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Transcript

Ephesians 4: 8-16 with Tim Kahms · Pursuing the Heart

0:54
SPEAKER_01: All right, so this is Pursuing the Heart.
0:57
SPEAKER_01: This is the first night for our intro music.
1:00
SPEAKER_01: I hope you liked it.
1:01
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, uh, Rusty Kennedy.
1:03
SPEAKER_01: I appreciate it.
1:04
SPEAKER_01: It and the uh Pursuing the Heart band.
1:07
SPEAKER_01: Uh, we're over here just jamming, and uh, we appreciate you joining us this evening.
1:12
SPEAKER_01: Um, this is pursuing the heart.
1:14
SPEAKER_01: We pursue uh God pursued us, now we pursue him.
1:18
SPEAKER_01: Um and we're just here to talk a little bit about who Jesus is through the book of Ephesians.
1:25
SPEAKER_01: And tonight I have Tim Comms.
1:29
SPEAKER_01: Good to be here.
1:30
SPEAKER_01: Good to be here.
1:31
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, all right, yeah.
1:32
SPEAKER_04: How do you not get fired up by that introduction?
1:34
SPEAKER_04: That just fires you up, right?
1:36
SPEAKER_04: It does, and I got a big smile on my face.
1:38
SPEAKER_00: You were over here just jamming.
1:40
SPEAKER_01: I uh Tim had never listened to that song, I never shared that song, and um he's over here just loving it.
1:48
SPEAKER_01: Did you like it?
1:49
SPEAKER_01: Perfect.
1:49
SPEAKER_02: Let's go.
1:50
SPEAKER_02: All right.
1:50
SPEAKER_01: So at the end of this uh podcast, I'll play the whole.
1:54
SPEAKER_01: It's only a minute and 20 seconds song, so I'll play the whole thing going out, and uh so but uh appreciate Rusty, he put that together, the lyrics, and uh they just the band's kicking it right there.
2:07
SPEAKER_01: So uh Tim, why don't you uh tell well, I'll tell you how I met you.
2:13
SPEAKER_01: Um I met you through the banquet, the great banquet.
2:17
SPEAKER_01: This past um banquet season in the spring.
2:21
SPEAKER_01: I happened to serve on team and I was on the spiritual team, one of the spirituals, and Tim is the head of the spiritual uh thing at for the whole banquet as a whole.
2:36
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
2:36
SPEAKER_01: So tell me what goes in on in on that.
2:39
SPEAKER_01: How do you select the the head spiritual that a lot of people don't understand this process?
2:46
SPEAKER_01: So maybe you can maybe can we just take a peek behind the curtain?
2:51
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, sure.
2:52
SPEAKER_04: It's uh a lot of prayer goes into it.
2:55
SPEAKER_04: Okay, a lot of observation, okay, you know, and when you sit in the role of leadership over the banquet community, um uh you you you're involved a lot.
3:08
SPEAKER_04: And so you see who's engaged, you see who's active.
3:13
SPEAKER_04: Um you start to learn about people's uh maturity levels in the Lord and in Scripture.
3:21
SPEAKER_04: Um the the whole role of the my role over the community and the whole role of a spiritual on the weekend is to uh protect the spiritual uh and biblical integrity of the weekend.
3:36
SPEAKER_04: And so it's a pretty serious responsibility.
3:40
SPEAKER_04: Um and so you you start you start to get tuned in to those that are are uh um mature enough to handle the role um because things do come up.
3:55
SPEAKER_04: We we invite a lot of people, non-believers, early believers, immature believers, um we into the banquet because we want to introduce them further to Jesus and get them to take another step and and uh but yet what comes with that is a lot of stuff.
4:12
SPEAKER_04: And a lot of people bring baggage with them that they have to deal with and the spirituals need to be there in love and truth to uh help help guide the guests through the weekend and and frankly guide the team through their training period as well, uh getting ready for the weekend.
4:28
SPEAKER_04: So so we observe people, we watch people, we try to get to know them.
4:33
SPEAKER_04: Uh and I say we, there's a leadership team of four that I'm a part of.
4:38
SPEAKER_04: And um uh we talk about other people and are they ready for the role?
4:46
SPEAKER_04: Or if they don't if they aren't, are they ready for a different role and to try and help develop and mentor them?
4:53
SPEAKER_04: And we pray over that name and the Lord leads in all of that.
4:56
SPEAKER_04: And so if you people get revealed.
4:59
SPEAKER_01: If you have to say, how long is that process before you decide, say um we just they just had an uh we just had the banquet, summer banquet.
5:13
SPEAKER_01: And now the fall will be going on October.
5:16
SPEAKER_01: Now, are you starting as a team to pray for the one that's gonna go on in February or March next year?
5:23
SPEAKER_01: Or do you wait till after the next banquet is over?
5:27
SPEAKER_04: No, we're working on February now.
5:29
SPEAKER_04: Oh, are you?
5:30
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, because the cycle is that we announce the the next lay the head spiritual and lay director at the end of what will be the coming October banquet.
5:43
SPEAKER_01: And you announce the head spiritual and the person that's over the the lay director.
5:49
SPEAKER_01: The lay director for the weekend.
5:50
SPEAKER_01: For the weekend.
5:51
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
5:51
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
5:51
SPEAKER_01: All right.
5:52
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so we're working on that right now.
5:54
SPEAKER_04: And and uh uh I usually keep a list of anywhere from five to ten guys that I'm praying over for uh this banquet or future banquets, and then the Lord leads in in uh putting the name in front of me for a for an ask.
6:15
SPEAKER_04: Uh and then it's out of my hands, it's between God and the person you ask, and and then obviously there are times when you get no's or and or you get a yes.
6:24
SPEAKER_04: You know, some people will say no because you know their calendar doesn't line up or any number of reasons, but that's usually the most.
6:32
SPEAKER_04: When you get to a person that's been in the banquet that much and they love it, uh and you know it and you see them active in it, then you know it's usually they want to say yes, but it logistically can't work for that calendar.
6:44
SPEAKER_01: Just for timing or whatever.
6:45
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, exactly.
6:46
SPEAKER_01: And then um tell us a little bit about yourself.
6:49
SPEAKER_01: Married?
6:50
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, married, yeah.
6:51
SPEAKER_01: Nice how long?
6:53
SPEAKER_04: Uh Liz uh 30.
6:55
SPEAKER_04: Oh my gosh, Liz 90 to 95 to 31 years.
6:59
SPEAKER_04: 31 years.
7:00
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you tested me.
7:01
SPEAKER_04: You know, she's gonna listen to this.
7:03
SPEAKER_04: I better get it right.
7:04
SPEAKER_01: Oh, there's probably a lot of friends and family that might listen to this, Tim.
7:07
SPEAKER_01: You better have gotten out right.
7:09
SPEAKER_01: Are you sure?
7:10
SPEAKER_01: Yes, right.
7:10
SPEAKER_04: I'm good.
7:11
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you said how long?
7:12
SPEAKER_01: 31?
7:14
SPEAKER_04: I'm good.
7:15
SPEAKER_01: All right, okay.
7:16
SPEAKER_01: Now, um, and you guys go to E91.
7:18
SPEAKER_04: We do, we do.
7:19
SPEAKER_04: We got four beautiful kids, all grown, um, love them to death, uh, and six grandkids.
7:26
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
7:27
SPEAKER_04: So yeah, it's it's I gotta go my quivers.
7:30
SPEAKER_04: Your quivers I'd like to say it's full, but you know, you want more.
7:34
SPEAKER_04: Come on, kids, bring them.
7:35
SPEAKER_04: You want more drink some more, yeah.
