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Episode 20: Unbreakable Courage (Max Lucado) · Coaching For Life

• 0:09
  SPEAKER_03: The Coaching for Life Podcast with Monty Williams and Will Davis.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Coaching for Life Podcast with Monty Williams and Will Davis.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: A conversation that we pray encourages you to pursue the Christ Center Life.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: And it's always such an encouragement to spend time with my good friend and co-host, Monty Williams.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: And today, Monty, we are excited to have with us our mutual friend, author, and pastor, Max Luceto.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Max, thank you so much for joining us today.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, thank you.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's a great privilege to see you both.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: You look terrific.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: This is a lot of fun for us to be able to visit with you, just about life and ministry and your most recent book, Unbreakable Courage.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Monty and I loved reading it.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for sending us a copy, and we found such encouragement as you take the reader to the life of the Old Testament prophet Elijah.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: And as you do with all of your books, the words, the writing just jumps off the page as you point us to the faith and courage that we can have even in the midst of uncertainty and the chaos of our time.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: So, Max, what led you to write this book, Unbreakable Courage?
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: Well, um to be this book I actually wrote about four or five years ago, and it sat on the shelf because I had some other books finished.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: And uh if you remember where we were about four or five years ago, it was barely post-pandemic.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, it might have I might have started this during the pandemic.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I did.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: I did.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: Everything just seemed in chaos, right?
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: And uh it still does.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's not that much better.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: The deal about Elijah that has struck me is the context into which God placed him.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, ninth century B.C., uh.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: Israel was truly a post-faith culture.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: It had been only about a hundred years since the construction of Solomon's temple, but it had been a downward spiral really quick.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: They were a spiritual train off the tracks.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, uh Ahab and Jezebel, the king and queen, were sponsoring the uh secular pagan religions of Asherah and Baal, which involved incredibly uh temple prostitution and at times even child sacrifice.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: So if you can imagine this, these are the children of God, these are the descendants of Abraham, and using money, uh, the nation is funding false prophets.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: And consequently, it's just what was intended to be was not.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: And and the children of Israel are God's chosen people through whom he would bring the Messiah.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: So there's no doubt in my mind that the devil had mounted a serious attack trying to derail that plan.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and so what happens when God has a people uh who have gotten off track?
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's the question.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: The people have gotten off track.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: In our day and age, uh, you can make an argument that we're really in tough shape.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: There's some wonderful things happening, but still the suicide rate's the highest it's been since World War II.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh four out of five teenagers say that they battle daily anxiety, uh depression.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, one out of three people would fall on the spectrum of depression.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: That's an astounding statistic to me.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: So it's it's it's an it's an upside-down season.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: We're swimming upstream with our faith.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: So Elijah seemed very relevant.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_04: You know, in in 1 Kings 17, we we read that Elijah was cut off from interaction um with people.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_04: And as you write this book or as when you wrote it, um was it something that you had been through, something you observed?
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_04: And and how like what encouragement could you give to people that are cut off?
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_04: Because as a coach, when I was in the in the NBA, um it was a lonely time.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_04: Probably the most lonely I've I've been.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_04: Really?
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_04: It's and it's always loneliest when you lose, you know, because you you have this paranoia that you conjure up in your mind in terms of, you know, the players think this, the coaches probably think this, but you're the one that's dealing with it.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_04: And you have to go and talk to the media, talk to the owner, talk to whomever.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_04: The toughest part is when you get fired.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_04: Because after you deal with that, and then you deal with um telling your family what's going on, and then you're away from this vocation that you've been a part of, you sometimes feel like it's just you by yourself.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_04: You even feel like God's left you.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_04: Like that's that's just the brass tacks of it all.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_04: Like, if I really shuck down the corn, every time that I've been through a tough time in my career, I felt like God let me down and he left me.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_04: Now, when I got in the word and the dust settled, and I talked to wise counsel, people that I know love me, they reminded me of his goodness and kindness, and there's nothing that happens to you without his allowing it, and he's with you.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_04: But in those moments when you feel like Elijah did, like, man, this I've I've had enough, you know.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_04: Like, what what would you say in a practical way based on how you wrote this and what God showed you that could help the listener?
