The WOFOYO Podcast
The WOFOYO Podcast
Unmarked Graves: Are You Making a Real Impact?
We examine what it means to make a lasting impact versus gaining temporary prestige through a challenging Scripture in Luke 11 where Jesus compares the Pharisees to unmarked graves that people walk over without noticing.
• Scripture that sparked discussion: "Woe to you, pharisees, for you love the best seat in the synagogues and greeting in the marketplaces. Woe to you, for you are like unmarked graves and people walk over them without knowing it" (Luke 11:43-44)
• Reflecting on mentors and spiritual heroes whose impact continues long after they're gone
• Questioning what makes a lasting impact in ministry: programs, worship, doctrine, or mentoring others
• Discussing the difficulty of quantifying spiritual impact, especially in prayer
• Heroes of faith who never saw the fulfillment of what they believed for
• The temptation to compromise integrity when ministry overhead becomes excessive
• Comparing biblical models of ministry support with modern fundraising approaches
• Appreciating transparency in ministry fundraising with clear objectives and accountability
Get in the Word for yourself. Check us out at https://wofoyo.org/ or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, or YouTube.
#wofoyo
This episode of the Wofo Yo Podcast has been brought to you by Elijah's Taxi Service. You're trying to reach your final destination. You've walked about as far as you can go. What to do? Oh, what to do? Well, just wait on the Lord and give your mantle a toss and Elijah's Taxi Service will be there in a whirl. Elijah's Taxi Service so quick, most folks won't even see you go. Hey everybody, welcome to another edition of the Wofo Yo podcast.
Speaker 1:You know, every now and then, bones and I just kind of shoot the bull and it means the Lord isn't speaking anything super profound or we get so busy that we're not hearing what the profound things the Lord is saying to us are. Being honest, this happens. But I did see something that stood out to me today. I always go on about man Matthew 23. Whenever I'm feeling a little bit salty, I'll read me some Matthew 23. And he just gives the Pharisees and the scribes and all of them what for the lawyers and all that and all of them. What for the lawyers and all that? But one of the reasons it's important to read all of the Gospels is because every now and then there's a little word change. You know what you're expecting, but it says a little bit different and, given that there can be some things in translation that get you know, said differently, maybe lost in translations one of the reasons it's important to not just read one version of the Bible, you know, if you can afford to compare different versions, it's always awesome, but having that Strong's Concordance especially if you've got a King James just to be able to look at the Greek and to be able to look at the Hebrew and I know they have all these online tools now that are available as well but it gives a fuller meaning. So, that being said, I'm reading Matthew 11 and verses 43 through 44.
Speaker 1:Now the way it says in Matthew was you know, you're whitewashed tombs. You look pretty on the outside, but inside you're full of all manner of uncleanness and corruption. This is how it goes in Luke's version. Woe to you, pharisees, for you love the best seat in the synagogues and greeting in the marketplaces. Woe to you, for you are like unmarked graves and people walk over them without knowing it. And when I was doing my Bible reading today, this is the one that wouldn't let me go, and this is going to be airing after the short that does it Friday, but I start talking in there. I mentioned heroes, bones, I mentioned Paul and my dad. Paul's been a while, but my dad's been within a year and a half. You know we don't have Brother Frank around anymore. We don't have man. We lost Phil Miller and my Uncle, jerry, was just a great pastor and you have these folks that you look up to. Well, what does that say? Even though they're not around, their impact is around, and reading this it makes me ask the question man, you love all the prestige but you're like unmarked graves. People walk over them without even knowing it.
Speaker 1:What kind of impact are you having? It's been one of those things the Holy Spirit's been challenging me some, that part of the reason it stuck in. What kind of impact are you making? Did you have a good worship experience? Are people going to remember that? Did you have good programs? Is that what makes an impact? Is it because you have your doctrine right? Is that why you make an impact? Or do you make an impact at last because you mentor people, because you are willing to reach out with the love of God and help others to grow?
