The WOFOYO Podcast
The WOFOYO Podcast
What I See My Father Doing...
What if your faith grew most when you stopped checking boxes and started following the Father’s lead? We open John 5 and sit with the uncomfortable beauty of Jesus healing on the Sabbath, claiming equality with the Father, and redefining “works” as the living evidence of relationship. The scene at Bethesda becomes a mirror for modern church life: do we prize rules over people, or do we let love fulfill the law? We trace Jesus’ witnesses—John the Baptist, the works themselves, the Father’s testimony, and Moses’ writings—and show how all roads point to the Son who gives life and judges with mercy.
From there, we connect Scripture to the real world. We talk about burnout in ministry, the pressure to perform, and the subtle drift from faith to legalism that leaves people wounded. Leadership stories from the military and organizational life highlight the trap of “check-the-box” culture and the courage it takes to champion competence, care, and calculated risks. Sabbath emerges not as a rule to police but as a rhythm that heals, a weekly reset where the Spirit restores hearts and re-anchors purpose.
Practical takeaways run through every segment: start small with obedience at home and at work, tune your ear to the Holy Spirit’s promptings, and take the faithful risks that love demands. When you fail, repent quickly and keep moving—because the worst decision is no decision. If you’ve wondered how to recognize what the Father is doing and join Him in it, this conversation will give you language, courage, and next steps.
Enjoyed the conversation? Subscribe, share with a friend who needs rest and courage, and leave a review to help more people find the show. Then tell us: where is the Spirit asking you to take your next step of faith?
https://wofoyo.org/ #wofoyo
Amen. What a blessing it is to see everybody here in service today. If you're a first-time visitor, raise your hands and one of our ushers will hand you a contact card. Just take that to the desk after service, and we'd like to bless you with either a coffee mug or some cheap crap we bought off Tmail. Bless your hearts. Every now and then, we don't have anything revelatory or particularly profound at the moment words that the Lord has put on our heart. And that's when it's always a good time to get in the word for yourself. So we'll just go over what I read in scriptures today. You know, we were talking about in our last podcast. If you're going to start reading the Bible, best place to start is the Gospel of John. And we were talking about how with the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, if you read John, it explains everything that's going on. It explains who Jesus is. And then it explains how He does, how He does things, how things unfold. John is giving you the spiritual blueprint for what's happening, and then you see it played out in the flesh, not only in John's gospel, but also in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and then, as you said, how it continues to us in the book of Acts. So John chapter 5, starting at verse 15, they just had the man who was lame over at the pool of Bethesda. So the man went away and informed the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. Now they had just challenged him because he what are you doing? Taking up your bed. It's a Sabbath. You can't do that. So you got those that are standing on the rules. Verse 16. For this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus because he was doing these things on a Sabbath. And you saw that theme echoed in Matthew, Mark, and Luke as well. But he answered them, saying, My Father is working until now, and I myself am working. Oh, here we go. For this reason, therefore, the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he not only was breaking the Sabbath, but was also calling God his own father, making himself equal with God. Therefore, Jesus answered and was saying unto them, Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of himself unless it is something he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in the same way. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all things that he himself is doing, and the Father will show him greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son also gives life to whom he wishes. For not even the Father judges anyone, but he has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. The one who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. That's directly related to the parable of the bindressers right there. Truly, truly, I say to you, the one who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but is passed out of death into life. Truly, truly, I say to you, a time is coming and even has now arrived, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in himself, so he gave to the Son also to have life in himself, and he gave him authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of Man. Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out. Those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life. Those who committed the bad deeds to a resurrection of judgment. I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is righteous, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And if I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who testifies about me, and I know that the testimony which he gives about me is true. You have sent messengers to John, which is what we talked about not too long ago, and he testified to the truth, but the testimony I receive is not from man. But I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a lamp that was burning and shining, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But the testimony I have is greater than the testimony of John. For the works which the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I do testify about me that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me, he has testified about me. You have neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his form. Also, you do not have his word remaining in you, because you do not believe him whom he sent. That's it's interesting because that's the word saying, You I'm the word, but you don't have me in you. Not yet. You examine the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is those very scriptures that testify about me, and you are unwilling to come to me, so that you may have life. I do not receive glory from people, but I know you that you do not have the love of God in yourselves. I have come in my father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God? Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father. The one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have put your hope. For if you believe Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words? And he's just reiterating everything we talked about in our last full episode, really. I don't need your testimony. Right. I have the father's testimony. John, he sent John, John's testified about me. One of the things that did pop out a little bit today, and even more so as I was reading this. My father's working until now, and I myself am working. You know, in one of the your favorite verses, and one of the things that you talked about quite often is Jesus saying, if you've seen me, you've seen the father. And how that changed not only your, but it changed my perception of who the father is. He's not the harsh whack-a-mole God that he's portrayed to be. But he's someone who loves his children and will discipline his children to make sure that what is best for them comes about. But Jesus says says this truly, truly, I say to you, the son can do nothing of himself unless he sees it's something that he sees the father doing. For whatever the father does, these things the son also does in the same way. For the father loves the son and shows him all things that he himself is doing. And the father will show him greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. So I don't know why. But you know, we pray, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And when I read this, for some reason I had the vision of the throne of God in Ezekiel's vision. The throne was in heaven, but you had these wheels within wheels that are below it, and they touch the earth. When it lowers, they touch the earth. And so wherever the throne goes, and it never turns, it just goes in different directions. The wheels go the exact same way. So you see that what God is doing in heaven has corresponding actions and consequences here on earth. And Jesus is really saying, This is what I'm doing. This is this is my mission. I see the Father doing things in heaven, and that's what I'm doing here on earth. And without being blasphemous, that gives me hope. Because it might not be to the degree that Jesus did, but if you and I are willing to humble ourselves and get in the word and see how Jesus operates, and if we're willing to pray and listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit and have him reveal to us how Jesus operates, if we've been sent out in his name, then it might not be nearly as effective as actual Jesus. But as those who are in his service, as those who are called and appointed by him to do works in his name, we can do that. We can do that exact same thing. We can look and see what the Father's doing. We can look and see what Jesus is doing in Scripture. And when we go about our daily life and we're listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit, we can make sure that heaven's will is done. We can see God's intent, we can see his purpose. You mentioned in our last episode, and I I wholeheartedly agree, how when God is revealing to you your purpose, a lot of times you'll start to find yourself in these Bible stories, and you can relate to these Old and New Testament characters that lived because they're people just like you and I. And you begin to see that, yeah, he can use me too. Right. I I I'm finding myself in a similar predicament, similar mindset, similar situation. Might not be as dramatic, but the setup is real similar.
SPEAKER_01:As I'm sitting there visualizing this throne with the wheels within the wheels, and the wheels that touch the earth, and uh uh the wheels turn, but the the throne uh doesn't move. I I get the image, and this is this is kind of silly. This is really silly, I think. I get the image of um of a Hum V. One of the interesting things of the military Hum V is the uh the drive line uh and the way power is transferred from the drive line to the to the wheels, to the tires. Um it doesn't have like the like the rear end and the front end doesn't have a traditional axle and differential like regular full-wheel drive vehicles that that you know Fords and Chevy's do. They have a a planetary gear uh system. And so what that means is as the axles go out to each wheel, um those those axles hit a gear and the gear turns, and then that gear affects another gear that actually turns the wheel. So, and this is just I guess my mechanical mind, but that's kind of what I see when I when I see this throne and the wheels within the wheels, and the it's the wheels that turn and in effect turn the earth. So you have the throne is immovable. God is God is steadfast. Um it's his actions uh that cause reaction on the earth. Um, the earth doesn't cause God to move, God causes the earth to move. Um anyway, I was just uh uh interesting vision. I was you can go look up the uh drive line of uh Humvee and I think Corvettes have a very similar uh drive line. I think that's what I think that's where uh the rear end of a Corvette has a similar drive line. I think that's where the Humvee kind of got the notion from. Um it creates an independent suspension, you get more um more uh you get more more uh suspension travel and you get more ground clearance that way. But anyway, uh I digress. Um so that's just kind of what was popping in my head as I was listening to that wheel within the wheel and the wheel turns the earth. Um another thing I was listening to as we was reading all this was there's a word uh that keeps popping out. And that word is work, works or working. Mm-hmm. Is the common theme. But there's two different types of works, I think, that Jesus is talking about. When he's talking about uh works, uh when it comes to him and the Father, he's talking about works of faith, um, works that identify the Christian faith is what he's talking about. Um when he talks about the Pharisees and their works, he's talking about uh works as it as it pertains to righteousness. And that's why it says Moses judges you. He's talking about the law. Uh so oftentimes we can we can get into this and we see right at the very beginning of that passage there, where we see this becomes once again, it becomes a matter of doctrine to the Pharisees, uh, because they're less concerned with walking out their faith and more concerned about making sure we get it right. Um we've that's kind of been uh a thing, uh podcast here lately. Um it's it can be very easy to to get pulled into that argument of doctrine and totally miss uh the notion of uh, you know, are do we have the works of of Christian faith ironed out? Are we doing that? Because really, as we look at it here, what what the Pharisees are calling work, doing miracles, uh uh and and things like that, evidence of the Christian faith, Jesus is not Jesus doesn't identify that as work.
