EP 39 Generational Curse

This week's episode we discuss the topic of the generational curse that we see through the Church. The big question we ask ourselves; "how do we break it?" Through Jesus Christ. Grasping what He did for us on the Cross and realizing what grace is will change your perspective on life. 

Matthew 10:40 “He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.

As always we send grace to you and understanding of the scriptures!

Bro. Lane, Bro. Zach, Bro. Duke, Bro. Ryan, Bro. David

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:11

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.

SPEAKER_02 0:37

Here we are again, boys. Ready to go. All right. Good morning, take two. Good morning, take two. We have had a do a rewind this morning. Lane's still holding his mic. Yeah. I think he does.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

I think he does it.

SPEAKER_02 0:52

We have uh started our construction or destruction on the uh sanctuary and had to move our podcast table to another building. Working out the bugs.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

That's right. We got bugs, electronic bugs, mics falling off tables in the lane's lap twice.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

My grandkids last week visiting from Houston got chiggers for the first time in their life.

SPEAKER_02 1:22

Well, they done hit the country now, boys. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

Be doing a little ankle twitch.

SPEAKER_02 1:28

Man, ain't I've got one on my top of my ankle that uh, you know, you sit there and you'll rub it with your heel with your foot, and every night when you pull that sock off, it pulls it top of it off. And you have to start over.

SPEAKER_00 1:44

It won't never heal.

SPEAKER_02 1:46

Yeah, it won't never heal. Lindsay gave me the bright idea of putting a band-aid on it, and I ain't done that yet.

SPEAKER_03 1:53

You good, Lane? No, not really, but we're gonna go with it. What I don't say. You're on my you're on headphone one and I'm on mic one.

SPEAKER_02 2:04

We got some wires crossed, huh? What uh that'll be all right when we get the message out either way. Yeah. What uh am I loud enough? Yeah, you good. Go ahead. Well, I ain't got nothing to say. I just wonder. Sitting out.

SPEAKER_00 2:17

Tell us something about Jonah.

SPEAKER_02 2:18

I'm gonna get me started. I'm gonna be in Philippians today. I'm gonna preach on Jonah Sunday.

SPEAKER_03 2:23

Open my thumper here.

SPEAKER_02 2:27

I think we all are in different books of the Bible this morning. We all probably got something else on our mind. We'll see how it all comes together.

SPEAKER_03 2:36

Preacher, let's talk about generation for a second. Come on with it. Generational curse.

SPEAKER_02 2:44

Did y'all agree or disagree with what I had to say? Hey, I liked it. Hey, and I I'm gonna let Zach get into it here in a little bit, but he brought up some, you know, some wisdom to me the other day, some other scripture. Uh, you remember that conversation with Peter?

SPEAKER_01 2:58

I do, and I've got it written down in my Bible right here. Okay. Wrote it down to the back.

SPEAKER_02 3:02

Let him get into that. He'd been pondering on your statement.

SPEAKER_01 3:07

Well, it just brings me to Matthew 10, verses 34 through 39. It's what when we've been in Peter, like that verse 18, it says, For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. You know, and that goes deeper than what you you see, you know. I mean, obviously all the way back when sin came in the world, you know, when Satan fell and the sin of Adam and Eve, you know, the sin of man. Been around ever since man was here, you know. Um, so, but it also is not that deep. You think about just your dad one generation back. Yeah. Think about the the sins that our dads have and how easily those sins are transferred. You know? Like I and it's just like this. I look at my dad, I think my dad's a hero. Yeah. Who doesn't? Who doesn't look at their dad and say, I love that man? You know? Nobody's perfect. Jesus was the only one that's perfect round the earth. And and and he was only faultless, he was the only sinless. And so even though my dad loves me and I love him, and I think he's my hero, and I grew up, and I and I I have my dad as this, you know, I'm thinking of childlike faith here. I'm looking up at my dad, and I'm the and and I think he's perfect in everything he does, and and I see nothing wrong with what he's doing as a child because I don't quite fully understand. And so I grew up thinking that that's okay. Yeah. Well, yeah, yeah. You know, and so there's that empty life we're talking about because you're watching that sin and you think it's okay. You know, and and and I I'm I don't know, my mind's been turning on this on this verse 18. I've been really been chewing on it.

SPEAKER_02 5:05

The the conversation or the the sermon Brother David preached Sunday was, tell me if I'm wrong here, but kind of breaking the curse that that you were given. And you may not see it as that, but the sins that your parents had, or or whoever, you know, you don't have to inherit that.

unknown 5:26

Right.

SPEAKER_02 5:27

You know, you can break that chain, you know, if it's alcohol, if it's drug.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

I'll put it in a way that probably everybody can understand it, because for years we've looked for the answer to some of the social problems in this country. And what I mean by that is you look at some of the what's highlighted in our eyes on the news is is uh the the different neighborhoods or the different cultures you see within the culture of the United States. For instance, we have a welfare problem in the United States. And uh that program was started back in the 60s, I think. But now there are people who, you know, that's their livelihood. They don't they don't even think about getting a job. They know they know when they enter adulthood that their main income is going to be welfare. Yeah. And therefore they then you get more welfare the more children you have. So there's That's their welfare. There's there's so many kids in particular that are born out of wedlock, and uh you'll see families, you know, that have, you know, four or five siblings and they all got different daddies, and da da da da. You think, and then that generation's gonna grow up to be the same way, so it just keeps getting perpetuated. That's that's something that everybody's familiar with. And you think, well, how in the world do you break that? It's by a choice. You make a choice, you choose your behavior. But like Zach said, you grow up thinking this is normal. So what they need to do is hear the truth of the matter that Jesus saved you from that. And that's this here in First Peter, that's where he says that. From the empty life that you inherited from your forefathers. Well, I and we don't think about it as an inheritance, but that's exactly what you get.

SPEAKER_02 7:13

So so I I have this thought come to my mind, because I had to go through a little bit of marriage counseling with you, and and I use it, you know, when I give marriage counseling. You know, we it's like Zach was saying, we watch as we get, you know, was growing up, we watched our parents and how they did life. And and some things aren't bad, right? They're not it's not sinful, no, but it may not work a certain way for your marriage. So I let me just jump into it. Like when me and Lindsay got married, I had expectations on our marriage because of the way my dad was or the way my mom was, and I just thought that was the way it was supposed to be, you know. And so that was my expectations. Well, it didn't work in our marriage that way. So I had to, you know, be set free of the expectations and the way things were there and move and try things for ourselves. Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_01 8:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:11

And it's the same way. That's exactly what he's talking about, and you have to make that conscious decision. Yeah. It's a choice. Behavior is a choice. It's it's not something you think, well, this is, and people think this, well, this is the way I'm gonna be because this is the way my family is.

