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144. Freedom To Find Hope - A Special Hurricane Update · 4-Freedom Podcast

0:00
I do not mean to be mean. I do mean to be mad.
0:05
Those that. Criticize this kind of
0:07
preaching. They don't like authority.
0:09
If you ain't got the King James, you ain't got, hey, you don't
0:12
have a King James, you don't have a Bible.
0:18
I'll be surprised. Son, don't go to sleep while I'm
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talking. Hey, hey, hey.
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Don't. Don't you lay your head back.
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I'm. I'm important.
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I'm somebody. I love you.
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You know I love you. Have I convinced you I love you?
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Yeah. You better say.
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You better nod your head Yes. Sorry.
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Come on, put it out there. All right?
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You stay awake and you listen to me.
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I still believe if you're cold in hell.
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Before I get my family for a moment, I'm a preacher.
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When you got dressed today, you dressed deity.
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This is the Four Freedom Podcast, a podcast that is part
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of the RFP Network that seeks to bring freedom in Christ from the
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spiritual abuse of legalism. And so fundamentalism is
1:20
designed to unpack the idea of authority from Scripture.
1:24
The problem with that is that that's not the defining
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principle in Scripture. It is a part of description.
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But the defining principle in Scripture is love.
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I found my freedom. In you.
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I found a toy. I can't lose.
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And thank God it's true, you wrapped your arms around me and
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heaven broke through from. The moment she.
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Found me. I found my freedom in you.
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Welcome to the Four Freedom podcast.
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This podcast exists to bring the freedom of the gospel for
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everyday Christians with everyday issues.
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Now here are your host, James Seyfried and Brett Mark.
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Welcome back to the Four Freedom Podcast.
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Thank you for joining us today. In today's episode, we've got a
2:42
great episode planned for you. We've got we're in our series on
2:46
the the church and we are looking forward to that.
2:51
James, we've had a lot of things go on in the past week or so.
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Hurricane Helene has come in and it's kind of devastated.
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You're kind of part of the country and you're really close
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to it. You're like an hour away from
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it. And so I kind of want to, we
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talked a little bit before the episode, but tell me what's
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going on up there? What's what?
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What's what's it like so close to the devastation up there?
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Yeah, Brett, we are about an hour.
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I mean, some locations were a little closer, but to the Ash
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County, Boone area, we're about an hour away from where the the
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western part or the eastern part of the storm hit.
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The more central location is going to be your Morganton,
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Asheville, where Nathan's at in Asheville and down in
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Hendersonville and then to the West is over in the West
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Tennessee and roads have been taken out.
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It's devastating to say the least.
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We are in efforts of of delivering stuff.
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We've got a team going tomorrow to provide food for first
3:58
responders, hot meals. We've got Saturday, we've got a
4:02
team going to provide hot meals there as well.
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We've taken up about 1/2, a case of 1/2 of a pallet of water that
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will be taken to Morganton, Asheville area.
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There's a FEMA headquarters set up there in Nebo.
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And so we're going to be dropping water off there so they
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can distribute that as needed. And then we've got some
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donations that are going to Boone County up here in Ash up
4:27
by Appalachian. They'll be taking that tomorrow.
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So lots of devastation. The easiest way, I know you've
4:35
seen videos and you've seen pictures, but the best
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illustration that I've given is if you go and you look up the
4:43
destruction of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and the aftermath
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pictures of that. That is what the aftermath
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pictures aerial view looks like after this hurricane hit.
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And part of that, Brett, like me and you were talking about was
4:58
the it's the rushing water. It's the movement of water at
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such a fast rate coming off of the mountain, coming off of the
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dams and just wiping things away where other hurricanes it it
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sometimes it's just sitting Stillwater and it's just
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flooding up. It's just coming in and flooding
5:15
up where this is coming off and running down.
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And I mean, we're still areas where we're at, even where I'm
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at, we're still in flash flood warnings from dams that are
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having to open up just to release water.
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Now that water is starting to, to subside.
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Well, that water's got to go somewhere and it's coming
5:34
downstream. And so every day we're issued a
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flash flood, flash flood warning.
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Hey, just beware, be watching your creeks, be watching where
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you're at because we're such in the foothills.
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We're lower off of the mountains.
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And so, yeah, it's devastating. People are, are man, I, I see
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pictures and I'm in Walmart and I'm in locations.
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We're buying things, people are leaving with buggies and buggies
5:58
full. And then I know I'm, I'm not
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asking them, but I know they're going to some other place where
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they're donating it to someone else.
