Authority: What You Carry Into Every Room

Most of us are chasing leadership when the thing we're actually missing is authority. Joey Odom and Chris Hart spend this episode on the difference, and why it changes how you walk into every room.

Chris starts simple. Authority is not a title, a volume level, or being the loudest person in the building. It is something you carry, and it traces all the way back to Genesis, where the first assignment God ever handed us was to take ground.

Then the mechanic that holds the whole thing together: the level of your submission determines the level of your authority. The Roman centurion understood it. A person under authority is a person with authority. Submit to God first and it flows into your marriage, your kids, your work, and the stranger you meet who needs someone to speak faith over their life.

In this episode:

— Why leadership and authority are not the same thing, and which one you're actually missing — The line that sets the ceiling: your submission determines your authority — What "subjugate" in Genesis 1:27 has to do with how you walk into a Tuesday — Why speaking faith over someone is authority in action, and what happened to two strangers Joey did it for — How Molly took command of an emergency while a room full of people froze — What authority looks like in a marriage where both people are strong — How to walk in authority when you don't have the title or the corner office — The closing charge: the devil has none, and you've been handed all of it

This week's small step:
Add 20 minutes to your morning. Spend it in the word, then talk to God and ask for chances to walk in authority that day. Write down what you're grateful for and the doors you're believing for. Then get comfortable being uncomfortable, and speak a word of faith over someone who needs it.

Be Brave. Live Big.

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FOLLOW THE HOSTS

Joey Odom — @joeyodom.life; www.joeyodom.life

Chris Hart — @thechrishart · @thebravecoaches; www.bravecoaches.com

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REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE
Genesis 1:27 (made in God's image, the call to take dominion). The account of the Roman centurion and his "under authority" line (Matthew 8 / Luke 7). Jordan Peterson's framing of meekness as a sword kept in its sheath.

