A Call To Leadership

EP275: What it Really Means to be Blessed with Joe Thompson and Travis Revelle

• Dr. Nate Salah

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What if the true meaning of being “blessed” isn’t what you think? In this episode, Nate, Joe, and Travis unpack how Jesus redefined blessing, not as material wealth or comfort, but as spiritual joy rooted in humility, suffering, and divine presence. It’s a radical shift from cultural success to soul-level flourishing. If you’ve ever felt like you’re missing something, even with all the boxes checked, this conversation might change your definition of joy. Tune in and rediscover what it really means to live a blessed life.
 

 Key Takeaways To Listen For

  • Why true blessing isn’t about financial peace or prosperity
  • What “makarios” really means and why Jesus used it
  • How to find incorruptible joy even when life falls apart
  • How Jesus launched His ministry with a radical redefinition
  • Why spiritual transformation starts with trusting the Source over the resource


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To learn more, visit our website at www.greatsummit.com.

For tax, bookkeeping, or accounting help, contact Dr. Nate’s team at www.theincometaxcenter.com or send an email to info@theincometaxcenter.com.


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[00:00:00] Dr. Nate Salah
Hello my friend, and welcome to this episode of A Call to Leadership where we seek to be purpose-driven entrepreneurs and leaders to come and grow, give, go in business and family and faith. And today's episode is a special one. I'm joined by two incredible brothers, fellow guides on the great summit journey, Joe Thompson, Travis Revelle, as we dive into a message straight from the mouth of Jesus. Blessed are. But here's the twist. This isn't just a Bible study. It's a call to rethink what we've defined as blessings. Is it success? Is it wealth? Is it recognition, or is it something deeper, something set apart. Today we unpack together how these beatitudes reveal the counter-cultural character of leadership. Why the meek inherit, why the poor in spirit rain, how morning can make room for mission. If you've ever wrestled with what it means to live a holy, impactful life in a easy world, this one is for you. Well, hello fellas. Hello, how are you? I'm wonderful. Hello. Hey, Joe. How you doing? Hey, Travis. Good to see you both.

[00:01:15]
Nice to be back. Good to be seen. We've been talking about some really cool deep subjects on the show. Be holy, be perfect If the, if you haven't listened to those episodes, just go on deep on these. Life transforming concepts, and we're on the third installment of these. We're about to get hit with another left hook, and it really falls into how we view what it means to be blessed. You know that term, we've heard that term. We know that term, right? You've heard the term we've lived in that term. The first thought that comes to your mind is when someone says, man, I'm blessed. What's the very first thought that comes to your head? Money. Money? Yeah. Mm-hmm. Bank accounts full. Mm-hmm. Don't have care. Credit cards are paid. Yep. Do you remember the days, I dunno if you guys remember the days. I remember the days when, like I couldn't fill my, my bank up. Like it had to be five bucks or three bucks or eight bucks or whatever I had. Cash and you went up to the person in advance. 

[00:02:21] Joe Thompson
I'll have a dollar 50 on 12.

[00:02:25] Travis Revelle
I mean, but gas was like 62 cents and you guys are young, so I mean.

[00:02:31] Dr. Nate Salah
Yikes. And now you can, now you can fill your tank up. Right. And you get annoyed if you, if you're, if you have to pay cash and you have to go inside and you can only do 20 bucks or whatever it might be. 

[00:02:41] Travis Revelle
I haven't paid cash in a long time. 

[00:02:43] Joe Thompson
Yeah. I will drive to a different gas station. 

[00:02:45] Travis Revelle
I would too. There, there, there's a gas station down the street from my house that you have to prepay for. I literally don't go to that gas station. No way. 

[00:02:51] Dr. Nate Salah
Right. So you would consider like somebody, who's wealthy or has their wealthy, probably.

[00:02:58] Travis Revelle
Stress free. Mm. You know, just the financially. Financially stress free. But also, right, like, I mean, I mean, if you're financially stress free, you right? Like a lot of times you're stress free, you know, like unless you're worried about your finances.

[00:03:12] Travis Revelle
Right? 'cause you have right. 

