The Narrow Road Podcast
The Narrow Road Podcast explores what ministry really looks like—inside the church and out. Hosted by two leaders at different seasons of life, we dive into biblical topics, share real ministry stories, and feature guest speakers, offering insight, encouragement, and honest conversations about following God’s call.
The Narrow Road Podcast
Born to Make a Difference
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In this episode, Sam and Blake talk about what it means to make a difference. What does it mean to make a difference? Can we make a difference right now, or do we have to get our lives together first? What if we don't know how to make a difference? We talk about this and more in this week's episode!
Greetings. Salutations. That was lame. Why are we so weird? I don't know. Should we start over or should we just keep going?
SPEAKER_00I guess we just keep going. Alright. Embrace the weird. We're we're committing. My name is Sam. My name's Blake. And this is the Narrow Road Podcast. We welcome you to another episode today. Another episode. Our 13th episode.
SPEAKER_0113. Which is unlucky. We're gonna drop this episode on a Friday. Oh no. Actually, we're not. We should.
SPEAKER_00Do you think we should? And see if it's cursed. But that would mean that'd be Friday the 13th, not the 13th episode on a Friday.
SPEAKER_02Still, I mean it's like similar.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, similar. So we could see like if it gets no listens or something.
SPEAKER_02That should mean it's cursed.
SPEAKER_00Now what if what if Or if people who listen have really bad luck or something. What if they try to play into our delusion and they stop listening now after we said that?
SPEAKER_01Oh well that would be bad. I guess we'll drop it on our normal Wednesday then. Ha! Get wrecked. Foiled. Get wrecked. Get wrecked. Anyway, before we dive in, um we should small talk. The weather, am I right?
SPEAKER_00That spring weather.
SPEAKER_01Mm-mm. Mm-hmm. Um my daughter turned one this past weekend. That's pretty exciting. We had a party that was themed Wonder the Sea. Like under the sea, but one during the sea. I get it. It was pretty good. It was pretty good. And I will say, I will tell you a story. We have done smash cakes for all three of our children. You know what a smash cake is? What is a smash cake? It's like a little cake that you get them and you set it in front of them. And the idea is that they just go to town on it. They just smash it and start eating it. Oh. But our first two didn't care about it at all. They barely touched their smash cakes. But our daughter, this past weekend, she loved this thing. She stuck her face in it. She was like grabbing it by the fistful and eating it. It was incredible. It made it worth having a third kid just for watching her eat this smash cake. It was it was hilarious. That's great. Because yeah, it was super anticlimactic with our first two. It's like you get So then you had to smash the cake instead. Basically. Yeah. Anyway, so she turned one, so we officially have a five-year-old, a three-year-old, and a one-year-old, which is pretty crazy. Is your semester over, Sam?
SPEAKER_00Almost. I I have uh about three more weeks left, but with the online classes, I don't have finals. So I just complete, I don't have tests either. So I just complete the complete the assignments and then I'm good to go. So go Flames. Go Liberty Flames. Liberty Flames.
SPEAKER_01I had a Liberty Flam that just reminded me, I had a really cool Liberty Flames polo, and I don't know where it is. What size is it? Extra large. Yeah, I mean it's mine. I would wear it, not you. Well, I thought you were offering it to me. No. There's only one Liberty Flames graduate in this room, and it's not you. Soon. Soon. Soon. That's right. Not not really, though. But yeah, I don't know where it is. Um maybe it like tore or something, and I had to get rid of I don't know. I need to get another one though. Anyway, let's get to it. You ready to jump in?
SPEAKER_00Ready to jump in. And I have a story for you today, Blake.
unknownOh. Wait.
SPEAKER_00What was that? Did you say something? No. You know what I just did? No, I didn't know it. Wait, what's happening?
SPEAKER_01It's like Mario going through a pipe. Did that sound like that at all? Oh yeah, yeah, for sure. Yes. That was like worse. I think the first one was the best.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, let us know down in the comments. Did you see, real quick, last month, did you see the new Mario movie? No, the uh uh uh Galaxy, Super Mario Galaxy. Yeah. I have not seen it. I saw it with my brother. Really?
SPEAKER_01Not as good as the first one.
SPEAKER_00First one made me tear up at the end. That's insane. But what do you mean? You teared up. Well, you like Encanto. Okay. Are we really back to Encanto? I'm allowed to tear up at the Mario. Seeing Luigi rise like a phoenix from the ashes to save Mario and his friends from Bowser's terror reign. Fine. How could you not tear up at that?
SPEAKER_01You must be dead inside if you're not dead inside. But here's the deal the second one is not as good as the first one. That's all I'll say. It was fine. Is it still worth the watch, though? Yeah, I think so. Okay. It's good. Yeah, if you are a Mario fan, I will say it's worth the watch. It's got some new characters in it. It was fun. I laughed some and yeah, it was it was a good time. Interesting.