Produced by Sonus Podcasts · sonuspodcasts.com

Transcript

0:03

Welcome to Brave and Big, where we talk about living a Brave and Big Life. I'm Joey Odom, husband to Kristen, dad to Harrison and Gianna, speaker, former tech co-founder, and author. I'm Chris Hart, husband to Molly, dad to Blakely, Cooper, Landry, and my son Brave. I'm the CEO and founder of the Brave Group and Brave Performance Agency. Joey and I have been having these talks for 25 years, and we're better for it. We believe the same will be true for you. Enjoy this episode. Be brave and live big. Brave and big, let's go! Let's go. Hey, you know how fun it is to do this live. Like we do, we do some we do some remote, but man, in person, looking in those big, beautiful blue eyes. Stop. Bro. I've noticed your beard and your jawline specifically looking extra good. I will tell you, that beard is that beard is getting gray, homie. I mean, it's it look I like it. Well, it's just like, let me walk into a room and just show people wisdom. Look at my face. Yeah, yeah. Look no further than my jowls. We're we're about to get into a topic of authority. But right before we do, Joey, uh, what just happened is kind of how we start all of our conversations. How great is it to have a great friend that you dearly love, and it is like a joy to give them ridiculous compliments. What do you think about that? I love I you are here's a compliment for you, big guy. Is that easy now because you're about to get one? You have you are so good. You do you do a couple things really, really well. You are always affirming the good you see in others, and it it is back to this idea of encouragement. We talked about that in the previous episode, this idea of encouragement, pointing out something good in somebody else that they should continue to do. So when I hear it from you, it never gets old. I know this for when Kristen says things, me or I say to her, it never gets old hearing good things that you're doing about yourself, and the more specific, the better, and you're so good at that. Man, well, thank you. Uh, don't you think though, like, and you're great at like matching energy, and you bring energy, but I thought it's just like total side idea. But like you see somebody in the mall, you can either like bring energy, right? Match energy, or just walk by them and and not let that moment actually happen. Hey, you you had that story, Reggie in the mall. It's such a good one. That's I guess that's what I was thinking. Where you going? Have you already yeah, I didn't know if you planned that one, but that makes me think of that. There's a guy, Reggie. We were like very average friends in college. He ran traps, right? I mean, you knew each other in past. We'd say hi in the cafeteria. Yeah. Because we went to college together, right? And I I hadn't seen Reggie in 10 years. And we were in the mall in Tulsa, Woodland Hills, come on, and I saw him. And I I I think I this is the problem. I thought I could either act like I didn't see him and keep walking, and my life would not change. Yeah. But for whatever reason, I just was like, Reggie, and bro, it was it was exactly what you would hope. Yeah, he just goes, Heart attack, and like we we skipped, I don't know, 80 yards to each other and like embraced like it was my brother returning from war. Man, I hugged him. I don't know anything about him, anyways, but I was like, How are you? Yeah, he told me he's married, got some kids. And I was like, Man, I have kids too. And that's that's it. Yeah, I don't like he didn't need anything, I did anything. High five, but it was almost just like he he was open to matching energy. Yeah, but sometimes we're like afraid to put ourselves out there because I guess the reality is like, what if they don't respond? That's right. The worst thing that happens is I yelled a guy's name in the mall and kept moving. Hey, and you but the best thing that could happen is exactly what did we're talking about it today. Well, the a couple things jump out there. Like one, the most important word in the English language is a person's name. That's great. So you you and then the second thing, the second thing you can do is when you uh I I won't botch the quote exactly, but it's something like like your cap on life is your threshold for embarrassment. Like if you have if you you made yourself, you were perfectly willing to be embarrassed. Yeah, and as a result, you had an awesome encounter. And if you didn't, like, okay, that's fine too. Moving on, doesn't change my identity, doesn't change who I am. Some strangers like that guy yelled a guy's name. Terrible believe what I saw today, but instead, it's like you better believe if I see Reggie again. And fun note, haven't since then. It's been another 10 years, but I'm ready, and I think he is too, right? But it's just like, what it kind of made my day. Yeah, I mean, it's getting me happy thinking about it again. Anyways, you're great at that. It'd be it'd be interesting to just think, man, what are the moments in a day where you can bring energy, but also be really good at matching energy? Because I think people, man, people need it. You feel great, like they put themselves out there, be ready to respond. Yeah, that's right. Something that AI does really well that I think we can learn from. And I asked it once, like you mimic human interaction, like what do you tell me the principles behind it? And it said one of them was effectively personality mirroring. And so you're just mirroring what you see. Yeah, it's like the old Andy Bernard on the office. If you know that, he talks about personality mirroring, never breaking a handshake type of thing, repeating someone's name. Yeah, but AI does a lot of things that we could take some notes from, and that is personality mirroring. They built it to be a perfect companion, yeah, and that's what it's built to do. Let's let's do that. Yeah, yeah. We are going to dive into authority today. Oh, this this is gonna be great. I'm excited. I think it's a missing component in a lot of people's lives. Maybe, maybe there's a misunderstanding about it or a misappropriation on how to really like implement it, whatever it might be. So I think it's gonna be a lot of fun. Like, where where should we start on the overarching topic of authority? I will so to set the stage for me, maybe for the listener, I'm gonna sit maybe in your shoes because it's my shoes, which is effectively talk to me like I'm six on authority. I I think you are so good at this. You do walk in authority, and I s and and I don't exactly know what it is because we con we have a lot of ideas when it comes to authority. I think even for some people, a certain level of defensiveness rises up when you hear the word authority. Yeah. So go like I want to go real simple and then we can build from there. But when you say authority, what do you personally, what is Chris Hart, what are you thinking when you say authority? Well, let me let me say maybe some of the misunderstandings that I say first. Um I think that