Full Throttle Faith

Click here to support Talk About It!

For more information or booking details, visit www.donmsmith.com

Welcome to Season 10! We’re kicking off a brand‑new series called Full Throttle—and this season is all about what it looks like to live wide open, pedal to the metal, all in for Jesus.

Let’s be honest: too much of modern Christianity looks like a casual Sunday afternoon drive. We coast. We take our foot off the accelerator. “It’s not convenient to go to church today.” “I don’t have time to read my Bible.” We’ve lost our fizz, our bubble—we’re lukewarm, and Jesus said He’d rather spit that out.

But within every one of us is a call to run—not just to finish, but to win. Paul says, “Run in such a way as to get the prize” (1 Corinthians 9:24). Of over 300 leaders in the Bible, only one‑third finished in the will of God. I don’t want to run hard and finish soft. I want to reach full stride at the finish line.

Full Throttle is an all‑or‑nothing proposition. No middle ground. You can’t keep one foot in the world and one foot in the Kingdom—you’ll just get hurt. We’ve turned the Gospel into a buffet: “I’ll take forgiveness and heaven, but skip sexual purity, honesty, and tithing.” That’s not following Jesus—that’s inviting Jesus to follow you. Many call Him Savior but have never surrendered to Him as Lord. They’ve bought in, but they haven’t sold out.

God, on the other hand, went all in for us. He didn’t hold back His only Son. Jesus didn’t go part of the way—He went to the cross for all our sin, all our sickness. The Gospel costs us nothing, but it demands everything. It’s free, yet it requires your life.

So here’s the question: Are you daily having a Bible time that changes you? Are you daily worshipping, submitting, and saying, “Search me, God”? Are you sacrificing your time, money, and comfort for the King who gave everything for you?

It’s time to quit living as if the goal is to arrive at death safely. I don’t want to coast into heaven. I want to go in full stride, pedal to the metal, running to win.

Let’s shift into First Gear. Let’s go Full Throttle.

Key Scriptures: 1 Corinthians 9:24-27; Acts 20:24; Luke 9:23-24; 2 Corinthians 5:21

Transcript

Season 10 And The Big Theme

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Hi everyone, Pastor Don Smith here. Welcome to the Talk About It Podcast, where we take relevant topics with a biblical point of view and we talk about it. You know you want to, so do I. Let's talk about it.

SPEAKER_02 0:23

Well, welcome back, everyone, to the Talk About It Podcast. I am Don Smith, your host for the podcast. And if you're a longtime listener, you knew that already. I'm so grateful for all of you guys. If this is your first time listening to the podcast, welcome. Where you been? We've been waiting for you. I'm so glad that you're here. Those of you who have been longtime listeners, you might notice a little bit of difference in my voice. It's it is springtime heavy pollen season here in Michigan, where I live. And I think I've got a little bit of pollen going on, but we're gonna make it through it. Listen, y'all, I'm so excited you're all here because this is season 10, episode 1. Can you believe it? Can you believe that this is our 10th season, our 10th topic? Now, if you don't know what we do here on Talk About It, we take a relevant topic with a biblical perspective and we talk about it. And we base that whole topic, we give that a season. And so we take a number of episodes and we just talk about that uh for that particular season. And then when we're done with that topic, we move on to the next one. And so this is episode one in season 10. I am glad you're here. Now, if you're wondering, we this is our 110th total all-time episode. That's right, over two years of podcasting, and we have over 110 episodes on the podcast. So chances are, if there's a topic that you want to hear our biblical perspective on, we have probably talked about it. We've talked about forgiveness and depression and spiritual warfare. We've talked about all kinds of things. We've talked about marriage, we've talked about biblical parenting. Come on, somebody. Y'all know, y'all know the way we roll around here. And so today's no different. Now, we ended last week, and uh that was our last episode uh of season nine, and and here we are in season 10. We got this new episode going on,

