Latest / Pursuing the Heart / Ephesians 6:10-24 with Garner Wireman...The Armor of God, Isaiah Talked About Who's Armor?

Transcript

Ephesians 6:10-24 with Garner Wireman...The Armor of God, Isaiah Talked About Who's Armor? · Pursuing the Heart

• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, this is Scott from Pursuing the Heart.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: And uh this is a great day.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the weather is turning up here in Indiana land, and it's getting a little cooler.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but summer still fighting that.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I have a very good friend of mine, Garner, is on our podcast tonight.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_06: How's it going, Garner?
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_06: It's going really well.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_06: Thank you.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_06: It's good to be here.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_06: And uh, yeah, I'm loving the uh fall temperatures and the colors.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: The color changes, the leaves are changing.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, so good.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: See, a southern boy like me from southwest Georgia, yeah.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't have any color changes down there.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: It was just alive and then dead.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_06: And I grew up in Arizona, so I we didn't have fall at all.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: So we just yeah, that's the same way we'll we really didn't have winter, right?
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, every once in a while, old man winter would blow down, and we might get an occasional snow.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: But other than that, right.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I remember still buying winter coats when it was 40 because it was winter for us, anyways, and you know, 50.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_06: And going back now, it'd be crazy.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Tell us a little bit about yourself, Garner.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_06: Sure.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_06: Um, so I live uh in Pendleton with my wife, Danielle, and uh I've we have a combined three children.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_06: Um we have uh Miles, who just turned eight, um, Reed, who's 13, and then um a daughter who lives in Avon, uh and she's 30.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_06: So we've got a wide array of children.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_06: And you have a wide array.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_06: Yes.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_06: Uh it's great.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_06: I love them all.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_06: And um it's uh we we um go to uh Pendleton uh Christian Church and uh actually work there too as uh the um connections director there and I've been doing that since January and uh really love that and uh love connecting people uh with the services that we have and connecting them to uh the volunteer ministries that we have also.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and uh I am in Garner's now life group that he started.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: And my wife and I, I'm very happy.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: My wife came last night, she really liked it.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's been and uh thank you for inviting us.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we have a good group of people in that life group, and uh are you a drummer?
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_06: I am, yes.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_06: And uh occasionally, actually, I'm gonna be uh doing percussion on the 25th at church.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_06: So looking forward to that and uh plenty and stuff.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_06: So, how did you get started in that?
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_06: In drumming?
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_06: Um well I originally started as um playing a saxophone uh in fifth grade because I knew the girls like that.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_06: And then when I was a freshman, I knew the girls really like drummers, so then I was switched out to that.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_06: So yeah.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Now, did were you ever a drummer with a microphone and singing?
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: Some drummers I've seen do that.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I was in uh a couple of bands.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_06: Um, and uh we I played.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_06: I it's kind of hard, but uh I I did enjoy it while I was doing it.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_06: So it's good, it's a good time.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, cool.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um well, we appreciate you coming on here.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: This is pursuing the heart.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, God pursued us, and now we get to pursue him.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's what we're about.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: And we try to show how you can have a casual conversation with someone about the scripture, and how you can sit here and talk about it, and it shows we show how you can do that.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: And then sometimes we have guests that come on that maybe have a different opinion about a scripture and how we can have that conversation and talk about it, and also um at the end, we're gonna hear some of Gardner's story uh and what he wants to share about how Jesus impacted his life.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's how we um usually that's the way we set it up here on uh pursuing the heart.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh generally we'll have someone come on, uh casual conversation, and then give their personal story.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: So uh we thank Gardner for joining us tonight.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for him, and uh, we pray that he is vulnerable tonight.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: And uh and Garner, can um you open up in prayer?
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_06: Thank you, Jesus, that we're here today and we're uh able to gather and uh have fellowship.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_06: Just pray that you um bless this podcast and uh the doors that it's been opening for people to listen all over the world has been amazing, and we just uh continue to um pray for guidance for Scott as he uh leads this and pursues this in Jesus' name, amen.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that you uh about praying all over uh reaching all over the world.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: We have some new spots.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Sweden came up last week.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow, that's amazing.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: So anyway, just throwing that out.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so my wife and I did the last podcast, and it was it's Sweden, and there was one other place I had never been seen before.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but uh we've been going through the book of Ephesians and going through this, and the first section basically is talking about one chapters one and three, who you are in Christ, where you are, and the confidence of having that as far as the basis of who you are.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then four is started talking about okay, now you know you have these things, and then you are um you are redeemed, you're holy, you've been set apart.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Now what part are you?
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: And no part is bigger than the other.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: The head is not bigger, is better than the foot, and neither is the arm greater than than your you know shoulder.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone has a part to play.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then we went through the section, and it went through like well, one we sorry, going back into five, it was like walk in love and what that looked like, and five set up that first section set up how wives and husbands their relationships together, and then how that flows out to being a parent and and as a children, as a child, and what that looks like based on 5 21, submitting to one another out of reverence of Christ.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: And we and then out of that reverence, you show love, and it's not oh Garner, you need to submit to me.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Right, you know, it's I do it, I it's it's out of love reverence.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: And if we're all working together, then it's not one overpowering the other.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: And then we went through the section last week, you know, with um slaves and masters, same thing.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like masters treat your slaves accordingly, master and slaves or bond servants treat you need to show respect to the masters, right?
