You're Not The Boss of Me - Week 3 Discussion - Current Circumstances

The pressures that come from the circumstances around us can feel overwhelming. In this discussion, we break down Brad's message on what it looks like to take the things going on in our every day life and tell them "you're not the boss of me"!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Welcome to Navigate, a podcast discussion from Tower Life Center, where we talk about how to navigate life, living as a follower of Jesus in a fallen and ever-changing world. Let's join the discussion.

SPEAKER_03 0:32

Good morning, everyone. How are we doing? We are three-fourths of the crew today. Yeah. And next week we will be another three-fourths. So today we don't have Amanda. Next week we won't have me. But you do get an added fourth next week. Mm-hmm. Stay tuned. Yeah. Yeah, I was gonna spoil it. We're not gonna spoil it.

SPEAKER_01 0:53

Yeah. It's gonna be good. It's gonna be good. He's gonna be speaking next week. Oh you just narrowed it down to half the world's population. I know. Next week at TLC. So come Sunday, you'll know you'll know about Monday. Get more feedback into that on Monday. Well, listen though.

SPEAKER_03 1:12

We're switching roles today. Brad preached on Sunday. So that means that I led worship. No, I'm kidding. You wouldn't want that. No one would want anything close to that. Only one way to find out. Nope.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

I think he's gonna be veto next time.

SPEAKER_03 1:29

Yeah, no. We no. You don't, yeah. Uh the role that I've assumed for me. Yeah, that's that's a note for me, dog. The role that I've assumed today is I'm gonna be the one who's posted, and then we're gonna kick it to Brad here in just a second, and he's gonna walk us through what he walked us through yesterday. Yeah. It was a great job yesterday, by the way. Thanks. Appreciate you. Thought it was one of the best I've ever seen you do.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

Yeah. Well, yeah, we're kinda this was week three of You're Not the Boss of Me. Yeah. Uh and then we'll be like he said, hearing from someone next week. A he. A he. We'll narrow it down. The he. Uh so yeah, he'll he has some really cool life um circumstances that have really just shaped his faith. Yeah. And that's what we kind of talked about yesterday. Um, just the circumstances maybe that we're in and choices that um we do in those circumstances, and maybe just how the world can pull us one way and the other, and in the midst, obviously, too, like there's a spiritual warfare that's happening among us in our in our life, and uh determine helps us or not helps us, but like um can challenge us in those choices and uh within this world. So yeah, yesterday we really just dove into what is bossing us around.

SPEAKER_03 2:57

Yeah, I love that question.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

Because I think in all of our conversations that we have typically we can kind of have something and it it can change. Um it can change from a day-to-day basis, it can be something that maybe it it's more of a season that we are in, or maybe it's something um in our past that still uh feels like it's bossing us around. And I think it could be, you know, anything from we kind of looked through a a little bit of a list and I tried to make it where what stands out to you, whether it's like a financial pressure, maybe it's um, you know, if you're in a season where your kids are no longer in the home, but maybe they're not making the choices that man you felt like as a parent, you um raise them to to live out, or maybe it's the opposite where your kids are young and you're like, man, yeah, this season's hard. Yeah, everyone's reliant on me, and I just feel exhausted, and maybe it's a different form of exhaustion from work. Yeah, but it's like man, diagnosis, addiction, yeah. So like I think once again, it could be something that is, man, right now, today, I feel like this is bossing me around. Like these thoughts that you know have have come over me in the past week, or maybe it's a longer feeling of that, but I think identifying what is bossing me around. And then um I kind of had this idea of like just uh hearing this dialogue, like this confidence that kids have of just like in a scenario where they're playing with each other and they're like, hey, you're not the boss of me. Yeah, and like it reminded me of just like what Jesus is like, this childlike faith of like, hey, um, you know, oh man, I I love Jesus. I'm uh love how all these things, and then this also this childlike confidence of like, hey, you're not the boss of me. So reminding, like, take that thought like captive, yeah, and then recognize what is like, do I feel like I'm not doing enough for my family? Do I feel like I need to make more? Do I feel like I need to give more? Do I feel like I need to what is making me feel like I'm not enough? And just reminding it, hey, you're not the boss of me.

SPEAKER_03 5:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

And the one that is the boss is the one who created you.

SPEAKER_03 5:22

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 5:22

Uh like just this analogy too of like the boss is the one that is the son of God who stepped down from his throne, gave his life for me, for you, conquered death. Because of that, he deserves the title of the boss. Yeah. And knowing that he is in control no matter what this life might throw at us, like, we can live in peace. Yeah. We can have hope. We can have just um I say I I think like just this comfort knowing like he's in control. Yeah. He's the boss. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:55

So no, I thought that was good. I loved having that that question of what is bossing you around. Right. Like, let's identify that. Instead of just talking about different things that could like you helped us identify that. And so I thought that was that was really helpful to to have that analogy at the beginning before you kind of dove into the rest of of what you were talking about. But that was that was good. I like that.