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_04: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: What a phenomenal question and a really important topic, especially uh in the context of your life as a public figure and Elijah as a public figure, because his I call it preparation by isolation.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: You know, his uh disolation came as after he had uh gone into the uh throne room of Ahab and Jezebel and declared that there would be a drought.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: And uh uh he had no uh no respect for them.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: He was unintimidated.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: He his first words in Scripture are the Lord God of Israel reigns, and uh as he lives, there will be no rain uh on earth for seven years.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: And and so he just made this declaration.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: And then you the next thing you would think would happen is that God would send him on a preaching circuit, you know, or or some type of um revival campaign.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: But the next thing we read is that he's in this ravine called Shirith, and it looks like for about a year.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: I I it doesn't really say, but commentators suggest that it probably was about a year.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: He was sustained by ravens.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: And so he goes from this powerful moment uh to a moment of humility, which is a cycle that you see later again in his life, uh you know, when when he has his battle with depression.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: And and so I I think that the Lord separated him from the crowd because he just apparently wasn't ready.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: And he wanted to train him, to teach him, to depend totally upon the Lord during that time.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: You know, whenever whenever things are going well or whenever the public is in our favor, we're sitting ducks for arrogance, you know, for uh trusting ourselves.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes we need that isolation uh to to convince us to lean on him and not on ourselves.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: You talked about Elijah being sustained by the ravens.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: So even in that preparation by isolation season, God was there, God hadn't left him, God had not forgotten about him.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: And the story of Elijah, um i it could be an exciting miniseries, because you have these series of all of these exciting stories in in his life.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, right after that season of being provided for by the ravens, God then tells him to go to Zarephath, and there he will meet a widow who will provide for him.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: Again, God's provision.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: And but the the woman is preparing her final meal for her and her son, and she's in this desperate state.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: But the Lord tells Elijah in in 1 Kings 17 that the bowl of flour will not run dry, you know, the jar of oil will not run out until the Lord provides rain.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I love that point that you make that when God gives us a task, he will provide the tools, he will provide the resources that we need.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: But it's often that daily sustenance, trusting in God by faith, moment by moment.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: Why do you think that's that's so difficult to trust God in that way?
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: I know.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like I heard a pastor say, if it's God's will, it's God's bill.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: That's good.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: That whole story of Zarephath, we could talk about that.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so many layers to that.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: Number one, Zarephath was the hometown of Jezebel.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: And so um he is stepping right into enemy territory.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: And also it's during a drought, and he is a he is on the most wanted list of so he's gonna have to travel from uh where he was at that brook all the way to Zarephath across the desert during the middle of a drought, knowing that he could be attacked.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: So it's just so many layers here.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: And also that God tells him a widow is gonna take care of you.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: I would think a wealthy benefactor will take care of you.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: But there's a widow, and then he gets there, and the widow is down to her last meal, like you said.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: But look what Elijah has just done.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: He has spent a year depending upon God in the ravine.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: He he recalls how the ravens always came and there was always enough water.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't fancy, it wasn't the a delectable meal, but it was provision.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: And so he can build on that, he can stand on that.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes, uh at least in my life, I have looked back and found that what was a challenge became a blessing later in my life because I saw, oh, God got me through that.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh God got me through.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: Just last Sunday, I saw two men in our church, both in their 80s, one who buried his wife about four three or four years ago, and one whose wife is very close to being passing.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: And both of these ladies really battled dementia at the end.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I saw the one whose wife had passed uh go up to the one whose wife is about to pass, and I said, There's a picture.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: There's a picture of uh what what God taught Butch, he is conveying to Dawn.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: And so sometimes God lets us go through things, partly because we need it, but also because, as in your life, Monty, you can speak to situations of family challenge and tragedy like like I don't have the privilege of doing or authority.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: But when you speak to it, you know, we know you've been through it.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: And not that that uh not that we would want that on anyone, but you have an authority.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: And Elijah could now speak to the authority of God's provision because he had experienced that in the ravine.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_04: Like when I lost in the practical sense, not in the spiritual sense, because when Ingrid went on to be with the Lord, we knew exactly where she was.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_04: But in a practical way, she wasn't with us anymore.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_04: And the discouragement for me was this realization that I know that God can do anything.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_04: And in that moment, when she passed, he didn't.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_04: Those are the times in our faith, even you know, you can be a strong, mature believer who's been through a number of things, you can be a new believer, and you have this idea that God can, but he doesn't.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_04: Like, what encouragement or what practical wisdom could you give for the believer?
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_04: Because I know for me, I I was I've told Will this, I've shared it with Lisa, not many people, but in my mind I checked out.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_04: Like I literally I was like, that's it.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_04: I knew I wouldn't, but in the moment I was like What do you mean, checked out?
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_04: I I was like, Lord, this this ain't working.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_04: Because of the circumstance.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_04: And your emotions are just like in a place that you've never had to deal with, you know.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_04: I've never had to deal with that.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_04: I've lost people before, but not my wife and my kids' mom.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_04: Sure.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_04: And I was so I was in such a place that it it was past discouragement, you know.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_04: And God in his infinite sovereignty and grace, he kept sending people to bring me like food or you know, give me advice, and then you know, lo and behold, um words of encouragement and it it would it built me up.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_04: But in that in that moment, like we talked about with Naomi, you know, she blamed God.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_04: You know, God didn't do it.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_04: Elimelech led her into this place and they were, you know, where they shouldn't have been.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_04: But in these moments where the s circumstances of life just kind of hit you in the head and you're just like, what is this?
