Seth: 0:05

Hey, good morning everyone. Welcome to the third episode of the Followers of Christ podcast. We're very excited to have you guys here today. If you've had a chance to check out our other two episodes, then you'll be very familiar with kind of the format that we follow, how we each go through and just kind of do a brief introduction part, we spend some time talking through some scripture about today's topic and then we just really have a good conversation. We just want to take a moment to remind you guys that we do want this to be a conversation. So if you have any feedback, if you have any questions or if you just want to interact, just say hey, anything like that.

Seth: 0:42

We do have a couple different ways that you can get in contact with us. Our first one is just generally our website, so that is focpodcom. You can also reach us at our email contact at focpodcom. Or if you're listening to this on Spotify, apple podcasts and I believe it's even on our website player, you should see a link at the top of the episode description that says send us a message. If you click on that, it will give you an option to just open up your text message app and you can shoot us a quick text with just a message, a question, anything you want to say. But we do just want to invite you guys to interact with us, just talk with us. We want to make this almost like a two-way conversation and we would just love to hear from you guys. But just to kind of get into a couple things here, we have our normal hosts with us today. We do have Mr Stephan, mike Jonathan and my name is Seth and we're going to move over to Mr Jonathan here with our opening prayer and gospel message.

Jonathan: 1:45

Hey, good morning everyone. This is Jonathan, and before I present the gospel, if we could just pray Dear Lord, I thank you for this day and I thank you for everything that you've done. Lord, we thank you so much for just giving us life. Lord, I ask that you use me to present your gospel, Lord, and may the words that come out of my mouth not be mine, but yours, Father, and I pray that it resonates with somebody and I pray that you just bless us and bless the time, Lord, in your name, Amen.

Jonathan: 2:23

So one of the things that I was kind of struggling with this morning was how do I present the gospel to people who have not heard about it? And I wrestled with the Lord and I was like maybe I can go from Genesis all the way up to the resurrection, from Genesis all the way up to the resurrection. But then the Lord was laying it on my heart to say, no, just kind of keep it simple. So I'm just going to try and keep it simple and the best I can. So I'm going to be reading a little bit out of John, chapter 3. But the question that comes to mind is what is the gospel? And the gospel is it's essentially Jesus's life.

Jonathan: 3:13

In the book of Genesis, chapter one, we hear that God created the heavens and the earth. And then in Genesis, chapter three, sin entered into the world. So we go because of our sins, we are separated from God, and so we needed a person to bridge the gap between us and God, and that gap was Jesus. And I know everybody has heard this verse, but if you read it really slowly it's very, very powerful. And I'm going to read from John 3, 16. And I'm going to read from John 3, 16. And it says 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. What does that mean? It means that you and I, what does that mean? It means that you and I, we came into the world. We're sinners right, I'm a sinner, my co-hosts are sinners, but we've been saved by grace and through faith. And so Jesus came to the earth and he died a gruesome death and he bled on Calvary Y'all.

Jonathan: 4:49

I was reading in Isaiah, chapter 50 and also 53. And Isaiah was describing, way before Jesus even came onto the scene, how Jesus was going to die and how gruesome it was. I won't get into all the details, but just thinking about that I was just blown away, because it says that he was unrecognizable. Nobody could recognize who he was. He wasn't this hot shot fashion model guy. No, this man was unrecognizable. You wouldn't even know who this Jesus was.

Jonathan: 5:39

But he came to the world and he died on a cross for my sins and your sins, and our sins were nailed to him and I just thank god for that, because that's not the end of the story. It goes on to say that that they took Jesus' body and they buried him in a tomb or placed it in a tomb, and he was dead for three days. But this is the good news On the third day he rose again. And that just gives me chills to know that we serve a God who came, who sent his son and on the third day he rose again. So in a nutshell, God sent his son to die on a cross for my sins and your sins and the whole world's sins, and in three days he rose again. So that's the gospel.