Speaker 1:You know I think about the statement. You know I was hungry and you fed me. I was in prison. You came and visited. When Jesus is talking about these things, he's talking about making an impact and changing lives. People remember that stuff, you know so. So it it really causes me to think.
Speaker 1:You know, number one, what am I doing? You know, how do I, in pursuing my relationship with the Lord, how is that affecting other things that I do? And in some areas I go, this is making an impact, this is making a lasting impact. And then there's other areas I go. Room for improvement, definitely room for improvement, but as the body of Christ, what kind of impact are we making? Impact are we making?
Speaker 1:Have we been, as we've been, compliant? You know this nice Christianity, this entertained Christianity. Have we become so compliant that we're no longer dangerous Because we're not a threat and I'm not talking about being violent, as far as you know, like the zealots were where you're going out and killing government officials and not talking about that. But have we relegated ourselves to where we're no longer a threat to the enemy's kingdom? And if so, I mean what kind of impact do we make his kingdom? And if so, I mean what kind of impact do we make? Because if we ever get to that point where we pursue comfort to where we're ineffective? At what point do we become the unmarked graves that people walk right past or walk right over?
Speaker 2:Where I work at, we deal a lot with death. We deal with death on a daily basis. We deal a lot with death. We deal with death on a daily basis. And we were just kind of kicking this around the bobos a week or two at work, talking about death, talking about funerals and stuff like that A couple of us mentioned. We kind of put our heads together and said, you know, especially speaking of veterans, for a veteran that's probably, you know, his burial and the honors that he would receive at his burial are probably the greatest honor he's ever going to receive in life, probably the greatest honor he'd ever receive and never get to see, probably the greatest honor he'd ever received and never get to see. So we got to kicking that around at work and thought, man, wouldn't it be nice to have our funeral before we die? You know, of course there's some chuckle and some giggle in that and say, yeah, it might be. I kind of like to see who shows up. I kind of want to hear what people have to say. You know, I want to see all that, I want to be a part of it. I want to see and hear the honors, especially as a veteran. I want to hear taps. I want to hear the 21 gun salute. For some of those things. Those are some of the greatest honors that we'll ever receive as a veteran and never get to see it.
Speaker 2:So part of that conversation led to kind of what we're talking about now. What will people say? What would people say about you after you're gone? You know, man, this was a man of grace, this was a man who loved people, this was a man who, whatever the case may be, or would anybody, even show up. So, you know, we kind of kicked that around on our break and during lunch and everything. And it kind of brings us back to kind of what we're talking about.
Speaker 2:You know, can we have an impact on how people see us, how people perceive us, you know, and the things that we do here in this life? I think, yes, to a degree. I mean, some people are just stuck on, stupid, and you can't change their mind, no matter how hard you try or whatever you do. Yes, we can be a positive impact. We can be a positive impact on the world impact. We can, uh, be a positive impact on the world and so that people say, yeah, that guy there, you know, he, he loved all that he could love. He, uh, he was a man of grace, he was a, he was a man of principle, he was a man of you know, you name it whatever, and that's who he was. Um, I would rather I hope that's what people would say of me, other than being just another unmarked grave of nobody, that somebody will walk by and go oh, who was that guy? I have no idea. I don't even recognize that name, yeah, especially growing up in a small town.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm, definitely there's. You know, all of a sudden there's a song I'd forgot about. But man, it was a. It was a mega hit about 16, 17 years ago. I know randy travis had that song three wooden crosses, oh yeah phenomenal story to that song oh, oh yeah, and it was about the impact that dying guy's impact upon the preacher's mama. Yeah, yeah, she was the hooker.
Speaker 2:She was the hooker. Amen, yep.