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: So it's that whole love diag dynamic.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think about that?
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_06: Um, I think the main thing is uh if you know kind of what you were saying, if you are submitting yourself to Christ, then it just naturally occurs.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_06: Right.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_06: Um so what the problems are when we try to be bigger than God and or you know, say, well, I'm not gonna submit to this person or that person, you know, but you're missing the bigger point, which is submitting to God, just like loving.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_06: If we love God, then we should expect that He will help us with our needs.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_06: And if we love God, we also love each other, then everything will just fall into place it theoretically.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_06: Um, but it's when we kind of put our own value above God and um try to figure out okay, who can I love?
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_06: Well who am I mad with?
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_06: And um, I think that's when those tensions um can come into play.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: Cool.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: I I totally agree.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: And we're in this section now with the armor of God.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Great section here.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, so good.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna jump in to six, chapter six, verse 10.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: It says, Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, Garner, that is, I mean, I could we could close the podcast right there, right?
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, there's so much into that right there.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like when you hear that, Garner, does that give you some extra confidence or extra pep in your step?
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_06: Absolutely.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, it's it's something I think we should all recite the first thing we do in the morning.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_06: Um, and this gives us it should give me gives me confidence, um, knowing that if I put my faith in God um and put my everything in God, that um he will strengthen me and I'll be able to get through no matter what comes my way.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_06: Even in the hard times, right?
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: It gets real difficult in the hard times.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: But this verse be strong in the Lord, and then the strength of his might.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: Strength in some translations equals power.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: They use the word power, the power of his might.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: If you're a believer, you have the Holy Spirit who lives inside you.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: That power was the same power that raised Jesus from the dead.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: I can't fathom that, right?
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but that power lives inside us.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Knowing that, does that get a different perspective on that?
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Or you that that power that live the strength that we can re rest in.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_06: I think we it's hard for us to wrap our head around the strength and power of God and the Holy Spirit.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_06: And you know, uh, so sometimes I mean I could my head could explode, so I just try to calm myself down.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_06: Right.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_06: And like, okay, this is what it says, this is what I'm believing.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_06: Um, but you know, we could get into all the the strength and how much it is and what all that is, what does that really mean?
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_06: And uh I I still don't think we'll ever quite understand.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: No, no.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: So looking at the next verse, it says, put on the whole armor of God that you might you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: So the whole armor, we're gonna go through piece by piece the armor that you can put on.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, are you have you ever like when you became a Christian and someone shared this with you, Garner, this whole armor of God thing, how did you wrap your mind around that?
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_06: I I know we'll get into it more.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_06: I I think it was always um I mean, I think of like a knight.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_06: Right, you know, so I think of all of that, and I think of someone going into battle.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_06: Um, but it's interesting because we'll go into it, but it doesn't really say we're going into battle, it just you know, stand so that you're ready.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_06: So it's not so much I'm getting I'm going into battle and I'm fighting, right?
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_06: I'm just I'm here and I've got this armor so that when the enemy comes to me, then I will be ready.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_06: And I I think it wasn't until just recently that I it kind of clicked for me that that's what they were talking about.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_06: It wasn't so much going into war and just running towards it, it's when it comes to you.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_06: So I don't think if you're a believer, I don't think you need to run anywhere.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: The yeah, evil's gonna come the right true.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: The enemy's gonna come to you.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you don't have I mean, once you are known as a believer and you're pursuing him and you're uh growing in your faith, right?
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I mean it's it's gonna happen.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um so the very next verse it says, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, uh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: So I think piggybacking on what you're saying is the enemy is going to be in a sp is spiritual, it's not physical.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm not putting on a physical armor and spiritually I'm there.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm standing firm in my faith, and I'm standing because the enemy is coming.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_06: And it's uh another thing, uh again, it's hard for us, I think, or for me sometimes to wrap my head around the spiritual universe that we can't see.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_06: Right.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_06: Um the unseen.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_06: The unseen, and that's what this is all that you know, this is why we're taking up the armor, is for that the things that we can't see.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_06: And um so I think that's sometimes hard to uh take into account.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I feel like uh there's this uh I I think I've mentioned this to you before.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: There's this uh Kung Fu movie, and the guy leaves his castle and the army's out there, and he's standing there and he looks up in the in the sky, and all these arrows are coming at him and he's standing, and not one arrow hitting, it was just the movie, right, Garner?
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: But sometimes it'll feel that way when you're alone and you get those thoughts that just keep on hitting your head.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: And um those thoughts, like you can like defend a couple of them because you're like, no, that's a lie, that's a lie.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: But then the enemy will sneak one in that's truth.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like, hey, do you remember when you XYZ?
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: And you're like, Yeah, I did, and then the next one is like, oh, you're a bad well with me, it'd be sometimes like you're a bad dad.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: And then I'm like, Oh, I am, but then I'm like, No, I'm not.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a child of God, that was in the past, I've been forgiven.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: No, you know, but it gets hard though when you're alone.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: So this armor of God thing is to me, if I'm not alone and I'm with my brothers in Christ and I know other brothers are there in that foxhole with me, that's that's more than just being alone.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: And doing this on your own.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, you know, when you were talking about kind of those thoughts, you know, we have the the armor of God, but our flesh is the weak spots.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_06: Yes.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_06: And so you no matter how much armor you have, there are spots that could get hit if we're not careful.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_06: And so when those happen, you know, we can either try to get back and heal for them or we let them fester, get infected, and then you know, we get into trouble.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, yeah, and then that's where you need to call your other friend and say, hey man.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm down.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm down, I need you to pray for me, man.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: Am I right?