[00:03:14] Dr. Nate Salah
Too much money.

[00:03:14] Travis Revelle
But you know what I'm saying? Like, you know, just somebody, I mean, I think it's a term that's thrown around, you know, a lot in the last few years. Right? Like, I'm blessed. It's common, you know? It's common. A common term. It's common. I don't think when I was a child, I really heard that as much outside of I. More of a religious setting, you know, but I think now, you know, it's, it's more of a common term. 

[00:03:35] Dr. Nate Salah
What does it, what does it mean to you when you hear the word blessed? First thing that comes to your mind? 

[00:03:40] Joe Thompson
Traditionally, you know, the phase you go through when you're getting older and then all your friends are getting married and then they're all having kids. That comes up a lot. Yeah. Oh, we, we were blessed with Right. Twins, be blessed with whatever. So I always think of big families, like when someone says, oh, I'm blessed. They got a big family. Mm-hmm. So I don't have a big family, so I guess you're not blessed, I guess I'm not blessed. Not blessed. 

[00:04:03] Dr. Nate Salah
I mean, If you didn't have, I mean, I'm not gonna go into the teenage conversation, but sometimes some would, some would say that you're blessed if you don't have teenagers. Just saying at least 17, 18. I mean.

[00:04:17] Travis Revelle
I have 8-year-old twins. I mean, You're blessed. I'm blessed. You're blessed. I am. No, I am blessed.

[00:04:20] Joe Thompson
 It's commonly used when kids are, 

[00:04:22] Travis Revelle
Yeah. Well, I think kids are blessing. Yeah. Yeah, Yeah. 

[00:04:25] Dr. Nate Salah
Yeah. I mean, teach his own, but yeah. Yeah. That's a traditional, the traditional view of being blessed, you're right, it is around being fortunate, being privileged, having favor and just having some kind of, of, of multiplication or increase in an area of life that's important to you. Right. Yeah. That's, that's a, that's a traditional way to look at blessed. I mean, and it can be. Viewed also less about large scale things, like lots of money or, or a big family. Sometimes it's considered small things in terms of you've heard, like somebody said, Hey, it could be a big thing. I got a promotion, or I, I got a great parking space. Right. Wow. What a blessing it is to, or it was gonna rain, but, we had, clear skies for the game. Totally blessed right? Some kind of favor. Yeah. Then you read what Jesus says. And interestingly, his opening sermon, his opening message to the world, which is in found in Matthew chapter five. It's just after he goes through the desert and he's tempted and he, he gets baptized by John.

[00:05:40]
 He begins his ministry. So this is, this is like the, Hey, here I am. Here's my message, and he starts his ministry, his very first sermon. We call it Sermon on the Mountain, and then into the Beatitudes. We're gonna talk a little bit about it with the word blessed. The very first word he used, and I, you gotta think about it. I mean, Jesus' strategic, right? Mm-hmm. Strategic love, right? Tactical love. And we talk about this a lot in our, our community, our G3 community. So this isn't by accident. He uses terminology that is foreign to his listener in terms of how they understand the word blessed. And to this day, it's foreign to the people who are listening perhaps to our conversation and even us before we really fully understand what this means. Because the term he uses for blessed is the word, the Greek word vicarious. Now, vicarious is an interesting word because it's connected not with Jewish tradition of favor of individuals. It's connected with a Greek God and the gods of the Greeks who were outside of human. Ailments outside of human challenges and trials and circumstances to describe their blessing.

[00:07:08]
 And here's, here's what it means. It's contrast with the traditional material worldview of blessing. What it means is the gods, the Greek gods, were associated with the culture of being free from earthly cares, living in divine joy. So what Jesus is saying is blessed are, and the beatitudes, the truly blessed, the truly blessed are those who have an inward life joy that is not dependent on any external circumstances. Well, wait a minute. Weren't we just talking about everything being external, circumstantial, to be blessed? It's the details of it. Who is blessed? He says this, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Well, if I'm poor in spirit, I don't feel very blessed, right? Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Well, if I'm mourning, I probably don't have my needs met physically often, maybe emotionally you're lost to something.

