Latest / The Daily Ripples Podcast / August 31 – Freely Received, Freely Given

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August 31 – Freely Received, Freely Given · The Daily Ripples Podcast

• 0:03
  Welcome back, everybody, to the Daily Ripples podcast.
• 0:07
  I'm Pastor Mike, and I have, y'all aren't going to believe who I've got here with me today.
• 0:12
  Sir, would you like to introduce yourself?
• 0:14
  Hey guys, my name's Corey.
• 0:16
  This is like one of my 1st time being on here.
• 0:19
  I'm really grateful for the opportunity to do this with you guys.
• 0:22
  Thank you.
• 0:23
  And hopefully he'll speak up a little bit louder as we move along.
• 0:26
  He's a he's a long time listener, 1st time caller.
• 0:30
  He might say.
• 0:31
  Anyway, let's jump right in.
• 0:33
  Our devotional for today, August 31st.
• 0:36
  It's titled freely received, freely given, The Stone.
• 0:40
  The gifts God gives me are meant to be shared, not stored away for myself alone.
• 0:46
  Ripple one is practical.
• 0:48
  Today, I will offer help without calculating what I might receive in return.
• 0:52
  Some of the most meaningful acts of service cannot be measured in dollars or recognition.
• 0:57
  What was freely given to me can be freely shared with others.
• 1:00
  Ripple 2 is spiritual.
• 1:02
  As I get freely what I have freely received, the Holy Spirit moves through ordinary people, including me, to bring hope, encouragement, and healing.
• 1:10
  The Father pours his grace into my life as a gift, and Jesus freely gave himself for the sake of others.
• 1:16
  Of course, our prayer will be at the end.
• 1:18
  But, you know, Corey, when I, uh, I don't know what I was thinking when I wrote this one, but when I was reading it again, especially for today, I thought back to, you know, one of the more famous parables, you know, in the gospels of Jesus.
• 1:34
  And I've actually, I think I've read the whole thing on this podcast before and don't ask me to remember what day or which episode, but it comes from Matthew 25.
• 1:43
  And that was the parable of the tennis.
• 1:45
  Now, do you remember the parable of the tenants or the parable of the talents?
• 1:49
  Sorry, not tenants, but talents?
• 1:51
  Well, I swear this, um, you know, this manager, this owner, you know, he was going a businessman, he was, he was going and traveling and he left, you know, some money with some of his servants.
• 2:03
  Well, and one of the servants, you know, they doubled the money, and I'm paraphrasing here, but it's like one of the servants doubled the money, invested it well.
• 2:11
  Another one also increased what he was given, but then the 3rd one, you know, he buried it because he didn't want to lose any of the money.
• 2:18
  So he took what he'd been left with or entrusted with, and he buried it.
• 2:21
  And, you know, the other 2 who had increased, you know, in amount, what they had been given, they invested it wisely, they grew, um, their gifts, and he, that's where the, the, the verses in the Bible come in where the master said, well done, my good and faithful servant.
• 2:38
  You know, that we use that a lot.
• 2:39
  And so the well done, my good and faithful servant comes in the parable where the people who were doing well are the people who were using what they had been given and using it in such a way that its increase was, you know, off the charts, basically.
• 2:53
  And so that really spoke to me about, you know, the gifts that God gives me that are meant to be shared and not stored away for myself alone.
• 3:01
  You know, it says that the man who buried the, the talents was cast away into the utter darkness, you know, because he didn't, he didn't take care of what he was given.
• 3:10
  And for me, in terms of the life of faith, what that means is that I can't, you know, scripture has all these other references too about, you know, keeping your light under a bushel, you know, and all those kind of things and saying, you know, let your light so shine before others, um, so that they may, you know, see your works and glorify God.
• 3:28
  And really, that's the important part of it, is that it's all done to glorify God or to my higher power.
• 3:34
  And in terms specifically of the rooms of recovery, how ungrateful would I be to just sit with what I was given and not open my mouth?
• 3:44
  And Corey, I'm about to turn it over to you and so help me.
• 3:47
  God, if you start talking about herpes again today.
• 3:49
  But anyway, Corey, what you got for us?
• 3:51
  Um, thank you.
• 3:54
  Says the gifts God gives me are meant to be shared, not stored away for myself to learn.
• 4:01
  And, you know, I was talking about it a little bit earlier with some people and, you know, so I look at it like this, you know, I've been in this revolving door for a long time. And, you know, the one thing that I didn't do was, you know, the 1st thing I did, I was apologize.
• 4:22
  Like 1st thing in the morning, I woke up and if she had my phone, seeing the text messages to another person, right, I'm so sorry.