SPEAKER_02 8:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:28

You know, my my my I'm gonna be a I'm gonna grow up and and become an alcoholic because my parents were alcoholics. Just what I've always known. I come from a community. I think I brought up Appalachia. We hear that word a lot associated with methamphetamines and severe, you know, uh opioid problems of people live in these valleys in the hills, and you go into a community and it's just dirty and filthy, and they live like, you know, dogs. We wouldn't think yeah. But those who grow up in that, you know, they think, well, this is my inheritance, this is the way it's gonna be for me. And the good news is it don't have to be. The blood of Jesus not only forgives you of your sin, sends you to heaven, but it also delivers you from the present sin that you are living in. Yeah. That's what the scripture says. Yeah. That's 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 18, if you want to look it up for yourself.

SPEAKER_02 9:19

Well, and Zach, you you brought up something to me last week. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

And I'm I don't know. It was it's Matthew 10, 34, 39. That's and I kind of got on a rant here for a minute. I'm sorry. But I've been I've been looking at this, but and I'll just I'll just read it before we get too far along. So Matthew chapter 10, verse 34 through 39. King James says, Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men. No, no, no, no, no. Think not that I come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace but a sword, for I come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth the father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. I'm sorry, but I just felt a big tie to that to that verse, or those verses when you were reading, Peter, as far as how we grow up and we look at the things that are not necessarily true, you know, that we the things that we, the inheritance that that are empty, you know. I mean, I'm not saying that I grew up seeing sin all the time. I mean, I I had a wonderful upbringing as far, and I was always pointing towards the Lord and Christ, you know, in in a lot of ways. But there were some upbringings that I thought were totally normal and okay that I found out later that, hey, these things are not. This these things are in fact sinful, and I've been doing them thinking that they're not, you know, and that's that ripping apart in your inside of you because you've got to give up, you've got to give this thing up in order to follow Christ. Yeah, and it tears you apart, and it's not peaceful inside of you, you know. This and then you have, I mean, I just think about, I mean, I'll just say it, my dad. I mean, he's drank drank a lot, you know, over the life. And I I grew up watching him drink all the time, you know. And uh, I've watched him get better with that slowly and surely. And I thought that was normal for a long time. You know, I thought that was okay. Daddy did it, it'd be all right, you know. And I had to get in God's word and read it for myself before it to take effect on my life and allow that to affect your behavior. Correct. And so now there's a difference between me and my dad. You know, I see things one way and he sees things the other way, and we're we're you don't hate each other. No, but we love each other, but sometimes we wrestle with this. Yeah. You know? Yep. And and that I think this is what this is talking about, you know. Oh, yeah. That once we discover truth here, that we're gonna we're gonna have some disagreements here. You know, a lot of the problems with that.

SPEAKER_00 12:37

A lot of the problems that society faces, it results from that because of the the upbringing, right? The influence in your life when you were younger. And if you bring that, you say you bring that even into a marriage, you know, I use my own family for that, you know. All right, my kids obviously were raised one way, you know, to put church and God before anything else. And if you marry somebody who who doesn't have those same principles, and raised there's a conflict, you know? And you gotta make decisions, and that can even put a husband against a wife, which ultimately will lead into divorce. So we have these conversations before we ever get married about being unequally yoked and the dangers of that. And that you both need to be on the same sheet, you need to be on the same page, you need to have the same goals, you need to have the same objectives, you know. How are we gonna raise our kids? Are you gonna raise your kids the way you were raised or the way you was raised? And you see the conflict. That's what I think that's what really exists in a lot of our society today. I know, for example, we got one young couple in our church that's really, I think, uh how'd I say it, made the decision to see their behaviors change and go in a different direction in life. And one way that they have to do that is by distancing themselves from their families. In other words, they've always gone over to so-and-so's house, or they've been part of a family reunion, and it's always, you know, drinking and whatnot. They don't want your kids exposed to it, therefore you don't go. Well, then them people get mad at you because you're no longer coming, and then they think you're judging them because you're better. You know, then they still out the criticisms. You just think you're holier than thou, and you're this big church growing now, and da-da-da-da-da. It's just a tremendous conflict. And they're just trying to live right. Yep. So the individual comes to you and say, Well, you know, how do I navigate this? I love them, you know, they're my family, and I'll always love them, but I do not condone or endorse or even want to be around because the Bible says abstain from the parents of all evil. I really don't want my kids exposed to it. Therefore, I can't let them go over to Mama and Papa's house or whatever because of that. Do are parents right in making those decisions?

SPEAKER_02 14:57

Well, you know, I and this may be the same couple you're talking about, but I've, you know, had a couple tell me that they won't even let family come to their house. You know, they're not welcome because what they're gonna do when they come. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:11

And they don't want to be exposed to it. That's tough, man. Well, what did Matthew 10 saying?

SPEAKER_02 15:17

Well, I'm I'm reading this on the.

SPEAKER_00 15:18

If you choose to follow Christ, it's gonna be conflict. You're gonna have conflict.

SPEAKER_02 15:21

I don't know if you read this verse or not, but it says 37 of chapter 10. If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine. Or if you love your son and daughter more than than me, you are not worthy of being mine. If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine. If you cling to your life, you will lose it. But if you give your give it up your life for me, you will find it. Yeah, them were tough words.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

It is tough words. And these are words in red spoken by Jesus. And and look, it is not until it is not until you fall in love with Jesus more than your mother or your father or your sons or your family that you're ever going to separate yourself. That's the deal.

SPEAKER_02 16:13

Jesus is not telling us to hate. No. He's just saying, hey, choose me over them. That's right. You love them as long and as hard as you want to. Love them with all you got, but still choose me over them. Yep. Love me. Love me. And let the chips fall where they may. Yeah. And if you show my love or your love toward me, Jesus speaking here, the rest will fall out into place. Right. They either like it or they don't.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

Some of the biggest conflicts you see in a marriage deals with in-laws. Yeah. Mother-in-law's and father-in-laws. You know. And the devil's very, very good at what do you say, pitting that against each other.

SPEAKER_01 17:00

Orchestrating.

SPEAKER_00 17:02

Very, very, very, very difficult to navigate. But the way it becomes easier is simply this. You put Christ first and then let the chips fall where they may. That's why I'm saying if you love me, then this love that you have for and all these other relationships is going to come naturally and it's going to work out. You know. And if it doesn't work out, it's a result of sin or pride, probably pride more than anything, which is a sin. And they just have this cop this attitude, well, you know, I'm I'm not giving in. And people we see go through families, go through broken relationships because of pride, because one or the other is not willing to say I'm sorry, or admit that they were wrong, or try to make it right, or try to mend things, and boy, that's misery. And you you rob your kids, you rob your families of all the benefits of of having you know meaningful relationships. And it's true, it exists, it happens. And the only way to I think combat that and to change that is to make a conscious decision to put Jesus first. And when you put Jesus first, that's going to require you to humble yourself, right? And confess your sins and admit your wrongs. Like Jonah, I'm the man, I'm the problem, and get right. And then it's you know it it's it's beauty ahead. Yep. It's difficult. Life is difficult. Relationships especially are difficult. Generational issues, you know, are difficult. But they become a whole lot easier when when they get covered by the blood of Jesus. Well, you know, we're a byproduct of that is good works. I really like the comment that I made. I probably won't get it right here, but good works. I say it.

