Latest / B1 Podcast / The Battle for Your Allegiance

Transcript

The Battle for Your Allegiance · B1 Podcast

0:00
Mark: Good day.
0:01
Mark: Welcome to Be One Church podcast.
0:05
Blake: Is this real?
0:05
Blake: Are you starting with a good day?
0:07
Mark: Well, it's not like good morning, like a good.
0:09
Mark: I was thinking, you know, like some people.
0:11
Blake: Are you from Australia?
0:12
Mark: Good day, mate.
0:14
Blake: What's happening?
0:15
Blake: Is this really our start ready?
0:19
Mark: It's always, I think, a greeting, like good morning is great, but in the afternoon, hello sounds great.
0:25
Blake: I have a tendency like, hey everybody, how are we doing?
0:27
Mark: That's a good one.
0:28
Mark: Like I feel like it needs a more than so more than two.
0:30
Mark: Hello.
0:31
Mark: Like that sounds so weak.
0:33
Blake: So I'm like, you sound like the redneck trying to sound Australian or something.
0:40
Mark: I don't know what that was.
0:40
Mark: Okay, fair.
0:41
Mark: Hi, everybody.
0:43
Mark: Good to have you.
0:44
Blake: Hey there.
0:47
Blake: Howdy.
0:47
Blake: Howdy.
0:48
Blake: Cow boy!
0:49
Mark: Well, we're grateful that you've chosen to join with us today.
0:53
Mark: My name's Mark.
0:54
Blake: Hey, I'm Blake.
0:57
Mark: And this is the B1 podcast.
1:00
Mark: And if you like what you hear, we say this all the time, you know, but it it's it's I think it's a thing that you have to say.
1:06
Mark: I see other people say.
1:07
Mark: But like, subscribe, comment, share, all those things.
1:10
Mark: We would love to just hear what you think about um what is going on in this conversation.
1:16
Mark: I think it feels like it's self-promotion.
1:18
Blake: That's really hate it.
1:19
Blake: Yeah.
1:19
Blake: We don't want to like all be about us.
1:21
Blake: Right.
1:22
Blake: Right.
1:22
Blake: Yeah.
1:22
Blake: But it really does help.
1:23
Blake: There's a word called algorithms now.
1:25
Blake: Yeah.
1:26
Blake: And I guess it helps those.
1:27
Blake: Yeah.
1:27
Blake: Right.
1:28
Blake: Yeah.
1:28
Blake: Right.
1:29
Blake: Yeah.
1:29
Blake: So how was your week?
1:31
Blake: Man, it's been good.
1:32
Blake: I I have all my grandkids in my house.
1:34
Blake: Still.
1:35
Blake: And they are a blast and they also wear me out.
1:39
Blake: I was in the gym this week, and I had 55-pound dumbbells, and I'm like doing chest.
1:46
Blake: And I had told them, Don't come in the gym, because it's like literally right beside the door, and I have these huge dumbbells that I'm like, don't come in the door.
1:52
Blake: And literally there's a line across the door, and they're like walking across, trying like stepping in slowly, like their little toes coming over, and they're looking at me like, Are you gonna do something?
2:00
Blake: You know, and I'm like, Really, girls, I'm serious.
2:03
Blake: Like, don't come in here right now.
2:05
Blake: And I'm trying to discipline them in the middle of a workout.
2:08
Blake: So that might tell you where I'm at with having a fun time trying to be the authority of grandpa.
2:13
Blake: Yeah.
2:13
Blake: But I'm not very good at it.
2:15
Blake: In fact, let me tell you a story.
2:17
Blake: Okay.
2:17
Blake: The other day, my daughter, uh, my granddaughter Ellie Blake, she went nuts, lost her mind, and just screaming, I went in her way, just like really throwing a fit.
2:28
Blake: And so I reached over and I swatted her on the on the rear, right?
2:32
Blake: And she looked at me like, I don't think you're supposed to do that.
2:36
Blake: And I looked back at her like, yeah, I don't think I'm supposed to do that.
2:40
Blake: So I've decided it's not my job to spank my grandkids.
2:45
Blake: Is that the first time meeting?
2:46
Blake: First time and only time.
2:47
Blake: Okay.
2:47
Blake: I'm not spanking my grandkids.
2:49
Blake: No more.
2:49
Blake: That's mom and dad's job.
2:50
Blake: Yeah, yeah.
2:50
Blake: And what I'm gonna do is have fun with them and then I'll discipline them.
2:54
Blake: I will be the authority that I'm supposed to be.
2:56
Blake: However, I realized I don't think that this is just my own opinion.
3:00
Blake: That in that moment I realized that felt weird.
3:03
Blake: And I think she looked at me like, nope, don't do that, grandpa.
3:07
Blake: And I'm like, Yeah, I think you're right.
3:08
Mark: Stay in your lane.
3:09
Blake: Right, right.
3:10
Blake: And so I think that fits into what we're talking about because we're talking about authority.
3:14
Blake: This whole series has been about how hard it is in today's world to actually have authority, walk in authority, and to be the authority of the room without coming across like you're power hungry, right?
3:30
Blake: Uh and and there's so many uh stories out there of abuse of authority.
3:36
Blake: And so, like I was just talking this week with a teacher about how hard it is to be a teacher in a classroom, right?
3:42
Blake: Isn't your wife a teacher?
3:43
Blake: Yeah.
3:43
Blake: Yeah.
3:44
Mark: And doesn't it feel different?
3:45
Mark: Yeah.
3:46
Mark: Yeah.
3:46
Mark: Classroom has changed.
3:47
Mark: Tell me how.
3:48
Mark: You know, I mean, it's probably you know, devices and uh but there's a lot of questioning of authority, uh, you know.
