Latest / How to Faith a Life Podcast with Faith Womack / Asking Pastor Joe Your Questions!

Transcript

Asking Pastor Joe Your Questions! · How to Faith a Life Podcast with Faith Womack

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: If you're listening to the How to Faith a Life podcast, where we wrestle with questions on how to live a life of faith, from everything from books to Bible studies, even Bible study tips, this is your place to wrestle with the hard questions and dive deep into what scripture really says for the Christian woman.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: Make sure you've subscribed to this podcast and your favorite podcast streaming services.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_01: Review this podcast so other people can find it and share with other believers who want to ask the hard questions.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: Now with all that said, let's begin.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: Hi friends, and welcome back to the How to Faith a Life podcast.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: If you are new here, you might be wondering who is this handsome buff fella on the screen.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: Sorry, ladies, he's taken by moi.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: This is my husband, Pastor Joe Womack.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_02: Hey everybody, happy to be here.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: And we are thrilled to make our way through more of the questions that you guys left on my community tab.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're like, what is she talking about?
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: My primary media or like content outlet is YouTube.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: I feel the most comfortable in YouTube.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: YouTube is how I started out.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: And on there, there's a community feed.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: So if you haven't watched my YouTube videos, that's where like the bulk of my stuff is.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: Make sure you're subscribed and watch through, like especially the playlist on my YouTube channel called New Here Start Here.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: That's where I would send you to.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, I send that playlist to like at least two people a day, Joe.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's awesome.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, anyway.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: And on YouTube, they have a community tab where I can post questions and polls, and you guys can give me your two cents on the content that I make and all of that.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: And so there I asked you guys to leave me questions for a pastor.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: And if you were here for last week's podcast, I asked my father-in-law who was a pastor, and he did a great job.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: Wouldn't you say Joe?
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, great job.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: No, it was terrible.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_02: He knocked it out of the park.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: It was amazing.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: But we only got through like seven or something.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: And so this week we're going to tackle some more questions on this list because they were just too good.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't know, there's just a part of me that's like, wait, but I told them I was gonna answer their questions, and I only like I didn't even scratch 2% of them, you know.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: Let's try and go through it.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_02: Sorry if you heard my swallow just then.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: Gulp.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: Oh wait, Joseph, should you give them like a quick bio real quick?
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so I'm Pastor Joe.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_02: I grew up in a Christian household to a preacher's kid.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_02: If you guys have watched the podcast video, then you know.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_02: Grew up in the church, was saved at an early age, have always been loving and serving the Lord as a sinful human being, and I love sports, love playing sports, love working out, lifting weights as of now, lifting heavy things.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I have been doing church ministry for the last six years, specifically youth ministry and family ministry.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_02: I enjoy it so much, and am just happy being a youth and family person for the long term.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_02: I also love helping out with this channel and with faith and um love love to be here and be in this community that you guys we have we have built.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: And what else do they need to know about me?
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: What about tell them about your really hot, super cool wife?
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so I have a really hot, super cool wife.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_02: She's right here.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_02: Her name's Faith.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: No, that's a good bio.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: I like it.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: And they probably have seen you around, is my guess.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: Alright, let's go ahead and jump into some of these questions.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: We've got a lot.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um first question is from Rebecca.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, she asks, My husband and I are youth pastors at a very small church.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: We've built up the youth program the past few years while we've been at this church, but unfortunately, our church as a whole is not seeing any growth.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: Many of the youth have come from other churches that don't have youth programs.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: Our pastor has this vision that he'll be preaching three services on Sunday, but honestly, my husband and I don't see the same vision.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: The church is just dead every Sunday and Wednesday.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: We just don't feel like we're growing spiritually here, but we feel guilty every time we think about exploring other churches because of how close we are with our students.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: How do we navigate this situation?
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: What would be your advice, Pastor?
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that is such a unique predicament.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: But also, I think so many people can relate.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_02: True.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, that's that's very true.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_02: So I actually went to a a conference thing yesterday where they talked about some of this, some of this.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_02: First thing I should do would be like to validate the relationships that you've formed with the youth.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_02: And I mean, ultimately, like if the if the pastor's vision doesn't line up with the church, then the pastor needs to do some some self-seeking, self-evaluating.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_02: So are there people in the church that can help um sort of create a vision or shift a vision towards something else?
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_02: Can that conversation take place?
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_02: Secondly, I mean, in some ways the youth will understand.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_02: So if they're also a part of different churches, are there ways to connect with the parents?
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_02: Are there ways to uh get to know the parents more?
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_02: And if you're thinking about another church, would all those youth follow you to that church if you're, you know, obviously probably gonna live in the same town, same spot, because that could cause a lot of church hurt.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_02: So is the pastor there?