SPEAKER_03 19:01

Blood, um, spirit filled. Blood bought, spirit filled.

SPEAKER_02 19:06

I got it wrote down right here. Saved child of God or good works, yeah. Good works or blood bought, spirit-filled. Yeah, I wrote that down.

SPEAKER_00 19:17

So you think about that, that perspective. If you get that in your mind, I'm blood bought, I'm blood bought. I've been purchased, I've been ransomed, I've been redeemed by the blood of Jesus for what? To live a good life, to be holy as he is holy. It's about holiness. And I used that scripture in Ephesians 5, and I didn't I didn't do a good job of this on Sunday. I knew it when I said it. But I wanted to reference that scripture everybody's familiar with. Jesus said, husband loves your wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. That he might present it to himself. A glorious thing, you know, not having spot or wrinkle unblemished. Well, where's the church? The church is on the earth. You know, his kingdom on earth is within the local church. So he not only saved, died to save us unto everlasting life, but he died to save us from the presence of sin, from the empty life that we've inherited from our forefathers. And the only way you really buy into that is when you s when you embrace this principle of being redeemed, blood bought. I read in the commentary, and I didn't use it Sunday, I'll use it here right quick. And it's uh everybody's kind of familiar with human trafficking. You know what I'm talking about human trafficking? Modern day people who are bought or basically kidnapped and then sold into slavery, usually sex slaves. Well, there have been instances to where ransoms have been offered that you can buy this person back. So let's say there was a just a I'll throw a hypothetical. Let's say a 12-year-old girl was kidnapped and she's become a sex trafficker, and they contact the family and says, We'll let you have your daughter back for a million dollars. So they come up with a million dollars and buy her back. Well, now this is a million-dollar child because of the price it costs to get her back. And you may even introduce her that away as this is a million-dollar baby. You know, whatever the cost, yeah, if you can determine the cost, that'll also determine your behaviors, how you treat it. I think the way I used it was think of it like this you got a hundred thousand dollar truck, you paid a hundred thousand dollars for a truck, and you got a thousand dollar truck.

SPEAKER_02 21:25

You're gonna take better care.

SPEAKER_00 21:27

You're gonna take a whole lot better care because of the price you paid for it. So think of the price that God paid for our freedom to live godly life unto good works. We're his world. That's the motivation. That's what guides you. Once again, I dominate, I apologize for that.

SPEAKER_02 21:45

No, no, no. That's that's all good stuff.

SPEAKER_03 21:48

Preacher, you've been in it for almost three decades now. I guess a little over three decades. The question is have you ever seen have you ever seen this general Curse, not occur, no family. It's alive.

SPEAKER_00 22:03

Have I ever seen it broken?

SPEAKER_03 22:05

No, have you ever seen it like not even happen? Like you're you're old, not saying you're old, but you've been in it long enough to see kids growing up into adults to have their own kids, and where all three generations just been not necessarily perfect life, but they don't have that generational curse.

SPEAKER_00 22:24

Let's use the Jordan family, for instance. Yeah. And you go back to Jack Jordan. Yeah. Who was uh pastor of this church at one time, right? Jack Jack Sr. Yeah. Yeah, and then that next generation with the Alvins and the Jacks and the Dan's and you know that whole family, which we're all familiar with, well, the next generation is the Rhines, right? Or not no, it's it's the kids, the Nets and the Davids, and yeah, and then you just roll on down. So you can see that generational thing, even with that family. But the potential is for that to be broken, right? So that's something that you have to protect. And you protect against the wiles of the devil, strategy of the devil.

SPEAKER_03 23:06

That's what I was gonna say. Do you think in the mindset of that family, do you think somebody's like, well, someone's gonna mess it up for us?

unknown 23:14

No doubt.

SPEAKER_03 23:14

Just to have the mindset because they think it's coming.

SPEAKER_00 23:18

Well, you ought to warn them that it's coming. Right. That's gonna be the attack of the devil. I think the wise people like the Alvins, you know, they they recognize that and they they try to embrace and love and care for and set the example for these next generations to keep them from going down that road. You know, give them something to look forward to, something to live towards. That I want to be like Paw Paw. I want to be like this person, I want to be, you know. And that's all we can do, live our lives hoping that it's in it's impressionable enough upon their lives to make the ultimate difference. To where they also choose to go down this route.

SPEAKER_02 23:58

You got me thinking, you know, I don't know a whole lot of history there as far as before my great-grandpa Jack. Um, but I think his family was a pretty good family. But you wonder, you know, where we're at right now, and the Lord's blessed us, no doubt. The Lord has blessed us or blessed me with a great family. But before my grand great-grandpa Jack, what was it like? Was there ever a generational curse almost there? And one of them said, Hey, I we got to change our ways. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_05 24:30

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 24:31

Mm-hmm. Well, my family was a whole lot like that. My mom and dad. My dad was, you know, raised uh, you know, in church kind of thing. And uh with the with the right morals and principles that we would consider to be right. And my mom was completely different, you know, where her dad, my grandpa, whom I love greatly, uh died while I was nine years old. But he was an alcoholic. He had uh he later on they found out in life he had children from other families. He was a he was a jokester, he was an outlaw kind of individual. And that's what she knew. And of course they had this conflict, you know, whenever they my parents started having children, you know, which direction do you go? And yeah, I was exposed to, you know, a lot of that from my mom's side of the family, and I had so I had this conflict, yeah, you know, of which one you choose. And I can recall, you know, thinking that's kind of cool looking over here on the mom's side of the family of the way they lived. And then over here on the other side, it just seemed kind of pure and wholesome and boring even. Yeah. But ultimately it required the spiritual leadership of my dad, you know, to make the ultimate decision of where we were going. And honestly, if it had been left up to my mom, we more than likely would have gone down that other road. That's just the truth.

SPEAKER_01 25:51

Yeah, yeah. Well, would you say that at some point, and I'm looking at 1 Peter right here, verse 15, where we were at a couple weeks ago, would you say at some point that it takes somebody making a decision to say, hey, I'm going to follow Christ and I'm going to try to live holy? I'm going to try to, I'm going to strive to be like Christ. You know, because it's, you know, there's a whole when you're young in your faith and you and you first learn about Jesus and you fall in love with Jesus and you get saved and you get baptized and stuff, and then you're like, all right, well, what's the next steps? You know, how do I what's my walk look like? What, you know, what am I maturing in? You know, and you go to following Jesus and you start striving to live that holy life that you're called to live. Well, that's where I think this this Matthew 10 really comes in, saying, hey, it ain't gonna be easy.

