Lions in the Road?!?!

In this episode, we discuss Pastor Jonathan’s message “Umbrellas.” 

We get practical about the “umbrellas” we hold up without realizing it. Control, comfort, fear, disappointment, and unmet expectations can filter out God’s presence even while He’s moving. Emotional self-protection can look like wisdom, until it hardens our hearts and keeps us from healing. W

Then discuss the wisdom of Proverbs 26–28.

If you want a challenge, it’s this: name your umbrella and put it down. Subscribe for more, share this with a friend who needs encouragement, and leave a review that tells us what line stuck with you.

Transcript

Cold Open And Nicknames

SPEAKER_03 0:01

Hey everyone! Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Deborah, where Deborah decides your daily dose. I'm your host, Deborah Daily Dose. Cut. No, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Welcome back to the Hudson Show, where I walk you through things you need to be walked through. I'm your host, Hudson.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Guys, no, what are you doing? You know, just just forget it. What's up everyone? Welcome back to Kids in the Calling Podcast. Where none of us are kids, but we all have a calling, and that's to point people to DC. I'm your host, Audrey Landau. With me is Hudson Walton.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

Hey guys.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

And Andrea Crater. Hi! The rest of the crew sadly can't be with us today, but hopefully we'll have them back next week. Fingers crossed. Yes. Also, just a quick reminder that next week's podcast will be the last one of this semester, so soak it all in. So our opening question was gonna be if you had a podcast, what would you call it? But you've already heard their answers. So Andrea, please explain who Deborah is. Okay, so I'm Deborah.

SPEAKER_03 0:53

Andrea equals Deborah. And you might you're probably like, brother, what? So let me tell you. So for some reason, my brother, Joshua, calls me Deborah all the time, like more than my actual name. And he'll call me Deborah whenever we're out in public. So like whenever we used to go to the same school, he'd yell in the hallway, hey Deborah. And then I'm like, hey. And everyone just looks and they're like, who's Deborah? And I'm like, me. And they're like, what? That's funny.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

I think I can see it, Deborah.

SPEAKER_03 1:20

Yeah, so he calls me Deborah all the time. Um, and one of my friends would used to call me Deborah. He called me Deborah for like four weeks, and then he just gave up. Because Joshua called me Deborah, and then he was like Deborah. He wanted to be unique, apparently. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 1:35

That's hilarious.

SPEAKER_03 1:36

So I'm Deborah.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

Yeah. Well, I mean, if I had a podcast, I'd probably call it the Odgecast. Just because that's what we've heard since like an AYC bus. Yeah, literally.

SPEAKER_00 1:44

That was the most OG.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

Right? The Odgecast. Welcome back to the Odgecast where the weather is. Right? I forgot I videoed that. It was awesome.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

That was even more OG than this podcast.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

Like for real. Guys, if you guys want to see the Odgecast opener, go follow our Instagram page and we might post one. If you follow. If we get 10,000 followers, like and subscribe for more Odgecast.

SPEAKER_03 2:05

If if you repost, we'll put it on the kids in the calling Instagram that y'all should totally go following right now. Yep. Get on it. We might have a first post by then.

SPEAKER_01 2:16

Okay,

Umbrellas Sermon Sets The Theme

SPEAKER_01 2:17

guys. So um last week we heard a sermon from Pastor Jonathan, and it was Umbrellas. So what did you guys think about that one?

SPEAKER_00 2:26

I mean, I I really liked it because I use umbrellas when it rains, and I think umbrellas are pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:33

But um, jokes aside, no, it was a really good message. And I'm not just saying that because that's my dad. Like, yeah, that was a really good

A Flood Story About Perspective

SPEAKER_00 2:41

message.

SPEAKER_02 2:41

It was, I agree.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

He opened it in a pretty funny way because I don't think I really remember this way, but he used me and my brother Graham in the uh story. He opened up by telling a story that happened um years ago, back when me and my brother were little kids, where uh uh a storm was coming through and it was it was raining super hard throughout the the night, and uh my dad, Pastor Jonathan, he was fighting to keep the rain out. Like he was he was using the bucket strat. He was getting buckets of water as it was seeping in and he was going out and dumping it, and he did that for he fought it for hours, and then he said he eventually just sat down in one of the chairs and he said, in his own words, a grown man cried because of all the frustration all the frustration and all like keeping trying to keep the water out throughout the night, and then he finally just gave up and accepted it because he couldn't beat the the the storm. And then morning came and he like went to assess the damage and everything, and he there was water everywhere, like water was in the house, um nothing that anything could be done about it, and then he went outside and me and my brother, we were just kids, we went outside as well, and then he my dad's like looking all depressed and distraught at all the damage, and then he just hears laughter and looks over, and my brother Graham goes and jumps in the water, and then I follow him and we just start playing. Yeah, and my dad said it hit him at that moment, like the same storm he had been trying to call keep out all night. His two sons were out enjoying the water and playing in it. Yeah, and it really like that example really shows perspective. Like two people can go through the exact same storm, yeah, and they can have different outcomes because it's not about the storm, we're always gonna have storms, it's about how you choose to fight it.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

I love that he like used that story to explain what he had said. He was saying that happiness isn't about what you're looking at, but what you're looking for. Because, like you said, like two people were in the same situation, but their their outlook on it changed it completely how they took it, because y'all weren't worried about the flooding happening in your house. Y'all just saw an opportunity and you took it.

SPEAKER_00 4:43

Like I was a kid, I was just looking for fun, and that was really fun.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

Exactly. Like you just you jumped in the water and you made a bad situation fun, and like you looked for the good in the situation, and like even though you weren't really trying because you were just kids, so all you ever did was look for fun, like it kind of just showed your dad, like, okay, let me look at the ups, the silver lining of the situation.

SPEAKER_03 5:03

I really liked how he said we sorry, excuse me, we think that peace is the absence of conflict or the stopping of the storm, but in reality, it's just how we are perceiving and seeing the storm, which I thought that was so cool because like literally it that that's how it is, because we're we're human, right? So we're gonna have storms all the time, physical, spiritual, whatever, yeah, whatever you want to call it. Um, we're gonna go through something constantly, but it just depends how we're seeing it determines if we're at peace or not. Yeah. And if you're like me, I want peace all the time.

SPEAKER_00 5:37

And that really ties in with the classic story that we all hear in Sunday school of Jesus being out on a boat while it's uh storming. Yeah. And he's just sleeping during it, and there's like, bro, wake up, we're all gonna die.

SPEAKER_01 5:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:48

And Jesus is just like, Why did you wake me up, bro?

SPEAKER_01 5:51

Like, I got this.

Rain Has Purpose And Grows Us

SPEAKER_00 5:52

Like literally, but it really shows it's how you deal with it internally.

SPEAKER_01 5:55

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I also really loved how your dad, he started off with Isaiah 55, 10, and it says, As the rain and the snow come down from the heaven and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater. So, like jumping right in, he had showed how rain does not happen for no reason and it has a purpose. It waters the earth and it grows crops and beautiful flowers. So I don't think he necessarily meant it in this manner that I took it, but here's another way that I could look at it, like that I think I mean, the listeners should hear. So, like rain in our lives, hard times and like rough patches, it doesn't happen for no reason. It's like God sending that rain will grow us. Yeah. And this season of hardship is setting you up for the next season. And it's it's truly a beautiful thing because, like, even though it can seem like your world's falling apart and the rain's falling down, it's truly God setting you up. Like, examples could be like getting laid off from your job can set you up for a better opportunity. Yeah. Losing that relationship could set you up for a more godly one or a stronger one in the future. It's like everything happens for a reason, and like every rainstorm is sent every rainstorm is sent to prepare you for greater things. Literally.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

Also, it's about perspective because we're never gonna be in a period of our life where there's not some type of storm going on. That just doesn't happen. We live on earth.

SPEAKER_03 7:14

Like literally.

SPEAKER_00 7:15

We're always gonna have a storm, and so it's like you said earlier, Andrea, the goal isn't like to escape the storm, the goal isn't to get to a point where there's no storms happening. That's not where your peace comes from. It's to stop resisting what God's trying to do in that state.

SPEAKER_03 7:27

Exactly. Exactly. And like whenever you said that just now, Audrey made me think of like in the biology sense of like our world, um, we need rain for everything. Like plants, they need rain to grow and to flourish. Like, if we think about it as like we are the soil and then God plants the seed, the seed can't grow if there's no water. And if there's no water, then it dies. And so whenever God sends the rain, we might not like how it feels, but it's he's helping us flourish into what he has called us and made us to be.

SPEAKER_01 8:00

Yeah. Cause like I can relate it to my own life. Like I think everyone can, because we've all been in a time when it feels like our world's falling apart, and it's like like there was a time when I felt like I was at my lowest, but I can look back now and remember and like think about the fact that like I'm out of whatever situation I was in, and now I've grown because of it.

SPEAKER_03 8:18

Yeah. Or like times in my life where I thought, um, like this can this can not be God's will for me. Like, there's no way this makes no sense in my mind. But like looking back now, it's like, oh, this makes perfect sense. Exactly. And so while we're in the middle of our storms and hurricanes and all whatever, how big your storm is, it doesn't make sense in this moment just because we are so limited in our minds to because we can't understand the whole picture.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

But God sees everything and he's like, actually, this needs to happen. Yeah. And he kind of like used that to go into the sense that like God will pour out his reign, yeah, his presence, and his glory in moments. And it's important that we don't ignore it because his reign will allow us to grow and his presence will saturate us if we let it. And like you were saying, uh, one of y'all were talking about peace. Who

Peace Comes When Fighting Stops

SPEAKER_01 9:10

was it?