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_02: Is the church preaching the gospel?
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_02: Are they Bible believing?
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_02: Is what they believe rooted in scripture and in good things, whether or not the pastor's vision lines up.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_02: Now, maybe the pastor has this lofty vision, lofty goal, and that's a good thing, and it could happen, it could come true.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_02: So I guess how can you facilitate that with the youth program?
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sort of at a point right now where you know youth, youth are coming in.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_02: I guess a lot of people have this problem where you get youth involved in coming in from friends, from mutual friends, from school friends, different things, and it doesn't always necessarily add to the church's growth because the parents aren't coming because they're involved in another church.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_02: And so is the youth ministry thriving?
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_02: Because if the youth ministry is is still going well, then that's good.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_02: That's that's okay.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: Ultimately, we're all sisters and brothers in the faith, and these are churches that ought to support each other, right?
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it shouldn't be our church against your church, we're trying to recruit you to our church kind of thing.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: And then I would also just say it sounds like the pastor's vision is stressing you out and isn't maybe necessarily what y'all are seeing right now or seeing in the near future.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: And so I would just like encourage you to let that go.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, Joe, you can vouch, right?
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: Pastors are sinful human beings just like everybody else, and sometimes they have selfish visions or visions that don't line up with actually God's will, wouldn't you say?
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_02: There's definitely messed up visions, and I'm just thinking about like, you know, answering the question for all the people because sometimes pastors have visions that don't match up with the congregation in a whole lot of different settings.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's true.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's not always like somebody's doing something wrong or anything like that.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_02: But um Yeah, and like a lot of pastors have lofty visions, lofty goals, and I think that's okay.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: But if it's not lined up with the will of God and for God's glory, then it's sinful.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like is the three services so that more people can hear the pastor preach, or is the three services to is it kingdom-minded focused?
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: And that's not even for you to have to discern, but it's something for us to acknowledge here on the onset of this podcast is that pastors aren't perfect.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: And even though they may feel like they see this vision or have this, you know, maybe possible calling over their life, you don't really know if that's truly from the Lord and the Holy Spirit until you can look back and say, Yep, that was the Lord preparing me for it.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: And so I would never feel like pressured to, I don't know, feel like you have to match up or serve this vision, especially that one individual has, and especially when it profits their pride or their glory.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: I also would say this is part of like why I'm such a proud Presbyterian, um, is because this is the benefit of having a session that is equal with the pastor.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: And just the Presbyterian setup is this sometimes the session is actually way more powerful than the pastor.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there's nothing that like the pastor can kind of force on the church.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: I want to do this, this is what we're doing.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's a group decision, it's group voted, it's group decided.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's really beautiful, and that can be really helpful for setting, you know, people like you free from being like, Well, the pastor wants this, but I see this as what the church is doing.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the session would be able to be that middle ground for everybody, but that doesn't really help you in your situation.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_02: Right, yeah.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm trying to think.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: And not all Presbyterians are perfect either in their theology, I should say that as well.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_02: That's correct.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_02: That's correct.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, I mean, if the youth ministry is going well, the youth ministry is going well, you know, plow ahead.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_02: Should everyone now go to their pastor and say, hey, your vision doesn't line up?
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_02: No, I don't think so.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_02: That would cause a lot of problems.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_02: But there is there is a self-centered type vision, and there's a vision that's rooted in prayer and rooted in scripture and well thought out and well planned and then well executed if it's has a gospel-centered nature to it.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: It makes me kind of think of like the Bible nerds study Bible.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: I don't actually know if that's ever gonna happen.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: I don't actually ever know if I'll be able to play a part in a study Bible being published that you know we get to basically design, but I do know that we can pray for it and ask the Lord for it and that it's a good, God-glorifying desire.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: So I would encourage believers and anybody in leadership in the church wanting to see growth to hold their visions and their heart cries open-handedly, is like, Lord, if none of my plans happen, but you are glorified even more, am I gonna be at peace and so happy and satisfied?
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: Because if not, then our hearts are set on the wrong thing.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: But I think we've spent enough time on this, right?
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I love that question though.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_02: Like it really gets me thinking.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: Oh I love it.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_02: Why not?
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's a good question.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and then like if the youth ministry is going well, then that would also mean the vision needs to shift.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_02: And so if something, if a ministry is going well, then a vision needs to shift.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_02: So I would just I would almost encourage you guys to keep going forward with youth ministry if it's a possibility for you.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_02: And see and see where that goes.
• 10:05
  unknown: Yeah.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: Alright.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: So, what are some ways that we can build relationships with new believers without coming off as judgmental pastor?
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_02: Wait, with non-believers or new believers?
