Kids and a Calling
Kid's and a Calling is a group of young adults who still have child-like faith to share. Each episode, they have real conversations about Scripture and meaningful topics, breaking down what God's Word actually looks like in everyday life.
The group consists of our host, Audrey, co-host, Hudson, along with Lincoln, Andria, and Ramsey. Honest, practical, and easy to follow, they invite you join their journey to grow in God's calling.
Produced by: Jonathan Walton and Brian Blanchard
Kids and a Calling
We Really Do Be Complicatin' Things Sometimes
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Faith is easy when everything is going according to plan. It gets harder when the answer does not come, the timeline changes, or life moves in a direction you never expected. How do you keep believing God can without making your faith dependent on God doing exactly what you think He should? This conversation is about building a faith that can handle uncertainty, disappointment, temptation, and the moments when you simply cannot see what God is doing.
In this episode:
• How to trust God without putting a deadline on Him
• The difference between believing God and predicting what He will do
• Why disappointment can shake our faith and how to keep it from doing so
• What surrender actually looks like when you want to stay in control
• How to keep believing when circumstances give you reasons to doubt
• Why your circumstances do not determine your worth
• How trials can strengthen you instead of defeating you
• How to recognize the difference between a trial and a temptation
• Where temptation really comes from and how desire can lead us toward sin
• Why God's goodness can still be trusted when life does not feel good
Tune in next week for more.
Childhood Myths And Misheard Words
SPEAKER_00Like what's something you believed as a kid that you're embarrassed it took you way too long to realize it's the truth.
SPEAKER_03At some point when I was younger, I had somehow come to the belief that cracking your knuckles would give you arthritis. No, no, no. So for a very good ex uh very good period of time, I was definitely afraid of cracking my knuckles.
SPEAKER_01Does it not? I'm I don't know. I'm pretty sure there was a study done on it.
SPEAKER_03This is Audrey's right now because she's just realizing this.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it has to. There was a study done on it that was like he cracked one hand for like his whole life and not the other hand, and they were the exact same. Bro was like at age like 10, like I'm I'm gonna make this a study on the city.
SPEAKER_03That's funny because it was that exact study I saw when I was younger that was like, wow, so I've been believing a lie this whole time.
SPEAKER_04Really crazy.
SPEAKER_01Mine was a bunch of words that I just said wrong until like literally three or four years ago. Like I think that's being generous.
SPEAKER_03There was one that you said wrong until like last podcast either.
SPEAKER_01I think I did say another one wrong. Was it drastic again?
SPEAKER_03I think so.
SPEAKER_01I keep saying I always say drastic, not drastic. Like drastic, drastic, like drastic park, yeah, instead of drastic. Like that's a drastic change. Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_04I used to think that after you you got a bath for the night as a kid, you couldn't step foot outside. Like there was like you just you could not do it, like, or else automatic shower, or like something bad's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_01He's like the cows are gonna come get you. I still live by that.
SPEAKER_03How did you discover that's not true?
SPEAKER_04I I guess just age. I don't know.
SPEAKER_03He was just like, nah, I'm gonna walk out. Nothing happened.
SPEAKER_00That's funny. Um, mine is just like things that I thought were gonna be a big deal when I got older, like like quicksand. Like I'd be watching like Dora and like quicksand's like left and right, like she's just getting stuck in her family, and like people are dying. And I'm like, oh no. Dora?
SPEAKER_03I was so scared as a kid when I saw that, and it was like, there's no way you're getting out of quicksand. Right? Dude, yeah, had me stressing as like a six-year-old. I've never encountered quicksand in my life. Making sure to walk on the sidewalk. I thought there was just gonna be like quicksand on the side of the road.
SPEAKER_01Or like the beach or something if you ever win, like some, like you just start sinking into sand or something.
SPEAKER_00That's hilarious. Glad to know that we were all just silly naive. Um, so without further ado, we could talk about real stuff. Um that was real to me. Sorry. Um
Indoor Skydiving Story Sets Theme
SPEAKER_00so Pastor Jared continued the God Can series was it yesterday? Yeah, Sunday was yesterday. And this one was titled If You Believe. So, what did you guys think about that one?
SPEAKER_03As always, we say the same thing every time. It was really good. Yeah, she knows because we say it every time. Um I really like the story that he uh he opened up with. It was it was pretty humorous. Very in my humble opinion, it was pretty humorous. Um he always starts with a story, and this time it was about him and his son Britton. If you don't know they're related, if you even know who Britton is. Um But when he was like when Britton was 13, um, Pastor Jared and Britton, they went to I forget even where they were, they were on Tampa. And they were going to try out indoor skydiving. And you know, they got there, and Pastor Jared was explaining his thought process that he does a lot of research before he does something that could be scary or intimidating. And beforehand, if he decides in his mind that he can do it and he thinks he'll survive it, then he's gonna do it, and no one can talk him out of that. So he had decided that the skydiving thing was alright. Oh, they get there, and the instructor that is going to lead them through this indoor skydiving journey and like help them not hit the roof of the little chamber they're gonna be in, because indoor skydiving is just you standing in like a cylindrical room and being lifted up by intense air. Um the the instructor was like a teenage girl, he said, like a 110-pound teenage girl. And so already he was kind of like, Alright, she's not gonna be able to help me.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, um this is so goofy. I can't start flying away, she's gonna be right behind him flying away.
SPEAKER_03But anyway, long story short, she's the first one to go in there and voluntarily, my voluntarily and he gets lifted up into the air.
SPEAKER_00Wait, no, you're missing the best part.
SPEAKER_03Oh, dude, I'm I don't want to spend the first 10 minutes telling me. No, but we need to know this.
SPEAKER_00No, the best part is that she was like, Okay, so just fall face first into the the the pit and it's gonna like lift you up. He face plants, yeah.