SPEAKER_00 9:10

I think I think we both mentioned it.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

We both mentioned peace. Did y'all say it like how okay? Because I remember he said peace didn't come when the storm stopped, it came when the fighting stopped. I love that because like a lot of times when God's presence begins to fall, like we'll put our umbrellas up so that we don't get rained on and so that we don't and it's not necessarily because we like don't want to feel his presence or experience God, it's because maybe we get uncomfortable and hesitant, and like it's really easy to block out God when we aren't sure of what we want or when we feel nervous about the outcome. Like literally because walking into uncertainty is scary. It is. Oh, sorry.

SPEAKER_00 9:44

I was gonna say um you're good out, but I really like the illustration that he used of the umbrella because that there's so like you were just talking, Audrey, the um how you can block God trying to move in your life with your own umbrella. Um I really like how he kind of used that at first, like confirmation bias, like you what God's trying to do, you can filter that out just by trying to see what you want to see. Yeah, exactly. Like um, if you are expecting God to move in one specific way in your life, maybe you saw God move that way in another person's life, or you just saw like that's how you you just feel that's how he should move in your life, or you're waiting for this one big moment, and that's not what God's trying to do, you can go to a church service after church service where God's moving on everyone else, but you just sit there with your umbrella up and not let it affect you because it's not looking exactly like what you want it to look like.

SPEAKER_03 10:32

Yeah, exactly. And that is so relatable because like I know for me personally, I'll be a little bit transparent, but I've done that with God. Like I have 100% been like, all right, I I would say, you know, God has it, I trust God, but then in reality, I would make up my own little expectations of how I wanted God to move or how I wanted this to be, and then God does not think how we do, and so he wouldn't, and then I would get disappointed and be like, brother, what? But in reality, I'm the problem. Yeah, and so um we just and then like recently it's really been in my spirit to take the limits off of God, like take God out of the box that we put him in. Because in our humanity, we sometimes do it accidentally, but we'll put God in a box, so like yeah, he can only move this much, or he can only have this area of my life, or he can only do this, but in reality, he's over everything, and so once we take the limits off of him, he can we can really take our umbrella down and let him do whatever he wants. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:34

I really like what you said that um we can sometimes put God in a box. That's um that's good because that's like I'll be transparent. I uh struggle with that a lot, especially when I was first uh really seeking after God. Because like for me, mine was in the same way this um putting up my umbrella, putting God in a box. Like when I first started seeking after God, God would move in big, like powerful moments. And uh and then after those moments would pass, I would expect and have this preconceived idea that every moment like uh that God was uh moving in should feel like that first one or that big moment. And when they didn't, I would feel like I did something wrong, or like I'd be like, God, what's happening? And I would trip myself up over that when that's the like I was holding out my own umbrella, I was filtering God through what I expected him to move like.

SPEAKER_01 12:24

I loved how you said like the first part, Andrea, like when you were saying like you expected God to move one way and he didn't because he's God and he's not Andrea, he doesn't do what Andrea expects or wants. And I love that because it's like we never we never will know how God's gonna move in a situation. Yeah it might fall on everyone so strong that we can all feel it, or it might fall on a few people and we just let it move. We join it because a lot of times you kind of determine which way you go in uh when you're praying or whenever you're about to trying to experience God's presence. Like it's important that even though you might not understand fully why he's doing it the way he's doing it, it's important to just join in to praise him no matter what. Yeah, because like if you move, he'll move. If you take that step of faith, he will meet you there. Yeah, he's not gonna let you just start praying and not answer and not talk to you and not move on you, you know.

SPEAKER_00 13:15

And it's so important, like we've been talking about, to not filter God through your preconceived ideas. Um, because if you do that, you'll start uh not seeing what God has right in front of you because you only see what you already believe, and that's pretty dangerous.

SPEAKER_03 13:30

That is dangerous. I I love what you just said, Audrey, about how um like to praise even in the rain. Yeah and and through my life and like through my studying of the Bible and all that, I think that one of the greatest tests of our faith and our trust in God is do we do we still praise him even in our downpours? And like I've had to learn that, you know, as a kid and a teenager growing up, like even if my life isn't going how I want it to go um at all, like will we still praise him even in the rainy season? Yeah, I love that.

SPEAKER_01 14:07

Yeah. So kind of like if you're wondering, listening, like what's the whole point that we're trying to get out with these umbrellas? Like so, in this situation, an umbrella with the story that he was talking about with the kid with Hudson and Graham, like jumping in the thing. The umbrella was like anything that you internally are holding on to that stops you from doing what God is trying to do in your life. So God's will is not for you to stay defeated and tormented. God didn't design us for us to stay in our defeat, to stay fallen down. He meant for us to go to him because he cares. Like literally, Jesus died on a cross so that we can go to him. Yeah. So that we can cast our sins and we can repent and we can cast our cares on him. Like he's asking us, hey, give me like I can carry this, I can hold it. For some reason, like we still put out that umbrella and we're like, no, like it's too big.

SPEAKER_00 14:52

Actually, yeah, and it's like, like you just said, it's anything that you hold on to, whether that be like your control, your own expectations, fear, past experiences, anything like that. That and it's literally the symbolism of holding up an umbrella and God's pouring out um in a service or just anywhere, God's pouring out on you specifically, and you're just holding up your umbrella.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

And I think a lot of times, like he didn't necessarily say this, but I think like one reason of that could be like just being scared that it won't work. I'm really bad with that. Like, I'm really bad with that. I I used to get really nervous that if I asked God for help or for a favor or forgiveness, that it wouldn't happen and he wouldn't respond, and then I'd be like, look silly for doing it. And I know it's cliche because it's like you always hear, like, oh, this is too big or small for God. Like, he doesn't, he doesn't care. But like, fear of failure is a real thing. Like, it truly is. And once I started having the faith that he can and he will do it, that's when like everything changed. Like, just I go to God for everything now. Like, I had a I was nauseous the other day, asked my mom to pray with me, felt better immediately. Griffin's pedal board, oh Griffin is my boyfriend and he plays guitar.

SPEAKER_00 15:55

So anyway, Griffin shout out, right?

SPEAKER_01 15:57

His his pedal board wasn't working the other day, and so I literally knelt down and I prayed over it and I said, In the name of Jesus, I'd like to pray that you this work. It worked immediately. The button started turning on. Hey, there we go. After five minutes of not working, I was like, he cares about the little things. Like, he really does care. All you have to do is call on his name and he's there for you. Have that faith. He really does.

SPEAKER_00 16:16

He's like such a shocker. Like, you're telling me the God that created all the universe and all the stars and all that cares about my boyfriend's pedal board.

SPEAKER_02 16:24

Right.

SPEAKER_00 16:24

Like from Audrey. I don't have a boyfriend, guys.

SPEAKER_03 16:29

Um disclaimer. God really does care about all the little things because, like, almost every morning while I'm driving to UL, which is the college that I go to, like 30 minutes from my house, um, I have to exit off the interstate and then merge into a different lane on a highway, and the traffic will back up right there, especially of what times of day I'm going. And so I pray on the interstate. God, I pray that you would move the traffic no matter how you do it. I don't care, but I just need to get over before this really big overpass because traffic makes me nervous, guys. If y'all don't know me, I'm not a big driver. Um, but God really does care about all the little things, and this message kind of like dawns an idea in my head that modern Christianity sometimes acts like Old Testament, like they act according to the Old Testament. So, you know how in the Old Testament, like we did they weren't living in this age of grace that we're living in now, and so like some of the slightest things they would do, God would strike them down dead. Like if they would touch something, he's like, oh bah. Or certain things like that, they had immediate and irre like unreturnable consequences. I don't know that word wasn't worded. Permanent consequences? Yes, that one, yeah. They had permanent consequences, and so they weren't because they weren't living in this age of grace, but now we're living in this age of grace, and one, we can't take God's grace for granted, right? Like we can't just keep sinning all the time because he didn't die for that. Um but like we can go to God with all of our things, all of our our cares and our worries and our sins and our shortcomings because one, he really does care, and then two, he loves you, and three, he he wants you to. That's why he died so the veil could be torn, so you could go to him, yeah, directly, literally. I love that. But one of the things I love that Pastor Jonathan said on in his message on Sunday was if we focus on the temporal and physical things in this world, we miss what God is shaping and transforming to give me the very blessings that it seems like I need. So we'll pray and we'll ask God for things um that we think we need. And then whenever God starts acting on it, because we've asked him a million times, so he's like, okay, whatever. And he starts giving it to us, then we start resisting what he's doing because we're like, oh, that's uncomfortable. I don't like that. And then reality, it's what you prayed for. Yeah. Uh-huh. Which, like, this makes sense. Like, I've done it, I'm sure we've all done it, we're all human.

SPEAKER_01 19:18

Yeah, but it's crazy about like we really asked for that for so long, and then it starts happening, and we're like, I don't like this.

SPEAKER_03 19:24

Literally. Just because it's change. It's and humans don't like change, or especially I don't know. If you if you know me, I don't like change.

SPEAKER_00 19:29

Um that's a pretty common theme amongst humans.

SPEAKER_01 19:32

Literally. No, but like to an like to the extreme. Like, I literally started, like, I cried for like two days straight whenever they re like renovated the church like years ago. Oh, yeah. Like, y'all, I could not stand that that hallway was gone. It was that severe. It was so dumb. I don't know why.

SPEAKER_03 19:47

So, for those of you who don't know, um, where the coffee plate, like not the coffee plate. Well, if you go here, yeah. Okay, if you come to Point Church and as soon as you walk in the door, on the right, there's like that coffee bar. Community coffee. Yeah, the community coffee bar. That used to be a hallway with Sunday school classrooms back there. Yeah. But that's not there anymore. It's a coffee bar. So that's what uh that's what Audrey's talking about right now. Yeah, like literally.

