Latest / Kids and a Calling / Well, Good for You!
Transcript
- 0:12SPEAKER_01: What's up everyone?
- 0:13SPEAKER_01: Welcome back to Kids in the Callie Podcast, where none of us are kids, but we all have a calling.
- 0:16SPEAKER_01: And that's the point people to do this.
- 0:18SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Audrey Angel, which means Hudson Walton.
- 0:21SPEAKER_05: Hey guys.
- 0:21SPEAKER_01: Ramsey Padley.
- 0:22SPEAKER_01: Hey, and Luke Gifton.
- 0:23SPEAKER_04: Hey guys.
- 0:24SPEAKER_01: So the opening question I have for you guys today is what motivates you to get up in the morning?
- 0:33SPEAKER_01: But like, yes, but that's that's all of our initial answers, so we have to do something like a second.
- 0:38SPEAKER_01: Okay, a second best.
- 0:39SPEAKER_01: Okay, I'm done with that.
- 0:40SPEAKER_05: My alarm clock.
- 0:41SPEAKER_00: Oh, what motivates me?
- 0:44SPEAKER_00: Um no, it motivates him to turn off his alarm clock.
- 0:47SPEAKER_05: A good cup of coffee, that's what motivates me too.
- 0:49SPEAKER_05: Because I could try to be spiritual and stay reading my Bible and praying, but the coffee comes first.
- 0:55SPEAKER_05: That's what gets me out of out of bed so that I can actually be alive.
- 0:59SPEAKER_00: Coffee comes first.
- 1:00SPEAKER_05: Because if I'm reading the Bible but I'm halfway dead, what's the point?
- 1:03SPEAKER_00: Right.
- 1:04SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I gotta be awake.
- 1:05SPEAKER_05: So it's that coffee that I get up and I'm like, I'm gonna get that and that'll wake me up.
- 1:10SPEAKER_00: Yeah, honestly, like to not say the same answer, I'm not going to, but to add on to that, it's like with my coffee is definitely like okay, like honestly, several things, because the first thing I see when I go downstairs is like my parents, because they're always up, and so they not make breakfast while talking to them.
- 1:25SPEAKER_00: So like that's chill.
- 1:26SPEAKER_02: Oh fine.
- 1:27SPEAKER_00: Fire sometimes.
- 1:28SPEAKER_00: Mommy, daughter, dad.
- 1:29SPEAKER_01: Wait, mommy and dad, daughter time.
- 1:31SPEAKER_01: Okay, forget it.
- 1:32SPEAKER_01: Yep.
- 1:32SPEAKER_04: She has a good family.
- 1:35SPEAKER_04: I look forward to brown sugar and maple oatmeal.
- 1:39SPEAKER_04: It's tough.
- 1:39SPEAKER_04: Dude, delish.
- 1:40SPEAKER_04: So good.
- 1:41SPEAKER_01: Delish.
- 1:42SPEAKER_01: Okay.
- 1:42SPEAKER_01: It's turned into food and like drink category.
- 1:45SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna switch it up.
- 1:47SPEAKER_01: Um, I look forward to what doesn't know.
- 1:54SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
- 1:55SPEAKER_01: I really don't know now that I think about it.
- 1:57SPEAKER_01: Because I think I'm saying like coffee too, but then I'm also like maybe just having a good day.
- 2:02SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
- 2:03SPEAKER_01: Like, I just want to have a good day.
- 2:05SPEAKER_01: So, like, whatever that category would be in.
- 2:08unknown: Okay.
- 2:09SPEAKER_04: Just hope.
- 2:10SPEAKER_04: It's optimism.
- 2:11SPEAKER_04: It's optimism.
- 2:12SPEAKER_04: I think it could be a lot worse.
- 2:13SPEAKER_01: Another option to be optimistic.
- 2:16SPEAKER_04: That's good.
- 2:19SPEAKER_01: All right.
- 2:20SPEAKER_01: Anyway, so as we were all we were all present Sunday for Pastor Jared's sermon.
- 2:28SPEAKER_01: It was is this this is the last one, right?
- 2:29SPEAKER_01: I believe so.
- 2:30SPEAKER_01: Of the God Can series in September when this is coming out.
- 2:33SPEAKER_01: That is correct.
- 2:35SPEAKER_01: Um and it was called What Happens Now.
- 2:38SPEAKER_01: So what did you guys think of that?
- 2:40SPEAKER_01: What happens next?
- 2:41SPEAKER_00: I thought.
- 2:41SPEAKER_00: Nope.
- 2:42SPEAKER_00: What happens now?
- 2:43SPEAKER_00: I need I messed this up like eight times.
- 2:45SPEAKER_05: I thought it was what happens next.
- 2:46SPEAKER_05: We have two versus one right now.
- 2:48SPEAKER_04: Yeah, he said it, he said it uh he said it right, but the screen had it wrong.
- 2:52SPEAKER_01: Wait, so what what was on the screen?
- 2:54SPEAKER_01: What happens now?
- 2:55SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
- 2:55SPEAKER_01: That's why.
- 2:56SPEAKER_01: Okay.
- 2:56SPEAKER_01: Oh, so either or.
- 2:58SPEAKER_01: So it was what happens next.
- 2:59SPEAKER_05: Yep, so that's the title.
- 3:01SPEAKER_05: No confusion here, guys.
- 3:03SPEAKER_05: But yeah, um, I think it was a really good way to end off the series because on a super surface level, yeah, what happens next?
- 3:13SPEAKER_05: That's the perfect uh note to end a series on.
- 3:15SPEAKER_05: What happens next?
- 3:16SPEAKER_05: We're about to leave God can and go into a new season in our lives.
- 3:21SPEAKER_05: Um a bunch of us listening to the podcast and in this room are starting school.
- 3:26SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
- 3:26SPEAKER_05: Um, just starting.
- 3:27SPEAKER_05: So that's another season that we're entering into.
- 3:29SPEAKER_05: So this was a really good message to go into um leaving the series.
- 3:35SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 3:37SPEAKER_00: So yeah, he started off with a story like we he normally does, but it was kind of about how like you know how you normally, or well, you sometimes get a test, and it's like the teacher's like, make sure you read everything before you start the test, right?
- 3:49SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 3:50SPEAKER_00: Well, it's always that test where it's like you could read all the questions, and at the very end, there's that like one thing that's like you don't actually have to complete any of this questions, just like wait for 15 minutes and then say it.
- 4:00SPEAKER_05: I think we've all heard that as like a ski a story to scare us back in like high school.
- 4:05SPEAKER_05: I've definitely heard that.
- 4:06SPEAKER_00: I had one funny story.
- 4:07SPEAKER_00: My mom and dad gave me Brandon Emery a test, right?
- 4:10SPEAKER_00: Bro, what they did it to us.
- 4:12SPEAKER_00: They no, no, like they brought us to the dining table and they were like, Okay, y'all, we have like a little like quiz.
- 4:16SPEAKER_00: Y'all want to like even though I need to fill out?
- 4:17SPEAKER_00: We're like, bro, why?
- 4:18SPEAKER_00: Why, why?
- 4:19SPEAKER_00: Well, they're like, just do it.
- 4:20SPEAKER_00: And so we do it, and um, I think we all failed.
- 4:23SPEAKER_00: Wow.
- 4:24SPEAKER_00: I think I honestly I started like doing all the questions and then they were kind of disappointed.
- 4:30SPEAKER_00: But, anyways, he's talking about those type of tests and how like those people try to use you to scare you into like making sure you read everything before you start so you're like prepared.
- 4:40SPEAKER_00: Well, he was saying that it's kind of like a mindset, a mindset that can be carried over into our spiritual walk with God, where we almost require this list of everything that's gonna happen before we go into the the next step of our lives.
- 4:54SPEAKER_00: Like we need to know what we gotta do next.
- 4:56SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah, because he was saying that um that in college it was in college for him in one of his classes, and his teacher straight up told him their class that I'm gonna give you one of those one of these days this semester.
- 5:10SPEAKER_05: And so all of him and his class, they were naturally very afraid of that possibility.
- 5:15SPEAKER_05: Yeah, the teacher never ended up doing that, it was just a completely normal test.
- 5:20SPEAKER_05: But the threat of that made them uncertain enough.
- 5:23SPEAKER_05: So every single time they took a test, everyone in that class was reading every instruction.
- 5:27SPEAKER_05: And the uh he was highlighting that uncertainty, like you just talked about.
- 5:32SPEAKER_05: Um we like to know it's just it just points out the natural tendency in us to want to know what happens next.
- 5:38SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like what we're getting ourselves into.
- 5:39SPEAKER_05: Yeah, when we don't, when there's uncertainty about something in the future, uh, we get antsy, we get jittery, we want to know what's happening next.
- 5:47SPEAKER_05: Yeah, it's natural and it's human, and that translates very heavily, like you just said, Ramsey, to our walk with God.
- 5:54SPEAKER_05: Um, and that's what he was hitting at.
- 5:56SPEAKER_05: Um, we're not always gonna know what's coming next, and that's kind of the core theme that we're definitely about to be talking about.
- 6:02SPEAKER_01: But yeah, and kind of like going off of that, something I really liked that he said was sometimes God gives us the first step and nothing after that.
- 6:08SPEAKER_01: And he was explaining, like, when that happens, we'll start to ask, okay, like what happens next, or or like, God, what can we expect?
- 6:15SPEAKER_01: Can you give me the final results?
- 6:16SPEAKER_01: And we'll we'll want to skip to the end to know what we're getting ourselves into.
- 6:20SPEAKER_01: But sometimes, Pastor Jared said, all God will say is go.
- 6:23SPEAKER_01: All he's gonna give you is go.
- 6:25SPEAKER_01: I'll tell you where to go for the first step.
- 6:28SPEAKER_01: But once you go, then I'll give you the next one.
- 6:30SPEAKER_01: And then when you go there, I'll give you the next one.
- 6:32SPEAKER_01: It's not always gonna be this beautifully laid-out plan where I mean, in his mind, God knows it's gonna be a beautifully laid out plan, he has it, but it's not gonna be laid out in front of us all the time.
- 6:41SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I feel like sometimes we can try to turn um faithfulness into a negotiation.
- 6:46SPEAKER_05: Like God's like, go, and you're like, I love you, God, I trust you, and I'll do this, but only if you tell me what happens after.
- 6:54SPEAKER_05: It says go again.
- 6:55SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and God's just like, bro, it wouldn't be faith if I told you what happens after.
- 6:59SPEAKER_00: And that's kind of the whole point is God wants us to have faith in him to trust him that he does have the plan for our lives, and he has this these steps all carefully laid out for us.
- 7:07SPEAKER_00: He needs us to have the faith to follow them.
- 7:09SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 7:10SPEAKER_00: Without necessarily knowing what they are.
- 7:12SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's difficult to not know the plan until the next day because then you're dreading the next day.
- 7:17SPEAKER_04: You guys are not sure.
- 7:17SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like that, like that.
- 7:18SPEAKER_00: I wonder, I wonder the curiosity.
- 7:21SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 7:22SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and it's just it's so human because we're built like that.
