Episode 12 - Authentic Action

What if love wasn’t something we pushed outward, but something that naturally flowed because we stayed close to its Source? We pick up last week’s “one thing” and follow it into real life, exploring how affection for God becomes authentic action—at the table, at the door, in a grocery line where patience is tested and formed. Along the way, we share a luminous story from our home: welcoming Rachel, watching her fall fiercely in love with Jesus, and witnessing how steady presence can turn a fresh start into family. It wasn’t tidy, but it was true—weekly meals, shared burdens, and the slow rebuilding that makes the promise “I will restore the years the locusts have eaten” feel tangible.

We talk about the culture of the kingdom—how being for people mirrors the heart of the Father—and why authenticity has a scent you can’t fake. Kids can feel it. So can your coworkers. We name the inner Pharisee, not to shame it but to disarm it, and show how abiding shifts change from the outside to the inside, where it lasts. That’s the secret thread: when we stay connected to God, the current that runs through us looks like patience, gentleness, and courage at just the right moment. Impact stops being a burden we carry and becomes overflow we enjoy.

This conversation leans into discipleship as imitation: becoming like the Rabbi so others catch a glimpse of the Father when they meet us. Imagine workplaces flavored with patient love, homes shaped by grace, and conflicts softened by kindness. That’s not idealism; it’s what happens when abiding leads and action follows. If this resonates, hit play, share it with a friend who needs hope, and subscribe so you don’t miss what’s next. And if a line or story restored something in you today, leave a review and tell us what changed.

Transcript

Tempo: 120.0

SPEAKER_02 0:03

Well, welcome listeners. We're off to another week of discussion. You got Amy and Scott here, and we're just trying to continue on with some of the things that we're talking about and learning and trying to be a disciple of Jesus. And last week we talked about like the one thing. Amy referred to the movie City Slickers, like there's this one thing that it's all about. And for us as Christians, you know, and what we focused on last week is like the one thing is like a heart that is hungry and in love with God and is passionate for him. And that was Jesus' one thing, like that, you know, he loved the Father and was happy to do whatever it is that the Father put in front of him. And so just a little recap of what we talked about last week. And this week, you know, I think it's just a natural flow in my mind to what tends to happen when that one thing takes place. And that is, you know, when you're in love with somebody, like there is a story that sits with me from probably sixth grade. My best friend's mom, who's a really solid Christian, Miss Blanchard told, told me a story one time. She's like, Scott, when when when when little Johnny falls in love with little Sue, Johnny can't stop thinking about Sue anytime. Like she is always on his mind. Like he wants to tell everybody about her. He wants to think about her. He wants to think about all the things that he wants to say to her when she's with him. And when somebody falls in love, like that person is just always on their mind. And she was telling me that story, you know, just to talk about how God comes, you know, and awakens a heart to himself. And it just, it stuck with me. It's like the one like Sunday school lesson story that I can remember from being a kid. And I love Miss Blanchard for telling it to me because that's really what this is about is, you know, what's it like to fall in love and what happens next of what expression takes place when we uh when we fall in love? And so, Amy, I just got a question for you. Like, what was your experience, like when David gave you a ring? How long did it take you to start telling people or showing people that big, that big mountain of a rock on your finger?

SPEAKER_01 2:18

I don't know about a mountain of a rock, but I mean, we immediately went and told people. We went um, told our family. Yeah, it's exciting.

SPEAKER_02 2:30

Right. It's it's exciting. It's life-giving. There's something very life-giving that happens when you're in love. And I think that, you know, I just wonder what our experience in life would have been like apart from the fall. I mean, in a lot of different ways, but just what our experience of like a heart that is excited to see and to be with God, how different that might be had the fall not taken place. Like, I just a thought, but I have a lot of random thoughts because I'm ADD and my mind just kind of goes a lot of different directions. But like, how do we, why do we even lose that or find ourselves numb to that? Like it just kind of want to hit myself in the head sometimes just saying, like, what am I thinking? Like, why am I distracted from this person that I love? And when I'm with them, I love them even more. You know, we've been talking kind of analogy-wise, like about this extension cord piece. Like when we're abiding, when we're plugged in, like there is a life that flows into that extension cord. There is an electricity that flows through that thing. And, you know, if you were an extension cord designed and created to have electricity flow through you, and I know I'm trying to make animate an inanimate object, but I just imagine if if you were, then there's something that just feels so right and life-giving when the very thing that you were designed to do is the very thing that's taking place. And I think that's in large part what I imagine this is the natural byproduct of this conversation that we're having today that's a carryover from last week. And that is, you know, loving other people and joining God and what he's doing in the world. I know that in my relationship with Amy, I have been so overwhelmed and inspired and amazed at how God uses Amy and her husband David to love people. And I'm kind of putting you on the spot and you didn't know I was gonna say this, but like you had you had a young lady that that went through a really challenging upbringing and challenging life, and some of the choices that she had made as a as a younger person come live with you a number of years ago. And uh just tell me a little bit about that relationship and what God did in that season with this person.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

