What's the Point?
What's the Point?
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What's up everyone. This is 4Kids and the Calling podcast. I'm your host, audrey Elgeo. In front of me is Hudson Walton.
Speaker 2:Hey guys.
Speaker 1:Next to him is Andrea Crater, hi and to my left is Lincoln Saucier.
Speaker 3:Hello.
Speaker 2:The first topic that we're going to talk about today is what we took away from Sunday's message by Pastor Jared. Yeah, so, pastor Jared, yesterday he preached a really good message. The title of his message was Stumbling Blocks, and he pointed out how, in our lives, we all have stumbling blocks that can prevent us from going where we need to go in our journey with God. They can keep us back behind where God wants us to go, and he listed that they can be either stumbling blocks specifically from the enemy, because the enemy is always trying to keep us where we're at or they could be a stumbling block that we make ourselves. We sometimes make our own problems, and that's a point that Pastor Jared made and that really stuck to me. Sometimes we create our own problems and those hinder us from walking where we need to walk with God, and so that's something we all have to watch out for and that's something that I took from it. And Pastor Jared also talked about how we have to keep our character in check. If we don't keep our character in check, that can be a major stumbling block that can really hurt you in your walk with God. He talked about three main ones that believers should look out for Rage, which that one's self-explanatory If you're angry all the time.
Speaker 2:That's a stumbling block. Envy if you look at others and compare yourself, if you're jealous of others, that's a stumbling block and a very dangerous one. Pride If you feel like you're better than others. God wants all the glory for himself. If you want the glory for yourself, you're hurting yourself. And one that I really resonate with is envy, like comparing myself to others. I look at others in the church and, like I look at another guy in church, I look at him, I look at me, I look at how we look and I'm just like man. I'm so chopped in the world.
Speaker 1:Well, that was, that was sorry.
Speaker 3:I can't wait to do that?
Speaker 1:yeah, but anyway, I just think it's really important that we keep our character in check and we make sure to keep a lookout for the stumbling blocks in our lives, because they'll stop you, that's right yeah, I agree, I agree, um, I had down what you said about you know the stumbling blocks that we leave for ourselves, but, um, also like what you said about you know the stumbling blocks that we leave for ourselves.
Speaker 1:But I also liked what you said about protecting who speaks in your life, because I feel like that's a big thing. Well, for me it's definitely a big thing, but I feel like for a lot of people too, because you have to be careful who you take advice from, and like the major people in your life who you listen to and stuff like that, because Pro 18 21 says that the life, that life and death are in the power of the tongue and the things and the people that you surround yourself with and the things that they tell you is what you will become eventually. Um, and another thing that he said that I liked was oh, this is my favorite, actually that ordered steps are never easy steps, and I like that because god's ways are super different from ours and we don't understand that at the time, but we have to just abide by it and we have to listen.
Speaker 1:And we have to let him have full control and not just the partial and like what we want him to have.
Speaker 2:And that sometimes sucks. Sometimes that's really hard. That is the truth.
Speaker 1:I agree, because we just don't understand his ways because they're so much higher than ours. And is the truth? I agree, because we just don't understand his ways because they're so much higher than ours. Um, and yeah, he's just set some things up.
Speaker 3:He has to set some things up before we could go to the next level. It's another thing I had yeah, back to what hudson was saying pride. So there's some things that god will let you go through to show you that you really aren't this big bad person that you think you are. Yeah, like I've been through some stuff that I know that there's no way I would have ever been able to get out of that by myself. So that, to me, showed me that I'm just human, there's something higher than me. So I have no pride towards god like he gets all the credit for that.
Speaker 3:um, what I took away from sunday was matthew 18, 7 through 8, when it talks about, uh, seeing a splinter others' eyes when you have a plank in yours. That, for me, is really true, because oftentimes we will critique others on the small things that they're doing wrong whenever we're actually doing the same thing, sometimes even worse than what they're doing you just really need to be careful of how you're treating other people and how you're seeing other people whenever you're really not even looking at yourself and self-evaluating of what you're doing in the moment.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's really easy to do. It's really easy for me to look at my co-hosts right now and point out how atrocious their fits are. But in reality I'm the most underdressed one here. It's so easy.
Speaker 4:It's so much easier to look at other people and see all of their flaws and see like how they're messing up, versus to look at your own self and be real with yourself and be like, oh, I'm not the person I thought I was. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sometimes we really aren't as cool as we think we are.
Speaker 3:Like sometimes I know I walk around here like I'm the coolest person in church, point yeah, and you're just just to choke up?
Speaker 2:yeah, I'm really not. Sometimes I have to acknowledge that stumbling block and like yeah, just repent.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're really far from that actually I already repented oh did you let's move on okay, um, did you have something? Personally, I loved pastor jared's message on sunday.
