Are you Afraid or Alert?

Was Jonah fearing the Lord when he was told to ARISE? Being obedient at times can be tough, can be uncomfortable, can be scary! We tend not to want to fail, we want results and good ones! When it comes to be obedient to the Lord what can go wrong? Just as we say in our intro living a life for Christ ultimately takes commitment, sacrifice, and staying obedient to His Word! 

As always thank you for you words and support for another week of the Pick it Up Podcast! 

Bro. Lane, Bro. Zach, Bro. Philip, Bro. Ryan, Bro. David

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 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 for 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. What was that word?

SPEAKER_01 0:37

What was that you say, Ryan? I was just talking about how good you say this entry. Entry? Entry. Entry. We entering this podcast. The pick it up podcast.

SPEAKER_04 0:50

Ryan, come out of your tent. I know my bad. I want me this morning.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

I'm fisting. Let y'all have it.

SPEAKER_03 0:59

Good morning. Okay, brother. Would you say that Jonah suffered?

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Ain't no doubt. We on it, boys.

SPEAKER_03 1:08

Well, you're ready. We were talking about Jonah before we got started here. And I the the the you know, I asked you about the comparison, all right, as a type of Christ, you know. Uh the amount of time that Jonah spent in the belly of the well, and Jesus spent in the earth. And obviously, when there was consciousness for Jonah when he was in that belly of the whale. And uh obviously you call it suffering. So he went from being asleep in the boat, and he's comfortable to suffering. And we don't even compare the fact that God allows suffering. You know, and as a result of that, of course, it redirected his life. He got in the will of God, did what God asked him to do, and he comes back, reflects upon all of it, writes the book, inspired by the Spirit of God, and we're talking about here today, but it's all the reason. And when you think about, everybody asks, what were the reasons? Where was Jesus at? You know, when he died on the cross and he raised three days later, right? Well, in that time period. If it the comparison is Jonah and Jesus was somewhere for three days, where and where was he at? We know the answer to that.

SPEAKER_02 2:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:17

I've always referred to it as hell's pulpit. But the context in which it comes up in the book of 1 Peter, uh, talking about hell's pulpit, is suffering. It's the whole context. And I want to read that with you. Here it is, verse 17. This is 1 Peter chapter 3. For it is better if the will of God, if the will of God be so that you suffer for well-doing than for evildoing. For Christ also once suffered for sins, just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, all right, but quickened by the spirit, by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison. That's in 1 Peter chapter 3. But he went and preached to the spirits in prison. Well, where were the spirits at? Obviously, these are people who passed on. They were in Abraham's bosom at that time. Right? This is where that whole philosophy and that thought where it says, From this day forward to be absorbed of the body, be present with the Lord. You know, those spirits couldn't be in the presence of the Lord without the Lord being there. So he went and delivered them. Yep. Tell us a pull a bit. But we don't necessarily see that as suffering because he died, and in death, he's there. But yet he's accomplishing the will of God. And how God foresaw that and foreknew that in Jonah's life, how many hundreds of years prior to Jesus and the comparison of the two?

SPEAKER_01 3:41

Because it does.

SPEAKER_03 3:43

I know it's confusing, and and I don't mean to get anybody confused, but it's uh it's a beautiful thing to consider.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

We we were talking before we got started here about Jonah. We we ended last week on Jonah, you know, the thought of it. And I I did the prayer with the the teenager Sunday morning for Sunday school, and this thought, you'd have to read it, it's chapter two, go through it. But the thought of, you know, he didn't have a plan B when they kind of threw him in the water. He just said, Hey, I know it's me. I'm the one that's messed up, throw me in water and just let me die. And you won wonder if during that prayer, during that time he was in the well or the fish, the great fish, did he ever ask that question, Lord, why didn't you just let me die? You know, he was so miserable.

SPEAKER_03 4:31

I mean you can get there in life. You can you can get you can be so far out of the will of God where God allows you to suffer to the point. I call it low points, where you're brought to a the lowest point that you've ever been in your life, and you think those thoughts, I'd just be better off dead. And then you turn from that and you look towards God, which is the only place you have to look because you're so low. You have to look up. And it's there. It's in that brokenness. It's in that brokenness that God can heal you and redirect your life.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

Here it is, right here. Jonah said, I sank down to the very roots of the mountains. Low as you get as low as I could get. That's right. And then the very next verse he says, But you, oh Lord my God. But you, O Lord my God, snatched me from the jaws of death. I'm low, but but you, oh Lord.

SPEAKER_03 5:32

That motivated him, didn't it? Yeah. All right, we're done. Good morning, everybody.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

We're done. Good morning.

SPEAKER_03 5:42

This this kind of thing happened around here a lot. We get to talking and that's the whole purpose of this thing. I guess so.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

As I as my life was slipping away, I remembered the Lord.

SPEAKER_03 5:54

But it just makes so much sense. Doesn't it make sense to y'all? And uh and you wonder why why can't everybody get this? And you will get that if you spend time on the word of God. And there ain't nothing that life can throw at you that you experience in life that there's not an answer for it in the scriptures. It's just amazing. It's living word of God. It really is. So I encourage you to get into it. It's exciting, it'll fill you, to consume you, to where that's all you talk about, all you want to talk about.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

Well, you're talking about it being the living word of God. It it's you know, we always tell people to turn to Peter because it's practical, you know. If you can get anywhere in the Bible and God's gonna point something out to you, wherever you are in your life at that moment. You know, Jonah. Who who would have thought I could get something out of the book of Jonah? The fact that he was swallowed up by a great fish, just the torment and the stuff that he put himself through. That's the whole point. He put himself through it all.

SPEAKER_03 6:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

God had a will. God allowed it. Yeah, he had allowed it, but he had a will for Jonah, and Jonah just got out of it.

SPEAKER_03 7:06

And put himself through. Okay, the practical way to look at that is this he was not going the direction that God wanted him to go. Totally opposite way. So God needed to get him back on the right path. How did God accomplish that? Through the fish.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 7:23

God accomplished that through suffering, through brokenness. So if you're looking at your life and you see that that you are broken, that things aren't working out too good, the plan that you've been trying to work in your life ain't working out. Could it be? Just consider this. God is trying to redirect your life, He's trying to get your attention. Yep. And wouldn't it be wise of you to say, oh, okay. I just heard it this morning on a podcast. I know what I need to do. Then what are you waiting for?

SPEAKER_01 7:50

That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 7:52

What are you waiting for? You got it, you got a better plan? Submit to God. Submit to his will. It's like old Phil Robertson said, right, Zach?

SPEAKER_01 7:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:00

You got a better plan?

SPEAKER_01 8:01

Yeah. Hey, if you got a better plan, let me know about it. Yeah, let me know about it. You sound like Jace just then. What are you waiting for? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Jonah went through physical, mental, and spiritual torment them three days.

SPEAKER_03 8:18

Three-point sermon. Do you write it down there? Say it.

SPEAKER_01 8:23

Physical, mental, and spiritual warfare.

SPEAKER_03 8:27

Does it start that way? Is it in that order? First is the physical. You start suffering physically.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

Yeah. Mentally, he. And then it got down to the root of it. It was all spiritual things.

SPEAKER_03 8:37

And when it became spiritual, what? Deliverance. Turn to God.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

Amen.

SPEAKER_03 8:42

Well, spit him up.

SPEAKER_01 8:43

He said, I remember. But you, oh Lord. That's good.

SPEAKER_04 8:48

What I think is also really neat about the story of Jonah is that when he gets spit out and he finally says, All right, Lord, I'll go. You know, I'm going. You got your point across. I I tried my best to die.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

He said that, you know, before he spit him out. So God delivered him after he went through the once he woke up, you know.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

He finally arose.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

Well, he told him twice to rise up, and finally he realized, all right, I'm gonna go.

