The Big WHY...A chat about what motivates us.

We've been hitting some serious topics on the podcast. In this episode we have a more informal chat about why we're even doing this and how God compels us. We share our passion for biblical truth, prayer, and the importance of standing firm in Christ while the cultural landscape shifts all around us. 

Website: https://pgrpodcast.com/

Mentioned:

• Galatians
• Protect Young Eyes (Organization)
• Colossians

Transcript

Introduction and Purpose of the Podcast

Speaker 1 0:00

Hi. Start. Okay, here we go. Wait a minute. We've been hitting some really serious topics on the podcast, so we thought if we did video, it would lighten it up a little bit, and in the first three seconds, it's already lightened it up tremendously. Aren't we, Heather?

Speaker 2 0:22

Yeah. Hi, everybody. You're listening to the People Get Ready podcast. I'm Heather Duff, and in just a minute, we'll be jumping into a conversation with Barb Ho. We're talking about everyday issues from a Christian perspective while we eagerly wait for Jesus. People get ready. Let's go. We've covered a variety of topics that we're passionate about so far on the podcast, but we thought we would take just a minute today and talk about the why, sort of behind what prompted Barb and I excuse me, to all of a sudden I have no speaking voice. We wanted to talk about the why, what prompted us, what um concerns, what desires, what passion we have that promoted us really to step out and say, let's share our hearts with others. So today we're just gonna talk about a little bit of our background, um, some things that we care deeply about, and also um our our hope for you who are listening to this with us and watching. If you'll notice, uh, we've been doing audio and we're uh

Background and Personal Connections

Speaker 2 1:32

we're back to to video now. So anyway, today we just wanted to share a little bit of what's on our what's on our heart. Um so Barb, you know, maybe you just want to I'll ask you by saying what you know what was your when we s first started pitching this idea of doing a bo a podcast. I almost I wanted to call it a bodcast because now we're in body, you know.

Speaker 1:53

There we go.

Speaker 2 1:54

But what um what what was on your heart?

Speaker 1:58

Well, this all came out of the fact that Heather and I have our daily conversations, usually when she's driving to work, and we talk about a lot of things. We're both kind of current event news junkies. We like to know what's going on in the world. We're very active in leadership, and both of us are uh really are con concerned and interested in the body of Christ and how the body of Christ is is going. And and so we would talk about a lot of things in our daily conversations, and so many times we would say, you know, we need to record this. We need to record this because it was our heart and it was stuff that we really believed would benefit others to hear. So here we are. Um Heather and Barb, a little bit of background. I am Heather's aunt, for those of you who do not know. She's the daughter of my my sister who passed away, and uh, I missed her terribly, but she is my sister's daughter, and we just have a bond. We we like to communicate about things. We both have similar interests in a lot of world events and things going on in the church and biblical things and stuff, and so we have this connection and we talk about stuff. Um, sometimes we disagree, sometimes we agree, and we're gonna be talking about a lot of these things. Some of these are hot issues, you know, some of them are are are issues that we think, ooh, we've even talked about and said, you know, should we really talk about that? I mean, do we want to be that open? But we do. Some of our thoughts are not necessarily right, but we are concerned about being biblically minded. That's our main concern. And so we

The Importance of Open Conversations

Speaker 3:36

might have a different interpretation of what the Bible believes what the Bible teaches, but it's our heart and passion to bring our thoughts of what scripture teaches into the body of Christ. And we're gonna stir the pot. We're gonna talk about things. We want it to be safe, we want it to be biblical, we want it to be godly, we want it to be fun. Heather and I like to have fun together. We like to to have fun the way we share things. So hopefully this will be reflected in our conversations.

