Episode 37 - Reframe What Matters Most in Life

We reflect on Acts 20:24 and ask whether “Christian” is a label or a lived walk with Christ, sharing stories of shifting from sports and screens to Scripture, prayer, and obedience. We press into red flags, real growth, and how ordinary moments can become time with God.

• Acts 20:24 as a lens for purpose and mission
• moving from entertainment enthronement to a focused walk
• reading for meaning and praying for relationship
• measuring spiritual growth and spotting red flags
• obedience, repentance, and the lordship of Jesus
• everyday practices that turn silence into prayer
• suffering as a teacher that clarifies what matters
• discipleship language vs vague labels and cultural baggage
• practical next steps in Scripture, prayer, and community

Share this. If you're here in Rockdale on a Sunday, come join us. We are at the American Legion just north of town. Put it in your Google, you can find us. We have donuts, coffee, and fellowship at 10. Service starts at 10 30. We look forward to seeing you.

Transcript

Welcome Back And Setting The Stage

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Welcome to Let's Connect, the official podcast of Connect Church in Rockdale, Texas, where we want to help you to live a life that matters. One that is both on mission and has a purpose to follow Jesus and make disciples. So let's get started.

Acts 20:24 And A Life Reordered

SPEAKER_01 0:32

All right, welcome in to Let's Connect, the official podcast of Connect Church here in Rockdale, Texas. I am Bill Whitmeyer, and I'm here as always with our pastor Ken Ansel. Ken, how you doing today? Doing great. Right on the cusp of cooler weather and getting away from that warmer weather, which I know you know you thrive on. Yeah. You love that stuff. Me being the fluffy guy of the two of us, I'm more inclined to the cooler weather. You know. Turns out it's great. Yep. So uh we took a week off. Uh yours truly had to go across the pond to see his daughter, so it was a little hard to do anything. And um, you know, I do some sports stuff on the radio, and I actually forgot my microphone, so I was using a different microphone. It sounded like I was in a big cave, but yeah. Oh well. Yeah. They still got the scores. It's got all the scores they needed. So but uh we're back. Uh this is episode number 37. We are Let's Connect here in Rockdale, Texas at Connect Church. And um we do this every week. Try to get these out on Thursdays, and uh, I think I said that this is episode 37 now. Yeah. So we're moving right along there, almost 40. Uh we've been doing going through Acts in our men's Bible study group here, and this week we spent time in Acts 20, and I told you that uh, you know, and I think you said that you did it too. You did the sermon this last week on Acts 2024. And uh I've always had that underlined for a long time in my Bible, and when you get into there and you're you're you're going through this, um, you know, 24 says, but I do not account my life. This is Paul talking, he says, but I do not account my life of any value, nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. And you and I have talked a little bit about it, and you know, seven or eight years ago to today, the nurses told me that over the last seven or eight years ago, that my focus on worldly things, on things that are in actuality very important to the world, but not to someone whose walk with Christ is where it should be or it or is heading in the right direction. And over those years, those things that used to be so important to me have become less and less important. You know, I d I I'm kind of a stats geek. And so I kept spreadsheets with sports stats on it, and I was just eaten up by it, and I just just lived for it.

SPEAKER_02 3:27

Yeah.

From Sports Idols To Seeking God

SPEAKER_01 3:28

And and it and it occupied a place in my life that was too much. And uh, you know, I played a lot of fantasy sports and I did a lot of that stuff and and I invested tons of my time. I think we talked about this one time even on this podcast, you know, before COVID, during football season, you have three pro games on Sunday, you have three or four on Saturday, you have Thursday night football, you have Monday night football, and then you have high school football on Friday nights. It it was easy for me to spend a full 40-hour work week of just nothing but football. But COVID killed that. Because quite honestly, you can only watch so much of the cornhole, you know, league on TV, pickleball league on TV. And and it and it be and I really, you know, that's when my my serious walk with God had really started to really become serious, and I realized, man, I wasted so much time in my life in the last 30 years paying attention to football, specifically football during football season. Just a whole work week of my life. Yeah. I work 40 hours, I watch football 40 hours, and where's my family? Where's where's God come into play there, other than that one hour at church?

