From Seat to Street
The leaders of First Baptist Church Chaffee Campus dive deeper into the topics of Pastor Greg's Sunday morning sermon. The goal is to give you the tools necessary to take the message you hear on Sunday and apply it in your everyday lives.
From Seat to Street
Present Your Body as a Living Sacrifice (Romans 12:1-2; 2 Samual 24:18-25)
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Join Trey Overton, Mavric Herrera, and Eric Fesmire as they reflect on Pastor Greg's Sunday sermon, continuing the Bible recap series. The church started reading the Bible chronologically together, and this sermon continued the series that dives deeper into the readings. During this episode, Trey, Mavric, and Eric shared some ways to apply Greg's sermon and be intentional about our relationships with Christ. It is easy for believers to turn their relationship with Christ into something that is convenient. In order to stretch triangles, believers need to be more intentional about their relationship with Christ and present their bodies as a living sacrifice. This episode provides ways that believers can be more intentional about their relationship and the dangers that come with complacency. Join in and reflect with us as we discuss the sermon from First Baptist Church in Fort Smith, AR.
Mavric Herrera - mherrera@fsfbc.org
Trey Overton - toverton@fsfbc.org
Psalm 119.11 says that Scripture is a lamp for our feet and a light for our path. That means God gave us His Word to guide and equip us in practical ways as we walk through our everyday lives. Join us now for this episode of From State to Street, as our FBC staff and church members talk about how this week's Sunday morning message comes alive as we walk through the streets and moments of everyday life.
SPEAKER_04Hey everyone, thanks for joining us. My name is Trey, and I'm your host along with my good friend Maverick Correra. Correra. Hello. So today we have a good friend of mine, Eric Festmeyer, here. Say hello, Eric. Hello, Eric. And Eric even was polite enough to show up and show out in his flight suit. Gear.
SPEAKER_02He showed up and I was like, Yeah, no.
SPEAKER_04No gear. But he showed up and uh I at first I was like, dude, this is like straight out of a scene in the movies, and he is getting ready to roll. And I'm like, should we be in fear for our lives? He's gonna run out and jump in the plane right now. I'll just fly tonight.
SPEAKER_01Um my work day starts at 7 p.m. So everybody trying to go to sleep at nine, I'll just go.
SPEAKER_04So so if yeah, if you're sleeping tonight and you hear something go, whoo, you know who it is. You know who it is. So um, anyways, I which I never hear anything fly over my house the other night. So either I am like dead asleep or it doesn't, you know, y'all don't fly over them, hack it. So I don't know. Um but I get I get a little bit. I get during the day sometimes, but not at night, hardly ever. Um, but anyways, all right. So let's just jump on topic here. Let's uh so Greg, this last this last Sunday he he used uh Romans 12, 1 and 2, and also uh passage out of 2nd Samuel to kind of reiterate the the transformational process that we as Christians uh go through. And um he he kind of used we he talked about the triangle and uh the the triangle concept, I guess you could call it. And um just let's just take a second to talk about that. I don't want to we've we've we've we've dove into the tr the triangle in previous podcast, and if you don't know anything about the triangle concept, you could go back to that podcast and we go into a lot more depth on it. Um but I do kind of want to hit a little bit and just to kind of uh reiterate some of this. So the tr the triangle, each each Christian, when they become a follower of Christ, has their own triangle, right? And the triangle, each like you have your relationship leg of the triangle, the um identity leg of the triangle, and the ministry leg. And it and it's and it's an equilateral triangle, right? It's and um and it's important to have each aspect of it and that each aspect, and it's it's important to realize that's an equilateral triangle because each part grows at the same time, stretching the other legs of the triangle, causing all aspects of your Christian walk to grow, right? Um, so the relation leg being the real relationship with Christ, right? Um, and then your identity leg of the triangle is your identity in Christ. So you identify as a follower of Christ, right? And uh your identity as a uh part of the body of Christ. So being a fellow uh member of the church and being active in the church, that's that leg as well. And then ministry is is a separate leg on its own, um, connected in this triangle, that is is you living out your faith in Christ, right? You living out that walk, you living out that relationship. So as your relationship with Christ grows, your identity in him and as a member of the body grows, and and the more ministry because of that that you do. So every part of that grows, right? So that's the whole the whole aspect of that triangle. Um so let's just jump into this. So he he he used 2 Samuel 24 um as a base passage for this along with Romans 12, 1 and 2. Let's look at 2 Samuel uh 24 um first. In in this story, um David he's he sinned, he went and did this, he went and he was not supposed to create a census, right? He wasn't supposed to create the census, and so, but he did. Now, what's the problem with him creating a census?