Speaker 2 4:05

And I'll just add that those conversations that we've had um daily, just about, really have been a lifeline for me, though. Um I well, you worked in ministry for how long? Over 40 years, yeah. Um as a pastor's wife and you know, doing church planting and also discipleship small groups. Um, you know, you you've just you have so much experience in that area. And I've worked on church staff full-time for I well, I'll say ministry, because now I'm in a a ministry, not working at a church, but close to 15 years. Um, and part of that, you know, there are a lot of challenges. And I was working in media and technology, and so a lot of that was this church growth stuff. So I'm I'm coming from a background of technology and marketing. And even um as sort of my side gig, I was helping mostly Christian authors market their books. I have a passion for marketing, but I don't want to market the church. I don't believe marketing is God's design to spread the gospel. And so, um, you know, just to be transparent, part of uh my struggle in my background in church was this church growth movement. So much of that was marketing. And what I loved about your ministry, you and Danny, was you always, it was the gospel, the gospel, the gospel. And I appreciated that so much. It's so easy, especially when you're working in ministry or everyday life. I mean, for people who aren't working quote unquote full-time in ministry, it's so easy to get distracted by all the things that are going on. So I think one of the things that my conversations with you did, um and I think we did this for each other, you know, was just to stir up that passion for the gospel, that that Jesus is the only answer in this world, and that um no matter what people are going through,

Challenges in the Church Today

Speaker 2 6:19

he's able. He can. So, you know, we've I guess made a lifetime habit of just encouraging one another, and that's really what we want to do with this this podcast. So, yeah, I mean, we probably will hit some some heavy topics, but you know, we we do we want to be we I mean, of all people on this earth, we who know Christ should be the most joyful. So anyway, we want to share that with with all of you. And um anything you want to jump in with?

Speaker 6:51

I think too one of the things that I really appreciate about our conversations is when I have a question about a theological question or something that I've read in the scripture, a lot of times I can't wait. I want to talk to you. And when my husband was alive, you know, I could run some things by him. And what do you think about this? But I've always been able to do that with you also, and that's one thing I really appreciate too. And there have been times where you've said, but I don't really see that, and and you've uh corrected certain ideas that I might be starting to form and stuff, and that's been helpful in my life too. And another thing is we you know it's funny, we we're we're we're similar and we're different in some ways. Um my main passion in life is prayer. I love prayer. I've just always been um and I've just a loved prayer since I was a little girl, and and I believe that it's a calling that God has given me to not just pray, but to teach and to train others in how to pray and what the prayer life is all about and how to have a really effective, enjoyable prayer life with God. And you are more of the you're you're a prayer person too, but your your focus is on scripture and studying the word, knowing the word, allowing the word to to permeate through our lives. And so that's been a real blessing to me. And I think in that way the Lord has used each of us in each other's life. And through this podcast, I think others have said that that has come out, both of those different come out.

Speaker 2 8:22

Well, praise God for that. I mean, and and I'll agree completely with what you said. I mean, there's been times either, you know, scripturally, um, I love to study, you know, and I get excited about what I'm studying. Um, but also I'm an introvert. So it's easy to get off track when you're inside your head all the time. So I mean, and that's one thing I just appreciate so much about the body of Christ, that we are just such a blessing to one another, you know, and and God created that unique and wonderful fellowship for us to spur one another on, to encourage each other, to exhort, you know, and then when we see our brothers and sisters going in a direction that isn't good for them,

The Role of Truth in the Gospel

Speaker 2 9:02

just pull them to the side and just encourage them in the Lord. So yeah, I definitely have appreciated that.

Speaker 9:08

And I think that that's really important. One of the things that I see in the church these days is kind of like you don't want to ruffle the waters, you know. There's a real thing to just keep peace. When the Lord calls us to be unified, he doesn't mean to be unified in just giving up what you believe is right. Sometimes we disagree in unity, and you and I have disagreed about certain things, but you know, the Bible says iron sharpens iron. You know, we keep each other accountable. And I think that that, honestly, I believe that that's one thing that's kind of missing in the church. And I know different situations I've been in, even in, you know, Sunday school classes or Bible studies or different and where something will come up and somebody will say something, and you know you don't agree with them. And I'm not saying you you you need to challenge them, jump on them or anything, but I think there's something speaking the truth in love that we need to be challenging each other because I believe in these last days, and I do believe these are the last days. I believe the Lord is getting ready to come back and gather his church, and you know, the enemy is working so hard to destroy to distort the truth of God's word. You know, we all we can see it in so many different directions. And I think Christians need to speak up about what they believe the truth is, even with brothers and sisters, especially, because who who else is the enemy going to go after, right? He's gonna go after the the church, he's gonna go after the the the basic theology and teaching and the principles that are being taught and brought and lived out in the church today. And I think as believers, we need to, number one, to be wise. We need to know what what the word says. We need to have that relationship with Christ and times with with God where He speaks the truth into us. And then I think we need to challenge each other. We need accountability, and I think that that's one of the things our relationship um really reflects. And I think that that's something that we want to bring into the church. It's not to disagree, it's to challenge that we make sure that we're staying what uh close to what scripture is teaching.

