Beyond Sunday
Beyond Sunday is a podcast where we dive into what our Church is up to, what's happening in society, go deeper into topics from Sunday mornings, and hear leadership talks and coffee break theology from Pastor Greg Griffith. This is a podcast of King of Kings Church in Omaha & Fremont, Nebraska. Learn more at kingofkings.org.
Beyond Sunday
Don't Skip This - Week 1
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In this Beyond Sunday episode, Dina, Pastor Zach, and Peter unpack the message from Don’t Skip This, exploring the often-overlooked story of the floating axe head in 2 Kings. They reflect on how God cares deeply about the details we think are too small, revealing that even the most ordinary moments can become reminders of His presence and power in our everyday lives.
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Podcast Introduction & Summer Activities
Speaker 1Welcome to Beyond Sunday, the King of Kings podcast, where we dive a little bit deeper into our weekly message and see what we're taking beyond Sunday. My name is Dena Newsom and today I have some gosh. How should I describe you guys today? You kind of pressure me about the adjectives that I use sometimes, peter. I have two guys. How about that? Just two guys?
Speaker 3I don't know that. We said don't use adjectives. I think that was kind of nice. You called us in the past amazing, incredible.
Speaker 1Spectacular. How about? Today is spectacular. I have some spectacular guests. Don't skip today's podcast because the guests are spectacular. Don't skip this series.
Speaker 2Yeah, but if they're already listening, they didn't skip it.
Speaker 1Maybe once they found out who the guests were, they were going to turn it off.
Speaker 2Just don't say our names.
Speaker 3Go covert. I'm not Peter Bay.
Speaker 2And I'm Charles McMuffin.
Speaker 1Do you know the Muffin man? I do, I am the.
Speaker 2McMuffin. Do you know the Muffin man? I do, I am the McMuffin man. Let's talk about Jesus.
Speaker 1Okay, so Zach and Peter are here today with me. And my little open. Yep, I did, I spoiled it. My opening question for you Summer has like really hit. I feel like now we're we're in the thick of it. So my question is what summer activity do you have to do every summer, or what's like your favorite thing about summer? That you get to do.
Speaker 3Golf. Yeah, it's not just summer for you, no, it's not just summer for you, no, it's not just summer, but like it's the activity, and I've been doing more golf watching than golf playing, uh, which is fun. My youngest son, brady's in a lot of tournaments and so that's been fun to watch him.
Speaker 2But yeah, our, our summers are very much revolved outside of work, uh, around golf yeah, and I would say one of my favorite summer activities is to go to the pool, but don't get in the pool do?
Speaker 3you do this often almost every time I yeah, my parents have a pool and obviously peter for those who don't know he's my brother-in-law, so we get invited sometimes to the same party and I don't know that I've seen you in the pool, maybe once like last summer.
Speaker 2I got in zero times. It was like a goal to never get in the pool and your kids love it.
Speaker 3Oh, they love the pool, and your wife loves to tread water for as long as she can.
Speaker 2Yeah, I can't even float. That's my sister by the way.
Speaker 1You can't even float no For those who don't know how in-law stuff works.
Speaker 2Yeah for real. I've tried to float.
Speaker 1Well, you're tall, I'm pretty sure you could stand.
Speaker 3Well, yeah, Depends how deep, Well beyond Sunday you talked about diving deep, so we're not going shallow here. This is deep waters baby.
Speaker 2Yeah, it's not diving, though, it's just sinking. Do you have an aversion to the water?
Speaker 1Or just do you enjoy going.
Speaker 2To the pool.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2I would choose to never go to the pool.
Speaker 1Okay.
Speaker 2But we're invited often, and I am humbled and honored by each invite, and so I go.
Speaker 1That was nice. That was nice for the invite. Yes, if.
Speaker 2I could like go to a movie every time instead. I'd be pleased as punch. And it's not even against the heat. I think it's because I don't know how to swim. I don't love getting splashed. I don't drink much of the elk. So it's like what am I going to do here? Just sit in the warm and sweat.