[00:08:23] Dr. Nate Salah
Right. Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth. Well, if I'm meek, that's power under control. I'm not this forceful fighter. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful for they will show mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God, and blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. It's a flip. It's literally a complete script flip. There's nothing in here that describes you got more sheep, you got more gold, you got. A happy life. It literally describes just about everything that most people would say. Yeah. Those are circumstances that I don't feel very blessed in that those are something you strive for.

[00:09:26] Travis Revelle
Right. But I think those are also circumstances where you turn to God. Mm-hmm. Right? Like those are circumstances that, you know, probably bring you closer to God because you're not being fulfilled with earthly things. And so, um. The other thing to think about is right. The, the people that he were, he was speaking to, right. Were under Roman rule. Mm-hmm. Right. They were, looking for a Messiah who was gonna come and defeat Rome for them. And he's setting the tone that they're blessed currently, not this future state where they are defeating Romans and, you know, and, and taking back their land and everything like that. Not to search for that, but to look inward and look to God to find their true happiness. I think he says a lot about acceptance here too. 

[00:10:20] Joe Thompson
You know, like accept your suffering, accept your pain, accept your persecution because you don't. I think people at the time even they didn't associate something good coming out of like mourning, for instance, right. So you lose someone, you know, you're mourning, blah, blah, blah, and here he is telling you, Hey, that's an okay thing. If you accept this, this is your reward. So it, it really is, it's contrary to your natural proclivity to move towards joy. 

[00:11:01] Dr. Nate Salah
Yeah. Is the antithesis, really. However, think about it. If you had a life. That could not be quenched by external circumstances. Would you not be blessed a thousand percent? Like that's it. Yeah. Like to me that's like the pinnacle of being blessed is I am not nothing outside of my, the, the divine joy I have. Give it to me. By God, nothing can take that. I'm not, you know, I'll be the first one to tell you that there's some external circumstances that happen time to time that even it's like, oof, where's my joy? Because I can't seem to find it. 

[00:11:42] Travis Revelle
But it, it's no different than, than, than be holy or be perfect. Right? It's not necessarily the destination it's in, it's the journey in getting there and the mindset shift that needs to occur to even begin to even have that a little bit. 

[00:11:59] Dr. Nate Salah
Yeah. Redefining that Jesus does of vicarious, of blessed, that that means spiritual flourishing, right? It's this joy of God's presence even in suffering. That's a superpower, and that's what he's describing. He's coming in with that. By the way, guys, he's coming in with that. This is like day one. That's crazy. 

[00:12:22] Travis Revelle
That this is like that's, that's how he started, right? I mean, everything that he did over the next three years, right? But this is. And, you know, he planned it so strategically to do that. Right? Like, I mean, he did that on, on purpose, you know, 2000 years later we're still trying to understand it and he's redefining success.

[00:12:38] Dr. Nate Salah
Like he's redefining for these, for so many people that, that are listening, it's like, Hey, look, you're not a victim, you're a victor. You don't need all of that to have joy. Because if you, if you think that that's your pathway to. You will be disappointed in life. You will not be able to carry that because there's troubles every turn of the way, no matter who you are. Because I guarantee you, if you've got money, there's gonna be some troubles even if you have money. 'Cause there's certain things money can't buy. I mean, biggie said it. No money, no problems. 

[00:13:13] Joe Thompson
And where does it end? Like if, if all your blessings are, let's say, externally driven, there's no end to it. Like, there's no, there's no fulfilling. This is where I've fulfilled. 

[00:13:25] Travis Revelle
No, there's, there is none. You just, I mean, and that's, that's the person we really talk to a lot, right? Is that that person who has had a level of success and they're still unhappy, right? They're still missing something. I've talked about this on another podcast, but there was a study and it, it said the most unhappy people that they've ever found are these princes from like Saudi Arabia and stuff like that, because they have everything they want. Have the money to do whatever they want from the time they were born, but they have nothing to look forward to. But they have nothing to achieve because it's already been given to them. And so there's something with the human spirit that we have to, we're always searching, we're always looking, we're always trying to fulfill. And I think what Jesus is saying right now is that don't look externally at the world. Look inwardly and look to God, because that's the only way you're gonna truly find satisfaction and happiness. 

