Say More About Jesus Frees Us to Love

This week we chat about the teaching from Fullerton Free Church on April 12, 2026 which was titled "Free from Selfishness, Free to Love"

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:24

It's just like early in the morning to have someone shouting something at me again and again, say more, say more, say more. But it's fine. That's that's how rock and roll is intended to work. From time immemorial, rock and roll is always just shouting these things into our faces and trying to provoke us towards action, maybe.

SPEAKER_02 0:41

This isn't a podcast about rock and roll.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

Put your hands up in the air. If only it were. I would have nothing to say. Hi, welcome to the Say More podcast. It's not about rock and roll, I'll tell you that much. My name's Darren. I'm one of the hosts of this week. Co-hosts. Hi. And I'm here with my friend and uh Strait of Hormuz reconstructor, Katie Smiley.

SPEAKER_02 1:04

Hi, everybody.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

Nice job over there, by the way. Unbelievable what you're able to do in one week's time.

SPEAKER_02 1:10

Well, all I can say is, you know, you're gone for one week and just entropy sets in.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

So I think she's calling us entropy. This is my good friend Kyle. I waved. I like that. I thought now you get to know if only this were video podcasts people would be able to see that way. Gosh, that would be great. If it I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

I think our our faces need to get out there.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

The nice thing right now is I don't have to do my hair before I come in to see you because it's just you guys. You know what I mean? So I can just stinks. Yesterday I was telling my wife and daughter we were on a walk, and I said, hairs, yeah, we're so kind of a weird flex, but whatever. Exercise. Yeah, it was a vigorous walk, let me tell you.

SPEAKER_02 1:52

Exercised.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

I yeah. So anyway, I was telling them that I my hair's getting a little bit long, and Lily goes, It's gonna, if you're not careful, it's gonna start looking like that clown guy. And I was like, John Wayne Gacy. And she goes, What? She's like, No, from The Simpsons. And I was like, oh, Krusty. Okay, that's a relief. Wow. Then Shannon was like, Why would you immediately go John Wayne Gacy? And I was like, I don't know why that's the first one that popped into my head, but it was. And I just I'm just confessing it to all of you on the Seymour podcast.

SPEAKER_02 2:25

Speaking of entropy.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

I just want to say for the record that it is neither my intention to have Krusty the Clown hair, nor is it my intention to have uh look hair hair. Where is your hair like a model? Who are you going for? Uh maybe like um, maybe like you know 1998-99 Bruce Willis. Oh my heavenly days. Can that work?

SPEAKER_00 2:49

No, is that like uh diehard four era Bruce Willis?

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Which is not my favorite of the diehards, but yeah, I just think there was a point rank in your diehards. Four? Yeah. Uh four probably would be like oh gosh, probably four. Oh, I have it at third. Interesting. You like that better than number three? I like that better than number three. That's fair. But Jeremy Irons is in number three, so that's hard. I have never seen any of the diehards. Okay. Uh like Christmas? I don't have the bandwidth to deal with your life.

SPEAKER_02 3:22

I just thought I'd mention that because then maybe the conversation would end and we could like actually have a podcast.

SPEAKER_01 3:28

If you're listening to the Sam War podcast for the first time, this will confuse you because you'll be like, I thought this was gonna be about the teaching at Fullerton Free Church from Sunday. Me too. Which it is, we're getting there, trust me. But uh first, just let me say Bruce Willis was the first person I think I noticed that like started cutting his hair really short because he was balding, you know? And so it was like a way for him to go, like, just go into it, lean into it instead of away from it, sort of. Yeah, and uh so that's me. I'm I don't have good hair growth on the top of my head, and so the shaved head thing works better for me.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

Yay. I don't know. We can't all be a top knot, you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_02 4:04

We can't.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

I'm hiding the bald underneath it. You have no idea what's up there.