Speaker 2 11:10

And to give a biblical illustration of that, I'm reading Galatians this month, and in there, Paul is confronting this, and he calls it a distortion of the gospel, that there were false brothers who were coming into the fellowship of believers, trying to distort the gospel. And at one point he says even Barnabas was being led astray by this. And what he did, he said he challenged Peter to his face in front of all.

Unity vs. Conformity in the Church

Speaker 2 11:37

And so I'm sure that was, you know, not comfortable for Peter. Um, but Paul did it out of love and especially uh his love for the truth of the gospel. He mentions that at least twice in there, the truth of the gospel. And one of the things um that he says in that passage is that when he saw that they were not being straightforward about the truth of the gospel. And when I read it, I thought, wow, I mean, that is just it is such whether we are aware of the battle or not, there is such a battle to obscure the gospel so that it's not straightforward. And um just, you know, as I've been meditating on that this month, it's just encouraged my heart and just even just fan the flame to share just the pure gospel of Jesus Christ and um just to make sure that my life is a living example of that, that I'm living in a way that is straightforward about the gospel.

Speaker 12:41

One of the things I really see going on in the church these days is a desire, like I was talking about before, to be unified, this whole thing of unity, and we just want to be able to blend together. You don't want to offend others, and I think that's wrong. I mean, I think that if we continue to do that, the church is going to work and move in such a direction toward the world. We're not to move toward the world. We're to bring the world toward Christ. And I think that that involves really knowing the truth and speaking it out.

Speaker 2 13:15

Mm-hmm. Yeah, Paul talks about that in Galatians , too. And, you know, he said, if if I was trying to please men, I would not be a bond slave of Christ. And then he talks, I mean, he keeps bringing it back to the cross of Jesus Christ, you know, and if part of um living out that gospel life is an understanding that there is a persecution that we cannot escape when we live our lives surrendered

The Foundation of God's Word

Speaker 2 13:44

to the gospel of Jesus Christ because it is an offense, you know, and we're in a world that is so um it's elevating humankind so much. We are on a mission to be godlike now. You know, we we don't want to suffer in any way, we want to, you know, live forever. We're looking to technology. There's just such um a beauty to the to the truth of God. And I think there's so much um delusion and deception going on in the world when Jesus does put his foot on this earth as truth, like he is truth. And when truth steps down on this earth, I mean, I feel like creation is just going to be crying out because it's like we are being choked and suffocated with a deception that is just increasing and increasing, you know, and in one moment, light and truth is going to step down in the middle of all of the the lie and deception. And um what a great moment that's gonna be.

Speaker 14:47

Absolutely. And you know, truth nowadays, the whole thing, the truth is relative. What's that even about? Truth be relative. And you know how do you know truth? The only way we know truth is from the word of God. I mean, that's that's our only that's our only rock of truth, right? The word of God is our only rock of truth. And so what's happening is people are not knowing the word of God. Even Christians. I remember when I was growing up, and you you you know you were from the same church until you moved. There was su it was a Presbyterian church, and there was so much emphasis on on knowing scripture. You were able to quote scripture verses, you you got pencils for it, you were rewarded for it. There was there was a real thing in so many verses I know nowadays, and when I know them in the King James, it's because I know them from when I was a child, you know. And I remember studying chapters, and you just brought the the the church brought memorizing scripture into your life, and they're getting away from that. I remember talking to a lady and she was sharing with me that she used to do that in her church, and she said, she said, I would even give like a quarter, she said, to to the to them every week. She said, out of my pocket to encourage them to study the scripture. She said, they don't care anymore. She said, I can try doing that. They don't care. They don't care about the money. They don't said getting kids to study scripture nowadays is so hard. And I see that reflected in the church. I see so much of that going on in the church today, that passion to know this, to know the word. And you know, if we don't know the word, we're not gonna know truth. It it just is so because the the enemy is so good at giving us so close to the truth, it's so close to it, but it's not a hundred percent. And you know, I always say if it's not a hundred percent truth, it's a hundred percent lie. God's truth is one hundred percent God's truth, and we need to we need to challenge each other, we need to speak the truth in

Navigating Change and Uncertainty

Speaker 16:43

love.