we confuse leadership for authority. And and there's a lot of books on leadership, and there should be. And I man, we love leadership. You have to be great leaders. Um I was talking to a very high-level group of guys one time, and I was like, everybody in here is a leader. My question is, do you actually feel like you're walking in authority in your life? Like, is is there a presence about you? Is there is there a flow of God's actual supernatural ability for you to act as a leader, not just have a leadership position? And so maybe that's it, kind of initially. You know what I mean? And that's the thing, like you don't you can you can be a person of authority, and I'm gonna go a little pretty spiritual today. Yeah. Um, and I think maybe that's the way to do it. Let me just read this to you to set the tone from the word in Genesis 127, and I guess this is what I personally always come back to. So, like, if I'm gonna explain this to my kids, I want them to know why and how they can walk in what we're calling authority. Okay. Genesis 127, God created man in his own image. So if we're gonna be like God, it's interesting that that's what it says. In the image and likeness of God, he created him, male and female, and God blessed them, granting them certain authority and said to them, Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and this is my new favorite word, subjugate it, subjugate it, which means to put under your power and rule over, dominate the fish of the sea, birds of the air, every living thing that moves upon the earth. So anybody that's ever offended by the idea of authority or being an authority, this is different than being like a um harsh dictator. I'm talking about walking like in your God-given authority and your ability to dominate circumstance, to take ground, to move forward. And I'm gonna go as far as to say if we are men and women of God, the infinite creator of the universe, it would almost be a misstewardship to not walk in a level of supernatural ability and authority. Yeah. And so I know we're saying a lot here, and I do want to kind of keep breaking it down and continue to simplify it, but I I wanted to go there as almost like a foundation of like, okay, that when I'm talking about it, it's like in the beginning, we're made in God's image. And so when we come, I I so I'm thinking about it like we come into business and we come into an industry, man. I want us to come in thinking like, let's come in and have some authority here. Let's dictate commercial real estate. Let's let's let's make a difference in medicine. Yeah. Man, we we coach people. I want to help people see that and feel that. What's it look like to actually be the authority in your home to where there's an amazing respect and reverence for you as a parent so you can lead and again steward well what you've been given responsibility for. So there's a responsibility element to it, there's a power element to it, there's a stewardship element to it. And I think we kind of keep unpacking it, but I'm trying to lay a little bit of groundwork and kind of take us where you think we should go. Well, I I so I hear a little bit of a there's like a foundational understanding, and then there's a mindset, and then there are actions that flow from there. So even taking it further, like when it when you say maybe maybe are those are those the right is that a a right order? Is it foundational understanding, then there's mindset, and then there's action. Yes. When you when you think about the mindset you have of walking in authority into a room, like let's say you go in a social gathering, what does that actually mean in that social gathering? That's great. This is a good picture to paint. I I don't think you have to come in and kind of be the cock of the walk. Everybody look at me. Like I don't, I don't, I don't see Jesus exampling that. But I do think you walk in, and me personally, I'm just thinking, man, there are people in here for sure that need help, want to take ground, but they're not sure how to, um, and could use some encouragement. And I think it's different to be like, hey, bro, like we did at the beginning, like your beard looks good. Yeah, great. There's no authority behind that. But what you might need is a little bit of infusion of courage. And if I'm operating in my authority to do that, and that's a cool thing too. I think your authority, what it does is it magnifies your giftings. Oh. Okay. I I have a gift of encouragement. Yeah. I like to do it, it's fun for me, right? Yeah. But if I'm walking in my God-given supernatural authority, now that ability is multiplied. Like we've been in Nashville, there's been some fun interactions that we've had, and it's like, man, I'm kind of seeing this in you. Can I just can I use my authority to encourage you? And it's not like mind-blowing. Yeah. So, hey, be really good at what you're doing right now. Oh, but if it's said with the authority that should be behind it, now we can do something. All right. So think about this: like a like a doctor, they they call him an authority on a subject because he's studied in that subject, he's gifted in that subject, and he can he can um operate in that region. And now he's an authority on this part of this specific medicine. That's what I think we get to become. We have this overarching ability and power, favor, if you will, that comes from God. Yeah. And now we strategically apply it with our God-given unique talents. And I think that's how we start making a dent in our generation. Let me tell you how I see it play out in you and what I observe. And it's a setup for a second part of the question. So the first one will be exercising authority in your interactions with others. And then the second one will be exercising an authority with yourself. And so that that may be the more challenging piece because what I see you do, and I saw it yesterday. I had coffee with a guy, you were on a call, and then the last 10 minutes you stepped in and you spoke directly to this guy's pain point, and you said, Hey, let me make sure you understand something. And you said, This is what God, this is what God has planned for you. Like you, like, what if this world that you're this thing that you're taking a big risk on right now, what if it does explode? What if, what if you do have generational impact? What if you and so what I see you do, the authority that I see is you speaking faith over somebody else. And I've been the beneficiary of that as well. There was a we had a difficult time probably six months ago in our business, and you said, Hey, I just want you to know something. You and Heath, who's my business partner, said you guys are gonna experience more alignment than you've ever experienced. You guys are gonna go move into a a new level of thriving that you've never experienced. And I and what I didn't think when you said it was like, Well, you don't know that. I just thought, yeah, maybe you're right. Which is effectively, you just spoke faith over a situation. And so the authority