SPEAKER_01 4:09

Everybody is that's the thing for all the bald shaming shaming that goes on. Everybody's bald under their hair. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:16

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

We're all he's not wrong, we're all the same. Preach. Um, so this is a reflection. Like today, we're discussing questions that were submitted based on the teaching from April 12th uh at Fullerton Free Church. And that was the beginning of our new series called Jesus Frees Us. And the first uh week in that series, the title was Free from Selfishness, Free to Love. So the texts were mostly like John 15, like the first 20 or so verses of John 15, and then Philippians 2, uh, kind of the first, you know, the first 11 or so verses of that. And the gist of the message on Sunday was that Jesus um invites us to step away from the selfishness that we think will satisfy us but doesn't. So in John 15, he's really clear about the fact that, like on its own, the branch, which is what he calls us, the branch can't do anything. And then instead of that futility, he says, but you can abide in me, the vine, and you'll be able to find joy and peace, and you'll be able to love your neighbor and do all these things. So there's this invitation both to be freed from like the striving of selfishness, um, like trying to hold on to what we've got, protect what we have, um, like look out for number one. I think I sort of define selfishness on Sunday as like uh when I make myself the center of the universe and all I'm concerned about, or what I'm mostly prioritizing is my own power and pleasure and you know that sort of thing. And instead being able, like Jesus talks about, both uh we Jesus talks about in John 15, but then Paul picks up in Philippians 2 and says, if you've experienced the love of God, then that love can be a catalyst in you to love other people the same way God loved you in Christ. So um the second part of the message was don't just be freed from selfishness because you can remain in Christ, but then be freed to love others, which Jesus says and Paul reinforces, and it's a major theme of the Bible. So that was kind of the message on Sunday. Um there was also like a we'll see reflected in some of these questions, there was a like an intro section setting up the whole series, which said the reason we're looking at the freedom we have in Jesus is because a lot of times people will do things in Jesus' name that don't feel uh like they represent the heart of Jesus well. And so there is the reason why Jesus chose us to be ambassadors was to reveal him with accuracy, and sometimes that accuracy gets lost. And so it's important for us to know what Jesus frees us from and to so that we can paint a clear picture of Jesus to our neighbors. Well, okay, that was my grief, my like quick summary of that whole thing. Great job. Oh, thanks.

SPEAKER_00 6:59

So they don't even have to go to the rest of the series, like you just fixed it, right?

SPEAKER_01 7:03

Yeah, no, I heard that from a lot of people. They're like, I think we've had enough of this. I think that's enough. Yeah, yeah. You did it. Congrats. Um, yeah. So, and then people have the ability to submit questions, and they can do that both during the sermon or after at podcast at fullertonfree.com, and then we respond to the questions. So we've got uh a couple of those, three, three of those this week.

SPEAKER_02 7:22

Yeah, we we have some great questions. One of them starts off with um the idea of what you talked about in selfishness sometimes being based in fear. So the question asker says, when we see or recognize this fear-based selfishness in other Christians, what's our role as brothers and sisters and how to help them not be so afraid? Is it on us to help them recognize it or talk through it with them? If so, how do you go about that conversation without causing hurt? Or is it not our responsibility?