Speaker 2 16:43

Yeah, it was such a gift to me to be brought up with the firm foundation of God's word, knowing that God is true and that I can turn to his word. Um, you know, and and I think today about kids who are not and adults, you know, who who do not have that foundation and the earth is shifting underneath their feet. I mean, really, I think, you know, one thing that the whole COVID thing did was it showed us that in the course of a day that everything can change. Our whole life experience changed. All of a sudden, we were all living in a way that we had never been living before. We were shut up by ourselves in our homes. We were, you know, afraid to go to the grocery store, you know, we were we were like like we became consumed with this enemy that was out there that we kind of had to hide away from. But in the course of a day, our lives changed. And I think, you know, now uh, you know, things that happen in your generation, they kind of mold that generation, you know. And so we, you know, since having gone through that experience, I think we're all now kind of we got one eye on the horizon, like, you know, what's what's coming? Um, but with without the firm foundation of knowing that my times are in God's hands and that he sets the seasons. And, you know, that the you know, the earth, everything is held together in Christ. Um, I don't know what I would do. I mean, I think I literally would have lost, I know I would have lost my mind by now if I did not have that firm foundation. So I think it's just the the best thing that we can do for our our kids and and for ourselves is to just um make sure that that that foundation is is laid in in our

Attention and Affection in the Digital Age

Speaker 2 18:42

lives. Okay, to switch gears a little bit, um, as I shared, I have kind of a media technology background. I was listening to a video this past week. Um, Jack Hibbs was interviewing Chris McKenna, I think is his name, and his organization is Protect Young Eyes, and they were talking about AI, but um he had uh just a quote in there I wrote down it was something to the effect of social media is coming after our attention, AI is coming after our affection. And wow, what a powerful statement. And so when I was thinking about that, I thought, you know, that's two areas, and it's not just media. I mean, it's two areas that the enemy attacks us in is our attention and our affections. And um it's almost like our attention is the first barrier, and if he can get our attention, then he starts to work on our our affections. So I thought um, you know, maybe we could just talk a little bit about um our attention and our affection, things that we just care so deeply about. But, you know, as far as even concerns in the body of Christ and really what our our hope and prayer is for those who are are joining us on this vodcast journey.

The Power of Prayer

Speaker 2 20:01

Yeah.

Speaker 20:02

And I'm I'm passionate about prayer, and I think the thing that I'm the most passionate about prayer is is that I really believe in my heart of hearts, in the core of my being, that prayer makes a difference. I believe one million percent, and I'm okay, I'm an extrovert, so I do things in the dramatic. I'm a million, it's not a hundred, it's a million. But I believe in a million percent that um when I pray, and not just because it's me, but anybody, when anybody that has that relationship with Christ prays, life is changed. People's lives are changed, situations are changed, the world has changed. I really believe that when I pray for somebody and I pray for them, whether they're sick or whether they're, you know, going through some financial crisis or whatever, the prayer that we that we pray together is going to change their lives. I've seen it. I've seen it. God worked in my life in some situations this week where He just worked miraculous ways because I stopped and I said, wait a minute, I need to trust the Lord in this. And I committed it to God. And so one of my deep passions is to bring that into the church and to bring the church into an awareness that we need to pray. We need to trust the Lord in prayer. Prayer is not something to check off your, your, your check off your to-do list, you know. Prayer is something that will radically change how your life is and how the the the life of the church and the body of Christ is. And so my big my if there's one thing that I want to do, it's that I want to bring that desire for prayer and that understanding of what prayer is and does because of who God is and what he does into the lives of our of fellow believers and non-believers, too.

Speaker 2 21:50

I'm in Galatians, so I just keep thinking of uh passages from there, but uh that that's kind of the crux of that whole passage where Paul is talking about. About Abraham, and he's talking about Ishmael and Isaac, and that Ishmael was the son of the bondwoman, and that was the flesh. That was the seed of the flesh.