3:55
Mark: Um uh even I I have a son that plays uh sports and it's hard like they um both sons play sports, but the my one that's in college, um the underclassmen when I grew up submitted to the upperclassmen and like they respected the authority.
4:15
Mark: That's it's just not as present now.
4:17
Blake: Mark, when we were growing up, bro, it was very different.
4:22
Blake: Yeah.
4:22
Blake: The teachers had full responsibility to if they swatted my butt, it was absolutely fine.
4:29
Blake: Right.
4:29
Blake: Yeah.
4:30
Blake: My parents would thank them and I'd get another spanking home.
4:33
Mark: Oh, yeah.
4:34
Mark: Well, I mean, I mean I never got a spankin' in school, but my wife has gotten a spankin' in school for saying a bad word.
4:40
Blake: Okay.
4:40
Mark: Yeah.
4:41
Mark: Well, which is hilarious if you know her.
4:43
Mark: She doesn't say bad words.
4:45
Blake: She is uh she she she deserves spanking.
4:47
Blake: She's not a not a very well-behaved young lady.
4:50
Blake: Just kidding.
4:51
Mark: But uh she's awesome.
4:52
Mark: But I've like I even when I talk with younger stud student age um kids, it's like I can't I would never talk to an adult.
5:02
Blake: But now you're right.
5:03
Blake: Not only do they not submit to the authority of upperclassmen, but they disrespect, dishonor the teachers, the coaches, the principals.
5:12
Mark: Now, in fairness, like I I feel like I'm like, get off my grass, you know, like kind of sounding old right now, which I am old.
5:18
Mark: But um but I I don't I part of me wonders if like our parents felt the same way and their parents felt the same way.
5:25
Mark: You know, like I think back to like Greece, you know, the movie, you know, that was definitely not respect for authority, I don't think, you know.
5:32
Mark: Um are you showing that movie to your grandkids?
5:36
Blake: We my wife had watched it, she'd seen the TV version her whole life, and it actually showed the actual version, and she was like, I don't remember how bad this actually is.
5:45
Blake: It's awful.
5:45
Blake: I mean, John Travolta is I mean, the things that it's shady.
5:50
Mark: You're right.
5:50
Mark: So my point is like maybe, like maybe even in the 60s, 70s, 50s, you know, they're not sure.
5:56
Mark: They've always said they're so disrespectful, so much of authority.
6:00
Blake: Right.
6:00
Blake: Yeah.
6:00
Blake: Yeah.
6:01
Blake: It does feel different though.
6:03
Blake: And I I'll tell you, it's because of like the way policemen are treated, the way politicians are treated.
6:08
Blake: It's you know, like I when we were growing up, where there are people screaming out at rallies, you know what I mean?
6:13
Blake: Yeah, right.
6:13
Blake: At all the presidential rallies.
6:15
Blake: Like who has respect enough to command the room and have authority?
6:19
Blake: It feels like there's just a complete, like almost anarchy and rebellious spirit.
6:26
Blake: Um, you know, and that comes from the enemy of darkness.
6:29
Blake: And I I think that the days are evil.
6:31
Blake: And so the more the as a parent that we step into that, the more we have to help help them understand the importance of teaching honor and disrespect and and what it looks like to walk under authority in glad submission, right?
6:47
Blake: And so that's what we're talking about is bowing to the king.
6:50
Blake: At some point, it comes down to whether or not you really believe that the king is the king and that you uh place Jesus as the throne of your heart.
6:59
Blake: And that's been the question we've been trying to unpack through this whole series.
7:02
Blake: So that was the last week, and it was a week that I went after what it means to have a religion of sports, a religion, you know, of travel teams, uh the religion of entertainment, um, a religion of uh allowing yourself to be ruled by your time and your money, like you, you know, maybe even success, right?
7:27
Blake: There's things in our lives that we place as the throne of our heart in the way we live in our day-to-day lives.
7:34
Blake: That's really what's in in control.
7:36
Blake: It's really what we've placed as the authority over our life.
7:39
Blake: But we just don't say it out loud.
7:41
Blake: And so I want everything in rightful submission to the Lord.
7:44
Blake: And so I I recognize before I go after parents for the way they're, you know, allowing sports to be God, that I also have this tendency to love golf.
7:55
Blake: And my wife will be like, you know, you said you were only playing nine.
7:59
Blake: Why did you play 18?
8:00
Blake: That's that's the question, typically.
8:01
Blake: That's our one of our biggest fights at home.
8:03
Blake: Yeah.
8:04
Blake: It's like, well, babe, I did really good on the front nine.
8:06
Blake: And I had to keep going.
8:07
Blake: And so, but I think there's a there's a truth to like, but you, you know, you played two rounds this week.
8:13
Blake: That was, you know, eight to ten hours of time that you you know went and you know, did a hobby.
8:19
Blake: And I think it's good to have hobbies.
8:21
Blake: It's good to have a place where you let your mind not be on your day-to-day grind.
8:26
Blake: You know, and there's you know, there's it's outside, it's outdoors, there's you know, green grass and birds chirping, and I pray and listen to worship.
8:34
Blake: There's a lot of good things that happen that are spiritual things.
8:37
Blake: However, it's when good things become God.
8:40
Blake: Yeah, and that's really what we're talking about today.
8:42
Blake: Yeah.
8:42
Blake: And so as parents of our homes, Mark, we have to be the spiritual authority over our kids.
8:52
Blake: And sometimes that looks like you're, you know, domineering or you know, fighting for power and control of your kids' lives.
8:59
Blake: And and you know what?
9:01
Blake: That's okay.
9:02
Blake: You have them this long.
9:03
Blake: Yeah.