SPEAKER_01 7:58

Okay, yeah. So so we did I did talk on Sunday about the fact that at the root of all selfishness is fear. It's fear of scarcity, fear of being overlooked, fear of being disregarded, sometimes fear of being discovered and found out. Sometimes it's a fear of um just like other people getting stuff that you wish you had or whatever. There, like there's fear at the root of all of that. And when you when you can rest in the love of Christ, then that fear goes away because you you don't have to worry about isolation or you don't have to worry about disregard being disregarded or being unloved or any of those things, because the power and presence of Christ in your life is a constant sort of reminder that you are cared for and that you are worthy and that you are loved and all those things. So um, with regard to this question, uh my first response would be um it's a delicate dance, and it and it sort of depends on the nature of the relationship you have with people. So I think if you're just in the public forum, you're at the mall or something, and you interact with somebody, you see something on a t-shirt that seems fear-based, I don't know that you have the context in which to like lean into that person's life and go, hey, let me tell you, you don't need your I don't like your shirt and it seems fear-based, and let me tell you why. Because you don't have relational currency to spend there. But I think it's different when you're dealing with your family or when you're dealing with your neighbors or your coworkers, people that you've built rapport with. Or if you're in a church community with people who are being driven by fear, I do think there's there's um the relational currency to say, hey, can we can we talk about what you just said, or can we talk about like some of the choices that you've made? And and I would say then for me, the key going forward it has to do with two things, and then I'll let you guys correct my mistakes here. But the key number one has to do with me first talking about myself. So um, and that's gonna sound like selfishness, but I don't mean it is selfishness. I mean let's talk about my own experience. So I think a lot of times in relationship with other people, we want to go, let me tell you what I see that you're doing that I don't like or that I think is wrong or isn't Christian enough or whatever. But I think if I can say, here's what I have experienced, and here's what I've done. And these are the places in my life where fear has kind of taken hold. And if I can be honest and sort of own some of those in my own self, then it becomes easier to transition and say, Have you ever experienced that? Because it seems like you're experiencing it. Sometimes I'm afraid of this, or sometimes I'm afraid of that. And it seems like maybe you're afraid. Is that true? So there's a there's a kind of a leveling of the playing field. Uh, Fullerton Free will talk about like humble solidarity with our fellow men, and I think that building rapport sometimes starts with going like this isn't a you problem, it's an us problem. Um, and then I think the other thing to lean into would be curiosity. So, again, a lot of times we want to make declarative statements. We want to go, I see this in you and it's bad, or I see you in this and it makes me sad for you, or I see this in you and it doesn't feel Jesus-like. And that's hard for people to receive, but I think if we say, Can you tell me more about the choice you made to do this thing with your children, or the choice you made uh with your job, or the choice you made with your whatever? Like I think asking questions and being curious is a better pathway into dialogue, and then it be because it becomes less monologue and more dialogue, you know. So, anyway, though those are just my first two thoughts on that. Katie.

SPEAKER_02 11:25

Wow, you just pointed me out. Now I have to say something. Wait, let me think about something wise to say. No, I think um I agree with you, and I don't think you made a lot of mistakes there. Thank you. Just maybe a couple. That's fine.

SPEAKER_01 11:39

It's fine. I it's funny. I shared a Google Doc with Katie yesterday, and then I got a notification that she had edited it, but I looked at the Google Doc and I couldn't figure out what she did. And she just fixed a spelling. Oh. She's a good friend.

SPEAKER_02 11:50

That's really nice. What can I say? Um, I think that what you said about um reflecting back what you see is always really important because if you're if you're feeling fear in your relationship with someone, if you can pick it up, you know, you're like sort of sniffing it out. It's okay for you to say, I you seem afraid to me. Can you tell me if that's right? Or how do you, you know, because some of even sometimes fear gets expressed in anger, really. You can see I see that with especially when my kids were little, they're afraid of something, but instead of just saying, Mom, I'm scared, they're like, get out of my face, you know, they just lash out. So if we can, if we can get to the root of the cause, um, and and it it's it's gonna be more productive anyway, as a friend, instead of saying exactly what you said, Darren, instead of saying, like, here's all the symptoms I see, it's better to just say, I feel like you might be afraid of something. Can you pinpoint what that is? Like, is there something underneath the surface you need to get out?

SPEAKER_01 12:55

And what's nice about that too is it it has a question mark attached to it. So the way you're doing your posture and tone, um it is a it's a question. You seem like this, or it it appears to me this. You're talking about your perception, you're owning it as your perception from the get-go, which gives the person the permission on the other side to say, No, I don't think you're perceiving that correctly, or yeah, wow, you really saw me. Yes, I am terrified, or whatever. But because you're couching it in your perception, it also feels more dialogue-based than it is if you were to say, like, I have decided that you are afraid, or I have decided that you are being selfish, which again, that's me saying I've I've passed judgment, like I've I've you know, put the gavel down and decided that you're a bad person or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 13:44

