Beating a Dead Horse.

Looking for a faith that holds when the headlines don’t? We pull back the curtain on how religious labels, denominational pride, and social media outrage can distract us from the slow, steady work of obedience. Starting with a playful jab at theological branding, we move into a candid conversation about why resignation breeds compromise—and how temperance, courage, and scripture-centered living bring us back to solid ground.

We wrestle with the tough stuff: calling out gluttony and cohabitation without hypocrisy, confronting our own blind spots before correcting others, and practicing Galatians 6 restoration with a gentle spirit. You’ll hear practical metaphors—from Ranger training to defensive driving—that make the point clear: you steer where you stare. Keep your eyes on Christ, and you’ll avoid the ditches on both sides of the road. Along the way, Elijah’s wilderness moment and Gideon’s stand remind us that God often works through a faithful few, not the fashionable many.

This conversation is as much about home as it is about church. We talk breaking unhealthy family patterns, modeling self-control for our kids, and choosing discipline over drift. Zeal matters, but it needs wisdom; correction matters, but it needs love. Even if you never see the full fruit, your obedience still counts. Heaven records faithfulness, not follower counts. If you’ve felt tired, isolated, or tempted to ask “what’s the point,” take this as your nudge to stand firm, speak with grace, and keep moving forward.

#wofoyo

Transcript

Satirical Cold Open: Labels And Ego

SPEAKER_04 0:00

In today's world, getting noticed is important. You don't want to be just some run-of-the-mill Christian. Oh no. Demand that society recognize your uniqueness. Feed that ego. Rather than figure out why you're miserable when you're all alone, just insist that people use your proper theological pronouns. And we at Wellfolio Pathfinding Resources are here to help. That's why we came out with our new Deal of Doctrine flashcard set. Simply read the description on the card, then mix and match to decide what you believe. Great, hypergrapes, legalism, water baptism, sprinkling, baptism of the Holy Spirit. We even got predestination. Choose which ideas best express who you really are. Don't call me a Baptist. I'm a water baptism pre-destinationalist. Your label is a microaggression. No need to have integrity. Change them as often as you want. I can't handle the responsibility of an altar call. Where's that predestination card? I'm coming out as trans, transubstantiation, figuratively speaking. I'm a Presbyterian. We still exist, you know. Here at Wofoyo, we realize that division and hurt feelings are more important than repentance, unity, and being led by the Holy Spirit. So get your deal of doctrine set today. Order Nan with throwing our Sodom and Gomorrah and What Color Was Jesus bonus packs. Just go to our website and enter the promo code HIPOCRIT. Welcome to another edition of the Woe Fo Yo podcast with C Dumb and Bones. Let's go ahead and step in it. So when we recorded our last two episodes, basically we got into a conversation about how different Bibles will take a passage of scripture and they'll have a heading over them. They'll have a little summary of what that section of scripture is about. And one of the ones that we mentioned in our in our overview of 1 Corinthians, we had talked about it said sectarianism is sin. And we were talking a lot about pride and ego. The New King used a phrase puffed up. But you you sent me a message, and I was like, man, this is what we need to talk about on our next one. Here's a text that is leading to this episode. So I was listening to the podcast this morning. We're talking about the summary of headings in chapters of the Bible. And when you read your headings, your when you read your heading, Sectarianism of Sin, of course, that references division and denomination. Most would say that we're beating a dead horse because we'll never change denominationalism. And that might be true. But what if we said the same about other behaviors that have become the norm? Gluttony, false witness, shacking up before marriage, etc. You see where I'm going. If we stood up and said there's no need to address these issues because we can't change them, folks would lose their uh stuff, their mind.