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And it's so awesome to see people that are giving, that are
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caring, they're loving. I mean, the other day someone
6:12
took a picture of someone in Sam's Club and they said I went
6:15
by and I talked to everybody and every single person in line was
6:17
buying stuff for someone else. And I mean, carts were slapped
6:21
full buggies pock full of waters and non perishable items just to
6:26
help other people. And I told our young people this
6:30
morning we had a prayer circle at the middle school.
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I said our light, our light for Jesus shines the brightest in
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the darkness of the world. And so we're called to be light
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of the world. How is that going to be?
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How can we go out? How can we be the hands and feet
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of Jesus and be the light of the world where we're at?
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And so, yeah, it's been, it's been devastating.
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Luckily for where we're at. I didn't have any damage.
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I had one tree fall right beside my building.
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It was one inch from my building, probably closer than
7:02
that. I can barely put a piece of
7:03
paper between it. Once we got all the limbs cut
7:05
down, not a scratch was even on the building.
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So we were blessed for that. We lost power for five days and
7:12
I have, I have, I have solar and battery backup.
7:15
So all of my food and we had appliances and things that we
7:19
could use to cook things. And so everything on that side
7:23
of it was, was great. And things that we're supposed
7:27
to work worked and did well. And so we, we have power back
7:30
now. We got power back Monday at my
7:33
house. And so we are back to doing
7:36
those things. The church lost power for just a
7:37
little bit, but our community was like I said, it was, it was
7:40
fine. We've got trees down.
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But I mean, that's, that's the extent of, of our damage around
7:45
here. So, yeah, things are it's a long
7:49
road recovery. We were just talking to you
7:52
about Katrina, how it took. I mean, we're 20 years away from
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Katrina. Some estimates are saying this
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storm that hit North Carolina is six to seven times more damage
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than what Katrina did. And with loss of life, it's
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definitely that we've seen 7 to 800 people confirm dead.
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And so that is the, the, the damage that has been done from
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that. And, and we know that it's not
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going to be an overnight fix. It's going to be a long road of
8:23
recovery. It's going to be a long road of
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lots of work that we're going to be working together.
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I think Florida just sent up 7500 dot workers from Florida to
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hearts to, to help rebuild roads, Interstate work roads in
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and out of towns, temporary bridges that they're bringing in
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that they're flying in to be able to give access.
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Brett, I talked, I'll say this and I'll be done.
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I talked to one girl this morning.
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She showed me a picture of her house and the way to get to her
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house is a, a bridge that they have built over a Creek.
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And that bridge was wiped away in the, the rising of the, of
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the storm that came through. And she said, we don't have, we
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cannot get our vehicle out of our house because there's no
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bridge. So they've made sort of a
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makeshift bridge that they can walk over and they can get over
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so they can get to the main road to get on a bus or get on a car
9:18
to transport. And until they said there's no
9:21
plans for that to ever be fixed right now.
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And so they're just sort of stranded without walking like
9:27
it. Those are the things that, and
9:30
she was at school today, like she still was able to leave.
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She still was able to make that that progress to make it to
9:36
school. I'm pretty sure that's what the
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story she was telling me. And so this is this is
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devastating stuff. The the problem and the
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heartache that we're seeing now that we can pray for is the
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amount of loss of life is leading people now to suicide
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and people are take people are taking their own life to just
9:56
talk to one of our deacons who who said that a guy that he
10:00
knows, I won't say the school or anything.
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He lost his mom and dad, his brother, his grandpa, his
10:09
grandma, his sister. I think it was all of his
10:12
immediate family, maybe his wife as well.
10:15
He was out of the game on Thursday.
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Friday had taken the team out to a game and the storm came in.
10:22
It came in bigger than they were expecting, harder than they were
10:25
expecting. And it washed out his entire
10:27
family and they all died. And Monday he went and sat in
10:31
his truck and pulled his pistol out and blew his head off
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because he couldn't, he couldn't live with his family being gone.
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So, so, so that's the depression side that we're going to see.
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That's the side that we're not, they're not talking about right
10:43
now because that's the the other side of what happens when
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devastation times come is people see there's no hope.
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People see there's no way out and they've lost everything.
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And what's the point in living? And so we, we have to pray for
10:59
these people. We have to help these people.
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And ultimately we got to share the gospel with them.
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We've got to have opportunities where we give them a bottle of
11:08
water and we share the gospel and we give them the hope that
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Jesus can give. That's what's going to help
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sustain people. More than a bottle of water is
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the life giving power of Jesus during this time.