9:04
Blake: And so sometimes their will, their flesh, is gonna say, I don't want to.
9:09
Blake: And that's for a lot of things.
9:14
Blake: I don't want to go to school, I don't want to go to practice.
9:18
Blake: But the big one that seems like we waffle on the most is I don't want to go to youth group.
9:23
Blake: I don't want to go to church.
9:25
Blake: And there's times as a parent, you're like, hey, I'm sorry, but you willingly got up and, you know, spent time playing your Xbox for, you know, or you scrolled online for and you didn't, you know, have you got to do what you wanted for all this time.
9:45
Blake: Now I'm telling you as your dad that the answer is I'm gonna make you go to church and not feel bad about it.
9:52
Blake: Because I want you to one day recognize that you were putting in reps, you were in the gym getting workout, and I I know you didn't feel like being there, but the whole time you were learning and you were growing.
10:04
Blake: And most importantly, you were allowing your understanding to be shaped by the word of God, so you had a godly biblical worldview that's not shaped by our culture.
10:16
Blake: And so that's what it looks like when we say do not love the world or anything in the world.
10:20
Blake: It's helping your kids see that in a day-to-day life.
10:23
Blake: And that's work, man.
10:24
Blake: That's where the real grind of being a spiritual leader and authority in your home really looks like.
10:29
Blake: Would you agree?
10:30
Mark: Oh, yeah.
10:31
Mark: Yeah.
10:31
Mark: I've I've heard, you know, if if you don't disciple your kids, someone will.
10:36
Mark: Someone will.
10:37
Mark: Yeah.
10:37
Mark: That's right.
10:38
Mark: You know, I saw a a friend of mine just posted about uh I don't even know the person's name, but as a popular childhood uh content creator.
10:48
Mark: Um when I grew up, it was like our kids were growing up, it was the wiggles and stuff like that.
10:54
Mark: It's but it's some some child uh show, and I I apparently they're kind of sharing some world views and political views on the show.
11:05
Mark: It's not just learning the ABCs, you know.
11:07
Mark: They're they're they're sharing, they're discipling the kids as they watch, you know, the Oh, you better believe it.
11:14
Blake: There's and there's so much evil agendas on every single show.
11:16
Blake: Disney like promotes so much evil sorcery, yeah, um, always pushing sexuality, you know, lesbians and homosexuals, and you're it's like you have to keep a guard on what's being pumped into our kids, right?
11:30
Mark: Yeah.
11:30
Mark: Well, I mean, stuff I grew up watching, fantasy, I mean, it's all magic, you know, which like, oh, it's just magic, you know.
11:37
Mark: But like I'm pretty sure scripture says not to mess around with sorcery and you know, yeah dark magic or even good magic, you know.
11:46
Blake: Yeah.
11:46
Blake: So, you know, the the heart behind being a spiritual leader of your home is going, where am I allowing an inch of evil into my home?
11:55
Blake: Right?
11:56
Blake: Because what you allow, what's the statement, what you permit, you promote.
11:59
Blake: You promote.
12:00
Blake: Yeah.
12:00
Blake: And so am I gonna promote the enemy of darkness coming into my house?
12:04
Blake: And how am I doing that?
12:05
Blake: And where am I allowing, you know, where where am I not allowing my myself to bow to Goddess King by allowing things to be, you know, kind of like it's no big deal, my kids, you know, obsessed with whatever it is, right?
12:19
Blake: Like maybe, you know, uh it it is a television show.
12:25
Blake: I, you know, for for my granddaughters, I couldn't believe how much they love um Bluey.
12:29
Blake: Okay.
12:30
Blake: And they love um, what is that?
12:32
Blake: Paw patrol.
12:33
Blake: Oh yeah.
12:34
Blake: They love Paw Patrol.
12:35
Blake: And when you try to take a device from them or you try to tell them stop watching TV, I don't see any more of an like explosion and anger and and like like a out, you know, an outburst than when we try to take those things from them.
12:52
Blake: And it's like, how how is it so captivating that it takes over their like they are in like just completely, you know, lost in it?
12:59
Blake: Yeah.
13:00
Blake: And so how do we do that with God?
13:02
Blake: Yeah, how do we help them, you know, and so for me, I I would, I when I would teach my kids Bible lessons when they were little, I would like help them be in the story.
13:14
Blake: And I'd be enthralled myself as as the dad, you know, voices, animated, making it cap, you know, like captivating.
13:23
Blake: Because I wanted my kids to be more captivated here in the word of God than anything else, you know?
13:27
Mark: Yeah.
13:28
Blake: And so I think sometimes we underestimate and undervalue our authority as parents.
13:35
Blake: Yeah.
13:36
Blake: And that's that's where I want to step into like, why, why do we allow team sports to become a God?
13:42
Blake: Why do we allow team sports to be like it's the most important thing in my kids' life?
13:47
Blake: You don't say that, but then you you prove that by not making, you know, time with God, time in the word, time at church, having godly friends.
13:58
Blake: You don't push and fight for those things as much as you do for team sports.
14:02
Blake: Can I get an amen?
14:04
Mark: Yeah.
14:04
Mark: Right?
14:04
Mark: Well, I mean, uh we were talking before we started rolling today, and just like I I just remember I played sports growing up and it was different than it was different.
14:14
Mark: And different then.
14:15
Mark: But it was like you know, only the good kids played travel ball, you know, and I wasn't good, you know.
14:22
Mark: Um so I played the rec ball, and when it was baseball season, I played baseball, you know.
14:26
Mark: But now and and and now we've got two boys and we've done the travel ball, and and it's fun, and but there's definitely a sacrifice to to be made financially and time commitment-wise.
14:39
Mark: And and you know, I've heard you know, when you say yes to something, you say no to something else.