Speaker 4:It was phenomenal. So one thing that I really took from it is um, we all have stumbling blocks that are in our private lives and for me, like what I thought of that well, what hold up, how I made sense of that was, like our thoughts, our thought, life can be kind of crazy because, you know, we I hold up, we all think a lot more than we actually say and a lot goes on in our brains and so we all have to take, like this, um act, not activity, but like we all have to make it a habit to take all of our thoughts captive and we have to make it intentional yes, we have to be intentional to make our thoughts align with the word of God, Because 2 Corinthians 10 and 5 says we captured our rebellious thoughts and we teach them to obey Christ.
Speaker 4:Because if you just let your thoughts run crazy, your life is going to be crazy, because you know your thoughts are really important.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a really good point. I think it can be hard to be intentional about it, because if you aren't intentional, you think you're okay. You wake up and you just go throughout your day. You may pray in the morning, pray at night I'd say the average Christian does that.
Speaker 3:But if you're not being intentional about capturing your thoughts, like you said, they're just running amok like it's not just going to solve itself and eventually you're going to say what you're thinking, which that can really get you in a bad spot, because the tongue is the only is the most unruly thing in your body especially if your thoughts aren't godly or giving god glory.
Speaker 1:And then once you start talking, then it's over, because you speak it into existence, self-destruct yeah, I thought another thing that he had said that was really good was, um, that god will not release more into your hands until you can learn to carry what you already have. Yeah, that was another one of my favorites, and it's just like you have to show god that you're willing to let go and give it all to him, because if once you give him control and you stop fighting the plans that he has, it's all gonna work out for your good and in the end you're gonna see like he was really always there and he wanted the best for me, and like it was so simple just to let him have control.
Speaker 4:But you just fight that because you think that you know better for yourself yeah but he he does because, like in our minds, it's like we can't comprehend god's thoughts because he's so much higher and so much more perfect than we are. So, like in our own brain, we can't see how, like how all of it will work together. We only see a little itty bitty piece of the puzzle. I like to say but god sees all the puzzle and so he's putting our puzzle together. But we're the, we're part of the pieces, and so we can't see it all. But he does, oh, that's a beautiful line.
Speaker 2:It's really good he's putting the puzzle together, but we're all a little just the pieces. Yeah, I like that write that down I really agree with audrey said like god won't, he's not going to give you a promise if you don't show that you're ready for it. Like if you don't have a driver's license and you pray to god for a lamborghini, he's going to look at you like what the heck bro go get a license like you got to be ready for it.
Speaker 2:You can't just ask for all this stuff and not be ready, not show that you're ready. So I think that's a really good point, Audrey.
Speaker 3:If you want more from God, you have to be willing to give more to God.
Speaker 4:Oh, that's good.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's been something that I've learned. True, my grandparents have taught me about that a lot.
Speaker 1:No, I agree, because he could only use what you give him in your life, like he only has as much. Well, he could really do whatever he wants, obviously, yeah, but as far as like helping you wait what I don't know what's happening anymore, we're going to keep it up, we're going to keep going. And then the last thing that I have written down that I liked from the message was that forgiveness has nothing to do with justice. Um, that was a big thing for me, because not that I don't forgive people, but it's like, obviously it's kind of hard to forgive people.
Speaker 2:Like you want them to you. Sometimes you want them to get what you feel like they should get.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Like you, can you forgive them in quotation marks, but you kind of want like some justice to happen.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you have to forgive, even when justice isn't involved, which is what he said. Just because Jesus forgives you for things that you 100% should not be forgiven for? Oh yeah, and like, where do you think? Like where do you get off thinking that you shouldn't forgive that person for doing you wrong slightly after what you did to Jesus? It's just, you definitely didn't deserve it, but Neither does the other person. But if God can forgive you for all the wrong you did, then why can't you forgive that person for the couple of things that they did Exactly?
Speaker 2:Because it really pulls it into perspective when you put it like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because that goes into what you were saying about hate and like character and stuff. Because like not forgiving people can just lead to resentment.
Speaker 2:A little fester. Yeah, I'll tell you.
Speaker 4:It ruins you. Yeah, it fester, I'll tell you. It ruins you like it ruins your heart and your character yeah, and he said it blinds your vision too.
Speaker 1:It ruins your character and blinds your vision. Um, to just have anger built up and then you're just gonna have a big ball of anger one day and you'll be like uh-oh that's not good dude.
Speaker 2:How'd the giant ball get here?
Speaker 4:yeah, and that's a stumbling block and you have to ask the lord to help you remove the giant ball that you've built.
Speaker 1:Yeah, self-destruction, it'll get you yeah so what do you guys think it means?
Speaker 2:to weaken the flesh I think first we should talk about what is the flesh like?
Speaker 1:what if someone listens to this and they're like my skin, like no, we're not talking about really that flesh yeah, we're talking about the spiritual aspect, so like tell me what is the spiritual aspect well, the spiritual is like well, that's the flesh is like the worldly, desires for things, um, which is obviously lower than the spiritual.