SPEAKER_04 9:22

Well, it says he goes to Nineveh, and it says that it's a city so large it took three days to see it all. I know they're on foot here, but I mean I just think about going to Little Rock, you know. Ryan, what if what if God gave you a calling to go to Little Rock and just stand on the streets and tell everybody in Little Rock this place finna burn down if y'all don't start acting right.

SPEAKER_03 9:44

If God told you that you didn't do it, I'd be scared not to be. That's right.

SPEAKER_04 9:51

In Arkansas River.

SPEAKER_03 9:52

And then you finally submit to Lord's plan of view, Lord's will for you, and there ain't no other place you'd rather be on earth than standing on that corner and looking at it.

SPEAKER_04 10:00

Right. But the amazing thing to me is that he went there. We knew how we know how horrible of a town Naval was, but God went before him.

SPEAKER_03 10:09

Woo doggy.

SPEAKER_04 10:11

You know, I mean what would be Philip, if you went to Little Rock and you stood on the street corner preaching, what would be your biggest fear in the back of your mind? Getting robbed, getting robbed, happened, folks. I'd be worried about ending up in prison, being persecuted. I mean, that'd be my worry, literally. In today's time, I would be extremely worried about being persecuted, you know. Um, but it it said that the king here heard what Jonah was saying, and he stepped down from his throne and took off his royal robes. He dressed himself in burlap in a sack of heap ashes. Then the tank the king set out a decree. And so God went before, in my opinion, God went before Jonah had to be. And the whole city, everybody stopped. They repented. They said, Oh boy.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

Is God capable of that? You know, but here's my question. With God's help, because God went before him, I believe too.

SPEAKER_03 11:13

Was Jonah that good as a Well would it have happened if Jonah hadn't went?

SPEAKER_01 11:18

That's what I told teenagers. That's what I told teenagers and said, what if God's leading you to do one thing?

SPEAKER_03 11:25

Amen. He got a purpose for you.

SPEAKER_01 11:28

And you don't do it.

SPEAKER_04 11:30

I mean, they very well could have laughed him out of there. That's right. You know what I mean? So, hey, look, you don't know what you're talking about, get on out of here.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

My thought with this was, was Jonah that good? He didn't even want to do it. And half-heartedly doing it, those people repented. You know? And then he said he got mad about it, which I ain't got into all that yet. I'm still studying on that.

SPEAKER_03 11:53

But well, how many of us can say the same thing? You say, was Jonah that good? I know whenever whenever I got into this, when I finally got into the will of God doing what God wanted me to do, I had those thoughts. I can't. There's no way. I am not a speaker, not a public speaker. I'm shy. I can't, Lord, I can't. I believe I know what you want me to do, but you got to understand, I can't. You don't know uh Jonathan had those same thoughts. I'll speak to uh And I mean people do too.

SPEAKER_00 12:23

I'll speak to a person I don't I'm sure he doesn't care me using him today, but Clinton Eubanks. The week from Sunday, me and Park cornered him in the sanctuary or in the foyer and said, Hey, well, you got you teaching Sunday school Sunday, you're ready. Oh no, no, I ain't. Oh no, no, I ain't. I said, He said, Well, how do I start? Where'd I start? I said, man, just go to the word of God, you know, and sure enough he did it. Well, Sunday he texted me after church and and I was texting him back and forth, and he was like, definitely was some room for improving, but uh, I'm here. What did the Lord say? He sent us in a text. He said, Here I am, Lord, send me. That's right. That's all it takes. You know, that's all it takes.

SPEAKER_04 13:01

O'Clint did O'Clint did good Sunday. I was proud of him. His old legs was the whole time.

SPEAKER_01 13:09

I can he come down. I asked him, I said, Well, how'd it go? He's had four minutes to spare. He did good. You know, that's that's awesome to think about that. You know, God's God's got something for all of us. Yeah. You just have to answer.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

Well, what I was gonna say, and Clint said this too, he said, I've got a whole different, different level of respect for us as pastors. And that's fine, that's great. But we're not looking for that respect because of how we study, or you know, how we present the word of God or how we teach the word of God, how we preach it. That's all that should be all of us. We should all have that same mindset of, hey, this is the word of God. Sit down, pick it apart, find the truth. It's all means all the truth, of course, but present the truth.

SPEAKER_01 13:54

I think what Clint experienced afterward was peace. Yeah. Because the dude put some studying in it.

SPEAKER_03 14:00

Answer this for me. What if Clint would have said no? He'd been miserable. Would he still be miserable right now? I think he would have, yeah. How long would that misery have continued?

SPEAKER_01 14:10

Until you until the Lord asks you to do something else, maybe. I don't know. Until you get on his knees and tell him, forgive me, Lord.

SPEAKER_00 14:17

All right, now let me take this into this perspective now. So you take Jonah. Jonah said, Alright, finally. Let's all right, I'll go. Look what happened when he went. But now what you take just uh, you take in modern day society, whatever. All right, we've been running from God. I say yes. Get all into it. Preacher, have you ever been on a Sunday morning? And just like, where in the world was I this morning? Just absolutely just feel like you have failed. Failed the word of God, failed your congregation. Almost weekly. Yeah. And do you just stop there? Then you turn back to that no and say, no, I ain't gonna be able to do that.

SPEAKER_03 14:56

I have in the past. Yeah, but then there's misery. Yeah. Until you but you go from a few. I tell you where that problem arises where you have those thoughts that you failed, is when you don't see the results in people. Yeah. People ask me often, well, how in the world do you keep doing this? Nobody ever responds, nobody ever comes to the altar, nobody's ever praying, you don't ever see any results. How do you get to that point? Well, you get to the point where you you trust God for the results. That's right. If you judge in your success upon the response of people, you fix them to be a miserable soul. All right.

SPEAKER_00 15:31

So you said So whenever you trust the Lord, you said those exact words to me, and I can remember like it was yesterday in West Central Camp of 2019. I have just surrendered and children's ministry intern, and I can remember Nathan Forrest coming down to the altar at Bog Springs of West Central Camp, coming to ask about salvation. And when I got done explaining it to him, he said, I'm gonna wait in a little bit. Oh, I'm talking about just crushed me. You know, absolutely crushed. I'm like, did I say something wrong? And I can remember you told me that night at the bunk, you gotta trust God for the results.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

And the next night he came to you and got saved, and I said, I I've been there lane where I've done the same thing. Someone come talk to me about wanting to get saved, and man, you deliver it and you talking to them about it, and all of a sudden they say, Well, I'll think about it. I'm like, Ain't nothing to think about. What are you talking about?

SPEAKER_00 16:25

But that goes, uh that goes way farther than just a preacher's mindset or a pastor's mindset. You take Jonah out of the question and you put a servant, just a servant of the Lord. You know, how frustrated it might get sometimes where you're putting it all you've got into the Lord. You're putting all your time and effort into studying the word of God, and then you deliver something or you bring someone up, bring something up to somebody, and it's just like nothing. You get you supposedly get nothing out of it, kind of deal. There is no results from it. Because I think we're result people. I think we're looking for a response. We're response, we're responsible. Let me let me throw up, and he won't he won't mind me using it.