SPEAKER_03And it was in that moment that he looked up and saw the the worker manning the air pressure was also a teenager eating a bag of chips. Like, what is he lost a little bit more faith than the workers? How do I get out? But he eventually does get in the air, and the teenage girl worker that's with him is flying out of control. Yeah, just making sure, or trying to make sure he um doesn't lose control. But the moral of the story was, or the the not the moral, but the thing he was trying to get at was that while he was up there in the air, going up into it, he felt fine, he felt secure beforehand. When he first got up in the air, um he felt normal, he felt fine about it. He was indoor skydiving, he was doing it. But he said something changed while he was up there in the air five feet above the ground. He just started, he said, he explained it as something in his mind snapping, where he just started going, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. And something in him shifted to where he believed that he could do it. All of a sudden, while he was actively up there skydiving, he didn't believe he could do it anymore. It didn't matter that he was safe, it didn't matter that he was already up there doing it, it didn't matter what he decided beforehand. In that moment, he lost all faith and decided, nope, this is impossible. I'm gonna die. There's nothing that I can do.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03And um, he used that to just bridge into the rest of the message. He was using that
When Confidence Suddenly Breaks
SPEAKER_03as somehow that's kind of how we can treat God. Yeah, we can have a preconceived notion or lose faith and put that on God and just subconsciously start being like, Nope, yeah, there's no way God can do it. There's no way this can happen.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I liked how he he did the transition because it was like the whole story, then we're laughing, and then he was like, But we can do that spiritually. And it was just like, oh boom.
SPEAKER_02He always catches you like that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And he was just explaining how you know we can expect God to show up in a certain way at a certain time in the way that we're wanting or hoping or expecting, or pretty much telling him to do if you really think about it. You're like, hey God, like I need a miracle tomorrow at two o'clock. Like you're very specific. And whenever he doesn't do it, we kind of get that mindset switch of it's it's kind of not he can do it, it's he didn't do it. And we start to like lower our expectation of what he can do. We don't trust him completely in our situations because we think he failed us, quote unquote, once, but he just failed to meet the timing that we made for him.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, we're too logical for him. Yeah, you know.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I really like that kind of what you just brought up, how he brought up the uh um the idea of prediction versus belief. That was um I never really thought about it like that before. But like you just said, um, I need a healing at two o'clock tomorrow.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um, it may not be that, but it may just be you have an expectation that now you're placing on God because you believe God can do it, sure, but you're framing it in the mindset of it has to be this exact way. Yeah. Um, if you need a healing, you may be thinking that it's gonna be in a snap of a finger. Yeah, you're gonna get it. Right. Um, God may have you waiting for something, maybe someone else needs to see you get healed for them to have faith. So God may have you on hold for a bit. Yeah, you just don't know. Um, but like you just said, you kind of put that preconceived expectation, and when it doesn't happen on 2 p.m. the next day, suddenly you just kind of unfairly start losing faith in God.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. You're like, God, where are you at? Why you didn't follow through?
SPEAKER_03And you can start blaming God for your own expectations that you placed on him.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. He made a quote, he said, Or well, he said something that caught my eye. He said, Or well, ear. Ear caught my ear. We thought we understood what God was going to do, and we may have even put our faith in the thing we thought and expected him to do. And we may say we put our faith in God, and we may even believe that we put our faith in God, but we're really putting our faith in is what we we just want him to do. We're just like, we really just want you to do this, so I'm gonna believe that you can do it for me. But it's just it's not how that works. You don't make the rules, God makes the rules. And it's so easy to pray for in a miracle and expect it to happen. But when you think about it, how he's gonna and expect it to happen, when you can think about how he's gonna do it. Like when you're like when it's almost like in your grasp, like when you're like, I need to be healed, so I'm gonna expect and prepare for God to heal me this way, but then he doesn't prepare, like you he doesn't heal you in the way you prepared for him to heal you. You may start like wondering, well, why, you know? Yeah, just he didn't do what you wanted. You didn't you prepared for the wrong thing. He might have healed you in another way, like he healed you in a different thing, but you wanted him to heal you in that thing. So you prepare for him to heal you in that thing and not the other in another way that you start losing unfairly your faith in what he's gonna do.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's what you're saying. There's a massive difference between uh having faith that God can do it and having faith that God is gonna do it in your specific way. Yeah. Like if we're gonna keep using the healing example, you can there's a difference between just believing and praying consistently with faith that God will
Prediction Versus Belief In Prayer
SPEAKER_03heal you um no matter what it looks like, or believing that God is only going to heal you at service this next Sunday. And you instead of believing and praying just because you believe God can, now you're putting more faith in the Sunday service and you're yeah, you believe God's gonna do it then. And if He doesn't do it then, then it's not meant to be. Yeah, and then say Sunday comes and that wasn't your time. Now you're doubting God for your own expectations you placed on him. You predicted it was gonna happen. God never said it was gonna happen on Sunday.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Uh nowhere in the Bible does it say you're gonna um get healed on the Sunday you want to be healed on. So you place this expectation on God, and then now you're left lacking faith and being disappointed in God in a way because of something you made up.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And like there's nothing wrong with having faith. That's not what we're saying.
SPEAKER_01It's just where you place it.
SPEAKER_03You can't expect God to do something a certain way, and then when it doesn't happen the way you wanted it to or when you wanted it to, you can't blame God for that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04He said that like optimism lets you down, but belief for an egg for a um what's a for an end result, that is what matters. Not not optimism to get to the next day or to the next week or to the next season. Yeah, it's the expectation and the belief that the outcome will come to pass eventually.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and he had used oh is that guy's name's James Stockdale. Yeah, something like James Stockdale, um, to explain what Luke was saying. He was he was a prisoner of war, and like for like years he was tortured. I don't know what war or Vietnam.
SPEAKER_02Vietnam.
SPEAKER_00Yes, yes. So Vietnam had him and was like torture. No, y'all don't laugh at James, y'all. I'm laughing at you, Vietnam got him, y'all. And he was tortured for like years. And um, when he finally made it out, people were asking him like who didn't make it out. And he had said, um, the people who were optimistic, which is like Luke was saying, the optimist. Um, because he was saying the ones who said stuff like, We'll be home by Christmas or we'll be home by Easter. When it didn't happen, they lost faith. And they would slowly, like their brain would just change from like the optimism to straight up like we're never getting out of here, are we? Yeah. Right. And then they gave up on their own. But he had something where he pretty much said, like he was determined, I'm making it out of here. I don't know how, I don't know when, but I'm gonna make it out of this alive.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_00And he did.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and there was no doubt in his mind. He didn't put a deadline on it like the optimist, like you were saying. Um, like if they were like, Oh, we're gonna be out of here by Christmas, uh uh they're gonna come and get us. Yeah. When when they put that deadline, even if they did it subconsciously, when it passed, they started losing faith little by little. Yeah, and that is exactly what we were just talking about by putting deadlines on God.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03You can uh say you didn't get healed on this Sunday service, you're like, Oh, I'm gonna get healed next Sunday. If you do that over and over and over, your faith may not break the first deadline you put.