SPEAKER_01 6:20

Yeah. So I would encourage you, listener, again, um, whether you were here on Sunday or not, just think about like, man, what is it right now that I feel like is is bossing me around? Maybe taking control over maybe my emotions, maybe where all my energy is going. And um be reminded though, like in this time, that you know, God isn't wasting the season that you're in. Sure. You know, and I know that like if we were all super honest and transparent, like a lot of us aren't super pumped, like, about trials or struggles or difficulties in life. Yeah. What? You know, it's like no, we bring it. Yeah, exactly. And I I I hope that when we kind of refocus our mind that we can be reminded, hey, what is God? Another question I think that would be so um relevant as we think about this is taking it a step deeper when we think about the season and recognizing, like, okay, this thing is bossing me around. I know that you're not the boss of me, but then reminding yourself, and what is God teaching me in this?

SPEAKER_05 7:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:35

Like, and that's a a daily question. Maybe it changes day by day, maybe it's that season aspect we talked in, but what is God teaching me right now? Because God doesn't want to waste this difficult season, He wants to use it because this is going to form us to be more like Him.

SPEAKER_03 7:53

Yeah. I think the the thing that I would want to encourage people with, and you can speak to this if you'd like, but you don't have to, is just the concept of you're right, I don't think God is gonna waste a difficult season, He's gonna form us through it. But at the same time, God's not the one out there like creating difficult seasons for us to go through. Yep. That's part of living in a sinful world. Absolutely. Right, but he's just not gonna waste it. Absolutely. Right? So it happened, it can be used for us to be more like him, to be formed more and more into his image. For sure. But he's not sitting there like, okay, what difficult season can I put Brad through? But we want to we want to sometimes we want to look in and blame God for the things that are hard. Or not even hard, blame God for the things that are um effects of a broken world. For lack of a better way of saying it, right? It's like, well God's the one who made me sick. It's like, well, no, he didn't. He created you in his image, you're born into a sinful world. Sin broke sin broke the perfect health. Mm-hmm. Right? Yeah. God must have wanted me addicted. No, he didn't want you addicted to that. You're just not gonna waste it. Right? Like, and so I love how you said he's not gonna waste it, but he's gonna form us through it.

SPEAKER_01 9:09

Yeah. And to speak to that, and it's we kind of hit this later on. Uh, but like the spiritual battle is real as well. Yeah. Like there is an enemy who who wants to see you addicted, who wants to like in your sickness, blame God. He's like, Yeah, yeah. Yes, let's go. Yes. They're they're turning again, but I think ultimately God's like, hey, like some of my most you know, children who are most reliant are the ones that are in the the sick bed, the ones that are like have to be reliant on on me for their strength. Yeah you know, and um but yeah, it's it's not that you know, we oftentimes might think of like I think a common question, especially is um maybe new believers or maybe even people that like when it's say they believe in God because they're like, Man, how could like what do bad things happen to to good people? Right. And it's like, well, we are like we live in a free will world which is now by our choices have corrupted that. We live in, like you said, a sinful world that um yeah, there's an enemy who wants to steal, kill, and destroy.

SPEAKER_03 10:27

But one of my favorite things I've ever heard on that question of why do bad things happen to good people is is someone said once, well, you're making two massive assumptions that you know what bad things are and that people are good. Yeah. The reality is we were created in the image of a good God, broken into a sinful world, and so now we are not good people. That's why we needed Jesus. For sure. But also, God's ways are higher than ours, his thoughts are higher than ours, and so we really don't know what a bad thing is.

SPEAKER_04 10:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:58

Now I'm not saying that, man, the the child who died young, the the really painful thing you went through. I'm not trying to minimize that. Right, but I'm just saying just because it is to your point most of us like things that are easy, predictable, and comfortable. Right? So just because it's hard, uncertain, and a little bit uncomfortable doesn't make it a bad thing necessarily.

SPEAKER_01 11:28

For sure. No, that's so good. And I think um yeah, that that just helps us so much understand too, like we also have this God who is so much greater, bigger, better, like you described. Yep. There. And we this last Sunday we went to Phil Wickham was in town. Oh, was he? Okay, yeah, and man, I thought I liked Phil prior to that. Yeah, I mean, he he's incredible.