SPEAKER_00Anyway. With that, we're gonna get started uh with a story. I have a story for you, Blake. Okay. As a child, or still now, I love superheroes. Blake, what's my favorite superhero? Batman. Batman. I love Batman. He's the best superhero of all time. And I love to watch. He's great. I love to watch superhero movies. I I love to I wear I wear my superhero t-shirts. I love superheroes. And when I was young, when I was probably about in third grade, I wanted to be a writer, was my ambition. So I wrote these superhero books, these graphic novels with my friend Luke. He was my illustrator and I was the author and we'd worked together and they were masterpieces. And Mars our superhero that we made was called Captain Serving. And we wrote several different um editions. We we probably had three or four Captain Serving books. Now they were like probably 500 word books max. But that's okay. They were books. Um the reason I called him Captain Serving, you may be wondering, Blake. I know you're wondering. It's because, and get ready for this. It's because he serves other people. But I'm shh it. Wow. So very creative name.
SPEAKER_01I was not thinking along those lines. I know. He serves other people. Okay.
SPEAKER_00I was thinking like food. You see how like food serving. Like a captain I can see that. No. He was in no, yeah, he was he had a great diet as well. That's another thing about Captain Serving. I basically just copied the backstory of Batman and Cyborg. He just like he had rich parents, and then his his butler was named Albert, and uh he got blown up and he's like half cyborg, half super soldier. Captain America too. I copied that one. Oh, okay, okay. But all of them together make Captain Serving. Okay. And and I wrote these books, and I think the the main um reason I was writing these books was because I was pretending to be Captain Serving. I wanted to be Captain Serving so bad. And I didn't want to be Captain Serving. Looking back, I didn't want to become Captain Serv because I wanted laser vision like he did, or I wanted billions of dollars like he had, or I or I wanted to be able to fly like he did. Um I wanted to be captain serving because at the end of the day, I wanted to change the world. I wanted to make a difference in the world. And I I think I believed that um I defaulted to the belief that I had to be a superhero to change the world. I I felt like I had no chance of of making a difference if I didn't have um superpowers. And and even even looking back, and these aren't conscious thoughts that I was probably telling myself, but it's more of a mindset that I've that I had and and still continue to sometimes have as these thoughts would pop into my head, um, like like I'm just too ordinary to make a difference. Or I probably couldn't even have that big of an impact, even if I tried, or I'm I'm too young to make a difference. But the fact of the matter is, I mean, we all know now that those are all lies, right? They're they're insecurities um fed to us by our own anxieties and by the world around us and by ultimately the devil. Hmm. What do you think about that, Blake?
SPEAKER_01Captain serving. Let's go back to that. Oh, okay. You just got served.
SPEAKER_00Is that is that what he said when he beat somebody up? I think I I think I had him say Bazinga or like something like I just like made up in a word and then had him I had him say it. Well Bazinga is like the Sheldon Cooper thing.
SPEAKER_02I know it's so you just stole ideas from it wasn't Bazinga.
SPEAKER_00It was like a random it was like a made-up word that he said. It started with a B. I can't remember what it was, but it was really epic. Okay, trust me. Okay, all right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean you kind of creating that character obviously shows you wanting to make a difference. Which I think, yeah, I mean, you said it, it's something we all want to do, and I think we do all on some level think we can't make a difference unless we are something else, you know. Uh maybe not a superhero necessarily, but you know, we maybe we can't make a difference unless we're older or we have more money, or we have a college degree, or yeah, I mean, whatever it is, like we think, you know, I can't do that thing that I want to do, or I can't make this difference until I get to that next step. I mean, yeah, that makes total sense to me. Um, I can't remember creating a character as a kid, but I know that I had moments of thinking, you know, yeah, I definitely want to do this. You know, I want to be an athlete, or I want to go and be a fireman and like and you and save people and do, you know, yeah, I mean it there's something in us that thinks I want to make a difference somehow. Um but yeah, I think also, like you said, there's part of us that thinks, well, I can't do that unless I am these other things first. So yeah, totally makes sense to me.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, I I think that um, and like I said, you know, I can't remember ever genuinely thinking, um, I'm just too ordinary to make a difference. But I'm I'm I'm sure maybe I did maybe I have um thought that thought, maybe you have thought that too. But the truth is that not only can we make a difference, like like so we don't need to be a doctor, we don't have need to have a doctorate or something, we don't need to be a theologian, we don't need to be the president or a superhero, but we were actually we were born to make a difference. And I know that sounds cliche, I know it sounds like a Disney movie quote or or something like that, but it's true. Um we we were we were born to make a difference. God did not put us on this earth to um just live um passive and and comfortable and and um impactless lives. He put us on this earth um to one, love him and love others, and two, to use the gifts and the situations that he's put us in and the gifts that he's given us to make a difference in the world around us for him and to ultimately point others towards him. That's our that's our mission on this earth, is is the Great Commission given by Jesus in Matthew 28. Um so we'll start off today. We're gonna we're gonna look at some scripture. Um we'll start off in Ephesians chapter two. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Well, unless do you do you care if I pause real quick? No, go for it. Yeah. Well, I think it's important, even before we dive into scripture, maybe to to just pause and think about, because I just started thinking about it even as you were talking, Sam. And uh, you know, I want you all listening to think about, you know, when we talk about making a difference, I think it's important to maybe define or again just think about what does that mean when we talk about making a difference? Like, does that have to be this big thing? Does it have to be like, yes, you don't have to be a superhero to make a difference? But does making a difference have to be like this big deal or something that a bunch of people notice, or something that um makes a change for a lot of people, or can making a difference be something small? Um, can it be little decisions that you make every day? Because I know for me, where I'm at in my life right now, kind of the reality for me is I have three young kids. Most of my day-to-day is little decisions every day with them that really don't seem like a big deal. And a lot of days it doesn't feel or seem like I'm making a difference. But I know that God created me to make a difference in those moments. So I, you know, I think it's important to think about, you know, when we're talking about making a difference, that doesn't mean you have to think in terms of like this grand gesture or this big change that has to happen, or you know, you completely turn your life around or you go do this big thing or that big thing. I think it can also mean like you're making these little decisions each day that are making a difference, whether you even realize it or not, whether it's in the lives of your kids or it's at work, um, or it's just in your own life because you're getting up in the morning deciding, hey, I'm gonna do my Bible study this morning, even when I don't feel like it. Like I yeah, I don't know. Does that does that make sense? Yeah. Like I think it's important to think about, like when we're talking about making a difference, we are created to make a difference. And yeah, I think it can be a big thing sometimes, and maybe God has called us to step out into something big, but I also think it can be little things along the way, too. Anyway.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, I I think that that's a great point. Um if we, you know, I whenever you were saying that, I I think of the ultimate example for most anything that we can think of in the Bible is obviously the life of Jesus um and and the person of Jesus and who he was. Um and Jesus did both. He he obviously had these huge, grand gestures, and he had big events, you know, in his life that that he made a difference through. I think of, you know, obviously, number one, the cross. That's a big, big event, that's a big gesture, but also, you know, the feeding of the five thousand. Um that that was a big difference maker. Or I even think of Peter um in in Acts two preaching um to the multitudes of people, and which we'll get to here in a little bit. But also Jesus, you know, he made a difference in the small things. Like um, I think of Zacchaeus. Um, he he noticed Zacchaeus, and he noticed him and he treated him like a human being and and like a friend, despite um his position as a tax collector. You know, and and even in those small moments, you know, we we can that's a great point, Blake, is that um, you know, God doesn't always call us to move mountains um for him. Sometimes he does. Some like you said, sometimes he is and he is calling us um for big things. But also I I I would make the argument that um that in that anything that that draws somebody closer to Christ or points somebody to Christ, that is a big deal. It's true. We we often subtract from um from things that that seem little to us, but we can never truly know the sometimes eternal impact that a a simple interaction can have on somebody. But you know, like you know, God doesn't always call us to um become the most influential. He doesn't c call everybody to be Billy Graham, he doesn't call everybody to become the president, but he does call every single one of us to live obedient and faithful lives, um whatever that looks like for us, and we can absolutely make a huge difference um with either one of those things. So that's I'm glad that you pointed that out. That is a good preface to um what we're gonna about to talk about in the scripture.
SPEAKER_01So Yeah. Well, yeah, and I'm glad you said what you just said, because it's easy to think on the other side of it too, like, oh, I am a father with three young kids, like I I can't make a difference other than surviving in the house with my kids each day, when maybe there are other things that I can do that God's calling me to. And it might be okay to think and look beyond that. Like, yeah, you don't want to you don't want to limit yourself either, like you just said, because there are things that God might be calling you to, or conversations you can have that you don't want to say, oh, that's that's not a big deal, or oh, I don't have time for that because I've got this going on. Um because yeah, it might be more important than what you think it is.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah, and and you know, I I think of the the mentality of the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence if if I've caught myself in this trap too. If I'm constantly looking at how I can make this big grand gesture, sometimes it's out of selfishness, it's out of, you know, um if I'm really being honest, it's about uh me wanting to be noticed, uh me wanting to make that huge grand gesture, make a huge difference, um, sometimes for not all the right reasons. But if I'm constantly looking for something else, then I'm then I'm therefore blinding myself at ignoring what God has already given me and the opportunities he's already given me and the situations he's put me in my life that I can make a difference right now. It may it may not be as glamorous as I want it to be, but it can certainly um be just as impactful um in the long run, even if we are, you know. We've got to remember we're we're human and we're spiritually blind and we we don't see the big picture, but so often we and I when I say we, I mean I, um get in the mindset of thinking that we do. So yeah. Yep. So we're gonna dive in. Um Ephesians chapter two, verse ten. Um this is this is a great verse. This is Paul speaking to the people of Ephesus. He says, For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do. So before we we sort of um break down what this means, we we gotta make a clarification here is I think that a lot of people, um, a lot of Christians get it twisted when it comes to the meaning of this verse. And and this is, you know, this this may seem obvious or not, but we have to make the clarification that um Paul isn't saying that we're created in in Christ Jesus by our good works, right? He said created in Christ Jesus to do good works. Um a commentary that I that I read on this, um, and you know this is a commentary because I'm not near smart enough to come up with this um on my own, it says, good works are not the fru the roots from which salvation grows, but the fruit that God intends it to bear. It's not what we do that that grants us our salvation, and it's not what we do that grants us our place in God's family, it's what Jesus has already done. Um but we if we look right before verse 10 in verses 8 and 9, it says this, and that backs that up. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves, it is the gift from God, not by works, so that no one can boast. God has not he's not saved us because of how much we've done. He wouldn't because we're we've we're never we'll never be able to do enough to counteract our brokenness, our our sinfulness. We'll never be able to undo our own sin. Um, he saved us because he loves us and he wants a relationship with us and because he knew that we couldn't save ourselves, and that's why he sent Christ to take our place. However, there there comes a second point to that, is is what Ephesians 2.10 is saying is that once we accept Christ into our hearts and we surrender our lives to him, the way we live our lives out should be a product of our faith in Jesus. This is this is not the only mention of the importance of this idea of the fruits. First of all, I think of the fruits of the Spirit, right? That those are the signs, literally the effects of the Spirit of God indwelling in somebody. But I I think of um James chapter 2, 17 and 18. It says, James says, in the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. That's a pretty bold statement. But someone will say, You have faith, I have deeds. Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. He's not saying that our good works come from bef come before our salvation, he's saying that our actions are and should be an indicator of our faith in Jesus. If we truly submit to Jesus' Lordship for our lives, that includes obedience to him. And we are if we are to obey Jesus, that would mean that we do as he says and do good things for other people in order to glorify him. So the main point that I'm sort of trying to get at here is that we were born to do good for the world around us. God created us with that purpose in mind. He created each and every one of us to do wonderfully magnificent things ultimately in order to point the world to Jesus. I think in Matthew 5, you Jesus tells us you are the light of the world. We have the Spirit of God dwelling inside. of us. And that's something that, you know, cannot be hidden. It not only shouldn't be hidden, but it but it can't be hidden. So I don't know. I this is a very powerful um topic. And it's one that I I think that we um or myself, I often just sort of skip over of like, yeah, yeah, I was I was born to make a difference. Well no, you you know, as a Christian, I have the spirit of God dwelling inside of me. You know, and that's not something to um be underestimated.
SPEAKER_01So yeah. Yeah, I think I think you made a lot of good points there and um explained that verse um Ephesians 2. No, was it Ephesians 2 or James 2? Or did you hit on both? I hit on both of those. Hit on both, yeah. Um explained both of those really well and i it that's a it's a tough line to walk because it's like you can get on the side of you know I don't want to work my way to heaven so I'm not going to do anything. Or you can be on like the Pharisee side of I'm going to be so focused on works that I totally forget the heart of it. And Jesus hated that. I mean you saw I mean he attacked the Pharisees over and over so it's like and it's not even finding that balance it's like it's giving Jesus control of your life and saying hey I I know that you have created me just like you were saying Sam I know that you have created me for good works created me to make a difference show me how to do that. I don't want to be obsessed with doing good things and only focus all the time on doing good things because that just leads to judging other people thinking I'm better than everyone focusing on doing everything right all the time which is all the Pharisees and the religious leaders of Jesus' time were focused on. And we can think of people today who are like that in our churches, in our neighborhoods people who just judge us, think they're better than us because they do this, that or the other better than we do, and they don't show Jesus's love at all. And then on the opposite side you can think of people who say they believe in Jesus but don't show it. I can think you know when I was coming up um in school I can think of people who would tell me that they were Christians but then I would look at the way that they live their lives and I think you've maybe talked about this Sam maybe not on the podcast specifically but I know you've talked about this people who would say that they believed in Jesus but then you look at their life and the fruit is not there at all. It's like you you're telling me you believe in Jesus but then I look at the way you're living your life during the week and there's no evidence of that at all. So do you actually believe in Jesus? I I I'm not really sure because there's there's no workmanship there's no works at all and like Paul says show me your faith and I'll you know show me your faith and I'll show you my faith with deeds or whatever you know however that verse says it it's not all about deeds but you should see the deeds and the fruit if the faith is really there. So so I don't know it there is a balance there and it's all about like hey God I know you've created me to make a difference show me how to do that. Not obsessively and not oh God saved me so I'm not going to do anything or worry about anything.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah I think that's a great point. A couple days ago I I just finished I've been reading a book by David Platt um I highly recommend it. It's called Follow Me. And it's basically just talking about um every Christian's call it goes through Matthew 4, those famous two words by Jesus follow me to his first disciples and he goes through what sort of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus and to be a follower of Jesus and then he follows that by by going into the Great Commission of of our ultimate mission while we're on this earth. But he did mention Blake like you just said that I think the way he put it was that you know so many people they claim the name of Christ by calling themselves a Christian yet they don't embody anything about him. You know and and they they they go to church, they go through the steps um and I've even I've been I've fallen victim of of this mindset so often, I I think that many Christians have of believing the lie that I can go through the steps, that I can go to church, that I can read my Bible, but then ignoring the sort of the more uncomfortable seemingly uncomfortable aspect of being a disciple of Jesus which is um you know the the call to follow Jesus is a call to die. It's a call to die to yourself and to um be reborn into fellowship and communion with Christ um and to take up your cross and follow him daily and and to submit to his lordship, you know, and and with that um comes fruit. I mean i if you truly have the Holy Spirit indwelling inside of you, if if you're truly submitting to Jesus and not um living selfishly and and living in rebellion, um, then we can't help but hinder we we cannot possibly hinder the Holy Spirit's work in our heart and through us. You know it's it's an in it's an inevitable um effect. And and I think that Blake you mentioned this too that um and David Platt he put it this way too once again it's it's follow me by David Platt highly recommend it. I promise he's not paying me to advertise but um thanks David but uh no but Blake Blake said this and and David said it too that um he said I'm trying to for I'm trying to remember his exact phrase follow me. David Platt Please follow me on Instagram David Platt. He said the the fruits of our actions are are often um they're directly influenced by the motives behind our our hearts. You know why we're doing something um is is extremely important and it directly affects our effectiveness in doing that. He he put it this way is there is spiritual legalism I think he said and there's spiritual license. Spiritual legalism is