SPEAKER_04Right.
SPEAKER_03But say God has something to store for you five years down the line, and what you need to do is just be faithful the entire time. You're placing deadlines every week now for yourself in this scenario, and you're just gonna start slowly losing faith every time. And that can turn into disappointment towards God if you're not careful.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, those mental tricks will hurt you, you know? It's called a trick for a reason. Over time, it's just gonna take you down.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and then eventually you may find yourself like you haven't lost faith in God completely, but now that God hasn't met your specific circumstance or what you were predicting to happen, you may just start subconsciously thinking, Well, God can do it, but just not for me, not for my situation. And so now you're at a spot where you're kind of you've lost faith in God's ability to do it for you. You gotta be careful.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, this kind of ties back to even just last week's is like you can't place too much expectation on the wrong thing, just the same that's you can't predict what's gonna happen. Because last week's message was about the expect expecting, right?
SPEAKER_00Like if you don't Oh yeah, expectation the something before the miracle precursor for the miracle, something like that.
SPEAKER_01Like making like if you're expecting it to happen, it will.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but it it's not like you can't expect it to happen and then if it like on like let's just say a Sunday and it not happen, and then you're like, okay, well, yeah, like you can't expect it to happen with a deadline, like give it with give it your specific instructions for it. Yeah, like that's not how expectation works. Expectation is saying, you know, God, I'm gonna go to the service and I'm expecting you to to heal, even if it's not me. You're gonna heal in the service and you can do powerful things because you are here and I know what you are capable of. And so, like, like you were saying, if you put deadlines on her, if you put specifics into it, he it it's not opposite. He's not like the human asking you for help. Like you don't have to tell him, hey, yeah, you gotta do this.
SPEAKER_01If you don't run this show, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, we want to uh kind of preface by saying that none of this is saying that you shouldn't believe that there's a moment. Like, for instance, if you're in a service and the preacher or evangelist or whoever is up there and is like, if you need your body to be healed, come up. Yeah, you shouldn't feel afraid to go up. Oh, yeah. Um, we're not saying anything like that. Um, what we're saying is that you should have the faith that even if you go up and you're not healed, you just know already you have the faith that I'm gonna be healed. Yeah. And that can go for anything, whether you need a breakthrough in your job, in your family, um, you should have the faith that it's gonna happen no matter what.
Deadlines, Optimism, And Stockdale
SPEAKER_03Simply because God is good and you believe in that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03That's right.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and that's I think another thing um it was kind of relating to the James thing, Stockdale. He had said, it's kind of like what Luke was saying, but he had said, you must never confuse faith with wait, faith, hold on. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail with the facts of your current reality. I really like this because like sometimes I can expect certain things from God and I expect it to come my way and like the way I planned it, but then it doesn't, and I somehow get mad at him that he didn't do what I planned when I forget the whole reason that I was, you know, expecting in the first place is because I know that he can do it and that he can heal me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. It's like you almost try to put your own, like, like it's like you want it to happen, you think of how it could happen. Okay, so like from my point of view, uh for like if it ever like from the way I think about it, is it could almost be a control thing. Like you want to kind of almost control your life situation and how it's happening. It's like if you ever if so something happened to you or your family, you feel like your life's going out of control, and so a way to put it back into control is you try to think of a way it could be fixed. And then you're asking God to fix it in this way, and you're like you've almost like prepared for him to fix it in that way, and he just like you were saying, it's not that you're not the one running the show, he's gonna fix it in a way that's the best way for you, whether you know it or not.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's a really good way to put it. I like that. Like you like, you try to fix it.
SPEAKER_01Like you almost like it's like a way that a preconceived idea of how it's gonna be fixed, like because only your mind can only think so far, and God can think God can think so much further than that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and God may be trying to hit a a much deeper issue or something else entirely, and you're just trying to force him into your own box, and you're just like, God, please do this specific thing, this is what I need. And God's just like, bro, let me handle it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01And then also almost another part of that would be what you were saying is him teaching you a different lesson, but he's gonna try and handle it. So he may you may be thinking that you're letting him handle it when you give him that situation for him to handle. When but you're saying, Lord, can you please fix? Okay, we'll we'll make a scenario.
unknownHmm.
SPEAKER_00That's like whenever you ask chat to be do something, he goes, hmm, thinking typically when people say that they have a scenario in mind.
SPEAKER_03But I didn't think about that one. Generating.
SPEAKER_00Let's think of a scenario.
SPEAKER_03Triangulating.
SPEAKER_01So okay, wait. So basically, a scenario could be like you're sick, um, you have the fever, and you're like, okay, Jesus, I need you to heal this fever tomorrow because I have plans. So I'm gonna give it to you, but you're gonna have to you're gonna have to heal me like by tonight, okay? So you give that situation to dot to God. But what you're really doing is you're giving him your plans for him to execute. And you need to actually, he may be trying to work on you, like you said, in a different way where you actually just need to release the control or release, like actually truly release it to God, that problem, that situation, and not just release him the plans to how he should fix it.