SPEAKER_02Um from what Greg was kind of saying, it was uh it sounded like uh this was just kind of the thing that kings did, and it showed a distrust in God.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, right. Well, number one, God told him not to, right? So is it is a that's also a really big point. Yeah. So God told him not to, and so I mean it's a grit complete disobeyment of God, right? But then also it it it does by doing that, he's the the reason why all these kings, you know, they they do a census and they count their armies and their soldiers because they find their power in their armies, right? That's where their power lies, that's where their strength lies, is in the numbers. They have so many horses and so many chariots and so many soldiers, and they know how many soldiers that they have, they know how they can articulate this battle and they could do this. Well, he's you know, he doesn't need to take a census because where does the strength of Israel lie in the Lord, right? And so he's and so by doing that and creating that census, then he he's not putting his faith in God, he's putting his face in himself and the numbers, right? And so it it is a complete disobeyment of God, and there's reasons for that, right? Um, so anyways, he he creates this census, and then God creates this punishment, and then uh the punishment is the you know, he starts you know killing people off in Israel, right? The angel Lord up there, he's holding his hand out, um, killing people in Israel, and then say and then David comes down and he's he's told that he can go make a sacrifice for his sins. So he's going down, he's gonna make a sacrifice for his sins. Um, and then he's offered um he he has this place, this threshing floor that he's gonna go and he's gonna make sacrifice, so it's owned by a guy. He's like, hey, let me buy it off. You the guy's like, no, I'm gonna give it to you. I'm gonna give it to you, and then I'll give you all this stuff's a sacrifice with it. Like, I'm just gonna you take it because obviously, and this guy's probably seen all this going on, right? I mean, you you imagine this guy seeing all this stuff going on. He's like, dude, take take whatever you can. Like, I'll give you the threshing floor, I'm gonna give you these sacrifices, like make this stop, right? Well, you know, David's like, no, it's not a sacrifice if you just give me this, like it's gotta cost me something, right? And so there's some intentionality to that. And and I thought that was really cool and and a really um interesting way to to look at that and and and kind of how Greg used that. Um But how does like what does giving up our old lives as a sacrifice? So Romans 12, 1 and 2, let's go back to that. Um, present your bodies as a living sacrifice, right? Um, what does giving up our old lives as a sacrifice have anything to do with being a uh with a Christ follower's triangle?
SPEAKER_02Well, when it comes to our our triangle, um I think whenever you look back at your own life and you're thinking about your testimony and the things you've been through, God wants to use that testimony specifically. Like everybody everybody's been given a life that God was has always wanted to use, you know, like all those bad things that we did before we knew Christ, God wants to use in a way, you know. And so that ties very well into our identity in Christ. It's we aren't alone we are no longer those things that we did. We're no longer children of darkness and children of wrath that can only do one thing and produce sin. Um but now God can not only now we can now not only can we produce good through the power of the Holy Spirit because it is Christ within us and not us, but now God is free to use those past things as well um for our growth, for the ministry around uh for the ministry that He has placed before us, um and to know like Him better, to grow our relationship better, to see how like the watching like the I love the triangle example because the ministry part and your identity in Christ really does grow your relationship with God. Um because as you move in ministry and as you grow in identity with Christ, then you're going to see like how good God has been to you, and so that's gonna want to pull you into like our His kindness pulls into repentance, and so um our our past lives the time before Christ all just brings us closer to God ultimately because it just grows Him in our minds and knows how big of a change He's made in our lives.