Well, Rachel came to live with us. She was she uh she had gone through a rehabilitation type program, and she needed a fresh start for herself, so she was moved into a new day on a connection at our church. And long story short, she we had said she could live with us at a basement, kind of a little apartment thing, and so she was gonna live there for a little while to get her feet on the ground, and so she moved in. We had never met her, we did not know anything really about her, but she I'll never forget, she came in the back door, which that particular house we lived in, nobody used the back door because it just was not convenient, but she came in the back door and she was just like sunshine in the room, and she in the program she had been in, she fell, she literally fell in love with Jesus like no one I've ever seen. And she just like I said was sunshine in the brain, like she loved Jesus so much, like it was she taught me so much. It's just about passion and love for Jesus. Anyway, she lived with us for one year, got a state of her child, but I lived with us for another year of him living with us. And in the end, they moved out on their own. They lived close by us, and we saw them all the time had you know weekly family meals together. I mean, they just became our godchildren. And anyway, we just loved them to death, and she ended up several years later getting air, and having having her own family set. We still see them, we still talk to them, they are every bit uh uh part of our family. But it was just it was a really just wonderful blessing from God. Like you never know what God might do when you're just kind of living with him and kind of have your yes on the table. You just never know what blessings might come your way. Now, it was not easy, there were a lot of hard things. She had a lot of hard, hard situations in her life, but she loved the Lord and she wanted to learn how to live her life differently. And she did, and she does. So it was just an incredible bl thing.

SPEAKER_02 8:54

You know, I just um I had an experience just this a couple days ago, similar, a little bit similar to this, but just like again, my mind just sent thinks in terms of like these little stories or analogies that we're talking about. Like you you plugged in in your life to God, and your your life just became a yes to whatever he wanted. And then lo and behold, here you have the stranger show up at your door, and she got connected, and next thing you know, she becomes a Christian and falls in love with Jesus, and like a lamp in the room that never knew the light could come on, she suddenly experienced light and life come into her, and she was overwhelmed at how amazing this experience was, right? And and you were just the extension cord that God used, and you got to watch that happen, you got to be a part of it, right? And how life-giving, I know, I know challenging, as you said. Those were those were some hard times in those couple years, but how life-giving now to look back on and to see that story and the relationship and the transformation that happened in her life. And God wants to use all of us in a similar way, and it all it takes is our yes to come to the table. You know, I sat it, I sat at my kitchen table Friday night with sailors that came over, and I looked across the room at this young lady that had come to be a part of our ministry and became a Christian and was coming from a very immature place in her life. And I literally just looked at her and I just I said it out loud in front of everybody because I couldn't not. And I was just so overwhelmed with with pride for her. And I just looked at her and looked her in the eye and said, I am so proud of you. Like who you have chosen to follow and what you have chosen, the change that you've in and dumped into and engaged in your life, and the way in which you've chosen to again pursuing Jesus and walk through challenges and difficult things, and who you have become, I am so proud of the person that sits in front of me today. Like you have walked through a lot of a lot of hurt and a lot of hardship. And and I I just see a different person before me. And I just I couldn't help but just in the moment as I looked at her and I started tearing up as I was sharing it with her. Like I just got to be a fly on the wall and watch God get a hold of your heart and watch him bring forth a change and all and lead you into life like, you know, that I just felt so alive by, you know, I think every everything in the room, when that lamp comes on, everything in the room gets illuminated. And and so, you know, I think that there's something so real and so life-giving when we just get to be in some way a part of what God's doing, and He flow his His life flows through us and you know connects to other things around us. It's not about us, it's about Him and what He's doing. And um, but again, I really feel like a fly on the wall, but I'm so full of life when I watch that happen because I know it's not me, it's him, and I'm just so honored to get to be a part of it.

