Ep. 136 | The Orchard Summer Recap | ft. Chip Parker, Robert Bradow, and Matt Pennington

In today's episode, Pastor Chip Parker is joined by Pastor Robert Bradow and Pastor Matt Pennington for a recap of the summer season at The Orchard. Listen in as they relive the all the highlights of summer, including "Location Pastor Sundays" from Lake City, Branford, and Live Oak. Let's dive in!

If you have any questions about this podcast, or about The Orchard Community Church, we would love to hear from you! Visit our website at theorchardcc.org and fill out our contact form, or send us a message on Facebook (@IAmTheOrchard) or Instagram (@theorchard.cc). Until next time!

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Are we building altars that are to bring glory to God, or are we building towers like Babel that really focuses on ourselves and exalt ourselves?

SPEAKER_00 0:09

When do we be still and when do we move forward? I think the premise of that entire story is this is that God had already accomplished some amazing things. He had showed them direction, he'd given them proof. The first thing we're called to do when we're in those times of pressure is he tells us just to remember. They should have remembered those miracles. So then the next thing that he says, you know, be still. And then, you know, the next thing was to just respond.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

And the response was move forward. Even though we find ourselves in certain seasons and situations and circumstances, those things still do not negate everything that Jesus has said. Do we trust that somehow, somehow, whatever I'm going through, walking through, no matter how hard it is, no matter how difficult, no matter how confused it is, these situations and circumstances do not invalidate the word of God.

SPEAKER_03 0:55

Welcome to Let's Talk About That, the podcast where we deep dive into Sunday's message and explore your questions. I'm your host, Aston Kink, and I'm excited to share this journey with you. Whether you're a longtime member of The Orchard or a first-time visitor, Let's Talk About That is your space to explore, reflect, and connect. Join us as we navigate the intricacies of faith, spirituality, and daily life, seeking to understand how the wisdom shared on Sundays can be applied to our modern challenges. So, grab a cup of coffee, find a comfortable space, and let's dive in together. This is Let's Talk About That, where the conversation about Sunday's message never stops.

SPEAKER_02 1:39

All right. Well, welcome back into Let's Talk About That. Obviously, I am not Aston. I am your one-time host, but back again, Chip Parker, lead pastor here at the Orchard. And we just got sick of Momcast, quite honestly. So I filled the table with some dudes today. That's right. Uh Dude Cast. Actually, no, we love the Momcast a love. It was really cool getting to hear moms from each location, uh, a lot who weren't on the podcast, hadn't been on the podcast before, share some really good stuff, and it was good. I hope you enjoyed it. But what we have going on today is not moms, we have our pastors sitting around the table, specifically those of us who serve at locations. We're missing our executive pastor, Michael, and our founding pastor Eddie. But I'm here. I got our Brantford location pastor Robert and our live oak location pastor Matthew. And we just thought we'd sit down and have a conversation about what's been going on around the church and our locations and summer and and all that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

So how's summer been, boys? I mean, I don't know. Summer's such a weird thing where honestly in the church life, things seem to kind of slow down. You know, we don't have as many meetings and there's not as much planning because you don't institute things in the summer, you're traveling, vacations, all that. So on the one hand, it's it's kind of been a good change of pace, but I say this every year and I feel it more and more as we get closer to August. I don't know if it's the type A in me or if I have four kids and I'm ready to ship them off. But man, I'm ready. Okay, no dose. I am ready for school. I like routines, rhythms. I like to get up at the same time, go to the same place every day. And then honestly, it's just it's kind of nice when everybody's back in the office. You get to see everybody. Different energy level in the office and planning and excitement for the fall, that good stuff. Yeah, I agree.

SPEAKER_02 3:23

I will say for me though, summer's been weird this year, specifically the month of July, because usually the month of July is kind of where I push back just a little bit and take a little bit more time, slow down, try not to do as much content creation and focus on the next half of the year that's coming up. And I did a lot of that this July. It just looked different because usually what I'll do in July, I'll be here a lot on the weekends, but I'll take off a lot during the week and be gone during the week. This year, I took off some time during the week, but actually I took off more weekends than I did time during the week because it's fourth of July weekend with family, my son's birthday. We did a weekend with that. We were with my dad and visiting with him. And so it was weird because I was like working during the week, but then we would go somewhere over the weekend so I wouldn't be at church on Sunday. And that was, it was no, it was just a weird vibe. But I will tell you, it didn't feel for me like this summer slowed down a whole lot. It felt like I kept waiting on it to slow down and it just didn't.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

Yeah, this summer was different for us. You know, we came in at the beginning of last summer, so it was like, you know, drinking water from a fire hydrant, all of a sudden, just just trying to get in the mix of things. And then this year, it's like, man, well, when we don't have a meeting here, you know, my wife would say, Hey, you have a meeting today, and that's another cancel it. Good. Now here's honey, good project. So I'm looking forward. I'm like you, I like routine, Matt, but also like to take the time. But we've been so busy through summer just getting ready for the fall for what's ahead of us. And to me, that's that's real exciting.