SPEAKER_03 4:47

Yeah. Well, that's Romans 8.28. God working the pandemic out for people's good that are willing to be pliable and and uh let him shape and use external circumstances for his good, his, you know, the individual's good and God's glory. And then man, that testimony should be the testimony of every person that says they're following Jesus, which is the definition of a Christian. You know, if you say you're a Christian, you you need to be following Christ, you need to be living his life, experiencing what he experienced. And, you know, all of us, you know, I mean, we've got out in the garage, we've got, you know, I think we've talked about this, the, the, the, the, uh, the door frame from our house and walks a hatchy, where we measured the kids' growth and the grandkids', you know, physical growth. And I mean, that's we should all be able to, like, like Melissa was doing with you, we should all be able to measure our spiritual growth uh in the same way. Like where we were in 2020 isn't where you are in 2025. That's right. And that shouldn't be unusual. Unfortunately, it is, and it's why we're mesmerized by testimonies like that. We're like, you gotta share that at church. Well, everybody ought to be able to get share that at church.

What Does Being A Christian Mean

SPEAKER_01 5:57

Yeah. I mean, in and what you just said a minute ago, you the the uh where where is your life as a Christian? Where is your walk with God? You know, we we get so focused on that word Christian, and I and I told you earlier somebody asked me that. They were listening to a podcast, and the the question on the podcast was, Well, how do I know I'm a Christian? And you know, Christian is such a and I hate to say this, but it's it it's it's really a blanket covering word that has lost a significant amount of its meaning over the years. And the question needs to be not so much am I a Christian, but am I in a walk with Christ? Where am I in my walk with Christ? Is it a serious walk or is it one where you know I I'll I'll I'll walk with him on Sunday when I walk into church and when I'm when I'm singing and then when I'm listening to pastor and then I'm on a walking out to my car, but um but where is the walk the rest of the week? And so when you ask yourself, Am I really a Christian? That should be your question, teacher asking. Where where is my walk with Christ? And it's not something that I'm asking you to come tell us about, it's something you have to realistically answer yourself because you know that goes back to what I used to tell my kids was I'm not there watching you all the time, but God is. Yeah, and so you can you can kid yourself about it and say, Oh yeah, oh yeah, I do this. You know, last night I was getting ready for bed and I realized with everything that's gone on in the last week, week and a half, with Melissa and I traveling and other things, I really haven't and and I carry my Bible everywhere I go, but I really had not spent time in my Bible and time praying like I normally do. And it was easy for me to to to because I'm traveling, because I'm doing this. But that's not you know, that's that that that's not a it's an excuse, it's all it is. It's not a valid reason for not doing it, and I know that, and you know God knows that too. And so I can tell people, yeah, I took my Bible with me and I I cracked it open and I looked at it, but did I really, you know, did I really carve those hours out of my day or that half hour or that hour out of my day each day, like I like I normally do while I was gone and while we were traveling? Not really.

SPEAKER_03 8:27

Yeah, not really. Well, there was a trend probably 10, 12 years ago, where a lot of um people were like, I'm I'm kinda done using the term Christian to describe me. Like I'm a disciple, I'm a person of the way, which are old school, right? I mean ancient terms. Yeah, so I mean I get what you're saying. And when it just Christianity just almost, you know, rummage sell, right? What does that mean? I mean, it's kind of a little bit of everything. So what does it mean to be a Christian? You know, are you and and you read from Acts 20, 24, I mean, Paul, I mean, Paul wrote the letter to Galatians and in Galatians 2, 20 when he says, I have died, and it is now Christ living his life through me. I mean, that's what he's describing in the passage you read. It's like if anybody got, you know, he says, I my life is worth nothing unless I finish the work that God has given me. And that should be the the cry of every Christian. Everyone's following Christ should be over themselves. I mean, that was the title of you know, that was the message Sunday is like, get over yourself. This isn't about you.

SPEAKER_01 9:30

You you know, and we say things and we don't even realize we're saying, I'm like, I I can't wait for I can't, I can't wait to, you know, I can't wait for the Baylor game on Saturday if you're a Baylor fan or if you're a TCU fan or a Texas fan or an AM fan or whatever you are, you know, I can't wait for that game, or I can't wait for this. When do we ever hear anybody say, you know, oh man, I can't wait for church on Sunday morning, I can't wait to get there, you know?

SPEAKER_03 9:52

Or get up and read your Bible and speak to God. I mean, yeah, keep going.