Speaker 2:The spiritual is like the spiritual side, and then there's the flesh, which is the worldly, and the thing like the desire for sin and evil and stuff like that yeah, like, basically like our carnal side, like yeah, your sinful nature that you are born with like the side of you that wants to do stuff that isn't of god, whether it be going to the club or something as simple as watching instagram reels for a few hours. Just anything that isn't of God, or not forgiving that too, yeah that's also part of your flesh.
Speaker 2:Anyway, what does it mean to weaken the flesh? Weakening the flesh? Well, it sounds obvious, but you do it by feeding the spirit. If there's two parts of it the carnal, the spiritual, the flesh and the spirit you got it. Whatever one you feed the most will be the most strong. So by feeding the spirit, you, in tandem, weaken the flesh. You don't have to fight this war against the flesh and all that. All you have to do is feed the spirit. You could pray, you can fast I mean, it's basic principles that you may overlook because everyone does it as Christians, but it needs to be talked about. That's how you fight the flesh by feeding the spirit.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's really good.
Speaker 4:And one of the points that pastor made yesterday was the closer you get to Jesus and the more you talk to him, the less influence the devil has in your life. And that goes to what Hudson just said about prayer. So whenever you pray you are in an open channel of communication with God. And so when you have that open channel of communication you are talking to him about who knows what you know your day, how good he is, how holy he is or whatever. So whenever you talk to him, the devil has less influence in your life because you're getting closer to Jesus and the more we talk to him, the more we become like him. And more more we become like him, the less we tend to act on our sinful desires, which is our flesh, yeah and uh, why do you guys think it's so important to weaken the flesh?
Speaker 2:like, do we really have to do that, or can we get by just living for god?
Speaker 1:no, it's definitely important because because if you feeding your flesh, you can't feed your flesh and your spiritual side at the same time. It's just not possible, because things that honor God, your flesh doesn't want, and the things that your flesh wants, that's not honoring God at all. So you have to choose which side you want to be on, if you want to live for the world or if you want to live for God. And so it's just, yeah, it is important, because the further you get like fleeting and satisfying your flesh, the farther you get from God Exactly, and so it's like you have to choose which one you want to choose.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it even talks about that in the Bible, where it says that no man can serve two masters.
Speaker 3:So exactly what.
Speaker 2:Audrey just said you can't be whiffy-waffy, you can't serve the flesh and the spirit. You have to intentionally choose to feed the spirit every day, and that is very important. You can't just keep that at the back of your mind.
Speaker 3:And no matter how much you feed your flesh, your flesh is never going to be satisfied.
Speaker 2:No, it's always going to want more.
Speaker 3:It's always going to do more damage too. It's like an angry little chihuahua.
Speaker 2:Yeah, literally, it always wants more.
Speaker 3:And by only feeding your flesh. It's like going into a battle completely naked, like you have nothing to defend yourself with, you don't have any armor, you don't have a sword. But whenever you start to feed your spirit, your spirit starts to protect just protect the things that are attacking your flesh, and ultimately you starts to protect yeah, just protect the things that are attacking your flesh and ultimately, you're not going to desire those things anymore.
Speaker 4:Yeah, you're still going to be tempted, but you're gonna have the spirit to battle the temptation. That's good, and there is, absolutely positively, no way that you can constantly feed your flesh and become the person that god has called you and wanted you to be. There is was literally no way, because being becoming that person that he desires and wants you to be takes work. It takes you weakening your flesh, because we all have a sinful nature and that's the parts of us that want exactly the opposite of what Jesus wants for our lives. Because we know we all have a flesh and we all have, like this spirit and they're always in constant competition and combat. That's gonna happen for the rest of our lives. We're never gonna have, we're never gonna be able to go without this battle of our flesh and our spirit warring against each other. But whenever you weaken your flesh, it makes the battle so much easier because, like I said earlier, you are, you are becoming closer to jesus, so we become more like him, and then it gets easier because we have him on our side.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that's really good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, another thing about weakening the flesh, like to—you'll see, I'll just keep talking about it. So Matthew 16, 24 says Then Jesus said to his disciples Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. And so that one was a good one. That's a good one to show you know, weakening your flesh, because Jesus said whoever wants to follow me, you have to deny yourself first, and then you have to take up those burdens and you have to, like come after me and follow me and the things that I have for you. So you have to take those things that are holding you down and you have to sacrifice them and give them to Jesus. And that's weakening your flesh, because that's hard to do.
Speaker 3:And, like Hudson said earlier, prayer and fasting is so important whenever you're trying to work on battling the temptations of the flesh, because the Bible says that some things only come through prayer and fasting.
Speaker 3:There's some things that you're battling, that you're not going to be able to beat by yourself, you're going to, you need god, and that, again, it eliminates your pride. You can't have pride whenever you don't do something. So I think, also going back to the disciples, he said like to to drop yourself right. He said take your, take up your cross and follow me. You, the, the disciples, they didn't know what they were getting themselves into literally they still did it.
