Episode #11 Your Identity Is Greater Than Your Performance | Ft. Mike Miller, FCA Director/Minister

We continue our conversation on identity by diving into a question every athlete eventually faces: What happens when the sport ends? Whether it’s graduation, injury, or simply the end of a season, many athletes struggle with who they are when the game is no longer part of their daily lives. Joined by Mike Miller, FCA Director/Minister, we discuss finding our true identity in Christ and what it looks like to build a foundation that lasts long after the final whistle.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:07

What is up guys? Welcome back to the Everyday Faith Podcast. I am your host, Tyler Klein. Joining me today, good friend of mine. Hopefully soon be mentor of mine that I want to say. Um man, Mike Miller. Mike, I've been I have a list of people that I've been wanting to have on this podcast. And you've been a guy that I've been wanting to pick your brain. Um I just feel like you're someone that's a season ahead of me. You got a lot of wisdom. You have a pretty cool job in in my eyes.

SPEAKER_04 0:32

Think so?

SPEAKER_01 0:33

Um, I think so. I think so. Thank you for coming today. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_04 0:37

Thanks for having me, Tyler. No grateful to be here and talk about the word of God and um our topics for today. So I'm excited. God has really blessed um my family and I through the ministry we get to do with Fellowship of Christian athletes. Yeah. And it's been the most joyful, not the easiest road, um, but the most joyful uh of opportunities, of jobs, of of careers, of things I've got to do with my time, talents, and efforts um this past year and a half.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

You would you say you were a big sports guy growing up?

SPEAKER_04 1:16

Definitely. Big sports guy. Um What's that like football, baseball?

SPEAKER_01 1:22

Mostly football, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:23

Anything outside. So I started I was a kid that um mom wanted us outside. Yeah. So everything growing up, played baseball probably the soonest, and did that the longest time in through grade school. But football I started in third or fourth grade, um, flags and tackle, and rode that into small school college football. So that um was the sport I finished on, most passionate about, but can't play as much pickup football now. So I am picking up some golf, um, some outdoor activities. I love it. I love it. Some adventure sports.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

I didn't know you played baseball. I played baseball my whole life. Yeah. Great sport.

SPEAKER_04 2:03

It is I love it.

SPEAKER_01 2:04

Now what what um before I know you want to pray and everything, what was what was the school you went to again, college? Because I isn't was I think it was near me, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_04 2:11

Yeah, so it was in Pennsylvania, born and raised in Southeast Florida. Um basically I just took the best deal on college for my tuition, and it was at Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania. So a D3 program that was solid and yeah, enjoyed time there.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Was that like a four-year kind of gig you were there for?

SPEAKER_04 2:31

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

What were your thoughts as a former Pennsylvanian? I don't even know if that's the word I would use. Um, what were your thoughts on Pennsylvania?

SPEAKER_04 2:38

It's beautiful. Um, I love the mountains, love the outdoors in general, so I took a lot of days just hiking. Beautiful. Tried hunting for the first time up there, you know.

SPEAKER_01 2:51

Especially in the fall, it's beautiful to hike.

SPEAKER_04 2:53

Yep, yep. And um and the seasons. So we got the winter, enjoyed that. By the fourth winter, it was a little long, it's too much. Ready to get home.

SPEAKER_01 3:03

You know, four months of it or longer a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 3:07

Yeah, yeah, especially the toughest days are when it's cold enough to be snowing. Um I guess just as cold, but not cold enough to be snowing. You know, I remember our freshman year we went and played a team in the mountains. It was like 32 degrees and pouring down rain. That's the worst.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

Yeah. That's the worst.

SPEAKER_04 3:28

Yeah, and I was on the sideline most of the game as a freshman, so I was just cold.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

Oh, yeah, you're cold to bone. You're cold to bone. Um, would you like to pray for us before we actually get into this podcast? I love it. Let's do it.

SPEAKER_04 3:39

God in heaven, thank you so much for this time where Tyler and I get to speak uh Lord, just about you, about your word, about your promises that are true, and uh some of what you've called us to, what you're calling us to. And uh we just ask that you'd help us to focus in this time after good busy days and work and serving you and other conversations, put those things aside so we can have a clear conversation, clarity of mind around your word, uh, around what you would have us discuss, have a heart for, and transform the lives of other students, young adults, um, athletes, parents, in and through this time of discussion. Please just expose to us uh more of your your word, more of the challenges that um the world is facing. And uh we just thank you and are grateful for this time. We invite you, Jesus and your Holy Spirit, to be with us and just be glorified by it. Thank you for Tyler and thank you for the platform that you're providing for him and others to share your good news. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 4:44

Amen. I appreciate that. Now I got into serve students a little bit with you. And one thing I love uh about this podcast is really kind of getting to understand some people's stories and and I'm curious, what did your walk with Christ look like growing up? Was there any influence? Like, was there a mentor in your life? Was there some big moment? Like, how old were you when you came to uh to know Christ?

SPEAKER_04 5:07

Yeah, so I pinpointed to the fourth grade where I gave my life to Jesus and um believed in him truly for uh who he said he was and uh what he did on the cross for me to save me from my sins. But I had known about him for thankfully many years before that. My parents, although they're uh weren't believers, they um did bring us to a church where we as a family got engaged for the first time in a Bible-believing church that in Fort Lauderdale, actually.