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: And having dudes in your life, I know I'm sorry, having believers with me, I'm a guy, so I'm gonna have guys in my life that I can call.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're a female, I'm hoping you have other females, Christian warriors with you that you can call and say, Hey, I need you to pray for me.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: How does that feel like like knowing that you have Christian brothers that you can go to Garner and can you can pick up the phone and call and say, Hey, can you just pray for me right now?
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, it it feels pretty incredible.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_06: And and I I've had that happen, and um, I've felt um the power of their prayers because I felt um, you know, more uh relaxed where I would normally be, like uptight.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_06: Um and even, you know, even with life groups too, um, where we can send out a text, and so it's the whole life group, you know, it's the men and women, you know, coming together as well.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, yeah.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_06: Um so it's it's pretty incredible.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_06: It feels like you're not on the battlefield alone and that you have the the other people with you.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: And then it says, um in the very next verse, it says, Therefore.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's the one we just said.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um oh no, it says, Therefore, take the whole armor, may be able to withstand the evil in the evil day, and having done all to stand firm.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: So therefore, it's it's reminding you about the verses before that you you're in a spiritual battle and or you're standing, right?
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: And it's reminding you to stand firm.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: You don't need to, like you were saying earlier, it doesn't say run into the battle confidently, it says just stand firm because I think God's gonna fight that battle for you, Christ is gonna fight that battle for you.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is going to help you.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to really do anything, right?
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I that's just a Scott opinion where it says stand firm because I believe Paul is reminding you, hey, in the spiritual, you're taken care of.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_06: And I also think, you know, when it says, and having done all to stand firm.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_06: So sometimes we've done all and it still ends up a mess.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_06: But even still, I worship God.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_06: Even still I believe in God.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I think um even though when sometimes I'm like, hey God, I got this battle, let me let me let me just show you how how it's done.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: And then you fall on your face.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: With me, I fall on my face.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, okay, God, I'm ready for you to come in.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: Lesson learned.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's all the time, Gardner.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I gotta I I'm like a I'm stubborn as a mule, man.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: So sometimes it takes me a long time to to okay, all right, God, I need you here.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: Right, you know, yeah, yeah.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_06: And he's just sitting there just waiting.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: He's waiting, he's like watching you do everything, whatever you're doing, he's watching you, and he's like, okay.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: Now you didn't do what you were supposed to do, stand firm, yeah, and just let me help you, you know.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it says, stand, therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth and having put on the breastplate the breastplate of righteousness.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna take a pause.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_05: The belt of truth.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_05: Do you have an idea what what he's talking about there?
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, other than being truthful as far as just make your yes be yes.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_06: Okay.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um to me it's it's when I'm in that spiritual battle, or when those thoughts are coming to my mind, that truth is no, I'm holy, I'm redeemed, I'm forgiven, I'm a child of God, I'm not who you say I am, because I am redeemed.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: What the Holy Spirit's telling me who I am.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's the truth.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: The truth, because in scripture it says, hey, we believers, we're seated in the heavenly places with Christ.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: I can't fathom that.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know how that I don't when I open my eyes, it just doesn't look like I'm sitting in the heavenly places.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: But scripture says I am spiritually, but also scripture says you're a child of God, you're holy, you're a saint, you've been redeemed.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: So that spirit, that the belt of truth for me is like knowing my identity, knowing who I am in Christ.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: And that helps me when I am alone, or when these thoughts come in my mind.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: Because this is to me, I think it's more, yeah, you can say, Well, this happened in my life, and I need to be standing firm for Christ.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: That could be too to me, a lot of it is these thoughts that pop in my mind all the time, and I'm like, no, that's not that's not correct, that's not right.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but then the truth is scripture.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: The truth is, well, scripture tells me who I am because I've am a b I'm a believer now, I'm a Christian, I'm I'm a Christ follower, and what does that look like?
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm redeemed.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: I just I sit myself, I'm like, no, that's not correct, right?
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then that spirit, the the truth, and then having put on the breastplate of righteousness, we're declared righteous because of our faith.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's what scripture says.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: So the breastplate is very important, right?
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, a hundred percent.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_06: Um, I think I was just thinking about the truth too, and I was also thinking sometimes, especially when I was younger, uh when I'm confronted with something, we have a tendency to lie or half truth or try to get out of it instead of dealing with it head on, you know.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_06: And uh so I was thinking about that too.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_06: But I also like what you're saying, um, is the truth of who I am, which is a child of God.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_06: And no matter what the enemy may say or put in my head, um, I need to stand on that truth.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: And no matter what like someone tells me, oh, you're you know, they might say to you, you're just a Christian.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: You're you know, you you're a hypocrite.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: No, I'm not a hypocrite.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: No, I'm not.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I don't know.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: I that's where I'm at on that.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: And then it says, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: Well, if you're standing firm, peace is a hard thing because you're seeing the battle all around you, and you're supposed to be standing firm.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: So he's reminding you to put readiness, like you're ready, but you really don't need to do you just need the gospel of peace, right?
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: It says um, by the gospel of peace, peace is given through God, right?
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, it's really interesting because we're talking about getting ready for a battle, and you have all this armor on, yeah, ready for what comes your way, and like, oh, and wear these shoes that are peaceful.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: Right, it's just do it.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's just was that the yin and yang here?