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_04: And you want to check out on the Lord.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_04: Like, what what can we do in those moments?
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_04: Like practical, you know, reminders for us as believers.
• 14:27
  unknown: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: I I I really appreciate you sharing that.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's this description of a a real crisis of faith.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I I have a feeling, uh a diagnosis that uh lean turned back to a lot, and that's uh mo many of our faith issues happen when God doesn't meet our expectations, you know.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: That that we expected that God would deliver us.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: I expected that God would heal my father when he died of ALS, and um I prayed earnestly.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: I could not have prayed more earnestly.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: I would have fasted 40 days if I'd have thought that would help.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: He did not.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: He did not uh even show an indication of healing.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: And and but my expectation was that he would.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: And um so these these expectations that we have of God often go unmet, don't they?
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: They just really do.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um I'm sure you've got members of your congregation here, uh thinking of Linda Reimer, whom we both know and love, who's battling ALS as she speaks so highly of the two of you.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: But Linda, uh to the unlike me, as a she her faith is rock solid.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I get the sense when I'm with her, even though she's battling ALS day in and day out, it's not she she never had that expectation that if I'm a follower of Christ, everything's gonna go great.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: And uh that's what we've got to guard against.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: The promise is not there'll be no struggle.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, Jesus said, in this world you will have tribulation, but I have overcome the world.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: This life is brief, it's fragile, it's fast, and sometimes we just gotta hang on.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: But surrender those expectations.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: Surrender those expectations because uh it's not to us to know why.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's just really not.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_04: That's a it's interesting because I remember going through that time and realizing like I knew that thinking wasn't good thinking.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_04: I had enough teaching and foundation in the word to know that God loved me.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_04: And I also knew that I was dealing with my own emotions, you know.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_04: As hard as it was, like it was it just that was what it was.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_04: And I do remember like God allowing me to remember her and what she would want.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_04: And then that turned into what she did.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and that was her study.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_04: And I I I just remembered all the verses that I knew at that time that got me through, you know, uh in a tough, tough situation.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_04: And so you like what you just said is is so important.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_04: Like I had an expectation that I needed to surrender.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_04: And I think believers need to hear that in terms of I think we have this American Christianity or we have this pipe dream Christianity that, like, you know, we think everything is supposed to be square footage, picket fence, portfolio, promotion.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: I I saw I had a conversation with a guy who was so mad at Jesus.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: I've never seen anybody so mad at Jesus.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: And the reason is he couldn't get a job.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: And he said, My dad told me to pray, and he put his finger in my chest and said, Preachers like you tell me to pray.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: He was mad.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I I you know, I'm one of these guys that after a conversation, I think what I could have said, you know, I think, oh, I wish I'd had that.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: I think if I had it to do over again, I would say, you know, I I believe in a God who answers me when I pray, but he doesn't answer to me when I pray.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: And this fellow he had an expectation that God would answer to him.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_01: You know, what he wanted is what God would do.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's the same different uh scenario, but a similar situation.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: He just had an expectation level that went unmet.
• 18:36
  unknown: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: Well you mentioned our dear friend Linda, who just exudes light and faith, yeah.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: And faith in in the midst of you know many trials, and our our dear mutual friend Sean, you know, battling cancer.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: And again, you see the strength of Christ, you know, in in in their family and and going through the valley.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's why we can relate so well to Elijah, because in in that famous scene from 1 Kings 18, you know, he has this showdown between the 850 false prophets.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: And if if you're if if the listener is not familiar with that story, please kind of go through and and and read 1 Kings 18, one of the most thrilling scenes in all of Scripture.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: But God provides the victory.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: But then right in the shadow of the victory, Elijah's in this low place.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: And God says to Elijah, eat some food, get some rest, you know, drink some water, arise, eat, because the journey is too long for you.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that is something we can all relate to.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we have these mountaintop experiences, but it seems like we're right after that.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we feel overwhelmed and we have that sense, God, the journey seems too hard.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: It does.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: It seems too much.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_01: Elijah was so despondent, uh, he was he used suicidal language.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: Just take me, Lord.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and he he uh he used language like I'm the only one here.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: Everything about that moment uh to me describes a person who's depressed and battling depression.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and it makes sense.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: The guy had to be exhausted, right?