SPEAKER_01 5:40

Oh yeah?

SPEAKER_04 5:41

Yep, first Baptist Fort Lauderdale back in the day.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

Um you grew up in this area specifically?

SPEAKER_04 5:46

So Fort Lauderdale until I was about five. Yeah. And then we moved up to uh Palmage County.

SPEAKER_01 5:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 5:51

Yep. But um my sister and I, younger by two years, also college athlete soccer. She and I got to know about a God that loved us, created us, and forgave us of our sins through just faithful Bible teachers at a Bible-believing church for uh a a good long time. Yeah. Now, unfortunately, our parents' marriage didn't work out, and there was a lot of hardship, anger, depression, um, a lot of things that uh I went through and my sister at that time, like a lot of students, unfortunately today, that's a common factor for sure. Common thing, and it's uh shouldn't be. Um but it is what broke me down. Um I remember long string of nights in the fourth grade where I'd come home from school having gotten in trouble at school, hitting kids at school, starting fights, just a ball of anger, ball of depression. Kind of the season of my life. Um I'd go home and knock my door and I'd just be crying, I'd be destroying things in my room, yeah, and I'd be um angry towards God. Um be asking him why this was happening to me, why I'd be feeling this way. It's real and um kind of upset with him, but recognizing that he's hearing me, recognizing um that he then has the power to help transform me and my feelings and my hurt. Wow. So after nights of kind of speaking out to him in anger, uh it turned to a call for help.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

Yeah, what a mindset at a young age.

SPEAKER_04 7:42

Yeah, and and that's I can only attribute to God's word and faithful teachers of it, you know, um, that helped me to know about God. Then it was putting into belief that hey, even though I'm experiencing all this, God can change it. God can so my prayers began to go from blaming God to asking him for help, take away my anger, take away the depression. Um even though my situation didn't change with a divorced home, things actually got worse through middle school, situationally between my parents. Um God had saved me. So it was it was pretty rapidly in the fourth grade that my anger had gone away, that my depression had gone away, stopped having to go to counseling, got off medication, and God had just changed my heart.

SPEAKER_02 8:31

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 8:31

Because I had put my head knowledge about God and who he was to the heart and called out and pleaded that he would not only come in and save me at that time, which I was doing in a Bible-believing church, but believing that he could change, transform, and and that was the time of my life when the Holy Spirit came in to my life, changed me. I was reborn, yeah, and um I believed in Christ for who he said he was, and he transformed me, even though like I said, my situation did change. Yeah. Um he removed that anger, he removed that heartache, and um got to then pursue a relationship, a personal relationship with a heavenly father that was always present.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

That's good, man. Yeah. What is your f what does your parents' relationship look like now, if you don't mind me asking?

SPEAKER_04 9:23

It's the same, you know, it's they're gonna come to know Christ at all or no. So and that's difficult. Um that's my biggest prayer request. Yeah. Um is for their faith to uh become solid. Yeah. Uh and that uh for them to know that a relationship with Jesus Christ is the best thing in the world for them. And that they would um does your sister know Christ? Oh definitely. Yeah. So she and I are are a lot alike in how we both came up to know God and um our experience you know with divorce and yeah and a lot of similarities in sports and such.

SPEAKER_01 10:03

It's nice that you had someone to go through that with.

SPEAKER_04 10:05

Obviously you it was it was a pain, it was tough leaving her alone, yeah. Going to college.

SPEAKER_01 10:12

She's two years younger, you said, yeah. Yep. That is tough.

SPEAKER_04 10:15

So those are that was those are some tough years, I know, for her. Yeah. That I was gone. But God grows us in those seasons, we become more reliant on him. Yeah. You know, I was in certain ways absent of an earthy father with the divorce and the time or the emotional, but I was able to fill that void with our Heavenly Father. Yeah. And um and that did a lot. You asked about mentors. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:44

Who who cause I know you said that your parents would take you to church, but was there a Sunday school teacher, was there a youth leader, pastor that really leaned in?

SPEAKER_04 10:53

The first that really uh stood out, there were many faithful Sunday school leaders that I just don't remember from a young age that I really introduced me to God for the first time, I'm sure. Um I do remember Bev Bonner. Yeah. Um as a fifth grader at First Baptist West Palm. She was leading all things kids ministry, and um, and that was really when I um had started to find a new home. You know, I was a year into really my solid face, had built some friends at uh a new church. So that's kind of the transition when we started attending a regularly again uh new Bible believing church.

SPEAKER_03 11:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:39

And um it was immediately after that, sixth grade, Pastor Kevin Saxon was our middle school pastor. Oh wow, and I remember him the most, I think, as being uh early pivotal in my faith development. He was uh fire chief, uh fire captain, fire chief, and um he was he had plenty of fun side to him, but plenty of serious uh seriousness to him, to God's word, that it woke me up immediately to realizing what my faith was for. And um it was my first experience going on a mission trip with under his leadership in the sixth grade that I recognized and shared my faith for the first time with another child, a middle school student in Savannah, Georgia, randomly canvassing neighborhoods. We had a block party we hosted at a local mov movie theater that was hosting church services or a church plant that we were supporting that week during spring break. Yeah. And um that moment was pivotal because I realized my faith was not just for my healing and for me in a relationship with God, but for the world. Yeah. For others to know the hope that's in Christ. That's good. And uh I remember like waving over a a pastor, or someone came and helped lead a girl to Christ with me because I asked all the the right questions and she was just re completely receptive and wanting of of Jesus in her life. Yeah. And it was cool to walk her through that together with a a leader. Yeah. But after uh but kept Pastor Kevin Saxton was was pivotal on that, and you know, years of middle school ministry during some of the tougher years too, um was strong. And then I remember so that was actually the first year our church, family church, did uh advance. I was gonna say it wasn't named Advance. Yeah, it seemed like advance. So they labeled it advance, my seventh grade year. Gotcha. And uh I did it every year uh from there on middle school all through high school. Yeah. It's a great thing. An incredible thing. And you know, we take a a week, spring break week, and we dedicate students, staff, leaders to all go to a new area, support a local church or plant church plan. Yeah. Um I haven't had the opportunity to do it. You haven't yet?