- 7:25SPEAKER_05: God knows that.
- 7:26SPEAKER_05: He created all of us.
- 7:27SPEAKER_05: We're we're made to want to know what happens, and that's why it's such a step for us.
- 7:33SPEAKER_05: It requires faith for us to just trust that and not want to figure everything out.
- 7:37SPEAKER_05: And for some, you may struggle more than than others, like Pastor Jared, he's very honest about that.
- 7:43SPEAKER_05: He said he's very analytical.
- 7:44SPEAKER_05: He thinks that God did this to him on purpose because he likes to know everything.
- 7:50SPEAKER_05: Um, and that's not how God always operates.
- 7:52SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 7:53SPEAKER_01: I like was it did you just say something like that's how yeah, you said because we're human, that's how we are.
- 7:58SPEAKER_01: And it kind of just reminded me like of was it last week's um his message where he talked about just because something's always been one way doesn't mean it has to stay that way.
- 8:06SPEAKER_01: I think so.
- 8:06SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 8:07SPEAKER_01: It's kind of like like that.
- 8:08SPEAKER_01: Like yeah, like we are human, so we are born to, you know, want to lean towards our flesh or have a sinful nature, but that doesn't mean that's how we're supposed to be living.
- 8:16SPEAKER_01: Just because we lean towards wanting to know it all before it happens or wanting to have all the answers laid out in front of us doesn't mean that that's how it's supposed to be.
- 8:24SPEAKER_01: And if you are like that, if you're like Pastor Jared and you're a really analytical person and you want it all laid out in a perfect like little sheet, yeah, that doesn't make something wrong with you.
- 8:33SPEAKER_01: It's just that in the spiritual aspect of it, you can't really be like that because that's not gonna get you anywhere in your walk with God.
- 8:40SPEAKER_04: Mm-hmm.
- 8:41SPEAKER_04: And being comfortable is never part of the plan or part of his plan.
- 8:44SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
- 8:45SPEAKER_04: If we're comfortable, sometimes that can be a bad thing, you know?
- 8:47SPEAKER_04: Yeah, for sure.
- 8:48SPEAKER_04: So it just like I think in the example with Gideon, you know, he put Gideon in a really uncomfortable uh, you know, place, having what he thought was already not enough and then shrinking his army more and more.
- 8:59SPEAKER_04: Yeah, dude, I understand Gideon.
- 9:00SPEAKER_04: If I was about to go fight, yeah.
- 9:03SPEAKER_05: Oh no.
- 9:03SPEAKER_05: I had like, what did he start out with?
- 9:05SPEAKER_05: 32,000.
- 9:06SPEAKER_05: 32,000, and then God's like, nah, give me 300.
- 9:10SPEAKER_05: Like, yeah, dude, I would think God was crazy.
- 9:13SPEAKER_00: I would be shaking in my boots.
- 9:15SPEAKER_05: I would be just like Gideon, but it it really highlights that sometimes what we think is not enough, it's more than God needs.
- 9:24SPEAKER_05: God could have done it without any single one of them.
- 9:27SPEAKER_05: God could have done it with only Gideon.
- 9:28SPEAKER_05: God could do whatever he wants.
- 9:30SPEAKER_05: Um, so we really have to break out of what we deem as not enough.
- 9:35SPEAKER_05: Right.
- 9:36SPEAKER_05: Because that's kind of where Gideon was for a bit.
- 9:37SPEAKER_05: He thought that 300 men was completely inadequate.
- 9:40SPEAKER_05: He couldn't see a single way forward.
- 9:42SPEAKER_05: There was no way in his mind originally and how they could win this.
- 9:46SPEAKER_05: And we can definitely be like Gideon sometimes.
- 9:49SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I love how that story highlights that God takes away those people so that they could be reminded that it's not by their will.
- 9:58SPEAKER_00: Those 32,000 men, he yeah, sure, that he could have just gone forward with them, but they would have some of them might have could have gotten that mindset that they did this, like this is their victory, that they won that battle.
- 10:09SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but God needs to sometimes remind us that it's not us that are winning these battles.
- 10:14SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's God.
- 10:16SPEAKER_00: Like we would not be able to do this without him.
- 10:18SPEAKER_00: This is like it was a reminder that you don't need all the things planned out, all the things in the world to get this one because God can do it with nothing.
- 10:27SPEAKER_05: That's right.
- 10:28SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and sometimes if you need that reminder, God may do to you kind of what he did to Gideon.
- 10:33SPEAKER_05: He may take some of the external things away, so you're completely reliant on him.
- 10:38SPEAKER_05: So I just think that sometimes going on from that, we can pray in a situation.
- 10:45SPEAKER_05: I feel like we can get roadblocked praying for God to give us more so that we can take our next step and kind of keeping ourselves there because we're thinking we need more to go on.
- 10:55SPEAKER_05: Right.
- 10:56SPEAKER_05: But God's like, I'm everything you need.
- 10:58SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and so you should be praying.
- 11:00SPEAKER_05: God, just help me move forward.
- 11:02SPEAKER_05: I don't need more.
- 11:03SPEAKER_05: You're everything I need, so help me move forward.
- 11:06SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
- 11:06SPEAKER_05: I think sometimes um we need a little reality check.
- 11:09SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
- 11:10SPEAKER_00: Like you could almost get stuck in this this stage of preparation.
- 11:14SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 11:14SPEAKER_00: Like you can't move forward until it's prepared enough.
- 11:17SPEAKER_00: Like you don't, you don't know when you're moving, but you're gonna make sure you're prepared.
- 11:20SPEAKER_00: Instead of waiting for it to be perfect, you just need to God just wants you to take that step.
- 11:24SPEAKER_00: He's like, you could prepare as much as you want to, but you're gonna be praying preparing right there.
- 11:28SPEAKER_00: Like you're never gonna move.
- 11:29SPEAKER_01: You're never gonna have everything perfectly aligned.
- 11:32SPEAKER_00: You're gonna be preparing forever because it won't ever be perfect enough.
- 11:35SPEAKER_00: And so you almost just get stuck there instead of just taking that step of faith and trusting that he has it planned.
- 11:40SPEAKER_05: Yeah, like the um the first time I spoke here for youth service at uh at church.
- 11:46SPEAKER_05: If the decision was up to me and it was like, hey, reach out to me when you're ready, Hudson, and then you'll speak when you feel ready.
- 11:53SPEAKER_05: I probably wouldn't have spoken for another like five years.
- 11:56SPEAKER_05: I would have been like, you know, I'm not all that.
- 11:59SPEAKER_05: Uh I need a bit more, I need to be a bit more spiritual.
- 12:02SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I need more training.
- 12:04SPEAKER_05: I need to be certified before I speak.
- 12:06SPEAKER_05: Uh yeah, it didn't really happen like that.
- 12:07SPEAKER_05: Pastor Duron texted me the Monday of that week and was like, Cool, hey bro, can you speak Sunday?
- 12:13SPEAKER_05: And I was like, sure.
- 12:14SPEAKER_05: So yeah, sometimes God doesn't always just let you prepare.
- 12:18SPEAKER_05: God doesn't always let you um sit there and focus on what you have and if you can do this and if you have enough, if you are spiritual enough and quotation marks to handle this or to move forward or to take this step.
- 12:31SPEAKER_05: Sometimes you just gotta trust God.
- 12:49SPEAKER_01: I liked um another thing that he said, kind of relates to the first thing I was saying about, you know, like this first steps and stuff.
- 12:55SPEAKER_01: Um Pastor Jared said that there are some times when God doesn't show you the end until you're ready to begin.
- 13:00SPEAKER_01: And I really like that because it's kind of how we were just like what we were talking about, how unless you take that first step and show God that you're ready for this, that you really want to do this, and I'm gonna commit, then then he will use you.
- 13:11SPEAKER_01: Like if you can't take the first step and show God that you're in this, that you really want this and you trust him, then how's he gonna use you?
- 13:17SPEAKER_01: Because if he can't even move you from your spot, the spot you're sitting in, then he can't use you to do better or call you to hire because exactly, because you're so stuck in your own position, because you're so scared of change that you don't trust him.
- 13:30SPEAKER_01: Like it doesn't really make sense.
- 13:32SPEAKER_01: So you'd rather stay where you're at than possibly grow and have a little bit of uncomfort.
- 13:37SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and I like that because you really have to commit.
- 13:40SPEAKER_05: You can't just be like, God, show me everything, and then I'll decide how I want to go through with your plan.
- 13:46SPEAKER_05: Yeah, like God's not just gonna let you treat his plan like an option.
- 13:52SPEAKER_05: Yeah, right.
- 13:53SPEAKER_05: Like you can just sit there and you know, pinpoint everything, see all the steps, decide if it's the best for you.
- 14:00SPEAKER_05: Like, no, that's not how it operates.
- 14:02SPEAKER_05: Yeah, you love God, you trust him, you have faith, so you move forward when he says move forward.
- 14:07SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
- 14:07SPEAKER_05: And yeah, don't doubt him.
- 14:09SPEAKER_05: Sometimes you won't know what's happening until it's happening.
- 14:12SPEAKER_05: Yeah, but you just have to trust.
- 14:14SPEAKER_00: It's almost like like y'all, I can't remember what sermon it was, but when they talked about how like each step is to build you for the end result, yep.
- 14:22SPEAKER_00: And like you can't just skip it.
- 14:24SPEAKER_00: It's like if he showed you the whole plan, what would be the point in them like if in in the tests coming up and the trials coming up for you to grow?
- 14:31SPEAKER_00: You know, like you would always already see them coming and already start like preparing almost or be like, no, I'm just not gonna do that, you know?
- 14:36SPEAKER_00: You'd almost try to have no persistence, yeah.
- 14:39SPEAKER_01: Right, nothing to keep you growing, you just glide through it all, and that's not or you'd absolutely crash halfway through because you you're preparing for like if you knew all the steps and you know that in the middle of your your journey there's gonna be this huge roadblock.
- 14:54SPEAKER_01: So you start preparing for it one way, and then it did not come how you expected it, and then you crash and you wanna get it.
- 15:02SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 15:04SPEAKER_05: So again, I'm just um another message that's really pointing at faith.
- 15:08SPEAKER_05: I feel like God's really trying to tell us just a bit.
- 15:12SPEAKER_05: We just we gotta trust and be obedient.
- 15:15SPEAKER_05: That's right.
- 15:15SPEAKER_05: And um, I don't think there's a better person in the Bible to look at than Abraham.
- 15:20SPEAKER_05: Yeah, talking about obedience.
- 15:21SPEAKER_05: I mean, God said go and he just he went.
- 15:25SPEAKER_05: Probably he left everything and just went.
- 15:27SPEAKER_05: And yeah, we should model that behavior in our walks with God, all of us.
- 15:32SPEAKER_05: We should we should aspire to have that level of faith to where for Abraham it was literally leave everything you know and go.
- 15:40SPEAKER_05: Yeah, God may not call that for us.
- 15:42SPEAKER_05: Yeah, um, but we should have that same faith, that same mentality that if God tells us to go, Abraham didn't need to know where he was going.