SPEAKER_03 17:07

But the thought comes to my mind that takes it out of the preacher's circle. That's with little Seth Tucker. Seth has been mentioning a man to us for a couple years now. His name is Russ Aaron. Yep. And uh Russ is struggling with cancer and whatnot. We've been praying for him, and we had a uh bring the bring a friend to prayer group Sunday, and he's on one that brought a friend to prayer group. But it was Russ. And you you thought about that, you don't you didn't really see any result or response from Russ, right? And you think Seth. You think Seth was disappointed? You think he might have had some expectations that Russ would be moved, you know, from that experience and this and that. And that's where Seth has to be, the same place where we are, and anybody else is you gotta trust the Lord for that. That's right. And I think he does. And so the the success is not in the result, the success is in the the obedience. That's right. When God asks you to do something, and he knew God wanted him to ask Russ to come to this, and he did it. Now he gotta leave the rest of the room.

SPEAKER_01 18:12

I got a story I gotta share. So last Tuesday or Thursday, well, I don't know what day it was, I went to eat at uh uh Fu Man Choo.

SPEAKER_00 18:22

Fortune cookie.

SPEAKER_01 18:22

Fortune cookie. And I went by myself, and yeah, I don't ever go in somewhere and eat by myself, but I just didn't know.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

That's kind of weird.

SPEAKER_01 18:31

I was craving it, and I drove past every place with fortune cookie on my mind. So I said, all right, I'll just go in there and eat. Got there at 11 o'clock, you know, wasn't no one there. Went in there and ate, hung out for a little bit. Well, when I walked out, there was a guy sitting on the bench, and I said, Hey man, you good? You know? Yeah, I'm good. My whole, all right. So I walked on to my truck, and as soon as I sit down in my truck, it's like the Lord looked or said to me, That's all you're gonna ask him is if he's good.

SPEAKER_05 19:00

You don't?

SPEAKER_01 19:01

Yeah, that's it. That's all you're gonna do. And so I sit there for 15 minutes in my truck staring at that guy, thinking, man, kind of, kind of, if I knew I didn't do it, I was gonna be miserable, right? Lord's asked me to do something, so I finally get enough courage. I get out and I go to him and I sit down and I talk to him. And the very words out of my mouth was, man, I ain't got nothing to offer you. I don't have any cash on me. I can't give you a ride right now. I said, but I got something to offer you that could change your life. That's how I said it. And in that moment I realized why this guy was sitting on the bench. He just looked at me and said, Yes, sir, yes, sir, yes, sir. He he wasn't, he didn't have it all, you know. And uh I I said, All right, Lord, I don't know what your plan was here, but I talked to him for a minute more and I got it and my truck and left. But I had peace about it. You know, I think the Lord was just seeing if I was willing to do it, you know. And what's the funny part of that story was when I got back, I guess it was the next day or so, I went up to uh oh, the Spartan place where Matthew owns Matthew Parrish, his wife was in there, and he she said, I'm glad that you went and talked to that guy because the Lord was on me too. She was sitting in the truck, two trucks down, and I didn't know it, and she was staring at the guy too. You know, so God had put the same vision or impact on several different people, you know. I don't know where I was going with that, but the the point that the point that I was gonna be miserable until I could be miserable today.

SPEAKER_00 20:33

You accepted the obedience of hey, I needed to go talk to this guy.

SPEAKER_01 20:36

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 20:38

Was that uncomfortable?

SPEAKER_01 20:39

Very uncomfortable. I just went and sit down beside him and sit there for a second. He's staring at me. I was like, all right, I'm just gonna say something. We gotta get out of our comfort zone sometimes. To follow God, you definitely do. And the funny thing about that too, as soon as I got through talking to the guy, a preacher pulled up. You know? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:05

I remember now. Uh I'll make a comment about that experience you had just with my experience in life, because I've lived a little longer than you boys. And uh whenever it's it's something like that, I found out that it's it is, it's unshakable. You can't get rid of it. You know? And uh that ain't with every instance. You might have that thought, you know, along the way some other times, but there are certain times when it's you you just can't not. And one it goes back to my mind recent most recent one was a lady in the hospital, and I have no idea who she was. I met her on the elevator. I didn't even meet her on the elevator, I saw her on the elevator, but that that Holy Spirit, you just could not shake it. And I didn't have any choice. Well, I did. I could have walked out of there, and then I thought about it for the next uh who knows how long. And I knew that, and therefore I wasn't willing. To do that. So I just obedient. Yeah. So I don't know what you're going to do with this, Lord. Here we go. I still don't know. I have no idea how you use that.

SPEAKER_01 22:09

But that that ain't for me to determine. Like, Lord, I don't know what you did there after I got up. I'm like, Lord, I don't know what you did there.

SPEAKER_00 22:17

But I think I'll make this comment. All right. Ask yourself the quest. Ask God the question. Lord, I don't know why you did that, but you did, you know. Ask God that question. But you also need to turn around and ask yourself the question: was I obedient to the Lord there? Was I making the right decision doing that? And I can guarantee you, 10 out of 10 times, you're gonna say, yeah, I was. There's nothing you're going to spread the gospel. It's not, it's gonna be obedient to the Lord ten times out of ten.

SPEAKER_01 22:45

So I I've made a deal with myself. I can't say I make a deal with the Lord, but I made a deal with myself. Every time I go to Walmart, because my wife sends me to the pickup line all the time. And uh I told myself, anytime I'm here, the person who brings my food or out or whatever, I'm gonna talk to them about Jesus. You know? And I've done it. I've done it successfully.

SPEAKER_00 23:10

Uh well, successfully, you and Brother David told them two stories three times, I think, on this podcast.

SPEAKER_01 23:18

But let me get to my point. Two weeks ago, I sit in that line, and this these dudes was in a hurry, just chom, chom, chom, chom, you know, getting it was a line. So I didn't do it that day. I said, all right, I'm gonna let him go. I catch him, and I even prayed Lord sent him to me.

SPEAKER_00 23:32

Maybe glad it wasn't God's deal.

SPEAKER_01 23:34

But I was miserable when I left her. Yeah. I didn't do it. I that was on, I and I even told myself when I drove us away, I said, Lord, that was on me. I'm sorry. Next one's on you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 23:47

I won't tell that story again. My bad. That's why I tell people when I write warnings. This one's on me, next one's on you.

SPEAKER_00 23:55

You write warnings? That's what I'm talking about. They get pulled over by you.

SPEAKER_04 24:00

Well, you had mentioned, Ryan, you mentioned earlier we were sitting there talking about Jonah about how he got mad after that. Yeah. You know? Well, do you think Jonah got uncomfortable and then when God decided to hold back his wrath, that maybe he felt like he was made out to look like a fool because of what it says here, if he would rather die than if what he predicted was not gonna happen.

SPEAKER_01 24:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:22

You know.

SPEAKER_01 24:23

Oh, that would put him through some physical pain after took away his shade and everything else.

SPEAKER_04 24:29

Well, I mean, we get we get an expect and I think of um oh Judas scary. That kind of makes me think about that that anger, you know. Jonah had expectations of what God said he was gonna do. And Judas had expectations of whatever, some grand triumphant, triumphant military, you know, some great sweeping, and they was all just kind of sitting back waiting on something to happen. But we we often get that, and I I struggle with this. I get something in my mind of what I think it may be, you know, and I have this picture or this scene or this what or what my expectations are. There you go. And then next thing you know, it's I lose sight of what God can do at that point, you know, and what he will do with what he has simply asked me to do. You know, sometimes I feel like I overthink it, you know. With your expectations, yeah. With my own expectations, and I go, man, this didn't happen. I I feel terrible, you know. I mean, but really, in all honesty, you've done what I did what I was supposed to do, but I just had the wrong expectation. It's it's me to leave the rest up to God, you know, and trust that He's gonna take whatever we we've been instructed to do and use it for His glory.