SPEAKER_01 14:03

Because I when I was a leader, I I had to pick between that or camp, like realistic.

SPEAKER_04 14:08

A nine to five, I had two as well. It was either camp that summer or advanced, so as a volunteer later.

SPEAKER_01 14:16

It's um when I listen to you a little bit of your story and I hear like some of the brokenness, um, and I just see like the man that you've become, and I just know I know a glimpse of you, right? Sure, yeah. Um, it makes me smile because I see the little girls you're raising. And it it's always been funny to me that like all my close friends, like we all had kids within the same year, and it was all boys. And my wife's running joke is like the world needs better men. But like it does when you see like you know, people like you and and people like me and Lakin and and and our friends like who have all this brokenness that they grew up with, and the children that they're raising for that next generation, like it is something magical to see. I shouldn't use the word magical, like it's a blessing to see. Amazing, it's good stuff.

SPEAKER_04 15:01

It's blessing. I love to see new kids popping out everywhere. It's especially right now in our church, especially at family church, sure, brook.

SPEAKER_01 15:08

Yeah, like you go to that back row, like there's nothing but babies right there, right now. Yeah, it's kind of crazy. So I had I had my buddy Dylan on last time. We talked about identity. And when I asked you what you're seeing young adults struggle with, um, it was very similar, it was identity, but it was more so the aspect like you said, um, you know, when when young adults like when you have a passion your whole life, or or till you're a senior or whatever, especially with sports, and that is say that's taken away from you from an injury or you get cut, or it's just simply time to retire. What does your identity look like after that? So I I guess my question to you is why was that what you thought of immediately? Is that just what you're seeing in the schools that you're going into?

SPEAKER_04 15:51

Yeah, so as I speak with coaches every day, um, the biggest support requests for non-believing coaches and like believing coaches at you know Christian schools or such. It's mental health.

SPEAKER_03 16:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:09

So that's and that's a big broad topic. So what is it in mental health? Why is there such an issue uh with believers or non-believers in that space? This is college level coaches, this is high school level coaches.

SPEAKER_03 16:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:24

And um it really boils down to how they react to difficult circumstances, yeah. Um, which are rejection. Rejection in life or in sport, um, which are uh when they don't perform to their own standard or to the standard of a coach or team or program or season. Um and then some things out of their control are injuries, like you said. How do they respond when they have a season ending injury?

SPEAKER_01 16:58

Especially early on in the season, after all that hard work you did in the off season.

SPEAKER_04 17:01

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 17:02

It's gotta be so hard on you.

SPEAKER_04 17:03

I went through a few rounds of that in college. It was it was tough. And um, you know, that's when they're really tested, uh athletes especially. But this could go for musicians that are putting in their heart and soul into a town, to uh to anything.

SPEAKER_01 17:21

I think you could even see say like someone that is like so passionate about like this is what I'm gonna do in my life.

SPEAKER_04 17:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:28

And then I guess you get that question, like, well, what happens if that doesn't work out? You know?

SPEAKER_04 17:34

Yeah, you never wanna hear someone say that when you're aspiring to be in the NFL, right? Yeah. Like, oh, it's gonna work out. Listen, I'm I'm a high schooler at a small Christian school playing football. No, I had good stats, led the county in tackles or other stats, you know, different points for sure. But I was a five foot ten, 185-pound kid for half of my high school career. Yeah. Um I odds are I'm not going to the league to play linebacker. Um but you know, you're hard headed, and this is what you've worked hard your whole life in, and I love the drive and I love the ambition, and and you know, the first step of something actually happening that may seem impossible is believing in it. Yeah. So do I believe it's possible for someone my size to go to the league and play linebacker? I mean, there was Zach Thomas, I think, you know?

SPEAKER_03 18:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:39

The linebacker for the Miami Dolphins. He was 5'10 or 5'11. No, he was he was a rhinoceros, you know. Yeah. I got a little bit thicker when I got to college. So, you know, things were looking a little bit more okay, this is this is good. I could got the college ball. All right, now I'm at the D3 level, D2 level, I just need to jump to the D1 level in a year. Yeah. I see the foreseeable uh track to make that happen. And then, oh, maybe a slight position change. I played the position from my high school, but really I'm built and I was fast. Um I'm really built for like a strong safety. Yeah, yeah. Nickel nickel back outside of the backback.

SPEAKER_01 19:19

You see you being like a fullback.