that I see you exercising in others is an authority that says, here's what God's word says about you. So the authority that you're not conjuring up some kind of manufactured authority, you're just taking God at his word for what he says and then applying it to somebody else. That's interesting. Well, and so I think somebody listening could probably make the correlation that if we're the other, another it's probably a synonym for this would almost be your anointing. And I I think those two go hand in hand. So so my question would be okay, what are you actually like gifted, like supernaturally anointed to do? Because if we recognize that, then you're obviously gonna have a flow of authority in that. So that's kind of what like they're guys, man, they are gifted to communicate. There's an anointing there. So let's use that God-given authority, like, hey, steward, subjugate, right, to to bring it under your power. Like, I'm communicating this, it's gonna be brought with with authority. I think there's people that are like very anointed to create systems and strategies, and you know, you see that in the word where it's like somebody was um commissioned to create something great. Yeah. Right. So so it's not authority, it's not just like this thumping power. Yes. I think it's really activating the anointing, but walking in a supernatural confidence in it, usually for the benefit of others. Yes. And then kind of to your point, too, man, there's times where I I I want to use that authority to make sure that I'm at my best, but again, ultimately to benefit other people. Yes, so to build a kingdom. So use so I and again, I don't want to I don't want to misinterpret too, but what I'm what I'm hearing for some, you use authority to encourage others. That's one thing you're great at doing. For yourself, how are you walking in authority personally? You just kind of said it, but we walk well, you talk about that a little bit. You you I mean, you can look in the mirror and say all the things that God says about you, maybe that's the thing, but how do you walk in authority for yourself and the things that you're putting your hand to? You're bit you're you run a coaching business and you have a bunch of great clients, but how do you walk in authority for yourself on the discouraging days? Or even just you wake up in the morning and be like, I'm gonna go take ground. What does that mean in in terms of walking in authority for yourself? I think it's always gonna be a result of like input creates the output and for me, right? And and I I'd say for for most people, but I I want to be real careful to almost protect it and then um add to it, foster it, if you will. You know what I mean? So that's where I just think I'll always come back to like what are you doing first thing in the morning? And and I think what a statement there would be like, let's just establish authority for the day. And I think that's giving the proper thing the proper place first. Yeah. Man, if you wake up in a mess and you ate too much pizza the night before and you didn't sleep good and you feel like crap, and you wake up right before and you kind of run, like you're not gonna show up with any kind of authority. Yeah. But man, you get up when you you said you're gonna get up, man, drink that cup of coffee, get your mind right, take a lap around the neighborhood, do some push-ups, get in the word. God, I put you first. God, I'm asking, I'm requesting that I walk in your authority to get give me the supernatural ability. Because here's what's crazy. Every single morning, we could either do that, yeah, tap into the absolute power of the creator of the universe and get a download from him directly, or not. Yeah, I love that. That's the or not, or sleep in, or go eat candy, or do you know what I'm saying? It's like, yeah, but I but I think that's that's as uh and and we say this a lot like what's the simplest way to look at it? Yeah, because I can execute simple, yeah. So I think it absolutely starts with a download from God. God, I want to, and this is what's so cool. Like in Matthew 6, they're always looking for Jesus, they can't find him. Why? He's out by water somewhere, he's up on a mountain somewhere, he's he's separated himself talking to God, and I believe speaking to the authority so he could walk in authority. Yeah, and then it's like it's crazy, Jesus like was always ready because he was doing this, yeah. He was getting the input right so that the output could be correct. Because he might walk by a funeral that day and know he's supposed to raise a little girl that is in the box. Because it might be the day that Lazarus needs to, it might be, you know what I'm saying? Like so he stayed ready, yes, so we didn't have to get ready. He was what he was the walking embodiment of this authority that we're talking about. But the crazy thing is we have that ability and capacity, but we have we have to get it, we have to pursue it, yeah, and then it's easy to walk it. I I've kind of made this loose connection in my brain, but hearing you talk about it, there is an inextricable relationship between authority and faith. Authority is faith. Anyone can say something as it is. Anybody, I mean, that that is that actual authority, or are you just like reporting what you see? Faith is saying something like, no, this situation is maybe not what you see. So speaking faith over it, and I want I want people listening right now to get comfortable with the idea of speaking faith over things. And you may feel like I I've felt this way in in my in my life. I feel a little intellectually dishonest when I say that. Well, but that's not what things are looking like. The things aren't going that way. That's not my current reality. Yeah, that's not my current, and and and it's like you said, I mean, you said yesterday we were talking about this. The faith is the substance of things hoped for and not yet seen. The evidence, it's the actual proof of what you can't see. I mean, how how does that the proof like the jury needs proof, yeah, but you can't see it. Yeah. So what it is, it's it's it's this it's making it so much of life is deciding things. Yeah. Like, like what this is the brave and big podcast. Decide to be brave. Yeah. Decide to live big. Yeah. And it's like, well, is it that yes, it's that easy. Now then, then once you've made that decision, now our actions follow that. Right. Right. And I think that's the whole idea. But it's like, I I think the the the message here is decide to walk in authority. Give yourself permission to actually think like that. Like I actually believe that the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is alive and active in me. Yeah. And then you're gonna talk yourself out of authority. Yeah, that's right. See what I'm saying? So you either believe it or you don't. Yeah. And and then, so okay, okay, I do. The Bible said it, so I believe it. The same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is in me. Okay, now what do I do with that on a daily basis? Yeah, that's