thinking that we need to climb ourselves to the top and that we need to we need to be obligated we are obligated to obey Christ which is true but it's missing something. But on the other end of the spectrum spiritual license is well because Jesus has forgiven me I just need I don't I'm forgiven so I don't need I don't need to do anything. That means that I'm I'm not I'm not obligated to obey you know so it's two ends of the spectrum but ultimately we it it's it's all about getting to a mindset of um rejoicing in obeying Jesus Christ as Lord. You know, recognizing the fact that he is the sovereign Lord and King of the universe and not only um does that merit his um his worship and his praise and his submission but it also merits us to um rejoice in that but because of his his the salvation that he's purchased for us on that cross you know I mean um true discipleship and and true obedience and faithfulness to Christ I don't think comes from a mindset of constantly feeling obligated um to do everything, just doing it because we should, you know I think that um joy in life in Christ and and the way that we can really do this thing well for me at least is is rejoicing in that fact and um and being glad that that God is my heavenly father and wanting to do these things for him. You know and that just comes all down to truly understanding the the depth of what he's done for us on that cross the depth of our own sinfulness and brokenness and the depth of his grace and in his love and pursuit um love and pursuit for us. So yeah follow me David Platt yeah but like I said before um when I was a little kid I I had these doubts these lies that got in the way of me um taking the next step and wanting to make a difference in the world. I mentioned them before and for the next few minutes um I'd like to just debunk these. You know I I think that's that that might be a helpful exercise if we were going to look at some more scripture and we're gonna see just why each and every one of these um are not true. How how these you know they're just they're they're a big load of bull I mean when when it when it comes down to it um it's Satan.
SPEAKER_01Bull bull.
SPEAKER_00So anyway so we are going to walk through each and every one of these lies that tend to get in the way of people um trying to make a difference in the world and we're gonna say why they're not true. So line number one Blake what was line number one without looking at your notes I'm too ordinary I'm too ordinary to make a difference I look lame oh I'm a four what Blake's just reading off his notes app right now in case I don't know what I'm talking about man. I'm too ordinary it's his internal dialogue I'm too ordinary I've thought that before um Blake have can you think of a time in the Bible when God used an ordinary person to do extraordinary things.
SPEAKER_01When God used an ordinary person Gideon Gideon Gideon was a pretty ordinary dude he was uh well yeah he was kind of less than ordinary he was cowardly he was not from one of the like well known tribes like Israelite tribes God used him he was one of the people who saved Israel from the Philistines or one of those armies that was terrorizing them who else boom are you looking for somebody specific? No I'm not who else was normal that God used uh Jonah he was a pretty normal guy ran from God which we tend to do um any females normal females yeah all the yeah yeah Ruth I think was yeah she was pretty normal um Naomi was normal same story uh Esther um all of the women who followed Jesus they were normal day to day women who were just faithful with him the disciples were normal followed Jesus day to day there are countless examples really are if we stayed and we would we would just list throughout the entire Bible I I could even argue that most everybody that we read about in the Bible they were ordinary you know I mean I mean God he doesn't have the um the tendency to only call rock stars to only call people who who tend to to seem like superheroes in our mind.
SPEAKER_00I mean you look at Moses he had a speech impediment you look at um the disciples which we're about to read about they they were fishermen you know you you look at all these other the other people they were ordinary people God he uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things so what I'm about to um read is Matthew four eighteen through twenty two and this is when Jesus first calls his his very first disciples to follow him it says as Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee he saw two brothers Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew they were casting a net into the lake for they were fishermen. Come follow me Jesus said and I will send you out to fish for people. At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there he saw two other brothers James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee preparing their nets Jesus called them and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him now there's more than there's more than one idea that we can get from this passage. There are several different key eight key themes that you can draw from this but um we're gonna focus on on two words that Jesus says right here. Follow me, follow me by David Platt. Follow me is what we're gonna focus on. Follow me by David Platte. So just for context these these two words were more significant than we might think. Basically I won't give you the whole gist I encourage you to look into this but follow me was the phrase that a rabbi would say to a young aspiring rabbi to come follow him and become his disciple right they they would go to the schools of of the the the young Jewish boys would be learning the Torah, learning the word of God and then at the end of their tenure the rabbis would sort of come around and they'd be like all right who has the highest grades who has the most A's in their report card and they'd say follow me. Right? So the the significance to this and and and here's what I want to point out is the kids that weren't called the kids that were not asked and invited to follow me by the rabbis where would they go? Well they would often go on to do their father's trade. They would go on to do something else with their hands usually they they would go on and live normal lives and not become a rabbi. So why is all of this significant is if for for James and John and and Andrew who was the last and Peter for to be on that boat fishing with their father that means that they were rejects. That means that they were not called to follow me by the rabbi right that that means that they were deemed too ordinary too average too mediocre to be worth the time of a teacher pouring into them well every every teacher except Jesus that is God could use them and he did use them. As we know he he they became the disciples Peter was the first pope he he was he was the the one of the founders of the early church you know and they all died a horrible death in martyrdom later on in Acts everyone except John so he God used twelve very very very ordinary people or less than ordinary to do wonderfully extraordinary things. So that means that if he can do that for them then he can absolutely absolutely do that for us too no matter who you are.
