The New Life Podcast
The New Life Podcast is hosted by Pastors Devon Patton and Luke Evans. Two pastors. One decade apart. Both Pastor's kids who grew up together and now serve side by side - one as a youth pastor, the other an associate pastor. Each episode they dig into Scripture, share real ministry experiences, and teach to help others grow in their daily walk with God.
Affiliated with New Life Church in Trumbull, CT
The New Life Podcast
Foundation First (Ep. 41)
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In this episode, Pastors Luke Evans and Devon Patton continue sharing Bible stories as Pastor Devon looks at Ezra 3 and what it teaches about building on the right foundation, avoiding comparison, and recognizing what God is doing in the present instead of being held back by the past.
Hello. Hello. Hi. And welcome to another episode. Maybe the worst intro we've ever had. Hey, we're trying to mix it up, okay? I said last time I didn't like the. We do struggle with the intros. I never know what's going on. We should do a just a rec like a recorded intro. An intro song. I'll put it in the chat too. Please don't. And have us do an intro song. That's true. And then we'll just get that going. But yeah, I don't mind that. I don't like the podcast intros. I like to just get into it. Get into it. Get into it with Devin and Luke. Dude, there we go. That's a new name for the other podcast.
SPEAKER_00Snap into a slam, J. What would it be about?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Fitting into tight. What would our other podcast be about?
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02It would be about sports. Sports. Yeah, if you could do any other topic.
SPEAKER_03Music. Music.
SPEAKER_02Of course. I don't know enough about sports. Like, I know what I know. I don't really either, but I know what I know. I could just goof off. Definitely sports. Alright, what's something that I think we've talked about this before? Maybe not on the podcast. But you could like give a TED talk on. That has nothing to do with. Like you don't know anything about it, but you think you could figure it out. But you could give a TED talk on it? Oh man. I don't even know.
SPEAKER_00What do you have?
SPEAKER_02I don't know. No, it's just that's like a funny part of the thing.
SPEAKER_00I mean, to give a TED talk, you kinda have to know.
SPEAKER_02No, it's like you don't like they're no one's verifying the information you're using. Yeah, you're just like I could get up there and just riff about this. Like I think I mean I think I could fake it about a lot of things. I saw there's a guy on Instagram, he does it every day. It's he puts on like a wheel and it's a thousand different topics, and he has to give a one-minute presentation on it. And it's like to help with public speaking or like doing things. And I'm like, that's genius. That's so much fun. So it's like, yeah. He like did one the other day and it was like uh what's the study of plants? What's that? Filmmaking. Yeah, and he just like goes off and he just does like the he can research it. I think he gives himself like five minutes to research what it is, and then he does a one-minute thing towards the video. That's easy then. I'm like, that's that'd be hilarious. We should do that for next week. That's the game next week. I'm gonna swing the wheel. Think of a topic, and you just gotta start sharing about it. Yeah, that's great. All right, well, welcome to the podcast. We're not doing that this week, we'll do it next week. Luke's ready for it.
SPEAKER_01But we love when ideas just come out of the air like that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's great. So now we know we have an idea for the beginning of the podcast next week. We're so glad that you're here today and everyone's here. Mateo's here. Spencer's not here today. Spencer's not here today. Johnny's in his place. But you can't hear, but you can't see or hear Johnny. Not today. No. Someday. Someday, one day. Someday soon. We're working on getting Spencer set up. We're gonna have a whole space soon. New space soon. Dude, we should just have like a nanny cam set up on Johnny to make sure he's actually working homeward. Got me to film him the entire time. No, just like it's set up in the corner of our office. Just like we're like, check the Johnny cam. Is he actually doing what we told him to do? Johnny's just live streaming. He does call everybody chat. So chat. Chat. Chat. Yeah. Alright. Do you have a fun fact for today? I don't. Luke's not into it today, guys. I don't have a fun fact. That's all. I just don't have a fun fact. I have something to talk about. Tell me. So we love this. I didn't know that beta fish slept, right? So oh, have you you came? Okay. Okay, so we got a scare last night. Well, we're still in that place. Okay, we're still in the scary place. So we have a beta fish at home. I have come to adore this little guy. His name is Red Z. I realized very quickly I have two dogs at home. Not a dog person at all. Like, I know that sounds bad clearly. Devin talks. I've heard you speak about the dogs. Devin daily about how he wishes his dogs would run away. Yeah. If anybody wants to come and kidnap them, dogs kidnap them, sorry. They're so well behaved. They're like the best dogs ever. Like, I just let them out, they don't go anywhere, they go to the bathroom, they come back in. They don't bring you enjoy them. Yeah, but I'm like, I'm like, what are they doing? Like, I don't we take them on walks, it's fine. Fish, though, like this little guy, dude, he's really wrapped his little fin around my finger. Such a weird person. I'm like, I just love that guy. I just like wake up and I'm like, where's little Red D? What's he doing? And he comes up and he comes back. He's swimming because that's all they can do. Yeah, and it's so awesome. I'm like, man, I love him. I feed him little treats. I went and bought him treats the other day. It's great, dude. That's probably why he's dead. So the other day, we changed the water on his tank. And like we followed the procedure that we did last time. We try to do it like once every day. You gotta take him out. Once a month. Yeah, you take him out, keep him in his water, and then you filter the water and then get him back in, like he's good to go. And he just like, ever since we put him back in, like, he's just like he's not acting. He's like, he's he's okay. He's swimming around, but he's not as not himself. He's not himself, and I could tell right away I was like, something's wrong with our boy there, Red Z. Um, I'm telling you, he's he's like a little dog. Like he comes up to the thing, he looks at us, he wags his little fin. He's so wag his fin. He's not no no no. No, he's excited to stay.