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's like, hey, you I just want you to know you have shoes of peace, not Nikes, not these are peaceful shoes.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_06: Peaceful shoes.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_06: And maybe that is more about having the peace of Christ.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_06: So it's almost like the confidence that you can overcome anything, and that you shouldn't be afraid, you shouldn't be angry, um, but you should remain peaceful knowing that God has your back and that you are equipped with what uh what you need to fight the battle.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: There you go.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: And it says, in all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's like again, those little darts, right?
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: They're coming at you, and you can just stand there and have faith and just be like, no, God's got me.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: That's is that what it's saying there, Garner?
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: I believe so.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_06: Um it's yeah, in everything you do, you should have that shield of faith.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_06: And I've had the shield of faith, but it's been sitting over in my corner, or it's been getting dusty or being repaired, and uh, so I don't always have it on me the whole time.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_06: And I think that's when I sometimes get in trouble because um sometimes the my I've always had faith, but it has been a small shield and it's been a mighty shield.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_06: Um and uh it it just depends on how much I'm putting into it and and building my relationship with God.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: I think all this armor, right, looks differently as you grow in your faith.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: As I as the Holy Spirit changes my behavior from the inside out, not the outside in, but from the inside out, this armor looks more beautiful.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_00: And it in each one of these, just my opinion, that you know, when you first become a Christian, you might have a little shield because that you don't you haven't pursued God, you haven't read scripture, you haven't you're you're learning, right?
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: And then as you grow in your faith, whatever that looks like for you, for me, it's reading my word, praying, um, listening to worship songs or wishing worship or listening to just songs that lift up Christ, whatever that look, whatever that looks like, right, for you.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: This looks like and then praying, like you're in this season right now that it's it's about prayer.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: You just went to a prayer conference, and I'm like, oh man, Garner went, I'm jealous.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like it's like you're adding to your spirit when you do these things, but you do it, you're doing these things because you love Christ and what Christ has done for you, right?
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: And you're growing in your faith, right?
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a you don't no one made you go to that conference, right?
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: No, not at all.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, and and I went only, I mean, not only to help myself grow, but then to take what God wants me to do, which is you know, help our neighbors find and follow Christ.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_06: And we just and I have to be more prepared.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_06: And the more I'm prepared, then the more I feel like more confident, have better shields, better weapons to um stand firm and then help others.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: Because the um the next one says the next two in verse 17, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, just I imagine when I first became a Christian, my sword was probably a butter knife.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_00: But as I grow in my as I've grown in my faith and I've read the word, and I keep on reading the word, and I continue to learn new things all the time, or being challenged, like, I don't think you, I don't think that's correct.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll read it again.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh, yeah, I was wrong.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: But that that a lot of times people forget.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_00: I see believers, in my opinion, they aren't they don't have that mighty sword because they don't know that sword.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_06: Right.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_06: Or they don't, they may read the Bible.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_06: Like I've I used to do this too, is where I'd read the Bible just because that's what you're supposed to do.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_06: Right.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_06: I didn't necessarily get anything out of it.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_06: You know, no, I just okay, this is a requirement.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_06: And so you do, and then you just walk around with, you know, like a little toothpick, and then you know, someone challenges you and you don't have anything, you just like throw it at them and run.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_06: Um, so it's uh it wasn't until I really got into it and over and over again.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_06: And and that's the thing too.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_06: A lot of times I'll read books and it's hard for me to reread a book.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_06: And so, but I know with this book, uh, with the Bible, you know, it is almost alive to where I can read something and then later on reread it and get something totally different, or finally, you know, catch on to where like, oh okay, this is how this is what it means.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_06: Um, so it's been uh challenging and very rewarding at the same time.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and that helmet is well, I imagine the Sparta helmet that that is out that was out in Odyssey where it's all you know got the thing and it comes around, and it's just like so that's your helmet of salvation.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_00: And that protects your head, right?
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_00: Somewhat, right?
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_06: I think uh which I mean your heart and your head are really the two most important things, you know.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_06: So uh it's it's uh interesting that that's the salvation part.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_06: And uh I'm just trying to wrap my head around why it'd be interesting to know you know why they chose certain parts of the armor for certain parts of your life.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um I I when I read this, I'm reminded when Christ was tempted in the desert from Satan.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_00: And Satan would quote him scripture, would take a verse or whatever, a couple verses, and say, you know, this, and then no, Jesus would be like, Well, you know, right, it's really in scripture it says this.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I I think that this is what it's saying here for the sword, the word.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is alive in in the word here in the Bible.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's a breathing.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's it's lot it's alive, and knowing one thing I fell at is I can't rem uh remember scripture well.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: Never have.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_00: And it's really a struggle, but I can remember, okay.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: Well, in Colossians, it says uh it says Christ is the in all and be all.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: He was here before I mean it it talks about that, right?
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_00: In Colossians 1, and I'm like, ah, all right, but I can't quote it unless I go to my Bible.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe I should do a better job of maybe memorizing scripture, but it just comes really hard for me to do that.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_00: Like I I was always the kid that at youth camp that you had to memorize scripture so you could get your meal.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_00: I would like I would be felling.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so they would be falling just like you can go ahead, everybody else is eating.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that would be quite the diet.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_06: Oh my gosh, I would lose so much weight.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_06: Oh my goodness.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_06: I think I need to find uh the Bible in a song form because you know, I don't know how many songs I don't like that I know all the words to.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_06: Like, why am I why do I know John Bonjour?