SPEAKER_02 4:47

You know, I think it's funny to me that everybody who comes to church obviously knows that you don't just show up on Sunday and it happens, that it takes some planning. I don't think most people realize how far in advance we have to plan things in order to pull them off, especially when we're one church in three locations. And I would say, especially with the number of new people that are are showing up and trying to get connected at the orchard.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

Every week we see new families. Yeah. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

Yeah, and I think that's that's one of the things too that is honestly kind of exciting when school starts back, is everybody's back in town, you know. And to me, and I've been here for you know four summers now, is it's almost like when August hits, it's like you really get to see who calls the orchard home at your location. And it's kind of misleading in the summer because, you know, even though attendance may dip because of a holiday weekend or whatever, it's really you don't realize that you're not seeing the same people every single week. And then all of a sudden August hits and everybody's there and it's like, oh my goodness, you know, like this room is full and I haven't seen that person in a while, and I catch up. And and so I think it's just there's something about August when school starts. I know everybody dreads it, especially if you're a kid, but there's just I would say only if you're a kid. Parents who are like, Yes, let's go. But there's just this like excitement in the air. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 6:06

No, I I get it. I think so. Here's my take. You guys, you guys tell me what you think. So I feel like, from what I've seen from our attendance numbers this summer, is there's definitely been the holiday weekends. There's definitely been like, oh, everybody's on vacation or camp or Bahamas or whatever. But there have been a lot of Sundays that it's just as full as any other Sunday. Yeah. And in the spring, in the fall, whatever. But I look around the room and like Matt said, it's not everybody's here. Yeah. There's different people, there's new people. Like Robert said, by the way, I said in Brantford yesterday, man, what a blessing it is to walk into church and see somebody you don't know because there's so many churches that's just not the case. Right. But I think because of that, because we've seen those numbers this summer and then it not be everybody here. I'm telling you, I think this fall you're gonna have some people who show up and everybody shows up on the same Sunday. And I think it's gonna be a oh wow. Look at what God's doing. Because I mean, let's just face it, we are seeing God really do some neat things at all three of our locations right now.

SPEAKER_01 7:09

Yeah, I think that's what I mean. It's just that you know, you you see it on Sunday, but and I maybe you guys are like this, but you know, I'll think of people sometimes, and in my mind it'll be like, oh, it's been a couple weeks since I've seen them. And then all of a sudden you start like, oh wow, it's been like six weeks or two months or whatever. You know, just you just get caught up in the pace of Sunday and and you get I don't know, I get tunnel vision on Sundays, and so it's like No, I get tunnel vision. I think we all do. But then when school starts back and then you see everybody at the same time, like you're saying, it's like, oh my goodness, you know, it's it's just refreshing to see people.

SPEAKER_00 7:41

That's the comfort in the routine you were talking about.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

But also you see like you don't realize, oh my goodness, we have a lot of new people who are showing up, and then all of our regular people are here on the same day, and then the room is full, and you're just it gives you a better picture of what is already true, but you just see it all at one time. And so I don't know, it's just every year this happens and it's just it's very exciting.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

Let me ask you this, Robert, and I'll ask you this because, like you said, you you've been here a little over a year now. You've had a ton of new people start, you know, coming into Brantford. Matter of fact, I said I was there Sunday. Man, there was a ton of people there, room was full. What has been one of your favorite things as a pastor? Kind of introducing someone to the orchard? Like somebody who comes in, they don't really, really know what you know the orchard is, what it's about. You kind of get to walk them through that. What's been your favorite part of that?

SPEAKER_00 8:26

I think you see me smiling because you know, most of my life, as far as a ministry, I've been in a traditional setting. Yeah. And what we do is just so different. And it's it's greater because we're so making such a larger impact. So being able to talk with people that come in new and they they see the orchard at Brantford and they don't even realize that we have two other locations, and God only knows what else he's gonna do. That same excitement, you know, just begins to resonate in them. So that that's really exciting to me. And you know, when people always say, Well, you guys are are meeting in a school, and I have to say, isn't that awesome? Yeah, that because they don't on the outside, they don't understand the connection that gives us, you know, in importing into the school system to minister there.

SPEAKER_02 9:03

Man, I had I had somebody I was talking to yesterday and we were just talking and they made this comment. They said, the reason I'm out the orchard is because of how much I see the orchard help our community and do for our community. And I love that because that's that's what I think we want the orchard to be. I think that's what the orchard was designed to be. And so it's cool when you see that happen. Matt, a little bit different question for you. You guys went out on a limb here this spring and started a third service. Now, we start a third service in Lake City as well, but we just packed them all into a Sunday morning. You start a third service on Thursday, and I'm interested how how's that gone? Like, what's that been like in Live Oak?

