Unashamed with Markus & Nehemiah
Join Markus and Nehemiah as they discuss life, ministry and living unashamed for Jesus.
Unashamed with Markus & Nehemiah
Episode 5: The Foundation That Withstands Every Storm
Faith requires daily risk-taking and intentional discomfort that pushes us beyond comfortable routines into transformative spiritual growth.
• Faith spelled as R-I-S-K challenges us to consistently share Jesus with others and live boldly
• Faith spelled as D-I-S-C-O-M-F-O-R-T reminds us that spiritual growth requires resistance
• Walking on water like Peter demonstrates how responding to God's word empowers us beyond natural abilities
• When God calls you to something, He either equips you with the gifts or brings people with the gifts you need
• Being content where you are doesn't mean becoming complacent – keep moving forward in faith
• Integrating faith across all areas requires consistency in identity regardless of environment
• True identity must be built on the solid foundation of God's Word, not shifting circumstances
• Spiritual disciplines like Bible reading, prayer, and godly relationships sharpen and strengthen our faith
• The tallest skyscrapers have the deepest foundations – let your foundation grow deep in Christ
Make sure you like, subscribe, and listen wherever your podcast is at.
yo, yo yo. Welcome to the unashamed podcast with your host, marcus, and nehemiah. I don't know if you guys know this, but we're starting something new. We start off every single episode with a funny question. So marcus hit us with a funny biblical question okay, here we go.
Speaker 2:if you had to survive 40 days in the wilderness, which bible character would be the worst? Camping buddy?
Speaker 1:Oh man, you know. So Samson had to be big.
Speaker 2:So he's eating Diesel.
Speaker 1:He's eating everything, but he's getting you a lot of food. It had to be one of the kings. I'm saying one of the kings.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm probably not trying to go to the wilderness with Pharaoh, you know.
Speaker 1:Like oh you know what I'm saying?
Speaker 2:he probably just is he gonna bring a whip? The best, I'll be in there working. If you're working, yeah, uh, you know I probably wouldn't want to go with you either just complaining like come on bro, I'm trying to hear that right now, bro, we're just trying to make it through david might be crying, so I don't know if I want to hear that either. Well, it depends on what season, what era.
Speaker 1:What psalm he's writing? Like what era are we in right now, David, he can sing, though how do we feel he can sing?
Speaker 2:Let me ask another one Go ahead. So who in the Bible do you think would most likely ghost you after saying I'll pray for you? Judas, judas, like that's my answer all the time, judas is probably gonna be like yummy, but if you sign up for this like subscription, if you get this premium plan, I can really pray for you 30 shekels, that's the monthly um, who in the bible would have had a true crime podcast?
Speaker 2:True crime podcast. I just feel like maybe not a true crime podcast, but it would be an interesting podcast to listen to. Jacob and Esau That'd be nuts. I just want to talk to Esau. I'm like bro, was this soup? Was it mom Was? It good, what was in it? What if he was just chicken little soup?
Speaker 1:I'm like they would probably be arguing on the podcast. Yeah, legit, I'd probably go with that Name it.
Speaker 2:Brother issues Alright man, let's get into this podcast. Once again, thank you guys for tuning in. Make sure you like, subscribe, listen. You know it's wherever your podcast at. So man.
Speaker 1:We got three questions today, uh, under the title of everyday faith. So question number one is marcus, what does walking by faith look like for you on a normal weekday?
Speaker 2:walking by faith for me on a normal weekday is am I, am I exercising my faith consistently? And faith, the way that I spell faith, is r-i-s-k. Am I doing something that's risky? Wow, and so, as an evangelist, am I in the spaces with people that don't know the lord and am I exercising my faith? Am I exercising what I believe? Am I sharing Jesus with somebody every single day, and it can be terrifying, but am I exercising my faith daily? If I'm at home all day, am I exercising it online?