SPEAKER_01Yeah and he used he used their mistakes too which I think is important to remember it's like God's going to use you and you were not even probably going to mess up you are going to mess up and God's going to use that too like the disciples screwed up over and over again Jonah screwed up God asked him to go one way he went the complete opposite direction God still used it. Things still happen the way God wanted them to happen I mean who are we to think we're bigger than God's plan. We're gonna mess up God's plan is still going to happen he's going to grow us and use us anyway we're broken. It's just it's up to us just to continue to follow and do the best that we can not try to be perfect. Um yeah I mean and yeah I think that's why scripture is full of these ordinary people who yeah I mean you said it same I mean quite honestly they were rejects they were screw ups they messed up a whole lot and god God used them anyway.
SPEAKER_00Yeah that's exactly right all right we're gonna move on line number two what was line number two go Blake I can't make a big impact I can't make a big impact. I probably couldn't even make that big of a difference even if I tried and that's sort of what what we were talking about earlier and and how we just like we put levels on amounts of impact that we could make which is just it's so silly. When we really say it out loud it's like it's just selfish and it's like we're really focusing on the wrong thing there. But we'll go into this I have a lot of scripture in front of me here I'm not gonna read all of it but but basically we're gonna talk about Acts chapter two at this moment um the Pentecost this is directly following the Pentecost which is the moment that right after Jesus had ascended into heaven and his spirit was given to the disciples the Holy Spirit they were they were given the Spirit of God that would assist them in continuing Jesus's earthly ministry and coming alongside Jesus to continue his mission to make disciples of all nations. So they have the Holy Spirit inside of them in Acts chapter two and then immediately a bunch of people surround him and they start asking them a bunch of questions the disciples so then Peter he gets up and he shares the gospel with them in a deeply profound way and then eventually or a after that he he shares the dis the the gospel with them and then the all all the people are like well we we just killed this Jesus guy that you're talking about what what do we do now and then he says repent and be baptized and then it says scripture says three thousand in verse forty one of chapter two those who accepted his message were baptized and about three thousand were added to their number that day so because of one sermon that Peter taught three thousand people came to Christ in a single day. Now let's look at the cause of that who who who really was the cause of all those people being saved was it Peter or was it the Holy Spirit speaking through Peter? What do you think Blake? He's thinking hard Peter incorrect it was indeed the Holy Spirit that was What? I know it shocker I mean Peter didn't do it all himself bombshell Peter actually didn't s single handedly save those people from hell it's crazy right it was the Holy Spirit um who would have thunk who would have thunk the important thing to know here is that the Holy Spirit worked through Peter to make a difference to make a a big big impact that day that that was the first church that was formed was that day. I mean that that was the first sermon of the Christian church and that was the first church that was formed that day. If and I I'm thinking if Peter had been relying on his own strength that day, if he had relied on himself to have courage to get up and speak then he might not have impacted so many people's hearts. But he knew that if he trusted in God, that if he acknowledged the fact that God has equipped him with the Holy Spirit literally minutes before this, he's equipped him with the Holy Spirit and that if he made himself available to God then God would work through him and do very big things. Now like we said before it doesn't always look like you preaching a sermon and then three thousand people coming to know Christ right in front of you but it very well could be being a loving father. It very well could be stewarding resources to the best of your ability it very well could be making somebody's day. You know it it we we cannot we cannot um categorize making an impact and we cannot um limit it or or put a uh a ground floor a minimum of just like being a famous preacher. You know? Yeah. So I mean that's that's that's an important thing to know here is is um yeah we we it this lie at at a to a certain point it may be true that we can't we can't make that big of an impact. But you know who could is God. God could make that big of an impact through you. We just need to stop being so selfish and and a little bit of like a like closed minded and thinking that it's all up to us. Because it's really not you know God he equips us. And and if we're if we make ourselves available to him and if we rely on him if we have our eyes on the on the right thing then he'll do the rest. All we got to do is trust in the fact that we simply don't know everything. And that's something that I certainly struggle with.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah I do too and and I think the reality is people do make an impact. A lot of these a lot of these preachers do make an impact but I I mean I would argue that they're not really making an impact for God. I don't know if that's bad to say I mean I think I think they're relying on themselves in a lot of cases. I mean I think you see it with a lot of preachers who end up you know falling by the wayside or something happens and they end up getting in trouble. I think it's because they're relying on themselves and not relying on God. So they're having an impact but I don't think they're having an impact for God. I think they're trying to have what they think is an impact but what they think is an impact is oh I need to reach as many people as possible. Oh I need to have this many people in the building I need this many people to get saved. Which is not at all the kind of impact that God wants us to look for each day. Um I mean, I think God is asking us to get up each day and do what He's called us to do, not make things about ourselves. Um So I don't know. I mean I think I think I think looking at those looking at people who we think are having a big impact, I think it's just kind of a fool's errand. I think it's just a trap to to look at look at things like that. People who we think are really successful or having a big impact. I'm using quotation marks. Um because I just don't I don't know. I think a lot of times it's just, yeah, it's impactful, but it's according to worldly standards.
