Latest / The Salty Pastor / Get Up & Gone [Ep. 119]
Transcript
- [00:00:00] But you're the man. You could do it. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the salty pastor podcast, a podcast dedicated to helping you learn, to think for yourself and grow your faith. You cannot rely on someone else to grow your faith for you or teach you how to think you have to do it on your own. And we are here to guide you along that path guide. You will not do it for you. So, I am Jesse Mayer. I am your host for the salty pastor podcast, but I am blessed with two salty pastors today. Dr. Douglas Peake and Pastor Pastor Harvey Friesen. So welcome, welcome gentlemen. Good to be with you guys. Nice little three guys. We haven't had this combination on yet, so I'm excited. That's exciting, man. You're looking good, Harv. You're gonna throw some fast balls this Sunday. I don't know. Well, I am preaching this weekend and I did have the joy of being able to start the sermon series [00:01:00] back in July and it's bookend in the whole thing June, actually. Yep. And then You're awesome. The book end of it. Yep. So what are we talking about today? I mean, uh, what are you preaching on this Sunday? Are we, are you doing a new topic or are we doing something different? Well, so the idea of it is we've done a whole, a set of series of sermons on getting up and going go out there and be intimate, go out there and resolve biblical conflict, go out there and make decisions, go out there and live upstream rather than downstream living, go out there and choose joy rather than living a dour life. And so all, I mean, all the kinds of different things that we've talked about over this period of time, but one of the things that pastor Doug and I talked about was, Hey, are we doing this? Because what, the way we'll finish with is, is in James chapter two. It says to us now someone may argue, some people have faith. Others may say they have good deeds, but I would say how, uh, how can you show me your faith? If you don't have good deeds. And then he says, I will show you my faith by my good deeds. How foolish can't you see [00:02:00] that faith without good deeds is useless. And so the idea is, is that, Hey, get up and go. And it wasn't just that Pastor Harv and Pastor Doug and, and Zach preached the sermon so that we can all sort of fill the weekends and have another filler. It was, Hey, let's actually live this life because the question in life really comes down to this. Are we coping? Or are we thriving? And a lot of people misunderstand that dichotomy too, is that they go well, thriving means everything's perfect. Thriving doesn't mean everything's perfect. Thriving means God is leading my life. The spirit of the living, God is guiding me, my actions, my words, my deeds, my everything. And I am walking that walk of faith. And so thriving means that we face difficulty and hardship, et cetera. What we've talked about, pastor Doug and I have talked about in private at least, and maybe even out in public a bit is, is that the world has sort of built this idea of let's help you all cope through this difficult season of COVID let's help you cope through these difficult things going on in the world. And that's a poor [00:03:00] high ideal. The high deal is we were made to thrive. Why is it that adventure? Is so appealing to us in life because God made us to thrive. Right? Why are we shooting for the lowest standard of survivability rather than shooting for the stars? Right? One of the things I really like about what James says is he says God and good deeds. And in the past, or when I was younger, I always thought, oh, good deeds are these things that I do for other people. But I think it's really important to understand is that he says, I'll prove to you. Faith through deeds, which are good. They're not just good for others, but they're good for me. They're really good for me. I'm, you know, when I choose joy, when I'm resolving conflict, when I am pursuing biblical intimacy, is Zack pointed out when I'm trying to serve others or be generous, that's really good for me and my faith. Well, and, and I would even share that when Doug was discipling me 35 years ago and coming to Christ, one of the pivot things that changed my life was he went to Deuteronomy and he said, Harv, I think you misunderstand [00:04:00] the rules of God are not written as these things that lay on your chest and suffocate life out of you. They're actually written for your own good. And that when you live a generous life, when you live a sacrificial life, when you live a serving others life, when you live a forward-thinking thriving life led by the Holy Spirit of God, it actually benefits you. The outcome becomes upstream living, and it's joyful. We, uh, the creative, team's doing a film festival with Idaho state penitentiary, and we wrote a piece in it. I kind of use this phrasiology. You know, are we being shackled by, by the idea of intelligent design or, or, you know, these rules we have to live in? Are we actually being freed to live a full life by believing in these things and understanding that our creator wants the best for us. And I think that's a very different perspective that most people don't have is, oh, well, if you're, if you're living as a Christian, you have all these rules and you're being shackled down and you have all these chains and