SPEAKER_01 9:44

So, just transparently, I was kind of uh an advocate for a non-Sunday service. It necessarily wasn't going to be on Thursday, that would just kind of there's a whole process behind that. But for whatever reason, I couldn't shake this idea that hey, as we think about three services, let's look at a non-Sunday option, you know. And I've I've been candid about that. Me, you, Chip, and Michael, we had some pretty passionate discussions at times, disagreements, enjoy passionate discussions. Um and I think, you know, even to answer part of what you asked, Robert, that's one of the things I love about our staff though, and our culture is I mean, like legitimately, if people were on the room, they probably would have been uncomfortable at times because and it comes from the same place. It's your heart for the orchard as a whole. Yeah, it's my heart for the orchard as a whole, but specifically how I see things in live oak and and kind of just navigating all of that.

SPEAKER_02 10:36

Well, and I think even beyond that, it's a it's a trust in each other that hey, like we can we can be passionate about this and not worry that it's gonna do anything to the relationship because we know who we are, where we are.

SPEAKER_01 10:49

Mm-hmm. Yeah. And even though, you know, you would ask me hard questions or, you know, even maybe disagree, not in principle, but just I don't, I don't know if this is the best option. Yeah. I also knew where you were coming from. And so I didn't have to question your motive behind that. And so it really helped us kind of boil it down. It challenged me in a lot of ways to, hey, is this something that you're passionate about because it's just an idea that is this random idea and it's kind of like this fun thing to pursue, or is it because like this is something that God's really leading? And it it really did. It forced me through this conversation to do that. And man, can I just say that we started this in February? And not that I don't love all of us.

SPEAKER_02 11:29

Has it been that long already? It doesn't feel like it's been that long.

SPEAKER_01 11:32

So we started in February, and I love all of our people, I love all of our services, but there is something special about Thursday night. We strip it down, we don't have a full band. We talked about that ahead of time. That was kind of by design. Thursday night does feel different than Sunday morning, but the feedback that I've gotten from people who have adopted that service and called that service home is that it almost feels a little bit more intimate. Yeah. Because you know, there is a little sprout.

SPEAKER_02 11:57

It doesn't necessarily, in my opinion, and Robert, you've, you know, preached there, I think, more times than I have. It doesn't feel different in essence. It's just got a different vibe.

SPEAKER_01 12:05

Right. That's a good word. And we kind of embrace that because we know that Thursday night is different than Sunday morning.

SPEAKER_02 12:11

Let's just say you're not rolling in with the same energy level on a Thursday night that you are on a Sunday morning project.

SPEAKER_01 12:17

Yeah, you've been at work all day or you know, whatever that looks like. And but it the thing that I've really enjoyed about it is number one, I've said this repeatedly to our people on Thursday, is there have been Sundays even through the summer. If it was not for people intentionally choosing Thursday night service, we would not have had the way for people on Sunday morning. Right. Yeah. And so the whole principle behind three services, regardless of what day it was, was we want new seats for new people. And most of the time, if you're a new person and you're just randomly going to give Jesus thing a shot or church a shot, you're gonna show up at Sunday because that's the traditional time that churches meet. And so there have been Sundays. If it was not for Thursday night services and people giving up their seat on Sunday morning, we legitimately would not have had room on Sunday. And so, you know, we see the effect of that, we see the benefit of that. And I don't know, it's just special. There's a there's a accelerated plan and preparation time to get ready for Thursday. And I think in many ways it's it's interesting because you feel the weight of that. You feel this almost like panic of you have a big group project due and it's the night before, you know. If you remember back in school, you say panic. I say adrenaline rush that creates focus. But there is there is this like pressure and adrenaline, but it's cool because when I come on Thursday night, I feel so prepared because all I've done Thursday is like think about this message. And so there's like a freedom in that, there's a passion in that. So man, it probably just makes Saturdays a little bit easier for you as well. It's honestly kind of nice because Saturday feels like a Saturday, and uh, I feel like I can relax and we can do things as a family. I don't feel like the the weight of man, about three o'clock on Saturday, you're you're locked in on Sunday morning, you know, and you're thinking about your slides and your notes and all that stuff. So it's been really cool. And the other thing I'll say is this is not only have we had people who have adopted it, we have had some people who they come on Thursday just to prioritize worship. Wow. They're gonna be out of town on the weekend because of a sporting event, fornication, things, a holiday weekend. Honestly, one of our biggest Thursdays of the summer was the weekend of 4th of July. And it's because people are like, hey, we recognize the holiday on Friday, we're gonna be gone Saturday and Sunday. And and we saw an influx of people on that Thursday. And it's just a way for them to say, Man, I don't want to miss, I want to be a part, I want to hear, you know, the sermon series, I want to be in community, I want to worship together. And so, man, it's just been really cool, the response of our people. I was honestly nervous because I kind of passionately, you know, vouched for this and said, Hey, here's what we're gonna do. And that first Thursday, I was like, Oh my gosh, what if nobody says?

