Ep. 1 What Does It Means To Be Faithfully Invested?

Transcript

 Are you ready to build a life, business and legacy that truly lasts? Welcome to Faithfully Invested with Alan and Stacey, Joe Thorn, where Faith meets real talk. Biblical wisdom meets everyday life and leadership meets laughter. Together we will uncover God's blueprint for leadership, marriage, and mission, helping faith-driven leaders invest in what matters most.

Each episode, we explore biblical wisdom, have real conversations, and of course, have some fun along the way because let's be real. Walking in faith is an adventure. It sure is. So pull up a seat, grab your coffee or your sweet tea, and join us as we steward our callings with intention, because when we invest in his kingdom, he brings the increase.

Alright, so let's break it down. Why are we here? What is faithfully invested? What does it mean to be faithfully invested in God's blueprint for leadership, marriage and mission? You're talking about the podcast. You said, why are we here? I was like, oh, wow. She's getting deep so early, man. Why are we here about the podcast?

We're, we're actually my amazing husband. We're, we're actually here to fulfill our purpose. Yeah, and that's. What Faithfully invested is all about. It is God's God's blueprint because we believe that every part of our lives, whether it's leading in business, stewarding our finances, or growing in our marriage, is it's all an investment.

Mm-hmm. And the question is, are we investing in things that last? Are we building our lives on God's foundation? Is Jesus Christ our cornerstone? Is it our foundation? Or is it his foundation? Because the word says his foundation is rock solid, but ours is somewhat like, you know, sand. It is, yeah. Sandy foundation.

No bueno. No, you can't build your house upon the sand. Can't build your house on the sand. But that's why our key scripture is Matthew 6 33. That's a good one. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and. All these things shall be added unto you. That is faithfully invested key scripture.

It's, I also like, uh, Matthews, uh, 1128 through 30. Yeah. I won't go through the whole thing, but the, the basis of that is, you know, take my Y Jesus says, take my yoke, take his yolk upon us and learn from him. Mm-hmm. Man, what a journey that is. Right. What journey that is. Not always easy, but certainly worth it.

And it's always an adventure. Yeah, always an adventure. Always an adventure. So let's, but in all reality, in, in a faith-based reality, if God isn't first, I. Everything else is out of alignment. Mm-hmm. Identity out of alignment. Right. Finances out of alignment. But when we put God first, when we truly seek him first, everything else aligns.

So when, when what I found, uh, and my last. 16 years of walking with the Lord. And that's not a whole lot of time that when, when I decide, when I make the decision to follow and align my life, our lives with. Mm-hmm. With the Lord's word, then. Faith grows. And when faith shifts, everything shifts and we align so that we might abide in his word.

That's right. And, and so that's exactly why we started this podcast, to help you build a life that is fully aligned with God's purpose. I mean, we're still walking. We're still walking in that too. We're not, you know, it's about progress, not perfection, but we wanna help you and come alongside you in doing that.

But. I wanna do something. Before we get into all these deep topics, can we have some fun? Yeah. I mean, absolutely. I'm all about fun. All right. Okay, so let's do a little rapid fire question and answer so people get to know us a little better. Uh oh, come on. It'll be fun. Yeah. Okay, let's go. All right, so my question for you is if you could have dinner with anyone from the Bible besides Jesus, because you know that's the obvious choice.

Um, who wouldn't wanna have dinner with Jesus, but who would it be and why would you have dinner with him? Man, I might be a little apprehensive of having dinner with Jesus. I don't know. Oh, you know, kind of on the spot there, but, but back to the question, who would I have besides Jesus. Mm-hmm. Who would I, there's, I, I do got, I got a couple.

Uh, I would've to say first, first and foremost, you know, Peter, uh, Peter was a little uncomfortable eating with a Gentile. So I think my first. Oh, uh, I might choose Peter. Peter. He was, he was, had the strong will man. Uh, and I said, yeah, I, I, I, I dig Peter's style, man. He was, uh, I don't have money for you, but what I do have is, uh, get up on your feet and walk in the dude walk.

So, you know, yeah. He had the power and the authority of Christ and he knew how to use it. But Peter was, uh, uncomfortable. He was a little, he was a little late coming around eating with the Gentiles and right. Gentile, I'm a gentile, so it might be cool to have dinner with Peter to see if, uh, you know, it was a real deal if he was all right.

