EP 27 The Influences and Influencers with Special Guest Logan Gilliam

This week we discuss the importance of knowing not only what influences you, but as well as your children! This world is very good at exposing a False Gospel! So you have to ask yourself the question again, What is the Truth? We are joined this week with Logan Gilliam! Logan shares his life from childhood, to coming to the Saving Knowledge of Jesus Christ shortly after High School! 

Thank you all for joining again this week. We pray you continue to walk in accordance to God and HIs Word!

Special Guest: Bro. Logan Gilliam

Bro. Lane, Bro. Zach, Bro. Phillip, Bro. Ryan, Bro. David

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:10

Welcome to the Pick It Up Podcast, the podcast where we'll discuss what it means to pick up your cross and follow Christ. Living a life where Christ takes commitment, sacrifice, and ultimately being obedient to his word. Not only on Sundays, but every day. God's word says it, that settles it. So pray about it, practice it, and proclaim it. Let's get into it. He goes out of every podcast I got watching.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

We try to hit them.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

Drum roll. Drum beats. Drum roll.

SPEAKER_06 0:45

I got the same head on.

SPEAKER_03 0:46

Yeah, sorry. We are uh pro staff. GG.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

Ryan finally got pro staff. GG. Well how to go full house today. Yep. Yeah, we got a uh full round table. Well, a little tea table up here, but close enough. We got Mr. Logan Gillam as a special guest this week. What's going on, Logan? How are you? Oh, I'm doing good. It's a pleasure to be here. Logan LG. LG has been wild happy. LG.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

LG been with me since I can remember. Five years old.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

I've been called LG. Well, he's a G. We're glad we got you on this week. It's been a little bit since we've had a special guest.

SPEAKER_03 1:26

Got Philip back on it.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

Well, give me a second. Give me a second. Give me a second. We got our host back in town, 185. Yep. R3.

SPEAKER_03 1:37

You're the host, but he won't let you run the rig.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

So you got your Tahoe. Yep. You uh you running the roads. Yeah, I actually stopped. Fighting crime.

SPEAKER_04 1:50

Actually stopped the truck driver. He's like, I've been waiting. Uh been waiting to run into you. I've been listening to you on the podcast.

SPEAKER_03 2:00

He made it look like he meant to get pulled up.

SPEAKER_01 2:02

Yeah. That's awesome. That's cool. That's cool. Zachary, how are you, sir? I'm doing wonderful this morning. How are you like? Yeah, but be quick on your got that long neck this morning reaching over here.

SPEAKER_02 2:14

We got to buy some more mics. Oh, you can't fit no more mics.

SPEAKER_04 2:18

We're gonna struggle bus with sharing. That's all right. So if you hear, if you hear shh, that's just we'll give you time.

SPEAKER_03 2:24

We'll slide it back and forth again. Y'all gonna have to snuggle up over here and get closer.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

Well, we need to do is give Ryan that mic or Philip that mic and do it.

SPEAKER_06 2:33

What do you have, Preacher? I'll reach and grab it. We'll chair. We're just winging around.

SPEAKER_04 2:37

You reach and grab it anyway, Preacher. You're fooling it with the whole time.

SPEAKER_01 2:43

Well, we uh Spring break. Spring break is upon us. No the kids are excited. Are y'all excited? Y'all gonna be home all week? What y'all got plans this week? No, okay. Just work.

SPEAKER_03 2:57

Work, work, work. Going swimming in the Gulf going to the beach. I'd rather have a colonostomy. Golly. Yeah. Sand gets all up in places that don't need to be, and uh, I ain't much on the beach. But I like the atmosphere.

SPEAKER_01 3:14

Yeah. You like eating seafood? Oh, yeah. Go to live bait. Live bait. Preacher, what you got, plan? You got your granddaughter here this week? Or a little bit? Yep, Janet Joe's visiting. Good stuff. Good stuff.

SPEAKER_06 3:30

Not elaborating.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

All right, dude. Well, uh, we uh had a really good Sunday yesterday. Just talk about it a little bit. Uh as always, Brother David, you were back in Romans, Book of Romans, Romans chapter 3 this week. Um What is the gospel? Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 3:50

Question we've been trying to answer. Yep. Everybody knows it, or they think they know it.

SPEAKER_01 3:56

I made the comment to you after we were headed to Miss Tammy's mama's uh graveside, and you know, I made a comment to you. I don't know if as somebody who's not a safe child of God sitting in that crowd yesterday morning and couldn't or didn't believe God's word there and say, hey, there is a God that sent his only begotten son for us and not accept it. Mm-hmm. Because it was presented for sure.

SPEAKER_04 4:19

What did y'all do last week? Because y'all wasn't here. What did we talk about on the podcast? Yeah, I wasn't didn't have a podcast. Oh, I was weeking for it last time. I'm behind. I'm waiting for that. Slipped right. How the you you just released it, what, yesterday? No. Boy, you're going to catch up with the end time thing. I guess so. It popped up on my phone yesterday. I'm rubbing off when you feel up. You better watch out for that.

SPEAKER_01 4:43

No, I I'll I'll tell them myself. I ain't gonna make Philip. It was uploaded, and uh Seth Tucker was telling me that he, of course, our Android app users are not able to use it right now. Well, he was telling me it wasn't able to pop up on the website. But it popped up on the website, it just you couldn't play it. So I went to my computer to check it, and I noticed that Spotify on Buzz Sprout did not upload it. It was there, but it just did not publish it.

SPEAKER_02 5:08

So I published it real quick. That's that's where we're gonna do it. Oh, Philip over here thinking, man, what's wrong with me? I can Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:16

Two weeks behind. Yeah, yeah. But anyway, and then Brother Watson finished up 1 Timothy last night. Man of God. Man of God.

SPEAKER_02 5:24

Man of God. Yep. Enjoy definitely.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

So and that kind of can r really relieve into you, Logan. We'll go ahead and just start. Uh, you just share your story a little bit, you know, and what God has brought you out of and what God's brought you into and your life and family. So I'll let you take it away.

SPEAKER_04 5:42

Introduce yourself.

SPEAKER_00 5:43

Yeah, as uh a lot of you heard, my name's Logan Gillam. Uh many people call me LG. Uh like I said, I've been known as LG since I was a wee little lad. Uh yeah. Uh I guess I'll just uh tell you about my family. I'm married to Abby Gillam, was Abby Lee. Uh we got a beautiful daughter, six months old, Carter. Carter Gillam. Couldn't be more blessed. My goodness, a little girl already got me ruined. I didn't think it could happen. Oh, yeah. It did work, buddy. Oh hanging there. Yeah, I know it. And uh she got Terry Lee ruined too. Yeah. Yeah. He's worse than Terry. I got it. He does not want to be called Peppa, Paw Paw. You know, he don't want nothing. So they call him Gus.

SPEAKER_05 6:38

Oh good.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

I forgot about that. Yeah. Oh Gus. Gut. Gus and honey. That's the funniest thing I've heard all for.

SPEAKER_04 6:49

Oh good. Gus and honey.