Control Comfort And God In A Box

SPEAKER_03 20:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:13

Um no, one thing uh I like what you were just talking about, like kind of the idea was another thing that Pastor Jonathan hit on was the idea of like control, trying to control the things around you.

SPEAKER_04 20:22

That's an umbrella.

SPEAKER_00 20:23

Yeah, that's another part. Like Audrey had mentioned it earlier, just another thing you hold on to, because um like you were just talking about being uh comfortable in a situation, like you can want you can pray for something, or maybe not, maybe God's trying to move you to a new situation, but you're just so comfortable with the things around you, even if they're bad, even if they're not good for you, even if they're actively bringing you down, yeah, you can just be comfortable in what's around you, and you don't like the idea of moving forward because you can't control that. You you can kinda convince yourself that you're controlling what's around you because you're so used to it, you're so comfortable in it. Yeah, and God's trying to take you somewhere further than that, he's trying to elevate you, but you're not willing to let God do what God needs to do because you just want to control the things around you.

SPEAKER_03 21:09

Literally, and honestly, I can identify with this umbrella because like I like to know things, like I like to know I I I despise chaos. Always three steps ahead. I I despise it. Like, I can't live in chaos, like everything's planned out, not everything, but like some things. So, like for my college, for my career plan, like I have a plan of yeah, when I'm gonna graduate, what I'm what I'm what classes I'm gonna take, when, and like all this other stuff. And sometimes, like, yeah, it we can default into this quote unquote, I know what's best for our lives. Yeah, and whenever God doesn't meet that, we're like, nah, yeah, like I'm gonna do it my way. But in reality, we shouldn't do that.

SPEAKER_01 21:51

I know. Because it's like we have to remember that he knows what's best for us, and we say that a lot, but today I like I was kind of like explaining it to myself, you know, like dumbing it down so I can like really understand. Understand the concept. And like it kind of like dawned on me like he has dreams for me. You know how you have dreams for yourself and goals and aspirations. He literally has a dream goal for all of us. And I think that is so sweet because it's like I never thought of it that way. Like, yeah, he has like a dream plan that he has for Hudson. Like, I hope it goes this way perfectly for Hudson. And it's like, there are not many people in this world who want the best for you truly, the absolute best. Nobody cares how bad you want that job because they want it to. Nobody cares how much you want to be on that stage or how much you want that position or that spot in that school because they all want it too. But God genuinely wants the best for you. Like the best outcome that's possible. He wants it. Yeah.

unknown 22:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:39

And then sometimes your own, like like Andrew's just saying, your own want to control your entire life, your own need to control the situation can block that out.

SPEAKER_02 22:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:48

And I feel like sometimes if we're not careful, we can do this subconsciously. Where I know I've done this in the past, so that's where it's coming from. I can pray for God's will, like, God, I want your will to be done in my life. But internally, subconsciously, I'm still filtering that with the caveat of, but only if it fits what I already envisioned. Yeah. Like, yeah, God, your will be done, but only if it's still like with the logistics of me getting this job or me graduating, me going through my career plan. Yeah. And I start filtering it through, even if it's um moving forward in like your own personal ministry or what God's called you to do, you can still filter like God may your will be done, but only if it looks like this.

SPEAKER_03 23:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:25

And you can just start blocking God out, and you may not even know it.

SPEAKER_03 23:28

Literally, I like that so much. One thing that Pastor Jonathan said that ties directly into that is God is trying to give us something better than we ever wanted, but our need to control it is blocking the very blessing that God is trying to pour into our lives. Which is absolutely diabolically insane. Because like diabolically. Pause. We're gonna we're going to break down this diabolicalness that we're all living. So have you ever seen like those posts on Instagram or like Facebook or something where it's like the little cartoon of Jesus and he's asking for like the little kid's little teddy bear, but behind his back he has like the really big one. Yes. I feel like this is exactly the scenario that's going on. So whatever God is trying to take or to have you give up control of, he has something that's ten times better. Yeah, like not more than ten, like a bunch of bunch of times better than we could ever even think of. And whenever we're not giving up control of whatever he's wanting our or whatever he's asking us to give up control for, we're missing out. Yeah. Like big time. Like we have like one red rose, but he has like a thousand behind his back. Literally. And whatever he has in mind for us is so much better than what we could ever imagine. But for me, I know, um, and I'm sure for other people too, we don't want to give up control because we don't like to be uncomfortable. Yeah, exactly. But the closer you grow to God, like the hard truth is we're gonna be more uncomfortable the more and closer we get to God.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

Yeah. Which is we're constantly growing. Crazy good sign.

SPEAKER_00 25:04

Yeah, because if you're growing with God, he's gonna keep you have to be uncomfortable to grow. Yeah, like he's gonna keep moving you forward to situations where you're gonna be uncomfortable at first because that's how you grow. Like, think about any preacher you know. Every single one of them was very uncomfortable getting up there to preach that first time. Literally, probably a few times after that, too.

SPEAKER_03 25:22

It's scary. It is scary, I can attest.

Now Will And Unrevealed Will

SPEAKER_03 25:26

Um yeah, and that ties into the now will of God and the unrevealed will of God that God has for everyone. Because that's what Pastor Jonathan said, that God has a now will for you, which is what God is asking for you right now. Like right now, in this very second of this very moment in your life, what is God asking you to do now? Yeah, and then the unrevealed will of God is what is God asking, what will God ask you to do in the future that pins off of your obedience right now? Which I was like, hold on, what I got this big they did get this big in the UA library while I was typing up my note, my bug eyes in the library. I was, and so the unrevealed will of God will not be revealed until I begin to walk in the now will of God because obedience of now unlocks the the things of tomorrow. Yeah, and I was like, whoa.

SPEAKER_00 26:21

Yeah, because if you aren't obedient now, God's not just gonna speedrun you to the end. Yeah, literally, he can't just skip all that, literally, like that's crazy.

SPEAKER_03 26:29

So I hope y'all took that into your minds.

SPEAKER_00 26:32

My bug eyes are uh expanding internally, you just can't see it.

SPEAKER_01 26:36

Um another thing that I really liked that he was talking about was he's like being right and being righteous are not always the same thing. Yes, yes, that because being righteous is living in alignment with what God wants, and it might not make sense to us, and it doesn't have to, because that's not what being righteous is. And he also said you can win the argument with God. I mean, you can't win the argument with God, because eventually he'll just be like, Okay, you got it, and you'll be out of alignment with us.

SPEAKER_00 27:01

I like how I like how he did word it. He was like, he he made the disclaimer, like you just did. He was like, You can win an argument with God, stay with me now. You don't actually win, but yeah, like you just said, like you get to the point where God's just like, all right, bro. Yeah, because you talk your way out of it.

SPEAKER_01 27:18

Literally, um, then you lose that connection, like you drift away into what you want for your life and not what you want to do.

SPEAKER_00 27:23

I like that because we were just talking about like being uncomfortable. Like you can try to say all this stuff about how that's not right for you because that's uncomfortable. Yeah, and you'll uh parentheses, finger parentheses, win the argument with God. Um, and God's just trying to take you to another level. And so you could be right, yeah, but like you just said, you won't be righteous, your heart won't be aligned with God.

SPEAKER_03 27:43

Literally, because he's Pastor Jonathan said, I can be right in reality, but completely wrong with God. And I was like, whoa. But then he said, My logic only works in the limits of what I can see and understand, and then God is not playing in those limits.

SPEAKER_01 28:02

True.

SPEAKER_03 28:03

We're not even we're not even in the same playing field.

SPEAKER_01 28:06

True. We're on home base, and he's the entire baseball.

SPEAKER_00 28:08

I mean, like, I imagine like this, like I hear stories from like you'll you'll hear ministers or preachers tell a story of how they were just doing running errands one day, and then God put the impression of them to go into a store, like yeah, three shops down and go find this random uh woman and ask whether they need prayer. Yeah, and I could argue with God, like, what? That's crazy. So stupid if I walk up to this random woman and say that.

SPEAKER_02 28:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:31

And I can psych myself out of God using me to touch this woman.

SPEAKER_02 28:35

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:36

Or this person, and it's just like that's how you can kind of argue your way out of that. Like, yeah, it wouldn't seem comfortable, it doesn't make sense to me, but the kind of key theme is it's not supposed to. You're supposed to trust in God.

SPEAKER_01 28:47

Literally, yeah, and so I thought that was wild. I know. And like, still on the the what's the topic of like comfort, comfort, yeah, he was saying we can recognize the rain without accepting the rain. Yes, I love that because it's like we can look around, like we were saying, we can look around at people being moved and being touched by God, and we can put our umbrellas up and we can run away and hide under shelter just because it's comfortable, quote unquote. But if we don't do it, someone else will. Like if you don't praise him, someone else will. The rocks are gonna cry out. Oh, jinx! Jinx, girl. Like, don't be the one who had every opportunity to praise him, but took none of them because you were scared or you were comfortable.

unknown 29:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:25

Wowser.

SPEAKER_01 29:26

Like, that's good. Why would you ever want to get to that point? That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 29:30

Y'all, God is so cool.