Seth: 6:52

Jonathan, thank you. That is using that one verse. It truly is powerful because people, that's a very common memory verse. It's usually one of the first ones that maybe kids are asked to memorize as a part of a program at their church. But it is so powerful if you just slow down and you actually go through it and you think about what that means. So I think that's awesome what you just shared. So, thank you. And just kind of rolling through our normal format here, mr Stephan is going to tell you guys a little bit about why we're doing this, what we're hoping to achieve with this podcast and our mission here.

Steffen: 7:33

Good morning everybody. I just want to chime back in on Brother Jay over there. Man, that was well said, brother, excellent. Thank you. Man, that was well said, brother, excellent, thank you. Moving forward. Our mission statement is to reflect the love of Jesus by walking with our neighbors, nurturing faith, curiosity and community along the way. This is our goal, this is what we're striving for. We are praying that we reach somebody and we are here for our neighborhood, for our community. We are here for you. We love you, thank you.

Seth: 8:20

All right, and then we got Mr Mike, who's just going to give a quick introduction to what we're going to be talking about today.

Mike: 8:27

Hey, what's going on guys? It's Mike here. Today's episode is called Heart Posture and Dealing with Sin and it seems like for the past month maybe a little more than that that it's been kind of like an inner dialogue between the four of us and we just feel like it's the spirit telling us to you know, give it, giving us a topic. So it's a serious one. So we pretty much we're, you know, we're using the same format. We've been doing is, uh, we all gathered our own verse and we're going to discuss. You know, hopefully it'll all make sense, but yeah, so heart posture and dealing with sin.

Seth: 9:18

All right, and just like a boomerang. Mr Mike just finished speaking and he's about to be the first one to lead us off here.

Mike: 9:23

So coming right back to you, mike, All right, hope y'all are doing well, I think for my verses we've discussed, we've kind of like went over it. Mine is Romans 7.15 and Romans 8.1. The first one I chose was Romans 7.15. It's kind of a tongue twister so I'm going to read it. It's from the NIV. I do not understand what I do, but what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.

Mike: 9:58

Old Mr Google says this verse illustrates a fundamental conflict within human nature, often interpreted as a battle between the spirit and the flesh, or the will of, or the will to follow God's law and to, and the weakness of human nature. I've also heard it said is fallen nature. You know this life is a constant struggle. You know this life is a constant struggle and the Bible says that. You know it's a spiritual war that we're fighting. It's not just a physical war. You know, when we look on the news it's all physical. You know, but really you know they talk about it as it was physical, but there's a spiritual war going on. The Bible talks about the flesh is always battling the spirit and the spirit is always battling the flesh. Paul was talking about struggling and that he does like. Why does he do what he doesn't, or why does he do what he doesn't want to do? But he, he doesn't do what he wants to do, just living by faith, walking by faith, walking in his spirit. But, brother of mine, you know, he told me about like fleeting, feeding your flesh and feeding your spirit. And often for me, I like, I feed flesh. I can only speak for myself and I, you know, it kind of relates to this verse. Yeah, I don't know if I touched based on that, if I like, made any sense. But, um, for my second verse I chose eight, one chapter eight, verse one. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Mike: 11:47

Most of my walk with the Lord, I've kind of beat myself up, you know, it reminds me of in the Bible, where that I don't know his name of in the bible, where that I don't know his name, but where this, this paralyzed man was sitting at a near a pool and, like, I think, every, every now and again, there would be an angel who would come by and touch the water and bless the water and, like the first person who would touch it would be healed. And this paralyzed man was there for like 38 years and Jesus comes by like out of nowhere. He's like hey, do you want to be whole? He's like, yeah, and he was like there you go, you're whole. Also, there's this one passage where this guy they brought this guy through the roof of a house and there were so many people in there that's like the only way they could get to Jesus.

Mike: 12:50

And Jesus said you know, your sins are forgiven, you know, and you're healed. And then the Pharisees were like hey, you have the authority to forgive sins. He was like, yeah, man, I'm paraphrasing here. But he was like man'm paraphrasing here. But he was like man, what is easier to say, you know your sins are forgiven, or take up your mat and walk? And he was like your sins are forgiven, and take up your mat and walk, and that's you know. That was me, like I know my sins were forgiven, but I wasn't taking my mat up and walk. I was still feeling that shame and guilt. So what I'm saying is that ask God to search your heart and reveal sin, ask for forgiveness and move on. I believe that is part of our freedom. And so just take up your mat and walk. You know what I mean. That's all I got to say wow, brother, that was great.

