Deeper Roots Podcast
We explore what it means to live a life rooted in Christ—beyond Sunday sermons.
Whether you’re planted in the church or still searching for your soil, Deeper Roots is your weekly reminder to stay grounded, ask better questions, and grow in the direction God is calling you.
Deeper Roots Podcast
Bonus Episode: Forgot to stop recording again
The mic was still on after our episode last week and a powerful conversation came up. The last church worship night really impacted us. Listen as we share our takaways.
Hey, deep Rooters. Is that what we're calling you guys now? We still haven't decided, but no full episode this Friday. However, we did record a bonus episode for one of our Encounter Worship Nights and we talked about it at the end of one of our previous episodes. We're going to give you guys this episode today until we can come back and do a full-on episode. So don't forget, you can text the pod, give us some topics, give us your reactions to anything and let us know what we should talk about next. Enjoy this bonus episode. We'll see y'all next week with a full new episode.
Speaker 2:While we're on here. I mean you can cut this off if you want, but what are y'all thoughts on? We had a really good night of worship on Sunday. On Sunday, how was y'all's time in the presence? I'll say it was very. I thought it was very powerful For one. You immediately sensed the expectation that everybody came in the house with and I don't know about y'all, but I still got a little bit of fleshly stuff that I'm dealing with. So immediately these thoughts come like okay, I feel all this expectation, man, sometimes is it going to be what I feel? It's like those things creep in, sometimes right at the beginning of service or something. All week I've been praying and and and seeking and, and you know that type of thing, and everybody comes and you could feel this big thing and you're like, okay, well, what is, what is, what is? Uh, you know you're believing and expecting.
Speaker 2:you don't know exactly what's gonna happen, but you're, like you know, want to you know, and then you feel this little bit of oh man, god, all right, come on, but I was not. I would say I was not disappointed and we had a great time in the presence of the Lord, just people seeking God. I love the way it was formed to be not just a concert. It's not just a concert. It was some songs played, but people were on their faces, praying, seeking, laying hands on each other. I mean, it was a beautiful, beautiful time in the presence. I didn't know if you guys wanted to say anything about that.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I totally agree. You don't know what to expect when you're going to those and I think not having a cap on your it keeps you from capping your expectation, if all you're expecting is just. I don't know what you're going to do. I don't know how you're going to do it. I just want you to be there, God.
Speaker 4:And whatever you do, I'm open to and I think that was the atmosphere that a lot of people had in there, like yes, they're going through things. You could see as they were dancing, as they were praising that.
Speaker 4:oh yeah, they probably battling something, the way they're praising over there, especially me being in the very back in the sound booth. But like it was, it was just a joyous moment. It even felt like and I'm in the sound booth, but it still felt like, even from song one, that something just broke. And after that it's like you ain't recovering in this.
Speaker 4:And if you are recovering, we're gonna pray for you later because there's no way to be in this atmosphere and not feel the presence, like, even if you're not intending to, at some point being close, being close to somebody, it was contagious. It was like a fire spreading in there and it was beautiful to watch, beautiful to see. I even know the people back there with me like and I was trying to contain myself. As you know, I'm Mr, I don't cry but I was back there like I ain't going to cry, but this is good, right here, like let's just go. Good, right here, like let's just go, like we just gonna go. I got to be focused, I got to be on the cues with this, this soundboard, but right now I'm like I'm about to leave the soundboard because I need to go out there with them and get in there.
Speaker 4:Um, the people in there with me was was feeling it. You could tell they were getting breakthrough back there, even controlling the lyrics, and I mean it was my age to younger. I mean we had even had a teenager brother that I felt like had a moment, even in the midst of it, and that was the beauty. Even seeing my kids, two and three. They were going in on Thank you at the very last song.
Speaker 4:I mean I couldn't see them for the rest of it, but that part, they were loving the atmosphere and it was just a beautiful, much-needed release and freedom. And I think a thing that a church needs is just like at this moment just cast your cares, just get here and just let go. And even I think it was great transition with Pastor Jason up there, the way he was and maybe it's just me, but the way he, because I knew the song list but the way he was saying certain things like yeah, I think this is a thankful moment and it was like literally like either the title of the song or a lyric from the song, but it transitioned and got them ready for what was about to happen next. So I think it just overall was a beautiful moment and it tied to earlier that day, like it was a carryover of what was released earlier into that night it felt like a pushing over the edge, I think.