SPEAKER_03 12:02

Um we're working through Brad's idolatry today.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

But Phil said something though, like anytime there's repetition in the Bible, um, like it's back in its original language, they didn't have words like very good, or like that would explain it like how we would understand it today. Like, man, I really loved that pizza. But what they did would they would repeat it twice, and that's how you know that it was um like I love love that pizza, or I love that pizza, I love that pizza. Yeah, like that's how the translation would count like good, good, you know. I love love, like I love love. So it would be repeated, and so but when we think about like describing God, yeah, there's only like when we think about um he has the song that is um the hymn of heaven or song of heaven, and there's one that's documented in in scripture that we see, and it's the only thing in scripture that's repeated three times and it's described God holy, holy, holy. And not only that, these aren't people that are saying holy, holy, holy, these are angels that if we were to see one of them today, yeah, we would think it was a God. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We would think it was God because they're so mighty. But here they are over, over again, that's right, once again repeated over and over, but holy, holy, holy. And then God reveals another thing to them, and they're like, Oh, holy, holy, holy, and then holy, but it's just like their song of heaven. But so, like when we think about man, that's the God we get to serve. That's the God who loves us so much that he sent his son Jesus so that we when there is loss, when there is frustration, when there is uncertainty in this world, yeah, we get to hold on to this hope that only heaven offers. That only the only way, like, aren't you thankful that because of Jesus we get to experience this holy God? And he's the only thing that can save us from that the death that we'll all experience, you know? Um, so it's like, man, thank you, God. Thank you, Jesus, for making that happen.

SPEAKER_03 14:18

And so then you outlined for us a couple different places that struggles in our circumstances, some current circumstances that would be challenging. You outlined three different areas, and do you want to break those down kind of tell us what they are and then you can break them down for us.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

Yeah, so our struggles, you know, come from the choices that we make. Um, the world obviously that we live in, and we live in a broken, sinful world. Yeah. Um, and well, like we are sinful as well. So therefore, that it makes it even more challenging. Like by nature, we are selfish and we think like, what's in it for me type thing. And then when you place that sinful person in a sinful world, it's so much easier to fall into that temptation. Yeah. And then it takes it a layer deeper when you know that, okay, if if my choices affect some of these struggles, and man, I'm a sinful person living in the sinful world, and then on top of it, I'm in the midst of a spiritual battle where this enemy is trying to, like we said, steal, kill, and destroy me. Whoa.

SPEAKER_04 15:22

Yeah, that that is that's that takes it uh makes it really heavy.

SPEAKER_01 15:28

So um, and I think that like when we think about our choices, um I kind of highlighted like so many times it's we wonder why we don't hear God, we wonder why we don't feel his presence, we wonder why we don't like and yet we're spending no time with him. And I that's why. Yeah. And so I think sometimes it's the issue's less about man, Satan's really attacking me, and it's more about me just ignoring God and ignoring his presence.

SPEAKER_02 16:04

Um Satan just wants to distract you. Yeah. If he distracts you, then that takes away your time. Like it's real easy to start just sitting there on your phone or whatever. Oh my goodness, scroll like the death scroll. Yeah. I was listening to And it's like, oh my gosh. Yeah, I just wasted an hour doing what? Nothing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:24

Like scrolling.

SPEAKER_01 16:26

Something that I want to talk about this summer when we we're gonna kind of have a series that is around our youth a little bit, around the time of church camp and stuff. And um, like, man, just the stats that I've heard on like adolescent age, especially girls, yeah, like one out of three are suicidal. Yeah. Because of like Because they're not good enough.

SPEAKER_02 16:50

Yeah, they don't think they're gonna be a good one.

SPEAKER_01 16:51

Or like even it this the the punchline that really hit me is you know, let your kid like we think like, oh, I don't want my kid to go outside, like, you know, they're gonna get in trouble, or and he's like, the devil's not in the alleys, he's in the algorithms, yeah. Right. Like he's trying to. There was this, there was this um girl that, you know, is they're like, oh, we're gonna let our daughter have Instagram and um she loves soccer, so we're only making sure she follows soccer stuff. Well, as soon as she types in soccer and in the algorithms, it starts putting like, here's how to lose weight, here's how to become, you know, like it all went to body image type stuff. And so this pastor was like, you know, one out of three. So if it's not my seventh grade daughter, yeah, it's your seventh grade daughter or her friend.

SPEAKER_02 17:41

Right.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

Like someone in the circle is right comparing themselves, and it's like, man, that yeah, uh so it's like, man, the devil, he's working, he's he's not in the alleys anymore. Maybe it used to be, but now he's in the algorithms, and he wants to, oh man, just yeah, try and wiggle his way in there, like you said, distract us. Um take like these rhythms that we just naturally do. We sit on the couch and without even knowing it, we pull out our phone. You know, we refresh the feed, we check the email, we text our friends, whatever it might be, and it's like, oh, if I just sat down and just thank you, God.