SPEAKER_03 25:45

It's kind of like you've arrived. Right. When you get to that point in maturity, Zach and in life to where you you still experience some of those failures because you didn't have those expectations. But when you get to the place where you you no longer live there and determine your success based upon your expectations and how people respond, you've kind of arrived. I mean, you really, really are trusting the Lord to do with whatever he places upon your heart. That's awesome.

unknown 26:16

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 26:18

I know, I know, I know you may think I just I got my mind on Zach here and leading music, and you think this song, oh my gosh, the song. When people get to these lyrics and we get to this verse, every hand in this building is gonna be raised. I mean, it's going to be a moment of worship. And you get to there and you sing it and you deliver it, and everybody out there. Yeah. Long jaw. I know you've experienced it. I have too. Same thing in a sermon. You think, oh, I'm gonna make this point right here, and here we go.

SPEAKER_04 26:45

Gonna get 75 amens. And it's cricket.

SPEAKER_01 26:51

Preacher, preacher be asking for those amens.

SPEAKER_03 26:56

I know I'm gonna give amen right here, nobody says nothing. He called me out. Watching you got an amen.

SPEAKER_01 27:00

You got an amenic watts and amen that moment. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 27:03

Zach, you bring up a good point with Jesus right there, because I started started thinking about it. If you think, and we talked about this last week, you talked, you take about a person's pride and how person's pride can one eat them alive, but two, can ultimately split a family, split a church, whatever. But if you think that you're, I don't want to say too good, but if you think that you're invincible towards what Satan has for you and your obedience towards the Lord, such as Judas was, do this follow Jesus on this earth. He was in it. He said, all right, yeah, let's go. But then in the end, ultimately betrayed Jesus. Well, that's that's where that's where Satan's gonna hit you the most. And if you're thinking that you're too, that you're completely sheltered and you're good and you don't have to worry about anything, you better watch out because that's where that's where your shield's gonna get.

SPEAKER_01 27:55

Well, that's exactly what a preacher preached on Sunday night, right? That thought of Peter. Man, I got this. It ain't nothing to it. And he was the very one that denied him. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:06

Well, it goes back to Jesus knew it. It goes back to what you said earlier, preacher. Getting the word, let it consume you because it's what you're gonna talk about. I guarantee there's someone listening on this podcast right now that one is a saved child of God, majority of the times obedient to the Lord, but that is not in the word because they're like, hey, I'm getting my hour a week on a Sunday, brother David, I'm listening to my podcast an hour on Wednesday, whatever, and I'm good. But yet they're not having that personal relationship and that personal study with the word of God, you know, and that's where Satan's gonna come in and ultimately lead you astray from this word. That's right. I believe.

SPEAKER_03 28:48

Let's let's just use a scenario. There's somebody listening to us, and uh right now, and they're at work or in the truck, whatever, where they at, and uh they're hearing all this, and then uh they work all day and they come home and they walk in to find a wife who is emotional, she's upset, she's crying, she really didn't know why she's crying, y'all ever experienced that? And yet you know, okay, I need to respond, I need to say some things here, I need to try to comfort her, I need to try to understand this, I need to be this leader that she knows, that she trusts. And if you have in your mind the word of God and those things come up and you speak that into that situation, and there is a there is a result in this wife of yours' life and in her spirit that came from God, not you. You can say all the words you want to, but to your words. But when you speak God's word, and how on earth are you gonna do that if you don't know it? That's right. And you can't know it unless you read it and study it and become familiar with it. But whenever you are prepared to respond, whether it's a child, a wife, a co-worker, whatever, that's where God uses us. And that's what He's looking for in all of our lives, not just from pulpits. He's looking for it at the house, in the in the bedroom or at the office. And uh man, that that's where all of us ought to strive to get to. No, I got my hand, I'm just I'm just holding it. There's another side to that. Put it in words. Well, we talked about the failing, you know, and if we don't do that, then we're measurable. We know we should have responded, we know we could have responded, but we didn't know how it was gonna how they were gonna take it. But that's where you can't trust those results. Well, don't not say it because you're afraid of a response. Trust God in that, whatever it might be. I guess that's what I'm trying to say.

SPEAKER_00 31:01

Yep. I know they don't have them anymore with textbooks. They don't ever have textbooks in school, it seems like, do they? They all have kids in school. They don't bring textbooks home, right? Well, no, I didn't ever either. But you think about that don't mean they ain't got them. All right, Philip, this is a good point. When you first, I'm sure it was a couple of years ago, when you first joined the force, you got on the sheriff's department at hamburger or whatever. When did you first learn tin codes? Tin codes? 10 codes. Did you get to read them off something? Yeah. Read them off a book? Yeah, piece of paper. Piece of paper, right? Read them in black and white. Ultimately, we had the word of God, which is in red letters. Reading is not my favorite thing. I told Jordan that last night. I don't like reading. The worst score I ever got on ACT was my reading, and it was a 12.

SPEAKER_04 31:50

Right there with you, brother.

SPEAKER_00 31:52

I thought that was your deposit, right? But no, man, it's when you see, and I'm looking at red letters here, it made me think about this. When you see those red letters and ultimately see something in black and white, you can't, I can't change those words right there. I can't. And so when you read them and you intently learn them and you and you put your time and effort into them, do you not think it's gonna change your life?

SPEAKER_05 32:18

Amen. Give you a new discipline for sure.

SPEAKER_00 32:22

Right. I mean, if you didn't learn those ten codes, if you got that piece of paper, Philip, and you didn't learn those ten codes, guess what? Can't use them. If you need backup, what you gonna call? Hell. You're gonna holler, right? 911. I don't know why I was brought that up, but no, that's good.

SPEAKER_05 32:41

That's good. It gives you a different perspective for sure. Unless you uh a way to communicate. And if you can't communicate you know what your thoughts are and what you're trying to do, then there's no sense in even trying.

SPEAKER_03 33:03

Well, where are you at, Brady? All over the map. What do you mean? What comment I have on that one?

SPEAKER_00 33:12

Well, allow it to be in your location. Let's go right here.

SPEAKER_04 33:17

Well, I was I want to add to that what you just said there, Lane. Once you once you are disciplined enough to get in the word, even though I'm just I'm just like that, I'd I'd would rather I could think of a thousand other things I'd rather do than to read anything.

SPEAKER_00 33:35

AR reading was my worst. I hate AR reading.

SPEAKER_04 33:37

I mean, I'm the type of guy, like, hey, we got a whole grill to put together that came in this little video box. You know, we got nah. Throw them instructions away to go get grillers. We'll get my tools and we'll get this stuff and then left got four bolts left over and two washers and one of where that's. When you get in God's word and you're disciplined enough to read and study it, you end up falling in love with it. If you have a love for Christ, you it it it should just come so natural to fall in love with it. And the more you read it, the more you memorize it, the more it becomes ingrained in you and a part of who you are. Yep. And one of I and I just kind of want to make this point, Grand Manor, one of my biggest fears was the first time when I stepped up at Grand Manor to do song requests. And I was so worried. Somebody is fixing to throw a loop right here. You know, there's gonna be a hymn I don't know. And although that has happened, you know, instantly I felt I felt prepared somewhat because I have been around music my whole life. And I have heard these songs, and even though I look at the title and I don't instantly remember it, it's almost like the first 10 seconds Miss Janine plays that little intro and that tune comes back. And I remember it may have been I'm 32, it may have been 20 years ago, maybe something I heard when I was 12. Maybe that was the last time I heard it. But I remember it, and we sang it, you know, so much back then, and and it just some of these old songs just kind of coming back up. Amen. And now it's one of the greatest blessings. You know, I look at at some of these older folks that are residents there at Grand Manor, and uh some of them are are really high functioning, and and some of them are not, but all of them sing every single word to the top of their lungs, and it is a blessing. And it what used to be one of my biggest fears is now becoming one of my greatest joys because God continues to prove over and over and over again. So I prepared you a long time ago for this. That's exactly what I'm saying. You know, right. Yep.