Eating with at the 21st Century Gentile. You're getting a little deep. Oh, well, you know, so is that the only person that you, I mean, you said there were a couple, so, yeah, I like, I mean, if you're gonna go with Peter, you gotta go with Paul. All right. You know, and, uh. Paul man, he, that guy, uh, I would definitely rather have dinner with Paul than Saul, you know, I mean Oh, right.

The, the whole, the whole. Transition and that, that's the definition of who Christ is right there, man. Yeah. Uh, but to have dinner with Paul, to, I mean, that guy persecuted the Christians, but he turned around and he wrote two thirds of the New Testament and became the most influential, arguably the most influential Kingdom builder.

Yeah. Uh, of all generations. Mm-hmm. And, uh, he was all. For Christ. And I, I would like to hear about his time in the ra, uh, the Arabian Desert. I'd love to hear how he handled his opposition with such boldness, and I would just love to hear how he suffered for Christ. Mm. Yeah. Singing the hymns in the prisons.

Yeah. Getting, you know, he, he, he lived it, man. Yeah. He lived the, the, he lived for Christ. He, uh, he suffered for Christ. Uh, and he, he. He died for Christ. He walked the walk and he talked the talk. He did. Yeah. And so it might be, uh, I, I don't think it might be, I think it would be very interesting to have dinner with Paul, I'm sure.

But, you know, um, Peter as well. All right, let's keep moving. All right. I love that. So next question is, what's one thing people would be surprised to know about you? Surprised to know about me. Surprised. Mm-hmm. I guess if we're gonna. It depends on who you're talking to. People who know me from back in the day, or, uh, people who know me now, you know, well, let's, let's say people who know you now, uh, modern day, uh, people that actually call, right.

Anyway, uh, um, I, I would, uh, something might surprise someone that I go to church with currently is that I'm an old school metalhead. Ooh, yeah. Eighties. There you are. Eighties rock. Um, yeah, I've seen a lot of shows and a lot of time. Mm-hmm. It used to be an idol, what I've discovered, what I has been revealed as an idol.

But, you know, if you, um, if you turn on some of those old eighties songs, I, I might just sing along with you. Oh yeah. You would. Yeah. Yeah. You would. For some of 'em, we some, some of 'em we choose not to listen to anymore. And, uh, some of 'em we do. Uh, but I do, uh. I do really appreciate some Tom Petty, you know, you too.

But as far as, uh, I, I mentioned old school metalhead. I'd have to say if I, I, I, I will admit that I turned on a little of the, uh, the Bronx Bombers. The, uh, I don't even know if they're from the Bronx, but the, uh, a little anthrax yesterday, and that was, it was kind of fun, you know, a little clean, clean rock and fun.

Okay. But, uh, anyway, all right. I'm glad I wasn't home for that. I, you know. It was fun. Okay, well it's your turn. What question? What questions do you have for me? I want to ask you what that look was for

anyway. Um, so a question for you. So what does it look. What, um, who do you look to in the Bible? What's the, in your, from your perspective? The, uh, your most influential woman? Mm-hmm. Uh, in the Bible. Wow. Well, you picked two and to save time, I'm only gonna pick one, although there's many. Um, but I'm going to have to say Esther for me.

Esther is. Probably I remember as a, a little girl, like reading the story of Esther and being just aside from the fact that she was just a queen and what little girl doesn't wanna be a queen when she grows up. Right? But she was so bold and she was so courageous and she had no idea, you know, when she stepped out in faith, faith, she stepped out in faith because that woman had some faith.

Yes, she did. 'cause she could have died. I mean, if that king didn't put out the scepter Yeah. It would've been off with her head. Might've been off with her head. So I love that she was such an incredible leader and I would love to sit and chat with her. Yeah. Regardless of the circumstances. You didn't ask me if I wanted to have dinner with her, but, but, um, but I would in a heartbeat.

She's. She's probably the one I'd choose to have dinner with. 'cause I would wanna know how, I would wanna know how, how she was feeling. Yeah. When she walked into that palace to speak to the, into that room to speak to the king. Right. What would you have for dinner with Esther? What do you think that dinner might consist of?

Well, am I, if I'm gonna make her dinner, I'm gonna make her my grandma's pot pie because it's the best pot pie. I mean, that's my comfort food. What's your comfort food? Nobody knows what my grandma's pot pie is. It's not the pot pie that, that you think it's not the crust with the chicken and the vegetables and all that.

Oh, you're getting into weeds later. I am, but you know, they gotta understand that grandma's pot pie is, you know, it's, it's, it's more like on the lines of beef and dumplings. Yes. Very. Yeah. It's very good. Delicious beef and dumplings. Well, that's my comfort food and I think. I wanna know what your comfort food is.