- 15:52SPEAKER_05: He didn't need to know how his descendants were gonna be innumerable like the stars.
- 15:57SPEAKER_05: Right.
- 15:58SPEAKER_05: He didn't sit there and negotiate with God about the details, he just went.
- 16:02SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
- 16:02SPEAKER_00: It's because like faith is not it's not always like certain it's not certainty in where you'll end up, it's certainty in the person that you have the faith in that will get you there.
- 16:10SPEAKER_00: You know, you can't put certainty in the end result because you don't know how it's gonna happen, but you can put certainty in God that He will get you there.
- 16:17SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 16:18SPEAKER_05: To me, it's kind of like if you're like a tiny kid, I'm talking about like young, young, and your parents get up in the morning and tell you they're taking you to an amusement park.
- 16:30SPEAKER_05: You don't question how that car works, you don't question all the mechanics, you don't question every turn they're gonna take.
- 16:37SPEAKER_05: You just know they're taking me to this park.
- 16:39SPEAKER_05: Yeah, you know the destination.
- 16:40SPEAKER_05: You just hop in the car and you just fully believe that your parents are taking you there.
- 16:44SPEAKER_05: You might fall asleep in the backseat and not remember a single part about the journey, not question it.
- 16:49SPEAKER_05: We should have that same type of childlike faith when it comes to God's plans.
- 16:53SPEAKER_05: Right.
- 16:53SPEAKER_05: That's good.
- 16:54SPEAKER_05: You know God's taking you somewhere, so just buckle up.
- 16:56SPEAKER_05: Get in the car, yeah, buckle up, get along for the ride.
- 16:59SPEAKER_00: Jesus take the wheel.
- 17:03SPEAKER_05: Agreed, sister.
- 17:05SPEAKER_05: Have some good faith there.
- 17:08SPEAKER_00: Um, another point that he he got to was that being okay, taking okay, having the faith to take the next step does not being does not mean being reckless and in your life.
- 17:21SPEAKER_00: You know, like it doesn't mean not taking in wisdom and consideration from others and from spiritual leaders above you.
- 17:27SPEAKER_00: You know, like it doesn't mean not praying about it.
- 17:29SPEAKER_00: It means that when the time comes, is not holding yourself back from taking that next step that God has called you to take.
- 17:35SPEAKER_00: You know, like it's not saying, YOLO, I'm gonna just go be crazy, I'm gonna just have faith that I'll end up somewhere.
- 17:41SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, like it doesn't mean be reckless and ruin the plan.
- 17:45SPEAKER_00: It means that trust God when something he says to do scares you, you do it anyways.
- 17:49SPEAKER_05: But yeah, no, I think that's a you're you're right.
- 17:52SPEAKER_05: I think that's a very important uh distinction that just because we're saying that um that you should trust in God and that God, you may not know all the next steps with his plans, that does not mean that when you don't know what's coming next, you shouldn't be preparing anyway.
- 18:07SPEAKER_05: Right.
- 18:07SPEAKER_05: Um God makes us for a reason.
- 18:09SPEAKER_05: God made Pastor Jerry to be super analytical for a reason.
- 18:12SPEAKER_05: We're all made um differently.
- 18:15SPEAKER_05: And if you're made to analyze and prepare more than others, and even if you're not, that doesn't mean you should just not prepare because you don't know everything.
- 18:23SPEAKER_05: You should be preparing, you should be praying, you should be fasting, you should be practicing discipline.
- 18:29SPEAKER_05: Um it'd be very unwise, which the Bible is very against, to just sit there twiddling your thumbs because you don't know what's gonna happen next.
- 18:38SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
- 18:39SPEAKER_05: Or you're like, Well, I can never do anything without God leading it, and I just have to wait for his plan.
- 18:45SPEAKER_05: So there's no point in me doing anything.
- 18:48SPEAKER_05: Uh no, you should be preparing.
- 18:50SPEAKER_00: Yeah, this reminds me of that.
- 18:52SPEAKER_00: Oh, I can't remember exactly what it was, but remember when we read it in Psalms, Proverbs, Proverbs, uh, the um the farmers who will take the seed and prepare their their crops for the season, but the people who just sit there then they watch the crops grow or however it went.
- 19:06SPEAKER_00: It's like God will give the seeds to the farmers who are willing to plant them.
- 19:09SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
- 19:10SPEAKER_00: You like he'll use whoever's willing, whoever's gonna move.
- 19:13SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you can choose to take the seeds that he's given you or not.
- 19:15SPEAKER_00: Like you could be like, eh, it's not a season.
- 19:17SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna like, we're just gonna show here, I'm gonna watch the seeds just sit there, you know, or be like the the real people who are the the farmers who go and they prepare their grounds for the seeds to plant for when the time comes and then their crops will grow.
- 19:28SPEAKER_00: Because if not, you're just gonna sit there and you're gonna be falling behind in the sense of like you see everybody else around you growing and their crops growing and they're going in their faith with God, and you're kind of just stuck there because you didn't prepare for the new season to come.
- 19:41SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and like God's gonna He's gonna work with you, He's not gonna see your preparation as long as you are aligned with Him and you are accepting of His plan and you have faith, He's not gonna see your preparation and then come down and smite you because you weren't preparing the right way.
- 20:00SPEAKER_05: He's gonna work with you.
- 20:01SPEAKER_05: Um see the effort you're putting in.
- 20:03SPEAKER_05: Yeah, definitely don't take that as a sign to just sit back passively and not prepare.
- 20:08SPEAKER_05: Right.
- 20:08SPEAKER_05: You there should never be a moment that you're not preparing because every day you should be growing closer to God anyway.
- 20:15SPEAKER_05: So you're always preparing for something.
- 20:16SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's it's always it's so crazy how there's always like the two extremes.
- 20:20SPEAKER_00: Like it could be either where your weight you're over preparing or you're not preparing enough.
- 20:24SPEAKER_00: And it's like you should be preparing with like discernment almost like prepare and growing your close, growing your relationship closer to God, but don't hold yourself back at the same time.
- 20:34SPEAKER_00: You know, it's you have to find that balance.
- 20:36SPEAKER_00: It's it's tricky, I'm sure.
- 20:38SPEAKER_00: I mean, we've all probably are gonna have to go through it if we haven't already, but you have to learn and grow and find that balance of preparing and then not holding yourself back while preparing as well.
- 20:47SPEAKER_05: Yeah, then it definitely doesn't mean that if you have a next step and God's pointed you that way, it it isn't saying to not use your skill set or the gifts God has given you to prepare and analyze and move forward and tackle that uh problem the way that God designed you to.
- 21:04SPEAKER_05: Like if I know my next step is to go teach Sunday school, God has created me with the ability to prepare, with skills that I have.
- 21:15SPEAKER_05: So I prepare and I prepare for this class how I know how to.
- 21:20SPEAKER_05: I prepare to the best of my ability.
- 21:21SPEAKER_05: It'd be very lazy and foolish of me for say Pastor Jared to tell me I'm teaching Sunday school next Sunday, and then I don't do any preparation, and then I wait to the night before, and I'm like, Well, God, I trust you.
- 21:35SPEAKER_05: You chose me for this, so I'm gonna go in there and then you're gonna take over, and then these kids are all gonna get the Holy Ghost.
- 21:40SPEAKER_05: That'd be very foolish of me.
- 21:42SPEAKER_05: I have to prepare for that as well.
- 21:44SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 21:44SPEAKER_00: Like when you go into the test not studying, and you're like, Lord, help me remember everything about the test, and it's just like, Well, you don't remember anything because you didn't study for it.
- 21:52SPEAKER_00: Like you can't you can't you put God to the equation way way too late.
- 21:57SPEAKER_00: You can't you can't hope that he'll get you out of a situation.
- 22:00SPEAKER_00: You put yourself into type of thing.
- 22:01SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you can't go down the road without him and then expect him to be there at the end with you.
- 22:05SPEAKER_04: With his with your result, you know?
- 22:07SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 22:07SPEAKER_01: Literally.
- 22:08SPEAKER_01: That's a good one.
- 22:09SPEAKER_01: Clock it, Luke.
- 22:10SPEAKER_01: It's like things aren't going the way you thought they were.
- 22:11SPEAKER_01: And so like 10 years down, you're like, okay, God, um, can I have the final result?
- 22:15SPEAKER_03: It's time for you to come on and help me.
- 22:17SPEAKER_03: How about your plan?
- 22:18SPEAKER_03: Let's see it.
- 22:20SPEAKER_05: Yeah, so um, faith doesn't require being reckless.
- 22:24SPEAKER_05: I think that that sums it up.
- 22:25SPEAKER_05: But just because you know that God can do it, just because you have faith in his plan, that doesn't justify you just not caring about anything else being reckless.
- 22:49SPEAKER_05: Moving on, I really like the way that he kind of culminated the message at the end where saying eventually faith requires a step.
- 22:59SPEAKER_05: And um, I really like the example he used to talk about that.
- 23:02SPEAKER_05: So I'll just get into that.
- 23:03SPEAKER_05: It was really yeah, really good.
- 23:04SPEAKER_05: Um, he talked about him and Jin.
- 23:06SPEAKER_05: When Jin is his wife, if you're LARPing and you don't know at this point, um, but Jin is his wife, and he was talking about the planning that went into asking her to be his wife for proposing.
- 23:19SPEAKER_05: Um, he showed us his literal binder.
- 23:21SPEAKER_05: He had this thing planned out, and this was uh your dad's like what, Ramsey, like 40?
- 23:29SPEAKER_00: 43.
- 23:30SPEAKER_05: So this was back in like 1990s.
- 23:33SPEAKER_05: 44.
- 23:33SPEAKER_00: So 45.
- 23:35SPEAKER_00: He's 45.
- 23:36SPEAKER_05: But yeah, he didn't have a phone, or well, phones like we have it and have the internet and all that.
- 23:42SPEAKER_05: Um so he had all the stuff written out on a binder, he had directions on how to get to the place on a binder, he had all this stuff planned out, and all of this planning, it all came up to the moment where he actually had to ask her, Will you uh marry me?
- 23:59SPEAKER_05: So all the planning in the world, there was no planning he can do for that moment.
- 24:02SPEAKER_05: At some point for him, it got to a moment where he had to have the faith to reach out and take that step.
- 24:08SPEAKER_05: Yeah, no planning could prepare him for that.
- 24:11SPEAKER_05: Um, there's nothing he could have done to make that moment easier or analyze what would happen in that moment.
- 24:19SPEAKER_05: Yeah, he had to be vulnerable and reach out and risk the fear of rejection, risk all these things, and he had to take that chance.
- 24:28SPEAKER_05: And that's how it is for us in our spiritual life.
- 24:30SPEAKER_05: We can do all the prayer, the preparing, we can do all the praying, we can do all the fasting, but oftentimes to get to that next level, there's gonna come a moment where it's a very distinct step.
- 24:44SPEAKER_05: It's not gonna be comfortable, it's I'm gonna be honest, it's gonna be uncomfortable.
- 24:48SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I mean that's just that's just how we work it works, yeah.