he's like, no, he came to [00:05:00] set you free from. You know, the isolation of thinking you're nothing but space dust that happened to end up walking on the earth. You are more than these things, and you're actually experiencing true freedom, not a set of rules or things that are just pulling you down. And those good deeds that you can do for yourself and for others are part of that call to thrive. Yeah. Well, long before America was ever started as a country or even a concept or an idea, James chapter one, Is all predicated on this one, thought the law of Liberty, he's saying there is a principle of freedom within us that we're all called to live in. And in that he says that there is a component of self-governance. If we go back to Galatians, as you talk to them, not too long ago. And in there it says we were called a freedom only don't turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love, serve one another. In other words, that freedom we get from the faith we have and the freedom we're set free from the sins of others. Leads us to not go live a, a lascivious or a self-absorbed [00:06:00] life, but leads us to actually live a fulfilling life. So when we talked about, and pastor Doug prayed fasted, we sought the Lord about it. Uh, it was how do we actually help people thrive, get up and go thrive again because every pressure in the world around us is, man, this is awful. Isn't this terrible? What about this? And what about that? W that's so real. Mm. And I think one of the things that we, we, that was there, there were some driving components about how this sermon series was put together. And that was that we would live a proactive life, not a reactive life. We will live an intentional life, not an unintentional life that we would live a biblical life, not a secular life that we live a Godly life, not a self-centered life. And that we would see this as a process called sanctification. Right. That we are justified by God. Uh, and then we are sanctified in our faith so that we go live that out. It's hanging on the wall in the entryway. Get up and go do it. Yeah. For all of you listening online, or if you haven't been [00:07:00] ha uh, Harvard printed these banners off and hung up. Entryway that talk about that, you know, um, and to, to, to kind of just tag along, what you're saying is that the essence of this entire series is this. And I don't think a lot of people think this way anymore is your future is in your hands, right? Your future is in your hands It's the world doesn't get to decide who and what I am? That is correct. Mind blown. Well, and I think one of the key, really important, powerful pieces of it. Is that when God endows us with his holy spirit, why is baptism such a beautiful act of faith? It's a faith component to be baptized to saying I will surrender my life to you. And then the spirit of the Lord is endowed into us through the work of God himself. Is that his spirit actually now empowers us to go live that freedom life. And that's why we're not afraid of freedom. In fact, we embrace it. It's why we're not afraid of the notion and the notion of personal agency or, or the responsibility of self. That says, well, we [00:08:00] don't need someone to build constructs to tell us how to go live or what we're supposed to go. Do we have the living. In us to guide us to go live that. And, and I mean, honestly, when we're talking with you guys here on the podcast, one of the greatest desires from a pastoral leadership sense is that you would be thriving in that, walk that in your relationships, in the calling, you have about what you do in your life, whatever you do for business or your livelihood, if you will, you're using the gifts that God gave you, are you using them to his glory and importantly, are they blessing you? And are they blessing others? Those things. Are kind of, I hate to say it, but I mean, we kind of operate on that. That's a given you know, about what you're doing, right. And, and by the way, it blesses your life tremendously. So let's chat. I mean, we hit almost 11 or we're hitting, we hit 10 different subjects over the course of the get up and go series. Let's talk about some of the highlights. What, what have been some of your favorites parts or favorite sermons [00:09:00] or topics that we've been able to discuss over this series, pastor Harvey, you want to start us off? Sure. Well, you know, I'll start with a guy that's not in the room and that Zach and that Zach preached. So two great, a couple of great sermons along the way around living a generous life and what, and, and what that actually means in our lives. Because one of the things that you all sometimes maybe don't realize it. That pastors are pastored as well, and that we are led and cared for as well. And then when Pastor Doug sharpens my life and Doug and Zach sharpens my life and we, we sharpen each other again, you know, Proverbs 27: 17. So the, the idea is that we are being sharpened as well. So Zach's preaching. I love it because here you have a young. Who is building a foundation of his life on the word of God, in, in his marriage, in the work world that he does and saying, Hey, look, this actually does work and bless. So the, so his sermons were such an encouragement and blessing to me as well. So I speak to him, uh, about him because he's not here in the [00:10:00] room today. Um, you