7:37
SPEAKER_01: So I have four grandkids, and I'm right there.
7:40
SPEAKER_01: I want more grandkids.
7:41
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
7:42
SPEAKER_01: There's uh my son's getting married next year, and he asked me to um to do the service for him.
7:48
SPEAKER_01: So when him and his wife get to uh married, I'm gonna have I'm gonna be like, it's time to uh step up to the plate, son, and get me get me some more grandkids.
7:57
SPEAKER_01: So my oldest grandson is uh 14 and just went into the ninth grade.
8:05
SPEAKER_01: So wow, it's awesome.
8:06
SPEAKER_01: How old is your oldest grandson?
8:08
SPEAKER_04: Um grandkid, 13.
8:11
SPEAKER_01: 13.
8:12
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you're pretty close.
8:13
SPEAKER_04: Maddie's she's awesome.
8:14
SPEAKER_04: Maddie?
8:15
SPEAKER_04: Okay, all right.
8:15
SPEAKER_04: And then we go all down all the way down to nine months.
8:18
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's pretty close, yes.
8:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
8:21
SPEAKER_01: Um, so thanks, Tim.
8:23
SPEAKER_01: This is pursuing the heart, and uh thank you for uh coming on and uh saying yes, and um and we're just gonna have a a good discussion on Ephesians tonight.
8:37
SPEAKER_01: Before we get there though, I'm gonna ask Tim to open up in prayer.
8:40
SPEAKER_01: Is that okay, Tim?
8:41
SPEAKER_01: That would you say uh say a prayer there?
8:44
SPEAKER_01: I'd be happy to.
8:45
SPEAKER_01: Okay, go right ahead.
8:46
SPEAKER_04: Lord Jesus, um thank you for the blessing of you first and foremost.
8:52
SPEAKER_04: Um that you humbled yourself and came down to earth to be with us.
8:57
SPEAKER_04: Um it's just an amazing thought and and to know the story and to have it in your heart to know that you died for us in obedience to your father and rose again, giving us everlasting life and power is uh a story that um I'm willing and happy to tell, Lord, um, for you all day long and for your glory.
9:26
SPEAKER_04: So may today just be about that, you first and foremost, and bring you the honor and glory.
9:32
SPEAKER_04: Jesus' name, amen.
9:34
SPEAKER_01: So here on Pursuing the Heart, we just have an open discussion, and what we what I like to do is have guests come on and we just go through the word and how I can how we can talk about the scripture, and Tim might have a different opinion of something, and I can listen to him, and I might learn something new tonight based on what he says, and just having conversations.
10:00
SPEAKER_01: So this hopefully spurns conversations that you might have with other people or others that are in your um friendship group or around you, just showing how you can just sit down, have a discussion, go through some scripture.
10:19
SPEAKER_01: Uh, we started, Tim, we opened up with the book of Colossians, we've done Galatians, and now we're in the going into the back half of Ephesians.
10:30
SPEAKER_01: It seems like to me, a lot of the Paul letters, um, he's establishing who Jesus is, he is battling people that have come in and is teaching something different than what he had taught them and and what Jesus wanted to him to share to the churches.
10:54
SPEAKER_01: And generally, Tim, it seems like, and I'll ask you this as we're before we get into scripture.
11:01
SPEAKER_01: It seems like to me that these individuals, these knock, I'll call them knuckleheads, come into the church and they're teaching Jesus plus the law, Jesus, you have to believe in Jesus, but you need to be circumcised like all the Jewish people, or it's Jesus plus the the Torah, or Jesus plus whatever that looks like.
11:25
SPEAKER_01: But Paul's like saying, No, it's just Jesus.
11:29
SPEAKER_01: Is that what you get from the Paul letters?
11:32
SPEAKER_04: Oh, sure.
11:32
SPEAKER_04: I mean, it's a story of us, right?
11:34
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
11:34
SPEAKER_04: I mean, we forget all the time and try to add things to the gospel um all the time.
11:43
SPEAKER_04: And so Paul's letters are a great encouragement to us because it is us and we fall and fail and forget and and add things, and then we have to come back to um you know what our first love and that's Jesus.
12:01
SPEAKER_04: And um and if we take our eyes off the cross and what was done for us at the cross um in both Jesus' sacrifice and rise again, leaving us behind with life and power to live here before he calls us home.
12:19
SPEAKER_04: I mean, what and then we're we're just adding something we don't need to.
12:25
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and uh so Paul is like trying to encourage one, the church of Ephesus, or like my friend Woody said in the first when we went through the first chapter, he was like saying it could be this the churches around Ephesus as well.
12:41
SPEAKER_01: There's like two thoughts there.
12:43
SPEAKER_01: Some people believe this is just a letter to that church, and then some people believe it's a church, it's a letter to the churches to Ephesus, but also to the churches around Ephesus, because there were several just right around that city as well.
12:58
SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm not really sure.
13:00
SPEAKER_01: And I just I like reading Ephesians, so if it's just if it is for just the church, that's great.
13:07
SPEAKER_01: If it's for the others, that's great.
13:09
SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm often reminded uh this book wasn't this this letter wasn't written to me, but it was written for me, and I can process it and see and just go through it.
13:22
SPEAKER_01: And a lot of this stuff is awesome because in the first chapter, he's talking about what the great things that we get to participate in as a believer.
13:36
SPEAKER_01: You're sealed in him, you're seated in the heavens, which I don't understand because I'm right here talking to Tim.
13:42
SPEAKER_01: So, how can I be seated in the heavens?
13:44
SPEAKER_01: That's something that a guy from Southwest Georgia needs a better understanding of, maybe from Indiana too, but it's it's all the stuff that he keeps on laying out about grace, mercy, and then love.
14:01
SPEAKER_01: It's all about the love, the deep, the how deep, how wide, the depth of Christ's love that we probably will never understand how deep that is and how great that is.
14:12
SPEAKER_01: And it's all about love.
14:14
SPEAKER_01: That was the mysteries that he was revealing that uh John and I went through.
14:19
SPEAKER_01: And then last week we had Rusty on, and Rusty and I had a great conversation, and we left off, Tim, on 4.8.
14:29
SPEAKER_01: But there in my Bible, does it is it start off with a therefore in yours?
14:35
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, oh yeah.
14:36
SPEAKER_01: So this is something that someone taught me a long time ago.
14:40
SPEAKER_01: If there's a therefore, you might want to go back to the verse before it to understand what that therefore is.
14:47
SPEAKER_01: So if you look at seven, it says, but grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.
14:58
SPEAKER_01: On your first understanding of that there, Tim, what what it is grace was given to each one is according to the measure of Christ's gift.
15:10
SPEAKER_01: So we've been talking about grace is like you get more grace, grace and grace and grace.
15:17
SPEAKER_01: It's like um Woody, my friend, was saying it's like uh if you like biscuits and gravy, you're gonna like this analogy.
15:24
SPEAKER_01: It's like you get more gravy, more gravy, more gravy, more gravy, more gravy, more gravy.
15:29
SPEAKER_01: And you get more gravy and more gravy.
15:31
SPEAKER_01: It's endless.
15:33
SPEAKER_01: Is that what you get from this?
15:35
SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, I mean, it's grace.
15:36
SPEAKER_04: I mean, it's we can't you can't escape if you're if you've come to the Lord and accepted him as your Lord and your Savior, and you believe it in your heart and confessed it with your tongue, then you are given a depth of grace that um can is very difficult to fathom.
15:57
SPEAKER_04: I a lot of people have tried, they've talked about the depths of the ocean, right, and stuff like that.
16:02
SPEAKER_04: But but I it goes way further than that.
16:05
SPEAKER_04: It does, doesn't it?