SPEAKER_00He's like, look at him wagging his tail. He is excited to stay.
SPEAKER_02Waving at the dog, he's uh and then he sees us, it's the best. I love Red Z. So he's the greatest little guy. Dead. Oh so last night we were hanging out, and I was like, I get a call from my wife, and she's like, Hey, you gotta run over to the pet store right now. And I was like, What? She's like, You gotta pick up an extra red fish. Like, you gotta go get another redfish. Like, because Cy is like, you were like, did Sai notice? Dude, this morning I like went in there and Cy was like, What's Red's he doing? He's just hanging out of the top of his bowl, he's not even moving, he's just sleeping or something. I was like, and so I looked it up this morning, and they do sleep, but you're not sure, but we're not sure if he's like so. Nicole looked it up and it said that if you put them, like if you change the filter, put them in water, and the water is like not regulated, it needs to be warm water for them, I guess. And we had never put in a heater or anything like that. So froze the ordered a heater. I was like, it's coming in today, and we're gonna try and see. But if not, I gotta go like right after this and get another red fish and just put him in there. He went from redsy to icy to deadzy. Yeah, we'll flush that one and then we'll just have Red Z too. He'll know. He yeah, Cy will know probably. He'll be like, he's not swimming the exact same. That must be a new fish. But so we'll see. Or we'll just tell him, like, he evolved, he's got a little blown. Well, you should do is just get an actual fish tank and get a different couple fishes. What the so that it doesn't have to change the water. We have a filter instead of the fish. Oh, and they still make it change. It says, yeah, to just do it. So which it's not bad. We put him in another thing, and Sai calls it Redzi's in the hotel for the night. It's hilarious.
SPEAKER_04It's so funny.
SPEAKER_02I love that little guy, dude. So hopefully you don't get too attached to him. I already am, Luke. We're past this. He's been in our house for like six weeks, and I love him. He's getting flushed. It they're only like a dollar, though, so I'm like, I'll just go get a new one. That's crazy. I'll just keep replacing it. We should get one for right here. For our little podcast. We can call them Podsy. Podsy. Yeah, I love that. No, I'd become too attached. So sorry, that's my opening story, but I was like, man. So we got him the heater, so hopefully he pulls through. Those little coils. Like, we're really trying here. Our dogs get sick. I'm like, I'm not taking them to the beds.
SPEAKER_04We got sick.
SPEAKER_02The $10. Yeah, Winnie threw up this morning. I was like, are you kidding me? I made her eat it. No, I'm just kidding. Okay.
SPEAKER_00People are gonna clean up your mess. They're gonna call PETA on you.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, your dogs are the best, dude. That's so sad. I didn't know you. They're fine. I've never really interacted with your dogs.
SPEAKER_02They're great dogs.
SPEAKER_03I've I've watched them a couple of things. Just Winnie when you used to bring her here when she was a pup. She's so anxious. She is. She's always she's on edge.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. But they don't, like I said, they don't bark anything. You can like walk them without a leash. You just let them out. They're great.
SPEAKER_03Mako thinks he's still 25 pounds.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, Mako will get up. Like he just like, if you give him any sort of attention, he could be like on the other side of the room, and you're like, you like look at him, he's like, and then you're just covering your hair. Yeah, and then you're just exactly. But he like sits on our lap, he's huge. I they're horrible guard dogs, I will say that. I pulled up.
SPEAKER_00I pulled up the other day to pick him up, and they were like sitting at the glass door, and he like opened the door to come out, and they both were like this is fine.
SPEAKER_02Staring at me, like had no clue that I pulled up. You can't even see Winnie though. No bark, nothing. She's dark. Yeah. You can't like you look and you're like, oh Mako's in there, and you're like, yeah, Winnie's sitting there. She's in the shadows. Yeah. Love those guys. Well, they're okay.
SPEAKER_01Do you ever have issues because one's a boy and one's a girl?
SPEAKER_02Not to be weird or anything, but yeah, that doesn't matter. The only time they like they scrapes. Judith freaks too, and he'll Yeah, no. We've never had that problem before. Moving on. But I just the biggest problem is they scrap all the time. So like they'll be like fighting with each other, and then Winnie like bites Mako's neck. Yeah. And then you have to like really wash it. Because it's like it's just full of saliva. It's gross. It's gross. She like hangs on. Yeah. She's like, ah. That was a perfect. That was good. That was a great Winnie. Alright, there we go. That's our intro. Well, anything else that you want to share with me? Well, there we go. Who's that?
SPEAKER_03Oh, Pastor Jason.
SPEAKER_02Filming Pastor Jason. Pastor Jason, it's Tuesday. Again, we gotta start sending out a text. Or just I w everyone knows we film on Tuesdays.
SPEAKER_03Okay. If I can't reach the phone, you're gonna have to hang up.
SPEAKER_02We're gonna have to cut that now every week.
SPEAKER_03I know exactly what he's calling me about, too. He just wants to do a song tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01Every week, somebody interrupts us.
SPEAKER_02Somebody interrupts us. Alright, so today, it's my turn again to share another story. I'm just kidding. Go ahead. You guys told me this yesterday that I was sharing.
SPEAKER_03Snake draft.
SPEAKER_02Speaking of snake drafts, we got our fantasy football draft. Sponsored by San Pellegrino. That would be awesome. I do love fantasy football. We could have talked about that too, maybe later. Who are you taking? As my keeper. How are we doing the draft order? We're just gonna do it how we normally do, probably. 40-yard dash. Yep. How we do it normally, probably 40 yard dash. Never ever. Javelin throwing contest.