Speaker 3:It does, even though it doesn't. It doesn't look like the puzzle. You can't. You don't see the finished puzzle right now it just feels like just a piece, but god sees the bigger picture. I said when I was a little kid I would always say it's like a painting. I didn't use a puzzle. I said what looks like just paint splattered on a canvas. It's a masterpiece to God. That's how I would say it. Battling the flesh it seems hard, but the bigger picture, it's so worth it.
Speaker 4:It so is.
Speaker 3:It is.
Speaker 1:And the things that you go, you go.
Speaker 2:I was just going to say. It ties all back into the point Andrea made. Everything that we've been talking about is that feeding the flesh will keep you from who God wants you to be, and that, at the end of the day, is the most important part. We need to be as close to God as we can possibly be, and we can't do that if we feed our flesh.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and when you do get close to God and when you build that relationship and you're like the relationship is stronger between you and God, it's like the difference from what you used to be and how you used to live, from what you are now, the peace you feel, it's incredible, just like all the, all the things that you didn't think could happen, or like the, the problems that went away and that got solved, that, like Jesus I mean Jesus helped solve them, and so yeah, jesus is the one that did that, mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:That's my God twin.
Speaker 1:About, you know, trying to satisfy the spiritual side, but you can't do that with the flesh. Jesus wants all of your time, not just the okay things and not the times, or not just time, but like he wants all of you. Yeah, not just the parts that you think are pretty and that are okay and that are presentable. He wants everything, even the horrible stuff so facts yeah, of course, I speak only facts yeah, that's really good.
Speaker 2:Sometimes we try to. Christianity or your belief in god may become just like a ritual or just part of your day, you go to your day.
Speaker 1:You go through the motions.
Speaker 2:You just go through the motions and, like Audra was saying, that's not what we need to be, we got to give it all.
Speaker 4:And to do that.
Speaker 2:It ties into what we've been speaking about.
Speaker 4:And a lot like in the world of Christianity. They say like you have baggage, everyone has this baggage that they carry around and that weighs them down right and so Like the big rage ball.
Speaker 4:Yeah, like the big rage ball. So if you don't give that to God, it's going to keep weighing you down, you're going to go through your day and by the end of it you're going to be exhausted because you have this big bag of baggage on your back. But whenever you give it to God and you finally tell him everything that is not wrong with you, but everything that you don't like, or all of your problems or all of your issues, and you can finally relax and take a deep breath because you've placed all of your hurts into his hands, and that makes your life so much better.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's like not even just the relief from like, okay, it's off my plate now. It's like it gets fixed. It's not like you let it go and it's coming right back. It's not like you let it go and it's coming, coming right back. It's not temporary, it's permanent relief from the burdens and the things you've been carrying, because god's got it, god handled it and he's gonna you.
Speaker 4:Like switch modes you go from survival mode always looking out on who's gonna hurt me next or what's gonna happen next, to actually be able to be alive and be living and enjoy being alive yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:When you're feeding the flesh, it's like, man, I'm not ever going to be able to get out of this like this is. This is too much. I'm always going to be like this. Well then, once you stop doing that like a bad boy and you start, bad girl and you start are that and you start feeding the the spirit.
Speaker 3:Then you look back on that stuff and you're like I can't believe I ever thought I was trapped in that like this is so much easier I feel like a lot of people view christianity like it, like a cruise ship, right, they think it's going to be this, this nice, easy sailing. No, nothing's going to bother you, but in all reality it's a battleship exactly it's not.
Speaker 3:It's not easy. God didn't ask it to. He didn't say it was going to be easy. He didn't tell the disciples it was going to be easy and they didn't ask if it would be easy. They just followed him, they, he, they dropped everything that they were doing and they followed him and that's what we're supposed to do exactly all right.
Speaker 2:So I think we've talked about well enough what the flesh is, why it's important that we weaken the flesh. How can we practically I know we've said prayer and fasting, but how practically can we weaken the flesh Like actually, like not just say in prayer and fasting how can we do that?
Speaker 4:I got you. So y'all have never, ever realized how much you actually love food Until you've made up in your mind you're not going to eat because you're going to fast. You've never realized how much you actually like food. So fasting means not to eat and to pray instead, because that weakens your flesh and it grows your spirit. It allows you to become closer to God because you are denying your physical needs and you are fulfilling your spiritual needs. It's saying God, I want you to use me and be multiplied in me, and whenever that happens, it puts all of hell on notice, because they know that God will honor your actions. Because I don't know what it is about it, but you pushing away your plate and saying I want more of Jesus, I'm not going to fulfill my physical needs because I'm going to fulfill my spiritual needs, really makes hell mad.