know, uh, for me, When you look at Genesis chapter one and two, you see what God intended and God intended that we would have relationship with others, that we would be intimate and be intimate with someone else. And the world says that's all it's about sexuality, has nothing to do that. Is that when you think about our church staff, there's a growing familial sense of intimacy that we have in our church staff. We have a growing sense of familial intimacy. We have as a church family that we're all sharing it and that notion. Uh, intimacy that notion, uh, comes out of Psalm. I believe it's Psalm 1: 33, you know, how good and how pleasant it is when brothers and sisters dwell together in unity? What a beautiful thing goes on. Well, that, that sense of intimacy to me, that was a beautiful thing. And I, and Pastor Doug, some to me, you guys don't know how it works, maybe in the background. But, you know, pastor Doug has that calling of God to be the shepherd of our church, to be our pastor and to lead us. And so when we talk about sermon series and things like that, we really know and believe that God's working through the [00:11:00] shepherd of our church and that he is blessing and encouraging Pastor Doug in that. So I love having his leadership in my life that says, Hey, I want you to delve into these topics and address them. Uh, how they work in the life of faith. And so I'm being shepherded and pastored in that way. So the intimacy one was a great beginning one and start for me because it means so much more than what the coping world thinks it means. That they hope that maybe someday someone will like them for who they are. We believe that we were made to love and care for other people in how God made them. And that's a great story. Yeah. Doug, how about you? Yeah, well, I, yeah. I really liked the one you preached on, make a decision, you know, and then I really liked a resolve conflict. I think, you know, we, we, as people we don't really remember or acknowledge how unresolved conflict weighs on us a lot. It's a heavy burden. You know, one of the things I think people get to watch when we get to sh you know, tag team [00:12:00] a little bit, like this is we have been tossing around two words, orthodoxy, and which is right. Thinking, right. Believing, right. Understanding. And then there's orthopraxy, which is right practice. And that is, is that right? We believe things. And then we do things. Yeah. And there's a big step between those sweater. That's right. Some people get real stuck on that. First one. There's a really fun Mexican saying around this. I learned this probably 15 years ago, but, uh, a gentleman said to me, you know, were there was a deal being struck and we're talking about, and he says, Harvey. He says, Harvey holding the deal is like a cup of coffee. You smell it, but there's still some room between your lips in the cup. You're not drinking it yet. None of the words he was trying to say, you're not there yet. I think that applies here as it relates to just because you heard it doesn't mean you've done anything. And I think a lot of Christians get stuck sometimes because. They think, well, I heard it, how come it's not happening? Well, no, it, this is a head- heart- [00:13:00] thing, and hands thing. Right. And that's why I liked repentance that the repentance was, this was a real seminal message. It working on that, uh, because that, what that does is it brings those two things together, you know? Um, and it was really important to articulate how repentance isn't what we generally think, which is I'm going to stop doing things that are bad for me, you know, but repentance ultimately is really pursuing the best things, the good things. And there's a lot of doing a lot of engaging. There's a lot of clarifying a focus. And so repentance for me was one of the seminal messages and throughout the whole seires. Well, right. And especially in a world, you know, this was a pardon, me dating myself here, but. I think it was bill Hybels came out with a book, you know, talked about having a faith in a sex crazed world. And that was 30 years ago. I mean, think about where we're at now and then how the world has made everything about that, [00:14:00] that idea entity around that. Well, that, and there's so much more to life than that in my identity is in Christ. And that identity in Christ is what propels me and oh, by the world, by the way, the world. Tries to, you know, cause it does say actually in James chapter one as well proceeding, this weekend's verses, is pure and undefiled religion. There'll be stained by the world. And what happens is repentance is this beautiful cleansing washing redirection acts 3: 19 repent, therefore, and return in order to at times of refreshing may come from the Lord. We want to be refreshing our lives. Refresh. Right. There'll be repenting. And that actually creates this beautiful life. Yeah. Which, which sounds like craziness to the world around us. Um, but we also were told in first Corinthians two, that that would see my craziness to people who don't know the Lord. Yeah. It's foolishness to those who are wise. What are some thoughts you had along the lines? We enjoy the one on prayer. [00:15:00] Um, one of the biggest things I've learned during my time here at foothills is how to be better at prayer. I mean, you are like a master of prayer or you can