SPEAKER_01I think it ties well into um like where your heart is, there your treasures are and kind of vice versa, right? Because if your heart is truly belongs to God, that's where you will that's where you allocate your treasures, treasures in my mind, meaning my time, my energy, uh, and my resources. Yeah, yeah. More triangles, right? Right. Uh so if you have given your life wholly to Christ and your identity and your relationship and your ministry reflect that as a sacrifice, then that's where your heart is. Where do you spend your time, energy, uh, and money with or resources rather with uh intentionality versus before you knew Christ that could have been focused on any number of things. Pro probably a very the most common one is yourself, right? Yeah. Pursuit of your own uh your own pleasures, your own uh commitments, or even less selfishly uh seeming was like, okay, your kids, your uh your marriage, uh, and just stuff of the world, your job. That's where all your time, your energy, and your resources go. Uh, and I think that's just it it replaces the one triangle of the past life with the triangle now of the Christian life.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that's an awesome point. I mean, you you're you you take the center of everything that you were and you take it out and you put it at the center of everything you are now, which is Christ, and that's the triangle, and and that's who you are now. I love that. You know, you have your you identify with Christ now, you have a relationship with him, and because of that you go out and you share the crew share the gospel, right?
SPEAKER_02We are not Christ, but yeah.
SPEAKER_04Well no, we're not Christ. But you know, like but before you know Christ, you are the center of your own world.
SPEAKER_01I mean you're so you're selfish, you're I mean you're not either you or or secularly, selflessly, like your work, your own. Something right.
SPEAKER_04Something something other than Christ is your center. He's not.
SPEAKER_01Right. And and I think we use the the kind of the the quintessential example that is used in whether it be we'll say sermons, is like, okay, before I knew Christ, I was so anti-Christ. Not anti-Christ, but you know what I mean. Yeah. We use kind of the polar opposite illustration, and I don't think it has to be that all the time because for the people probably listening to this podcast or the people who are listening to the sermon, they were likely raised in a Christian household statistically, right? I mean, I would I would say that's probably pretty accurate. Yeah, so it's not like they're the polar opposite of what the triangle, the the Christian life triangle is is illustrating. So I think it take it takes a little bit more intentionality to use kind of that uh that five dollar word for the week uh in trying to figure out okay, what am I leaving behind?
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Am I leaving behind selfishness and just uh hatred toward God? Well, probably not in in this sample size that we're picking here, but it's it it's probably more subtle than that. Uh at least that's what I've that's what I was thinking about while listening to that.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Well, and and at the end of the day, you know, you have this triangle and and and and at the center of this triangle is Christ. And it's this Christ triangle, right? And that and then and we identify in Christ, our relationship with Christ, and our ministries for Christ, you know, and all things. Um, and it's kind of like you said, you you can grow up and have good morals and you can know about Christ, and you can even go to church. That doesn't mean you identify with him, that doesn't mean you have a relationship with him, and that doesn't mean that you carry out your ministry, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, 100%. And I'm glad that he re-emphasized in the in the sermon that regardless of what it is, whether you're murdering people or just being a little bit selfish, it's all filthy rags he didn't say filthy rags, but it is all compared to the holiness and set apartness. 100%, 100%. Compared to Christ, it is filthy rags.
