Podcasts about maybe god

What should you do when you're following God and suddenly everything gets hard? Does opposition mean you missed God? Should you stop? Or could this be an opportunity to develop something the Bible says every Christian needs?

When Discernment Requires CourageWhat happens when God shows you something clearly—but responding to what He reveals requires courage?Spiritual discernment is not simply about recognizing what God is saying. There comes a moment when what we see must influence the way we live. Sometimes discernment requires us to accept a difficult truth, walk away from something familiar, remain faithful in a challenging season, have a necessary conversation, or take a step of obedience before we know how everything will turn out.In When Discernment Requires Courage, we explore the connection between spiritual discernment, faith, and obedience. You'll discover why courage does not mean the absence of fear, how to recognize when God is asking you to move or remain, and why greater revelation often brings greater responsibility.God does not give us eyes to see simply so we can know more. He wants us to become people who will respond faithfully to what He reveals.Perhaps you do not need another confirmation or another revelation. Maybe God has already shown you the next step—and now He is asking for your courageous yes.Subscribe for more teachings on spiritual discernment, hearing God's voice, wisdom, and growing deeper in your walk with the Holy Spirit.www.loisflewelling.com

God Empowers the Weak (3) (audio) David Eells, 9/13/26 Let me share a testimony with you. Back when I was in the world, I had a deficiency that was passed on to me from my daddy. His daddy had this really bad sinus problem. My daddy used to pack around this bottle of Neo-Synephrine. It opened up the sinuses, and he carried it year-round. Growing up, I had the same problem. My sinuses would close up, and so I used that stuff to open up my breathing, but eventually it will eat the lining right out of your nose, and then I would have to use it even more. Well, when I saw that Jesus healed me at the cross, I threw that bottle away. God healed my nose then and it hasn't stopped up to this day. That was in my low twenties when I threw that bottle out by faith. And I've had head colds since then, but my nostrils haven't stopped up. When I threw that bottle out, that honored God so much that He just took it out. I used to have a natural problem with colds and sinuses, chest congestion, and all that left. The doctors gave me so much penicillin that it no longer worked for me.  Then I caught on to vitamin C, and I started taking it, and let me tell you, it did twice the good that the drugs and Neo-Synephrine had done. I saw it worked so much better than the shots, medicine, and stuff, but when I found out what Jesus did for me, I stopped taking vitamin C and I got deliverance from the whole curse of colds, congestion and sinuses. Even though the vitamin C worked better than the drugs because my system totally just was ignoring them by that point, I threw the vitamin C out, too. When I'd get a cold back then, and we'd have orange juice in the ice box, God would say, “Don't drink any of that; just totally avoid it.” He wanted to prove to me that the deliverance I was getting was from Him; it didn't have anything to do with vitamin C. Listen, I got delivered of something I had all of my life to that point. It was so bad that the infection would get in my inner ears, then my eardrums would burst, and I had fluid draining out of my ears. When God delivered me, I threw out the Neo-Synephrine, and I threw out the drugs and the vitamin C; I got total deliverance from that. It's no longer a problem.  So, what is it to walk by faith? We can pick up parts of walking by faith by looking at one another, but we need to get an image of what God's faith is. Look at Mark 11:22. Most versions read, “And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.” But in the original version, it says, “Have God's faith” and the Numeric Bible says that, too. I thought about that, and I felt like the Lord told me that God's faith is not the faith of man in God, but the faith of God inside of man. It's hard for us to work up enough faith in God, but it's our right and privilege from the Scriptures to have God's faith in us, which is what salvation is all about. (Php.2:13) For it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure. And you know it's our right because that's what Jesus did. He made reconciliation. Reconciliation is an exchange. Jesus took our unbelief; He put it on the cross along with the curse and He gave us His faith. We have to reckon ourselves to be dead unto sin (Romans 6:11). Self is the unbeliever, but your spiritual man is not able to walk in unbelief because he is born again. He's born of God. The problem is our old carnal man gets in the way. From the time we are children, our carnal man is being trained to be our savior, to be a grown-up, but Jesus taught us that we have to become as children, or we won't enter into the Kingdom with its benefits. Now, we know that we're entering into the Kingdom because Jesus said, “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luk.17:21) and some translations say “among you” instead of “within you.” Both are true.  So we are entering into the Kingdom, but we can't enter into the Kingdom without being a child. And that means we are weak. That's not a grown-up, right? The qualities the world calls “grown-up” are not considered to be qualities in the Kingdom of Heaven. Casting all our cares upon Him (1 Peter 5:7) and putting our total trust in Him to be our supplier (Genesis 17:1), our Savior (Ephesians 5:23), our Healer (Exodus 15:26) – these things please God. (Heb.11:6) Without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing [unto him]; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that seek after him. So what we need is what He says in Mark 11:22. We need to “have God's faith” in us.  When you get a picture of Jesus, you may get a picture of a faith that you don't have by manifestation. Let me say that you can have that faith. The Bible says, We all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory…. (2Co.3:18). You have to see it as an accomplished fact. You have to see the fact that Jesus has already given you everything that He is, and that includes His faith (Romans 5:10,11). And that's the way faith works. It speaks the end from the beginning. It calleth the things that are not, as though they were (Rom.4:17).  When we look in the mirror and we are to see Jesus. The Bible promises us that for this we'll be transformed into that image, from glory to glory, so we need to get a picture of His faith because that's our faith. It is the faith of God inside of man, not the faith of man in God, because the carnal man has no ability to walk in faith. We try and try to work faith up in ourselves, and that is the faith of man in God. But the faith of God inside of man is the Father's free gift given to us by grace. It's by grace we are drawn to the Father; that's His gift to us. And He will keep us in the same faith He put in us to cause us to come to Him at the beginning, if we continue to walk in that faith. He's given us the faith that we need. He's given “us all things that pertain unto life and godliness” (2Pe.1:3). He's given us all things. His divine power hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness (3) and faith is the victory that overcomes the world (1 John 5:4). (Eph.2:8) For by grace have ye been saved through faith…. “Have you been saved” is what it says in the original and that's what the Numeric says and that's what the Nestles Text says. I believe the Received Text says that, too. “By grace have ye been saved through faith.” Faith always looks back. Faith believes you have received. It's always past tense. Hope is future tense. Hope is looking forward to something, confident that you will receive something, a firm expectation. Strong's says the Greek word elpis, meaning “hope,” is “a favorable or confident expectation.” But faith is looking back at something, not forward to something. It's something that you have already received. It's calling “the things that are not, as though they were” (Rom.4:17). So whatever salvation is, whatever salvation incorporates, it comes by grace through faith and it comes by looking back. And since our salvation is past tense, it makes being weak of primary importance. If you obey the Word of God, if you obey the principles of Jesus, you will be weak in yourself. You will cease from your struggling to save yourself in situations; you will enter into the sabbath and cease from your works so that God can do His.  Some time back, I ran into this one woman in Louisiana. She had been to “who's who” in the healing circuit. She had gone to everybody. She had two very large, inoperable tumors, and she gave me a list of all the people she had gone to. She said, “David, I just don't understand why I haven't been healed.” And I said, “Well, I believe the reason just came out of your mouth as to why you haven't been healed. You're looking forward to healing and the Bible teaches us to look back at healing, for by His stripes you were healed.” (1 Peter 2:24) Faith is always in the past. The sacrifice of Jesus was at the beginning of this Testament so that we would always look back and accept what was done there, accept it as ours, because it is past tense. If we accept it as past tense and done, then it causes us to be weak because it causes us to cease from our works and we enter into the sabbath rest. If you believe it's done, then you don't have to keep working to try to bring it to pass. If it's in the future, you'll never know what method God wants to use to bring it to pass, but since it's in the past, you can accept it as a free gift. (Eph.2:8) For by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, [it is] the gift of God; (9) not of works, that no man should glory. (10) For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works…. So we do have works to do; only they're not our works, they're the works of God. Whatever God's work is between here and the manifestation, our work is to believe what the Bible says, and the Bible says, “by whose stripes ye were healed” (1Pe.2:24). We should never be moved away from that for any reason that would say, “Maybe not, maybe not in this case,” because we'll never be able to have faith if we're not convinced that what the Bible says is true about our healing. See, Jesus came to reveal the Will of the Father and He did that by healing everyone who came to Him. Our problem is that we can't come to Jesus physically and touch Him, but we can all come to Him by faith. We can confess our sins that we may be healed. (Jas.5:16) Confess therefore your sins one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. We have the ability to get things out of the way that would hinder healing. So we confess our sins that we may be healed, as the Bible says, and then we can “touch” Jesus by faith. He healed everyone who came to Him. He came to show us the way and to be an example. Everybody who came to Jesus was healed, so why isn't everybody healed today? The number one reason is that it's not being taught that by His stripes you were healed (1 Peter 2:24). You, as a Christian, were healed. This is not something you have to look forward to. That's hope. See, that's the problem with many Christians – they're looking forward to something that they need to be looking back to. We were all healed at the cross. And we enter into that by ceasing from our own thinking and our own reasoning and saying, “God, I repent. Your Word is true.” What does it mean to “repent”? It means to “change your mind.” The Word is true. If it says by His stripes you were healed, then change your mind; you were healed.  What we need to understand here is this word “salvation,” or in Greek, sozo. The Scripture says, “for by grace have ye been saved through faith” (Eph.2:8). Now, I point out to you that faith is past tense. It's always believing for something that you've received. When you pray, Jesus said, “believe you have received and you shall have it” (Mark 11:24). That's the way that faith works. That identifies how our salvation is going to come, our sozo, our “saved,” is going to come. Grace is another thing that identifies God's method for bringing you sozo, “salvation,” “saved.” Let's look carefully at this example. (Rom.4:4) Now to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt. It says, if it's grace, it's not your works. If it's grace, you have to cease from your works. See, many people are seeking healing and deliverance because they have hope. But hope will not get you either. Faith will. If you have to work for it, or pay for it, if you have to earn it, it's not something that's coming through grace because “grace” is “unmerited favor.” Much of the church is caught up in their own works. They say, “You're not saved by your works,” but they believe that only refers to their soul. When the Bible talks about salvation in other areas, like “deliverance” or sozo, “saved” in other areas, it's, “Oh, well, no; now God does it this way.” So they continue in their own works. He says here, “To him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt.” In other words, God would owe it to you if you could work it up in yourself. But it's not grace if you have to work for it because God would owe it to you. It would be a debt. He refuses to cooperate with you in that. (Rom.4:5) But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness. Notice: “to him that worketh not…” Grace comes “to him that worketh not.” Here's another example. (Rom.11:6) But if it is by grace, it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. Whatever salvation is, salvation is very big. It's much bigger than your soul going to Heaven when you die. Salvation is here and now. Salvation covers everything that Jesus did on the cross. It covers everything having to do with the curse of sin and of death. We've been delivered from the curse of sin and of death (Romans 8:2), and that's what salvation is all about. But if any part of that salvation is by works, then that's not salvation through grace. There are salvations out there that are not God's method for His people. The world always wants to be your savior. The arm of the flesh always wants to be your savior. I.e.,“Let me do it my way, Lord. I know how to take care of myself. I'll do it.” The worldly ways of deliverance don't cause us to grow closer to God; they don't cause us to manifest Christ, nor do they cause us to grow in faith. They are salvations that are of the world. When the children of Israel were brought out into the wilderness, they wanted to run back to Egypt for their salvation (Exodus 16:3). They said, “Let's go back to the flesh-pots.” God said in effect, “No, you stay in the wilderness. Your salvation is coming out of Heaven.” But they continued to murmur. “Well, we would rather have Egypt's salvation; it's easier on the flesh; it's not so much of a trial. Let's go back to Egypt.” Every time the Israelites got into a tight spot, every time they lacked water, or food, or whatever, God put them in that spot. He brought them there, and He put them there so that they would come to the end of themselves and put their trust in Him. Instead, they kept crying, “Let's go back and get Egypt's salvation.” Egypt had a salvation. The world has a salvation for you; it has a deliverance, but it's not an eternal deliverance, and the end is always a curse. The Bible says, “Cursed is he who trusts in man, in the arm of the flesh” (Jeremiah 17:5). Maybe you don't see it, but in some way, whenever the world saves you, there's always a curse in it. Maybe you don't see it yet, but there's one there. When Christ saves you, it is eternal. It causes you to grow in faith. It causes you to grow in manifesting Him. It's an affront to Him to think that you can pay for His benefits. You remember when Peter and John were praying for people and they were receiving the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:15,17), that Simon the magician also received the Holy Spirit, but he wanted to pay Peter and John for this ability. (Act.8:20) But Peter said unto him, Thy silver perish with thee, because thou hast thought to obtain the gift of God with money. (21) Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right before God. Simon wanted this gift to be able to lay hands on people to impart the Holy Spirit. That's all he wanted, but we need to see that the principle here covers much more than just this gift of imparting the Holy Spirit. Peter said, “Thy silver perish with thee, because thou hast thought to obtain the gift of God with money”; in other words, it's not something that you can earn or ever pay for. The gift of God doesn't come through your ability, nor does it come through your earning it. You cannot pay for it. It has to be free. Do you know what happens when you go and pay for the world's salvation and call that God? Because it's not God; it's going back to Egypt. You get an answer and you may grow, too, but you grow in the world; you don't grow in God. You see, the Lord explained something to me about the image of the beast. The image of the beast is being manifested in this world right now. I'm not going to deny what anybody else has to say about the image of the beast in the future, but the Bible says that Christ was the image of God (Hebrews 1:3) and that His Body is made up of saviors. The Bible even says, “and saviors shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau” (Oba.21). “Saviors” is plural. God's body is made up of people (1 Corinthians 12:27) whom He has gifted in different gifts (1 Corinthians 12,13,14) to enable them to do the work of Jesus in this earth, works that Jesus wanted done: of deliverance, of saving, of healing, of providing. But, you know what? First of all, God's administering these gifts through Spirit-filled believers. Don't twist the Word, as many Christians do, and say, “Well, now God administers these gifts through pagans.” No. Not so. Although God can give you many gifts through pagans, and although the Holy Spirit does not have to go through a man, these particular gifts He's talking about only come through Spirit-filled believers. None of these gifts can be bought. If you have to buy it, or pay for something that you call “God's salvation,” it's not grace and faith. Grace and faith cause you to be weak; it causes you to cease from your trusting in Egypt and in the ways of the world. God's gift is free. You can't pay for it, you can't earn it, you can't be good enough for it. It comes by faith. Faith is believing you have received. When you believe you have received, it causes you to stop seeking it. Stop and think about it. If you believe you have received healing, are you going to keep running after it? No, because faith always cuts off the works and the methods of men. When you believe you have received, you can rest; you can cease from your works; you can enter into rest. Everything can come from God that way. Everything will come from God that way. It's the most perfect way to receive from God. You say, “Well, doesn't God keep Egypt going?” Sure He does, but God wants Egypt for the Egyptians. God has planned the wilderness for Christians. Does God give strength to Egypt to keep running? Of course. (Act.17:28) For in him we live, and move, and have our being…. He gives you your very breath. The world gets its breath from God, but the world is not God's method for Christians.  God's method for Christians is receiving every salvation that comes from Christ through grace and faith. That's His method. It is offensive to God to think that you would want to buy from Him any gift that He has already given to you. He has chosen it to be a gift. (Eph.2:8) For by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, [it is] the gift of God. Note the word translated “saved” here is the word sozo. “For by grace have ye been saved,” Sozo. That word is used over and over in the Scriptures. If we can find the places where this word is used, then every place this word is used, it should come by grace through faith. That means not of your works. A free gift of God; exercising faith in God. That's what pure faith is. That is what God's faith in man is. The other is not real faith and fails us. I want to give you an example of what salvation encompasses, one probably every Christian would agree on. This was the sinful woman who anointed Jesus, and Jesus pronounced her forgiven of sins. (Luk.7:47) Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, [the same] loveth little. (48) And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. (49) And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that even forgiveth sins? (50) And he said unto the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace. Now I believe everybody who is a Christian would agree with me that forgiveness of sins is salvation, and it comes by grace through faith. As we look at some of the other places where the same word, sozo, is used, you may question whether that salvation still comes by grace through faith, but I can assure you, any kind of salvation that comes from God is a free gift that comes by grace through faith. Wherever this word is used, it fits into Ephesians 2:8. Everywhere it fits in there, no matter what we identify as being this salvation. I once asked a Greek man, who spoke Greek as his native language, “What does the word soteria mean to you?” Soteria is the noun of sozo in the Greek and is the word in the Scriptures for “salvation.” He said, “Well, it means to us Greeks, ‘all of your needs supplied like a little baby; all of your needs supplied.'” See, we have such a very narrow idea of what salvation is. Most of the churches that we've been raised in have taught us that salvation is only getting to go to Heaven when this life is over. But when we look at that word and identify it in the Scriptures, we find out it's very big, very broad, and that every bit of it is incorporated in these promises concerning being saved. (Eph.2:8) For by grace have ye been saved through faith…. This woman, to whom Jesus said, “thy faith hath saved thee,” was saved by grace through faith. This was where her sozo came from. All her needs were supplied like a little baby. A little baby needs all his needs supplied. We have to come to Jesus as a child, in need of our needs being supplied. Adults are used to going out and supplying their own needs; they're used to taking care of themselves, but God desires this sozo kind of relationship with us. He desires that we would keep the sabbath, cease from our works, and enter into the rest through faith in the promises of God, as the Bible says. (2Co.7:1) Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Now, that's a broad promise, but salvation is very big.  Let me give you another example of this word, sozo, and let's see if “by grace have you been saved through faith” still applies. This is the story of the 10 lepers. Remember the one leper who returned and gave glory to God (Luke 17:15)? Here's what Jesus told him: (Luk.17:19) And he said unto him, Arise, and go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole. And the word for “made thee whole” here is the word sozo, “saved.” “Thy faith hath made thee whole.” What the leper received from God can only be obtained in the wilderness, not in Egypt. Sometimes there is a salvation in Egypt, but just like the mark of the beast, there are two marks. There is a mark of the beast, and there is the mark of God. Exodus 13:16, speaks about the mark of God on the forehead and on the back of the hand, and the mark of God was to have the Word of God. The Israelites would write the Word of God, put them in these little boxes, and then they'd tie them right across their forehead and put them on the back of their hand (Deuteronomy 11:18). But, guess what? The corresponding verse in Revelation 13:16 talks about the mark of the beast. So, if it's the Word of God being manifested in your mind and in your works, that's the mark of God. In contrast, the mark of the beast can be the word of the flesh, the word of the devil, the word of the world, the thinking of the world being manifest, the mind of flesh being manifested in your mind and in your works. That might be just a spiritual revelation of it, but accept it because it's still Scriptural.  See, if we walk after our own thinking and after our own works, it's because we're trusting in our own ability. We're not walking by faith in Jesus, and your mind is not being renewed by the Word of God. You walk as a beast. I don't care if you walk in church; you still walk as a beast if you walk after the mind of the flesh and if your salvation comes from the world. So we have the image of the beast being manifested in the world, while the image of Christ is being manifested in the Church. Christ's Body is made up of people, each of whom has been given gifts to serve the rest of the Body. Do you know the world is made up the same way? Jesus said there are only two men in the earth (Matthew 24:40) – there's Christ and there's antichrist. The world works the same way. The only difference is that the saviors who make up the image of the beast want to save you from Christ's salvation, and Christ wants to save you from their salvation. His salvation is free. Theirs is not free; theirs is very costly. The Lord has a better way. He showed it to us in the Gospels. What Jesus gave in His provision was free; it didn't come through the works of man, the ability of man, or man's money. When you have to pay for it, believe me, that's not salvation by grace through faith. This leper found that out. What did he have to pay for this sozo? He received a sozo that came by grace through faith. You know, a third example can be found in the story of the blind man. (Luk.18:38) And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. (40) And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought unto him: and when he was come near, he asked him, (41) What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. (42) And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath made thee whole. Sozo, “saved.” “Thy faith hath saved thee.” That's what He's talking about that saves you. Salvation covers healing, and it's always covered healing, even in the Old Testament. The word right here is sozo. It's “saved.” The leper was “saved” of his leprosy. The blind man was “saved” of his blindness. See, they've translated the same word different ways. They've translated it “saved”; they've translated it “made whole,” but the original word is still only one word; it's the same word. I have the three most ancient manuscripts, and it's the word sozo. Sozo is the word in the Scriptures for “saved.” Everywhere Scripture uses the word “saved” in talking about our eternal salvation, it's the word sozo. We see now it's also used for healing, which tells us that healing is involved. Remember, Jesus came to deliver us from the curse of sin and of death (Romans 8:2). Sin brought death. What was incorporated in death? Sickness, disease, everything else was incorporated in death.  Our salvation is double; it's dual. It saves us not only from sin, but it saves us from the penalty for sin. What is the penalty for sin? The curse. In Deuteronomy 28, God expounded the penalty for sin and He gave us the curse there. When you go back and read it, you'll find out that the curse covers not only sickness, but everything detrimental that ever happened to man because of his sin. Everything that came against man from the beginning because of his sin is a part of the curse. And you know what? Jesus became accursed for us that we might have Abraham's blessings. He became a curse on that cross. Everybody who's put on a cross is accursed (Galatians 3:13). What Jesus bore was not only the sin; it was the curse for that sin. Why would God say, “I'm going to take away your sin,” but not take away the curse? So now we see this word, sozo covers all of that. It covers not only the sin, but also the curse. We've just looked at three people who were delivered of the curse of sin, and they were delivered of it because it was by grace through faith. Let me give you yet another example to show you the difference between God's salvation and the world's salvation. Let's not change the Scriptures. What we see in Jesus is still the truth. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). He is our Salvation. What He did, was to prove to us what He wanted to do. What He did in the Gospels, He does today to everybody who believes. The Gospel is the power of God to save everyone who believes (Romans 1:16). What's the Gospel? It's the Good News. It's the promises of God. And it doesn't matter if you're a “Christian.” What matters is: are you a believer? Do you believe what the Gospel says? There are Christians who are unbelieving Christians because they only believe what they want to believe. We have to believe in the Jesus of the Bible and that He really is the same yesterday, today and forever. Jesus still heals everybody who comes to Him. Let's not make up another Jesus. Paul talked about those who would come to you with another Jesus. No, we don't need another Jesus. We need this Jesus. The problem is not with God. People blame the problem on God. The problem is not with God because God has already healed you. It's not a matter of God deciding whom He's going to heal and whom He's not going to heal. That's not what the Bible says.  The Bible says that by His stripes you were healed (1 Peter 2:24). This is your decision to make. (Rom.1:16) For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation (soteria) to every one that believeth…. Look, the condition is on you believing. The condition is not whether God wants to heal you. The Bible says all of the promises of God are “yes” (2 Corinthians 1:20). Don't believe the people who say, “Sometimes it's ‘no.'” No, all the promises of God are “yes,” and through him is the Amen (2Co.1:20). That means “the so be it.” That means it will come to pass through Him. What we have to do is renew our mind and get back to the real Jesus. The real Jesus of salvation covers your body and your circumstances. Now let's look at this example. (Luk.8:43) And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, who had spent all her living upon physicians…. You know what? She was trying to buy salvation here. She was trying to buy sozo. The word “saved” is used in this text. She was trying to buy it. This is not God's method for you to receive it. God's method for you to receive this comes the same way as it did in the Scriptures: through the laying on of hands (Mark 16:18) and the confession of faith (Romans 10:10). That's His method. You know why? Because it excludes all of man's glorying in it. Nobody but God can take credit when you do it God's way. (Jas.5:14) Is any among you sick? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: (15) and the prayer of faith shall save him that is sick, and the Lord shall raise him up … This doesn't say it “would” or it “might”; this says it “shall” raise them up. The Bible says if any two of you agree as touching anything, it shall be done (Matthew 18:19), and I consider that to mean the person being prayed for and the person doing the praying. That's two, right?  Let's continue with our example. (Luk.8:43) And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, who had spent all her living upon physicians, and could not be healed of any. Some of you have been there. I've been there, too, only to find out that God gave it freely when I gave up. God gave it freely. Look at this same story in Mark. (Mar.5:25) And a woman, who had an issue of blood twelve years, (26) and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse … I just wanted to point that out to you: she spent all that she had. She came to the end of herself. I've been there. You don't have to try everything but God. You can start out with God. God is faithful. He is faithful Who promised (Hebrews 10:23). He will not fail you. There is no “maybe.” You can't exercise faith if you think, “Maybe God will, maybe He won't.” The Bible doesn't say “maybe” He will, “maybe” He won't. It says He's already done it. When this woman was healed, it didn't have anything to do with Jesus' faith because she came up and touched Him, but Jesus didn't know it until after it was all over. I do want to make a point here, though. This salvation she had been looking for was not sozo because it was not grace through faith. It was not. Why? Because if it's grace, it's no more works. If it's a gift of God, you can't pay for it. And if it's faith, it's past tense. She was looking for it in the future. She sought to receive it. But if it's faith, she was looking the wrong way, just like this lady I told you about who had those two tumors. I told her, “Turn around and look the other way; you're looking the wrong way.” That's when God gave this to me, this thought of “You're looking the wrong way. Turn around and look at the cross.” When the serpent on the pole was raised up in the wilderness, everybody who got their eyes on that serpent on the pole was healed (Numbers 21:9). You had to get your eyes off the snakebite and on the serpent on the pole to be healed. I told her, “Turn around and look at the cross. That's where your healing happened. You're looking in the future.” Tomorrow never comes. Faith never works that way. Faith believes that you have received (Mark 11:24). Faith turns around and looks back at the cross because the Bible says, by His stripes you were healed (1 Peter 2:24). Your healing is certain. It was accomplished at the cross. Reconciliation was accomplished (Colossians 1:20). What is that? Exchange. At the cross, Jesus gave you His healthy body and He took your old, unhealthy one. He gave you His clean, pure soul, and He took your old, unclean one. He gave you His righteousness and His blessings, and He took away your unrighteousness and your cursings. The exchange was made. This is how faith works. (2Co.5:17) Wherefore if any man is in Christ, [he is] a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new. Now our old things have become new. What are we? New creations. New creatures in Christ. This is how faith works. Faith sees the end from the beginning; faith accepts it, grasps it; and faith holds on to it. That's why this particular method is God's method. You ask, “Can God do it?” Sure. God keeps all the Egyptians alive until they come to know Jesus. Do you understand that when we come out of Egypt and go into the wilderness, we still need “Egyptology” to come out of us? Yes! When we come out of Egypt and go into the wilderness, we need to be delivered of Egypt. I'm not talking Law here; I'm talking about a privilege. It is our privilege to accept our salvation in Jesus Christ as an accomplished fact and what I'm telling you is just how big the salvation is. (Luk.8:43) And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, who had spent all her living upon physicians, and could not be healed of any, (44) came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately the issue of her blood stanched. (45) And Jesus said, Who is it that touched me? And when all denied, Peter said, and they that were with him, Master, the multitudes press thee and crush [thee]. (46) But Jesus said, Some one did touch me; for I perceived that power had gone forth from me. By the way, I know the King James says “virtue” here, but the word is “power”; it's dunamis. In fact, the King James does translate it “power” in other places in the Bible, like in Luke 10:19. The word “power” there is the word dunamis. So it was power that came out of Jesus, but if it was power that came out of Jesus, it didn't have anything to do with His faith. In this particular case, all that was necessary was for this woman to touch Him by faith. It wasn't a matter of Jesus making up His mind whether to heal this woman or not.  Jesus never turned anybody away anyway and He's not going to tell you “no.” In fact, if there's a “no,” the “no” is going to be in you; it's not going to be in Him. Our problem is we listen to the devil; we listen to the flesh. We don't listen to the Bible. Confess your sins and believe. That's all you have to do. Now, if you have willful disobedience in your life, it will come between you and healing because you won't have faith toward God. The Bible says, “if our heart condemn us not, we have boldness toward God” (1Jn.3:21). That's why you have to confess your sins to get them out of your way. But Jesus always said, “Yes.” Do you think that there were some of those people who came to Jesus who needed something worked out in their lives? I guarantee you that all of those people who came to Jesus had something that needed working out in their lives, but that didn't stop Jesus from healing. You know what did stop Jesus from healing some? When He went to His own hometown, their unbelief stopped Him. He could not. It doesn't say He would not. (Mat.13:58) And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief. Now, we need to have the faith of God in us. This salvation has been accomplished. It's not a matter of you asking Him to accomplish it; “it is finished” (Joh.19:30). I have overcome the world (16:33). This is not a matter of Jesus doing something in the future. Ask Him, “Will You do it?” He'll tell you just what the Bible says. “I did it.” He won't say, “I will do it.” He never says that. The Bible doesn't say that. He's always going to agree with the Word. He won't tell you something contrary to the Word. I knew a man one time who was asking God to heal his wife of cancer, and God told him, “She's healed.” You know what? His wife died. He was sure God told him that she was healed, and he was angry with God. I said, “Bud, God told you exactly what the Bible says. He's not going to disagree with His Word. The problem is, do you agree with His Word? He's going to tell you to believe the Bible every time. He's going to tell you, ‘You are healed.' By his stripes you were healed. What else is He going to say? Are you going to ask Him to tell you something besides what the Bible says? He's only going to tell you what the Bible says.” I know calling “the things that are not, as though they were” (Rom.4:17) appears like a lie to the world, but it's not a lie because you're in agreement with the Scriptures. You agree with God Almighty, the One Who does not dwell in time, and what He says goes. (Rom.3:4) … Let God be found true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy words, And mightest prevail when thou comest into judgment. Now, when you come under the judgment of the curse, what you need is justification. Justification is God calling you righteous. And He calls you righteous when you come under the curse, if you agree with the Bible concerning what Jesus did about the curse. Can you agree with the Bible about what Jesus did for you? He became accursed for you so that you could have the blessings of Abraham. (Isa.53:5) But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. Do you agree with the Bible? See, if you're not agreeing with the Bible, you're going to consider, “Well, I need this.” Or “I'll have to handle it. The crucifixion of Jesus was not enough, I'll have to handle a little bit of it myself.” The worldly teachers will convince you of that, and you will be a double-minded person because you are not agreeing with God's Word. Jesus only preached to those people who had eyes to see and ears to hear (Matthew 13:9-11). He wasn't talking about the physical eyes and ears; they all had them. He meant spiritual eyes and ears. (2Pe.1:3) Seeing that his divine power hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness…. Do you see that? Do you see with your spiritual eyes that God has already given you everything that pertains unto life? It's not a matter of Him accomplishing it. He did that almost 2000 years ago. Now the problem is, are you going to agree with Him? Two can't walk together except they be agreed (Amos 3:3). You can't walk with Jesus except to the extent you agree with Him. Now, how are you going to agree with Him? I told Bud, “The Lord told you what the Bible says. The problem is you didn't believe in it. You were waiting to see something first. That is not the way faith works. Faith accepts it as a fact before seeing it. If you walk by faith, you'll see it, but if you walk by sight, you'll never see it because that's not the way it works. That's not faith. Faith is looking back at the cross.” So, Bud was angry at God because God didn't do what He said He was going to do. But it wasn't God's fault. See, we enter into the Covenant. The Bible says that the Gospel “is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth” (Rom.1:16). Listen, the power of God has already accomplished everything. What He's done is already accomplished. Your part is to enter into that Covenant by your faith. That's what brings it to pass. God's part is sure; it is finished, and it is final. Now we enter into our part of it by faith. That's our part of keeping the Covenant. When the disciples asked Jesus, “what must we do, that we may work the works of God?” (Joh.6:28), He said just one thing: “believe on him whom he hath sent” (29). All we have to do to do the works of God, whatever they are, is “believe on him whom he hath sent.” Does everybody have to die under the curse? Does everybody have to leave this life under the curse? The world has taken for granted that you're going to die of something. Do you have to die under the curse, or can you keep believing all the way up to the end, until you leave this life? Has everybody died of the curse? No, they did not. In fact, I have some books describing people who died on their deathbeds, and there was absolutely no pain in their bodies, and they couldn't find anything wrong with them; they just went to be with the Lord. This is not to condemn the ones who do die, but we have to get our sight and our vision on Jesus. You can't go somewhere that you can't see, you know. The Bible says, if you can see Jesus in the mirror, you can go there. Of course, everybody's not going to go there to the same extent. Look, one person received one talent, another two and another five (Matthew 25:14-30). Everybody doesn't get the same gift. Everybody doesn't manifest the same fruit, do they? There's 30-, 60- and 100-fold fruit (Matthew 13:8,23). Do you want to enter into only what you see other people entering into, or do you want to enter into everything that God has for you? That's the point. We're supposed to be looking at Jesus, not looking at our neighbor. Get your eyes on Jesus. He'll show you what you can enter into. God is going to do a special thing in these days. Did you know that He's going to do something He's never done before? The Bible says He's coming “to be glorified in his saints, and to be marvelled at in all them that believed (because our testimony unto you was believed) in that day” (2Th.1:10). Oh, glory to God! The apostle Paul said there was a day in the future when his words would finally be believed and that Jesus would be glorified in those people in that day because they did believe that word.  You know, God gives grace for us to enter into believing just as much as we can believe. God gives grace for us to reach out to places people have never reached out to. In this day there is more grace to believe more than there's ever been. Do you understand what that verse says? He said, “in that day.” Paul was saying that they weren't believing it in his day, but that's what we're seeking right now. We don't want to stop with what religion has accepted; we want to go on and get everything God has given us. (Eph.2:8) By grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, [it is] the gift of God; (9) not of works, that no man should glory. That's one work. Now, here's another work: (10) For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works…. The first is talking about your work, the work of the flesh, the efforts of man, the efforts of self, the buying of God's gift, all those things. The second is talking about God's work. So let's just use healing again as a “for instance” because we're talking about it already. Do you know what? When you have faith that Jesus healed you, which is the only one that's a Scriptural faith, that faith is going to be walked out by your feet; it's going to come out of your mouth; it's going to be seen in your actions. That is a work that comes from faith. You know what the other work is? It's a work that comes before faith. Works of the flesh come before faith; works of God come after faith. When you believe, you're able to walk just like you received, and do you know what happens when you do that? You do what the 10 lepers did. Jesus said to them, “go and show yourselves unto the priests” (Luk.17:14). Well, they understood that because in the Law of Moses, when a person was healed of leprosy, he went to show himself to the priests. Then the priest inspected the person and took his turtle dove and gave his offering. But these lepers went to show themselves to the priests before their healing was manifested. Their walk was a walk of faith. But the way of the world would stand right there and say, “Well, I'm not healed.” Those lepers would look at themselves and say, “Well, I'm not healed yet. It's not the time to go show myself to the priest.” That's a carnal walk. That's walking by sight and not walking by faith. So there is a work that follows faith. Faith without works is dead. If you believe that you're healed, let me hear it come out of your mouth and let me see it in your feet. And if you believe that Jesus delivered you from sin, let's see that come out of your mouth and see it in your feet. Do you understand? When you believe something, your actions have to agree with that belief. Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself (Jas.2:17), or it's incomplete. It's not real faith until it's put into works that agree with what the Bible says. But the world says, “I can see you're not healed,” but your feet keep on saying, “I'm healed. Look at me walk,” because your works are going to agree with faith. So if you're just healed by faith, you know you're not healed by manifestation. As long as you're healed by faith, you're believing for something that you don't yet see. That's the way faith works. And if you don't do it there, you'll never see it by manifestation. We have to repent of our worldly thinking. We have to repent of our Babylonish doctrine that's been given to us. We must change our minds, and we say, “God, You're right.” You have to say that before you can enter into it. (Rom.3:4) Let God be found true, but every man a liar…. Justification comes from agreeing with God. Agree with God; even if you're failing, agree with God. God's not going to condemn anyone. You don't condemn your child if your child is a toddler and stumbles and falls. There's no way you would condemn that child because that's the way they learn to walk. That's the way children are. They don't always get it right the first time. Now, as they get older and they're stumbling, you start asking what's wrong with them. So when we start out on a faith walk, we stumble and fall, but we get up. If you don't get up, you're not overcoming. You get up, you walk a little farther, you stumble, you walk a little farther. Every time you get up, you're walking farther, and you keep going. But if you decide, “I'm just going to sit right here because it's too dangerous to stand up,” then you're going to be an unprofitable servant (Matthew 25:30) because you've been given knowledge and you're doing nothing with it. Remember, it's God's faith inside of you; it's not your faith in Him. You'll fail as long as it's just your faith in Him. It's God's faith inside of you. Remember that God has given you His faith. Accept it as a gift. Reconciliation has given you this gift. Unbelief was taken away from you at the cross. Did you know that? All your sins were put on that cross, including the one that's at the foundation of every sin – unbelief. But that's at the cross, and you've been delivered. The Bible says, “reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin” (Rom.6:11). That means to reckon your old unbelieving self to be dead and gone. “I'm delivered from unbelief.” Do you understand? That's not a confession of faith in yourself; that's a confession of faith in God. We are new (2 Corinthians 5:17). You have been made free from sin (Romans 6:22). You're free from unbelief. Believe and accept it.  Don't get anxious when you fail God because of your unbelief, and don't let anybody put a guilt trip on you. Don't let anybody put you under the Law to do what they expect. Don't be moved by peer pressure because somebody else has faith. Don't look at any of that. Get your eyes on Jesus. He will give you the faith that you need to do these things. It's His free gift to you. You don't have to be anxious or try to work it up yourself. You can't pick yourself up off the floor by your bootstraps. It's just not possible. It has to come from the outside in. It's nothing that you can do from the inside out. So don't be condemned if you're not able to do everything that you see Jesus do or that you see others do. Don't worry about it. It's God Who started the good work in you, and it's He Who's going to finish it (Philippians 1:6). The people who put others under legalism cause a lot of people hurt. This is wrong. And I'll tell you what, they ultimately get hurt, too, because what you sow, you reap (Galatians 6:7) and you can't sow that legalistic thing without it coming back on you. You can't judge others without being judged (Romans 14:4). I'm just offering you the knowledge. I'm trying to put the picture of Jesus there in front of you. Look at Jesus and you'll be transformed into that image from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18). Don't look at any religion or put another Jesus up there because, believe me, you can be transformed into any Jesus. Religions do it all the time. The only Jesus we want to reflect is the One the Father sent. Look in your Bible. The only way you'll see the true Jesus is to look in this Book. Look at Him. This is Jesus. He's the same. He hasn't changed. Men try to change Him; they have made a comfortable Jesus. One that the flesh could be comfortable with, a Jesus that wouldn't bring you through any kind of a trial of your faith. It's easy to have the Jesus that religion has. Let's look at the Jesus in the Bible. I tell you the reason we're not seeing the works of Jesus on this earth; it's because they've made another Jesus and they're being transformed into that image from glory to glory. That's the problem. Let's get back to the Word and believe it. Jesus sent His disciples out to do the same things He did. How can you do the same things He did unless you agree with Him? So now let's read the rest of the story from where Jesus perceived that power, sozo, went forth from Him. I really want to get beyond healings being included in salvation because I believe a lot of people already understand that, and I want to show you how broad salvation is. And it's all going to come by grace through faith. All of it. The rest of it, let me tell you, is man's works. (Luk.8:47) And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people for what cause she touched him, and how she was healed immediately. (48) And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath (my Bible says “made thee whole,” but the word there is sozo) saved thee; go in peace. He saved her. This is a part of salvation. She was saved. Remember, she sought the physicians.  The Bible clearly shows you the difference between seeking deliverance from the physicians and seeking it from Jesus. (2Ch.16:12) And in the thirty and ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet; his disease was exceeding great: yet he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians. (13) And Asa slept with his fathers…. The Scripture makes a difference between seeking the salvation that normally comes from the world and the salvation that comes from God. Now, did you know that those Jews received their healing from God for many, many years. They started being drawn away from that when Solomon brought in all of his pagan wives, who brought the physicians into Israel. Up until that time, they got their healing from God. And when they went to Babylon, they started falling into many of the things of the world that weren't Scriptural. And the word in Scripture for “healing by the use of medicine” is the word pharmakia – just what we use today. Pharmakia is the word for “sorcery” or “witchcraft,” depending on which Bible you have, and is where we get our word “pharmacy.” Jesus has a better way, and it won't cost you anything, and believe me, you'll get out of so much trouble. If you live a life of the carnal Christian, by the end of your life you will have spent a lot of money on Egypt. But I tell you, God will get you out of that; it's His free gift. Don't say, “I have to do this.” No, it is a privilege. God gives you a privilege. You don't earn it; He's given it to you freely. This is His sozo. This is a part of His deliverance.  Years ago, way back at the beginning of our Christian walk, my wife, Mary, and I were riding motorcycles up in Mississippi. And this was a real hilly area. We were on two dirt bikes, and this was new territory to us, so it was kind of crazy what we did. We were each on a bike and we came over this hill, and she turned one way, and I turned another way. Well, on her side it was almost a cliff. It just went nearly straight down. And I heard her screaming all the way to the bottom of that hill, “MOMMAAA!” And she was mashing the foot peg as hard as she could, but I don't think she ever mashed on the brake because I never saw the wheels skid or anything. I mean, she was flying when she hit the bottom of that hill. It was painful for me to watch. I saw her bounce off a few trees, and I went down in there and scraped her off those trees and put her on the back of my bike. And then I took her out of there and got her to a hospital. This was during the same time that Mary was taking some medicine to try to clear up an infection, so the doctors were talking about operating on her kidneys. But a friend of ours told us about the promises in the Scriptures about healing, and we went to this church that believed in healing. So she went down in front of the church, and they prayed over her. Well, nothing physical happened. We went home, and it was probably a week or two later when she was meditating and thinking on it all, and the Lord spoke to her. And you know what He said? He said, “If you believe that I have healed you, why are you taking all that medicine?” Because the Bible says, ‘He has healed you'. And you know what? When Mary ran into the bathroom and started pouring her medicine down the commode because of that voice of the Lord, she was instantly healed. And not only was she healed of the kidney problem from hitting the tree, but she was healed from a natural kidney deficiency that she'd had since she was a little girl. She was healed of always having infections. God did a miracle. He did it freely. The doctors were going to charge us an awful lot to do that, but God did it for free.  God will ask you the same thing one day. He says, “If you believe that I have healed you …” God expects us to believe, not because of what we see or feel, but because He expects us to believe what the Scripture says. We need no other grounds. Peter stepped out of the boat because of what Jesus said. “Bid me to come unto you, Lord” (Matthew 14:28). And when Jesus said, “Come,” that's all Peter needed to step out (Matthew 14:29). All Peter needed was the Word of God, and he stepped out on that Word and the water held him up.  If you're walking by sight, you'll never be able to walk where we're talking about walking because you're calling the things that are as though they are, instead of calling the things that are not as though they were (Romans 4:17). God chose the things that are not to bring to nothing the things that are (1 Corinthians 1:28). Think about it again now. God chose the things that are not to bring to nothing the things that are. How does He do that? What are the things that are not? The promise. “By His stripes you were healed” (1 Peter 2:24), when you look at yourselves and say, “Well, I don't see myself healed. I still feel sick. I still look sick.” See, the things that are not, are these promises that are not manifested yet. So how do you translate that into this present physical time? It's very simple. We do it the way the Bible tells us to: by calling “the things that are not, as though they were” (Rom.4:17). Please understand. If God chose the things that “are not” to bring to nothing the things “that are,” then He did not choose the things “that are” to bring to nothing the things “that are.” Did you get that? Read it again. He chose the things that “are not” to do away with the things “that are.” What are the things “that are”? The curse. What are the things that “are not”? The promise. Don't say, “God chose this method” or “He chose that method,” when you're talking about the things that are, because the Bible says He chose the things that are not, to bring to nothing the things that are. That's the promise. When you don't see the promise, and you say, “Well, now God chooses doctors or lawyers or bankers or going in debt,” etc., if you say that God uses or chooses the things “that are” to bring about the promise, you're contrary to the Scriptures. In the Scriptures, the men of God used faith to bring to pass everything.  Do you understand what I'm saying? The world will tell you, because it's very convenient or comfortable for them, they'll say, “Well, now God uses this method, now God uses that...” No, He doesn't use “now methods”. That's not Scriptural. He uses the things that are not. He still uses the things that are not. Jesus doesn't have to heal you because He already healed you. You can prove it for yourself. Find one place in the Scripture, find just one place, where anybody who ministered healing to anybody else stopped and prayed and asked God to heal somebody. Find it. They didn't do it, and do you know why? Because it was already an accomplished fact. You know what they did? “Be healed in the Name of Jesus.” They laid hands and they commanded them to be healed. They commanded healing in the authority of God. “As the Father sent me, so send I you,” Jesus said (John 20:21). So we do the same thing Jesus did: We command healing in the name of Jesus. The reason we can do that is that there shouldn't be any question in our mind that it's already an accomplished fact. None of the disciples in the Book of Acts ever stopped and prayed, “Lord, will You heal this person?”  Now God gave us conditions. He said, for instance, it's “the children's bread” (Matthew 15:26). That's for us. He called deliverance from demons and healing the children's bread. It's ours. Is God ever going to deny the children their bread? No. May they go hungry? They might go hungry but it won't be because He's denying them their bread. That woman who was not one of the children, she said, “Well, even the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table” (Matthew 15:27). She exercised faith. She proved herself to be a believer. I'm not saying that God can't do more than what it says in the Scripture. He won't do less, but I'm not saying He can't do more.  When Paul was shipwrecked on the island of Melita (Acts 28:1), it didn't say anybody there believed him, but he prayed for the sick, and God healed them (Acts 28:8,9). He prayed for a bunch of pagans, and you have to get God's permission to do that because Jesus said it's not right to cast the children's bread to the dogs. You have to get God's permission to do that. He might give it to you. He might do it as a witness. He may do it as an evangelistic tool. He may do it for those reasons, but He doesn't have to because you can't hold Him to any Scripture for that. The Bible says it's the children's bread. You may question, “What about the mercy ships and the mercy planes that have doctors and nurses specialized in a lot of the surgeries they do for cleft palates and so on?” Well, is it using the things that are or using the things that are not? I'm sure not going to condemn them, but let's get our eyes just on Jesus and look at His perfect way and His perfect Will. Did you ever see Jesus doing that? No. Did you ever see any of His disciples doing that? No. Wasn't Luke a physician? Maybe. Did you ever see him practicing that? No. Not after he came to Christ; you don't see him practicing that. So we don't have an example; we don't have a foundation to do it that way. I'm not condemning them; I'm not going to come against them. I'm just trying to get back to the Scriptures. I'm just trying to get back to God's method, God's way. You can make a mistake trusting in man and it can be dangerous because man can surely fail you. But it's never dangerous to trust in God. He never fails. He's never failed to heal me in almost 57 years, and I've gotten in some places where I needed healing. I've had broken bones; I've had cancer and He's healed me every time. God has never failed me. It didn't matter if it was a cold or a hangnail. It doesn't make any difference. You see, it doesn't matter how big it is. Jesus knew that He had the authority of the Father to come against all the works of the devil and destroy them. And that's the very same authority He gave us.