teach a masterclass on prayer. Maybe we'll put it that way. Your Pastor Harv, the master of prayer. I mean, listening to you pray and, and how you approach it in so many different ways. It's just opened my, my mind and my outlook on what prayer is. And then Zach also preached on prayer and what that could look like and praying continuously. Um, and it's just, I get to, I get the opportunity to serve in the youth ministry, and so, having these conversations with you and Doug and working on sermons, and then we're going in and working with these youth and Pastor Steve's repackaging them into something that's a little bit more, um, their speed, their speed, or, and then, uh, you know, we have these really great discussion groups. I love that we model this small group mentality in our youth group where we're encouraging them, Hey, in the future, this is what you should be growing into. And we're having some really good conversations. [00:16:00] Are they completely grasping everything? No, but I mean, I'm 33 as of last week and I still don't grasp everything. So it's like, but I get to pour in some of these amazing things. I'm learning, uh, great people like you and Zach and these messages and all this stuff and able to share it with these young people. And it's growing my spiritual walk as well, so the prayer one is really good. I think the conflict management one is so important just because it's an everyday use thing. It's a toolbox you carry around in every. And in college I took an entire semester just on conflict management and what that looks like. And so it's like, I have a better grasp on it than I think most people and I'm still learning stuff. I mean, they took a secular approach to it and then it's like, okay, well, That's great. But then you can add this whole nother layer of what the Bible says of how you should approach it. And it gives a lot of the things that they've like, well, we've spent years and years researching, and this is the best way to resolve it. Conflict. Pastor Harv comes down. He's like, Hey, the Bible says this and it's like, oh wait, this is a. Yeah. They [00:17:00] years ago that's been out for a while. Well, that's that's right. I will give you a little story real quick. So I met some people in Southern California. I was doing some consulting down there a few years ago and business consulting. So I was down there and the, there were some people I met and they had moved there from Tennessee and, uh, they were just sharing their experiences and they said something very interesting and sitting in Tennessee, when someone moves in. Everyone would say, Hey, what church do you go to? He said, when we moved to California, the question was, what therapists do you go to? And here, here was what I thought was a very, very interesting thing is that people, a lot of times will misunderstand or maybe even belittle that they may misunderstand or belittle prayer. But what they miss is this idea that. Everyone has a person they need to go to. And everyone has this innate desire. Cause that hole in our hearts was there and made by God be filled by God. And so what people do is that, is that, uh, Shelly and I have this little saying between us as everybody worshiped [00:18:00] somewhere and everybody worship something or someone. Okay. And what prayer and that thing on prayer and what get up and go does as well. It says, this is that instead of angling the direction of our lives towards what the world says works, is what would it look like? If we had a radical idea and said, we're going to trust God for what he said would work. And then we go, here's the catch. We go deploy it. Right. We go deploy, actually get into the real things of our lives. And so. Praying is one of those things that you mentioned. And I thought it was a wonderful set set there of teaching as well. Is praying is learning to go to God, rather than that first person that we want to call up and complain to. Right. Cause God can hear our complaints. God can hear our joy. God can hear all those kinds of things. And actually as you grow in it, wow, it really does. Bless your life. Absolutely. I really enjoyed the end times one. I kind of laughed because we had actually a lot of new visitors. Oh my day. And saw, I was like, man, what a sermon to come in on. [00:19:00] But I mean, my roommate, he. Made a really good point, which, you know, it's always good. You know, as someone who's constantly kind of working with Pastor Doug and going, okay, we're going to do this. It's going to be great. He just had a completely different perspective and he's like, it was just so refreshing not to just be getting this giant guilt trip over end times of like, oh my gosh, doom and gloom. It's like, you don't need to know when it's coming. Rejoice in the fact that you can live a life that you'll be ready at any point for when it's coming. And it's like, it's just a very different take. And I was down at the farmer's market and we had some guys out on the corner, screaming, repent, the end times are coming. You're going to burn it. I'm just like, man, like in my head, I'm like, does the, is that effective? Like, are they getting people actively coming up to them going, Hey. I get it, like let's talk right now or, or, and it's so it's like, it was a very weird, like Saturday. I saw those guys and then Sunday, pastor Doug preach, and I'm