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: A mountaintop experience of going against 850 false prophets, and then praying uh again for rain, and rain finally coming, and then outrunning the chariot of Ahab, uh and then hearing that Jezebel wants you, and he goes into hiding, and uh that's when he falls down in front of the broom tree and says, Take me.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: The three things God does, number one, like you say, gives him nourishment, get rest, get food.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh then Elijah goes into a cave and God calls him out of the cave.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's telling, because when we're depressed, we don't want any interaction with community.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we need to come out of the cave.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: And then God speaks to him uh through a still small voice.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: And and I I think listening for God's voice is absolutely essential.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_04: Prayer is something that you allude to.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and I think as a dad who's still um teaching and talking and trying to live it out in front of my family, in terms of prayer, you talk about a Elijah level prayer.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_04: Um I think sometimes as a believer you can feel like you can feel inadequate because you hear about people that pray a certain way.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_04: And then you hear about people that um fast and pray.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_04: And and you tend to Allow that to become a bit of a condemnation marker in your life, and you're just like, man, I'm you know, I'm not I haven't prayed today.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_04: And then you talk about uh Elijah level praying.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_04: Like what can believers glean from your wisdom in terms of prayer?
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_04: Because we know the scriptures say Ephesians 6.18 says at all times with all kinds of prayer.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_04: If we're to pray all the time.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_04: I find like young people are just like the kids I coach in high school, they're you know, if they say grace, it's a great day, you know, for them.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_04: What what could you say?
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: I think there's a principle that we can't let the power of prayer depend upon the way we pray.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: But we must let the power of prayer depend upon the one who hears us when we pray.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_01: If we turn it into a work, you know, which we're so prone to do with everything, uh then we have and I know, I understand, I've heard people described as prayer warriors, powerful men of prayer.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: I get that.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I think there's a lot to that.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_01: I I think Elijah is remembered in the New Testament as one who prayed.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: That's how James referred to him.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: But then he says, but he was a man, just like we are, as if to say, but he wasn't on a pedestal.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: He just he just took God at the promise and he and he spoke to God.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um I I just would resist us ever saying that, you know, you're if you pray in a certain uh tone or posture or with a certain spiritual gift, then you have an access to God that other people don't.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus said when you pray, uh just go into your closet.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_01: You know, just go into your closet.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: In other words, go into the most humble, quiet place and just just talk and your heavenly father.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: And he remember he always taught us to pray our Abba who art in heaven, our father, our Abba, which is uh such a colloquial phrase like Papa or Daddy.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_01: So my kids come to me, uh I if if they call me Papa, they call me daddy, and they want to just chat.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_01: That's all that matters to me.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't have to be fancy, and I'm not gonna grade their conversation from one to ten and then turn them away because they weren't eloquent enough.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I I let's let's keep the uh focus where it needs to be kept, and that's that God is the one who hears our prayers.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_04: I w I I just appreciate that because I think that members of the church can sometimes focus on personalities of the church.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, absolutely.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_04: As opposed to keeping the focus on the Lord.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_04: And we have been taught that God is mad at us, um, we're not good enough in terms of living up to an expectation that we can't achieve, and and in terms of prayer, um I think if if we're not taught properly that the dependence should be on the Lord, you almost set yourself up for an expectation that shouldn't even be there.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_04: Because as soon as it doesn't work out the way you want it to, you're not mad at the person who taught you that bad principle, you're mad at God.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_04: And it's like explaining it that way.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_04: Like I'm I'm the same way.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_04: I don't care.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_04: If my kids call me, like now, like all my kids that have left, if I get a text from them, I'm like, oh like, oh well, how much more God?
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_04: Amen.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_04: Amen.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_04: Like how much more the Lord is so pleased when we consider Him.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_04: You know.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_04: Not, you know, I'm gonna say this many words for this long of a period of time, and I'm gonna make sure I get that across, and it's gonna help my prayer change God's mind.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_04: And that that rare that doesn't happen.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_04: And it's so cool to hear, you know, sound teaching from guys who've lived it out, taught it, and know it well, express that to people like myself, and then I get to express it to these young kids that I'm dealing with in high school.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_04: I'm like, you know.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_04: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know, uh, Monty, I think about you and uh other professional athletes.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_01: Your whole world is performance-based in prof in sports, as your your brother's was, right?
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_01: And everything is measured, everything is counted.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you know, I've been watching the baseball playoffs this time of year, and I think, man, they know not only the guy's batting average, but how many times he swings at a curveball.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: Who keeps up with all this, you know?
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: And if we're not careful, we can translate that into their faith.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_01: But our faith is built on that we're saved by grace through faith, not by works, not by performance, so that no one can boast.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_01: So we've got to resist, right?