Verse 7 says: “For those who sleep, sleep atnight, and those who get drunk are drunk at night.” Paul is drawing aspiritual contrast. Night is the natural setting for sleep and drunkenness. Butbelievers belong to the day. Therefore verse 8 says: “But let us who are ofthe day be sober.” ThenPaul uses a picture that he often used in his letters—that of a soldierpreparing for battle. He says we should put on: “The breastplate of faithand love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.” Those three familiarwords appear again: Faith. Love. Hope. We saw them in the very first chapter ofthis letter: A work of faith. A labor of love. And a patience of hope. Now Paulpictures faith and love as a breastplate protecting the heart, and hope as ahelmet protecting the mind. The Christian life is a battlefield. We have anenemy. Satan attacks our faith. He wants us to doubt God's goodness. He attacksour love. He wants bitterness, anger, and division to enter our hearts. And heattacks our hope. He wants us to become discouraged and believe that ourcircumstances will never change. So Paul says: Protect your heart with faithand love. Protect your mind with hope. And then he reminds us what our hope isbased upon. Verse9 says: “For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvationthrough our Lord Jesus Christ.” What an encouraging promise. God's purposefor those who belong to Christ is not wrath but salvation. Why? Because Jesustook the judgment for our sins upon Himself at the cross. Verse 10 says thatJesus: “Died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live togetherwith Him.” There is the heart of the gospel: Christ died for us. Jesus didnot die merely as a martyr or a great example. He died for us. He took ourplace. Isaiah said: “The LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Petersaid: “Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree.” Paulsaid: “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.” Oursalvation rests entirely upon what Jesus accomplished for us. Andnotice again Paul's wonderful promise: “We should live together with Him.” Whetherwe are alive when Jesus comes or whether our body has been laid in the grave,our destiny is the same: We will live with Jesus. That is Christian hope. ThenPaul says in verse 11: “Therefore comfort each other and edify one another,just as you also are doing.” This sounds very similar to the final verse ofchapter 4: “Comfort one another with these words.” Christian truthshould produce Christian encouragement. Paul doesn't want prophecy to make usargumentative. He wants it to make us encouraging. The word “edify” means tobuild up. Every day we are either building people up or tearing them down. Ourwords can encourage someone. Or they can discourage someone. Our attitude canstrengthen someone. Or it can weaken someone. Paulsays: “Build one another up.” Maybe there is someone God has placed onyour heart today. A friend who is struggling. A family member who isdiscouraged. Someone at church carrying a burden. Maybe God wants you to callthem. Send them a message. Pray with them. Remind them that God is faithful. Sometimesa few words of encouragement can change someone's entire day. And remember whatPaul says our encouragement is based upon: Jesus died for us. We belong to Him.We are not appointed to wrath. Our salvation is secure in Christ. And one daywe will live together with Him. So today: Stay awake spiritually. Put on faith,love, and hope.  HeavenlyFather, thank You that Jesus died for us and that our hope of salvation restsin Him. Help us to put on the breastplate of faith and love and the helmet ofthe hope of salvation. Guard our hearts from doubt and bitterness, and guardour minds from discouragement. Lord, show us someone today whom we canencourage and build up. May our words bring hope, strength, and comfort tothose around us as we look forward to living forever with Jesus. In His name,we pray. Amen.

Send us Fan MailWhat if the thing God is asking you to begin feels far bigger than anything you could accomplish on your own?I'm recording this episode from the mountains of Cloudcroft, New Mexico, a place that holds a very special piece of my story. Nearly ten years ago, while camping in this same meadow with my late husband, Wayman, I heard God tell me to write a book.I didn't feel like a writer. I didn't know where to start. And I certainly couldn't see what God could do with that one small act of obedience.That book became Small Beginnings: A Journey to the Impossible—the first of seven books I would eventually write.In this episode, I'm sharing what returning to this place has reminded me about hearing God, creating space to listen, carrying both gratitude and grief, and having the courage to begin before we can see the whole story.Maybe God has placed something inside of you—a book, a painting, a ministry, a business, a song, or an idea you can't seem to shake. Maybe He spoke it years ago and you're wondering if you waited too long.You don't have to see the whole journey.You just have to be willing to take the next step.Zechariah 4:10 tells us, “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin.”Not just the finished work.The beginning.So make some space. Quiet the noise. Ask God what He has placed inside of you—and then have the courage to begin.And if you're standing at the edge of your own impossible beginning, my book Small Beginnings: A Journey to the Impossible shares the story of how God called me into a creative life I never could have imagined for myself. I hope it reminds you that God still speaks, He still invites us to create with Him, and He can do more with one willing step than we could ever see from the beginning.

God actually answered the question I'd been jokingly asking Him all along? I'm always saying, “God, why do You talk in codes?!” But then I was reading Matthew 13 and came across something that completely shifted how I see the way God communicates.Maybe God isn't being unclear. Maybe He's inviting us to seek, listen, and understand on a deeper level.So if you've ever asked God, “Can You just tell me what You mean?”—this one is for you.

What can be done for the hundreds of thousands of children in foster care? Maybe God is calling you to help one of these kids! We'll hear about a schoolteacher who obeyed God's prompting to open her home and how a series of miracles led to a new family! To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/776/29?v=20251111

You know, when you're tired, it's reflected in your voice, in your face, in your body language, in your attitude. It affects all areas of your life. So, it is something to consider and by God's grace to control in our lives. Otherwise, you can find yourself on a not-so-merry merry-go-round! First, let me assure you it’s okay to be tired. It's not necessarily a sin. Jesus was often tired while he was here on earth. You remember when he went to sleep on the boat and a terrible storm didn’t awaken him? He was tired. Have you ever been tired from traveling? You may see travel as exciting, which doesn’t sound like hard work, nonetheless travel can be very exhausting. We read in John 4 that Jesus was tired from a long journey. He understands that kind of tiredness. Sometimes having a lot of people around is tiring, isn’t it? As much as I enjoy being with people, speaking and getting to know new people, I find that after a time of being surrounded with people, I’m tired—not of people, just mentally and physically tired. I think there is abundant evidence that Jesus frequently grew tired from having so many people crowding around him all the time. He also grew weary from dealing with people who were not always so easy or pleasant to deal with. You can hear the exhaustion in his voice in Matthew 17:17: “You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you?” I think, like us, he was just tired of the hassle that people sometimes brought into his life. I’m not sure which is the most tiring—physical or mental exhaustion. But it’s for sure that as long as we are in these earthbound bodies, we will be tired and weary at times. Jesus was tired in body often and also tired mentally, just like you and me. It’s good to know that Jesus understands our tired bodies and minds, because he experienced all it while he took the form of man here on earth. He sympathizes with our weaknesses and the limitations we face. Just knowing that helps me a lot. Jesus was tired from bodily exhaustion because he was continually involved in giving his life for others. Giving of yourself to others' needs is tiring, both physically, mentally and emotionally. Is that why you’re tired today? Have you been doing and giving to others so much that you’re truly tired from it? That’s to be expected when you are a caregiver and a servant of others. Jesus calls us to a life of service, that's true, but he also understands it is tiring. You remember how exhausted Elijah was after his victorious encounter with Baal, where he performed mighty miracles of God and defeated the enemies. He was so tired, he wanted to die. You should expect to be tired and weary after a spiritual high. Maybe God has been using you in an unusual way, and you’ve seen God’s blessings on your life. Remember after those times to expect to feel tired and weary. There are many occasions in Scripture where we see the disciples tired. They were so tired that sometimes they fell asleep at inappropriate times. Our physical bodies have limitations, and we must understand and accept that they will be tired. But it's important to consider if you are tired for the wrong reasons. Have you been trying to be all things to all people lately? That’s exhausting and you can never succeed. Perhaps you’ve taken on jobs God never intended you to do, and you’re tired from trying to do too much. Maybe you’re trying to do everything to total perfection. Perfectionists are usually very tired people, trying to prove something to themselves and to the world by being perfect all the time. Lately God has been quietly showing me that there is only one Savior in this world, and it is not me! I cannot solve other's problems or concerns, as much as I may want to. Does that strike a chord with you? Are your overhelping and rescuing inclinations running on overdrive? It can happen even when your motivation and intentions are good. Our culture is in fast forward mode. Everything about us is geared for speed, and that is very tiring. You would think with all our modern conveniences today, life would be easier for us, and we’d be less tired. But it isn’t true, is it? Our time saving technology seems to have made us more tired. And then, let's face it, sometimes we are the guilty party, don't you agree? Do you find you are often your own worst enemy because you unnecessarily push yourself too far, too often. I remember when my daughter was a teenager, and we had chosen some new wallpaper for her room. It was lovely, and it was my intention to install the wallpaper that day. As I found myself rushed and stressed because I had decided it must be done that day, my daughter simply said, “Mom, we don't have to do it today.” I remember that moment because it was a new thought—to just stop and say, “I don't have to do this today.” I had set an unnecessary and unrealistic expectation of myself, causing unwarranted stress for my daughter and me. When you’re tired because of unrealistic expectations and pressures you put on yourself, it’s time to ask, “Why am I imposing these unrealistic expectations on myself?” Perhaps you need to take a red marker and get rid of a few items on your schedule. It’s easy to get our priorities confused, and that is very tiring. When you get the cart before the horse, you’ll find yourself in burn-out mode quite easily. Someone has said, “There’s always time to do God’s will,” and I think it’s true that God would never ask of us more than our bodies and minds can do without going into overload and burn-out. But when we confuse our priorities, it causes weariness and exhaustion. Let me say to you again what I so often have to say to myself: God has not called you to be a superwoman or superman. He is not asking you to do everything and do it perfectly. When Jesus was here on earth, he refused to do many things asked of him. He knew how to say “no.” Do you? There’s one principle which we see throughout Scripture that we need to understand, and that is that God has ordained periods of rest for us. The Old Testament law ensures that people took one day out of seven for absolute rest. He established the Year of Jubilee, when every seven years the land would be rested for one full year so it could refresh itself. God knows we must have periods of rest for tired bodies and minds. How about it? Have you been neglecting those needed rest periods? You may think you don’t have time for them, but the truth is, you can’t afford to neglect them. If you don’t make certain that your body has one in seven days to refresh, you’re going to discover you’re always tired. Another thing I notice in Scripture is we have to allow others to help us. In Exodus 17, we see a moment when Moses got tired. He was holding up his arms as the people of Israel fought the Amalekites. As long as he held up his arms, they won, but when he lowered his arms, the enemy won. However, Moses got tired trying to keep holding up his arms. So, we see in verse 12 that Aaron got on one side of Moses and Hur on the other, and they held his arms up for him. Moses had a job to do for God but he needed help. He grew tired doing God’s work. I have to confess that sometimes I have a wrong perception that I can abuse my body and ignore my needed rest as long as I’m doing God’s work. But God is teaching me his principles of needed rest apply, even when we’re involved in ministry for him. God wasn’t asking Moses to do it all by himself. He sent needed helpers alongside him. Maybe you’re trying to do it all by yourself today, and you need to ask for help. Or you might need to volunteer to walk alongside someone in ministry and tell them you’ll be glad to hold up their arms. Two principles about being tired: We must have rest periods—the equivalent of one day in seven—and we must share the workload. Many hands make light work, and how true it is that when we share the load, it’s so much easier. I know when I’m tired, I need encouragement. When someone is tired, that is not the time to offer advice or criticism or start making plans for the future. It is a time to simply encourage. So, I want to give you some encouragement. First, let me read a poem that really encourages me: Dear child, God does not say today, “Be strong;” He knows your strength is spent; He knows how long The road has been, how weary you have grown, For He who walked the earthly roads alone, Each bogging lowland, and each rugged hill, Can understand, and so He says, “Be still, And know that I am God.” The hour is late, And you must rest awhile, and you must wait Until life’s empty reservoirs fill up As slow rain fills an empty upturned cup. Hold up your cup, dear child, for God to fill. He only asks today that you be still.1 Grace Noll Crowell Are you tired and weary today? Just turn your empty cup to God. Admit your weariness; that’s a good place to start. And then start searching your mind, your schedule, and your lifestyle to see if you are causing some of this tiredness unnecessarily. Are you trying to be a super-person? Are you trying to do everything to total perfection? Have you never learned how to say “no”? Do you have some confused priorities which contribute to the problem? Are you always in rush mode? How about those rest periods? Do you make certain that you have times of rest for your body and mind? Take a good look at these areas in your life and confess to the Lord anything that needs to be changed. Then turn your empty cup up to him and ask him to fill it for you. Remember, he understands what it’s like to be tired; he’s been there, and he knows how to refresh you. And nothing can fill that cup like God’s Word, so let me give you some priceless treasures from the Bible right straight to your tired body and mind: Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint (Isaiah 40:28-31). Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30). Nothing refreshes like God's Word; like simply sitting still and knowing that he is God. I know you have duties and responsibilities that cannot be ignored, but I remind you that perhaps you are often guilty of trying to do too much, reluctant to ask help from others. And when that happens, resentment and anger can start to build up in your heart. Then without realizing it, your service for others becomes a drudgery—a drain, a slog. And the joy of the Lord is gone, which means you lose the strength you need, and you are doubly tired. I encourage you to examine your priorities, your lifestyle, and your commitments. Make sure you are doing what God wants you to do, you're not trying to please everybody—because you can't—and you are resting in the knowledge that God will give you the strength you need to do his will. Sources: Grace Noll Crowell, “For One Who Is Tired.”  

“Then Gideon said to God, ‘If you are truly going to use me to rescue Israel as you promised, prove it to me in this way. I will put a wool fleece on the threshing floor tonight. If the fleece is wet with dew in the morning but the ground is dry, then I will know that you are going to help me rescue Israel as you promised.’ And that is just what happened. When Gideon got up early the next morning, he squeezed the fleece and wrung out a whole bowlful of water.” (Judges 6:36–38 NLT) One of the crucial benefits in learning to be still is that it gives us the opportunity to become more aware of our circumstances. And that’s important because God often speaks to us through circumstances. This is not to say that we should look for God’s hand in every unexpected encounter, every missed opportunity, and every stray comment someone makes. Sometimes circumstances are just circumstances. But I can tell you this: Although I’m not one to base major life decisions on circumstances alone, I’ve experienced occasions when I sensed that something was the will of God and then found that things fell into place circumstantially. I’ve also experienced times when circumstances have made it obvious that God was saying no to something. A classic example of God graciously confirming His word through circumstances is found in the story of Gideon in Judges 6–8. God called Gideon to lead the Israelites against the Midianites. But Gideon had trouble seeing himself as a great military leader, so he asked God to confirm his calling. God worked through the circumstances of the morning dew to assure Gideon that he was the man for the job (see Judges 6:36–38). Likewise, when the prophet Jonah tried to flee from God because he didn’t want to go to Nineveh, God used a storm at sea and a giant fish to bring his journey to an abrupt halt. Of course, not all biblical examples are quite so dramatic. Acts 8:26–40 tells the story of Philip the Evangelist’s encounter with an Ethiopian official. According to verse 29, “The Holy Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go over and walk along beside the carriage’” (NLT). Philip followed the Spirit’s prompting and led the Ethiopian official to Christ. He obeyed the Spirit’s prompting and recognized the opportunity God had placed before him. Two thousand years later, God still works through circumstances involving other people. For example, there have been times when I was listening to someone preach or was talking with a friend and suddenly realized that what the person was saying addressed a situation I was going through, even though the person was completely unaware of my circumstances. Those occasions made me realize that it was God Himself who was speaking to me through those individuals. Maybe God has spoken to you through a pastor or a Christian friend. Or perhaps He has been speaking to you through circumstances. If so, pay attention. You’ll be glad you did. Reflection question: How has God guided you through circumstances in your life? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship! — The audio production of the podcast "Greg Laurie: Daily Devotions" utilizes Generative AI technology. This allows us to deliver consistent, high-quality content while preserving Harvest's mission to "know God and make Him known." All devotional content is written and owned by Pastor Greg Laurie. Listen to the Greg Laurie Podcast Become a Harvest PartnerSupport the show: https://harvest.org/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Five years ago, OneChurch was mostly a vision. Today, that vision has faces, names and stories. In this special Five-Year Anniversary message, Pastor Ken Senchal looks back at what God has done through OneChurch—and challenges us to look forward to the people God still wants to reach. Over the past five years, we've seen more than 100 people give their lives to Christ, around 170 baptisms and nearly 100 Life Groups. But the mission was never about numbers. Every number has a name. Every name has a story. And every story matters to God. Drawing from Habakkuk 2:2 and Luke 19:10, Pastor Ken returns to the vision God gave OneChurch: Change the world one person at a time. How do we do it? Know God. Find Freedom. Discover Purpose. Make A Difference. Jesus always saw the ONE—and as OneChurch begins its next five years, we're asking God to help us do the same. There are people whose stories we don't know yet. They may live down the street, work beside us, sit in our classrooms or even be members of our own families. Maybe God intends to reach them through us. Thank you, God, for the last five years. Now we're ready for the next five. Father, show me my One. Subscribe to the OneChurch podcast and share this episode with someone who needs to hear it. Learn more about OneChurch at youronechurch.com.

Mary & Joseph – When God Interrupts Your Plans | The Heroes and Great Stories of the Bible (24)What happens when God's plan interrupts the plans you've made for your life?In this powerful message from The Heroes and Great Stories of the Bible series, we look at Mary and Joseph and discover what it means to trust God when His direction doesn't look anything like what we expected.Mary teaches us surrender. Joseph teaches us obedience. Together, they teach us trust.Mary said yes to God even when she didn't understand how His promise would unfold. Joseph chose obedience even when what he saw seemed to contradict what God had spoken. Neither had the complete roadmap, they simply trusted the One who did.4 Truths from Mary & Joseph:1. Surrender Says Yes Before It Knows All the DetailsMary's response demonstrates genuine surrender: “Let it be done to me according to what you have said.” Faith doesn't require us to understand everything before we obey. It requires us to trust the One who is leading.2. Obedience Trusts God Above What It SeesJoseph reminds us that obedience is faith in motion. Some of our greatest spiritual battles happen between what we see and what God said. Sometimes we don't need another word from God, we need to obey the last one He gave us.3. God's Will Does Not Guarantee an Easy RoadMary and Joseph were in the center of God's will, yet they experienced uncertainty, difficulty, opposition, and closed doors. A difficult season doesn't mean you've missed God.Never judge God's faithfulness by one difficult chapter.4. Surrender Is Not a Moment, It's a LifestyleSurrender means continuing to say “Yes, Lord” when God changes our plans, when obedience costs something, when we don't understand, and when the road becomes difficult.Mary and Joseph didn't have the whole plan. They trusted the One who did. Because two ordinary people said yes, Bethlehem happened, prophecy was fulfilled, the Messiah came, and the world was forever changed.Maybe God is asking you to surrender a plan, relationship, timeline, expectation, or dream.You don't have to know everything that's coming. You only have to know the One who's leading.

What if God answers a prayer… 25 years after you prayed it?I've been thinking about the invisible deadlines we put on God. We pray. We hope. Maybe we even receive a promise or prophetic word. And without realizing it, we start deciding what the answer should look like—and when it should happen.Then that window closes.And we call it disappointment.This summer, in the middle of real grief for my family, something happened that stopped me in my tracks. I found myself watching a scene I had prayed for as a teenager—one I had long ago stopped expecting to ever see.It made me wonder: How many things have we decided God didn't do simply because He didn't do them on our timeline?In this episode, we're talking about the two expectations hiding underneath so much of our disappointment with God: how we think He should answer and when we think He should answer. And Scripture, it turns out, is full of people who had to wait far longer than we tend to remember when we quote the promise.If you're waiting for reconciliation, healing, provision, clarity—or something you've almost stopped praying for—this episode is for you.Maybe God hasn't missed the window.Maybe the window was ours.Your Half of The Marriage:Click here : to Find out more about Jenna's course for wives Click to join interest list --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE CHURCH IS FOR ALL PEOPLE(Reverend Ross Henzi)Families are interesting, aren't they.  Families don't all look alike.  Families don't all think alike.  Families don't all have the same personalities.  Families don't all have the same gifts.  But they belong to one another.  That's what Jesus creates - people who are different from one another - but united in him. So, what does this mean for our congregation?  It means we have to take seriously this banner that stands at the entrance to our church:  welcome!  Because welcoming people isn't merely about putting a sign near the door, it's about what happens after they walk through the door.Here is the question I want you to take home today.  Not simply, “Are all people welcome here?” …but “Who is missing?”  Who isn't here yet?  Who do I know who is hurting?  Who do I know that needs to be connected to Christ?  Who do I know that needs to hear the gospel but doesn't know where to begin?     And then, ask an even more personal question.  “Am I helping people feel welcome?”  Maybe God has put someone in your path.  Maybe it's a neighbor.  Maybe a coworker.  Maybe it's a family member.  I'm sure everyone here has someone in their immediate or extended family who needs to be welcomed once again.  Maybe someone you've considered inviting.  You know what Jesus would say, “Invite them.”  Because the church is not ours.  It's Christ's.

In this episode of God and Our Dogs on Boerne Radio 103.9 FM, host Meg Greer welcomes Baron Wiley — the creative force behind Boerne Radio — as her guest. They explore "the thing before the thing," a dog training concept that opens up a bigger conversation about patience, faith, and trusting God's timing. Meg shares how her new red lab puppy Rosie is inspiring a 14-part "Thoughts to Ponder" series on childlike faith, covering awe & wonder, resilience, leadership, and more. Baron also gives updates on Burnie Radio's new tower project, a possible Jeremy Camp concert fundraiser, the BBB VIP program, and the new Wednesday night live Coaches Show at 28 Songs Brewhouse & Kitchen. How is your dog relying on you today? Maybe God wants you to rely on Him the same way.

What if a prayer you pray today becomes part of an answer God is still revealing generations from now? In this episode of Youth Worker On Fire, Doug Edwards explores the power of persistent prayer, revival, intercession, and building a legacy of faith that can continue long after our lifetime. Jesus taught His disciples to always pray and never give up. But what might that kind of prayer actually look like in our lives, our churches, our youth ministries, and our families? Drawing from Mark Batterson's Draw the Circle: The 40 Day Prayer Challenge, Doug reflects on the extraordinary story of believers who committed themselves to around-the-clock prayer and a prayer movement that continued for generations. He also shares the story of Corrie ten Boom and a long-term prayer effort connected to Jerusalem, along with the powerful promise of 2 Chronicles 7:14. These stories lead to an important question: What is God calling you to keep praying for? In this episode, you'll be encouraged to: • Pray consistently instead of giving up • Believe that your prayers can have an impact beyond your lifetime • Pray intentionally for revival in your home, church, community, and nation • Include students and children in a culture of prayer • Model prayer for your children and grandchildren • Help the next generation experience prayer instead of only hearing about it • Trust God even when you cannot yet see the answer • Build prayer habits that can influence generations Doug also challenges youth pastors, volunteers, parents, and grandparents to think bigger than individual prayer requests. What if the students watching you pray today become the adults who lead prayer movements tomorrow? Children understand trust in a powerful way. When they see adults praying, depending on God, and recognizing His answers, they learn that prayer is not simply something Christians talk about—it is part of how we live. Maybe God is calling you to pray differently. Maybe He is calling you to pray more consistently. Or maybe He is simply telling you: Keep praying. Don't underestimate what God can do with a prayer you refuse to stop praying. Find your prayer rhythm. Pray for revival. Bring the next generation with you. And build a prayer legacy that can continue long after your lifetime. Listen to more episodes from the Youth Worker On Fire Podcast here: https://bit.ly/3saDyYq _________________________________________________________________________________

How do we come to know an infinite God? Are facts and ideas enough to satisfy our souls, or is knowing God more like knowing a friend? John's Gospel tells us the divine became flesh in Jesus. Maybe God is still revealed in tangible ways today through Scripture, around a table of fellowship, in ordinary moments, and even in times of great difficulty. Join us for Part Two of The High Ground sermon series as we step back to discover what it means to become A Place to Know God.