SPEAKER_03 35:44

And so you didn't know it then.

SPEAKER_00 35:46

No, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 35:47

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 35:48

And we say this all the time, and I brought up Clint while ago, God will equip the call. He doesn't call the equipment, he equips the call. That's right. And so you just gotta be ready and be willing to be enable. Yep. Biggest thing. Well, Zach, you are doing a good job.

SPEAKER_01 36:03

Yeah, I almost threw a song out at you the other day. I said, I ain't gonna know that. I should have done it on purpose, huh? Get you under the laughing voice.

SPEAKER_03 36:13

Those experiences is just it's a tremendous affirmation that you are where God wants you to be. You know, when you start living those moments where you realize that God was preparing me for this 20 years ago or 30 years ago. You couldn't see it at the time, but whenever you get into that wheel, then you start seeing his purpose and his design, his plan. And to think that, golly, when I was 11, 12 years old, God was preparing me for what I was doing when I'm 40. But that's the way it works. That's the beauty of it.

SPEAKER_05 36:46

I do have to say this Sunday morning, exact when whenever uh y'all were playing Goodness of God, and I looked out around a crowd, and some of the oldest people out in the crowd was out there raising their hand, praising God.

SPEAKER_04 37:00

Play's good all the time. Um we had Senior Sunday, and um of course uh Addy and Taylor are our seniors and our music and youth. So I wanted to kind of bring them up. And and uh when you told me that we'd uh may or may not have an invitation or whatever, you know, there towards the end, I was like, okay, well, we'll just go with it. And I told him, I said, well, we can't get out of here without singing goodness of God. So we're just gonna scoop that one on up, and if we have to, we'll sing it again. It was good, no doubt.

SPEAKER_03 37:37

God is good. I hope you realize that all the time.

SPEAKER_01 37:41

Zach said he's gonna have to start wearing a headband on Monday morning. Boy, I looked up there at you and you was sucked.

SPEAKER_03 37:50

That stage is different, man. Oh, yeah. We need some air moving up there. And I I got kicked out of my spot. I'll make mention of this because I thought about it. He made mention of it.

SPEAKER_00 38:00

Because he said better not let it happen again.

SPEAKER_03 38:02

I was sitting on that front row there right in front of Flynn, and uh I couldn't hear you. I couldn't hear you. I I couldn't. And I thought I asked Josh, he said, is the sound this bad all the time or just today? It's that side. He said, Yeah, it's it's pretty bad. We need to fix that. Turn a speaker that away or something. It's that side. I've had a lot of people. It was a little low on my side.

SPEAKER_00 38:28

Well, I tell you what it is, too, though, preacher. And we can talk about this later. You're so those chairs are so close, so you're almost sitting underneath the speakers when you're sitting right there.

unknown 38:40

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 38:41

You can't get nothing to get out of here.

SPEAKER_03 38:42

We need to make some adjustments and some more speakers or something. Yep. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:46

I always always I sit close enough to Josh's mom. That's Annette. I just listen to her and sing along with her.

SPEAKER_05 38:55

Yeah, we need a microphone, we need some minors, packs. We need some money.

SPEAKER_01 39:00

So those of y'all that are listening out there won't donate to our uh worship service. That's right.

SPEAKER_05 39:07

Preacher, where'd you come up with your uh analogy with your with your dog and the squirrel?

SPEAKER_03 39:15

I don't really know. Did it make sense? Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 39:17

Oh yeah. I liked it.

SPEAKER_03 39:18

I think uh I know what it was. First Peter 5.8. Uh, because when Peter said, you know, uh be sober, vigilant for your adversary, the devil, like a lion walks around seeking, and that's the picture of the lion, right? That's how they creep up on it. But I had seen that with my little dog.

SPEAKER_01 39:38

Well, I love how you just go to pouncing. I love how you ended it, and you talked about your head being down. Yeah. Yeah. You know, every time we put our head down, the devil gets closer. Yeah. You know, and we're putting our head down buttons in the phone.

SPEAKER_03 39:52

You go to a restaurant, everybody got their head down looking at their phone. Yeah. You can't see around you, you know.

SPEAKER_05 39:58

So look at a preacher getting them parables out there, making his own parables. I think that's where it comes from. Yeah. I mean, that was good. It made sense.

SPEAKER_00 40:06

Did she get the squirrel? Did she get the squirrel?

SPEAKER_03 40:08

No, she ain't never called squirrel.

SPEAKER_00 40:10

Squirrel knew. Well, she was drinking.

SPEAKER_03 40:12

The squirrel knew that fence was two feet away. About and he was on the other side. He stopped and they're about four foot apart, and he just said that.

SPEAKER_01 40:19

That just shows you the devil knows our surroundings better than we do sometimes.

SPEAKER_03 40:23

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 40:26

Look at it. Yep. If your heads down, it need to be in God's word. Amen. Let's talk about a hedge. Hey, let's talk about it.

SPEAKER_03 40:35

When you hear the word hedge, what do you think about it? Bushes. I need to trim my head. Yeah, I need to trim my head. Did that squirrel know there was a hedge about him? Oh yeah. He knew that fence was two foot behind him. And he didn't bounce left, right, or sideways. He went backwards. Well, he knew how fast that dog was, too. Yeah, he knew. But there was a hedge. There was a hedge of protection there.

SPEAKER_05 40:55

Yeah, taking his time.

SPEAKER_03 40:56

Where we hear that word come up is in the story of Job. And uh I told, I I shared this briefly, I think I did. Y'all tell me if I did Sunday night, of the fact that the devil has access to the throne of God. We don't realize that sometimes. And so here he is in the court of God and walks by, and God asks him, Hey, Satan, have you considered my servant Job? And oh Satan thinks about him and he says, Well, yeah, I have. But I ain't been able to get to him. I tell you, I ain't been able to get to him because you got a hedge about him. And I've been trying to find a hole in this hedge for years. But as long as you got this hedge about him, God, I'm not gonna be able to do anything. He said, Well, he's the best person on earth, greatest man on earth. He ain't gonna fail me. I know he ain't gonna fail me. He said, He said, Well, give me a shot. You know, so God allowed it. God allowed him to be sifted, if you will. But that I don't want to get into that whole story of Job, we know the outcome. But the thought occurred to me of this hedge, you know, of protection. And how accessible is it to us, you know, and how aware are we of it? And is it true that God has this hedge of protection around his children? The devil may have uh be allowed to get to you to an extent, but ultimately uh ain't gonna let you go. That's right. He can't have you. He can't possess you. He may tempt you, he may try you, he may trick you, he may hassle you, he may give you a hard time. But if you're that child of God, you're protected. He can't have you, so ultimately, nope.

SPEAKER_00 42:37

You got to be like that squirrel, turn the squirrel in a different aspect. That squirrel was feeding. That squirrel was growing. That squirrel was feeding on to say the word of God when he was eating that bird seed.

SPEAKER_03 42:47

But he was also alert. Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_00 42:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 42:49

He was he was sitting here.

SPEAKER_00 42:51

If he wasn't feeding, I say you can't look at that. That's right. That's that squirrel is surviving. You gotta do what you can do, you gotta do to survive. Well, you only can do that by studying the word of God, reading the word of God.

SPEAKER_01 43:03

You notice this about a squirrel, they're always uncomfortable. Because they don't know what's watching. They gotta watch for snakes, they gotta watch for birds, they gotta watch for dogs, they gotta watch cars. You know, the whole it's like you said the other day, he gets up on that hind leg and goes to eating. He's watching the whole time. Well, what do you gotta watch for? Oh, there's tons of stuff, you know.