16:07
SPEAKER_04: It covers overcomes our mess.
16:10
SPEAKER_01: And when you understand love and grace, then it's not like I want to go out and sin, sin, sin.
16:17
SPEAKER_01: I want to love Jesus.
16:20
SPEAKER_01: I want to have this relationship with him, and it just doesn't, I don't want to do those things.
16:28
SPEAKER_04: Well, that's our it's that it becomes our motivator, it becomes our motivator, right?
16:32
SPEAKER_01: It it's not an objective for me to go out and do crazy things just to get more and more grace.
16:38
SPEAKER_01: I know it's there, but I don't want to because I love my relationship with the Father.
16:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I stumble, I fall every day.
16:46
SPEAKER_01: Well, and because I'm a knucklehead.
16:50
SPEAKER_01: And but makes two of us.
16:52
SPEAKER_01: Makes two of us.
16:52
SPEAKER_01: Okay, all right.
16:53
SPEAKER_01: But it wants, but I want to go out and I want to read my Bible, I want to pray, I want to uh be involved in different things and in ministering to men or whatever.
17:07
SPEAKER_01: Just and I'm sure you do that too, Tim, right?
17:10
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's well, we're gonna talk about gifts here, right?
17:14
SPEAKER_04: We're going right into gifts.
17:16
SPEAKER_04: We'll get there.
17:17
SPEAKER_04: So, you know, one of my giftings is I'm a I'm I'm a uh I'm an encourager.
17:24
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
17:25
SPEAKER_04: All right, and I'm a coach.
17:26
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
17:27
SPEAKER_04: Um and is that from a past experience?
17:31
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah, I've got experience as a coach and like a swimming coach.
17:35
SPEAKER_01: Well, what now?
17:36
SPEAKER_04: For a quite a swimming coach.
17:37
SPEAKER_04: Swimming coach quite a while.
17:38
SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay.
17:39
SPEAKER_01: A friend of mine's got mostly all his kids have done swimming in Noblesville.
17:45
SPEAKER_01: One is her one of his daughters is swimming at Indiana Westland.
17:51
SPEAKER_01: And his last his son that's uh senior in high school uh is um maybe going to continue his career, you know, moving forward when he goes to college.
18:03
SPEAKER_01: But so I did not know that about you.
18:05
SPEAKER_01: That's great.
18:06
SPEAKER_04: My dad was a coach, I was a coach, my kids were swimmers, and and uh I've got I'm I'm some of the grandkids are starting to go in that direction.
18:15
SPEAKER_04: Sweet, so yeah, all right.
18:16
SPEAKER_04: So so so from a faith standpoint, yeah, um uh the Lord has just gifted me in the ability to connect um especially with men um around their faith and try to encourage them and coach them along and and uh I don't want to get too far into my my testimony, but yeah, no problem.
18:38
SPEAKER_04: The Lord is the Lord has been gracious to me and he seems to be part of my ministry is that he puts uh uh guys in crisis in front of me for one reason or another, and he allows me to begin to walk life with them and and uh and so this passage is I mean, think about it, God apportioned gifts to all of us.
19:02
SPEAKER_04: And and we get to choose to discover them and use them.
19:10
SPEAKER_04: And when you do that, there's something beautiful that happens no matter what the gift is.
19:17
SPEAKER_04: Because it's uh it's unique the way that God puts the church together with people with different giftings, and and uh and it just gets me really excited when I can walk alongside guy, a guy and use my gifts of encouragement um and coach them along to then uh first of all find their identity in Christ.
19:40
SPEAKER_04: Um many times when they're in crisis, they've lost that.
19:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's that's one thing that you have to remind them if they're a believer one, they're who they are in Christ, because they're hearing all the negatives and all those bad thoughts that are coming in their mind, and you re point them back to Jesus, you point them back to Christ, and um and I imagine that's what you do, and that's what I do when people come to me.
20:08
SPEAKER_01: I listen to them and then I encourage them.
20:12
SPEAKER_01: And then what's crazy is uh I think I'm doing it for them, and a lot of times I get a kick out seeing people change and and and decide that oh, I'm gonna do it.
20:26
SPEAKER_01: I want to have a deeper relationship with Christ.
20:29
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and seeing that that that's I mean, it's just it goes both ways, but um definitely goes both ways, sure.
20:36
SPEAKER_04: Because God uses uses all of that for for the good of whoever you're ministering to, and you he's encouraging you as you get to see them walk through life.
20:47
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
20:48
SPEAKER_01: Um so in verse eight, that therefore is talking about verse seven, in my opinion, says, Therefore, it says, now this quote, Paul's a um knows the old testament probably most likely better than mostly anyone.
21:02
SPEAKER_01: So this quote is actually from Psalms in verse eight, uh Psalm 68.
21:08
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
21:08
SPEAKER_01: Um, it says, When he ascended on high, he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.
21:18
SPEAKER_01: And then I'm I'm not gonna stop there because there's this these next two versions, next two verses, in some interpretations it's in parentheses, and sometimes it's not.
21:30
SPEAKER_01: In my Bible, in the ESV that I'm reading tonight, and on a new American standard, I know it's in quotations.
21:36
SPEAKER_01: Is it in your version?
21:37
SPEAKER_04: I'm in parentheses.
21:38
SPEAKER_04: I mean, parentheses is what I meant.
21:40
SPEAKER_01: Parentheses.
21:41
SPEAKER_01: Parentheses, yeah.
21:42
SPEAKER_01: It says, in saying he ascended, what does it mean?
21:46
SPEAKER_01: But that he also descended into the lower regions, the earth.
21:53
SPEAKER_01: He also he who descended is the one who ascended far above all the heavens.
22:00
SPEAKER_01: That we that he might fill with all things.
22:06
SPEAKER_01: And so Paul's kind of explaining about Jesus descended to ascend.
22:14
SPEAKER_01: So um Tim, did you have you like looked at some people?
22:22
SPEAKER_01: So this it might be implying that when Jesus died, he descended.
22:28
SPEAKER_01: Because in this in the Israelite or ancient person, they believe that when someone died, they went down, and then at a certain point, Jesus was going to free those captives and the ones who had believed him, the people of the faith in the Old Testament.
22:50
SPEAKER_01: And then when he ascended to heaven and sit and then finally took his seat at the right hand of the Father, that this is what this is talking about.
23:01
SPEAKER_01: Is that what you get out of that?
23:06
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I don't know.
23:07
SPEAKER_04: I I'm gonna be real honest with you.
23:09
SPEAKER_04: I don't know.
23:09
SPEAKER_04: I I it could be I've heard both sides of that coin.
23:13
SPEAKER_04: I I think I've heard people just talk about it that he he came down to earth.
23:17
SPEAKER_01: Came to earth, right?
23:18
SPEAKER_04: And you can get that out of that too, right?
23:20
SPEAKER_04: You sure can.
23:20
SPEAKER_04: And then he ascended to heaven, and and uh and and within that process he gave gifts to men.
23:28
SPEAKER_01: And that's what yeah, and that is a and and what's crazy is the psalmist, we assume David wrote 68, Psalm 68, that the he wrote that that he ascended on high, he led a host of captives, but then he also gave gifts to men, and that is where verse 11 kicks in.
23:52
SPEAKER_04: Yep.
23:53
SPEAKER_01: He gave the the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers to equip the saints for the work of the ministry for building up the body of Christ.
24:09
SPEAKER_01: So that's how the church is put together, right?
24:12
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's that's it.
24:13
SPEAKER_04: I mean, that is that is so cool that that the Lord has you know he could snap his fingers and just make it all whatever he wanted.