SPEAKER_00 26:41

Nope. You know. But yeah, you gotta you gotta tote that line. Right. As this title of our little talk here, pick it up. Right. You know, you gotta take up that cross. And that's gonna be a burden with that, and it's gonna be heavy at times. And it's gonna be difficult, but yeah, you can do it. Uh one individual I think of, you gotta be careful, you know, calling an individual name, but he's on our podcast from time to time. Uh, and the the way in which he was raised basically ended up being raised by his grandparents, I think. His mom struggled with addiction, you know, and abuse, and dad really wasn't part of his life, but yet uh uh. Chad daddy, he's gonna call her every day. Uh and then, but anyway, uh, so he he was introduced to a different way, you know, by the girl that he started dating. And he he seen a side of life and a following Christ that he never knew existed. Yeah. And he was very attractive to him. And over time, using those influences and the word of God, you know, he came to the place the realization that, yeah, this is the route, that this is what we're putting on this earth for. This is the hope that I have, this is where I'm gonna live. I'm gonna raise my family. So he he broke that. Yeah, but the only way he broke that was by that realization that, my goodness, now I see it. I see what the sacrifice, I see the price that God paid to set me free from these things. Why wouldn't I live for that? Yeah, you know. So now he still maintains those relational connections, but there's no longer an influence. That's right. No longer a pool. And you you had to be careful, I think, you know, to you can end up being kind of preachy, you know, and and trying to steer your parents, even, even your grandparents, to the direction that you're now going down. And you had to be careful in that, but I tell them, I said, just set the example. Faithfulness. Just be faithful and be committed and let God do the rest.

SPEAKER_02 28:54

So I'm I'll bring up a name here. Um I don't think of mine. I I think of Seth all the time, you know, Seth Tucker. And the fact that, you know, and I don't know much about his life before church or before he got devoted and a follower. Uh, but I he has told me stories, you know, of, and I knew a little bit about him in high school. But when he finally finally clicked with him, hey, I ain't got to live like I used to. You know, I could I could break this curse and he got involved in the church and got involved with following God, he would tell you today that there's nothing better. You know, the life that he, you know, had before was fun and good or whatever, but man, this is awesome. You know, raising your family in it and and uh the fruits of the spirit are where you want to be.

SPEAKER_01 29:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:43

Yep. And and so I think about um many of my generation, and I guess it goes on with every generation, it may not just be a generational um sin, I mean something you're inheriting, but even a something you've developed from friendships. You know, maybe it's where you work and the people you're around all the time. You just you're glued to it, right? You know, I think about pipeliners or something, you know, where they're not able to be involved with a church as often as we are or something like that. But they're uh choice you make, though. Yeah, I mean, you can find and you can make it work where you're involved in a church. Uh but what I'm saying is, is you know, you've got to make a decision. You know, you've got to make a decision. All right, I'm gonna put this stuff away, I'm gonna put this down, and I'm gonna pick this up, you know, and I'm gonna follow God. You know, that's the decision starts somewhere.

SPEAKER_00 30:53

There's also plenty of directives in the Bible to tell us that, you know, you're not in this by yourself. You're not in this alone, that it's congregational, it's church life, it's you know, you need help. You need you need people who encourage you, people who love you unconditionally, people who will let you fall, make you a mistake, people who love you enough to tell you the truth when you're wrong.

SPEAKER_05 31:12

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 31:13

If you if that is absent in your life, the difficulties are just tremendous of maintaining. Yeah. You know. So it's very important, I think, and it's a directive of the Bible for any child of God to have that connection to a to a body of Christ, to a church, to have the shepherds, to have the the the teaching of the scriptures, you know. Yeah. To help that help you live this life that God has called you to live. And yeah, I guess nowadays some people can do that online, you know. You you have the podcast, you have the sermons you can watch, you have the thing, but when you're thousands of miles away, you know, it it's just got to be multiplied that much harder. Maybe that's probably the motivation for missions, even. Yeah. Well, if there's a part of the country, you know, where there's not a sound church, why don't we go put one there? Well, you gotta have people do that. Somebody's gotta be led, God's gotta move. And that has happened, and even in my years that I've been at this, you know, to where there was a family, maybe a part of our church who moved to a different part of the country, and there wasn't a sound church, what you call a sound biblical church, you know, within a hundred miles. Well, they either drive a hundred miles to church or they have an online presence, or you start one. Yeah. And there's been a bunch of them established uh from that need, and that need is probably still out there. And there ain't no doubt about it, God needs more people surrendering to that kind of a life. Be willing to go and to plant.

SPEAKER_02 33:01

I I think about what you just said. What does surrendering look like? You know? Because ultimately, if you want, if someone's listening to this and they want to change, they want a new direction, they don't want to follow the generational sin, they're ready. What does surrendering look like? If you are.

SPEAKER_00 33:22

Humbling yourself, big time, humbling yourself, accepting the fact that, all right, I'm ready to let God lead me, and then He'll lead you by conviction in the areas of your life that are wrong, and you have to make the constitution to make those right, and you've got to swallow your pride.

SPEAKER_02 33:36

Yep, that's exactly right.

SPEAKER_00 33:37

Pride is the worst thing in the world, especially in relationships. Yeah, you're exactly right. We see it all the time. Grown people who've been serving the Lord for a long time, who have broken relationships with their kids or even with the grandkids, or maybe with their parents. And they that those parents, those relationships don't stand a chance of being mended until somebody humbles themselves. Just like Jonah. Somebody says, okay, I'm wrong. I know I'm wrong. Let me be the bigger person here and recognize that the blood of Jesus is quite capable and powerful enough to mend this relationship if I will get my pride out of the way.

SPEAKER_02 34:18

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 34:20

And they just simply submit to the leadership of the Spirit of God and say, okay, I know I'm wrong. They've been convicted about it, but pride just keeps them. You're gonna get me started on it. Uh I hate to keep bringing it up, but that's just a camp examples on my mind of where Jonah stepped up and said, Okay, I'm the problem.

SPEAKER_02 34:41

And you know what took place after that. Many people come to know God. It tells us that the ones that were in the boat.

SPEAKER_00 34:48

Right.

SPEAKER_02 34:49

There you go. The the other men that was in the boat with him, the scriptures tell us they were awestruck with what just took place. With him surrendering and saying, I'm the one, I'm the cause, throw me overboard. There were other men that come to know God that day. It said that they vowed to worship the true God that day because him surrendering.

SPEAKER_01 35:16

It makes me think of this verse right here that we ended with in 39. If you cling to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find it. How many of us are clinging to that one thing that's dragging us down that we just really won't let go of? We know what the real problem is.

SPEAKER_00 35:35

Yes, conviction is there.

SPEAKER_01 35:37

It's there.