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_01: Will you?
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we've got to be careful that e even as pastors, you know, man, church attendance was down just a little bit yesterday.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_01: What did I do wrong?
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_01: Am I in trouble?
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we can we can get so down in the measurements in the statistics that we forget that God is sovereign and that we're already saved.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_01: And and you know, it's the con we do our we're obedient and leave the consequences up to him.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, thank you for that example.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you've been at Oak Hills for the last uh thirty-eight years, which is probably amazing to think about, 1988.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_01: That's amazing, yeah.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um and it but it's obvious being around you, Max, that the passion for Christ hasn't faded.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the the calling to serve the Lord and and his people still remains strong.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm curious as to your thoughts about retirement.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: You know, what not not your retirement, but just retirement in general.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: You know, what would you say to the person who is in that that fourth quarter or even that that overtime of life to encourage them to keep pursuing Christ, you know, keep running the race so that you finish well.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: I I think there's a place for us to uh maybe alter our assignment, uh maybe focus more on a particular uh ministry or skill.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I do believe we we just keep serving until we step into heaven, right?
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: I have read about pastors who passed into heaven while they were studying.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: I read about one who passed into heaven while he was preaching.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so you know uh that would be awesome.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but I do think as as I'm 71, here's what I have learned.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I don't have the energy that I used to.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_01: I really don't.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I do my best.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: I try to sleep, I try to work out, I try to eat well.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_01: Even so, these old bodies, they they have their agenda, right?
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't have the get up and go.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: I used to travel a lot more.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I used to speak at other events, uh, but I I don't think I have that in me.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but what I can do now, I can keep writing and I can keep preaching at Oak Hills Church about 15 to 20 times a year.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I can love my kids and my grandkids.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: I have seven grandkids.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um I've decided that's it seems to me that's my focus.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_01: Now, twenty years ago I was also leading the staff and we were raising funds to build buildings, you know, and starting other camps that a little had a little more uh I don't know, capacity.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_01: So acknowledge the capacity that you're in uh and uh try to do the most what you do the best, especially in the end.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_01: But but don't check out.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_01: You know, don't check out.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_01: We need you.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_01: If I'm speaking to a 70-year-old, I'm gonna say, you know, you've forgotten more than most of us know on that particular topic.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_01: Identify what that thing is you do really well and help the rest of us learn from that.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_01: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you talk about just the importance of rest and and diet and obviously time with the Lord and and family.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I know that you got into swimming a few years ago.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_00: And you talked about my my older brother Josh, who was in two Olympics, and and you all had a meaningful training session together.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: That's such a funny story.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for bringing it up.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_01: Have you heard this, Monty?
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_01: You know, three gold medals in Sydney, Josh.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh there's the Josh Davis natatorium, right?
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: And there was a time that uh Josh attended our church, and I think in a sermon I mentioned that I had taken up swimming to stay in shape, and he met me after the service and said, Well, I can help you with that.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_01: And so we met over at the uh Josh Davis natatorium, and I wasn't wearing a speedo, mind you.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_01: So get that image out of your mind.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we have that image right here.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, another speed of it.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_01: And um so Josh said um Josh said, well, let's just uh warm up.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_01: So in we went.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_01: And and I'm I just want to say I've never seen anyone swim like Josh.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_01: There is no ripple.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's like a torpedo.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's just the most beautiful thing.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um I remember thinking that his waist size and my thigh size are about the same.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_01: Nothing anyway.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_01: So uh I go down and back and down and back and I touch and I look up and I'm right behind Josh.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I think, wow, maybe senior Olympics.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_01: You know?
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_01: Futures looking brought up.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_01: I think there's I think I have a new spiritual gift.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I say, Josh, I kept up with you.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_01: And my numbers may be off here, but uh I think he said, Yeah, but uh I think I swam four laps in U2, or maybe six in U2, whatever it was, that I silenced my boats and what a great man, though.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_01: What a great man.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_01: And and he we we had a lot of swim sessions together.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_04: That's so good.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_04: That's awesome.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_04: You you say um in the book, you talk about Ahab is not our enemy.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_04: Um I think oftentimes we as believers, we as people, can get caught up in you know making a person or a system the enemy of our life, our soul, our family.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_04: Uh can you ex can you share more, like how how does that help us um in our lives today?
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_04: You know, we know what the scriptures say about our battle isn't against flesh and blood, but sometimes that when you start talking about principalities and powers, I think uh a believer, a new believer is like, what?
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_04: Like, how does a what's a principality and a power?
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_04: I thought it was Satan, you know.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_04: And it's like how how can we like suck down the corn and get people to understand like what that really means?