24:23
SPEAKER_03: But he he's choosing to work through humanity um to reconcile people back to him.
24:35
SPEAKER_04: And and and he's given us all these unique gifts that are unique to my DNA and your DNA, and I mean it's this his creation.
24:48
SPEAKER_04: That it's just cool to think about that fact.
24:51
SPEAKER_04: And um I think I think Paul has um just uh laid it out really well that it should be very motivating and very edifying to us as believers that God has given us gifts.
25:08
SPEAKER_04: We're not void of contribution to the church and and to the body of believers um as we try to help the world reconcile back to Christ.
25:21
SPEAKER_04: And and so we shouldn't be we should be very encouraged by that, um, and and working hard to seek what those gifts are and use them.
25:31
SPEAKER_01: And so you've implied your gifts that you've come to understand through your life is coaching.
25:41
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, encourage I'm an encourager or coach.
25:43
SPEAKER_04: And and I, you know, I've taken a bunch of these assessments over the years at church, you know, yeah, and and get this the one that kept coming up for me in three different tests is that I have belief.
25:53
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
25:54
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, well, what do you do with that?
25:56
SPEAKER_01: What's that?
25:56
SPEAKER_04: I mean, really, so maybe part of my belief is that um that that goes kind of hand in hand with these gifts of being an encourager and a coach is that I I just charge forward.
26:08
SPEAKER_04: I don't worry about questioning whether God is real and Jesus came and died and rose again.
26:17
SPEAKER_04: And I mean, I I believe it in my heart.
26:21
SPEAKER_04: And so I don't get hung up.
26:23
SPEAKER_04: Um, I have that gift of not getting hung up on that stuff, I guess.
26:27
SPEAKER_04: Um, but that helps me when I'm in my mode of coaching and and encouraging others.
26:33
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, my friends have told me I have a gift of teaching and facilitating.
26:38
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, cool.
26:39
SPEAKER_01: And so I look um God bless you, I don't.
26:44
SPEAKER_01: So I every Friday I lead a Bible study of uh anywhere from 14 to 20 people show up on a Friday morning at 6 a.m.
26:55
SPEAKER_01: and um we're going through Exodus.
26:58
SPEAKER_01: So it's awesome when you discover what your gift is, and then you take that next step of stepping out of your box and using the gift for God's glory.
27:10
SPEAKER_01: Was that something that was easy for you when you discovered your gift?
27:15
SPEAKER_01: Or did you have to like sit back and be like, all right, so God uh I learned this is my gift, so now how do I use it?
27:24
SPEAKER_01: Or what was that process to you look like?
27:30
SPEAKER_03: Coming to Christ for me um was a pretty radical thing.
27:38
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
27:38
SPEAKER_06: Um for me, yeah.
27:40
SPEAKER_04: But then it just yeah, I I discovered grace and forgiveness, yeah, and and his love.
27:48
SPEAKER_04: Right.
27:48
SPEAKER_04: And and and you know, that was enough.
27:51
SPEAKER_04: I I wanted other people to have it.
27:52
SPEAKER_01: You wanted other people so like when you discovered through these tests that you take and it came back belief or coaching or encourager, then you just was like, okay, that's what I'm doing, and that's my that I probably was already there.
28:12
SPEAKER_04: You're already there because it was more of an affirmation for me.
28:15
SPEAKER_04: It was oh yeah, that makes sense.
28:17
SPEAKER_04: I I can see it, you know, I can see it better now than maybe I did before, but it was just I was already there.
28:23
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we're already there, but now you now you know you know, yeah, right, and that's a great encouragement.
28:28
SPEAKER_04: Those those assessments are are wonderful encouragers for people to find their gifts and step in.
28:34
SPEAKER_04: I encourage people to dive into it and have that conversation.
28:38
SPEAKER_01: And if you haven't ever taken an assessment, you I encourage you to do that.
28:43
SPEAKER_01: If you aren't, if it's not available to you, you can always ask people, hey, what do you think you what your gifts are?
28:52
SPEAKER_01: And they'll tell you what you're good at in this church body or with other believers.
29:00
SPEAKER_01: It's true.
29:00
SPEAKER_01: They will tell you, hey, um, hey, knucklehead, this is what you're good at.
29:09
SPEAKER_01: And man, just or or the opposite.
29:13
SPEAKER_01: Or the opposite.
29:14
SPEAKER_04: Or hey, knucklehead, this isn't what you're good at.
29:16
SPEAKER_01: Don't just don't try that.
29:19
SPEAKER_01: Don't feel free to avoid that.
29:21
SPEAKER_01: They've told me not, they told me I'm tone deaf, so they've always told me Tim not to sing.
29:26
SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, I'm not that person that's gonna be in the band or singing.
29:30
SPEAKER_04: Not me either.
29:31
SPEAKER_04: I'm I I do loud really well, you know.
29:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, someone my dad was alive, I would always annoy him with uh I would whistle sometimes to songs, and he was always like, Your whistle's off pitch, you need to stop whistling.
29:47
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I'm whistling because I love the song, and I'm trying to be close to the thing.
29:51
SPEAKER_01: He's like, it isn't working.
29:53
SPEAKER_01: So now when I'm by myself, I can whistle, and no one's gonna tell me that.
29:57
SPEAKER_01: So anyway, so um, so then in verse uh 12, it says to to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ until all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge and of the knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
30:28
SPEAKER_01: So it's here's a mouthful.
30:30
SPEAKER_01: That's a mouthful.
30:31
SPEAKER_01: So I'll slow down first.
30:33
SPEAKER_01: All right, so it's to equip the saints, which to me, saints are believers.
30:38
SPEAKER_01: You're called a saint.
30:40
SPEAKER_01: You might be a saint or you might, and you ain't, you know, you is or you ain't.
30:44
SPEAKER_01: That's a southwest Georgia thing, Tim.
30:46
SPEAKER_01: So um, then it says, for the work of the ministry, like it should be on your heart, if you're a believer, to grow the kingdom of God, to get more people into this thing, and you want to share that or you want to display that so it attracts people to Christ.
31:06
SPEAKER_01: And then that's what also he's referring to in the previous verse.
31:12
SPEAKER_01: If you know your gift, use it for the for the ministry, and it's building up the body of Christ.
31:19
SPEAKER_01: When you use that gift, you're building the the body as a whole, you're building church.
31:26
SPEAKER_01: It's you're just doing church, and sometimes and and then as you grow and you continue to do it, it's just part of your life.
31:36
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
31:37
SPEAKER_04: I mean, it starts yeah, for for me, it starts with grace, right?
31:42
SPEAKER_04: I mean I've in it in coming to a place of m recognizing my need for Christ and accepting his gift of grace.
31:55
SPEAKER_03: The knowledge of what he did for me when I didn't deserve it.
32:01
SPEAKER_04: I want I want others to know that.
32:04
SPEAKER_01: I can relate to that message right there.
32:06
SPEAKER_04: Yep.
32:07
SPEAKER_01: That preaches every day, all day, even on Sunday.
32:10
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it does.
32:11
SPEAKER_01: And yeah, I like what you just said.
32:13
SPEAKER_01: It it hit with me because that's basically like the full knowledge.
32:18
SPEAKER_01: That's what it's like the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God.
32:24
SPEAKER_01: That's what you were just hitting right there.
32:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
32:27
SPEAKER_01: And it's to mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
32:33
SPEAKER_01: So it's talking about now Paul's challenging the believers in this, these next couple verses here, in my opinion, to grow in their faith, to grow in the spiritual maturity, not be children, be more of a mature believer.
32:52
SPEAKER_01: Is that what you're getting here?
32:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, grow up, grow up, right?