Speaker 1:Those are the kind of things you consider individually. I also think it would be remiss if we didn't ask corporately, you know, what kind of effect are we making? To me it's almost esoteric to ask what kind of impact did you make in prayer? What kind of spiritual warrior were you? How did you progress? And the only reason I say it like that is because, unless the Lord is just directly downloading some stuff to you, letting you know, you're kind of guessing to a degree.
Speaker 1:You have faith that it, that it's making an impact, but it is not something, for the most part, that is quantifiable. Right, you know, there there are people, and the reason I say that is yeah, I remember reading stories about people that got a prophetic word called the Moravians. They were over in Germany and there was going to be this big move. Well, they prayed constantly and it was over 100 years before it hit and changed the world. One of the number one senders out of missionaries and people that we're still feeling the effects of that. But that's 100 years. That's awful, doggone, hard to quantify.
Speaker 1:You know how effective you're being, because there's going to be times where you know, in prayer it looks like the exact opposite is happening or it looks like nothing is happening. Matter of fact, if it looks like the exact opposite is happening, keep praying. That is a good sign that the enemy is trying to come after that to get you to give up. And so if you can persevere through that, then do so faithfully, do so with the right heart, right attitude. Then most likely you're going to see that through. You can't tell when it's just nothing. To me that's a little bit harder to pray through. Just speaking, at least with my personality, I've been around long enough and I'm not saying it's because I'm smart. I'm saying it's just because I'm older, that I've learned to recognize when the enemy's attacking, which is a good sign that whatever the Lord told you and instructed you to pray for and decree that it was right on the other is hard to get a read on when it's nothing Exactly.
Speaker 2:You know it's interesting In the book of Hebrews we're told about those warriors of faith. Told about those warriors of faith and we're also told that many of those prayed and were men of faith and never saw the fulfillment of their faith. So we have those as examples to look to and say, hey, you know those guys were, those guys were, were men just like we are. And yeah, you know they, they, they were faithful, they prayed and they, they walked out their faith. Even though they didn't get to see the fulfillment of that faith, they still walked it out.
Speaker 2:In our microwave society today, that can be hard for us because we expect instant results and, man, we've got to get away from that. We can't do that and you're right, we want to. We want to quantify things, we want to be able to put a number on things. We want to be able to show that this is, this is the fruit of your faithfulness, especially when it comes to money, especially when it comes to investing monetarily into a ministry or or something. I'd love to quantify that. Oh, yeah, yeah. And it's not man. Sometimes I don't even. I don't think it's neither right or wrong, it just is what it is. But when you start sowing seed into a ministry because God has told you to do so. The flesh pops up and wants to see some results. We work hard for that money.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a result of labor.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but we've got to be faithful in that too and take our hands off of it and let God do what he's got to do. David quantified things. It didn't work out so well for him. When we try to quantify things, it doesn't really work out so well for us. God just wants our faith. He just wants faith. And I can man sometimes and I'll be honest, I'll be the first one to admit it a lot of times I don't have the faith that he requires. I just don't. And that's usually when he shows up, is at the end of my faith, when my faith has run out, when it's exhausted itself and I say I can't do no more, I'm done, you're asking too much of me. And he recognizes that and that's heartfelt, and I have exhausted myself and I have come to my wits' end, boy. That is when he shows up in a mighty way. He wants faith.
Speaker 1:And then you find out the thing you were stressing over really ain't that hard once he puts his hand on it and you let go, and you go.
Speaker 2:I was dumb, yeah yeah, thanks for getting out of my way.
Speaker 1:Now there, child but while you're talking and I'm thinking about, I'm looking at this and and he's getting ready to get on the lawyers too, we might get into that, but he said you love to have the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. So we have all this prestige, we have notoriety, but we don't have effectiveness and you're like unmarked grave. So what? What does that mean? Whatever impact you think you're having, you're getting the fame and the accolades, but how effective are you being? It's not going to last past a generation.