Speaker 1You could sit in the cool water. You don't have to swim, you don't have to like, you could just sit.
Speaker 2Yeah, and then the kids are all like splashing you in the face. Do you like that, dina? Turn around.
Speaker 3That's aggressive.
Speaker 1I love floating in the pool.
Speaker 3Turn around.
Speaker 1Like. I love floating in the pool. I love to.
Speaker 3Is that your summer activity or what are you choosing?
Speaker 1No, that's not because I like I think for me in the summer I don't want to miss like a big movie release that's like my I look forward to and you know COVID kind of threw us off for a while, it was some weak summer movies but I'm a big movie buff. It's funny you mentioned going to movies because I there's always good movies that come out in the summer.
Speaker 2What is it? What are you going to?
Speaker 1see, this year there's several.
Speaker 2Well, tell us.
Speaker 1I'm like excited about, I don't know Like I went to see how to Train a Dragon the live version.
Speaker 2What did you think I was really?
Speaker 1excited about that. It was good.
Speaker 2One to ten scale.
Speaker 1I'd say maybe a seven. Okay yeah, which is pretty positive for me.
Speaker 2Are you going to see Jurassic Park?
Speaker 1I am going to see Jurassic Park.
Speaker 2Happy Gilmore, I'm also going to.
Speaker 1I'm not going to see Happy Gilmore in the theater. It's coming.
Speaker 3I don't think it's going to theaters. I think it's going right to Netflix.
Speaker 2Are you kidding me? No, happy Gilmore 2, not in the theaters. I think. I'm blaming that one on COVID.
Speaker 1I don't know. Covid threw the whole movie thing off like just movies weren't coming out forever because people weren't going. And I I love a good movie, good, some popcorn kicking back yeah yes, do you sneak things into the movie theater? Um, I used to, but I don't anymore. Tell us about the metanoia, the heart change, repentance it's really because I just stopped eating candy during movies.
Speaker 2It doesn't have to be candy.
Speaker 1Anything Like. I don't sneak drinks in Most of the time, I'll just well. I do drink soda sometimes during the movies. I was going to say most of the time I drink waters. It depends on what theater I go to, because my son works at a movie theater.
Speaker 2Which one?
Speaker 1At the Alamo Draft House. Nice and that one's close to my house and I really enjoy the vibe there. I like going there, but it doesn't have reclining seats. Wow, and there's something to be said for the reclining seats.
Speaker 2Yeah, those are beautiful, that were nonexistent when I was young. Zach, you sneak things in. I've snuck some things in I know your mom has talked about this several times yeah, I've, I've snuck some things in before yeah, yeah, um anything you want to share what's?
Speaker 3uh, like candies you're acting so strange about this my best friend, I mean what else do you sneak? I mean, I'm not like, I'm not like bringing in a drink, like in my pocket no, not drinks, but do you like, take a blanket to the movie.
Speaker 1You know that's like a thing now with the recliners Kids do Kids take a blanket.
Speaker 3But that would be easier to sneak things if you did that.
Speaker 2Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 3We're not condoning that, or are we?
Speaker 1No, bringing a blanket. We talked about honor. We just learned all about honor, a snack and yeah, yeah, this is perfect for the later question. Yeah.
Speaker 2So I'll save it.
Speaker 1My very good friend, like my mom friend when my kids were little that we'd take our kids to the movies together. She and her kids would always go stop by Dollar Tree or the dollar store before they'd go to the movies, and she literally would buy so much boxed candy that when she walked, her purse would go.
Speaker 2So I will share this. When I was in high school probably college I didn't do this much in college, but in high school for sure I'd go to the movie and go straight to a trash can get a large popcorn tub, large soda cup.
Speaker 3Cup, go get that refill would you wash it out first?
Speaker 2it depends who I was with. Like, if it really bothered them, I'd rinse it and put a little soap in there, rinse it out in like the bathroom yeah, but if. But, if it was my buddies or whatever, just dump and go get it yeah just save, Just save what 20 bucks, now 15, 20 bones yeah.