right. That now I'm gonna walk in the room that you're talking about, not to float in and hope everybody claps for me, but now I'm gonna walk in just thinking, man, I'm on a mission in this room. I bet there's five guys in here that I could I could help them think a little bit differently. You could encourage them to be an awesome dad. Yeah. Man, give them a little juice on what they're actually doing right now. Man, that business could be something great. You could build a kingdom with that company. That's a fun room to walk in. Now it's we played pickleball last night. Yeah, pickleball was great, and all the side conversations, because I think we went there on purpose to take guys a little bit further. Yeah. This is where they came in at pickleball. Man, after the third game, though, we've had great conversations. Yeah, we're better for it, they're better for it. But we came in on purpose, we came in with authority. There was from you and I talking on this topic, this has been months ago, but I was at a conference and there was a guy who I just got talking to, and he was talking about a real like in the at the moment in his marriage, it didn't seem like they were gonna make it. And I just said, bro, let me, we don't know each other, but I believe the best years in your marriage are ahead of you. They haven't even happened yet. You have great things happening, your marriage is gonna be so fully restored. Same place. I talked with a guy who was having like deep, deep um issues with his brothers, they're all adults, and I said, Hey, your relationship with your brothers is gonna be restored. Now, do I know their situations? No. I here's what I'll tell you though in speaking faith over that, which I do believe I have the authority to say that because because God wants to restore all things, because God makes things whole because God is not a God of like discord and confusion. And so in what what what you know what what God has put together, no man separate for his marriage. So I had authority to say that because the word says it. It's not me making something up. And both of those guys, one of those guys texts me every month about his marriage and his sobriety journey. Every month. And we just met that time. The other one said, You don't know what that word did for me. And one of his relationships is already being restored in it with his brothers. And so it's it feels like such a gamble. And back to like, I think, I think that this actually ties into what's your threshold for embarrassment? How far out on the limb are you willing to go? And again, this is this is a the the concept of authority. Again, it it's it's maybe a little confusing for some. It's been one that I just continue to learn. But as you say it, as you unpack it, I think like, oh well, I'm walking in some of that, and I can continue to walk in it. Well, so then, okay, let's go. Well, I love where you're going with this. If it's in the word, I have decided that I believe that the Bible's true. Yeah. Okay. So, and I believe that everything in the Bible is for us. And if God's done it for anybody, He'll do it for me. He's not a respecter of people. So it's funny to think about it's like, well, that guy walks in authority. So what I what I like is the the practical side of that is okay, so so what's it, what's it require? What's it look like to develop it, cultivate it? I think about Jesus, is it Matthew 17? Uh, the disciples are are trying to cast a demon out and can't, you know? And it's like, man, what's the deal? And he goes, Man, some of this, there's some prayer and fasting involved for some of this kind of stuff. Right. So I think that's just a cool example of like our part in this. Honestly, what's the what's the 20-mile march to cultivate authority? Wow. You know what I'm saying? Man, are you in the word? Like it, like, do you know the promises? Yeah. Because if I if I know it, then I can tap into it. Yeah. But if I don't know it, like if I'm asking somebody to really recognize their alignment with God, my first question is like, what do you actually believe to be true? And then if if okay, I I actually believe God's the healer, great. If you believe that, now we can tap into that. Yeah. I believe God wants me to prosper. Great. Now I can believe for prosperity. Right. So I think there's something to that, but but those guys, I think there is. It's like, man, you spend time with God, you get your heart right. Yeah. Man, are you do you do you understand what God has said to be true so that now I can call on that? That's authority. Yeah, that's right. Me, me really thinking something or um being excited about something, or great. But man, if I if I have the foundation of the word as my backing, I know that this is what it said. Walk in dominion, subjugate, take over. Yeah. And by the way, what's interesting is there, it says typically through conflict, which is fascinating. It's like, hey, heads up, there's gonna be resistance. Yeah, heads up, you're gonna have to like apply your faith in this. That I think about him on the water in the storm, and it's like, uh yeah, Jesus is like shocked that they're freaking out. He goes, I said we're going to the other side. He knew his authority. Yeah. The disciples didn't quite understand it yet. Yeah. So in a storm, they're losing their biscuits, and he's like, guys, come on, peace be still. And they're like, Oh my god, right. But it's that's authority. That's right. The authority was not even worrying about the storm, but for their sake, I'll kill the storm. So much of it continues to kind of just keep going back to this idea of authority manifesting in our words. You take the take the Genesis example, the Genesis example, go subjugate, right? Don't hate subjugate. Like, just go out. That's what they say. That's it. But then he went and again, we said it before, and then he went and gave them all names. Then he went with his authority, he went and gave all of them names. That's that was God's that was God's um, you know, charge to him was go name all of the things. All right, so whenever this was it's probably 20 years ago. I don't know how long you and Molly have been married. 17. 