14:45
Mark: You know, so that's it's definitely it's real.
14:48
Mark: Yeah, I I was also the same way.
14:50
Mark: I I played all the team sports, um, but it wasn't travel ball.
14:54
Mark: I I was in school from 88 to 92, class of 92.
14:57
Mark: And those days it w it was very different.
15:00
Mark: You know, I was on the wrestling team, I was on the baseball team, I was on the on the football team, and it was like in season, but now they play year-round, right?
15:09
Mark: Yeah, yeah.
15:10
Mark: And so there's stuff going on in the summer, and there's expectations from the coaches to be a part of the team's pressure.
15:15
Mark: There's money, I'm talking real money to be on a team sport.
15:19
Mark: Yeah.
15:19
Mark: And it's it's a lot of demand.
15:22
Mark: And for whatever reason, we allow coaches to have more demand over our kids than than we do ourselves.
15:32
Mark: Yeah.
15:32
Mark: Like we we don't command and demand them to the most important thing is relationship with God, right?
15:38
Mark: To love God, love people is the reason we're here, to know God, make Him known.
15:42
Mark: And I I'm telling you, what's the percentage of how many kids are actually gonna make it in sports?
15:47
Mark: I know that's right.
15:48
Mark: Not very big.
15:49
Mark: You know, so I that's what I was just thinking is like one day we're we're approaching that.
15:54
Mark: I have one that's 19, he's in college and playing, but uh soon Lacross.
16:00
Mark: Right, yeah.
16:00
Mark: But soon, like the game's gonna end.
16:02
Mark: You know, he's not gonna be playing when he's 30.
16:05
Mark: You know what I mean?
16:06
Mark: So like the that window's kind of starting to close.
16:10
Mark: And I when you're in it, when you're, you know, have a fifth grader, it seems like, man, we're gonna be in this season forever.
16:16
Mark: And I mean, no, you guys are empty nesters now.
16:20
Mark: We're kind of experiencing that wow.
16:22
Mark: Like I thought I I d I thought it was always gonna be a party of four, you know, and it's starting to be a party of two.
16:28
Mark: Right, it right.
16:29
Mark: It's gonna now party of three and soon a party of two, you know.
16:32
Mark: Yeah.
16:33
Mark: So soon that that season of like travel everything, it's gonna end one way or the other.
16:40
Mark: You know?
16:40
Mark: You've spent the last, I don't know, five years in a bleacher watching your boys.
16:45
Mark: Yeah.
16:45
Mark: And I love it.
16:46
Mark: Like it's fun, you know, great relationships, get to talk with parents, and it's been fun, but like eventually that again, that comes to an end.
16:55
Mark: I remember before we had kids, we we had a friend that man, it was travel softball.
17:00
Mark: She had private coach everything.
17:02
Mark: And then one day she decided she didn't want to play, and it was like, oh my gosh, what are they gonna do?
17:08
Mark: Like that was their whole life.
17:10
Blake: Yeah.
17:10
Blake: And so uh when when we talk about your kids like at the end of it now, you're at a place where you're kind of like, man, did I did I use their time best when they were with me?
17:22
Blake: Yeah.
17:22
Blake: Or or did I waste their time as a parent?
17:25
Blake: And am I am I responsible for that?
17:27
Blake: Right?
17:28
Blake: Am I responsible for the amount of time I gave I allowed them to be on the field and maybe not with God?
17:34
Mark: Yes.
17:35
Blake: And did I promote it and be the authority over?
17:37
Blake: I think these are questions you ask when you start getting older.
17:40
Blake: Did I did I walk in the authority and the anointing of me submitting to God as King?
17:46
Blake: Yeah.
17:46
Blake: So that my kids could see how to do that.
17:48
Blake: Yeah.
17:48
Blake: Do you know?
17:49
Blake: Oh yeah.
17:50
Blake: And so um I preached about Jesus stepping into the authority over his disciples this week.
17:56
Blake: And he was just kind of getting to know them.
17:59
Blake: And there was this like relationship building.
18:01
Blake: Like, do you guys know who I am?
18:02
Blake: I'm gonna show you.
18:03
Blake: And so he took him on a field trip, storm comes, waves are breaking over the ship.
18:08
Blake: And I love the idea that Jesus is asleep in the bow of the boat.
18:11
Blake: And I love that while he's sleeping, we often don't think about that.
18:19
Blake: There's lightning, there's thunder, there's waves, there's wind, there's they're terrified, there's stress, right?
18:24
Blake: They're in the middle of an they're having anxiety attacks.
18:27
Blake: Yeah, you know, the disciples are freaking out.
18:30
Blake: Yeah.
18:31
Blake: And Jesus is asleep.
18:32
Blake: Yeah, resting.
18:33
Blake: Right?
18:34
Blake: Right.
18:34
Blake: Yet he had complete control.
18:37
Blake: Right?
18:39
Blake: He had all the authority that he had when he was asleep or awake, right?
18:43
Blake: And I think we often, uh we don't mean to, but we often take this idea of like, God, you're not here for me.
18:50
Blake: Why why weren't you why weren't you with me?
18:54
Blake: And the truth is we confuse God's silence for God's absence.
18:58
Blake: Right?
18:59
Blake: We think that his his being quiet or you know, you're sleeping on the job, God, right?
19:05
Blake: Yeah, is is this belief that maybe you weren't there for me.
19:08
Blake: And we blame him, right?
19:10
Blake: And so of course he comes up, quiet, be still.
19:15
Blake: He makes the statement, no, you don't get to be in control, waves and wind.
19:19
Blake: And then the disciples are like, Who is this man?
19:22
Blake: And that's really the first time they start to go, I I see the authority of the king, right?