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: With new believers.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_02: So just strike a common interest with them, just connect with them on a real level, like actually get to know them, try to find out what they're interested in, and then find the common ground with their love for Jesus.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_02: So they're gonna be new to everything, and they're going to be excited about everything, and they're also gonna have a limited knowledge and understanding of different things in the Bible, probably.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_02: So just treat things with grace and and be excited with them, like come alongside of them and be excited and supportive with them and be patient because it's gonna take them a while to get different things.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so I would say to be patient with them and just focus on getting to know them on a real level.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_02: And the talk doesn't always have to be church stuff, it can be normal life stuff.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, more often than not, new believers feel alone, don't they?
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um they feel like alone.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: I remember as a new believer, I felt like I was the only person on fire for Christ, you know.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: And then also antinomialism is a real thing with new believers, so they're either gonna fall on the side of like grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, and abuse grace, or they're gonna fall on the side of legalism.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: And so if you fear coming off as legalistic to them, then they might be kind of leaning too hard on the grace aspect, or you might just be struggling with legalism, and I think that's important too, is like we have so much as like aged Christians to learn from new baby Christians, and we can profit so much from their fire, from their newness, from their childlike faith.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: And anyway, it's just a good thing to be asking this question.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, most new believers that I come in contact with are first go to like the legalistic side of things, and then they're reminded of grace after that.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_02: So you can I mean, if you're preaching grace into their lives, that's one way that that helps.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_02: That helps them not not feel judged or judgmental.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's just we have to be patient with new believers, but also constantly have that humility of like, what can I learn here?
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: You know, how can this sanctify me?
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: Having these really baby-like conversations with them about theology or the word of God.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_02: And it's exciting, it's like it's an exciting to interact with a new believer.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: This person has literally been brought back from the dead, and they are a new creation.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: It should be celebrated a whole lot more by the church than like, oh, they're a new baby Christian, uh, you know, roll your eyes.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like, this is actually a miracle standing right in front of us of the Lord's gracious loving kindness to redeem lost souls, so and encounter them with that praise and worship that it should be filled with.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_02: And the angels are rejoicing.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, okay.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_02: At every single person.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know why that means Do you ever sense your your sermons to not offend the audience so that people will stay at the church, Joseph?
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_02: I follow the text, I follow what the text is saying, and the Bible is offensive as of its itself.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_02: So I preach from what I find exegeting scripture.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_02: And sometimes that comes off harsh, sometimes it doesn't.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_02: It's more along the lines of So you I mean, sin is a reality in Scripture.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's it's there.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, preaching about sin I think is important.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_02: And then like, oh, what was I gonna say?
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like application, sometimes you've held back.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so once you get to know your congregation and get to know your people, you see the sin in their lives, and a lot of times you want to just address it head on from the pulpit.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_02: And there's times when that's good, and there's also times when that's r could be really harmful.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_02: So the goal is to communicate in love.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_02: You're drawing people unto the Father, and you want it to be loving.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes, as pastors, you can have sort of cynical hearts too.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_02: Some people who are living in sin and coming to church or their lives don't match up, and you and you're like, man, this text really fits so and so.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_02: So let me just, you know, hammer it home.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_02: But it doesn't always work that way, and the spirit is the one who moves in the hearts and lives.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_02: So it's important to come at it with with love and with sincerity, sincerity, and go from it from that approach rather than just like calling somebody out.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_02: So I preach from the text what the text says.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_02: I pray about the application a lot, and you know, on Thursday, I might be like, this person's really gonna hear it on Sunday, and then and then by Saturday, by Sunday morning, it's like, no, this needs to be softer, loving, yeah, softer.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: I would say if your pastor is not from your area, um, not from your culture, and he is calling you and your church, I'm assuming that you're a congregant, and maybe this is happening in your church, if your pastor is not from your area, not from your culture, and is just like leaning into y'all and hopefully done in love, I would say that that is like an amazing gift because when the pastor is not from your culture, not from your area, not from what you know to be normal, your pastor just even just moving in to your community is gonna be able to see y'all's sin so much better than you will.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: And so the gift and the love of having a pastor be like, Okay, you people struggle with this, and let me just preach a whole series on it, is actually such a gift that you would get from no one else in your community, and you would probably otherwise never be convicted of.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: And so I would add that in of like, it is actually it takes a lot of bravery as a pastor because I mean pastors' jobs are at like the uh I know a lot of people don't like whenever I call it a job for a pastor, but it is a job, it pays the pastor's bills.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but like pastors' jobs are at the what's the word I'm thinking of?