SPEAKER_01We're doing the draft at my house, right?
SPEAKER_02We can go uh bench press contest, maybe. Okay. What do you want me to get the last pick? Pull-ups, whoever can do the most pull-ups. Again, what do you want me to get the can we do something? I'm pretty sure you could do more pull-ups than Drew. No. Hold the longest big Drew, but hold the longest plant. Why does it have to be something physical? Why can't it be we'll play play a checker match?
SPEAKER_04We'll play cahoot. We'll do a cahoot.
SPEAKER_02You love I love cahoot. Well, if Josh does a cahoot. It's like on your phone. You've never done cahoot it's trivia. What do you do on a right? Well, because I'm old. It's just trivia, but it's based on to like how fast you answer. So I can get more points. And if you get certain number right in a row. Oh yeah, where it like eliminates one every few seconds until there's one left. But you if you wait, you lose points. No, that's something else. That's trivia. That's how they do it at like when you go to like chilies and stuff. We're going to Chili's to do trivia for our draft. That would be awesome. If there's somewhere, I I'm gonna start Googling. Plan B used to have an office trivia night, but it was on Wednesday, so we can never go because of church. I need to find somewhere that has office trivia. Dude, remember we did the draft at a Buffalo Wild Wings at one time. Yeah, that was super fun too. Outside. If there's anybody who owns a restaurant and want to have us for our draft, we'll come. That'd be so fun. Don't that somebody's gonna end up? Come on, host us for your fantasy football draft. Free. Somebody charge. Somebody's gonna email and be like, I'd love to have you guys over the house. Come on over to my basement for the draft. I made you some sloppy Joes. I know how you like them sloppy. Lady or scared?
SPEAKER_00We asked Johnny the other day what movie that was from. What did he guess? What did he say? I can't even remember. He said Terminator 2. Something real crazy. He was like Jurassic Park. What was it?
SPEAKER_03What was it?
unknownUm I want to say, I said um Footloose or something.
SPEAKER_00Footloose. Honestly, he was just thinking of the oldest movie that he could, because that's what we looked like to him. We looked like we're not the Footloose or happy no more. We look like we're a hundred years old to Johnny. Also, how about the conversation we had today about how old Papa is?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, dude. My Papa was born in 1935. And we started saying that out loud, and we were like, dang, because that's the same year Elvis was born. How much stuff he's been alive for.
SPEAKER_00Like when he was It's from the office. He doesn't even say Elvis, though, when he does that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, he does when they're in Michael's office.
SPEAKER_00Oh, when he says, take it, baby.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, like, and then Meryl, who's also the same age as your papa, he was at prayer and he was like talking about the good old days, and I was like, I wonder the stuff that he remembers.
SPEAKER_00Like if they ever flew in an airplane and had to book a reservation, just scrolling to 1935 on the birthday thing.
SPEAKER_02Oh my god. It's scrolling. But he was like, like it was like Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream speech. Like Meryl could have attended like as an adult. Dude, they were alive for the Cold War. Cold War, Vietnam. Like, did Meryl serve in Vietnam? Korea. He's probably he might have been too old. Yo, that's right.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02When was Vietnam, Mateo? Cold War, Vietnam, Korea. What year? You have a computer. Don't say 60s. He's like guessing with a computer right in front of his face.
SPEAKER_0355 to 75.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so he would have been 20 years old. He probably served in Vietnam. Vietnam war was 20 years. I'm going to ask him. I'm going to text him. That's what it says. I mean. That's insane. Merrill's still a great texter, though. True. Knows how to maneuver. Knows how to maneuver. I don't know if he watches the pod or not, but. He probably doesn't even know that there is that there is one. We should tell him. That's great. He would love it.
SPEAKER_03He would. Wait, I'm going to look up who was born in 1935 experience. I told you. I know, but I need there's got to be a big thing.
SPEAKER_02Like the Beatles were born after Marilyn. Yeah, obviously. Yeah. My papa used to preach against them their music. That's insane. This is really thinking. JFK assassination. So much stuff that they were like. They were like full-on adults for all that stuff. That's what I mean. Because like my mom remembers that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Then there's me. I don't wasn't even born for 9-11. Okay.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Johnny, what year were you born?
unknown2008?
SPEAKER_022008? Dude, I graduated college that year. Alright. That's when Iron Man came out. That's when Iron Man came out. Also, look at my guy's feet right now, bro. Does that hurt? How did you just do it? Johnny's literally sitting like his feet like this. That was current. That hurt just showing people. Yeah. Because we're old. He's just sitting there like that.
SPEAKER_03I guess if you're born in 2008, you can do that. Okay, wait, I got some. They were born during the final years of Great Depression. It's wild. They would have been four when World War II began. Yeah. My papa was seven when the Germans were bombing.
SPEAKER_02Um that is bananas.
SPEAKER_01He still tells stories of running home from school and stuff when they were bombing.
SPEAKER_03I don't even remember when I was no TVs like in households yet. That's the craziest part. It's not even about the technology technology. The technology boom. Yeah. Yeah. It took it took 50%. Did they even have cars back then? Like they went from like the Model T's.
SPEAKER_02So like Merrill saw the Merrill Parkway get built. Yeah. Yeah.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02That's because it's actually it's the Merrill Parkway. The Merrill Parkway. That's what they were trying to call it. Was there telephones? Like, yes, but not in like everyone's home. Yeah, because like you think of like World War II, they were like radioing to get in. Yeah, like Morse code. Yeah, no long distance calls. Just local. They had to pay for text messages. Unbelievable. Yeah, that's in the tech the technology. No internet.