SPEAKER_03 6:54

Hey Gus, we can lead us in a word of prayer right now.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

Wait. To Gus, that's a blessing. You know, it'd be called Gus. It got a little granddaughter. So yeah. Me and Abby have been married for four years. I'll just start my testimony before I talk about uh, you know, when I started coming to church here and all that. I uh and before I share my testimony, I want to first say that I love both my parents. Uh this is not Logan Sob story. This is gonna be part of my parents' testimony. Uh growing up, both of my parents were in and out of prison uh for a while till I was probably eight years old. I bounced around, you know, didn't really have a place I called home. Uh at eight years old was kind of like a final straw. You know, me and my sister, we really had no place to go as far as our legal guardians. So uh at the time I didn't see it, but the Lord allowed uh my grandparents to take me in. So I didn't live with my sister uh from the time I was eight years old till my sister's seven years older than me, so she was out of the house pretty soon afterwards anyway. But uh at eight I moved in with my grandparents. They were loving. Uh I love my grandparents. I basically I call my grandfather my pops. Uh we're super close. But as we all know, it's not by God's design to have your grandparents raise your, you know, their grandchildren. So I always had this uh I guess resentment or I guess not really angry, but always questioning, like, you know, like y'all talked about before, how can bad things happen? And I was always in question of you know, why do I have to go through all this? Uh you think about some that stuff from the time you're eight years old till you know to the time I was, you know, pretty much learned to know Christ as my savior. You know, you're always you always had that hole in your heart that uh you know the the no hope feeling, all that. And uh but anyway, when I turned 18, I moved out of the house. Uh moved to Louisiana, was working on the road, was always on the road. You know, I had no real ties to any town, so I stayed working from Oregon to Virginia to everywhere I could get the job. And with that come bad habits. You know, I uh drank real heavy, uh stuff like that, and was not living how I was supposed to. And I guess it was COVID. Uh I got laid off from working. You know, state lines got shut down, whatnot. So I had to sit at the house. And while sitting at the house, I started having these, you know, these thoughts of what am I doing with my life? You know, I I sit here and I talk about, you know, what my parents have done to me, but then I go out here and see how I'm living. So then I started feel feeling this guilt and this shame, and and I just felt terrible. Uh one day I had uh decided I need to get my life right. And uh it's kind of funny because uh I had asked my who's my wife now, Abby. I asked her out, and uh she told me no, probably about four or five times before she finally said yes. Had to stay persistent. Yeah, but uh we finally went out on a date and uh you know the rest is history with us, and uh of course she was bringing me to Shady Grove. She said that uh that she goes to church, her family goes to church. That means I go to church. And so I started getting up and coming to church only on Sunday mornings for big church, wasn't going to no Bible study, nothing like that. And uh, and even when I first started coming to church, it wasn't every Sunday. You know, I'd tell Abby, don't worry about picking me up, don't worry about coming get me, I'm gonna sleep in. And it it she would get real upset with me, but you know, wouldn't really force nothing on me. And uh this was probably in 21, and I had been coming here about a year. And then we went on that uh we went on a retreat with just us young boys and yeah, and uh I remember sitting around that fire, and uh Brother David had asked, because most of the boys, everyone that was sitting around the fire was saved but me. And Brother David had asked a question of what do you think God wants from us, you know, at this point in our life, like what would be the next step for us to take to you know strengthen, you know, our walk with Christ. And I kind of blacked out. I don't know what anyone else said, I don't know what was going on. When it finally got to me, I just said uh that Jesus wants me to be saved. And after I said it out loud, I realized I had a major, major issue with my pride and my ego. So when we went home, I self-reflected and I talked to many, many people, Brother Ryan, uh, me and Lane and Sam, we talked on the way home. I talked to Terry Lee, and finally I said, you know what? Because my main issue was I didn't know much. You know, I didn't go to church growing up. I was not raised in a church, and I thought that I had to be a scholar to be saved. I was sitting here thinking, I have no, there's no been aha moment of like, oh well now I know this, so I can be saved, and that's what I was looking for for some reason. But then, you know, it's kind of uh ironic, I guess. You know, we're going over the gospel at church, and uh that's really all I needed to know. I just was too stubborn to realize that. But one day I finally decided, you know what, I'm gonna get out of the way and uh and allow Christ to uh take the burden off of me and the resentment and all of the stuff that I felt when I was a child that I was carrying, I was able to just give it over. And that's you know, I was saved, and I think two weeks later I was baptized, and now I'm going through this point in my life where I've been saved for four years, and I'm trying to do trying to uh branch out and trying to reach people, evangelize, I guess you could say. And yeah, that's basically where I'm at now.

SPEAKER_03 14:05

Well, I you know, I witnessed all that take place, and I can honestly say I've seen God work through your life. You know me and you've had little talks about you talking to this person or talking to that person, you know, and and that's just awesome that God's leading you that way and taking taking your life and you're allowing him to do that. Just so I I I'd give give you some credit on that.

SPEAKER_01 14:30

Well, what you gotta go back to is that question that Brother David asked, you know, where are you at in your life right now where you're taking the next step to grow and you're consistently doing that right now. You just haven't stopped there, you know. You you you you fixed the first problem and you continue to fix everything else along the way with him. So that's cool.

SPEAKER_03 14:48

Well, something I noticed about you and you said it, is you're one of those types that you want to know about something before you just give in. You know, and uh I like how you said it, you just had to get out of the way. You're not gonna know everything before you become a believer, you know. Um, but you just gotta trust God. That's all He wants you to know at that point, is just trust me and I'll do the rest. Just work with me, you know.

SPEAKER_00 15:14

Yeah, that uh that want to know everything. Uh I've taken that kind of mindset on when I talk to I usually talk to agnostic people, not necessarily atheists, just people that are like, well, there ain't no proof. You know, I it's not that I don't believe there is no God, there just is no proof that there is one and stuff like that. And uh I know where they are because I was that way. So I'm trying to take the next step of trying to talk to them type of people and you know basically convince them to get out of the way. Yep.

SPEAKER_03 15:47

Let me show you what God can do, kind of deal. Yeah, says it right here. Just too stubborn to see it.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

I remember the uh the Sunday you came forward to be baptized. Uh well, the Sunday you know, we you came forward to to pray, and then the next week we baptize you. Me and Terry Lee were up in the sound booth, and old T. Lee, you can just tell he was getting emotional. And we were singing uh Psalm 46 for invitation through a soundtrack because Terry Lee's on the soundboard, and you start walking up, Logan, and all of a sudden Terry Lee just breaks down. I said, Turn him up, T. Lee, turn him up, turn the soundboard up. Let's get it, let's get it.

SPEAKER_03 16:22

Well, I'll tell you something about old Gus. Old Gus was praying for you. Ain't no long time.

SPEAKER_00 16:28

Yep. Yeah, that uh the background of uh that I've had, oh my goodness, Tara and Terry Lee, and how big of a blessing they've been on uh not just me and Abby's marriage, but me as a as a husband and as a follower of Christ, I couldn't be more blessed to have that. Amen. Amen. That's cool.