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like the grace and the approval of the session and the congregants a lot of the times.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: And so if the pastor is willingly making you uncomfortable, he's risking his job to preach to you the gospel of Jesus Christ.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: And that's very biblical, that's very Pauline, that's very exactly what we should be imitating in our own lives.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: If you go to a church and your toes are never stepped on, then if you go to church one Sunday and you don't feel convicted in some sort of way, that should raise a red flag.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: You should be like, ooh, that made me uncomfortable, or ooh, that challenged me in some sort of way.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like in an edifying way, I should say, not just uncomfortable because it was heresy.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: That's also a red flag, but that's a different type of red flag.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: I am reading The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren, and this section raised the question as to why God planned evil people.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_01: This is the section God prescribed every detail of your body, he deliberately chose your race, the color of your skin, your hair, and every other feature.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_01: He custom made your body just the way he wanted it.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: He also determined the natural talents you would possess and the uniqueness of your personality.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: So if God does determine the uniqueness of our personalities, why does he design evil personalities?
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: Joseph?
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, and this question, this great question, is from Enique Rossino.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, great question.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_02: So I think my dad, Patrick Wilmack, alludes to this some in the in his podcast.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_02: But it's so yeah, God designs you, he created you, you're created in his image, and that bears so much weight.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_02: The fact of evil is a result of the fall, it's a result of sin, it's a result of who humans are as a result of Adam and Eve's sin.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_02: So we are broken individuals, we're sinners, and that's how we're started out, apart from God's grace.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_02: So there's so yeah, there's badness in in the world, and it's not like who this person is because this person was first and foremost created in the image of God and has innate value.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but there are mean, mean, evil, evil people in the world, and it's a result of sin, it's a result of the fall, and it's it's awful.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_02: And then we would all be that way apart from God's grace, apart from God sending his son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins, so that we can be made new, so that we can be new creations, something that we can that we need to remind ourselves of every single day.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, God could have made us probably more like the angels.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like I mean, the angels did obviously have a level of free will, but God could have given us no free will and just forced us to worship him all the days of our lives, and um and yeah, no free will.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: But the Lord in his love and his wisdom gave us the garden and gave Adam and Eve the garden, and yet we and ourselves cannot choose goodness but fall to the temptations and the lure of sin time after time.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think we understand evil and sin the most when we look at our own evil and sin because we know it so well.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: And then it's also important to note that the enemy and his dominion has a big influence.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, when people let themselves go in sin and they celebrate their sin, sin just multiplies on top of multiplies.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: Think about a virus or um, you know, like a weed.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: It just grows, it grows faster and then faster and spreads even faster.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: That's evil.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: And so when we look at just pure, vile brokenness in this world, um, that is what I would point to is not only is it just sin nature, but it's sin nature glorified and amplified by the enemy himself.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: And that's something that should silence us, that should not not silence us like from oppressions, but like humble us and and make us solemn and just like aware.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: I think of yesterday morning I told Joseph this.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: We were on our way to school, and one of our children tends to be a negative Nancy, especially early in the mornings.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: And we do our catechism questions, we pray a lot, we we say all these wonderful things like thank you, Lord, for the sun, thank you, Lord for the air, thank you, Lord, for my breakfast, you know, just like lots of good things, and that's what we were doing in the moment.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: And my son was like, No, life is not good, uh, today's not a good day, the sun is not shining, no, no, no, no, no.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: And he was probably like maybe seeking attention or trying to be some kind of way, but I took it very seriously of like, dude, you're setting the tone for your entire day.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: Why would you make it negative?
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, you know, those are like thoughts that kind of make me think they're from the enemy, and he got just like really quiet, which as a mom kind of made me think, did I share this too early at too early of an age?
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: We didn't expose them like to that kind of thought of like the enemy is attacking you every single day until this summer at VBS, someone said that and they brought home a lot of questions, and we hadn't yet kind of addressed that with them because of maturity levels at the ages that they are.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: But sometimes that just naturally comes up in conversation with kids.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_01: It hadn't naturally come up with our kids, so we hadn't really exposed them to the idea of like everyday battle against the enemy.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_01: And so, anyway, he's new to this idea, and he was really kind of like, Whoa, my life and like what I say is important.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I think he kind of realized the severity of things and the importance, even though he's a five year old, you know, like he can take his life seriously and he can take what he says very seriously.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_02: And I think you're right because the very like for the first time ever I asked him how his day was when I picked him up at school.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: Mm-hmm.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: And he was like, it was good.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_02: It was a good day.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_02: That same afternoon, yeah.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_02: So I think it, you know, it hits somewhere.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: We have to do that with ourselves too.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: When we see evil, when we're tempted towards evil and sin.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, this past week I was really tempted towards sin in a specific way.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I just had to like call it out for what it was in my brain, instead of sympathize and go, Well, I'm just like super tempted.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like, but I just like really feel like doing that, you know, calling it out in my brain, being like, no, but that's sin.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: And sin is anything that breaks the law of God, which is catechism question that we do with our boys, and sin is vile and gross.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: Why would I delight in it?