SPEAKER_02 14:49

I think if you've ever done something like that, whether it's start a service, plant a church, do something different as a pastor, there's like that moment where you're looking out the door, like, is anybody gonna come tonight? Is anybody showing up?

SPEAKER_00 15:02

I when I was there the last Thursday, I was like, nobody's coming. They know Matt's not gonna be here. And literally, like five minutes before, it was a parade of people, a hundred people there. I was blown away.

SPEAKER_01 15:12

I will say that, you know, and I've kind of learned that.

SPEAKER_02 15:14

But that more people showed up because they knew Matt wasn't there? Is that what you're so doing? I was wondering. Oh, oh, oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:20

Matt's not gonna be here. We're taking a Thursday off. No, I will say about Thursdays is don't get your hopes up based on 630. That's right. That's a good word. If nobody's there at 650, you can start to panic. That's funny. It's cool. But a lot of people, you know, they get they get done with the work, they go out to eat and come straight from eating.

SPEAKER_02 15:36

And well, and you said the heart behind it. And it's the reason why we went to three services on Sunday morning in Lake City, is we need new seats for new people. And I don't have any problems saying this now because I think it's gonna be something that we spend the next half of the year talking about a little bit more. Man, we we understand that we are feeling a facility crunch at all three locations, probably for different reasons at all three locations, but we're feeling it. And I want you to know if you're listening to this and you attend the orchard, we're we're aware of that. And and we're working on it, you know, and we we see some things God's doing that we're gonna be able to share maybe a little bit more this fall about, you know, how things are lining up, but but but it is happening and it's it's encouraging to see that because we don't want to take the field of dreams model to facilities. You build it, they'll come. We want to say, no, God's growing, we've got to do something to accommodate this growth. And that's what's happening. And, you know, one of the things that Pastor Eddie instilled in the orchard when he found it is the idea of the trellis and the vine. The vine is the point, the vine is what bears fruit, and the vine is the people. However, if you don't have a good trellis to support it, systems, structures, facilities, then the vine can suffer. And what we see in so many churches is they love the trellis. Everybody wants to work on the trellis. Let's paint up the trellis so that it's nice and pretty, but nobody's tending the vine. Well, we want to be opposite at the orchard. We want everybody focused on the vine, and let's just do what we have to do to make sure the trellis can support it. And to be quite frank, it might not be the prettiest and best painted trellis you've ever seen, but it'll support the vine. And I think that's the point behind it. So I'm excited about that. I'm excited about seeing that. But, you know, talking about July and the summer, it July was a little bit different for each of us, especially I think for the location here in Lake City, because I stepped back from preaching a little more in July intentionally. So we had Austin Sheckel preach for us one Sunday. Eddie preached for us two Sundays here in Lake City. He did a little mini-series based on part of his Genesis study on his podcast called Altars Are Towers. And that was really cool talking about how we are building altars that are to bring glory to God, or are we building towers like Babel that really focuses on ourselves and exalt ourselves? It's really good, really challenging. But you guys also had the opportunity to take some focused time and really flesh out some messages that God had been working in your heart for your location. So why don't you why don't you tell us about those? What was happening in Brantford during July?

SPEAKER_00 18:03

So I had put together a series, it was a three-part series, just titled Tactical Christianity. I think that's one of the things that we have seen, you know, with tragedies and things happening. And everybody says, Oh, God hates me, or or the the question, why is this happening? Why is bad things happening? So I worked on that, and you know, week one, I was going to discuss, you know, how sin entered in and really focus on uh the tactics of Lucifer, you know. And to me, the big idea was how he wants to attack our mind. And I really hammered in Romans 12, 2, you know, that do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our mind. And so that was that was really good. But then God threw something on me to change that up the week before, which I hate it when he does that, because I have my plans, you know, and it was all good. But God took me back into Exodus chapter 14, you know, with the Israelites when they got to the Red Sea and you know, that whole dialogue between God and Moses and the people, and they said, you know, why did you lead us here to die? Wasn't there enough graves? And and Moses says, You know, just be still. Yeah. And watch the salvation of the Lord, He'll provide for you this day. And and I love it because God says, you know, this is the bubble version, stupid. What do you cry to me for? Move forward. Yeah. You know, and so there's a tension there of when do we be still and when do we move forward? And I think, I think the the the premise of that entire story is this is that God had already accomplished some amazing things. He had showed them direction, he'd given them proof. And I just based it down to this is that the first thing we're called to do when we're in those times of pressure is he tells us just to remember. Yeah, they should have remembered those miracles. Man, they were there for a reason.