SPEAKER_01 12:29

Yeah, that's exactly what it was like with Rachel. And what we're talking about today is really about restoration and restoring things, and it's funny that you asked me about her today because there was a verse that she just clung to. It's a really special verse to her now. Yeah, I mean, always has been, but it's from the book of soul. The thing is where it is, but it says, I will restore the years that the locusts have eaten. And I think that is such a beautiful picture of what the work of Christ looks like in our lives and in the world around us. He's he's restoring all things, and we get to be restored, and we get to be a part of restoring, and just like you speaking to your sailor friend, that was so restoring to her soul. Can you imagine what it feels like to sit there and have someone say that to you? What that does for your soul. And you know, Rachel was making big changes in her life and learning how to live a new life, and so we were just kind of the scaffolding that hang around her to to watch God do that for her.

SPEAKER_02 14:18

You know, just a phrase pops in my head just listening to you, you know, there's love is not ashamed, right? There's just like I think to speak as to speak so openly or vulnerably to somebody, I think, you know, there's a lot to it. But in that it can be hard at times, but in that moment, like sitting across the table from her, like there's just a love of God, right? That he allowed me to experience in that moment that I did not care what whether or not you know others in the room might, you know, have been thinking. I just wanted her to hear that how proud that I like a like an uncle, like a a father, and I really am the age of probably her parent, you know, how proud I was of her. And I think that that's just from God. I don't think that was generated from me. I think that was just God giving me his heart for her. And I'm sure she probably needed to hear it. And and that's a that's a beautiful thing. That wasn't something I was doing, but it was something I got to be a part of. And, you know, due to my emotion, I could feel that there's something, you know, authentic and real in this. And that's one of the things that's, you know, there is a I like this term that um, you know, when we're really when we're really connected to the vine, when we're really connected to Jesus, there is something unique and authentic that naturally transpires. And I use the term often, there is just an authentic expression that comes out in a life lived with Christ into the world. And I discovered years ago, I used to go work at a little elementary school in our community. And, you know, if you if you walk into a kindergarten or first grade room and sit down in the floor and begin reading or talking to a couple kids, like you can watch them interact with somebody who genuinely wants to be there. And man, they just they just walk over and they'll they'll curl up and sit in the person's lap as they read. You know, they're just that the adult that wants to be there, like the kids can tell. It's like they can smell it. Like this person authentically cares and loves us, right? And a person who doesn't that's just there to read because it was the you know, good deed that they're like you can almost watch the kids react differently. Like, like again, it's almost like they can smell an authenticity. And sure, and and I'm not so sure that adults don't experience that, you know, as well. Like there are a lot of Christians that, you know, look at the world we live in. There are a lot of people who, you know, consider themselves or would fly the Christian banner over their life, but something doesn't smell right, right? There's an inauthentic, an inauthentic peace that just seems to come out, right? And right, and we can all be guilty of that. We all have an inner Pharisee. And um and and I am I I am, you know, still I'm I'm a Pharisee in recovery for sure, but the the moments and the times that there's an authentic peace that happens, it's so life-giving. You know, religion has a scent to it. You know, we won't say what that scent is, but but but so but so does authenticity. Right? And so I think one of the marks of a person who is living to be a disciple, a person who's a disciple being someone who is living to become like Christ in every