SPEAKER_00:No.
SPEAKER_01:Because he's doing it on the Sabbath, it's not work to him.
SPEAKER_00:Well, the thing he said, my father's working. Yeah. It's not and I'm working.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So it's not a work, it's not works under righteousness. It's just simply doing the right thing.
SPEAKER_00:So a little family history. When my old man, quick corrections, he started a contract mowing business. So the contracts we ended up landing, by and large, were cemeteries uh and commercial buildings. Cemeteries have a unique culture. Um, there are certain days that that thing has to be pristine. And we took over a cemetery that was all grown-up stuff. And it it my dad had that thing looking better in that first year than it had looked in the previous five. Nevertheless, one of those days that you had to have it pristine was Memorial Day. Memorial Day is on a Monday. So as he's finishing up, got these last finishing touches because it has to be right for Memorial Day. Whereas this lady comes up and wants to tell him that he's going to hell because he's finishing this cemetery on a Sunday. Going to hell. It's supposed to be a day of rest. And he looks at her, he goes, Lady, when he stops growing it, I'll stop cutting it. And to be fair, we usually didn't mow on Sundays. But that is one of the exceptions. If it wasn't done, it wasn't done. And when you own a business, it doesn't matter if your equipment breaks. No, you have to have it done. And Jesus is saying this, but I also think there's some deeper meaning here as well, that he's saying, My father's working until now. And also in in like Luke and Matthew's gospel, he says, Which one of you, if you had a donkey that fell into a pit, you could get him out on the Sabbath. How much more should this daughter of Abraham, who Satan bound lo these eighteen years, be made whole? Right. So one of the things that Jesus hints at, that the Lord is still active. He might have rested on that seventh day of creation, but he's still working. His works and the plans he set in motion have never ceased. I was reading it in uh Deuteronomy today as well. Uh when he's rehashing the Ten Commandments. Don't do any labor on the Sabbath. But as you mentioned, Jesus isn't seeing himself as doing labor. He's just doing what the Father's doing.
SPEAKER_01:And from a doctrinal standpoint, the uh remembering the Sabbath and keeping it holy was the I believe it was the only one of the Ten Commandments that weren't repeated in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_00:Well, they had already started to during that time, uh but they would meet in the synagogue on a Sabbath, and they would also, as Paul indicates, they would gather up their offerings on the first day of the week. So that means they're meeting on the first day of the week.
SPEAKER_01:So I I I thought it was interesting too, as we were looking at this. Um now the the man who was healed, kind of what started this. Um the Jews, the Pharisees, they saw the man walking away, and that's kind of what got their attention and everything. Um, they really didn't get on to him too much for picking up his bed and moving on. Uh, because actually picking up his bed and carrying his bed or his mat.
SPEAKER_00:Well, yeah, the the time starts. Yeah, they're like, What are you doing? Yeah. What are you doing? It's the Sabbath. The guy who healed me, he said, take it up and get up and walk. So who's this?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, but the fact that they took that issue up with Jesus after after this uh man that was healed told them, the fact that they took it up with Jesus, uh, to me uh is an indictment upon themselves because they recognize the authority in Jesus. Uh as they recognize recognize him as having the authority to to give that command. So that's what I thought was interesting. Um speaking of the Sabbath and whatnot, um Charlie Kirk was a big proponent of honoring the Sabbath. And and not so much in don't work on on Saturday or don't work on a specific day or whatnot. He was a he was a big proponent of um taking a day off, resting, um, you know, especially unplugging from electronics. That was kind of his that was his his thing was was putting his phone down. Uh I'd heard uh heard him say he put his phone in a in a drawer and he wouldn't touch it all day. Um and that's not to make doctrine. Don't we're not saying you can't touch your phone on uh for a day.
