscribe, and share.
• 1:02:15
  SPEAKER_02: Podcast at LivingWaters.com and podcast at LivingWaters.com with your thoughts and questions.
• 1:02:19
  SPEAKER_02: Send them in, friends.
• 1:02:21
  SPEAKER_02: You see, we've been answering them.
• 1:02:23
  SPEAKER_02: And let us know where you're at, and we'll give you a shout out, maybe.
• 1:02:26
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for joining us, friends, here in the studio.
• 1:02:29
  SPEAKER_02: What a blessing to have had you all.
• 1:02:30
  SPEAKER_02: Listen.
• 1:02:31
  SPEAKER_02: Was that right?
• 1:02:32
  SPEAKER_02: Listen.
• 1:02:32
  SPEAKER_02: I know, a miracle.
• 1:02:34
  SPEAKER_02: For joining us, friends.
• 1:02:35
  SPEAKER_03: Friends, we'll see you here next time on the Living Waters podcast, where Mark and Oscar and Ray still have no idea what they're doing.