way, there is a there is a a scent, a beautiful scent, that the world begins to recognize and notice. And I'm trying to learn how to be mindful and tapped into that reality on a regular basis. And so I just want to tell you a quick story. I had I had literally just that day been talking about this topic and you know, being a person that I was you, I even was using the I'm caught up on this extension cord analogy right now for whatever reason. And I was like, you know, whatever is being given on one end is being offered on the other in a healthy extension cord. And so, you know, we're being given, like God is patient and God is kind and he is gentle. And so when I'm abiding in him, when I'm connected to him, on the other end, ideally the reality of being patient and kind and gentle on the other end is what should be the natural flow of my life. And when that's not the case, then there's a kink somewhere, like there's a short because things aren't coming out, right? And so I literally was having that conversation a couple hours later, I was in a grocery store and I was in a hurry. Now, the fact that I just said I was in a hurry ought to cause some your eyebrows to go up because I was literally like waiting at, you know, the counter where you go to get this was uh one of those fresh markets where you're waiting at the counter to get like these different salads and stuff that they have put out, and you buy a pound of, I don't know, yeah, potato salad. And and I was in a hurry, but the lady in front of me had seven different items. I kid you not. He had seven different items. And and she had them all pulled up on her phone and she went one at a time. So I didn't know she had seven when she started. About number four, I started realizing, well, how many more does she have? And this went on for what felt like an hour, but I'm sure it was only about six or seven minutes that the person would then go. And when she got to number seven, she finally looked at me. And I'm the only person waiting on her. She finally looked at me and she's like, Thank you so much for being so patient. And I internally, I was doing, I was like having this internal battle. Like I was in a hurry. So I was internally not being patient, but mindfully realizing I just had a conversation with someone about being patient, and that if the Lord is patient with me, then there should be a natural expression of me being patient into the world. And so I got to sit there for that 10 minutes at war with myself, realizing how this is ridiculous. Like, why am I not being patient and why am I having such a hard time? And that's the Lord just working out a kink in me, but how how you know perfect it was for her to look at me and just smile. And she said, Thank you for being so patient. And I just had to smile back, and and I just like, it's okay, you know, being patient is good. And I had said something really simple, but I had a hard time. Like, I was like, this is just the Lord chuckling in heaven as he was trying to show me my little inner Pharisee, right? That it's easy to talk about on one end and then go live out on another. But when it happens, and so this is what I'm trying to say when it happens, and I'm intentional and desiring for who the Lord is in my life, to be who the Lord is through my life, then there is something amazing that begins to happen inside of me. And there's a life that starts to flow into some dead places in me. And as I'm learning to be intentional. To desire that than finding, like in a lot of cases, it didn't happen so quickly in the fresh market. But in a lot of cases, it's like a suddenly a calm comes over me and suddenly a peace seems to take place. And then quickly follow, there's a greater curiosity about the person that's in front of me or that I'm talking to. And there's an interest and a desire to just, you know, let the Lord show me how I can be an encouragement and really find a new motivation in my heart that suddenly I just want what's good for this person. And, you know, ultimately that I want that this lady to get whatever it is that she needs without me having to be waiting here impatiently, right? And so I'm discovering and learning as I'm intentional and mindful of asking the Lord to make me an authentic expression of himself, like my experience of life changes.