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_04: Like Ahab is not your enemy.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_01: We have these uh figures in life that we perceive as the enemy as if we could bring that person down, you know, or get rid of that person.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_01: It could be a a person who has influence over the nation, a political leader, could be somebody who's really influencing Hollywood and entertainment.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_01: We said, well, that those that's our problem right there.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but and and and true, they can be problematic, no doubt about that.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um but behind them is the evil presence of this present darkness, and that's the devil.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_01: And uh it's i i in our Western mindset, it's difficult for us to think spiritual, spiritual realities.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_01: And we we tend to forget uh that there are um truly forces at work around us.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I remember we lived in Brazil for most of the 1980s and found that not to be a problem for the Brazilians, for the Latin American culture.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_01: It was very different.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh now they uh would give in to a form of spiritism, a worship of evil forces, but I mean they acknowledged that there were forces around us, both good and bad, whereas we in I think in our Western culture have become secularized in our thinking, and it's just flesh and blood what we can see.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so a good reminder for us as we're battling is to acknowledge that there is a presence of a fallen angel and that he is angry at God and God has uh cast him out.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_01: He's no longer, but he does have influence.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why we pray.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_01: That's why we pray.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_01: We pray and we worship and we read scripture.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_01: Those are the weapons that we fight with.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_00: I love I love that what you write.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to take a stand against the enemy, hit your knees.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's a beautiful reminder.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so often we do fail to pray with that Elijah level prayer.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um so when you when you think about Elijah and I know that when when I think about his story, I think about that Rich Mullen song that says, you know, when I leave I want to go out like Elijah.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know, he went out in a in a whirlwind, a chariot of fire.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_00: And as you look back on on your life and and and your ministry, you don't seem to be a person who uh lives with regrets.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_00: You're very, very positive, very life-giving.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_00: But as you look back, is is there something that you wish you would have spent some more time on?
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I became a Christian when I was 10, Will.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but from the age of 15 to 20, you couldn't have identified me as a follower of Christ.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I became a very heavy drinker.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I was uh seriously immoral.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I was uh a brawler, uh not in the sense that I fought much, but I acted real tough.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_01: I thought I was tough.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I brought much embarrassment to my parents uh who raised me to know better.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_01: Uh if if when I have regrets, it's when I think about the terrible uh reflection of Christ I was during those years.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I would love the privilege of apologizing to some of the people that I led in the wrong direction.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_01: I and I guess the worst of all I was a hypocrite because I still kept showing up to church, acting like a a good Christian young man.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and so I I I do regret that.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um so did the Apostle Paul, you know.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_01: And so he said, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_01: So I have received grace over that.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_01: I've uh I've confessed it.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_01: And if the Lord brings to mind something else that I've done that I forgot, I'll confess it.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_01: I I mean I I'm not pretending.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_01: It was a it it was I was not a good man.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I wouldn't want to spare people from that.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's not a I I know testimonies uh that are dramatic have great power.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_01: I like a boring testimony, you know, that I became a Christian as a young person and I stayed faithful most of my life and I went to heaven.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_01: Imagine all the wounds and the embarrassment and the shame that you're spared through that boring testimony.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but by God's great grace, I I I have been saved and forgiven.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh He paid, He died on the cross for every sin of mine, and and so I have received that.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_01: If I have regrets, though, I'd like to apologize to those people who saw me the be the kind of person I was.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_01: Praise God.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_04: You you have um an ability to convey, you know, when I've I've read a number of your books, and your the way that you write is just like, oh, that's pretty cool.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_04: You know, the way that it comes off the pages, I'm like, man, that I I can relate to that.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_04: And I I say it because I went to an inner city school in P.G.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_04: County, Maryland, and I had Miss Finney.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_04: Miss Finney was probably she was probably four feet tall, Swedish lady, um, predominantly African American school, probably had ten white people in our school.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_04: So you can imagine like it's just a lot of black folks in the school.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_04: And she pulled me aside one day and she said, Monty, you have a gift to write, you know.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_04: And I'm just, you know, I'm like, really?
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_04: You know, at first I'm looking, I'm like, what?
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_04: And she she explains it to me, and I'm like, okay.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_04: But then, you know, like you live life and you read and you get around people that are really smart, and and then I read your stuff and I'm like, yeah, Miss Finney had me set up.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_04: Miss Finney had me thinking I could write, and I'm I read your stuff and I'm like, man, when did you know that God gave you a gift to write the way that I know you get help from editors and all that stuff, but that this is this is what God gave you.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_04: Like, as it relates to giftings and abilities that we have, because God gives us all, He blesses us all with certain gifts.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_04: Like, when did you know you had this gift to write like this?