Disappointment Umbrella And Low Expectations

unknown 29:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:31

Another one I really like is when he started talking about like the second umbrella, like kind of different from the first one. He was talking about like the second umbrella that we can hold hold up would be like hurt disappointment or shifted expectations. Um and that's just like say you you have a disappointment in the past, or just like I just said, unmet expectation. Um, Pastor Jonathan was saying that this umbrella may not be like an outright rejection of God, like you still believe in him, you still have faith in him, but you kind of just start accepting like it is what it is mentality. Yeah, Pastor Jonathan himself said that he was like that at a time. Like you start accepting the things around you, and you because maybe they've been like that for so long, and you're just like, it is what it is, and you think this is how it's supposed to be. Yeah, and so yeah, you don't reject God, but you stop really believing that he can take you out of that, yeah, or that God can move on you like that. And so, like you were just saying, Audrey, you can be in a place where God, the rain's fallen and it's hitting everyone else, but you're just standing there with your umbrella because you think you're supposed to be where you're at.

SPEAKER_01 30:32

Yeah, yeah. You just look sad, like y'all, like I've done this so many times, like, like I think, I mean, I don't know if y'all have, but I for sure have like whenever I was well, honestly, okay. You ever have those times when like low-key, you're at an altar call or you're out of service, and everyone around you is like praying hard and they're in it, and like, but you are just not in it, and you're just like sitting there. Yeah. And and then you almost just feel defeated because it's like, I know what I should do. I should just start, like, I should just start take that step, but then you just don't. The longer you sit there, the sour you get. Do y'all have that feeling? It's like I just need a move, I just need a step. Like, just take that step.

SPEAKER_00 31:07

That can lead to you, like you may start lowering your expectations if you don't take that step. You'll be like, okay, if maybe um I did something, or maybe God just won't move on me like he moves on them. Yeah, that's a pretty dangerous spot to be.

SPEAKER_01 31:18

Just they have the faith and they take the step.

SPEAKER_00 31:21

And uh a dangerous thing that he was saying is that it can even feel like you're being mature in the situation. Yeah. Because you can be like, uh, like I accept this, like, this is just how it is. I I accept it, I'm mature and accepting it. I'm not gonna try to fight it. Yeah. When in reality, God's trying to take you out of that. Yeah, but you just started accepting it, and now you're holding up your umbrella and blocking what God's trying to do.

SPEAKER_03 31:41

Literally, I love whatever He said. We learn to live in the lack. And I was like, Yeah, whoa, because we don't reject God, like this this umbrella of disappointment and shifted expectations, like we're not rejecting God. Like, we still show up and we come to church and we praise and we worship, like everyone thinks we're chilling, but in our own minds and self and being, we're not pursuing him like we used to. Yeah, and I was like, Whoa, yeah, I like that line of we just don't pursue him anymore like we used to, I was like, that is crazy because we don't believe our belief in God, like that's still there, like we still have faith in him, we just lower our expectations, yeah. And whenever we lower these expectations, it lowers our openness to God. And so now God can't pour anything in. Because, like, whenever I'm thinking about this, like just like Audrey just said in her like altar call scenario thing, like that made me think of everyone like that's pouring down, and then you're just there with your umbrella and you're looking around and you're kind of confused. And everyone's like got their umbrellas closed and rained down, and you're like, what y'all doing? Like, yeah, what should I be doing differently? And so we unintentionally become closed off to God. We learn to live in his presence, Pastor Jonathan said, but not let ourselves be consumed by it. I loved when he said that.

SPEAKER_00 33:02

I was like, And that can go along that idea of like closing yourself off, that can go along with you being in like a bad situation, or maybe you have a loved one that has kind of backslid and you want him to come back to Christ, but it's been years maybe. And so you just kind of accept that that is how it is, it's never gonna change. And so you start closing up and stop praying for that, and like you say, you lower your expectations. Yeah, yeah. God may be trying to move, and now you're just cutting that off.

SPEAKER_03 33:29

And no matter what your situation is, like our God is the God of change, and He changes everything, like anything He puts His hands to, yeah, He can change it. And there's a song that goes like God turn it around, like no matter what I'm in, God turn it around. And that that's a great song. And no matter where where you're what you're going through, God can always turn anything around. Yeah, you're never too far gone.

SPEAKER_00 33:54

Yeah, I really like the the idea. It kind of ties into what we were just talking about that he brought up that you don't need more of God, you need less resistance to God. Because in reality, I love that point, you're there's never gonna be a need of more of God because God is overabundance to us. Yeah, God there's so much of God. Yeah, so there's never a point where you're gonna need more of that. Yeah, um, you're just gonna need to open yourself up to more of that. Yeah, because God's always trying to get through to you, it's just how much are you willing to let in.

SPEAKER_03 34:25

Exactly. Exactly, and that ties to umbrella number three, which is emotional self-protection.

Self-Protection Versus Hard Hearts

SPEAKER_00 34:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:31

Because like we don't he he used he used the the story of how whenever Graham was little, he ate a piece of pizza and it burned the top of his mouth. So he like screamed really loud and spit it out or something like that. And then Pastor Jonathan, being a dad, was like, Well, what did you learn? And Graham goes, I've never eaten pizza again.

SPEAKER_00 34:55

Drastic.

SPEAKER_03 34:56

And Pastor Jonathan made made the statement, like, we just we we cannot just throw it away and never touch it again because we got burned once. And yeah, thank God Graham still likes pizza and he learned to enjoy it again. But if we filter everything through our past pains and through our past trauma and what happened to us, now we're guarded to God. Yeah, and God never intended for us to be guarded to him, like he never intended for us to put up walls so that we can talk to him. Yeah, yeah. He intended for us to be open with him, like about everything, regardless of how hurtful it is or like how much it hurts you. Yeah, he wants you to be able to open up to him so that he can take that away from you. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:35

So like you may, if you're if you're in that situation, you may start getting to the point where you're like, God, why are you like not moving? Why are you like withholding yourself from me?

SPEAKER_04 35:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:45

In reality, God never stopped, God's been knocking the entire time. It's just that you stop receiving. You may not even know that.

SPEAKER_03 35:51

Like, what are you letting God do in your life? Exactly. And Pastor Jonathan made the statement there's a fine line between guarding our hearts and hardening our hearts. Because, like in the Christian world, there's a lot of terms that get thrown around, and one of them is, oh, I'm just guarding my heart. Like, I'm not gonna get into that relationship because I'm just harding my heart, or I'm not gonna do that because or guarding my heart, sorry. I'm not gonna do that because I'm guarding my heart. Like I'm not gonna do that. But there's a fine line between biblically guarding your emotions and your emotional like attachment versus hardening your heart and being like Pharaoh in the Old Testament, whenever he refused to let the Egyptian the Israelites go. There's a because we cannot heal with what we don't open up with.

SPEAKER_00 36:39

Yeah, like I and like I so get it. Like people go through things, man.

SPEAKER_03 36:44

Yeah. That world is not happy, like life is not happy go lucky for everybody. Yeah, really anybody, because everyone goes through stuff.

SPEAKER_00 36:52

So like it's very understandable to be in a spot where you want to harden up your heart because people some people go through unimaginable things, but yeah, that's like you were just saying, like, it's not you can't heal from that. You can't move on from that if you just harden it and keep it there. You have to, yes, all guard your heart. Proverbs says that, but if you move to the point of hardening it, now God can't really have to crack through that surface, and that's way more work. Yeah, he's not gonna reach down and force you to let him heal you. Yeah, you have to open yourself up to him for him to reach down and touch your heart.

SPEAKER_03 37:25

Yeah, because God can't help you with something that you refuse to give to him.

SPEAKER_00 37:31

Yeah, because he's not gonna force it.

SPEAKER_03 37:32

Yeah, because our God is a gentleman, yeah, and one, we have free will, so he's not going to um override that free will and do whatever he wants, he's only going to do what you allow him to do. Yeah. So if you do not allow him in certain areas of your life, yes, he'll ask for you to allow him there, but he's not going to force you there.

SPEAKER_01 37:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:53

And so if you continue not allowing him in certain areas of your life, then you're gonna remain the same. And that could even lead, like all of these umbrellas can leave you to becoming known to the spirit of God and not feeling him entirely, like at all. Yeah, which that's really dangerous and that's really sad.

SPEAKER_01 38:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:13

Because like you could get to a spot where you come to church and you your your routine is you come to church, you sit, you worship, you you quote unquote participate, but you're not really participating because being present and participating is not the same thing.

SPEAKER_01 38:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:27

Like you can show up to class, but if you daydream the whole time and sleep, then you're not getting anything out of it. Yeah. But if you're participating and you're answering the questions and you're taking notes like in school, then that helps you. And it's the same thing in church, right? You can come to church and you can just sit there and you can listen, but it does it move you? Is God moving you? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:49

Because Pastor Jonathan said the enemy does not care if we come to church, he doesn't care. But as as long as we're recognizing the rain, but we're not receiving the rain, he doesn't have a problem with it.

SPEAKER_00 39:01

Yeah, but as you can't go to church all your life and never be moved by it, never be changed by it.

SPEAKER_03 39:05

Literally.

SPEAKER_00 39:06

And so the enemy doesn't care.

SPEAKER_03 39:08

Yeah. But he cares once we start receiving the rain. Yeah. Once we start receiving for what God has for us, or even once we start being moved by God into change. Because that the movement of me and giving something to God is really what makes the enemy be like, uh oh.

SPEAKER_04 39:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:27

Yeah. This is not good for us. If you didn't know, this is not good for us. Didn't know the enemy doesn't want that for you.

unknown 39:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:35

He does not want it to be winning, bro.

SPEAKER_03 39:37

No, he wants to be in continual loser mode.

SPEAKER_01 39:40

Can that can that title please be this is not good for us with that little demon emoji?

SPEAKER_02 39:47

That'd be that'd be funny.

Proverbs 26 Requires Discernment

SPEAKER_01 40:07

So um, I think you guys finished on Proverbs 25 last time, correct? Is that what it is that where y'all ended? Correct. Yes. Correct. Okay, so um, if y'all want, y'all can start us off with Proverbs 26. Take it away.