SPEAKER_03 18:24

You know, it's I think we often want to um we want to give Satan credit for being in the algorithm, which I'm not saying he's yeah, I I agree with that. Yeah. But but Satan didn't uh make you sit your butt on the couch, he didn't make you pull your phone out of your pocket, he didn't make you open that app, right? Like that to that's where I love how it's my choices, but within the context of my choices, am I am I entering into Satan's playground, right?

SPEAKER_02 18:54

Or uh does the tempting we're the one making the choice. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:59

But like it took three choices for me to even get to where he to even get to the algorithm, right? And it's like, but now because of the last 85 million times I I've done that and the algorithm has gotten my brain. Yeah, now I don't know where we're gonna talk about it or if, but it's Romans 12, 2, right? Conforming to the world, right? I've been conformed by the world, right? Now I just know, like, I just go to the algorithm. Yeah, like he Satan doesn't even have to make me go to the algorithm. The last 85 times I've gone to the algorithm has got me to the algorithm time number 86. Yeah. And now if he's in the algorithm, right, like, but my choice is over time.

SPEAKER_01 19:37

For sure. Like, but getting, like you said, getting to even that point, it's like every time our couch does hit or our butt hits the couch, our couch hits the butt. Yeah. Either way, I guess. Hey, there we go. But um, every time that happens, sitting down isn't bad. No, but we've created this habit in our life that we sit down and we get out our phone. Right. And like I hope that like as we listen to this, like the next time you sit down on the couch, you feel a conviction and you don't want to put, or even better, like you Unless you're listening to the podcast. Yeah, unless you're listening to the podcast. But even then it's like put on some AirPods and put the phone in the drawer or something. Like be so intentional about it. Yeah. Um, because once again, the more that we do that, we're gonna create this new habit. Yeah. And I made like this point of just like conviction is not condemnation. And God exposes us to heal us, He doesn't want to shame us. Um, He wants to heal us in this. Like, I think the biggest problem is you know, we don't recognize that this is a problem. So every time we sit down on the couch, yeah, we get out the phone, and now we're just being informed there versus putting the phone away and just be informed whether it's with the and it doesn't have to be on the couch either. Like you can that's the awesome part about the God that we serve, this holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, this awesome God. We get to we can be driving and talking with them, we can be walking and talking with them, or we can be waiting in the coffee line and getting out our phone, or we could be scrolling and walking. You know, it's like our choice. What am I gonna do with my choice?

SPEAKER_03 21:20

Yeah, I mean, God's all present, right? And so he can be with us anywhere. Well, our phone is pretty close to all present, yeah. Right in our lives because we've made the choice. Right? God is all present because he made the choice, and now it's our choice of like, are we gonna ignore him now? Yeah, for sure. Right, but the phone that's our choice for it to be all present. And yeah, so it's gonna be all present with me in the coffee line, it's gonna be all present with me in class, it's gonna be all present during this conversation. Like, how many times are we double screening? Right? Like you sit, you sit down and you're like, okay, we're gonna watch a show together. Well, how am I gonna watch a show without scrolling on my phone? Oh, yeah. Or I'm gonna listen to the podcast, but that's so boring to listen to people talk that I can't see. And so since they don't have video yet, like I might I might as well just scroll something.

SPEAKER_01 22:11

Yeah. Yeah. I kind of mentioned this, so this will go to our next point of just like the world we live in. Yeah. And I kind of this is a point at the end, but I think it just it kind of highlights where I want us to go. Is like in the world that we live in, we said we're sinful, we live in a sinful world. You're not going to accidentally drift into the spiritual strength that you want to have. Like it's going to take some intentionality. I have this like image that I um I've always tried to explain it, and so I I used AI to kind of help visualize this, but it's Jesus sitting on this riverbank, kind of with his arms open, and the river that um represents the world is um we're paddling in it. The current's taking you away from taking you away from Jesus. And if you're just sitting there not paddling, you're like you're not just going to naturally float towards Jesus, you're gonna get further and further away.

SPEAKER_03 23:06

And you're not even gonna naturally just float in one spot. For sure. You're gonna drift the other way.

SPEAKER_01 23:12

Something we used to always say with the youth is like, if we're not growing, where are we going? Yeah, you know, we're going further and further away from what we were created to be, and that's with Jesus, with God.

SPEAKER_02 23:23

You're headed back to the rearview mirror. Yeah, from last week.

SPEAKER_01 23:27

So it's like, man, what what are those things that we are?

SPEAKER_03 23:31

And I thought it was cool because in that picture you put out, kind of the the ripples or the waves or the things that would be the the current that's taking you away. You kind of put words in there of different circumstances, struggles, choices.