- 24:52SPEAKER_05: And you're gonna get to that point where you just gotta trust that everything's gonna be alright and take the step.
- 24:58SPEAKER_00: I like what you said about how he had to be vulnerable because I feel like sometimes you could hold yourself back because you're almost scared.
- 25:04SPEAKER_00: Like you to open up to God, what do you mean?
- 25:06SPEAKER_00: Like he's like he already knows everything, but it's almost like you could be scared to get real, you know, like realize what's happening and and then genuinely move forward, you know?
- 25:14SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I feel like that's just another like little stumbling block, if you will, to then take that next step in faith.
- 25:20SPEAKER_00: Is you're almost again, you're holding yourself back because you're too scared to get real and vulnerable about it.
- 25:25SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 25:26SPEAKER_05: Yeah, there's a a lot of things that can um yeah, so many hold you back, but that is a good one.
- 25:31SPEAKER_05: Um you should be vulnerable with with God.
- 25:34SPEAKER_05: Um that's just a little nugget that we'll throw in there that um you should be vulnerable with God because if you have faith, you trust God.
- 25:42SPEAKER_05: Yeah, God loves you and He wants what's best for you.
- 25:45SPEAKER_05: So yeah, being vulnerable with Him will definitely uh bring you up a level.
- 25:50SPEAKER_00: Going back to kind of like how there we know there is a promise, but we may not know the steps to get there.
- 25:56SPEAKER_00: Is he talked about how Point Church is about to go through this?
- 25:59SPEAKER_00: You kind of touched on it a little bit, Hudson, about how Point Church is kind of about to go into a new season of building the gym because of a crazy snowstorm that happened in Louisiana of all places that kind of made it crumble.
- 26:11SPEAKER_01: But um a little bit, just a bit.
- 26:14SPEAKER_05: Not like we don't have a gym already.
- 26:17SPEAKER_00: But um he he said something, he said we can't do it on our own.
- 26:21SPEAKER_00: We need faith that God will provide it.
- 26:23SPEAKER_00: And it's we sometimes try to take control almost instead of just having the faith that that faith that God will provide it.
- 26:29SPEAKER_00: And as much as we would like to know how it's going to end exactly, we have to trust that no matter the curveballs that he's throwing that life throws at us, he has a plan for our church.
- 26:38SPEAKER_00: And I would say that part is pretty relatable to like everybody in general, just that there is that that big step like that the church is about to go through.
- 26:46SPEAKER_00: And I just liked how we use that example of like we're going through it right now.
- 26:50SPEAKER_00: Like what he preached about is what the church as a whole is going through right now, and there's gonna have to be the church as a whole is just gonna have to have that step of faith together, you know.
- 27:00SPEAKER_05: Like, yeah, yeah, and it's it's definitely not just contained to point church.
- 27:05SPEAKER_05: I'm sure if you're listening from another church out there, you can feel it.
- 27:09SPEAKER_05: Something is is definitely happening.
- 27:12SPEAKER_05: God is um like he's calling, like we said, not just our church, but the church body as a whole to another level.
- 27:21SPEAKER_05: And you know, none of us can say right now what that's gonna look like in five years.
- 27:28SPEAKER_05: None of us can say that if there is five years.
- 27:32SPEAKER_05: That's another podcast.
- 27:34SPEAKER_05: But yeah, none of us, yeah, none of us can know if in two and a half years we're getting raptured.
- 27:38SPEAKER_05: Like none of us know the next step.
- 27:40SPEAKER_05: Um, all you can do is trust.
- 27:42SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 27:43SPEAKER_00: And then like to add on is but part of faith is you must truly also believe in what you say you believe in.
- 27:49SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 27:50SPEAKER_00: And I feel like there's almost like it brought me to this idea of like you almost have to challenge your faith.
- 27:54SPEAKER_00: Like if you we know God has a promise for us, but if you are put in the situation where your faith is tested about that promise, if you're peer pressured, no matter no matter what the situation is, if if you could be peer pressured into something, you could be around different people and maybe act different, or it depends on like where you are in life.
- 28:16SPEAKER_00: Like it no matter the situation, if you're tested in your faith, are you gonna pass or are you gonna fail?
- 28:22SPEAKER_00: Is your faith strong enough to pass the test that it's going through?
- 28:25SPEAKER_00: Because like you could say that you have that belief in the promise.
- 28:28SPEAKER_00: You could say you have belief that God will get you there, but do you really, you know, like you need to challenge your faith, and that's part of the preparation and growing, is you need to believe in what you say you believe in.
- 28:38SPEAKER_05: Yeah, because none of this is really possible unless you have complete faith that no matter the outcome, no matter the circumstances, you don't care about the circumstance.
- 28:49SPEAKER_05: You believe that God is the provider, He has all that you need, and that's enough.
- 28:54SPEAKER_05: And that's kind of what you're saying is if you don't have that truth inside you and circumstances start arising, maybe it's pure pressure, maybe it's you know, you just have a bunch of bad days back to back to back, you start going through a bad season.
- 29:06SPEAKER_05: If you don't have complete faith in the truth that God's my provider, it's not my circumstance that matters, it's it's the God that created the circumstance, then if you don't have that, then you're kinda gonna you're gonna be a bit flaky.
- 29:20SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
- 29:20SPEAKER_05: Until you have that that faith, that belief inside of you, then that can happen to all of us.
- 29:27SPEAKER_05: Um if I start having a bunch of bad days back to back to back, I can definitely let that, if I'm not careful, affect my faith in God subconsciously.
- 29:36SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you can't let your emotions control yeah, and that's kind of your steps.
- 29:40SPEAKER_05: That's kind of like a core point of this message.
- 29:42SPEAKER_05: It's um I do not have the verse at the top of my head, but um in 2 Corinthians, I think, chapter 9, Pastor Jared was talking about it where Paul is telling the people, basically getting them to shift their mindset from what do I have?
- 29:58SPEAKER_05: Do I have enough to do you believe God can provide all that you need?
- 30:03SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 30:03SPEAKER_05: Because any one of us can go through a bad circumstance and look at what's going on around us, and we can doubt ourselves.
- 30:10SPEAKER_05: We're human.
- 30:11SPEAKER_05: Um, we go through stuff, um, some go through a lot of stuff, and you can definitely start to doubt, um, do I have enough?
- 30:19SPEAKER_05: Can I do this?
- 30:20SPEAKER_05: And Paul straight up tells him, like, it's not about that.
- 30:24SPEAKER_05: He gets up to see, do you believe in God?
- 30:26SPEAKER_05: Do you believe in what he can do?
- 30:28SPEAKER_05: If you have that belief, then the circumstance doesn't matter.
- 30:32SPEAKER_05: And that's kind of that's where we all need to be.
- 30:34SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and like he also made the point is where God, God sees what you need.
- 30:37SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and God will provide it.
- 30:39SPEAKER_00: And not only will he provide it, but he'll provide it more, more than what you need.
- 30:43SPEAKER_00: Like he has your best interest at heart.
- 30:46SPEAKER_00: Like, he's not gonna lead you astray.
- 30:47SPEAKER_00: You know, like if you are in need, he will give it to you if you pray and ask for it.
- 30:52SPEAKER_00: That's good.
- 30:54SPEAKER_00: And also have faith.
- 30:55SPEAKER_00: That is important.
- 30:57SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
- 30:58SPEAKER_05: Basically, if you didn't hear anything else, have faith.
- 31:20SPEAKER_01: Okay, so last week we um talked about James, was it two, one through fourteen?
- 31:27SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was.
- 31:28SPEAKER_01: No, one through thirteen.
- 31:29SPEAKER_01: So today we'll talk about James two, fourteen through twenty-six, so somebody can start us off.
- 31:34SPEAKER_05: Um, starting at fourteen, what good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don't show it by your actions?
- 31:42SPEAKER_05: Can that kind of faith save anyone?
- 31:44SPEAKER_05: Wow.
- 31:45SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 31:45SPEAKER_05: Kind of feel like that's um it's almost like that's picking up a right where we left off last week.
- 31:50SPEAKER_05: Starting at 15.
- 31:52SPEAKER_05: Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say goodbye and have a good day.
- 32:00SPEAKER_05: Stay warm and eat well, but then you don't give that person any food or clothing.
- 32:04SPEAKER_05: What good does that do?
- 32:06SPEAKER_05: So you see, faith by itself isn't enough unless it produces good deeds.
- 32:12SPEAKER_05: It is dead and useless.
- 32:14SPEAKER_05: Just wow, there's a lot to unpack right there.
- 32:18SPEAKER_05: I mean, the claim right at the start, um, the kind of question, the call to action.
- 32:23SPEAKER_05: What good is uh claiming faith if it doesn't produce action?
- 32:28SPEAKER_05: Can you really say you have faith if that faith doesn't produce anything, doesn't produce anything tangible?
- 32:36SPEAKER_05: It's um it'll really make you think.
- 32:38SPEAKER_05: Yeah, that's right.
- 32:39SPEAKER_05: But I definitely feel like back then, and even today sometimes we can hear that and see that and we can get a bit offended at first.
- 32:47SPEAKER_05: Because you're just like, wait, I believe.
- 32:49SPEAKER_05: I have faith.
- 32:50SPEAKER_05: And I feel like definitely to some of them back then, like if you would have said that to a Pharisee, you would have got stoned.
- 32:56SPEAKER_05: So um, but yeah, it's it's very deep right off the back.
- 33:00SPEAKER_05: And and again, picking up where we left off last week, that what's the point of any of this if uh if there's nothing tangible coming from it, if you can't see it in your life, if other people can't see that there's a change in you and there's not an outward change of what's changing on the inside, that was the main point we kind of got from last time.
- 33:22SPEAKER_05: If there's no outward showing coming from your changing inside, then can you really claim that you have faith?
- 33:28SPEAKER_05: Yeah, can you really claim that you believe this if if you haven't changed?
- 33:33SPEAKER_05: Yeah, there's no evidence.
- 33:34SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
- 33:35SPEAKER_05: I mean, the example he gives is hilarious.
- 33:38SPEAKER_05: It's like, suppose you see someone struggling, you just say, Have a good day, be well.
- 33:43SPEAKER_05: Like, yeah, that's a funny example, but we can treat our faith like that.
- 33:48SPEAKER_05: And that's kind of what he's hitting at that we can say that we changed or that we've changed, we can say that we have faith, we can say that you know, we're better, we're more spiritual, in quotation marks, that we're in a better place.
- 34:04SPEAKER_05: But if we're not actually, you know, changing internally and our heart is changing and that you know we're not showing any gifts of the spirit, then what's the point of saying any of that?
- 34:15SPEAKER_05: Yeah, not producing anything.
- 34:16SPEAKER_00: It's almost kind of for looks, if you think about it, in the sense of his example when he says goodbye and have a good day, stay warm and eat well.
- 34:24SPEAKER_00: That means he he recognized that he needs to be warm and eat well, you know.
- 34:27SPEAKER_00: Like he saw him that he was in the struggle, but he was like, uh staying.
- 34:31SPEAKER_00: But he didn't really stay well eat warm, you know.