Speaker 1Did you ever do like theater hopping before there was assigned seating?
Speaker 2Yes.
Speaker 1Where you'd get in and like one movie would finish and you'd just go sit in another theater.
Speaker 2We absolutely did. We'd watch three in a day.
Speaker 1My older brothers would do that.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 1Never would I do that.
Speaker 2Never you, no, you wouldn't.
Speaker 1I have honor I don't know that.
Speaker 3I yeah. It's just a lot of movies time to watch back and forth.
Speaker 2Yeah, and you run out of candies.
Speaker 3Yeah, and you run out of candies that you might have brought.
Speaker 1That depends how many you smuggled in. Alrighty, then, yep, yep, good movie quote. So this week we started our new sermon series called hey, don't Skip this, and we are talking about Bible events that maybe are not as well known or you know harder to find, not the things that you hear every week. And this week we kind of looked at the second Kings and Pastor Greg Griffith preached and he opened up by talking about how he is a hypocrite. He doesn't like to admit it, but he's a hypocrite because he has very high standards about people losing things and judges them fiercely, but that he lost his wedding ring multiple times, so he ended up getting a tattoo instead of wearing a ring. So I want to know what are you a hypocrite about? Is there something in your life that stands out?
Speaker 3to you, I'd like to answer for. Peter. Yes, this is something that he says that I don't see in action, which is, I think, what a hypocrite is. Right it's saying one thing and not doing, and so many many timeseter will say that he is pro animal I knew it yeah pro animal
Speaker 3anti-pet anti-pet and, uh, what he means to say by that is that he's for animals. That's what pro animal means, but he doesn't want to have one as a pet. And yet I have a pet, his name's zig, and many other animals have been around Peter, and I don't think he's pro-animal, I think he's anti-animal, even more anti-pet.
Speaker 1So I'm going to call him out as a hypocrite for that. What kind of animal is Ziggy?
Speaker 3He's just a little cockapoo dog.
Speaker 1He's a dog and again, I don't care.
Speaker 3If animals aren't your thing, that's fine. I would just say own it, yeah.
Speaker 1You know, I, I do agree. I think you, you may be a little anti animal animal animal animal anti pet only because of the faces you make. Anytime there's animal discussions happening.
Speaker 2So here's the deal I'm afraid of most every animal. So here's the deal I'm afraid of most every animal. My judge of if I'm afraid or not is if it was cornered in the garage, would I run away? And I can't think of an animal that I wouldn't run away from.
Speaker 1You'd run away from Ziggy.
Speaker 2Absolutely. If it's cornered, I'm like I'm done, I'm gone, so I'm afraid of animals.
Speaker 1What about like an axolotl yeah? That's not even a real animal, no I don't know what that is
Speaker 2that's a pokemon, that's yeah, that's not real. So when I go to the zoo, I just am in awe of god's creation and I mean that's true, I but like it's just so fun to learn about animals. Did you know that giraffes have like sponges in their neck so that if they, if they have to eat from foliage on the ground, their head doesn't explode from the rush of blood? Wow, incredible, right, if they didn't have those, they would have died off years ago. So so this proves evolution. I think that's phenomenal. I love animals. Don't want them in my house.
Speaker 1Maybe you're just fascinated by animals. Maybe love is not the right word.
Speaker 2So what's the opposite of pro, anti, anti. So, zach, would you say I'm anti-animal? Yeah.
Speaker 3I would. He feels very strongly. Well, and I think it's one thing to be like you can be afraid of animals, true.
Speaker 1Which.
Speaker 3I think, makes you a little bit anti.
Speaker 2Okay.
Speaker 3If that makes sense. Usually you're anti things you're afraid of.
Speaker 1You're not like anti, like you want to go around and kill things and you're wishing bad things happen. You just don't want them in your space.
Speaker 2So true At all ever. You know what?
Speaker 3This is a great example. I love this. What do you got for me?