SPEAKER_00 40:21

Um, I really liked um near the beginning of Proverbs 26, uh, four through five, it kind of stood out to me at first because I had kind of had to do a look back after I read it the first time. Um, starts with verse 4 don't answer the foolish argument of fools, or you will become as foolish as they are. 5. Be sure to answer the foolish argument of fools, or they will become wise in their own estimation. I was like, what? Dude, I was like, did I read that wrong? So I I read it a couple more times, and I think the heart of what the writer is trying to get up get to is that it's there's no black and white, it's about discernment. Yeah, you're discerning like sometimes literally don't answer them because you will become foolish. Yeah. Other times answer them or they will become wise in their own estimation. Yeah. It's not telling you to literally do those things, it's about discernment in situations. Sometimes engaging with the foolishness of people is gonna pull you down to their level. Yeah. And other times, people like say someone's in church and they're speaking to like a new believer, like just as an example, and they're kind of acting the fool, uh-huh and like they're negatively affecting this new believer, this guest. Yeah, that foolishness needs to be checked.

SPEAKER_04 41:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:33

So it's kind of like you don't look at that and be like you don't look at that and be like, oh, Proverbs 4 said never to mess with the foolishness of a fool. I'm gonna let them do whatever they want. No, sometimes it needs to be checked. So it's about discernment. That's good. Or like maybe for me, I'm not supposed to deal with a situation in the church because it's not my spot. I'm not engaging in the foolishness of fools. Yeah. But to Pastor Jared, that's his place. That's like, yeah, that's him. He's dealing with that. So it's about discernment.

SPEAKER_03 42:01

Yeah, I like wow, wow.

SPEAKER_00 42:02

Yeah, I had to read it a few times.

SPEAKER_03 42:04

You really cleared you really cleared up like the confusion that was in my brain.

SPEAKER_00 42:08

Dude, when I read it first, I was like, I didn't even see it.

SPEAKER_03 42:10

I also read it. I read it like three times. I read it and I was like, that's not right. And then I was like, that's still not right. And then I was like, uh, yeah, it's about discernment.

SPEAKER_01 42:19

Yeah. Oh, I like that. I just thought of rage bait. Like, I saw verse four and I was like, Don't don't answer the fools. They're rage baiting you. Like, don't fall for it, literally.

SPEAKER_00 42:28

But now that you explain it longer, I think one of the verses in one of these chapters is actually um about rage baiting in a way. Uh, I don't have that exact verse off the top of my head, but I remember reading it. Um, it's like um something like don't uh do something harmful to a friend and then say it was a joke actually.

SPEAKER_01 42:44

Oh, I have that one. Yeah, I remember that one. That was funny.

SPEAKER_00 42:47

So no rage baiting eyes.

SPEAKER_01 42:48

Another one I liked um in Proverbs 26 was verse 8 says, honoring a fool is as foolish as tying a stone to a slingshot. This just reminds me of the three stooges for some reason. Like three stooges. The second I heard it, I'm thinking like, imagine like somebody like tying a rock to a slingshot and then letting it go, and then it comes back and hits them in the face. Like, that's what immediately went to. Okay, I could see it.

SPEAKER_03 43:10

That's wowzers.

SPEAKER_01 43:11

But that's really like my takeaway from verse eight.

SPEAKER_03 43:13

No, I really like verse eight.

SPEAKER_00 43:14

So don't honor a fool, guys.

unknown 43:15

Right?

SPEAKER_03 43:16

One of them I really liked was verse three. It says, Guide a horse with a whip, a donkey with a bridle, and a fool with a rod to his back. And so I don't know if you've caught it yet, but all throughout Proverbs, there the imagery is very harsh to fools um all the time. And I was like, Okay, and this verse really caught my attention because it's it has such harsh words to fools all the time. So I was like, okay, what is this? So I dug a little deeper, and in my head, and what I took out of it was um often fools are depicted as being beaten because they are destroying their own lives or their own with their own actions. Like they're literally they're they're Own decisions are beating them up, no one else is. Yeah, their own decisions are causing them to fail. Yeah, regardless of what anyone else is doing. And so that's just wild.

SPEAKER_01 44:11

True.

SPEAKER_03 44:12

That is wild.

SPEAKER_00 44:13

Yeah, that um that ties right into a little bit further on Proverbs 26 and 11. Um, like you a fool beating themselves with their own mistakes. Like this, literally, as a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool repeats his foolishness.

SPEAKER_02 44:25

It's gross.

SPEAKER_00 44:26

I really like that one because yeah, that's gross, but it's powerful imagery. Like literally, that's how like yeah, we say that that's disgusting, but sometimes we are that fool. Yeah, we can make a mistake and yeah, maybe maybe we recognize it, be like, that was a mistake, we go repent, but you don't put any barriers, you don't put any guardrails after that, you don't change anything. And so a couple days later, or sometimes a couple hours later, if we're on you go back and do it again, and you repeat the same thing, and you're the fool if you don't in that situation, you're the fool, you're the dog returning to its vomit if you don't set boundaries, if you don't set guardrails, if you don't go seek counsel, if you don't get accountability, whatever you gotta do to block that from happening again.

SPEAKER_01 45:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 45:09

Literally. I know that's very good.

SPEAKER_01 45:11

I like that. Um verse 13 and 14 said this one's actually funny because I read it as like two separate. I mean, I didn't

Laziness Excuses And Repeated Mistakes

SPEAKER_01 45:18

read it as two separate verses. I thought it was like one ongoing thing. So I thought it said, the lazy person claims there's a line on the road. Oh, wait, no, let me say it again. The lazy person claims there's a line on the road. Yes, I'm sure there's a line out there as a door swings back and forth on its hinges. Think I thought that maybe they were in the middle of the road, they saw a line and they opened their door, like being a fool. But then I realized it's its own thing, and then it goes, as a door swings back and forth on its hinges, so the lazy person turns over in bed. I did the same thing. I was like, there could, I was like, that's funny, guys.

SPEAKER_00 45:48

I was like, Yeah, there's some really good imagery.

SPEAKER_03 45:50

I was like, did was the lion like coming into the house? I was so confused.

SPEAKER_01 45:55

And then I was like, wait, they're too because I listened to it. Like on my phone, I listened to it too, and I was like, Oh, he separated them, like they're not the same. Yeah, I was like, that's hilarious. That is funny.

SPEAKER_00 46:06

Oh, I like the uh, I'll actually go right into that, the verse about the lion being on the road. Oh, yeah, because when I first read that, I was like, dude, I like I kind of understand. Like, if there's a lion on the road, I'm not dealing with that. Like, that's not my job.

SPEAKER_03 46:21

At first, I thought he was like the boy that cried wolf, like, because there's a wolf there, but it actually wasn't there. That's what I thought of. And he won't know what's happening, so explain. Yeah, for real.

SPEAKER_00 46:29

It's more about like it's not about a physical lion being on a road. Oh it's about oh bro, heard that earlier was looking for lions on the streets of Louisiana. But no, it's it's about ignoring big problems. Like, what good does it do you if you see there's a big problem in your life, something that for you, like literally uh earlier, like you repeat a problem, you keep leading to sin. Say you recognize that there's a problem there, and you could see that there's something in your life maybe causing you sin or just not good for you overall, but all you do is say, Oh, there's a problem there, and you don't do anything. Dude, my eyes are opened, like the lion is not gonna just move because you see it. Yeah, your problem doesn't go away just because you recognize it. Acknowledge it, yeah. Like, yeah, and obviously, the like the verse is not telling you if there's a physical lion on the street, go fight it. Yeah, but it's telling you you can't just be a lazy fool that doesn't do anything about your problems.

SPEAKER_01 47:28

Yeah, wow. Ah, I'm glad we had this conversation. Literally, I was utterly confused. I was too. I was thinking like, boy, they cried wolf, like all the things.

SPEAKER_00 47:36

And then like the the door hinges verse, same thing. Uh, have you ever tried to sleep while a door was going back and forth on its hinges?

SPEAKER_03 47:44

No.

SPEAKER_00 47:44

Well, it you probably wouldn't be able to sleep, bro. Because that's loud.

SPEAKER_01 47:48

But it's literally like please explain a situation where a door is swinging back and forth on the window. Okay, what if it's windy?

SPEAKER_00 47:55

What if it's windy?

SPEAKER_01 47:55

Hold up, why are you sleeping right next to Audrey?

SPEAKER_03 47:58

I got this. Okay. So we just went to Arkansas for family vacation, and we stayed in a cabin, and so the cabin had a porch, uh, and the porch had a gate. And so the gate in that porch was right next to my mom's room. And so it was really windy that night, and so the the gate kept opening and closing and opening and closing, and then my mom couldn't sleep, and she woke up the next morning. Well, I don't know if she actually woke up because she couldn't sleep, but she comes in the room and she was like, huh, I couldn't sleep because the gate was swinging on its hinges.

SPEAKER_00 48:26

But and so what's the uh the verse say, like you lay back down or something after hearing it? Because I don't have the exact verse. Do you have it?

SPEAKER_01 48:34

Uh it says, as a door swings back and forth on its hinges, so the lazy person turns over in bed.

SPEAKER_00 48:38

Yeah, so like Oh like imagine hearing that and trying to sleep, and that's actively disrupting your sleep.

SPEAKER_03 48:44

I thought it was just connecting Jessko close it.

SPEAKER_00 48:47

Yeah, but no, you're just like, I'm just gonna lay back down.