SPEAKER_03The technology part is the craziest part to me. He didn't have the internet till he was about 60. Yeah. Yeah, that's insane.
SPEAKER_02Like it was we pick on old people for not knowing how to work stuff, but when you think about their lives and like how they grew up and stuff, like tr imagine trying to figure that out at 60 years old. No. That's crazy. Yeah, dude. That's wild. Was there any like towns founded after they were born? Like in Connecticut? No, probably not Connecticut. Not in Connecticut. No, definitely not Connecticut. Probably elsewhere. Like was Hawaii estate in 1935. I don't know, dude. I'm not a history.
SPEAKER_03Now we're just this is this is nonsense. Yeah, this is a good thing. This is our secondary podcast in history. Just looking stuff up. Or just the nonsense pod. Uh it was not. It was a territory, not a state.
SPEAKER_02Oh, that's crazy.
SPEAKER_03So they were alive. He's older than Hawaii.
SPEAKER_02It was definitely still there. Speaking of the old test. We got the old testament story from Dev today. Because I did New Testament. Luke did Old Testament. I'm just kidding, I know. And then you could talk about the New Testament. So I found one that was just interesting to me recently. Because I have some favorites, but I was like, they're all ones that we've all heard before a thousand times. So I don't know that. I was like, uh you don't know. We have. Like I like the story of Jonah, obviously. I like the story of Moses, is probably my favorite Old Testament biblical figure. The whole thing. Like Moses. Yeah, pretty much. I like Moses. Um I like Moses. So big fan of Moses in the uh first five books there, but the Pentateuch. But today there's a story in um Ezra that I was reading. Deep Cut. Have you ever read this book before? It's an interesting book. Um Ezra is a it's a book, it's one of the like minor prophet stories in the Old Testament. But Ezra and Nehemiah kind of go back to back. They do in the book, but they kind of like lead into one another, rebuilding the temple and then rebuilding the wall to just give a little background, a little good, give a little bit of context and history to what's going on. And so Ezra is this, um, he's he's a descendant of Aaron, and he's a priest at the time. So it doesn't even say like in God's word that he is like a prophet and called and everything. He's just the priest, and he's spiritually leading Israel as they get out of exile from the Persians. So they've been in exile. Um, the Persians have come through and like destroyed Jerusalem, and they're going back to rebuild it. And so it's his job and his task. It says that that he was he's a priest, and it's also says that he's a skilled scribe, so he's the one. So they don't know if Ezra is writing this account of Ezra. So it just says, but he was a scribe, so he's trying to keep the traditions of like the Pentateuch, like the Old Testament law. He wants to bring that back. So like it said that um his book gets a little bit of flack because it talks about like intermarriages between Jews and non-Jews, and like how God's word has said, but it's just to preserve like what God's law had said, right? And so that's what he's trying to do. Um, but he it says that he also loves God's word, like it was something that it was like I think it says in chapter 7, like Ezra is somebody who is passionate and loves God's word. And so he's a priest, he's called to be a priest to lead them spiritually. Um, but he's also he's just excited about God's word, he's excited about um keeping the law and doing that stuff. And so the story in Ezra, it goes from like them being in exile, not in their land, to getting back to the land and now having to figure out okay, what do we do? Like what's what God what does God want us to do? What are we supposed to do? Um, and the specific part of the story that I thought was interesting is Ezra chapter 3. Um, starting in verse 10. I'm not gonna read verse 10, I'll start in verse um 11, I guess. But it's like this story of them beginning the the foundation and the building of this temple. And so I thought that it was interesting, and it was something I read a little while ago, and I was like, oh, this is cool, maybe I'll share that. So in verse 11, it says they well, in verse 10, it talks about them building the foundation, um, the Levites and everything like that. And they sang um responsively, praising, giving thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever towards Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. In verse 12 it says, But many of the priests and Levites And heads of the fathers' houses, old men who had seen the first house, the first temple, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy. Verse 13 it says, So that the people could not distinguish the sound of joyful shout from the sound of people's weeping. For the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far far away. And so it's a story that the Again, Ezra has been tasked with leading them back in because they've been in exile. The first thing that he decides to do is to build this foundation for the temple. We need to rebuild this temple. We need to rebuild the place where God's presence can dwell. Because then when with God's presence, um, look what we can do. But it's this response of these two different generations, right? Of like you have these young people who never saw the temple and they're like, thank God we're out of exile. Thank God we're not under Persian rule anymore. Thank God we've been, even though it's our land and it's destroyed and it's not what it used to be. Thank God we have a new place and we're shouting and rejoicing because God has given us a foundation of where we should build this. And then we look at it, and it's all these old, older saints and Levites and people who used to follow who saw the temple before, and they're like, Oh, well, it's not what it used to be. Well, it's not um like what we remember it to be and and we want it to be. And so, but it's it's just and then in that verse 13, it's like these cries of both joy and these cries of like sorrow are both so loud that you can't distinguish which one is which, which is just again a a mind-boggling thing. But I wrote down some things as far as the story, and we can talk about them. But the first point that I had was comparison steals celebration, and so it's like they're there because of this awesome thing that happened of God giving them this land back somehow through a non-believing, non-god-fearing ruler, um, gives them their land back to go back home and lets them out of exile. And because of nostalgia, because of remembering what could have been, the older Levites and the older fathers of households couldn't celebrate with that. And so it's I said comparison steals celebration and nostalgia couldn't um it shouldn't keep you from obedience or from celebrating what God is doing. And so it was like this reminder to me when I was reading it and talking about it was like there's so many things I think, even in like church or like I think about my ministry. Like, if I sat every June and was like, well, our seniors are leaving, so like I'm just gonna sit here and cry because like I don't have those same kids who are here. Or um, like we just sit there and we don't we think about, and I think because of grief and because of life, like in the world that we live in, like there's things that happen and there's there's bad things that happen to us, or problems that happen, and we automatically think of what was instead of like the good things that happened, or what God can do through it instead of, and that's our our response. But it's like comparison steals a celebration, and so it was like I think that that was like one of the first things I noticed in this story, but it's interesting.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think we have to be careful sometimes as as believers when something good is going on.