Steffen: 13:56

thank you, thank you. Thank you, thank you, fellas. When I was uh, you know, researching these two verses and then verses, god was putting on my heart pretty much what you just said, brother, but also, too, I had something that was shared with me that I would love to read to y'all. That actually spoke volumes, because when I read this, that just overtook everything that I thought right. So it says I link the two verses together and tie them to the root of the gospel and the fruit that comes from our rebirth. In fact, to me it helps to read the last part of chapter 7 and the first part of chapter 8 all together.

Steffen: 14:51

When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, it is the start, not the destination. At that point, we receive the Holy Spirit in us, our spiritual rebirth. At that point, we received the Holy Spirit in us, our spiritual rebirth. Our new nature is of the Spirit and it is life. We don't go from bad to good at that point. Rather, we go from dead to alive. The new birth brings forth life in the Holy Spirit, yet our flesh still remains. There is no condemnation in Christ Life, but there is still sin in our flesh Death.

Steffen: 15:38

This battle continues, which is what I see going on at the last part of chapter seven. We want to do good, which is our new spiritual nature. Yet we don't. That is our fleshly nature. But this is not the end either. The Holy Spirit works in us not to condemn but to convict, and helps us overcome the flesh and but the fleshly desires to death, little by little, one day at a time which brings to mind Philippians 1.6. And I am sure of this that he who began a good work in you would bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Steffen: 16:37

So the battle continues, but Christ is already won. At that day of Jesus Christ we will be just like him. Until then, we rely on the Holy Spirit to help us learn to set aside the desires of the flesh. So we pray for help. As Jesus said, watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit, indeed, is willing, but the flesh is weak. Matthew 26, 41. Fellas, when I heard that, that just well. When I read that, I'm sorry that just blew my mind and just took over everything. Lord, that spoke to me in volumes. But, gentlemen, that is all I got on that one.

Seth: 17:25

But, gentlemen, that is all I got on that one. Yeah, I mean, as you were going through kind of talking about some stuff that you were studying for this, one of the resources that I've just learned about through one of our other Bible studies.

Seth: 17:43

You know, Philip and Jason. They introduced us to the Blue Letter Bible in our Saturday morning study and so this is something that I like to just kind of lean into, especially for things like this. And they got commentaries. If you guys listening have never used the Blue Letter Bible, it's an app on your phone or you can go to their website, blueletterbibleorg, and got pretty much all the major versions of there on. The Bible has great options for just tying directly into commentaries.

Seth: 18:05

But one of the things about the Romans 7 verse 15 on here from David Guzik's commentary, he just said this and I think this is just a great way to kind of summarize it, and he's talking about Paul specifically in this. But this really breaks it down for me how I think that we all feel. But he's saying Paul's problem isn't a lack of desire, he wants to do what is right. His problem isn't knowledge, he knows what the right thing is. His problem is a lack of power. He lacks power because the law gives no power and basically, if you read earlier into Romans 7, it's speaking specifically about the law and sin and dealing with the law. And another follow-up to what he's saying here is that the law says here are the rules and you had better keep them, but it gives us no power for keeping the law. That is where everything changes once Jesus comes on the scene. Everything changes when we accept Christ as our Savior and then we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. It is not our power, it's not something that is inherent to our human nature that makes it possible for us to try to walk in Christ in dealing with these sins. It is completely by the power of Christ and the Holy Spirit and that's something that, when you're looking at sin, that's just ruling in your life and it just seems to be rooted in such a concrete, strong way. Such a concrete, strong way that it's not something that you can just kind of grit your teeth through. It's not like the old locker room speech you get from a football coach about trying to take on a team that's bigger than you, because that's just not how you deal with sin. You don't just leave it all on the field and go at it.