SPEAKER_04 19:21

I played some growing up. Um it's just not as common of a position. It's not a lot of options. Pretty much non-existent anymore. But so that was even in the middle of college, I still had like it in my mind that maybe we could make it a league. Yeah. It's just a difficult path, but foreseeable. And I I I can't help but know that you know students are hoping for the same thing. I hope it happens for them. But if it doesn't, um what next?

SPEAKER_02 19:53

And who are you?

SPEAKER_04 19:56

And um for so many students, they're just so their life is sport um that they've idolized it, that it's become who they are, not what they do.

SPEAKER_01 20:08

Um Do you think that's why so many people struggle with the transition?

SPEAKER_04 20:10

That's exactly it. Um it's it's a lack of um seeing it for what it is, seeing it as an identity um rather than a opportunity or platform um to do something fun, to do something life changing, world-changing even through sport.

SPEAKER_02 20:32

Yeah. But you know, even if you're a Tom Brady and you retire like yes, you've accomplished everything you could in your sport or something.

SPEAKER_01 20:45

But what now? So you gotta be left with an emptiness.

SPEAKER_04 20:49

So unless you have a foundation to fall back on and know who you are, whose you are, and that all comes from God's word.

SPEAKER_03 20:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:58

And knowing knowing that, then you're left empty, you're left without a direction, you're left with the potential for mental health issues. And that's where it all comes from. Back in college, I had um my first major injuries, so that was a big um looking back now. I know God was trying to wake me up out of my hard-headed stubbornness of football, football, football, football. And hey Michael, there's actually ministry opportunities I'm calling you to on this college campus. There wasn't a Christian fellowship group organization at all that was on that small uh liberal arts campus. And it was obvious that God was calling me, another football player, and a couple other ladies we met to s to get something started and to really take off with it. But I was spending still all of my time in football and training.

SPEAKER_03 21:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:56

I had a um torn labor. From freshman year, played like finished out the season with it, then had surgery, recovered, got back, and then like fought for like a starting position. Everything was looking good. And then my knee popped. And went through a knee surgery, went through the recovery, went through the training. It was a few things that um two tough injuries. I think, yeah, definitely God was trying to, I think, wake me up to hey, you might not be spending the rest of your life doing this, so maybe devote a little bit more time and attention to the opportunity, the other opportunity I've put right in front of you. And he was making that more evident. We got to start a Christian fellowship group um on campus just with two guys, two girls. We started a men's and women's Bible study, we met weekly, and that grew from just a couple of us to a dozen each easily by our first semester from you know all all students, some from the baseball team, some track, some just just students in general. And God really grew that. We were able to formalize a club on campus. We're able to then be introduced to two adult missionaries with an organization called Disciple Makers that is Pennsylvania uh originated uh through Penn State. Okay. So they um Crewe is another organization that they do a lot of stuff uh alike. And uh they they're essentially full-time missionary staff that go to campuses in Pennsylvania and seek to disciple students to disciple students.

SPEAKER_01 23:41

Was this your junior year that you started to do some of this stuff?

SPEAKER_04 23:43

So I met them my sophomore year, they came on and weren't allowed on campus actually, but they were faithful to disciple me and my roommate, like off campus almost every day. They weren't even allowed on they weren't allowed on campus. Yeah, they were still faithful to disciple us and um and support us. And then my junior year they were uh approved. We had the official club, and they were able to be on, they were able to help. We launched a large group uh fellowship that grew to 30, 40, 50 like students a week in a large group um Bible teaching and fellowship night in addition to our men's and women's Bible studies every week. Yeah, I was really just really moving. So it was at that point that that was happening with my second injury. I was like, it's it's obvious my passion is is is being drawn here too to teach, to lead, to disciple, share the gospel, and um and uh so that was the clear path for where God wanted my heart, my attention, my time, yeah, my talents.

SPEAKER_01 24:46

Which is cool because you see a lot of movement right now in sports worlds. Like you see a lot of universities where Christ has just taken over. It's awesome. People are getting baptized, uh and and they're proclaiming Christ as King and Lord. I mean, even like uh in the World Cup, like USA, like after they won, like all the people that were praying in a big circle.

SPEAKER_04 25:05

Yeah, I'm so happy um how God is being glorified, yeah, and praised, and um it's becoming cool. Yeah, it's becoming a cool thing that that that um because faithful Christians are using their platform um and their influence uh and being bold and sharing their faith, yeah, sharing scripture, not just sharing, not just taking a knee or praying, you know, in a sense at a game or pointing to the sky. Yeah. Um like taking the real opportunity, taking share the reality.

SPEAKER_01 25:46

I love listening to those, especially when it's on my saints, like when you're one of your players, like just giving all the glory to God's.

SPEAKER_04 25:56

That's why we play sport.

SPEAKER_01 25:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:59

It is it's a platform, it's an influence, and they're using it for the right ways. So if one of those pros, one of those college athletes that's proclaiming Christ, I'm sure they have the right identity mindset. Because if that sport or their legs were to be taken from them tomorrow, I don't think they'd be in a mental health crisis because they know their identity, they know the sport was a platform given to them by God to proclaim his good news to the world. And um and that same opportunity God has given to each and every uh student athlete, yeah. Um, with the same call, the same charge and opportunity to proclaim the good news and share it with their team, their classmates, uh, their communities, uh within their level of influence. And that they can reach others that you and I couldn't. Yeah. That even that pro athlete who shares their Christ can't reach them the same that a faithful Christian on that team can, you know, is no one has a relationship with the same students uh or athletes like they would.