Why We Hold Back Our Faith

SPEAKER_02 2:20

and I'm excited about it. I I want you to understand, I'm really excited about it because they're just expressing my spirit about what it means to live wide open for Jesus. Okay. About what it means to live full throttle for the Lord. Because I think that in the grand scheme of the current culture in the world that we live in, right here in 2026, there is this tendency because we're afraid of not being politically correct. We're afraid of not uh flowing in the current theme and thought process of life. We're afraid we'll get, you know, rejected and those type of things. There's this tendency, I think, sometimes to pull back, if you will. To pull back and not to live wide open and out loud for Jesus. Now, I'm a pastor, you guys know that, and and I'm excited about uh who I am and what I do, and and I love the podcast, I love everything that we do on it, but I really want to spend a few episodes here in season 10, and I want to talk about what it means to live wide open for Jesus. And I don't care where you go to church or what style of worship you appreciate, okay, what denomination you belong to, those things don't bother me at all. I I've been, I've I've preached the gospel in 20 different countries. So you can imagine I've been involved in all kinds of styles and flavors and seasons of different kinds of worship and atmospheres. Uh those things don't bother me at all. But none of those things should dictate how we live our faith out loud. Okay, and I really believe that it is time that God is calling the church to live out loud for Jesus. And so that's what I want to do here on season 10, if you're okay. Now, all of you guys who are supporting, I thank you so much. And we're gonna talk about that a little bit at the end. Uh, and uh, I'm so honored uh really to be uh in a place where you think enough about what we're doing that you would support us. And uh you can support us through prayer, through sharing the podcast, through monthly support. It's it's an incredible thing. So I'm excited for all of that. But what I want to do is encourage all of us, okay, whether this is your first time listening to the Talk About It podcast or you've been a longtime listener. You've been here since the very first episode. This is your 110th episode with Talk About It. I'm grateful for all of you, and I want to talk about what it means to live out loud for Jesus. Is that all right? Here we go. Now, this is a this is a term I think that maybe I grew up with, you know, that full throttle term. We're talking about going full throttle, living out loud, living wide open for Jesus, all in in our relationship with Jesus Christ. And the reason that I want to talk about this is because today Christianity, I think, is seen as some kind of casual Sunday afternoon drive. Let's just go along with the flow. Let's just, you know, get there. It'll be okay. Pastor Don, don't be so radical about it. Or what we think is we can just coast in our relationship with Jesus and we can just take our foot off the accelerator. Uh, because you know what? Sometimes, Pastor Don, it's just not convenient to go to church. Sometimes, uh, you know, I just don't have enough time in the day to read my Bible daily. I'm just gonna coast. It's about a daily thriving, blossoming relationship with Jesus Christ. That's what I want to do here this season. I want to tell you that it's about a diet, a daily thriving, blossoming relationship with Jesus Christ. So you know, so I want to shift some gears here. Okay? I want to shift some gears and I want to go into gear number one.

The Pedal To The Metal Picture

SPEAKER_02 5:59

Let's just start. Let's just start moving through the gears on this this season. I don't want to talk about putting the pedal to the metal here, about how we live for Jesus. How many of you can remember your dad's car when you were little? Okay. Or maybe it was like your mom's van. I love this. I can remember. Maybe your mom's car. And and you know, you can you remember riding in the car and just wondering, I wonder just how fast this thing will really go. Right? Now, I I remember, I remember uh my dad's car, and I remember looking over at the speedometer, and I remember the speedometer, you know, it was now it's all digital, but back then it was uh it was a peg, right? And I I remember the speedometer rolled all the way around over to 120 miles an hour, and then there was a peg, and that was as far as it would go. And I remember as a young guy thinking, will it really go 120 miles an hour? Or can it go faster? Listen, if you're a guy, you know what it, you get it, you know what I'm talking about here. Guys, understand this, right? Guys, you you're gonna understand, right? Now, ladies, you're just gonna have to go along with this for a minute, right? But if I'm driving, I don't care about nothing. Every car in front of me is the competition. That's just uh that's just PD talking to you, okay? Uh, you know what I'm saying? Like, and and I'm gonna have to pass them. And my wife, sometimes I'll start passing a car, and my wife's like, What is going on? Are we in a hurry? And I'm like, no, that car's in front of me, and I just want to be first. Hello, somebody. Do it, as any guys listening that feel the same way. I just want to be first. I just want to be first. I'm and my wife will go, she'll say something like this, Well, we could get in the slow lane and and just go along with everybody else. No, there's a fast lane. How come everybody's always slow in my role? Listen, I'm I I this the way I feel about it sometimes, and I know maybe I shouldn't, but this even the way I live my life for Jesus, like I want to be a winner for Jesus. Within the the heart of every person who loves Jesus, I believe there is a call of the Lord. Well, how how do we how do we do that? There's a call for the from the Lord to live out loud for him. And you're saying, okay, Pastor Don, uh, how do we do that? Well, you know what? For the next few episodes, I want to challenge you. I just want to stretch you a little bit. All right. And I and right now, even as I talk about this, I think I'm just seeing in my mind's eye a rubber band. And you know what? A rubber band is only useful when it's stretched. Hello, somebody. And so I believe that as believers, we're really only reaching our full potential when we're being stretched by the word of God and by the Holy Spirit. I think it's time. In the world that we live in, and in 2026, in this modern-day culture of political correctness and wokeism, I think it is time to quit living as if the purpose in life is to arrive at my funeral safely. Oh, I'm it that's that's it seems away, that's the way we want to live as Western world Christians. We just want to get to our funeral comfortably. I just want to be honest with you right now. I don't I don't want to coast into heaven. I don't I don't want to go into heaven that way. I I want to go into heaven full stride. 1