Should We Stop Challenging Denominations

SPEAKER_00 3:33

Mm-hmm. Remember listening to that, which I do. I I listen to I listen to all of our podcasts. Um always listening for for for sound and quality and stuff like that. And a lot of times when we're sitting here talking and doing our recording, a lot of times we don't even listen to ourselves. You just don't hear yourself a whole lot. So I always like to go back and and hear what everyone else is hearing. But anyway, so I was listening, I was like, man, you know, and and we do kind of beat ahead uh a dead horse sometime with with denominations and things like that. Um and I've actually had people tell me before that um, well, you're never gonna change that. You'll you'll never change, you know, or get rid of denominations. And it's probably true. You know, um, I've also mentioned and spoke about you know becoming a first century church again, going back to what the church looked like in the first century, and had a pastor uh refer to that from the pulpit and say, we just need to get over that because we'll never be a first century church again. We just need to quit it. Um and that kind of let me know, you know, where that church was at. Just you know, not even gonna try. So anyway, they got me thinking, so well what if we what if we just threw our hands in the air with other behaviors, with other things. And that's where, you know, I sent, you know, gluttony and um shacking up. And what I meant there is uh the way we date uh and and and whatnot. I believe even in the Christian realm and in Christian circles, I think we mirror the world in that sense. We're still um shacking up, living together before we're married, doing all those things. Um and I ain't gonna lie, it it can be very hard to live a Christian life uh in the world. But what if we just threw our hands up and said, well, ain't no sense in addressing any of that because we ain't gonna change it.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

Then what would we be doing? Yeah. Now to be fair, there's some denominations that have.

SPEAKER_04 6:01

Matter of fact, they're celebrating it and worse.

SPEAKER_00 6:03

Right, and that's exactly well, I'm glad you said that because that's kind of where it ends up at. That's exactly where it ends up. When you throw your hands up in the air and say, ah, forget it, you end up celebrating it. Right, you're right.

SPEAKER_04 6:16

In one of Paul's letters, I believe he um says contend earnestly for the faith.

SPEAKER_01 6:26

And I think about this because man, it is the mindset of defeat.

SPEAKER_04 6:42

It is the mindset of old men, and sometimes it's passed off as wisdom, and sometimes it is wisdom, and sometimes it is not wisdom. I would say it like this show me you don't have any testosterone anymore without showing me you don't have any testosterone anymore. Yeah. Show me show me that your courage has ran out. Show me that you're just tired. Well, we'll never do that. We'll never, we'll never be able to get rid of. Well, it's not about if you're no, it's not about if you're able to get rid of it or not. What the Lord uses a lot of times is one or two people making a stand.

SPEAKER_01 7:21

Right. One or two people.

SPEAKER_04 7:26

And the Bible is riddled with examples of people, one, two, three, armies that are against overwhelming numbers, Gideon's 300.

SPEAKER_01 7:42

Even before the times that the Spartan had their 300. These are people that were willing to make a stand and and basically say, not on my watch.

Defeat Mindset Vs Courage To Stand

SPEAKER_04 7:57

And and let's not be so high and mighty that we say that things don't affect us because we reference the wilderness quite quite a bit in this program, because that's one of our themes. That's one of the things that we know because we've been through it. And we talk about Elijah's journey into the wilderness. Well, Elijah's journey into the wilderness is from a massive high into oh crap. I done stepped in it now. Oh, yeah, major depression. Yeah, to where he has to go in and and basically get reoriented with God, get his bearings about him spiritually. And God goes, Elijah, what are you doing here?

unknown 8:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:50

He said, I'm the only one that's made the stand, and you know, here goes that ego. And he said, No, you ain't. I've got 7,000 men who haven't bent the knee to Baal. And a lot of times we can feel isolated in some of these things, but there are things that will not get covered. I've seen in the full gospel churches quite a bit. Sometimes the further south you go, it's more of a cultural thing, but especially the Baptist, I've noticed, um, some of the church of Christ. I'm just talking about denomination, and again, more of these that I've seen have been down south, uh not necessarily as much the assemblies of God, but the church of God. Man, you got that you got that overweight preacher, and he ain't addressing gluttony. He he'll he'll joke about gluttony. Yeah. But he ain't addressing it. Yeah. Now they might address what kind of diet you have, and now they're selling you a new body program or diagnosing this, John Hage, but they ain't ever addressing the fact that sometimes it's just gluttony.