Speaker 3:I think as a church we've kind of been on like kind of a corner for the last month or so, like it's just you kind of felt like it got right to the edge of of just kind of falling over, and I think Sunday was just, uh and and to y'all's point, like it did not take long. The reason I think it was a pushing over the edge and that we were already there is because it did not take long, like song one, and I just looked around the room. I was like what in the world just swept through this place? Because it was like it just felt different. The hunger was different, the anticipation was different and, of course, god fulfilled exactly what he said he would do. It felt different than anything.
Speaker 3:I don't remember a moment like that and honestly, in my lifetime, I don't know, I had my eyes closed most of the night so I don't know what was going on with everybody else, but really there were some moments where it felt like you know this, I don't know, it's just a sense of encountering the Lord and it's exactly what you guys asked for. What we asked for as a church is not just another song, not just another concert or worship night, and I had a few chances standing on the side, like in between speaking times or whatever, and I was able to look out and I saw very from the back to the front. It was involvement and engagement from everybody in the room, like it was, and I mean I wasn't able to see everything, but it was like there were no spectators, and I think that's the difference in having a night like that. Everybody knows, and so it just kind of it sets the expectation and from the back to the front, everybody, just like I don't care how long it takes, I'm here for him and it was. It was.
Speaker 3:It was a monumental moment for me personally and I think for the church, just kind of a pushing over the edge. I mean, we're five days after that and I think I'm still processing a little bit, still recovering, and, in all honesty, like recovering, like trying to understand what the Lord is doing and trying to ask the Lord, taking stewardship of where we are and all those things. So it was. I think what I've tried to the Holy Spirit's been reminding me this week is not to take moments like this for granted and not to treat them as if they were just normal, normal days. That was not a normal day for our church. It's something that we've asked the Lord for a while, and it was a threshold kind of marking moment for us.
Speaker 2:Amen. How do you think about like those moments? First, I will agree, it felt like it was maybe the first time I felt that many people it was like the you know, you think about the 120 in the upper room it's like it was felt like 100% participation, for lack of words, like everybody was there, everybody was expecting, but everybody was. It didn't feel like everybody was coming. You know, for a personal, you know sometimes you have worship night, the old, you know certain Pentecostal church or something, and everybody's there and you're promising everybody things. It didn't feel like everybody was there for stuff. It felt like they were there to go deeper in the presence of the Lord and to know him and to seek him more. But those things are. So nights like that are directly tied. Like you said, you were recovering and processing.
Speaker 2:Those nights like that are directly tied to your emotions and those times where it's like heaven and earth meets and your emotions go to a certain place that you can't really describe. How do you build off that? It's like it can almost be like the next day. It's like sometimes you're on fire and the next day it's it's a great day and this and that, but sometimes the next day, monday hits you in the face and you can almost go into like some sort of depression because the difference in emotions, when you're like you're in heaven, on earth and you're speaking to God himself and praying with other people and it feels like not just the presence of God that you bring, but it feels like a manifest presence is there and you feel like you're with the angels join.
Speaker 2:And then you go to work Monday and and Tuesday and life hits you directly in the face. How do you think like what's the, what's the way to move forward in the week and make sure? Hey, I mean cause you want to think in a physical, you know physically you're like, okay, so we've got to keep this momentum, so that you know whatever. And then, like I don't know, how do you work off of a night like that? I know it's not just a night, because we've led up to this moment, you know, both personally and on Sundays and with our church and there's a lot of things going on. But you know, I'm just trying to think about how to process those those high, and it's not just emotions, but I feel like emotions are a big part of why we can feel that big kind of almost you know, dramatic response the following day or the following days.
Speaker 4:And correct me if this is just what came to my mind and just thinking about me personally, um my focus and what? I'm looking at or for is different when it when life hits. Sometimes I almost feel like peter walking on water when he was looking at jesus and paying attention to him, he was pulling off a miracle.