Relationship Over Religion: Word And Prayer

SPEAKER_01 9:55

Yeah. Yeah, you know, and and and and we we when you say those things, when you focus so heavily on those things, that becomes your focus, and you take your focus off of God. You take your focus off of spending that time with God. And when you're reading the Bible and you're, you know, we sometimes we fall into that habit where we're just reading word to word to word to word to word, and we're not actually reading the meaning, and we're not really reading the Bible. We're just reading the words in the Bible. When you're reading the Bible, when you're reading and you're reading it for meaning and for understanding, you're spending time with God right there because these are God's words. Yes, relationship. Yeah. And when you're and when you're when you're praying, and and not just praying because, oh God, help me get through this test, you know, or or or or whatever, but when you're just praying and and praising God, and we you know we you've talked about this before. How many times have you just prayed just to praise God, not to ask for anything, not to ask for any anything at all? I remember I had a I had a preacher one time at a church I was going to in in California, and you've lived in California, so you can understand this too. There's churches like this everywhere. And I remember this pastor got up and said, uh, if you want God to move for you, you want him to do something for you, then you have to praise him before you can ask him for a favor. And I thought, what on earth are you talking about, man? And ask him for a favor. God, I love you, but could you please whatever, you know? And I'm like, man, okay, well, that's not, you know, that's not really what that's sincerity, huh? Yeah, yeah. High sincerity right there, boy. That's true. And so, but you know, reading the Bible, praying, spending time with God, you you run, and while you're running, you're you're spending time with God. And and you know, when when uh when I'll come home every now and then, and you know my work schedule is is pretty crazy, but the nurse's is pretty standardized, and she's usually home, and there's lots of times when I'll come home a little later and she's been home for a while, and she's got this walking path that she's beaten down out at her place. And um probably the fourth or fifth time that we were uh I got home and she was coming in and and we got to talking. I said, What is it that you're you know, because she's not she doesn't have a headset on, she's not she's not listening to music. I said, What is it you're doing? She goes, I'm praying and I'm I'm talking to God. And I thought, wow, that's yeah, that's uh that's that's really awesome, you know, to to be in that situation and and and so you know, and she she's obviously walking because you know her, she's very natural about her medical remedies and stuff, and walking and being in the sunlight is important to her. Yeah, but she also uses that time to get closer to God. And and I think a lot of us when we're driving down the road, we're listening to our favorite music. Yeah that's time you can spend. Um it it's always there.

SPEAKER_03 12:53

Netflix at the gym. Yeah, Netflix, yeah.

Walk With God In Everyday Moments

SPEAKER_01 12:56

Yeah, yeah, I I you I watch people, they do that all the time too. I I listen to a lot of podcasts, but I've I've kind of over the last few years gotten away from that and gotten more to where it's just quiet in my car and I'm just thinking and concentrating on stuff and praying and and and whatnot. And um but but having those times when that's it when that's the important thing to you, not the you know, I can't wait to get in and listen to the new Taylor Swift album. I can't wait to get into the car and and and and pop on Netflix and put my phone down and and and and have that in the background, but to to I can't wait to get in the car and talk to God and and get lost in a little prayer and and and just praise his name for a little while. Right on. And you can do that anywhere, you know. Um I remember uh you know, years ago I had to go through a program in the Navy called Sear School, which is a uh mock prisoner of war camp. And you have to go through the training for a week, and then the next week you spend out in the high desert of California, and the last three days you're in a mock-up of a of a Vietnamese style prisoner of war camp, and and they rough you up pretty good. I mean, they'll they'll they'll smack you around pretty good, and it's made to be intimidating like that. But but when we were going through the program, um we had a gentleman there who w was one of the instructors. There were three of them that were had been in the Hanoi Hilton in Vietnam. And uh one of the guys asked him, said, you know, what was the when you didn't have anything to read, when you didn't have anything to do, what did you do? And he said, I spent a lot of time with God. I can imagine. You know, he said I spent a lot of time with God. It it he he was there for seven years, and he said that seven years um taught him what was important in life and what wasn't important in life. Oh man. And uh he he's uh he he went through the fooler school out there and he's an ordained minister now, but he also came in and taught in that class life saving skills and stuff like that while you're in that. But it it and it and it didn't hit me that much back then, being 21, 22, and full of you know fire. Wow, yeah. All you had to do was ask me, I'd tell you. Sometimes you didn't even have to ask me, I'll just tell you anyway. But as I got older and and I read my Bible more, I realized how many times Paul was in that situation where he he was and and we forget that Paul wasn't a popular guy with the with the world. No, you know, and and even with some Christians he wasn't that popular. But when he was in prison, he made the most of his time in prison and spent it close to God. He wrote a lot of his letters while he was in prison. He changed the lives of a lot of prison guards and people that were around him in prison, and he never gave up. He even said, God, if you want to take me and take me home today, I'd be so happy to go home today. But if you it's your will that I stay here on the earth and continue on, then I'll be happy doing that too. And and he did it in prison, out of prison, and eventually, you know, was killed, wasn't was martyred. But but um where are we with that? As I as I reflect back and um and I think about the those lectures from that gentleman, and I can't think of his name now, that was 30 some odd years ago. But as I reflect back on those lectures, I realized the message that he was trying to impart to all of us, even in a military situation, even in a government situation and military situation, was that even in that horrible circumstance where he was tortured, where he was beaten, where he was singled out and and everything, he still found that that seven years changed his life for the positive because he had a relationship with God that he even said I might not might not have ever had had I not been there. It taught me what was important, all those things he thought was important, and he mentioned, you know, he had a like a 34-foot sailboat that he sailed out of San Diego all the time, you know. And when he got back, you know, his wife had sold it to make ends meet and stuff. And she was really worried that he would be upset when he got home and the sailboat was gone. Yeah. And he just told her it doesn't matter. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That doesn't matter. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:23