Elijah’s Low Point And God’s Remnant

SPEAKER_00 10:02

Well, there we go, back to addressing a symptom uh rather than a root cause. And you know, it I think it comes back to it comes back to to the individual. Uh you have to be willing to say, okay, I I'm not going to allow this with me. You know, I'm not gonna allow this with me. Uh it's easy to run around and point your finger at everybody and say, you're doing this and you're not doing that, yada, yada, yada. That's very easy to do. Uh and that's really that's not judgment. That that is, well, it's judgment, but it's not biblical judgment. Um, you know, so you gotta be careful because if you don't judge biblically, you'll end up being biblically judged. So you gotta be careful. Um, but it's easy to run around and point the finger and say, yeah, you're not doing this, and I'm doing that, and you're not, and yada yada. But if each person would simply take a stand to stay in their lane and do what they're supposed to do first, that right there would take a big step forward in correcting a lot of this. Um I remember in in the rip program, the ranger indoctrination program, pre-rip before going to ranger school, um, helping your buddy was a big deal, but you had to square yourself away first. Um, you got your rucksack packed, you got your uniform squared away, you got all your stuff squared away. Then you didn't just sit down, you turned to the left or right to help somebody out. You didn't you didn't turn to the left or right first, you you squared yourself away. And I see a lot of that uh here in the relationship with Jesus. You have to square away your relationship with Jesus first, uh before you can help somebody else get their relationship on. It's kind of like the the oxygen mask that falls down from the from the overhead compartment in the airplane, you know, as it's going down. You can't help anybody else if you don't put yours on first, you know. Um but if you if you square yourself away and put your foot down and say, I'm not going to do this. I'm I'm gonna make a stand for righteousness in my own life. Uh I'm I'm not gonna do this, I'm not gonna do that. I'm just simply gonna follow God's word. And I know it's not easy. I'm not saying it's easy. But if we do that, and then when it's brought up to us in conversation, your response should be no, that's not what God's word says. Uh God's word says this, and and you you throw scripture, you fight we fight our battles with scripture. Uh if we would just start with that, that would go a long way towards winning the victory.

SPEAKER_04 12:57

The passage that's coming to mind as we get in the word for ourselves is Galatians 6, uh verses 1 through 3. Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, King James says, fault. You who are spiritual, restore such one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Verse 2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. I heard early on, uh, as I was starting to grow, and this take on it was not perfect, but it did help me to see things in a little bit different light. When he said, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ, it's fulfilling the law of the anointed one, but by doing so, you're God is anointing you to do so. So you're not the big seat, but you're actually being Christian, therefore you're being anointed by God to help bear the burdens of one another, as long as you're doing it in a spirit of meekness. And in doing these things, we have to address them though. And and like you said, we have to address ourselves first. Uh uh one of the other things when you were talking about that, I uh I was thinking about my dad.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

And my dad put a lot of things aside to make sure that everything went well.

SPEAKER_04 14:44

Uh everything went well with the marriage, and not that everything was perfect, but make sure you know whatever we can do for you kids, you know, everything. He wanted us to have every opportunity. And with all due respect there, I took in some areas a little bit different approach, uh, especially with my sons, but uh all of my kids. And and I told them that one of the best things I could do was not just to tell them how much I loved them, was not to tell them how much I believed in them, but also I felt an onus of responsibility on myself to be the example.

SPEAKER_01 15:31

So it wasn't just tell them, hey, you can go out and you can be anything.

Calling Out Gluttony And Root Causes

SPEAKER_04 15:37

You it was to go out and do things. And uh I know that might sound simple, but when you come from a family that had a little bit of a culture of overeating, you know, traditional, one of the things and and sitting around and watching the ballgame and all that stuff, one of the reasons I talk about going out, getting out in nature and getting uh getting active rather than just sitting on the couch is to be an example for my kids. Right. Because it has to end somewhere. You just can't keep having it. And if it's going to stop, somebody has to stop it. Somebody has to say no more here. And that's kind of what we're talking about here is yeah, it can seem like you're beating a dead horse and standing up for what's right, but but I thought your your take on that was right on. If we like to play pick and choose with whatever sins.

SPEAKER_00 16:45

Well, we we usually like to pick and choose the ones that we're good at. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so we like to pick the ones that we're good at, and those are the ones we like to promote because well, I'm good at it. But that's not what we're called to do, really. In Galatians it says, you who are spiritual. Which that's a good way of saying, hey, you who have got your stuff together. Yes, you who are prepared, you have done the work, you who are in the right frame of mind. You know, so that's kind of what I hear there. You who have already got your rucksack packed, turn to your left and right and help somebody else now. Um, anybody can read an instruction manual and regurgitate those instructions to someone else. Um but to g but walking that out and demonstrating it uh the way that's supposed to be done correctly, that that's a different story. And that's where uh Paul's talking about hey, you who are spiritual, those who are actually doing the thing, those who have the relationship right, uh turn to your left and right and start helping other people. Um I see a lot of folks, and then I'm maybe I catch some flack with this, I don't know. I see a lot of folks, and yeah, we were there in our first year or two, get saved, get lit on fire, and now they've got all the answers, and they're trying to help everybody, and they're trying to tell everybody what to do. And this I think it's done out of godly zeal, it really is.