Speaker 2:You know, I'm reminded of that, that circus game, um, where they give you the big sledgehammer and you gotta, you gotta, hit that, uh, that pad and try to ring that bell. And you got this big old sledgehammer but for some reason you just can't make it ring that bell. That's kind of what it what it's like. Yeah, you, you've got a, you got all the prestige and the notoriety, you've got the big hammer, but you ain't making the bell ring. You know, you don't. You don't have the fruit and you don't have the very thing that shows everybody. Cause that's what that bell when it rings. Everybody around knows that bell, bell rings. Somebody just did something. And when you're at the circus or the fair or wherever it's at, when you hear that bell, you know, you know somebody. Yeah, the halls just hit, somebody smashed that uh. Uh, somebody smashed that pad with the hammer. Um, but if you ain't making the bell ring, all you did was swing a big hammer and that was it.
Speaker 1:Good way of putting it and I look at it the notoriety you know we will pay a lot of money. In the short that is going to precede this episode, I talked about a guy who really liked him and him and his wife went on to work in Christian TV and stuff. But I look at it and the shenanigans that we got exposed to with Christian TV high visibility back in the day, high overhead you know where it got to the point that left such a bad taste in my mouth. One of the reasons they're always begging for money on there is because the overhead is so high. Yeah, they're hemorrhaging, yeahaging, yeah, yeah, and so either are you, aren't.
Speaker 1:So the ones that are making it are making it above and beyond, but it's almost like you got to constantly feed that monster and then then you got to ask well, how effective am I being? Is this against tv ministry? But I'm saying there's some problems with the system, at least the way it was, I think, with the advent of YouTube and Rumble and some of these other things that you're able to do. We're doing this right here, other than equipment and time invested, and we don't ask for money. I'm invested and we don't ask for money. When you factor it all in, we're doing this podcast under 70 bucks a month. Yeah, and that's included in the website. That's including, you know, the other stuff. I mean minus the initial equipment, which still isn't. Isn't that bad. We we upgrade and all that, but we, we've said this before bad, we upgrade and all that.
Speaker 2:We've said this before, though we probably did invest in the equipment, did the book and all that stuff all in for less than $1,000.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, especially for the book, I upgraded some equipment. It looks a little bit better, but still, all in all, uh, with a brand new, uh, apple computer, right and all that and the, you know, with the green screen and the in the mic and all that, there's still less than two, yeah, in today's money. And when we first first started it was five years ago. So still, you know, on our budgets and stuff, that's not that bad, yeah, and for somebody it might be a big stretch, you know, and I appreciate it. But, man, if we had to have all the overhead that it requires for TV, especially back then, oh yeah, oh, good Lord, you know, I just shake my head.
Speaker 1:No wonder some of them folks were compromising their integrity, you know, and I just remember that interaction. I'd seen enough and I go what in the world are you all doing? And I just sent the guy a little private message. You know, it was something about pledges and stuff, you know. You know why are we doing these pledges? And he said well, jesus rode a donkey, but satellites eat money. You know, donkeys eat grass, satellites eat money. I said, looks to me like they're eating integrity too. Yeah, because as much as I liked him and liked his parents and stuff.
Speaker 1:One of the wake-up calls for me was we were me and my ex-wife were helping out man, we were answering the phones during the praise-a-thon and all this she could sing and she'd get on there and they'd have her as a guest every now and then and sing some songs. But this guy that I know that I disagree with is this guy's dad, who had been my pastor for a couple years. Again didn't agree on everything, but I respected him because him and his wife lived it out. But I knew this guy's message. I knew how he preached. I learned some things to do, learned some things not to do, but there was much respect for this guy and he got up and then preached a message that he never preaches on TV and I felt sick to my stomach because here it is a guy and don't get me wrong, I still pray for this guy daily.
Speaker 1:It made an impact, positive impact, but this time he compromised. He compromised and made a vow to myself to hell. With that. It wasn't just me grieved, put it like that. I was disappointed. The Holy Spirit was grieved, yeah. And then we're doing all this in his name.