32:55
SPEAKER_01: Grow up, buttercup.
32:57
SPEAKER_04: Grow grow up, buttercup.
32:58
SPEAKER_04: That's good.
32:59
SPEAKER_04: I like that.
32:59
SPEAKER_04: Um, yeah, I mean, um if if we're if we have Christ in our hearts and have accepted him, we want to be like him.
33:09
SPEAKER_04: And growing to be like him means that we have to work hard to surrender to him.
33:18
SPEAKER_04: Um and surrender to the the truth of his word and the guiding and leading of the Holy Spirit.
33:27
SPEAKER_04: And um that's a lifelong process.
33:31
SPEAKER_04: It's never done um you know, not on this side of eternity, not on this side of eternity, right?
33:38
SPEAKER_04: There we're we we're all sinners and we all fall short, and that's why we need a savior and we need a Lord um to to help guide us um into a purpose that's beyond our selfishness and beyond ourselves.
33:56
SPEAKER_04: And I think that's part of what Paul's doing here and talking about is when he talks about growing in the faith and saying grow up part of what I what I deal with when I work with men is trying to help them first of all understand they're loved and that they have hope, especially when you're in crisis, right?
34:16
SPEAKER_01: Oh, well, that's the one thing.
34:18
SPEAKER_01: If you ever do any prison ministry, Tim and I was talking about this earlier before we came on.
34:25
SPEAKER_01: The one thing is you're giving these men who are in prison hope because they don't have hope.
34:31
SPEAKER_01: And it could be just a little window of time, or it could be going back in on Mondays or Tuesdays and Thursdays and showing them that.
34:41
SPEAKER_04: Well, and it goes that even goes against, you know, the world keeps telling them they shouldn't have hope.
34:45
SPEAKER_01: Right.
34:45
SPEAKER_04: Stay right where you are, sit where you are, wallow where you are because you need to suffer.
34:50
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
34:51
SPEAKER_04: And unfortunately, that that's what the world says many times.
34:55
SPEAKER_04: Um, but that is not what Christ says.
34:57
SPEAKER_01: No.
34:59
SPEAKER_01: So he is talking about maturity to the measure, the stature, the fullness of Christ.
35:07
SPEAKER_01: And then in 14, it says so that we are no longer be children.
35:13
SPEAKER_01: So there's that, there's that thing, children.
35:16
SPEAKER_01: Now he's talking you shouldn't be a child in your faith, tossed to and fro by the waves of care and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness, and deceitful schemes.
35:35
SPEAKER_01: So, Tim, this is something that he's trying to tell them in the church of Ephesus when people come into the church and is teaching them a different gospel or a different who Christ is, or a different Christ than, or a different Jesus than Paul even taught them, and what's bib and what he is trying to express to them, he's saying, You need to grow up, you need to mature in these teachings, and it's right there in front of you, mature.
36:09
SPEAKER_01: Not and as a child, when you're immature in your faith, anything sounds great.
36:15
SPEAKER_01: Like someone comes in, come, talks to you, and you're like, Oh, that one sounded great.
36:20
SPEAKER_01: But then when I go talk to my my brother in Christ, and I tell him, Hey, this guy just was telling me this thing, this is incredible, and then they're all he's like, That's not true.
36:31
SPEAKER_01: Well, and you know that what that guy told you, not true.
36:35
SPEAKER_04: Paul's saying grow up, study the word, listen to the Holy Spirit, and choose your friends very carefully.
36:44
SPEAKER_04: And care choose who you listen to very carefully.
36:47
SPEAKER_01: Right.
36:48
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
36:48
SPEAKER_04: So I mean there's a lot of uh and that message resounds today because there's a lot of messages out there that aren't biblical.
36:59
SPEAKER_04: Um there's a lot of leaders even in the so-called church that um I think are um leading in a way that's more about them than it is about Jesus.
37:11
SPEAKER_04: And you gotta be real careful about that.
37:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there's uh a guy that I used to follow a long time ago, and you probably watched some uh his videos, but then somehow he came out and he said there's no hell.
37:26
SPEAKER_01: And and so the world gravitated to this individual, and they prayed him like a potion, uh show pony on TV.
37:35
SPEAKER_01: He got invited to all the big shows and news outlets.
37:41
SPEAKER_01: He's supposed to be this big minister from this big church and this man of faith, and he's telling people, yeah, there's no hell.
37:51
SPEAKER_01: And I just thought it was the most crazy thing and so disappointed, so disappointing thing.
38:00
SPEAKER_01: And that is an example, I think, of what Paul is talking about here, that if you are grounded in the word and you're grounded in your faith and you're grounded in the truth, you know that that isn't that's not true.
38:18
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I I agree.
38:20
SPEAKER_04: I mean, it's as uh you know, and and and leaders are held to a higher standard, right, in the church.
38:25
SPEAKER_04: Yeah and um um so those kind of things get dealt with eventually.
38:32
SPEAKER_04: He's not a minister no more, but he stepped aside.
38:34
SPEAKER_04: Well, even here on earth, but yeah, I think there's some accountability beyond that.
38:38
SPEAKER_04: But but I I I think we're all sinners.
38:42
SPEAKER_04: And and I think about that kind of situation, or frankly, a lot of situations, the world today, and I think about Jesus on the cross looking at the thief, you know, and and and and and forgiving him, but then looking down at the people that are literally killing him and and him saying, Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they do.
39:05
SPEAKER_04: And he showed in his heart compassion at that moment, right, acknowledging that they they just they don't know, they don't know what they're doing.
39:13
SPEAKER_04: So I I think that uh there's a good example of it.
39:16
SPEAKER_04: And even even someone that's uh a believer, I know the situation you're talking about, and uh um, you know, you you pray for them, yeah, and and you hope that they come back to their first love, right?
39:31
SPEAKER_04: And and uh I can remember get rooted in the truth, right?
39:35
SPEAKER_01: I can remember sitting in a study talking about that situation with other believers in a Bible study setting, and that came up.
39:44
SPEAKER_01: What do you think about this?
39:45
SPEAKER_01: And then we were talking as individuals, what was going on?
39:49
SPEAKER_01: So that's a good time to have good believers around you that you can like, okay, this is what I I heard.
39:56
SPEAKER_01: Did you hear that?
39:57
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that is crazy.
39:59
SPEAKER_01: I just don't see how that that's true, you know.
40:02
SPEAKER_01: And that's a great reason why you should be in fellowship with other believers, so they you can you learn from them.
40:11
SPEAKER_04: Well, or you know, otherwise through your own sin, you start making your own stuff up.
40:16
SPEAKER_01: Right.
40:16
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
40:17
SPEAKER_04: I mean, you you need help.
40:19
SPEAKER_04: We all need help in this world, and that's why it's so important to be rooted and connected into a a a Bible teaching church and and or small group uh that are in the word and studying and struggling before the word together, because not everybody has perfect truth this side of heaven.
40:39
SPEAKER_04: No, you know, there are some essentials we can all agree on, sure, right?
40:43
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, but we gotta we gotta struggle together to to grow up, as Paul is encouraging us.
40:50
SPEAKER_01: Right, and so in verse um 15 it says, Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head into Christ, from whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped when each part is working properly, makes the whole body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
41:26
SPEAKER_01: I really like he he, if you didn't get that, he used one word two times in those two verses, and it's love, and he has been using that same theme through the whole chapter of for love, uh, and keeps on bringing that whole thing about love, and then he brings it all back together, it seems like Tim, of saying, hey, Christ is the head, but then there are many things that make up the body, and it kind of ties back into the spiritual gifts, right?