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You know, we talked about how it during Katrina, which is almost
11:26
20 years ago, you mentioned how the water just came up and just
11:32
stopped. You know, was it wasn't like
11:34
flowing, it wasn't touring. It's not like you're in the
11:37
middle of a whitewater rapid. But this, the pictures and the
11:42
videos are just devastating. Just from what you can see.
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Imagine the videos and pictures that that can't be uploaded.
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But I saw this one that was really hit home.
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It was these these grandparents who were on a roof with their
11:59
grandchild and you know, the water is just rushing.
12:03
It's like they're in the middle of a whitewater rapid and it's
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not like it the water is coming up and staying still.
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That much water movement. It not, you know, after the
12:13
video was over, it knocked the house down and took that family
12:17
out. You know, they're saying that,
12:20
you know, confirmed dead hundred 150.
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But just like you said, 'cause you know, you know, I think
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that, you know, you know, the devastation that that has caused
12:35
and it, it really is just a horrible, horrible thing.
12:38
This is, I was, I saw something the other day, I didn't know
12:42
what watershed moment meant. I'm like, I, I heard it.
12:45
I've heard that all my, all my life, I've heard watershed
12:47
moments. I went and I looked it up and a
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watershed moment is where something changes and it will
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never go back to the way it was before.
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Now what we're thinking, what we're feeling is, man, I'm
13:01
seeing these videos and I'm seeing Chimney Rock swiped away
13:05
and all this devastation, all this stuff gone.
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And you think, oh man, we'll just come in there.
13:12
We'll get some dump trucks, we'll bring some concrete.
13:15
We'll rebuild, build back better just like we were.
13:19
You know, we'll make it better than it was.
13:21
But the landscape has changed. The river, you know, from
13:25
Chimney Rock, the river has moved over down the middle of
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Main Street. There's nothing to rebuild.
13:30
You can't come back and rebuild that.
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And I remember what I was going to say a few minutes ago.
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The, you're right that the, the death toll is going to be
13:41
pushing 67800, maybe more like the devastation is unreal.
13:48
And we don't think stuff like this happens in America.
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We don't, you know, this stuff should happen in a third world
13:54
country. This stuff doesn't happen in
13:57
the, the US of A, but it does. Bible says it rains on the just
14:03
and the unjust. You know, I was really inspired
14:08
by Nathan's story because here Nathan is, he's a pastor in
14:12
Asheville. And we have been, you know, to
14:16
Nathan's church. It's up on the side of a
14:18
mountain, up on the side of a hill.
14:20
And so he wasn't, you know, in danger of flooding.
14:25
You know, there's a lot of concrete on that hill.
14:27
So they're not a lot of, you know, chances for mud slides.
14:31
He had one tree come through his house.
14:35
And then they, they stayed in the church for a while, a few
14:39
days, and then they got in touch with a preacher that had a
14:44
access to a plane. So they got to the airport, they
14:46
got on the plane, they flew out to Chattanooga.
14:50
But then, you know, Nathan's filling up a U-Haul trailer with
14:55
supplies to take back to Asheville because that's the
14:58
people and the church that God has called him to.
15:02
And that's the kind of stories that we need, You know, that,
15:06
look, there is something that people can do, whether it is,
15:11
you know, giving to disaster relief and going up there and,
15:15
you know, helping the cleanup and helping build, whether it's
15:21
sending money, If all you can do is take a special offering and
15:25
and send money to the Red Cross or to, you know, your disaster
15:30
relief. Or, you know, maybe like, like
15:33
Nathan, he said that he's going to turn his church into like a
15:38
center, like a Red Cross center or something.
15:40
He's going to set up a way that people can help through through
15:43
his church. But this is the time when we
15:47
need to come together. Yes, it is is horrible.
15:50
It's devastation. We don't even know the half of
15:54
how bad it is. That story that you just told me
15:56
about that guy that took us on life because he's lost his whole
15:59
family, that's heartbreaking stuff.
16:02
But that's the reality that we live in and, you know, so, you
16:08
know, that's what you know, got so.
16:11
That's the that's. The What we live in.
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Did you have something you wanted to say?
16:16
Yeah, I think that we're going to, we're going to shift the
16:19
episode today just to talk about some other things and what we
16:22
were talking about, what we had planned to talk about.