SPEAKER_01 23:43

Yeah, it's uh an addiction you're working through or pornography or whatever, like those things, and he's like, hey, like he's the arms open. Like come come to me. Yeah, like I want to like make this easier for you. Yeah, you know, my burden is light, yes, and uh I want to make that burden for you. My yoke is easy, like come be with me so we can tackle this together. Um but yeah, the ultimately like the world wants to shape your identity. It wants to tell you, like, hey, be happy, you know, just yeah, serve yourself. Yeah. But God's word is not that, you know. It's um pick up your cross daily. Yeah. Like pick up these things and follow me. Like it's going to be hard. Right. Um, if it was easy, everybody would do it. And being a you know, follower of Jesus, there is a cost. But but it's going to be so so worth it. Yeah. So worth it.

SPEAKER_03 24:48

Yeah, I liked how you said if we're not intentionally formed by Jesus, we will be unintentionally formed by culture. Right. Just this concept of if I'm not intentionally paddling towards Jesus on the riverbank, I'm going to unintentionally, it wasn't my intention, I'm just going to float away from it. Right? That's culture, right? Or the world wants to shape your identity, Jesus wants to transform your heart. Right? Both, I mean, quite honestly, the best way to say this is both the world and Jesus have an agenda for our lives. Right? We're of course God has an agenda for us. His agenda is for us to be loved by Him, to love Him, and to spend eternity with Him. Right, to live as holy and sinless as possible on this earth. Right, to have our sin paid for by the shed blood of Jesus. Right. So that through belief and confession of Him as Savior and Lord, right, that we could be God's children and have eternal life secured. That's God's agenda. Yeah. And in the process of that, he's going to make us look more and more like him over time. He 100% has an agenda for our lives. Now, so does the world. And the world's agenda is that you would pursue money, that you would pursue um feelings of security, that you'd per per pursue an addiction, that you pursue relationships, that you pursue the more, that you would pursue enough, that you would pursue promotions, that you would pursue friends, whatever it is, right? And in that all we're going to find is momentary pleasure, sure, but then brokenness, right? And the world's agenda will also lead to death, not just in the moment, but also eternal death. Right? Eternal separation from God. But God's agenda for us brings life. And I just I think it's important for us to understand to your point. Like Jesus wants to transform our hearts. He wants something from us. The world also wants to shape us. Yep. And I I I thought that that was a good perspective to bring.

SPEAKER_02 26:54

Yeah, you had that good graphic that was like culture says versus what Jesus says. You know, and that you know, culture says follow your heart, and then you use the example of the Mickey Mouse shirt. Yeah. Like r scrubling it, scribbling it out.

SPEAKER_01 27:09

Dude, yeah, literally, I've we had like a hand-me-down from it, and it's like, you know, love, it said like something like love only like I don't know. I I can't even think of what the it said right now, but it had like only like follow yourself, or it's like, what?

SPEAKER_02 27:29

Yeah, and you see that stuff all the time at Disney or whatever, you and it it seems innocent.

SPEAKER_03 27:34

Listen, shots fired at Disney right now.

SPEAKER_02 27:37

I mean it seems well, it's it's other things too. That one was just for sure. But it seems innocent, you know. It's well, it's just kids' clothes, it doesn't really mean anything. Yeah, it's just planting the seed, yeah, is all it is.

SPEAKER_03 27:48

It's like indoctrination.

SPEAKER_02 27:49

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 27:50

And and it sounds cute and innocent. Yeah. Like, hey, follow your heart. Like, but Jesus says, follow me. Yeah. You know, your heart might like your the and that's what this whole thing could come down to is like your emotions, like those don't also dictate like our emotions we might feel angry or happy or whatnot, but like those things are also temporary, you know? So yeah, it puts it into just uh perspective for sure. And it's not just about you know, living your truth, it's about following the truth. So yeah. Um yeah, and then uh as we get back to kind of the last piece here of uh the the spiritual battle that we're that we're in, um we said it already, but yeah, we have an enemy who hates you, and that's like you talk about the world, the Bible tells us that he is the prince of this world. You know, he is um he rules this realm. Yeah, you know, and he wants to try to um just be deceitful and um but we're reminded in Ephesians chapter six, like our fight is not against just people here on this earth. We are fighting against the spiritual powers of evil. And um I think it can be so subtle um the way that he tries to um work in our lives. Um whether it's just like this little discouragement, and then like in this discouragement, what are you turning to? Or like this just this little temptation that, you know, doesn't seem like a big deal. But I think that's how when we look at like even leaders throughout the Bible, that's how leaders have failed. Like, you know, even when we look at Jesus' group of twelve, right? Like Judas just didn't go out and just betray Jesus. It was these little like they talk about like these little subtle things that maybe he was taking or um not doing, and therefore it came and made like a big result of of a fight.