I know that this might be uh going back a little bit, but in uh C.S. Lewis's Curie Tape Letters, there's uh chapter 21, which is my favorite of them. Um he talks about unownership um and how like one of the big, you know, if you've never read this book, it's an older demon talking to a younger demon, explaining how to tempt people, and he's like, here's something you should tempt them to do, like, but make them believe that they own things um and that they're their own things, and like and then confuse what they mean with the my. Like when it's like they say this is my teddy bear, which is like the bear that I can rip up if I want to, versus like my my wife or my country or my god or whatever, like make them think that all of those mean mine, like uh that I can do with what I want. I I don't know that anything has affected me as much as that idea of like if I don't own it, if it's not mine in the first place, then no one can take it from me. You know, like uh like if I don't have things, then no one can steal them. If I don't have like and and the freedom to be like, I don't need to it's just freeing, it's just freeing to not have to have these things. Um I was using this example the other day. There's this wonderful person who comes to our food pantry all the time, and she's so sweet and she's great, but she's been going through a rough, you know, like uh insecurity in housing and in food and stuff. And the way that we do the food pantry is you can take whatever you want to. You get a bag, you fill it with whatever you want. And so she fills it with the food. And every time when I'm looking the other way, she'll take one uh can opener and put it in and try to hide that she's doing it, but she can take as many can openers as she wants to, like, no one is saying no to this, right? But for her, she's finding some security and like having another one, having another one and doing it sneakily and like not wanting to ask. And but I don't care that she takes the can opener, so I don't need to sit and be like, hey, that's not all right. I get to be like, hey, it was great to see you again today, and uh you can have whatever you want and just keep reiterating that like there is no like specifications, there is no, but I don't need to call her out for it because it's not actually hurting anything yet, and uh yeah, and give her time to recognize that it actually is a safe space for her to be, you know, and like give her not try to rush because it it would be easy to be upset because like she's hiding from me, but it's not mine, and she can have it. So what am I doing?

SPEAKER_01 16:22

Yeah, that kind of speaks to the last part of the first question here, Katie, which was also like she at the end of the question goes, do we even have a responsibility to address this in the lives of other people? And I said, I I would think with that one, the answer is you just have to check your motivation, right? So if I feel like it's my job to correct everybody else, that's probably not okay. You know, like there's probably some arrogance in that and whatever. And I don't detect that in this question, but I think the check for me would be there is a place of care and concern that wants to speak to the fear in other people's lives, not from a place of I am the boss or I am the leader, but rather like we are humans together, I've been there, I know what it's like, and I would want you to find freedom from this. Right. So if your motivation in community is addressing fear-based action or selfishness, and it's coming from a place of wanting to deliver, like like set people free in the name of Jesus, that's a great motivation. And again, in relationship, I think that would be welcome. But if it's like I'm turning my eyes towards all the busted people that need my input, like that's probably not the same thing, you know.

SPEAKER_02 17:36

I think it's interesting to just point out that if someone is concerned about whether or not it's their responsibility or the way that they approach it, generally speaking, that makes them a better candidate for approaching it than someone who is like convinced it's their responsibility. Do I get to tell my friend that they're a mess? You know, it's true. It's it's really a good, um, humble place to be if you're worried that it's not the right thing to say. I sometimes think that when I want badly to say something, generally speaking, the spirit is like, you should probably close your mouth. But when I feel that sense of like, oh, this is gonna be really hard to say out loud, but I need to go ahead and say it, then that that tends to be a little bit more of um uh uh prompting from the spirit.

SPEAKER_01 18:22

I think I'd like to go to a church where you're one of the pastors. Is that possible? Yeah, that's really wise, and that's that's very like it's both self-aware and that's lovely, but also it's just good counsel. It's this like that's a good way to it's everything I just said uh in practice, uh whereas I was getting theory. I was going, you know, check your heart, check your motivations, and then for you to position it that way, I think is just very clarifying. Nice work. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 18:49

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 18:50

Um let's ask some more questions.

SPEAKER_00 18:53

It's like uh this person I'm gonna summarize a little bit, but uh there's a large number of pastors who are preaching a prosperity gospel. I know that that's not okay, they said. Um but and that was your references to greed, but they requested some clarification in reference to like oppression and violence being perceived in the church today.