42:08
SPEAKER_01: How the preacher's here, he's part of the body, teachers are here, encouragers are here, prayer warriors are here, and and and we need our prayer warriors, and I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for our prayer warriors, the greeters, the greeters standing at the front door who have a gift of hospitality, hospitality, right?
42:31
SPEAKER_01: Or just the person that shows up and says hey to you every week.
42:36
SPEAKER_04: Yep, amen.
42:37
SPEAKER_01: You might not ever know that person, hey, and I challenge you the next time you go to church, and that same person saying hey to you.
42:44
SPEAKER_01: If you've never asked them what their name is, say hey, what's your name?
42:47
SPEAKER_01: Get to know somebody.
42:49
SPEAKER_01: But though it's just not one part is greater than the other, it's all joined, and we're all functioning in this body of Christ.
43:00
SPEAKER_01: Is that what it's saying?
43:01
SPEAKER_04: And you know, and that's I'm gonna add that's the beauty of what Christ has done here in in giving gifts that are different, that represents, you know, I'm the big toe and you're the you know that you're lobe or whatever, you know.
43:16
SPEAKER_04: I mean, it's it but you it all has a function, yeah.
43:19
SPEAKER_04: And and we all have a place and a purpose, and discovering that is just a beauty of the Christian walk.
43:27
SPEAKER_04: And and I think that's um if we were all preachers, who'd get cared for?
43:37
SPEAKER_01: Uh no one.
43:38
SPEAKER_04: Right.
43:38
unknown: Right.
43:39
SPEAKER_01: And if we're all prayer warriors, who's gonna teach us?
43:42
SPEAKER_04: Right.
43:42
SPEAKER_04: And and and so I we need it, but I think I think the challenge for us as we uh step into this particular subject is is to not get jealous of somebody else's gifts.
43:55
SPEAKER_04: No, you know, I I I can admire them, you know, Rick.
44:00
SPEAKER_04: Our our head pastor at our church, Rick Grover, uh he he's just a gifted preacher.
44:04
SPEAKER_04: And in fact, our our whole preaching team is just solid as it can be.
44:08
SPEAKER_04: But uh but I I I always look at him and I'm like, I want to preach like that.
44:13
SPEAKER_04: And then I find out uh, you know, I I'm an encourager, I'm not I'm not uh that's not my gift.
44:20
SPEAKER_04: And so I'm I'm thankful for him in that role.
44:25
SPEAKER_04: I'm thankful for um the uh the accountant who's using their accounting gifts to help the church steward their finances.
44:39
SPEAKER_04: You know, I mean that's not me, believe me.
44:42
SPEAKER_01: And we had people all through my life that I've known that just basically cooked meals for church functions, yeah.
44:51
SPEAKER_01: And that's like a gift all on its own that they just want to sit back there and they get the most enjoyment making meals for the church uh body.
45:02
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
45:03
SPEAKER_01: And a lot of times they don't get the biggest thank yous or the hey, you know, whatever.
45:08
SPEAKER_01: Those people are back there just doing the same thing.
45:12
SPEAKER_04: Oh, come on, come on.
45:13
SPEAKER_04: You and I have both served on banquets.
45:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right.
45:15
SPEAKER_04: And and the great banquet weekend for the listeners that don't know what that is, it's a it's a three-day weekend that that uh uh guests can come to to to learn the uh basics of faith and discover grace and uh and and be served.
45:33
SPEAKER_04: And and within that weekend, just like the church, but within those particular weekends, um, we see people use their gift of teaching, we see people give their gift of preaching, we see people give their gifts of worship, we see we see gifts of service through uh there's a team that just takes care of everybody's needs.
45:52
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
45:53
SPEAKER_04: We got a kitchen that's cooking all weekend, and and people are serving food.
45:57
SPEAKER_04: And and when you get to watch that all coming together in an intense environment like that, you go, man, that's just a small glimpse of the bigger, big sea church.
46:06
SPEAKER_01: And this is what we're talking about.
46:07
SPEAKER_01: That's exactly it.
46:08
SPEAKER_01: It's and and so that weekend, Tim, is you got um for team members and for people coming in that aren't team members that are part or that's their weekend.
46:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, all walks of life come together, especially as you get asked to be on a team, and most of the time I don't say no if I ever get asked.
46:32
SPEAKER_01: So it's like, well, let me pray about, let me ask my wife, but most of the time it's gonna be like a yes.
46:38
SPEAKER_01: But you get there's so many different things.
46:43
SPEAKER_01: It could be a table leader, assistant table leader, it could be, you know, spirituals like we talked about earlier, or working in the kitchen, or agape, you know, just showing you.
46:53
SPEAKER_04: All these different gifts come together to just be a beautiful picture of um of the church um um loving guests where they are in their need and helping them see Jesus maybe in a different way.
47:10
SPEAKER_01: I know this is not a banquet podcast, but uh, it's all right, it's cool.
47:16
SPEAKER_01: Uh I'm going to just say it is there that is one um thing I can stand behind, and I know other men who have been a part of the banquet agree with me.
47:33
SPEAKER_01: My guys, they agree with me.
47:34
SPEAKER_01: My guys say it's one weekend where you can go in and you can see lives changed, and they're radically changed.
47:46
SPEAKER_01: Men that just come and they I they just open up their lives, and you can see through one weekend, and it you see that too, also outside the banquet, right?
48:00
SPEAKER_01: With different things that you can be involved in, but it's just one thing to me that just amplifies that to where men and women, and I've known women that go to the women's banquet, which is two weeks out usually after the men's, but they are just like wow, you know, they come out of there and they're totally changed.
48:25
SPEAKER_01: I've seen families that were going to be broken apart come back together.
48:31
SPEAKER_01: I've seen men that were struggling with whatever they were struggling with, women too, and then come out of that weekend in a focus on Christ, and they aren't struggling or they don't want to struggle with this anymore.
48:49
SPEAKER_01: And then they're asking, How can I who can we how can you help me with this?
48:56
SPEAKER_01: And the banquet can have they have many avenues to help people like that as well, and it's just it's a great thing, and it's just like again, like we talked about earlier when we go and we speak to men one-on-one.
49:13
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it's not for just us, it's for I mean, it's for them, but it can be for us.
49:18
SPEAKER_01: It's rewarding to see that, and it's nothing like the the thing about Kairos and and uh the great banquet is you can't say I did that.
49:32
SPEAKER_01: It's the whole team, it's the people that was there.
49:36
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you have a whole team that are loving on the guest that weekend and pointing them to who Christ is and showing them who Jesus is, just a little glimpse of that, right, Tim?
49:51
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's a great tool.
49:53
SPEAKER_04: The banquet is a just a phenomenal, intense three days of uh of uh learning about the basics of the faith and being encouraged to um wherever you are in life, take your next steps toward Jesus and and uh and and growing up.
50:14
SPEAKER_01: And growing up.
50:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and realizing that everybody has a role in this thing.
50:21
SPEAKER_01: And it's all rooted in love through Christ.
50:25
SPEAKER_04: Well, it's God's core characteristic is love, right?
50:28
SPEAKER_01: So God is love.
50:31
SPEAKER_04: And if in everything we do, right banquet, church, whatever, if we are not if we're not leading in love, we're we're missing the core characteristic, you know.
50:42
SPEAKER_01: So Tim, um in the last several minutes here that we have for the podcast, I think this is a good stopping point.
50:51
SPEAKER_01: Can you tell us how you came to Christ?
50:55
SPEAKER_04: Sure.
50:55
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
50:56
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I'd love to.
50:57
SPEAKER_04: Um yeah, I um I I came to Christ um through a divorce.
51:04
SPEAKER_04: I was broken, I was lost.
51:07
SPEAKER_04: Um it was at the time it was a surprise to me.