SPEAKER_03 18:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:23

Um, but the error in that is is the lack of wisdom that comes with it, because what they need really is some sit-down time. Um as as Mary and Martha, so to speak. You know, um, as one was running around doing and serving and saying, Hey, y'all need to help me do this and do that. The other one, Jesus said the other one's right where she needs to be, right at his feet. Um so sometimes we get so lit up on fire that we don't let the the relationship with Jesus foster and grow. Um and that can get us in trouble. It usually does.

SPEAKER_01 19:07

Spiritual discipline.

SPEAKER_03 19:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:11

And that's that's what it is. Um and and we were what was the old thing? Zeal uh zeal for your house is eating me up. Yeah, and and we were very zealous.

SPEAKER_03 19:24

Oh yeah.

Start With Yourself: Square Away First

SPEAKER_04 19:25

We we we were on fire. Now here's here's the converse of that. That kind of got us on a path, but we had this wrong idea of what ministry was supposed to look like until it was looking at us in the face. We thought we knew what discipleship looked like until we actually got discipled. And uh if the thing is, when we were being discipled, if somebody said, Hey, you know, he's discipling you, you're like, What? Yeah. No, he's just having Bible study over his house. No, he he's just sharing some nice words. He's talking about, you know, how this worked for him. He's not trying to get us to do anything, and he really wasn't, but yet at the same time, he was demonstrating it. And it it was a great relief and a great help and a great encouragement. It was a lifeline that got us through those hard times of the wilderness, those hard times, especially where we were going into the wilderness, where I I've heard you say several times, uh, Lord, I'd give this up for you. No, you ain't because I'm gonna strip it from you.

SPEAKER_00 20:37

Yeah, we'll take it from you, you're not gonna give it up.

Gentle Restoration And Bearing Burdens

SPEAKER_04 20:40

Yeah, yeah. And so we we had this wrong idea. But what's what's different here that did set us on the path. So I don't want to say, don't ever be so zealous. Be zealous. But you also have to recognize wisdom because we're way more effective now, having gone through that process, than we ever were back then. Yeah, and and that's the thing that that still gets me when I think about it as I look, and and Lord, all we did was obey this little thing here, anyway. Yep. You was out there preaching, and you was out there doing this, and you was out there doing that, and debating, and all this stuff, and you know, you're you're like you're like Apollos having all these arguments about how things should be and everything else, but are you really bearing the fruit? Yeah, okay. So it the thing that happened with Apollos is he's debating with uh with the Jews, and he's showing them all these things, and he's just this powerful orator, but as Priscilla and Aquila come and it says they showed him a more excellent way. Yeah, yeah. So reading that in the context of that chapter, there was a spiritual. Impartation because the same time that this happens, you know, Paul's asking some believers, hey, have you uh have you received the Holy Spirit since you've believed? Who's the Holy Spirit? Well, how are you baptized? Uh John's baptism. That's a baptism for repentance. And so he prays for them, and then they, if I'm getting it exactly, if I'm not getting it 100% right, forgive me, but he prays over them and then they uh prophesy and speak in tongues. We see that there's this impartation, and we did talk about you know sectarianism. I've come across certain denominations. I go, well, you have this pro, you have this con, you have this Jesus in his message to the seven churches that he delivers through John at Patmos, they're no different. Hey, you got this going for you. You can use some work in this. Right. Or you almost all of y'all are messing up except this small group over here. But uh as I got to know, you're you're talking about spiritual discipline and not letting things get out of hand. But one of the ones I really appreciated getting to know was uh some of the families of Mennonites. Now, am I going to go walk around and not wearing anything other than a blue shirt and uh the pants and the suspenders and you know, and submitting to all that? Right. No. Because you can say, well, maybe they're a little bit lacking in grace, but let me tell you, those are some spiritually disciplined people, and they take their faith very seriously. And if they have to do that to maintain their discipline, you know, we were talking about gluttony and different things like that. The the one the one thing that really distinguishes them from more well-known denominations is is this one word, is temperance. Right. That used to be a very well-known word. And it just means you're keeping things within due bounds, you're keeping things between the lines. You're you're you're not going overboard in your zeal to where you start doing stupid stuff, but also you're not being lazy by any means because they don't like no laziness. Them some work and jokers. But but temperance was, especially if you look at some of the writings in the early 1900s, all the way back to um, you know, even the foundation of the country. Temperance is is mentioned quite often. Now, it got hijacked by a bunch of angry old bitties that didn't like their husbands having a drink every now and then. They called that the temperance movement, and that backfired big time. But temperance simply meant that you kept things under control. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 25:20