Well, that's no secret. Anybody that knows me. Pizza. Pizza, hands down, pizza, hands down, no questions. Pizza. Yep. So, because Pizza's, pizza's always the correct answer. Right. You know, and, uh, to you, I'm not even like a big pizza person, but I will eat it once a month just because I, yeah. We wanna have it because I love it so much.

We try to keep it down to once a month. Yeah. 'cause you know, we, we're not 20 anymore. All right. Well we should probably get back on track. So, but listeners, I want you. To DM us or comment on today's episode post with one fun fact about you. I think it would be fun to learn more about our listeners. Right, right.

About, yeah. About you. Yeah. Because this, this po I mean, we, we talk on this podcast, but this podcast is about you. Yeah. What, what, you know, through our experience. You know, we can learn. We learn through, through books. Mm-hmm. And we learn, but more so we learn through life, don't we? Yeah. We learn through our experience.

Yeah. So, so this, this podcast is about what we've learned through our experience. Mm-hmm. And, uh, walking, uh, with Christ and with each other. Well, that's a really great segue, Alan, into what we wanted to talk about next, because we were. We'll come back to the questions on another segment. I think there's a lot more we could unpack about ourselves.

Right. And they may have some questions about us as well. So, but right now I really wanna talk about why we started this podcast and what is faithfully invested really all about. You know, it's more than just a show, it's a kingdom movement. Mm-hmm. I think if we're gonna do anything these days. It's gotta be a kingdom movement.

We gotta be looking to take back the ground. Yes. Right. We gotta take back ground. Mm-hmm. For his kingdom. Yeah. And we're not gonna do that on our own. You know, we can only absolutely do that as, as we're called and, and we've been called. Mm-hmm. Uh, because we believe that when you invest your life in God's way, that he brings the increase.

Yes. He brings the increase and. To help guide that journey. We created the invested framework. I love the invested framework. It's eight powerful principles straight from scripture that will shape every season of this podcast. Yeah. Very cool. So we wanna walk you through what it means to be faithfully invested.

And the framework for invested starts with an ac. It, it's an acrostic and the I. Stands for intimacy with God. So we start here because everything begins with relationship. This podcast is about helping you press into God through prayer, worship, and listening to his voice, learning to hear his voice, and listening to his voice so that you can lead and love from a place of overflow, because we have to be overflowing.

If we're not, we can't lead from an empty vessel, right? And we can't lead people to somewhere we haven't been led to. No, very good point. Right. Very good point. And it's even better when we've been led there by Jesus and the Holy Spirit. That's, yeah. Right. So it's an, the acrostic, the, the i is is the first letter and the acrostic for invested.

Yes. The acro, the acrostic is invested. You just said it's an acrostic. And I stands for, but it's invested is the acrostic and the n uh, the second letter in the acrostic, that's invested stands for nurture. A servant's heart. Yeah. Uh, leadership in the kingdom looks like washing Jesus' feet. And that used to seem a little creepy to me, but man, talk about humility.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Lemme say that again. Leadership in the kingdom looks like Jesus. Washing feet. Mm-hmm. Well talk about how we can lead our home, uh, how we can lead at work, and how we can lead our ministries. With humility and compassion. Yeah. 'cause we have to, and then the V in invested is value what God entrusts.

He en he entrusts our time. Finances, gifts. He's entrusted us with resources and we're here to help you steward them wisely for his glory. You know, he, how, how is it, um, to. Spit it out, woman. I'm spitting it out to one much is given. I'm trying to remember how that, how that scripture went. All right, well, moving on.

Moving on. We value what God trust. Nail it. Next time I'll nail it next time you're up, babe. All right. So the E uh, the first E in invest it is embrace unity. Mm-hmm. Uh, whether it's marriage or business partnerships, ministry team, unity is not just nice, it's necessary. I like that. It's not just nice, it's necessary.

Yeah. It is. Says C. The, the common, the common misconception for Christian, that to be a Christian is that we're just gotta be nice people. Mm-hmm. Man, this walk is about way more than just being nice people. It's, it's walking with him under and in his authority. Yeah. Uh, unity isn't just nice. It's necessary.

Yeah. So we'll explore what it means to walk in agreement with God and with others. 'cause it's not just a great suggestion. It's a great commandment. It is Love God and love others. So the S stands for Stand in Faith. So let's be honest, I mean, life brings storms. We've had storms. We've had many storms.