SPEAKER_00 35:38

You hear it on this podcast or from a pulpit or reading it for yourself. No matter what it is. And yet you just fold your arms up and say, I'm carrying I'm gonna keep rolling down this road. I'm gonna keep the misery. You know who's gonna suffer as a result of that pride? Not you.

SPEAKER_02 35:54

But those who are under you. That's exactly right. Your kids.

SPEAKER_00 35:58

You know, that's probably the most frustrating thing in the ministry is when you have people that you know they know what's right and the thing to do, but they just won't do it. And you have to turn them over to the Lord to drive you crazy. So, all right, God, you got to handle this. You know.

SPEAKER_01 36:16

Well, I do want to point out one thing right here. I don't, and I don't, I mean, like like Ryan said, we're not saying that this doesn't mean, you know, don't imagine I can't bring peace. All right, well, he did bring peace, but in his own way. Like he's he's explaining to you, hey, yes, I'm I'm here to bring peace, but it to get to peace, this is you're there's gonna be some things you're gonna have to give up here.

SPEAKER_02 36:39

The peace is within him.

SPEAKER_01 36:42

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 36:43

We think we have peace, we think we have worldly peace. Man, we ain't got nothing until you got peace that's within him. That's right. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 36:51

And so you've got to come to a common denominator of love in Christ first, you know, in order for there to be, in order for, like my Ryan, if me and you got an argument out in the parking lot, let's just say it didn't end well. Mm-hmm. All right. I won. Yeah, you won. Okay. I left, I left mad or whatever. At some point, I'm gonna have to realize that all right, well, maybe I was wrong to do this. Excuse me. And you're gonna have to realize, all right, maybe when we come to the love in Christ back to there, then we can come back together. Right. But until both of us, both of us do that, there's no peace there.

SPEAKER_02 37:36

Well, that's why he tells us, I believe, to love God and love your neighbor, love your, you know. Put him first, put him the sinner, and everything else, like we've been saying, is just fall right in.

SPEAKER_01 37:48

Peter asked Jesus, he said, he was talking about forgiveness. He said, How many times am I supposed to forgive seven times? Seven times seven times seventy. Did you have to bring that up? Forgiveness. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:06

That's the greatest con that's the that's the hardest thing for flesh, for human beings to deal with is forgiveness. It was the instances.

SPEAKER_02 38:15

Wasn't that a generational sin?

SPEAKER_00 38:17

It can be. Yeah. It can carry over that.

SPEAKER_02 38:20

I guarantee you. I've certainly.

SPEAKER_00 38:21

There have been instances in my life where I could have car held this grudge and just said, I don't care what the Bible says, I'll never forgive you. Yep. The truth of the matter is you'll never forget it, but you have to forgive it. If you are a blood-bought, blood-bought, spirit-filled, saved individual, then as a result of that, you have to forgive. You don't have a choice. And when you tell people that, they look at you like you just lost your mind. But it's the truth. And we can't back up from that. Well, how bad has it got to get? I mean, you take somebody, somebody, uh the example everybody goes to or I think of is you remember years ago in Pennsylvania, there's some idiot walked into an Amish school building and shot all the children. And within 24 hours, the parents of those individuals went to this individual who did the shooting and forgave him. And everybody, it was all over the news channel. It's like, what? What? That guy didn't deserve nothing. You know, he deserved death is what he deserved, but yet they realized because of the scriptures that they didn't have a choice. And it wasn't for him, it was for them. The forgiveness is for the person who's holding a grudge, not the individual. I mean, this is an example in my own life, is where I had to forgive an individual that had hurt my family greatly. And I was ready to go to prison. I was ready to take matters in my own hands, you know. And I was miserable. I'm talking about miserable. I couldn't even go in, I couldn't function in life. I couldn't stand in the pulpit because of the unforgiveness I had in my heart. So I went and I forgive that individual and I said, it well, I'm not for you. I'm not forgiven. I'm not forgiving you for your benefit, I'm giving you for my benefit. That makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 40:09

Oh man, it it I'm let's go back to Jonah for a second, because he dealt with that. So what little studying or the studying I did on it, the town of Nineveh and where Jonah was from were enemies against each other. So yet he was already prejudiced against them. They don't deserve forgiveness, they don't deserve mercy, they don't deserve grace. He went in that, he didn't even want to go to that town because of who they were. You know, he didn't like them in one bit. So God was teaching him forgiveness. You know, I I say the book was for Nineveh, you know, so that they could change their ways and stuff. But uh, I mean, God put Jonah through this for a reason. You know, he put him in this situation to learn forgiveness. And he even says that at the end, you're more worried about your selfish ways and what you got going on versus these 120,000 people that I'm trying to get right. How many people do we stand in the way of because of forgiveness? We don't like them.

SPEAKER_00 41:19

Or we It'll rob you. It'll rob you of your influence, it'll rob you of your life for Christ, it'll rob you of your relationships, it'll rob you. It'll consume you to the point you can't even function. You're sitting at your desk at work or whatever, and you can't even think about what you're doing, your job is because you're so consumed with this hate, anger, and the devil's got you right where he won't you. So therefore, you have to forgive to set yourself free.

SPEAKER_01 41:48

I often think that in order for us to get to a point of complete forgiveness and let and letting go, that ultimately we've got to remember what Jesus Christ did on the cross for us.

SPEAKER_02 41:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:00

You know, I mean, I we I look back on my life and all the things that that I have done that I that make me unworthy. You know. Just make you want to hold your head down, don't you? And then I go, here I am. I can't let what this person did to me go, but yet Jesus died on a cross for all the things that I've done. I I don't add up. You know, you know, I'm I'm called to live a holy life and to follow him and to love him. If he's got to live through me, then I've got to forgive that person, you know, and let that go. Because he forgave me. I'm I'm sorry, I'm stirred up this morning. Oh, it's good.

SPEAKER_00 42:42

You gotta have a plan. And I brought that point out a couple weeks ago in this text of 1 Peter, where he, as King James says, gird up the loins of your mind, you know, get ready to run. You you got something to go forward. So you make a decision that you're gonna consciously try to live a life that's honor glorifying unto God. You're gonna leave your, you're gonna lead your family accordingly. Well, you've got to have a plan. Right. That's what the Bible tells you. And the thing about it is, whenever you recognize that God has had a plan the whole time. You know, that Jesus wasn't just uh afterthoughts as, well, I need to send my son down here to die. No, he had a plan the whole time. And so when we get to the point we recognize God's got a plan for our lives as well, and you get in on that plan, you get in on the will of God, then everything starts making sense. That's what's awesome. It all comes together. He wants us to prepare your mind.

SPEAKER_02 43:38

He wants us. He desires for us to live a certain way.