Speaker 2Yeah, I think.
Speaker 3This is some good brother therapy. This is really good.
Speaker 2I think it's so funny that that so zach took a test, like a while ago or no. What was it your family said you were.
Speaker 3You're a bad listener yeah, they voted me the worst, the worst in my family at listening or active listening or what was it?
Speaker 2the context yeah, I think just listening in general yeah, which which this is not the time to get into who may actually be the worst listener, but, uh, I and I don't even know if I can bend this to him being hypocritical or not, but he's. He's always like he'll talk over people to say how good he's gotten at listening over the years and they'll be like no, zach, you don't. And then he'll be like you don't understand, and then he'll just not listen his way all through his argument.
Speaker 3So I didn't hear a thing you said.
Speaker 2Yep.
Speaker 3Dina, what do you got?
Speaker 1I think I'm probably the most hypocritical about like organization, Like I want things organized my way, but everyone else has to organize them my way too. And I'll say to my kids or like former roommates or something oh no, you know, do whatever you want. But then I'll secretly like reshape or reorganize or things, Cause it. Just I don't know if I've got like OCD tendencies or something, but it just drives me nuts In the way.
Speaker 2In the words of Forrest Frank, your way is better, my way is better.
Bible Story About Borrowed Items
Speaker 1God's way is best, but you know Then deem it. I'm like right there underneath Nice, all right. So kind of talking about being hypocritical, are you guys ever hypocritical like when you borrow things? Greg, like left in this Bible story, talks about this ax that is borrowed that falls in the water, and they're really devastated or concerned about this ax because it's not theirs and we want to take care of other people's things. And I'm just wondering are you ever, you know, do you ever find yourself being hypocritical about borrowing things?
Speaker 1or do you have a? What do you? What relates to you about borrowing things, or do you have a? What do you, what relates to you about borrowing?
Speaker 2yeah, this is where I'm not quite sure that I um, I struggle one with understanding what hypocritical meant, so now I have to relate it to something else. So this is a double whammy so I I do know this that I am not great with things I borrow. I tend to have them for a long time. Um, I've I've got a couple books from one of my buddies right now and I don't even like to read, so it's like why do I still have these did?
Speaker 1you ask for them or did they offer he?
Speaker 2he gave them to me, it was like you should read these, so I didn't want to turn down the gift of borrowing something. But I keep looking at them and I just feel so bad, like, oh, I'm never going to read this book. And I keep looking on Audible, thinking today's the day it's going to be on Audible and they don't come to Audible, like one of them he wrote. So I have to read it.
Speaker 1Is it Zach?
Speaker 2No, it's a good buddy of mine named frank, and frank, I love you and I just want to be able to. I I can read, but not well. So now I'm gonna and this is, and then, like I'll get after, I'll do it, I won't, I don't, I don't know when you should just give the books back and be grateful that's what frank say. He's a very understanding guy, yeah, so that's my encouragement to you. I'll read a chapter.
Speaker 3Yeah, I don't know. I don't think me or Allison are much of like borrowers. So yeah, for me I probably more what's more in my world than borrowing is like if we go out with friends or someone else, like just kind of trying to make sure we don't take advantage. If they want to pay for something like cool, then we'll get the next one, if that makes sense.
Speaker 3So I think, we're way more in that camp than like, hey, I need to borrow any, I mean anything. So yeah, to me, I think we're really hyper, try to be hyper aware of not taking for granted. When people are generous to us and wanting to make sure that we see it, we notice it and, if we can, in our own way. It doesn't always have to be penny for penny or just with dollars if that makes sense, but it can be with watching someone's dog or with you know whatever. I think we try to be over and above, like we want to be the ones that are generous. If that, if that makes sense. Yeah, Are you much of a borrower? Yeah.
Speaker 1I don't. I'm I'm not a big borrower, but when I borrow something like from some, like from a neighbor or a coworker, somebody I don't know as well like, I will use it clean the snot out of it and get it back to them ASAP.