SPEAKER_01 23:10

Yeah, you said a lot of things in that story that reminds me of so many things that we've talked about here. And one was like the culture of the kingdom. I think the kingdom of God has lots and lots of patience, you know, and also there was a tension, and we talked about paying attention to when we have those moments of tension. You had that moment of tension when you saw the contradiction of what was happening. You just talked to somebody about patience, and now you are not feeling patient. But this woman thinks that you're patient, right? But you know that you're not, and that goes back to what we talked about last time, last episode, about the one thing that's at that's most critical is your heart. So even though that woman thought you were being patient, God had shown you in your heart that you were not.

SPEAKER_02 24:31

Right. My little interpharisee was getting exposed.

SPEAKER_01 24:35

Right, right. And that's exactly where God wanted to work. And I think you said something else that is really about what we're talking about today, about restoration and what we're doing with God in the world, and that was wanting what's good for that other person. And the word for stands out to me. Like being for someone else, like God is for us, He He is our biggest cheerleader, He He wants good things for us, He He gives us good things, and He there is a great cloud of witnesses cheering us on in the faith. And hopefully, what what we're receiving, we're pouring out to the world, and we're wanting good things for four other people.

SPEAKER_02 25:52

100%. You know, what if what if, what do you think it would look like if when people encountered us, they encountered the father. Like, what do you think our life would be like? Is every time we walked into the room, or every person that we looked at in the eye, that person something connected, and there was an aspect of the love of the father that suddenly became known and present, right? I mean, how different life might possibly be. And that really is like in large part what I would expect Jesus experienced, like that when people came across him, they encountered and experienced a reflection of the Father in him. I mean, he says it, John, as I was thinking about this conversation we're gonna have, you know, I was led to to John 14. I'm gonna read to you a couple verses. Philip comes to him, verse 8. Philip comes to him and said, Lord, would you show us the Father? And that would be enough for us. And Jesus answered, Don't you know that, Philip, that even after I have been among you for such a long time, anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, show us the Father? Don't you believe that I'm in the Father and that the Father's in me? The words that I say to you are not my own, or they're not, they're not my own authority. Rather, it is the Father living in me and it is who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or at least believe on the evidence of these things, this these works themselves. So very truly, whoever believes in me will do these works that I've been doing, and they they will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father. Like, like Jesus is literally saying, like, when people like Philip, when when you see me, do you not see the Father? And if we're going to be disciples, and a disciple is a person who is living to become like Jesus in every way possible, then shouldn't we be living such an authentic life that when people encounter us, in some way it's every opportunity, every every hope within us is that in some way they encountering the Father through us, that there's an authenticity in our connection with him, that he is having his way through us. You know, Paul says it in Galatians 2.20. He said, I've been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but it's Christ Jesus who lives his life in me and through me, right? And that when people, I mean, granted, like I am not there yet, but I find I'm finding so much inspiration and hope in the moments and encounters that I'm having where I know that it's him showing up, and I know that it is him encouraging or saying something through me to this person that is life-giving, that I'm being patient, that you know, that there's a grace, you know, come onto the scene in a way that is maybe not what had been normal in my life before. And and that's what he wants to do through every one of us is that there's an authentic expression that is taking place inside of us and flowing through us to light those lamps in the room and and to bring an impact into the world that is a dark place.

SPEAKER_01 29:39

Yeah, I'm just thinking this is so much about what we talked about with discipleship, like that discipleship in Jesus' day was you didn't want to just follow your rabbi's teaching. You wanted to be just like your rabbi. You want to sound like them, you want to walk like them, all of the things. And what we're talking about today, authentic expression and renewal and making all things new and restoring all things. This is what Jesus did from the moment he came in Mary's womb, restoration of the fallen world.

SPEAKER_02 30:40

And we might have to spend some time on that one. That's a that's an episode in and of itself.

SPEAKER_01 30:48

Yeah, yeah, I like that. Anyway, he he is restoring and making all things new, and we have been invited by him to to be a part of that, to join him in what he's doing. So yeah, I think it's beautiful. It's it's also so hopeful. Again, I just say that the inner Pharisee in me for so long has thought that to be a good disciple. I need to be against so many things, and I need to be so vocal about why I was not for this or not for that, why this was wrong, and this was wrong. And the Lord has just invited me into something far greater than that.

SPEAKER_00 31:39

Good.

SPEAKER_01 31:41

It's like, hey, how about we be for some things? I'm gonna tell you what's really good, what's really beautiful, and let's let's be for some people, let's call some people out because they are gifted and they have potential, you know, right they can be the person that God made them to be. Yeah and and that's a life-giving when you get to speak those kind of words to somebody like which you did uh story that you talk about your friend, and that is that's powerful words.

SPEAKER_02 32:23

Yeah, the other sounds like that smell we were talking about, right? I mean, it's like there's something there's something that just stands out that's this doesn't smell right. Yeah, this isn't something I want to be around. This definitely is not something I'm interested in being surrounded by an abundance for eternity of. Right. And um, and so anyway. Well, I just want to leave you with the thought of you know, imagine what God wants to do in us as He flows through us. Like, you know, our workplaces would be infused with patient love, right? Homes would be shaped by grace. You know, conflicts that we have would be handled with uh gentleness. And there's a presence of God when uh we walk into a room because he's already there, and we're just there to illuminate and to bring attention to him, and he's always working to restore and redeem that which is lost and that which is broken. And so imagine how awesome a life he has in store for us when we just join him and the things that he's going ahead of us and preparing us to begin to see and love and encourage and build up. So I hope you guys have uh gotten something out of this conversation with Amy and I this week. We will we look forward to continuing what we're learning and how we're learning about both the inner Pharisee and what it's like to discover how he wants to be an authentic expression through us into the world. So you guys have a great week.

SPEAKER_01 34:13

Okay, let me say one thing before he close this up here. The the goal is not like to make an impact in the world. We're saying that the goal is to to stay close and to abide with the father, and and then everything else will work out, it's just a natural overflow from that, and so anyway, it also takes a lot of pressure off, and it really allows you to live a life that is full of joy and delight and just a whole lot lighter load, you know, right? Like the weight of the world is not on my shoulders.

SPEAKER_00 35:17

Good.

SPEAKER_01 35:18

So, anyway, it's been a good conversation. I've enjoyed having it. So look forward to the next one.

SPEAKER_02 35:27

All right, see you guys next week. Have a good one.

SPEAKER_01 35:30

See ya.