SPEAKER_00:But it wouldn't be a bad thing to do.
SPEAKER_01:It wouldn't be a bad thing to the idea here is um you know the the bigger idea is that you know having a day of rest where you unplug and unwind is not a bad idea. So, you know, take take that advice and do with it, do with it what you will. But uh yeah, you know, Jesus is simply saying, hey, my father's working, uh I'm only doing what he's doing, so and I'm gonna keep on doing what he's doing.
SPEAKER_00:Well, one of the interesting things about it is the Sabbath, one of the requirements was to go to synagogue. Yeah. If you're having issues, and I as I was reading in Deuteronomy, uh, especially Deuteronomy 8, God's proclaiming all these blessings that if you obey, you know, we were talking about uh those that have been demonized in the synagogue, and and they get mad because Jesus cast a demon out a few episodes ago and then gets mad because he heals a woman in the synagogue. They're like, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_01:You want that demon back? I mean, what?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, but but you're like, well, wait a minute. There were protocols, there were things established, there were prayers in place, and and if you were really walking in the covenant, then these things weren't supposed to be happening. Now, do things happen? Yes, things happen. But the synagogue is meant to be a place of being made whole in your in your spirit, right? In your soul, you're supposed to be getting a dose of the word. Yeah, you're supposed to be coming together corporately and giving honor and your due worship to the Lord in the synagogue.
SPEAKER_01:It's not a place of contention.
SPEAKER_00:No, it it is a place of healing, of being made whole. So Jesus recognizes that part of the function of the Sabbath is to refresh you, is to get you closer to God, to make you whole when the day when the rest of the week has worn you down. Here we go. And so he makes somebody whole several times on the Sabbath. Why? Because that's what he sees the Father doing. Right.
SPEAKER_01:And it's just as much a place for the saved as it is for the sinner. Um that always that always got under my skin when I would hear um church leaders, pastors, and so on um berate their congregants uh for coming to church and and not want not wanting to do anything. Uh you're supposed to come to church, be ready to serve, be ready to work, be ready to do this. All the time. All the time. Yeah, I mean, I I dude, I get it, man. You you need help. I get it. But you have folks out here that have that are beaten up all week, and they need they need ministering just as much as the the unsaved do. Matter of fact, probably it sounds like you probably need some ministering too as well.
SPEAKER_00:Well, you know, when you look at it, we've discussed this before, how the corporate church, especially the bigger they are, can chew you up and spit you out. Yes. So you're you're right, but does the things that happen in an institutional church, does it require help? Yes, they do. Yeah, uh, could the pastor use help? Absolutely, yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. However, if you aren't in tune enough to recognize when people, your people, need a rest, and then you can overwork them. But here's the interesting thing about you can work them so hard that if they're not getting re-grounded in the word and if they're not reconnecting after being worn down, if they get to a point where they're worn thin. Now, I'm speaking from experience here, that man, if you don't take that time, you find yourself doing some stupid ass sin that you never would have done if you had been refreshed, if you had been connected, if you had kept maintained the relationship and not worked yourself so hard that you lost focus. Yeah. And but if you commit that sin, what's the first thing they're going to tell you? Oh, you need to sit down. Yeah. Well, they might not have had to sit down if you hadn't overworked them, if you hadn't put all that pressure on them. If you had recognized that maybe the Lord needs to minister to them, then that whole thing could have been avoided. And I just go back to the documentary I watched, and granted, those folks had an angle to the pastor over there of uh Hillsong, New York City, and they just worked that dude and worked it. He said, I'm having issues, I'm having issues, I'm having issues. Look, this is getting to be more knocking handle. I'm having, oh no, you got it under control, man. Come on. And we're going to open up some more service times and all that. And the next thing you know, the guy just loses it. And he goes out and messes around, has an affair with some smoke show. This is good looking. But like an Instagram model or something, he just goes nuts for a minute. And, you know, thank God he's reconciled. His wife's wife and kids are just beautiful. You know, and he's doing a business job, says he still loves the Lord. You know, it's showing still praying over there. But they worked the guy until he just did something stupid. It was really his, it was his way of getting out.