[00:14:20] Joe Thompson
When you're searching for something more, which is, you know, big basis of what we do. Right. And what you're really trying to find is an understanding of what he's already laid down. Yeah. Because I think a lot of times, whatever your exposure to Jesus's words are, you know, whether they're denominational or not, makes no difference. Until you get an understanding of, well, this is what he meant by it. This is why these are the ancient words. You don't really know. Like, oh, I was searching for to be holy. I was searching for to be perfect. Right? I was searching for, to be blessed. 'cause you don't know what it. Your definition of that is skewed. Right? Right. Holy meant something different to us. Perfect meant something different to us. Blessed meant something different to us right up until the time we discover, oh, well this is how he said it. This is how he meant it. That's what you're looking for is the understanding of the stuff. 'cause people will say, dude, I'm good. I read my Bible my, I read my Bible. I know my Bible. Do you really though? Like, do you understand it? Right? You're reading it and, and comprehending it too. Totally. Thanks. Yeah. You know the stories and everything, but like the deep, deep meaning that we get here. Yeah. That's what you're looking for. 

[00:15:46] Dr. Nate Salah
Yeah. The deep meaning in the context of how Jesus is unfolding this message. That's what, that's what brings it to life.

[00:15:59] Travis Revelle
When you're, when you're a kid and your parents tell you like, Hey, here's, here's the things you should do. Right? And, and you hear it, right? And then you go and you become a teenager and you're like, you know what? My parents don't know anything I'm gonna do. I'm gonna figure this out on my own. You know? And then you get older and you realize, oh wow, they were a little bit smarter than I gave them credit for. And, and it's funny because, you know, now I'm a parent and I'm doing those same things and having those same conversations and I can see in my kids' eyes like. Sometimes they're like, okay, that makes sense. And other times they're just like, okay. You know what I mean? Like I'm just like, you're gonna have to figure it out on your own, you know? And it's almost like God, right? Jesus. Like they're telling you like, here it is. Here's the blueprint for happiness. Here's the blueprint for a successful life. And we as children are like for a time, right? We were like, no, we can, you don't know what you're talking about, God. You know what I mean? Like, I'm gonna figure this out on my own. I'm gonna go find my own happiness. And then you get to a point in life where you're like. Well, that didn't work, you know? And then you come back to it and you start getting the details.

[00:16:59]
 'Cause when you're a kid, and you hear these stories, you don't get the details. And then all of a sudden, you know, you get a little light bulb moments and you're like, okay, that really makes sense. And I can really use that strategically in my life. And it's just, it's, it's, it's a shame that it's not something, you know, you go to church every week or whatever, that they don't dive into it at the same level. You're right. It's, I mean, because it's really hard to apply it in your life if you don't know it, if you don't know it. Right? There's a disconnect from hearing a story. I mean, how many times have you heard the story? Blessed star. Blessed star. Blessed star. You know what I mean? 

[00:17:31] Dr. Nate Salah
Like most pop is the most popular. I mean, I mean the, the, the, the Beatitudes are like the most popular phrases of Jesus's ministry. Right?

[00:17:39] Travis Revelle
Right. And then, and then you really think about it and you're like, this was his first sermon. The son of God, his first sermon, he starts with this and we don't really know the actual connotation. I was 45 years old until I found out the actual connotation.

[00:17:55] Dr. Nate Salah
It's crazy. And he uses a word that's associated. Pagan Gods. Hello. You know, and, and, and it's like he's getting attention. He's getting attention. He is like, Hey guys, I, I know, I know how we see the world. It's not a pathway that truly leads you to fulfillment. You want all these things. And yeah, there, there, there's goodness in that, right? There's goodness in having a, a, a, a crop that's full and having a, a, a family that's healthy and there's goodness in all that. But that's not, that's not where joy, the, the seed of joy is. The seed of joy is in resting in God's presence no matter what the circumstances are. That's the seat of, and if we ahold of. And accept God's invitation. Really? Really. That's all it is Then that's available to us, to anybody. 