SPEAKER_03 48:49

It's just proving how lazy a lazy person actually is, because like that's peak laziness. That's also like tying into having food in your hand and not eating it.

SPEAKER_00 48:59

Yeah. This is so creepy. Like this bunch of verses is really hidden on being lazy verse 15.

SPEAKER_03 49:05

And then verse 16 goes, lazy people consider themselves smarter than seven wise counselors. Like what? Because hold on. One, you're lazy, so you're not even getting up to close the door or eat food, but then you're gonna think that you're smarter than seven wise people, because they're actually wise. Like that doesn't make sense. The math isn't mathing. That's why they're foolish, though. That's why they're foolish.

SPEAKER_00 49:30

I mean, if you think about it, like you ever like really been stuck in a lazy spell? Like, come on, we're human. That happens, and sometimes we kind of overestimate our abilities to justify us being lazy. Literally, like, dude, throughout my college career, I have done that with studying so much. It's so bad. Like, I'm just being real. Like, I'll be like, there'll be an exam coming up next week, and I have perfect open time that I can be used uh spinning studying, but I'm just like, I don't need to study now. It I I can wait till the last two days.

SPEAKER_03 50:02

It never works.

SPEAKER_00 50:03

So I hype myself up in my brain thinking, like, dude, I'm gonna lock in these last two days. I got this, I'm smart.

SPEAKER_03 50:08

I love that.

SPEAKER_00 50:09

And I should be studying now, but no, I overestimate myself and I kind of justify my own laziness.

SPEAKER_02 50:15

Yeah, we do that, I do we do that a lot. Like, we justify how lazy we are.

SPEAKER_01 50:21

I do it like daily, but okay. I'm gonna I'ma switch it up, guys. All right, all right. Working on it. Um, this is the one that you were talking about saying I'm gonna read it because I'm gonna mess this up. So uh it was verse 18 through 19. Just as damaging a bat just as damaging as a madman shooting a deadly weapon as someone who lies to a friend and then says I was only joking. Like everyone knows that you weren't joking. Like, there's nothing more annoying than when someone's like, or like say, like, I know my hair looks really bad today, right? Then I walk in a room and like somebody will tell me, Wow, Audrey, your hair looks really bad. Like, guys, this is real examples, by the way. And I'm like, G thanks, and they're like, I'm just joking. But like, no, you're not, so why are you trying to convince me?

SPEAKER_03 51:03

Like, yeah, like I know you're joking. And lies are so damaging, like, yeah, to everyone. Lies are damaging, like what? It's just crazy, it's it's insane to imagine the imagery behind what the writer is saying because it says lies and saying I was only joking is the same thing as shooting someone, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:26

And I mean, it makes sense, especially because we're closing up on like coming to the the point of where we're almost finished with Proverbs, and we've heard time and time again throughout Proverbs how powerful our words are, how much effect they have on us, on other people. And so it's literally showing you again, like if you're just going out there and throwing this stuff out there and you try to gloss it up at the end, like I was just saying, with oh, it's just a prank, bro, or I'm just joking. No, you said that that word had power to that person, and yeah, they may be holding on to that for the next like five years of their life. And you just try to brush over it with a joke, it doesn't work. Yeah, it's just as dangerous as shooting

Words Rumors And Fake Kindness

SPEAKER_00 52:02

them.

SPEAKER_03 52:02

Literally. Um, another verse I really liked was verse 22, and it says, Rumors are dainty morsels that sink deep into one's heart. So let's break this down. So rumors is something that it's basically not true, but you're just telling it like it's true about anybody. And it says it's dainty morsels, so it's dainty, it looks pretty, it looks nice, it's cute, it's a morsel, you can eat it. Like you know, it's cute, just like that. Um, so rumors they they can look good, right? But they're actually very sinful and they seek deep into someone's heart. So it's staying there. No, as soon as it comes out your mouth, it's stuck, and it's not going nowhere because it's sinking deep into someone's heart. And I was like, that's actually insane. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:49

Just like think of any rumor that you've ever heard in your own life, like whether it be if you're in school or you're are you used to being like high school, like me, especially in high school in that culture, you hear a rumor about someone, even like you're not trying to be mean or or have these bad intentions, but you hear a rumor, the first inclination is naturally just to believe it. Yeah. And you can kind of use that to see how powerful, like you were just saying, it's a dainty morsel. Yeah. People hear those rumors, the first thought is to believe it. Yeah. Um, especially if you don't like know this person, you don't have a reason to not believe it.

SPEAKER_03 53:24

Exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 53:25

And so you may convince so many people with these rumors, and they form their own ideas with someone they never even met, and you've just like ruined this person's reputation for no reason. Yeah. That's dangerous.

SPEAKER_03 53:36

Or the fact that you even remember the own rumor that was told about you could prove the scripture even further into that it's sunk into your heart. Like that rumour. That was like horrible.

SPEAKER_01 53:46

Yeah. Yeah. And then, like, going into verse 23 from verse 22, like you were on. It says smooth words may hide a wicked heart, just as a pretty glaze covers a clay pot. People are not always who they seem to be. And I'm sure in our lifetimes we've all encountered people like this, and they might just be trying to make you believe that they are one way, but behind closed doors, they're like completely different. Literally. So, like, for those types of people, you have to just take what they say with a grain of salt. Like, you have to remember who you're talking to. Like, verse 25 says, They pretend to be kind, but don't believe them. Their hearts are full of many evils. They could be lying, like, you never fully know a person just by talking to them. It's what's in their heart that matters.

SPEAKER_00 54:23

Yeah, that's also again on the topic of discernment. Like, we were talking about the trippy verse earlier at the beginning of Proverbs where it's like, uh, don't engage with a fool's foolishness. Um, do engage. Again, it's about discernment. Um, when people are speaking into you or just anything with any person you meet, it should always be with the era of discernment. Like, yes, love them as Christians. We love everyone, but like you were just saying, always kind of have an eye out because not everyone may be who they seem to be.

SPEAKER_01 54:49

Yeah, that's kind of part of like guarding your heart. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 54:52

Yeah, and Proverbs isn't the only time that that's spoken about. Um, in the New Testament, that's spoken about where it's um I'm the exact verse isn't coming to me, but it's like when someone's speaking uh the word of God, discern that spirit because some people will just say stuff. Some people are not speaking from God.

SPEAKER_01 55:09

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 55:10

And so again, it's it's about discernment. You kind of gotta, in Proverbs, like the whole idea is being wise.

SPEAKER_01 55:15

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 55:16

You gotta be wise enough to kind of see that people's actions may not always match their heart.

SPEAKER_03 55:22

And whenever I read this verse, verse 23. Um what brought to my what came to my mind for me was the pot is us, okay? Yeah, and we can cover ourselves up on the outside, we can make ourselves look pretty, we we can present ourselves well, but then what really matters is what's on the inside. So to hu to other people, we can appear as one thing, but then God sees everything. And so whenever I read this, it just kind of like dawned on me that like we can't we can't pass anything from God because He knows everything, yeah, and so He sees everything. And so you honestly, no matter how rough your pot is looking, you can't paint it good enough for him to not see it.

SPEAKER_01 56:06

Yeah. So that in our lives, it's like Adam and Eve like trying to hide.

SPEAKER_03 56:10

No, like literally, and God's like, I know you idea.

SPEAKER_01 56:12

Like, bro, I know y'all, I know where y'all are.

SPEAKER_03 56:14

I can find you right now if I want to. No, like literally, and so we we just can't hide anything from God. Like, no matter how we present ourselves, God always knows our inward intentions.

SPEAKER_00 56:22

Yeah, that's good. Yeah, can't ever hide from God, bro.

SPEAKER_03 56:26

Literally.

Jealousy Hunger And Sharpening Friends

SPEAKER_01 56:45

I liked um in Proverbs 27, 4. I'm just gonna go there for a second, um, it says anger is cruel and wrath is like a flood, but jealousy is even more dangerous. So, first of all, don't stay mad at people because it's just sad and mean. Second, wrath will only wipe everyone out involved. Like anyone involved in this situation, wrath has taken you down. It doesn't matter if you're the one getting your revenge on somebody or if you're the one who's being get being revenged a poem. Yeah, whatever you want to call that, whatever the verb is for me, whatever that word is. Like there are no winners and losers. It's just a lose-lose for everyone. Literally. And I looked it up. When a brain is constantly fueled by anger and vengeance, it enters a state of it's called chronic hyperarousal and it rewires itself to prioritize survival over rational thought. Like you will genuinely drive yourself out of your mind if you're constantly looking for revenge. So you've gone mad. Yes, literally. And I was like, that is crazy. Like the Bible ain't lying, they're serious about this stuff. And then third was that danger, I mean, jealousy is dangerous. Um, it just like ruins your overall mood in life because it takes away your gratitude. Anytime I've been jealous over, oh, she has this or she has that or he looks like this, like you know, every time I'm jealous at something like that, I forget what I have. I forget to be grateful for the things that I do have and the blessings that I do get. So it's just like that's very good. Don't be those things.

SPEAKER_00 58:08

And that's so important, especially for the area, the time period that we're in now where we have social media. You can see all these people sharing their snapshots of the best moments of their life. Exactly. And you start comparing them.

SPEAKER_02 58:19

Or even the worst of their life.

SPEAKER_01 58:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 58:20

But you didn't see when they cry two minutes after. Like, yeah. Yeah and like comparison is a killer, like it kills your joys, like you're saying, it kills your gratitude, but it can also kill how you perceive other people. Yeah, it can ruin how you see others, which that's really dangerous. That's true.

SPEAKER_00 58:36

It ruins relationships, it can be very dangerous when you compare yourself, your walk with God to other people's walks with God. It can straight up derail you when you feel like God should be moving on you, like He's moving on the person next to you.