Speaker 1I want it looking better, but if I borrow something from somebody I know well or a family member, all bets are off on when it may or may not leave my house again, and sometimes there's things I've quote-unquote borrowed from my dad that I'm pretty sure I really just think it was a gift. Now and it just became my. I have a snowblower.
Speaker 3There you go.
Speaker 1Dad just lives at my house now.
Speaker 3Hopefully you're not listening because she still knows that was a borrow, but she's kind of claimed it.
Speaker 1Well, you know, somewhere in the midst he moved to a condo where they take care of his snow. So I figured he didn't need it anymore. You know, yeah, I feel like I take advantage, I feel like I'm hypocritical in that way that I don't treat those things the same when they're from people I know better. I should be better, I should honor them more.
God Cares About What You Care About
Speaker 3There you go yeah.
Speaker 1So Greg really talked about three key points as he looked at this whole story, and the first one that he talked about is God cares about what you care about. How did that speak to you guys? How did you relate to that?
Speaker 2Yeah, this is something that I've thought about a lot and in kids' ministry this was a great connection often, because what kids care about is very different than what adults care about at times, and a kid who loses their stuffy like that's a big deal to them, and I think sometimes we think of God as this benevolent authority who is there to punish, rather than a loving father who is there to care. And if you see a child sad, you want to help them find their stuffy. Let's go find it, and so that was always a fun connection to make with kids like that. God cares about you and because he cares about you, he cares about what you care about, even if other people belittle it.
Speaker 3Yeah, I think it was really good. It was in relation to the story where the guy does borrow the axe head and he's a protege of Elisha, the prophet, who, in my mind, is the most underrated prophet of all. Elisha's an awesome dude, just amazing guy. So he's got all these protégés under him and they're like really building like a version of a seminary, right, and so they're doing this, the axe head flies out, it goes into the water and the guy that borrowed the axe head's like, ah, geez, doggone it, I lost my axe head, I borrowed that.
Speaker 3Ah, that's going to be a big deal and it probably would have been a bigger deal than maybe we make it out to be.
Speaker 3And God in this was my kind of big takeaway too for the whole sermon like God in his bigness, cares about the small things in our life, right?
Speaker 3I just think it's fascinating that the God of the world, who at this moment, right now, is seated on his throne and probably stewarding, I don't know, millions of people talking to him at this very moment, can, at the same time, steward the world and be sovereign over all, and yet still be intimately and deeply involved in the details of my life for what should be, in his purview, a really small thing, he makes it a big enough thing in our life to care about. So I just find that to be fascinating, and that was kind of like the perspective I had through the sermon was thinking about this duality of God, that he is that big and that small and that's our God, which is pretty cool, and so for anyone listening, that's like feeling the weight of something, whether it's small or big, knowing that God is seated on his throne and at the same time like deeply involved and intimate with you to give you exactly what you need when you need. It is really comforting.
Speaker 1When I was going through my divorce and I was in counseling at the time, I felt like there were things that were happening in my life that were not big enough for God, like, oh, this was really small because I was going through some really big things with my divorce and my children and those struggles, and then little things would happen and I'd be like, well, that's too small to pray about, or that's like I want God to concentrate on the big things. He can concentrate on it all. But it just seemed so minuscule to me. And my therapist gave me the image of God doesn't look at your problems or your issues like a skyline where there's tall buildings and short buildings. He's got an overhead view where everything looks the same dimension. So your big cares and your small cares are all the same to him and he cares just as much about the teeny tiny thing as he does about the big thing. And that was like mind blowing to me. Oh, my gosh, yeah.
Speaker 3I think that's great, and I hear a lot of people say or feel like well, I don't know if I want to pray to God about that, because so-and-so is dealing with that and that's a big deal, Like God should, like that's a bigger thing and like maybe it is in the worldly context, but God cares enough about what you're going through too that you can bring anything and everything, even the small things and the big things, to God. Yeah.