Speaker 4:I love this quote by Josh Herring in his book Fast Forward, and it says it is a sacrifice heaven rewards the most, hell fears the most and that humans hate the most. And I'm speaking of fasting. Fasting puts your flesh into the word, like how they say submission to God, because that's whenever you realize God is in charge and you are aligning your spirit with Jesus and his plans and his wants for your life.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's really good.
Speaker 1:Good luck following up with that.
Speaker 3:What book was that?
Speaker 4:Fast Forward. No, sorry, fast Forward, fast Forward.
Speaker 2:Fast.
Speaker 4:Forward. I love that book, but also, the more flesh we have, the harder it is for Jesus to live in our hearts and for us to be able to operate into what he wants us to do. Because even Jesus fasted. Because in Matthew jesus, it says that jesus was led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, so he didn't eat or drink for 40 days, and jesus pushed his flesh to the physical limit, like no one in the bible has fasted more than 40 days, because they just haven't has fasted more than 40 days because they just haven't.
Speaker 2:I think if I did that, I'd probably go to heaven early.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think that's why Jesus put the limit for 40 days. But whenever Jesus fasted all that time, he showed his power because he refused to break his fast, because the devil always kept being like Jesus you need to turn these stones into bread or you need to jump off of this high mountain so your angels can catch you. And Jesus refused every single time because he realized that. Well, he spoke it because it's the Bible, but he quoted scripture every single time that the devil came at him with temptation.
Speaker 4:So that's one of the ways that we fight temptation and weaken our flesh is to fast, but also to come at our temptations with the word of god, because the word of god is alive.
Speaker 2:That's really, really good. I think that's not only one of the ways. I think that is the best way. It is the best way because jesus did it.
Speaker 4:So if jesus did it, why do we think we shouldn't do it? Or why don't we do it?
Speaker 2:yeah, that's like. That is like top 10 stupidest moments of the devil in the Bible.
Speaker 3:If the devil had the audacity to tempt Jesus.
Speaker 4:What makes you think that he's?
Speaker 3:not going to tempt you. Every time he came at Jesus. Jesus came back at him and said it is written the Bible is literally a guideline. People don't realize that because they don't open it, you can't be the person God's fully called you to be and starve your flesh the way that you really need to, without sticking your head in this book.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:It'll change your life, and I've actually really I've started to read it. I'm on a plan to read it in six months.
Speaker 4:Nice I've learned.
Speaker 3:I'm only on Genesis in six months and I've learned I'm only on genesis like 31 and I've learned a good bit through that yeah, when you really sit down and read the bible and like actually get into it.
Speaker 2:Like that's some crazy stuff yeah it is crazy.
Speaker 4:Y'all would never believe it's actually in the bible. You have to go read genesis all the way through because it's crazy. But reading the bible is so important because it's literally god's words written on paper. Like literally, like it's literally his words written on paper and that's what most people don't understand and it's alive and we can use it in our lives and everyone should read their bible. Everyone needs to be in their word daily because it helps grow your spirit and it weakens your flesh and it's the words of jesus, so why wouldn't you want to read it? But also, everyone has their own way of studying and reading the bible. Like don't compare your way to anybody else's way, because you have your own way that you understand it the most yeah, so we've talked about fasting, we've talking about, we've talked about reading the word.
Speaker 2:What are some other practical ways that we can?
Speaker 3:we can, uh, flush uh, watching who you hang around, for sure that's a big, important one.
Speaker 3:Your inner circle is the people who ultimately have the biggest influence on you. Yep, and you can go around a group of people who aren't doing the things you believe in and you'll say, oh well, I'm not gonna do it, I'm just gonna go hang out with them. The longer you hang out with them, you're to end up finding yourself doing the same things that they're doing. Even though it wasn't your intention, it's still. You're exposing yourself. It's like exposing yourself to poison.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:The longer you sit by it, the more it's going to affect you. Right, and the Bible talks about the lame man who was healed by his friend's faith If he wouldn't have had a circle, who is as passionate about his healing as the dude who needed the healing was he would have never been healed. Yeah, exactly, and that that to me is a big way to defend it is watching who you hang around.
Speaker 2:That's that's really important, and if you're not careful with that, it can become a major stumbling block, like I said like what's the saying? You become the closest five people to you.
Speaker 4:Yeah, you are who you hang around, and your closest five friends are who you're going to become.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it is real. It's a real quote, but basically like what Lincoln was saying, that's very important you can't just ignore that it's how we're wired. It's how God created us. We're social beings.
Speaker 1:You're going to become who you hang around. Another one is another way to weaken your flesh is to ask for guidance and strength to overcome sin and to lay it down, Because that has to do with pride Like, laying your sin down can be a big thing with pride and so you have to pray and ask for what, and when you say ask, you're talking about asking God right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, of course, and you ask God to soften your heart and to make your heart and your mind prone to his presence and the things that he wants, and that's a big step.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that's really good yeah.