[00:18:53] Dr. Nate Salah
Yeah. Right. Everything 

[00:18:54] Joe Thompson
He was, everything he was teaching, everything he was doing all was for one reason. Like to get you to the father. Right? Yeah. But until you know how to practice it and use it, you just don't understand it.

[00:19:07] Travis Revelle
Right. You can't. Well, and you can't comprehend it. I mean, you know, and I think, I think, I think that's why this. Type of education is so important and applicable to your life because you can take a term like be holy, be perfect, be blessed, right? Bless be, and something that seems so right. Such a, such an. Achievable thing, and all of a sudden you can say, okay, how can I apply that to my life? Right? I'm not gonna be perfect today. I'm not gonna be holy today. I might not feel blessed today, but how can I leverage this into my day-to-day life as a goal to reach one day? Right? Like, I mean, most people who are listening are probably business owners or strategically thinkers, you know, and you start to, you take a concept and you break it down into this basic. Elementary level, and then all of a sudden you're like, okay, like strategically I understand how to kind of lay this out and that. I think that's, that's super powerful. 

[00:20:09] Joe Thompson
Yeah. I think people, you know, they, when you're reading the Bible and you're reading Jesus what he's and what he's saying, a lot of times people will be like, well, you know, I'm not Jesus. You know, I can't really compare myself to. I can follow Travis's story, like I can relate to your struggles, I can relate to Nate's struggles, and I think that's really powerful to be able to look in at a community and say, oh wow. You know, Jesus was perfect in all those things. And I can't be him. There are a lot of people walking in your footsteps right now that are trying to do this, and it's just, you know, it's just a way to become part of that family of what Jesus was creating to get you to the father. Mm-hmm. That was the sole purpose. I mean, really. 

[00:21:05] Dr. Nate Salah
Yeah. If I told. In my journey, my spiritual journey, I listened to a lot of pastors on the radio and they ministered to me. They, they were helping me to understand Jesus' life and, and the, the beauty of what he said and, and what he taught. And it was really attractive to me. And there came a point, I remember this, it was, it was February of 2001 and I was driving home from work and I. The pastors, all the, the great religious scholars were walking with me, and there came a point where they said, that's as far as we can go. If you want to step into the presence of the father, it's only one person who can take you there. You're gonna have to trust him to take you across that chasm. And that night is when I put my trust in him to take me into the presence of the father. Where that divine joy exists. It's a choice. It's a choice.

[00:22:14]
 Yeah. It's a choice. And even if you're already committed to Jesus, sometimes you have to get recommitted, double down and understand. Okay, this is, oh, wow. I never thought of it like that. Like we talked about. I never thought of it. Go, go to the original language. I, I, I encourage, and I know you two encourage. I. We're, we call lay leaders, right? We're not, we didn't go to seminary. I went, I did a little stint in seminary, but I didn't finish. We're just guys, we're guys who are in the business world. We're living our lives. We wanted more. We wanted a journey that was fulfilling and purposeful and full of meaning, and we didn't wanna just settle for success. We wanted significance. That was beyond the material. It's taken us on a journey together, and then we began inviting others to join us on this journey. So it's not about like, oh, you're some pious religious scholar, and then you get the benefit of blessed R. These people were common peasants who at the time, they were considered as people who didn't have God's favor. They were diseased, they were infirmed, they were poor, they were hungry. All of these things, they were persecuted. And Jesus is like, Hey, you don't know how important you are.
 

[00:23:44] Travis Revelle
Well, it's like you don't, you know, people think, well, I need to clean up to come to Jesus. No, you go to Jesus as you are, and you let him clean you. You know, like you're never gonna be clean enough for Jesus. You just go to him, you accept him and, and let him handle it. It's, that's basically what he is saying there, right? Like, your circumstances don't determine your happiness or your future. Or your worth or your worth. You're worthy as you are.