Living as a Child of Promise

Speaker 2 22:13

But Isaac was the son of promise. And so now we are living through that seed of promise, which ultimately comes through Jesus Christ. And so it's, you know, prayer is saying, not me, but you. I can't, but you can. And and even everything in our lives, and we we talked about surrender before, and that that whole concept of I my life is because of the promise of God. You know, it's based on what God said. And so I want to live my life as a child of promise and not of the flesh to die daily, really, to live the life of a crucified flesh and prayer, it's faith.

Speaker 22:58

When I think of prayer and how to have an effective prayer life, you prayer and intimacy go hand in hand. They're totally linked together. You cannot have an effective prayer life if you do not have an intimacy with God. That means understanding who God really is and not just the good man upstairs that, you know, answers your prayers now and then, but a deep understanding of the principles

Intimacy with God through Prayer

Speaker 23:23

and the promises and everything of the Word of God. And you cannot have an intimate relationship with God unless you have an effective prayer life. They're just linked together. You cannot have one without the other. And so if you want to have an intimate relationship with God, you need to work on your prayer life. You need to make sure your prayer life is at a place where it needs to be. And if you want to have an effective prayer life, you need to make sure that your understanding, your relationship, your intimacy with God is where it should be too. That the two go hand in hand, and one without the other doesn't work. And so that's why I love this because since I love prayer, my focus is bringing people into a deeper intimacy relationship with Christ. Because I understand that if they don't have that, it's they will not understand prayer. And there are a lot of thoughts. Oh my goodness, I talked to a lot of people that just believe prayer is something you say or some words you do or or some symbolic thing you do. I went to a conference one time and they told us, they told us that what they wanted us to do was snap our fingers together because that sounds like water. And water draws the Holy Spirit. We all know that, right? Water draws the Holy Spirit. And so we had to snap our fingers. And I remember Danny, that's when my husband was alive. That was probably 10 years ago. And I remember Danny said to me, We're leaving. And he stood up and we were snapping our fingers as we're walking out of this conference, you know. And it was like, how crazy is that? Like, what are you gonna fool God? He's gonna be like, Oh, wait a minute, that's not water. You guys, you guys were fooling me. I mean, do we really have to call on the presence of God by doing symbolic things like that? That's ridiculous. But I can't tell you how many people believe that. How many people believe that you become intimate with God through these crazy ideas of things that you do like that, or words you say, or positions you use you go in, or something like that. You go into intimacy with God because of your relationship with Him. It's solely built on that. And these other things, you know, they come out of things. I mean, the way you sit and talk and do those things, that's gonna come out of your relationship with Christ, but that's not what brings it on.

Speaker 2 25:47

Mm-hmm. That's that's a good point. In prayer, the Lord may move you to get on your face or whatever.

Speaker 25:54 Speaker 2 25:57

But you're not gonna get on your face and think I'm gonna appease God in this way. And yeah. Um, one of the ways that uh the Lord really taught me not to rely on myself, even in Bible study, you know, because I'm I'm I love to learn, you know, and I'm I'm a student of many things. And I bring that to the Word of God. And it's easy to get prideful in things and even in the things that you're learning. Um, but one of the things that God had me to start doing was just reading the word and not studying it, you know, just to repetitively read it, read it, read it. And you may think, you know, how much understanding am I gonna get? Like, like, shouldn't I do like word studies and and you know, like track this through to the old testament, which I still do that. I definitely do, and I'm not saying that that's wrong. But one of the, I mean, and it was a great joy for me to realize that just by reading the word, it was just like washing me, transforming me. It was nothing that I was