Storms. Lots of storms. Big, big storms, smaller storms. Been there. I know you've had storms, right? But we are called to walk by faith, not fear. Who? Yeah. That's hard sometimes. Faith hard got no place is so hard. That's right. Actually, faith has. All the plays here, fear's got no place here. Oh, whoa, whoa. Yeah.

Whoa. Excuse me. Yes. But these, so these conversations are to encourage you and to trust God when it's hard and obey him when it doesn't even make sense. And sometimes it doesn't make sense and we have to, I'd say especially when it doesn't make sense. Yeah. Especially when it doesn't make sense. That's what it's all about, following him, especially when it doesn't make sense.

Exactly. Yeah. So the tea, moving on to tea, that's tithing and giving generously. Don't shut it off. Don't listen. Generosity is the heartbeat of the kingdom, the heartbeat of the kingdom. I remember when Stacey and I came together, uh, she was, she was teaching me about the title. I was like, what do you mean give, give money away?

And, uh, so she, I. That's the only place in the Bible that the father said, where God says, test me in this. Mm-hmm. And, uh, so I started giving it away. And it started coming back. Yeah. And I gave some more away and it came back and we don't give, so it comes back. But, uh, we, we'll talk about, we give that a generosity.

We give that a generosity, but, uh, I, I put it, I'll put it to the test. Mm-hmm. And I'd encourage you and, and, and we'll talk about this. Uh, we're gonna talk about money, but we're gonna talk about it from God's perspective, and, and we will talk about the tithe and we'll talk about generosity because when we release it, he multiplies it every time.

Every time. Yeah. Hands down. Every time. Hands down. And I, I, I told my buddy the other day, I was like, Hey man, he, he is want wanting to make more money and this, that, and the other. I was like, Hey bro, you wanna make more money? Give some a it away. Mm-hmm. And she's like, what? I was like, trust me. Yeah. I was like, don't trust me.

You can trust me, but trust him. Yes. You wanna make you want more, you want more finances, you want your finances increased. Give some of it away in Jesus' name. That's, that's a, so the E then stands for Establish a Kingdom legacy. So we're not here to build just for today, y'all. We're here building for eternity, whether it's our children, our business, or our ministry.

We want to help you create a legacy that outlives you because it's all about. Legacy it's all about and building the kingdom. That's it. And how do you wanna be remembered? Leaders. Building leaders. Yeah, building legacies. Absolutely. That's it. That's awesome, babe. Thank you. That's awesome. So D Yeah. Nathan is for disciple and Multiply the great commission is for all of us.

And he said, go. Go and make disciples of all nations and we're gonna help you discover how to live on mission in your everyday life. And multiply what God has put in your hands. Yeah. So if that's what your heart longs for, if you're longing for a deep relationship with your creator, if you're longing for real leadership, if you're longing to understand, or at least start with faith of what Kingdom stewardship is all about.

And, and have a life that makes a difference. Do you wanna live a life that makes a difference? Do you wanna leave a mark? Do you wanna leave a legacy? My hand's up? Yes, you're definitely in the right place. But if you, listener, if you're, if you're curious about any of that, then you're in the right place.

Stick around. We look forward to, uh, hearing your comments or seeing your comments, rather in the, in the dm. Yeah, so we're excited to go on this journey with you. So let's build something that lasts, because when we're faithfully invested, God brings the increase. So we will see you next time. We will see you next time.

And don't forget, if you're listening while you're driving, keep your hands on the wheel. How? How do you say that? Keep your eyes on the road. Your hands upon the wheel. There's your eighties. That's actually seventies. Oh, seventies. That was a Oh, okay. Yeah, that was Morrison. Uh, and you know, those guys made their mark in like two and a half years between the time that they hit.

Wow. And the time that he died was two and a half years. Okay. Anyway, we'll have to talk about that. You're digressing. Fun fact. But, fun fact in the weeds.  📍 But, hey, we have fun here. Thank you guys. We do have fun here. Alright, this has been a lot of fun and we look forward to seeing you next time.

Take care. God bless.

 Thanks for joining us on Faithfully Invested with Alan and Stacey. Joe, if today's conversation encouraged you, challenged you, or helped you see your calling more clearly, don't keep it to yourself. That's right. Share it with a friend. Leave a five star review and keep leaning into God's blueprint for your life, your leadership, and your legacy.

So until next time, remember, when you invest in his kingdom, he brings the increase.