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And I've I've seen that, I've seen that. Uh I've come close to doing that. So I have compassion for people who feel like, well, I can't, I can't let these people down. And it's not so much, I think the Lord's trying to get me to do that. Well, we're your leadership, and we demand that you do this and the pressures and the pressures and the pressures and the pressures. Uh, I won't say his last name, I don't want to embarrass it. Man, we had a youth pastor at that church in Marion. He was phenomenal. He'd been in prison. Knew how to talk to them kids, and he goes, Man, it's getting, it's, oh man, things are growing, things are growing. And man, they had a he he he tried to tell them. Name was John, I won't say his last name. But there was his doctor's wife, she's from they're from El Salvador. And she was a looker. But there was also some things about her, she was one of the ones that would flop in the floor and yell ooga booga. And my buddy Mark, who really had a deliverance ministry. But there were three people left that church because she would try to come on to him during a deliverance session. But Doc's giving good money to the church. So you think he has to get an address? No. Um, but they had three guys in the LI. Look, we love this church, we love the Lord, but I'm saying married. And Mark, before he went on his mission trip, told him, said, Don't, don't you be doing that? Well, come to find out that under all the pressure, uh, John and this doctor's wife had an affair. And got caught, and they weren't even trying to hide it. That was the thing. They they weren't even trying to hide it. And you know, I I think that was I would think that was his escape mechanism. It was of yeah, if I do this, if I do this, then if I blow off this steam to the point to where I ain't got to do this anymore. More than I'm free.
SPEAKER_01:Do a little come come get me a little Harry Carrie here and yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. But he wasn't as effective. He couldn't talk. He could talk church ease and and as a friend of mine. But I'm like, dude, he couldn't relate to them on the level that John could.
SPEAKER_01:A lot of times what happens, um when we get spiritually burnt out, when we get overworked, tired, burnt out, and it's not being recognized, and we're not getting ministered to, and we're struggling like that, um, we have a tendency to start uh to turn towards uh um turn towards the law and start be we turn towards uh um you know righteousness and being uh turt towards works of righteousness. Um and and that what I mean by that is we turn towards that check the box system. You know, I'm doing this, I'm good. I'm doing this, I'm okay. I'm doing this, I'm right. I'm not doing that, good. I'm not doing that, I'm good. And we drift further away from um operating in the realm of faith. Um because in the realm of faith, it's a lot harder to check those boxes because you're not focused on them. Um and I was just digging up this quote here, and I believe this is from Rick Joyner in one of his books. I just had it scribbled down and said, To fight the good fight of faith is to fight for people, and yet people are often regarded as least important, will fight for truths more than for the people for whom they were given. Uh will fight for ministries while running roughshod over the people in them.
SPEAKER_00:And I do I I do believe that's Rick Joinner.
SPEAKER_01:That was in I believe that was in the the one of the jackets of uh his books, I do believe. Um, but it's it's true. We'll uh we'll start, and well the reason we do that is because we get burnt out. Um and it's so much easier to turn towards uh turn to Moses, you know, okay, I'm not cussing, I'm not drinking, um, I'm not doing this, I'm not doing that, I'm tithing, I'm doing this, I'm doing that. Okay, I'm good. But the problem is that since that's all flesh, and the devil's got you then, because once you cross into that domain, you can't keep it. You you cannot keep the law. Uh that's been proven. And because it's it's fleshly, well, the flesh has no capacity for faith. No. Uh so you're in a you're in an environment that you can't win. And and he he gets you. He you know, you'll lose and you'll you'll have that affair. Uh, you'll uh if you're an alcoholic, you'll relapse. Uh you'll what you know, whatever it is, whatever your sin is, you you know, it'll it'll find you out. Um but that's why it's so important.