- 34:33SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm eat stay well, eat warm.
- 34:35SPEAKER_05: He's just being nice, surface level.
- 34:37SPEAKER_05: Yeah, he gave like a very political answer.
- 34:40SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so like if people saw they were like, Oh, look, he said some kind words to him.
- 34:43SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's so nice.
- 34:44SPEAKER_00: But what did you really do to help him?
- 34:46SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you didn't do nothing.
- 34:47SPEAKER_04: But I do have an example where somebody did help the guy who was hurting.
- 34:52SPEAKER_04: This is in Acts three and three.
- 34:54SPEAKER_04: That's when Peter and John were about to enter into some building.
- 34:57SPEAKER_04: Um unknown.
- 34:59SPEAKER_04: And the there was a lame man asking for money.
- 35:02SPEAKER_04: Peter and John looked at him intently, and Peter said, Look at us.
- 35:07SPEAKER_04: And then the lame man looked at them eagerly, expecting money.
- 35:10SPEAKER_04: But Peter said, I don't have any silver or gold, but what I have I will give to you.
- 35:14SPEAKER_04: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk.
- 35:18SPEAKER_04: And he was healed.
- 35:19SPEAKER_04: So this is an exact example of that our faith should produce something, it should produce works, it should produce goodness or whatever God's plan and purpose is for our lives or for others' lives, and that this is the wrong order.
- 35:34SPEAKER_04: Going for good works and that first does not work out.
- 35:38SPEAKER_04: We must first have faith, and that eventually produces good works.
- 35:41SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and yeah, that's a you're good.
- 35:43SPEAKER_04: What are you saying?
- 35:44SPEAKER_00: I was just gonna add on to that message as I feel I mean that scripture is also a very great example of kind of what the message was about, is you have faith for something, and God will give it to you.
- 35:53SPEAKER_00: He sees your needs and he will provide it, but then he'll give you more.
- 35:56SPEAKER_00: Not only did he he was hoping that he would just get food or maybe some money, but he didn't just get food and money, he got the ability to walk to go get his own instead of having to sit there and beg.
- 36:06SPEAKER_00: You know, like isn't that crazy?
- 36:08SPEAKER_04: He was planning for the day, yeah, but God had plans for the future.
- 36:11SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah, meditate on that.
- 36:15SPEAKER_05: But yeah, look, that's a uh very good distinction because we definitely we talked about that pretty much all chapter um last week.
- 36:23SPEAKER_05: That if you're going about it like you just said, um, going for the works first, right, then you're doing it out of order.
- 36:30SPEAKER_05: Um, your faith, your internal changing and your belief that should happen first.
- 36:35SPEAKER_05: And once you let the spirit start dealing with you, the works, they're they're a byproduct of that, they're the evidence of that.
- 36:41SPEAKER_05: Um, yeah, and that's again showing that um James is straight up telling us in these verses that if faith only exists in your vocabulary, then it's not really faith.
- 36:51SPEAKER_05: Yeah, there has to be something tangible.
- 36:53SPEAKER_05: Like this example that he gives us specifically, if you see someone in need, you should be helping them.
- 36:59SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah, not just hope you'll do better.
- 37:02SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I feel like sometimes as Christians, we can do this a lot.
- 37:04SPEAKER_05: I've done this.
- 37:05SPEAKER_05: I mean, I'll be honest.
- 37:05SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I see someone and I'm just like, I'll be praying for you.
- 37:08SPEAKER_00: Right?
- 37:09SPEAKER_00: And then you go home and don't.
- 37:10SPEAKER_05: You know, that's nice, even if I do go home and pray.
- 37:12SPEAKER_00: But may make them smile.
- 37:13SPEAKER_00: But you know what?
- 37:14SPEAKER_05: What if they needed someone in that moment?
- 37:16SPEAKER_05: And I was just like, I'll be praying for you, brother.
- 37:18SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah.
- 37:19SPEAKER_05: Away from you.
- 37:20SPEAKER_05: I'll be praying for you, away from you.
- 37:21SPEAKER_05: I will go home to my comfortable house and pray for you.
- 37:24SPEAKER_05: Good.
- 37:24SPEAKER_05: Uncomfortable.
- 37:25SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
- 37:26SPEAKER_05: But I'll go home and pray for you.
- 37:27SPEAKER_05: You you got this though.
- 37:28SPEAKER_05: No goal for you.
- 37:29SPEAKER_01: I think what Luke said brought about, like about what we were talking about, just shows and like kind of reminds us that it's not necessarily talking about food and clothing.
- 37:37SPEAKER_01: It's the scripture is it has an example of you know the man who needs food and clothing, but it's also for the people who need salvation.
- 37:45SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you need the truth and you need the spirit that you have living inside of you, they need it too.
- 37:50SPEAKER_01: And so when you're walking around and you see someone hurting or hungry, give them what you have.
- 37:55SPEAKER_01: And it doesn't always mean food or or money or whatever, it means the truth that you have, the knowledge that you have, the spirit that they need.
- 38:02SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 38:03SPEAKER_00: And it's like you have no excuses because if your Holy Ghost filled, you always have it with you.
- 38:06SPEAKER_00: You know, like you can if you know the gospel, you always have that with you.
- 38:09SPEAKER_00: You could share it to anybody.
- 38:10SPEAKER_00: And so there's no way to just walk by somebody and then try and reason with yourself that they don't need it to, you know?
- 38:17SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 38:17SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
- 38:18SPEAKER_04: And if you if you notice when you're you have a chance to witness to somebody, if you step into that, it's almost like, well, I wouldn't have been able to know to say that.
- 38:26SPEAKER_04: Or how did that even happen?
- 38:27SPEAKER_04: How did I do that?
- 38:28SPEAKER_04: The spirit moves through you.
- 38:29SPEAKER_04: Right.
- 38:29SPEAKER_00: Like your words are not your words, that's his words.
- 38:32SPEAKER_00: Um, you kind of had to move on to the like the next verse, Hudson.
- 38:36SPEAKER_00: You had earlier said something off of Lucas, how you need something tangible, not just words.
- 38:40SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 38:41SPEAKER_00: But then it immediately says, now some may argue, starting at verse 18, some people have faith, others have good deeds.
- 38:46SPEAKER_00: But I say, How can you show me your faith if you don't have good deeds?
- 38:49SPEAKER_00: I will show you my faith by my good deeds.
- 38:51SPEAKER_00: And you almost try to put your level of faith in your good deeds.
- 38:55SPEAKER_00: It's you try to prove that you have good faith because you do this for people and you you feed the hungry and you you prove your faith almost by how what you're doing.
- 39:04SPEAKER_00: And it's saying you that's not how that works.
- 39:07SPEAKER_00: It's immediately going into you, you need both.
- 39:10SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 39:11SPEAKER_01: It's because it's like the complete, not the opposite, but like it's it goes both ways.
- 39:15SPEAKER_01: Like, good deeds is nothing without faith, and faith is nothing without good deeds.
- 39:19SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 39:19SPEAKER_01: Like it does nothing to say I'm a Christian, but not be Christ-like.
- 39:23SPEAKER_01: Like, what does that show?
- 39:24SPEAKER_01: Who's gonna wanna follow you?
- 39:26SPEAKER_01: Who's gonna wanna get your advice?
- 39:27SPEAKER_01: Who's gonna wanna ask you questions about why you're so different or why you're so kind or loving, or just they can feel a presence on you that they've never felt before.
- 39:36SPEAKER_01: If you don't spread that, if you don't act like what you're preaching, if you don't practice what you preach, then no one's gonna want to follow somebody who thinks they're holier than everyone else.
- 39:45SPEAKER_02: They're not gonna want what you have.
- 39:46SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 39:46SPEAKER_00: Loki, funny example, when it says, How can you show me your faith if you don't have good deeds?
- 39:50SPEAKER_00: I will show you my faith by my good deeds.
- 39:52SPEAKER_00: Instead of the person producing fruit, they're just going by it.
- 39:56SPEAKER_00: That kind of just keeps the mind.
- 39:58SPEAKER_00: So, like instead of producing the fruit and giving it to them, that means you have both.
- 40:01SPEAKER_00: Some of them are not giving their fruit, but some of them are just going by that fruit and trying to give it off and sell it as counterfeit because they're trying to prove their faith by how much they're giving it and not doing both.
- 40:13SPEAKER_00: Funny example of popular.
- 40:14SPEAKER_05: But yeah, that's a that's a good point.
- 40:16SPEAKER_05: That um I really like what Audrey said that you can't have one without the other.
- 40:19SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 40:19SPEAKER_05: Um, it's kind of two sides of the same coin because if you have true faith, faith that you're letting change you, um, the deeds are just gonna happen.
- 40:28SPEAKER_05: Yeah, you can't really have one without the other.
- 40:30SPEAKER_05: They're they're kind of really tied into each other, and that's what he's getting at.
- 40:33SPEAKER_05: And yeah, Ramsey, definitely.
- 40:35SPEAKER_05: You can't uh you can't just go buy the fruits of the spirit and then try to sell that off.
- 40:40SPEAKER_05: No, they're gonna they're gonna come from the spirit inside of you that's changing you, and your faith in that spirit.
- 40:46SPEAKER_05: Um you can't just go to the supermarket and buy it.
- 40:50SPEAKER_00: You're welcome.
- 40:51SPEAKER_05: But yeah, but I also like again, it highlights um the verse you just read.
- 40:55SPEAKER_05: I will show you my faith and my good deeds.
- 40:57SPEAKER_05: That if someone has changed, you're gonna see that.
- 41:01SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
- 41:01SPEAKER_05: And they're oh, walk with God, you're just gonna be able to see through their actions.
- 41:06SPEAKER_05: Some people, you you know them.
- 41:08SPEAKER_05: Um you can just tell that that person is living for God.
- 41:12SPEAKER_05: Wow.
- 41:13SPEAKER_05: Um that person's that person's living with the spirit, that person's following the spirit.
- 41:18SPEAKER_05: Um, and you could just tell by their deeds, you can tell they're not just faking it to make it or buying their fruits.
- 41:24SPEAKER_00: Um it's natural.
- 41:26SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's uh it's not even a second thought.
- 41:28SPEAKER_05: It's who they are, yeah.
- 41:29SPEAKER_05: And that it's not a prideful thing for them.
- 41:31SPEAKER_05: They're not doing it to show you.
- 41:33SPEAKER_05: That's just they're walking so faithfully with the spirit that they've just that's just who they are.
- 41:39SPEAKER_05: That those works are just their natural byproduct of their faith and the spirit inside them, and that's what we should all strive to be.
- 41:47SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 41:48SPEAKER_05: And um, I think verse 19 was my favorite.
- 41:51SPEAKER_05: Absolutely, absolutely.
- 41:52SPEAKER_05: I have something there for you too.
- 41:54SPEAKER_05: You say you say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God.
- 41:59SPEAKER_05: Good for you.
- 42:00SPEAKER_05: That should be the title.
- 42:00SPEAKER_05: Yeah, good for you.
- 42:02SPEAKER_05: Good for you.