SPEAKER_01 27:13

What would you say, like why is God's love different than from the acceptance that like we chase through performance in our sports?

SPEAKER_04 27:22

So performance, this is a big topic right now with a men's group I'm into, but is performance our culture. Yeah. We live in a performance based culture. I'm good or I'm worth something if I'm performing. You know, overall you can look at like society, American culture, like that that produces some good results in terms of winningness or winning record in a lot of things, but it leaves you empty. What happens when you don't perform? What happens when your body declines and you can't perform? Um, and if we're just used to our worth being tied to performance, then then that leads us down a dark path. So that's where knowing and being in Christ and rooted in Him for our worth, for our value is is what we need, is what the world needs rather than a performance um mindset. And that's what I've always um that's been a part of my uh upbringing and culture is you know I tie my value of myself and my even self-view to my production uh in work, yeah, my production in general, where God says something different, where his word tells us that we're created in God's image, he loves us unconditionally, and there's nothing we can do to change that.

SPEAKER_01 28:52

There's nothing we can do to change that. I always love uh I share this analogy with so many people. Um, but like when you ask people like on a scale from one to ten, ten being confident, one being not confident, how confident are you that if you died right now you go to heaven? Yeah. And you get a vast majority of people that say six, you get two that say seven, four. Um, and and like what they are saying right there is that I didn't do enough. Like I'm I'm giving you a six because I don't think I've done enough, but in reality, God's telling you, you you right, you didn't do enough because God didn't die for 60% of your sins, he died for 100% of your sins. And that's like just this mindset we always have to remember is like I'm I can't do anything, but I'm gonna know that like Christ is King and Lord in my life, and I'm gonna try and live a life for God all every day, right? And it's not easy, and and just like sports, right? Sports isn't easy, but like I love me some Kirk Cousins. You know Kirk Cousins? And I I love the interview where he like is holding his Bible and he's like, if I don't know my playbook, I can't perform for my team. Just like if I don't know this right here, like this is my playbook. And it's like I can say I'm a Christian, that God changed my life, right? But if I'm not reading the blueprint he has for my life, how am I gonna grow out of the bad habits that I have? How am I gonna share this amazing story with somebody? And that's just like something I try and like remember every day. Like I'm gonna shoot my shot, man, every day. And I don't know if I'm gonna struggle, if I'm gonna fail, but I just know that I have a God that I serve, that he died for 100% of my sins. That's right.

SPEAKER_04 30:29

That's right, yeah. And even students with some church upbringing or athletes, they need to be reassured of that because our adversary is constantly trying to remind us of our to doubt ourselves, to doubt our faith, to doubt Jesus' love for us unconditionally, to doubt our ability to be used by him because of maybe past sin or um such and it is it's so important to open up God's word. Yeah. And to know what is written.

SPEAKER_01 31:06

Especially in a world of survival of the fittest. You're out for yourself. Yep. Make the most money you can make. Yep. Doesn't matter who does wrong to others. That's that's not God, man. God came down and served everybody. That's just a good reminder. What would you say to somebody right now who's listening to this who has been passionate about a sport their whole life? They've been in it, they've been trained their whole life. And maybe they just got cut. Maybe they just got an injury. It doesn't have to be a sport. I mean, someone could be listening to this and they've had this job on the horizon for years and they didn't get it. And that's all they've thought about. That's almost turned into their identity. What's the advice that you would give to that person right now?

SPEAKER_02 31:49

So I've had similar feelings at times, but it's important that they know their worth in Christ. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:00

Uh that I've actually got um scripture I'd like to share. I love that. Um and I think as we I'll read a few scriptures that I think are important.

SPEAKER_02 32:14

Um the first that comes to mind I was the Matthew 4. Jesus is for any trial that we face, um Jesus was brought to his lowest.

SPEAKER_04 32:31

Um when he was before he was tempted by the devil in the desert, he was fasting for 40 days, right?

SPEAKER_01 32:39

Which is crazy to think about.

SPEAKER_04 32:40

Crazy, you're at your lowest of low. Forty days. If you think about it, you're at your weakest point, right?

SPEAKER_01 32:45

Some of us can't go a day without using our phone.

SPEAKER_04 32:48

And um, this is Jesus' response to like that hurt, that hardship and to temptation. This is chapter. It is written, yeah, chapter four, verses four. It is written, man should not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. We find our strength, we find our hope, we find our belonging in the word of God. Yeah. That verse is so pivotal, that response is what we need to have too, and we're at our driest of seasons, we're at our lowest of lows. Then we need to be reminded by the word of God. Some of the most important verses to be reminded are of uh is around the identity that Christ has given us in 2 Corinthians 5 as a new creation um in Ephesians 2. And um let me I can read some of those too.

SPEAKER_01 33:42

I think I'm I mean, even when he battles the devil here, I mean, goes goes a couple rounds here. I mean, he uses the word. You know what I mean? Like he's always answering with the word.

SPEAKER_04 33:52

I want my first response to a lot of things in life, most things, to be what it was for Jesus, which is it is written.

SPEAKER_01 34:03

You know, man, you convicted me right there, I'll be honest. You convicted me where I'm rather than my own thoughts. Rather than be like, man, that's dumb. Or like be so angry, so quick to anger. Like, what if I like my first response is it is written. And then like you just have the verse that is the That's right.