And that was the word that was jumping out at me a little earlier was control, more specifically, lack of control or out of control. Um, which is kind of where kind of that's where things get uh if you if your like your relationship isn't right. Um so that control is what um that control is well that control is kind of what checks you. When when you're about to when you're about to spout off, uh when you're when your temper and your anger is about to pop off, um that control is what steps in and and allows you to turn away and and think before you speak. Um we don't have a lot of that going on anymore. Uh you can pick up your phone, pull up any social media platform and see all kinds of uh lack of control. Um but uh yeah, we we need a little bit more of that. Uh folks are doing a little bit more thinking before they speak, maybe just less speaking in general, and and uh taking that time to go sit with the father and say, Lord, I these folks act a fool. Uh and you know what can we do? Um because I I think the Lord honors that. Um I think he honors that, and there's you get more wisdom from that. Uh and and if you don't get anything, at least you don't open your mouth and prove yourself to be a fool. So very much so. There's wisdom in that too.

SPEAKER_04 26:57

Yeah, you you had a little post on there. I I thought it was great about uh uh well I was posting some stuff posting one of the episodes of the podcast, and I'm looking up there, and you had that thing. Uh uh, I don't know. I haven't been on social media enough to know what what I'm supposed to be mad about.

SPEAKER_00 27:16

Yeah, I was just uh well, you know, we had to see.

SPEAKER_04 27:19

I don't know what to think anymore because I haven't watched so any social media.

Zeal, Wisdom, And Real Discipleship

SPEAKER_00 27:22

Well, yeah, we we had the Super Bowl, uh, which we actually watched the Super Bowl this year. We hadn't watched the Super Bowl in probably 10 years, uh, but we actually watched it this year. Um, and we said we had the Super Bowl. Of course, you got some stuff going on in the Olympics. I think some some uh some of the youngsters made some comments that some people don't like. Um you know, man, they're young and and they're not ambassadors. We got ambassadors to foreign countries. That that's their job to to speak to politics, not them kids. Uh so there's just several things that are just popping off in social media. I'm sitting there going, okay, um, let me take a look at this. Let me step back before I let social media tell me how to think quicker. You know? Amen. And and so that was kind of my my post was you know, uh social media basically wants to get you, wants to tell you how to think. They want to feed your mind, and they want to do all these things. And before you know it, you're chiming in um and agreeing with stuff and hating things that you don't even need to hate. Um and have no have absolutely no reason uh why you don't even know why you're hating something. Basically, you're hating on it because one of your friends is hating on it. And boy, I'll tell you what, when the blind lead, the blind, they both end up in a ditch. So I said, man, and I don't I don't feel like this all the time because I I can get on social media and chime in with the best of them. Um but it hit me that day, I was like, you know what? There's no reason to sit there and let social media get in your head and try to tell you how to think. If you don't like something, you can you can like something, you can dislike something without hating it.

SPEAKER_04 29:13

And the the substance of the statements is not gonna last the significance of it isn't gonna last past a week. No, because there'll be something they'd have moved on to the next thing.

SPEAKER_00 29:28

They'll walk another elephant right in front of you.