Speaker 1:Once you do that, then it's just easier to lay down things and to let things go and to give it all to him so that he could do things. I completely agree.
Speaker 2:And what are some more like day-to-day practical things that just the average believer like. If they just want to take it in little bits, how can they start weakening their flesh throughout their day?
Speaker 4:You can take breaks from social media. So I'm sure we all have social media in some way or form, whether it's Instagram, facebook, youtube, tiktok, whatever it is and we live in a media world. Everywhere we turn our heads there's media. Like all four of us have laptops out on this table right now, like media is literally everywhere, and if we be honest with ourselves ourselves, we are on media a lot more than we should way too much and a lot of yeah, and a lot of our excuses, um, whenever it comes to weakening our flesh is we don't have the time yeah we don't have the time to do xyz.
Speaker 4:But in reality, you scroll four or five hours on youtube, tiktok and instagram and you still say I don't have time for god. No, you 100,. And you still say I don't have time for God. No, you 100% do have time for God, but you don't have time management because the social media is a distraction and it feeds your flesh, because your flesh wants to be distracted. Your flesh wants to be taken out of your world and placed into somewhere different to where you don't feel the chaos of your current life.
Speaker 2:And yeah, it can just be like such mindless quick entertainment that you just get trapped in a cycle of it. It's so easy, it's so easy.
Speaker 1:It's weird Sometimes if you ever watch somebody watching reels, it's kind of creepy in a way. It's like they just sit there staring for like hours.
Speaker 2:What are you doing?
Speaker 4:you could be out there like fishing or something productive, praying, and you're sitting there scrolling, and so, if we admit it or we don't, or some of us might not realize it, or we don't care that we do it we spend a lot more time than we should on social media and so, taking those breaks, deleting it, setting yourself or deleting it for a certain period of time, um, setting yourself time limits dude I say give yourself an hour and give somebody else the passcode.
Speaker 2:Don't have it I I'm pretty sure I remember pastor jared talking about something like that, uh, in a message one time where he was like he was surprised how much he used social media when he set a time limit I tried that. I set an hour long time limit on my phone Dude. I ran out of that time limit by like 8.30 in the morning. Oh my God, Like he was right. Listen to your pastor. Like that stuff really takes control of you.
Speaker 4:Yeah, because consuming all of that media can hinder our growth in God. Because, if we're being honest, how much of what we're seeing and hearing is actually godly and of god?
Speaker 1:like one social media exactly. Isn't that? One percent is like those ones when you scroll and it's like don't scroll.
Speaker 2:In this video, let's say, a 60 minute prayer, it's like, it's like a thousand likes, or you're not going to heaven like if you love jesus reshare you love jesus put it in the comments exactly.
Speaker 4:So all that media that we're taking in, it's most of the time not christian or not godly and it's not helping us in our growth in god and in reality it's pulling us farther and farther away because we're satisfying our flesh. And so if you want to really grow in your well-being and you know your spiritual guy man thing, what?
Speaker 3:your spiritual walk with god just say that I'm trying to get to my spiritual man who's our spiritual guy?
Speaker 2:is that our pastor? Who is this spiritual guy? My brain went blank.
Speaker 4:So if you really want to grow in your spiritual walk with god, you need to not consume as much media, because it hinders the voice of god. You can't hear god if you're hearing everybody else.
Speaker 1:I saw something like that one time. I don't remember exactly what it was it it was probably like two years ago, but it said something about we use social media to keep ourselves distracted, because when we sit alone with our own thoughts it's like yeah, it's disturbing and you don't like it. So I just thought and I was like that doesn't even make sense, Like nobody thinks like that. But then once I was alone with my thoughts, or when there's quiet and there's no music playing in the car, like you really think about your life, or even if you start to pray and you haven't prayed in a while and you're like, wow, I really what Like.
Speaker 1:Let me scroll real quick. Have you ever deleted an app Like one of those and then you catch yourself throughout the day going to that app like 1500?
Speaker 2:times Like it really highlights like how much of an issue it is actually embarrassing, yeah, and like it's bad I think we'd all say that social media is probably the biggest hindrance for this generation 100, but that doesn't mean it's necessarily evil like no social media isn't the big evil. You can replace social media with gaming, any hobby, anything.
Speaker 4:None of it is necessarily evil, but it can be a distraction that keeps you from feeding your spirit, like andrea was saying yeah, it all depends how you use it and how much time you're exactly into it, yeah because if you give more time to that than you're giving to god, that becomes an idol in your life and you don't become any better than all the people in the old testament who bow down to idols.
Speaker 1:That's being a lukewarm, Like that's being lukewarm, If you just you dip your foot in the water but you're like, nah yeah, like if you go to church Sunday and Wednesday, but Monday through Friday it's just Instagram reels.
Speaker 2:You're not even really like a believer.
Speaker 4:And you're not even praying or reading your Bible throughout the week. What are you doing?