Run To Win In Scripture

SPEAKER_02 9:29

Corinthians chapter 9. Interesting what Paul does here. He says that I think it's verse 24. He says, Um, do you not know that in a race all of the runners run, but only one gets the prize? And when he says that, then he he follows it up and he says, run in such a way as to get the prize. So like Paul is agreeing, I'm agreeing with Paul. I shouldn't say Paul's agreeing with me. Um, I'm agreeing with Paul that like I want to live my life in such a way that I win. Hello, somebody. Paul he encourages us. He compares the Christian life and living for Jesus as if we're in a race. And he says, run in such a way that you win. Hello, somebody. Some of your translations might actually say, run to win. Why? Because we need to run to win. Our culture. Okay, the culture of this world has bled over into our faith in Christ. We're not we're not gonna keep score anymore. Why? Because that's not politically correct. We we we don't we don't want to make losers and winners. We don't keep score anymore because we don't want anyone to lose. That's my friends, that's not the reality in life. Hello, somebody. In in softball, I'm uh Church League softball has just started, and I love it. I'm I'm like, guys, we're up 14 to 1, way to go. And they're all like, yeah, let's go. And then some someone else is like, well, maybe we should just, you know, we should just kind of uh, you know, hold back a little bit. Who's keeping score anywhere? I am. I'm keeping score. There's this mentality that his has hit our culture that you shouldn't win. And I don't know, that's not even biblical. How do you know that, Pastor Don? Because Paul says, run in such a way that you would get the prize. So what's full throttle? What's living wide open for Jesus? What's living, what's living out loud for Jesus really about? Well, if you ask me, and this is my podcast, so I'm glad you asked, it's about finishing and winning the race. In Acts chapter 20, uh, I think it's verse 24. It says, I consider my life worth nothing to me. My only aim is to finish the race, complete the task that the Lord Jesus has given me, the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace. What's the task that God has given you? Talk about it. What's the task that has been assigned to you? And are you running with that vision? Are you running in such a way that God has called you to run and in such a way that you're ready to win? And back in 1 Corinthians chapter 9, it's 25. Everyone who competes in a game goes into strict training. I like to lift weights. We go into a training season and we lift weights so that we can get stronger. Paul says, Well, they do that to get the crown that won't last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. The truth of the matter is, the older I get, the less stronger I'm gonna get, even as I work out. But the more I walk with Christ, I'm gaining a reward that's gonna last forever. And so we're we're running to win, talk about it. We're running to complete the mission that God has given us here on earth. Of over 300 leaders recorded in the Bible, do you realize that only one-third of them finished in the will of God? Hello, somebody. I don't want to run hard and then finish soft. I want to reach full stride. When I get to that ending and when I get to the finish line, I want to be there at full stride. I want, I want that to be some of the best days of my life. That was some of the most productive season of my life is what I want my testimony to be. Not that I took the foot off the accelerator. Full throttle is an all or nothing proposition. There's no middle ground. And so what I found today in the modern day ideology of Christianity is that too many of us want to keep one foot in the world and one foot in the kingdom of heaven. And any guy will tell you that you're gonna get hurt if you ride the fence. I'm gonna say this again because I want you to get it. Any man will tell you that if you straddle the fence, eventually you're gonna get hurt. I'll let you think on that for a little bit. You