SPEAKER_03 16:48

They feed you pretty regular too, don't they? Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_06 16:54

I'll make a point here about your story. Because I think there's probably thousands. I don't know how many people listen to this thing, but I know there's a lot of people that have the same similar story, you know, difficulty being raised. I mean, we see it these kids we minister to today. You know, the parents are just doing what they want to do. And uh you can you can carry that blame and you can carry you can carry that for a long time, and it'll weigh you down. But when you finally realize that uh you don't stand a chance until you allow Jesus to do in you what he came to do, and that is to atone for your sins with his blood, and he did that, therefore you become justified. And that's what the Bible says. When we're justified by faith in Christ, what we receive is the peace from God. First one to chapter five of the book of Romans. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's so, so true. And there's people out there that you're struggling with that, you're struggling with uh having peace, you know, or settling some things that you've been through in life. You keep carrying this baggage and you got blame and you're mad, you're angry, you th think God's unfair. I mean, the list goes on. That's never going to be reconciled in your life until you uh submit to uh and accept and believe in what Jesus did. What he came to do. And then it's just a it's it is, it's supernatural. It's supernatural, the the peace, then the the the the freedom that you experience, and you can go on then uh trying to seeking to fulfill the purpose for which God puts you on this earth. Main one being to testify of him, to bring him glory, bring him honor. I know what you're saying, Logan. That's that's that's your that's your push, that's your hunger. You want to you want more, you want to be more. Serve God more. And that's where we all ought to be. Awesome story, awesome testimony. Amen. I I remember that river trip. That was a good trip. It was, really was we need to do that more often.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

Yeah, I remember one of the uh one of the uh main questions that I remember me and Brother David was sitting on the banks of the river, and Brother David was like, you know, what do you think is holding you back from just finally being saved? And it was really the concept of uh the Holy Spirit, and I didn't quite understand it. And I was like, you know, when you get saved, is there not like this, you know, feeling that you're supposed to have? I guess I I don't know what I was expecting, and uh but uh let me be the first to tell you that the Holy Spirit is will make himself known. I mean you'll see it in your life, you'll see it in your actions, you'll see it in your worldviews, your temperament, you'll see it on how you speak. It lives in you, and uh, and that's when uh you realize that yeah, yeah, I've misunderstood this for a long time.

SPEAKER_03 19:58

Well, well, something that I can't relate to, because I was saved at nine, you know, it wasn't much, it didn't take much to me to say, yeah, I'm all in, let's go. But for a grown man, you know, your age, people that that, you know, in their older than their teens, I guess, to say, you know, I I or to get saved, you know, to become a believer. It's a it's a bigger step because a pride or trying to figure it out, you know, that's something I haven't really been able to relate to, but it's real, you know, for a for a grown person to to give in, I guess you can say.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

Well, I think you even mentioned it, the pride, you know, you you mentioned that after that night around that bon bonfire, the pride that you had to overcome on it.

SPEAKER_00 20:45

Yeah, I had to get at that that foundation I had of that resentment and that pride and that ego and all that. When you're when you're in your early twenties, late teens, you think that you know it all and think that you that you you're okay, I can I can handle this, I can do it. Until them lights turn off and you in that room by yourself, and then you start to realize that that this world is is gonna swallow you up.

SPEAKER_03 21:12

Yep. I think I think there's two ages, two age groups that come can come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ pretty easy, and that's your young people. You know, you can talk to them about Jesus and they can relate and they can understand. And then the ones that are near death, you know, they're thinking about what's next, what's next. So they're easy. But it's that middle age that you're like, man, I got my whole life to live, and and you know, I don't know if I'm gonna invest in this type of stuff. You know, that's the age group. I don't know if I I'm trying to sit back and think. But we've talked about that. I don't know if I've ever sit down with an older guy and led them to Christ.

SPEAKER_01 21:49

Right.

SPEAKER_03 21:50

You know, I don't know if I've ever had that opportunity for them to say, well, you know what, I've been thinking about this.

SPEAKER_01 21:56

Yeah. Well, we've talked about it weeks past, you know, during that. To say 20 to 30, I'll just say 20, 27, 28, you know, you're trying to find yourself, you're trying to see where God's got you in life, you know, ultimately finding a family, finding a wife, finding the or getting a family and everything else. So finding out what God has for you in that time of period of that period of life after high school is it's tough. Yeah. The world's after you for sure.

SPEAKER_00 22:22

But yeah, once you get, you know, after you go away, you just don't want to be wrong. You sit here and say, well, you know, not necessarily that there is no God, but I'm gonna live like this because, you know, it quote unquote benefits me. You know, this is how I want to live. And then after a while, you know, when the gospel is presented to you and it says that you can't do these things, you're like, Well, what do you mean? I can't I'm in my prime. I I'm I'm having fun with my friends. I yeah, I can I can do this once I find that family, once I get that job, once I do all that, then I can settle down. And uh that's just not the case because uh you might not have that chance. So That's right.

SPEAKER_04 23:04

That's right. I can't help but think about the influence that led you to where you where you are. And that's important that's a very important part, and I think it's got to do with a lot of a lot of us in our testimony. If it wasn't for that one person, that one influence that that led us on a straight path, I think uh you might still be down the same road you were.

SPEAKER_00 23:31

Oh yeah. It started with Abby, you know, and uh she opened the door for uh this church. And uh for anyone that hears this podcast and don't go to church and needs one, come to Shady Grove. Because let me tell you, this from the time I stepped through these doors till now, uh, this church has helped shape me into being the believer that Christ wants me to be. And uh and they don't just stop, you know, like they're saying, uh this church even at 26 years old, and I've only been saved for four years. This church offers me these things. It even offers Brother David and these 60 and 70-year-old men that have been saved for 40 years, they're still growing. So I think it's very important. Yep.

SPEAKER_06 24:24

I think it might have me a new sermon series brewing, boys. And that is what Philip brought out, influencers. Yeah, that is a word that young people really, really pay attention to today because of YouTube and all the other forms of media they have, but you have these people that are becoming multimillionaires and they call themselves influencers. Yeah. How they how important is it for us to realize, like Logan said, the folks at this church, not just us, any church, any Bible-believing church, you know, and the influence that we have on others. I mean, we're definitely influenced by our surroundings when we're growing up, uh, but we just can't lose sight of that fact that we are influencing some folks. Yeah, vacuum cleaner just comes on.

SPEAKER_00 25:12

What always gets me about the Brother David just talking about the influencers, you know, many people are quick to be influenced by the hypocrites of a church. You know, you're quick to call out the hypocrites of a church. Yes, sir. But as soon as you see, you know, the godly man, you're like, oh well, you know, he's supposed to do that. That's what he's supposed to do, but you just wait, you know. And I he'll mess up. Yeah, and I'm pointing it out. Yeah, that that fires me up a little bit, but I can because you know, some people believe that I'll use pastors, for example. They believe that once you're a preacher, you got you're perfect. And uh that's just a misunderstanding. I mean, my goodness. Uh yeah, they like I said, you're quick to call somebody out in their wrongs, and uh and that influence that that person's having on your thought process. I ain't going to that church. There's there's hypocrites there. Okay, what about the other half that's godly? Would that influence you to come to church? That's good stuff. Probably not. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:14

They want to see all the little little wrong things.

SPEAKER_00 26:18

Well, people are looking for faults in people.

SPEAKER_03 26:20

Yeah. People are looking for faults.

SPEAKER_00 26:23

It's hard to get people. Especially on the internet, you know, but they brought up uh social media, uh, open Instagram, click the comments, and just read. Oh, yeah. It is nothing but hate and discouragement, and that's what that's what uh people drive in. That's what they live off of. Drama. That's right. Keyboard warriors. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 26:45

I never heard them called that. That's pretty easy.

SPEAKER_06 26:47

Who was the first negative influencer in creation? The devil. Been doing it ever since. Yep. Ain't stop, won't stop. It will influence you away from God. And make you think that you are God. And it didn't take him long. Therefore, and he starts with that, suppressing the truth. Adam and Eve knew the truth. We don't need to eat that tree. He said, Oh, I don't worry about it. Yeah. Influence. So they eat the tree. Sin against God, and we all followed.

SPEAKER_03 27:17

After Easter, he's got a new series, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 27:21

Start from the beginning.

SPEAKER_01 27:23

Well, I mean, you brought it up a little bit yesterday, preacher, with the false gospel. You know, you're trying to get these people to decipher from the true gospel to the false gospel, you know.