SPEAKER_01 19:14

Okay, so the context for the question is uh in in my message, I talked about the fact that as Christians and as ambassadors, when people are doing things in the name of Jesus that are not Jesus-like, we have the responsibility to wave a flag in some ways and say, there is a Jesus and that's not him. So I said, you know, that both throughout human history and in our day today, there are people who are uh you, you know, they're being greedy and they're being violent and they're oppressive and they're uh selfish and prideful and all of these things. Um, and and many times that's happening because people are broken anyway, but where it happens and it's happening in the name of Jesus, where people are saying, like, oh no, this greed, we're we we're holding on to these things because God told us they belong to us, or we're starting this war because God told us that we are the righteous warriors, or we are the ones who are um suppressing women or minorities or whatever, because we we God told us that our race or our gender is the best one, or whatever. Those are the places where we have to be like, oh, that's not that's not in alignment with the heart of Jesus. So he says, you know, he could see it with the prosperity gospel preachers who would, if you don't know prosperity gospel, that's basically someone who says, God wants you to be rich and he wants you to be wealthy, and if you give enough money to the church, God will double that and triple it and whatever. Is that that is not my belief? And oh my gosh. So he he he's pointing out Kyle had some I need to go talk to my accountant right now. Um give him whatever. He um he's pointing out prosperity gospel preachers as people that are indicative of like the greed that sometimes gets couched in the name of Jesus. But I would say um, what's more nefarious than that, yes, that does happen.

SPEAKER_02 21:01

That is true, yes.

SPEAKER_01 21:02

But what's more nefarious than that is the greed that's pervasive in the lives of all all kinds of people that they just don't pay any attention to. So when we hear like, oh, people are being greedy in the name of Jesus, we go, oh yeah, those pastors who are preaching prosperity gospel. But I think what I would rather us do is go, like, what are the ways, and I said this in my message on Sunday, what are the ways in which I am being greedy, where I am hoarding onto the things, like you just said, Kyle, that I've uh come to believe are mine and I deserve to have them and keep them, and other people do not deserve them and might be trying to steal them from me or whatever. So my caution with this question would be if we look at a prosperity gospel preacher and we go, like, yeah, that's that's the greed he's talking about, the answer is yes. But I think more importantly than that, because those are that's a couple of isolated people around the country. But I would say in our communities largely, we have people who are preoccupied with money and with power and with fame and with uh Influence and those kinds of things, and that's all greed too, but it's greed that we just sort of turn a blind eye to. We sort of ignore, we have we have uh we just kind of learn to sort of swim in this water, and it doesn't seem uh problematic to us. And I would say the same is true with violence and oppression when I talk about the oppression of people. Like there are all kinds of places where I mean, even if we talk about the way that Christians treat people who uh don't agree with our theology or people who have different kinds of theology, um, there are lots of examples in our world right now of oppression taking place that Christians are the are the cause of. Like we're the ones who are oppressing people because rather than enter into a dialogue or having a conversation with someone who has a different theology or disagrees with us, we instead want to uh shame that person, we want to imprison that person, we want to fight that person, we want to run them out of our country, we want to, you know, whatever. And I think in those places where we sort of take up um a violent and oppressive stance in defense of our own beliefs, once again we've lost the heart of Jesus. Jesus doesn't do that, and his followers didn't do that. There was the ability, even as we just we just got this long study in Acts, and Paul goes city to city, and there's violence that's done to him, but there is no place in Acts where Paul goes into a place and is like, we got to take this city for Jesus, and that means we gotta kill all the all the people that are worshiping the false gods, or we've got to run them out of these towns. Paul comes in and says, Hey, can I can I argue with you? Can I debate with you about the merit of the risen Savior? Um, and he he's able to defend those things with peace and kindness and with healing and whatever. So uh I I don't want to be the only one to answer the question. What do you would you add to that?

SPEAKER_00 23:46

I think that the the the hard part in the in the whole question is that when we hear of this like atrocious violence, like the example would be, you know, 1940s Germany, like you like you have Nazi Germany where they said that we're doing this in the name of God. We're all easily being like, yeah, but that's not real Christianity. Like it's easy to disassociate with uh major big things like that, or when Coney rises up the uh LRA and uh in and you know, like all those things, it's easy to be like, yeah, but that's not right real Christianity because those are so big and massive. I think that what you're bringing up is really important is like, no, there's little things that happen every single day that aren't little because they are uh and so it's it's harder because those ones were like, oh, just disassociate. Correct. But these ones, I'm like, I don't know when this person, whatever, you know.