SPEAKER_00And I think another thing, like a part to that is like, I don't know, kind of like I guess when we talk about it, it's kind of an extreme because we're kind of saying, like, don't ever expect anything. But uh, God does care. Like, he cares about the things you care about, no matter how small it is. So it's like if you say it in a way that's like, you know, God, I have plans with my best friend tomorrow and I would really like to do it. So if you could possibly heal my fever by tonight, that'd be really great. Amen. Like that's one thing. Instead of saying, hey, I need to heal by tonight, do it, or I'm gonna be mad at you. Well, like that's also like a strange example. I couldn't think of one of those. I know, like an example where like you go to him sincerely and you say like what you would like. That does it doesn't mean he's gonna do it, and you have to know that. You have to have the mindset of saying, you know, this is what I would like, and I'm gonna tell God the desires of my heart, but I know that my heart is not always correct and that what I want is not always what needs to happen. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And it's also a lot different for asking him to heal you so you could go do something too, in the sense of like, Lord, can you please heal me? I'm feeling really bad and I just I need your healing all my life, that type of thing. Not I still like Lord, I really do love my friends and I want to go hang out with them tomorrow. Yeah, like can you please heal me by tomorrow? Because that's still almost putting a deadline on him. Because yeah, he could, he can, but there's there's still he could still, there's still something maybe that he doesn't like, you know, it's hard to put. There could be still something in your heart where you're trying to put him in a deadline space still. Not saying that you won't get better tomorrow morning, but if you ask him from the wrong part of your heart, if that makes any sense.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's like the struggle of fully giving it to him.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Like the way I kind of imagine it is imagine you're working a job and the job just isn't that great. Say it's a bad boss, bad co-workers, toxic work environment, and you're praying to God, but you're narrowing it down to God, when I go into work tomorrow, I I pray that I have a talk with my boss and it gives me a raise. And that's what you're praying for. And you're praying specifically for that. You want a raise or you want this to improve. And meanwhile, you're ignoring the doors God is opening for you to leave that job. Yeah. And you're just focusing on God, make this better, God, do it this way. Yeah. When you actually start trusting God, and then you leave the job, and a week later you're introduced to a new job that is a lot better, more convenient, higher paying. When that's what God was trying to do the whole time, but you were focused on God, give me a raise here. God, make this person treat me better, instead of just giving it all to
Control Versus Surrendering The Outcome
SPEAKER_03God in the first place.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, focused on too much of the wrong thing.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you can kind of narrow God down instead of just giving him the situation entirely.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Right? We give him our expectation instead of just expecting him to do to help our general situation. Yeah. What we're going through, where that's at. Help me at my job, you know, like help my coworkers, touch them, help them, you know, help me to be good for them and for let it be good for me too, you know. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00It kind of reminds me of something Pastor Jared had said. He was saying, like the difference between prediction and belief. He said prediction is based on the outcome we imagine, and belief says that I can't see a path from here, but I refuse to surrender hope.
SPEAKER_02I think that is good.
SPEAKER_00Perfectly said, because it's like, you know, you don't see the end or you don't see the end result and how it's gonna work out. And sometimes it doesn't even seem like it will. Like sometimes you're like, I don't see a way out of this, but you have to also have the faith to know that there is a way out of this, that he will find a way for you to get out of it.
SPEAKER_03That's right. Yeah, I'd say that's like the if you boil it down, that's kind of like the core theme of the message that prediction versus belief, that we don't need to predict, we just need to believe. Right. Yeah. That that ties into uh something else he said that faith doesn't require you knowing how. He said uh something along the lines of um it was like our faith uh can lack sometimes because we're too smart. Yeah, yeah. That kind of hit me at first. I was like, what? Yeah, yeah, we know too much of us to be done. But it was like say you're a doctor, you know a lot about sicknesses and diseases. diseases and illnesses and how the human body works. Say you as a doctor get cancer and it's a bad cancer. You have a lot more knowledge about that than the average person. Yeah. You know how deadly this is. So you have a lot of knowledge and if you're not careful, that can affect your faith. You know that there's not a good survival uh rating from this. There's not a good chance. And you can let that affect your faith on what you believe God can do. It's crazy. Because you have too much knowledge on the situation.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. He said if the knowledge of the problem starts speaking louder than what God can do is when it's dangerous. Because you may know so much about that problem. Like you you're the expert. You're the number one cancer doctor in your state and you just got why am I laughing?
SPEAKER_00I thought it was a joke and then I realized it was real keep going.
SPEAKER_03Yeah Audrey cancer is real.
SPEAKER_00No she was like like I thought she was trying to like say like in your mind you're the number one doctor in the world.
SPEAKER_01No she said in your state and I was like oh she's no I mean like in his scenario you may be the number one doctor like the number one cancer doctor. Yeah and you just got the one of the worst cancer types you can and that if you're with that knowledge that can start speaking louder than what God can do in your life.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah it just it comes down to to faith. I mean it maybe you don't have the knowledge but maybe it's what other people are speaking into you. Yeah. Um say you're going through something hard and the people in your circle or people around you are like ooh that's that's going to be rough a lot of people don't make it through that. A lot of people don't make it through that unchanged or they're just speaking all that negativity into you can let that affect you as well. You can start to believe yeah this is rough I'm probably not going to make it out and you can let that shift your expectation of what God can do as well.
SPEAKER_01And to add on to that I think that you it's so this towards the end of this message it kind of just stuck out to me how Uncle Jonathan's message or well Pastor Jonathan's message about the like the lifesaver and the being on the boat.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01It's you can let the facts determine what you're going to believe and how you're feeling or you could try like or you can make sure that you're so steadfast in your belief and your faith in God that none of that can change no matter what. Because if you may set a deadline for God he doesn't accomplish it now your confidence in what you believe is shaken because you might have unintentionally set something for him to do and he didn't do it. So your confidence may be shaken the problem is you have to make sure that you are not on the lifesaver to where your confidence and faith can be shaken. You want to make sure that you're on that big boat like he was preaching about that I forgot what the message was but on that stability on that stable like boat that's not going to be shaken in a storm that even when something does fail it's not going to be sinking like right then and there. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah it was kind of the whole thought in his message of uh being lukewarm is kind of like being out on a lifeboat yeah having stable faith is being on the big ship and I kind of that does tie along into what you were just saying really well because if you're not as stable if you're kind of on that lifeboat you may more frequently or be more inclined to kind of put God in a box and when he doesn't do it that way since you're on the lifeboat and every little wave is going to send you going crazy
Faith Without Seeing The Path
SPEAKER_03that one tiny God not meeting your exact prediction is going to throw you off. Whereas someone on the boat they would they just have the faith that God's going to do it. Yeah may not look like what I want but God's going to do it. Kind of like the uh the the blind man that he brought up in Matthew 9 27 through 30 where I'll just read it and 27 starts as Jesus went on from there two blind men followed him calling out mercy on us son of David and when he had gone indoors the blind men came to him and he asked them Do you believe that I am able to do this? Yes, Lord, they replied then he touched their eyes and said According to your faith let it be done to you so they were healed according to their faith that's all it took yeah Jesus was just like do you think I can do it? Yeah. And they just said yes they recognized who his was who he was by saying have mercy on us son of David that was them acknowledging that this is the prophesied Messiah this is the the Messiah from the bloodline of David. They knew who he was and they just believed um now imagine how differently that might have played out if they had heard of the blind man that was healed by getting by Jesus uh spitting on the ground and making mud and putting it in his eyes. Right. What if they had come up to Jesus with dirt in their hands and being like Jesus spit in this mud so you can rub it on our face and God's just like I didn't need all that. Yeah that was for them I just need you to believe you could try to fit Jesus and or God Jesus into a bot box like that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah I like that point because that was not how he would have planned to heal them. That was a preconceived idea how they planned on getting healed.