SPEAKER_00:Hey, remember me.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. Knock knock. Um, I think it was Watchman Knee that said that sin often enters in through a door um previously left open somewhere along those lines. Uh but you know, that's why it seemed so much more important that we have discernment within the body. Yeah. Uh to recognize when people are are struggling. And, you know, just a little love and compassion goes a long way in that area. Uh to reach out to somebody and say, hey man, you doing all right? Let's just let's sit down and take a break. Let me let me do this for you for a minute. Um and you might uh you might have just saved something right there.
SPEAKER_00:You know, when you you were the first person I ever heard use the phrase, check the boxes in regard to our faith. And it that really stuck. You know, I remember you talking about that as we were discussing ideas for the book and dialogue them back and forth. But one of the interesting things, I think this is one of the better speeches I've heard in the last 10 years. That speech that uh the Secretary of War, Pete Heggseth, gave to the Admirals and Generals. Yep. It dovetailed right with a book that I read a little bit of today. Uh friend of mine referenced it, and I'm like, I want to see what this is like. And it's called uh It's Your Ship. Okay. And it's a leadership book that was written by a cat Navy captain about how he got the ship turned around. And he's given some things. But he said the Pete Heggs said this, the the uh captain at the time, he said this. Pete Heggs said, what what has happened? We need to encourage leaders to take calculated risk. This he said, the check the box mentality. If I didn't do this, if we need to stop punishing people for taking a risk and it does not go on 100% to plan, we need to promote leaders that are willing to take charge and be hard chargers rather than those that want to check all the boxes yet are risk averse. Yeah. Amen. Seeing that, that's something that I'd be quite honest. That's something we're dealing with in my workplace. Yeah. That department is wanting to check the box. Hey, they they fit this, they fit, they fit this, they fit this. Oh, they didn't do this, they, you know, they didn't have any discipline. Oh, that's great. Well, sometimes in intense situations, but what has led to have happening is people that have been in way less intense situations and never made a call are getting prevented or getting promoted over people that have been in the most intense situations and make a call right 95% of the time, but might mess up on that five.
SPEAKER_01:The purpose of those boxes is to control you. Yes. Whether those boxes are implemented uh to you by a higher command, or whether you implement themselves for yourself, uh it's a form of control. And it's okay to be in control. You know, self-control is a good thing. The Bible actually encourages that. Um but when it comes to a point where um that control is exercised to the point where there's no risk and there's no gain, then it becomes problematic. Uh, and that's really what the what checking the box what that box is, that's what that list on the refrigerator is for. Uh that's why you make a grocery list to make sure you have uh control of your money when you go to the grocery store and you don't walk through Walmart, uh hit every aisle filling your cart because you're hungry. Uh, you know, uh that we do the same thing spiritually. Is it just so we we we we get all the boxes checked?
SPEAKER_00:Where where you and I worked, we had this lieutenant walk in every day. He had photocopied a list that he made. You know I'm talking about. Yeah. Then the woods. Yeah. And he go in. Nice guy. Yeah. Good guy. And goals are great. Yep. And he was going to make sure everything got done that needed to get done that day, and it wasn't gonna come back on him, and that was pretty much his motivation. But he wasn't a leader.
unknown:No.
SPEAKER_01:Nope. Not at all. He was a manager.
SPEAKER_00:Very much so. Jake. Better or worse, that dude's a leader.
unknown:Yep.
SPEAKER_00:Can't help it. Oh, Pink. That dude's a leader.
SPEAKER_01:Pink was a leader, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:You know, and and and ever everybody looked up to him. The the thing that that the captain said when he was taking over, he said one of the he started to buck these traditions. He started to get to know his men and change the culture on the ship. He talked about when he took over and the previous captain was relieved, there was a standing ovation. And he said, I'd never seen such blatant disrespect.