Speaker 2:Am I posting something that maybe somebody who doesn't know the Lord is going to see. Am I willing to put it on my YouTube channel and ask the hard questions or preach the true gospel? Am I willing to put it on my YouTube channel and ask the hard questions or preach the true gospel? And so that's what, probably every single day, I ask myself.
Speaker 1:Yeah, am I risking it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what about you?
Speaker 1:I think it's a good one. I think walking by faith, let's just. I mean, if we just jump into that first word, I walk, I take it slow, I take time to observe where God is speaking to me today. So I wake up, I get in the Word and I just let the Lord speak to me. And I'm going to take a page from your book bro, all right so he said he spelled faith R-I-S-K. Come on bro, I spell it D-I-S-C-O-M-F-O-R-T.
Speaker 2:Come on, discomfort, discomfort, that's good.
Speaker 1:I spell faith discomfort. Where am I actively getting uncomfortable at in my life? Because I'm always walking in comfort. There's no way I'm walking in faith. Come on bro, there's no way I'm walking say that one more time bro if I'm always walking in comfort, there's no way I'm walking in faith.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so like I just think about I love this, like I feel like this is when when peter went and walked on the water, I feel like this is my. This describes my life with Jesus. It's like he had to get uncomfortable man. He was a fisherman, he left the boat and he walked on something that he wasn't naturally able to walk on. Like getting uncomfortable for me is walking on a normal weekday Now that's a weekday Weekends. I rest, I like to, I need my rest. You know what?
Speaker 2:you just said about Peter, though Peter heard the word of the Lord because Peter said Jesus, if it's you, tell me to come to you. So when the word of the Lord goes forth, it empowers us to do something that we couldn't do in our own strength. But when we respond to the word of God, it puts us in a position to walk upon the things that once would have killed us, us in a position to walk upon the things that once would have killed us. But whenever we take our eyes off the Lord and we put our eyes back on the struggle, we find ourselves that you're not walking by faith anymore. You're walking by sight. You're looking at the situation, but as we look to Jesus, the author and the finisher of, our faith.
Speaker 2:It will always empower us to do something we've never been able to do before.
Speaker 1:And I love that because it's instant feedback. It's instant feedback If you're walking in your call and you get off track, the Lord will speak to you. If he sees you're walking in faith, he's not going to leave you stranded. So Peter began to doubt and he began to sink. Sometimes you begin to walk in pride and humility, humblest Lord that's a scary prayer, so you get humbled because of where your heart was at. So I just think I love how God will give you instant feedback when you walk in faith. I think people get so scared that he's going to call you to walk on water and not equip you to walk there. Like wherever he calls you, he's also going to equip you for it. Absolutely, I've never had a desire to do something and didn't have the gifts to do it. Come on, you know, like I wouldn't have a desire to to build a rocket ship and go up into space?
Speaker 1:yeah, because the lord told you to and he would give me the wisdom to do.
Speaker 2:Give you the wisdom and what, what? Here's the thing, guys, those that may listen to this if god has called you to do something, he may not always give you the gift to do it, but he will bring the people who have the gifts so that you can do it say it one more time like, if god has called you to do something, he may not always give you the gift to do it, but he will bring you the people who have the gifts to do the task.
Speaker 2:I think sometimes we think we have to do everything like, nah, man, no, no, god will bring what you need. Come on, check this out when you need it, when you need it oh we want it all up front.
Speaker 1:I'm telling you, and that's that's what sticks out to me about this question. Most is like come on, how does walking by faith, what does that look like for you? Like, how am I, how am I taking my time and walking to the place? I never read in the bible where it says jesus sprinted to the next location? Why? Because he knew the difference between urgency and rushing. He was always urgent but he was never rushing. And so I can be urgent and sprinting the gospel but still be walking in my faith, absolutely. I think that's super powerful. I love that. You've taught me that. Yeah, man, I sit down somewhere Like you can calm down a little bit.
Speaker 1:I'm like we got to go. We got to go now, and it's not always now, it just might like we, I think. I feel like sometimes my biggest struggle is I feel like I have to be at a certain place, to be in my call, like I'm in my call right now. Every step. I'm in my call 10 steps ago I was still in my call, yeah.