SPEAKER_03And yeah that was a really good idea God didn't ask them anything else except do you believe and that's all it takes.
SPEAKER_01Another point that he had made around that story was that they they didn't have any other idea of what God can do either. They were like we do believe that you can heal me everybody else that could see well not everybody that's a big generalization but a lot of other people would say they only saw Jesus as a carpenter son. They didn't really expect much for him else to be to heal them. So they had that full expectation that they will heal him that Jesus will heal them. Yeah instead of that I mean that's just a carpenter son I don't I don't know if he can but if you want to go for it. Yeah there's a full belief in him.
SPEAKER_03Yeah and I really like how that that kind of ties into the they didn't require anything else except belief. They simply just said yes I believe and that kind of brings to the surface the point that sometimes we're not willing to believe and have that faith unless first we can see a path forward. Yeah. And that's a hard truth to swallow I think that because I've dealt with that before where sometimes I may not be willing to I may say it and I may even think it but deep down I may not truly accept it unless I myself see that there's a path forward and then I'm like okay I see it God make me go down that path or God make that path available when the whole point of it is I don't it doesn't matter if I see a path forward or not. It's I just have to believe that God can do it. I don't need to see a way out. Believing that there is a path out. Yeah because if for every problem in your life you knew how it was going to work out it wouldn't require much faith to believe that God can do it.
SPEAKER_04And sometimes faith takes action like in this same story they had to physically follow him through the door that was the point that Pastor Jared made they had to follow him through the door it wasn't just frictionless access. It wasn't like instant just like oh I showed up Jesus is right there. Let's do it yeah like it's time.
SPEAKER_03You know it's it took more yeah and it wasn't like that's all it was really it's simple they just followed Jesus went to where he was and they believed and that was it it didn't require any planning. It didn't require any um them looking for all the ways they can possibly be made whole all the ways they can possibly get their blindness healed.
SPEAKER_01They didn't sit in a room and be like do you really think he can do it we really do be complicating things for ourselves sometimes.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely just that's where the son of David is please heal me.
SPEAKER_04Hardest part was walking in the door yeah that's crazy.
SPEAKER_03But really is it simple that's kind of the core of the message just have faith and don't put your preconceived ideas or predictions on God.
James On Poverty, Wealth, And Humility
SPEAKER_00You gotta be careful so this semester we're talking about James as you know and last episode we did verses well wait one chapter one verse one through eight yep so today we're gonna do chapter one verses nine through eighteen so somebody can kick us off.
SPEAKER_03Yeah um it immediately starts off with something that kind of confused me at a first glance me too same just right off the bat starting in verse nine believers who are poor have something to boast about I was like what for God has honored them and then 10 and those who are rich should boast that God has humbled them. They will fade away like a little flower in the field. A little flower dude yeah yeah initially I was just like okay I need to look into this more because what does that even mean? What are you doing have something to boast about and because God has honored them.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And then the exact opposite for the rich people it was confusing. But um initially it's interesting to me because James is he's kind of flipping the perception of value based on wealth that we that any human would look at another person. You look at someone that's rich they have high status someone that's poor low status. That's just kind of how we're wired as humans. Yeah but James says the opposite that the poor person should have joy they should boast about that for God has honored them. And so it's like it's kind of just like what is he saying um so I kind of look throughout other areas of the the Bible to see where else I could see that rehash and I found that in Luke 620 when Jesus is going through the Beatitudes he kind of says the same thing. He says God blesses you who are poor for the kingdom of God is yours. So you see that James's message of that is kind of it's mirroring exactly what Jesus says because what he's trying to get across is that one to me wealth doesn't matter. I mean we see that throughout the rest of the Bible that's not a surprise that um that no matter if you're poor, no matter if you're rich the kingdom of God is for both of you. To God no one money doesn't make one person matter more than the other.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I think what I took away from that is that like kind of like you said the value but it's that like your circumstances don't you know determine your spiritual worth or value. Yeah. Like a believer who is poor can still rejoice knowing that God has given them spiritual rewards. Just like a um a rich person can be glad that God has you know be grateful for what they have but they could also have things to look forward to if they're following God's word correctly.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Right. And I I kind of like how it um it it kind of hits on inferiority and superiority all in the same two verses um hitting at them from different angles. A poor person they may be tempted to say I don't have much so I am not much to God I can't be much. I don't have much value in the kingdom because I have nothing and James is being like you should have joy God is honoring you. You are a part of his kingdom no matter what you need to look up and realize like you're a part of this kingdom. God no matter how much you have you can have nothing and you're a part of the kingdom. But on the other side of the coin a rich person may be tempted to believe I have all this because I am great. I deserve more because I have all this I work for this I have all these accomplishments I have all this wealth I'm someone important and they may be tempted to believe that they're more important than they actually are and so James is being like you just need to be humble you need to be humble you need to boast that God has humbled you because you if you're like that and you have that temptation you need to look down and realize that you're just like the poor person in the grand scheme of things. Yeah yeah and then in the next verse 11 that's when it kind of shows you why the rich person does need to humble themselves because he's like no matter what you're gonna wilt away like that flower. All that wealth is going to disappear so the God you're both the same the rich and the poor yeah so he kind of hits on superiority and inferior inferiority. We're all on a common ground to God.
SPEAKER_04That's right. And that uh verse 10 I really found an example that I think kind of embodied it in a different uh verse different chapter Zacchaeus in Luke 19 it uh he stood up and he he said I will give back to the poor in in the public in the crowd with Jesus right there confronting him about it he was humbled you know yeah he had to give everything back and he he did and it it turned out for good for him in the end like it's saying here yeah he was he didn't turn into one of those flowers that withered away he ended up living on yeah that's what I that's what I when I went because I was also originally confused by this verse but when I went into debt to look for it in verse 10 and it says those who are rich should boast that God has humbled them is that they should boast when God puts them through trials because it keeps them in a humble mindset.