The Transformative Power of God's Word

Speaker 2 27:03

doing but just sitting with his open word and reading it. He, you know, increased my biblical understanding exponentially compared to when I was doing these very intense Bible studies and all of this stuff, you know, and it just it taught me an amazing lesson, you know, and that it's it it wasn't my intellect or, you know, any of those things, but it was the power of the word of God. And there it's um, I want to say 1 Thessalonians 2.13, where Paul says something to the effect of, you know, you didn't um take our words as the words of men, but what they were, the word of God which does its work in you who believe. And I really that's kind of where I planted my flag when I began this, because I thought, you know, it's the word of God that accomplished that does its work inside of my heart. And so I just began just reading, reading, reading, reading. And um, you know, I've got to say it was, you know, as far as um Bible study goes, it was the most powerful experience of my life. And it's I, you know, I'm getting older too. So I may not know chapter and verse of something, but because I've been reading so much, when I hear something, I now say Colossians talks about that. I think maybe it's in the third chapter, you know, and I have a just a greater understanding of the overall, you know, first the redemptive story that goes through all through scripture, but just so much more spiritual understanding. And it's simply because I just came to God with an open heart and I began just reading. And that's just been such a wonderful blessing. And I'm so I don't know, the the fact that you know my my flesh had nothing to do with that was just part of that powerful witness to me that the effectiveness and the power of of simply God's word. And so that that is my affection, you know, that it's run to the word of God. It really has been just a safety and a strong tower. I mean, and I've struggled with anxiety through my life, you know, at different points. And I can, you know, just one of the things that really I think and I think this was when my mom, during the time when she was diagnosed with cancer, and you know, I just love my mom to bits. And uh it was earth-shattering for me. And I what I did, I made a a recording of myself reading about an hour and a half of Psalms, and I did put some like piano music underneath it. And I cannot tell you how many times I listened to that at night and wept all through it, but it just ministered to me so much. And there again, you

Finding Healing in Scripture

Speaker 2 30:21

know, it was just the sweetness of the word of God, and you know, it is such a a healing. I mean, it's like what whatever I have needed in my life, you know, I have found it in Christ, you know, and really that that scripture, I think it's Colossians says that all things are held together in him. He's held me together, you know, at a point when I felt like my life could have completely come undone. And and many times I've said, Lord, I feel like I'm coming apart, but you hold all things together. I know you're holding me together too. So there's just such a richness and I just want to say in everythingness, you know, in in God's word that's really been a blessing to me. And too, you know, I want to share that with others and encourage them to just, you know, turn to the word, open your heart, you know, and open your Bible. And that's a great way to have a conversation with God. You know, if you're not sure how to pray, open the word, read it, you know, read it in audience with him and allow him to speak to your heart. And if you have questions, ask him.

Speaker 31:25

You know, when Danny was um when he was passing away in the hospital for those six weeks, um, on his phone, I put those psalms. And so he would listen to those every day too, as he was, as he was, you know, going to be with the Lord, and that was really minister, that really ministered to him. But also I remember him, Danny always used to say, the word of God is not meant for information, it's meant for transformation. And I think that's exactly what what you were just describing. I mean, sometimes people read the word of God just for information, and you know, even the devil can quote the word of God. I mean, it that's not what it's about. It's about knowing it and bringing it, be a doer of the word and not a hearer only, because what does the Bible say? If you're a hearer of the word, it's like you're going away, you're looking in the mirror, and you just forget which even it doesn't have any impact into your life, right? You forget which evidence we're looking at. But when it be when you're a doer and it becomes involved in your life, then it it's life-changing. And yeah, and I've seen that in you, Heather, and that's been encouraging for me too to to to really study the word deeper. Amen. Well, why don't I

Closing Prayer

Speaker 32:30

close first in prayer? Let's pray. Father, we just thank you so much, God, for this opportunity. Lord, we thank you. Lord, I know that I thank you for my relationship with Heather and the times that I've just I couldn't wait to talk to her and share some thoughts and questions and and just some some things that I was was thinking about. And Lord, we want to lift this podcast and this video time up to you, God. I pray that you would be glorified. Father, we want you lifted up. We want others to grow so deep in their relationship with you, their intimacy with you, Father, their desire for prayer, Lord, their understanding of what prayer is and and and what it does because of what you do, Father. And in our understanding of the word of God, Father, I pray that you would stir our hearts, oh God, for your word and for a deep, intimate relationship of prayer and understanding with you, Lord. I pray for each person listening. I pray for those listening who do not have that deep intimacy. I pray that you would minister into their lives, that you would draw them. I pray, Holy Spirit, that you would touch them, that you would bring Nathans into their lives, people who will just challenge them, that they need to change. Lord, we entrust this to you. We trust, God, that you're gonna work in ways that we can't even understand. And we thank you. Thank you, Lord, for your working power. We thank you that it's all about you, Lord. Thank you, Father. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.