Speaker 3:And back what andrew was saying about how we say it's a time problem. It's not a time problem, it's an appetite problem exactly.
Speaker 4:We have the time, it's just not check can we quote that yeah? Can I? Can I get the title?
Speaker 3:it's an appetite problem oh yeah, yeah, but but for real. Like we, we have the, we can make the time. It's just I mean I'm going to be reading the Bible is not the most fun thing that you can do in your day, right? Yeah, I agree. It's the most important thing you can do. But some people I hate reading. I cannot stand reading. It doesn't mean that reading isn't good for you. It's like I could be watching so many reels right now?
Speaker 1:I never think that watching so many reels right now.
Speaker 2:I never think that I actually think. Thank you, jesus, for waking me up this morning.
Speaker 4:You know, all right holy, and whenever you first start reading your bible, like and if you haven't read it, or if you haven't made it a habit to read it, it's so much harder in the beginning, because the devil will do everything that he can to make you not read your bible because it's that important.
Speaker 4:He sees it as that much of growth to you, Like if you don't read your Bible that's such a hindrance to your walk with God and he knows that so he's going to try to not make you do that. But if you find your own way and your own method of studying and reading the Bible, it makes it so much more fun. Because if you ask anybody that knows me or my Bible reading habits, you know they're chaotic. I use at least seven different highlighters, two pins and sticky notes.
Speaker 3:And my Bible's name is Big Bertha because she is so big. She's full of sticky notes. She doesn't close.
Speaker 2:I really like it.
Speaker 4:She doesn't close because I put so much sticky notes in there and it's fun for me. Like me, reading my Bible is fun because I figured out a way that um makes it the most meaningful to me. But then I have a friend who just highlights like she just highlights verses that mean the most to her. When I'm over here, highlighting the setting, who, the characters, the numbers, to make it pop out at me, that makes sense. So everyone has their own method and you can't compare your method to anybody else's because everyone is different.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and there's no right or wrong. Exactly you could be Andrea or Andrea's friend or somewhere in between. Like you don't have to have seven highlighters and all this stuff going on Name your Bible big birthday. You can just sit down and read. You don't even have to have a highlighter, like you don't have to feel pressured about how you read the word of God. You don't have to feel pressured about how you read the word of God. It's personal.
Speaker 1:It's you. You could start anywhere. You don't have to start with three chapters a day or something crazy, even if it helps, if it's convenient because your phone's on you and you think about it, go to the Bible app, start there every day.
Speaker 3:Just start a little bit, then eventually you'll be like okay, let me sit down and read my Bible, the book, the Bible app start with more and more.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it does. Yeah, like I put it on when you're washing dishes or something like when I first started, I personally started with a letter a day wow, no, that's really good, yeah, like like one letter like in the beginning, the end, that it took me two days to get through that it took me two days to get.
Speaker 4:I was on a journey with god, everyone starts somewhere, and you gotta start somewhere, and why not start today, while you're listening to this podcast. Well after but you know what I mean start it in the back.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it can be hard to start, so obviously I didn't start one letter at a day. I was using that as an example to show that you can start anywhere. It doesn't have to be. You don't have to wake up the morning after you decide that you want to follow god and feed your spirit more and pray for an hour and read your Bible for two hours.
Speaker 1:If you want to, yeah, if you want to, but you don't have to you have to.
Speaker 3:We all start somewhere. You have to build. I probably used the wrong word.
Speaker 2:I shouldn't say it's not fun, because okay now that I'm thinking about it, I'm like, yeah, reading the Bible.
Speaker 3:I am not.
Speaker 4:God is funny, I'm like yeah, reading the Bible I am not good. God is funny. God has a sense of humor. I have laughed in the Bible so many times.
Speaker 3:So it's definitely I'm not a great reader. I'm just going to be honest. I read slow. So for me it's like if I'm sitting down and I'm reading, let's say, five chapters, what would take the average person? Like 30 minutes. I would be there for at least an hour. What would take? The average person like 30 minutes, I would be there for at least an hour. So when I say like not fun, I mean like it's challenging for me, because if you're getting my attention for over an hour, it's got to be good yeah the bible is good, so yeah and like, even if it's challenging or, like lincoln said, it's not fun, you still just gotta just start it, just try it.
Speaker 4:Sometimes you just gotta draw that line and make the conscious decision to start digging in your bible twin you gotta start digging in that bible preach and whenever you start, like it might like hutton said it might not be fun, it like right away, but the more you read, the more you keep going, the more you're gonna fall in love with god's word. And once you have fallen in love with God's word, you can't stop.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it'll be like brushing your teeth in the morning.
Speaker 2:I definitely fell in love with that. No but think about it.
Speaker 1:Think about it, because it is like brushing your teeth. And it just hit me because you know. If you don't brush your teeth, I'm going to explain. If you don't brush your teeth in the morning, everybody's going to know, they're going to know.