SPEAKER_06 27:33

Yeah, and we mentioned this last week. We used this phrase, uh, we have to apologize. It seems like we in ministry have to apologize before we speak the truth. Now, I know what affection to say is gonna hurt you, but, and then we'll speak the truth, you know. I find myself thinking that away a lot, even in sermon preparation. You know, I'm writing something down or note, oh, this is gonna be good, but I know also it's gonna hit hard with this individual. Because I know them well enough to know that they're dealing with that. But I say it anyway, yeah, right? And uh trust God for the results. So we can't worry about uh you know, hurting somebody else's feelings because the truth is gonna do that. And whenever, and here we go again, back to the suppressing of truth. Whenever people put themselves before God and they're more concerned about their own desires and their own feeding their own flesh, then they'll take that truth and suppress it.

SPEAKER_03 28:31

I hear it, but well, I think about Paul and Timothy, and I talked about it last night, and the fact that Paul was warning Timothy hey, there's people in their your group, your church group, that is gonna have some persuasion on you, if it's money or whatever. You know, if you like them, if it's their popularity or whatever, they're gonna have some persuasion on you. But make sure you don't limit your sources or or limit your sermons to them because of who they are. You know?

SPEAKER_06 29:02

If you find somebody that's persuading somebody away from what you believe to be the truth, how do you speak about that individual? Even especially they're celebrities. Yeah. Popular influencers. You know what I'm saying? If it contradicts, all right, the pastor stands up and says this, and then the first thing you click on your phone when you get home is somebody who says the opposite. You know, where's the truth? God will never contradict himself, right? And truth won't either. So you gotta be able to discern between the two. Who's telling me the truth? Who you want to trust? I think the Bible would direct you to trust this individual, this man that you know to be. Because you see his life, you know him. You don't know this person, doesn't want the shit what you see on your phone.

SPEAKER_03 29:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 29:51

That's right. Yeah, you're gonna listen to.

SPEAKER_00 29:53

Don't go to your phone for the truth. That's really where, yeah, I don't no matter who you what influencer you think is telling the truth, uh you always need to be fact-checking whoever you're listening to.

SPEAKER_03 30:08

The internet is And so many people don't. They just run with it. It goes back to what I was saying last night, you know, the the babblings and the vain speech. You know, so many people give into it because they engage in it.

SPEAKER_06 30:25

It concerns me. I'll tell you what concerns me is as an older man looking at y'all's younger generation, and you see it all the time. And of course I'm around my grandchildren, so I see it in my grandchildren. But uh how quick parents are now today to use these devices as pacifiers.

SPEAKER_05 30:44

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_06 30:44

You know, and whether you're at a ball game or you're riding down the road, or you're even in church, you know, you hand your phone to your baby and let them watch, listen to, just to pacify them, to keep them quiet, to keep them entertained, or whatever. But what in the world are you doing?

SPEAKER_01 31:01

Oh, you've got nine-year-olds who've got phones now. I remember I think I was I was 12 when I got my first phone as one of them LG, and it had to you had to slide up for the keyboard. You know, yeah, LG. He sponsored it. Uh I was gonna ask this question, what makes a good influencer what's the word I'm looking for? What makes a good influencer not necessarily popular, but kind of driving people to them? What makes a good influencer uh bringing the people what they want? Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 31:33

Well, you're talking about in a negative way.

SPEAKER_01 31:35

Well, yeah, but like, you know, how does it how does an influence draw people into? Entertainment? Yeah, maybe maybe that's the word I'm looking for. Like you take But sh it shows up in your life.

SPEAKER_06 31:47

The things that influence you will ultimately show up in your life unless you unless you bring that in. And it can be positive or negative.

SPEAKER_03 31:53

You're talking about like a inf a good or bad influence or whatever. Yeah. What brings them to that person?

SPEAKER_01 32:01

Like, all right, you just take YouTube. YouTube has thumbnails. I take a one big influence, and then it might not uh a person doesn't have to be an influencer. It could be a thing in this world that's influencing you. But like you take Mr. Beast, you know what Mr. Beast's main thumbnails are? We're giving $10 million to this person if they do this trick or whatever. Yeah. Well, they're gonna click on that in a heartbeat. Ten million dollars, really? Come on. Time clickbait. Yeah, like clickbait. You know what that means?

SPEAKER_02 32:26

Contraction. Yeah. Attraction. Contraction? Both. Attraction. Man, I'm trying to think of the word I'm I'm looking for. People want things to look attractive. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 32:37

So they tell you from a positive aspect, and I got Zach on my mind when I'm saying this, is you can see in his life the influences. I've heard you talk about a number of times, the family events, even your grandma's funeral, you know, and and the whole music thing. You can just see now, you know, as an adult, that will how he was influenced growing up and in a positive light. It's just an example of how how positive it can be. We focus on the negatives, but I think the positives, you think about uh I wana, and I'll shut up and let Zach say something. Oh, you got something to say. Is uh Rusty Glennon comes to my mind, and kids that he's been influencing for 20 years and I wana, you know, they never even knew that he was.

SPEAKER_01 33:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 33:27

And uh well will that show up in that child's life when they're 30 years old, what they experienced when they were 10 years old in a positive way. You gotta be able to take the positive and the negatives and weed it out. Yeah. And and recognize what is good and what is positive and use that. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 33:45

Um, I mean, I I think back on my life, and Logan, you made mention of your influences and your testimony here, and I think of all the people that have influenced me, and I man, I I really just see God specifically putting people in my path. You know, the more I look back at certain events and and go.

SPEAKER_06 34:05

You know it was God.

SPEAKER_04 34:06

Man, it's it it's um it's amazing because nobody else at that point in time in my life could have, you know, God placed this person for this specific reason because I was going through this specific thing. At the right time, and it was at the right time, at the right place, right on time every time.

SPEAKER_06 34:25

I love what you said. Terry and Tara and Abby and the right people.

SPEAKER_04 34:29

Right where you need to be. And we I've I've looked the I look back on that and I think about certain things. And you know, I'll share it on this podcast. I've shared it all over church in the last couple days. Um recently we lost uh my great-grandmother, it's Florence Sweeney Craig. Everybody knows her. Scrawny. Well, most of my family spell it S-C-R-O-N-N-E-Y, I think. Scrawny. I've always spelt it S-C-R-A-W-N-Y. Scrawny. But uh, I'm gonna tell you, the world lost a fighter here that fought the good fight. I was reading that to Timothy yesterday. I said, she fought the good fight, you know, and and the Lord called her home. She finished her fight, and she is in heaven. There's no doubt about it. I'm 100% positive where she is, but I've shared this a couple of times, and and uh I'll go and shut up and get it out there. Her Bible was always open, and there was three different speakers we had at her funeral, and uh two of them obviously were in the family, Dustin and uh and Daniel. But they had they all spoke to that account that anytime they were over there visiting her, that her Bible was always open, you know, that she loved God that much. She was always in his word, and you know, growing up, that was an influence that I mean I'm about to be 32 here in about a month, and that's something that I've never thought about, you know, and how the positive influence that was on my life because looking back, even as far back as I can remember, I'd look over at her and she'd either be reading her Bible or she'd be sewing, or her Bible, but her Bible was always next to her open. I don't think I ever saw it closed.

SPEAKER_06 36:24

Ain't that amazing? You know, how you can think back as far as you can think, and that's something that had that positive impact on you.

SPEAKER_04 36:31

Right. I mean, I can look like literally, we she used to take me to Walmart to get these little bulls, and my daddy rode bulls, and I wanted the rodeo. I loved everything about it. We had horses, cows, you name it. It was just a way of life then. And I would have them fence and them bulls bucking on the coffee table. It was brown where we was playing rodeo, and I was the announcer, so we had a lot of fun. But I mean, I can remember back even to those days, really, really, really young. You know, just being down there on my knees in the living room floor and looking up and they're scrolling, and her Bible was always right there. You know, I mean I can I can picture her Bible vividly being open in my mind way back then.