16:25
I think that in this time we need to ask ourselves how can we
16:32
offer hope? How can we from a biblical
16:34
worldview, from a from a Christian counselor perspective,
16:38
from a biblical counselor perspective, how do we offer
16:41
hope to people that are have no hope right now?
16:44
How do we begin to give this strength to people that are
16:48
struggling? In my mind as I was thinking
16:51
about that, went to Romans 838 and 39, and it says this, and it
16:58
says very common passage here. For I am persuaded that neither
17:04
death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor
17:08
things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other
17:13
creative thing will be able to separate me from the love of God
17:17
that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
17:19
God's Word reminds us that even when our circumstances sway,
17:23
Christ's love remains forever. Jesus's love is is so powerful.
17:29
It's greater than we'll ever imagine or thinking, though our
17:33
faith may waver. This is the beautiful part of
17:36
this picture. His faithfulness will never
17:39
waver. His faithfulness will stay
17:41
strong forever. It doesn't.
17:43
It's not dependent on how well I stay faithful.
17:46
It's not dependent on how well my neighbor stays faithful.
17:48
My family stays faithful. God says, I'm going to be
17:51
faithful even in the times where your faith wavers, I'm going to
17:56
be there and I hope flourishes when we shift our gaze from the
18:00
darkness that surrounds us to the love that encircles us.
18:04
And there is in certain times his love that we find peace for
18:09
the present and strength for the days to come.
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And oftentimes I think we need to be reminded that there is
18:15
strength in days to come if we'll just trust in the Lord.
18:21
And Brett, you talk for a minute on that.
18:23
I'm going to play a song here in a minute that has been so
18:26
impactful to me Again, I'm I'm completely shifting everything.
18:29
We were going to plan to record, but I was riding down the road
18:32
and I've actually we're going to play this song on Sunday.
18:35
We're going to sing it as a worship song because it would
18:39
play into my vehicle. And now every morning when I
18:42
take my son to daycare, this is what he says dad he's he's, he's
18:46
three years old, 3 1/2 years old.
18:47
Dad play the mountain song, play the mountain song.
18:51
And so I'm going to play here in a minute once we get to the
18:53
point of it, but go ahead, Brett.
18:57
I do want to share a verse that came to mind and it's Psalm 3418
19:03
says the Lord is near to the broken hearted and saves the
19:08
crushed in spirit if any. You know, we've been through
19:13
bouts of depression before. We've all been there.
19:16
We've been at the the end of our rope.
19:19
We've been, you know, battling this anxiety in ourselves.
19:24
We've all been there, but this this situation has brought a new
19:30
level of despair. No, if anybody can be crushed in
19:35
spirit, like somebody's spirit is completely broken.
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Somebody is just their, their life and their heart and their
19:45
emotions are just in broken into tiny pieces that you could pass
19:52
through the eye of a needle. This is where the Lord comes in.
19:58
This is where the Lord brings comfort.
20:00
This is where the Lord reminds us that he is close to us when
20:06
when we're like that, that he doesn't leave us, that we're not
20:10
alone, that he does walk through the valley with us.
20:15
He gave us salvation. And in that salvation, he gives
20:20
us strength. We have the Holy Spirit inside
20:23
of us, and we need to encourage ourselves in the Lord.
20:27
And listen, David had to do that.
20:30
You know, sometimes you're out there by yourself and you feel
20:33
all alone. And sometimes you've got to
20:37
encourage yourself because that's what David did.
20:40
David encouraged himself in the Lord.
20:43
And this is definitely a time when we need to rely on God.
20:48
We need to encourage others to rely on God, to rely on his
20:52
peace and his strength and his sovereignty and know that he is
20:56
in control and know that this didn't surprise God.
20:59
Now, I don't want to sit on this episode and give a bunch of
21:03
cliches and give a bunch of platitudes, but I do want to
21:07
express the reality of who our God is.
21:11
Our God is somebody who's in control.
21:14
You know our God does his work when we're going through the
21:18
valley, He's beside us. This is when God's power really
21:25
shines through. And God's power can work through
21:29
other Christians, thus loving our brothers and sisters more
21:34
than we love ourselves, sacrificing for them.
21:38
By this they will know that you belong to me.
21:42
You know that, you know you love others more than yourself.
21:45
And that's what we need right now is we need to as Christians
21:48
band together to love others more than we love ourselves,
21:52
love our neighbor as ourselves and remember that God is here.
21:56
God loves us. God's going to be with is with
22:00
us. And I just wanted to speak for a
22:02
moment because man, I know this is where people are crushed.