SPEAKER_01 24:38

And think about the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus will say, like, oh, well, you've heard it said that if you kill someone, that that's a sin. But I'm telling you, if you hate them, it's the same thing. You've heard it said, don't commit adultery. I'm telling you, if you lust, it's the same thing. God cares about the condition of your heart. So yes, we can look at the doctrine of discovery where Christians are running indigenous people off of their land and murdering them as you know, godless savages, right? And we can go, well, you know, that's not us. But it, you know, like there are also places where we've kind of whitewashed that story over time. Right. And I would want to both look at that with uh an honesty and a confessional attitude that would say, like, Christians got that wrong, and Christians got Germany in the 1930s and 40s wrong, you know, and like there are places where Christians have got it wrong, and there are the big ones, and so I think some of those big ones are happening today in our world, but I would say what what we're talking about also is that there are these small ones that are the places what Jesus points at in the Sermon on the Mount that goes, like, don't just look at murder and adultery, but look at the condition of your heart, which has murderous intent and has you know adulterous intent because God cares about that the same. I think we we want to have our radar up not just to be able to see the wickedness of Christians somewhere else and the way they're doing things in Jesus' name, but I think we want to be able to look at our own lives and our own communities and go, where are the places here where we're we're saying this is Jesus' heart, but in fact it's a heart of war, or it's a heart of violence, or it's a heart of destruction, or a heart of indifference, or whatever. And we just have to be really careful.

SPEAKER_00 26:15

Or even a heart of like separation. Just like uh we think for some populations around us, like they need to change these things first before they can come to Jesus. But I didn't need to change, like we we level these different sins, or we level these different differences and make them like this one's bigger and you need to fix it first before you come here. And it it's it's maybe it's not an impression of you're holding someone down and they can't breathe, but it's an impression of uh you need to take further steps to come towards me than I do to you.

SPEAKER_01 26:46

Yeah, yeah. Our biases, yeah, um, our blind spots, the things the the sin in our life is the sin we're least worried about most of the time. We're mostly worried about the things that are not a temptation to us that we see manifesting in the lives of other people. And I I think there's a good reason based on the teaching of Jesus to kind of flip that and go maybe spend less time worrying about the people across the street and more time looking at your own selfishness and your own pride and your own greed and your own violence and whatever. So and then I think our third question, and because we're long today, but that's okay. No, it's good. Um our third question is kind of tied to that one a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 27:23

Yeah, it has similar themes. So this person asks this Sunday at the beginning of the sermon, and a bit again at the end, there was a reference to people doing acts of injustice, violence, and greed, all wrapping it in the name of Jesus. Then there was a call for the church to stand against this. I wonder if you could say more. I see a big story in there. Speaking of bossy. Just kidding. Um, I wonder if you could say more about what this looks like practically. My personal relationship seems so small. Social media feels not real or effective, and I'm not sure writing my congressional leaders would really do anything. How can we effectively wave the flag of Jesus as his ambassadors? What would make a difference? Thanks for your consideration.

SPEAKER_00 28:12

That's really good. That is good. I I immediately just want to disagree with part of their question. Oh, Kyle. Your relationships, your personal are not small. Like uh they are gigantic. And like the value that you can have in those interpersonal relationships, be it's true the person in your office or whatever, are it is the biggest thing that you can have. And so I just I like I know that thought. Yeah, but no, like uh let me call you out as uh as was indicated in this first question. Your your relationships are hugely significant and you can make a big difference in them. Sorry, now go on to the next question.