Speaker 4:But the minute he shifted his focus, he started drowning instantly yeah and I almost feel like when I go to the encounter, I'm like, okay, god, like I said earlier, I don't know what you're gonna do, how you're gonna do it, but I just know I'm expecting you to do something. And sometimes when I the next morning, you get that phone call about something, or even in my life, oh, maybe I get a phone call about a bill, or I get a phone call about you didn't get this job, or you get an argument with your spouse or something like that, and I'm not looking at God, no more, I'm looking at me. I've become the center of this. How do I get out of this situation? Oh, you talk to me like, oh, pride kicks in. All these other things are my focus, and God kind of gets pushed to the side, even focus, and God kind of gets pushed to the side, even if I did pray sometimes.
Speaker 4:And this is me putting myself out there and being transparent, because if God is the same, the same God that was there Sunday and was giving me that moment, he's still there Monday. I'm just not looking for him. And this is just my personal view, it's not wrong or right. When I think about that. That's kind of for me. I feel like that's when I get out of line is when I'm just when I think about that. That's kind of for me.
Speaker 4:I feel like that's when I get out of line is when I'm more focused on the scenario and what the scenario can do and how the scenario is affecting me than keeping in mind that God is still here in that scenario. He's still with me. It may not look like I want it to, but he's still here, because on Sunday, to be honest, it was just that it was the weekend. That's the only reason I didn't get the same thing on Monday. On Sunday, because it was the weekend, they were closed. So it ain't like the situation wasn't there typically, but even when it does bubble, god is still there every day of the week. But that's just me.
Speaker 3:I think it's my mind immediately went to Matthew 17, the Mount of Transfiguration. When Jesus with his disciples they go up and Moses and Elijah are there and one of the disciples shared let's just build tents and let's stay right here, let's remain right here. And Jesus told him, said no, we're not staying, we cannot stay right here. And they ended up coming down from the mountain In Peter's flesh. His desire was I just want to remain right, Everything is perfect right here. And Jesus said no, no, we've got to come down. And they come down the mountain and there's an epileptic boy down at the bottom. His father is crying out to Jesus for healing for his boy.
Speaker 3:So my point is there are moments when our emotions, our adrenaline, our body is affected by being intensely in the presence of the Lord and I think those moments are marking moments for us. They should be marking moments for us. But I've struggled with this in ministry a lot and I've talked with you personally, rj, and I think you know, because Elijah in the Old Testament has an encounter on Mount Carmel and then right after that, in the next chapter, he's running in a place of depression from Jezebel because of a threat that she made to him. There was an immediate up and then down, and I think that from the Old Testament that's the picture of what even the anointing of God and a gifting can do to your physical body. It brings you up and then it almost feels like normal ordinary life isn't good enough anymore and it brings depression, it brings temptation. There's a lot of disappointment or dissatisfaction in those things. A lot of pride comes from those moments, and so I think what Matthew 17, what Jesus was teaching his disciples was how to navigate those moments, having the adrenaline field, emotionally field, expressive time in the presence of the Lord and let it affect both your mind, your body, your spirit, every part of you. Let it affect it, but then also know that your faith is not so weak that it has to remain there. You let those moments form what you know rather than what you have to feel. Does that make sense? Yes, sir.
Speaker 3:So when you experience the presence of the Lord, and then on Monday, when life comes and you don't have the feelings allow, then your, which is the strongest place to live from what you know, I know God is with me even when I don't feel him. I know that his presence is with me even when I don't feel him, I know that his presence is with me. I know that because of those moments they form what I believe and what I trust in. And that doesn't mean I always have to remain there. I'm actually able to go into hellish situations because of what I know.
Speaker 3:And so Matthew 17 is a high moment, mount of Transfiguration, but ministry, the mission field, the place where the glory of God was supposed to be demonstrated, not within the four walls, with 100% participation. You just mentioned that you got 120 in the upper room, but the Holy Spirit didn't let those 120 stay in the upper room. They stumbled out drunk, not as you suppose, but they came out of that and their ministry actually started when they came out of that. And I think for me, learning to, going from an anointed service and then going home to change a diaper, going from a place where you emotionally feel like I can't get any more excited than I am.
Speaker 3:I feel like I'm going to jump out of the roof and then going home to take the trash out for your wife. Neither one of those things are more spiritual than the other, just allowing the one where you emotionally, in an exuberant place, to actually form who you are when you do the ordinary things, and both of them are spiritual. You guys mentioned before about you know entertainers. That's the one thing that I would say. There is not a disconnect between my spirit, our spiritual life and our secular life. It is all spiritual. If we're in at the Mount of Transfiguration, we're seeing things transform, or if we're doing mundane things that nobody wants to do and we're writing a check for an electric bill, all of those things are spiritual.