SPEAKER_03 43:23

Who's responsible for it?

SPEAKER_01 43:25

Who trying to get you? The devil at all times. What does he use? Everything. Everything he can.

SPEAKER_00 43:31

There's so many wild strategies. Can Satan use God what God's word to get you?

SPEAKER_01 43:37

Oh, he can he can turn God's word. He's done it before. He's done it to Jesus.

SPEAKER_03 43:43

How many times do the writers of the New Testament tell us false prophets, false prophets, false teachers? I mean, they they're gonna turn to these fables, they're gonna turn to these myths, they have itching ears. They're gonna turn away from me. That's why he told Timothy. Timothy, they're gonna give away these itching ears, they're gonna listen. To these myths, but you, son, you be sober, you be vigilant, you stay on task, you finish your course, you finish your ministry.

SPEAKER_01 44:07

Well, even in the Old Testament, Jonah talked about the ones that worship false gods. You know? It's been going on since David.

SPEAKER_03 44:16

So why in the world wouldn't you be alert to that? Should we should we caution people towards these false prophets? I know. As ministers? We got somebody listening to the podcast out there other than us. We don't know if they're true or false. Could they be telling them and teaching them some wrong things? Oh, no doubt. We need some trusted sources. That's why you need the church. That's why you need shepherds. That's why sheep need shepherds. That's right. To to uh warn them, to let them know, to to guide them. I know we're kind of going all over the place today.

SPEAKER_01 44:52

Well no, I mean that's I don't know how many people has told me, hey, I've been listening to old I can't ever think of his name, Ferdinand. Stephen Furtick. Yeah, I've been listening to him. Man, he's got some good stuff and this and that, and I'm like, I'm like, you don't know what he's saying.

SPEAKER_00 45:08

But you brought up that word sober Sunday preacher. How can you how can you be alert? How can you be if you if you're not sober.

SPEAKER_03 45:18

Yeah, if you have been competent.

SPEAKER_00 45:20

You don't have the right mindset. If you're intoxicated.

SPEAKER_03 45:23

Yeah. Can you be intoxicated by say Stephen Furtick?

SPEAKER_05 45:27

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 45:28

Or a Benny Hen.

SPEAKER_05 45:31

That's gonna that's what I was gonna say. How do you n how do how would a new convert person uh know the difference?

SPEAKER_03 45:40

How would you You find the truth, you find the church that's preaching and teaching out of the Bible?

SPEAKER_01 45:46

But how do they know what How do they know that's the one? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 45:50

The Lord, if they're a child of God, the Holy Spirit will let them know.

SPEAKER_01 45:53

Yeah. My boy. And and it goes back to your personal relationship.

SPEAKER_03 45:57

And you also see it in their fruits.

SPEAKER_01 45:59

It goes back to your personal relationship, your personal studies, your personal you know, you got to get you can't depend on anybody. They can't depend on us, you know. They got to get personal with God and and then their studies as well.

SPEAKER_00 46:12

Well, it goes back to what Brother David just said right there, too. It's up to us, leaders. But when we hear those, like Ryan said too, when we hear those ones, man, that sounded real good. I loved what they hear. Bob, you gotta hang on a second, bring me bring you back around to the picture here, you know.

SPEAKER_01 46:28

Well, you go back to that verdict guy. He may have some good points. And some of the things he may say may be right, yeah. But you gotta see what he stands for in all. You know.

SPEAKER_03 46:40

The devil do the same thing.

SPEAKER_05 46:42

What would you say to the person, oh, you just want me to come to your church? I'd say darn two and come on.

SPEAKER_03 46:50

I wouldn't ever tell anybody that. I say, you need to find a church that's preaching and teaching the truth. Well, you know it. They're gonna they're gonna be in the Bible. They're not gonna find them talking without the word of God.

SPEAKER_01 47:00

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 47:00

They're gonna turn to the word of God. Well, these these guys do that. Yeah, but they twist it. Now you know they twist it. You get in and find it for yourself. That's right. That's right. It's a trusted sources.

SPEAKER_04 47:12

Fact checker.

SPEAKER_03 47:13

Fact checker. What is it? Well, how's it worded in the scripture about that? Um, fact checker. Try them, try the spirits. Test the spirits. Yep. Test the spirits. You may know I've said that a number of times. Y'all don't take my word for it. You do you get in this book yourself. If you find something I'm saying that's contrary to that, then amen.

SPEAKER_01 47:35

And don't necessarily mean go home and Google it. You know.

SPEAKER_03 47:39

That's the that's the fight that we have in the in the near future. You know. Oh, Google said this. It's gonna be contrary to that. I think it's last week you brought out that point. We're trying to figure out the how long. How long to build the build the art. And Google said something that wasn't scripture. Yeah, basically. I mean, you do, you gotta know it well enough to be able to fight against that.

SPEAKER_04 48:02

Yeah, Google had it at like a hundred, if I remember correctly, it was like 125 years. And we found it lane that it was between 100 and 100. Between 100 and 120. But then it also had some things suggested that it was 500 years. But what the Bible says is that Noah was 500 when it was over. Oh, Google. So there was it pointed it, it it pointed you to a the right scripture, I think, you know, there, but it definitely took it out of context. And there the the meaning wasn't full there. You know, there there was some tr some trickery there, you know. And if it if it happens there, where else is it happening? You know? Oh gosh. So I definitely think that AI is a good tool, and that social media is a good platform. I mean, here we are airing our podcast on a platform. It can be used, anything can be used for his glory. But we've got to have discernment, you know.

SPEAKER_03 49:04

It's all good. Everything God gives us is good until a man gets his hand on it.

SPEAKER_04 49:08

Right.

SPEAKER_03 49:09

Computers are good. They also corrupt.

SPEAKER_01 49:13

That's right. Oh man. Hey, I ain't gonna lie, AI scares me to death. It's AI, you don't know what's real.

SPEAKER_00 49:21

Hey, listen, we were at the ballpark last night. I'm talking to one of the umpires. He used Chat GBT Saturday to make a call. That's scary. No, he's like, but I need to look up this rule, so he used ChatGBT to look up the rule.

SPEAKER_05 49:35

Yeah, that's a fish I caught. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 49:47

I make a controversial point that nobody probably caught. This is one of y'all just said that I caught, and it was Watson who said it. He said, I'm course it didn't. I'm scared to death. Well, God does not give us a spirit of fear. Well, I'm working on that. Where's that fear come from? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:07

Well, it don't scare me in the fact of I don't know how to say it.

SPEAKER_00 50:12

Hollering for you.

SPEAKER_01 50:13

I don't know. It just scares me that you don't anybody look at it and think, oh, okay, that's cool. Well, it ain't true.

SPEAKER_03 50:21

Well, I'll just go back to say what Zach, I mean, God can use anything for good. Yeah. It's when we're afraid of it, is where the the devil gets used. That's something that's just I just need to bring it out. We all need to realize that. I don't think God would have us to be fearful of anything in this world. Yeah. You know? Uh, but yet alert and realize it's an adversary, it's an enemy who's already defeated.

SPEAKER_01 50:47

That maybe that's what I should have said. I'm alert about it. I ain't scared of it, I'm alert about it. I ain't losing no sleep. You're aware of it. That's it.

SPEAKER_00 50:56

Yeah. You like that squirrel. You know it's there. You just gotta be.

SPEAKER_03 51:00

Well, he's gonna make me go get back to my tongue. Well, you just have to I don't like snakes. Yeah. And I'm not necessarily fearful of snakes.

SPEAKER_01 51:07

I just want to know if that joke.

SPEAKER_03 51:09

But I'm gonna look where I'm walking. That's right. Nah, you just gotta go, man. I'm being alert.