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like when we can actually really think through this and not just be like, uh, I'm a victim to the temptation of sin.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: It just felt good.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: You know, whatever it is, I don't know.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: It it anyway, it it all goes together, and hopefully we kind of address your question.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: Not completely.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: We don't want to minimize it, it's a good question.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but ultimately we are, you know, limited human beings that don't have all the answers all the time.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: And why the Lord gave us free will and allowed Adam and Eve to fall is not ever gonna be like fully perfectly broken down this side of heaven, I don't think.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: But man, do I look forward to the webinars and the seminars that are gonna be held in heaven one day?
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: We can just sit there and we can be like, okay, wait, so Jesus, remember when he ate the fruit?
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: What kind of apple was it?
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: Or whatever it is.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: Now we can just talk about all the questions.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_02: Fate's gonna be in those webinars and seminars in heaven, and I'm gonna be frolicking in the field.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: All the Bible nerds with our journals and our Mr.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: Penn pens are gonna be sitting there taking notes.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: Speaking of Mr.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: Penn, this podcast is sponsored by Mr.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: Penn and their amazing line of Bible journaling pens, sticky notes, highlighters.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: They have the best supplies for marking in your Bible without it bleeding through or ruining your Bible page.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_02: I love Mr.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_02: Pen so much.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_02: I steal Faith's supplies all the time.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_02: And I love it, I really enjoy it.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: I bring a Bible tote bag to church every single Sunday, and it is just lined with like a rainbow spread of beautiful pens.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: And whenever anybody needs a pen or a highlighter, they know who to ask, and my boys use them as coloring.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm so grateful to work with such an amazing brand.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, there are I said this last time, but every person that I've interacted with from the Mr.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: Pen brand has been a Christian, pastors' wives, even, and I'm so encouraged to work with a brand.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I could go sponsor and work with Crayola or Mildliners or whatever else, but they are not Christians that are gonna be standing hand in hand with me one day in heaven.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm so grateful that brands like Mr.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: Pen exist, where they're wanting to just make products for people to go further in their worship and their study of the word.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_01: There's no greater cause to invest in than for us to know the word of God because we claim to believe it, right?
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: So let's study it and let's be in it with our Mr.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: Pen highlighters.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I love it.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_01: Not only they're like also really pretty, are they not?
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I like, yeah, they are.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_01: The colors, they all look to good together.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that's like all I use these days whenever I'm writing in my Bible.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_02: I'm known for like accidentally sealing pens, but Mr.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_02: Pen, I would it would be not an accident.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_02: Just take the Mr.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_02: Pen pen.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_01: He is the worst.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like waiters and waitresses when they ask for your signature, Joe will like put it in his pocket and they're like, oh, that's me, that's mine.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, all that to say, you can seal my Mr.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_01: Pen pens because they are actually the best.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_01: You need them you need them for your Bible notes.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: Make sure to check out Mr.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_01: Pen.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: You can find them on Amazon.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_01: I'll also have them linked down below in the show notes in the description box.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_01: And thank you so much to Mr.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_01: Pen, not only for making the best highlighters for our Bibles and pens and doodads, but also for sponsoring this podcast.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the next question.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: Ooh, ooh, okay, Bible First and Foremost asks: How do you deal with people who regularly attend church but choose not to be members?
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_01: And along the same vein, what do you think people who also attend regularly and ask about membership but cannot affirm the church's statements of faith?