[00:24:10] Joe Thompson
That's good. It's a very unobstructed view of what Jesus is saying, right? Like when you compare it to regular religion, there's a lot of stuff that gets caught up in the. We do is we try to just make it for a lay person, right? The. Meaning in the intention of why he says something. There's meaning in the words that he particularly used. There's a, a part in, during the, the passion where, where Jesus says, Eli, Eli Ani, which is my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And everyone who reads that. Immediately goes, well, he's, you know, he's crying out to God. Like, why have you forsaken him? The Psalms? Yeah. But he's using a, a Psalm mm-hmm. In Psalm 22. And it's actually a prayer. It's a prayer for like Yeah. Despair. Mm-hmm. But when you don't understand the context of what that is, it just sounds like, oh yeah, like even heath feels abandoned by God. Right? Mm-hmm. To that deeper meaning, and then things change like immediately. 

[00:25:30] Dr. Nate Salah
Yeah. The context is critical and the universality and the timelessness of this context is also critical because that was 2000 years ago, just about, and today it's the same. Like we still need to hear this message. 

[00:25:48] Travis Revelle
Humans don't change. Our external circumstances change. We're, we had the same thought processes, the same emotions 2000 years ago, 4,000 years ago, 2000 years in the future, right? Like we're still people. And I think that's what, you know, the significance of this is he was speaking to, you know, a few hundred people, but I obviously he knew he was gonna be speaking to billions of people through the ages. And it's applicable then as it is now. 

[00:26:21] Joe Thompson
When he said, give up everything and come follow me, though. Like he meant, he meant it like give it up. 

[00:26:27] Dr. Nate Salah
It, it wasn't like, it was a metaphorical No, no. 

[00:26:32] Joe Thompson
He was like, go sell all your stuff, you know, you can donate it to the ministry because we'll need to eat. Right. And like, when I put myself in this situation, like today, I don't know, it's tough. I don't know if I could sell my house, get rid of my cars, you know? 

[00:26:49] Dr. Nate Salah
If Jesus asked. 

[00:26:51] Dr. Nate Salah
Yeah. Wanna, he may not ask to, but if he did, he may not. It's really hard. 

[00:26:54] Dr. Nate Salah
And, and, and that situation, the rich young ruler we're talking about who asked Jesus, of course, you know, what does he need to do to enter to heaven? Of course, he, he goes through and lists all of his accomplishments, right? So, I'm, I followed the commandments and look at me, you know, I got money too, right? So I have to be blessed. And of course, Jesus knew his heart, right? Where he knew where his heart was, and his heart was on his material blessings. So he simply encouraged him and said, okay, you wanna, you wanna follow me? You wanna do that? Go sell all your stuff, give it to the poor and then come follow me. And, and the scripture says that he left sad, don't know what happened to him, but pretty sure he wasn't, you know, jumping up and down like, yes, this is exactly what I wanted to hear. Because again, it's the opposite because he is like, well, no, I'm blessed now. I'm like, no, no bro. You don't know what it means to be blessed. 

[00:27:48] Joe Thompson
And that is as hard as it, it was as hard to overcome back then the understanding of that as it is today. Yeah. It wasn't any easier on that guy. Right. You know what I mean? Well, just as hard. 

[00:27:59] Dr. Nate Salah
No, and, and so Jesus, what does Jesus say? Jesus says, you know, it's, it's more difficult for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven than it is for a camel that enter through the eye of a needle. Now, a couple different ways that that's described, the eye of a needle could be a sewing needle. However, there was a gate. the, in the old city that, was the, the, the needles gate that had to, the camels were so small it had to get on its hand and knees to get through the gate. That's, that's a, that's another possible. The camels understanding the, I know, right. What are they, what are they? Paws? I don't know what they call 'em. I don't, what do they call 'em? 

[00:28:34] Travis Revelle
I don't know. I don't have much experience with cameras. Don't go there. 

[00:28:37] Dr. Nate Salah
This is a rated G show All. So, so the, the point is, is that there's, there's humility. Yeah. Great humility that you have to experience in letting go of your understanding of what it means to be blessed, not only in thought, but indeed to grasp what it means. And of course, the disciples are like. Oh my goodness. This is a rich guy and obviously he's really blessed and he can't get into heaven. Like what about us? And Jesus keeps having her, by the way, I love this. That he has to keep reminding his disciples, I feel good about that. Right. A thousand, right, because they were there.