• 4:30
  I'll never do this again.
• 4:32
  And, you know, for another 24, 48 hours, I didn't do that again.
• 4:39
  But then she came back.
• 4:41
  And then I got what I wanted.
• 4:43
  And then I did it again. And I did it again.
• 4:46
  And I was, uh, I was thinking about this a little bit because, like, you know, I like to blame alcohol on my selfish ex.
• 4:54
  Yeah.
• 4:54
  I have to blame that.
• 4:56
  And then I think about during the day, though.
• 4:58
  Before I ever took a drink while I was at work, was I not setting that appointment up for that night without the alcohol in my system?
• 5:09
  Yeah, because I mean, I, and yeah, so I can't always blame it on, oh, it was because I was drunk.
• 5:15
  No, it was because I'm selfish, self-centered, and that's the root.
• 5:18
  troubles.
• 5:19
  And so that's the root of my troubles and we're all the way on page 62 of the root of my troubles.
• 5:24
  It might not be the root of your troubles, but it is the mine.
• 5:27
  Um, yeah, so what's the opposite of that?
• 5:31
  It's giving.
• 5:32
  And Matthew 108, which is referenced twice in the 12 and 12.
• 5:38
  Oh, yeah.
• 5:40
  It says in page 168 of the 12 and 12 and it's different in everybody's Bible, but it says the same thing in the Bible as it does in here, and that's an interesting correlation, though, like, you know, not saying that the Bible's in the literature, but whatever.
• 5:53
  Except the way it is.
• 5:57
  It says a 168.
• 6:00
  It says, we have gained some understanding of the ancient words.
• 6:05
  Freely you have received freely get.
• 6:09
  And it says that twice, and so like, I think about,
• 6:15
  Me and my sponsor were talking the other day and man, it usually goes like this when I take it someone through the stems.
• 6:21
  We do a whole bunch of reading for 5 to 6 weeks.
• 6:25
  We get to the 4th step.
• 6:28
  Week later, give them a call.
• 6:32
  like, hey, where you at?
• 6:33
  And they're like, man, you know, I've just been working.
• 6:37
  Me too.
• 6:39
  I'm on everything except the 4th step.
• 6:41
  Right, yes.
• 6:41
  Everything except that. I've just been working and, um, I, you know, I like thinking about that because, like, I sat down with you for 6 weeks.
• 6:52
  We read, and I'm working too.
• 6:55
  I got family and kid and all this stuff.
• 6:58
  And but you're busy now.
• 7:01
  Yeah.
• 7:02
  And so I think, you know, and my sponsor's a little bit, like, so many people, for some reason, I don't know what it is or why the world is like this, but so many people, it seems like the one week when they're supposed to do their 4th step, they just are so busy, you know?
• 7:15
  And I'll say that jokingly because, I mean, the 4th step is where people get stuck.
• 7:21
  I think it's almost our fault.
• 7:23
  You know, if I look at it and overthink it sometimes.
• 7:26
  Well, they go into meetings and they hear somebody else say, man, it took me a long time. Yeah, in my force, because, you know, if I when I come in completely hopeless, like I come up to this thing and I don't hear anybody, you know, wagging on this and doing this.
• 7:42
  But that gives them a way out.
• 7:45
  Yeah, and what people are really saying, because it was true for me, Corey, for sure, is that it took me so long to get the willingness to start my 4th step.
• 7:55
  Once I started my 4th step, it was not, it didn't take a week.
• 7:59
  No, you know, because I sat down and did it.
• 8:01
  Well, you know, I hear people talking about it all the time and, yeah, I don't talk about my balking on the 4 step.
• 8:09
  I don't think it does any good.
• 8:10
  Yeah, because I get dudes that come in.
• 8:13
  And, you know, it's really cool when they're treating it.
• 8:16
  I had a good experience with a guy not too long ago.
• 8:20
  But, you know, he never really went to meetings where he heard that stuff.
• 8:24
  He didn't hear that, hey, because if you give me a way out, other than the program at hand.
• 8:33
  I'm going to take that way out because I've been taking it.
• 8:36
  I've been taking the other route my whole life, the easier way, right?
• 8:40
  Without doing this, but if I hear someone else do it.
• 8:42
  So I think, you know, over time, we've kind of done a disservice of this 4 set because we make it into be something that is known.
• 8:48
  I think for me, I'm actually, uh, The next dude that I take through the work, I'm going to go back through another one.
• 8:55
  I'm gonna go, because, man, I'll grab 10, 15 different things that might have made me upset or, you know, kind of, you know, you know, good example was the other night, right?