SPEAKER_03 37:08

Amen.

SPEAKER_04 37:08

You know, but it's pretty, pretty awesome that her for her testimony to speak through that and you know, the people that you have in your life that influence you, you know, you don't realize it then a lot of times, but looking back, you see God in it.

SPEAKER_06 37:23

You tell me if I'm wrong, but your talents, you know, with music and playing instruments, whatnot, I mean that all came a direct result of the influences when you were growing up, right? Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, I think if we if all of us, if we just think about it, you know, it's it's either positive or negative. And therefore, that teaches us the importance of being a positive influence. We don't want to be the negative. They got so much negative in their lives now. They need the positive. And that bothers me, you know, think about schools and how teachers influence, coaches influence, how they talk, how they carry themselves, how they behave. You don't want to be hypocritical. That's right. You teach them Sunday school, you know, and then you cuss them out on the ball court or field or whatever, you know.

SPEAKER_01 38:10

You know, let's don't sort of. I think the word I was kind of looking for is that kind of heat, you kind of made me think about this, but you just you look at your grandma's life, and you don't people don't like hearing this word, but that word of attract it was attractive to you. Man, through your whole life you saw how she lived her life. And it wasn't because what she had in her life, like as far as worldly things, flesh things, it wasn't because she had a big house if she had one, whatever, it was because she sat there with her Bible open. She was that she taught Sunday school until she was 91 years old.

SPEAKER_04 38:43

Yeah, 91.

SPEAKER_01 38:44

I mean, come on.

SPEAKER_04 38:46

I heard if somebody's trying to quit driving them. What was it? We're gonna leave that alone. Never mind, we'll leave that alone. But but you laying to it off on you.

SPEAKER_01 38:55

You had a lot of people, you have a lot of people don't like using that word, attraction, or attractive. And you know God's word tells us, you know, it's not beads and it's not pearls that make it that you should think that that's what you have to strive for to be attractive. It's by the Holy Spirit, it's by the work of God, it's by the uh the power of God, what he's done through your life is what's attraction, is what attractive is, should be about, you know. So you take this church, it's not about buildings, it's not about what we've doing, you know, outside of this church, it's what we're doing for God personally. It's about our walk, it's about what we're doing for God. Yep. Amen. I got a question.

SPEAKER_04 39:36

Can this be a positive influence?

SPEAKER_01 39:38

100%.

SPEAKER_03 39:40

What are you talking about? Well, no one else could see that phone on here. Anything that I already know what he's teaching about anyway.

SPEAKER_06 39:48

I ask your question listening. Anything God allows us to have or create could be positive. Right. Yeah. The sin is what turns it around.

SPEAKER_04 39:55

That's right. That's right. Is it knowing the difference between the two that makes it positive? Like if you're if you're watching that video.

SPEAKER_06 40:04

Being able to say no and being able to to silence those. I'm gonna trigger watch them when I say this. Watch to reach a point in your walk with Christ, maturity to where you're able to run from, flee. Yeah. The the the temptations. Yeah, because they're there. You can very easily click on a porn side as you click on the Bible. Right? Right. You gotta be able to get to the place where you know the difference. You know what's going on, glorify God, and you're at a place where you can do it. And I I Paul encouraged Timothy how many times, don't do this, but yet do this. Flee from this, but run to this.

SPEAKER_03 40:41

I thought, and I I don't know, I may be wrong on this, but I studying that yesterday and this week, last week, uh there's a whole lot more things to flee from than it is to pursue. Does that make sense? Like he gave a whole list of things to flee from in this world, but only a few things that you need to pursue. Make life more simple, make it about Christ, make it about the reason you're here. It's not about all these worldly temptations. You need to flee from that and focus on what God left you to do.

SPEAKER_04 41:14

Pursue Him. Pursue Him. I'm gonna echo you real quick. You talk about the phones, is it good or bad? We talk, you know, you can use good or bad with just about anything, correct? That's right. So obviously you got to have enough, you gotta be mature enough to have the discernment to know the difference between good and evil. Correct? I'm gonna ask you this. Can you do that if you're not in the word and you don't know what's good and what's not what's not? What's evil, what's not.

SPEAKER_06 41:44

Or you can you do that when you're nine years old? Why would you turn a nine year old, leave just leave it up to them, watch whatever they want to watch, click on what they want to click on. Correct.

SPEAKER_04 41:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 41:54

You can't expect it. You gotta be able to you right. You gotta be in that book in order to know.

SPEAKER_04 41:58

But I I I think goes back to what preacher just said, you that you have to have been able to influence them to know the difference between right and wrong. Correct. You know, and and they will know when if it's right or wrong. It's just them choosing whether or not to continue following that wrong or turning it off.

SPEAKER_06 42:18

I'll give you a quick example if y'all want one. Last night, I got my granddaughter Jenny just staying with us. And they kind of wind it down the evening. And uh, you know, we're looking at the TV and uh wanted to watch these fails. You see these fails, you know, where people have a bike racker. Oh yeah. And uh immediately when the first blip comes in there, where they blipped out a bad word. Yeah. Well, quick, she's quick set. We can't watch that big deal. Turn that over. Yeah. Nine-year-old. Yeah, yeah. And she's been influenced. Yeah. I mean, she knows her dad and her mom will say, nope. I I go or different.

SPEAKER_03 42:58

I love how when that takes place, you know, a word will come on the TV and every one of your kids will look at you. You know, okay, I'm turning it.

SPEAKER_04 43:05

Yeah, yeah, exactly. They just said a bad word. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:10

One thing that me and Abby have been trying to do is even coming through the the airways of the car, watching what we listen to as far as music goes.

SPEAKER_03 43:19

Even to that little innocent baby, you know, that's right.

SPEAKER_00 43:23

Uh Zach knows uh when music, it uh when you get to singing it, uh it's coming from your soul. You know, what you what you're listening to, you know, will start to reflect on how you're processing things. I seen where uh this guy was talking and he said that you cannot sing worship music and be depressed at the same time. And it kind of made sense because uh you sit there and listen to all these uh derogatory songs and stuff, and then wonder why you're depressed, wonder why you're sad, wonder why you're mad. And uh so me and Abby really tried to focus on, you know, being careful on even what kind of songs you listen to having an influence on our lives. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:10

I know yesterday a preacher about uh we about became a uh a Pentecostal church invitation.

SPEAKER_06 44:18

Holy Ghost baby was awesome. I didn't give it Jesus made it all. I have a hard time containing my emotions.

SPEAKER_03 44:24

Yeah, that's a good point. Well, you know, Josh Culpepper's mom came up to me. She said, You think if uh I get to dancing in here, they're gonna get banned. I said, No, we'll just put you on the back rope.

SPEAKER_04 44:39

We're gonna wheel her up the stage.

SPEAKER_01 44:41

That's a good point you bring up, Logan, because you think about it, like you take these professional athletes, what are they doing before a game? They got their headphones on, their earbuds in, whatever, and they getting hype up. They're getting hype, they're getting mindset right, you know. Music, music's a powerful tool. And if you're not listening to the right thing, to the truth, then it's gonna lead you to short.

SPEAKER_04 45:02

You know, once once I gave my full life to Christ, you know, I stopped listening to what I used to listen to, you know, stopped cussing, all that you give your ears, your eyes, your tongue. I think Miss Kim gave her same testimony about it. And it just flips the switch, it just turns you over.