Welcome to The Daily. We are 11 days away from beginning our next book of the Bible. We are moving to the New Testament, 1 Peter. We are going to discover how to live holy in a hostile world. Go ahead and pick up your 1 Peter Scripture Journal now. And if you are a Project23 donor giving $35 or more per month, this has already been shipped to you. So become a donor and partner with us in Project23. Our text today is Hosea 13:7-8 So I am to them like a lion;     like a leopard I will lurk beside the way. I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs;     I will tear open their breast, and there I will devour them like a lion,     as a wild beast would rip them open. — Hosea 13:7-8 People love the idea of God being loving. Fewer people are comfortable with the idea of God opposing them. But that is because people misunderstand God's love. It is not soft indifference. God is holy. And when people persistently resist Him, reject Him, harden themselves against Him, and refuse every warning He gives, eventually they experience not only His kindness but His opposition. In our text, God is pictured as: Lion. Leopard. Bear. These are not random animals. They are kings of the jungle. Hunters. Protectors. Violent. Protective. They describe the seriousness of what happens when people continue resisting the God who loves them. And this is difficult for many modern believers because we have created a version of God that only affirms, comforts, and accommodates. But the God of Scripture also confronts, disciplines, restrains, and judges because He knows where rebellion ultimately leads. A loving Father does not stand by while destruction consumes His children. That is why this passage should not merely scare us. It should wake us up. And yet, even here, the warning itself is mercy. Because God is still speaking. If He truly wanted to abandon His people completely, He would stop warning them altogether. But Hosea exists because God keeps confronting people He still wants to rescue. And maybe that is what this moment is for you. Maybe God has been pressing on something in your life for a long time: a compromise, an addiction, bitterness, pride, a relationship, a hidden sin, or an area of stubborn resistance. Do not keep hardening yourself. The longer the compromise is defended, the harder surrender becomes. But hear this absolutely: God's confrontation is not proof He hates you. It is proof that He still loves you enough to stop you from destroying yourself. So stop resisting Him. Respond while your heart is still soft enough to surrender. DO THIS: Stop defending one area of compromise or resistance today and honestly bring it before God. ASK THIS: What conviction have I been resisting repeatedly? Where has my heart started growing numb? Am I treating God's warnings as mercy or annoyance? PRAY THIS: Father, do not let my heart grow hard toward you. Help me respond quickly to your conviction, surrender honestly, and trust that your correction comes from your love for me. Amen. PLAY THIS: "Nothing Else"

Introduction: Why is Complaining So Serious? (Numbers 21:1-9) Because It INSULTS GOD . (Num 21:1-5) Because It INFECTS OTHERS . (Num 21:4-5) Because It INFLICTS A PENALTY THAT MUST BE PAID . (Num 21:6-9) John 3:14-15 - “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.” Romans 8:32 - He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? God, I give you thanks for... ____________________________________________________ Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! For Our Example: Ancient Warnings for the Church Today - Do Not Be Complainers Taylor Brown Download Audio Transcript 00:48Numbers chapter 21.00:53Do you ever suffer from decision paralysis?00:57Trying to figure out what to watch on a Friday night, and you end up spending the whole night scrolling through all your various streaming services because you can't figure out a movie to watch?01:08You and your family have decision paralysis about where you're going to go on vacation next year, the lake, the beach, a road trip across America.01:17You and your spouse have no idea where to go for your next date night. Do you know where I experience the greatest sense of decision paralysis? The Cheesecake Factory. Has anyone else ever been there? Does anyone want to guess how long their menu is? 21 pages. 21 pages.01:47on those 21 pages. Over 250. That's insanity. There are so many good options to choose from. Whenever I'm in that booth, I have decision paralysis. I don't know what to pick. I don't know what to eat. I felt that same exact way that I always feel in the Cheesecake Factory booth as I decided what to preach on this morning.02:16This is the final week of our latest series for our example, Ancient Warnings for the Church. Today, we have been digging into the books of Exodus and Numbers and learning from the negative example of the Israelites and receiving warnings from God Himself. Warnings like, do not be idolaters. Do not be doubters. Do not be fake repenters. This morning, we will receive our fourth and final warning.02:45Do not be complainers. So why did I experience decision paralysis as I was planning out this series and this sermon in particular? Because there are so many stories of the Israelites complaining in Exodus and Numbers. Their complaint menu is long and extensive. There are so many options to choose from.03:15their work harder in Egypt. In Exodus chapter 5 verse 21. They complained at the Red Sea. In Exodus 14. 11 through 12 that they would die. And they finally shut up whenever God rescued them. They complained about food and water in Exodus 15. Exodus 16. Exodus 17. Numbers 11. Numbers 20. The people complained about how hard their lives were in Numbers 11 verses 1 through 3. And as a result, some of them were consumed by fire from heaven. And number 16, a group is not happy with God's choice of leadership and they rebel against Moses and Aaron. They grumble, they complain. And as a response, God opens up a sinkhole and swallows the rebels. A much more serious sinkhole than the one outside Passman Hospital a few weeks ago.04:14People are very upset. They think Moses is the one who killed these rebels. They complain. And then God kills those complainers with a plague from heaven. Do you see why I suffered decision paralysis? There are so many options to choose from on the Israelite complaint menu. What about your complaint menu? Is it short and almost non-existent? Or is it long?04:44and extensive.04:47If I asked you to list all the things you complain about, would that be difficult for you?04:53Would it be difficult to filter out all the options, to list out every single thing you complain about because you complain about most things in your life?05:02Or maybe you even complain about everything in your life.05:07Complaining may seem like small potatoes compared to idolatry, doubting, and fake repentance, but it isn't. Complaining may seem like a small issue, but it isn't. It is a big deal. It is a serious issue that you need to take seriously right now. It is a serious issue that I need to take seriously right now. Thankfully, I eventually overcame my decision paralysis.05:40And I forced myself to make a decision. I settled on the last recorded example of the Israelites complaining in the book of Numbers. Numbers chapter 21 verses 1 through 9. This passage shows us why complaining is so serious and how we can take it seriously moving forward. So let's go to the Lord and ask for his help. Let's ask the Lord that we would take our complaining seriously and we would take his word very seriously as well.06:10Go to the Lord in prayer. Father, there is not a single person in this room or watching online who can say that they did not complain this past week. And the same for me. Lord, we are so sorry that we complain so often. We are so sorry that we often do not recognize Your goodness in our lives.06:40We walk out of this service with a renewed desire to worship you and give you the thanks that you deserve. We ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen. So why is complaining so serious? Why is complaining so serious? Reason number one, because it insults God. Because it insults God.07:10I know that many of you have been in and out of service over the past month so let me give you an idea of where we are in Israel's history they have been rescued from slavery in Egypt and many of them survived worshipping the golden calf at Mount Sinai two weeks ago we studied a sad story of doubt the Israelites refused to go into the promised land they chose to trust themselves more than God and as a result God gave them a consequence The Grumbling and Complaining Older Israelites will never ever see the Promised Land. They will die during their 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. The younger generation will see the Promised Land. It will take 40 years to see that come true. Last week we focused on the Israelites' response to this bad news. They tried to take the Promised Land by force against God's wishes.08:10for them? Not at all. They were quickly defeated and they were sent away. Now we are fast forwarding in time and we're picking up their story near the end of the wilderness wandering. The older generation is fading away and the new generation is replacing them. Let's see if the new kids on the block do any better than the older generation when it comes to complaining. Look at verses 1 through 3 of chapter 21.08:40When the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Otharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them captive. And Israel vowed a vow to the Lord and said, If you will indeed give this people into my hand, then I will devote their cities to destruction. And the Lord heeded the voice of Israel and gave over the Canaanites, and they devoted them and their cities to destruction. So the name of the place was called Hormah.09:10The Canaanites pick a fight with the Israelites, which leads to the defeat of the Canaanites. God is giving His people a preview of what their conquest of the promised land will look like. It looks like a new day is dawning. It looks like the Israelites have turned over a new leaf. It looks like they are closing the book on their disobedience. And they are starting a new chapter of obedience.09:39Maybe not so much. Check out their response to God's victory. The victory that God gave them in verses 4 through 5. From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses. Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in this wilderness? For there is no food and water and we loathe this worthless And we're back.10:14It looks like the apple hasn't fallen very far from the tree.10:17New generation, same old sins.10:21The Israelites are impatient again.10:23They are accusing their leaders again.10:26They are complaining again.10:30At its core, complaining is dissatisfaction with God and His good gifts to you.10:38Complaining is an unspoken thought or a spoken word of dissatisfaction with God and His good gifts to you. And that's what the Israelites are doing here. They are complaining. They are acting like God hasn't done anything for them lately. They are completely ignoring His provision in the past and in the present. The Lord just showed up for them in a huge way in their battle against the Canaanites. God could have chosen to sit this one out, but He didn't.11:08He could have sat on the sidelines and did nothing, but He didn't. He gave them victory. And all along their journey in the wilderness, food and water has miraculously been provided for them. More on that in a minute. These are the facts. But the Israelites have forgotten the facts. They have lost sight of their many blessings. Very often, spiritual defeat comes right on the heels of spiritual Spiritual Victory. One minute the Israelites are riding high after the defeat of the Canaanites, and the next minute they are down in the dumps. They are feeling sorry for themselves. They are moaning and groaning about what they do have and what they do not have. You realize the same trend happens to you and me as well. Spiritual defeat often follows Spiritual Victory. You're on the mountaintop, and then you're down in the dumps. You tend to sabotage yourself after God helps you, after God blesses you greatly. You forget the facts. You lose sight of his many blessings. You moan and you groan about what you do have and what you do not have. You and I complain. Yes, this complaining in the wilderness is an ignoring of God's past and present provision, but it's even worse than that. It is an utter insult to God. It is a slap in his face. It is an attack on his character and reputation. Look again at what they say in verse 5. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, why have you brought us up out of the land of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.13:08This first reminds me a lot of my son, Sam. Whenever he finds out that he's about to be served his least favorite meal, which is my favorite meal that my wife makes. Chicken with ranch potatoes and green beans. I love that meal. Sam does not feel that way at all. When he asks his mom, what are you making for dinner? And she breaks the news to him. He complains before he eats it, as he eats it, and after he eats it.13:43It's the same for the Israelites in this passage. God's best is not good enough for the Israelites. Let's go through their list of grievances to see what is not good enough for them. God brought us up out of the land of Egypt to die in the wilderness. Really? That is your view of what happened. God rescued you from back-breaking labor, slavery in Egypt.14:08He was your personal GPS who led you with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. He annihilated the Egyptians whenever they chased after you. He led you through dry ground on the Red Sea. Really? That's your view of what God was doing? He brought them to the edge of the promised land where they blew it. They chose not to go in. They chose to doubt Him. That was their fault, not God's.14:38I'm sure none of us in this room or watching online can relate to complaining about circumstances that we have brought upon ourselves. Next grievance. For there is no food and water. Seriously, over and over again, God has miraculously taken care of them. Water from a rock. A literal quail storm that rains down quail from the sky. Manna. Miraculous manna.15:07every single day. All they have to do is bend over and pick it up. But again, that is not good enough for the Israelites. That's their last grievance. We loathe this worthless food. The Israelites view this miraculous manna as monotonous manna. They walk out and are like, manna again? God, can't you do something better for us? Can't you give us something that tastes better? Can't you at least give us, like, nachos?15:37or Flamin' Hot Manna, can't you do something different for us? Come on, I'm sick of this. The gift that used to look good seems pretty bad right now. The blessings that they used to give thanks for seem like curses to them. God's best is no longer good enough for them. You know, at times, God's best doesn't seem good enough for you and me.16:08The gifts that used to look good seem pretty bad right now. The gifts that you used to give thanks for seem like curses right now. You and I can look like those miserable people in those memes that say something like, me at the job I prayed to God for. Or me parenting the kids I asked God for. We're just so unthankful for what God has given to us. The things that we begged Him for and asked for now we can't stand them maybe god has blessed you with friends and fellow christians who love you and care about you but you make it clear to everyone who will listen that they don't do enough for you they don't reach out to you enough they don't make enough of an effort you say that you're just telling it like it is but you know what you're doing you are complaining and insulting god Maybe God's blessed you with a means of providing for your family, but you constantly think negative thoughts about every single aspect of your job and you constantly say negative things about your boss and your coworkers. You say that you're just venting, but you know what you're doing. You're complaining and insulting the Lord.17:29Maybe you are very quick to point out how your family does not meet your high expectations.17:35You are very quick to critique and to lash out.17:40You say that you're just being honest, but you know what you're doing.17:44You are complaining and insulting the Lord.17:49Here's a big one for me.17:51Maybe the Lord has blessed you with a house that you constantly rattle off things you hate about.17:58You constantly talk about other people's houses and how they're way better than your house. Again, you say you're just venting, but you know what you're doing. You're complaining and insulting the Lord. Here's the thing. You cannot insult a gift without insulting the giver of the gift. You cannot grumble about the blessings of God without grumbling against the God of the blessing.18:29Your complaining is serious because it insults your God. Why is complaining so serious? Second reason, because it infects others. Because it infects others. As I studied this past week, I couldn't stop thinking about the origin of this complaining. How did it start? Who did it start with? We're told this in verses 4-5. The people became impatient along the way, and the people spoke against God and Moses. This is a communal sin that must have started at an individual level. While they are wandering in the wilderness, the germ of complaining, the germ of grumbling, begins in the mind. It begins in the mind of individuals, and then it exits the mouth. It starts in the mind something like this.19:27I can't believe we're doing this again we're wandering in circles again this is so stupid and so senseless it's so hot out my throat is so dry my stomach is eating itself the germ of grumbling starts in the mind and then it quickly exits the mouth individuals begin to vocalize their thoughts as they walk sit around the campfire at night and lay in their tents personal protesting turns into corporate complaining It snowballs very quickly and gets out of control. That's how complaining works. It doesn't just stay with you. During the school year, my kids bring home a variety of viruses and illnesses. When one of my kids is stricken, it's just a matter of time before all of us are stricken. One sore throat turns into four sore throats. A solo cough turns into a family.20:27In my house, viruses are easily caught. Sickness effortlessly spreads. The same goes for complaining in your house, your workplace, and even this church. Grumbling is a sinful virus that is easily caught. Complaining is a sickness that effortlessly spreads. One grievance turns into an unending list.20:57of grievances. One complaint invites another complaint. One person complaining leads to many people complaining. It only takes one complainer to infect your small group and this church. Are you patient zero? Are you a contagious complainer who corrupts your home.21:30Are you a contagious complainer who corrupts this church?21:37You have to understand that more than just your health is at stake.21:41The health of your family is at stake.21:43The health of harvest is at stake.21:48Would you purposefully sneeze in someone's face after service and intentionally spread your sickness to them?21:57Would you do that? You answered that way too slowly. I'm going to stay away from all of you after service. Would you purposefully sneeze on someone and intentionally spread your sickness? Okay, I guess I'll shake your hand after service. Then why would you purposefully grumble and intentionally infect someone else with your spiritual sickness? That should be as unthinkable. That should seem as rude.22:26as literally sneezing in someone's face.22:31It's infinitely more destructive than physically passing on a cold or a fever.22:37Deal with the germ of grumbling when it first pops up in your heart.22:41Do not give it room to breathe.22:45Your complaining is serious because it sickens your soul and infects the people you care about the most.22:54Why is complaining so serious?22:55third and final reason. Because it inflicts a penalty that must be paid. Because it inflicts a penalty that must be paid. The Israelites don't want God's best, which results in a serious penalty in verse 6.23:21Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people so that many people of Israel died. The Lord has responded to Israel's complaining with a lot of creative penalties in the past. A plague, a fireball from heaven, a literal sinkhole, but He reserves His hardest and most challenging penalty for this act of complaining.23:50fiery serpents. And no, this doesn't mean that the snakes are on fire like flamethrowers. It means that they have bites that inflict severe inflammatory pain. These bites don't just hurt you. These bites kill you. These snakes slither into the camp, bite many of the Israelites, and many of them die. The new generation of Israelites quickly change their tune. They go from complaining to crying, Look at verse 7.24:24And the people came to Moses and said, We have sinned and we have spoken against the Lord and against you.24:30Pray to the Lord that he take away the serpents from us.24:35So Moses prayed for the people.24:40Once again, Israel messes up big time.24:43And once again, Moses stands in the gap and intervenes to them.24:46He prays for the Lord's mercy.24:49And once again, the Lord responds to his request. And he gives his mercy to his people who do not deserve it. What is the method of the Lord's mercy? You see it in verses 8 through 9.25:19and live. Does this method of mercy seem odd to you? It's kind of a strange way to be healed, right? You know, the guys in my small group went to an all-we-can-eat wing night this past Wednesday. It was a lot of fun, but I gotta tell you, the last thing I wanted to see after eating 24 wings was another plate of wings in front of me. My stomach wasn't feeling very great. Doug can tell you he was there.25:49But imagine if the waitress came up to me and said, oh, your stomach hurts. I have just the thing for you. Here, eat some more wings. That'll make you feel better. What? No, get those things away from me. I don't want that. That method of healing my stomach wouldn't make sense to me. Again, the last thing I want to see after eating all those wings is more wings. On a human level, the bronze serpent solution seems as crazy as the just eat more wings solution. It doesn't seem to make much sense. The way to be healed of your snake bite is to look at a fake snake on a pole. I'm guessing the last thing the Israelites wanted to see after being bitten by snakes is another snake. Why does God choose this method of mercy and healing? Why does God go this route? Because it requires faith.26:49of human wisdom and acceptance of divine wisdom. It requires a rejection of self and a deep trust in the Lord. To be clear, the bronze serpent is not a magic trick. The fake snake has no healing properties of its own. The healing comes through looking. The healing comes through trusting. Faith is the method of salvation and forgiveness. Faith is the method.27:19of healing.27:21The Israelites have a choice in this moment.27:23They have two options.27:25They can pay the penalty of their complaining on their own.27:29They can refuse to look at the serpent and die.27:32Or they can in faith look to the serpent and live.27:36They can obey God's command even though it doesn't make sense.27:42Those are the only two options available to them.27:47And you may be thinking, this is all super interesting. But what does this random snake story from over 3,000 years ago have to do with me and my complaining today? Well, you and I must understand that every single sin is a complaint against our Creator. Every single sin we commit is an act of discontentment. And this goes back to the very beginning.28:16with Adam and Eve. They were tricked into believing that God's best was not good enough for them. They were tricked into believing that something more satisfying must be on the other side of disobedience. Eating that fruit was an act of discontentment and complaining. Adam and Eve communicated a loud and clear message to God that we've been talking about this entire sermon. God, your best is not good enough for us and we want better.28:46All the sins we have studied over this past month find their root in discontentment. The Israelites are expressing their discontentment to God by committing idolatry, by doubting His promises, by refusing to genuinely repent, by complaining about His provision. They are shouting, Lord, Your best is not good enough for us.29:16same message to God every single time that we sin. Your sins are acts of discontentment and complaining. The penalty for insulting a good and perfect God is eternal death. The penalty must be paid by someone. The penalty must be taken care of by someone.29:45Do you know that this bronze serpent story isn't a random and isolated incident in the Old Testament? Do you know that the bronze serpent pops up in the New Testament as well? Jesus makes it crystal clear that this bronze serpent points forward to himself. It points forward to the most important person, the most important event in human history. The bronze serpent points forward to Christ and his sacrifice upon the cross.30:15Look at what Jesus says in John 3, 14-15.30:19And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.30:32Like the Israelites, you have two options.30:36You can pay the penalty for your complaining on your own, or the penalty for your complaining can be taken care of by looking to Jesus Christ in faith. By believing that His death is enough for your forgiveness and cleansing. By believing that God's best is all that you need. There is no option C. There is no third way. There is only trusting in yourself which leads to eternal death in hell. Or there is trusting in Christ which leads to eternal life.31:13in heaven.31:17Charles Spurgeon was one of the greatest preachers of the 1800s.31:21I'm sure you've heard him quoted and misquoted many times in church.31:24Every single time a pastor shares a quote in church, it's either Spurgeon or C.S. Lewis.31:30But Spurgeon came to Christ as a teenager when he stumbled into a random church during a snowstorm.31:37And the preacher that morning wasn't particularly gifted or eloquent, But the Lord used that sermon to grab ahold of Spurgeon's heart and save him. At one point, the preacher looked directly at him and spoke to him in the sermon. And Spurgeon describes it this way. Just fixing his eyes on me as if he knew all my heart, the preacher said, Young man, you look very miserable. Well, I did, but I had not been accustomed to have remarks made from the pulpit on my personal appearance before. However, it was a good blow.32:11struck right home. He continued, and you will always be miserable. Miserable in life and miserable in death if you don't obey my text. But if you obey now this moment, you will be saved. Then lifting up his hands, he shouted, young man, look to Jesus Christ. Look, look, look. You have nothing to do but to look and live. I saw at once the way of salvation. I know not what else he said. I'd not take much notice of it. I was so possessed with that one thought. Like when the bronze serpent was The people only looked and were healed. So it was with me.32:45I had been waiting to do 50 things.32:47But when I heard that word, look, what a charming word it seemed to me.32:51Oh, I looked until I could have almost looked my eyes away.32:54There and then the cloud was gone.32:56The darkness had rolled away.32:57And that moment I saw the sun.32:59And I could have risen that instant and sung with the most enthusiastic of them of the precious blood of Christ and the simple faith which looks to Him alone.33:09Oh, that somebody had told me this before. Trust Christ and you will be saved. Friends, look to Christ and live. Trust in Christ and be saved. Have you looked yet? Have you trusted yet? If you haven't, there is no time like the present. Next year may be too late. Next month, may be too late. Tomorrow may be too late. Now is not too late. Now is the perfect time. Look to Christ. Trust in Christ. You will be forgiven. Maybe you've already looked to Christ. Maybe you've already trusted in Christ. If you have, continue to look to Him. Continue to trust in Him. There is no other way to grow.34:09There is no other way to fight against the germ of grumbling when it pops up in your heart. Whenever you are tempted to complain, look to Christ who suffered, bled, died, and bore the wrath of God for your discontentment. Look to Jesus and never forget that God gave you His best. He gave you His own Son so that you could be His son or daughter.34:39forever.34:42When you are tempted to complain about anything, remember the words of Romans 8.32, He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?34:57You have been given everything in Christ.35:01What more is there to strive for?35:03What more is there to gain?35:05What could this world possibly give you that compares to what God, has given to you? Nothing.35:13What is there to complain about when God has given you everything that He has? Nothing.35:21Your complaining is serious because it inflicts a penalty that must be paid.35:28I hope and pray the penalty for your complaining has been paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ.35:37The worship team can now make their way forward. It's so easy to walk away from a sermon series like this and say, you know what? I'm going to buckle down and I'm going to stop committing idolatry. I'm going to stop doubting. I'm going to stop fake repenting. I'm going to stop complaining. Well, that's great to hear. But what will take the place of those unproductive sins? Sin loves evacuations.36:07If you do not replace an unproductive sin with a productive discipline another sin will just rush in and take its place For right now let's focus on complaining What will you replace complaining with?36:24What will you replace grumbling with?36:28Thankfully the Bible gives us the clear answer You are to replace complaining with thanksgiving You are to replace grumbling with gratitude But as Pastor Jeff often says It's not enough just to feel thankful You need to actually give thanks And I'm going to give you the opportunity right now On the bottom of your outline There is a fill in the blank prompt that says God I give you thanks for Fill in the blank I want you to fill in the blank for what you are most thankful for right now. Be very specific because specific praise honors God's specific blessings. Write down what you are thankful for. The Thanksgiving party doesn't end here. Now we are going to give you an opportunity to share what you are thankful for with the rest of the congregation. I'm going to have a microphone. One of our elders, Brian B., he's also going to have a microphone. And we ask you to come down one of the aisles.37:34and to share one sentence with us. Fill in the blank. God, I give you thanks for fill in the blank. I guarantee that you will not regret giving thanks to God and sharing that blessing with the entire congregation. So come forward if you would like to share. Let's stand and continue to thank the Lord together. Small Group DiscussionRead Numbers 21:1-9What was your big take-away from this passage / message?Why is complaining such a big deal?What do you tend to complain about the most and why?What are you thankful for right now?BreakoutPray for one another.