19:27
Blake: And then the demoniac approaches, you know, what do you want with me, son of the most high God?
19:33
Blake: They heed the demon declares.
19:35
Blake: And then I think the disciples look at each other, did you hear that?
19:38
Blake: Right.
19:38
Blake: Yeah.
19:39
Blake: He's the son of the most high God.
19:40
Blake: Yeah, right.
19:41
Blake: Like I just watched him stop a storm, and now boom sauce.
19:44
Blake: Yeah.
19:44
Blake: He's a demon just declared who he is.
19:46
Blake: Yeah.
19:47
Blake: And I think this is the really the beginning of the of the disciple starting to go, oh.
19:52
Blake: This guy's different.
19:54
Blake: Okay.
19:54
Blake: Yeah.
19:55
Blake: Yeah.
19:55
Blake: This is the king.
19:56
Mark: Yeah.
19:57
Blake: And I do want to walk in submission and authority to this guy.
20:00
Blake: And I'm grateful and glad to be a follower and a disciple.
20:05
Blake: And I can't believe I get to be on this ship.
20:07
Blake: I can't believe I get to watch him, you know, cast out a demon, his be in a right mind.
20:12
Blake: And they start to go, I gladly and willingly submit to your authority.
20:16
Blake: And so in life, that's that's why I've submitted to God as King.
20:21
Blake: That's why I gladly and willingly bow to him as King.
20:25
Blake: Because I really do believe he has authority over heaven, over earth, and under the earth.
20:29
Blake: Like he has complete dominion and the Lord of all creation.
20:33
Blake: He's sovereign, in control of all things.
20:35
Blake: And so therefore, I can rest in the fact that I'm not in control.
20:39
Blake: God's in control, I'm not.
20:40
Blake: And I willingly and gladly submit my life to him.
20:43
Blake: And so that was really kind of the heart of the message this weekend.
20:46
Mark: Yeah.
20:46
Blake: And I think sometimes, you know, we we go, well, where can church people m mistake biblical knowledge for spiritual maturity?
20:55
Blake: Like we will think we have a lot of knowledge of the word of God, right?
20:59
Blake: But we haven't really surrendered to God.
21:01
Blake: Right?
21:01
Blake: You might you haven't gone, okay, you're my authority.
21:04
Blake: I I haven't made you Lord, but I can talk church talk.
21:07
Blake: Yeah, yeah.
21:08
Blake: Right.
21:08
Blake: I can talk about the Bible, I can talk, but you don't you don't yield to his authority.
21:13
Mark: Yeah.
21:13
Mark: I know about him, but I don't know him.
21:16
Blake: Yeah.
21:16
Mark: Yeah.
21:16
Mark: Yeah.
21:17
Blake: Yeah.
21:17
Blake: And so I think that's that's where um when Jesus transforms uh this this young this demoniac and you see him completely change his life, you see the demoniac be like, I want to go with you, I'll follow you wherever you go.
21:35
Blake: And he says, No, you don't get to do that.
21:37
Blake: And so he stays back and he's in the is it what's it called?
21:41
Blake: The decopolis.
21:42
Blake: Oh, yeah.
21:42
Blake: And because of that, there was like there's credit to him as get he led like eight to ten cities to God.
21:48
Blake: Right, right.
21:49
Blake: This kid kid that was transformed, he was demon possessed, became a force for the kingdom.
21:55
Blake: Right.
21:56
Blake: And so I think a lot of times we think, I don't have anything to offer.
21:59
Blake: No, I just want To follow you and come after you, and I want to do what you do, and I want to be with you.
22:02
Blake: But he's like, No, you got a job to do.
22:04
Mark: Yeah.
22:05
Blake: Right?
22:05
Blake: You got to go what's happened to you, go tell people what happened.
22:08
Mark: Yeah.
22:09
Blake: Go talk about this the rest of your life.
22:10
Mark: Yeah.
22:11
Blake: Just talk about, hey, I used to be in chains.
22:12
Blake: I used to scream.
22:13
Blake: I used to be naked.
22:14
Blake: I used to be in catacombs.
22:15
Blake: I lived in a cave.
22:16
Blake: Right.
22:16
Blake: But now it's I've been set free, right?
22:19
Blake: And so it completely changed his his whole life.
22:22
Blake: And it's because he realized I've been living for the things of this world.
22:25
Blake: And so I talked about Philippians 3, where it talks about their God is their stomach.
22:32
Mark: Yeah.
22:32
Blake: And their future is the destruction.
22:34
Blake: And he says that with tears.
22:36
Blake: Like some of you are enemies of the cross of Christ.
22:40
Blake: And so I don't think we realize that we have become enemies of the cross of Christ when the ways of this world is actually what we've given authority to.
22:51
Blake: So we we live our lives driven by our mind is consumed with the desires and appetites of this world.
22:59
Blake: And so that we way we do that is we long for money, long for success, long for a big following, big name, like we go after books and cells, and you know, we we're trying to promote ourselves, our whole lives, versus building the kingdom of Blake versus the kingdom of God, right?
23:14
Blake: The kingdom of Mark versus the kingdom of God, and we get consumed with the things and the desires of this world that are gonna last this long.
23:22
Mark: Yeah.
23:22
Blake: And so if why do we live as that example to our kids when the king of kings and the Lord of Lords has placed us here, and just like the demoniac he's given us a job to do, right?
23:32
Blake: And we just go, yeah, okay, thanks for the job.
23:34
Blake: However, uh, Monday through Friday, I gotta bring home the bacon.
23:38
Blake: And we kind of make that the king.
23:39
Blake: Yeah, right?
23:40
Blake: We live our whole lives obsessed with this stuff, right?