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_01: I think you're right.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_01: I think a gift is something that uh you know you do well and other people want you to do well and you can honor God with it.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, I I love to sing, but nobody ever asks me to sing, so I don't think I have that gift.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh uh but but writing, it it it I I think I do it well, and I think I can state that uh clear-headedly, sober-mindedly, uh because it it works, you know, and and it's a great tool for encouraging people.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_01: I do think everybody's got a book in them.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_01: I really do.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh everybody could capture their life story in a book, if nothing else, for their own legacy for their kids and grandkids.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_01: And so I encourage people.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't have to be a uh uh you know a great literary piece, but it's your story.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_01: And so uh this uh it's an irrelevant conversation because people say, well, I don't know how to write.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_01: Well, tell your story.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_01: Just tell your story and and uh do it as clearly as you can.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um and and maybe get some help if you want editorial support to clean it up, you can do that.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but writing I've I've really enjoyed, and I can't not write.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um every day I think, oh, I want to work on that chapter.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's that thing in in life that I love to do.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's kind of like coaches who can't not coach.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_01: I've got a good friend who's a former PGA golfer and now a golf instructor.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_01: He's retired, Jim Barker.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_01: But if I play golf with him, he can't not coach me.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_01: He can't not.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_01: He'll say, let's just play today.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_01: Fine, fine, Jim.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_01: After three holes.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_01: Hey Max, why don't you show?
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, coaches like that, Monsieur, one of them.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_01: It's just it's just what's in you.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I'm I'm really grateful to have landed on this particular course.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_01: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_04: That's uh it's amazing because I love basketball.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_04: Like my my wife Lisa, my new wife Lisa, she she just she marvels at how much I watch.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_04: And I'm, you know, I don't know if that's a good thing or but she's she's finally come to this place where she realizes like you love this.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_04: I'm like, yeah, I do.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_04: I'd love to see it through your eyes.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_04: I just see it gaining.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you want to because it it goes places because man, if that guy would do that or he would do it, d do you have pause like that?
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, like I get the remote, and because we have DVR now, I can just rewind and I'm showing Lisa stuff now.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_04: And if Mike is there, like he knows he's gonna get like pause.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_04: And I'll show him.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_04: I'm like, this is what daddy was trying to show you today in practice.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_04: And Mike's like, oh Lord, here we go again.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_04: Get away from it.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_04: But you you know that's one of the I'm not saying that I'm gifted in it, but I know I love it.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_04: And I've been blessed to to do it as a player now, as a coach, and like you said, like I I want to I want to use it to bless people and not hurt people.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_04: My hope is that when I teach, I I I share in a way that makes a kid want to play more, not run from the court.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_04: You know, and I think that's what's so awesome about your writing is it you can tell like this is a gift, and you help people see what they couldn't see on their own.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_04: Like that's amazing in terms of it's like when he shares, when he teaches, you know.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_04: I'm just like, I study every day.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_04: You know, he and I in the morning, we're going back with text, I'm sharing stuff with him.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_04: I get here and he goes through his thing, I'm like, where'd that come from?
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_04: I didn't see that.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_04: Like, what in the world is kind of like what translation do you have, Will?
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_04: You know, it's it's amazing to be around people who are gifted and how God does that.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's and and appreciating that everyone is gifted.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it keeps us from the sin of comparison, you know, because your your assignment and my assignment are both given by God.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_01: But how dare I be jealous of someone else's gift, which I can be.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_01: But uh yeah.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_00: And that that's what I love about reading this book is we are reminded every day how inexhaustible the Word of God is.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you you can study it, you can read it every day for the rest of your life, and God reveals new things.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_00: And and like you have done, you you shine a new light on on some of the aspects of Elijah's life and his ministry and and his story.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, as as we wrap up, I I loved that charge to the listener that everybody has a story in them.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_00: You know, everybody has a book, everybody has that testimony to tell.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_00: And it never gets old to hear those stories of of God's faithfulness.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: In people's life.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_00: And Elijah's story is so inspiring.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_00: But there may be someone, you know, listening right now on their phone who's feeling broken, they're feeling confused, they're feeling lost, and and I don't know if I have a story worth telling.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_00: So what what can we share with that person who's looking for some more of that unbreakable courage and that uncompromised faith in today's world?