22:07
But then this is I think in the lowest times is when we can see
22:13
God do the greatest work and give the greatest blessing.
22:17
Because the lower we are, then that means the higher that God
22:21
can raise us and work for us and be there for us and, and be our
22:25
champion and be our savior. And that's what our prayer is.
22:29
Our prayer is that God show. I'm a, this is a old IFP saying
22:34
God needs to show up and show out.
22:37
He definitely needs to do that. And we just want to remind
22:40
everybody, if you're here and you're listening to this and
22:43
you're affected by this, or even if you're not affected but
22:47
you've heard about it and your spirit just yearns to help, man,
22:51
we need to put our faith and trust in God.
22:54
Listen, I'm thankful for doctors.
22:57
I'm thankful for hospitals. I'm thankful for surgeons.
23:00
I've had two or three hospital visits I've had to go on this
23:03
week and I said, listen, I'm thankful for all of that.
23:06
But my faith isn't in the hospital.
23:08
My faith isn't in the doctor. My faith isn't in the surgeon.
23:12
My faith is in God. That's where we need to put our
23:16
faith, trust and belief. You know, we need to remember
23:20
that that that was a great verse that God does love us and
23:24
there's nothing that can separate us from the love of
23:27
God. This didn't catch God by
23:29
surprise, and you'll be with us to walk through it.
23:32
Absolutely verse it also came to my mind as you were saying that
23:36
we we taught on this past Sunday for Sunday school Galatians six
23:39
one through 5 and it's talking about someone who's been
23:42
overtaken in a wrongdoing or a spiritual someone who has has
23:47
fallen. It says restore them with gentle
23:49
spirit. Watch out for yourselves that
23:51
you won't be tempted. But verse 2 says, carry one
23:53
another's burdens in this way that we will fulfill the law of
23:56
Christ. For if anyone considers himself
23:58
to be something when he's nothing, he'll deceive himself.
24:02
Let each person examine your own works that you can take pride in
24:05
himself alone and not compare himself with others.
24:07
For each person will have to carry his own load.
24:10
And so we're commanded to help others and to carry one of those
24:13
burdens because at some point we're going to have to carry our
24:16
own load. And so we're going to need that
24:18
help as well. And so we got to ask ourselves,
24:20
how are we doing that? How are we fulfilling the the
24:23
Commission that we've been called to do?
24:25
And Brett, let me play this song real quick and we'll just talk
24:27
about it. I'm going to share the screen so
24:29
hopefully you can see it and just enjoy this song.
24:54
Why would I worry when giants come calling my name?
25:04
My God is so much bigger than troubles I face.
25:15
Why would I hunger for power which is or faith?
25:24
Oh, 'cause my God is so much better than all of these things.
25:34
So I won't be shaking, I won't be moved.
25:44
My God is faithful. His harmaces dream.
25:54
So I speak to the light and oh, it's time to move 'cause my God
26:06
is bigger, better, stronger, greater than me.
26:16
My enemies scatter 'cause they know the battle is done.
26:27
My God is stronger. The victory is already won.
26:33
The earth, Yeah, he died from my ransom.
26:39
It rolls up on the third day. Oh, 'cause my God is greater
26:49
than death, Hell and the great. But I won't be shaking.
26:58
Oh, I won't be new. My God, it's faithful.
27:11
His promise is you to watch me to the ground and for it's turn
27:23
to me, because my God is big, strongest later than you.
27:39
There's no mountain too high, no valley too low.
27:44
There's No Fear that I have. He doesn't already know.
27:50
There's no problem too big, there's no weapon too strong,
27:55
There is nothing for God that's impossible.
28:00
There's no mountain too high, no valley too low.
28:05
There's no team that I have. He doesn't already know.
28:10
There's no problem too big, there's no weapon too strong.
28:15
There is nothing for God that's impulsive.
28:19
No, Won't be shaking. No, I want my God escape for
28:35
you. His promises.
28:39
He got in the ground to last me to my hand, but it's time to
28:51
move. My God is bigger, better,
28:57
stronger, bigger, bigger, stronger, greater, bigger,
29:04
bigger. Amen brother, that's a good
29:30
song. I don't.
29:32
Know if you've heard it before or not, but man, that's good.
29:34
I've. Never heard it before.
29:35
That's been my song for the last four or five days now.
29:39
Like I said, every time we get in the car, my youngest son,
29:43
Hudson, 3 1/2 years old, dad play the mountain song and I
29:46
sing it as loud as I can to the top of my lungs and he's back
29:49
there making some noise as well. But that is that has been my
29:55
motto this week. And like I said, we're going to
29:57
play it Sunday and we're going to enjoy that.