SPEAKER_02 19:29

Yeah, I've said that before. I think one of the most powerful tools a Christian has in their spiritual formation is just remembering.

SPEAKER_00 19:35

That's right. And that's the once again, you know, our minds, our minds. And so then the next thing he says, you know, be still. And it literally means just to rest. And sometimes we we can't rest because we're so busy trying to figure out how we're gonna get out of this. You know, nowhere in that text does it say Moses told him to go cut down some trees and build rafts. Yeah, you know, start making spears. You know, he said, Rest, be still. And and then the next thing was to just respond, you know, and to respond was move forward based on the fact that you have already remembered how good God is, you've rested in that, you trust in that, and now you're moving forward on those two principles. And that was really good. And then we led into you know, week two looking at how Satan does attack, how he comes in, and and and my goal was to really get to the last two weeks, how Satan attacks the marriage, then how he attacks our children. And once again, everything goes back to the mind. And I didn't at the moment I didn't realize, you know, God was working on this in this Exodus 14 about how that's the answer to all these pressures. You know, if we will just do those three things, just remember, just rest, and then respond. Yeah. But we don't do that, you know, we're is to people, you know. If we if a photo doesn't download on our phone in a half a second, we get upset.

SPEAKER_02 20:38

I know somebody uh I heard a guy talk about one time that he was on a flight next to somebody, and the guy found out this was like when on-flight Wi-Fi was like first coming to thing that he could get on-flight Wi-Fi. So he did it and he got it, then he started getting mad because it wasn't loading fast enough. And he's like, brother, you didn't know this existed 15 minutes ago, and now you're mad it's not fast enough for me.

SPEAKER_00 21:01

That's the nature of our humanism. But the last week, you know, when we talked about families, God just really hammered on me of how he built a fence. You know, you go to Genesis 2. When he built the family, he laid something out. It's the first covenant that we see, you know, the covenant of marriage. And uh there was a responsibility with that. So I really hit big on the power of we as men, we as parents, we've got to walk the fences. Whether a storm comes and breaks it down, whether there's a weak spot, because all Satan needs is that little crack to get into your family.

SPEAKER_02 21:26

You know, I think it's it's funny that when you talk to people about church and you know, the the church is not necessarily God's primary building block in the world. And what I mean by that is you look at scripture, God created the family long before he created the church. Right. God was using the family long before he was using the church. And that doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with the church. We give we as pastors given our lives to the church. This is the bride of Jesus, and yet the family is God's primary building block for his kingdom. This world is the primary means by which he shapes us and transforms us. And and so why wouldn't Satan try to attack?

SPEAKER_00 22:06

And we have just become very, very complacent to that. And it goes back to why have we become complacent to that? Because we're so busy, because our minds have been conformed to the world or the flesh. And that we've just got to get back to those basics of the priorities that he has for leaders of the home. Mom and dad. It's not the church's job to raise kids. It's not the government's job to raise kids. That's mom and dad's job.

SPEAKER_02 22:26

Oh, yeah. It's like, you know, send your kids to church. And in the 45 minutes that we have to teach transform their lives, we are going to undo everything that the school system, the television, YouTube, and you have done in the Rice Week. Just give us 45 minutes. We got this. Yeah. No, I think. I think that's good. And speaking of, you know, children and growing up, can I tell you five 16-year-old boys can eat a lot? That's what one of the things we did this summer was take Haddon, and Haddon just turned 16 this past week. And so we took a trip down to the lake with him and some of his buddies. That was his big birthday present where they got the tube and everything. And Leon and I, you know, we have Haddon and Chasen, 16, 12, and we thought we knew what teenage boys could do when they ate. Brother, we had 10 pounds of pancake mix, not pancakes, pancake mix. We had, I think we cooked 12 pounds of hamburger meat between tacos and hamburgers over and we stayed three days.

SPEAKER_01 23:22

Not only are they teenagers, they've been on the water all day. That's right. You know how that water appetite is.

SPEAKER_02 23:26

There is something about being on the water all day and come back in. And I'm telling you, them tacos hit that first day on the water. Tacos and air conditioning. Air conditioning. When you get in there and you know, you ain't got no coastal breeze. It is just hot. So anyway, I don't know what you just said that made me think about that, talking about families and girl, but I was just thinking. I'm glad I don't have five kids. Speaking of having a bunch of kids, Matt, what'd you guys talk about in Live Oak this week?