23:43
Blake: And so how do we challenge destructive choices with grief and love instead of superiority?
23:49
Blake: Like, how do we go, man?
23:51
Blake: I I want to let you see that the decisions you're making are are actually killing you, right?
23:55
Blake: Because that's what Paul's doing.
23:56
Blake: He's crying.
23:57
Blake: He's like, with tears in my eyes, the God of their stomach is what rules their lives.
24:01
Blake: And so, as a father, when you start seeing your kids do that, how do we show them, like, I want to be authority and superior?
24:09
Blake: I want to help you understand the importance of what decisions you're making and do that, you know, in a way that's you know, filled with love and compassion and empathy.
24:17
Blake: How do we do that?
24:18
Blake: What's ways we can do that?
24:20
Mark: Yeah, I mean, that's a great question.
24:22
Mark: I mean, because when people are blinded by it, you know, um, I don't know.
24:29
Mark: Yeah.
24:30
Blake: Cause I'll tell you, this kid, Blake, when I was in high school, yeah, I had a very rebellious spirit.
24:36
Blake: Yeah.
24:37
Blake: And also always had kind of a playful spirit.
24:41
Blake: And so I would do bad things, but it was sort of like endearing.
24:46
Blake: And so I got away with a bunch of stuff.
24:50
Blake: Like, because I was friends with all the teachers, I was friends with the principal, the family was friends with them, and I kind of just did stuff that I shouldn't be doing.
24:58
Blake: And I and I kind of like, I don't know why I just had favor from the teachers and I'd do bad stuff, and then they'd be like, oh Blake.
25:06
Blake: And I'll tell you a story.
25:08
Blake: So um I might get in trouble for this, but one day, I don't know what happened, but somehow I was late to class, and a bunch of the pretty senior girls were with me, and I was a senior, and I was like, hey, let's get on the roof.
25:24
Blake: I I decided the best idea right now is to get on the roof of this school.
25:29
Blake: And so there was a gigantic ladder out.
25:31
Blake: I don't I don't know where it came from, but I had this ladder and I held the ladder for all the girls to get up on top of the roof, and there's literally a storm, a storm was like a lightning was, you know, it's Oklahoma.
25:44
Blake: And so I I don't know.
25:46
Blake: I don't my mind, I have no idea how I got there to think this is the best idea.
25:50
Blake: But somebody was driving along that saw us and called the school and said, Are you aware you have students on top of your building right now?
25:58
Blake: Gosh.
25:59
Blake: And so they come out of there, what are you doing?
26:01
Blake: Get down.
26:02
Blake: Well, the so I'm holding the ladder while all the girls are getting down.
26:05
Blake: And then the principal's dear friend of mine, he's standing on the ladder.
26:09
Blake: All the people are kind of being talked to, all the girls are, and I'm up on the ladder still.
26:14
Blake: And while he's telling them, You guys can't do this, do you understand the kind of wrist you're putting?
26:18
Blake: You shouldn't be, and he's doing all these motions, and I'm on the ladder mocking him.
26:22
Blake: I'm going, You shouldn't be doing it.
26:24
Blake: Do you understand?
26:24
Blake: I'm just like doing this, you know.
26:26
Blake: And so I got suspended for that.
26:29
Blake: It didn't turn out well.
26:31
Blake: My parents weren't happy.
26:33
Blake: But I literally, when I was getting suspended, uh, we called him Papa Smurf.
26:37
Blake: That was the principal.
26:38
Blake: And it's because he was a short guy and had a big white beard, and he literally looked like Papa Smurf.
26:44
Blake: And so I was like, hey, listen, I know you gotta suspend me.
26:48
Blake: I know I shouldn't have done it.
26:49
Blake: I get it, and I respect your decision.
26:51
Blake: I'm sorry.
26:52
Blake: I really shouldn't have done that.
26:54
Blake: But will you go play golf with me?
26:57
Blake: And he was like, No, I can't play golf with you.
27:01
Blake: I was like, come on, I'm gonna be so bored.
27:04
Blake: Come play golf with me.
27:05
Blake: We'll play it, Hefner.
27:06
Blake: He's like, No, I'm not playing.
27:08
Blake: I mean, then he kind of looked at his schedule.
27:09
Blake: He's like, Well, maybe.
27:10
Blake: No, I can't play golf.
27:12
Blake: But he was a dear friend.
27:15
Blake: And and um sometimes the way that we we walk in rebellious authority can sometimes seem like it's charming, right?
27:26
Blake: We can make it seem like it's cute when it's just not.
27:29
Mark: Yeah.
27:29
Blake: You know, for i I I honestly look back at that now and go, not funny.
27:33
Blake: Like you put those kids' lives in danger.
27:36
Blake: You know, they something could bad could have happened that I regret the rest of my life.
27:39
Mark: So what and what made that change then, do you think?
27:43
Blake: Yeah.
27:43
Blake: I mean
27:44
Mark: Like you hold authority now.
27:45
Blake: Right.
27:46
Mark: You aren't the principal.
27:47
Blake: I you think that, but then my grandkids are trying to walk in my you know, gym while I'm about to drop a 55-pound weight on their face.
27:54
Blake: And I think sometimes that's the point, is we don't realize that there's rules and regulations in our life that are actually placed there out of love.
28:02
Blake: And it's God out out of his kindness and out of his empathy and sympathy to say, there's a reason I put this here, son.
28:09
Blake: It's because your destructive behaviors have become what's made you an enemy to the cross.
28:17
Blake: And I don't think we think of it like that a lot of times.
28:20
Blake: Like, man, if I keep down this path of being rebellious, it's gonna lead me towards hell and separation from a loving father that I could have been with the rest of eternity.
28:30
Blake: And so there's too much at risk, right?