SPEAKER_04Well, how do you so let's think about this too? Like, how do we look at the intentionality of this? You use the that the $5 word today, right? To be intentional. Um in this story, David is intentional about this sacrifice and intentional about this. He's like, No, this has got to cost me something, right? Um, I sinned. This is all on me, right? This has got to cost me something to go down here. Um Paul tells us in Romans um chapter 12, or 12, you know, he wrote in Romans chapter 12 that that we are supposed to our body should be a living sacrifice. So we're supposed to, and so everything about what we do and our walk with Christ, you know, it should be intentional. It should cost us something, right? It should be intentional because we're supposed to be a living sacrifice for Christ. Um, how does that impact our triangle? Right? So, like, how does this intentionality impact that?
SPEAKER_02I I think it's um understanding your your living as a sacrifice, and so if there's something you can give up, like you probably should. Yeah, like in in all things we should walk in faith. You know, there's a I forget where it is, but it says like anything not done in faith is a sin. Um, which was just really hard for me to understand. But as of you know, dealt with that scripture, I've I've grown to understand that it for me it means that if there's anything that I hold on to in my life, like I've you know, I'm growing up in youth and going to camps and all that, I heard this illustration a lot, like your life is like a house and there's all these different corners and there's all these different rooms and all these different things. Um like what rooms are you keeping and if you've welcomed Christ into your heart, right, as your house, you've welcomed him near your house, but what room what rooms are you keeping him out of? You know, what what corners what spaces is he not allowed in? You know, and so um just thinking about different small things that I don't want to hand over to God. Um one that I've recently been convicted of is my driving. I recently I just got back from a road trip uh to South Carolina uh for a wedding, and I drove for twelve hours, just about, you know. And you know, if you do spend twelve hours doing anything, you're gonna realize a lot of about yourself, you know.
SPEAKER_04And whoever you're driving with.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, exactly. Um so yeah. Uh I was going with my girlfriend, we're going to see her brother's wedding. Uh so that was a fun road trip. Well to that like 6 a.m. And then you know, stopped a few times, got uh some food and all that. But throughout that whole time I was really starting to realize how frustrated I was with other people and you know, me being from Texas, that's in my blood.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um but that truly is something that I was convicted over, right? What what am I not handing over here? Like why because I'm frustrated, but why? Yeah, you know, I'm frustrated because I'm not getting my way, I'm not I'm frustrated because people aren't doing things the way that I would do them, or um I somehow think I'm better than other people and that I deserve to be let through, you know, and I deserve to whatever it is, you know. And so at the end of the day it was pride. And it was it was pride, and so I had to learn to I'm learning, you know, this is kind of new, but I'm learning to figure out what it is that I need to hand over to God in that area, and how can I follow the Lord's leadership when I'm literally just behind the wheel of a car. Right. You know, it's all these little things that we just I feel like we look over a little bit. Yeah. Um that's how I think it applies to our triangles.
SPEAKER_01On the intentionality piece, uh I kept thinking about how it relates to avoiding complacency and avoiding what you might see as the status quo in what governs your life, right? Because if I'm going about my day, I'm doing my job, I'm spending time with my kids, and I I get complacent with that and instead of saying, okay, what is the reason that I have these blessings? What is it what is the reason behind me facing these trials? Uh I I have a I have a steady job, a steady income. So that's I'm gonna take that for granted and say, okay, I'm complacent with that. Just avoiding that and keeping the keeping the relationship and the identity at the front of your mind is what I kept thinking it it kind of boiled down to, not less of like, okay, I need to actively go out and make myself uh uh put myself in a worse situation in order to look for look for opportunities that faith may abound. And I I I totally agree that that is a that is a valid uh way to think about it, but even in even when you're not doing that, when you're just kind of settling into complacency is I think the the kind of the backdoor dangerous uh dangerous trap to fall into. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04No pun intended, go on an autopilot. Yeah. Uh-huh. Altitude hold. No.