Maybe God is not absent. Maybe our lives are simply loud.

What if the greatest battle you're fighting isn't around you... but coming out of your own mouth?This week, we're confronting one of the most overlooked spiritual disciplines: the words we speak. Every conversation is an opportunity to come into agreement with God's promise—or with the enemy's lie.Your words aren't empty.They're forming atmospheres.They're shaping families.They're influencing generations.Before you speak over your marriage...Before you speak over your children...Before you speak over your future...Ask yourself:"Does what I'm say agree with God's plan?"In this message, we unpack why Scripture says that death and life are in the power of the tongue, how doubt can delay what God is doing, and why transformed speech begins with a transformed heart.Maybe the breakthrough you've been praying for isn't waiting on God to speak...Maybe God is waiting on you to stop agreeing with fear.

We Want To Hear From YOU!DON'T PAUSE MY PROCESS.Because there is revelation in the process.There is value added in the processing.There is flavor developed during the process.Because you understand something about food that we sometimes forget about faith:Some things need time to become what they were prepared to be.Oh, that's good right there.The marinade is doing something you can't see.The heat is doing something you can't rush.The pressure is breaking down what needs to become tender.And the waiting is allowing the flavor to move beyond the surface.Maybe that's what God is doing with you.Maybe God isn't just trying to put purpose on you.Maybe He's allowing purpose to get in youClosing Song: Lord, Don't Pause My Process written and produced by Deborah OcasioSupport the showwww.BibleDeliverance.org

Jodie Niznik Kay Daigle Frequent guest Jodie Niznik joins Dr. Kay Daigle to explain how using the biblical pattern of lament can help us process and work through what we see and read about world, national or local events. There is much to grieve beyond our personal sorrows, and lament enables us to go to God in a healthy and healing way. Recommended resources Learning to Lament, a BOW study to prepare for walking through any time of grief, anger, or pain. BOW's two-part video/podcast series on Lament with Dr. Nika Spaulding: 1- Understanding Lament and 2- Practicing Lament. Our two-part series on anger: Does my Anger Matter to God? and The Gift of Anger. This episode is available on video if you prefer. Timestamps: 00:20 Introductions 01:40 What is lament? 03:09 Our culture (and especially the church) struggles to deal with hard emotions 06:59 What should we be lamenting about current events? 12:17 How does lament differ from complaining? 13:51 Three movements in lament 15:59 Practically speaking, how should we proceed? 23:19 How do we choose what to lament? 35:21 Resources to teach us more about lament and help us lament for ourselves TranscriptKay >> Hi. I am Kay Daigle of Beyond Ordinary Women Ministries. Welcome to our podcast. In this episode we are going to talk about lament. We're going to talk about lamenting current events. And our special guest is Jodie Niznik. Welcome, Jodie. Thank you for being here with us again. Jodie >> It's great to be with you again, Kay. Thanks for having me. Kay >> Well, we always love having you. Jodie is an author, a teacher and a speaker, and we have had her discuss many things that you can find on our website by just searching for Jodie Niznik if you go to BeyondOrdinaryWomen.org. So she is—I‘ll tell you a little bit about her. She has an undergraduate degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Colorado, and she has a degree in Christian education from Dallas Seminary with an emphasis in Christian Education, the same one that I have with Women's Ministry emphasis. So we trust you, Jodie. We are so happy to have you talking with us about lament. Just tell us a little bit about what lament is. Jodie >> Yeah. I'm glad that we're talking about lament, especially in our current cultural climate that we're finding ourselves in. Lament really is first and foremost, prayer. It's a way to take the things that are really painful, the things that are confusing, the things that we're grieving to God. And to be really honest with him about wrestling through those things. And the thing I love about lament is it's modeled for us in Scripture. A third of the Psalms are lament Psalms. I just heard somebody say, “Maybe God knew that about a third of our days were going to be tough, and we needed to know how to lament.” And I thought, oh, yeah, I think he's probably right. So lament is modeled for us in Scripture. It's a way for us to process things that are confusing and painful with God, but it always leads us back to God. And the purpose is to lead us back to trusting God, even when we don't understand what's happening. Kay >> Absolutely. And, you know, lament is found all over the Bible, not just in the Psalms. Jodie >> Yeah. Kay >> So, you know, if you wonder about lament, it is very biblical. It's not just an Old Testament thing. It is all over the Bible. And don't you feel like our culture is not very good at knowing how to deal with grief, sorrow, and these current events that we're talking about now, we don't know what to do with our emotions. Jodie >> Yeah. I mean, and I think, I, I don't think we know what to do with our emotions. And I think unfortunately, the Christian church in particular does not know what to do with our emotions, and we should be the ones that actually know the most what to do with them, because we do know that there is a bigger story happening. And we do know that even though things feel rea...

“Who's going to drive?” That was the question Dave and I were debating. And after the debate was over, we got a pretty good laugh out of it. Dave was new on our staff in the New York area at the time, and soon after he arrived we got, shall we call it, an “enlightened” look at each other's personality. We were headed up to this retreat center for a day of prayer and planning, and we got to the parking lot and said in unison, “Well, who's going to drive?” It turned out we both wanted to. As we talked about that during the trip, we started to analyze why we both hate to ride and why we both love to drive. I guess it's often true of people in leadership; we like to be able to control where things are going, and how fast we're going to get there. Well, of course, we ended up falling all over each other saying, “You drive,” “No, you drive,” “No, you drive.” You know what? That's not such a bad idea. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Letting Go of the Wheel.” Our word for today from the Word of God: we're in Numbers 13:16 - a turning point in the life of one of God's great leaders, Joshua. One reason He was great might be because of what happened on this particular day. “These are the names of the men Moses sent to explore the land” the Bible says. And then it just talks about one of them. “Moses gave Hoshea the name Joshua.” You might look at that and say, “This is sort of like a genealogy; it's just a name thing, right? Why is that important? Hoshea…Joshua, who cares? As you know, when God changes someone's name in the Bible, it's always important. You have to know what the words mean in order to understand the significance of it. Hoshea, which was his given name, means “deliverer.” The name that he was changed to, Joshua – the name by which we know him – means “salvation is from the Lord.” In essence, Joshua grew up with the name saying, “I deliver.” Moses said, “No, I want to change your name to “God delivers.” I think Joshua realized after that that he was not the controller. He wasn't meant to drive. That's especially significant if you tend to be a controlling person. Are you the type of person who tries to control your children's lives a little bit so they'll do what you think they should? Or maybe you try to control your mate so he or she will do what you think they should. Or you try to control the people you work with or who work for you. Are you the kind of person who decides what the outcome should be, and then maybe you sort of manipulate whatever you have to in order to make that outcome happen? Your attitude, because you are a leadership type person, is “It's up to me. Hey, I've got to make it happen!” Aren't you getting tired? Aren't you worn out from trying to do God's job? I've gotten that way. He changed Hoshea, “I have to deliver,” to Joshua, “the Lord delivers.” So Joshua would never forget who wins the battles. And that's true of your battles now too. You know, I've been driving at times when my wife could tell that I was probably about to fall asleep at the wheel no matter what I tried. And she'd just keep going, “You want me to drive? Would you let me drive?” Probably just before we became a National Safety Council statistic, I'd pull over and I would let her drive. And boy, I was asleep before we pulled away from the side of the road. God's been saying for a long time, “Let go of that wheel. If you keep driving you're going to crash this thing. Would you let go of the wheel?” Maybe God's saying you were never meant to drive. Why don't you become Joshua - the Lord delivers? Let go of the wheel! Hear God saying, “Relax and leave the driving to Me!”

Have your ever felt like you missed your one opportunity to live an abundant life? Jesus once told a story about a farmer scattering seed to reveal God's generous way of working in the world. The seeds fell on every kind of ground, in every kind of place. Maybe God is still scattering the seeds of abundance on the ground right in front of us.

Today's Promise: Zechariah 4:6 Have you ever faced a challenge that seemed too big to overcome? Maybe God has placed something before you that feels impossible. Today's promise reminds us that we don't accomplish God's purpose through our own strength, abilities, or resources.   In Zechariah 4:6, God told Zerubbabel that the temple would not be rebuilt by human effort but "by My Spirit." The same promise is true for you today. When God calls you to something, He provides everything you need to accomplish it.   The mountain before you may look overwhelming, but it is no match for the power of the Holy Spirit working within you. You don't have to rely on your wisdom, strength, or ability. God's Spirit gives you the power to fulfill His purpose.    

Opening Hook "If that's your story, God is saying, 'You're the one.' He's looking for the forgotten ones."

The whole idea of this podcast is this: What if your brain isn't creating consciousness? What if your brain is filtering consciousness? Like your normal waking life is just the smallest little slice of the signal. Your brain is keeping you locked into the version of reality you can survive in. Bills. Work. Identity. Time. Your name. Your body. Your problems. All of that. But then something breaks the filter. DMT. Meditation. Near-death experiences. Deep prayer. Maybe even the serpent in the Garden of Eden. And when that filter cracks, you don't "hallucinate" some random nonsense. You start seeing the machinery behind the curtain. The symbols. The archetypes. The jester. The serpent. The trickster. And maybe those aren't separate beings. Maybe they're the same force wearing different masks. The jester in the DMT trip and the serpent in Eden both do the same thing: they interrupt the fake reality. They mess with your certainty. They make you question the little world your ego thought was everything. Because maybe God is not some old man above the clouds. Maybe God is the beam of consciousness behind everything. And the brain is the filter blocking the full blast of that light. So when the jester laughs, or the serpent whispers, or meditation goes deep enough that the self disappears — maybe that's not evil. Maybe that's the filter failing. Maybe that's you being exposed to the beam. The jester is the serpent. The serpent is the trickster. The trickster is the crack in the filter. And behind the filter is the light we call God.

I don't know who needs to hear this today, but I felt called to record this episode.This is for anyone who feels like they failed. Maybe you've lost everything. Maybe you're carrying shame from a mistake you made years ago. Maybe you've been battling anxiety. Maybe you've been fighting depression. Maybe you've gained weight and don't recognize the person staring back at you in the mirror. Maybe you're trying to save a relationship. Maybe you've spent months, or even years, beating yourself up over one chapter in your story.Maybe your business isn't growing. Maybe you bet big and lost. Maybe the launch flopped. Maybe the ads didn't work. Maybe you're wondering how you're going to make payroll. Maybe everyone on social media thinks you're crushing it, but behind the scenes you're hanging on by a thread.For years, I didn't share these stories. I was embarrassed. I was ashamed. I didn't want people to know that I suffered from severe depression, that there were days I couldn't get out of bed, that I used alcohol to numb pain, that I've lost everything three different times, that I filed bankruptcy, battled a brain tumor, faced hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills, and had moments where I genuinely questioned whether I wanted to keep going.But I've come to realize something I wish someone would have told me years ago... Temporary setbacks don't define you.A few days ago, I read a quote that stopped me in my tracks:"I asked God why He led me through so much darkness. And He answered... It's so you'll know the way out when I send you back in for someone else." And I think that's exactly what these last eight years have been. Maybe God wasn't punishing me. Maybe He was preparing me. Maybe He was teaching me the path out so that one day I could walk back in, find someone who's still sitting in the dark, grab their hand, and say... "I've been here before." "I know this road." "You aren't alone"." "Come with me."After eight years of darkness, healing, rebuilding, and becoming the man I was always meant to be, I finally feel ready to go back in. To find as many people as I can who feel lost, ashamed, broken, or like they failed... And help guide them back into the light.If that's you... I made this episode for you. I love you. I believe in you. And as always... You are TRIUMPHANT!-Nicholas "Nicky T" Trevillian ❤️

Before I jump back into All the Pretty Horses, I wanted to offer a shorter reflection on a line I recently found from Cormac McCarthy's unpublished screenplay Of Whales and Men: “I believe that we are arks of the covenant… and our true nature is longing.”In this episode, I explore McCarthy's vision of longing alongside psychoanalysis, James Hillman's notion of pothos, and Augustine's famous line that our hearts are restless until they rest in God. But maybe God is not simply where restlessness ends. Maybe God is the restlessness at the core of our being.This is a meditation on desire, nostalgia, melancholy, sacred ache, and why longing may not be something to cure, but something to honor.

Upgrades & Adjustments: What God Taught Me About Receiving More The month of May was one of the most surprising months of my life. I declared it would be a month of multiplication, but what unfolded wasn't what I expected. Instead of simply receiving more, I was invited to expand my capacity to receive. There were unexpected blessings, deeper connections, moments of joy, and also moments of contraction that challenged me to trust at an entirely new level. In this episode, I'm sharing the lessons God taught me through a season of upgrades and adjustments, how certainty beyond logic became my anchor, and why emotional freedom is often the doorway to receiving more than we ever imagined possible. You'll hear a powerful client story about overcoming fear, loss, and self-doubt, the connection between tapping and prayer, and why the scripture "May the Lord bless you and keep you" has taken on a whole new meaning in my life. If you're navigating change, uncertainty, loss, growth, or a season of becoming, this episode is for you. In This Episode We Discuss: Why every upgrade requires an adjustment The difference between certainty and confirmation How to trust God when you don't know what's coming next Why fear, shame, and anxiety often block our ability to receive A powerful client breakthrough using EFT Tapping How tapping and prayer work together to create emotional freedom The deeper meaning behind "May the Lord bless you and keep you" What I learned one year after a heartbreaking ending Why receiving isn't about getting what you want—it's about becoming available for what God wants How to release attachment to outcomes and trust the unfolding of your life Key Quotes "Real certainty is being able to sit in the unknown and still believe you're being led somewhere good." "It's not trusting circumstances. It's trusting God." "Receiving isn't about getting what you want. Receiving is about becoming available for what God wants." "Maybe God isn't withholding. Maybe He's keeping." "The more I let go of what I thought my life should look like, the more beautiful it became." Resources Mentioned ✨ 21 Days of Tapping, Prayer & Affirmations: JOIN HERE https://jackie-mcdonald.mykajabi.com/offers/Dp5LwJKn/checkout Inside this transformational experience, we'll practice releasing control, surrendering attachment to outcomes, processing emotions through EFT tapping, and strengthening our faith through prayer and affirmations. Day 1: Less of Me, More of You Day 2: God Always Comes Through Together we'll create space for greater peace, deeper trust, and more of the blessings waiting for us. Connect with Jackie If this episode spoke to your heart, please take a moment to leave a 5-star review and share it with a friend who may need this message today. Your support helps us reach more women who are ready to heal, grow, trust, and create their own wildly wealthy life. With love, Jackie FOLLOW ME HERE FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM FOLLOW ME ON TIKTOK FOLLOW ME ON YOUTUBE

Today in Venice, I will take my retreat girls to a church most tourists will never enter. Not because they can't—but because they pass right by it. There's no line wrapping around the building. No admission ticket. No crowds shuffling through with cameras. It's not treated like a museum or a famous attraction. Years ago, when I was completely lost wandering the winding canals of Venice, I stumbled into this church by accident. And somehow… it captured my soul. It wasn't the magnificent architecture. It wasn't the intricate stonework or priceless paintings. But there is one thing inside this church I have never forgotten. One image that still grips my soul years later. It was one statue. A statue of the Archangel Michael. Michael stands there with a sword raised high, his foot crushing Satan beneath him. The imagery is unforgettable. Evil beneath his feet. Darkness defeated. Heaven victorious. Not fighting for victory – but FROM victory. Evil beneath him. Defeated Crushed. Satan rendered powerless. And every time I see it, I'm reminded: There is far more happening around us than what we can see. Thousands walk right past this church every day unaware of what's inside. And I think we often live that way spiritually too—unaware of the unseen reality surrounding us. Heaven may be fighting while you think nothing is happening. Most people live only aware of the physical world—the meetings, the schedules, the disappointments, the conversations, the bills, the diagnoses, the delays. But Scripture pulls back the curtain and reveals another reality entirely: A spiritual battle raging in the unseen realms. This statue always brings me back to one story in Scripture about Daniel. In Daniel chapter 10, we find Daniel praying with no answer. Now remember, Daniel is a man who knew God. He's the one who was in the den with lions all night and walked out without a scratch. But now we find Daniel praying and praying and nothing. He's been praying for 3 weeks and Heaven has been silent. But heaven was not silent. Remember, heaven may be fighting while you think nothing is happening. In Daniel 10: 12-14, an angel finally appeared to Daniel and said: “Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer. But for twenty-one days the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the archangels, came to help me.” Daniel thought nothing was happening. But heaven had been responding SINCE DAY ONE. The answer was sent the FIRST day Daniel prayed. But for 21 days there was warfare in the heavenly realms over the delivery of that answer. While Daniel kept praying on earth, angels kept fighting in heaven. While Daniel prayed on earth, heaven fought on his behalf. I wonder how many times we quit praying because we assume nothing is happening. We pray for … the prodigal child the healing the marriage the breakthrough The depression The addiction The loneliness And when we don't immediately see movement, we quietly stop asking. But what if heaven was moving the entire time? What if there was a battle happening over your breakthrough that you could not see? Heaven may be fighting while you think nothing is happening. While you pray on earth, heaven fights on your behalf. Literally. What prayer have you stopped praying because heaven seemed silent? Ephesians 6:12 tells us: ““For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly realms.” What is happening behind the scenes in the spiritual realm is a full on battle! Behind every scene, the angels and demons are fighting. The demons are fighting to delay you, distract you, discourage you, overwhelm you, depress you, and destroy you. All the time. Every time. But God's angels are battling them to protect you, deliver you, encourage you, strengthen you and move you forward. It. Is. Real. But know this, God is sovereign. Victory is already Christ's. The battle is real but it is never, not even for one second, uncertain. Do you understand there's a battle happening in the heavenly realms over the answer to your prayer? I don't think we get that. Satan knows what will happen if your prayers are answered – oh the unstoppable faith you will have – oh the praise you will give – that's the last thing Satan wants! So he sends his demons into battle to delay your answers. Are there delays in the spiritual realm? Clearly, this is an example. Heaven may be fighting while you think nothing is happening. So, that leaves me to wonder … were you praying specifically for something, but then you gave up? What if you gave up while the angels were battling for you and the day you quit praying was the day God called the angels back and said, “She's just not asking anymore.” How much angelic assistance have I forfeited because I failed to be consistent in prayer? Here's what I'm learning: PRAYER REALLY MATTERS! An angel was dispatched because of Daniel's prayers. For every day he continued to pray, that angel continued to battle the demon sent to block him. Jesus refers to Satan as the “Prince of this world” 3 times in the book of John. These spirit princes being revealed to Daniel are Satan's demons, his battle buddies, his soldiers of evil. They are the evil spirits battling God's angels, trying to block God's answers, God's blessings, God's breakthroughs and God's works. But what we see here is as long as we pray, the angels will not quit fighting for you. I know what it feels like to pray for years and still be waiting. I know that weariness. I know that disappointment. I know seasons of giving up. But I'm reminded I'm not battling alone. Maybe it's time to call in the archangel Michael! When the battle keeps going, Michael is called in for help in the spiritual realm. Yes, that spiritual warrior in the statue I told you about. He's crushing satan beneath his feet. Michael's foot is on his neck. Y'all, that's what our angels are doing for us! It's real. It's happening. There's a battle, and the battle is often over your prayers. Don't stop praying now! Why is there a delay in your answer? Well maybe there's a battle happening for you! Maybe God has sent your answer the moment you began to pray, but the journey to you has been a fight. Here's what you need to know … God says you're worth fighting for. 2 Chronicles 20: 15-17, “This battle is not yours, but God's. You will not even need to fight. Take your positions; then stand still and watch the Lord's victory. He is with you.” Deuteronomy 20:4, “For the Lord your God is going with you! He will fight for you against your enemies, and he will give you victory!” Now is NOT the time to quit praying. There's a battle happening in the spiritual realm and your angels will not stop fighting as long as you're praying. They are not giving up on you, now don't you give up on them. God has a victory here for you and for your family. So if heaven feels silent today, don't mistake silence for inactivity. The first day you prayed, heaven heard you. And while you kneel on earth, there may be battles being fought in heaven that you cannot yet see. Heaven hears. Angels are fighting. Christ has already won. Keep praying. Follow Pamela on Instagram – https://instagram.com/headmamapamela Or Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pamela.crim Find out more about BIG Life – http://biglifehq.com

A cracked pot carried water every day, ashamed that it leaked along the road. But the man carrying it smiled and said, “Look at your side of the path.”Flowers had bloomed everywhere the broken pot leaked.

Do you ever sit in your car with the engine running but haven’t yet put it in drive? You can pray for direction all day, but at some point, you’ve got to step on the gas. Pastor Greg Laurie says our Christian walk is like that. There’s a time to be still and trust, but there’s also a time to move. Maybe God is calling you to take action, just like He did with Nehemiah. Today on A NEW BEGINNING, good encouragement about stepping up and moving forward in our walk of faith. The Harvest Crusade is coming to Angel Stadium on July 11! Stay updated on all important event details. — Become a Harvest Partner today and join us in knowing God and making Him known through media and large-scale evangelism, our mission of over 30 years. Explore more resources from Pastor Greg Laurie, including daily devotionals and blogs, designed to answer your spiritual questions and equip you to walk closely with Christ.Support the show: https://bit.ly/anbsupportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Do you ever sit in your car with the engine running but haven’t yet put it in drive? You can pray for direction all day, but at some point, you’ve got to step on the gas. Pastor Greg Laurie says our Christian walk is like that. There’s a time to be still and trust, but there’s also a time to move. Maybe God is calling you to take action, just like He did with Nehemiah. Today on A NEW BEGINNING, good encouragement about stepping up and moving forward in our walk of faith. The Harvest Crusade is coming to Angel Stadium on July 11! Stay updated on all important event details. — Become a Harvest Partner today and join us in knowing God and making Him known through media and large-scale evangelism, our mission of over 30 years. Explore more resources from Pastor Greg Laurie, including daily devotionals and blogs, designed to answer your spiritual questions and equip you to walk closely with Christ.Support the show: https://bit.ly/anbsupportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After receiving a bonanza catch of fish, Peter was overwhelmed and said to Jesus, "Go away from me, for I'm a sinful man." But Jesus could see beyond Peter's present state, into Peter's call and destiny. Maybe God sees beyond our present state, into our destiny, and into our call.