God Works Miracles in Everyday Life
Speaker 1I liked. Greg referenced a quote that said there's no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper still. That spoke to me. I really liked that. So he kind of transitioned into a second point, which was talking about God can work miracles in everyday life. How did that speak to you?
Speaker 3I think there's, yeah, what I really liked about this part of Greg's message. We call him GG. What I liked about GG's message here in this part was just the reminder that every day we're walking you, dina, peter, we're walking miracles and to notice a little bit more of the miracles that we just get to see every day and take for granted, get to feel, get to experience every day and take for granted and again kind of pointing to the bigness of God like all these miracles happen each and every day and he's aware, he knows, and because of that, like we ought to believe in the miraculous God to do anything and everything.
Speaker 3And so no situation is too far gone, like you said, no pit is too far deep that God can't intervene.
Speaker 2Yeah, and I liked how he connected also some of the miracles we get to see at church of communion, of the forgiveness of sins through Christ's body and blood and the real presence of the bread and the wine, which is something I think that when we do it every other week and it can become even mundane. And it can become even mundane, but the reality is like there's a miracle at work. We receive the forgiveness of sins and then in baptism July 20 is a baptism Sunday, so come ready to see the miracle of God, of him saying you are part of my family, Nothing and no one can take you from me as the water and the word combines and like one of the coolest things that we get to witness and be part of. So I really appreciate him bringing those sacraments into the message in that moment.
Speaker 3And you heard it here first. Folks Believe it or not. Dina and Peter, I believe that July 20th is the first Sunday where we will have baptisms happening at all three of our campuses on the same day. Talk about miraculous. Come on, let's go.
God Uses Ordinary People to Help
Speaker 1It's great. Yeah, I liked when he talked at this point about Jesus coming and making breakfast for the disciples and just how mundane that seemed. Like you talked about mundane, I wrote down miraculous of the mundane that to me stuck with me and how Jesus was just doing this lowly simple thing for his friends. But it is miraculous because he died and he was no longer dead. So then Greg moved into his third point, which was really about God uses ordinary people to help others. What stuck with you about this one?
Speaker 2Yeah, the illustration of his dad being the ring finder. I thought that was a really cool thing with the whole like he started off with like he's lost his ring so many times and then the axe head gets lost in the water and then his dad found a lady's wedding ring in the ocean, was it?
Speaker 3Yeah, which is?
Speaker 2just absurd that that would happen. So that was just a really cool tie-in. Then he mentioned people from God's word who, um, were ordinary people who did extraordinary things, and then it made me think about some of the people in my life, uh, some of which like. I think of a guy named dr peter falk who was one of my mentors in high school who whenever I'd see him he'd say peter, living in the word peter and uh, but just an ordinary dude with his flaws and just like any one of us, but would routinely point me to god's word, which is extraordinary, um.
Speaker 2Another mentor of mine was a guy named mike leclerc and he was our neighbor and when we were little, every time that commercial came out and I was like I want to, to be, I want to be like Mike. He would like crank it up and like come outside and shoot hoops with us, and I'll, I'll never forget that and for me it's like gosh to live with that type of joy. That's an ordinary dude doing something extraordinary, I simply being goofy, so those things stick out and and help illustrate that point of what Greg talked about.
Speaker 3And I think too, so many miracles of God, like, let's be real, he doesn't need us to do the miracle. I think of the feeding of the 5,000, like it was a miracle of provision, but it was also a miracle of participation, like he's including each and everybody in this, and in this case, miracle of participation. Like he's including each and everybody in this, and in this case he includes Elisha and this young student in it and like he didn't need to do that and he could have.
Speaker 3Just, you know, if he could, if he could perform any miracle, he could have just taken the ax head out of the water and just placed it right back in the guy's hands, but instead, unlike Peter, he made it float. Maybe there's an opportunity for you to float bud.
Speaker 2That'd be a miracle, an opportunity for you to float bud.