SPEAKER_00It's not about comparison either.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, exactly. And I mean, God just doesn't work that way. I mean, impact in God's kingdom is not like that. Um, it can be a little conversation, it can be a small decision that you make that ends up leading to someone placing their faith in Jesus, and you may not even know about it. You might not even know about it. And the point is not to know about it, the point is to trust in God. I don't know. It's it's and it's and it's really hard. It's really hard to think this way. But yeah, it's like, I don't know, even thinking about like impact, it's like I don't know, you may not even know the impact that you're having, but it's not the point to know. Like when I was in the student pastor role, one of the things that I struggled with the most was students would come through high school ministry, I would be with them through high school ministry, they would maybe not really fully know Jesus or be fully mature, and then I would see them move on to college and young adult stage and really kind of start to get it after they left high school ministry, and I would get I would kind of get offended by it because it's like, oh, you know, why didn't I get to have that impact on them like so-and-so did at that next stage? But that's that's not the point. The point is I was having those conversations with them along the way, and I was making those that decision to show up with them, and that's what God's asking us to do. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, I think that's a great point of of uh, you know, if you if your only goal is to just get your flowers um from making an impact, then you're not you you may not, you know, and then that's a selfish way of looking at things. It's making about it's making it about yourself. So for me, a challenge for myself um going on this week, um, and I don't know if Blake, if you have time, we have one more lie to briefly debunk after this. Are you are you down for one more? Oh, he's considering. Sure. Okay. A challenge for myself is is sort of changing the question of of how can I make a better impact to more of how can I make myself available to God for him to make an impact? How can I become in tune with the Holy Spirit to make an impact, which FYI is Romans 12, 2, do not conform to the to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, then you'll be able to test and improve what God's will is. You know, if you want to truly um be in tune with the Holy Spirit, um that means following Christ, and that means dwelling in him and living life with him. You know, that means getting to know him is is the only way to do that. So just getting to know him. Getting to know him. We're putting our getting to know him. Get it get to know the guy a little bit. Anyways. All right, we'll we'll run through this one. Lie number three.
SPEAKER_01Line number three. And I'm too young.
SPEAKER_00I'm too young to make a difference.
SPEAKER_01And and just so I wanna be forever young. I had that song in my head the other day. And it was bad. It was bad. It was really, you know, like you get a song stuck in your head and it's really stuck in there.
SPEAKER_00Did you listen to it to scratch the ears? I don't f Wait, is that is that a thing? Yeah, like you like, I don't know. You listen to it.
SPEAKER_01You listen to it and then it's gone? I think so. I thought that just makes it worse. Like then it's in your head more.
SPEAKER_00No? Oh. You listen to it, then you listen to a different song.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00All right. I'll try that next time.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00Anyway. Maybe you have that song stuck in your head now. And you have to turn the channel now to listen to Forever Young. Yeah. Anyway, so a little background before I go into this. I I actually this was a um a teaching that I went through with with our middle schoolers at Gray Students, but I think it's just as applicable to us today, um, with this idea about um credentials. You know, so so we'll we'll start with this. This one irks me most of all because I felt it deep in my soul. And even with me working in youth ministry right now, um it's just sad, you know, to to see so many uh kids believing this this lie that they have to wait. They that that God can't use them, that they have to wait to become spiritually mature mature, that they have to wait to um take up their cross and follow Jesus, that they have to wait in order for them to be used by God for for for their 30s, for well, I just need to graduate college, I just need to graduate high school, I just need to get the degree, I just need to get a family. Then then I can start to make an impact in the world. No, got God has placed you where you are right now to make an impact. So, anyways, we're we'll we'll go into this um a little bit. This is 1 Timothy 4 12. I love this verse. Uh Paul is talking to Timothy here, a young, a young church leader at the time. He's writing to Timothy, and he says, Don't let anyone look down on you because you were young, but set an example for the believers in speech and conduct in love and faith and impurity. Paul starts off by saying, Don't let anyone look down on you because you're young, anyone include yourself. But set an example for the believers in speech and conduct in love and faith and impurity. Paul is telling Timothy here that even though he's young, Timothy, he he was actually in his thirties, but that's that was that was very, very young for the uh church leader role back then. He's telling him that even though he's young, that he is still to set an example for all the believers around him in the way that he lives, he speaks, he treats other people, and he trusts in God. And we've got to remember who this is coming from. Paul, formerly known as Saul of Tarsus, infamous for hunting down and slaughtering Christians across the land until he encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus. Paul knew better than most that God's ability to work through people is not limited by your credentials, by track record, by your age, whether that's you think that you're too young, or whether that that that mindset is you think you're too old, you think you're just too irrelevant. That's not true. It's not limited by natural talent or rap sheet. Simply put, who are we to try and limit God's ability to work through us just because of something as