28:32
Blake: There's too much uh for for us to just go, I'm gonna love the world.
28:37
Blake: No, no, don't love the world or anything in it.
28:40
Blake: Because if you do that, the love of the father is not in you, is what the Bible, that's what I taught this week.
28:45
Blake: And so I just think that um we often have a tendency to protect the things that we love that might be a craving and a desire.
28:56
Blake: You know, that's it's like me wanting to protect, like, well, honey, I played well on the front nine.
29:01
Blake: And she's like, Yeah, but how about time with your wife?
29:04
Blake: How about coming home for dinner?
29:06
Blake: You know, how you know, we we protect the things that we're holding on to that we don't want to let go of.
29:11
Blake: Yeah.
29:12
Blake: When maybe we need to say, hey, God, really, I think maybe I need to say to you, have I submitted golf to you?
29:21
Blake: And so I don't know for people listening online, what is it in your life that you go, I love this thing.
29:29
Blake: Maybe it's your phone, right?
29:31
Blake: Maybe it's a screen, maybe it's your iPad, maybe it's Xbox, maybe it is pornography or an addiction, or you know, what has a stronghold on your life and you've actually placed it as the it's the throne of your heart, and you haven't yielded it to God, you haven't given it the proper authority that God needs over your life.
29:54
Blake: Because I want everything in my life to be under rightful submission to Him.
29:58
Blake: It's where He literally can reign it in because He's He's reigning over my life.
30:03
Blake: I want God's authority and I want His position to be a higher position than anything or anyone else in my life.
30:11
Blake: And so we have this tendency to um not say, hey God, what is it in my life that um I've given to you?
30:21
Blake: It's whether it's a spending habit, maybe it's um my my constant need for approval of man, right?
30:29
Blake: Maybe it's someone that I need to forgive, um, that I don't want to have the conversation.
30:35
Blake: And so we allow things to stay in a place that's not healthy when God's trying to say, Hey, I think that you don't have a healthy relationship with um alcohol.
30:47
Blake: I don't think you have a healthy relationship with the way you spend your time.
30:51
Blake: Uh I don't think you have a healthy relationship with what whatever it is.
30:55
Blake: And so I I think uh, you know, the whole series has been does does Jesus get the final word in your life?
31:04
Blake: And so, um, and if not, what needs to change to make that happen?
31:11
Blake: And so when I say that to you, Mark, is there anything specific like you go, man, I I could see that in in, you know, something I need to change, you know, a relationship or my own time, or you know, is there something there that you go, you know, I remember a time or anything like that?
31:27
Mark: Yeah, well, I mean, I I'd think about just um just provision, you know, I need to surrender, just trust um to father.
31:37
Blake: Yeah.
31:38
Mark: And just, Lord, you you provide for the um for the sparrows and the lilies of the valley.
31:45
Mark: Yeah.
31:46
Mark: You're gonna how much more are you gonna provide for us?
31:48
Mark: One thing that I I feel like I've seen you surrender, um, I know you said golf, but um you used to play uh a golf game that you were pretty successful at on your phone, right?
32:01
Mark: Yeah.
32:01
Mark: And are you still you still it's called WGT.
32:05
Blake: Yeah, it's a golf game that's out on your iPhone, and I am in the very best country club in the world.
32:12
Blake: I mean the best in the world.
32:13
Blake: Truly.
32:14
Blake: There's 200 of us.
32:16
Blake: Okay.
32:16
Blake: And I I usually play it like once a day.
32:19
Blake: Okay.
32:19
Blake: And it's like 20, 30 minutes before I fall asleep, and it's the slowest grandpa game you've ever played.
32:24
Blake: Because you like hit and then you wait for three other people to hit, you just watch them on a golf game, and then you hit again, and then you watch them all putt.
32:31
Blake: It's very slow and very boring.
32:33
Blake: However, I love it.
32:34
Blake: Yeah.
32:35
Blake: And I've used that as a platform.
32:37
Blake: Everyone knows I'm a pastor.
32:38
Blake: They'll watch me online.
32:40
Blake: They'll come and go, they go to our church from all over the world.
32:43
Blake: Literally, people in uh China, people in Norway, uh, people in the United States all watch online and I've become their pastor.
32:53
Blake: Hey, I need a prayer request.
32:54
Blake: And so it's something that I go.
32:56
Blake: I know this is kind of a careless waste of time, mind-numbing kind of thing, but I've used it as a tool to build relationships.
33:02
Blake: Who do you talk to every single day in your life?
33:05
Blake: You know what I mean?
33:06
Blake: Right.
33:06
Blake: Besides maybe your wife.
33:07
Blake: Yeah.
33:07
Blake: And I usually am on once a day, like, hey, how you doing, Nancy?
33:10
Blake: Nancy's the best in the world, by the way.
33:12
Blake: So shout out to Nancy.
33:14
Blake: Love you.
33:15
Blake: And so um there there really is some like relationships that I've built that are have become real.
33:21
Blake: And so it's the the question is what have what have I not is there something that I I'm using that I'm not surrendering to God, right?
33:28
Blake: What have I not bowed?
33:30
Blake: Because at the end of the day, everyone's gonna bow to something.
33:33
Blake: And so ultimately, everything in in earth, in the heavens and below the earth, is gonna bow to Jesus.
33:40
Blake: So why would I allow, in my short little moments that I have on earth, to not allow those things to bow completely to Jesus too?
33:49
Mark: Yeah.
33:49
Mark: I mean, one thing that I find interesting in the account that you read this weekend is the demon the demoniac who obvi like no one questioned, like, was he possessed?
34:01
Mark: Like this guy, there was something that had control of him.