And so that's where if we're not, you know, you're talking about earlier you said how do people know if they're a Christian? Yeah. Well, if you're not growing in your relationship with Christ and you want to spend more time and more time and more time and those material things, if they're not becoming less and less and less, then that's a red flag. You know, if you don't have, I mean, we get a new heart with new desires. And if we're not longing, right? We're still fighting the flesh, the flesh lights it likes a sailboat, or uh, as Randy said Monday night, he goes, I don't even have a kayak, you guys are ahead of me. And uh so you know, if we're not becoming, if if those things aren't becoming less and less, then something is wrong. I mean, why don't we want to spend more time with the Lord in his word, uh praying and walking and enjoying creation, like you were talking about the nurse, you know, being in the sun, uh just leveraging that time with God, uh desiring to serve him and be obedient to him. I mean, one of the things we talked about Sunday is Jesus said, Why why do you call me Lord, but but you don't do what I say? Lord means master. Paul uh over and over identified himself as a slave. And and then Jesus also said, you know, why why you know your your your your lips say one thing, but your heart is far from me. And then and then the big red flag is is how do you know you're a Christian? Jesus said because you obey my commands. And and you know, over and over we see habitual failure in that in that regard. We we do sin, right? So we will not always obey all the commands all the time. But people that are just habitually in unconf we've talked about this, unconfessed, unrepentant sin, that's a red flag. Do those people know the Lord? Doesn't matter what they say, you know? I mean, boot boots in the oven doesn't make them a biscuit. So, you know, what and it's scary. I mean, you know, I've talked to some people, and how do you reconcile the way you live with God's Word? And some of those people tell me, hey, um, yeah, you know what? You're right, I'm not a Christian.

SPEAKER_01 19:31

And that's the scary part. It is scary, and then they realize that, and they're st they're they're still all right with it.

SPEAKER_03 19:36

Yeah, and they're not saying, but I want to be. Uh help, help. No, I've never had any of them say help me. That's true. They're just they're just cool with it, you know. I mean, I was just, man, I had to go to the cardiologist this morning, and I'm just sitting there in that waiting room is packed, and and I just thought, you know, most of I mean just scripturally, right? Yeah. Narrows the road, few find it. So most people that we meet and most people we know are not Christians. I don't think a lot of Christians understand that. And so I'm looking around that room and I'm like, wow, most of these people right, most of these people are not Christians, and most most of them don't even they're not seeking or want to be. Like Fido walked him through the road to Romans, they'd probably just said, Hey, that's good for you, but I'll pass.

SPEAKER_01 20:20

I mean, how many times is the word Christian used in the Bible? Three. Three. Yeah. And it's not it's it's almost a derogatory term, you know.