SPEAKER_01Not that I got this I deserve this I won this it's on me. It's that God has blessed me with this and I'm going through trials but it doesn't matter if I'm rich or not it doesn't take away my struggles. And so I got it kind of what from Luke has said like he was humbled like um publicly and so God could humble the rich publicly and they should boast that they do that. They're like God has humbled me to keep me humble and not in my own what's that word own kingdom ego.
SPEAKER_00Yeah yeah like overall just stay humble whether you have a little bit or a whole lot because like your relationship with God is what really matters and that's what's going to be important not your earthly status.
SPEAKER_03Yeah but I like that Ramsay because it's um yeah like our saying because for the rich person they need to realize that yeah you may have started that business and got all that money you may have worked for it yeah but at the end of the day it's all God's yeah yeah and if God didn't create you if God didn't allow that to happen you wouldn't have that money. So at the end of the day you need to know that you're not all that yeah God's allowing this to happen God has his hand on the situation and you're no better than anyone else.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04I think in in verse 11 it just embodies it very well if you don't stay humble you like like the flower its beauty fades away. It droops and falls just by the sun. So all it really has is looks and it's life and that's it. It's empty there's no vessel there's no you know spirit inside of it there's nothing saving it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah I didn't read that like I read it but like I didn't comprehend it like you just said it and I like it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah that was good. Um I really liked the next verse as well though in verse 12 when it goes on to say God blesses those who are who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterwards they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. Basically saying God blesses those who are obedient and stay strong through temptation though God will never put the temptation there himself which it we'll get into in a second he will bless you for denying it when you are tempted because none of us are perfect and flesh will wonder and desires will come up to where you want to do something that you know you shouldn't but God will bless if you deny that temptation and the person who patiently endures the testing and temptation like he said will be blessed.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I know it's kind of like the like kind
Enduring Trials Without Blaming God
SPEAKER_00of what I took from that verse is like there's a blessing in staying faithful even in the trials that you're going through. And it's kind of like the sermon that we were talking like that he had because like when we're going through trials and we're enduring them there's a blessing on the other side and it's important to not you know try to predict what's going to happen but to expect that we will get out of it and that there will be a blessing on the other side. And we can't expect God to do things the way we want them. We have to be patient and trust him and faith is not proven whenever everything is easy though. Our faith to God is proven whenever there are trials that we're going through and there are hard things that we have to endure.
SPEAKER_04When I was looking at verse 12 it was like this seems like a very random swap talking about some flower that is burned by the sun to the the crown of life that God gives but I looked like further into it read it again a couple times and it's really just a comparison he flips it to show that the lowly people they have an eternal achievement where the flowers they end up dying in a physical state of of freedom at either financially or whatever they call wealth. So it's just a comparison to show you that you have to have your mindset eternal you have to have your your goals and your your life set on eternal things to get the crown of life instead of destruction.
SPEAKER_03Because spoiler alert the crown of life isn't like a crown that God's gonna physically put on your head it's what Luke was just saying it's it's eternity. Yeah it's living with Christ forever and something really interesting is that the crown of life isn't the only time you don't only hear of that in James all the way if you look all the way to the end of the Bible in Revelations in Revelation 2 10 don't be afraid of what you are about to suffer. The devil will throw some of you into prison to test you. You will suffer for 10 days but if you remain faithful even when facing death I will give you the crown of life so even at the end of the Bible God's promising again that if you endure these trials I mean this one pretty rough trials being put in prison for 10 days that's right um I'll be honest I did not go and look around into the context of why these people are in prison. But it's the same principle if you go through these trials and keep your mind set on God and have that expectation you're gonna receive the crown of life. That's right.
SPEAKER_01The eternal life and I also think it's important to know how we can endure the trials and it's like one we can fast sure but we talk about this all the time fasting it denies the flesh and it builds your own strength in um in like denying your flesh in denying yourself. But there's also the second way you could do it is just praying for the strength praying for that discernment and wisdom so that your own desires even if they do start to take over you can know that that's not that is me that's my flesh that is not the will of God and you pray for the strength to deny it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. That kind of goes into verse 13 says and remember when you are being tempted do not say God is tempting me. God is never tempting tempted to do wrong and he never tempts anyone else well this is kind of going into 15. So 13 through 15 because they're all kind of the same temptation comes from our own desires which entice us and drag us away these desires give birth to sinful actions and when sin is allowed to grow it gives birth to death so like Ramsey was saying like he's not giving us temptation that's our flesh that's something we have to deal with I really like the sorry but I really like the the difference that it kind of highlights between a trial and temptation because they're not the same thing.
SPEAKER_03No and first and foremost you should realize the difference you should realize that losing your job that's a trial not a temptation you're gonna hate it you're you're probably gonna be bummed for a bit but that's not a temptation that's not going to cause you to sin. But they can kind of play hand in hand because the trial can lead to temptation and that's where Ramsey was kind of hitting during the trial you can't afford to just take a back seat and wait out the trial. You have to be steadfast you have to be praying you have to be fasting that's right because in the trial temptation can become stronger because you're going through stuff and if you kind of start letting your walls down if you stop uh putting up the shield of faith of God and you let your defenses fall then the temptations can kind of work in at you. Um this is highlighted perfectly in um Matthew 4 when Jesus was led into the wilderness he was led into the wilderness by the spirit but it was the devil that came and tempted him so the act of going into the the the wilderness that wasn't the temptation it was it was the devil that came so talking about losing your job for example you lose your job that's a trial that yeah that's I'd be bummed out too but it during this trial while you're going through it now you're at home you have a lot more free time and if you're not careful that is where the temptation will can start coming in in that scenario um an idle mind is a devil's prayground now you have a lot of free time not really doing much you're going through it you just lost your job um any type of temptation can happen in that environment so it's kind of the difference between a trial and temptation like what you were saying Audrey that God is never going to tempt you.