SPEAKER_00 43:41

Well, and realize and realize a that uh that we have an enemy that's gonna do everything he can to try to ruin that plan, get in the way of that plan. And you're very successful at it. So if you aren't aware of that, you don't recognize that, then you're in trouble. Another verse that goes with this is in second. Or 1 Peter chapter 2 this time. Dearly beloved, I beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims, that was these children, these Christians that he's writing to are in exile, right? They're living in Turkey. They're not in Jerusalem. They're not in Galilee. They've been, because of their stand for Christ, they've been persecuted in exile. He's trying to tell them. You need to have a plan accordingly. Be holy as I'm holy. All this. And then he gets to that point. He said, Dearly beloved, I beseech you, stain, abstain from fleshly lust, which war against your soul. Take the word abstain there. What do you think the word abstain means? You know what the word abstain means, don't you? You know what I mean? You know what I mean? Abstain? Stay away from.

SPEAKER_02 44:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:47

Abstain. Well, we we we we encourage these teenagers. You encourage these abstain from sex. Yeah. You know, do not have sex before me. Abstain from it, keep from it, stay away from it. That's exactly what it says. Abstain from fleshly lust. Open your Bible there and read that real quick for everybody. First Peter. 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 11. You gotta use tabs, you know. All right. See what they put in there for the word abstain. I bet it's the same. Hardest thing to do.

SPEAKER_02 45:18

1 Peter chapter 2. 2, verse 11. It says, Dear friends, I warn you as temporary residents and foreigners to keep away from worldly desires. That wage war against your very self.

SPEAKER_00 45:33

Does that tell us to be selective in what we keep away from? Worldly desires. What would you define as worldly desires? Pretty much everything we get involved in. We have worldly desires to succeed. We have worldly desires to be noticed. We have worldly desires to be rich. We have worldly desires to be famous. We have worldly desires to have fun. To be accomplished. You know, to be accomplished. Well, does he say, well, you can have some of these things from the world's perspective. But no, Jesus said abstain from all of them. So there all worldly lust. And you say, well, that's impossible.

SPEAKER_02 46:12

Well, is it really? There you go again. There's our our topic for the day is breaking away from kind of like the diabetic abstaining from sugar.

SPEAKER_00 46:24

Yeah. You don't have a problem with that when you know it's going to kill you. That's right. That's right. You'll stay away from a snake when you know it potentially could end your life. But if we think of these things, the world, all right, if if I lead my family in this direction to obtain this worldly gratification, and I don't abstain from it, could it have the same effect? Could it rob me of my life? Why else would he direct us to abstain from it? This all goes back to having a plan. Recognizing what the devil is attempting to do. He ultimately wants to destroy you. I've said it how many times have I said it? He wants to get to mom and daddy so he can get to them babies. This church is a big on babies. We like our church, our children's ministry is big. We see the reason is we see our efforts as a church is to come alongside these parents to try to help influence and direct these children because of what they have from all the influences around them. Right? Yep. And we want them to hopefully be able to get to the point where even if they aren't getting it home, they getting it from somewhere that there's there is a need for us to abstain from, stay away from these things that are going to ultimately harm us and kill us and rob us and attack us and affect us, which is worldly lust. Anything worldly, really. But we really want to be we want to be that Christian that, well, I can have my foot in the world over here and I can still take up my cross and follow Christ. That's where we ultimately want to be because it's easier. It's just easier. And so many uh congregations are are compromising, I think, uh, to the point where they say that's all right. It's kind of like allowing uh same-sex marriages in Baptist churches, acknowledging the fact, well, maybe somebody is born a homosexual. You know, compromising these worldly things for what? When you know good and well that's what's ultimately gonna destroy them and destroy everything we know is moral and normal, then we are wise to to preach against it, to fight against it, to stand in the gap, to say the things that need to be said. Although we know people don't want to hear it because that's what's gonna set them free.

SPEAKER_03 48:49

You know, the big thing right now in the news is um Southern Baptists just got done voting on whether or not to have women pastors in the position of pulpit. And I want to say it was Micah Carter, but someone put on Facebook, you know, it's it's a sad thing when we start voting on whether or not the word of God says it. Black and white perfectly says it.

SPEAKER_00 49:08

And it was 75-25, the vote. Yeah. So there's 25% don't see the plainness of the scriptures.

SPEAKER_03 49:15

Right.

unknown 49:16

That's correct.

SPEAKER_03 49:17

So when you say you kind of struggle with understanding what the Lord wants, and therefore you go vote on whether or not it says it or not, when it clearly says it, that's what's gonna lead to ruin.

SPEAKER_02 49:29

Yeah, you're in trouble when you're having to vote on what uh what is already in black and white.

SPEAKER_00 49:34

What is what is your directive as pastors or as as men if you if somebody was to ask you this question, well, you know, my family's always gone to church down here, and let's say the Methodist. And yeah, they they got a woman preacher now, but my family's been going there for 150 years. You know, so I feel a a a connection, you know, and I don't want to uproot my heritage and the way it's always been, so therefore I'm accepting, you know, was something that the Bible clearly contradicts. How would you lead me in that? What's your suggestion? Would would would we have the the boldness to say you need to run, you need to live, you need to change, you need to realize that do not let your inheritance or the the things that you've you know, don't let these things guide you because that's the very thing that rob you. It's a very difficult thing to do.

SPEAKER_02 50:34

It's sad to say that, you know, a church, even a church, the wrong church can lead you to the world.

SPEAKER_00 50:40

But we're in a world wrong compromise. Oh, it'd be all right. It'd be all right. We're all Christians. We all have to serve the same God. That's where he's in Ireland's in the place it's in right now. It's it's 50% of their population has now become Islamic, right? And they're having people that's wanting to in in incorporate Sharia law, which means beheading people who claim to be whatever or act a certain way. And uh they allowed it. When you allow things to come in, you know, then boy, it just inch by inch by inch by inch by inch. It just gross.

SPEAKER_02 51:17

Yeah, man, say take a mile.

SPEAKER_00 51:21

Oh man, that's a lot of this stuff is controversial that or not, it's not controversial. It just they just say it's controversial. Truth is truth. Yeah. God's word says it and I love that philosophy. We we want to debate it, we want to change it.

SPEAKER_01 51:39

Well, and and you said it Sunday, you were talking about tradition. Tradition. I mean, I can think of a million traditions that families do, you know. I mean, from gathering on holidays, you know, eating on Sunday afternoon at grandma's house and and all of that, you know, but whenever, and I think that's why I felt so connected to Matthew chapter 10 and those verses 34 through 39 in the families, because I think back on all, I was thinking back on all of the traditions and stuff. But then mainly I keyed in on the traditions that I went, okay, this was a tradition that led me down a wrong road. And through the word of God and falling in love with the word and and wanting to follow Jesus, this has been a it didn't line up. It didn't fit in my life. I I I no longer I realized that, hey, this thing right here, and it hurt. Yeah, it it hurt to to come to the realization that hey, this tradition or this thing that I've done my whole life ain't right. Ain't right. And now I've got to put it away after I've done it so long, thinking that it was okay, that hurt. That is just like ripping a piece of duct tape off your leg.