Have you ever lost something—a relationship, a job, a dream—and felt like God had abandoned you? What if He was actually setting you up? In the words of Jesus, the Father prunes even the fruitful branches so they can bear even more fruit. That painful "cut" you're feeling right now isn't a sign of punishment, but of preparation—God is simply making space for the better things He has in store for your next season. #FULLTANKwithBroBo​ #FULLTANKwithBroBo2026​ #BoSanchez​ #TrustTheProcess​ #John15​ #PruningSeason​ #FaithInAction​ #SpiritualMaturity​ #TrulyRichMindset​ #GodsPlan​ #NewBeginnings​ #Grace​--- PS. Are You A Parent? Are you thinking about Homeschooling for your kids? My wife and I have homeschooled our two boys. Looking back, it's one of the BEST decisions we've ever made. It gave us the space to pass on our values. It also gave them space to explore their passions and interests. If you want to know more about homeschooling and to find out if it is for your kids, check out this link: www.facebook.com/CFAHomeschool or cfa.edu.phTo support my mission work, click this link now! http://BuyMeACoffee.com/brotherbosanchez

Who is God, really? Maybe you've been taught that God's love has to be earned. Maybe striving to be “good enough” has left you feeling exhausted and hopeless. Maybe God has been presented as distant, critical, or waiting for you to mess up. Or maybe your past relationships have made it hard to believe that God could be any different. If that's where you are, this episode is for you.  

What if you're not actually confused about which business to start? What if… you already know? There is an idea that keeps coming back. It won't leave you alone. You've tried to ignore it, overthink it, push it aside... but it's still there. And you keep asking, “God, is this You or is it just me?” Then the lies creep in. What if I start and fail? What if I heard wrong? Maybe God isn't speaking to me at all. But here's the truth. God is not silent. He whispers. And most of us miss what He's saying, not because He isn't speaking, but because we're not listening. Or we're waiting for Him to speak in a way that feels clear, comfortable, and risk-free. You're not waiting for God to speak. You're waiting for Him to speak in a way that makes you comfortable. In this episode, I'm walking you through how God actually leads you into your calling and why the thing you're most equipped to do often feels the scariest. The idea that won't leave you alone is not random. It is not a coincidence. Its direction. You'll learn the three truths about how God walks you through your calling so you can stop second-guessing and start moving. We're also going to walk through a simple three-question clarity test that will help you confirm your next step today. By the end of this episode, you won't just feel encouraged, you'll have a plan. I pray this blesses you!   Ready to Make Consistent Income From a Podcast?  Join my 5-Day Profitable Podcast Bootcamp! I'll show you how to create a podcast that makes steady income on autopilot—without relying on social media.

There's nothing more discouraging for the family chef than these three words, "I'm not hungry." Maybe you've faced those words. You know, kids have impatient stomachs. Of course, only kids. We don't, right, adults? But kids have impatient stomachs, so they eat whenever the urge hits and whatever the urge tells them to eat. And, of course, I'm sure our kids were like yours. They would usually go to the refrigerator and get some carrots or a tossed salad. Right? Some broccoli, some high fiber cereal? No! Our kids did not! Don't worry, neither do yours. Oh yeah, they'd go after junk food. Most kids today are junk food junkies, and they fill up on it. So, my wife would give us this beautiful spread of pot roast, and potatoes, and fresh vegetables, home baked bread. And the troops, "I'm not hungry." They're too full to eat. How discouraging when they're full of junk food. Now junk food may be okay, but not when it spoils your appetite for real food. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Spiritual Hunger, Spiritual Junk". Now, our word for today from the Word of God is found in Luke 8. It's the familiar story of the parable of the seed and the sower. And as you know, Jesus talks about the seed falling on four different kinds of ground. Let's look at one today. He says in verse 11, and this is the meaning of the parable, "The seed is the Word of God." And in verse 14, "The seed (or the Word) that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they're choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature." Now these are people, who are Christians, and they remain Christians, but they are God's under-developed children. Children who never experience what they could have experienced. They always miss God's best. Why? They were choked. Choked by worries, anxieties, things they're afraid of. They're choked by chasing what money can buy. They're choked by focusing their energies on their own pleasure, their own feeling good. God has a lot of spiritually anorexic kids. You know that? They have an appetite disorder. They're just not hungry for the Bible any more. They're not hungry for time with Jesus. They're not hungry for church; for spiritual input; for Christian fellowship. They almost go just dutifully. Have you noticed in yourself maybe recently a diminishing desire to get into the Bible; to get with God's people? Oh, you used to have an appetite. Where did it go? Could it be you've been filling up on junk food? Maybe things that aren't wrong in themselves; they're just taking over what you think about and talk about most of the time. An unbalanced interest or concern has taken over and crowded out any room for God's Word in your life. Maybe you've become preoccupied with a hobby, television, the Internet, soap operas, music, maybe a special friend, maybe your car, maybe your house. Maybe God's time in your life, God's voice, God's Word are being choked by something far less important, far less eternal. It's just been crowded out. All your thinking time, all your mentally neutral time is gone. Do you have a spiritual appetite problem? Could it be that some junk food is filling you up? God has so much prepared for you; so much He wants to say to you; so many ways He wants to lighten your load. But you come to the table saying, "I'm not hungry." Next time you're reaching for more mental junk food, reach instead for the banquet of the Bible. Spiritually it is the breakfast, the lunch, and the dinner of champions!

There's nothing more discouraging for the family chef than these three words, "I'm not hungry." Maybe you've faced those words. You know, kids have impatient stomachs. Of course, only kids. We don't, right, adults? But kids have impatient stomachs, so they eat whenever the urge hits and whatever the urge tells them to eat. And, of course, I'm sure our kids were like yours. They would usually go to the refrigerator and get some carrots or a tossed salad. Right? Some broccoli, some high fiber cereal? No! Our kids did not! Don't worry, neither do yours. Oh yeah, they'd go after junk food. Most kids today are junk food junkies, and they fill up on it. So, my wife would give us this beautiful spread of pot roast, and potatoes, and fresh vegetables, home baked bread. And the troops, "I'm not hungry." They're too full to eat. How discouraging when they're full of junk food. Now junk food may be okay, but not when it spoils your appetite for real food. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Spiritual Hunger, Spiritual Junk". Now, our word for today from the Word of God is found in Luke 8. It's the familiar story of the parable of the seed and the sower. And as you know, Jesus talks about the seed falling on four different kinds of ground. Let's look at one today. He says in verse 11, and this is the meaning of the parable, "The seed is the Word of God." And in verse 14, "The seed (or the Word) that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they're choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature." Now these are people, who are Christians, and they remain Christians, but they are God's under-developed children. Children who never experience what they could have experienced. They always miss God's best. Why? They were choked. Choked by worries, anxieties, things they're afraid of. They're choked by chasing what money can buy. They're choked by focusing their energies on their own pleasure, their own feeling good. God has a lot of spiritually anorexic kids. You know that? They have an appetite disorder. They're just not hungry for the Bible any more. They're not hungry for time with Jesus. They're not hungry for church; for spiritual input; for Christian fellowship. They almost go just dutifully. Have you noticed in yourself maybe recently a diminishing desire to get into the Bible; to get with God's people? Oh, you used to have an appetite. Where did it go? Could it be you've been filling up on junk food? Maybe things that aren't wrong in themselves; they're just taking over what you think about and talk about most of the time. An unbalanced interest or concern has taken over and crowded out any room for God's Word in your life. Maybe you've become preoccupied with a hobby, television, the Internet, soap operas, music, maybe a special friend, maybe your car, maybe your house. Maybe God's time in your life, God's voice, God's Word are being choked by something far less important, far less eternal. It's just been crowded out. All your thinking time, all your mentally neutral time is gone. Do you have a spiritual appetite problem? Could it be that some junk food is filling you up? God has so much prepared for you; so much He wants to say to you; so many ways He wants to lighten your load. But you come to the table saying, "I'm not hungry." Next time you're reaching for more mental junk food, reach instead for the banquet of the Bible. Spiritually it is the breakfast, the lunch, and the dinner of champions!

“We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.” (2 Corinthians 4:7 NLT) Because Jesus lives, everyone who believes in Him has amazing news to share with others. The same gospel that led to our salvation can—and must—lead to theirs. And the responsibility for spreading that gospel falls to us, whether we feel qualified to do so or not. When the apostles Peter and John were brought before the Sanhedrin, it was a source of complete amazement that these untrained laymen could be so well-versed in Scripture, and more importantly, in their understanding of it. They were ordinary fishermen, blue-collar, salt-of-the-earth type people. This doesn’t mean they were illiterate. But they hadn’t attended the rabbinical schools or spent their lives in the study of Scripture. Acts 4:13 tells us that when the religious leaders of Israel “saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus” (NKJV). These simple fishermen appeared to be better equipped than the professionals were. How did this happen? The disciples had been with Jesus. They were boldly sharing their faith. They knew the Scriptures. They were men who prayed. When God called Moses to lead the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt, Moses offered some compelling reasons as to why he was the wrong person for the job. What they all boiled down to was this: “I am nobody” (see Exodus 3:11). In other words, he was just an ordinary guy. But look what God did with that ordinary guy. This should give hope and encouragement to those who think of themselves as ordinary people. Maybe God hasn’t called you to be a pastor, a missionary, or to some professional ministry position. But God can use you, too. It’s clear that He’s looking for ordinary men and women to bring the gospel message to others. The apostle Paul wrote, “We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves” (2 Corinthians 4:7 NLT). God specializes in using broken and imperfect people to accomplish His work and His will. He sees the qualities in us that we cannot see ourselves. He knows exactly what we’re capable of and how to maximize our potential. God can use you where you are, and the opportunities before you are countless. There is a mission field where you work, where you go to school, and in your neighborhood. You are God’s representative, and He is calling you to go into this world and speak up for Him. God isn’t looking so much for ability as He is looking for availability. So, make yourself available to Him and watch what He does. Reflection question: How can you be bold in sharing the gospel in your personal mission field? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship! — The audio production of the podcast "Greg Laurie: Daily Devotions" utilizes Generative AI technology. This allows us to deliver consistent, high-quality content while preserving Harvest's mission to "know God and make Him known." All devotional content is written and owned by Pastor Greg Laurie. Listen to the Greg Laurie Podcast Become a Harvest PartnerSupport the show: https://harvest.org/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Click here for the DRB Daily Sign Up form! TODAY'S SCRIPTURE: Joshua 18-20; 1 Corinthians 9 Click HERE to give! One Year Bible Podcast: Join Hunter and Heather Barnes on the Daily Radio Bible, a daily Bible‑in‑a‑year podcast with 20‑minute Scripture readings, Christ‑centered devotion, and guided prayer.This daily Bible reading and devotional invites you to live as a citizen of Jesus' kingdom, reconciled, renewed, and deeply loved. TODAY'S EPISODE: Welcome to the Daily Radio Bible podcast for March 24th, 2025! In this episode, Hunter—your Bible Reading Coach—guides us through the next stage of our journey in scripture, exploring Joshua chapters 18-20 and 1 Corinthians 9. Together, we witness the distribution of land among the tribes of Israel, the establishment of cities of refuge, and a compelling lesson on spiritual purpose and generosity from Paul's letter to the Corinthians. With heartfelt prayers and reflections, Hunter invites us to see how ancient laws and unfamiliar stories still speak to our lives today, encouraging us to "chart out the boundaries" of God's blessings and truly occupy what He has given us. Settle in for a time of scripture, thoughtful commentary, and prayer, as we focus our hearts on the transformational story of God's love for the whole world—and remember, you are loved! TODAY'S DEVOTION: The lesson of the ox. Sometimes in the Bible, we encounter strange, obscure laws like "Don't muzzle an ox while it's threshing grain," taken from Deuteronomy 25. At first, these sayings may seem puzzling or out of place for our everyday lives. But layered within them are implications that reach deep into the heart of God's wisdom. God is not only speaking to farmers about showing care to their animals—He's also painting a picture for us, showing how we should treat those who serve and work on our behalf, even those who work for the benefit of our souls. When we read through the Old Testament, so much of it can feel unrelated to our experience. How does muzzling an ox have anything to do with me, you might ask? Yet when we read these things, we shouldn't dismiss them or move quickly past them. Yes, the words are spoken to farmers, and yes, Joshua is speaking to the tribes of Israel—but God is speaking to us, too. It was written not just for them, but for us. God calls us to a deeper reading, sometimes an allegorical or analogous reading. Many church fathers felt that a spiritual engagement with Scripture—a creative, allegorical interpretation—was a higher form of connecting with the text. Maybe God would have you chart out what He's put in front of you. Maybe He'd have you sit and write out the boundaries of His blessings and gifts for you. Maybe, as was true for the Israelites, you'll find that there is unoccupied land and unrealized gifts in your life. God may be calling you to chart them, to seize them, to claim the inheritance that He has set before you. The lesson in the ox, and in all the pages we read, is that the Bible is for us. It's not just about ancient animals or ancient reports—it's about what God has done for us. This book is a revelation of Him, about the God who gave us His very life and about learning to seize and live in the reality of it. So maybe we can all chart out what God has already done for us—write it down, recognize it—and then go out and occupy it. Seize it. Live in the reality of who you are in Christ. That's a prayer that I have for my own soul. That's a prayer that I have for my family, for my wife and my daughters and my son. And that's a prayer that I have for you. May it be so. TODAY'S PRAYERS: Lord God Almighty and everlasting father you have brought us in safety to this new day preserve us with your Mighty power that we might not fall into sin or be overcome by adversity. And in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose  through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen.   Oh God you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth and sent your blessed son to preach peace to those who are far and those who are near. Grant that people everywhere may seek after you, and find you. Bring the nations into your fold, pour out your Spirit on all flesh, and hasten the coming of your kingdom through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.   And now Lord,  make me an instrument of your peace.  Where there is hatred let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon.  Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope.  Where there is darkness, light.  And where there is sadness,  Joy.  Oh Lord grant that I might not seek to be consoled as to console. To be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love.  For it is in the giving that we receive, in the pardoning that we are pardoned, it is in the dying that we are born unto eternal life.  Amen And now as our Lord has taught us we are bold to pray... Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not unto temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Loving God, we give you thanks for restoring us in your image. And nourishing us with spiritual food, now send us forth as forgiven people, healed and renewed, that we may proclaim your love to the world, and continue in the risen life of Christ.  Amen.  OUR WEBSITE: www.dailyradiobible.com We are reading through the New Living Translation.   Leave us a voicemail HERE: https://www.speakpipe.com/dailyradiobible Subscribe to us at YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dailyradiobible/featured OTHER PODCASTS: Listen with Apple Podcast DAILY BIBLE FOR KIDS DAILY PSALMS DAILY PROVERBS DAILY LECTIONARY DAILY CHRONOLOGICAL  

Explore how faith is trusting God even when we can’t see the full picture. Faith is not something we muster ourselves—it is a gift from God, cultivated through His Word and the work of the Holy Spirit. Often, God asks us to trust Him through waiting, “no” answers, and uncertainty. These seasons shape our character and deepen our reliance on Him, proving that faith is more about who we become than what we receive. Highlights Faith is a Gift: True faith comes from God, not from our own efforts (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 10:17). Faith Requires Trust in God’s Plan: Even when God says “no” or asks us to wait, His timing and wisdom are perfect. Faith During Waiting Produces Growth: Waiting and unanswered prayers often mature our character in ways a “yes” could not. Step-by-Step Faith: God often gives small measures of faith to steward, allowing us to take the next step even when the full path isn’t visible. Aligning Our Will with God’s Will: Faith invites God’s will to become our own, trusting His “no” can be a greater blessing than a “yes.” This episode is sponsored by Trinity Debt Management. If you are struggling with debt call Trinity today. Trinity's counselors have the knowledge and resources to make a difference. Our intention is to help people become debt-free, and most importantly, remain debt-free for keeps!" If your debt has you down, we should talk. Call us at 1-800-793-8548 | https://trinitycredit.org TrinityCredit – Call us at 1-800-793-8548. Whether we're helping people pay off their unsecured debt or offering assistance to those behind in their mortgage payments. https://trinitycredit.org Full Transcript Below: When Faith Means Trusting What We Can’t See By Hannah Benson Bible Reading: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1 ESV) This well-known verse comes right before what is often called the “Hall of Faith” in the Bible. In Hebrews 11, the writer recalls the faith of many people from the Old Testament, including Noah, Abraham & Sarah, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses, and the list goes on. Faith is a common theme throughout Scripture, and we know, as believers, that we are called to have faith. We are called to put our faith in Jesus Christ for salvation and for the cleansing of our sin (Romans 3:23-25, Acts 15:9). While that is the foundation of our faith, it also extends to other areas of our lives. Because Jesus knew we would be prone to worry, He told us to have faith that God will provide what we need for tomorrow (Matthew 6:25-34). We must have faith for healing (James 5:14-15) and for strength and endurance (2 Corinthians 12:9). But what exactly does it mean to have faith? God is not a genie, so it’s not as if we can somehow “procure” enough faith and make something happen. After all, like Romans 11:35 ESV says: “‘For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?’ ‘Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?’ For from him and through him and to him are all things…” And “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). In short, faith is a gift. Faith is not a feeling we can muster. Imagine if it were up to us how much faith we were given. We would become arrogant because we would start to think that if God answered our prayer the way we wanted, we were perhaps more righteous or had more faith than the other person who didn’t receive a “yes” from God. If it were up to us to have enough faith, then that would make us somehow God. And we are clearly not. Faith is a gift that comes from hearing the word of Christ (Romans 10:17). By God’s grace, the Holy Spirit is the One Who opens our eyes as we read God’s Word (John 14:26). In Mark 9:23, Jesus tells a father whose son is possessed by a demon that “all things are possible for one who believes,” to which the father replies in verse 24, “I believe; help my unbelief!” We need Jesus’s help to have faith: faith that we have been saved by the work of His blood on the cross, for His provision, and for healing. Sometimes, we need to have faith to pursue something others deem crazy. Maybe God calls us to accept a job with less pay or to move halfway across the country. Yes, we absolutely need to make wise decisions, but if God calls us to do something—no matter how crazy it sounds—do it. However, we must be in continual prayer as we discern what is truly from God, because a word from the Lord will never contradict His Word given to us in the Bible. What do we do when God doesn’t always answer our prayers the way we expect? Even the people in Scripture were forced to wait or accept a “no” from God. Abraham and Sarah waited for years to have a child. David became king years after Samuel had anointed him. Moses never got to enter the Promised Land. Paul begged God to remove the thorn from his life, but God didn’t. Instead, He said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV). Even though David prayed, wept, and fasted, his and Bathsheba’s first son died. How do we make sense of that? Sometimes, we might think that if we receive a “no” from God, then we didn’t have enough faith. But Scripture shows us that there could be lots of reasons for “no”. We aren’t God and can’t see the full picture, so maybe He’s protecting us from something. Maybe He has something better in mind. I’ve also heard it said that God is far more interested in who we are becoming than the earthly destination we are heading towards. Faith during a waiting season sometimes produces a maturity that a “Yes” never could. I would even go so far as to say what matters isn’t about getting what we want from God but about getting more of God. Nothing draws me into the presence of Jesus more like a “no” or a “wait”. What if we aren’t simply called to have faith for something but to have faith when God says “no”? To have faith that His ways are higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8) and that perhaps His “no” is a blessing in disguise and the preparation for a different “yes” we can’t see yet? “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him” (1 John 5:14-15 ESV). Note that it says “if we ask anything according to his will.” This is not about forcing our will to become God’s will. No, instead, it is an invitation for God’s will to become our own. Intersecting Faith & Life: A couple of years ago, there was something I wanted but didn’t have the faith to pray for what I thought could be the end result. Rather, God gave me faith to pray for the next step, which may or may not eventually lead to the end result. Which I did. And you know what? God opened the door for the next step. Two years later, my prayers are bolder as God has given me the faith to pray for things I never would’ve prayed for back then. Sometimes, God doesn’t give us faith for everything all at once. He gives us tiny portions of faith, but like any gift, faith is a gift that must be stewarded. After all, as Paul writes in 2 Timothy 1:14 (ESV), “By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.” That includes the faith that has been given to us. Faith might mean taking one step at a time, even when we can’t see the path ahead. Faith might mean trusting God’s “no” is sometimes greater than His “yes.” Pray with me: Dear Father God, thank You for the gift of faith. I confess that I often try to muster it up in my own strength or treat You like a genie who exists to grant my wishes. Forgive me for the times I’ve valued the “yes” more than the Giver. I thank You for the Holy Spirit, who opens my eyes to Your Word. Help me to steward the measure of faith You have given me today. When I face a "no" or a "wait," draw me closer into Your presence. Align my heart with Yours, so that Your will becomes my own. Give me the courage to take the next step You have set before me, even when I cannot see the rest of the path. I trust that Your ways are higher than mine and that You are making me into who You want me to be. In Jesus’ name, Amen. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

“Then Gideon said to God, ‘If you are truly going to use me to rescue Israel as you promised, prove it to me in this way. I will put a wool fleece on the threshing floor tonight. If the fleece is wet with dew in the morning but the ground is dry, then I will know that you are going to help me rescue Israel as you promised.’” (Judges 6:36–37 NLT) God is multilingual. He can speak to us in any number of ways. He speaks to us through His Word, certainly. He speaks to us through prayer. He speaks to us through our conscience. The Bible records several instances in which God spoke to people through dreams and visions. But God also speaks through circumstances. Although I’m not one to base major life decisions on circumstances alone, there have been times when I’ve sensed that something was the will of God and then had my sense confirmed when things fell into place circumstantially. At other times, circumstances have made it obvious that God was saying no to a particular path or request. A classic example of God’s speaking through circumstances can be found in His calling of Gideon to rescue the people of Israel. Gideon was an extremely humble man, almost to a fault. He didn’t see himself as a rescuer, and he had a hard time wrapping his head around the notion that God saw him in such a light. So, he humbly put God to the test. “Then Gideon said to God, ‘If you are truly going to use me to rescue Israel as you promised, prove it to me in this way. I will put a wool fleece on the threshing floor tonight. If the fleece is wet with dew in the morning but the ground is dry, then I will know that you are going to help me rescue Israel as you promised’” (Judges 6:36–37 NLT). God graciously did as Gideon asked. He intervened ever so slightly in the process of condensation to confirm Gideon’s calling. He spoke through circumstances. In the story of Jonah, God spoke to His prophet through circumstances that involved, among other things, a storm at sea (see Jonah 1:4), a giant fish (see 1:17), a leafy plant (see 4:6), and a hungry worm (see 4:7). God still speaks to us through circumstances today. Often, those circumstances involve other people. There have been times when I was listening to someone preach or talking with a friend and suddenly realized that what the person was saying addressed a situation that I was going through—even though the person was completely unaware of my circumstances. It made me realize that God Himself was speaking to me through those individuals. Maybe God has spoken to you through a pastor or a Christian friend. Or perhaps He has been speaking to you through other circumstances. Listen carefully and remember that God will never contradict His Word. Reflection question: How might God be speaking to you through circumstances in your life? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship! — The audio production of the podcast "Greg Laurie: Daily Devotions" utilizes Generative AI technology. This allows us to deliver consistent, high-quality content while preserving Harvest's mission to "know God and make Him known." All devotional content is written and owned by Pastor Greg Laurie. Listen to the Greg Laurie Podcast Become a Harvest PartnerSupport the show: https://harvest.org/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