SPEAKER_02No, that's so true. I I was just thinking about like, maybe I I mean I'm sure other people do this, but I only go to God whenever I need something. I'm only praying to God whenever I need something. Like, how often am I just praising him for the things that I have? Um you know, I I saw this thing, it was just like every night when when you go to bed, I I forget who it was, but some somebody on Facebook or some Instagram, whatever, but it's just like when I have a bad day, go and pray to God. When I'm having a great day, go to pray to God. You know, when my when I get fired, I'm going to pray to God. When I get a promotion, I'm going to pray to God. Um so I think like living in Thanksgiving as well is another great way of being intentional about that.
SPEAKER_04It's funny that you you talk about the the um going out and and um going through trials just on purpose, you know, to stretch yourself, you know. Me and Greg were having this conversation on this passage, right? Romans 12, 2. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. And now the ESV says that by testing, you will discern what is the will of God, what is perfect, pleasing, and acceptable. And a lot of times I heard this, we were talking about this earlier, but you know, a lot of times we go through this and or we've heard this passage taught that um the testing part is going through hard times, going through the fire, going through um, but if you read the context of first one, it's not really I I think it can be, but it's not limited to that. Right? Me and Greg were talking about this yesterday, like it limits the passage to say through fire you discern the will of God. No, it's that's not I don't I don't think that's what's that that's passage, especially when you take in in in verse one, the testing is is every time that you stretch yourself, and kind of to your point that you were just making, Eric, every time that you test yourself, every time you step out in faith, you're testing or proving the faithfulness of God. So every time that I step out in ministry, every time, you know, there again, do not be conformed to this world, be transformed through the renewal of your mind. Every time that I'm stepping out and I'm doing something that is against the world and it's is for Christ, right? Every time that I trust him with my finances and I don't trust myself, every time that I um uh step out and I and I minister to somebody, every time that I do something that is for Christ and He proves himself faithful, I'm not testing and when I say test, I'm not testing Christ. I'm testing my walk. It's not Christ that I'm testing. I'm testing my walk and I'm proving Christ faithful, right? And and I think sometimes, I mean, we have to, and that's where it kind of comes into this picture of this triangle because that's what we're doing with the triangle. Every time that you step out in ministry, you grow in your identity and your relationship with Christ because you rely on Him. Every time you grow in your relationship, it's gonna cause you and lead you to go out and share the gospel more. Like it's all gonna affect itself every time you test your test your faith, test, test your walk. Every time you step out and you do more and and and and take a little bit more ownership, not just in your ministry, in your relationship, and in Maverick's relationship, and Eric's relationship, and somebody else's relationship, every time you step out and you take more accountability in that, Christ proves himself faithful, right? And and it grows that triangle.
SPEAKER_01Um I don't think you have to even look for or try to not f fabricate the wrong word, but uh try to find extraneous circumstances to apply that. It's just if you say, okay, I'm not going to look for that circumstance, but I'm going to always realize that I am in that circumstance right now, 100% of the time. 100% in my rest, in my working, in my relationships, I there's always what I can be doing, or I'm always doing something that can have an element, the element uh of sacrifice to it.