SPEAKER_02 53:01

But in that moment, when that light bulb goes off in your head, the spirit is talking to you, and you give in, don't you know Jesus is up there going boom?

SPEAKER_05 53:12

Finally.

SPEAKER_00 53:14

I tell you what, you're bringing it up. Duke and Wayne's sitting across the table from us now. And I thought of him, you made this comment. We got back cooking, I think. Maybe it's grilling, I don't remember. And you said, I I don't know if I can do this without having a beard in my hand. You know, because because you it's just part of the tradition, you know. You gather together and you put the hog in the ground, you got the bear on ice, and all my ride of family gonna come. You know, when you're coming over tonight. Oh, yeah. And you start you start being the one that starts breaking those traditions because you know that, you know, I really don't need to be doing this. And then and all those other guys that hadn't got to that point yet, think, where's old Duke at? You know? Or well he he's he didn't he different. He's standing over here with a dyed coke design as opposed to But I mean that's something that's very practical, but very real too, because you you can identify with things that how things that you've always done, and how difficult it is to break that curse, to break that tradition, but also how necessary it is.

SPEAKER_04 54:24

Yeah, there was a time that cooking you're talking about, there was a time where it was um 10 or 12 of us that was standing out back that uh wouldn't have been standing around cooking unless we had a beer in our hand. I mean, several of us, you know, just kind of look around and be like, boy, how's that change for the better?

SPEAKER_02 54:40

Oh, yeah. Right. Well, uh this thought comes to my mind now, and this may be a stupid question. Is there a difference between a habit and a tradition?

SPEAKER_00 54:51

That is interesting.

SPEAKER_02 54:52

Difference between a habit. Because you what made me think of that is you once told me, you know, that one reason you picked up smoking is because of drinking. And you thought every time you drink, well, you gotta have a cigarette in your hand, you know?

SPEAKER_04 55:08

Yeah, they come hand in hand. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 55:10

But it was a ha become a habit to you. But both traditions and habit can be broken, and you proved that. Yeah, you know?

SPEAKER_04 55:17

Both of them broke both of them.

SPEAKER_00 55:18

Yeah. By the blood of Jesus. A realization and a recognition of the price that's been paid for you.

SPEAKER_02 55:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 55:26

I th I'm gonna make this comment. Let me see. Let me think about how to say it. How much the value, how much you value something determines how you behave. That ain't right, but I'm close. You see what I'm saying? Yeah. In other words, when you recognize the price that God paid for you to set you free from some of these things, and you see that cost, then that will motivate you and ultimately impact the way you behave. And behavior is conduct. And it's all throughout the scriptures. Our conduct is very important to God and his example and his glory. And we've been redeemed to live holy. And and how I just I just believe that when you determine something's value, it will determine how you treat it. That's right. Other words, if you if you see the price of your wife, and I tell these young guys getting married, I said that she you ought to treat her as your most valued possession on earth. And when you see her the value of that, that you're gonna treat her accordingly. You're gonna pour into it, you know? You'll be willing to give your life for it. Yep. If it's that valuable to you. And whenever the blood of Jesus becomes that valuable to you, that becomes a whole lot easier living for him. That's right. Because you realize the price, the cost.

SPEAKER_02 56:51

Bought by the blood. I'll I'll add this to that and what we've mentioned. No longer the man I used to be. That's right. That's all redeemed. Um, you know, when it goes to habits, to stop old habits, you need to pick up some new habits.

SPEAKER_04 57:07

Oh, most definitely. I agree with that.

SPEAKER_02 57:09

And I think of Duke coming, he nine times out of ten, you're gonna be up here on a morning to start your morning. If it's just getting a cup of coffee saying, hey, and have a good day and cut out, you know. A year and a half ago, let's just say a year and a half ago, you wasn't doing that.

SPEAKER_04 57:26

No, no.

SPEAKER_02 57:26

Or a year ago, however long it's been.

SPEAKER_04 57:28

I sure wouldn't know how I was starting my morning.

SPEAKER_02 57:30

No, but you had to drop old habits and pick up new ones.

SPEAKER_04 57:33

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 57:34

You know?

SPEAKER_04 57:35

Yep, and boy, what a blessing it is.

SPEAKER_01 57:37

You start seeing the fruit, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 57:40

You start seeing the results. Yeah, I agree.

SPEAKER_01 57:43

There was a point in time in my life where I lived by uh a four-letter word that was really popular amongst all my friends, and it was called YOLO. You only live once. I preached a sermon on that one time. Yep. And we'd we'd run around partying, carrying on, acting a fool, hollering, YOLO, YOLO. I mean, it you know, I look back now, I'm like, man, how stupid can you be? Because you don't only live once.

SPEAKER_04 58:13

I'm on I told something about uh uh one of our brothers here, Seth Tucker. Seth Tucker has made a a man, he's made a change in his life. I mean, living for the Lord, he's got it going on. And there was a time where me and Big Tuck, we run around, we've playing, you know, partying. And Big Tuck's saying was be safe, be courteous, be drunk, and be happy. And I thought about that a couple weeks ago. So I walked up to him a couple Wednesdays ago. I said, Hey Big Tuck, what's up? Be safe, be courteous, be saved, and be happy. And we sit there and laughed about that, you know, for a couple minutes. You know, just just what a blessing, how things change for the better.

SPEAKER_02 58:56

Amen. Amen. We we mentioned him earlier, just the fact of just wanting to do what's right and live a life, you know, and how God would bring you joy. You know, we we get caught up, and you said it a while ago, these worldly desires, thinking we need this, we need that, gotta have this, gotta have. No, all you need is Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 59:18

Is it? Because with Jesus comes the grace to accomplish his plan he has for you. You may not think you can do it or even deserve it, but it's there.

SPEAKER_02 59:31

You know, I'm gonna bring up my grandpa here because if you go back to what Paul said, Paul said, I haven't achieved these things yet, but I'm working on it. Pretty much what he said. And I I consider myself a work in progress because I have worldly desires. I want this, I want that. I look at the life of my grandpa Alvin. The man was, I don't know, 80 when he passed. He had a car, a house, and a garden and a family. That's all he had. That's all he wanted. Wasn't no boats. Wasn't no wheelers. No. I mean, and here I was before, you know, in life, trying to get everything I could. You know, and and he was just content and happy.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:17

You got like five trucks.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:18

I know it, I know it. But but but my point is, is he he was content with just having his family and Jesus.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:30

That's all he needed. Flip to your bottle because I'm already sitting there, but this is gonna be my last verse. Flip in Philippians chapter 3. Because this is what I was gonna read here in just a while.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:38

Well, I've been I've been in that book, buddy. That's a good one.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:41

Let me find it again. Let you read my encouragement verse.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:46

All right, where are you at? Uh, verse 12. Verse 12.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:50