Speaker 3:And if you don't brush your teeth in the morning.
Speaker 1:Everybody's going to know. They're going to know. And if you don't read your Bible and you're not being a good example of God and you're not showing kindness, they're going to know.
Speaker 3:They're going to know what you're about and your stankness yeah, no stinky spirit. You tell them yeah, get that stank out of here.
Speaker 1:So you got to start digging in that Bible and brushing them. But like brushing the teeth is rhetorical for like reading your Bible. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I think we could pick up on that We've talked about a lot of good ways to practically how to actually weaken the flesh. We talked about fasting, reading your bible, praying, watching you hang around. Does anyone else have any other ways that some may not think of?
Speaker 4:one. Another way is getting uncomfortable, because we live in a culture that wants to be hidden. Right, everyone has this mask or this curtain that they hide behind and they don't show their true selves or what they actually like. And so one way you weaken your flesh is you intentionally put yourself in uncomfortable situations, and you're probably like, whoa, what do you mean by uncomfortable situations? I mean things like public outreach.
Speaker 4:So you go outside of your church, your house, and you physically invite people to church. We do this all the time. We do this for campus ministry at UL. We hand out flyers, we do this at the park every other Tuesday, inviting people to church, and a lot of people will come to church if you just invite them. Or you can pray for people at church, right Like you're in the church building. It is altar call and you see a lot of people that have their hands out that need to be prayed. For what do you do? You can go, start praying with them, because the more you interact with other people who you don't know, or even who you do know, the more you're going to weaken your flesh and you're going to grow in God.
Speaker 3:Yeah Well, that's one thing I learned from sports, is our coaches made sure that we learned to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 3:That's one thing that I really got from sports is that you're rarely going to be comfortable in life.
Speaker 4:Especially in your walk with God. Yeah.
Speaker 3:When you walk with God, you're going to live in uncomfort, but you're going to have to be okay with it. Have to be okay with it. You're gonna. You're gonna grow to be able to stand in the uncomfortability and make good of your situation, but you can't let being uncomfortable stop you exactly yeah yeah, for sure because there's like this, fear related to being uncomfortable.
Speaker 4:Um, the spirit of fear always finds its way to wiggle its way into all these uncomfortable situations it's always wiggling and the more that you let it be there, the more that you can't fulfill what god has called you to do, or like what, how god wants you to grow.
Speaker 1:Yeah you know what I mean, girl. I know what you mean I'm tuning thank you for the input.
Speaker 2:Oh, you're welcome um can anyone else think of any other ways that we can weaken the flesh, or are we wrapping this thing up?
Speaker 1:I don't know, do I have any more? I'm trying to think I don't.
Speaker 2:I think we've hit some really good points today, Like if tomorrow was my first day becoming a believer and this podcast was the first thing I ever watched.
Speaker 3:Well, you're not watching the podcast, you're not watching it. All right, you get the point.
Speaker 2:But I think I know how to keep my flesh in check.
Speaker 4:Facts. Another way you can weaken your flesh is sacrificially giving. So we all like money, everyone likes money. You can't convince me that you don't like money, and the Bible says that the love of money is the root of all evil. Um, and so one, one way that, like youth today, can sacrificially give is give to missions, or move the mission or the offering at your church, because giving it puts you out of yourself, it blesses other people and it denies this construct that we all have of I want my money because you're giving it away, so it's not yours people, and it denies this construct that we all have of I want my money because you're giving it away, so it's not yours anymore, and you're giving it to God and you're asking him to bless it. So whenever you give, you deny yourself and you trust God with it completely, and that weakens your flesh.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's really good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, as pastor Jared would say, god loves a cheerful giver. So put a smile on your giving, because you know it's making a difference in the kingdom of God.
Speaker 4:Yes, we have it memorized, and then he changes it every time. So it's like, well, I used to be able to quote it word for word.
Speaker 2:When I give, I'm cheesing, every time Big cheesing, he would like to thank this church for being a giving church.
Speaker 3:Yes, yep.
Speaker 1:As I do every Sunday. Okay, yeah, I'm sorry For your faithful tithes and offerings. We're so good at this, pastor Jared, if you're watching, listening.
Speaker 3:I mean listening. I think the next part is your giving is what enabled us to do what God's called us to do, and that is to point people to Jesus. That's so we got it down. So whenever you give.
Speaker 4:Put a smile on your giving because you know that you everyone for tuning in and listening. Thank you, producer.
Speaker 3:Brian.
Speaker 1:Yes, thank you, Producer Phillip and Brother.
Speaker 3:Phillip sitting on the ground. They are the core of this podcast, those are our core values. Yes, brother.
Speaker 1:Jonathan, we give you special shout-outs. Anyway, thank you to all of our listeners who are listening and we ask that you tune in next week for the next amazing four kids in a calling podcast bye, guys, bye everyone later.