SPEAKER_01 24:00

So July was up to us. So honestly, I just found the most views on YouTube, and I said, Hey, I mean, good call. Hey, three, I'm getting these three Sundays off. Uh no, we did a series. The series was titled Just As He Said, not to repreach the whole thing.

SPEAKER_02 24:16

Here's the pre- So Just as He said, talking about you know, Dr. Phil, Joe B. Martin, just as who said, just as God said in Genesis to be fruitful and multiple.

SPEAKER_01 24:26

Oh, just as God said. I'm just kidding. No, it's it's built on a phrase that's not exactly how Luke words it. That's my translation of it. But Luke specifically uses this phrase twice in his gospel that Jesus gives instructions, various instructions, different situations to two disciples. And Luke is the only one who tells us this both times that in these instructions, that when the disciples go and do as Jesus said, they found it just as he had told them. Yeah. And so my you know, my translation of that is just as he said. And so, really, the entire series is about that we can trust Jesus in everything from the smallest of life's details to the biggest of life's moments. I shared this yesterday in Lake City because I had the privilege to come over here in Lake City and to preach kind of like the whole series in one to pair it down.

SPEAKER_02 25:14

Like, did you do like the first week in first service, second week in the second series?

SPEAKER_01 25:18

Yeah, so if you if you're there for all three services, you got the whole thing. No, just kind of combined it all, but really truly it. I want to be very specific when I say that we can trust Jesus and everything, because I think that's Luke's point. You know, he's obviously inspired by the Holy Spirit, but he is showing us that we can trust Jesus. I grew up in the church. I know you guys grew up in the church, and you know, when you grow up in the church, you hear a lot of things about what you should do and that you should trust Jesus, and 100% yes, because he is the only way that we can be saved, forgiven of our sins, righteous in God's eyes, all of those things. But I think the mentality is I should do this, but I actually, if I'm being honest, I don't. And my point was I think what Luke is trying to show us is that we can so that we will. Yeah. Not that we should, and even though we secretly don't, we can say all the right things, sing all the words, the songs, and pretend like we do, is that no, Luke's point is even more than that, is that you can. You can trust Jesus in every situation, every season, every circumstance that you find yourself in. And so really that's the whole point. And I think Luke is showing us that, but it's not just that they obeyed Jesus and they found it just as he told them. It's also whenever Jesus told them this and they found it just as he said, what else did he say? Because if we can trust them in these things and it's been verified with our own eyes, oh my goodness, it's just as he said, then what about everything else that he said that maybe or maybe has not come to fruition yet? What about when he teaches on the kingdom of God? Well, you can trust that it will be just as he said, even though yet it's not, and you haven't seen that yet.

SPEAKER_02 26:52

That's right. And so that's really the whole series of John Piper, you know, had a sermon that turned into a book that's just become a big part of his ministry where he talks about future grace. And what he talks about in that is that God's past faithfulness is what should fuel our faith in that same faithfulness for the future. So he talks about a past faith for future grace, you know, and and I think that's what you're talking about. When we look back and see what he has done, that lets us trust him more for what he will do.

SPEAKER_01 27:26

Yeah. And I I think it becomes really like a litmus test for us because you know, the way I ended the series and I ended it in Lake City is Luke doesn't use that phrase, but he basically paints the picture of the resurrection and says, Look, it's just as he said.

SPEAKER_02 27:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:43

But they had a hard time seeing the empty tomb as he said, because of circumstances, emotions, all of the things that got in a way and clouded their vision of seeing clearly. Then afterwards, they finally see clearly and they're like, oh my goodness, the empty tomb is also just as he said. Yeah. But the way I ended the series was if Jesus rose just as he said, then we can trust everything he ever said. And what that means is it should change the way that we read those red letters in our Bible. Now, it doesn't mean that the red letters matter more than the black letters because it's all inspired by God, but it should change. Like, do we actually trust what Jesus said when he said, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you? Because if we trust what Jesus said, we may not like it, we may not understand it, it may feel better to hold this grudge because you don't know what they did to me. But those letters in red are the same one who gave instructions to the disciples and they found it just as he said. So us being willing to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute you now becomes an exercise of whether we do or not trust Jesus in everything that he said.

SPEAKER_02 28:47

So, how then, Matt, do you answer someone who says, Okay, well, I did trust Jesus. I did this that he said, this that he said, this that they said, and now this terrible thing has happened in my life.