silly as how many birthdays we've had, or or what our what our resume looks like, or you know, what what even what we've done in the past. You we we we see all throughout the Bible people that God is using, despite their track records. David, he was fifteen, thought to be fifteen years old when he fought and defeated Goliath and defeated the Philistines. Jeremiah was thought to be a teenager when he's called to be a prophet. Solomon, some scholars think he's even twelve years old when he became the king of Israel. Just like those names, you two were born to make a difference in the world around you for the glory of God and to serve God and allow him to work through you in everything that you do. And you don't have to be a superhero, you don't have to be Billy Graham, you don't have to be the president of the United States, you don't have to do these accomplish these, like Blake said, these worldly standards of what we think it it means to make an impact. All we have to do is make ourselves available to God, trust in God, and let him do the rest. We are we are merely vessels. It's not us at the end of the day that's leading people to Christ. We are just plowing the field. God is the uh the harvest master. It's the Holy Spirit that's impacting people's hearts, and we're not meant to know how big of an impact we're making. Maybe the Holy Spirit will gift that upon us, he'll bless us and let us know a glimpse one day, but ultimately all we are doing is, all we are called to do is be faithful to God and to point others towards him in everything that we do. We're not trying to build up a tally mark of of souls saved, and we're not trying to um get a bunch of bouquet of flowers of, oh my gosh, Sam, you saved my life, and you just you just like, oh Blake, you just I I owe everything to you. I mean, seriously, I mean, but I've had that mindset. Blake says Blake said that he's he's caught himself in that trap before. It's easy to. Because Satan wants us to avert our gaze and our focus from God. He wants to make everything about ourselves. That's that's how sin was brought into the world was trying to become God, being selfish, letting our pride get in the way. But ultimately, it's not about us. And if we do try to make it about us, we are working against ourselves and trying to make an impact in the world around us, trying to do good, trying to obey God. All we have to do is realize that it's not about us and allow God to work through us, you know. So I I this is near and dear to my heart because um because I do it, you know. I I'm I mean, I'm broken, I'm sinful, um, and it's it's an easy trap to fall into when you let your motives um get in the way and and you're hindering yourself from um making a difference. But but yeah. Blake, you got any thoughts?
SPEAKER_01I think you nailed all of that, you know, as far as you know, that idea of being too young. Yeah, I yeah, I mean I th I yeah, I think we just I don't yeah, I mean, hearing what'd you say, Timothy was in his thirties? Yeah, that's that's the common thought. I'm in my thirties. I don't qu really think it as much anymore. I definitely used to a few years back think I was too young, and I still am relatively young. I think people just fall into the trap of thinking that people won't listen to them, I guess, or that they're just they just don't know enough yet. I don't know. I don't know what the reason is, but you gave a lot of reasons why we should not think that way. And why we can make a difference anyway, and and and I think that's really good. Um I think you should read this quote that you put um put in here.
SPEAKER_00And I think that this is ultimately um where we'll wrap up this episode. We're running dangerously close to an hour here. If you're still with us, bless you. Um thank you for for keeping on. But I'll I will end with this. This is a quote um from an anonymous Hasidic rabbi on his deathbed. So exciting. Exciting, yeah, mysterious. Here's what he had to say. When I was young, I sat out to change the world. I set out to change the world. When I grew a little older, I perceived that this was too ambitious. So I set out to change my state. This too, I realized as I got older, was too ambitious. So I set out to change my town. When I realized I couldn't even do this, I tried to change my family. Now, as an old man, I know that I should have started by changing myself. If I had started with changing myself, maybe then I would have succeeded in changing my family, the town, or even the state, and who knows, maybe even the world. Ultimately, changing the world, saving the world, uh as as I, you know, tend tend to think. It it doesn't begin with moving mountains, and it doesn't begin with um with trying to save three thousand people at a time. It begins with following Jesus in your heart and allowing him to transform you from the inside out. So don't don't try to bite off more than you can chew. Um don't let the devil discourage you because um you feel like you're just floating on by um and and you're not um you're not making a difference around you. Start with trying to become more like Jesus and with following what what you think He has in mind for you. And and and I promise you that even if you never come to know about it until we are all worshiping God together in heaven, um you will make big impacts in the world. God will use you, and ultimately, um you know it'll be good. So that's just an encouragement um for myself um as as well as Blake and and as well as you all listening as as you go throughout this week and the rest of your lives.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's good. Yeah, work on not even work on, be be changed by Jesus, and then see we see what happens from there. Um Yeah, see the difference that that can be made in the world from there. Um yeah, I think that's great. Well, we're gonna wrap up. Um thanks for sticking with us in this episode. We'll be back in a couple of weeks. We are still in our series. I think we maybe have one more episode, one or two in this spring series, season two of our podcast, uh called Grounded. So we're about to wrap up um season two, and we're gonna be figuring out what things will look like over the summer. We'll keep you posted on that. Um I don't think we're quite sure yet what that'll look like. So we'll keep you posted on that, and we'll uh we'll be back in a couple of weeks. But thanks for being with us today, and we will see you guys soon. Peace out. Bye.