30:02
Just allowing the church to hear it and be encouraged by these
30:06
good worship songs. I think often times we don't
30:13
worship enough in these times. We don't truly just take time to
30:20
meditate and worship through songs.
30:22
We did a, we talked with Bob Coughlin just a couple of months
30:27
ago. That was one of the things he
30:29
talked about was just sitting still and worshiping and
30:31
listening to what God has to say for us.
30:34
And part of that through God's word as we shared Scripture, but
30:37
part of that is just sitting there and meditating through
30:40
song as the word is lifted up to us through song.
30:44
I love that. I won't be shaken.
30:46
I won't be moved. My God is faithful.
30:47
His promises are true. And I'm going to speak to the
30:50
mountains. But then that, that bridge,
30:52
there's no mountain too high, there's no valley too low.
30:55
There's No Fear that I have that he doesn't already know.
30:59
There's no problem too big, there's no weapon too strong.
31:02
There's nothing for my God that's impossible.
31:08
Think about what a mountain is. A mountain is something that's
31:12
unmovable. It's an obstacle that you have
31:16
no hope to over overcome. Yeah, maybe a little one.
31:20
It was a lot of effort you might could get over, but some of
31:22
these mountains are so big that there's no way you can handle it
31:27
on your own. It's too much for you.
31:29
It's too powerful, it's impossible.
31:31
And it's almost like reminds me of what the disciples said.
31:36
The disciples looked at Jesus and said, who then can be saved?
31:41
And when Jesus said with man these things are impossible, but
31:45
with God all things are possible.
31:47
James, I want to read another verse that come to mind, and
31:51
this is Second Corinthians chapter 1 verses 8 and 9.
31:55
This is that of the NIV. Listen to this we have, this is
31:59
Paul. We are under great pressure, far
32:02
beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life
32:08
itself. Indeed, we felt we had received
32:12
the sentence of death, but this happened that we might not rely
32:18
on ourselves, but on God, who raises the dead.
32:23
So. So this is Paul, and he's not
32:27
saying that these other people felt like they were given a
32:31
death sentence. No, he includes himself into
32:34
this. He didn't say you guys felt this
32:36
way. He said we felt as if we had
32:39
been handed a death sentence. This is a spiritual giant.
32:44
This is the missionary that that created these churches and
32:47
planted these churches and did all this missionary work and
32:50
wrote all these books in the New Testament.
32:53
And this spiritual giant says it felt like I was handed a death
32:59
sentence. You can see Paul's vulnerability
33:03
here. You know, his his own strength
33:05
was completely wasted. He had, there was nothing he
33:08
could do. He couldn't lift a finger
33:10
against his situation. But listen, he, he, he gave us
33:14
the reason. He said the reason why I hit
33:18
this wall, the reason why I hit this obstacle, the reason why
33:23
this mountain was plopped down in front of me that I can't
33:26
tackle on my own was so that I wouldn't rely on myself.
33:33
It was God telling me you can't do this on your own.
33:38
You have to trust in me because your strength is not enough.
33:43
You have to rely on my strength. And God says, listen, if I can
33:48
raise Jesus from the dead, if I can conquer death itself, if I
33:54
can take the keys of death and hell away from Satan and give
33:57
them to my son, then there's absolutely nothing that I can't
34:03
do. And that's the God that we need
34:06
in this situation. There is hope.
34:10
There is hope in this situation. We, we as Christians, we do not
34:14
suffer in vain. Our suffering is not worthless.
34:19
When we suffer, we suffer with Christ because he is with us.
34:26
He's our dad, He's our father. And when we cry, he cries.
34:31
I, I must give you this one illustration and then I'll, I'll
34:34
give it back to you. When I was preaching in, in, in
34:38
Nicaragua, one of the, I always have trouble with that name.
34:42
But when I was preaching an illustration that I preached in
34:45
one of the churches was about a child who had been diagnosed
34:51
with cancer. And so the child's hair had to
34:55
be cut and they're shaving the cut the child's head off hair
34:59
off. But then once the child, once
35:02
the hair got shaved off the child, the dad took the Clippers
35:07
and began to shave the hair off of his own head.
35:11
And it filled the child with such joy and, and, and such
35:15
comfort in that moment because daddy said, listen, if my child
35:20
is going to suffer, I'm going to suffer with him.
35:24
And that's the kind of God we have.