SPEAKER_01 28:59

So I think it depends on what that thing is. But the first thing I would say is that we trust everything Jesus has said. And so one of the things that I said was this should make us fall in love with God's word, because if you want to know for sure what Jesus has said, God has graciously revealed that to us and allowed us to hold this in our hands in the Bible, right? And so the first thing I would say is let's make sure that's something that Jesus said and not just something that you were secretly fingers crossed hoping that Jesus said. And so you just kind of did it and said, Well, God, I'm hoping for this. So I'm just gonna trust that you're gonna do it, even though it's not a promise that you made or something that you said. But I think also it just boils down to even though we find ourselves in certain seasons and situations and circumstances, those things still, and this is the part of trust, those things still do not negate everything that Jesus has said. Paul tells us in Romans 8 that he is working all things together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose. It does not mean that every single thing that happens to you in your life is going to be good and fun and enjoyable. That's right. And yet there is a trust factor. And I think that is the point is do we trust that somehow, somehow, whatever I'm going through, walking through, no matter how hard it is, no matter how difficult, no matter how confused it is, no matter what kind of emotions I'm feeling in this moment, these situations and circumstances do not invalidate the word of God. And I think that is part of the tension that we have to hold. And I think that's exactly what happened in the resurrection. In the resurrection, like these ladies showed up. There's obviously a grieving process. They come and Luke tells us they showed up early in the morning carrying burial spices because they expected to find the body of Jesus. And they walk into an empty tomb, and Luke tells us they are perplexed. And yet when the angel shows up, he says, Remember what he said to you that he must be betrayed. That's right. He will be crucified, and he will rise on the third day. They had seen him betrayed just as he said, they had seen him crucified just as he said. The circumstances in their life, combated with the emotions they were feeling, somehow prevented them from seeing the empty tomb was just as he said.

SPEAKER_02 31:03

God's purposes are working towards the end, but the individual circumstances may be difficult, you know. And I'll be a little transparent on the on the show here. I have a small penchant for southern gospel music at times. Um and one of the songs, as you're talking about that, that came to my mind is the Crab Family, the song Through the Fire, you know what I'm talking about? Where it says he never promised the cross would not get heavy and the hill would not be hard to climb. He never offered victories without fighting, but he said help would always come in time. I can hear the harmony. Can't you? But I mean, I think that's the point. Like just because he said this would happen, he never said this wouldn't, you know.

SPEAKER_01 31:42

And so here's the tension, though, is that where it becomes a matter of do we actually trust Jesus in everything that he said is Jesus preparing the disciples in John, right? This this whole last really evening of Jesus' life, like it begins in John 13 and it spans the course of several chapters in John that he dedicates just to this one evening. And Jesus says in John chapter 16, in this world you will have trouble, but take heart, for I have overcome the world. I mean, like that's also part of what he said. And so when we trust Jesus, it's the totality of what he said. He never said that you're not going to face trials. He never said your life is going to be sunshine and rainbows. He never said those things. And so it's a matter of do we trust him? And even when we walk through hard things, he has promised to walk with those things with us. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 32:29

I think sometimes we just assume a second half of those promises and they're not there because you know what happens when you assume. You're often wrong. And so I think that's that's the thing. All right. Well, let's do this. Let's kind of wind it down a little bit. And so I'm gonna ask you a question, both of you. I want you to give me two things that you're looking forward to this fall, one of them in church world and one of them outside of church world. So give me what what give me two things that you're looking forward to this fall.

SPEAKER_01 32:58

I'll go first. I already said one of them, and that is school starting back, and I'm dropping my kids off at the same time every day of the week. For those listening at home, if you don't know, my wife and I, we have four kids, which is already kidding. I'm just kidding. That's already chaos enough. But what you may not know is that one of them is one year old and the other is three months old. And so that is like chaos multiplied. So our daughter, our youngest daughter, the three-month-old, she was born Easter Sunday in April. And so it really and truly, it's it's a good thing that summers are a little bit more laid back and we don't have as many meetings and things because, and if you're a parent, you know this, whether you've forgotten it or not, is having a newborn at home is a full-time job, much less having a newborn and then three others who are still dependent on you and tugging at you and calling on you all the time. And honestly, this summer, trying to just get stuff done, be productive, my wife as well, you know, even as simple as like, I need to sit down at my computer and send an email and just kind of like focus for 15 minutes. But it can be very difficult when you have a newborn who's crying or needs a bottle or needs to be changed on stuff. And so honestly, I love my kids. Please don't hear me wrong. I love my kids, but I am looking forward to school rhythms, routines. Everybody's gonna be at the babysitter or school, childcare. And really, it's just like I feel like we, my wife and I are just gonna be able to just get some stuff done that we haven't had a lot of time to do. So that's good. That probably sounds selfish, but I'm just being transparent. I'm not judging. We listen and we don't judge. Yeah, thank you for that. Church wide, man, there's just some things that are coming up, you know, just some changes across the board. Ship kind of hinted at some of that stuff. I'm just really excited. I feel like we're ready to kind of like press the gas. Some of that's just the summer coming off of that, the excitement of the fall. And then just some of that is just conversations that we have as a staff and just things that we're looking forward to. I'm looking forward to uh the fall, what guy's gonna continue to do. Man, he's just been so gracious to us at all of our locations, and I'm excited to see everybody and just kind of, you know, let everybody be back in services and see and shake hands and just see people interacting and living in community. We took the month of July off from group night in Live Oak. And honestly, the people who attended that regularly, like they have voice. Man, I'm really missing it. I didn't think I'd miss it like this. I'm really excited about kicking group night back off. I could tell you stories I've heard over the last few weeks of how group night has legitimately impacted people's lives living in community, people who walk through things that they didn't foresee coming, and how people at Group Knight have reached out to them to encourage them, to pray for them, to check in on them, to visit them in the hospital, just all kinds of stuff. And so I'm just excited about the fall, everything coming up. But mostly the kids going back to school. Yeah. I got you. 51%.