SPEAKER_04Yeah sure God may send a trial your way because sometimes you may need a trial yeah sometimes you need that growth that's how we test your fate yeah test trial both of those things I think a good ex another good example is Job's situation. Yeah you know uh he was tortured and persecuted by Satan himself God didn't tempt him it wasn't God's idea to make Job go through all these things but he allowed it to happen to test him he didn't make it happen it wasn't his idea it wasn't like oh I'm gonna implement this to see will he make it out of this guy wasn't like bro it would be so funny if we took everything he owns hysterical like let's see if it'll give it back later yeah yeah I think it's just important to like just because you're going through a trial does not mean that you should be you know giving into temptations like like kind of example would be you know losing your job that doesn't mean you should be tempted to go punch your boss in the face like and like if you fire in the like if you get a trial in your life you shouldn't be tempted or I mean no no no you might be tempted yeah but you can't slash shouldn't fall into temptation like I won't say can't because that's an absolute but you shouldn't fall into the temptation like even if it's just a bad habit that you used to break like never mind I'm not gonna go into detail continue that was really good I think another good point though would be is God it it says God will not tempt you, okay right?
SPEAKER_01To know if it is a temptation or trial is God will never put you in a state of confusion. So like if it's a hard time and you're just it's a struggle that may just be a trial of God's gonna help you out of it but you have to go through it to keep going to where you're supposed to go. But being tempted and like confused God will never put you in a state of confusion to where you don't know like you don't know what is happening like you don't like you don't know why. You don't know what's going on. He'll never make you purposely confused that's something I just cracked my knuckles, sorry. That's something that you'll your own flesh and your own fleshly desires would put you in, is a state of confusion.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think an important thing to remember is that like God, He may test
Desire, Sin, Death, And Good Gifts
SPEAKER_00your faith, but He will never tempt you to abandon it. And He will never tempt you to walk away from the truth that you know just because you're going through a trial.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I mean baseline is he's never gonna tempt you, period. Yeah. All right. But yeah, he'll never like I see what you're saying. He's never gonna put you in a situation like that. That just that'd be cruel and God's not cruel. So that won't happen. But um I really like the uh the kind of call-up because we talked about this extensively back in Proverbs that uh that temptations they come from the desire of your heart. It's not just some random outside force that is uh tempting you, yeah. That's tempting you. Like I feel like I know all of us, including produce Bryan in this room, enough to know that being a serial killer would not be on your list of temptations. That's just not who you are. That's not just gonna that temptation is not just gonna I hope not, yeah. But like that temptation is not just gonna come up one day. Yeah, it's not random like that. Yeah, but I'd say one a lot more common for probably all of us in this modern era is the temptation to give ourselves away to entertainment. Yeah, we can all sit down after a long day and scroll for like five hours. Like we can all fall to that. Yeah, um, that's a lot more common temptation, and that comes from within you because we all have a desire to just want to be entertained. Yeah, and in this modern age, it's very easy to be entertained.
SPEAKER_00And I think it's important to remember, like we say this a lot, I think we've said it before, like last semester, but temptation itself is not the sin. Yeah, that is just what leads to it. And it's like, like you were just saying, the enemy usually doesn't have to create a new sin or a new habit or a new temptation. It's usually something that we already have in our hearts, maybe a bad habit that we've been trying to break or that we have broken, but it still kind of fessers up sometimes. And like you have to remember that the enemy's not always gonna create new desires for you to fall into. Sometimes it's the same traps that have been laid for like 10 years that you're gonna accidentally like go back into. So never let your guard down to something that you think you might be past because you never know when the enemy's like, mm-mm, we're gonna bring it back up. Yeah. Because that's when you're vulnerable, that's when you're gonna fall into it. Yeah, and it's like, no, good.
SPEAKER_03I was I was gonna say that what you're just saying is completely true, and we talked about this as well, that there's no greater example of that than Jesus. Jesus was without sin, and yet he was tempted by the devil. So temptation does not equal sin. Yeah. Because if you believe Jesus was without sin, then you believe that that temptation wasn't sin. Yeah. So like if you believe the Bible, you kind of gotta believe that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, exactly. Yeah, so the verses that we just read are kind of like like a progression of sinning and like the order of it. Like it starts with, you know, your desires and your temptations, and then it goes to the actual sin if you do it, and then it goes to death, like straight up. You sin, you die and create straight up. Um, like sin grows when we feed it, obviously. And like what might start as a desire can become a lifestyle very quickly and very easily if we give in and we don't put up walls and boundaries.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, there's some uh very, very plainly seen examples of that in the Bible where sin leading to death. I mean, look at David, David and Bath Bath Bathsheba. Yes, that one that's a long name. Um, but anyway, it started out with desire. David saw her from his castle. Um that was just desire. Um if he would have stopped there, sure, you know, he's it's kind of strange to be looking at someone's wife and be like, I want her. But if he would have stopped there and gone away and repented, and that was that, um if if all he did was be like, yo, that's a beautiful woman, but then immediately went away, that was just temptation. Yeah. In the moment he was like, I could have that, but she's just pretty, I'm walking away. But he let the desire fester and then he pursued her, then he took her to himself, and that physically led to death because he had her husband murdered and covered it up. So that was a very literal that sin led to death. It wasn't his death, but it was that was showing you that that sin led to a literal death. And the child's death, too. Yeah. That's too that led to a literal death. And you can go back even further, all the way to Eve, the first person ever to be tempted. It started with a desire that the the devil was that curiosity, he brought that out.
SPEAKER_00Like, do you really think that uh that no, he was saying pretty much like God's God doesn't want you to know everything.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, like you really think you're gonna die if you eat that. God just doesn't want you becoming like him. So that curiosity, that desire grew. She took she eventually took the fruit, she ate it, that introduced sin into the world, and now people die. I mean, like that's little as that. Straight up tragic. That sin led to all of us dying. Yeah, thanks, Eve. But hope you're listening.
SPEAKER_00Oh, we got producer Brian laughing. I'm not a giggle on that one. I love it. Um, yeah, did you have more about that verse?
SPEAKER_03But yeah, no, that's just like some very clear examples that yeah, for sure. I mean, it may not be that serious for you. Like your sin may not lead to you murdering someone, but it could lead to spiritual death.