SPEAKER_03 30:10

I mean Satan also has an agenda for your life. Mm-hmm. Right? And that's important to know. Right. His agenda was shot down literally from heaven whenever he was trying to overthrow the worship, right? He wanted the worship that God was getting in heaven. He was an archangel at one point, yeah. Right. So he wanted worship, he got cast out of heaven like a bolt of lightning, the Bible says. Well, now he's trying to hijack our worship, right? And so his agenda is also very prevalent in our lives. And so we have to make sure that we're aware of that because to Brad's point, he is the prince or the ruler of this earth, right? Like he is on this earth and he does have dominion over it. Now he's not omnipresent like God, he can only be in one place at one time.

SPEAKER_01 30:57

But he's not the boss, and he ain't the boss.

SPEAKER_03 30:59

Jesus is the boss. Right. He ain't the boss.

SPEAKER_01 31:01

So, yeah. And hopefully, yeah, no matter what um circumstances we're up against, we can be reminded of that.

SPEAKER_03 31:12

Um You said something I want to talk about real quick, or I want you to talk about. I don't want to. The but you said the enemy's greatest weapon is often deception, right? So Satan's greatest weapon is often deception, and then you said truth matters because Satan cannot steal your salvation, but he will try to sabotage your intimacy with God. Right. And I just want you to talk about that for just a second from the standpoint of like, yes, he's the ruler of this earth, right? Yes, this is kind of his playground, yes, he has an agenda, but once we're gods, right, all he can do is he can deceive us into sabotage. Yeah. Right. So I don't know if you want to talk about that a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 31:51

I think I think we have to remind ourselves, like, how what's the reason we're going to be with God in heaven? Yeah. Like, once again, all of us, like the the death rate for all of us is 100%. Yeah. So what's the only way for eternal life? It's nothing that we are going to do. Right. It's what Jesus has done for us, already paid for, already like stamped. Yep. And especially like, you know, when we accept that beautiful gift, like we are adopted as children of God. Yeah. And like there's nothing that can change that. So, but the deception pieces is he's going to try to convince you that are you doing enough? And now, or like, are you truly enough? Or um, and I think like it's easy for us to be in this mindset because we live in such a world that is based off works. Like, you know, most of your life from five years old till if you go to college, like till like 23, it's works based on like how you receive a grade. Like how you do things, like you do that, and then on top of it, like all of like in your young adult life to even in those elementary years, like you are by nature, like as a parent, you're like, hey, if you do this, you earn this. You do that, you get this, or like, hey, you don't do that, I take this. Right. And I think the enemy uses that same scheme, like, hey, you don't do this, you're going to lose this salvation. If you don't do that, are you really going to earn what he has given to you?

SPEAKER_03 33:36

Which I love how you kind of frame that. And the thing I would hope that people hear is that that's not true. But it is um most or it is oftentimes effective deception tactics that lead to sabotaging our intimacy with God. Yeah. So we don't lose our salvation, we just end up losing our intimacy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:55

And it's kind of like maybe it's you use the word like bribe. You know, as a parent, maybe you bribe your kid. I think um, like Satan is trying to bribe us just like he bribed from the beginning with the fruit. Yeah with Adam and Eve. Like he was bribing them, like, hey, you could be like God. And in that, oh man, like, is he really hiding something from you? And so in that bribery, you're like kind of intrigued. Yeah, you know, and once again, I think it's our human instinct because we're sinful, yeah, to have that same thing. Like, hey, if you do this, you get some Skittles, yeah, you know, and like you can tell I have one kids, but um, yeah, it's like those that bribery piece that um man, he wants to try and try to steal your convince you to steal your salvation, but that's not the case. And so um don't let him sabotage your intimacy with God. Like the fact that we get to be a part of what we described earlier, that holy, holy, holy peace that God is, and the fact that man, he wants to have a relationship with us.

SPEAKER_03 35:12

Like soaking that that so he's gonna deceive to sabotage. Right, he's gonna do that through spiritual eyes. So how do I combat spiritual eyes?

SPEAKER_01 35:21

Yeah, with the spiritual truth. Yeah. Just like once again, we go back to a scripture piece of that we see Satan trying to attack Jesus and how Jesus can uh combats that piece is with scripture of what he knew to be truth. Yeah. Because and I think if we don't know spiritual truth, if we don't know what God's word says, his promises, we will so easily fall for the tricks of this world. And even as like we have to remind ourselves that on the daily, like it's so easy to forget because of the sinful world that we are a part of. Um us being sinful, enemy hating us, like, oh my goodness. It's so easy. It's easier, it's honestly easier to just fall in that trap going back to that river analogy. Like, if we're just hanging out and like just oh I'm good, like that's when we're drifting away and we don't even realize it.

SPEAKER_03 36:24

Yeah. So let me ask you this whether it's whether it's my choices, whether it's the world, whether it's spiritual battles, which probably all of it can fall under spiritual battles, right? But like whether I could resonate with which of those three and whatever, how do I stop them from from bossing me around?