51:13
SPEAKER_04: Um not something that I I I wanted.
51:16
SPEAKER_04: It was it kind of broke my world.
51:18
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
51:19
SPEAKER_04: So I was broken.
51:21
SPEAKER_04: And um during the separation leading up to the divorce, I ended up living with probably my oldest, one of my oldest friends from elementary school, high school, and college.
51:35
SPEAKER_01: Oh, nice.
51:36
SPEAKER_04: And his wife and family, they put me up and um I had two young kids at the time.
51:44
SPEAKER_04: And uh so it was rough.
51:45
SPEAKER_04: I was it was I I still remember it distinctly.
51:51
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, but the one stipulation they gave me was that if it to live with them, I had to get and go to church with them on Sunday morning.
51:57
SPEAKER_01: Okay, all right.
51:58
SPEAKER_04: And so there I am in my brokenness, sitting in in in church open for the first time, really, I think in my life.
52:08
SPEAKER_04: Um and I heard the gospel.
52:11
SPEAKER_04: I heard it clearly.
52:12
SPEAKER_04: And I think it wasn't because I hadn't heard it before, it was because I was broken.
52:19
SPEAKER_04: And uh I needed to hear it.
52:21
SPEAKER_04: And and I did, and and um fast forward I'm sitting in a in a Denny's on Michigan Road with the associate pastor, and I asked him the magic question, right?
52:32
SPEAKER_04: Okay, so okay, I get it.
52:35
SPEAKER_04: What do I need to do?
52:36
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, well, he lit up like a like a like a like a Roman candle, you know.
52:41
SPEAKER_04: Let's go like a Christmas tree.
52:43
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, he really did.
52:44
SPEAKER_04: So, you know, I I I prayed and uh um accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior right there and in 1995, and and uh and it was you want to talk about God promising the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
53:02
SPEAKER_04: I mean, I I felt it from the from the from the moment.
53:07
SPEAKER_01: And uh and and so some people call that you were baptized in the spirit.
53:14
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I am, yeah.
53:15
SPEAKER_04: Well, look, I and I to be honest, I don't I don't want to make I I can laugh a little about it or whatever and whatever language you want to put around it, but man, it's a it saved my life.
53:24
SPEAKER_06: That's awesome.
53:25
SPEAKER_04: And um uh and started on a path of um, you know, prior prior to Christ, uh, you know, I was selfish.
53:33
SPEAKER_04: Um, you know, that's why I look back on my first marriage now and and realize that okay, you know, I I I could have been upset in the moment in the in the back end and surprised and all that.
53:44
SPEAKER_04: But if I really look at it how I behaved in my my lostness, living in the world, living for the world, and all the things of the world and and uh and not really uh living for any kind of a purpose outside of all of that, and and especially not loving my life sac my wife sacrificially.
54:04
SPEAKER_04: Um you know, it just it changed my life.
54:07
SPEAKER_04: And uh, and thank God I'm uh just met Liz fairly shortly after that.
54:13
SPEAKER_01: And now you have a beautiful marriage of 31 years.
54:18
SPEAKER_04: 31, yeah, 1990.
54:19
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you got it.
54:21
SPEAKER_04: But I got my dates wrong.
54:22
SPEAKER_04: By the way, I came to Christ in 1994.
54:24
SPEAKER_04: 94, got married in 95.
54:26
SPEAKER_04: So that was pretty quick.
54:28
SPEAKER_04: That's that's okay.
54:29
SPEAKER_04: That's all right.
54:36
SPEAKER_04: That's awesome.
54:37
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so we're and you met and you met her in the church.
54:40
SPEAKER_01: At that church.
54:41
SPEAKER_01: Wow, yeah, all right church.
54:43
SPEAKER_04: Sweet.
54:44
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and so um uh just fast forwarding through my my faith walk, um uh, you know, look, the the Lord promises our trouble.
54:55
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
54:55
SPEAKER_04: I mean, the world is a broken place, and working out our salvation is a lifelong process.
55:04
SPEAKER_04: So um I screwed up, you know, several years in.
55:08
SPEAKER_04: I hurt Liz pretty badly.
55:11
SPEAKER_04: Uh I'm not gonna go into it, but you don't have to.
55:14
SPEAKER_04: But um I hurt Liz pretty badly, and uh you know, and yet I was serving in the church, I was doing all the things, man.
55:22
SPEAKER_04: I was in fact encouraging guys, and and but I but I hurt her pretty badly.
55:28
SPEAKER_04: And and guess what?
55:30
SPEAKER_04: I got an invitation to the banquet.
55:33
SPEAKER_04: And I went through the great banquet, and and what I discovered was that I had accepted Christ, I was learning the Bible, I was learning truth, but what I didn't learn was about uh his grace gift and and what it really meant to me in my own heart.
55:50
SPEAKER_04: And that's the beauty of the banquet.
55:52
SPEAKER_01: So it was the connection.
55:53
SPEAKER_04: The connection, yeah, connected grace.
55:56
SPEAKER_04: I was a believer.
55:57
SPEAKER_04: I I'm confident in that.
56:00
SPEAKER_04: Um but what I what I didn't know was I did just didn't understand that all of what grace meant.
56:08
SPEAKER_04: You know, and and and Liz I think Liz will tell you that we were at a state in our marriage where um she didn't like me at all.
56:19
SPEAKER_04: And she was praying every day, Lord, I'm going to get up and I'm gonna pray for my husband.
56:24
SPEAKER_04: Despite the fact that I don't like him in this state.
56:28
SPEAKER_04: And I'm gonna trust you to heal us.
56:32
SPEAKER_04: And he did.
56:32
SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
56:33
SPEAKER_04: And uh and we've continued to walk life together and grow together and and navigate kids and grandkids together.
56:42
SPEAKER_04: And and he's given the Lord has given me some really wonderful opportunities to serve him and in some leadership roles at church and and um uh trail life, the scouting, Christian Scouting program um and leadership team there, and then and he's given me this leadership role and the great banquet and and all of those align with my encouragement gift and ability to just continue to do that and and so yeah, and he keeps he keeps putting guys in front of me that I get to meet with and and and try to help along the way.
57:22
SPEAKER_04: So I'm just very thankful for all that.
57:24
SPEAKER_01: I've asked this question a couple of times to many people that have been on the podcast.
57:29
SPEAKER_01: If there's one thing that you could tell the person, the listener out there that's something that was very important that you had to learn, what was that one thing?
57:42
SPEAKER_04: Would it be what you just said, or was there well, I I could I uh you don't want a sermon.
57:49
SPEAKER_04: We we're running out of podcast time, but I'm gonna tell you that Jesus is real.
57:56
SPEAKER_04: Jesus is real.
57:57
SPEAKER_04: Okay, and he is the savior of the world.
58:02
SPEAKER_03: And uh saved my life, he can save yours too.
58:08
SPEAKER_04: And um and if you if you you've given your life to Christ at some point and you're falling away, then man, I hope this podcast is an encouragement you, that you have gifts, that God created you fearfully and wonderfully, and He He wants you um to be reconciled with Him and to discover your purpose that goes beyond yourself.
58:33
SPEAKER_04: And uh and hopefully that this podcast is encouraging you.
58:36
SPEAKER_04: I want I want you to hear that truth is that uh you are loved, you have hope.
58:43
SPEAKER_04: Um Christ gives us hope for eternity that goes beyond this little blip of a life here.
58:48
SPEAKER_04: So there you go.
58:50
SPEAKER_04: I I can go on and on on that one, brother.
58:52
SPEAKER_04: Thanks.
58:53
SPEAKER_01: That's a good one.