SPEAKER_05 51:14

You don't respect me. And I will take you on the hospital visit. You just gotta know how to how to use it. It's like a computer. You know, a lot of people are just scared to death to mess with the computer. Somebody came to me. What was that? Uh vacation Bible school a couple years ago. Courtney came up to me. She had papers and she was finishing up her schooling, and the computer just messed up on her. I lost everything that it doesn't. No, you didn't. Went over there and all I did was restart it. Start it back up. Press a couple buttons, hey, right back up. And people are so scared to death of these instruments, tools. Well, all you gotta do is just pay attention to them. Don't be afraid of them, and use them to your ability. You know, if you if you want to Google something and look at it, and hey, I some don't you'll feel that. Some some ain't right.

SPEAKER_01 52:11

I ain't scared of a computer. I just think people are scared of me running it. That's probably true. Well, Phil, I like what you were saying there, the fact that you just gotta be aware of your surroundings and know what you're getting into.

SPEAKER_03 52:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 52:27

A y'all afraid of sin? Are y'all afraid of sin?

SPEAKER_01 52:31

This is a trick question, preacher. You just said I ain't supposed to be scared of nothing.

SPEAKER_03 52:37

No. God doesn't give us a spirit of fear. No, you say no? No. Explain.

SPEAKER_01 52:44

Explain.

SPEAKER_00 52:45

Why I gotta explain? Because you said no. You said no, I'm not afraid of sin. Because I'm a saved child of God and Jesus has washed all away my sins, so why I gotta be scared of it? Because that all right, now that you're not afraid of sin. But like let me let me finish. Let me finish. Let me finish. I know where you're going at. Because you go back, you go back to Judas right here, because Judas brought it up on my mind. Somebody who followed Jesus, who was there with him. Judas, I believe, ultimately wasn't scared of sin, but let skin comp sin come into his life and overrule it over Jesus. Because he was not alert of it. That makes sense?

SPEAKER_03 53:30

Not really.

SPEAKER_00 53:30

Okay. Right, explain it. Are you afraid of sin? Hey man.

SPEAKER_03 53:35

I'll explain it this way. It's really comparable to that of a snake. Right? Yeah. A snake has the potential to kill you. Does sin have the potential to kill you?

SPEAKER_01 53:49

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 53:50

Then why wouldn't you kill it first? And you can't kill a snake unless you know it's there. And so if you're looking for it, and you can get it before it gets you. It's the same way with sin. You know it's trying to get you. You know it's trying to rob you, trying to steal you, right? Then why in the world aren't we alert enough to recognize where it's at and stay away from it or kill it? There's a preacher. What's his name?

SPEAKER_04 54:19

Left hand.

SPEAKER_03 54:20

Old, old early pilgrim preacher who said quote, You better be killing sin. Because sin is trying to kill you. You better kill it's something like that. I'll find it.

SPEAKER_05 54:34

I I saw a ticket.

SPEAKER_03 54:35

Somebody chat GBT real quick.

SPEAKER_05 54:37

I saw a TikTok the other day is an older lady, and a guy was talking to her and he said he was deathly afraid of the devil. Satan. She said, Why would you be afraid of the created instead of the creator?

SPEAKER_00 54:54

Exactly.

SPEAKER_05 54:55

That's good.

SPEAKER_00 54:56

All right, you take turkey hunting though. Ain't that free to be aware of? When I'm turkey hunting, I just don't when I'm deer hunting, I don't think about snakes. I just go.

SPEAKER_04 55:13

I did that one time, stepped down about four feet from the rattlesnake. I was pushing out and looking for snakes.

SPEAKER_01 55:20

I was walking and cut off, but I had a hair to go. I was walking and cut off. I'm gonna take the I was walking and cut off and my feet. I mean, everywhere I stepped, I was looking on the ground, just steadily looking for a snake. And it just so happened I looked up about that time and I'm sitting eye to eye with one that was stretched out on a couple limbs. So you got to be a surrounding.

SPEAKER_00 55:46

Here's your Mike Self story right here. I told this story multiple times. That's been the biggest one in my life. So, man, you can't worry about no snakes. You're gonna waste more time worrying about a snake than you are working, you know. Well, he's in the woods painting timber, painting a lime, whatever. Reaches down to refill his paint gun, squats down, hears the rattle go off. The snake rattled rattling snake. Looks down, the rattlesnake's got a squirrel in its mouth. Caught that squirrel, right? And he didn't get bit. That's the only reason why he did not get bit.

SPEAKER_01 56:19

He on us, he done told that story three times, too.

SPEAKER_00 56:22

Here's your famous quote, preacher. John Owen. Be killing be killing sin or sin would be killing you. I was gonna say John be killing sin.

SPEAKER_01 56:33

Okay, good news.

SPEAKER_03 56:36

Be killing you. I'm gonna use that.

SPEAKER_00 56:45

Sounds like we're winding down. Yeah. Holy, holy, holy. I just get wound up. Holy hold on. Oh man. Well, well look, let's uh We're gonna talk about that a minute because coming up.

SPEAKER_03 56:56

We ain't understanding. Peter chapter 1, uh 14, 15, 16. Be holy as I'm holy, basically. That's difficult. When God He don't ask us, He commands us. Be ye holy. It's not optional. Well, how in the world can I ever attain or reach the holiness of God? You can't in this life. But yet he uses that word there. I think it's in verse 16, not 15, I believe, where he talks about our conversation. Be ye holy in all every manner of conversation. Is that how it's worded?

SPEAKER_01 57:30

Well, you know, in NLT it says you must be holy in everything you do.

SPEAKER_03 57:34

Behavior. Conversation. Yep. So the holiness is not talking about what Peter is getting at. It's not necessarily us attaining the holiness of God because we never can attain that, but he's talking about our lifestyle, our behavior. And be holy in every manner of conversation, not optional. Well, whenever we know what is right and what is holy, you know, however you define that, sanctify and set apart, then then you're gonna know if you're a child of God, you're gonna know when that's not right. For instance, you take people who are having sex out of wedlock. Is that holy? And why do you keep doing it? If you're a child of God, simple as that. Why don't you stop?

SPEAKER_00 58:20

About intoxication.

SPEAKER_03 58:22

Well, is it holy? No. You keep listening to those things, man, you're gonna realize that a whole bunch of your life is in a mess and out of the will of God. All right. Very, very difficult to say that publicly, you know, 350 people looking at you on a Sunday morning, but it's the truth. And we have a responsibility to speak the truth and trust God for the results. Somebody's gonna get mad when I say this. Yeah. But I'm gonna say it anyway. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 58:51

We're human. We want results. We said that before on this. So guess what? If you want results of you ultimately practicing being holy and you're not being holy, guess what the results are gonna be?

SPEAKER_01 59:04

Unholy.

SPEAKER_03 59:05

Bingo, bingo. You you said it Sunday though, Watson, to the those teenagers after I got through in verse 14, as obedient children. So God's already, or Peter's already stating to these people he's writing to, you're the children of God. Look at verse 3, 4, 5, and 6. What you have waiting on you, this salvation, this inheritance. It's uncorruptible. Wherefore, verse 13, do this. He says, as obedient children. Obedience is a big thing. And that's when you know it's not right, be obedient to God and fix it. Then your life becomes holy. Your behavior becomes holier. Holiness is what we're all after anyway.