[00:29:18] Dr. Nate Salah
Like, I'm like, that's, I feel comforted. I'm comforted that you have to remind those guys. 

[00:29:24] Travis Revelle
Yeah. They're just sitting there watching you perform miracles and everything. Right. And there still need to be reminded. 

[00:29:28] Joe Thompson
Well, okay, so this you just me, things that, so, you know, they're, they're in the boat, they're crossing the sea. The waves are crazy. We all know the story. Right. Jesus is. Standing in the middle of the ocean, right? And Peter's like, Hey, if you really are who you say you are. Tell me to come, he's standing like, who else could it be? 

[00:29:53] Dr. Nate Salah
Right. Right. You know what I mean? You know, I'm sure there were a little bit more proof. I always think about that. There was probably other words said, I would hope so. So maybe they just would hope into the book. 

[00:30:07] Travis Revelle
We got the annotated words, right?

[00:30:10] Dr. Nate Salah
But it goes, it all goes hand in hand with our, we're as human beings, you know, we, we've, we, we war against it. You know, we were against this idea truly, deeply, and won't we, why don't we just be, let's just be vulnerable and transparent here. It's not an easy concept to grasp because it means we have to let go of what we're grasping. Mm-hmm. Right? It means we have to let go of all of all of our ideas of what it means to be blessed. We just, we, we gotta let, and that's not easy because it's a, it's a true, like it's not a reframe, it's a transformation. It's not saying, oh, I'm gonna try a different way. It's like a new human being. But isn't that the journey?

[00:30:53] Travis Revelle
That's, and that's what Jesus wants, right? I mean, if you think about the theme, it's don't rely on the world, don't rely on your own understanding, right? Don't, like everything goes back to one kind of central theme, which is. Trust in God. Mm-hmm. He will provide for you. He will give you what you need. Right. Find your happiness, your joy there. I mean, we know that, that, you know, through the Old Testament, that God is a jealous God. Yeah. You know what I mean? He doesn't want anybody to come before him, you know? Yeah. And if you can submit to that, which is against, I think, human nature to submit. Right. But if you can submit to. 

[00:31:39] Dr. Nate Salah
Then your reward is heaven and it's not. And it's not. I'm so glad you brought that up. It's not because there's judgment in terms of like, you know, God is punishing us. Not at all. It's the opposite. See, the way I see it is you have resources, and you have a source, and all of the world's ways we get blessed that we've talked about when we started are resources. What God is saying is that, you know, sometimes you don't have those resources, they get cut off left. Right, right. It just, it just happens. Life is like that. You know, we, all three of us have had physical ailments, right? I mean, you two major, sometimes things just don't feel good. What he's saying is, and what you're saying is plug into the source. If you plug into the source for your, your strength and your joy, no matter what resource. Gets cut off, gets disconnected. You're connected to the source of joy, and no matter what resource gets turned off in your life, your joy is not gonna burn out. Doesn't matter, the light's not gonna go out, doesn't matter. It's always on. Correct. And lemme tell you friends, that's where I wanna be. Absolutely. That's the heart. That is the heart of living fully in Joy is knowing that no matter what resources get cut off around me. No matter what circumstances happen, my life joy is incorruptible. 

[00:33:10] Joe Thompson
Can I bring some humanness here for a second? Humanness. Humanness. So there's a Catholic order of priests. It's not Franciscans, which is what people jump to. And I apologize for not remembering the name, but it's Catholic Order of Priests who, they have nothing. They wear a robe with like a big, cross around it, like as a belt and no shoes, and they grow really long beards. They're really easy to pick out because they're the shoeless guys in the robes with really long beards and they have nothing. So occasionally they make their rounds, you know, the churches, and when they're here, they basically just ask, Kay, can, will you invite us into your home to feed us And listen? Mad respect. Right? Mad respect. That's that's doing it. Right. And then they were in church and they were asking for donations. To help with their causes, their missions, blah, blah, blah. And I turned to my wife and I said, this is exactly what I want to do. I don't want to have to ask for the money. So to me, I don't find anything wrong with having wealth, building wealth. I think what you decide to do with it is the, is your overall arcing of what your life accomplishment is. 