SPEAKER_03 58:49

But then you don't know what's going on behind closed doors, you don't know how much that person has cried out to God or what they've gone through to get to that point. Yeah, so if you're jealous over someone's good times with God, then you gotta be jealous for their their rough times. True, all the tears that you don't see. Oh, you know that's a good point.

SPEAKER_00 59:09

Yeah, and it goes like both ways. That can be for a new believer, first time ever coming to church, and you're like, why isn't God moving on me like he's moving on um Andrea over there? Literally Andrea, person that's been in the church all her life, or it can be in reverse, you can have been in church all your life, and person that just started coming to church um was a drug addict a couple weeks ago. Yeah, God's like moving on them powerfully, yeah, doing great things, and you can start becoming jealous as a believer, and that's a danger. You can be like, Why is God using this person that has not been living right their whole life? Like why are you doing that, God? They don't deserve that. Yeah, and you that's a very dangerous place to be because you start kind of putting yourself on God's level and you're not supposed to be there. Yeah, because you don't deserve it either. Like Audrey said, and like Proverbs said, jealousy's dangerous.

SPEAKER_01 59:58

Yeah, everyone's walk with God's different. Yeah, it's God's timing, not yours. Literally, I like that.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:04

Another verse I liked is verse, hold up. Proverbs 27, 7. It says a person who is full refuses honey, but even bitter food tastes sweet to the hungry. And so whenever I read this, I kind of like contribute not contributed, but linked like the honey to God in a sense. And so a person who's full, they they ref they don't really want to eat anymore, they don't really want to grow anymore, they're just there. But even nasty, if it's nasty, it's it's if it's nasty, sorry, if it's gross, it's still going to appeal like e sweet to someone who's hungry. Yeah, and so always be hungry for God. That's what I took from this. Because people who don't know God or they don't know God, like you know God, they want God. Like I I go to college and all I see it all the time. People are hungry for God. There's people going everywhere trying to just look for a little morsel of truth, and you you have it and you don't want any any more of it.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:07

Yeah, like like it's crazy. We are so blessed that we are at the like we're at the place where we can we're blessed enough that we can kind of start picking and choosing what we want from God. Yeah. Um, I believe Pastor Jared actually used that exact verse you just put a message a couple weeks ago that we covered.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:24

Um Feed me on full. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:26

That's what it was. Like you we can start picking and choosing because we're full in a way. And the way I think about it is like think about like a foreign country to us where it's literally illegal to have church or be a Christian. And those people risk their lives, or maybe they'll only hold like one page or one chapter of the Bible, and that's all they'll have because that's all they can get. Uh-huh. And they hold on to that like it's life or death. And every single time they gather together and have church and pray, it literally is life or death.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:57

And that's enough because they're hungry.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:59

And over here, we can't even fathom that. Like a bunch of people, they like a lot of people, if they were sent over there or if that happened like here, they a lot of some people would stop believing because they couldn't handle that. And that's just crazy the amount of courage that other people have. But that just attributes so well to this verse because if you're full of God you're and you don't want any more of God, you're not gonna get anything. But if you're hungry for God, even little bits will be awesome to you.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:31

So I like that verse.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:32

I know. I also liked um Proverbs 28, 4.

Justice Obedience And Godly Wisdom

SPEAKER_01 1:02:37

It says to reject the law is to praise the wicked, to obey the law is to fight them.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:42

I like that too.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:43

I know because rules are there for a reason. Yeah, whether or not you like it, it's your job to listen to them. Literally. And this goes for students, employees, this goes for citizens, this goes for kids, it goes for everyone. Going against what someone wiser than you has said to do is foolish. It's only going to promote wickedness. And if you aren't on the side of the people fighting for good, then you're against them. Because verse five says, evil people don't understand justice, but those who follow the Lord understand completely. And this, to me, perfectly talks about today's society and the world today that we live in, because the world in our country somehow, like, it's obviously there are issues going on, but somehow like justice and like rules have gotten mixed up in it. But you can't just break the rules because you don't like them. Justice does not care about your opinion. And God's will and what God does and what honors God doesn't it doesn't matter if you like it or not, or if it feels good to you. It's what's right and what's honorable to God that comes first.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:39

Yeah, like if the speed limit uh near my house um is trying to be changed from like 55 to 45, I'm not gonna like that at all. Yeah, it doesn't matter if I don't like it, if there's a cop there and I'm still going 55.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:51

He's still gonna pull you over.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:52

I'm gonna get pulled over unless he's super chill, but that's not always how it is with God.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:57

God's just God is just, and his idea of fairness and justice is not our idea of fairness and justice, and so things can be happening in society that God not may not necessarily like.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:11

I mean, sometimes those things just happen. Yeah. Because that's the world. Like the whole point of there being free will on the world is that groups of people are gonna get together and things are gonna happen, and God's not always gonna be guiding everything that happens because people have free will. Yeah. We're in a fallen world.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:28

Yeah. So things happen, and things happen a lot. So often, guys.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:34

This is what happens when you read the water.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:36

If you look around, things happen all the time.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:38

When you read Proverbs, you start to realize things happen.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:40

I love that. Things another verse I liked was um Proverbs 27, 17, and it says, iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend. And this verse is kind of quoted a lot, especially if you're talking about friendships. But let's let's look at it. So, how do you sharpen knives? You take a knife sharpener that has metal on it, and you run the metal against the metal and it gets sharper, and that's the same thing. And talking about friends, and that's why your friends are so important. Because what it's almost like what are you rubbing up against? Yeah, you know, because whatever you're rubbing up against is gonna rub off of you. Yeah. And so if I'm rubbing my knife, like my iron on something that's not gonna sharpen it, like it's I don't know, water. If I rub it on water, it's not gonna do nothing. Yeah, but if I rub it against another piece of metal, it's gonna sharpen it. So that's the same thing talking about your friends. So if you're hanging out with people who let let's say you are the plastic. And you're on iron. Yeah, literally, it's not gonna sharpen very well. Yeah, and so if you don't have godly friends that are trying to live for Jesus and are trying to do right, then you might become the plastic. Yeah, you might become the thing that you're rubbing up against, and that's That's not very good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:01

Yeah. Um, I really like that though, because it um that uh brings about the importance of community. Yeah. Like your friends and just like your church community in general. Cause I know sometimes I go out on like this just a personal example. I'll go out on like Instagram or something, and I'll see a reel of someone being like, you don't actually need church. Like me and my family, we just we follow God, and but we don't go to church. We don't believe that's necessary.

unknown 1:06:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:26

Proverbs is literally showing you like you need other like-minded believers that can strengthen you.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:31

And there's such a difference in being able to have relationships with people who are like-minded and liked faith as you are. Yeah, but it's just it's amazing because you you have someone to fall back, not fall back on, but you have people that you can trust, you have people that can lead you, you have people that y'all can walk with God together and that you know you're not doing this alone, and hold each other accountable like that's literally, and I think that that's what God has called us to is to have godly friendships to where we can walk together, we can lead each other, but we can also hold each other accountable. Yeah, you know, I agree, and so be the iron, guys, that sharpens the other iron. Yeah, so that y'all can both be ironed.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:13

And then obviously, like it's back to discernment. Don't go out and cut off every single connection you have that isn't godly. Like still keep those connections, just don't let it get to the point where they are starting to be the thing that's in quotation marks sharpening you. Yeah, because you may not like the areas of the life that they sharpen up.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:29

Yeah, you can indulge really. Oop, oop.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:31

Yeah, it you they st they may start sharpening the wrong areas of your life. Yeah, so that's where it gets to discernment.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:37

Yeah, wow. Like they end up sharpening the hand a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:40

No matter what, when you hang out with a close group of people and you're close to people, they're gonna start strengthening something.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:47

And it just may not be your walk with God. And so it's don't cut them off. Like you may still be the light in their life.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:53

Literally.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:54

Or you still are, but no, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:57

I think it's important that we have friends that are not necessarily quote unquote godly because one, you're a light in their life. Yeah, two, who knows where they come from? And three, you can be the light in their life that leads them to Jesus. Yeah. But also, they could be sharp undoing your handle. Yes. What?

SPEAKER_01 1:08:15

And then you go to cut with your knife and you cut your hand. Because they cut the handle. Yes, you sharpened the wrong part of the knife.

unknown 1:08:23

So tough.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:24

Guys, you are the knife in the situation. Do you understand?