SPEAKER_01Yes, that's still death. Which is probably the main one that we probably struggle with today. Yes. Well, hopefully most people aren't dropping like flies. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Hopefully you guys aren't struggling with murder. Um if you are, please go like turn yourself in. But I'm just gonna, you know, go out on a limb and say that you guys aren't struggling with that. So let's talk about the spiritual death.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I mean, yeah, as far as spiritual death, just you know, giving way to sin, falling into the temptation and doing the sin will spiritually kill you because we've talked about it a thousand times. You know, if you're not if you're feeding something at all times. Yeah. And if it's not your spirit, then it's your flesh. Yeah. And the more you let your flesh win and take over, it's gonna get out of control and your spirit's gonna die.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, like you said uh earlier, before we start talking about this, it can become a lifestyle. Yeah. You feed into it, it starts becoming a habit. Um, that's a pretty easy way to start killing your spirit, letting a sin become a lifestyle. I mean, there's not really better ways to do it. Yeah, like great point.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I think um the next verses, verse 16 and 17, I also like those. They say, Don't be misled, my dear brothers and sisters. Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God, our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. So it's kind of the complete opposite of what the other one was, which was talking about you know, like temptation and stuff. But this one's pretty much saying the good qualities, the good things that do truly come from God. Like his where is it at? Everything, whatever is good and perfect, is coming down to us from God. Don't be deceived. Like sin seems inviting, but it's our flesh trying to take over and be stronger than our spirit. And God has no part in our temptation. Yeah, that's just us. James uses verse 17 as the opposite of sin and temptation, like I was saying. Like he was explaining that God brings good things and that he is consistent and wants us to succeed in all things that we do. And God doesn't change with our circumstances. Yeah, that doesn't change like the same God who was with us in our blessing is the God who's still with us in our struggle and right beside us, like helping us.
SPEAKER_01He's a constant, he's not shifting like a shifting shadow. Yeah, he'll never change.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and it's I like that. That it's uh, like you said, it kind of just like it, James was just talking about what doesn't come from God, like you said, temptation. And now he's like, Okay, this is what comes from God. Yeah, and it's basically everything good. Yeah, that's what I think. To sum it, it's everything good, and he's just letting you know that God doesn't change. It kind of like before we're talking about trials, we're talking about temptations, things you go through. And at the end, he's just like, Everything good comes from God, and God doesn't change. No matter what trial you go to, no matter what temptations you're faced with, that doesn't change that God's good. He created everything good and everything you have, tying that back to what we were talking about in the beginning, rich and poor. Again, everything you have if you're the rich person in the scenario. Um, if you are hit me up, we should become friends if you're the rich person. But if you're the rich person in the scenario, that all comes from God, no matter what. So it's it's just showing you at the end that God's unchanging, He's kind of outside all this. We change, he doesn't, he's good, and everything good is from him.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Make that go for all the podcasties.
SPEAKER_03We'll all humble you, whoever you are. You can I can humble you by you giving me half of your net worth. That's very humbling, I think.
SPEAKER_00I love it.
SPEAKER_01Um and then those are that's very good. I really like those points. But then it also continues, and he chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word, and we out of create out of all creation became his prize possession. Which one, if God gives everything good and we're a prize possession, pretty much means one plus one equals two. We're pretty great. We are all things good and perfect. We know that's not how it's bro is connecting the dots practical. I'm just saying.
SPEAKER_04I mean, out of all the vast, beautiful, and intricate creation that he's made, we're the ones.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, isn't that crazy? That means we must be pretty good.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, but basically humbly, we must be pretty good.
SPEAKER_01Humbly, I shall say. But basically, he chose us and gave us a true good gift, which is his word. He gave us that for us to follow because he loved us so much that he wanted us to choose the right path to choose him to lead to what was it, the crown of life. Yeah, and give us that gift. And it's just it's just making the point at the end that these final few verses that we're going over is that good things come from him and bad things will wither like a flower. Yeah. And but he never will because he is a not changing, he's non-changing, and he doesn't shift like shadows. Yeah, and I don't know. Yeah, it's just kind of a crazy point.
SPEAKER_00I think something that James was talking about, like the new life thing. So obviously, we know new life comes from God, but I think to me, verse 18, like you were just saying, what it's like kind of stood out to me was like God didn't save us and he didn't give his truth for us to say the same as we were. He didn't do this stuff to say, like, okay, you're saved, now go on and live exactly how you were.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00The point is you are safe, so now you are a new creature in Christ. You are now different, you were not the same as you were. And that doesn't mean that it's gonna magically happen and it's gonna be no more temptation, no more desires, no more pain, no more suffering. It's just that you don't fall into your temptations the way you used to because you now know the truth, and that's what saves you. So that's kind of like the beauty of that scripture broken down. Beautiful.
SPEAKER_03It is beautiful, it's really good. That's right. You get a 10 out of 10 for that one.
SPEAKER_00Yay! Thank you, thank you.
SPEAKER_03All right, but yeah, everyone, we've uh we've spent a pretty lengthy time talking about all this stuff. Um, again, very good message by Pastor Jared. Um, I feel like it's definitely what I needed, and it's what a lot of us probably do need. Um again, if I had to sum it up, you know, don't put God in a box. Just have faith. Know that he can do it. Don't come to God with any preconceived notions or ideas of how you want him to do it. Be like the be like the blind man. Just I believe you can do it, God. I believe you are who you say you are, I believe you can do all things. Just just do it. Just have that faith, have that simple faith. You you don't gotta complicate it. And then for what we talked about in James, just know that if you're going through something, it's not from God. Just I mean, a trial might be from God. I mean, maybe maybe you've been a bad believer and God needs to correct you. Um, but if it's a temptation that's not from God, know that trials, no matter what, trials are temptation, it's gonna work out for your good. Yeah, God loves you, He's got you. Um, and stay humble. Um, if you're super rich, still hit us up. But stay humble. Um we'll help you.
SPEAKER_01Leave a comment where we should contact you. Give us your Venmo.
SPEAKER_03You specifically rich person. But um But yeah, God is good.
SPEAKER_00Um, there is some sewing going on under us. Don't know what that is right now. But yeah, um, thank you, Hudson, for that summary. You're very good.
SPEAKER_03You're welcome, Audrey.
SPEAKER_00Anyway, um, I hope you guys really enjoyed this podcast. What is that?
SPEAKER_03Okay, we need to finish this episode now.
SPEAKER_00Okay, wait, oh building about to collapse. So, guys, um, we are pretty much done with this episode, and we hope you enjoyed it, because I know I did.
SPEAKER_03I did too, guys.
SPEAKER_00Okay, guys, tune in next week for more. Bye. Bye guys. Peace out.