Speaker 3That'd be a miracle If you can learn how to float. Anyway, it floated and it was like there it is, take it. And so sometimes, like the miracle, I wonder how many my mind went. I wonder how many miracles that we're leaving in the water or on the table if you will, not because God isn't willing to do them, but because we're not willing to do our small, small part of cool. The ax head is floating. 99.9% of this thing is done. I just got to do the 0.01% of lifting it out of the water and then it's done, done.
Speaker 3And so to me it's a reminder of our participation in God's miracles that there are probably so many incredible miraculous things that are hanging in the balance only to have us put a little bit of action and do our part, because God includes us in it. Right, if he wanted to just do it himself, he could have. He didn't. He died and rose and then he ascended into heaven and entrusted 12 pretty messed up guys to start this movement, and it continues forward with people like us and people like in our church that we all have a part to play in it. We are those ordinary people. It's cool.
Speaker 2Yeah, let's go. Yeah, and I think a couple things that came to mind. There is one our eyes up to see what's around us, to see what God is doing, to see the people God what's around us, to see what God is doing, to see the people God has placed around us and to appreciate them and care. And then, secondly, thinking of other extraordinary things done by ordinary people. I think of the volunteers in our city and in our churches, the people who care for the kids on a Sunday morning, who clean the coffee pots, who say hello and shake a hand of someone who's having a terrible, terrible day, like every single one of those goes a long way within a faith community to to welcome people and to make them feel comfortable.
Speaker 1I have been shocked I since I've been in guest experience on this campus, which is a year now, I don't even know At the number of times someone will come to me and share a story of, hey, I was having a really bad day and the greeter just shook my hand a little bit longer or gave me a smile and a hug. They didn't ask what was going on, they didn't ask if they could pray for something or offer some helpful advice, but they were just there to greet and welcome them when they walked into church. I mean, dozens of times people have come and said to me hey, last week this happened and I just thought somebody should know about it. What a simple thing that is. You know what I mean To keep your eyes up and just welcome someone.
Speaker 2I'm going to get the longest handshakes ever this weekend. Too long yeah.
Speaker 3The opposite effect for me. There's so much eye contact.
Speaker 1It's a fine line. Like it becomes creepy after a little point.
Speaker 2you know, yeah, how long is too long.
Speaker 1I don't know. I'll start asking.
Speaker 3All right, when I get the comments I'll start asking. It totally depends on where the conversation goes. Yeah.
Speaker 2What if there's no conversation?
Speaker 1If there's no conversation and you're still hanging on One 1,002, 1,003, maybe With no conversation. I don't know, with no conversation, I don't know. I think it depends if you bring in the other hand and really like warm it with both hands. You know, I don't know. Yeah, I feel like we're way overthinking this.
Speaker 2Oh, I think we're thinking about it perfectly.
Speaker 1I pray with my volunteers every Sunday morning. I'm like Lord, direct our feet. Let us be whatever the people who are coming through the doors needs, if it's a smile, if it's a hug, if it's a handshake, and I'm shocked at the number of responses that I get. It really is amazing to me.
Speaker 2Yeah, I told our campus folks about a couple of examples of people who have come to church, one of which it was his first time ever coming to our campus and he had a great experience.
The Impact of Being Welcoming
Speaker 2We talked about it a lot and the next day he passed away and it was horrific and we never got to meet him again. And so, lord, I pray that what happened that day? You have your hands all over it as a guy who hasn't been to church in over 30 years, because he said that the church and God didn't love him anymore and so he had finally worked up the courage to come to church. And so we never know what people are going through when they come through our doors. We never know what people are going through when they come through our doors. I also share the story of there's a couple who attended for about a year and a half who have now moved to Texas, and they said the reason that they attended is because someone learned their name on the first week and used it, and they said they never experienced that before and it's something so simple but so powerful just to look up, learn a name and then on the way out and say see you, greg, I'm so glad you're here so we can do that.