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: Hold on.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_00: This is the reason why my friend sent me this today.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: I might have your answer.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_00: Did you know?
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not endorsing this, okay, but there is an app called the singing.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_00: And it puts scripture in song singing verses.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: I haven't, he just sent it to me today.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_00: And Garner's looking at it on my phone.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_00: This is weird.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I told him, I don't know if I could do that.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_00: But he did mention another app, and I go, I already heard about that app.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_00: I've already downloaded it.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_06: Okay.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but the singing interesting.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_00: The singing Bible Garner.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_00: They have that.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: Well, let's see.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you have to uh share it with me, and I'll I'm gonna share that with you.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, again, you can check it out and let me know how it is.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_00: I will.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, that'll be interesting.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_00: All right, and then it says, Um see where we're at here.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: It says, praying at all times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication to that end, keep alert with all perseverance perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, praying at all times.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_00: I read this book one time, and this uh guy was an old monk, and he would just do one-sentence prayers all throughout the day.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: And it was like better for me.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I can do that, I can I can do that.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have to sit here like my dad, Garner, would throw down a eloquent, eloquent prayer.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_00: He would use prayer words that he would never use in in sentences, but when he's praying, yeah, they all come out.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_00: There's these big words, and I'm like, but I can actually me, I can focus on like a one-sentence prayer.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: And because I could be like, I want to pray for Gardner today, Lord, just be with him.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like, uh, or hey, I I you know, I want to pray for my friend Luke, whatever, you know what I'm saying?
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_00: And throughout the day, right?
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_00: Size, but some people could pray those prayers.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_00: I I just it's hard for me sometimes, and then, but then in the car I can sit in silence and I can pray a longer prayer than like a one-sentence prayer.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: Is prayer something easy for you or is it uh it is.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_06: Um I think uh I was just rereading this, um, and that you know, the supplication, you know, to be humble.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_06: Um and I think that's important.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_06: Um, for me, I always thought of my uh prayers as conversations, um, like conversations I would have with my dad.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_06: You know, why would I talk to him about?
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_06: Would I say, hey, Dao, my father, uh, you know, I welcome ye to my humble abode, you know.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_06: I wouldn't say that, you know.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_06: No.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_06: Um so for me, anyways, I would come to him how I would my dad, and um just talk to him as honest as I can as I can be.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_06: So for me, prayer has always been since I was 10, okay, a part, just a natural part.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_06: Natural part or never stopped.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it says making supplication for all the saints.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_00: You have an idea what that's talking about, Gardner?
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_00: Is that like praying for all the saints, all the believers that you know?
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I that's what I would think is just lifting up your brothers and sisters in Christ, um, praying for them as much as you would pray for yourself.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_00: And it says, and also for me that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly as loud as I ought to speak.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry, I thought it said loud, but it says I ought to speak.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_00: So he's saying um for the words to stand there and still preach the gospel as he's a prisoner.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, it you know, the words may be given to him to open his mouth boldly.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_06: You know, I think sometimes, at least if I'm talking going to well, even here, you know, I've prayed, Lord, give me the words to say and the courage to say them.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_06: And um I think to me that's what they're saying is sometimes when you're going out, you need to rely on God to give you the words and um to have that confidence to say those things.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it means a lot to him to keep on fighting that fight, fighting and not being silent and still speaking out and still spreading the gospel, you know, proclaiming the mystery, which is Jesus Christ died on this on the cross, rose again, and is now seated on the right hand of the Father, so that we can have a relationship with him and we get to participate in this faith journey that we're on.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: And as we're on this faith journey, we put on the armor of God.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, it's uh it always uh I always also think it's interesting when they're like being an ambassador in chains or I'm a slave to Christ, or you know, have that boldness.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_06: I should write that sometimes in my email or something.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_06: Peace with you, slave in Christ, Garner.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_06: People like, what?
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_06: What?
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_00: What is that?
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, okay.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um we've got uh four verses here, and then we can close out the the the book in the chapter.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_00: It says, so that you may know how I am and what I'm doing, Tacaias, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will tell you everything.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_00: I have sent him to you for this very purpose that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_00: Peace to be to the brothers and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_00: Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_05: Man, that's beautiful.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_00: One, I would like to be the person that Paul's like describing there.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, uh, as Scott goes to PCC, he is actually bringing words of encouragement from the from us and from God, you know, and let that be an encouragement to you.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_05: With love incorruptible, that's uh pretty powerful.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_06: Grace be with you, all who love our Lord Jesus Christ, with love incorruptible.
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_06: I think uh have to chew on that a bit because I think sometimes that's easy to get corruptible, and even though it's it starts out innocent, like with the love of God, and then sometimes somewhere along the way, whether it's power or you know, influence, uh sometimes that gets uh tainted and the love tarnishes, and so it's more about the person than the love of Christ.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_00: Put in humil humility, yeah, being humble, because if you're acting out of a state of humbleness, I think that's love incorruptible, maybe.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_00: I don't love and crop incorruptible, yeah, that is just um I I think that's hard sometimes for us to fathom what love and cr incorruptible could look like or could be, right?
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um I I was gonna bring this up when I was uh younger and I started like teaching youth.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_00: One of the guys in there said, Well, why where's our what what do we have on our back?