SPEAKER_04100%. And that's why when like when me and Greg were talking about that, it limits if you if you look at that word test, you know, if you if you say, well, through testing by fire, well, that limits that verse. And well, that verse isn't limited. That tests Testing is through all walks, just like your point, Eric, right there, Eric. It's through everything you do, everything through the good, through the bad, whatever you're doing, wherever you are right now. If you're in a great place in life and you're on the verge of hitting autopilot, or if you're going through something hard right now, or if you're busy or whatever, whatever it is, it the testing is is is you remaining faithful in your walk, right? And you testing your walk, stepping out of ministry and and furthering your relationship and all those things and growing that, right? Um, the intentionality piece for me comes because I'm kind of I'm on the opposite end of the autopilot. I'm I get too busy, right? I allow myself to get too busy, and sometimes my relationship with with Christ gets a little bit, it's kind of more convenient. Um I find myself praying when I'm driving in the truck because that's when I have quiet time and that's when I have time. Or when I first pull up to the parking lot at work, I can spend a few minutes because I I can sit alone in the truck and quiet and I can talk to God. Um, I can shut my door in my office for a couple minutes, you know. But those are really things out of convenience. Am I really giving anything up by doing that? No, I'm not. I I'm not, I'm not, I'm not giving anything up out of my day. I'm not putting anything in a side. I'm not I'm not being intentional about my walk with Christ. I'm not being intentional about my my when I ask for God's forgiveness right then. I'm not taking time out of my day to really focus on the seriousness of my sin and bring that to Him. I'm taking a moment out of my day that I already had and hitting the pause button when it should be the first thing I do when I wake up in the morning. You know, I should I should get up, you know, I even if it has to be four o'clock in the morning, I should be this should be the first thing I do when I get up is sit down and be alone with God any way that I can. Right. And and sometimes for me it's tough with kids and all that. And Eric, you know, you get that. Like with kids, you're if your kids get up early, like mine, do you know, Noah, he gets up at five o'clock every morning, he's just running around the house. And I can't have tried to get him to go back to bed, it just won't happen. So I've got to get up at four o'clock if I want to do that. But there's some intentionality to that and there's some sacrifice with that.
SPEAKER_01You know, I don't think those um times that you're talking about, you're in the truck, you're um you're you have you have a free moment to incorporate um exposure to the word or like I said, praying praying in everything that you do that we talked about earlier. I don't think those are worthless. No, they're definitely not worthless. No, no, yeah, absolutely. I just I I think it's important to also say that injecting that into every aspect of your life, like we already talked about, is has its value as well. And I don't think that I don't think that can be or that that applies to his statement of anything that I give to God without sacrifice is worthless. I think that can be taken out of context. It can be uh easily. If I the last thing I would want to do is to teach my kids that uh if they're if they're uh outriding their bike and they they're singing a a praise and worship song to themselves, like don't do that, it's not costing you anything. It's worth it. Right, right, yeah. And yeah, you know, the world we live in, everybody's just itching to take something out of context. So I think it's important to say I I I count those as two different things.
SPEAKER_04I do I I agree with that. I mean, there's I'm still gonna pray in the truck when I'm driving, like that's something I'm gonna do. You know, like I those are still things that I think you should do.
SPEAKER_02But so what is that tension that we're looking for? Like what is it? Yeah, and it's like finding the balance point.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, right. That's what I've thought about most since the since since Sunday.
SPEAKER_04Right. Well, I mean I I think the biggest thing is that um if we're doing it out of convenience, it's not costing us anything. Um and so I do think there's a piece of our relationship with Christ. If we're leaving it there. Right. Right, if we're leaving it there. Good point. Yes. Yeah. And so I think that's where that's where that line is. Like if that's where you leave it, where the only time you talk to God and the only time that you come to him, and the only time you bring him your sins and all those things is when you're just in it's a convenient moment. The checkbox mentality. Exactly. Then I think that's the issue, right? And and but the sacrifice thing, it it's the it that's not just what it doesn't just apply to prayer, right? I mean, that applies to all aspects of life. Your finances, yeah. Like are you tithing? And and are you, you know, are you giving are you giving God your first? Are you bringing him um uh your first on your time? And and are you bringing are you sacrificing um I idolizing my Friday fishing days over my ministry, right? Um, and I mean because that's for me, that's a thing. Like it sounds dumb, but Fridays are my day, right? I get to go, I take the boat out and I go fishing. Like, and that's and if somebody wants me to do something on Fridays, I'm like, sorry, that's my fishing day, right? And um at some point, if if I make that a thing, like where that's put before Christ, I why isn't my relationship with Christ should look like that every day? Right? Sorry, I can't do that. I gotta get up first thing, I gotta talk to God. You know, that should be my first fruit, my first thing that I do. Um but like I said, I mean there's just that could be with anything, like I said, finances, prayer, whatever.