Lukewarm Faith And Lost Fizz

SPEAKER_02 14:16

know what Jesus said? He said it this way. I'd rather you be hot or cold, but if you're lukewarm, I'm gonna spit you out of my mouth. Now, let me give you a southern boy analogy here. Is that all right? Because when I read Jesus and him make that statement, I know exactly what he's talking about. I know exactly what he's talking about here. And so the best analogy that I can give you, now in Florida, where it's 109 degrees outside where I grew up, and it might be like 140 degrees in someone's garage, and you're over at somebody's house and they say, Hey, would you like a Coke? And I would say, Hey, yeah, man, I'd like a Coke. And they'd say, Okay, what kind? Well, you just asked me if I wanted a Coke, and I said, Yes. Yeah, but what kind? A Coke. They said, No, no, no, do you want a Dr. Pepper? Do you want a Sprite? No, that's a Dr. Pepper or a Sprite. Anyways, I said, I want a Coke, okay? And they said, All right, great, we'll get you the, you know, the red can, the Coke, right? Okay, so here's the deal. What's happened is they've been sitting around this island in the kitchen, okay, and they walk out into this garage that's 140 degrees, and you can feel this mass heat going on. There's no refrigerator out there, and they go out there where they've been storing the canned coke, and they bring it in, and they open the top, and they get some ice out, and they're gonna pour a 140-degree can of coke over ice. Listen to me talk about it. That's lukewarm. All the fizz is gonna be gone, and it's just like nasty. It's just like nasty. And too many Christians are that way. What happened? What I'm trying to say is too many Christians are people who've lost their fizz. You've lost your bubble, you've lost your fizz in life, and you're lukewarm and watered down, and God wants you to run for his kingdom full throttle. I love it that Jesus summarizes it a little bit in Luke chapter 9, this all or nothing kind of attitude that I'm talking about today. Uh it's 23, Luke 9, 23. Then he said to them all, Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves, take up their cross daily, and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. You know what he's saying? He's saying we all have to die. He he we have to lose it. We have to cash it in. We have to give it up, we have to surrender. But here's the way Christianity looks today. Would you like to make Jesus Christ the Lord of your life? Oh, yes, I would. Well, look, step right up here to this buffet and tell me what you would like. Oh, ooh, here's what I'd like. I'd like, oh, oh, I want some of God's forgiveness. I have a double portion of that. Or, oh, give me some of that eternity. Wow, that looks good. I want some of that. Oh, sexual purity? Nah, I think I'll pass on that. Telling the truth and honesty and transparency, no, don't need any of that. Let's just get a little more of that uh salvation and heaven and forgiveness of sin. I don't I don't want to talk about any of that. Well, what about tithing? Oh, no, wouldn't want any of that. That looks out of date. That looks expired. I don't think I want any of that. And so what we do is we create this smorgasbord of what we want to pick and choose. It's kind of when we look at the Bible, some people look at it as kind of a cut and paste ideology and theology. I like this and I'll use that. I don't like this, so I'll cut that out. I like this. And here's the result of that. Talk about it. We end up with a false religion and a false God that's created in our own image. And we're supposed to be created in his image, but we've made him into our image of what we look like and what we want. And so if we're gonna take the pill, what I'm saying to you is we need to take the whole gospel. We need to take it that this is God's word, every part of it, who God is, and who God says I am. And I'm not gonna just take part of the Bible, I'm gonna take all of the Bible. I'm not just gonna believe part of the truth, I'm gonna believe the entire truth. And some people think they're following Jesus, but really they've invited Jesus to follow them. Jesus, come follow my will. Jesus, come follow my purpose, Jesus, go in my direction versus submitting and yielding. And it's kind of like an inverted gospel. Instead of us following him, we've invited him to be followers of us. Oh, I said it. So many people call him Savior, but they've never really surrendered to him as Lord. Too many people have have bought in, but they've never sold out.

SPEAKER_00 19:11

They haven't gone full throttle.

SPEAKER_02 19:15

So here's here's what I want to know, and here's what I want you to answer.