Speaker 1I just had a guy who came back to church. He went here, I guess when he was much younger. Had a guy who came back to church. He went here, I guess when he was much younger. Has a family member that goes here and he came to fill out a new here card because he said well, I haven't been here for like 10 or 15 years. So I thought maybe I should stop by and I said, yes, I'd love to meet you, started asking him about his story and he said well, I came like about six or seven years ago and I walked in and nobody said hi to me and nobody offered to help me find a seat and nobody shook my hand at the end of service and he said I just felt very shunned and so I left.
Speaker 1I was here that one time and I left and I didn't come back. And now here I have, come back, and on the first day I came back, I walk in and a guy named Bill, who's one of our greeters, greeted him and had a whole conversation with him. And then the next week, where's Bill? Bill wasn't standing at the front door but there was somebody other than Bill that was just as friendly and he was like I was shocked Couldn't be two weeks in a row that people were friendly. And he said, just week after week I kept saying, oh okay, I can come back, maybe next week I'll see what I saw before. But he just talked about how the dynamic had changed, the worth and the warmth and the welcoming. Now I don't know what was happened six or seven years ago on the day that he came, cause I know people have been friendly here for a long time, but for whatever reason he didn't have that experience and now he has yeah, yeah, it speaks volumes, attaboy bill yeah, um.
Final Thoughts & Takeaways
Speaker 1So, as we wrap up, what's your final thoughts, final takeaways from this message?
Speaker 2yeah, uh, one of the last questions that pastor greg asked was what is your elisha moment?
Speaker 2your I will moments. And then he said your impact will always be bigger than your effort. And I think about that. I mean, I think about that with the amazing people that I get to minister with, especially when they're going through a really hard time, because I'll sit with them and I don't have an answer for any of their grief and I can't fix their problems, and I really want to. I wish I could, but the reality is like the best thing I can do is just be there and see them and pray for them and be sad for a little bit with them and lament and um, and I know, when people have done that for me, it's made in incredible, uh, it's, it's had incredible value. So, um, your impact will always be bigger than your efforts. I'm just sitting there, but, lord, allow that to be helpful in some way. You do the work, god.
Speaker 3You do the work, god. Yeah, my brain's been thinking this statement that if God would do this much for an axe head, like think how much he'd do for someone like you, someone like me, if he'd go out of his way to find a lost axe head in water. Like, how much more will God go to find his lost children? And in this process, even what we talked about how much he'll use you and I and the people listening to help rescue his children? There's like no length. Like he's already done that through Jesus, like at the cross and through the tomb, and so there's no length. There's no pit too deep that God cannot save. And through the tomb, and so there's no length. There's no pit too deep that God cannot save and God cannot rescue.
Speaker 3And that's a part of the mission where I hope all of us want to join in on that, because it's cool to see an axe head float. It's even more amazing to see lives changed and transformed through the waters of baptism, and that's what we're here to do. And so that that thought of just if God would do this for an ax head, uh, had a few other, like you know, anyway, I'm not gonna go where I've thought, like what he'll do for an ax hole like me, but anyway, that's kind of where I was going.
Speaker 3I was like I don't that I'll have to edit that for sure.
Speaker 1That's all right. We have all of like six listeners, so you know. But seriously, if you go that length, there's nothing off the table for what God wouldn't do to reach his kids. That's cool, that's good. All right, do you want to tag us out this time? Yeah, I do.
Speaker 2This has become a little thing for you in honor of um your favorite summer thing of going to the movies.
Speaker 1Yeah, I've got the movie trailer all right for for this sermon series, for what for?
Speaker 2no for the summer, for the podcast okay okay I'm ready, I'm locked in yeah, you know, that's exactly where it starts In a world where Sunday happens, yeah, so I've got three points that are going to make this abundantly clear. My wife, lori, is the best. You hear a message, and so I found my ring and then I lost my ring and you get a lot from it, and then I got a tattoo of my ring. My dad said don't get a tattoo. Sometimes it gets more serious. God does this and God does that, and then you forget about it because you're a human. You've got a lot going on. But then you found this podcast and it went beyond Sunday, and it went beyond Sunday.
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