SPEAKER_01:Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But he said it also, he said it shook me, is what he said. He said, but I'd worked for some good people. He said, and I hadn't, I'd start to develop my own leadership style and learn it from the best. He said, but I began to observe different things that had happened. So he said one of the lessons he learned was from his previous command. And he said, learning how to put people that were a good fit and those that were the best qualified. He started asking, if you don't know your people, you don't know what their interests are, you don't know what they're good, good at. You don't know that they might have an idea that's better than yours. But he said, when he is an XO on a ship, he said that XO on the ship is in charge of paperwork. He said previous ship, he's in charge of the of the payroll, of everybody's insurance, of everybody's spouse, of everybody's training records, of all this stuff, the disciplinary records, all this stuff for 440 people on that ship. And he said the guy that was his uh clerk could barely type. He's doing the two, you know, two fingers on a typewriter. Said at all, he said, just a mess. Well, the guy, I think he ends up going away on some kind of leave, and it's just him. So they bring in this guy that had been, he had beat it, but he had been charged with insubordination by the by the administrative staff, and then he brings him in there and he notices wait a minute, all this paperwork's disappearing that was piled on my desk and it's getting done. And so he gets to talking to this guy, and this guy just knows his stuff. And the reason that he was charged with insubordination was he he kept seeing ways to do things better, and the previous the previous administration, no, the old guard didn't like that because you're you're just this and this and this and this and this. And we know already know the right way, which is the exact same thing that the Sanhedrin is doing with Jesus. Right. He's showing a new and better way, and they're just crapping on it because we already know we already got it. So you might be puppets of Rome, but you already got it. Now, what he said happened was, well, it came time, this other guy came back. She said, I don't want the other guy back. We're promoting this guy. And he said it was the reason that previous guy had it was due to seniority. So he made it a policy to get to know the people when he took over his ship. He made sure the guy that was the most competent was the one that got assigned that position. And he said, and it caused waves because we skipped five people in seniority. But this guy was the most competent. But he said it wasn't just check the boxes, hey, you get to do this. He said you have to know your people and you have to make sure that you have the right fit for the right spot.
SPEAKER_01:I was just gonna say managers will put people in their positions because of seniority, uh, and and because of and because of administrative rules. DEI. Yeah, DEI, if you will. Um, leadership will put people in position based on their strength and weak and weaknesses. Uh, and it'll the the unit will be better off for it, um, regardless of you know, administrative policy and seniority and stuff like that. Uh yeah, there's there's examples like that all over the military, all over the corporate world. Uh just simply seeing that someone is better at a particular function than someone else is, than having the balls to uh to make that adjustment. Um most people would would be too afraid you're gonna hurt somebody's feelings by doing that. And they really are. It's not about feelings, it's about mission accomplishment.
SPEAKER_00:Amen. Well, that's one of the things that got Patton relieved of command in Germany was after the war is won over there, now you got to rebuild Germany. So he's tasked with that. So what does he do? He's looking for all the non-Nazi party members that he can. Trouble is almost everybody was a member of the Nazi Party in Germany. Yeah, so they were hard to find. Yep. He said, Well, can't find them, so I'm going with the most competent that was already doing the job. Right. Not to mention Operation Paperclip, NASA. But same folks tell him, Well, this the Senate is a made-up policy that you can't hire ex-Nazis to help rebuild Germany. Hey, let's import uh Werner von Braun over to help build our rockets. There we go. Yeah. Uh who is history, man?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Hey, history would have you double talking all over your place.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah. But you see Jesus here, and he's just going, Look, the works that I do are what I see being done. And once you are able to spend enough time in the Word, spend enough time with the Lord in prayer, spend enough time with the Holy Spirit, what ends up happening is you start to see those those revelations of, hey, here's what I'm doing, here's what I did. And I heard uh guy I used to love listening to uh Jack Hayford, man. Jack Hayford was there was a few things I disagreed with him about, but he was right about way more than he was ever wrong. He said, if you don't recognize the working of the Holy Spirit now, you wouldn't have recognized the role of Jesus back then. Oh man. Yeah. How profound. Oh, yeah. That's true. And I go, huh. So the thing is, how how do you realize if you can recognize what Jesus is doing because he was recognizing what the Father was doing, if you can read the Old Testament and see what the Father's doing, and if you can read the New Testament and see what the Son is doing, then you can walk in it today by discerning what the Holy Spirit is doing. Right. And you can build that relationship. And you can be effective for the kingdom if you were if you're just willing to sit down, discern, listen, and then be willing to step out and be obedient. Be willing to make those mistakes, as we said before. Not not check the box of Christianity, but be willing to go out there and take some calculated risk. And then the thing is, once the Holy Spirit talks to you about, hey, do this rather than just know about it, it's scary as hell. When you first do it, I ain't gonna sugarcoat it. It scared the hell out of me. But I was more scared of being disobedient than I was of making a mistake in people's opinions. But when you hit that point, now now you're gonna start to see some crazy things happen in a good way.