Daily Surrender And Real Change

SPEAKER_02 19:23

Are you daily having a Bible time and experience with God's word and God's word having its influence in your life? Are you daily worshiping the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords? Are you on your knees and your face? Are you submitting yourself to God? Are you daily coming to the Holy Spirit and saying, Search me, O God, and know my heart, know my thoughts, everything in me, search me, know my ways. And if there's anything unpleasant to you, change me and transform me. If there's anything I need to add, Lord, put that in me and take out anything that's not of you. Here's what I want to know, talk about it. Are you daily sacrificing and giving all and laying your life down for the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords who laid his life down for you? Are you sacrificing your finances and your resources to communicate the gospel and support the local church? You want the church to support you, but are you supporting the local church? Oh, I'm talking to somebody. How come it is that people can be so unfaithful and so uncommitted to their local church? But as soon as they have a problem, they want the local church to drop everything it's been doing and be faithful and committed to them. I thought this was a relationship. That's for probably another podcast season. Let me say this to us Are you having life transformation between you and Almighty God? Because here's what I do know. Too many churches are focused on stop it, stop it, stop it. And so all that does is make people come and go and feel bad and feel bad and feel bad. So all I say to you is, are you having a daily encounter with the Lordship of Jesus Christ? Is he daily changing you, transforming you, and renewing you and reviving you? Is is he having an influence in your life? And are you sold out completely that you've lost completely your will, your ambitions, your motives, and your life 100% in dedication, consecration, and sold-out sanctified aspect to his lordship?

SPEAKER_00 21:42

Wow.

God Goes All In For Us

SPEAKER_00 21:45

Because here's God's deal. God's all in for us. Oh my.

SPEAKER_02 21:52

God's got He He's like, I've got one son, and I'm going to sacrifice him for you. There's no What if this doesn't work? There's no what if this goes south? There's no what if this goes bad? He said, That's it. I'm giving it all for you. Second Corinthians chapter 5, God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Watch this talk about it. Jesus didn't go part way for you, He was all in for you. Jesus didn't go to the cross so we could be forgiven of most of our sins. He went to the cross to redeem us from all of our sins. Jesus took the stripes on his back, not so we could just be healed from most of our sicknesses and diseases, but from every sickness that is named or unnamed, and it must bow and surrender to the name of Jesus. By his stripes, we were healed. We get God's mercy, and we get God's grace. You see, mercy is not getting what you deserve, which is the wrath of God. And grace is getting what you don't deserve, which is the righteousness of God. God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us. So what was God doing? Talk about it. That everything you've done wrong is forgiven and forgotten. That's what God was doing. And everything Christ did right is transferred to your account. Let me say this again. People ask me all the time, what's God doing? Well, here's what God is doing. Everything that I've done wrong is forgiven and forgotten, and everything that Christ done right is transferred to my account. And God is saying this, I'll take the blame for everything you did wrong, and I'll give you credit for everything I did right. Wow, come on, talk about it. That's good news. You see, the gospel cost us nothing. It's free, but it demands everything. It cost us nothing, but it demands everything. And it's demanding our life out loud and wide open. That's what it's doing. Talk about it. Man, I don't know about you, but I want to live wide open for Jesus. I really do. I'm not talking about in a oh, I don't know, a religious kind of way. No, talk about it. I'm talking about it in such a way that my life is fully dedicated, surrendered, and submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. I don't want to live silent anymore. I don't want to live in some ideology of the culture that I live in. I want to live out loud, wide open, full throttle for Jesus. That's what we're going to talk about the rest of this season. We've got some great things planned for us. I'm so glad that you're here. Listen, thank

Share The Podcast And Support

SPEAKER_02 24:57

you for being here. And I just want to say to all of you who support, who give me encouragement. Someone, even this past Saturday night, just said, Hey, Pastor Don, I've been listening to your podcast. You do know how that blesses me. I love you guys so much. And man, I just go home so encouraged when I hear statements like that. Do me a favor, just share the podcast on your social media, pray for talk about it, that our influence will continue to increase. And if you can, think about supporting us on a monthly basis. I use all that money to get to Africa and train pastors. Hopefully, going to be there at the end of this year doing that again. It's an incredible opportunity. Maybe sometimes I'll spend a whole podcast just talking about that aspect of it. But for now, I love you guys and I'm so grateful for each and every one of you. And I want to encourage you to live out loud for Jesus. I want to encourage you to live full throttle for Jesus. And that's what we're going to do here, man oh man. What a great time we've had today. Talk about it. It's been good. Listen, I can't wait for the rest of season 10. Maybe my voice will be better. Keep praying for me. It'll be an amazing journey for us all. I love you, but I need you to remember something. As much as I love you, Jesus loves you more. And I'll see you next week. God bless.