SPEAKER_00I think as human beings, naturally, it's like, well, this is good, but look at that over there, or this is cool, but look at what they're doing.
SPEAKER_01And uh certainly we live in a culture of comparison, right?
SPEAKER_02With all the social media and TikTok and Instagram and stuff like that, where we're just constantly comparing our lives to other people's lives and our experiences to other people's experiences.
SPEAKER_01And so I think that can easily, like everything in in life and in culture, can creep into our spiritual walk, and so we have to be careful. I mean, obviously, you made a good example with the kids you know, graduating.
SPEAKER_02Like we've talked in here before about you know our experiences at camp, and so it'd be easy to go to camp and be like, Oh, this is great, but man, you should have been there when I you know what I mean, instead of just being like, Man, look what God is doing right now. Yeah, um, and I so I think that it's important, it's important to stay focused on the obviously we can remember the past, certainly if it's good, we can remember the past, but it's important to continually look forward. And I think the cool part of that story is Ezra is prioritizing what needs to be prioritized.
SPEAKER_00I mean, you said it, but he's like, Hey, hey, before we do anything, we need to build this foundation, like we need to get this, because if if God dwells here, then everything else will fall into place.
SPEAKER_02And I think a lot of times, especially in our families or our homes, we prioritize the wrong things instead of saying, like, hey, if God dwells here, everything else is gonna take care of itself. Well, that was the second thing that I wrote down was like God started with the foundation, and it's the same that He does with us, right? It's it's this solid foundation of God's word of prayer and our relationship with Him that we're gonna see success, we're gonna see Um growth. And it says, like, one thing I noticed was like the people they wanted, like some of them, because it says in chapter four, like that there's adversaries who are like, You're prioritizing the wrong thing, right? You're you're not doing we need walls around here. We need to make sure that we're protected. We need, or why isn't the temple like if God could give us this land back, why can't he just produce the temple? Like, why can't he just get and it was like people wanted a temple, God gave them a foundation to start with, and so it's the same again with us. We've talked about it before, but just obedience and doing what we're supposed to be doing. God starts with a foundation, God starts with something. Sometimes it might seem small, it might seem not what we're hoping for or expecting, but it's a foundation, it's a starting place, it's something for us to build on. And so, even in our past, even in in the things, right, of like, oh, some people are like, I don't know, this is not what it used to be, or some people are really excited and really pumped up in our faith.
SPEAKER_01It all it has to start with a foundation, it has to start and God will always give you, you know, God's in the business of of always giving us what we need, not necessarily what we want. Yeah, right. And so if if I if God decides to bless me with something and it maybe is in my flesh, not as big as what he blessed has given blessed you with, I we have to continually remember, man, God is just gonna he's gonna give me what I need.
SPEAKER_02So whatever it is that he blessed me with, let me focus on that, let me worship him for that, let me build a foundation on that, yeah, and then let that grow into what it is that God wants it to grow in. Because if God gave it to me, then it's probably well, I shouldn't say probably, it is what he knew that I needed. And it's always like you said, it's what we needed, so it's not always the foundation that we want, right? Of like those older people, they're like, Well, this is not the same, even though it says, Well, they followed the rules that David, David's kingdom, and David had established when it came to the temple, they're still doing what God had asked them, but it's not specifically what they want. And so there's again problems in life and and like things that were given because God is God and God's in control and God's sovereign and he rules. But it's like, well, this isn't exactly the start I wanted. This isn't exactly like people get into a job or they get into ministry or they get into their family, and that's like, well, this problem came up, and this would happen. And God's like, that's the foundation that you have. This is the one that I've bit given you and I've built for you. Like, it's your job to then build on that.
SPEAKER_00And so, and we we bust chops all the time about you know, guys in ministry, and that's one of the things that frustrates us the most, is right, like, oh, God called me here, and it's to a church with 75 people, and two years later there's a hundred people there, and it's like, Well, uh God's calling me somewhere else because you don't think that the growth was there that you wanted, or it didn't turn out how you want it, but it might have been exactly what God was calling you to, and exactly what God needed to do in that situation.
SPEAKER_01And I think that, like you said, it can apply to anything in life, but that's just always kind of one of those things that we always harp on because we know so many people in ministry and know so many people that have done that.