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_02: Such a good question.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_02: So I've been to churches before where membership like really matters and almost wait, wait, I have to hang on a second.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_02: I don't want to say this.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_02: It's harder to get people to commit these days for membership.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's just less of a tally sort of thing.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_02: And there's a lot of congregations who where membership is important, and it's also important for how the church is doing.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_02: It it bolsters the pastor's confidence and self-esteem, and that can be sinful and also not sinful.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_02: But like membership is good in terms of a growing church.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_02: It's also helpful to keep the person accountable and in the fellowship.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_02: And so there's ways in which you want to become a member of a church because it does hold you accountable, it does help you in terms of growth, in terms of being a part of a body.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_02: And so I would encourage you, if you're not a member of the church, to seek out membership in your church.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_02: The second part of the question is if a member can affirm the statements of faith, I guess I'd want to know what statement of faith your church has and owns and how specific it is, because if it's like the basic doctrines of the faith, like if it's like Apostles' Creed kind of stuff, like Christ's death and resurrection, if it's you know, the virgin birth, if it's if it's Christ's atonement on the cross, if it's his once for all sacrifice, justification by faith alone, by grace alone, through Christ alone.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_02: You know, if it's those kind of statements, then I mean that's that's so val like that that's that's it.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, like you can't actually be labeled a Christian if you don't believe those things really, truly.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_02: Like, yeah, that's the that's the basis.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um and so like if your church has a statement of faith like that, I would deeply care for the person's spiritual health and well-being and and look for ways to encourage them and and have them um taught and to teach them and to have them dig deeper in their understanding of the Bible.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_02: And then if your church has statements of faith where they have to be baptized a certain way, if they uh have to be Arminian, if they have to be reformed, if they have to be charismatic.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_02: Charismatic to join the church, or I mean, just like yeah, if you have to speak in tongues, if you have to, sorry, that might be too hot of a topic, but if you have to anything like that.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, what if your statement of faith is to join the church is very specific and very lengthy, then I would look at your church's statement of faith.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_02: But if it's in terms of like your statement of faith to join the church needs to be a central doctrine to be a Christian, to be a believer.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_02: And so if they can affirm that, then they should join the church, and if they can't affirm that, then you should almost treat them as a non-believer.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, it's a it's a great opportunity to disciple them and what it truly means to be a Christian, because clearly they want to worship and be with you guys as a Christian, but if they can't affirm the basic essentials of the Christian faith, then they probably don't truly understand the Christian faith and what a joy it is to explain those things and have the opportunity to explain it to somebody with open ears.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think we need to acknowledge that.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like if somebody wants to be a member or even just not be a member and hang out in your sanctuary every single Sunday during your service hours, that in and of itself is leaps and bounds ahead of just raw evangelism to our Muslim neighbors across the street, you know.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_01: So there's something to be glorified and like to glorify God over here, and there's something to be celebrated.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_01: You already have such a uh ground.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_02: I think I like I think I overstepped by saying, like, treat them as a non-Christian or they might need more evangelizing because they are seeking to be in church, they are seeking to worship God.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_02: So I mean that speaks in and of itself, and I guess the spirit's work in their life.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_01: So But there is those kind of things here where it's like, well, do you just want to be a part of a community, you know?
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_01: Because sometimes you get people that don't have family, that don't have friends, and they just want to not be alone, you know, they want to have, and that's amazing to that we get to serve in that way, but there's still important distinctions if you're gonna be a Christian that you have to believe to be a Christian, you know?
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_01: And so we we want to honor the distinctions of the faith because they are that important.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_01: If we don't want to minimize the fact that we believe something that literally changed all of human history, the res the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is huge, and we don't want to minimize that just to be like, yeah, yeah, we'll welcome you in, we'll call you a member, you know, and I'm like, I'm like, that's still like super big, and we want our members to be affirming that so that they can take um communion and not be, what's the phrase, um, bringing judgment on themselves?
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_02: Eating drinking judgment on themselves.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_01: So that they can disciple a believer one day, so that they can lead in Sunday school or volunteer in nursery or all the things.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, if you don't believe the essentials of the faith, maybe the Holy Spirit's working on you to believe those things and to respond in faith.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_01: But sorry, there's a car that just pulled up to our house.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_01: But you can't truly like disciple somebody in the faith if those aren't like if you don't if you don't believe those things.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it I hate to draw these lines.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we probably sound super harsh to somebody watching or listening right now, but it is just like so important and so life-changing what we claim to believe, and we don't want to minimize that and just throw around membership like it's no big deal.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like to f to be a member of the church has these things that follow, like communion, like baptism, like discipleship, like leadership, like all the things.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_01: And we don't want to minimize the like actual importance of communion and how important that is.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_01: We talk about all this stuff in theology bootcamp, my course walking you through all the stuff in theology, like differences in denominations and theology and salvation, like all the stuff.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_01: I don't try and tell you what to believe, but explain to you why people believe different things and why there is debate so that you can make up your own mind.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_01: If you want to check out theology bootcamp, it is linked down below, and it is the follow-up course to Bible Study Bootcamp.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_01: So I do need to say that so that people don't just go buy theology bootcamp and then have to buy Bible study bootcamp.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_01: But anyway, all of that is linked down below.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_01: I would love to walk you through that, and you can use code podcast for 25% off.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_01: Alright, I think we have time for one more question.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_01: Alright, here's a tough one from Stephanie Castro.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_01: My boyfriend is a widower, his late wife was a Catholic.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_01: If we wind up married in our non-denominational, will he be with me in heaven or her?
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_01: Are we or are we all just together in heaven?
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_01: Ooh, this was a question that Jas answered in the New Testament.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, so uh we will not be married in heaven.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we won't have our same spouses.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_02: So this helps sort of answer the question for a lot of people who are widowers or who are widowers remarrying or have multiple husbands and wives.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, which what reference is that?