- 42:03SPEAKER_05: Even the demons believe this and they tremble in terror.
- 42:07SPEAKER_05: Like, wow.
- 42:08SPEAKER_05: Like, really, bro.
- 42:09SPEAKER_05: You're gonna compare us to demons?
- 42:11SPEAKER_05: Crazy.
- 42:12SPEAKER_05: Deep.
- 42:12SPEAKER_05: Like, I read that at first and I was like, wow.
- 42:15SPEAKER_05: Wow.
- 42:16SPEAKER_00: Kind of hits.
- 42:17SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it does really hit because you know how people put scripture in my bio.
- 42:23SPEAKER_05: I'm putting the scripture in my bio.
- 42:24SPEAKER_01: Even the demons believe.
- 42:26SPEAKER_05: But no, it's um it's a really good wake-up call because if all that you say, if your entire faith boils down to one statement, right, and all that statement is is I believe that there's one God.
- 42:39SPEAKER_05: Right.
- 42:39SPEAKER_05: James is telling me you have no more faith than a demon.
- 42:42SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
- 42:42SPEAKER_05: Because even the demons are like, uh, yeah, we hate the dude, but we know there's one God.
- 42:47SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
- 42:47SPEAKER_01: Like there are bigger fish to cry here.
- 42:49SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 42:49SPEAKER_04: And it affects your faith and also how you live.
- 42:51SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
- 42:52SPEAKER_04: Because if we focus on specifics of what we believe and not the true message like the gospel, then we're too focused on debating, then rather showing them what the truth is.
- 43:01SPEAKER_04: That's another area, yeah.
- 43:02SPEAKER_04: That's just as important.
- 43:03SPEAKER_04: Exactly.
- 43:04SPEAKER_04: I have a scripture that goes with it.
- 43:06SPEAKER_04: In Hebrews 5, I think it's 12 to 14, says you need milk as a as a new believer.
- 43:11SPEAKER_04: It's talking about in context.
- 43:13SPEAKER_04: You need milk, not solid food.
- 43:15SPEAKER_04: Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.
- 43:20SPEAKER_04: But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
- 43:25SPEAKER_04: So we're trying to debate mature topics or topics that are just not on the level of just reaching others and sharing the good news to them.
- 43:36SPEAKER_00: You almost can focus in that debate between that big debate.
- 43:40SPEAKER_04: It's like we're trying to to feed an infant truly like a state.
- 43:44SPEAKER_04: Like like they're not gonna eat, they don't they don't even know what to do with that.
- 43:47SPEAKER_04: Yeah, they don't know how to use a fork or a knife, nothing.
- 43:50SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
- 43:50SPEAKER_00: I feel like that's a it's a great point that I feel like sometimes we forget is that for new believers, they're not gonna care, they don't know about all those.
- 44:00SPEAKER_00: Details that people argue about, and they just are hungry for the gospel and for the words for the the truth, like the the basis, the milk of it all.
- 44:10SPEAKER_00: Like you know, the thing that can sustain you no matter what.
- 44:13SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, steaks are good, but like the mom's milk, it literally sustains that baby for life, yeah, for until they can finally start doing what they can do, you know.
- 44:22SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, that's it's the basics, it's what starts you off.
- 44:25SPEAKER_00: It's what you it takes you and then grows you to the next place.
- 44:27SPEAKER_00: And I feel like that's a great point that we forget about sometimes.
- 44:30SPEAKER_05: Yeah, no, that's that's very good.
- 44:32SPEAKER_05: I I definitely agree with Luke that sometimes uh you can get so caught up in the the little details, and especially if you're trying to uh reach for a new believer, uh someone just coming to Christ, you have to be very careful.
- 44:46SPEAKER_05: Your only job in that moment is to introduce them to Jesus.
- 44:52SPEAKER_05: Um you don't have to argue the Bible to them, you just have to get them connected.
- 44:56SPEAKER_05: They should be able to, you know, see Jesus in you.
- 44:58SPEAKER_05: Yeah, it's baby steps, yeah, and you just get them connected.
- 45:01SPEAKER_05: Uh so yeah, definitely, you know, don't just argue about the little details with a new believer.
- 45:09SPEAKER_05: Um that's a whole nother thing.
- 45:11SPEAKER_05: Yeah, right.
- 45:12SPEAKER_05: And I I think we've even talked about this on the podcast before how you don't want to do that.
- 45:17SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
- 45:17SPEAKER_05: Um, yeah, just get people to Jesus.
- 45:20SPEAKER_05: I mean, that's literally like our church's motto.
- 45:22SPEAKER_05: Point people to Jesus.
- 45:22SPEAKER_05: Yeah, point people to Jesus.
- 45:24SPEAKER_05: That's um, if you do that, God will sort the rest out.
- 45:27SPEAKER_05: Yeah, that's right.
- 45:28SPEAKER_05: Yeah, but I um also really like again this verse, James literally just calling you out that knowing things about God, knowing correct information.
- 45:39SPEAKER_05: Good for you.
- 45:39SPEAKER_05: Yeah, good for you, bro.
- 45:41SPEAKER_05: It's not enough.
- 45:42SPEAKER_05: Um, if you know that information is correct and you truly believe that, it's not gonna stop there.
- 45:48SPEAKER_05: If you truly believe that, that should change and mold into that's how you start living.
- 45:54SPEAKER_05: You start showing evidence that you believe that, you don't just say that.
- 45:58SPEAKER_05: If you just say that you know it, then your faith is really no greater than a demon's.
- 46:03SPEAKER_05: And how scary is that?
- 46:04SPEAKER_05: Yeah, it's crazy.
- 46:05SPEAKER_05: Yeah, you definitely don't want to be at at that point.
- 46:08SPEAKER_05: Um always have more faith than it does.
- 46:11SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because then it continues to say how foolish, like immediately, how foolish can you see that faith without good deeds is useless?
- 46:17SPEAKER_00: Because like the demons have faith, their deeds are not good, you know, like that and and they're pretty much just useless.
- 46:24SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, like what's the point of them?
- 46:25SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they're just the point is that they're actually just trying to like harm you.
- 46:29SPEAKER_00: But other than that, if you are like the demon and where all you do is just have faith, what's the point?
- 46:35SPEAKER_00: Or oh no, sorry, beliefs.
- 46:36SPEAKER_05: Yeah, no, that's good.
- 46:37SPEAKER_00: What's the point?
- 46:38SPEAKER_05: It just knowing who God is and what God can do and knowing intellectual facts about God, that's not enough.
- 46:46SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 46:47SPEAKER_05: I mean, if you're worried about getting to heaven, that's not gonna get you to heaven.
- 46:51SPEAKER_05: Um, yeah.
- 46:52SPEAKER_05: If you just say, I know that God's the savior, um, I know that he is the God of Abraham, Isaac, I know that he's great and the Prince of Peace and all these things, you can say all that, but if you don't live that, if that's not who you are, if that's not changing you and that spirit isn't in you and you're not letting that happen, then you're kind of just like I like what Ramsey said, uh useless.
- 47:15SPEAKER_05: Sounds a bit harsh, but you don't want to be that.
- 47:17SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 47:18SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 47:19SPEAKER_01: I wanted to wait, I wanted to real quick go back to something because after you had said a second ago, you were saying we were talking about the point Luke was making about Hebrews and about like the whole milk thing and new believers and stuff.
- 47:31SPEAKER_01: And I was just thinking about it because I was talking about this with Griffin.
- 47:34SPEAKER_01: Griffin's my boyfriend, for those who don't know, but him and his parents.
- 47:37SPEAKER_01: Hi Griffin.
- 47:38SPEAKER_01: Hey Griff.
- 47:39SPEAKER_01: Um, so him and his parents and me were talking about um like this actual topic, and I was like, where did I just talk about this whole milk thing?
- 47:46SPEAKER_01: Like I was like, why does this sound familiar?
- 47:48SPEAKER_01: But we were talking about how um, like it almost it it's more dangerous not only to us but to the new believer as well, if we try to push the nitty-gritty on them before we give them the milk.
- 48:01SPEAKER_01: But it's mainly because if we try to kind of push that on them and we don't get them the basis, then we become a spiritual crutch for them.
- 48:09SPEAKER_01: And kind of the point of the whole milk thing is that we give them just enough to get them going.
- 48:14SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 48:14SPEAKER_01: We give them what they need to start becoming spiritually mature and have their own spiritual walk with God.
- 48:19SPEAKER_01: And if we rush that, if we do it not on them or God's timing, then it becomes like they rely on us for answers and they don't rely on on God for answers about things that are confused.
- 48:30SPEAKER_01: Like our job as believers, already, you know, we are believers, is to, you know, lead them to Christ and help them if they need help, of course.
- 48:39SPEAKER_01: But make sure that we don't become a crutch for them or an excuse for them to not have their own relationship with God because, oh, Audrey will just answer this question for me.
- 48:48SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 48:48SPEAKER_01: Because that doesn't teach them anything, it doesn't teach them to rely on him, it teaches them that we're the one providing the milk.
- 48:53SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that we're the one that has their back.
- 48:55SPEAKER_01: But it's not how it goes.
- 48:57SPEAKER_01: We just lead them there and we make sure that we don't become a spiritual crutch for them.
- 49:00SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 49:00SPEAKER_01: So I just wanted to say that.
- 49:01SPEAKER_05: Yeah, that's very good, very good stuff.
- 49:04SPEAKER_05: Um, completely agree.
- 49:05SPEAKER_00: Anyway, keep going.
- 49:06SPEAKER_00: I like that point because the spiritual crutch, if you try to give a baby milk, I mean, if you try to give a baby that's only feeding on milk, try to give them almost steak, they're gonna reject that.
- 49:17SPEAKER_00: That is not staying down.
- 49:18SPEAKER_00: They're gonna do well.
- 49:20SPEAKER_00: I mean, like in general, like if they can even get it down, they're rejecting it.
- 49:24SPEAKER_00: And yeah, like they're gonna throw that up.
- 49:25SPEAKER_00: They don't want it, like that's not good for them.
- 49:27SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's the same thing that could happen is they almost they could even reject it if you try to overbear them with it.
- 49:32SPEAKER_00: They could reject it and not even want anything to do with it.
- 49:35SPEAKER_00: And that's part of being the spiritual crutch.
- 49:36SPEAKER_00: You can't you can't be the reason somebody doesn't want anything to do with Jesus, you know, like that is a big burden to carry.
- 49:42SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's a whole nother thing.
- 49:44SPEAKER_04: But it's very important with what you're what you're talking about with the crutch because also just as nature has it, we start off needing that that nurture, you know, to be nurtured that much.
- 49:55SPEAKER_04: And then as time progresses, less and less and less and less, and then we go out on our own.
- 50:00SPEAKER_04: That's just how life itself goes.
- 50:02SPEAKER_04: So just like a their life with Jesus, you know, should be, they should, you know, have some guidance and then grow and grow and grow to where they learn themselves.
- 50:12SPEAKER_04: They they grow themselves, they seek it themselves.
- 50:14SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we can't just be keep keeping like force feeding this child, even if we have if we're feeding them milk, we can't just keep force feeding the baby.