• 9:06
  The other night I did a talk.
• 9:07
  Yeah.
• 9:09
  And I've been thinking about it since then.
• 9:11
  And this dude came up to me and I told you about it, but you know, he goes, you know, I've been, uh, this is the best talk I've probably gave him to.
• 9:21
  I felt really good about it.
• 9:22
  I sat down, 120 people there.
• 9:24
  I sit down, even, you know, my mom's there.
• 9:29
  And after the thing, the 1st person that comes up to me that says is, I've been around this deal for 45 years and heard a lot of speakers.
• 9:39
  And I just want to let you know, you're not done drinking yet.
• 9:44
  And like, that just twisted me up.
• 9:48
  You know what I mean?
• 9:49
  Yeah, yeah.
• 9:50
  Or so like, and I do your skin.
• 9:52
  I've never met this dude, right?
• 9:54
  Never met this dude.
• 9:56
  That's what a resentment to someone like me does.
• 9:58
  Yeah, I sit with it.
• 10:00
  I've sat and talked, you know, 10 15 people.
• 10:03
  That little conversation right there has cost me 3 minutes times 15 probably.
• 10:09
  So we're like 45 minutes of miles apart. So far.
• 10:12
  We're not even done with a week, yeah.
• 10:14
  Hit the hook.
• 10:15
  Yeah, and it's like, that's right.
• 10:17
  It's only Monday.
• 10:18
  Yeah, yeah, we do this.
• 10:21
  But, you know, it's it's an interesting deal, right?
• 10:24
  Because, like, but, you know, I'll talk about this and I really enjoy the way, uh, Joe Hall, you know, broke this down.
• 10:32
  He's like, you know, if 2 frogs are sitting on a log, right?
• 10:37
  And both decide to jump.
• 10:39
  How many frogs are still in the long, right?
• 10:42
  Two frogs, because they just made a decision.
• 10:45
  They didn't they didn't jump.
• 10:46
  Same thing with the cow on the pick.
• 10:49
  I mean the chicken and the pig, right?
• 10:50
  They're walking down the road, and the chicken looks of the pig, because there's a son that says help feed the poor, and the chicken says to the pig, hey, we should help feed him.
• 10:59
  The pig says, how?
• 11:00
  And the chicken says we should feed them eggs and ham.
• 11:03
  And the pig goes, well, that's just a decision for you, but a commitment for me.
• 11:08
  And the commitment in alcohol synonymous.
• 11:11
  It talks about on page 64 is though our decision was a vital and crucial step, and that's a decision.
• 11:17
  That decision that I'm never going to cheat on her again.
• 11:19
  that I'm never going to do this again.
• 11:21
  I'm sorry.
• 11:22
  I made a lot of decisions.
• 11:25
  It says their decision was a vital and crucial step.
• 11:28
  And it's a 3rd step decision, but you know, giving myself to try something different.
• 11:32
  It could have little permanent effect.
• 11:35
  And, you know, if you don't want this to be permanent, that's fine too.
• 11:37
  Unless followed by strenuous, I have to face and be where other things in ourselves which have been blocking us.
• 11:43
  And it doesn't say blocking us, but in another book I have blocking us from God.
• 11:47
  Because, you know, the great reality is deep down within, right?
• 11:51
  If all this stuff is just shoved down there.
• 11:54
  and the great realities down there too.
• 11:56
  Well, how am I going to be able to feel and see and be able to understand this thing that I can't even feel and see or I can't see at least?
• 12:02
  Yeah.
• 12:03
  I don't know.
• 12:03
  That's where I would...
• 12:04
  You've been covering it up for so long.
• 12:06
  You know, that kind of thing with everything else, you know, in your life.
• 12:10
  It's almost like, um, you know, ultimately, we've all been given this great gift of this one life that we have, you know, and we were talking just in a, in a meeting recently about, um, you know, working with other people, you know, and in the context of, you know, alcoholism and addiction.
• 12:32
  Of course, we're talking about working with fellow alcoholics or addicts, but even I can get the sense of, you know, spiritual fulfillment or I can experience God's love and grace as well, even when I'm doing, you know, work in the church, you know, working with people there.
• 12:46
  You know, it's still, um, to use the way you say it a lot, Corey, still helping God's kids, you know, uh, because God's kids come in all shapes and sizes and in every kind of place.
• 12:56
  And um, What, if I did not, go out and try to, you know, work and help other people, whether it's in recovery or whether it's in, you know, because I've been called to do it, you know, in, in, in the life of faith as well, obviously.