SPEAKER_02 20:30

It still is in 2025.

SPEAKER_03 20:32

Yeah, it is. It's becoming more and more, yeah. And and I mean, it is a negative to be a Christian right now in our culture.

Suffering, Perspective, And Paul’s Example

SPEAKER_01 20:39

It it well, it is. It's can you I mean a lot of people will immediately call you a hypocrite or a racist or whatever when when when you when you're labeled with that. And you're right, it has you know I remember when we were coming up with the with the title work on this podcast and stuff, and we used the term discipleship and somebody who who uh I dearly love, and then a couple other people that that I know really well question the use of that term, and you and I talked about it for a while, and in the end we both just said, you know what, that that's what it is. It's it it's it's and and a lot of that is because the word Christian it means it it should mean one thing, but it means another nowadays. And we don't abandon it.

SPEAKER_02 21:25

No.

SPEAKER_01 21:26

But we need to use terminology that really expresses where we should be discipleship, walking with God. Yeah. You know, it a a true Christian is a disciple and makes disciples and walks with God and is repentitent and and spends their life, you know, they're gonna spend their life. They're they're going to sin because it w we are sinful by nature and and and it's our human nature side that does sin, but it's that repentance, it's that desire to be more, that desire to work through that, to desire to grow in your walk with God that is what it means to be a Christian. And here's the thing, I can't I if I see it, I can tell you. And and I should, uh you know, out of my love for you and my desire to see you go to heaven, I should, and you should the same w with me. But we're we have access to ourselves all the time. And we can make those judgments of ourselves all the time. And in many ways, we're our hardest critics, but in so many other ways we let ourselves off with a lot of stuff that we probably should not. Right. And so, I mean, how do you how do you find that all out? Man, you get in the book. Yeah. You get in, you know, you you can read through the old testament and and I would, but but get into that new testament to start with. Yeah. Especially the gospels, especially Acts and Romans. You know, Romans 12 is a great one to go to. Um it it just you just need to get to that place where you know where you where where your problems are and you know what you need to do to fix it, and you love God and you want that relationship with God, and it and it's and it's not just to get baptized, join the church and slam dunk the ball. It's a lifelong commitment to working at this. And and unfortunately it's not as easy as what everybody thinks it is. And a lot of people give up, and a lot of people just go and say, Hey, I was baptized, I'm a member of such and such church, yeah, I'm a Christian. But are you? You know, is that person really? And and you know, that's that's that's what they have to come to terms with with God on their own. We can help them and we can talk to them, but we can't take them there.

SPEAKER_03 23:59

Yeah, there's probably a lot of Matthew 7 people, you know, Jesus says, Depart from me, I didn't know you. And there are people that that served in the church. Uh that that breaks my heart to even think about. Yeah, we want everybody, God wants everybody, right? Whosoever will uh may call on the name of the Lord and they'll be saved. And that's what we want. It's what God wants.

SPEAKER_01 24:20

Yeah. All the time. That's a good place to stop right there. Stop right there. So I think it's my turn. Yes. So dear Lord, I thank you for all that you do in our lives. We love you so much, Father, and I just praise your name and ask you to work through this podcast to help folks every day. And hopefully that what what what what they're listening to will will come into their heart. You'll come into their heart and you'll take over that. You'll work through Ken and myself to let people know your message and know what you want from them and what they need to hear to be that Christian, to be that disciple, to have that walk with you, Father. I pray that you would watch out for us all and help us to continue on in our path and become closer to you so that we all might hear that. Well done, my good and faithful servant, someday. For it's in Christ's name I pray. Amen. All right. Well, that will do it for episode thirty-seven. Want to thank everybody for listening. Share this. Um, I talked to a lady today at lunch. She does not have Facebook, so she didn't even know we were doing a podcast. I said, Man, have I got a gift for you? There's 36 episodes for you to listen to, and she was excited. So she, you know, so hopefully she'll go home and get through a bunch of them. But um share this with your friends. Hopefully, this helps you. It helps everybody else. If you're here in Rockdale on a Sunday, come join us. We are at the American Legion just north of town. Uh, put it in your Google, you can find us. We have donuts, coffee, and fellowship at 10. Service starts at 10 30. We look forward to seeing you. And if not, then we'll talk to you again next week.