Speaker 3:And they honor the Lord.
Speaker 4:I like the way you said it, though, because it makes you think too, because if you're not in that kind of environment, the minute you're in something that's like God's not here, god's not here, you just go through the motion when a lot of times you got recharged so you could bring that moment over to the next day in somebody else's life and things of that nature. So I love the way you you said that.
Speaker 4:It just had me thinking about that like a charge to recharge and then you get into the next day and you're gonna like. Well, god clearly left me on Sunday and he's only in that room or when I'm with those people and he's not with me, no more.
Speaker 3:We talked about this before, about communion with God, and I use date night with my wife as an example of that. The date night with my wife, there are no distractions, there are no hindrances. I enjoy those, I love those moments, but that's not the extent of my relationship with her. It should actually strengthen my relationship with her, because then in the morning, when we wake up and we're putting kids on the clothes or we're getting ready to go to work or we're cooking dinner, we have a lot of distractions. Then we have a lot of pressures and do this and you need to do this, and answering this phone, all those things. The date night was not the fullness of my relationship, but it was needed and so in this context, what we experienced on Sunday night is not the extent of our relationship. But also I want to speak against those who feel like we don't need moments like that or just be okay with you, don't need feelings and you don't need experiences, you don't need encounters. I completely disagree with that. You don't build your faith on those things, but they are great.
Speaker 3:In the book of Romans, the Bible says Paul writes about Abraham that Abraham was unwavering and he never doubted at the promise. That's what Romans says about Abraham's walk. But when you go read Genesis, there were three occasions when God had to remind Abraham hey, hey, bro, I promised you and I'm going to fulfill it. I promise you. And there were three times that God had to come back to Abraham and tell him man, I got you, I'm with you. But in Romans Paul says he never wavered, but Abraham was doing a little bit of wavering. Did Paul forget what happened with Ishmael and Hagar? Did he forget that God had to go back and tell him at least three times I promise you I'm going to bless you. I promise you I'm going to be with you. I promise you that I'm going to be faithful to my promise. And I think that's. The 25 years of waiting is the life of a believer. Our testimony at the end is going to be Romans when it says we never wavered. We always trusted in the Lord, but in the journey and so what I think moments like Sunday night did and I don't want to discount those because they matter.
Speaker 3:So I would encourage anybody who feels like that knowledge or academia or intellectualism or mental ascent is all that your relationship is with the Lord. You're missing out on encountering and experiencing a person. Our relationship is with a person. Those moments do not define our relationship with the Lord, but they assist and they help with the Lord. But they assist and they help and they add strength to it, and they're so needed. So our spiritual formation is not just academic information and it's not just experiences, but when you marry those two together, you've got quite a work of the Holy Spirit that is able to marry learning, scriptures, sitting and hearing with no emotion and then stirred also with the emotion of I can't explain what I'm going through, I can't explain what I'm feeling right now.
Speaker 3:When you marry those two together, I think you have relationship with the person.
Speaker 3:Again, with my wife, there are moments when I just you ever get that sensation where you look at a baby sometimes and you're like you just want to squeeze their cheeks off that is a scientific thing where you just want to like, ah, I love it so much.
Speaker 3:There are those moments when that happens. And then there are moments when you're just doing the ordinary thing and neither one of those is less love or more love than the other one. They both are and it's how you navigate those seasons and how you don't let one of them become too big or too small. You understand the value of both of them and treat it as if God is forming you, building your life on a solid rock rather than on something faulty. Your life on a solid rock rather than on something faulty. Last statement building it just on information is sand, the house will fall. Building it just on emotion is sand and it will fall. Experiencing sorry, experiencing with the person, both learning about them in information and learning about them in experience and encounter I think that's a rock and that's a person that you can build your life on.
Speaker 2:Amen, amen, amen.
Speaker 1:I'm glad I didn't stop recording. Oh, you didn't. No, I can't know that. Well, you took your headphones off.
Speaker 2:I thought you were going to slip them back on.
Speaker 4:He saw that what the leg on man.