Speaker 2:Cause our number one calling is to be sons and daughters. We get to be sons and daughters of the King, and the one thing I think about when we talk about faith. 2 Corinthians 5, 7 says For we walk by faith and not by sight. How do I grow in my faith? Well, according to Romans 10, 17,.
Speaker 2:Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. If you want to be able to walk by faith more, read the Bible. Wow, open up the word yeah, the word yeah. Let the bible be the foundation in which you build your worldview, because then it will give you the ability, by the spirit of the living god, to walk in ways that only the bible can produce. Yeah, I can have really good ideas, but if I'm not led by the spirit and if I'm not walking by faith, it will never produce fruit in my life. So if you're listening to this, walk by faith and walking by faith is going to require you to dig into this word yeah, come on, because you really don't understand what walking in faith looks like until you see others who have walked in faith.
Speaker 1:it's. It's like something I've questioned my whole life is okay, if I'm walking in faith, why am I still comfortable here? Yeah, if I'm walking in faith, why have I not grown yet? If I'm walking in faith, why am I not being challenged? I think a big thing, for I mean, even in muscle groups you need resistance to get strength, and so if you're not getting resistance, then maybe you just need a reframe of where I'm at Like. Am I walking in faith or am I walking in my comfort? Because just because you have peace in your comfort doesn't mean you're walking in faith and the only time you're going to grow.
Speaker 2:Come on, man, let's just talk to the athletes, for a second. Yeah, go ahead. We've all been at the two-a-days and the conditioning there is a certain level during conditioning where you're comfortable because you know you're in good enough shape where you're doing gassers. You can do just enough to just finish them, but you're not pushing yourself.
Speaker 2:If you live in that comfort, you're never going to grow. Same thing in the spirit. I have a certain level of biblical knowledge, but if I'm not stretching myself to know the lord more, to not to spend more time in prayer, to fast more, to read the bible, to find good resources and good bible teachers, then I'm walking in comfort. Yeah, I'm only going to have a certain level of revelation.
Speaker 2:But if I want to grow deeper with the lord and walk more by faith, is going to require me to do things that I'm not used to doing and getting uncomfortable. So listen, y'all get uncomfortable, because when you're uncomfortable it will produce fruit in your life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, bro, it's so powerful it's. It comes down to this concept that somebody taught me it's we're walking in contentment, but we're not staying in complacency. We're walking knowing that God has us here, for a reason and it's okay to be here, it's okay to not have it all figured out right now, but we're not staying here, and that's where the complacency is at. So I'm walking forward still, but I'm still walking. You know what I'm saying? I'm still taking my time with God that rolls us to the next question.
Speaker 2:Well, I got you. How do you integrate faith into your family, career or relationships?
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, I think so. For me we'll. We'll go to speak to you from a perspective here. So my family I grew up in a Christian household, pk. My dad and mom have always raised me in church, so it wasn't even so much of my immediate family, but it was. It's more of like the families, like my cousins or or or, even as it rolls into career, like the people I'm working with.
Speaker 1:So something I love about the job I'm doing right now, I'm working with my girlfriend's dad and we're in carpentry and we get to talk about every single day about Jesus. Before we go into work, we pray and we have our headphones in while we're working and we're always listening to the word of God. It's like make God available in all areas of your life. It's like the same thing that you do at church and you're loving and you're so peaceful with everybody. Roll it in every area of your life or other relationships.
Speaker 1:For me, like my friends or people who like walking in faith as well, is I have to talk to people that I normally wouldn't talk to. I get to talk to people who I normally wouldn't talk to. I get to talk to people who normally wouldn't be in my circle, but that's the only way that the gospel is gonna be spread, only way. And so for me, how do I integrate? It is is making sure I know my identity. So, no matter if I get around my family, my career or my relationships, I still know who I am and whose I am. So I can still be the man of God that I am at church in my relationships.