SPEAKER_01 45:22

Yep. I want to talk about this for a second because I think this is perfect, it leads perfectly into this, but you think we're all yeah, we're all parents in here. We all have our own kids, you know. But not only are what are we being influenced by, but yet what are your kids being influenced by? And are you being are you being watchful towards those things? Are you really doing the homework and what your kids are watching on a every single day basis? What they're listening to, what they're watching, what they're around, who they're around, you know, and is that important, you know? Maybe talk about that just for a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 45:58

Oh well, I I've I'm sitting here thinking, so I'm a weak, I have a weakness. I, you know, fail at this, but my truck radio stays on 103.1 majority of the time. I've listened to it my whole life, you know, you're talking about music and stuff. And uh me and Lindsay and the kids was riding, coming to town or something one day and recently, and a song came on, trying to love two women. It's like a ball and chain, something like that, you know.

SPEAKER_04 46:27

And uh thing in the family tradition.

SPEAKER_03 46:29

It's one of the same things. But there, my kids are sitting in the back seat and they're singing every word to it, you know. And I'm I'm like, hey, okay. And Lindsay looked at me and she said, You got your kids listening to this? This ain't no good. And it toned on me. I was like, the words of that song, well, I guess you're right, but ain't good. You know, the the influence, you know, I don't know where I'm going with that, but just what we listen to.

SPEAKER_04 46:53

Yeah, right. Seems like them them's the songs that the little four and five-year-olds that have no clue what it means is the one they want to go repeat. Go to school trying to live too with me.

SPEAKER_01 47:04

Next thing you know, teachers calling dad like that. What are you doing? Yeah. I don't know. I mean, I just I have seen such a difference. And not it's not just our children's ministry, but just I've seen such a difference in kids and and their everyday life and what they bring into this church and what they are what they've experienced at home. But uh, I don't know, just you can tell their influences in the world and what they're striving to be influenced by. They want to be influenced by these influencers on YouTube or these social media people or these professional athletes, you know.

SPEAKER_06 47:41

So are we doing this podcast because we we desire to be influencers?

SPEAKER_04 47:46

No.

unknown 47:47

We don't.

SPEAKER_06 47:48

I mean, we we we want people to listen to us. Just thought I had. Yeah. I mean stop the whole conversation. No, I mean that's a good question.

SPEAKER_01 47:59

Or that goes back to are we is there is there good influencers and there's bad influencers? Well, let me ask you this. I know what you're about to say. Go ahead. Is a preacher an influencer? Oh, absolutely. 100%. But what I what I I thought you were gonna say here is can a bad influencer, well, let me say this, can a corrupt influencer be a good influencer?

SPEAKER_06 48:22

Appear to be. What makes a influencer corrupt?

SPEAKER_01 48:27

False. False. False gospel.

unknown 48:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 48:32

It depends on what you're influencing. Well, anything that leads you away from away from Christ is uh corrupt. That's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_04 48:39

It depends on what you're influencing. What do you what is the go what is what are they uh portray portraying? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:45

Portraying your own.

SPEAKER_06 48:49

Kimberly a decision together of uh we got into this deal, it's kind of become a routine for us when you get empty nesters, you know, you you know, you gotta kind of create, make time together, and da da da you can be doing your own thing. And uh watching these uh Who Done It mysteries on TV, you know, hour-long show, a series. Yeah. Uh just solving the murder. Kind of like Dateline or something. Yeah. You just kind of get into it. Sherlock Holmes type stuff. Hey, I like it. Especially with the British. The British make good ones, you know. Anyhow, we realize that here you are watching this Who Done It, but all of a sudden, here's this here's this homosexual, you know, or here's this individual that's having somebody else's wife, you know, those kind of all those kind of things. And you just kind of take it with a grain of salt, you continue to watch. But you gotta get to a place in life where you say, Yeah. I may not realize it, but that subconsciously could be influencing me to think in ways, you know, that that I shouldn't be thinking. So don't even expose yourself to it. Make the decision to say, nope, I ain't going there. And you're gonna be better off for it.

SPEAKER_03 50:03

Well, it's like a light bulb goes off and it went off with you on that. But most folks will say, oh, it ain't nothing wrong with that. Yeah. Well, it's kind of like that song, you know, that I'm jamming too, coming to town with my kids in the backseat. I thought to myself, I ain't got cuss words in it. It's all right. The meaning and the thought behind it were throughout the room.

SPEAKER_06 50:23

So Yeah, I had that same currents, and I think it was DJ. Uh home in a song. You know how kids are home in a song. Yeah. He's human. Whose boots, whose bed have your boots been under? Yeah. Jania Twain, right there. You know who knows. And I thought, my kid. Whose bed have your boots been under? What am I doing? Yep.

SPEAKER_03 50:50

Yep. Pretty kidgy song, though. Y'all gonna get me singing in here this morning.

SPEAKER_04 50:54

I told Zach you should have bringing the guitar.

SPEAKER_03 50:56

Yeah. Hey, I want to, I this has been on my mind going back to LG, and I don't know how to, you know, say this, but it didn't take long for LG. Once he figured the gospel out, and you said four it's been four or five years since four years since you've been saved. The dude is already helping lead a Sunday school class, you know, the college uh part of it, and and helping Zach out with that when he's not available. And I just thought that's cool, you know. When once he got invested, he ran with it.

SPEAKER_01 51:32

Well, once he got influenced by the right influencers. Yeah, he got he ran with it.

SPEAKER_03 51:38

So many people get saved, and then this coast, and I brought that up last night. We just coast. All right, I'm saved, I'm good. But you take certain people, and I think God leads you that direction, right? God's got something big planned for you. And so once you got started, you just didn't stall out.

SPEAKER_00 51:59

You kept going with it. I remember multiple times uh telling Brother David and and you that uh that I was afraid of getting saved and sitting in the back. Yeah, I remember you saying that. I was afraid of that. You didn't want to just be an ordinary person. That was a thought to me before like as I was going through the process of getting saved. I have no idea, but I just kept thinking to myself, like, uh if I if if you know if I get saved, it has to be evident in my life because I see people that are quote, you know, you know, that are saved. And I'm not saying that these are bad people, but uh I don't I don't want to be, you know, on fire for Christ this week. You know, I'm getting saved, I'm I'm ready to do it all. And then in a month, I'm like, all right, I'm in church now. I'm in the back. I'm gonna go home and eat.

SPEAKER_06 52:50

I remember having that conversation with you on the bank of that river, sitting in them two lawn chairs. Now I did ask you that question, what's holding you back? You know, what's keeping you? And you said that. Well, uh way I see it is I can't and don't want to, I'm not going to commit to something, you know, unless I can go all in. Yeah. That's it. You know. And that caused me to pause and think, that's pretty good stuff. You know, but at the same time, you're going you're gonna have to demonstrate faith, which is not an action. It's not, it's a response to the gospel, but yet it's not a this is what I have to do. That's right, you know? It's not a matter of committing your life to Christ, it's a matter of receiving, accepting the gift. You know. So that's where I think that's where your biggest struggle was in juggling those two things. Faith. What is faith and what is commitment? Well, let me demonstrate faith in this Jesus I'm hearing about, and and then and then let the low side drag. And then here comes the Holy Spirit. That's right. And there comes the commitment. That you had this thing driving you now, pushing you, assisting you, aiding you, empowering you, you know, to do what you had been longing for the whole time.