• 13:14
  But if I weren't doing those things, I would still be stuck in self so much. You know, I would still be driven by fears, driven by insecurities, trying to prove myself to everybody all the time, all those things that were all of my character defects that were that were flared up, you know, whenever I was actively drinking for sure.
• 13:38
  And it even relates to me because, I mean, I've also had to recover not only from, you know, my alcoholism, but I've had to recover over time from, you know, my period of, of, you know, atheism and choosing that, you know, and trying to go down that path.
• 13:52
  And so, but in both cases, you know, what I have today is what, you know, God has given me.
• 13:58
  And if I just stored that away, like a squirrel in a tree and didn't, you know, share that with anybody today, then that would be so ungrateful. And all I know is that, you know, in in 2nd Corinthians 9 and 7, you know, we read that God loves a cheerful giver.
• 14:16
  you know?
• 14:17
  And so when I'm giving to others, I also got to remember not to do it, you know, out of some sense of dower, duty, and things of that nature, but also sharing with others in joy. Because If people were giving me, this program or giving me this faith and everything that they said about it seemed like a duty or heavy or it wasn't any fun.
• 14:37
  Well, I'd never done it.
• 14:39
  I needed to see joy in others so that I could experience that joy again myself.
• 14:43
  And that's one of the many things that I've been given by the program.
• 14:46
  You know, you put in here, today I'll offer help without calculating what I might receive in return.
• 14:53
  And I kind of talked about this on the last Saturday one, right?
• 14:58
  You know, I was thinking about that and I almost could come to an argument of that.
• 15:02
  Because, you know, what if, no, not what if, is God uses me in every way, which comes to me in my life? And so say I'm, say I'm overweight.
• 15:17
  Well, go to the gym.
• 15:18
  Well, over time, I learned to enjoy the gym.
• 15:21
  Then I'll learn to help other people through that, right?
• 15:24
  You know, same way with getting sober, you know, say my wife's about to leave me.
• 15:30
  Right?
• 15:31
  Well, I need to, I need to do the same, anything, da da da da.
• 15:35
  Yeah, yeah.
• 15:35
  So maybe it's not about how I'm getting in the beginning.
• 15:41
  Oh, in the beginning for sure.
• 15:42
  Right.
• 15:43
  Yeah.
• 15:43
  Because it's just that I'm giving.
• 15:45
  And, you know, it says, you know, during the 1st days of convalescence, we were talking about it.
• 15:50
  Yeah, yeah.
• 15:51
  I was just thinking about it meeting rooms and people who come in or the next meeting they come to, everybody's like, hey, why don't you make the coffee?
• 15:56
  You know, just to get people active.
• 15:59
  Yeah, yeah.
• 15:59
  And maybe that coffee, so that dude can have some free coffee, right?
• 16:02
  Yeah, who knows?
• 16:03
  Right?
• 16:03
  But he's doing it.
• 16:04
  Right.
• 16:05
  And so is all, and then when you start getting the feeling, because there's an effect, given, too, yes, freely, you, you know what I mean?
• 16:13
  Like, I get something out of giving, and it's, man, I'm not thinking about me anymore.
• 16:18
  Yeah, that's been the biggest problem my whole life is I've been thinking about me.
• 16:23
  I don't know how to shut it down.
• 16:25
  And so giving to others is the way I shut it down.
• 16:29
  Drinking was my other solution though, right?
• 16:31
  Does it shut it down too?
• 16:32
  Sure.
• 16:33
  And now I have this solution where I'm helping others and getting out of myself and not going through this crazy thing.
• 16:39
  And I think the easiest way, if like you're really looking for, if someone's looking for, you know, to find a way to go help someone, start in your home.
• 16:47
  Yeah, go do the dishes.
• 16:49
  And you know, because that's in my home.
• 16:52
  And then in my 2nd place is my occupation, could be of service there and quit looking at it as a job.
• 16:58
  Or let me guess.
• 16:59
  The 3rd place is probably your affairs.
• 17:01
  Right.
• 17:02
  I think it's in the book somewhere, isn't it?
• 17:05
  Yeah, you know, and the cool thing is if thing affairs start turning into home because these people like start becoming family, right?
• 17:12
  Yeah, yeah.
• 17:13
  And that's a really cool deal too.
• 17:14
  Yeah, it is.
• 17:15
  So, that's all I got, buddy.
• 17:17
  Awesome.
• 17:18
  Well, our prayer for today is Father God, thank you for the gifts you have freely given me through your Holy Spirit, help me share them generously with others, shape my life through the example of Jesus.
• 17:30
  Amen.