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_01: Matthew 22, 30.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, so it was towards the end.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_01: We'll be like the angels.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_01: No, we won't be married.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_02: But I think you know, Faith and I will still have a deep connection in heaven.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_01: By then he will definitely be sick of me and will not want to sta share the same bedroom with me anyway.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_01: So it's the Lord was thinking of Joseph when he said this.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_02: No, it's actually quite sad to think about, but it's in terms of we'll all be worshiping and praising God on the same level, and you know, that's what it's gonna be about.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_01: I think of our single brothers and sisters who experience a divide um or they feel alone when they're worshiping in the church.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_01: They feel like they don't belong in ministries because they're not married with kids, they feel like they don't belong anywhere, they think feel like they only belong at a singles ministry, but then the singles ministry is just trying to get them married off.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I hear these stories and it breaks my heart because that's like the opposite of heaven-bound.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_01: That is the opposite of what heaven will look like.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_01: We'll all be singletons, right?
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_01: And it won't matter at all about us because we will be the most consumed with God's glory and his worship than we can even imagine, and we'll just be consumed with shouting his praises and it at the utmost joy that you can imagine.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_01: Like the best times in your life that you've ever experienced where you had like the most fullest best feeling and joy in life, that is what it's gonna feel like, and you're just consumed with it seeing his praises.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_01: And so, yeah, it definitely doesn't matter if you're married or not, that's just totally not the focus there in heaven.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I pray that churches get that kind of same mindset on this side of heaven, or else we're just not being heaven-bound on the topic, and we're not being good representatives of the hope and the glory that awaits us in heaven.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_02: The church is recently helping a lot more with single ministry in terms of you and your singleness and not just trying to reach out and find a partner as fast as you can, but actually, you know, seeing the heavenly fruit of that and embracing that.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_02: And in terms of like you love God first, and then your spouse, then your kids, and everybody else, you know, in heaven, it's you love God first and you love others, and it's that's how it's gonna be.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_01: Alright, Joseph.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_01: Let's there's a couple fast ones.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_01: You want to do a couple fast ones?
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_01: Do we really have free will?
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_01: This question comes from Jules.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_01: I'm thinking here of Pharaoh and Saul, where God hardened their hearts.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_01: But there's also other examples in the Bible, and she acknowledges that.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_01: Do we truly have free will, Joe?
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, we do have free will, and we even as believers have more free will than the non-believer.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_02: Because once you're a Christian, you have the freedom to to worship, to love, to serve Christ.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_02: And as a non-believer, you're in bondage, you're enslaved to sin, the Bible talks about.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_02: So being a believer, you actually have more free will, you actually have more freedom than than a non-believer.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_02: And in some ways, we still like we we fight temptation, and yeah.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_01: I think it, I mean, it's she's acknowledging a really good point though.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_01: Those passages are tricky for our theology of free will.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_01: I talk all about this in theology boot camp, not to plug it again, but those are like you're wrestling in the right directions and you're acknowledging like really important things, which is really good.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_02: God hardened Ferris Heart on Romans 9.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the spirit was on Saul, Spirit left Saul.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_02: And then Jacob I loved, Esau hated, Romans 9.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, there's there's things like that to wrestle with.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_01: But it's built off of our theology of other things, which is why I'm pointing you to theology boot camp because in that course I spend, I don't know, probably like a hundred hours unpacking all of these different things and how they're all interconnected.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_01: So it's kind of hard to just answer one off really quickly, but the short answer is yes, but we still acknowledge those passages, do seem to challenge it.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_01: Alright, how do I truly trust his plan for me?
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_01: This comes from Brianna.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_01: I feel never satisfied with my career.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_01: I'm nanny, and for some reason I feel like I'm never good enough.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_01: I constantly put myself down.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_01: Why is this?
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_01: I pray for God to take this feeling away, but basically, how does she trust God's plan?
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_02: Faith, will you get me started while I think a little bit more on this one?
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, I think it's really easy for us to live our lives with this expectation that as believers we're supposed to always be comfortable and feel this sense of like I'm supposed to be drinking out of this cup right now, and I totally know that for sure.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_01: I'm supposed to be sitting in this chair right now, and I totally know that for sure.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_01: I'm supposed to be filming this podcast right now for sure.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and if I I would be lying to you if I was to say that I felt that way about every aspect of my life.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_01: Even this podcast, I told Joe after I posted my last podcast, I was like, I don't know, should I have added this onto my workload?