17 years. So this is probably about 18 years ago. Kristen and I had Molly and Chris over, they were still dating to the house for dinner. And this was the first time we'd really spent time with Molly. And what the listener needs to understand is that the people that Chris dated, they weren't just dating Chris, they were worshiping Chris. I mean, they love, they, I mean, there was they just they loved him, they couldn't believe that he had picked. So, and then Molly comes over and bro, just freaking busted your nuts the entire dinner. I mean, eye roll, Chris is doing all his no just this all his normal stuff. She is eye rolling all over the place, and just and it was it was such we left, and you know, so Kristen, Chris and I were very close, all three of us in college. So we we knew each other really well. My wife Kristen, and then Molly was a few years behind. And so Kristen had seen all the Chris fans, and she had like, and she, and so when she left, when you and Molly left, Kristen goes, Oh, I like her. So just to see, and it was almost bro, it was almost in that moment. I was like, This is the this is the one because he has met his his match or his pair or his adversary or the one who's gonna sharpen him or whatever it is, and it was awesome. So here's the question I have when it comes to authority in marriage, what does again when when and when we hear that we actually think of one domineering, one submissive? So will you help? What is that at how how does that concept of authority apply in marriage, not just for you, but how does the authority apply for Molly? What's the authority she walks in in your marriage? Great, great topic. Um to your point, my wife Molly is one of the most powerful women I know. Absolutely, powerhouse. She's a way better speaker than I am. The way that she breaks the word down. I mean, it it is I'm in awe. She she coaches for us as well. And I'll like walk by the room and I'll it's content I wrote, and I'm hearing her communicate. I'm like, God, so much better. She's just she really is gifted, powerful, and walks in authority. And I'll I'll answer this question. Let me tell you one great Molly story. Yeah, I was playing pool basketball while Molly and I were on a break. We dated and broke up a couple times, and and probably to your point, she was so like she was the greatest woman I had ever met. And I'm like, man, this is a lot. You know what I mean? We break up and all that, you know. And she was absolutely the one, and I was immature. We're on a break, and I'm playing pool basketball, and I go for a monster dunk, and a girl in the pool goes to block my shot and puts her finger behind my eyeball, and my eyeball came out of the socket. It was the weirdest thing I've obviously ever felt in my life. Is it dangling? What was the it was out like I I thought I was like, oh my gosh, it's bleeding. And so I went to touch, and then my I my hand hit it right here. Which is like three inches from you. Three inches, if you're if you're just listening, it's like three inches out. Oh my god. It wasn't like at my nose, but it was out. And everybody obviously freaks out. And there's these other girls in the pool, and they're like, let's go to the hospital, get in the car, and you know, just no no leadership. I can't leave myself because I can't see. But Molly was at the party, but just not in the pool. We're on a break, and I'm like getting escorted out of the pool, and I was like, Whoa, whoa, I need Molly. Wow. And somebody went and got her, and she's like disgusted that she's been requested by me because we're on a break. So just this idiot. And she comes out and she looks at my eye and she goes, Jesus, in the name of Jesus, is the first thing. That's also when I knew it was bad. She said my pupil was pointing towards my nose. Oh my gosh. And so she just put her hand on it and she goes, You are healed right now. Like she was mad about the whole situation. And then just put her hand on it, prayed for a minute, and I was like, Okay, hold on. And I'm telling you right now, literally, it just goes and went back into place and straightened out. Like it never happened. And I was like, What? I need her in my life. What if this happens again? We've got to be married. Yeah, this break is over. I love you so much. I mean, it was the greatest moment of our whole, but authority. I mean, she she saw, and it's a funny story, but she saw something and immediately took authority over it. Wow. 30 other people freaked out and deferred, like, well, I guess we got to go to the hospital. No, no. Molly took authority over it. Yep. So I say that because that's who she is. That's how she grew up. Um, it it's it's like in her DNA, she loves Jesus. And so, as a married couple now, because she is that powerful, I mean, she has that kind of voice, and it it's a it's an amazing combination, but it requires our intentional effort for alignment. Yeah. And if her and I are on the same page and all of our you know, multiplied effect is working, it's amazing. And man, when we're off, we're off. And we got to be very aware of that because we we both have strong personalities, even outside the spiritual side of things. Yeah. But the amazing thing about Molly is too, she'll say, Listen, I I believe, like biblically, you as the man are the the leader of our house. And so if I'm like, hey, man, I really think we're supposed to move to Texas, she goes, I will absolutely pray about it too. But if that's what you're feeling, I'm I'm in. Well, you know what I mean? Like there's there's a real, I think, confident flow. And and for me, she's too um valuable, she's too wise for me to look at it like I'm just gonna boss our family around. Yeah. Does that make sense? Like that that's not even attractive or appealing to me because it would be such a miss on my part to not get the value that she brings and her authority in us making decisions together. At the end of the day, if there was a decision to be made, I'm happy to make it. She would fully support it, yeah, and we would we would ride or die together. Yeah. But there really is a great flow, and and I I'm I'm saying that like it's it's a good thing that I've done, but it would just be like idiotic to not capitalize on the power and authority that she has for the betterment of our family, our legacy, our kids. So I'm I'm c so committed to there being that flow. Yeah. So there can be a synergy that hopefully the world benefits from. With that answer, I I think so. I think it does. And maybe another way to think about it or a question is it's two parts on it, but tell us about when you have, you said at the beginning, misappropriated authority. Tell me about what it looks like, or maybe when you have misappropriated authority within your family, and then what would that word be? Because I would actually argue that it's actually not authority when you misappropriate it, it's something else. Yeah. So what what then maybe you maybe there's no and I'm I'm just asking you to come up with a term for it on the spot, but when have you misappropriated it? Because somebody may walk out of here and be like, that's it, move my family to Texas, like Chris said. I'm the big dog. I'm the big dog, right? Uh yeah, it would be, I think it would be any time it was for selfish ambition or personal gain factoring out my role as leader, which should be my role as serving my family. That's good. So I think that the times where I'm I'm a bear at the house or like when any of like my preferences have been violated. So it's just this selfish act of of like unnecessary like dominance is probably to your point, it's it's not authority. Yes. And if if it's like true, like God-given spiritual authority, we're moving the right direction and we're out front. And keep in mind, if you're out front, that means you're taking the hit, which is where you should be. Yeah, that's right. And and