SPEAKER_01 28:50

That's a good that's a good reminder, not just for the writer of the question, but also for all of us that like we do you are you are largely influential in your circle. Like the people that you have influence, it does. I mean, I will say I am writing my congressional letters on a regular basis, and I am going to protest, and I am doing the things to stand up for what I believe, as I think Americans should on any side of any issue. Like, I think there's the ability to go, hey, here's what I think is right. Do I always feel like it makes a huge difference? No, in the same way that sometimes in my interpersonal relationships, I don't feel like it makes a huge difference or whatever. But I think the key is um to look for places where I can be the hands and feet of Jesus, where I can represent Jesus well. And mostly that happens on a local level. You know, uh like I'm not uh I'm not totally confident that writing my congressional leaders makes a difference. I still do it because I think it's important, but I, you know, I'm not sure how how valuable it is in the grand scheme. But I can tell you what is valuable are the little conversations I have over coffee tables and dinner tables, the conversations I have while waiting in line at the coffee shop or the grocery store or the gas station or wherever. And those I'm happening, those are happening every day, and they are making a difference. Katie, what would you say to that?

SPEAKER_02 30:07

Oh, I just was thinking about um how when we become Christians, we're invited into this new life that has the resurrection of Jesus as our source of any ability to be transformed, to not be selfish, to not be greedy, to not have violence in our hearts, all those things. And so even in these small relationships, I'm putting small in quotes, Kyle, just for your benefit. I saw them. Yeah. Yeah. Um, then we were we have the opportunity to walk as the person we will be when we see Jesus face to face, as opposed to the old person that we once were. And you know, he make Jesus makes that clear that the old person, and Paul does too, the old person was filled with malice and slander and greed and selfishness and violence and hatred. And that's what our old self is naturally going to express. So anytime in any small way we do the opposite of that and walk in newness of life, then that is the anti um, you know, the anti-old life that we can put on display, which is something new, something better, the the life of Jesus becomes what we're all about. And that's kind of in our own spheres. It's really the only thing we can do that is the effective thing. Yeah. Um, everything else we can do as just a part of our like mechanisms, being a citizen, being a neighbor, whatever, but like in our relationships, just saying, okay, this morning I'm gonna ask the spirit for help to walk in newness of life. Yeah. And that means putting the old self to death and living in the new self.

SPEAKER_01 31:54

So yeah, and I think that works both at an individual level and at a corporate level. So we talk about being ambassadors, we also talk about the church as an embassy and the fact that when people like the dream was always that when people would come into contact with Fullerton Free, it would be like getting a taste of what the future will be like when Jesus is on the throne in a very tangible and evident way, and it people would experience that in interacting with us. We would care for all people, regardless of who they are, where they come from. We we would uh demonstrate love and joy and peace and the fruit of the spirit both individually and corporately in our community. So I think there is a way for a local church like ours to be a light and for individuals to be a light. But it goes back to the thing we maybe said first on the podcast today, which is like you just have to be discerning of you know what where am I and what's the what's the next right thing in front of me to do and say, and yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:49

It's really good.

SPEAKER_01 32:50

Yeah, don't get discouraged. I think uh maybe I hear a little bit in the question of like, is I care about all these things, but I'm not sure that any of the things I'm doing is making a difference. The futility of that I think is something we all wrestle with. And I think to your point, Katie, I think an alignment with Jesus, we we know that what we're doing uh is beneficial because it's in alignment with the king of the universe. So there's value in continuing to champion the things that Jesus cares about.

SPEAKER_02 33:21

Yeah, if being a Christian was just about going to heaven when you die, right, then Jesus and the Apostle Paul and the other writers of scripture would never give us any behavioral advice. Correct. They would only say, just think about the future when you get to go to heaven. Instead, they say, the kingdom here means you living this new life as you can on the earth. Yeah, that's cool.

SPEAKER_00 33:44

Right. When you live in love or live in peace, like you exude that. And uh, and it doesn't have to be a thing you're putting on because you're waiting for a result from it. And uh, yeah, that's huge. That's a big deal. I really appreciate that.

SPEAKER_01 33:56

Okay, well, those are our questions for this week. Thanks very much for the people who submitted the questions and thanks for listening. And we will uh we will see you next week. Keep you next week.

SPEAKER_02 34:06

Why don't you let how about instead of just a lot of like a lot of a lot of whiny singing songing? We have computers for this. We do not need that, guys.

SPEAKER_01 34:21

Uh still singing. I can I think the thing is, I have control of this mic. I could have turned it off like two minutes ago. It's still on.