SPEAKER_00And I think that that's you know, we were talking about my papa before, and I know people have been bugging us, we will have him on very soon for part whatever it is, three or four, um, with him. Uh but you know, we're talking about how, you know, 1935, he's 91 years old. One of the, and I've said it forever, I think I've said it before on this podcast, one of the coolest, and I think one of the best attributes of my grandfather and watching him as I grew up, maybe not so much in his younger ministry, but once he got a little bit older in life, was going to him and saying, like, hey, we're we think we want to change this.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Hey, we think we might want to think of we might want to switch this up, or hey, we're thinking we're gonna start wearing jeans, and it I'm sure internally there was like a war waging on inside him. Like, are you kidding me? And even you can even tell based on the way, like, if you're talking about the dress code, like the way he still dresses the church. But he at the same time, he was like, Alright, I'm still wearing a suit, but if you think that'll get more people in the building, if you think it'll save more people, if we gotta get rid of the hymn books, or we gotta change the music style, or we gotta shorten the sermons, or or this.
SPEAKER_02Well, he was concerned about the foundation, exactly.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, exactly. You're you're you're not so caught up with, well, this is how we used to do things, and this is how we've done things for so long.
SPEAKER_02I think when you get so caught up in that stuff, it can hold you back from where God wants to take you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and sometimes we get so comfortable in where God has brought us that we forget that He might want to keep taking us further.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and and sometimes I think we have to remember, man, I the past was great, or the past was hard, or the past was this, the past. But sometimes if we focus on what we're supposed to focus on, God will begin to show us and bring us to this new place and start to do something new in our lives. And the last thing I wrote down was like it's cool to see that God is such a big God who can handle mixed emotions. Like, I know that sounds simple or sounds weird, but like there's half of the people who are happy and excited about this new temple, and half of the people are not. But God doesn't say, like, all right, if you're not, like, you're exiled again. Like, oh, fine, you're you're excited, you're not weeping that this isn't as good as the last one, fine, you're gone. Like, God doesn't, and so I said, God, like, honest worship trumps perfect praise when it comes to again, regardless of what we come to God with, and we're we're just there. God was concerned that everybody was gathered around the same foundation. Everybody was there. This is what his new plan was for the people of Israel at the time. And so when we're here, when we're again, and I think it's just a perfect, a perfect example of of of what we get to do now in our country, and we're blessed with in our church of like having people from every background, every walk of life, everybody. But what is God concerned about? Our hearts, the way we approach him, the way we worship him. We might come to him some days and we worship him, and it's honest worship in the sense of, God, I don't know what's going on with my life. I don't know why this is happening to me. I don't know what's but our heart posture is in the right way, and we're gathered around the foundation, which is him. It's like I think that's what's important.
SPEAKER_00And so because you're gonna get that, right? Like it think about our church, like on a Sunday, you know, you have that many people worshiping, you're gonna have someone over there who's worshiping from a posture of, God, I don't know what's next. Like, my life's a mess. You have someone next to them that could be worshiping from a place of God, you're so good.
SPEAKER_02I can't believe all the incredible like everyone's worshiping from a different place and a different moment in their lives or chapter in their lives. And like you're saying, God loves us enough that it's not, well, you're doing it wrong, you're doing it right, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're right, you're wrong. It's man, just learn how to worship, yeah.
SPEAKER_00No matter what you're going through, no matter what situation.
SPEAKER_02And I think that's cool that even Old Testament, God has we see, you know, because a lot of people think God in the Old Testament is this just like overly righteous, like, you know, the mighty hand of God, like you're outcast, you're dead, wipe them off the face. We see, even in that small story, we see the compassion of God and the understanding of God, the grace and the mercy of God that like you're dealing this with this different than them, but you know, together, like we'll we'll get we'll figure this out because it's rooted in the right thing, right? And it's focused on the right thing, which is the foundation. And so the last thing that I wrote was like this story of Ezra is one that, again, like you said, it's like a deep cut, it's one in the old testament that we don't often look at. Like, I happen to just be reading it because I was interested in my own time. I was like, Oh, I don't know if I've read Ezra, or when was the last time I looked at it? But like his life and this example of like somebody who to go back way back to the beginning of what I said was like he loved God's word, God had told him to do something and he followed it. And so, like, he knew God's word, he lived God's word, and then he took it upon himself to teach, or God called him to teach God's word. And so it's like for us as Christians and believers, we could take this right of like comparison steal celebration, and God wants a better foundation, and God can handle our emotions, but it's it's all goes back to like God put him in charge, God gives us direction and gives us a calling on each of our lives as Christians and believers to know God's word, to then live it out, and then again to teach others about it, to bring them in. And so it just for me, it encouraged me, it blessed me. Um, it made me want to be a better follower of Jesus. And so, again, we've said it every week, but open up your Bible, read some of this stuff, look back, um, and see what God did in the Old Testament even thousands of years ago.
SPEAKER_01And even in the Old Testament stories that no, like the minute you said Ezra, everyone was like, What? Who?
SPEAKER_02Like, like you know, even the stuff that the minor prophets, the minor like they're called minor prophets for a reason, right? Like they're not the big, they're not the big names, but they're the they're the role players, they're the glue guys, they're the things that connect it all. But it's just it was it was encouraging. I was like, man, I'm like, this is something that like looking at Ezra's life, but then yeah, having the found, like you said, the foundation that this church is rooted on, but our Christian lives should be rooted in.
SPEAKER_01If you go to New Life Lute, New Life Youth, and you're listening to this podcast in a few weeks when you hear this story, when you hear the uh sermon, uh sermon of know it, live it, teach it, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Uh as your three points, just shout amen. All right, don't act like you. I wouldn't do that. All right, I just shared it here. When am I gonna share it again? I'll come up with something.
SPEAKER_03Oh, you're doing it.
SPEAKER_02No, I'm not. Ezra series, month of October.
SPEAKER_03Hey, we could might be the first Ezra series ever.
SPEAKER_02Ever. Ezra. Ezra. Move on, move on. Not my best.