SPEAKER_01 36:42

Yeah, I think we have to um choose to repent.

SPEAKER_04 36:46

Like, and that's I think repentance looks like um having that forgiveness, like, hey Lord, forgive me.

SPEAKER_01 36:58

Um but then like not going back to it. Like once again, looking at the promises that he has for you and just being reminded of those things. Um and once again, we're creatures of habit. So I think the more that we can like repent when we know we've done something wrong, we become more aware of that. And now like I I I believe that we'll we'll stop doing that thing as he's continues to transform our heart um in us. So being aware of it and repenting quickly. And maybe it looks like repenting regularly, quickly, uh frequently. Um but because that that's gonna naturally build awareness and then man, submit to just him daily in that. Um once again, we think about like this that die to self-peace. Yeah, like if this life was all about this life, then okay, I would say like our perspective would look a little different. Man, go do this. Man, try to make as much money as you can so you can enjoy all of this with man, your kids, they deserve happiness. Yeah. If this was all this life was, but it's not. Right. And so therefore, like submit to that daily of like, okay, being reminded that, man, there's so much more that is awaiting me if I believe what Jesus says, if Jesus is serious about heaven, then I want to be there. I want to be a part of that. And I'm not just making heaven here on earth. Right. Um I'm anxiously awaiting, like the Bible says, as a bride waits for the groom to just be like, ah, this is gonna be so good. Yeah. In perfect harmony. Um, we we mentioned this, but man, replace lies with truth. Man, I need to be in God's word. Yeah. Like I try to tell our youth on a regular basis, like, getting into God's word, it's not for God to love you more. It's for you to love God more, right? For you to know God more, for you to understand those promises, those truths that we can lean on. Yeah. So don't get into God's word because He He doesn't love you any less or more if you're in your Bible. He already loves you so much. Yeah. And he proved that by going to the cross for us. But how do we know his love for us? By getting into his word.

SPEAKER_03 39:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:30

By remembering those promises. That's good. And then the last piece is just like, man, we have to, we have to armor up. And what I mean by that is if you look in Ephesians 6, like it talks about the the armor of God, like being in truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, scripture, and prayer. Like just um each one of those, as the Bible describes it, is like a piece of armor. But if we're just doing those things right there, like reminding ourselves of the truth, being just like, man, I'm I'm righteous in the eyes of God because of the blood that was shed for me. Man, I get to now like partner with the Prince of Peace. No matter what like my circumstance might be, I call on Jesus and I have I have this peace that just overflows my spirit, my soul, my strength, and then like faithfulness. Like, I heard a um a guy speak one time, and he his like thing was uh he had a mentor that always would just say, faithfulness is enough. And he'd be like, Ah, okay, faithfulness is enough. It sounds just kind of cliche. But he's like, the older I got and the more that I continue to just think about that phrase that he would always say, Faithfulness is enough. Like that changes like when we're faithful, like and if all we are is faithful, like that's gonna be huge. And that's hard because faith would be described as believing in something you can't see. Right. And like, man, I I'm my faithfulness in Jesus is enough. That he is who he says he is, he's going to do what he said he's came to do, he's gonna do what he's promised to do for me, and then like man, just living in that salvation piece that once again the enemy cannot take away your salvation. He is living um proof that if Jesus conquered death in the grave, that there's nothing that he cannot do, yeah, and he did that for me and for you, and then man, get into scripture, pray to the God who loves you, who wants a relationship with you, and that's how we armor up.

SPEAKER_05 41:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:43

And if we do those things, man, the devil, like, he doesn't stand a chance. But if on the other side, like if we're not armored up, yeah, he he finds these holes. Like, I think about just like, you know, if you're playing a football game and you're not wearing your helmet, expect to get hurt.

SPEAKER_05 42:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:03

You know, if you're not armored up in the spiritual battle and you don't have the helmet of is it helmet of salvation? Yeah. You don't have that puppy on, like, expect to get hurt. Yeah. You know.

SPEAKER_03 42:16

Yeah, that's good. Um That's good. Yeah. What else would you want to say about yesterday? Is there anything that that you look at and you say we didn't get it we didn't get touch on it today as much as I would have wanted to, or maybe I didn't get touched on it yesterday as much as I wanted to. And I I want to make sure that that we hammer it home.

SPEAKER_01 42:40

Yeah. I I just um I heard it said with the the Romans 12 piece. Um Romans 12.

SPEAKER_03 42:49

Are you talking Romans 12 too?

SPEAKER_01 42:51

Yeah, go ahead, read it for us if you want.

SPEAKER_03 42:52

Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.

SPEAKER_01 42:58

Got it.