Speaker 2:I go right back to. This is the only example we've ever had, though, yeah, not just as a church, but even as far as finances go and how to finance a ministry and all those things. Those things we've never really had a biblical model, you know, set before us. You know, for money gathering, for finances and stuff like that. So I can see where the temptation to do it like the corporate world does it.
Speaker 2:This is how the corporate world does it, this is how well, I won't say the corporate world, but this is how other nonprofits do it. There you go, they do the telethons, the fundraisers, they sell the T-shirts, they do all these things. But that's not how we were called to do it. We were called to ask for, ask the lord in faith. You know every, you know that's how we were taught to do, that's how the bible says to do it, and it's an indictment on us as a body, because we haven't had an example yet, uh, of a church that has simply flourished by asking God in faith, at least not here in the modern era that I know of.
Speaker 1:I think back when I was going to church over in Colorado Springs. I remember it had a different feel to it than what I had been used to, but it reminded me of when the children of Israel are going through the desert, when they're going through the wilderness and they get the instructions you know they had plundered the Egyptians and they get the instructions on how to build the tabernacle, how to build the vessels used in the tabernacle, how to construct the fabric and all these things. Moses takes up an offering. We're having a thing and you can give to the work. And finally he had what he needed and he had to restrain the people from giving. They were very willing to give. But I remember this, to give. But I remember this the pastor's son, one of his sons, was getting ready to go set up a church and I'm trying to remember it. I think it might have been Costa Rica, it was somewhere down kind of Central America area, and they set up church right in a place called Murderer's Row and they were reaching the Murderers, the murderers. There's a reason it was called Murderer's Row and they set it up in the bad part of town, because that's kind of what they did and started doing outreach, started changing some things, but old Pastor Jones was pretty point blank. You know, here's a cow, here's how it's eating the cabbage. If you don't like it, don't ask about the cow or the cabbage, but here's how it's going down. He said well, he said thanks to St Paul I think that's who's pastoring that church now a senior pastor, but him and his wife, emily, was doing this ministry.
Speaker 1:People said how can we help? How can we help? He said you know what I'm tired of it. Everybody wants to ask. Everybody says this oh, what do you need? What do you need?
Speaker 1:He says we need x amount of money for a small tent. What they really need is they need a used pickup truck to be able to haul this and that around, to be able to do this. What they need is about and at the time it would have been about 10 years old. He said we need a Toyota Tacoma. About 10 years old. Toyotas are the best, they'll last longer. He said that's being a good steward. And boom, guess what? Everybody gave and son of a gun. They just had just the right amount to help pay for that tent and that Toyota. And it was there and he was just up front. You want to give here's what we're giving for, here's where it's going. That is rare. I can appreciate that. I loved it because I'm like we we know exactly where it's going, we know what, what, what it's going towards, what the purpose. We know that there's an end game, that this is not some perpetual yeah, uh, faith offering black hole, if you will exactly exactly.
Speaker 2:You know when I say we don't really have the model for for raising money and stuff like that in the church. We do. It's in the Bible, but the Bible talks about you got to go back to the first century church to to see how that was done. Probably one of the reasons why we don't have a clear model of that today is because we don't really see the first century church as it existed in the Bible here today. So that could be an issue, but I like that approach. It's this is what we really need. We need this for this, so we'll do that. Attach conditions and standards. That's basically what it comes down to, and I think people appreciate that brutal honesty because they know what they're given. They know why they're given it and what the purpose is and, like you said, it's not some perpetual black hole of an offering plate that they're going to hand out in front of you again because your giving didn't meet or fulfill the needs that we expected the first time.
Speaker 1:Hey everybody, we're going to continue our discussion in our next episode about are you an unmarked grave or are you making an impact? You can always check us out at wofoyoorg or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, spotify or Audible, or even check us out on YouTube. Remember, folks if you're going to grow, you've got to woe-foe-yo. Get in the Word for yourself.