SPEAKER_03This is well, I was just thinking about this too. Um this is also like a good example, like how you just read what 10 through 13. Yeah. It's a good secret place, like almost example. Obviously, you're doing it in front of us and the podcast, whatever, and we're not really praying, but um like something like that, you know, you get the context of it, and then you get the understanding of what's going on. Just think about it like that.
SPEAKER_00Well, I hope that people see the overwhelming theme of this little mini series. Well, that's what it does.
SPEAKER_02It was like I literally just read that in my own, like he said in my secret place time, was like, ooh, I need a new book. Um, because I was reading like Colossians, and so I was like, Oh, I need some, let me go Old Testament, and then I was like, Oh, this is crazy interesting. But it's yeah, but that's what I mean by the time this little mini-series that we've been doing on the pod is done, we'll have done four weeks of it. So you've done a month worth of four different stories from all different books at all different times. Yeah, and literally they were like at the most like six verses. Yeah, you know, so it you know, it hopefully if you've stuck with us through all of these, you'll start to see this recurring theme, and and you'll come to the realization that man, I might be trying a little too hard to, you know, I gotta read as much as I can, or I gotta spend an hour in this, or I gotta read through the Bible in it. Like, just read a couple verses, spend a spend some time, pray about it, learn about it, dig into it, research it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you know, like actually try to gain some biblical knowledge from it so that you can go and you can tell people about it, so that you can know you can know it, you can live with it and teach it.
SPEAKER_03Well, that's the thing. I've like I've done and I'm sure you guys have been in the spot where like you gotta read, you gotta read, and like get as much as you can. There's days where I don't even remember one of ten verses that I read. You know what I mean? It's like I don't know how you would be able to really digest, you know, reading a whole three chapters, four chapters in a day.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, there's it in there, yeah. The comprehension would not be there's no way. But your dad mentioned it this morning, like if there's something in that you find interesting, like do a little research, like learn about it so that you can then again live it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, he essentially wrote a sermon for nobody, like it was just his own. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02The only thing that would be better is if they all had the same letter. So instead of no, it should be learn. So learn it, learn it, live it, and then we need a L for teach. We'll get one. It'll come to me.
SPEAKER_00Um I thought of that.
SPEAKER_02There's no way anybody heard it. Nobody heard you. Nobody heard it. Lead. There you go, dude. That'll preach it. That'll preach. That'll preach. Standalone sermons in August. There you go. You got one. I'm in awe of that. I'm in August of it right now. There you go. Of God's word. I also have I've had multiple people speaking on that fact of like digging a little bit deeper and stuff. God is stirring, the Holy Spirit is stirring within people.
SPEAKER_01I've probably, I want to say it's at least five, maybe six people that have come to me in the last like three weeks and asked me what the best study Bible is.
SPEAKER_02Dude, I had somebody come to me the other day. It's asked me what a study Bible is. Because like people want. Yeah. I think people have been. I think when you actually start doing your secret place, like if you haven't, and then you start actually doing it, after like a few weeks of doing it, I think your mind becomes so blown by like what how have I not been doing it like this for that long that you want to learn. Or like your translation of your Bible, you're like, man, this is actually pretty confusing. Yeah, there is other translations that make it a little bit easier to read. So if you need a good study Bible, I think we're the ESP study bible. But it's been cool to see people asking for stuff like that. Yeah, where is it? I just gave Johnny mine today. You mean mine? Yeah, it might be mine. Might be all of ours. No, it's definitely good's. It's definitely mine. It's been passed around. Welp. Well, there we go. Amen. Amen. Amen, brother. That's it. Johnny? Amen.
SPEAKER_03I have a game. Oh boy. It's a variation of a game that I know you know. Um, it's very simple.
SPEAKER_02You're talking to me? Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I'm looking forward to it. I'm looking right at you. Nobody can it's called Word Scramble. So it's like Wordle.
SPEAKER_02We don't want to do that again. Wait, yeah, the last time we did Word Scramble, Devin said some crazy stuff.
SPEAKER_03He was right. Yeah. Oh, oh no.
SPEAKER_02I did not both words I said both crazy stuff. Oh, I like this game. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is fun.
SPEAKER_03Oh, wait, wait, wait, hold on. Relax, relax, relax, relax. Everybody chill out.
SPEAKER_02Okay. I can't see it though. Can you see it now? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00This is gonna be on the screen for people.
SPEAKER_02Apple.
SPEAKER_00Dude, well done.
SPEAKER_02It's because my brain normally reads things like that. He's like, I'm dyslexics. This is so easy for me. Nice. Alright, so I got ten of them. Okay, I'm ready. Alright. Lock in. Chat. Chair. Chari. That's just a girl. They're easy. Chadi. Shoddy? Ishmael. That's exactly what I thought of.
SPEAKER_03Dude, you're really.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, these are names.
unknownIshmael.
SPEAKER_02Luke has been. He's taking over my brain for this game. Yeah. Ishmael. Bhadre. Uh Bread. Bread. Oh yeah. I would have never got that one. Got it. I like Bhadre. Ishua. All right, Matthew's house. These are all Star Wars characters. That's how they come up with Star Wars. Oh my god.
SPEAKER_03You saw it.
SPEAKER_02I saw it from the balloon. I was like, how did you do that when you got in?
SPEAKER_03Earl button. Probably. No P inslate.
SPEAKER_02Balloon. Dude, dude, you're really good at this. Um there's no way I'm gonna your your brain's way better at the moment. Uh no, I don't I got nothing. As soon as he hits it, it's gonna be like that. You want me to give you the first letter? Yeah. P. That's what I thought. P R probably, right? No. Picture. Picture.
