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My Friend and Brother · FROG Discipleship

• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Frog Discipleship.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Nick here.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Now, today's podcast is going to be in memory of a former brother in Christ named Steve Blandis.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: Now, he is always a brother in Christ, but he is today is one year of his passing.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: I love Steve.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: He's a great guy.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: You know, unfortunately, things didn't end between him and I the way I would have liked it, but at the end of the day, it doesn't change the fact that I still love him.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: I love his wife, love his family, just love the man as a whole.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: But regardless, today's podcast is about, is in honor of Steve.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what I want to do is I want to share a quick story about Steve, and then we're going to get into a Bible study.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Steve was Aggie Engineer, and you know, I I never forget that we were having some draining issues, drainage issues at the church, and it was brought up in a business meeting.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, we had some engineers at the church, Steve being one of them.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: We had another engineer both graduated from Texas AM, so two Aggie engineers.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Now, one was significantly older in his 80s at the time, right?
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so the three of us meet at the church and we're looking at the the drainage issue.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh guys, this is easy.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'll just bring my skister up here and I'll re-slope it and get it to drain downhill, easy peasy.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then the other engineer he's passed on to, his name was Roland, and he's like, Well, I think we can make it drain towards the road.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: And Steve and Roland started talking about it, and you know, you got two Aggie engineers calculating and figuring out how to make the water drain towards the road, which it seems simple as you talk about it, but they there was a major thing that I noticed with this plan is the road was uphill, right?
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm I'm looking at these two Aggie engineers, and I was like, guys, you know, the road's uphill.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: I can get my skid tier and just re-slope it like it was and let the water drain downhill.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: So watching these two Aggie engineers go to work and put pen to paper and figure out and just like, oh yeah, we can do this, you know, and it's not going to cost you know very much, yada yada yada.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I and I'm just looking at them like, guys, just because we can do something doesn't mean we should.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, I love you, and I say this with so much love, but this is why people have Aggie jokes, right?
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so it was just a fun thing about that.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: That's one memory I have with Steve and and and Roland that will always be in my memory that brings me a good smile and a good laugh because I mean they were they had it calculated and figured out.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, they had their little spiral notebooks and the rulers and pencils on the side of the truck, just writing, figuring out all these equations, this, that.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it was it was comical.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, guys, no, we're not, we're not, we're not gonna do that.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: Just because we can doesn't mean we should, right?
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a quick Steve Landis story with Roland.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, Steve was a good brother in Christ.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: He served at the church for several years.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: I don't remember how many years total Steve served as deacon of the of our church, but his wife, she served she was very active in serving the kids, working with the kids.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: Just great people.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: I love them both so, so very much.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're listening, Joan, know I love you and miss you and Steve.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to go ahead and just get down into it and get open up God's word and let's let's unpack some stuff, right?
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna be coming from 1 Corinthians 13, starting at verse 4, 4 through 7, and it reads, Love suffers long and is kind.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Love does not envy, does not parade itself, is not puffed up, does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: So we're going to go ahead and do, and we're gonna spend the the remainder of the podcast just kind of breaking this down and going bit by bit.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Love suffers long and is kind, okay?
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: Or love is patient, love is kind, depending on your translation.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so what what what is love here?
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: What what do we think is love when we're looking at this?
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: We got to remember what the greatest commandment is.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Love your neighbor as yourself.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: So love God, love people.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: That is the the first and second greatest commandment, and it says, on these two hang all the law of the prophets, right?
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: So we are to love God and love people.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: And when we're looking at this, love suffers long and is kind, does not envy.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: Well, love suffers.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: It is hard to be, it's hard being a Christian.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: We need to understand that, but not just understand as an acknowledgement.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: We need to accept it.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: We need to accept that being a Christian means that you are being different.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: You are going against the grain and not with it.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: You are going to stand out, you are going to think differently, you are going to act differently.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: So, yes, it means you are going to suffer long and is kind.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: So, what this means is during this difficulty that we have because of who we are in Christ, we still need to display certain type of character traits, certain attributes, whatever you want to say.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: And it's being kind, not being envious, not parading ourselves or being puffed up.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: So, what does it mean to be kind?
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: Think of other people.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, what is the golden rule?