- 50:22SPEAKER_01: And that obviously doesn't mean like don't have you know regular Bible studies with them or something to help them grow.
- 50:26SPEAKER_05: Right.
- 50:26SPEAKER_01: It just don't be their only source of spirituality.
- 50:30SPEAKER_05: Yeah, oh yeah, 100%.
- 50:31SPEAKER_05: Completely agree.
- 50:32SPEAKER_05: Um again, your main goal, like you said, is to just get them connected.
- 50:37SPEAKER_05: Yeah, once you do that, and you know, they start uh slowly graduating from just the milk and they're connected to God, they're in this, um, they're filled with the spirit, then that's when you can kind of start getting into more of the nitty-gritty with them once they've matured a bit.
- 50:53SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
- 50:53SPEAKER_00: Umce they can take it.
- 50:55SPEAKER_05: Yeah, but yeah, I feel like we're all in agreement that if it's a new believer, someone just going to church, never just start getting into that nitty-gritty with them, just get them connected.
- 51:05SPEAKER_05: I felt like I need to be a little nugget that we're giving you for free guys.
- 51:08SPEAKER_05: Just get them connected.
- 51:25SPEAKER_01: Um, so did y'all talk about 21 yet?
- 51:27SPEAKER_01: Yep.
- 51:28SPEAKER_01: We did not.
- 51:28SPEAKER_01: So um, is everybody good for 20?
- 51:31SPEAKER_01: Just said everything like that.
- 51:32SPEAKER_05: I'm just so eager to get into 21.
- 51:34SPEAKER_01: Perfect.
- 51:34SPEAKER_01: So um, I was just gonna read like 21 through 24 real quick.
- 51:38SPEAKER_01: Did y'all want to break it up?
- 51:39SPEAKER_01: Go for it.
- 51:40SPEAKER_01: I think that works.
- 51:41SPEAKER_01: So 21 through 24 says, Don't you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?
- 51:48SPEAKER_01: You see, his faith and his actions work together.
- 51:50SPEAKER_01: His actions made his faith complete.
- 51:52SPEAKER_01: And so it happened just as the scriptures say, Abraham believed God and God counted him as a as righteous because of his faith.
- 51:58SPEAKER_01: He was even called the friend of God.
- 52:00SPEAKER_01: So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone.
- 52:04SPEAKER_01: Ties in perfectly with the message, might I say, because Abraham trusted God and he was willing to sacrifice his only son, knowing what, like not mean not knowing what would happen after.
- 52:14SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he didn't know he was gonna have another son to carry on his legacy or how it was gonna work, but God called him to it and God promised him something, and he walked into it and he trusted God, and God came through in the end.
- 52:26SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 52:27SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and I really like um how James has kind of uh formatted like the structure that the flow we've been following at these verses, because he comes out with the claim that your faith is basically useless if it doesn't produce works.
- 52:41SPEAKER_05: Then he has the audacity to say that if you just believe things about God and that's it, then your faith is no greater than a demon's.
- 52:50SPEAKER_05: He has the audacity to say that, then he goes immediately into showing you evidence, you know, from the old testament.
- 52:58SPEAKER_05: Literally what he's talking about.
- 52:59SPEAKER_05: Abraham believed in God, yes, 100%.
- 53:01SPEAKER_05: He had faith, but his faith required action.
- 53:05SPEAKER_05: That action, that deed was him potentially sacrificing his only son.
- 53:11SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and it was that action that showed his faith.
- 53:14SPEAKER_05: You can't just say you have faith, and that's enough.
- 53:17SPEAKER_05: There's gonna be a point where action is required to prove your faith, not prove it to others, but to prove it to God that you have faith.
- 53:25SPEAKER_05: And so it's literally backing up his statement and showing you in the Bible where this is true.
- 53:30SPEAKER_05: Abraham was counted, like you said, as a friend of God.
- 53:33SPEAKER_05: And that's because of his great faith, and that faith required action.
- 53:36SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and to him that action was scary.
- 53:38SPEAKER_05: That action required obedience, man.
- 53:40SPEAKER_00: Imagine, I could only imagine having to sacrifice your own kid.
- 53:45SPEAKER_00: Like how big of a sacrifice that like how much of trust did that.
- 53:49SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so that shows how there's no real limits to what God can and will ask of you to do.
- 53:55SPEAKER_00: Spoiler alert, he didn't actually die.
- 53:57SPEAKER_00: The son, God stopped him.
- 53:59SPEAKER_04: He's good.
- 53:59SPEAKER_00: And that just shows you, like, I mean, like God's a long time ago.
- 54:02SPEAKER_00: He's gone.
- 54:03SPEAKER_00: But like, I mean, he doesn't want you to go and like harm people, but like it shows you that he will take something that you value the most and try and get you to sacrifice it, put it down, lay it down.
- 54:13SPEAKER_00: Trust me, you're valuing that way too much, you know.
- 54:16SPEAKER_00: Like Abraham wanted kids, but he was willing to to sacrifice his one and only, and that just shows how much one obedience and and like love for God, Abraham and have, yeah, and how we should try and be like that, but also how God will he won't mess around, you know.
- 54:35SPEAKER_00: Like he's gonna ask you to sacrifice the most valuable thing to test your faith.
- 54:39SPEAKER_00: That's another version of testing.
- 54:41SPEAKER_00: But God, like the message was saying, He came, like Audrey was saying, even he came through in ways that you would he would never imagine, you know, like yeah, who would have thought he would have brought a ram out of the bushes and said sacrifice us instead?
- 54:51SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like you can't predict these things, twist of the century.
- 54:54SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you just gotta walk into it kind of blindly in a sense.
- 54:58SPEAKER_01: Well, not really blind, because you know the first step to take, but you don't know that the whole result.
- 55:03SPEAKER_01: You know what?
- 55:03SPEAKER_01: You're gonna be fine.
- 55:04SPEAKER_00: But it could be something that you value so much, and God will ask you to lay it down and you'll wonder why.
- 55:09SPEAKER_00: But the fact that he did it shows what we should do.
- 55:12SPEAKER_00: You know, how how crazy is that that he was willing to sacrifice something that crazy, that that valuable to him?
- 55:17SPEAKER_05: It's because faith is sometimes it's gonna be scary like that.
- 55:20SPEAKER_05: And that's just that shows that you have true faith.
- 55:23SPEAKER_05: Because again, if you were like who he was just talking about earlier and your faith doesn't show works, and all you do is say that you believe it, um, when the hard times come, or when something like a scenario like that, not as drastic as sacrificing your son, yeah, but a scenario where God's requiring you or wants you to put something down for a while, or maybe let go of something completely, you're not gonna do that.
- 55:48SPEAKER_05: Or you get to a hard time in your life, um that faith is gonna be tested, and it's probably not gonna be as strong as you were telling yourself and everyone else it was.
- 55:58SPEAKER_05: Um I mean, just think if all you do is say that you believe God is a healer and you get cancer, that faith is gonna be tested very strongly immediately.
- 56:11SPEAKER_05: And if you weren't actually living that faith, um the faith is gonna be a bit shaky.
- 56:16SPEAKER_00: So your life is gonna be a bit shaky.
- 56:18SPEAKER_05: That is what happens when you have cancer.
- 56:20SPEAKER_00: Like, I mean, like you'll lose what you said you you believed in, you'll lose all hope for it almost because if it wasn't strong, if it wasn't built like how you thought it was, if you kept lying to yourself, if you kept trying to convince yourself it's it's not gonna help you through those hard times like you thought it would.
- 56:35SPEAKER_05: Yeah, because you can say all you want and say all these things, but your faith isn't proven strong if there's no work, if there's no sometimes sacrifice, if there's no obedience.
- 56:44SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 56:45SPEAKER_04: I mean, it reinforces the idea that you know faith always must come first in order to produce the right good works.
- 56:52SPEAKER_04: Because good works are pleasing to God, you know.
- 56:55SPEAKER_04: But you know, what we all subjectively understand as good works can be different for each and every person here, living in their own beliefs and within their own life.
- 57:04SPEAKER_04: You know, just trying to do good things every day.
- 57:06SPEAKER_04: But we have to let the faith, you know, bring forth the fruit instead of simply saying, Oh, you know what?
- 57:13SPEAKER_04: I think good works that I'm thinking of that are godly would be good to go do now.
- 57:19SPEAKER_04: No, we can't walk into that.
- 57:20SPEAKER_04: I mean, you would never think that that sacrificing your son in Abraham's spot would be pleasing to God.
- 57:26SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
- 57:26SPEAKER_04: But it was he out of obedience.
- 57:28SPEAKER_04: The obedience is what pleased God.
- 57:30SPEAKER_04: It wasn't the straight up killing of his son, you know?
- 57:34SPEAKER_05: That was the evidence of his faith.
- 57:35SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
- 57:37SPEAKER_05: Mattered.
- 57:37SPEAKER_05: That's yeah, that's um sure that was very pleasing to God.
- 57:40SPEAKER_05: I mean, as you can tell, he was really known as God's friend.
- 57:43SPEAKER_05: So yeah, I really like uh uh going into verse 25.
- 57:49SPEAKER_05: Um Rahab the prostitute.
- 57:52SPEAKER_05: Well I read that immediately, and you kind of get the impression at at first, if you're just kind of glancing at it, that it kind of seems like he's calling her out.
- 58:00SPEAKER_05: Um that's definitely not what's happening here.
- 58:03SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and I think it's actually pretty important that he referred to her as Rahab the prostitute.
- 58:09SPEAKER_05: I'll read the full verse.
- 58:10SPEAKER_05: Rahab the prostitute is another example.
- 58:13SPEAKER_05: She was shown to be right with God by her actions when she hid those messages and sent them safely away by a different road.
- 58:20SPEAKER_05: So why is he just why didn't he just say Rahab?
- 58:24SPEAKER_05: Why is he saying Rahab the prostitute?
- 58:27SPEAKER_05: Um, if you don't know her story, yes, she was a prostitute, he's not lying about that, and she hid spies within her home at great danger to herself if she would have got found out.
- 58:38SPEAKER_05: Um, probably would have gotten killed, her and her family.
- 58:41SPEAKER_05: She hid um Hebrew Israelite spies in her house.
- 58:45SPEAKER_05: And I mean, that's in the Old Testament, you can go read about it, but like he's saying, she showed her faith through that.
- 58:51SPEAKER_05: So why is he calling her leaving her the prostitute again?
- 58:55SPEAKER_05: He's telling you that it it doesn't matter your circumstances, um or who you were, yeah, what you do were.
- 59:04SPEAKER_05: Your faith is going to be proven um no matter what you were before, no matter your title, no matter your standing.
- 59:12SPEAKER_05: Because think about it.
- 59:13SPEAKER_05: Um in society, especially you know, back then, you can't get much lower on the societal rung than a prostitute.
- 59:21SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 59:21SPEAKER_05: Um, you're like the lowest of the low, like back then, especially in that culture.
- 59:26SPEAKER_05: Um, so he's straight up showing you that she was the bottom of the barrel.