SPEAKER_03You should have said it first.
SPEAKER_00No, I didn't know if I was in the game or not. You're not. You're not. So don't worry. Popcorn. Pinocchio. Dude, Devin is really good at that. I'm just gonna let Devin cook at this.
SPEAKER_02Let him cook. Rollerblade. Let him cook. Um. Hold on, I don't remember. That's a long one. Yeah. Hold on.
SPEAKER_03Calibrate. What is it? Very close though. Celebrate.
SPEAKER_02Alright, Johnny. Oh, to the left. Oh, that was it. That was it. That was ten. Dude. Yeah, like eight. You crushed it.
SPEAKER_01That was great. Maybe there's something with your brain. We do need to get someone in here to study you.
SPEAKER_02I know I should have been in those special classes in high school. Professor X's school for gifted school. I'm probably an X-Man. With Rolf.
unknownAlright.
SPEAKER_03I've never seen any of those movies.
SPEAKER_02They're good. We were just talking about it last night. In the middle of the movie theater. Yeah, we're really sorry we put you next to Drew last night, dude.
SPEAKER_03Twice. Yeah, bro. That's rip. It's like I would feel like that. Drew's gonna be hearing this while we're talking about this. Okay, we love you, Drew. Something would happen and I'd just film like this. Looking at you. Looking at me. Yeah, the best. That's exactly what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_02Dude, from four seats over, uh, we went and saw Spider-Man. This is what people know. From four seats over, dude, when the what is it, when the Punisher showed up? Drew's. Her name is Gene. Yeah, Drew's like this.
SPEAKER_00He's like dude. Alright. He's just amped up. The second time he'd seen it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03He was amped that we were seeing it for the first time. Either that or it was just on my leg.
SPEAKER_02He loves it. Oh, it's the best, dude. Dude, it was in my it was in my best duos list. Drew, when he either loves something or Drew. He's a passionate fella. He's going to uh the comic book convention this weekend. Comic-con? It's like something like that, but it's in Connecticut. I mean, that's a comic book convention. Yeah. That's why they're talking about it. He's telling me about it. He's like, yeah, I'm going. Where at? I don't know. Like Mohegan's son or something. Oh, never mind. Oh boy. Pastor Mark's going to bring him in after. He obviously wasn't in church that Sunday. You go in the box. He's not gambling. It's just at their convention. He really was harping up. You're not going with him? Don't they have a ton of stuff? No, him and Marissa are going. Oh, nice. Date day. Little date day.
SPEAKER_01Bring sure that's to go to the comic convention.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. They're dressing up as uh Mario and Luigi. No, I'm just kidding. I don't think that's true. That's really funny.
SPEAKER_03Now I'm just thinking of different characters that they could. Yeah, who would you? Who would you dress up as like Fred and Wilma Flintstone?
SPEAKER_02If I had to go to like one of those like a cosplay thing.
SPEAKER_00But one, you have to pick one that you'd be like, it actually looks like you have to be like accurate to the and Nicole.
SPEAKER_02Oh, that's crazy, bro. Johnny said Johnny. Johnny's just I get it, Johnny. Johnny's just throwing crazy.
SPEAKER_00He definitely didn't say though. He's dying. Look at him.
SPEAKER_02You can't.
SPEAKER_03I don't, I don't know.
SPEAKER_02Maybe like I try to think of like a Star Wars character or like somebody from Lord of the Rings. He looks like the Star Wars guys with the beard. That's Poe. Poe Dameron. Poe from Kung Fu Panet? Yes. That's even worse than what he said. Holly. Johnny's dying, dude.
SPEAKER_00Look at him. Who loves Johnny's jokes more than Johnny does?
SPEAKER_03Nobody, dude. Nobody's dying. It's easily the best part of his jokes is him laughing.
SPEAKER_02It's him like laughing before it even gets out, dude. He's out of his mind.
SPEAKER_03This guy's dying right now, dude. That's like we're walking at a um staff meeting, and he's like, yo, uh Pastor DJ's got the green fit on, and I'm like, yeah, bro, he gets got it on. He's like, got the green goblin. And I just look over and he's dying. Like, it wasn't that. It wasn't.
SPEAKER_00He's cracking it up. Retired Norman Osbourne. Retired Norman Osbourne. He just riffs on it. That's wild.
SPEAKER_02Well, Drew I find that you had a great time. Be a good one for me.
SPEAKER_04Alright.
SPEAKER_03Love that. That's it. Send us an email. We got some emails to go through.
SPEAKER_02Oh, we do?
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02The nlpod at gmail.com. Put it up on the screen.
SPEAKER_03Actually, one of them we can address right now. Michaela Cordero sent in an email. And all it says is make a bloopers montage, please. We don't have any. We keep all the bloopers in.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, they're all in. They're all listen to the first 15 minutes of this podcast. That's all of it. The only thing we ever cut out was inappropriate the Old Testament talk. Yeah. Spencer's a no fun police. No, that was me. I told him. I was like, dude, delete that. That was crazy. It's biblically accurate. You know what? I'm just gonna tell it as my story. No, no, no, no. Okay. No, you already get an old testament.
SPEAKER_01Bring in the Lego Bible. Yeah, dude. Page for page. Here, kids. But yeah.
SPEAKER_03So shoot us an email. Shoot us an email. Shoot into it.
SPEAKER_01Sick. I can't wait to go through those emails.
SPEAKER_03Yep.
SPEAKER_02All right. Let's go. Summer's gonna hate that part.