maybe that's the power, like I'm I'm built for that, and I want to protect as powerful as Molly is, I do want to protect her from that. Yeah. So anytime I miss a if I if I'm if I'm hitting my hand on the table and having to say I'm the boss, I'm missing it. That's right. I I either am walking in it, it's very obvious, or I've gotten in the flesh on it. Yes, and I'm trying to lead us somewhere, probably out of my selfish desire, and I'm missing my function and role as the God-given authority of my home that would lead by serving and lead by valuing and taking care of the flock that's mine, yeah, instead of trying to be the tough guy saying this is where we're gonna go because it's good for me. Because you could, as strong as Molly is, your personality is so strong and you have the potential to be so domineering, you could get basically anything you wanted in your marriage, in your friendships. You have that ability, you have that force of will where you could do that. And I've heard Jordan Peterson he defines meekness because he always thought of meekness. I heard him talk about this. He said meekness, he always thought of it as being as equating it with weakness, also, being meek is weak. But what actually we had the way he describes it is meekness is having a sword but keeping it in its sheath. Strength under control. Yeah, strength under control, which is which is what separates, which is what separates strong men from crazy men, and you need the strong men who who know when to wield the sword when not to. Well, and it's kind of that idea of like I'd rather be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in war. Man, that's good. Right. It's like I'm I am fully capable and ready, yeah, and we train for it. And if war happens, we'll fight. But we don't we're but it's not us just like looking for it. Yeah. And we're also not ill-equipped for it. Right. Yes. When you think about your kids, you want of course, we all want our kids to walk in authority and a confidence and a supernatural wisdom, authority, confidence. So, how do you impart that to them? And in with, by the way, when adults have a hard time really understanding this concept, how do you then break this down or model it well for a nine-year-old or a 14-year-old or a 17-year-old in a way that they're going to appropriate it well? We are we're real big on just our overarching mindset. And but again, it comes back to like if you're gonna have the right mindset, it's because you have the right identity. Okay. And so, like in our family, it's like, hey, first and foremost, we're Christians, we love Jesus. Yeah. Secondly, we are the heart family. So we we know who we are and we know what comes with that. And man, trust me, uh, my 15-year-old daughter at times who says, Well, I've got to do this because I'm a heart, and said stuff like that. Yeah. In a negative way. Yes. Like I have to present as something. It's like, whoa, stop it, stop it. What I care about you presenting is that you love God and you're gonna take care of the people around you. Yeah. If you're wearing a cool sweatshirt or not, I don't care. You know what I'm saying? Like, if your toenails, like I you do your toenails, don't be nasty, but like I really care that you love Jesus. You know what I'm saying? Like, whatever it might be. So and and this isn't so I say that because obviously it's not, it's not just rainbows and giggles all the time and and really helping to foster identity. Sometimes any a strength out of balance becomes a weakness, yeah, right? Like every morning we say, You heard me this morning, hey, winners win, and then they yell, losers lose, and I'm a winner, and it's great. Yeah, however, the other side of that was my daughter lost a soccer game and she's like extra down because she's like, Well, I know that the expectation is that we're always winners. It's like, whoa, whoa, whoa. That doesn't mean we're gonna win every single game we ever play. Yeah, I do think we're gonna win a lot more than we lose because we have the right mindset, but overarching, it's like, yeah, you lost the score didn't align like you want it to in that game. What'd you learn from it? Were you a good teammate? Did you honor your coach? And are you gonna get better from it? That's winning. That's you being a winner. Yeah. So I think that tying all this back to like this mindset of authority. Yes, man, we know who we are in Christ. We know what God's made us to be and what to do. So my nine-year-old can walk into Bixby fourth grade and and walk in with some confidence because it's like, I'm a Christian. Yes, I'm going to heaven. Yeah. God's favors on my life. I can, I can help you. Man, I have an influence about me. Right. So for her, it's age appropriate when she is playing soccer. I'm I'm a pretty good athlete. I've trained for this. Yeah. Man, I'll tell you what, I'm probably not going to get injured. I'm I'm I'm hooked up with Jesus. Right. You know what I'm saying? Like there's just this confident flow as a result of saying, like, like, because they know this verse. Man, here's how you got you're created in the image of Christ. Man, you're you're supposed to come in and dominate. You're supposed to do well. Like, that's the you're hooked up with the creator. That just makes me think of it so much of that identity, which goes back to the word. And I heard this from Phil Comer, who's one of the most brilliant men who knows the Bible maybe better than anybody in the world. He says that the number one predictor of a child retaining their faith through their adulthood is scripture memorization. Wow. Period. That's it. Like that, that is that's the one tie-in that says you're gonna maintain your faith if you keep the if you get the word memorized in you. Yeah, it's and it's helping to define you and it it creates your outlook. Yeah. Right. So again, I mean, for me, I think, gosh, did we really get our kids memorizing enough scripture young? Like, I wish we would have done better. And oh, good news, they're 17 and 16. So let's not okay, so it's not it doesn't have to be eight or nine years old. I want to go one more direction with this, and I believe you touched on it at the beginning, but I want to think about this in the workplace for a moment, and I want to think through two different lenses. I want to think of somebody who is in specifically in a leadership position, what authority looks like. And I'm maybe thinking on that, I may be thinking somebody who is in a leadership position but is not walking in authority, and then I want to think through somebody who is not in a leadership position who doesn't feel like they have room to walk in authority on what it looks like for them to walk in authority. That's great. Let's start with the ladder. Okay. I I think a lot of people land there. I I was on staff at our church for years, and so I was not the lead pastor. But so I'm I'm gonna go. You remember the story of the Roman centurion? And and he wants his uh servant to be healed. Yes. So he goes to Jesus, right? And