SPEAKER_04 34:19

That's right. That's good. We need to know our Bible, uh, we need to help others know their Bible. And Jesus pointed us right to it. Like his response, God incarnate with us, and he points us to his own word.

SPEAKER_02 34:33

Yeah. Um is a powerful example for us. Um scripture verses I think that are really important to you know, a lot of this ha has to do with like what is God's will for my life too?

SPEAKER_04 34:48

Yeah, you know, what am I to do? Um and I think it's it's important that students know that you know adults know and everybody that it's not a profession or a specific job that if you don't do it, you're not in it, you know, you're gonna have a life that you weren't meant to live. It's not a a one-way. Uh God's given us the world. We have dominion over it, opportunities are endless. He's given us different desires, talents, passions. What do we want to do? The world is ours, he's given it to us. It's our identity that we shouldn't be mistaken in. Yeah. That we are his, that he is ours, and that he has forgiven us and given us the call to be ambassadors of his good news to the rest of the world, in and through whatever our profession is, whatever our platform is, and it'll change.

SPEAKER_01 35:50

Which is almost like what our will should be. You know what I mean? Like, no matter where life takes you, where you're at, no matter you could say, like, man, I'm in a tough situation, this job sucks, or I'm in a great, like, I'm I'm on the highest mountain. That's right. I think like one thing to remember is like, no matter what season you're in, like, how can I be an ambassador of heaven through this season?

SPEAKER_04 36:10

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 36:11

Like, how can I, like, when I'm at work and it is humid as heck because there's no AC and the doors are closed and we're chipping concrete all day. How can I be an ambassador of heaven and show these guys that Jesus loves them?

SPEAKER_02 36:23

That's right.

SPEAKER_04 36:27

Um, looking at some scripture that I want us to, I guess, more to bring up, read through that are really important. So this um has been coming up a lot this year. It's actually the annual theme for like FCA ministry. Take a passage scripture. Our proven theme this year is that we're our worth is proven in through Christ said. Yeah. And uh the rooted scripture is in John 15. So you read that for us. It's so important to um our identity as well. We read this passage. It's funny because we were talking about residency, and this was actually our scripture memorization for residency last year.

SPEAKER_01 37:14

Man, I I'll tell you what, I have a new Bible.

SPEAKER_04 37:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:16

I love red letters. Yeah. My old Bible didn't have it.

SPEAKER_04 37:20

Yeah. This one doesn't.

SPEAKER_01 37:21

This is a I mean, my whole page is red right now. Like that's how you know this page is important.

SPEAKER_04 37:26

I am the true vine, Jesus speaking. And my father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, and you are the branches. Whoever abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. And if anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch, it withers, and the branches are gathered. They're thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

SPEAKER_01 38:40

See a lot of joy and love throughout the Bible.

SPEAKER_04 38:44

Yes. Um This is my commandment, verse twelve, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay his life down for his friends. Exactly what Jesus did for us on the cross, right?

SPEAKER_02 39:02

So we are we are our identity comes from the Lord.

SPEAKER_04 39:10

Our we're to be rooted, we're to be um rooted in him, just as a a vine would be, uh a branch would be in the vine.

SPEAKER_01 39:20

Which makes sense. Like his analogies are like so good.

SPEAKER_04 39:23

So good. And there's so much to unpack from the verses we just read, like verse two, all right. So we're to bear fruit, which anyone in the world can agree they'd want to be bearing fruit, they don't want to have rotten fruit, they don't want to be fruitless. Uh, we have to be one with our creator. We have to be to know him and to be in him, to be in his word. Um, and he prunes us.

SPEAKER_02 39:50

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04 39:51

Verse two. Pruning, um, you know, cutting back the branches so they can grow even more.

SPEAKER_01 39:59

It's almost like he like the closer you draw to Jesus and seek him, like he's gonna transform your life and start to get rid of the the things that are holding you back, the garbage that's holding back.

SPEAKER_04 40:07

That's exactly it. He's cutting out, he's trying, he's coming in, and he's clearing house, and he's replacing it with with eternal things, with uh godly desires instead of fleshly earthly desires. And mindset and is is with that it's a new identity in Christ rather than in the world, in the flesh that are at odds with him. That I I've come back to this passage a ton, just to remind whether non-believers that don't know God, that God's purpose is that you would bear much fruit.

SPEAKER_03 40:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 40:47

For you for yourself, for your life, but for others. Yeah. The fruit is for for those around you. But it takes being rooted in in Christ and and knowing whose you are and what he's done for you, as we read later, that he laid his life down for us. Yeah. Um, because of his unconditional love for us.

SPEAKER_01 41:08

If I had a piggyback off you, this is actually something that I just read yesterday, and so like as you were talking about the fruit, I was like, oh, this is actually pretty good. Um, as far as like, you know, staying rooted. Um, it's in Luke chapter 8, and it's after Jesus shared the parable of the sower. His disciples were kind of confused about it, so he explains to them. And this is in verse 11, he says, Now the parable is this the seed is obviously the word of God. The ones along the path are those that have heard it, but then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. And the ones on the rock are those when they hear the word, they receive it with joy, but they have no root. They believe for a while, and in time of testing they fall away. And um and as for what fell among the thorns, it's those that hear, but as they go on their way, they choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and the fruit does not mature. As for that in the good soil, they are those who are hearing the word, they hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience. And I read that the other day, and I'm like, man, there's so many times I read the word of God, and am I really reading it to be transformed? Or am I reading it just to check a box for the day? You know, and it's like, all right, I I read the word today. How do I apply this to my life today at work? Or does it all just go out the window? And like it just really shows like Jesus knows what kind of people we are. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like, I don't want to be someone that takes the word, and when when seasons get rocky, I got no faith. Like, I want to be able to be someone that can hold fast to the word and bear fruit with patience and just always know that I'm rooted in Christ and that's my identity.