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, everything's on our fronts, we're looking forward, what's on our back?
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and then one of the guys in there says, Well, you know, God's got my God has my back.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, there's some really good verses um in the old testament that does describe that.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and they happen to be in Isaiah, and I did not know these verses were there until I started reading and diving more into this.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_00: Says in Isaiah 52, it says in verse 12, as for this it says, For you shall not go out in haste, and you shall not go out in flight, for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be at your rear guard.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_00: And then he even says in Psalms fifty eight.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: Or Isaiah fifty eight, sorry.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_00: Isaiah fifty eight and verse eight.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_00: He reminds it says, Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall bring up speedily, your righteousness shall go before you.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_00: The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_00: It gives me confidence that I can say, okay, I got all this armor, but oh, God has my back.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_00: And there's this other scripture that I I um read a couple years ago, and my friend and I were like, maybe this is where Paul was pulling from because it in Isaiah 59, listen to this, Gardner, this is crazy.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_00: Justice is turned back and righteousness stands far away, for truth has stumbled into public squares and uprightness cannot enter.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_00: Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord saw it and it displeased him that there was no justice.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_00: He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_00: Then his own arm brought him salvation, his righteousness upheld him.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_00: He put on righteousness as a breast pro breastprolate and a helmet of salvation on his head.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_00: He put on a garments of vengeance of cloak for clothing and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_00: That's Jesus.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, 100%.
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's Jesus, bro.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_00: It didn't say it, but I read this and I'm like, oh.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_05: So when Jesus came, he he brought salvation.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_00: He put on the breastplate of righteousness and the helmet of salvation on his head.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_00: So this is the example that we just read on us as believers, what we need to do.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus has already done it.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't that crazy?
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_06: And that would be I mean, why we should be examples of Christ.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_06: And that that's a great hyperlink from that to there.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_06: Um yeah, I I appreciate you telling me that.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't Yeah, my friend and I, we were talking about it.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_05: We're like, okay.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_00: That's the he saw that there was then his own arm brought him salvation and his righteousness upheld him.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's talking about I promise you, I just take it that's talking about Jesus.
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I would agree.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_00: And it just makes me feel more confident.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, Jesus has done this, he did it.
• 47:13
  unknown: Right.
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_00: My conf and now Christ has given me the Holy Spirit that lives inside me to help me do this.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_06: Right.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_06: And then we can go forward and help others and love others the way Christ asked us to.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_00: It all goes in with that, right?
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_00: Because in five, it talks about love, doing things out of love and submitting to one another.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_00: It comes out of love.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_00: That love that love that Christ has displayed, you know, did for us.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_00: Now we get to love others in that way.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like you said, um, that's all great.
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_00: Garner, um how did you get in this on the spiritual journey that you're on?
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_06: Um let's see.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_06: My family uh we didn't necessarily I grew up until I was about 10, uh, not really going to church or anything.
• 48:15
  SPEAKER_06: And then uh my family started going to church.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_06: Um I grew up in Arizona and we um went to this uh 44th Street Church of God.
• 48:27
  SPEAKER_06: Um and it was surrounded by gangs, and uh but we went in there and uh it was uh it just felt like home.
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_06: It was something that kind of like a missing piece to our lives.
• 48:42
  SPEAKER_06: And so uh it was shortly after we went there that my parents got saved together.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_06: And then um I was 10 and uh this one, I mean, it was a traditional uh altar calls, you know, just as I am song and all that.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_06: I know that song.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_00: I went up to sing it another time.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_00: Five times you sing it, you sung it tonight.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_00: Sing another time, right?
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_06: They'll sing it until someone gets saved.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_06: So they just uh so I um I felt uh you know, I was thinking about the um helmet of salvation and why it's the salvation part.
• 49:22
  SPEAKER_06: And I in my head I was thinking, well, maybe it's because that's your mind is made up that this is where you're going, this is when you're you're gonna commit yourself to Christ.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_06: And so then I went down and uh gave my life to Christ and um it uh I was I can't say I was drastically changed being a 10-year-old, but you know, I knew um that I something was different that uh I was saved, and some of that had to do a lot, you know, in the 80s it was the kind of the fire in brimstone, the almost like uh you know, the fire insurance you get saved because you don't want to go to hell.
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, wait, you know Garner, I got my ticket.
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, exactly.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_06: So there wasn't a whole lot of uh discipleship or what to do after that.
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_06: It was like, good job, buddy, and then that was it.
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_06: So I kind of my family kind of floundered around and um kind of believed everything that the church was saying because why not?
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_06: It's the church and um a lot of things, you know, with the rapture, whether you what you believe or not, but you know, we were taught, you know, the rapture's coming, you know, we're gonna go to heaven.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_06: Wait, hold on.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_06: You didn't see the movie that they used to play at church?
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_06: Well, they didn't have uh you got scared out of your thief uh thief in the night, I think something like that.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_06: Well, we did have a revival once where we literally built a heaven and a hell, and people got cast into the lake of fire and were screaming, and there was flames and stuff.
• 51:01
  SPEAKER_06: So that was like a live action.
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, you had a live action.
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_00: I've not seen any live actions, and that might have made me walk out.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_06: Sorry, we might go ahead.
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_06: And you know, when they did the like revelations where it was live and they had pictures of of what you know, the scorpions and the heads and okay.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_06: So there was a lot of terrifying stuff to make you believe, right?