SPEAKER_01Um and on the intentionality piece, I think we gotta even when you're doing that, and like you said, tithing. I'll take that as a as an example, right? I I've heard from many you know, you watch all these different YouTube videos on people's opinion on tithing and how it should be done with love and sacrifice, and then you're like okay, I'll I'll set aside you know ten percent of my my income just so it's automatic. Right. Okay, well that's I think that's the that's a seed of complacency there. Right. Because it no longer be if if you now I make ninety percent of what I make, the rest of it goes to God, and that becomes just your norm. There's the element of sacrifice I think has been taken out of that. I agree. And so like as a practical thing, I don't I don't do that automatically. I like I physically take out a certain amount, I watch it leave my bank account and say this is what it's going to, just so it doesn't and not to say if you have like an auto draft to do that that that's wrong. It's just like the intentionality of it and knowing, okay, there's this is the sacrifice that I've been commanded to make and I'm going to lovingly do it. Yeah, then have your auto draft take it out. You know what I mean? I thought about that a lot too.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, well, yeah, we've interesting. You know, me being the finance guy, it's like I'm talking to people about that all the time, like because they ask me that. Is it is it bad for me to have is it wrong to have an auto pay? Because, you know, like there's people that you know debate this, and um I'll be the first to tell you I do not think so. I think um I think if if it all it's all a heart thing. Um there again. I mean, if David um you look at look at how the heart behind everything that he did, I mean, when when God came and and did it, it's not just David, anybody, you take any story in the Bible. If he's mad, it's be or you know, he's angry, he's looking at a sin, it's a heart issue. It's not about the actual action, it's the what's behind it. There again, the census, go back to the census. The sin is yeah, he disobeyed God, but the sin is he's taking strength in his in the numbers in his army and not strengthen God. It's a heart thing. So like if uh when it comes to tithing, like you know, you can put it on auto pay.
SPEAKER_01But don't leave it there.
SPEAKER_04But don't leave it there, right?
SPEAKER_01Like just there, there's another catch for it. Leave it there. Yeah, don't leave it there.
SPEAKER_04Or leave it there, don't leave it there, don't leave it there, don't leave it there. All right. Um, so let's just take a second. I want I want to close up pretty quick, but let's just take a second to to point out let's if you were gonna say give one piece of advice to how somebody can be more intentional in their walk, and and and this could be to stretch triangle, uh, really, or maybe an impacting their relationship with Christ, or maybe it is about fine, this I don't know. Like if you were to give one piece of advice, what would that be?
SPEAKER_02Show up. Show up. Just show up. I I like we need to put that on a t-shirt. Just show up, yeah. Like I I can think of all the different times where I've I've gone to sit down for my Bible time and I'm just out of it, you know, and I'm like, man, this is not even doing anything, so I might as well just not, you know. It's the same thing if I don't do it, then if I really sit down here and do it, like out of brain, whatever, you know, out of mind. Um but I I heard just from a from a pastor somewhere, it's just like it's about it's the same as everybody else, it's about showing up, you know. Like you you you show up for your kids' graduation, Trey, you're you're always traveling for your son's baseball games, like it's and those those things mean so much to our kids. Um and I remember all the times that it meant so much for me seeing anybody that I knew at something of mine, yeah, you know, and so I it it's a weird, it's again that tension of like, is this enough?
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I I always ask myself that like, is this enough for you, God? Like I always feel like I'm bringing the answer's no, you know. Yeah, right. It's not about bringing it up. Exactly, exactly. That's exactly it. Yeah, it's about showing up, it's about being like, you know what, God, I'm really not here mentally. Like I'm I've got so much on my mind, but this is what I've chosen to do in spite of what I feel. Yeah. Which is a true act of love. Right. It's acting on a choice rather than a feeling. And so that's that's my advice is to just show up. Just keep showing up.