like, those are two very different [00:20:00] messages and they, they speak to you very differently about what you should be doing. Well, they do. And you know, one of the things that I think is interesting is that I think that the non-believing world around them. Is actually thinking those thoughts and what we have is a message that says, be ready, be prepared. Don't be deceived and wow. Go live. And when, when he be ready for, when he comes, I think is actually a fantastic lifesaving hope filled, hope filled message. Yeah. Well said, what's that? And yeah, I it's what what's, what's, what's hard to do. And I think this is a similarity between what Jesus saw in Jerusalem. Because, you know, what we do read is that he was coming down off the Mount of olives, he's walking into the Garden of Gethsemane up, back into the temple mount. And as he's walking down, it says he slid, he stopped there and he looked at Jerusalem and he, and he lamented the sorrow they had and that they were harassed and helpless. We live in a world today that is harassed and helpless. And so why we prepare, uh, sermons, [00:21:00] why we w you know, kind of put ourselves out there a little bit is because we want you as believers and not be harassed and helpless. We want you to be full of faith and believing, and actually be given tools and gifts, right. Thinking coupled with right living to go live that life that God wants us to live. So there's a reason for why we're doing this. Yeah, definitely. In the standpoint of, that everything we're talking about, you know, prayer is practicing repentance. That's what it is. Uh, resolving conflict is practicing repentance and, uh, being prepared for the in times is practicing repentance because repentance is basically a single-minded focus of where you want your life to go. And I re I just want to encourage people throughout this whole series, is that your future of where you go is in your hands? It's the steps you take. That determine your destination. It's not necessarily what you dream about or what you think about or any of that other kind of stuff. It's [00:22:00] actual steps that you take. So I really liked the fact that, that you're going to bring this all together on this weekend, bro. And you are going to make it stick. Well, um, tall order, but you know, for, I mean, But you're the man. You could do it! In a pocket for that today, what I would say. And, and I, and I printed this out, but because it was a part of the beginning of it is, is that we talked about three things. And I think that these are, these were going through every, whether it was a repentant sermon or the prayer sermon, the generosity sermon and the biblical, uh, conflict resolution sermon. It was, this is that getting up and going is building, buildings, knowing your priorities in life. Okay. Number two, here's a very important one. People, the company, we keep determines a lot of where our future is and where our current life is as well. And then the third one was not letting passions drive and own our lives. Okay. Which are the three things that the world is struggling with, [00:23:00] as we speak. And so, yeah, we're going to work to close that out this weekend and be excited about that. No, it's labor day weekend. A lot of people will be joining us online from wherever you are remotely as well. Bless you enjoy God's countryside. We did get to go. So I got to go to Stanley this summer and had never been up there and we got to go to red fish lake and take our co our kids up there. And. Wow, beautiful country. You got up and gone. Yeah, we did it. I mean, we went out and did it. Exactly. And then we told no one about it because we don't want anyone else to go through it. Unless you're from Idaho, you can go to Redfish, all you want to, cause it's your place. But, uh, yeah, we did that and that, that is a beautiful part of, I think what's going on in our church too, is that there's an, a climate and a, uh, Encouragement. Yeah, let's do this together. Let's do life together in the faith. So we've got a few minutes left. Are there anything in the get up and go series that, you know, if we had extended a little bit, you would have want to cover it or is there anything in the fall you're really excited to be kind of getting into and talking [00:24:00] about, as people are starting to come back, settle in for fall, what are, what are you excited about or what were some things that maybe didn't make it into the get up and go series that we might see in a later date? Oh, there's never any shortage. There's always want to talk about I'm wired that way. There's so much things that pastor Doug wants to talk about that we made a podcast for it. It's just not enough. And every time we do it, I'm always like, oh my goodness. I went, I forgot to mention that. Well, one of the things I, I would like just to say to people is this is that everybody gets excited about resolutions and plans and things on January 1st. I think that the school calendar. Is likened to that and that this is a great time in our, in our lives kind of cause there's a bit of, uh, uh, that school calendar sets a lot of tone for the culture. Right. And so what I would encourage people to do is, Hey, what if you sat down before we go into fall and say, I mean, what, what would it look like if I got intentional about my fall this year, And doing that. I, I