SPEAKER_04 42:59

So I think like when I look at that verse, you know, how are we we can easily look at that verse and be like, I'm not being conformed to this world. Like there's things that I do that are different.

SPEAKER_01 43:15

But maybe think about the things in your life instead of instantly like looking at, oh man, I'm I'm good.

SPEAKER_04 43:23

I go to church. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:25

Um what are some ways that you are doing what the rest of the world is doing? Yeah. And that would be conforming to the world. Yeah. Um it's I think it's easy at first. Once again, the enemy could be like working in our our mind of just like, oh, you're not that bad. You're not as bad as that person. Yeah. That person hasn't been, you know, a part of a community before. You you you at least at least meet with some guys. But I think what are some areas that I am just conforming to the world?

SPEAKER_04 43:58

Yeah, and in that scripture. Whatever we're doing that the rest of the world is doing, that's conforming.

SPEAKER_01 44:11

Like I mentioned this yesterday, but there was a guy that was saying, like, you know, if we are he would he was telling his kids, like, man, all my friends have a phone. And he's like, Good. That means we're not conforming to the world. Yeah. You don't. And it's a hard perspective for a middle schooler to understand that. But I think it's a good teaching moment. Yeah. What's God teaching me in this? But like, man.

SPEAKER_03 44:36

It's hard to teach a middle schooler that without teaching them to villainize everything around them and everybody around them. Which I get that that's a that's a challenge. Yeah, for sure. And I don't have one yet, a middle schooler. Yeah. No idea what I'll do.

SPEAKER_01 44:49

Yeah. And so even just to be like, yeah, it's you can have but you can have these uh these things, like but not do it like the rest of the world. Yeah, you know? So I don't know what that looks like for you specifically, but ask yourself what am I doing that the rest of the world is doing?

SPEAKER_04 45:17

And let that just renew who you are.

SPEAKER_01 45:23

So and let it be kind of a gift. Or let it be like a challenge to be like, man, what do I need to do to be a little different? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:31

So Zach, is there anything that stuck out to you from well we just kind of touched on you know, I think it was what's the lie, which goes all the way back to Mother's Day, yeah. The little panel we had on Mother's Day, and I think Nicole brought it up, What's the lie? And you kind of ended that with that yesterday, you know, what's the lie? I'll never change. The truth is God is still transforming me. Like to not don't get complacent. Yeah. But you also have to make the choice too. You know, and I think um the other one would be you know, God abandon me.

SPEAKER_04 46:08

It's really easy when you're in the dump to feel like I'm here all by myself, yeah, and you're not.

SPEAKER_02 46:16

And um, the other lies this season defines me. And you said the truth is my identity is Christ. I mean, all of them are you have to make the choice. You can't I mean he's there all the time. Yeah, you have to make the choice to follow. You have to make the choice. How do I get how do I how do how can I get out of this? Help lead me out of this, show me that show me what I need.

SPEAKER_03 46:40

And you know, yeah, it's yeah. That's good. That's good. No, Brad, I thought you I thought you did a great job yesterday. Grateful that you filled in and provided a different perspective than uh that I would bring for sure. And so uh excited for next week. Yeah, excited for our special guest. It is a he, so you now have four billion people to choose from. Yes. Other than that, man, we love y'all. Let me pray for you and then we will send you out to enjoy the rest of hopefully what is a beautiful, beautiful week. But let's pray. God, thank you for uh today. God, we thank you for uh each person in here. We thank you for those listening. God, we thank you for uh how you're working in our lives. Lord, we thank you, Holy Spirit, that you would be in us, that you would convict us, that you would teach us, that you would guide us, that you would continue to um lead us and speak to us. Father, we uh we know that confronting some of these things is a challenge. Lord, and so I pray that we don't shy away from that challenge, but that we would confront these things with boldness because we get to confront them through the power you've given us. Father, pray for each and every listener the thing that they could identify as what's bossing them around. Lord, we pray that they would be able to take that, repent for it, submit to you, replace the truth with the lie, or replace the lie with the truth, Father. And then we pray that they would begin to armor up, as Ephesians 6 says. I pray that people would go out and study. What does Ephesians 6 say about how to armor up, Lord? Because we just believe that that as we armor up in your armor, you fight the battle, but you're gonna protect us with armor, Lord. And so we're so grateful for it, and we're grateful for you, grateful for these conversations. We pray that these words that are spoken by man today, uh, that you work in the lives of each of us, that you plant seeds in our hearts, or that you help them to grow, Lord, and anything that's just of silly humans would be forgotten, but what's of you would take root. God, thank you for these opportunities. We pray blessing over each person listening. Cannot wait for next week's discussion. We love you in Jesus' name. Everyone's sin. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. All right, y'all. You will have uh special guest and Amanda back. You will not have me next week. So enjoy. Love ya.