it's it's fascinating. It says it marveled Jesus what he said. He goes, Hey, my servant's sick, would you come with me? And Jesus says, Yes, of course. And then then he goes, Well, well, you don't even need to come. If you'll just say it, it'll happen. And he said this, because I'm a man under authority with authority. And that that's the that's the game changer. And that's what I learned on being on our church staff. Like, I was submitted to Pastor Bill and was over five departments, so had you know hundreds of people that would do what I asked them to do in serving in the different areas. Yeah. Like in the military. Man, you got a colonel that's a stud. Right. My granddad was a colonel, man. People listen to him, right? But you better believe he reported to that general. So, what I what I think would be a miss today is if we didn't say this the level of your submission will determine and dictate the level of your authority. So grab that. Like, who are you submitted to? Dang. And start with the level of your submission to God. And that's what all of this is based on. Man, do you know the word? Are you in the word? That's how we submit to it. God, I want your voice. I will listen to your voice and I will execute what you say. And if we'll do that, guess what's going to flow from that is authority. Wow. So in your job, you may not love your boss. Your boss might make dumb decisions sometimes, but there is a godly initiative to submit to them. I will do what you're asking me to do. Obviously, it's got to be moral, all that, but I submit to my boss. And you just watch, you work your butt off, you prove how great you are, you prove what you're capable of, and you're submitted, your authority is going to flow. Now back to the first one. Yeah. You have a boss that has a position, and I think that's where we started, right? Yeah, yeah. It's cool that your title is vice president. Love that. I need you to actually act like someone worth following. And I believe that the way that you do that is this same thing. Like your identity isn't in that vice president position. Yeah. Your identity is I am a man or a woman of God. I know the word. I speak the word. I act out the word. And now when you're leading people, that's going to flow. You might be telling them to make their sales calls, but you're also pouring into them, checking on their family, being a great outfront servant leader. Now you're actually walking with some authority. Guess what's going to happen to your sales team? Yeah. It's going to go up to the roof. Yeah. That's that's our whole premise in coaching. Let's get the people right. Yeah. Let's build you up. Let's teach you what authority looks like, sounds like, and feels like. And if you'll apply that to you and your family, man, you better believe when you walk in the office, the same thing's gonna flow. Yeah. Man, that's good. Come on. Hey, I will uh I would love to hear, as we like to do every time, this is this is meaty, bro. Like this, I I admittedly, I have we've talked about this topic. I coach on this topic with the brave group also. I talk about this with my family, but I feel like I have a lot different insight in actually what this means. So and there may be some more if there's anything you want to tack on, we can do that. But I would I would love to let's break it down like we do every time, which is I mean, we're here, we want people to be brave and live live big, period. Yeah. But we know that always begins with a small step. So so break this down. What is the small step for people listening today that they can do to propel this forward to be brave and live big? If you want to walk in authority, I believe it starts with your level of submission. And I think submitting to God usually equals time. Yeah. And so as simple as this is, I would just say it's like, God, I want to walk in a new level of authority. So I'm going to give you more time. And I would simply say, what what would it look like to add 20 minutes to your current morning routine? I'm assuming you've got a great phase one and you're getting up and getting the word. If you don't, that's obviously the starting point. But if you already have one, I would just say, let's add time. Spend time with God. Spend and this is what I would do: spend time in the Word. Then spend time talking to God. Yeah. Request authority. Ask Him for moments and opportunities to walk in it. And then I would write down one, what you're grateful for, because that's that submission. Yeah. And then also write down opportunities that you're believing for. And you just watch. I believe these doors are going to open. It's so simple. Time with God will equal authority. For me, I would encourage somebody, myself included, I would encourage people to get comfortable being uncomfortable speaking words of faith. That's great. Because that that words of faith, again, I believe to me, there that that's a that's probably my biggest takeaway from talking about this is that it's the words of faith are a manifestation of authority. And so I want I would encourage all of us when you hear somebody is having a rough time, go ahead, go ahead and remind them who God is. Go ahead and remind them. I said on another episode, just go ahead and remind them your job is not to understand what God's doing, your job is to stand under who God is. Come on. So go ahead and be comfortable speaking those words of authority that comes from exactly what you just said, more time with God to get in the word. Just bury the word in your heart so that you can then be able to speak words of faith. So that's my encouragement. It's a challenge to me as well is get be comfortable getting uncomfortable speaking words of faith over your own situation, over your spouse's situation, over your kids, over people that you meet, over strangers. Go ahead and do it. Let's just see what happens. Here's the finale. You ready? Yeah. Because of what Jesus did on the cross when he went down to hell, he removed the authority from the devil. Come on. Says he stripped him down. Yep. Right. So now Jesus obtained all the authority, gave it to us. So we we say this all the time. It's like, well, God has all the authority. So what's that mean? The devil has none. So all he can do is try to talk us out of our authority. So I think that's that's like the final charge. That time with God, speaking faith. That's the reality of all of this, is that's protecting you from getting talked out of what's already yours. It's yours. Walk in it. Don't overcomplicate it. Make this simple. The devil has none. You've been given all of it. Don't let him talk you out of half of it. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Walk in it and watch the fruit of your life pile up because of it. Okay, real quick, triple S for us. Subscribe, share, star. Give us five stars wherever you listen to podcasts. Thank you so much for joining us this week on Brave and Big. Brave and Big is produced by Sonas Podcast and the brilliant Miles All Britain. We will see you next week.