35:25
That's the kind of Heavenly Father we possess.
35:28
Absolutely. Brett, did you read verse 10 or
35:30
no? Or just stop at verse 9?
35:32
I just stopped at verse 9. I'm gonna read 10 and 11 of that
35:35
same chapter. He has delivered us from such a
35:38
terrible death, and you're ready and he will deliver us.
35:42
We have put our hope in him that he might deliver us again.
35:48
And then Paul gives this awesome, awesome challenge while
35:52
you join in helping us by your prayers.
35:56
Then many will give thanks on our behalf because of the gifts
35:59
that came to us through the prayers of many.
36:02
If that's not what we're going through right now, the prayers
36:04
of many and that God's going to deliver these people the same
36:08
way he's done before and in an even in greater ways because we
36:13
are helping together. We're joining in and helping
36:16
together in prayers, giving thanks for those prayers.
36:19
And then also looking at the gifts that have come in, the
36:22
amount of over pouring amount of love that has come in has been
36:26
awesome. I was telling someone just the
36:28
other day, and I'll be done with this.
36:30
We were an hour east of the same thing happening to us.
36:36
Like that's how close it was an hour storm E, the storm moves a
36:40
couple of degrees to the east and we're wiped out just like
36:43
they are. And it's only by God's mercy and
36:47
sovereignty that it went an hour West.
36:50
But someone else had that same devastation that they're dealing
36:53
with right now. And so as thankful that I am, I
36:57
also understand that the next storm could be my way.
37:01
The next thing that can happen in this fallen, depraved world
37:04
could go through and wreck my whole world too.
37:07
And where is my faith at? Where am I standing at?
37:10
Where is my strength that in this moment for when that time
37:14
comes? Or am I going to be able to
37:16
stand and say there is hope? There is a God who loves us.
37:21
We've had revival this week. We've had, we've done a combined
37:24
revival with three of the churches and we've been at
37:26
different churches. And the Monday night the pastor
37:29
got up and he said, I feel guilty for us even meeting here
37:31
today because there's churches an hour away from us that they
37:36
can't meet. They don't know when they'll
37:37
meet again. And yet we're able to meet in an
37:41
air conditioning building with lights on, with running water,
37:44
and we're able to have services that I sort of feel guilty, he
37:48
said, but this is what God's called us to do and we're safe.
37:50
So we're going to be here and we're going to preach and we're
37:52
going to encourage the body of believers during this time while
37:55
we're here. And it was just a great sobering
37:57
reminder of often times we take things for granted.
38:00
You know, we take what good things that we have for granted.
38:03
And this is a time where we don't need to.
38:05
So Brett, that had nothing to do with what we had planned to talk
38:09
on. The Spirit LED us into talking
38:11
this way. And man, it was a blessing to be
38:14
able to talk through this. I thank you for your words of
38:16
encouragement. Hey, what we're going to do is
38:18
I'm going to put in a link in the show notes to the North
38:21
Carolina Baptist on Mission website, where people can donate
38:27
if they want to. It's just part of our Southern
38:31
Baptist Convention here in North Carolina.
38:33
They're going to be doing a lot of work in your own association,
38:36
your own Baptist association, state convention, maybe doing
38:40
something. But people are asking the ways
38:42
to give. We don't want your money.
38:44
We wanted to go toward these relief missions that are going
38:46
to do it a whole lot better than we can.
38:48
And so I'm going to put that on there in the show notes.
38:50
So if people want to give, if people want to be know how they
38:53
can help, there's going to be projects coming up in the next
38:55
couple of months and weeks and years where you can come in and
38:59
tear out homes and and help rebuild homes and help serve
39:03
meals. All that's going to be on that
39:04
website where you can help in that area.
39:07
We'll put a link to that on our website as well for those
39:10
wanting to to have help. You can go to the for
39:12
freedompodcast.com and you'll be able to see that as well.
39:16
Brad, any final words from you? I just, you know, this is a time
39:20
where we do need to join together.
39:22
We do need to come together. Listen, if you want to help,
39:26
then I think that's the Holy Spirit moving you to help.
39:30
Holy Spirit saying, hey, look, if I'm giving you a desire for
39:34
good works, I've given you a desire to help in the situation.
39:38
One of the things we're going to do is Nathan is getting set up
39:43
at, you know, Nathan's the hope Church, Asheville.
39:45
He's right there in the center of Asheville and the he's going
39:49
to be another Ave. of the many that we can use to help.