[00:34:33] Travis Revelle
Well, that's the humility, right? Yeah. Like, that's the humility. It's not, if you accumulate, like I'm not telling, I would never tell somebody not to accumulate wealth, you know what I mean? Like, I'm in business, you know, like that's, that's my whole, I mean that's, that's literally, that's teaching people how to really, but it's, you want to die with the most money in your bank account, or do you wanna make an impact on the world? Right. You know, like, what are you doing with your. Talents, what are you doing with your resources? What are you doing with all the stuff that you have? Is it just, are you just consuming to consume and fill this void in your life? Or are you working hard and you're enjoying your life and you're consuming, but you're also giving and you're sharing your talents and you're, you're helping assist people, right? Like. That's how I view it. You know what I mean? Like, I think God made us all with certain talents and we use those talents and we achieve worldly success. Great. But what are we doing outside of worldly success? What's our true driver and, and what is our motivator to, to win at business, right? 

[00:35:40] Travis Revelle
And I think it's win at business. Help people share your talents, grow something, leave a legacy. Those are the things. That people should be impacted by. Right. But you have to cons, you have to build something to give something, you know what I mean? Like you have to have something to give something, you know? So you've gotta gain knowledge to share knowledge. You've gotta gain money to share money. I mean, so I don't think it's, you're wealthy and you just can't get into heaven. It's, you're wealthy and you haven't done anything with your wealth to help out. Less fortunate people. Your heart is being judged. Yeah. You're not, you're not living a life of service. 

[00:36:16] Dr. Nate Salah
And you're not living a life that's Christ-centered and humility, as you mentioned, because humility says I'm plugged into the source. The source is then providing me with what I need to multiply my time, talent, and treasures, and then I turn around and give it away because it's really a resource from the source. It's not mine. Right? Not mine. That's humility, right? That's humility. Humility is saying God is the provider of my time, talent, and treasures, which then is multiplied so that I can turn around and pour it out into the world of need. So that to me is really the, the, the, the heart of the wealth building and having those resources, because some of us may have a greater. Gifting in those areas, right? And we want 'em. We want to utilize that gifting. 'cause there's so much need in the world, and you guys know this, there's so much need in the world. And so for those of us who have the ability, let us multiply and increase it so that we can then provide and others who have more time, different kinds of talents and the treasures, right?

[00:37:24] 
All three of those work hand in hand so that we can give people back. The resources that have been given us. Amen. Amen. Come on, that'll preach. Right? And that's what we do. Grow, give, go. Right? Grow purposefully. Give generously. Go love radically. I mean, it's a simple concept. A simple concept, right? Easy to remember, attractive to execute. And think about lives Change. Lives change because of it. Why? Where does it start? It starts. Right here. Knowing that no matter what happens outside of our bodies inwardly, all we have to do is accept the invitation to have the life joy that's not dependent on any of those things. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

[00:38:20] Joe Thompson
Good stuff. I feel, I feel blessed, feel blessed. I don't wanna say I feel blessed right now.

[00:38:29] Dr. Nate Salah
Well, my friend, thank you for joining me on this episode of A Call to Leadership. If you've been listening, you've probably heard me talk about our accounting and advisory business, and this show is actually born out of that business. Those relationships I found that entrepreneurs and professionals. Were missing aspects of their leadership that fed into their bottom line and helped their businesses be successful. So I'm so thankful that I've had all those years in that area to feed into this. And the truth is that so many people still need accounting and advisory help, and they don't know where to go. If you're in that place where you feel, oh my goodness, my tax person or my accountant, I can't find them, or maybe the service wasn't up to my expectations, do not despair. I'll leave how you can find us in the show notes and one of my team members can do some discovery and help you along your journey. You're not alone, my friend. You always have help. I'm Dr. Nate Salah. Can't wait to see you on the next show of A Call to Leadership.

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