SPEAKER_04 29:30

So yeah. You know, uh I was thinking the the thing about the blind leading the blind, so they both fall in a ditch. And we've covered this. We we did a series on balance, which one of our better series, I thought, about how to stay balanced. And people in the body of Christ are no different. They will try and draw you over to this side, or then you got them going over to this side, and this it's all it's all very, very binary. This side or that side. And and I go back to what is referenced a lot of the times, especially in the books of Kings, Books of Chronicles, whenever you had a good king, it would say he walked in the ways of his father David and went neither to the right nor to the left, because there's a ditch on both sides of those roads. And if you over-correct, and I remember going through that defensive driving class, uh job I had before the one I'm working now, so that's been 26 years ago. So I could probably use a refresher. But one of the things they told you is if you ever feel you're losing control, make sure that you keep your eye on the road or keep your eye on where you want to steer. Because your body will automatically, even though you don't you don't think you're in control, your body will correct to whatever you're looking at. Whatever you're looking at. They gave the example of how many people said the last thing I saw was that car, the last thing I saw was that tree. Well, you actually steered into it unconsciously. And I gotta be careful about that. Uh, when I go to work, if I'm going to work off to my left, and if I'm leaving work off to my right, they're building a new bridge. And the bridge we're on, it's not as bad as the old Cape Bridge, but it ain't the best bridge. You know, it is definitely an older bridge. But what you want to do is you want to look over that sucker, see how they're progressing. Yeah, they only got like four more spans to put in, and then that part's done. It's it's been neat to see as we're going in, but you it's no different in the word, though. When your focus gets off Christ and gets off the mission that he's put you on, you're gonna start steer to the right, you're gonna start steer to the left, and you're gonna end up in the ditch if it keeps up.

SPEAKER_00 32:22

Yeah, yeah. And that's why Paul tells us keep our eyes on on Christ.

SPEAKER_04 32:30

You know. Um I say that keep your eyes upon Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Yeah.

Temperance And Spiritual Discipline

SPEAKER_00 32:37

Exactly. Um, and and if you don't believe this when we talk about you'll hit what you're what you're looking at, um I tell you what, you ever you ever go to pass someone or overtake someone on the interstate and and they drift over to you? That's because they're looking at you in the rear view mirror. That's because they're looking at you in their side view mirror as as you come up on their side, and they drift that way. Um it it's uh it's a a subconscious thing that that that they drift that way because they're looking that way. You'll do it too if you're not careful. So yeah, keep your eyes uh on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, and you won't you won't find yourself drifting as much. Um because things like social media and and all these other things out here that are creating all this noise are really good at pulling us off task. Uh really, really good at getting our attention and all these things. And next thing you know, we're we're hating on things. We don't know why we're hating on them. And and hate's a really strong word uh for Christians. So it's it's really not a word we should be throwing around a whole lot. Um but we do. Um, and it's okay to dislike something and have an and having a negative opinion on something without fostering hate. Um, you can disagree with something or somebody and still be okay with them. Uh that that that's that's a big thing too. Uh the cancel culture wants us to think that if you disagree with someone, you have to disown them. Uh or if you disagree with someone, you can't like them or be friends with them. Uh, Lord, if that's the case, we wouldn't witness to anybody because we can't agree with their sin. Um, but uh we we have to find a way to walk in the world and still operate in the world without letting the world rub off on us. And the only way you're gonna do that is through that relationship with Jesus Christ. Amen. That reading the Bible, getting into the word for yourself, and uh let the Holy Spirit tell you what to think.

SPEAKER_04 34:48

Kind kind of recapping here. Well, when we talk about the the what's the point, you know, or it'll never be like that. You know, it's it's not really our place to go, God, why? You know, it sometimes he'll answer you, sometimes he'll be like, you'll mess it up if I tell you. But we we can lose sight of um what we're supposed to be doing, and and we we want to excuse things, but you know, when you were talking about uh well, it'll never be a first century church, or you feel like you're beating a dead horse sometimes, or uh, well, brother, it'll never that you'll never get rid of uh sectarianism and denominationalism, or well, as David said, is there not a cause? Sometimes you just need to go and face a damn giant just because he's there and just because somebody needs to make a stand. And if you die in the process, oh well, there's worse ways to go. If Elijah had given up, you know, just because, you know, that there's this what's the point? And and to me, that's one of the saddest things is to see people get in it, and especially since I've seen certain family members as they've aged. And I'm not even passing judgment because I haven't had to deal with their medical issues and different things like that. But one of the saddest things is to see people that were full of life and they go, Yeah, what's the point? Well, you can make yourself better or you could, you know, be in better shape. Well, what's the point? Well, you know, how about your grandkids? You know, how about your family members? You know, how about uh, you know, you like sports? How about um being able to actually get up, go to a live sporting event?

Social Media, Outrage, And Control

SPEAKER_00 36:42

You know about the how about the people that still love you?