SPEAKER_04 59:52

We're talking about sin, and right after that it says, as obedient children, it says not conforming yourselves to the former lusts. Oh, yeah. So does sin look good? Don't slip back in the feels good. Does sin look good, feel good, appear good, you know?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:11

Yeah, I think it's you brought that up last week too, exactly uh Romans 12, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_01 1:00:15

Right.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:15

Be not conformed to the world, but transform, yeah. And then here it is again.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:20

Well, the way he put it here in the NLT, it says don't slip back into your old ways. It's so easy. Yeah. Just uh it's like you said, it looks good, it feels good, it's all the above. You just gotta slip right back into it.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:33

Right. The fear, the fear is sin on the surface looks good, like you said, and it's easy to slip off in there and and next thing you know, bam, you're seems like you're right back to square one. You're at the bottom of the hill again, we gotta climb it again, you know, all the things.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:50

But is there another word you could use there in what you're saying? The fear. You say it's the fear of falling backwards or falling back into it. Is there another word we could put there in a place of fear? Because we know God don't give the spirit of fear, and yet we we don't want to make this mistake. We don't want to slip back into, you know. I don't I don't know the answer to that, but I it just the thought occurred to me. You probably could just use it. It's important for us to be aware. That's what I was just about to say aware.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:22

I I don't know that it's necessarily a fear of slipping back into sin, but just the willingness to please God. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:29

Oh the desire.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:31

If you if you have if you're a blood bought, born-again Christian, you should have a desire to please God. You should have a desire to love him. And sin, indulging in sin does not bring pleasure to God. It does not please him. And so I guess it's my fear of God.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:48

That's it. Yeah, you know, that's it. That's what we're looking for right there. We're gonna have fear. That's where the fear is. Not the devil. Yeah, not AI, not computer.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:57

I'm fearful of what God may hold me accountable to if I fall back into this sin. Not the creative. The Bible does tell it's the fear of the Lord.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:05

Yeah, and uh beginning of wisdom. Yes, the fear of the Lord. That's our answer. Thank you, Zach. That sounded like something.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:15

It wasn't me, I was the Lord right there. I was blank as a page could get.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:18

I was too. I knew it.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:20

But it's gotta be replaced with the word fear, so it's a God. So you said you're gonna sing the song Holy Holy Holy someday. Is that the oh that one of you are better in this boy? Yeah, we recorded it.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:41

It's recording. It's hard to hit.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:43

Let me turn on auto-tune real quick. Well, hey, we uh we jumped right into it, which is good. Let's move that the five of us. Let's get up and sing that song Sunday. I'm gonna get sick.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:57

My stomach hurting.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:00

Hey, I have a bad way Sunday, boys. I'll work the sound Sunday. Uh hey, we got a way up. We got a big Sunday coming up as well this Sunday. I mean, this time of year is always busy, but uh we have our Memorial Day cookout this Sunday. Lord willing. Might try to rib.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:16

We've got six cases of ribs.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:17

Change it a little bit, preacher. It's probably 60 racks of ribs. 70% chance of storm Sunday. We haven't had we didn't have fireworks at the end last year. We're gonna trust the Lord, man.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:28

I ain't got no fear in that. No. No, no. Good. No. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:33

All right. Anyway, we'd love for y'all to join. Bring uh bring your side dish, homemade ice cream. We're gonna eat at six o'clock. I'm planning on messing up. Fireworks at dark. Missing your diet that day? Yeah, I'm messing up my diet that day.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:45

Bring your lawn chair, sit out there, and watch these kids play woofball. Bring your bring your body. Entertaining, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:51

We may be sitting in the gym and lawn chair.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:53

Well, can you imagine that? It'll be all right.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:58

Everything's gonna be.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:00

Yeah, I got it. Alright, let's still represent it. Why is it bringing uh ice cream? What kind of ice cream you made?

SPEAKER_01 1:04:05

Hey, I have done become a sherbet maker, man. I can't see or something. I done learned this uh orange ice cream stuff. We had it again last night. Good stuff. You bringing that? I'll bring it. All right. Y'all come out and eat some rinds.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:23

Sherbet. Orange sherbet. Sherbet.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:25

Sherbet ice cream.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:26

I love it.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:27

I'm gonna make some banana pudding ice cream.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:29

That does sound good. Hey yeah. I'll try anything.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:34

Like one of them push pop flintstones?

SPEAKER_04 1:04:37

I may not be able to roll over Sunday night when I lay down.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:41

I'm gonna gain 10 minutes.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:48

Philip, what you got for us?

SPEAKER_05 1:04:54

Well, I'm gonna say what I normally say. Go fishing. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:59

Go fishing.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:00

Go fishing. Go find you up. Be the fisherman a man. Be a brother word. Brian?

SPEAKER_01 1:05:07

Well, I was thinking about this earlier. I think if I could leave you with any kind of encouragement this week, it would be get get develop a prayer life. Get develop a prayer life. Get and develop a prayer life. I I've been studying the prayer of Jonah where he was at, you know, and no doubt that this prayer meant something to him. It changed his life, you know, it changed his direction. Be real with God. He already knows.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:36

Was Jonah resurrected?

SPEAKER_01 1:05:39

He he was spit up out of the m the mouth of the well, so I guess you can look at it.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:43

He was a type of Christ. Was Christ res resurrected? Yes, sir. How's the comparison there? I mean, er nevermind. They give y'all something to think about. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:52

Well, it does say he was spit out on dry ground.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:55

Well, you remember your three point sermon, right? Physically, mentally, spiritually. Yep. Spiritually. Resurrected. You too can experience the resurrection through Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:07

He was physically, mentally, and spiritually resurrected.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:10

Thank you. If Jonah can do it, we can do it. That's right. You may be the man. You may be the man that's causing all the problems. While the storm is existing in your family's life. You be the man, you step up and say, are you going to take the easy road and say, all right, y'all just kick me out.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:31

I'll leave. I'm done. Or are you going to man up and say, all right, God, I'll follow you.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:35

Woo!

SPEAKER_01 1:06:36

Let's go. Yep.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:37

And here comes the blessings of heaven. Zach Bear, speak for him. This is my word. This is my word. I'm going to say it right here and I'm going to shut up. God went before him. You know, God went before Jonah. God went before anybody who's ever said God went before Noah, Moses, David, Jonah, Samson, Elijah, Peter, Paul, all of them. Luke. And he'll do the same for you. God is already where you're going. That's right. You just need to meet him there. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:11

Does that agree?

SPEAKER_04 1:07:13

Well, mine kind of goes along what Brother David said. Get out of your comfort zone and follow him. He's already gone before you. Trust in him. You know that he'll meet you there.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:23

I'm going to read this scripture talking about Judas. Man, you don't got me on this. Right here, when Jesus knew Judas was about to betray him, it says in verse 22 of Matthew 26, Greatly distret each one of the disciples asked, and turn, Am I the one, Lord? He replied, One of you has just eaten from this bowl with me, will betray me. For the Son of Man must die, as the scriptures declared long ago. But how terrible it would be for the one who betrays him, it would be far better for the man if he had never been born. Be far better if you'd never been born if you're just gonna be a disobedient to the Lord and follow sin.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:56

Lord will take you out.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:57

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:58

So can you say that from the pulpit? I'm gonna say it. This church would be better off if you'd never been born. I'll let you preach. I want to hit an old boy right between the eyes.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:11

Yeah. Knock him in the mouth, what you used to say, breaking up. Oh, we appreciate everybody once again joining in. As always, Lord willing. We'll be back next week.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:23

Amen. Want me to pray if I can go ahead. Lord, we love you. God, we come to you this morning. We want to give you all honor and praise for everything that has taken place this morning from us waking up to being able to sit amongst each other and talk about your scripture. Lord, I want to thank you for salvation. Thankful for the air we breathe. Lord, there's so many things that we have that we need to give you praise for. Lord, we're sorry where we fail you. We ask that you go before us, guide us and direct us in Jesus' name. Amen.