58:54
SPEAKER_01: Um I always tell people God is in the uh repairing business.
59:01
SPEAKER_01: He loves to repair lives and he loves fixing the broken.
59:05
SPEAKER_01: And he'll take anyone the way that the way they they are.
59:10
SPEAKER_01: They don't have to change.
59:11
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to go out and change all this stuff just uh so you can have God in your life.
59:17
SPEAKER_01: God will accept you or meet you and wherever you are, whatever that looks like.
59:23
SPEAKER_01: And boy, it's a ride.
59:26
SPEAKER_01: And don't be surprised that God is changing you.
59:29
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, the Holy Spirit, they are changing you from the inside out.
59:34
SPEAKER_01: And as you grow and as you do your faith walk and you're growing in your faith, that those behaviors start to reflect who you are from the inside.
59:46
SPEAKER_04: Oh, and it's so counter-cultural.
59:48
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
59:48
SPEAKER_04: I mean, the world wants to look at the outside and encourages us all to live by how we look.
59:56
SPEAKER_04: And man, if you want real change in your life, accept Jesus.
1:00:02
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and accept the reality that he is real.
1:00:05
SPEAKER_04: He's he's there's all kinds of evidence that he's real.
1:00:09
SPEAKER_04: And and uh and I can tell you that um to know you have him, to have eternity in your heart and a purpose that goes beyond yourself, that's driven from inside out, is is the life to live.
1:00:27
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Tim, for coming on.
1:00:28
SPEAKER_04: Oh, my pleasure.
1:00:30
SPEAKER_01: It's been it's been great.
1:00:32
SPEAKER_01: Um uh I've got to know Tim since being on the spiritual team and got to see who he was, and then um he's kind of laughed with me, and like I came up with this crazy idea for the banquet, and it probably freaked Tim at first, and he's like, Hey, we need to sit down, we need to talk about this, and so but it it all worked out, and um so uh thank you, Tim.
1:01:00
SPEAKER_01: And uh this is pursuing the heart.
1:01:03
SPEAKER_01: Uh God pursued me, and now I pursue him.
1:01:08
SPEAKER_01: And something I've started doing on the podcast here lately.
1:01:13
SPEAKER_01: If you have listened to this and you don't have a relationship with Jesus, it's not anything magical you have to say.
1:01:24
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing, there's this not magical thing that you say or do or ritual you got to do to accept Christ into your heart.
1:01:32
SPEAKER_01: It's an acknowledgement that you are a sinner.
1:01:36
SPEAKER_01: You want to have him Lord of your life, and you want him to sit on the throne of your life, and you want to make him number one.
1:01:46
SPEAKER_01: And it's an acknowledgement, and it's really easy.
1:01:48
SPEAKER_01: It's like, it's like this, Tim.
1:01:50
SPEAKER_01: It's like, um, I pray, Lord, I want you to come into my life, and I want you to be the Lord of my life, and I want you, and I know I I I accept who you are, and I want you to change my life.
1:02:06
SPEAKER_01: It's real that it's real, yeah.
1:02:09
SPEAKER_01: It's it's real simple.
1:02:10
SPEAKER_01: If a guy from Southwest Georgia can make a say a prayer like that, amen to that, and it radically changes them, it that's how simple it is, guys.
1:02:21
SPEAKER_01: Or whoever's listening to this, it's very simple.
1:02:25
SPEAKER_01: And our heart and my desire is uh people listen to this and they want to make Jesus the Lord of their life.
1:02:33
SPEAKER_01: Also, too, if you want to come back and you're thinking about walking away from your faith, or you feel like you're so far from God and you were a Christian, or you accepted Christ in your heart and you drifted away, man, it's the that's that's easy too.
1:02:52
SPEAKER_01: All you just say, Lord, forgive me.
1:02:55
SPEAKER_01: I want I want you to be in that, I want to have a relationship with you, and that's all you got to do.
1:03:02
SPEAKER_01: Turn away from what you're doing and pursue him.
1:03:06
SPEAKER_04: I go one step too.
1:03:07
SPEAKER_04: I'd say, you know, if there's anybody out there that's having dates of doubts about their faith, which is okay, that's legitimate.
1:03:13
SPEAKER_04: I have doubts, right?
1:03:14
SPEAKER_04: I mean, so um if you got anybody out there that's got doubts about your faith, um, I really encourage you to find somebody to share that doubt with.
1:03:24
SPEAKER_04: Don't walk in it alone, don't wallow it in it alone.
1:03:27
SPEAKER_04: Get serious about it, dive into it, and ask the questions that you need to to to uh to grow in your faith.
1:03:33
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and if it's the one person out there that listened tonight and um they just want to learn more about this Jesus and learn about Ephesians and discover who you are in the body, then that's great too.
1:03:48
SPEAKER_01: And I just encourage you, if you're not in a body of a church body, or if you're not in a fellowship with other believers, go find there's many of many of church bodies out there, churches or fellowships that you can get involved in that are going to point you to Jesus.
1:04:10
SPEAKER_01: That's the main thing.
1:04:12
SPEAKER_01: How if they believe Jesus was the savior, died on the cross, rose again, and seated at the right hand of the Father, that's a great start.
1:04:22
SPEAKER_02: That's a good start.
1:04:23
SPEAKER_01: That's a good start.
1:04:25
SPEAKER_01: And then you aren't meant to do this alone, and I highly encourage, and this is what I have is other guys around me that I can talk to when I'm struggling, or they can come talk to me while I'm struggling, or I'm or they're struggling, and I can encourage them, and so I just encourage that, and uh again, thank you for coming on the podcast, Tim.
1:04:51
SPEAKER_01: Sure, thank you for listening.
1:04:54
SPEAKER_01: Um, I have not done, I have been failing at this.
1:04:57
SPEAKER_01: Uh, we are on all podcast platforms.
1:05:03
SPEAKER_01: We're on Apple Podcasts, we're on Spotify, we're on podcast platforms.
1:05:09
SPEAKER_01: I don't even know that we're on, Tim.
1:05:11
SPEAKER_04: Look what God's doing.
1:05:12
SPEAKER_01: And we're on YouTube.
1:05:14
SPEAKER_01: A lot of my listeners are on YouTube.
1:05:16
SPEAKER_01: This will um, but uh uh feel free to go look at the other different platforms to follow this podcast.
1:05:25
SPEAKER_01: All you gotta do is like, subscribe, and share.
1:05:29
SPEAKER_01: Um, I I just want you to share the podcast if you like it uh with others so they can listen.
1:05:36
SPEAKER_01: Um, and that's how um this thing uh happens, and I appreciate you.
1:05:41
SPEAKER_01: And Tim, there's this crazy acronym that I usually say at the end of this.
1:05:45
SPEAKER_01: What is that?
1:05:46
SPEAKER_04: Oh, you're gonna what?
1:05:48
SPEAKER_04: Oh, come on, don't do that to me.
1:05:49
SPEAKER_04: Nope.
1:05:50
SPEAKER_01: K-Y-E-O-G-A.
1:05:52
SPEAKER_01: Keep your eyes on Jesus.
1:05:54
SPEAKER_04: Okay, I just failed the test.
1:05:56
SPEAKER_01: All right, well, Tim knew it.
1:05:58
SPEAKER_01: Tim knows it.
1:05:59
SPEAKER_01: Uh I'm gonna um rev up the band again and let's see, we'll start.
1:06:05
SPEAKER_01: They're gonna play the whole song, which is only a minute and 15 seconds on this outro here.
1:06:12
SPEAKER_01: So I hope you enjoy it and I hope you come back next week.
1:06:15
SPEAKER_01: KYOJ, keep your eyes on Jesus.