I read verse 14.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:51

That's what I've been preaching on this summer. It says, I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things. That's what I just mentioned. Or that I have already reached perfection, but I press on to possess the perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. Is that where you want? Yep. Amen. That's gonna get that perfection to you.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:14

Reverse 15.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:15

Till you're in glory. Well, yep. That's what this summer's all about. I mean, y'all all on it for the teenagers. Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. There's a goal in mind there to mature. I like the way this Bible says it.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:30

Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded. Yep. If anything you otherwise, if in anything you be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:42

All right.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:43

I'm I'm I'm so when your mind ain't right, God let you know. Well, how God gonna let you know? By you preaching it, by you reading it, by you hearing it, and then here comes the conviction. But you then there's there's the choice. You gotta make the choice.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:56

Let me roll with it here. Uh that'd be my word. Because here we are talking about forgetting stuff, you know, the live, not living on the past or, you know, breaking generational curses, generational sins. Paul said right here in these verses, I have not achieved it yet. But I'm going on, I'm pressing forward, and the one way I'm gonna do this, the one way I'm gonna succeed and achieve what I'm trying to do is be spiritually mature, you find it right there in verse 13. I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: forgetting the past. I forget the past. The generational curse, the generational sin, the things I used to have, the things I used to do, the things that embarrass me now, the things that I think about, man, what was I doing? I forget it.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:48

How do you do it though? You move on. We talked about forgiveness a while ago and forgetting. Forgiving is one thing, forgetting is another. But there he clearly says, forgetting those things that I've done in the past. There's only one way. And he says it in Philippians 4 13. Yeah. Because people somebody's gonna come to us as counselors and say, I can't get over it, I can't do it, I can't forget it, I can't forgive it. And then we say, Yes, you can. But here's the only way you can do it. Through Christ who strengthens me. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. So somebody would say, Paul, there ain't no way. You you just talking about smoke here. You know, it's not realistic to think that you can forgive and get that easy. He said, I can do anything through Christ who gives me strength. Can I add this? That's so simple, but yet so profound.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:37

I'll add this. I don't know how much time we got left. If this is my last statement, it is, but you know, we focus on regret in our past, you know, people trying to forget regret and their sinful ways. Paul wasn't a bad guy, right? He actually had a pretty good uh reference to him.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:59

He wasn't a bad guy after conversion, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:04:02

Well, what I'm saying is he he considered himself a pretty miraculous type character, right? In in his sin, hear me out, you know, he mentions here in verse 5, you know, he talks about I was circumcised, I was a pure-blooded citizen of Israel, I was a member of the tribe of Benjamin.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:22

His inheritance.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:23

Yeah. He said, I was a member of the Pharisees, the strictest obedient people of the Jewish law. I was zealous and harshly persecuted the church. I obeyed the law without thought. So he seemed, in his in his own mind, he was pretty successful.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:43

Look at verse 7. But what things were gained to me, that would be his inheritance. Yep. He's of the tribe of Benjamin. He's he I counted them lost for Christ. Yeah. He he he seemed He was set free from his traditions.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:57

That's exactly right. But my point was, we hold on to our regret, but he was talking about his success in life. He said, I gotta let go of that too. I gotta forget all that because I'm worthless. All that stuff is worthless without Christ. Once I realized what Christ had done for me and set me free from all that, all that stuff I had in the beginning was worthless.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:23

This is the way he says in verse 8, you doubtless I count all things but loss, worthless. Yep. Everything that I've lost, it was worthless anyway. It was an empty life. All this traditions, all this inheritance, all these things that I had because of who I was, what I was born into, I count I consider them loss. For the excellency of the knowledge of Christ, Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all these things and do count them but dumb, that I may win Christ.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:51

And he's pointing out here that the only valuable thing in his life, no matter how good it was before what he had, the only valuable thing in His life is knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:03

That's it.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:04

That's all he needed. If you want peace, love, joy, and all the above, place your value in Christ.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:12

Verse 10, he said, that I may know him, the power of his resurrection. Yep. Fellowship with his suffering.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:22

Yep. I want to experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:29

That if anything I might attain the uh what does it say, the death of the resurrection? By any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. I want to be like Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:41

Yeah. Well, he even said it here. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death. Man, that's joy. That you want to suffer with Christ, that's joy. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:58

All these other people at this table looking at us like, you boys, you boys done lost it.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:04

Oh man, I want to experience the resurrection from the dead.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:07

We should make this point about that. That was that's just chapter three of Philippians. But if if you get into the word of God enough and you pray that prayer, Lord, illuminate my mind, open my mind, show me what this says, and you read it, and you read it, and you read it again, you read it again, it starts walking like that. The living word of God, it'll just start walking. And you you'll read the next verse, and you'll read the next verse, and you'll read the next verse, and you'll think, oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:30

You can't get enough of it.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:31

This is good. This is talking to me. This is God talking to me. This is his word. This is where I get my strength. This is my power, this is my source. Okay, we're done. No, no, no.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:44

I'm not quite there.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:45

I think we're out of time.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:47

Whenever, y'all go ahead. I just want to say this. After Paul realized he's gotta let go of the past, I need to move on. I need to live for God, he makes that statement. Look, I haven't achieved it yet. You see the humble side of Paul. I haven't achieved it yet. I haven't conquered it yet, but I'm doing everything I can to get there.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:11

I like how he puts it in 14. I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:23

You're strangers here, you're pilgrims here.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:25

Gotta set your sights on home. Your home is there. All right, all right, last one. Last one. He says, talking about getting to that spiritual spiritual maturity, he says, uh, if you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you, but we must hold on to the progress we've already made. Progress we've already made. And I I talked to teenagers about that the other day. I said, view this as a tug-of-war rope. When you're playing tug of war, you're giving it all you got, you're pulling, and I said, the moment that you give up just a little bit, man, they'll carry you two or three feet back. That's what he's saying here. Don't give up on the progress you've already made. Stay firm in it. Oh, put your foot to the ground. I'm done.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:25

Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God. That's chapter four. After Paul said all these things that you and I just talked about, you read here in the scriptures, basically says, look, don't worry about anything. Don't worry about nothing. Pray about everything. But don't worry about anything. That's right. Pray about everything. Don't worry about anything. That's my final comment.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:52

Duke, you got anything to add?

unknown 1:09:54

Oh man. I need to dismiss us. Dismiss us.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:01

Most gracious heavenly fathers, we come to you on this wonderful day you bless us with, Lord. Lord, we love you. Thank you for our salvation. Lord, I want to pray that all of our listeners out there, if there's someone out there that is struggling with some regret, I pray that they'll be reminded that all things are possible through you, Lord. I pray, Lord, that you'll you'll keep us safe throughout this week. I pray that if there's anyone out there that needs you in any kind of way, Lord, all they have to do is pray and talk to you. Remind them of that. Forgive us where we fall short. Jesus' name I pray.