want to put out there as well. So I'm [00:25:00] doing a men's group, uh, where I'll have a couple different men's groups that I lead. And then Shadlee and I will be leading a Bible study as well. And if you are interested in joining, uh, that men's group there's room in there, we're going to do it here at the church. And there's plenty of spots for guys. I want to put it out there to say, if you guys want to join us, uh, we're going to be studying some really cool things over the course of that. The year with that, as it relates to. How to build all those pillar blocks of your faith and what that looks like and do it in real conversations and such. So if you're a guy you're interested in that Harv, H- A- R- V@foothills.org, send me an email. Love to have you in the group. Uh, we will make a room in a spot for you in that group. So Harvard foothills.org. Love to have guys in there. Well, and for ladies, um, I know that Danya's talking about this new group that she's really excited about called the, Take It Or Leave It, leave it club. Um, we've got some really great ladies that are going to leave and it's kind of dropped in discipleship where you can just show up and if you're struggling with something or need some [00:26:00] advice on. It'll just basically be a panel of women who are a little further along in their walk in life, whether they've had kids or they've been part of the church for a while longer than you. And they'll basically just give you some advice based on what their life experience is. And you can either choose to follow them or, or, or do your own thing. But then yeah. You have that opportunity. And then there's so many other small groups that will give you a more dedicated, um, weekly kind of thing. But, um, there's just lots of options. Uh, a, so women's groups, men's groups, couples, groups, singles groups, every kind of group you can imagine here at the church and also as well. I, I'm excited about what's going on in our children's ministry. And I'm excited about the big stories that are being taught in there and that. Using the Bible in those stories and characters about values and understanding what a biblical mindset and a biblical worldview is. And so helping families to do that up from the youngest of ages all the way through our church. There's so many good things on there. Well, and I think we, we unfortunately, [00:27:00] but also as a blessing, we're able to celebrate the life of Krista Long this last week. And, um, one of the things Pastor Doug brought up during her celebration of life. Was, um, a family mission statement, um, which came from our family bootcamp series last year. And I think sitting down in the fall and kind of putting together a mission statement. If you did one during the family boot camp, revise it a little bit, see if there's something you want to tweak, but having an idea of how you. Activate and get up and go with your faith as a family going into fall. I think it would be really powerful for you because that's going to determine what you're spending time doing. Whether you decide to go to a bunch of sporting events, or maybe you choose to do something with a group of people at the church, you know, they're going to dictate where you're putting your time, energy and money. And having an idea of what those are at the beginning of the year, I think is gonna really help you set those values. So do you have anything on that? Well, I would [00:28:00] like to just say that the one thing that COVID has taught us is that when we put our faith in the things of this world, we're disappointed and more people have been confronted with the fact that. Where they're putting their time and their energy and their focus is insufficient. It's just insufficient. And I just want you to know, uh, Foothills Christian Church. We believe that, uh, now is the accepted time now as the day of salvation. And I want everyone to walk into the salvation of their soul and the salvation of your life and the things that you believe are so important because they are the wellspring of everything else downstream. And these practical things that we gave you are just a springboard for you to discover the truth of the living God in your life. And to be able to walk with Jesus in a way that regardless of the circumstance, you know who are, you know, what you [00:29:00] believe, and when the curve balls come and the rain falls, you stand strong. Because you are not blown here and there by every wind of doctrine, you are not weak, mead, mealy mouth, character. You are a person who has a steel spine based on the foundation of the truth on which this universe was created. And that is God and the manifestation of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. So that's what we're about. And that's where we're going. And we want you to come with us. Yeah, Amen Pastor. Well, I think that's, uh, that's pretty hard to go anywhere from that point. So I think we'll close it out, but we, uh, we really appreciate pastor our pastor, Doug joining us. Um, thank you guys so much for tuning in today. Please tune in on Thursday. We'll be discussing a little bit more. It'll probably just be me and, uh, Pastor Doug, but we are excited. How pastor Harv wraps everything up on Sunday. And thank you guys so much for watching or listening on podcast, and we'll see you on Thursday [00:30:00] Blessings.