SPEAKER_01:I believe the Holy Spirit will will encourage you to start small at first, you know, because really what's going on here in the passage that we read is Jesus, Jesus says, uh, you know, I I do what I see the father do. And also he's really talking about relationship, you know, is what he's talking about. Because I have a relationship with the Father, there you go. Then that's that's why I'm doing what he's doing. So all these are works that are evidence of relationship. So if we have the the deeper and better and stronger our relationship is with the Holy Spirit and with Jesus, then um the more evident our works of Christian faith is going to be. Um and you can start small, and really what it is is just simply doing the right thing. That means doing the right thing at home, um, with your family, that means doing the right thing at work. Uh, you can't go to work and slack off uh as an employee and then tout the name of Jesus, you know, in the break room with your buddies if you were uh you know, if you if you didn't if you didn't give an honest aid at work in the first place. Um we've been there and seen that. Uh it destroys your witness. Uh but uh you know, start at start at home, start at work, do the right thing because it's the right thing to do. And as you start to recognize the voice of the Holy Spirit there in your head as he's prompting you, as you're as you're wanting to do something, he says, uh-uh, don't do it. You know, then don't do it. Or he says, Yeah, go ahead and make that suggestion, then go ahead and do it. Yeah, he starts building you up like that. But at some point in time, uh he is gonna ask you to step out uh with a little bit bigger faith, if if I can put it that way. Um and you say that it's it's scary. And it is, but the reward is is huge, uh, not in monetary gain, not anything like that, but the feeling that you get when you step out because you heard the Holy Spirit tell you to do something, and then you step out and you do it, and then at some point in time you see its fulfillment, you go, oh wow, that was cool. That was that was awesome. You know, and then you you realize that wow, the Holy Spirit chose to work through me. Wow. It it really does fire you up, yeah, get you motivated.
SPEAKER_00:But there's a video, I'm gonna lend on this. If you want to know what it's like, you got to do it for yourself. And that's just like faith. When you were saying that about man, it's scary, but once you get at get to doing it, it's a thrill, and even more so for you because you just you was airborne. But there's a video on our YouTube channel, it says, uh, do something that scares you. And it's a picture of me doing this thing that scared the thought of it, scared me. So I made up my mind I was going to do it, and it's the sky coaster over at the Royal Gorge. And it launches you out over this gorge. And you're like, But if this thing snaps, I'm dead anyway. It'd be a heck of a ride down.
SPEAKER_01:That's right.
SPEAKER_00:Probably pass out before that sudden stop at the end. The worst part about it is just getting hauled up.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And you think it's gonna stop, and you think it's gonna stop, and you think, and it, and the people get really small. And then they say, fly, fly, fly. And I gotta give it a second tug because I didn't tug it hard enough the first time. But once you're going, man, it's it's liberating, it's free. Yeah. But up until the time you step out in it, it makes you nervous.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah, there's there's a there's a like I said, there's a certain feeling that comes over you uh when the Holy Spirit is has guided you. And he doesn't just tell you to do something, he empowers you to do it as well. He empowers you. So you're not stepping out uh in faith alone. That's his his purpose here on uh in the earth is to empower us and to walk with us. So that's why it's called the comforter. Jesus said, I'll give you a comforter. So um keep that in mind the next time that uh you hear the voice of the Holy Spirit uh tell you to do something or ask you, would you do that? Uh, you know, go ahead. Um and if you fail, if you don't, or you or you fail in it, man, the the worst thing that's gonna happen is you know, you skin your knee, you skin your spiritual needs a little bit. Uh but uh by God's grace, He He meets us right there again and picks us up and we keep on walking. Um but the worst decision uh in the point of crisis is no decision.
SPEAKER_00:Amen.
SPEAKER_01:So we should never come to that that point in our in our faith where we're not making those those those decisions. We should always at least make some sort of the uh decision of faith. So just listen to the Holy Spirit. Amen.
SPEAKER_00:Hey everybody, thanks for listening. We hope this challenges you and causes you to grow. You can always check us out at wofoyo.org and find out how to contact us there. Or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Apple, or even check us out on YouTube. Remember, folks, if you're gonna grow, you got a WoFo Yo. Get in the word for yourself.