SPEAKER_04 42:53

Yeah, I think it reminds me a lot of one of my favorite passages to like preach on to teams is hey, as engaging with a new team for a season, um, you know, I kind of introduced them to Michael Miller, I'm era director with Fellowship Christian Athletes. Yeah. Uh we're here to see the world transformed through Jesus Christ, through the influence of coaches and athletes. We believe your influence is incredible and a platform and an opportunity um to share the good news with the world around us. We believe um we believe that. Now, you know, we're gonna go through a season, I'm gonna be, you know, with a team every week, ideally getting to teach them the Bible, getting to teach them great character traits, uh, focused on integrity, teamwork, excellence, yeah, a lot of our core values.

SPEAKER_01 43:48

Such a cool job, man. Happy for you.

SPEAKER_04 43:50

Yeah, and I um I remind them I remind them, thank you, that um one of my favorite passages is in Sermon on the Mount where Jesus reminds us how important the foundation that is built is important. That foundation is built on Christ. That uh we wouldn't just build a house that looks great, um that's built on sand. Yeah. That when the storms of life come and hit injuries, whatever it may be, uh that we are not swept away into the ocean, but that we're built solid on the rock of Christ as a solid, as our solid rock and foundation that we could withstand the storms um of the enemy of the world.

SPEAKER_01 44:37

I understand that story even more now, like being a in construction and just understand how important that foundation is.

SPEAKER_04 44:44

Yeah. It is so important.

SPEAKER_01 44:48

Like, I think my last question I had I want to ask you is what like what would you share to a young adult on how to stay grounded in Christ, their identity, how to stay grounded in Christ throughout the week. That may be habits they can start today that maybe go into make sure how how you how their community looks, like what are just some habits that you would say instill these in your life? Like start this week with this.

SPEAKER_04 45:14

I think it is um a lot like here's the training analogy for athletes or anyone working hard towards something. Um, if you're trying to have a diet or fitness goal, uh, let's say you're going to the gym, let's say you're an athlete trying to train up a certain muscle group, or you have to work actively at it. Um, you have to go to the gym consistently. Um, you have to be training your muscles, your speed, your flexibility, whatever it may be. You have to be very focused on wanting to grow. You have to spend time daily in working it for recovery, whatever that looks like. So in the same way, uh, we have to be dedicated to knowing the God that loves us, yeah, that is getting in his word, that is hearing and seeing what he has for us, that is training and studying it, um, and in growing a relationship with God so that we can be ready for what the world will throw at us. Ephesians 5, great prayer 5 and 6 to be praying through that we would be fully equipped with the armor of God. We gotta know our armor, we gotta go pick up our armor, we gotta put our armor on daily. Yeah, and if we're not in the habits of doing that, reading God's word, of asking him to to do to do that with us and equip us, then we're not training, we're not um growing in that. So that my answer, I think some you know, direct steps are to um to read God's word, to know his love for you, to be reminded of it. This is enough in the world that will remind us of our need to perform and our need to be accepted by the world around us, which is never gonna fulfill us and it was always changing expectations where God's word and his truths foundation doesn't shake, doesn't change. Yeah, that's good. Um yeah, I think I think we gotta work hard at it. So I I love like the idea you're going into residency. Yeah, that is spiritual training, that's training up you as a soldier in God's army.

SPEAKER_01 47:40

I have mixed emotions about it right now, you know?

SPEAKER_04 47:43

Um, and it it's it's it's great to be sharpened, to sharpen your knowledge of God's word. Absolutely, to be sharpened in tools to advance the kingdom, to share your faith um in a variety of ways, to disciple uh those around you with different backgrounds, different age groups, and um to lead and start new small groups, new churches, new new movements for Christ uh with him by your side. So we need we need to see um time and effort.

SPEAKER_03 48:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 48:23

So if you want to grow in your relationship, Scott. Time and effort. You want to have a foundation, you want to grow, we need to dedicate time and effort to to knowing God, to knowing his word, to sharing it with others.

SPEAKER_01 48:35

Yeah, which is a good one too. Yeah, I love that. I think if I were to share some, I'd say like I like to, like going off what you're saying, I like to picture this little like picture in my mind, like if if God showed a random person like the gate of heaven. Just some dumb thing I like to listen and think about. And this guy who didn't know Jesus is like, well, how do I get through that gate? Like I can see this beautiful kingdom. They're like, How do I get through that gate? I can picture God just going, Man, just seek me. Like that's I feel like that's really like it's so intentional. Like I always say, God's a gentleman, God's a gentleman, excuse me. He's not gonna force you to come to him. He just wants you. And it's like such a simple thing. Like, you know, I was telling my wife about the other day, because it kind of convicted me. I'm like, you know, maybe there's some days like I don't pray, or maybe there's something I skip over, or I don't feel like read my Bible today. But man, like I think about that where God's like, man, just seek me. And it's like the endless possibilities of where he'll take you, what is to come, like if I just seek him with all my heart, not just a quarter of it. God, I got about five minutes for you today. Like, man, if I seek him, what is that gonna look like? And that's what like if like seek him, find your identity in him, and like just to have that foundation, that hope, that truth to get through your days is is just a blessing.