Speaker 2:For me, consistency is everything. Am I consistently the same person on the stage, at home, in the barbershop, in the grocery store? Because if I have to change who I am around my family, in my career, in my relationships, then I'm probably struggling with an identity crisis. I don't want to struggle with an identity crisis. I want to know who I am, every space I'm called to be.
Speaker 1:And how.
Speaker 2:I exercise. That might look different in some spaces, because I preach for a living. If I'm at home, I'm not just going to stand up and preach a sermon, but I can live that sermon out everywhere that I go. And if I want my faith to be real to me, I have to be able to integrate it into every single space that I'm in.
Speaker 1:The.
Speaker 2:Bible says Let your light so shine before men, so they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Speaker 1:So I want my light to shine every single space that I'm in because when my light shines, it shows I'm walking as a son and not as a servant For somebody who's maybe struggling with their identity, struggling with, like, honestly, who they are. Maybe they know that they're a child of God, right? Or maybe they don't. Where would they start? How would they get there? How would they understand what their identity is now, as the world is telling them they're somebody else for sure.
Speaker 2:I would say this man, first and foremost, for us to understand biblically not everybody is a child of god. God loves everybody, but not everybody's a child of god. The bible says to many he has called, he's given a right to become children of god so have you received the gift?
Speaker 1:of salvation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if you receive the gift of salvation, then you're in the family of god. And if you haven't, man, you can. You can take a moment now. But you know Jesus loves you, he's for you, but he also you know the Bible says that sin has separate, separated us from God, and so you have to understand that dynamic. Like you can't keep living in sin and call yourself a child of God. It's impossible. You're actually deceived. If I'm a child of God means I despise sin and I want to become more like my father and I want to hate the things that he hates. But if you're walking and struggling with your identity, man, you have to understand who you are first. Who you are. Like you can't fix you, so why don't you just lean into the God? Who can? He loves you, he sees you.
Speaker 2:He created you, like he says, before he knew you. He knit you together in your mother's womb. So if he knit you together in your mother's womb and you're here now, you have to understand this. He loves you, he's for you and it's time to repent and turn back. Yeah, because when I run into my father's arms, there there's so much joy and so much peace and so much love and so much acceptance. Listen, he doesn't accept my sin.
Speaker 2:He accepts me, and when he accepts me, it actually makes me repel and want to run away from my sin you know some of us can pray a prayer like Jesus I, I repent, yeah, but if you're not willing to turn away, then you haven't actually repented.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you've got to be willing to actually turn away from that sin. So if you're walking and maybe you have given your life to Jesus and you genuinely, you know, mean it, but you're still struggling with walking out your beloved identity, it's time to open up the Bible, because the Bible will tell you who you are. Amen, more than me telling you, the Bible will tell you. The Bible will tell you that you're accepted and beloved. The Bible will tell you that you're fearfully and wonderfully made. The Bible will tell you that you're not the hero of the story, but Jesus is. And when you've accepted Jesus in your heart, that's why you can walk with confidence.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the Bible says, those who wish to cross. That's so good, man, I think, for me, like we've been through so many different circumstances, whether you're with your friends, with your family, playing sports, right, I got to experience being a Christian athlete for a short period of time and I noticed for a little bit that my identity was always changed by the circumstance. So if my identity was changed by the circumstance, then it was always changed by the circumstance. So if my identity was changed by the circumstance, then it was always based in the circumstance, and I feel like there's a generation of people who don't know who they are, because everywhere they go, they change like a chameleon to where they're at. So it just reminds me of this verse matthew 7, 24. Every everyone, then, who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on a rock and then the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on a rock.
Speaker 1:And then it goes on to say in verse 26 and everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man foolish man his house on the sand, and I feel like j Jesus addresses two different types of people here People who choose him and people who don't, and there's people who are like the people who are in the sand. I feel like there's also a group of people who are just in the air, like you're trying to build your foundation on air, on nothing, and so everywhere you go you're just like a leaf going with the wind.