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Treat others the way you want to be treated.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: That's kind.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: Put yourself in their shoes.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you might be frustrated, and a person says something not realizing or does something.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: Guys, no one's perfect.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: Give them grace.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: They don't know you're in a bad mood.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: They don't know you've had a bad day.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they're not mind readers.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: Give grace, be kind, recognize, slow down enough to realize, hey, they don't understand.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: They just said this, they don't mean nothing by it.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: They don't know.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: And let it go.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: Be kind.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Put people first.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: Being kind.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: It does not envy.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: So this is about contentment.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: We have to learn to be content.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's not about being envious of someone else, wanting what that other person has, whether in reputation or finances or whatever the case may be.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: God's grace is sufficient.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: He has blessed you and is doing for you the in in the right moderation that you need.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: Not too much, not too little.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: His grace is sufficient.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: So we don't need to be envious of anyone or over anything.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: Love does not parade itself and is not puffed up.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: Does not parade itself and is not puffed up.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: This is pride.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's what this is speaking of.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: Christian brother and sister, we are not meant to be children of pride.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: We're not called to be children of wrath.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: We are children of God.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: And this is the character traits that God demonstrated, that Christ demonstrated while here on earth.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: And in Ephesians 5:1, it tells us to be imitators of Christ as dear children.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: So what does that mean?
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: We need to act like Christ acted.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: He is the example that we have been given to follow.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: But we don't want to follow the life of Christ.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: We want to be prideful and say, hey, I know better.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: God, you don't understand.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: God doesn't understand.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: Guys, sin is sin.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Sin has not changed.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: The same sin that was here on earth when Christ was alive is the same sin today.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: Lust is still lust.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: Lying is still lying.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: Stilling is still stealing.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: Pride is still pride.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: I created an acronym for pride, P-R-I-D-E.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: People rebelling in defiance of eternal truth.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's what pride is.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what it says.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: Love does not parade itself and is not puffed up.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: Being a Christian is about putting others before yourself.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: Remember as it started, love suffers long and is kind.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: So we have to learn humility, be humble.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: It does not behave rudely.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I remember whenever I got into ministry, I was like, man, this is going to be the best job ever.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: I get to deal with Christians every day, right?
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: I get to be around Christians all the time.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: Christians are mean, y'all.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: I've had the worst things spoken to me by people in the church.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: Some horrible.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: I've been cussed out in the church house.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: I've had a church member get face to face, chest to chest with me and wanting to fight me because we had an AA group coming to our church, right?
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: This was on a Wednesday night after Bible study.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: This is what it is.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: But just because we have those type of people in church doesn't mean I have to stoop to their level.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: They're responsible for their actions.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm responsible for mine.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: I cannot be them.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: I, as an individual, as Nick Withers, have to do my very best, not their very best.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm responsible for me.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: I have to do my very best not to behave rudely.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: When that individual got face to face and wanted to fight me, I just backed up and I told him, I'm not doing this.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: I don't care if you agree with the decision that I made or not.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: I love you, but what's done is done.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: And unless you can take me to Scripture and prove to me what is wrong, biblically wrong, which he couldn't do.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I even encouraged him to, hey, won't you come?
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: Because it was an AA group.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: I said, well, come to an AA meeting and let's see how it is.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: He never came.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: Christ was glorified in that.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: I got to share the gospel with that AA group.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I still, and now understand I'm not an alcoholic, but I would go in support of them.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: It was great.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: And they're still at the church.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: But this is where it is.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: All these different things in that moment was not putting other people first.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: They're struggling with an addiction.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: If we can help them in whatever way we can as children of God, we should.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it does not behave rudely.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: Just because you can say something doesn't mean you should.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: Just because you can act a certain way doesn't mean you should.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: And remember, you're responsible for your actions.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: It does not seek its own.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: Humility.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: Christians struggle at being humble.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: We are so self- self-absorbed.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: And this isn't just Christians, this is people everywhere.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: But the di the reason why I call Christians out is because Christians, we're meant to be different.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: We are meant to be different.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: I can't be mad at an unsaved person for acting unsaved.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: I can't be mad at an ungodly person if they're acting ungodly.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's who they are.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: Why should I be upset for them being exactly who they are?
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: But see, the church has such a bad reputation, is because the body of Christ is doing opposite of what this passage of scripture is telling us to do.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, think about it.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: I I can't tell you how many people I say, well, why don't you go to church?
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's full of hypocrites.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I always tell them, well, come on, we can always use one more, because that's true.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: They're right.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: The church is full of hypocrites.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: But I want them, I want them to understand that the church, it's a hospital for sinners.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a place of people that are perfect, right?