SPEAKER_02 49:57

Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_04 50:00

I um and I guess if we just I'd be encouraged to read through maybe a couple more scriptures that I feel like it would be good to leave with some people that are having some of these same thoughts or or questions that come up.

SPEAKER_02 50:18

Yeah, absolutely. Um so one what is the will of God for my life? What is Micah 68? Good old Micah. You know what? What does the Lord require of me? Micah 68. I'm almost there.

SPEAKER_04 50:52

So he has told you, a man, what is good? What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and walk humbly with your God.

SPEAKER_02 51:03

You're talking about walking, you know, with God, you're talking about a relationship with him. Um I think Jesus only emphasized like these points to the greatest commandment of all, right, to love one another.

SPEAKER_04 51:17

Yeah. Uh of yourself, in addition to the Ten Commandments. And what a verse walking firmly with your God. It's um it's beautiful and it's simple. God's call is so much lighter than the world's call and pressure on us to perform or to have done a certain amount to be of value in this world. God just wants a relationship with us. He created us, he wants nothing but to play with his children, to have a relationship, um, to see them grow, to see them prosper, to see them take ownership and work at the things he's given us, given them. It's really beautiful, you know, having young kids for the first time now. Oh yeah. Seeing that simplicity of life that God really intended for us.

SPEAKER_01 52:10

Yeah. Um you read a verse like this and you're like, gosh, man, God's so cool. Yes.

SPEAKER_04 52:16

He is. And it it relieves the pressure that the world puts on you too, to have to be something else.

SPEAKER_02 52:24

More than what God is our creator has called us to be. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:30

Yeah. Yeah. What's the other verse you want to share? And then we'll close.

SPEAKER_04 52:36

Yeah, I think um just scripturally too, gospel uh well Ephesians 2 uh verse 8, for by grace you've been saved through faith, not of our own doing, but it's a gift. The gift of God, not a result of any works, so that anyone may boast. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

SPEAKER_01 53:03

I love that. It's a gift.

SPEAKER_04 53:05

It's a gift.

SPEAKER_01 53:06

It's like if I gave you two tickets to like the Miami uh Dolphins game, like front row.

SPEAKER_02 53:13

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 53:14

And you get down there and they're like, Oh, how you getting down here? You're like, Well, I have tickets. You know, Tyler gave them to me. It's a gift. They'd let you in, you know, that that's what it is, man. It's a gift.

SPEAKER_04 53:23

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 53:24

God's salvation, man.

SPEAKER_04 53:25

You just gotta receive it. And it's not a result of works, verse nine, so that we can boast. But um Read that one again.

SPEAKER_01 53:36

It's not a what?

SPEAKER_04 53:37

Not a result of works, so that no one may boast. And then First 10 is all about the great works that God's prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So whoever you are, God has created great things for you to walk in. Yeah. Um I love that. Once you learn your identity in Christ and He transformed your life, we repent. He's great things in store for us. Oh, yeah. Uh that we would bear much fruit and that we would transform the world with the good news and be the light of the world. Yeah. That Christ has called us to be. And that is the greatest calling. That is the the will for our life, that is the calling, the purpose is that it's powerful but simple.

SPEAKER_03 54:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 54:18

And in any other sport, any other endeavor, any other platform or time period that God's given us is to do those things. It's a platform, it's a vessel, uh, to achieve that. Doesn't need to be who we are. And like this, the scripture in Ephesians completely combats against the performance mentality of hey, I'm I'm worth what I can perform. Yeah, my works determine my value. That's the world uh that's not the good news of the Bible. Yeah. So it's it's neat, man. And there's so much great scripture. You know, obviously the trials and tribulation that the disciples, the apostles, the early church had to go through, and how Paul reminded them constantly about it's counted a joy, you know, when you go through these trials as persecution, because God is uh you're doing something good and and God is with you and He is forming us. And it's often in the trials, tribulations, the tough times, that's where God grows us the most.

SPEAKER_01 55:29

Yeah, I totally agree.

SPEAKER_04 55:31

And um, then we can be used the most too to help the world around us. Yeah, that is desperate to know Christ, um, be forgiven, and um and know their identity in him.

SPEAKER_01 55:47

Yeah, yeah. That's that's great stuff, Mike.

SPEAKER_04 55:49

Yeah, any other things you wanna talk through?

SPEAKER_01 55:55

Man, I think we're at 55 minutes. Okay, a lot of good content. I think that was great. Yeah, I enjoyed it. I I wanna I wanna say thank you for joining me. I wanna the wisdom is amazing. I love that. That's what's so amazing about having these guests on. And I guess what I would say to someone is like, man, write these verses down. It's a great start. And yeah, man, I just thank you for joining me.

SPEAKER_00 56:18

Thank you, Tyler. No, I appreciate the conversation and I know we'll continue it.

SPEAKER_01 56:22

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Well, I appreciate you guys, and uh man, we'll see you on the next episode.