SPEAKER_01I would say just constantly be asking yourself why you're doing what you're doing, why you're giving what you're giving, why why you have a relations while why you're saying what you're saying, why you uh are investing into these relationships because uh the word and Christ can stand up to the testing point. Right. So ask yourself why, and that will uh I think contribute to that heart of intentionality, because if you are doing something, you ask yourself or you say why am I doing this, and you can't answer that, hopefully that is a prompt to go and seek out the answer to why I am doing this thing, and then uh it it would open the door to wisdom and discernment of okay, should I not be doing this? If I should be doing this, what what is telling me that I should be doing this? Is this a prompting of the Holy Spirit? Is this uh something that I am pulling from the wisdom books of the Old Testament? Is this something uh that I am doing to love my neighbor as myself first and foremost? Uh just always be asking yourself why so you don't fall into the complacency of and status quo of just uh autopilot.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I like that. That's great. I I wanna my my piece of advice is is just gonna be a little bit, I'm just gonna stay on the simple side. And uh I want to say start your morning off before you do anything with prayer. Like don't like before your your feet touch, and it could literally just be God, thank you for waking me up today. Before your fleet feet touch the floor, recognize God first. And and just that small little thing. Now, you know, if you if you can, I encourage you to do your Bible study that time too. Like for me, I've got to go, you know, of course I got my coffee set on auto and and you know it's already ready when I wake up. So, but you know, I go downstairs to get get some coffee and then I sit down on my Bible. I've got to have my coffee. But um, I I encourage you to do the Bible study, you know, or just a little bit, even if it's just five minutes in read a verse and meditate on it for a couple minutes and just spend time alone with God in the morning. If you can spend your mornings with God, first thing, like if that be the first thing and that's how you start your day, um it it prioritizes your day. Um, it prioritizes your day because you're starting your day that way. Um, I know a lot of people say, well, I'm not a morning person and I do it before bed, and I'm not knocking that. Like, that's what you need to do, that's what you need to do. I personally just I think that it really changes your outlook if you start your day that way. Um, and and to be the first thing that you do. Um, and then it creates some intentionality because maybe you've got to get up a few minutes earlier to do that, so then she can make it to work on time. Or maybe you've got to get up really early because you have a five uh four-year-old that likes to get up at five o'clock in the morning and you know um run around the house terrorizing everything. Like so, whatever it is, you know, it just it creates some intentionality. Um, and and you you would be surprised just that little bit how much that's gonna stretch your triangle. Um, and so that would be my advice too. Um, so I know that we just kind of threw a bunch of stuff at you there. Um uh Maverick was the only one that had a postcard one, so we're gonna put that on a t-shirt. Show up, yeah. Show up. We're gonna have hats, t-shirts, um, coffee mugs, yeah, yeah, link and bio coasters. Um, all right. So uh I want to thank everybody for listening. Um I we we had the cookout this last Sunday at Chaffee. Awesome turnout. Maverick skipped it. He said you guys are lame and he wasn't there. Nah, he was gone. Um, but we had a good turn, we had a good turnout. Um, it was an awesome event. So I want to thank everybody who supported us out there. And we've got VBS going this week. Um, so if you've got some kiddos and you're listening to this, it's gonna come out. You'll have one more day when this comes out. So if you're listening to this, bring your kid the last day. It's worth it. Um, and then um, so and then we've got the fourth of July coming up. Um, we're gonna have a huge blowout for year 250 of the U.S., right? So um on the July 1st, that Wednesday night, we're gonna have a huge blowout. Um, grilling burgers, hot dogs, bouncy rounds, the works. So uh hope everybody can come out. I want the whole community to be there. We want to celebrate this with everybody. Um, and those are just some things we got coming up. I want to thank everybody for listening once again. Uh we'll see you Sunday. We are out. There. Bye.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for joining us for this week's From Seat to Street Conversation. This podcast is the Ministry of First Baptist Church, Fort Smith. As a reminder, you can always listen to each of the messages we discussed here on our chapter and first sermon podcast each week. Thank you for listening.