1 Timothy 4:8 NIV “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”   *Transcription Below*   Brian Smith, author of The Christian Athlete: Glorifying God in Sports, is a staff member with Athletes in Action and a cross-country coach at Lowell High School. A former collegiate runner at Wake Forest University, he earned a BA in Communications and Journalism before completing his MA in Theology and Sports Studies at Baylor University's Truett Theological Seminary. Brian lives in Lowell, MI with his wife and three children. You can find him on Twitter @BrianSmithAIA.   Ed Uszynski is an author, speaker, and sports minister with over three decades' experience discipling college and professional athletes. With a heart for reconciliation and justice, he also works as a racial literacy consultant and marriage conference speaker, blending Biblical wisdom with practical living in the midst of complex cultural realities. He has two theological degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a PhD in American Culture Studies from Bowling Green State University. He and his wife Amy have four children and live in Xenia, Ohio.   The Christian Athlete Website   Thank You to Our Sponsor:  Sam Leman Eureka   Questions and Topics We Cover: What is one of kids' greatest game day complaints?  Is it true that young athletic success is a predictor of adult athletic success? What are a few tips for instilling a heart of gratitude in our young athlete, rather than entitlement?   Related Savvy Sauce Episode: 230 Intentional Parenting in All The Stages with Dr. Rob Rienow   Connect with The Savvy Sauce on Facebook or Instagram or Our Website   Gospel Scripture: (all NIV) Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”   Romans 3:24 “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”   Romans 3:25 (a) “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”    Hebrews 9:22 (b) “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”    Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”    Romans 5:11 “Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”    John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”   Romans 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”    Luke 15:10 says “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”   Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”   Ephesians 1:13–14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession- to the praise of his glory.”   Ephesians 1:15–23 “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”   Ephesians 2:8–10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God‘s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.“   Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.“   Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”   *Transcription*   Music: (0:00 – 0:11)   Laura Dugger: (0:12 - 1:51) Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, where we have practical chats for intentional living. I'm your host, Laura Dugger, and I'm so glad you're here.   The principles of honesty and integrity that Sam Leman founded his business on continue today, over 55 years later, at Sam Leman Chevrolet Eureka.   Owned and operated by the Bertschi family, Sam Leman and Eureka appreciates the support they've received from their customers all over Central Illinois and beyond. Visit them today at lemangm.com.   Brian Smith and Ed Uszynski are my guests for today.   They are co-authors of this recent amazing book entitled, A Way Game, A Christian Parents Guide to Navigating Youth Sports. And from the very beginning, I was captivated, even with one of the endorsements from Matt Martens, who's the president and CEO of Awana, and he summed it up this way, A Way Game provides a much needed perspective shift on one of the most sacred idols in our culture, youth sports. So, Brian and Ed are all for youth sports, and yet you're going to hear there's a different way to approach it than what we've been trained in culture.   And they're going to share some wonderful and very practical insights. I can't wait to share this with you. Here's our chat. Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, Ed and Brian.   Ed Uszynski & Brian Smith: (1:51 - 1:54) Thanks for having us, Laura. Yeah, good to be here, Laura.   Laura Dugger: (1:54 - 2:04) So, excited about this chat. And will the two of you just start us off by sharing your family's stage of life and your involvement in sports?   Brian Smith: (2:05 - 3:29) Yeah, there could be a lot on the back end of that question. I'll start with sports, then get into family. I've been involved in sports my entire life, played every sport imaginable growing up, got cut from just about every single sport my freshman year of high school, ended up running track and cross country because it was the only sports that you could not get cut from at my high school.   And I ended up being pretty good at it by the time I was a senior, won some state championships, ended up getting a scholarship to run at Wake Forest University. So, I did that for four years right out of college. I coached a little bit collegiately.   Soon after that, I joined staff with a sports ministry called Athletes in Action that Ed and I have a combined 50 years with Athletes in Action. And really, that's been my life ever since. I've been ministering to college and pro athletes, discipling them, helping them figure out what does that actually look like to integrate faith in sport.   Even today, I live in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I coach high school cross country while I'm still on staff with Athletes in Action. I have a middle school Bible study that I run on Wednesday mornings.   Been married to my wife, who I actually met in high school. She was a distance runner too, and she ran at Wisconsin. So, we've been married for 20 years.   We have three kids, a high schooler, a middle schooler, and an elementary schooler who are all involved in sport at some level, some way, shape, or form.   Laura Dugger: (3:30 - 3:34) Wow, that's incredible. Thank you, Brian. And Ed, what about you?   Ed Uszynski: (3:34 - 5:04) Well, my story is very parallel to Brian's, just different sports and some different numbers. Just tack on 15 years. Yeah, I was a basketball player.   Grew up on the west side of Cleveland with a high school football coach. My dad was, but I was a basketball player. I played at high levels all the way through my 20s, got to play overseas.   I mean, this was a long time ago, but I got everything I could out of that sport. And as soon as I graduated from college, though, I started to work with that Athletes in Action ministry that Brian mentioned. So, I've been working with college and professional athletes for 34 years now.   And same, coached at different levels, have four kids. Amy and I have been married for 26 years. We have four kids, three are in college, and one's in ninth grade, who has a game this afternoon, actually.   So, we've just been going to games and have been involved in going to sports stuff for the last 20 years with our kids. And really what happened with Brian, and I is that we looked up a decade ago and realized this youth sports thing was a fast train that was moving in directions that we weren't used to ourselves, even though we've been around sports our whole life. It's like, there's something different happening now.   And then thinking about it as Christians, like, how do we do this well as Christ followers? We don't want to separate from it. We don't want to just go for the ride. How do we do this as Christian people? And that's what got us talking about it and eventually led to this book.   Laura Dugger: (5:05 - 5:23) Well, the book was easy to read and incredible. And I'd like to start there where you begin, even where you go back before going forward. So, when you're looking back, what are the factors at play that changed youth sports over time?   Ed Uszynski: (5:26 - 6:17) Well, I'll say this and then Brian, maybe you jump in and throw a couple of them out there. I mean, youth sports is a $40 billion industry today, which is wild to think about. It's four times how much money gets spent on the NFL, which is just staggering.   I can't even hardly believe that that's true, but it is. And it's really just in the last 20 years that that's happened. I mean, 50 years ago, you couldn't have had the youth sport industrial complex, as we refer to it.   You couldn't have had it. There were a bunch of things that had to happen culturally, as is true with any new movement or any paradigm shift that happens in culture. You've got to have certain things be true all at the same time that make it possible.   So, Brian, what were a couple of those? Again, I'll throw it over to you. There's six of them that we talk about in the book. And I think it's really fascinating because I'm a history guy.   Brian Smith: (6:18 - 8:40) Yeah. And we can obviously double click on any of these, Laura, that you want to, but we talk about how the college admissions process became an avenue where youth sports parents saw, man, if we can get our kids involved in some extracurriculars and kind of tag on high level athlete to their resume, it actually helps with the college admissions process. And so even the idea of college scholarships became an opportunity for youth sports parents to get their kids involved.   And then, yeah, maybe sports can actually get them into college. We talk about the economic shifts that happen, the rise of safetyism and helicopter parenting. ESPN was a massive one in 1979.   This thing called ESPN starts, and we get 24-7 coverage of sports, which they started exploring even early on. What does it look like to give coverage to something like Little League World Series and saw that it didn't really matter how young the sport was, it's going to draw a national audience. And so, we've almost been discipled by ESPN really over the last 50 years with this consistent coverage.   We talk about the rise of the sports complex. This one to me is like the most fascinating out of all of them. In 1997, Disney decided to try to get more people to come to their parks.   They built a sports complex, just a massive sports complex. The idea was, are the older kids getting sick of the Buzz Lightyear ride and the Disney princesses? So, let's build a sports complex and maybe it'll be something else that will draw this older crowd too.   And what happened was, I mean, a lot of people started coming to it, but kind of the stake in the ground game changer was when 9-11 hit. In the months and years after that, they saw a lot less people go to their parks, but population actually doubled going to the sports complex, which is wild to think that people were afraid to go to theme parks for a vacation, but they were willing to travel across state lines to play sports at the Disney complex. So other cities and municipalities took notice of that.   Today, there's over 30,000 sports complexes like Disney's, which again, this is all adding to the system of the youth sports industrial complex. Did I miss any, Ed?   Ed Uszynski: (8:41 - 10:47) Well, no, and that's good. And the reason why we even put all that on the table, again, everybody kind of intuitively knows if you're involved, you know, something's not right. But I think it's important to say this is not normal what's happening.   It's a new normal that's been manufactured by a bunch of cultural trends, by a bunch of entrepreneurs that are doing what entrepreneurs do, and they're taking advantage of the moment, and they are generating lots of money around it. So, it should be encouraging. If it's not normal, that means actually there's a counter way of going about this.   There really can be reformation. But when all this money gets involved, the two biggest consequences that come out of that is our kids start getting treated like commodities, which they are, and we could talk the whole time even just about what that means. But maybe even more importantly, or what comes out of that is that beyond their physical development, most coaches and clubs are not paying any attention to their emotional development, their psychological development, their spiritual development, all the different aspects of what it means to be human that, frankly, used to be paid quite a bit more attention to in youth leagues when I was growing up.   I'm 58 now, so I was playing in the 70s and the 80s. And it used to be expected, at least at some level, even among non-Christian people, that you would take those aspects of a kid's life seriously. And now those just aren't prioritized.   And so, what do we do about that? Again, that's kind of our whole point is, well, as Christian people, we're really supposed to be our kid's first discipler anyways. And part of that role and part of taking on that identity is that we would be asking, what is God trying to do in the wholeness of their life, the entirety of their life, even in the context of sports?   So again, I don't want to get ahead of myself here, but that's why we're trying to poke into that to say, oh, we could actually make change. We may not change the whole system. In fact, we won't. Most of us won't be expected to do that, but we can make significant change in our corner of the bleachers and what happens with our kids.   Laura Dugger: (10:48 - 11:05) That's good. And just like you said, to double-click on a few places, first of all, real quick, the 30,000 number, I remember that shocking me in the book, but I'm forgetting now, is that worldwide, the amount of sports complexes or is that just in America?   Brian Smith: (11:05 - 11:06) That's domestically in the US.   Laura Dugger: (11:07 - 11:52) Yeah. That is staggering. And then one other piece, all of this history was new to me as you brought it all together, but it was also fascinated.   This is from page 32. I'll just read your quote. The American youth sports ball began rolling when a British movement fusing spiritual development with physical activity made its way across the Atlantic Ocean at the turn of the last century.   And Ed, that's kind of what you were touching on, that they were mixing, I'm sure, spiritual, psychological discipleship, physical. Can you elaborate more on what was happening and where it originated? Because we've come very far from our origins.   Ed Uszynski: (11:53 - 13:18) Yeah. And there's been a bunch of really great books written about this topic called muscular Christianity. This idea, like you just said, Laura, of wedding physical activity through sports with our spiritual development and expecting and anticipating that somebody that was taking care of their body and that was engaging in sport activity, that was the closest thing to godliness.   That opened up the door for you to also be developing spiritually. And there was an expectation that both of those are going on at the same time. A bunch of criticism about that movement, but it was taken seriously.   The YMCA is actually a huge byproduct of the muscular Christianity movement. The Young Men's Christian Association created space for sports and for athletic activity to take place under the banner of you're also going to grow spiritually as you're doing this. So again, that was a hundred years ago.   And that's not really what AAU stands for today. The different clubs and leagues that we get involved in just don't talk that way anymore. Of course, culture just in general has shifted away from sort of a Judeo-Christian ethic guiding a North Star for us.   Even if we're not Christian people, that used to be more of a North Star. That's gone now. And so, it really is not expected in sports anymore.   Brian Smith: (13:18 - 13:55) And what we're saying is we cannot expect organizations to own that process for our kids. We can't outsource the discipleship of our kids to the youth sports industrial complex or the YMCA or the AAU. It really does start with us as Christian parents to be the primary discipler of our kids.   And there is a way to take what's happening on the field or the court or the pool and turn it into really amazing discipleship opportunities. But it means, and Ed is starting to tease this out, it means we need to change our perspective as parents when we sit in the bleachers or on the sidelines of what we're looking for and even the conversations we have with our kids on the back end.   Laura Dugger: (13:57 - 15:29) And now a brief message from our sponsor.   Sam Leman Chevrolet Eureka has been owned and operated by the Bertschi family for over 25 years. A lot has changed in the car business since Sam and Stephen's grandfather, Sam Leman, opened his first Chevrolet dealership over 55 years ago.   If you visit their dealership today though, you'll find that not everything has changed. They still operate their dealership like their grandfather did, with honesty and integrity. Sam and Stephen understand that you have many different choices in where you buy or service your vehicle.   This is why they do everything they can to make the car buying process as easy and hassle-free as possible. They are thankful for the many lasting friendships that began with a simple welcome to Sam Leman's. Their customers keep coming back because they experience something different.   I've known Sam and Stephen and their wives my entire life and I can vouch for their character and integrity, which makes it easy to highly recommend you check them out today. Your car buying process doesn't have to be something you dread, so come see for yourself at Sam Leman Chevrolet in Eureka. Sam and Stephen would love to see you and they appreciate your business.   Learn more at their website, LemanEureka.com or visit them on Facebook by searching for Sam Leman Eureka. You can also call them on 309-467-2351. Thanks for your sponsorship.   Laura Dugger: (15:30 - 15:31) And I want to continue getting into more of those practicals. Do you want to give us just a taste or an example or story of what that might look like?   Brian Smith: (15:32 - 16:54) We keep saying, we keep talking about the importance of the car ride home that it's tempting for us and not us broadly in the U.S., tempting for us, Ed and I, as people who have done this for 50 plus years and who should know better, it's tempting for us as discipled by an ESPN over analyzing everything culture and want to talk about sports to get in the car ride home with our kids and all we want to talk about is how game went, what they did right, what they did wrong, what they could fix next time.   Maybe instead of passing to Tim, they should take the shot next time because they're wide open. They just hit three in a row. So, and what our kids need from us in those moments is less coaching, less criticizing, less critiquing, and they just need us to connect with them.   The stats on kids quitting youth sports is crazy right now. Its 70 percent are quitting before the age of 13, in large part because it's not fun, and a lot of kids are attaching this idea of it not being fun to the car ride home with their parents who, let's say this too, most of us are well-intentioned parents. We're not trying to screw our kids up.   We want what's best for our kids, but the data and the research and the lived experience continues to tell us what our kids need from us is just to take a deep breath, connect with them, less coaching. Ed keeps saying less coaching, more slurpees.   Laura Dugger: (16:55 - 17:07) I like that. And that ties in. Is it called the peak-end principle that you discovered why kids are resisting that critique on the way home?   Brian Smith: (17:07 - 18:17) Yeah, absolutely. The peak-end rule in psychology is known as this: we, just as humans in general, not just kids, we largely remember things in our lives based on the peak moment of that event, but also how the event ends. And so, the peak moment in sport can be anything from something that goes really well, like they scored a goal or made a basket or something that did not go well, just like a massive event that took place that they're going to remember.   But then it's also married to how that event ends. So, if you think for kids, how does every youth sport experience end? It ends with the car ride home.   So, if they're experiencing the car ride home as I did not live up to mom and dad's standards, or there's fear getting into the car because they don't know what their parents are going to say, how are they remembering the totality of their youth sport experience? It is, I didn't, I didn't measure up. I wasn't enough.   It felt like sports was a place that I needed to perform for my parents or my coach. And I always feel a little bit short. We want to help parents see like there's a different path forward that can be more joyful for you, but hopefully more joyful for your kid as well.   Ed Uszynski: (18:17 - 21:37) Well, and, and I'll just, let me keep going with that, Brian. I thought you really articulated all that so well. I can just imagine a parent maybe thinking, was there never a time to correct?   Is there never a time to give input? And we would say, well, of course there, there is, they need far less of it from us than we think they need when it comes to their sport. And again, we can talk about that.   They need far less of that from us. They need us to be their parents, not to be their coaches. Even if we are their coach, they need us to be more their parents.   But there is a time to do it. We're just saying the car ride home is the worst time to do it. And that's usually the time that most of us, you know, we've got two hours of stuff to download with them.   And that's just, it's not a good time. But the other thing that Brian and I keep talking about is how about, what if we had some different metrics that we were even trying to measure? So, most of the time our metrics have to do with their performance.   Like what, what are we grading them on? Again, depending on what the sport is, there's these different things that we're looking for to say, how you did today is based on whether you did this or you didn't do that and whatnot. And we're saying as parents, and again, starting with us, we needed some other metrics that were actually more concerned about what was going on in their soul.   So again, I'm sure we'll talk more about this, but the virtues, how did love show up in the way they competed today? Where that usually is tied to them noticing somebody else. Do I, am I even asking them any questions about that?   Are they experiencing peace in the midst of all this chaos and anxiety that shows up at every game? How do we teach them to experience peace? How do they become other-centered instead of just self-centered all the time in a culture, a sport culture that's teaching them to always be the center of attention and try to be?   So, we just have needed to exchange some of what we had on that performance list, like tamper that down a little bit and maybe expand the list of categories that we're looking for that actually will matter when they're 25. And we keep saying this, our goal is that they'd come home for Thanksgiving when they're 25. And so, we need to stay relationally connected to them and how we act on the car ride home day after day after day after day, year after year is doing something to our relationship.   But we also are recognizing that it's really not going to matter whether Trey finishes with his left hand at the game today when he's 25, it's not going to matter. It's not going to matter probably a year from now, but how he goes through the handshake line after the game and the way he addresses other people, and whether or not he's learning to submit to authority, whether or not he's learning to embrace other people's humanity. Yes, even in the context of sports, that's really going to matter when he's 25.   It's going to matter when he's married. Those are the things that will matter. And we say that as people who are older and have been involved in ministry and have worked with college athletes and see what happens in their lives even after they're finished, and they have no idea who they are anymore.   And this thing that's dominated their life has not actually prepared them well to do life. And that's a problem that we say, let's start changing that when they're six and not hope they're figuring it out when they're 22.   Laura Dugger: (21:38 - 22:11) I love that because that's such a theme throughout those virtues that you talked about, but discipleship and sports are a tool or a way that we can disciple our kids. I also love that you give various questions throughout the book and even quick phrases. So to close that conversation on the car ride home, if we say, okay, that's what I've been coaching the whole way home, what is a question we could ask our child afterwards and a statement we could say and leave it at that and do it a better way?   Brian Smith: (22:12 - 23:56) The question I have consistently asked my kids after learning that I've been doing this the wrong way for a long time, I tweet my question to they get in the car and I say, is there anything that happened today from the game that you want to talk about? And it's frustrating to me because 99% of the time they say, no, can we listen to the radio? And we listen to the radio, or they play a on my phone, but I'm respecting their desire that they're done with what just happened and they're ready to move on to the next thing, even though I really want to talk about what just happened.   And then the statement that I want to make sure that I'm consistently saying that they're hearing is I love you and I'm proud of you. So, game didn't go well. Yeah, you did play well today.   That's okay. Hey, I love you and I'm proud of you. Game went well today.   Awesome. Great job. Hey, I love you and I'm proud of you.   So I want that to be the consistent theme that they're hearing for me, which is hopefully going to help them better understand the gospel later in life, that as they get older and older, hopefully they'll begin to realize it seemed like the way that my mom and dad interacted with me when I was performing in sport, but their love was not attached to my performance. That seems really similar to what I'm learning more and more that Jesus does for me, that I'm trying to do all these things that are good. But from what I'm understanding about the gospel, it seems like Jesus loves me in spite of what I do.   He loves me just because He's connected to me, that God loves me because I'm a son or daughter, not because I'm performing as a son or a daughter. So, in a very real way, I really am hoping that I'm giving a good teaser for my kids now for when they fully experience the gospel as they go through the life.   Ed Uszynski: (23:56 - 24:47) Another really good connecting question. I love how you said all that, Brian, is if they don't want to talk about the game, is it okay, did you have fun today? And they can only go in one of two directions.   No. Well, tell me about that. Why not?   And it opens up the door to talk about, well, because I didn't get to play or because something bad happened. And again, tell me more about that. Tell me more about that.   Or they say, yes, great. What happened that was fun? And it creates a very different conversation in the car.   And it opens up, again, relational possibilities that go way beyond, why do you keep passing it when you should be shooting it? Wow. And just all the different ways that that comes out of us, depending on sport, depending on their age.   But those are great questions. Go ahead, Brian.   Brian Smith: (24:47 - 25:41) I just asked my son this morning. He's a freshman. His wrestling season is almost done.   And I just asked, like, what has been most fun for you in wrestling this year? And his first thing was, I feel like I'm learning a lot. And that's really fun for me, which he's on a really good team.   He's had a lot of success. He's made a lot of good friends. But even that gave me a window into his characters.   My son enjoys and I knew this is true about him. But my son enjoys learning, which means he enjoys the process of getting better and better and better, which can happen in school, it can happen doing stuff in the yard, it can it can also happen in sport. But for me to remember moving forward, yeah, he he's probably going to have a different metric for what's fun in sport than I often do for him.   Yeah, like I wanted to learn. I want him to win though, too. He's happy with learning right now.   So, I need to be happy with that for him.   Ed Uszynski: (25:41 - 26:34) If I can say this, too, again, I don't want to be vulnerable on your behalf. But then knowing this, he's lost a lot this year to really good kids. Yeah.   And so much of the learning has been in the context of losing. So, you as a dad, actually, you could be crushing him because of those losses and what he needs to do to fix that and what he needs to do so that that doesn't happen again. And it's like he's already committed to learning.   How do you just how do you celebrate the loss? Like he took the risk to try something new in this movie. He tried to survive an extra period.   That's a process when and it's we just need to get better at that. Like you genuinely can celebrate that. That's not just a that's not like a participation trophy.   It's acknowledging now, do you're taking you're taking the right steps that are actually making you a winner, even if you don't have more points at the end of the game right now.   Laura Dugger: (26:34 - 26:54) Yeah. Yeah. And that long term win that you're talking about, even with character and you've talked about fun and asking them about fun.   Is it true that that's the main reason kids are dropping out of sports at such a rapid rate before age 13 is that it's just not fun anymore?   Ed Uszynski: (26:55 - 28:58) Yeah. Yeah. And why is it not fun?   And again, this is where Brian and I are always getting in each other's business. And we know that this conversation gets in all of our business as adults. But why is it not fun?   It's not fun because of the coaches and it's not fun because of the parents. We are creating stress. We are creating again collectively because we're all in different places on the on the spectrum on this in terms of what we're actually doing when we show up at games.   But if you even just go to any soccer game and you be quiet and just listen to what's happening and everybody's shouting and screaming things and there's contradictory messages being sent and there's angst at every turn and there's an incredible celebration because this eight year old was able to get the ball to go across the line for another goal. And what that's doing inside the kids is it is creating a not fun atmosphere. Let's just say it like that.   That's a not fun atmosphere when you're eight, when you're 10, when you're trying to figure out how to make your body work. You're trying to learn the game that you're unfamiliar with and you're trying to do what this coach is telling you to do. And you're also trying to do what all the parents are telling you what to do.   And if it's a team sport, you're trying to interact and play with other kids who are all in that same state of disarray, which is very stressful and frustrating. And we're just adding to it. So instead of removing it, instead of playing a role that says, we're going to keep diffusing that stress.   And again, I'll speak for myself. Too often, I have been the one that's actually adding to it. And so, kids are just like, why would I do this?   Why would I want to get in that car again with you? It's not fun. This is a game.   And so, there's a million other things that I can do with my time where I don't have everybody yelling at me and I don't have to listen to you correct me for two hours.   