Speaker 2:What's scary about that is the two different homes or the two different people. They have homes that look the same, because you can't see the foundation Wow, you can't see it, but they look the same. Wow. And really, what produces or what shows you what kind of foundation is the trials of life. We go through trials and tribulations all the time, and that's why our foundation has to be rooted in something that can't be taken away or something that can't be shaken because we are going to go through hard stuff and if you're struggling with your identity.
Speaker 2:Your foundation needs to be rooted in the truth of what god says yeah not the truth of cool podcasts, yeah, not the truth of um of great theologians, but the truth of the gospel, when the gospel becomes your foundation then, you can actually build your house and it's going to stand. And what I've learned is the tallest skyscrapers have the deepest foundations. Let that foundation go deep in the lord.
Speaker 1:Don't just say give your life to jesus like let it grow deep yeah young believers, let your foundation be rooted in the truth, in the deep truth of who jesus is consistently that's so good, man, and we have to have a place to start, though, and I mean it really just rolls into this next question what spiritual disciplines have been most transformational for you?
Speaker 2:The spiritual disciplines that have been most transformative for me are consistent intimacy with the Father and this isn't just a wake up and give God my first five minutes of the day. Which those spiritual practices are good but it's like a consistent intimacy with Him. Consistently, I've been talking to God during this podcast.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I'm always connected to my Father Always.
Speaker 2:Constantly talking to Him. But some practical spiritual disciplines are Bible reading Like I can't understand who I am without the word. I can't understand how I'm supposed to live without the word. I can't understand how I'm supposed to be without the word. So letting the Bible, because as a preacher it's hard to find spaces to get in the word consistently. That's why I have to discipline myself, because discipline becomes desire. So I discipline myself to read the Bible every single day. I discipline myself to pray every single day. And there's actually some spiritual disciplines that wouldn't look like they're spiritual disciplines. But when I'm at home, making sure that I'm helpful around the house, making sure that I keep places clean and just be a helping hand because those are sometimes the most spiritual things that I can do it's just being the man that God has called me to be for my family.
Speaker 1:What about you? I think for me, obviously, reading the Word, like having a consistent, not just a time but a place, like where am I going that I can just really just hear from the Lord, for me it's my room and then my bathroom. Because, right before I go to bed, I take a shower.
Speaker 2:Come on. Somebody can relate to that? Come on.
Speaker 1:Man, I'm telling you those shower thoughts. Instead of them being secular, now they're transformative. And so I'm just always I'm trying to figure out how and what am I thinking about, Like where are my thoughts going? And so a discipline for me is like being transformed by the renewal of my mind. So how can I just think about things differently? That's good, Because my mind in my past life has always been secular and corrupt. And so how can I have a pure thought process? Sure, and so that the things that God is trying to speak to me aren't being corrupted by my own fleshly desires? So good, but we can't have that without setting a foundation on the word of God.
Speaker 2:And another discipline that I do is I make sure I have good people that I can talk to, good people that I can break the word down with, because you've got your pauls, your timothys and your silas's, and then you got your peters, your james and your johns yeah you have to know, like.
Speaker 2:So my spiritual pops, papa white side, he and I, I preached for 10 days last week, like 14 sermons. I'm preaching all the time. I would call him and we would just be talking about the word, like, hey, pops, here's kind of where I'm going, like, here's how I'm feeling, and it just gives me this. It's a regular rhythm now and it helps me look at the word through a different lens and it helps me filter it through leadership and it just helps me grow in my understanding of even the bible, and so that's one of the disciplines that I've I've put into practice and I have friends that are like my more, my peers like hey man, let's just you know, let's, let's talk you know preaching tactics and maybe some different.
Speaker 2:You know intros and just all these different things, because those things can be really healthy for the believer, just to have godly friends. Proverbs 27 17 says iron sharpens iron. So I'm a another.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:We're supposed to have relationships in our life that sharpen us.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But if I'm constantly hanging around people that are wood, at some point I'm going to get dull, and so I got to hang around the people that are going to keep me sharp.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's really good man. Well, that concludes another episode of the Unashamed podcast.