SPEAKER_00 1:08:26

Yeah, no. You said it was tough. That's good. Literally. Oh, that's good.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:29

Oh, love it. I love it.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:31

A lot about knives this episode.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:33

Right? Yeah. I also liked Proverbs 27, 19. It says, as a face is reflected in water, so heart reflects the real person. So whenever it said, as a face is reflected in the water, I thought of to the Disney movie Mulan. I don't know if y'all ever watched it. Yeah. But there's a scene after she comes back from like the matchmaker's house where like she has all her getup on and then she's staring into the water and she like takes it all off. And I was like, oh wow. That like kind of came back to my mind. Because as her face was reflected in the water, so she's being able to see herself.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:04

So is our hearts reflect who we actually are. Because like the Bible says, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouse speaks. Yeah. And so what's in your heart really matters because whatever's in your heart is actually who you are. And for some of us, that can be mighty scary.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:21

And like again, it's like you just said, like the importance of the heart. Like your behavior or someone else's behavior is never random. It's always it's coming from the heart. And um I was thinking about that verse earlier, actually. I was gonna bring that up because I think sometimes we can try to address like the symptoms of a problem in our life when in reality it's all streaming from one place and it's streaming from what's in our heart. So sometimes we need to fix what's in the heart.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:47

Like if it's the root of the problem.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:49

Like if I find that I have a constant stream of someone does something I don't like in my immediate reaction is to lash out at them or call them out or something in a very mean way. Um and I'm like, okay, I gotta cut out that when in reality it's a heart thing, and I just have some anger in there that I'm not dealing with or letting God use. Yeah, sure, I can try to fight the symptom, but I need to let God do on my heart.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:10

Yeah, I agree. That's wow, there's that's great. Um another verse that I

Confession Mercy And True Integrity

SPEAKER_01 1:10:15

liked was Proverbs 28, 13. It says right alright, conceal, wait. Sorry. People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn to them and turn from from them. I have four of them, and I was like, what? Turn from them, they will receive mercy. So this explains like why it's so important that we daily repent because trying to keep our sins bottled up is not gonna benefit us ever. You have to confess confess, confess your sins to God because he wants them and he will take them and he will fix them, and you have to turn yourself around because he freely gives us mercy, like every single day, every second of every day, he's ready to give us more mercy. His mercies are new every morning.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:54

Mercies. That's a verse somewhere. Yeah, I can't think of the reference.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:58

Somewhere in the good book.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:59

Literally.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:59

But yeah, I like that. You can never you can never hide your sins from God.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:03

You can't.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:04

I mean, like Andrew was saying earlier, sure, you can try, you can put on a good act, you can put those big leaves over you. Yeah, I could I can go to church. I can go there. I can worship in the front, I can lift my hands, I can shout, but God's gonna see what's inside.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:21

You can never hide it from God.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:22

Literally.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:38

I also loved Proverbs 27, 20, and it says, just as death and destruction are never satisfied, so the human desire is never satisfied. And I was like, hold on. Because it's talking about death and destruction as being like people, right? And so it's talking about them actually going out and taking things. And so death and destruction are never satisfied. Death is always going to for more death somebody else, and then destruction will also destroy somebody else, you know what I mean? Yeah, and that's the same thing. Our human nature, we in our human nature, we are never satisfied. We always want more of something. Like, as soon as you reach whatever goal you're trying to reach right now, you're gonna want something else, and after that, something else. And so it's very important that we don't just keep that desire in things that are in this material world, but we steer that desire into things that are of God because you're gonna have it either way, yeah. Like you kind of can't get out of it, um, is what Proverbs is saying. And so if we steer that into we are never satisfied with the things of God, then we are sitting in a pretty spot. Yeah. Because if not, then oop. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:49

And oop, yeah, that's a good way to put it. That's bad.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:52

Well, like my brain wasn't braining on which word I could word in that sentence. And so that was the first one that popped up.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:58

Your point gets across, like, that's bad. You don't want to be you don't want to be that person. Literally. But um, I want to talk about fools again.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:05

Fools.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:06

Fools. Fools don't be one. But um, no, something I wanted to hit on was kind of like, yeah, we've talked about um back in Proverbs 26, the dog returned to its vomit. So a fool repeats his foolness. But throughout all these chapters, we've seen fools. Um, Proverbs 27, 22, you cannot separate fools from their foolishness, even though you grind them like grain with a mortar and pestle.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:26

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:27

Um, if you don't know what that is, it's literally just a bowl and like a stick, and like you put the for this grain, we're not cocking on it. You put the the grain in it and you just use the stick and like grinding.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:36

It's like those metal things that you get from the store.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:38

Yeah, like metal stone things and Proverbs 28, 26, those who trust their own insight are foolish, but anyone who walks in, wisdom is safe. Um, I just kind of want to hit on the like the idea that you think of a fool. When I think of a fool, like when Proverbs talks of a fool, I kind of think of someone that's just not smart overall. Yeah, that's kind of like the first idea you think of when you think of a fool. But in Proverbs, if you read what how it's talking about fools, it's not talking about a person's intelligence. Yeah, it's not talking about these people weren't smart. You look at all the verses I just listed, and they will not separate from their foolishness. The person with uh the dog in the vomit, they repeat their foolishness. Yeah, it's not saying they're a fool for doing the foolishness in the first place, or say sin, you commit that sin. You're not a fool for committing that in the first place. But it's are you gonna treat that with humility like a wise person or have pride and just not change anything? Yeah, are you gonna be a fool and keep calling it? Yeah, so being a fool throughout Proverbs, it's not talking about your intelligence. God isn't calling you a fool for you know, maybe not having a high IQ score. Like, that's not what God's talking about. It's are you gonna keep going back to the foolishness? Are you gonna set boundaries? Are you gonna separate from it? Yeah, and it literally says Proverbs 27, you cannot separate or 27-22, you cannot separate fools from their foolishness. A fool will not be separated from it, and that's what makes them a fool. It's not about intelligence.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:05

Oh, yes, and you know what I was like. Wow, because when I heard that, I was like, okay, but like if you're once a fool, it's not like once a fool, always a fool kind of thing. Like you could still turn back, but they're saying what makes you a fool is being a fool, like going, yes, Proverbs 28, 26, what does the fool do?

SPEAKER_00 1:15:18

Those who trust their own insight are foolish. You're trusting in yourself, not trusting in God and setting those boundaries.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:24

Yeah, wait, because the only difference, but wait, pause, let's rewind a few chapters back. So in one of these chapters that we've talked about, it says like the godly falls down, but they get back up. And then once the fool falls down, like they're destroyed.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:40

So though the wicked are destroyed.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:42

Yeah, those people. So the only the only difference is that the the wicked fool people things did not get back up.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:53

Yeah, and that's what makes you a fool.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:54

Yes, it's been connecting this whole thing. It's like it's like little dots on different pages in the chapters, and we're like connecting them. This is funny.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:00

Literally, and they're actually connecting. Not like my chemistry professor that said the other day, we're going to draw dots and not connect them. What? He did say that. It was kind of odd. So now we are we are we've drawn the dots all these 28 chapters, and we're actually putting them together. This is a beautiful thing we have here.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:18

So don't read Proverbs and don't be like, if I mess up, does God see me as a fool? Yeah. No, it's are you going to change from that? Are you gonna grow from that and realize what's happening and set those boundaries so you don't go back to it?

SPEAKER_03 1:16:31

That's wonderful. I love how you pointed that out. Wow, my job is on the floor.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:36

Cousin's been explaining so much to us. He has, it's been wonderful. The lions, I'm trying, dude. The door, I know, the fool.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:42

You are just gonna emo is if I see something that doesn't make sense. No, I kind of don't know. It's just a thing I use. But my thought process, let's use that. My thought process it's a word somewhere, it's a saying. Okay, my thought process though is like when I'm going through it and I see something that doesn't make sense, like a lion on a road, I'm like, okay, this is not talking about a lion on the road in Louisiana. Like, what does this mean?

SPEAKER_03 1:17:08

Yeah. I just assume like the Sahara Desert or something.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:11

I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:11

I assume like back in Israel where they were. But you know, I hope that comes back in Louisiana.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:18

You see, that doesn't make you a fool.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:20

Yeah. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:21

That's what we just hit.

unknown 1:17:22

Good job.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:23

Another verse that I really liked in Proverbs 28 was Proverbs 28, 6. Yes. It says better. It says, hold on. It's better to be poor and rich than to be dishonest. Wait, poor and rich? Oh, wait. I want to be both. Be both. It is better to be poor and honest than to be dis dishonest and rich. Oh Lord, that was hard to get out. She got there. Okay. So I think this is just kind of pulling back to your reputation and how important your reputation is and how important your character is. Because the the Bible says it's better to have no money and to be honest and to like have a good reputation and light about you than to be dishonest, and so you lying all the time, but then you have a lot of money. Yeah. Because riches and material things can't bring you happiness, but who you are as a person and your walk with God can because joy comes from the Lord. Exactly. And so it's better to be poor and have people not like you, but to have a good reputation and to have a and to be satisfied with your character and your heart than to be lying all the time and have a lot of money. Yeah. I like that one. Me too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:37

That's good.

Final Challenges And Next Steps

SPEAKER_00 1:18:41

Alright, guys, we've talked about a lot today. Um, I'd advise if you haven't gone and like if you don't, if you aren't affiliated with our church at all and you didn't hear the message that Pastor Jonathan preached, I advise you to go look us up, Point Church, on YouTube, uh on Facebook, so you can go listen to that message because we talked about it a lot. We we brought what we got from it, but I mean, with all the messages that we've talked about, you won't get the full story unless you listen to it. But if you have to take one thing from what we've talked about, just analyze yourself and see if there's any situation in your life where you feel you may be symbolically holding up your umbrella and filtering what God really wants to do in you through any expectation you have or any past hurts that you have or anything like that. Just analyze and see if maybe I am doing that. Maybe I am filtering God through some type of umbrella and just kind of open up, try to talk to God about that. Um, let him do what he wants to do for you, because I promise it's it's gonna be great.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:39

Let God be God.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:41

Amen. And with Proverbs, just keep following us along, keep reading along with us as we go through it because you'll get something that we didn't get from it. And that's good.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:52

That is good.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:52

Proverbs is wisdom, and we all need wisdom, and you'll get more wisdom, most likely, from reading it yourself than listening to us at this table talk about it. Um but don't be a fool, like we talked about. Yeah, that's that's what I'll leave you with. That's uh my main takeaway. I'm gonna try to not be a fool in my own life. Um speak for yourself. Hey, God's still working on me, sister. Oh crazy. Keep following along with us, and yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:18

We only have three chapters left. I know. So thank you guys so much for listening, and we hope you have a great week. Make sure to tune in next week for the last episode of the semester. That's fine. See you then. Bye everybody.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:29

Bye guys.