Laura Dugger: (29:00 - 29:21) Well, and one other thing that surprised me, maybe why kids are dropping out, you share on page 47, a quote that research reveals a strange correlation. The more we spend, the less our kids actually enjoy their sport. So, did you have any more insight into that?   Brian Smith: (29:21 - 30:50) Yeah, this was a real study that was done at Utah State. Researchers found that the more money parents are spending, again, let's say well-intentioned parents, the more we're spending in sports, the less our kids are enjoying. And the more they have dug into it, they're finding, and intuitively it makes sense.   If you buy your kid a $600 baseball bat, what's the expectation that they're supposed to do with this really expensive bat? When they swing, they better hit the ball, and they better get on base. If we're going to buy you this expensive of a bat, you can't just have process goals with it.   You better swing and hit it. And that's causing stress for kids. If you travel across state lines and you go to Disney to play at their sports complex, you're not there for vacation.   You're there to perform. So even if parents are saying we're trying to have fun, kids know when you're traveling and you're getting all this good equipment and you're on the elite team and you're receiving the best of the best stuff, they know it comes with some sort of an expectation. College athletes can barely handle that type of pressure and expectations, but we've placed this professional on youth sports from fifth five-year-olds to 15-year-olds, and it's just crushing them.   It's crushing them. Again, college athletes and professional athletes can barely handle it. They need mental health coaches for sports, but we're expecting that our five-year-olds can handle it, and they can't.   Ed Uszynski: (30:51 - 31:19) And they may not even be able to articulate it. So that's the other thing. They may not be able to identify what's actually going on inside and put it into words.   So again, that's why we're trying to sound the alarm for ourselves and for others who are listening, because we can do it different. Again, just to even keep spinning it back in an encouraging direction, we can do this different. We can change this this week in our corner of the bleachers.   We can start over again.   Laura Dugger: (31:21 - 31:48) Absolutely and make a difference. And before we talk about even more of the pros with sports, I think it's also necessary to reflect and maybe even grieve a few things. So, what would you say are some things families are missing out on when they choose youth sports to overfill their calendar, that that's all that they make time for?   What do you think they're missing out on?   Brian Smith: (31:51 - 33:16) Yeah, I think a couple that come to mind are family dinners are a big one. That's big for us in the Smith house, is just having the ability after a long day to sit at the dinner table together, to eat food together, and to process the day and be with one another. But when my kids' practice goes late, it means we're either eating almost towards bedtime or we're eating in different shifts.   And so that's something that we grieve. I think for me, when my schedule is full, I'm tempted to adopt the mindset that what's happening on the wrestling mat or on the track matters more than it actually does. And it robs me of the ability to just take a deep breath and smile and enjoy watching my kids play sports.   That without an intervention or a pregame devotional in the car for myself, I risk sitting in the stands or being on the sidelines, being stressed out and putting pressure on myself and pressure on my kids and gossiping about why the coach didn't put this kid into the people next to me, instead of just enjoying the gift that is sports and watching my kid try and succeed and try and fail. That is a gift available to me as a dad to watch my kid do that. But the busyness often robs me of that perspective.   Ed Uszynski: (33:17 - 36:06) Well, and the busyness robs, again, if you're married, that busyness eventually wears away at your relationship. And it's not just sports. I mean, busyness, we can fill our schedule, overfill our schedules with any number of things.   We can overfill our schedules with church stuff to a point where it becomes detrimental to our relationship. If we don't set boundaries so that we're making sure we're doing what we need to do to be face-to-face and to be going to areas beneath the surface with each other in our relationship and being able to do that with our kids as well, eventually there's negative consequences to that. It may not happen right away, but I've definitely experienced that.   We've experienced that in our home where it's easy to maybe chase one kid around for a while, but what happens when you add three into the mix and you haven't really done a time budget or paid attention to the fact that when we sign up for all these things, you get a month into it and you realize, oh, we have to be in different places at the same time. So, we're not even watching stuff together anymore. We're just running.   I can endure anything for a season, but what youth sports wants now in every sport from the youngest ages is that it becomes a year-round commitment. So, you're not even signing up to play a season anymore. You're signing up for a year in most cases because after the games, then they're going to have training.   They're going to have this other thing going on. And so again, can we say, well, we'll play the actual season, but then we're not going to do the additional training over these next three months. Again, we want to give parents' permission that you can say no to that.   Well, we paid for it. Well, it's okay. If you want your kid to be on that team and you like this club or whatever, then you pay the money and you just say, we're going to sit those three months out and we're going to use those three months actually to have people over our house for dinner.   Again, whatever's on the list, Laura, that you said about being more holistic and not letting sport operate like an idol in our life where it's taken on, it's washed out everything else in our life. We can get back in control of that by just saying no a little bit. You can go to church on Sunday.   Even if there's tournament games going on on Sunday, you can go to the coach early and say, hey, we just, in our family, we just don't want to be available before 12. Are you okay with that? And most of the time coaches will be.   The kid might have to sit extra maybe for not being, whatever. Okay. That's not going to be the end of the world that they had to sit out an extra game or had to sit out a half because they weren't available on Sunday morning.   It might actually make a huge difference that they weren't at church for two and a half years in the most formative time of their life.   Laura Dugger: (36:07 - 37:36) And a lot of times the way of wisdom includes reflection, getting alone with the Lord and asking, have we overstuffed our schedule this conversation today? Let's talk specifically with youth sports. Is that trumping everything else?   Because what if we're putting it in a place it was never intended to be as an idol where we sacrifice hospitality or discipleship or community or even just a more biblical way of life? I think we have to bring wisdom into the conversation for what you've mentioned. Whether it's worth it, if they're even enjoying it, how much we're spending on it, and do we have the budget to allocate our finances that way and evaluating the time just to see and make sure that it's rightly ordered.   Did you know you could receive a free email with monthly encouragement, practical tips, and plenty of questions to ask to take your conversation a level deeper, whether that's in parenting or on date nights? Make sure you access all of this at thesavvysauce.com by clicking the button that says join our email list so that you can follow the prompts and begin receiving these emails at the beginning of each month. Enjoy!   But if we flip that to if youth sports are rightly ordered, then what are some things that we can celebrate or reasons that you would want families to give this a try?   Brian Smith: (37:37 - 40:09) The massive positive that we keep coming back to is we have a front row seat to see our kids go through every possible emotion in sport, the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. And then if we have the right perspective, we are armed with awesome opportunities and awesome information that we're seeing. We get to see what our kids are really good at.   We get to see their character gaps. And then we get to be the ones who, again, who are their primary response, primary disciplers. It really goes back to like, are we trusting youth sports for too little in our kids' lives?   Like many of us are trusting that our investment is going to get them a spot on a team, or maybe they get an opportunity in high school, maybe in college. And what we're saying is, yeah, that maybe. And that's not a bad end goal.   But if that's everything that you're investing into youth sports, it's not enough. Like what you have available to you every single day is to ask your kid if they showed somebody else's dignity on the field. You don't know if your kid's going to hit a home run today.   That may not be available to them their entire life. What's available to them every single day is to ask a question to their teammate, to see somebody and show dignity to them. And that's really, it's like, it's almost the opportunity of a lifetime for us as parents who, when our kids get home from school, we really don't know what happened most of the day.   We asked them how it went and we get the one-word answer. In sports, we don't have to guess. We get to see everything that happens.   And again, if we are actually trusting youth sports for discipleship investment, that's a good ROI. That's a good return on our investment. But we need a consistent intervention almost daily to say, no, this is why they're in sports.   Yes, I want to see them get better. I want to see them have fun, but Holy Spirit, would you help me see things today that I normally don't see? Holy Spirit, would you put them in circumstances and relationships today and in the season that's going to help them look more and more like Jesus by the time the season's done?   Holy Spirit, would you convict me in the moment when I am being a little too mouthy and saying things that I shouldn't? Would you help me to repent? And God, in those moments where I'm actually doing wrong on behalf of my kid, would you help me to humble myself and apologize to them?   And God, would you repair our relationship that way? So again, all of these options are available just because our kid's shooting a ball or they're on the field with somebody else tackling other people. We're trusting youth sports for too little.   Ed Uszynski: (40:10 - 41:10) That's all big boy and big girl stuff. It just is. I don't normally naturally do any of that.   I have to be coached into that. I have to be discipled myself. I have to work through my own issues, my own baggage, my own fears about the future, my own idolatrous holding onto this imagined future that I have for my kid, irrespective of what God may or may not want.   I've got my own resentment. I've got my own regrets from the past. I wish things had gone differently for me, so I'm going to make sure they go different for you when it comes to sports.   And it's hard to look in the mirror and admit that I have anger issues. I mean, youth sports create a great opportunity for me to get up all my pent-up frustration from the day. We've given ourselves permission to do that, in most cases, to just yell and yell at refs and gripe about coaches and yell at kids.   Brian Smith: (41:10 - 41:31) Because that's what we do at the TV, right? When our favorite team is playing, we've conditioned ourselves to say, awful call, that was terrible. Then we get on social media and we complain about it.   We are discipling ourselves to this is how it's normative to respond within the context of sports. Then we carry all that baggage to our six-year-old soccer game.   Laura Dugger: (41:33 - 42:02) Well, I love how you keep pointing it back toward character and discipleship. You clearly state throughout the book, sports don't develop character, people do. But could you maybe elaborate on that a little bit more and share more now that we've listed pros and cons, you still list a completely different way that we can meaningfully participate while also pushing back?   Brian Smith: (42:04 - 43:49) I'll start with the first part, and then you can answer the second. We use the handshake line as a great example of why character needs to be taught to our kids. If you just watch a normal handshake line left without coaching, the kids are going through it, especially the ones who lose with their head down, they have limp hands, there's no eye contact, and they're mumbling good game, good game.   Sometimes they don't even say it, they'll say GG stands for good game. They don't just learn character by going through the handshake line. If anything, that's going through it like that without any sort of intervention or coaching, that's malforming their character.   That's teaching them when things don't go well, that it's okay for them not to be a big boy or a big girl and look somebody in the eye and congratulate them. What needs to happen? An adult needs to step in and say, hey, as we go through the handshake line, whether you win or lose, here's how we do it with class.   We shake somebody's hand, we look them in the eye, and we say good game. Even if in those moments we don't actually mean it, we still show them dignity and honor. And then when we're done going through the handshake line, guess what we're going to do?   We're going to run down the refs who are trying to get in their car and get out of here, and we're going to give them a high five and say, thank you so much for reffing today. That stuff needs to be taught. Our kids don't just come out of the womb knowing how to do that.   We have to teach them how to do it. Sometimes good coaches will do that, but the more and more we get sucked up into the sports industrial complex, we're getting well-intentioned coaches, but we're getting coaches who care more about the big W, the win, than the character formation stuff that happens.   Ed Uszynski: (43:49 - 45:27) They need to keep hearing it over and over again. I have a ninth grade Bible study in my house the other day with athletes and a whole bunch of my son's basketball team. Exactly what Brian just said, I actually was like, wow, I've got them here.   There was a big blow up at a game the other day, and we wound up talking about it. I said, I'm going to take this opportunity actually to say what Brian just said. When you go through a handshake line, this is how you go through it.   I watched what happened in the game a couple days later. Basically, they did the exact opposite of what I told them to do, and they lost. It was just what Brian said.   They went through limp handed. They didn't look anybody in the face, and they weren't even saying anything. I just chuckled to myself, and you know how this is as a parent.   They may or may not do it. Of course, those aren't my kids. I have more stewardship over my child, who actually, he is doing what I've asked him to do because I've re-emphasized it across time now.   It's not a failure because they didn't do what I said. Again, the pouty side of me wants to be like, forget it. I'm just not even going to try anymore.   It's like, no, they're kids. That was the first time they've heard that. They're going to do what their patterns have, the muscle memory that's been created by their patterns, just like we do as adults.   The next time I have a chance to bring that up again, I'm not going to shame them. I'm just going to go over it again with them. Here's how we do it.   It's super hard to do this, guys, when you just want to be violent with people or you want to cry. You got to pull yourself together. That's what big men do.   That's what big women do in life. They pull themselves together in those moments and do the right thing.   Brian Smith: (45:28 - 46:01) You don't know whether the fifth time you say it is going to stick or the 50th time. Your responsibility as the Christ-following parent is to do it the sixth time and the seventh time and the seventh time and trust that God is going to take those moments and do what he does. We're ultimately not responsible for our kids' behavior.   We're responsible for pointing them in the right direction, and then hopefully, yeah, the Holy Spirit steps in and transforms and changes and convicts in those moments, but it might take some time.   Ed Uszynski: (46:02 - 47:47) Tom Bilyeu So that's how you push back, Laura. You were asking that. How do we push back without being just completely involved in it or going for the same ride that everybody else is going for?   There's just little moments like that scattered throughout. Literally, every day that my kids are involved in youth sports, the car ride over, what happens on the way home, how we talk about it, what happens during the game and what we wind up talking about out of that, the side conversations that happen that just get brought up apart from games of how we interact with people and so-and-so looks like they're struggling. What do you know about that?   That's how we push back, that in our corner of the bleachers, oh, how we interact with other parents. We haven't even talked about that yet, that I can take an interest in more than just my own kid in the bleachers and spend way more energy actually in cheering for other kids and just trying to give them confidence and spend way less time trying to direct that at my own child who knows that I'm there. In fact, my side kid has said he doesn't want to hear my voice during the game.   It distracts him. He's like, I'd much rather that you cheer for other people. It's like, okay.   Having questions ready for other parents during timeouts and as you sit there for hours together, what do you talk about? Well, I could be the one that actually initiates substantive conversations over time with them and asks them about what's going on in different parts of their life. And in having done that, people want to talk.   They want a safe place actually to share what's going on in their So let me be the sports minister. Let me take on that identity and actually care about other people.   Laura Dugger: (47:49 - 49:47) I love that. Even that practical idea of just coming to each game, maybe with a different question, ready to open up those conversations. And I'll share a quick story as well.   Our two oldest daughters recently just gave cheerleading a try at a local Christian school that allows homeschool kids to participate. And this is an overt way that somebody chooses the different way. So, it's the coach of the basketball team.   His name is Cole. And at the end of every game, we saw him consistently throughout this season when it was a home game, whether their team won or lost, he would ask them, okay, shut off the scoreboard. It's all blank.   He gathers both teams. As soon as the game is over teams, cheerleaders, the stands stay filled with all the parents. And he says, this is not our identity.   The world and Satan, our enemy, who's very real. He wants us to put our identity here, but it's not here. You made us better tonight by the way that you played and you were able to shine Jesus.   And we're going to go a step further and we're going to do what we call attaways. So, he's like, all right, boys, you open it up. And his team is trained.   They say to the other team, Hey, number 23, what's your name? I loved how you pushed me so much harder tonight and says, my name's Ben. And so, their Attaway is, Hey, Ben.   And everybody goes, Hey, Ben. Yeah, Ben. Yeah, Ben Attaway.   And everybody just erupts in clapping. And the other team is always blown away and they are just grinning, whether they just lost. So, the boys go through that for a while and then they open it up to the other team and they start sharing Attaways.   And then they open it up to the crowd and the parents are able to say, I see the way you modeled Jesus by being selfless with the ball or whatever it is. So, Cole said that his college coach did that many years ago and he's passed that on. And I love that's one way to redeem the game.   Ed Uszynski: (49:47 - 51:39) Wow. Beautiful. Beautiful.   Yeah. That's amazing. And, you know, I, so Brian and I talk about this too.   And I coached at a Christian school. So, we, we think that it's really important if you're going to play sports and you're going to be a Christian coach that you actually take the game seriously. And that we actually are here to compete and we are here to try to win.   There's nothing wrong with that. And we're going to pursue excellence when we show up with our bodies, and we train for this sport and we're going to try to win. Cause I think sometimes we end up kind of going all or nothing, especially within our Christian circles.   We're uncomfortable with that. And it's like, yes, do that. And on the backside of that to do what that coach did is amazing.   It's that, that is, that is exactly what we're saying. We're also going to try to form our souls in the midst of this. We're going to try to win on the scoreboard.   Okay. The game's over, we lost, we won, whatever. There's more going on here than just that. And can we access that together? And again, that's so rare. Probably everybody listening has never even heard of anything like what you just said.   It would be amazing if a bunch of people did, but that's what we're saying. Let's do more of that. Let's find ways to have more of those conversations in our sphere of influence.   Maybe we're not the coach, but we can do that in our car. We can do that when we're at dinners with the other, with other players and other team, you know, we, we can do that. We can take that kind of initiative.   If we have those categories in our mind, instead of just being frustrated that my kid didn't get to play as much tonight. And I'm that bugs me. It's like, okay, it can bug you.   And now I gotta, I gotta be a big boy and get more out of this than just being frustrated that he or she didn't get to play as much. It's hard.   Laura Dugger: (51:40 - 52:11) Absolutely. Well, and like you guys are doing having Bible studies outside of the, the team that you can instill values in that way and share scripture that they're memorizing to go out there with excellence for the Lord. So, I love all of that.   And I've got just a few quick questions, just kind of for perspective. I want to draw out something from the book. Is it true that young athletic success predicts adult athletic success?   Brian Smith: (52:13 - 53:51) It is not true. This is, this is not a hot take. This is researched back more and more research they're doing on this.   And they're finding that there's not a direct correlation between a young elite athlete and them continuing that up into the right trajectory and being an elite athlete later in life in large part, because when puberty hits, like everything is a game changer. So, this is, I found this fascinating and this is probably going to be new to you too. This just came out today.   At the time we're doing this podcast, the winter Olympics is going on in Norway. It's just like, they're killing it. Nor Norway's youth sports system.   This is wild. They give participation trophies for all the kids. They don't keep score until 13 years old.   They don't do any national travel competitions, no posting youth sports results online. So, there's no online presence of youth sport results. And their country motto is joy of sport for all.   And they're, they're killing it right now in the Olympics. So, like, that's not to say, like you got to follow their model and then you're going to win all these gold medals, but it is, there is something to just let the kids have fun. And the longer they play sport, because it's fun, the better opportunity you're actually going to have to see them blossom and develop some of these God-given gifts that they might have.   Don't expect it to come out before they're 13. Even if it does, there's no guarantee that it's going to continue on until they're 23. Just let them have fun.   Ed Uszynski: (53:52 - 55:55) Brian, we, Brian and I got to speak at a church the other day about this topic. And there was a couple that came up afterwards and they asked the question of what, so when do you think we should let our kids play organized sports or structured sports? And so again, Brian and I are careful.   Like I, there's no, there's no one size fits all answer to that. We would suggest as late as possible, wait as long as possible. Because once you start doing structured sport where there's a coach and you have to be at practices and the games are structured and there's reps, it just cuts away all the possibility they have to just play and just to go up to the YMCA and just play for three hours at whatever it is that they like to do.   And they said, well, it's encouraging to hear that they said, because we, we actually are way more into just developing their bodies physically. And so, we do dance with them, and we do rock climbing and they were kind of outdoorsy people, and they just started listing off all these things they do because we want them to become strong in their bodies, and learn to love activity like that. And I just thought, again, that's, that probably would cause a lot of people to freak out to hear that, that they have eight, nine-year-olds that aren't on teams yet.   They're just, they're training their bodies to appreciate physicality and to become coordinated and to, you know, to get better at movement. And it's like, what sport is that not going to be super helpful in five years from now, even when they're 12, 13 years old. And now they really do want to play one sport, and they do want to be on a team.   They're going to be way ahead of the kids actually that just sat on benches or stood in the outfield, you know, day after day after day at practices. Again, that's maybe hard to hear, but maybe there's some adjustments that need to be made again; to give ourselves permission to say, we don't have to get on that train right now. You don't have to, your kid's not going to be behind.   They actually could be ahead. If you do the kinds of things we just talked about.   Laura Dugger: (55:56 - 56:11) I love that. And even that example with what it looks like played out with Norway and also, do you have any other quick tips just for instilling and cultivating a heart of gratitude and youth sports rather than entitlement?   Brian Smith: (56:13 - 57:33) I'm a high school cross country and track coach, and I have kids on my team who want to get faster at running, but instead of running, they want to lift weights and they want to do plier metrics. So, there's, yes, there's a spot for that. But the way you get better at running is to run.   You got to run more miles and more miles. And I think gratitude is similar. That gratitude, part of it is a, it's a feeling, but it's also a muscle that we can flex even if we don't feel it.   And so, I would encourage parents who are trying to instill gratitude into their kids to give them practical things like, hey, after practice, just go shake your coach's hand or give them a fist bump and tell them, thanks for practice today, coach. That that's a disciplined way to practice gratitude that will hopefully build the muscle where they're, they're using it later in life. After a game, I taught my kids this when they were young and they still do it today.   Go shake a ref's hand. I mentioned this earlier, just a really, really practical way to show thankfulness and gratitude to somebody who really doesn't get a whole lot of gratitude pointed at them during a game or after a game. If anything, they have people chasing them through the parking lot for other reasons.   I want my kids to be chasing them down to give them a fist bump or a high five. And so, gratitude is something that we can just practice practically. And hopefully the discipline practice will lead to a delight and actually doing it.   Ed Uszynski: (57:34 - 59:39) And how do we cultivate an inner posture? Cause I tend to be a cup half empty type person. I'm a, I'm a whiner by nature and a continuous improvement.   There's always something wrong. And I'm, it's easy for me to find those things just as a person. I'm not even saying that as a dad or a coach or anything.   And it's been super helpful to me in the last decade, even to just like, I can choose to shift that. There, there is, there's a list of things that are broke, but there is always a list of things that are good. There's always something good here to be found.   And even as I've tried to like, again, tip the scales more in that direction, I can keep pushing that out of my kids. So, so this, you know, my ninth-grade son tends to just like, he doesn't like a whole bunch of what's going on in basketball right now. So, I keep asking him if he's having fun.   He says, no, like, why not? Or like, who did, why did you not have fun today? So, it's just the same thing every day.   I'm like, okay, who did you enjoy even being with today? Nobody. And I'm like, dude, I don't believe that actually.   I just, I don't believe that. There was somebody that you had some moment with today that you enjoyed, or you wouldn't want to keep going back up there because, and he does. So, give me a name.   Okay. Lenny. What happened with Lenny that was fun? And I make him name it. Like I'm, I'm, I'm trying to coach him through it. And sure enough, he does have some sentences of what was fun today.   And it's like, good, let's, let's at least hold onto that in the midst of all the other stuff that's not right. Let's choose to see the thing that was good and that you enjoyed and that we could be thankful for. Not everybody got to have that today.   Again, I have to have my, I have to be the parent. I have to be the discipler. I have to be in, you know, in charge of my own soul that wants to be negative all the time and say, nope, we're going to, we're going to choose gratitude today because the Bible tells us to do that.   There's something about that posture that opens the door for the gospel to be expressed through us. So, let's practice.   Laura Dugger: (59:40 - 59:50) Well said, and there's so much we could continue learning from both of you. Where can we go after this chat to learn more from each one of you?   Brian Smith: (59:52 - 1:00:14) Yeah, we do a lot of our writing online at thechristianathlete.com. And so, if you go there, you can see articles that are specifically written for parents, for coaches, for athletes, all around this idea of what does it look like to integrate faith and sport together? So, the

Today's episode with Halley Kim explores the intersection of birth, power, and the Divine. Moving away from the "God in control" narrative, we dive into feminist theology, spiritual trauma, and the midwifery model of "power with." It's time to stop waiting to be saved and start realizing that the power to bring forth new life—and a new world—has been within us all along.

Topics:  Character Change, Charlie Brown, The Will Of God, Hot-Take Christmas Village, Blessing/Cursing, Shock Jock, Learn Vs. Practice BONUS CONTENT: David Movie, Tom Bombadill   Quotes: "He can take your missteps and create a story that's beautiful." "Maybe God's will is a wide field." "I take my 2 cents and act like it's a dollar." "This is all coming to a great spiritual point." "Jesus Trusts His Father."