34:04
Mark: But even when he was under full submission to whatever demons were in him, they fully submitted to the Son of God.
34:15
Mark: And uh But y you don't you see that a couple times in Acts when Paul and Silas were walking, the girl that was possessed, and no one questioned that.
34:26
Mark: Like she could tell fortunes, you know, something was happening in her life, and yet when she was the only one in the city that recognized these guys are their followers of the one true king, you know.
34:38
Mark: So to me, that's telling that even people that have they're fully possessed, you know, and their full submission is to something otherworldly, that those people, you know, the the the demons realize that the Son of God is the one true king.
34:59
Mark: You know, like that's compelling to me.
35:02
Blake: Um Yeah.
35:03
Blake: And so I think you know, I I was told that during the sermon, people had their phones out and they were watching the game, or they were literally on their uh fantasy football leagues.
35:13
Blake: Right.
35:14
Blake: And as I'm preaching this, their wives are like hitting me.
35:16
Blake: Like we we don't realize how much sports has command and authority and dominion over your lives because your mind is consumed with what players are on my roster.
35:27
Blake: Right.
35:27
Blake: And there was an injury, I've got to get this new guy on there.
35:30
Blake: Right.
35:30
Blake: I don't play fantasy football.
35:32
Blake: All of my boys do.
35:33
Mark: Yeah.
35:33
Mark: I mean, I do.
35:34
Mark: What's funny though, like there's question of like, is is the NFL rigged?
35:38
Mark: And like I can make I can make some um arguments in in defense of like it probably is, it might be rigged, you know, some of it.
35:46
Mark: And I'm not even playing real football, I'm playing fantasy football.
35:51
Mark: Right.
35:52
Blake: And yet it has your mind complete control of your thoughts and your time, a lot of time.
35:57
Blake: And so I you know, I asked the church this week, like, how many of your husbands are in fantasy football?
36:03
Blake: How many of you wish that you you could get as much time as fantasy football?
36:08
Blake: And then it was got real quiet.
36:09
Blake: It's like, but I think there's a that's the point, is that we often allow things in this world by the way we spend our time and the way we spend our money to have dominion over our lives.
36:21
Blake: Yeah.
36:21
Blake: And so just pay attention.
36:23
Blake: What am I bowing to?
36:24
Blake: Yeah.
36:24
Blake: What am I allowing to have control?
36:26
Blake: Because how hard was it for the demoniac for the rest of his life to bow to Jesus?
36:30
Blake: No, no issue at all.
36:33
Blake: Right?
36:33
Blake: Right.
36:34
Blake: It's like you don't understand.
36:35
Blake: Yeah.
36:35
Blake: Do you know the way I used to be?
36:37
Blake: And do you know how I am now?
36:38
Blake: Do you see how I'm in a sober mind?
36:40
Blake: Yeah, that I have a clear head and a clear thought.
36:42
Blake: I'm not screaming, I'm not scratching myself, I'm not breaking chains, and I have clothes on.
36:47
Blake: Yeah.
36:47
Blake: Right?
36:48
Blake: Like I I'm gonna give the rest of my life to this guy.
36:51
Blake: And that's really what each of us should want for people.
36:54
Blake: It's like, yeah, you know, the only reason I would say I want you to come to church is because I've experienced what Jesus can do for me.
37:05
Blake: I'm completely different now, and I want that for you.
37:09
Blake: So why that's why Paul's in tears.
37:11
Blake: Like, I see where your life is headed, and it's headed towards destruction.
37:15
Blake: You don't even see it.
37:16
Blake: Yeah.
37:16
Blake: So pay attention, man.
37:17
Blake: The reason I give these rules is because I love you.
37:21
Mark: Yeah.
37:21
Blake: I I want you to come to church because I want you to experience for yourself the hope, the joy, the love, the compassion that I've been filled with, the power of the spirit that's alive inside of me now.
37:32
Blake: And so the only way that you can learn how to exercise a demon is by learning to exercise and put in the reps of what it looks like to spend time with God.
37:49
Blake: It's prayer, it's time in the word, it's going to church, it's having the discipline of like learning how to exercise.
37:56
Blake: And that's where the authority comes from.
37:59
Blake: So that when a demon comes into your life, you can say, get out.
38:03
Blake: Or when a storm comes, you have the authority to say, be quiet, be still, and to not walk in the fear and the worry and the stress and the anxiety of this world, right?
38:15
Blake: Because I think that's the pressure, is I feel like I've got to do all the right things and keep up with the Jones, isn't I gonna be like this world around me?
38:22
Blake: And the truth is the only responsibility that I have is to know God and make him known.
38:27
Blake: That's my only job.
38:29
Blake: And so when it says don't love the world, it's really not giving you a rule.
38:35
Blake: It's saying, I want you to love God more.
38:38
Blake: I want God to be the one that you are obsessed with.
38:42
Blake: Your mind and your thinking isn't about fantasy football.
38:45
Blake: It's not constantly on this stinking device where you're just obsessed with, you know, Instagram and Facebook and all the social media and other way other people are living their lives and going on trips and traveling and comfort.
38:57
Blake: There's so many things that we quickly and easily place as God in our life.
39:02
Blake: When I'm asking you today to consider have I placed the King of Kings on the throne of my heart?
39:11
Blake: And that's who I'm living for completely.
39:13
Blake: And so I hope that's helpful for you today.
39:16
Blake: I hope that encouraged you to make sure that you're not bowing to the things of this world and instead you're bowing to the king, the rightful, one true king.
39:26
Blake: And so thanks for joining us.
39:28
Blake: We love you no matter where you're at in the world.
39:30
Blake: I hope that you'll feel blessed and anointed and walk in the favor of God.
39:35
Blake: And um, we we love you.