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_06: Um, or at least not believe, but not want to go to hell.
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_06: Well, of course, right?
• 51:29
  SPEAKER_06: So then uh, you know, that was kind of my faith.
• 51:33
  SPEAKER_06: That was what my faith was built on is not going to hell.
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_06: And then, you know, there was lots of times when I was younger.
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_06: This is way before cell phones.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_06: So we had one phone, and my parents, you know, when you left, you left that phone there because it was attached to the wall.
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_06: So my folks would go out and they're like, We'll be right back, you know, we're gonna go out to eat or something, and then it would get dark, and then I would wonder where they're at, and then I'm like, I bet you the rapture came and I'm gone and I'm left here all alone.
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_06: I go outside to see if you know the if other people are out there.
• 52:03
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, if the earth is quaking, and oh okay.
• 52:06
  SPEAKER_06: Uh so it was, you know, there was a lot of trauma uh growing up like that.
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_06: I can see how you could be in that state of mind.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, yeah.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, because I knew I did something wrong.
• 52:17
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_06: So yeah.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_06: So as I grew up, um I for the longest time had that man mentality.
• 52:26
  SPEAKER_06: Um once which kind of typical, once you get to college, you kind of start building your own faith, at least for me.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_06: Um and I started challenging things and looking into things, looking up scripture, talking to other people who were not in my faith or didn't believe exactly what I believed.
• 52:47
  SPEAKER_06: And um I think that's when I started to trust God and build a personal relationship with Jesus instead of just uh being afraid of him.
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_06: Um and so that really grew from there.
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_06: And uh, you know, I've always I've always had a relationship with with God.
• 53:11
  SPEAKER_06: It's been close like a dad, like he's right, I'm snuggled up to him, but it's also been like a distant uncle that you only see at Christmas time, you know, it's you know, there's like that gap there.
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_06: Um but I've always felt connected to God and always I always believed in God, always had faith in God, but sometimes I didn't put in the effort.
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_06: Um and uh, you know, I I've gone to a variety of different churches, um, mostly that because of the girlfriends that I was in uh with at the time.
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_06: So it's one of those things.
• 53:51
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so I dated I didn't date a Catholic, so I didn't have to go to a Catholic church.
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, no, neither did I.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_06: Okay.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_06: All right.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 53:59
  SPEAKER_06: Uh but uh but I think now, you know, as as an adult reflecting, you know, a lot of the stuff that happened to me, you know, did make me who I am today.
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_06: And, you know, my faith is, I think, stronger because of that, because of things that have happened to me.
• 54:21
  SPEAKER_06: I think sometimes people who have been raised in church and grew up in church and kind of, I don't know, maybe have like a vanilla life where there's nothing that happened, they're not at Caprini Green or, you know, not robbing people or not thinking they're gonna they're, you know, they're miss the rapture or you know, all this other trauma stuff.
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_06: You know, I think the I don't want to say they're missing out, but sometimes faith isn't challenged and strengthened, so it becomes my mundane and a little flat.
• 54:54
  SPEAKER_06: Uh but for me, I think all the stuff that has happened in my life has um just strengthened my relationship with God and made me more confident that God is real and that God is real in me, and that I can't just stand back and not tell people about it.
• 55:16
  SPEAKER_06: Um and I think we're all challenged to do to do that is you know how you know what even Paul talks about that, how could you not be so excited that God is in you and is alive and working in your life that you would not want to tell people about it?
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_06: Um so I think that's that's what we're supposed to do.
• 55:36
  SPEAKER_06: And it's not so much thump them over the head with the Bible, but it's carrying their groceries in, maybe giving them a ride or telling them Jesus loves them.
• 55:46
  SPEAKER_06: You know, it's just just being there for them, sitting beside them while something tragic is happening to them.
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_06: I think all of those things are what Christ would have done or or has done.
• 55:59
  SPEAKER_06: Um so I think those are things that we can do.
• 56:02
  SPEAKER_06: And it's not so much saving the souls as far as telling them how bad they are, but it's telling them that Jesus loves them and let that sink in.
• 56:14
  SPEAKER_00: Nice.
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks uh sharing.
• 56:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um question for you.
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, how has that helped when you first got married with your wife?
• 56:25
  SPEAKER_00: How has your faith and her faith as it's grown, how has that helped your relationship?
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_06: Um I would say it I mean it's it's helped a hundred percent.
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_06: And I think we it it's really interesting that when I'm a hundred percent with God and she's a hundred percent with God, all cylinders are firing, and you know, it just seems like we're unstoppable.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_06: And we have, you know, these great conversations about what God's doing in our lives, you know, both separately, because you know, we do um we disciple other people separately, and then we have life groups, and then we have church, and you know, we have friends that we're helping.
• 57:10
  SPEAKER_06: Um and so we're able to uh work with each other.
• 57:16
  SPEAKER_06: And I think part of I think part of that our faith is knowing that when she's when I'm at 20, she can be at 80, and vice versa.
• 57:27
  SPEAKER_06: And that we can tell each other and talk to each other like you know, or where are you at?
• 57:33
  SPEAKER_06: And like, I'm just I'm not here today, and like, okay, I got you.
• 57:37
  SPEAKER_06: And so I think it's it's faith and it's the love for each other that have that are kind of intertwined almost.