- 59:30SPEAKER_05: She was, in quotation marks, nothing according to society.
- 59:35SPEAKER_05: Yet she is being spoken about here because her faith it showed it brought up.
- 59:41SPEAKER_05: She had faith.
- 59:42SPEAKER_05: Her faith produced action, courageous action.
- 59:45SPEAKER_05: Yeah, she didn't just acknowledge the God of the Israelites, she acted on that faith and she protected those spies.
- 59:53SPEAKER_05: Her actions showed that her trust and allegiance to God had changed.
- 59:57SPEAKER_05: She didn't just tell them, you know, you guys are on a great mission, and I support your calls, but I hope they warm and equal.
- 1:00:05SPEAKER_05: Yeah, that's right.
- 1:00:06SPEAKER_05: But yeah, do it outside of my home.
- 1:00:08SPEAKER_05: Yeah, no.
- 1:00:09SPEAKER_05: Her actions proved allegiance.
- 1:00:11SPEAKER_05: It didn't matter to God or to the Israelites in that moment who she was before.
- 1:00:14SPEAKER_05: Yeah, it didn't matter all the things she had done.
- 1:00:17SPEAKER_05: Her title didn't matter.
- 1:00:19SPEAKER_05: It was that action that's who she became.
- 1:00:22SPEAKER_05: Yeah, that that faith, it showed her allegiance to God.
- 1:00:25SPEAKER_05: Yeah, that was evidence of her faith.
- 1:00:27SPEAKER_05: And you know, that may not look identical to everyone, but it's gonna be a pretty common uh thing that you'll find that your that someone's faith it's gonna show, it's gonna show an action.
- 1:00:39SPEAKER_05: Yeah, it's gonna there's gonna be visible action to that faith.
- 1:00:44SPEAKER_05: And uh yeah, I really like the the implication and the power behind leaving it as Rahab the prostitute.
- 1:00:52SPEAKER_05: It really does show that no matter who you are, what you were, what you've done, that you know it doesn't matter.
- 1:01:01SPEAKER_05: Yeah, that your faith is gonna produce action, and that's what matters to God.
- 1:01:04SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you don't have to stay like we were talking about earlier, where you were.
- 1:01:07SPEAKER_00: That's not that's not where she stayed, you know, like she didn't accept it and stay in that position.
- 1:01:13SPEAKER_00: She was like, I'm better than this, you know, I'm I can do better than this, you know.
- 1:01:18SPEAKER_00: Like she she took that risk and she changed who she was.
- 1:01:21SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and it could be just such a encouragement to others who have not taken the step to do that yet, who have not taken the step to okay, let good works flow, have the faith first and let it go.
- 1:01:33SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
- 1:01:34SPEAKER_05: And it's it's a crazy contrast for him to go from Abraham, the friend of God, to Rahab the prostitute, and again, he's showing you that your situation can be radically different.
- 1:01:45SPEAKER_05: Um, you can receive a prophecy from God, like Abraham, that your descendants are gonna be innumerable, that's good, that you will be the father of many nations, and you can be known as the friend of God, or you could just be, you know, Rahab the prostitute.
- 1:02:01SPEAKER_05: It doesn't matter.
- 1:02:03SPEAKER_05: Your faith is gonna show on your actions, and that faith is it's the same faith to God, he doesn't see Abraham as better than Rahab.
- 1:02:11SPEAKER_05: That faith was just as pleasing coming from her as it was from Abraham, and that's really powerful.
- 1:02:16SPEAKER_04: And yeah, they were both part of God's plan, just in a different way.
- 1:02:20SPEAKER_04: It doesn't matter.
- 1:02:20SPEAKER_04: Everybody has a part in God's plan.
- 1:02:23SPEAKER_04: It doesn't matter your part, just do it.
- 1:02:25SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
- 1:02:26SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and he kind of uh I think he ends off the chapter uh pretty powerfully.
- 1:02:32SPEAKER_04: The best scripture.
- 1:02:33SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I think he I think he sums it up pretty good.
- 1:02:36SPEAKER_05: Um 26, just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith without so also faith is dead without good works.
- 1:02:45SPEAKER_05: Boom.
- 1:02:46SPEAKER_05: Mic drop.
- 1:02:47SPEAKER_05: I mean we don't even need to get into it.
- 1:02:48SPEAKER_05: All right, bye guys, seven explaining.
- 1:02:51SPEAKER_05: I mean, that's literally what we've been saying this entire chapter.
- 1:02:53SPEAKER_05: We really don't have to get much into it because he's just reaffirming everything he said that he's just yeah, like mic drop, like final statement.
- 1:03:02SPEAKER_05: If your faith isn't showing through good works, it's nothing.
- 1:03:05SPEAKER_05: Yeah, it's it's dead.
- 1:03:07SPEAKER_05: Just like if your body isn't breathing, that body is dead.
- 1:03:09SPEAKER_05: Literally, the good works are a requirement of faith.
- 1:03:14SPEAKER_05: Um, and like we've highlighted, you're not going out and doing good works just to do them, you're doing them because it's a byproduct of the faith you already have.
- 1:03:23SPEAKER_05: Because if your body is alive, you're gonna be breathing.
- 1:03:26SPEAKER_05: I mean, think about it.
- 1:03:27SPEAKER_05: Unless you're sitting there specifically thinking about the breath you're taking, your body breathes automatically.
- 1:03:33SPEAKER_05: So if you have that faith, you're gonna be doing those deeds automatically.
- 1:03:37SPEAKER_05: That's right.
- 1:03:37SPEAKER_05: It works in the same way.
- 1:03:38SPEAKER_05: You're not gonna have to force yourself to go out of your way and do those deeds.
- 1:03:43SPEAKER_05: I mean, like maybe if it's your first time going and praying for someone in public, yeah, but there's there's a clear difference.
- 1:03:50SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it's and it was a natural thought too.
- 1:03:52SPEAKER_00: Like you saw them and that thought came up.
- 1:03:54SPEAKER_05: And they were like, Oh, I'm gonna go pray so that I can get good standing and so that people can see I'm spiritual.
- 1:03:58SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
- 1:03:59SPEAKER_00: No, it was a thought that God gave you because your faith in him, and that yeah, that step of faith is what then needs to be taken for that.
- 1:04:09SPEAKER_05: But yeah, so faith is demonstrated by the life it produces.
- 1:04:12SPEAKER_05: I feel like that's kind of like the the core theme of this entire chapter.
- 1:04:16SPEAKER_05: You know what we talked about last week?
- 1:04:17SPEAKER_05: That if you're really living this, it's gonna be apparent.
- 1:04:23SPEAKER_05: It's not just gonna be something you say or something you think, it's gonna be visible to other people and it's gonna be visible to God.
- 1:04:33SPEAKER_05: Yeah, um, it can't just be something internal.
- 1:04:36SPEAKER_05: Because I mean, think of it.
- 1:04:37SPEAKER_05: The very core of our call from God is to reach the lost, and that is a very outward thing.
- 1:04:42SPEAKER_05: Um, if all you do is keep your faith inside, that's not really faith.
- 1:04:46SPEAKER_05: So that's kind of the core of it, that your faith is gonna show.
- 1:04:49SPEAKER_05: That's right.
- 1:04:50SPEAKER_01: Yeah, good.
- 1:04:52SPEAKER_05: But yeah, so um it's a bittersweet moment at the end of the God Can series.
- 1:04:57SPEAKER_05: Um, this was a really good faith building.
- 1:05:02SPEAKER_05: Um God can series, I feel it really got me to look at my faith and the way that faith operates in me, and it's showing it got me to really look at that differently.
- 1:05:13SPEAKER_05: And again, I'll echo what I said and what we all said at the beginning of this episode.
- 1:05:17SPEAKER_05: This was a great way to close it out.
- 1:05:19SPEAKER_05: I feel that there's gonna be a next step individually, and like Ramsey was saying, for us for Point Church and whoever else is listening, maybe in your church and your family, there's there's always gonna be a step.
- 1:05:33SPEAKER_05: And you know, it it kind of doesn't sound fun, but part of faith is not knowing what that step is sometimes, or not knowing what that step's gonna lead to, yeah, not knowing what's after that step.
- 1:05:45SPEAKER_05: So we and I've had to do this before.
- 1:05:47SPEAKER_05: You gotta you gotta have the faith to not know what happens next.
- 1:05:51SPEAKER_05: Um, you gotta trust God enough to know that He's got you.
- 1:05:55SPEAKER_05: You gotta put down the analytical side of you and just trust that I don't need to know what happens next.
- 1:06:01SPEAKER_05: It's not what I have, it's not the strength I have, it's not the resources, it's the God I serve, it's the God that cares for me and loves me and provides.
- 1:06:10SPEAKER_05: And if you truly internalize that belief and that truth and that faith, then you've got it.
- 1:06:16SPEAKER_05: No matter what, you'll trust.
- 1:06:18SPEAKER_05: So that's what I take away from that.
- 1:06:20SPEAKER_05: Just just have the faith to trust that no matter what, no matter what it looks like, God's got you.
- 1:06:26SPEAKER_05: And I really feel like there's no way to culminate what we talked about in James today, then faith without good works is is dead.
- 1:06:33SPEAKER_05: Right.
- 1:06:33SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
- 1:06:34SPEAKER_05: Um, he said it so eloquently.
- 1:06:36SPEAKER_05: Just but yeah, it's it's that simple, really.
- 1:06:40SPEAKER_05: That if you believe it doesn't stop there.
- 1:06:43SPEAKER_05: If you believe, if you have the spirit, if that spirit's in you and you're letting it influence you, if you're letting it change you, it's gonna show.
- 1:06:52SPEAKER_05: Um, you can't really fake this.
- 1:06:53SPEAKER_05: You can't fake belief in God, you can't fake relationship, you can't fake being led by the spirit.
- 1:07:00SPEAKER_05: Yeah, it's gonna be apparent.
- 1:07:02SPEAKER_05: Um just if you find yourself at a spot where you think you're not showing it, it's it's not some Herculean task, it's not something you have to beg God for.
- 1:07:14SPEAKER_05: You just be open with him, you know, just trust him a bit.
- 1:07:19SPEAKER_05: Yeah, just pray for it a bit.
- 1:07:21SPEAKER_05: Seek him more.
- 1:07:22SPEAKER_05: Seeking him more will grow your faith, and then a byproduct of your faith growing will beat those words.
- 1:07:27SPEAKER_05: It's it's that simple.
- 1:07:28SPEAKER_05: It's not rocket science, it's not this super complicated process.
- 1:07:33SPEAKER_05: It's just if you believe in God and you let his spirit in you influence you, then no words are gonna show.
- 1:07:39SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
- 1:07:40SPEAKER_01: So well, um, thank you guys so much for listening.
- 1:07:45SPEAKER_01: We hope you enjoyed.
- 1:07:46SPEAKER_01: And make sure to tune in next Thursday for the next episode.
- 1:07:51SPEAKER_01: Bye.
- 1:07:52SPEAKER_01: Bye.
- 1:07:52SPEAKER_01: Bye guys.