SPEAKER_00 54:02

Yeah, me and Abby talked uh, it ain't been that long ago, uh, about how I was, my temperament, you know, all of this. And even my attendance at church, you know, even two years ago, you know, two years into being saved, and uh, you know, I kind of sat there and I was like, you know, I I kept telling myself, oh, I gotta be, you know, committed and and after two years, I was like, am I doing enough though? You know, I I've really feel like I've uh what you want stabilized, I've uh, you know, kind of yeah, plateaued. And uh and I was like, I I have to uh to do something about it. And instead of me doing something about it, I prayed to to to God and gave it all to me. And it's just kind of happened. I I haven't really forced it. Yeah. Uh I opened the Bible, I prayed about it, uh, and it just kind of works out that way. It don't it's not necessarily what I'm doing.

SPEAKER_06 55:08

And uh And you don't ever stop either, brother. You'll you will keep growing and you'll keep reaching a different plateau, a different level.

SPEAKER_03 55:16

As long as you allow God to keep moving in your life.

SPEAKER_06 55:18

There's people come along and tell you that too, which is a very encouraging thing. But uh you'll never reach, we none of us will ever reach that place. So it's the pursuit. You keep going there and you get higher and higher and higher, maybe better and better and better and more influential and all that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_04 55:37

I I like your your story because you you didn't grow up in church, or a lot of us have and had that young influence where we got saved early and then just kind of like I said, coasted and then we really didn't get that fire. But at your age, when you got saved four years ago, like it's it was immediate, like you went to action. You know, whereas for me, like it was years before that ever happened. You know, and and and which you know, your backstory is you know a different story, but I like how you got saved and went to work. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 56:18

It was in that it was important for me to show you know how I came up, my grandparents, my parents, you know, all these people that uh of course knew, you know, I mean, they're my family, they know how I come up. It was important to me to show them how Christ has changed me. I wanted them, I wanted every last one of them to see that uh, like I began my testimony of this is not Logan Sahop story. I mean when I tell people of my my upbringing and all that, I don't want no sympathy because I've been saved from that. That's right. That's what God's got. I'm just telling you, you know, what I went through to uh to relate, you know, I know what it's like, but uh I don't live there. I don't stay there. And uh I wanted my my parents, I want everyone to see that that what God has done for me and and my family.

SPEAKER_06 57:13

So I can remember giving glory.

SPEAKER_01 57:17

I can remember very well, Logan, being in high school, watching on the ball field, you know. Pretty decent athlete, I would say, you know. But no, just your leadership on the ball field, you know, even through I mean, you were starting as a tenth grader on a senior high team, you know, above a bunch of seniors and stuff, but just see your leadership skills and making that an effort, and now you see your leadership skills in God and in Christ, you know.

SPEAKER_00 57:41

I've I've had talks with my grandfather about that. I, you know, I was uh never afraid to even when I played football, baseball, I was never afraid to be vocal on on the field. And uh it just kind of uh like Zach was saying, you know, not necessarily just the people that that growing up that have uh like the coach Flemings and all that in my life. Uh but even the skills that I've learned, you know, the leadership skills that I've been able to bring with me. That's right, you know, that God had equipped me before I even knew it. Yeah. And it's amazing when you look back at it and you're just like, wow.

SPEAKER_01 58:25

You had all those people that were super big positive influencers in your life. Yeah. And back then you're like, you know, I don't even recognize it. Yeah. But now you're like, Holly.

SPEAKER_00 58:35

It was that self-conscious thing that uh brother Dave was just talking about of like you're hearing this stuff, and you're like, you know, in the back of your mind, you're like, you know, is this influence me? These people in my life, I wasn't saved, but I, you know, I hear them talk, I see how they live. Uh Coach Fleming used to come in and make us yell that uh, you know, God is great. And we would yell all the time, and then all the time God is great. Yeah, we would have to yell that. At the time, it's like I'm just saying it because if I don't, we might have to compare junk. Yeah. So I'm gonna I'm gonna go ahead and yell this out real quick.

SPEAKER_04 59:08

But Coach Fleming would have been that too.

SPEAKER_00 59:10

Well, I don't know. Once you get in them uh in between them lines, it's different. But that's right. That's cool.

SPEAKER_06 59:18

Go one direction. I know we're getting close to the end here, but before we before we do, and that is uh let's talk about desire for a minute. And what I mean by that is what I can identify sitting here listening to all you guys, is a desire in y'all's lives to, you know, grow, to reach, to keep going, to glorify God, you know. And at what point in time in your life, you know, you wrestle with those things, you kind of silence them for a time. And I'm my mind goes back to Zach again because of the influence he had in his life and the talents that he had. There had to be a desire there, you know, but you had to surrender to that and say, all right, Lord, here we go. And uh there that the Bible talks about that, particularly when it comes to that of a pastor. I think the word bishop is used in scripture. Man desires the office of a bishop, desired a good work, 1 Timothy. Um, and so how how what do we do with those desires? Do we allow them to awaken? Do we pursue them? Not negative, but the ones that the Holy Spirit puts there, you know? And I think all we could all testify that if anybody listen to us or are having those thoughts, you know, those desires to to move on, to grow, go further with God, to serve Him, to allow Him to use you, to be that influencer on your families, and da-da-da-da-da. You're not gonna go wrong when you allow that or you pursue those desires. See what it is. Think about that. What is it in your heart that God really wants you to do? Well, I really want I know I have a desire to sing, or I have a desire to preach, or have a desire to teach, I have a desire to grow. And uh how do you get there? How do you where you how do you reach a point where you finally let go and say, All right, Lord, I know it, I know it, I know it, I'm tired of fighting it. So I'm gonna turn this loose and we're gonna see what happens. And how has anybody ever had a negative experience by allowing those desires that God puts in you to come forth and use it? You facing your fears, maybe you don't you can't speak, you don't think you're a good teacher, you can't sing, you can't do, you you keep all these things like Moses, you know. Well, I can't do this, God. God said, Well, it ain't no matter you doing it, I will do it through you. I will give you the word. I need a vessel. I just need a vessel, I need somebody who's saying, I'm willing, I know it's in me, I know the desire is there, and I'm just willing to let you have your will and your way with me and see what happens. Yeah. Let the low side drag.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:54

How many times have we been caught up silencing the desire?

SPEAKER_06 1:01:58

Well, you can see it in Logan, just in there, hear his voice is talk. He has a burning desire to bring glory to God in his life. And that's that needs to be blow. Let's fan the flames, you know. Let's create a burning fire to where that's got to come out.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:14

And y'all can understand uh six months ago when my little girl was born, and I'm sitting there holding this little girl, and I look her in the eyes, and uh even more desire. You know, I I look at her and I'm like, man, I I know what the world can do to you. And uh I'm gonna do the best I can to make sure that we uh we can stand on the truth that we we're solidified. Yep. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:42

And you're not alone in that, brother. Oh yeah. You got a family, you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_00 1:02:46

You got a village. That's right.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:48

That's something as simple as this podcast. Yeah. Philip had, I didn't know what a podcast was. And and Philip said, We we we need to we need to record this. Other people need to hear this. And it was desire, right? And you finally had to, well, let's do it. Yeah, yeah. Let's just see what happens.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:04

It was on my heart enough. I was like, enough's enough. You gotta go.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:08

I gotta, I need to take this next step.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:10

Yeah. Yeah, this podcast has been a absolutely uh I'm gonna say fantastic, but they don't even cover it because uh ever since y'all started this, uh y'all have done an amazing job. I just want to give y'all credit on on the airways, uh, that y'all have done an amazing job with this. Reaching people and we ain't done nothing.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:34