SPEAKER_00 35:37

What about you, Robert? One thing in church world, one thing outside of church world. I think for church, to me, it's what God's been setting up for quite some time. And I think we're right there, you know, and that is seeing the men of our church take seriously their leadership responsibilities and their families. We're seeing the edge of that. And to watch that come to fruition, man, it's gonna be good. I'm excited in church life. He said one thing, but I believe that's gonna lead into leadership for where God's taking us. Yeah. Not just Brantford location, but the entire orchard.

SPEAKER_02 36:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:04

God's doing some cool stuff there. Real quick for my family. I'm gonna say this with a lot of vulnerability. You know, my kids, Walker, has been in South Dakota training dogs. Yep. Rayleigh has been like on vacation at volleyball camp, church camp, and and friends out. She's been gone. So Danelle and I are scratching our heads, you know, okay, what's going on here? And we're about to be empty nesters pretty soon. But I'll be glad to get Walker back. He's my buddy. Yeah. I miss my boy. But just family, and and as you said, Matt, just getting into routine. I'm with you on that. I like routine, you know, give me the schedule so I can work things out in advance and take a deep breath. But just a routine, you know, spending time in study. I'm that guy that when my wife's there, I want to attend to her. And I love her. I'd love her to be there every moment. But we know I have a job to do, have ministry to do. And I think I'm looking forward to that consistency.

SPEAKER_02 36:46

Well, I have to say how utterly disappointed I am that I did not get hunting season or football season from either one of those.

SPEAKER_01 36:54

It's too hot. Uh I can answer that. Football season, I'm an FSU fan, so it's irrelevant. It's irrelevant. I'm looking forward to fantasy football. How's that? Um I'll take that. And then, yeah, I can't even think about hunting season because it's 900 degrees outside.

SPEAKER_02 37:07

So I'll take my my church thing I'm looking forward to is I am looking forward to O Day. Now I know that's not like big, super spiritual, but I love O Day. I love the baptisms at O Day. And honestly, my youngest Chasen is getting baptized at O Day. So we're excited about that. That's gonna be a lot of fun. By the time you're listening to this, it is too late to pre-register for O Day, but you are still welcome to come. You just won't be able to get one of the free t-shirts that we had to go ahead and put in the order for, but you can still come. That's gonna be August the 15th, the Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Camp Anderson Anchored. So still come hang out with us. You just won't be able to pre-register. And then I think the thing outside of Church World that I'm looking forward to this fall is it's gonna be my first season in my coaching life, transition away from football or baseball to being a golf coach for a season. And so we see what you did there. I'm kind of interested what that's gonna be.

SPEAKER_01 37:56

Yeah. Do you get to play for free? I mean, or sorry, do you get to show the kid that you're coaching?

SPEAKER_02 38:02

Demonstrate for free. Gosh, Matt.

SPEAKER_00 38:04

Then you would think after this Sunday that you're gonna be doing the bass fishing team somewhere. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 38:09

Hey, you know what? I threw it down in Brantford. I just let everybody know that you know Robert may be better looking than me, but I'm a better fisherman than him. And, you know, if we have to if we have to cancel a meeting one day so that we can go prove it and Matt can verify it. Well, I mean, what's gonna happen? Yeah, let's do it. Just gotta do what you gotta do, you know. That's right. No, well, guys, I appreciate it. It's been a lot of fun catching up. We are gonna be diving back in next week with a brand new series NIL and kind of starting to fall off. And so I'm excited about that. But we'll catch you right back here next week on Let's Talk About That.

SPEAKER_03 38:40

Thanks for joining us for this episode of Let's Talk About That. We hope it encouraged and challenged you as we continue to grow on this journey of faith and embrace community together. If you have more questions, thoughts, or feedback, we want to hear from you. Be sure to reach out to us through our social media or visit our website to stay connected. If you found today's discussion meaningful, don't forget to subscribe, share, and leave a review. Until next time, we hope that this episode inspired you and will keep Sunday's message at the front of your mind. See you next week.