• 57:46
  SPEAKER_00: And and that's probably refreshing because of prior relationships where that wasn't pleasant.
• 57:53
  SPEAKER_06: 100%.
• 57:54
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, there was a relationship you know, a previous relationship which just was um it was uh not physically abusive, but it was more mental um and verbal abusive.
• 58:09
  SPEAKER_06: And at that point in my life, I was in the pits.
• 58:13
  SPEAKER_06: I didn't have any armor of God on.
• 58:15
  SPEAKER_06: I was just covering myself in the muck of it.
• 58:20
  SPEAKER_06: Um and almost it was almost like to the point where you get comfortable with it, and then it becomes scary to think that there's another way and that there's a way out of that, because then once you realize that, then it's your responsibility.
• 58:38
  SPEAKER_06: You're not just a poor smuck, you know.
• 58:41
  SPEAKER_06: Right, you're a you're a schmuck that can get out and get better.
• 58:45
  SPEAKER_06: And so if I'm staying as a poor schmuck, then that's my own fault.
• 58:49
  SPEAKER_06: Sure, you know, because God's hand is reaching out to me and I can swat it away or I can grab it.
• 58:54
  SPEAKER_06: You can tell him, hey, I'm I can I got this, I can do this.
• 58:58
  SPEAKER_06: Exactly.
• 58:58
  SPEAKER_06: No, I want to be down here, God.
• 59:00
  SPEAKER_06: Leave me alone.
• 59:02
  SPEAKER_06: I like my misery.
• 59:03
  SPEAKER_06: Sure.
• 59:04
  SPEAKER_06: And I've done and I did that for a long time.
• 59:06
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, and then there was a point in my life where I was just like, This is dumb.
• 59:10
  SPEAKER_06: What am I doing?
• 59:11
  SPEAKER_06: I've wasted so many years of my life um being down in this pit.
• 59:16
  SPEAKER_06: And uh, you know, I've cried out to God and reached out and um took his hand.
• 59:21
  SPEAKER_06: And um that point had been, I mean, then that's really only been three years since I've actually felt a physical change, spiritual change um of of God saying, you know what, you're not a schmuck.
• 59:38
  SPEAKER_06: You're you're my son.
• 59:40
  SPEAKER_06: I don't make schmucks.
• 59:42
  SPEAKER_06: God's not in the business of making schmucks.
• 59:44
  SPEAKER_00: So, so you're in that, hey, I'm a child of God.
• 59:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm redeemed.
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_00: Those thoughts.
• 59:51
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you know, yeah.
• 59:53
  SPEAKER_06: And I, you know, and that's not to say that when I I have those down days, yeah, and I don't want to get out of bed, um, but the thoughts that come in, you know, I still I have that shield that I'm putting up more and more.
• 1:00:07
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, um, that have helped me.
• 1:00:09
  SPEAKER_00: And it gets that shield's bigger now.
• 1:00:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:00:12
  SPEAKER_00: Not that little one that's in the corner.
• 1:00:14
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 1:00:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:00:15
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Garner, I uh we appreciate you coming on uh the podcast.
• 1:00:20
  SPEAKER_00: If there's any advice you would give to anyone, what would that be?
• 1:00:27
  SPEAKER_06: You're not a schmuck.
• 1:00:29
  SPEAKER_06: Um it would be a good t-shirt.
• 1:00:31
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, right.
• 1:00:32
  SPEAKER_06: God's not in the business of making schmucks.
• 1:00:34
  SPEAKER_06: I think um that's a good one.
• 1:00:37
  SPEAKER_06: It would be that um you are not alone, no matter what situation you're in, um, no matter if you feel like you're in the depths of hell, um, that there's someone there who's been there and can help get you out.
• 1:00:55
  SPEAKER_06: Um whether it's a friend or uh counseling or um music, even um there's been times where that has lifted me up.
• 1:01:05
  SPEAKER_06: Um, but most of all, that Jesus loves you and um is there for you, and there's always someone that that can be there for you.
• 1:01:16
  SPEAKER_06: Um a matter it's just a matter of believing that.
• 1:01:22
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, you're talking about the belt of truth?
• 1:01:25
  SPEAKER_06: Yes, exactly.
• 1:01:27
  SPEAKER_06: Or the helmet of some wrapped around to that.
• 1:01:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but no, uh Garner, thank you for coming on.
• 1:01:34
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for everything and and who you are and the people that you're ministering to.
• 1:01:40
  SPEAKER_00: And uh before we end the podcast and to we fire up the band, okay, yeah.
• 1:01:46
  SPEAKER_00: We always close out with a tagline.
• 1:01:50
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have you listened to a program before?
• 1:01:54
  SPEAKER_00: Is it K-Y-E-O-J?
• 1:01:57
  SPEAKER_00: Have you heard that?
• 1:01:58
  SPEAKER_00: On this, it's keep your eyes on Jesus.
• 1:02:01
  SPEAKER_00: K Y E O J.
• 1:02:02
  SPEAKER_00: No, okay, I've never heard that.
• 1:02:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's on our podcast, it's always at the end.
• 1:02:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so hey, just remember K-Y-E-O-J, keep your eyes on Jesus, and uh, we hope you come back next week to listen.
• 1:02:16
  SPEAKER_00: And also we encourage you to like, subscribe, and share, and let this podcast get out to more and more people.
• 1:02:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I hope you come back next week and K-Y-E-O-J, keep your eyes on Jesus.