SPEAKER_04 36:45

Yeah. Yeah. How about being there for them? Yeah. And well, I don't want to be a burden, but at the same time, you're not gonna do anything to ease what burden you could be. You know, and and again, this is one of the things that motivates me to do some of the things that I do, especially to be an example for my kids. But this this was the point. You know, there's a lot of times where you're not gonna know the point. But the point is you need to be obedient. And when you know it's the right thing, you do the right thing. Sure, exercise some wisdom, exercise some moderation, exercise some temperance in how you deal with things, but still be faithful, still stay on mission, still stay focused on Christ. There was a story, and I'm gonna summarize it really, really quick. There was a story about this evangelist, nobody remembers his name. But he was promised by God that there was gonna be a mighty move burst out of what he was gonna do.

SPEAKER_01 37:52

And he goes and preaches this revival he's supposed to be having. Nothing. Nothing. One person gets born again. One. But God's promised this mighty move. Well, the it was a little girl got born again. Her name was Catherine Kuhlman. We don't always know how it plays out.

SPEAKER_04 38:29

But believe me when I tell you, it's vital that you maintain your integrity, and it's vital that you don't lose heart, and it's vital that you be obedient to what God's called you to do.

SPEAKER_00 38:42

The book of Hebrews, we have a whole Hall of Fame chapter, Hall of Faith chapter there. Um where the scripture goes through and names all these people Abraham, uh Elijah, all these folks, Daniel, goes through the names of them all, all these men of big faith. I said most of them never never even saw the promise for which they strove so hard for. And that can be very well what we do here in our lifetime. We have a promise from God, but that doesn't mean we'll see it. Um so and I'm preaching to myself here. I preach to myself the whole episode, really. Um don't give up. Don't give up. You gotta keep on pushing, you got to keep on leaning into the mission. Um because well, number one, God's called you. Okay, and if you're not gonna do it out of simple obedience, which I never do, I I find that a hard word to to swallow. Um but I find it a little bit easier to push on uh when I know there's something a lot bigger at stake. And and there is. Um, there's things going on behind the scenes around you in other households, at work, uh in society, in culture, you name it. There are things just outside of your own sphere of influence that are happening uh that you're about to impact. You have no idea, but if you give up, you you there then there's a breakdown in that communication, and then it's just gonna delay things. So, so lean into it. Um, you know, pick yourself up, brush yourself off, you know, Charlie Mike, continue mission. Go ahead. Um, God called you for a reason, and he didn't call you to lose, that's for sure.

Stay Centered: Avoid Ditches Left And Right

SPEAKER_04 40:49

Yep. I was gonna do this as a short, but man, you're you're kind of dovetail into it, so we'll just close it, close it out on this. Uh James 5, verse 17 through 19. Elijah was a man of like passions with us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain. It rained not on the earth for three years and six months, and he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. If you think that these biblical characters are any different than us, you got another thing coming. We put them upon a pedestal and and as you're mentioning in Hebrews, rightfully so. But James says, We're in the same boat. Yep. Your your walk in being faithful to the Lord is being written in heaven's book. Right. It's being written in the Lamb's book of life, your faithfulness and what you do. So don't think that, you know, especially if you're getting any kind of discouragement or feeling like feeling like you're losing heart as far as standing for what you know is right, man, keep your head up. Yeah. Uh and and there's no shame in feeling like it's a little bit weighty at times because James is saying, hey, Elijah felt the same way. Yeah, but the Lord heard him.

SPEAKER_00 42:23

Lord heard him.

SPEAKER_04 42:23

And if he heard him, he'll hear you.

SPEAKER_00 42:27

He told him, You're not alone. I got 7,000 others that have not bowed the knee to Baal.

SPEAKER_04 42:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:33

Uh so that means we're not alone. Yeah, we're in this together. We're in it together. Uh, you may not see it, uh, but uh you got men and women to your left and right that are doing uh doing their thing too uh in God's economy. Um we just gotta just can't give up. That's just it. Can't give up.

SPEAKER_04 42:56

Yep. Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right. Here I am, stuck in the middle with you.

SPEAKER_00 43:05

That sure feels right.

SPEAKER_04 43:09

Woefo yo.

SPEAKER_00 43:12

The end.

SPEAKER_04 43:13

Hey everybody, thanks for listening. We hope this challenges you and causes you to grow. You can always check us out at woefoyo.org and find out how to contact us there, or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Audible, or even check us out on YouTube. Remember, folks, if you want to grow, you got a woefoyo. Get in the word for yourself.