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: So everybody is under construction.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: But we do have a bad reputation because we struggle with the basics of being kind, loving, not being pride, not behaving rudely.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I can go on and on.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: So we have a a dilemma in the body of Christ is not provoked.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: It thinks no evil.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: It is not provoked.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: Guys, you cannot be you cannot be responsible for other people's actions or the way other people speak to you or how they behave, but you are responsible for your words in your actions.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: Period.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: Let them be a fool.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to compromise your testimony because the fact is, if Satan comes to kill, steal, and destroy, which is what Scripture says, he can't take your salvation, but he can take your testimony.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: He can take and damage your reputation on who you are as a child of God.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there are countless pastors and music leaders and people of the faith that their reputation have been damaged because they don't know how to control their self.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because in a nutshell, that's what this is.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: Self-control, all of this.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: The fruit of the spirit, if you will, right?
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: That's what this passage is.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's all about self-control.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: Does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: This is hard.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: Thinks no evil.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: We always think other people have ulterior motives, right?
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: That they they're just doing bad things.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: Well, sometimes they are, sometimes they're not.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: I can't tell you how many times I've thought a certain person was a certain way and was wrong.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: I gotta, I am a pretty good judge of character, but I'm not I'm not always right.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: But we have to understand thinking no evil, it starts in our mind.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: It starts in our thought process because what we think about an individual is not always right.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: Perception is reality in the eyes of the beholder, but perception is not always reality.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: Period.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: Perception's not always reality.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: I can't tell you how many people have been so mad at me for one reason or another.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Nick, I heard you say this.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I said that.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to pretend for a moment I didn't, but did you hear the rest of the conversation?
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because I also said this.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: So so so that's it.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we have to we have to think and have the mind of Christ.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: Romans 12, 2.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you can prove what is that perfect will of God, right?
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: So, and and it does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: Guys, God's word, this is what should be our joy in life.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: Not the not the fleshly desires that we have as humans, but the truth, rejoice in the truth, the truth of Jesus Christ.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's what we need right here.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: But the fact is we would rather have instant gratification and have this fleshly urge quenched right now than embrace the difficulty and hardship of being a Christian and persevere through it, you know.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: Rejoice always in the truth.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: I I tell you what, one of the things that it's it's one passage of scripture that I hold on to that just I'm so thankful it's in there.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: And what it is is vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: Because guys, I've been done dirty by all different types of people, and that's okay.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: That's between them and God.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: I can choose to fight and get bitter and angry and sink to their level, or I can just turn them over to God and pray for them and hope that they and pray that they make a change in their life.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: But if they don't, vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, because what God can do to them is far worse than anything I can do to them on my own.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: So just rejoice in the truth.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: There's no need for us to compromise who we are, but just uphold the standard of God.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: Faith.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: Having faith.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: Faith the size of a mustard seed that can move a mountain.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: No one's moving any mountains that I've seen in my lifetime.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: So what does that tell us?
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: We don't even have mustard seed size faith.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: None of us, myself included in there, because I'm not moving any mountains, but bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: What are these things?
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: Things that are within the scripture, honoring and believing and obeying God's word from Genesis to Revelation.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: Guys, I I know some of Scripture is hard to get our mind around.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: Daniel in the lion's den, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego being thrown in the furnace and coming out, not even with the smell of smoke, Jonah getting swallowed by the giant fish, Christ dying and resurrecting on the third day.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: I know these things are hard for us to wrap our mind around, but I tell you what, my God's not very big if he can't do those things.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's why I serve him, because he is bigger and mightier than my way of thinking and my comprehension.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: I serve God because he saved Daniel from the lion's den, because he did show up in that fiery furnace with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, because he did have Jonah in the belly of the fish for three days to then go and save Nineveh, to then send his son to die on that cross and conquer the grave for my sins, your sins.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's why I choose to follow him.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's why these things are so important to me, because of what Christ has already done.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: He is that example for us.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I believe all things, I hope all things, and I'm going to endure all things because my Savior Jesus Christ has a proven track record, not just in Scripture, but in my life also.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: There are certain prayers that I have prayed that have not been answered.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: There are certain things that have happened in my life that's not the way I wanted it to happen.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: But I tell you what, Christ has never let me down.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: Never, not once.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: He has always helped me endure to get to that next season in life.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I tell you what, it's a lot easier to endure that difficult season when you are following Christ and walking in the footsteps of Jesus.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to Frog Discipleship.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: Hope you have a wonderful day.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: God bless.