39:55
He's going to set up some kind of center in his church and he's
39:59
going to post the details about it soon.
40:01
So giving through Hope Church Asheville is another Ave. that
40:07
we're going to be able to use. Also, and I do want to mention
40:09
this, Nathan had reported that all of the members of his church
40:17
are live and accounted for, which God bless.
40:21
That is such a blessing to hear. But he did have one family.
40:26
That lost everything like, but you know, they're, they still
40:31
have their family. Things can be replaced.
40:33
People cannot. But this family, they did the
40:36
all they have is a clothes on their back.
40:38
They're a member of Hope Church Asheville.
40:40
And so he has set up a GoFundMe. So if you'll go to Nathan
40:44
Cravat's Facebook page, he's got the information for the GoFundMe
40:48
on his Facebook page. And if you're you're led to help
40:53
this family at his church who's who's lost everything.
40:56
This is another way that we can be the hands and feet of Christ.
41:01
Absolutely love it. Glad to be able to do that
41:04
together and definitely be praying for Nathan Brett.
41:09
We didn't talk about anything coming up, but we're right
41:11
around the corner of the For the Sake of the Gospel Conference
41:15
and it's going to be a great time to get together.
41:17
I'm sure some of these stories are going to be talking about
41:20
and so hopefully you'll join us. We've already gotten our
41:22
location reserved for where we'll be at.
41:25
And so in just a couple of weeks, one one month from today,
41:29
right? Yep, it's coming up soon.
41:31
Yeah, one month, 4 weeks away. We'll be there.
41:34
We'll enjoy that. Time my wife's birthday.
41:37
It is. I wished her happy birthday
41:38
today. I told her she was happy she was
41:40
an old, old lady now turning 40 and she got mad at me when I
41:44
told her that. And yesterday Brett was my one
41:48
year anniversary here at the church.
41:50
And man, it was a blessing to be able to have that and to know
41:53
that God's faithful in a year. Time flies when you're having
41:56
fun. And it's not just a cliche, it's
41:58
true. And looking forward to being
42:02
back with you in just a couple of weeks down there in Catoosa,
42:05
in Ringgold and be able to be a part of Hope Church down there.
42:09
And Israel right now is up in the air.
42:13
We're not going to talk much about it, but it's it's
42:15
somewhere and it's over there. They've got stuff going on with
42:18
the the recent attacks. And so we've got to re talk to
42:21
Our Lady and talk him and find out what's going on.
42:24
And so it's there though, but we'll figure that out.
42:26
I think me and you should go over there and our camo and our
42:30
you know, you know and kind of get get them straightened out.
42:35
Let's do it so. Yeah.
42:38
Absolutely. All right.
42:39
Well, if that's it and that's all you've got, we hope to hear
42:43
from you next time. Thank you for listening, Brett.
42:45
Hey, I was looking at this before we sign off.
42:47
I saw this the other day and I figured it was good to say every
42:51
once in a while. I don't look at this often, but
42:53
every once in a while someone will be gracious enough to give
42:56
us some feedback and some rating and reviews.
43:00
We say that at the end of all of our podcast.
43:02
If you enjoy what we're doing, give us a rating review.
43:05
Someone gave an update and a rating here on the bottom of our
43:09
Facebook or not Facebook, our YouTube page, YouTube podcast
43:13
page. And this is what it says.
43:15
It says thank you for having the courage to address issues much
43:20
needed topic. So I appreciate that.
43:23
And then Brett and James are doing a fantastic job.
43:27
I think the future of the podcast is going to be great.
43:30
And so thank you guys for thank. You very much for that.
43:33
Yeah. And then one other one that had
43:35
just popped up as well was I appreciate the work from James
43:38
and John. I appreciate all the work John
43:40
did putting into this podcast. And so, yeah, John helped start
43:44
this podcast and we're just tagging onto the coattails of
43:47
it. And so thank you for listening.
43:50
This is an update of how you can help and how we can give hope to
43:53
those that are around us. And until next time to God.
43:58
Not the pastor. Be the glory.
44:02
Found my new name, Found that good grace, found that healing.
44:08
And the tears fell down my face when I found my beginning.
44:13
It has no ending. I found that second chance.
44:14
Found my best friend, Found my forgiveness, found my happiness.
44:17
I've been singing ever since I found my freedom.
44:34
Thanks for listening to the Four Freedom Podcast.
44:37
If you enjoyed our content, do us a favor by liking,
44:40
subscribing, or sharing our podcast on whichever podcast
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