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I don't know if it's gonna have this, I don't know if it's gonna be that fruitful.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_01: And then of course when I read y'all's comments and good feedback, then I feel a little bit more encouraged.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_01: But there's an aspect to which even after you've entrusted your entire life to Christ, there's still that aspect where you have to renew that trust in him.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_01: Of I trust you in this season, I trust you even with my sin again.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_01: I trust you again, Lord, I trust you again, Lord.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_01: And we see that um, I think about Psalm 25, where David is trusting the Lord and repenting of sin, and we see him repeat it in verses 7, verses 11, I think again in 18, and he's just constantly coming back to you, and forgive me, Lord, and Lord, I trust you, Lord, and constantly returning to this.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_01: That is the Christian life, is Lord, even when I'm uncomfortable at my job, Lord, even when I don't feel like you're here with me in this season or in this aspect, I trust that you've led me to this point and to wrestle with the tension of why don't I feel you at my job?
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_01: Why do I not feel like you're calling me to this?
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what we're called to is to wrestle with, well, maybe I'm not in the best career for my giftings, or maybe I'm not actually called to a podcast or whatever it is.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, don't don't take that too literally.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we still got all this whole season, and Lord willing, season three, but y'all get what I'm talking about.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_01: Is like, I think it's actually good that you're asking this question, Brianna, because we should be re-evaluating every aspect of our lives over and over and over again consistently in order to be fully surrendered to the Lord.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, self-evaluation for sure.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then trusting the big picture, trusting the big plan.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_02: I'm taking it one day at a time and trusting the Lord.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_01: Other people would probably say, like, well, you don't know what the Lord is protecting you from.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_01: You could be, you know, working at this job and it would be this much more miserable, or he's protecting you from the I don't love that approach because it doesn't really comfort you in the moment.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_01: The ultimate comfort for you to today in this moment and trusting God's plan for your life is Romans 8, 38 through 39.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_01: Nothing can separate you from the love that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_01: Nothing can take you away, nothing can take you out of his will.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_01: He's got you.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_01: You didn't put yourself in his will and his plan.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_01: He's got you, and he's directing you even through your very question today.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_01: So hopefully that comforts you.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_01: All right, one more question.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_01: Because I know Joe's leading a Bible study for my patrons in an hour and a half.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm working him like a dog today.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_01: How do you know you were called, Joseph?
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, called in terms of ministry, I assume.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_01: She literally just typed how do you know you were called and left it like that.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, great question.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_02: So you look at the ways in which God works in your life, um, the ways in which God led me to that point to decide my major in biblical and theological studies in college, to confirm that throughout my studies, through learning and growing.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_02: And it's not only like it is an inward calling of the Lord, but it's also external in terms of people in your life, people in your church, your community saying, Hey, I see this in you.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, I see that you could be in leadership.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_02: Not just one person, but several people, multiple people who know you for who you are, um, and can say that you you have a calling that you could see them and that you they could see you in church leadership.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_02: To give more more detail, um, I graduated, was graduating from high school, and the Lord put it on my heart to pursue ministry.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_02: I couldn't see myself doing anything else.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_02: And so I picked my major, I stuck with it, and ever since then the Lord has just been confirming it through his calling in my life, through the church, through people, through interactions.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, right out of college, I think you were the only person that we graduated with that immediately had a call to ministry.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_01: You immediately got a full ride to seminary.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_01: The Lord has like definitely carried him from job to job, church to church, making it very clear, like that is the only way.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_01: Even when we before we moved on here, like I was questioning his call, if I'm gonna be honest with you guys.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_01: As a wife, it's like, you know, are are we really going through all of this pain and heartbreak or church or whatever, you know, maybe the Lord just continually confirms, reaffirms, makes it clear over your life, and it's beautiful to watch as your wife.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so I have like a like a one-track mind, and the Lord just gives me like you know one thing at a time, and it's really just been like that from the beginning, and it I have a simple mind, so it works out well.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Joseph, thank you so much for gracing the podcast listeners.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, we should give them a name.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_01: For gracing the um potties, I don't know.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that sounds like potty, doesn't it?
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_01: Gracing our okay, everybody leave a comment if you're watching this on YouTube um on what we should name the podcast listeners.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_01: But thank you for being here and like gracing them with your presence and answering some more questions.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'm I'm happy to be here.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_01: Sorry for my you know slow thinking and slow words and I mean they're probably like he actually breathes in between his words, unlike faith.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_01: You know how many times I get comments, slow down.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, guys, thank you so much, and we look forward to seeing you next week.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_01: We have some really exciting conversations that lie ahead in this season.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'm very excited to share them with you all.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_01: Make sure you're subscribed, review this podcast on your favorite streaming services, and share with a friend who might enjoy some of these questions, maybe has even asked you these questions.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll see you all next week.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_01: Bye guys.
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_02: Bye, thanks.