We just talking. But you but you be in that influence, and that's what's that's what's important.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:39

You know, you you take up someone's hour of of good, you know, good discussion versus what that hour they could be doing with. And uh that's it's a blessing.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:51

Get it off that old country song and turn it on the podcast.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:54

That's right. Well, if we truly want people to come to a knowledge of the truth, which is under salvation, then we need to take every advantage we got to get that out there. And if this platform is that, then so be it.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:05

Yeah, we just have to realize on the days like, you know, ain't nobody listening to this. Ain't nobody paying attention. We just gotta realize maybe there's people out there that this is what they look forward to everywhere.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:15

Well, even if it's just LG, that one person. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_06 1:04:19

It's and I'm telling yeah, yeah. Just like the truck driver.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:24

Just like the truck driver. I stopped him taking weight because he's carried.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:28

Did you give him a ticket? No, I didn't.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:30

He had a way, he had a waistlift. I didn't even wait. I just let him go and he's like, I wonder when he's gonna stop me. I'll listen to your pick yellow.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:43

That's right. That's right. I ain't never listened to our podcast.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:47

No, he did all these go church or except.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:52

Anyway, we uh we're running out of time, guys. I hate that we Yeah, we're coming here with nothing now. We can't stop. Yeah, that's right. That's right. We always uh we kind of go around the table to this last little motivation deal. Philip, I'll start with you.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:07

You leave somebody with I'm I'm gonna say like what I've said before, go fishing. Fishing for the men. Let's do it where we go. It is Monday. Fishing for the men, though. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:19

Well, if I could leave you with anything, and as coming back from my sermon last night, I was looking at all these words that he left him with. It would be this after hearing what we talked about this morning, obey. Obey without wavering. God's giving you an opportunity and a uh a chance, a platform to live for him. Obey it without wavering.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:43

Zachary.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:47

Man, I'm gonna tell you, I I'm still kind of stuck on your sermon last Sunday when you mentioned uh was in Romans chapter 3 and uh verses 19 and 20 really popped out. Out of me, but my influence is going to go all the way probably to uh through the verse 22 because I know Brother David's gonna tell me to keep going at least twice. So it says, obviously, the law applies to those whom it was given. For its purpose is to keep people from having excuses to show that the entire world is guilty before God. For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful that we are. And here's that but. But now I knew it was coming. But now God has shown us a way to be made right with Him without keeping the requirements of the law as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ, and this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:58

Yeah, you gotta go to 23, son. You can't leave them hanging. For everyone has sinned. For all have sinned to come short of the glory of God. We know that, man. Everybody knows that. But read the one prior, too. The two to three priority context. But no. It's awesome. Okay. That's awesome. I'm going there again this Sunday, by the way.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:17

I like the way the NLT puts it right here to keep people from having excuses. You don't what's your excuse, man?

SPEAKER_06 1:07:24

You don't can I just say what I left out? Did any of y'all pick up what I did not say in that text, what it says? I'm curious. Not too bad reading the church coming in. It was uh the faith, the importance of faith. Our response. You get these truths, you hear these truths, but we have uh obligation. We have to respond to it. Well, how do you respond to it? By faith. Well, you you go several times right through there talks about believing and by faith in Christ. And then, all right, well, what is faith? It's not an action. It's not something you do, it's something you receive. That's right. Something you believe. All right, well, that's Logan.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:05

Yeah, Logan, you're gonna go last on your motivation, preacher. LG. I am okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:09

Go ahead, Logan.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:10

What you got, LG? Uh really all I have to say, you know, is kind of piggybacking off of, you know, the no excuses and and having that desire to to grow, you just need to jump and and trust God in that. And uh God is not a deceiver, he will not lead you astray. And uh any excuse that you come to m meet with, you know, I I uh it's not a good one. And uh you have to talk, you have to go on tell him, it ain't gonna work. Yeah, you can see you can speak, but uh you have to you have to really have that comfort. Talk to talk it out. Just pretend Jesus is sitting on the foot of your bed and talk to him, try to tell him that excuse. See if it's see if it weighs on you. And uh just jump and trust in him. Yep. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:57

Before you get going, preacher. So you I was sitting right here for 15 minutes. I was showing Zach when you brought up Moses, because that's what I was about to say for final motivation. But you talk about Moses needing a spokesperson. You know, Moses said, I'm not, I can't speak well enough, you know, and this is right after God says, Hey, you're gonna take your brother with you. But three things I've been telling these third through sixth prayers on a Wednesday night that God's done in Moses' life, or through the book of Exodus. One, he's grown Moses and to be one of the greatest leaders ever lived. Two, he's gonna lead his people out of Egypt. But three, and what he says there in verse uh verse five of chapter seven of Exodus, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand on Egypt and bring the children of Israel out of them. They will know that he is Lord.

SPEAKER_06 1:09:44

That's the ultimate goal, right? So if I'm the last one here, uh 1 Timothy chapter 2, he's really good, Paul's really exoring Timothy to pray, pray, pray, pray, pray. He tells him what to pray for, and he even mentions kings. You think about he just brought up Moses, and uh Moses met God in the wilderness and goes back to Pharaoh. I wonder, did Moses ever pray? Yeah, I think Moses prayed for strength, for guidance, for words, for wisdom, say the right thing, don't mess up, don't make a mistake. I'm standing before the Pharaoh, the king here. Then he says, verse 2, for king, this is 1 Timothy chapter 2, for kings and for all that are in authority that we may be lead a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and honesty. So was Moses' life quiet and peaceable? No, the plagues and all that. But yet, you know he prayed to God that. And he continued on verse 3, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who will have all men to be saved and come into a knowledge of the truth, for there is one God, one mediator between God and man, and that man, the man, but my Bible says, the man, Christ Jesus. Right? Who gave himself ransom for all to be testified of in due time. Oh, that's good stuff. The ransom of Christ. Here we are approaching Easter in two weeks, I think. Uh, I'll encourage all of you listening to get back in your Bible, refresh your memory of the whole thing. Look at that history of the last couple weeks of the life of Christ when he came into Jerusalem triumphantly, everything that he did from the Lord's Supper to the garden, you know, to the vine, the John 15, the vine and the branches, to the arrest and the trial, and the scourging and the beating and the cross and Calvary and death, it is finished, the grave, and the resurrection. Look at that. Let's get it fresh on our minds.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:43

And then I love a comment you made yesterday in your sermon. The same God that died for Moses, Abraham, David, died for him.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:53

Gideon, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, all of them. Same Jesus.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:57

Yep.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:58

All the sins of the past, present and future. Die for them.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:02

Good stuff, fellas. Good stuff. We look forward to uh being back again next week. We got spring right. Yeah, Logan, we appreciate you being on and being bold enough to share your story. Yeah. Yeah, I had a good time. Appreciate you.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:14

We'll get you back in here for sure. Yeah, I hope I have uh some stories to tell you this uh evangelism journey that I'm going on. Oh, there you go. Have some more to share.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:24

That's where we all need to be, you know. Just share stories.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:29

Well, Logan, if you don't mind, you want to lead us in prayer? Close us out. Here we go.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:33

Dear Lord, I thank you for this day. I thank you for uh the listeners of this podcast. I thank you for the men in this room, uh, for the the positive influence that that we are allowed to have. And and I pray that we glorified you and and uh I pray that we everyone listening and and we can put our trust in you and coming up on Easter, I just thank you, Lord, for the salvation that we have in you, and and I thank you for your son Jesus who died on the cross for our sins and three days later was resurrected, and and uh we can find salvation in that and uh and it's his precious name we pray. Amen.