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_01: I think waiting is okay.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if you're in a time which you can't quite identify what what unique story God's given to you, j just just be patient.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_01: You know, God will provide that and He'll He'll explain it.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_01: No need to hurry it.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh our God is never in a hurry, and so we don't need to be either.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and then j just to be faithful to what God's put in front of you today.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_01: You know, love those kids, do a good job at work, uh you know d try try to pay your bills and be a g keep a good attitude.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I think those uh nuts and bolts, the blocking and tackling of our faith, it r leads us for faithful over a few things, God will make us stewards over many.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_04: I I want to before we close, I was telling Will.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_04: Um I've I've read a number of of books.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_04: You know, we I think we all have in terms of um biblical, foundational, faith-based things that we whether it's Swindah or MacArthur, and I was reading this book, and chapter 12 was one of those chapters that just like, my goodness, man, this is I'll probably read this chapter for a long time.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_04: And I'll probably if I hope to encourage people that are around me and people that I don't even know, like, hey, if you want some encouragement, read chapter 12 of this particular book.
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_04: And I just I want to read just a little bit of it before we close.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_04: It had it affected me in such a way, I text Will that morning and I was just like, man, this is unreal.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_04: Like it really gave me a level of encouragement.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_04: Because it, if we had more time, I'd share some things that you know God is bringing my family through right now.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_04: And I was like, wow.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_04: And the the title of this chapter is The God of Israel Lives.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_04: And you say Elijah had his difficulties, but he landed on his feet.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_04: He was a godly person in a godless society, steadfast in faith.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_04: Isn't that what we desire?
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_04: To move forward with unbreakable courage that refuses to budge or compromise, to keep swimming upstream, to stay in the race and finish the course.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_04: How can we, by knowing what Elijah knew, by believing what he believed, the God of Israel lives.
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_04: And it you just continue to make that point.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_04: And it's it's it's so cool because, you know, we could have an expectation, and it may not be met in the time that we want it to be met, but the God of Israel lives.
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_04: We may be going through something unbelievably tough, but the God of Israel lives.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_04: And it was so encouraging to me that I I was like, well, like, did you read?
• 47:16
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I knew he'd already read it probably two weeks before I got done because he's smarter than me.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_04: But what an encouragement it was to me.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_04: And I I just, you know, we we have not gotten on here and pushed a lot of stuff.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_04: We just don't do that.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_04: But this is one of those chapters and books that I really feel like is gonna bless a lot of people.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_04: But this this particular chapter like hit me like right in the heart and it gave me some juice that is still like in me.
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_04: And I'm just like, I remind myself that the God of Israel lives.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_04: It doesn't matter what I'm going through.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_04: And even when the success or the prayer is answered, I still want to remember that the God of Israel lives.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_04: And I want that, I want him to help me to steward whatever it is he blesses me with.
• 48:05
  SPEAKER_04: So I just wanted you to hear like that.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_04: The whole book was an encouragement.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_04: I learned a lot reading it, but that particular chapter uh put some wind in my sails.
• 48:17
  SPEAKER_04: I'm glad to hear that.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 48:19
  SPEAKER_00: No, you mentioned the story of the guy putting his finger on into your chest and he's angry.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, because he's he's looking for God to show up.
• 48:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_00: And and you you have that reminder uh in that chapter, chapter 12.
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_00: The company is laying off workers, but the God of Israel lives.
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_00: The world is changing fast, but the God of Israel lives.
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_00: My health is declining and my body is aging, but the Lord God of Israel lives.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_00: So as we close, Max, would you mind praying for the listener at this time and praying for those who might be struggling in that way?
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_01: Gracious Father, we declare that the Lord God of Israel lives.
• 49:08
  unknown: Yes.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_01: And even in times of darkness and difficulty, we believe that you live.
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_01: You've allowed us today to have good conversation about faith.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_01: But Father, you're the one who can truly teach.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_01: I beg your mercy upon anyone who comes across this conversation, that it would draw them close to you.
• 49:27
  SPEAKER_01: Speak to the person who's really discouraged or disoriented, confused, doesn't know what to do next.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_01: Let there be grace, Father, upon those who feel like they've let you down.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_01: And bring strength, dear Father, to those who are uh trying to be faithful to you.
• 49:44
  SPEAKER_01: I thank you so much for Will.
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_01: I thank you for Monty.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_01: I thank you for their faith.
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_01: I thank you for this wonderful ministry that they have.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_01: I ask you to give mercy and blessings to them.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_01: Strengthen them and grant that we could just finish well and uh serve you and never bring embarrassment to your call or your church.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you in Jesus' name.
• 50:06
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you, Max.
• 50:10
  SPEAKER_00: We thank the Lord for you and your family and your ministry.
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_00: And to the listener, pick up your copy of Unbreakable Courage.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_00: We'll put a link to the book on the Instagram page and the YouTube page.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_00: But wherever you find yourself today, know that God loves you, He's for you, He's got a good plan for you, and we'll see you next time.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you for joining us at Coaching for Life.
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_04: And please subscribe wherever you receive this content.