Seth: 20:03

There's a deeper side of that and that is leaning into Christ, understanding that I have this nature. That's part of the fallen world, as Jonathan was mentioning in his gospel presentation. You know chapter three of the Bible and it's coming in right at the beginning, and this is not something that's that's and this is not something that's new. It's not something that's new for our generation in the past hundred years. No, it's humanity as a whole, and there's only one source of power that we can draw from to deal with this. And that's just how, that's how, especially for me, that I have to approach it, and that's just how, that's how, especially for me, that I have to approach it.

Seth: 20:44

If I'm struggling with one, it's constant prayer, it's constant surrender and understanding that it's not anything I can just grit my teeth and get through Like that's not. It might work for like a day or two, but I'm going to fall right back into it because it's not getting to the heart of the issue, which is what is in my heart? Where is that root of that sin? It might be something that I don't even notice, it might be something that's rooted so deeply that I'm completely blind to it, but that's where the Holy Spirit, praying, spending regular time with God, daily, reading the Bible, staying in the Word God will reveal these things to you over time he will show you hey, this sin you've been dealing with for a long time. It's rooted in you and here's where that's coming from. Here's how we need to deal with it.

Seth: 21:40

And then you surrendering to the power of letting him deal with it. It could mean a bunch of different things. There's an infinite number of possibilities of how that could come about. But when we are in Christ, when we make that moment to follow him, we're turning away from that sin. And, yes, we're still going to fall all the time. We're going to have moments where we fall back into our old habits. But it's what do you do once you see that, once you feel that conviction? Are you, are you turning to God and surrendering to God? Or are you trying to, like, hold that yourself? And if you're trying to hold it yourself and try and deal with it yourself and not bring God into it, it's. It's going to be a losing battle every single time, but I think I think that's about all I have.

Jonathan: 22:26

Yeah, man, that was some really good stuff. All of you guys nailed something that I've kind of been struggling with, and it's it's how do we deal with our sin. Right, and you know, I won't say too much right now because I want to hold off until it's my turn a little bit later, but something that I picked up. What Seth said was you have to get to the root of it. You have to. You can't necessarily just cut down a big giant tree, right, like you got to take little steps at a time in order for that tree, or that. I'm using a tree as an analogy. But that's sin, and eventually it will come down. But it's not like, like Sethh said, it's not an overnight thing. You're not just. The sin's not gonna go away, it's still gonna linger. Like mike said and steph said, it's a constant battle. You know it's, but when we give it to the, that's when he comes and fights for us. And that's all I got to say.

Seth: 23:44

Great way to close that out, jonathan, thank you, and Mike, you got any last thoughts, buddy.

Mike: 23:51

No, man, I think I'm good. The only thing I can say is I like what everybody said, but what stood out to me was Stefan, when you said that you know we go from dead to alive, and I was trying to actually look for this song. It reminds me of this song, this worship song, but I couldn't find it. Yeah, man, I got nothing.

Seth: 24:17

I think there's probably a lot of worship songs that definitely tie into that, that theme there, because it's a powerful theme. So it's exactly what you're getting into. But I'll bring us over to the next part here. So I have a verse and then I have a passage just kind of talking about the heart posture with sin, and so my verse is 1 Timothy 1, 15, and I'm reading out of the ESV. It says the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. And then following up with that, I think there's a powerful example of approaching just sin, sin in our lives, how we come to God with it, how we spend time in prayer when dealing with sin. When dealing with sin and this is out of Luke, it's going to be Luke 18, verses 9 through 14.

Seth: 25:31

And this is a Pharisee and a tax collector in this scene, and so for some of you who may not be familiar with the Pharisees, basically they were the people who were considered kind of the who's who of the religious society in Jesus' time. They were the ones who upheld the law and they were very focused on the law, to the point to where they completely missed the point of most of the reason why the law was there. They were so obsessed with keeping the law that they missed just anything beyond just keeping it for the sake of keeping it, and it was to the detriment of a lot of people. It basically made them spiritually dead because they were just so focused on. I got to do ABC every single day and if I miss it then that's game over, and then same thing for everybody else. If you guys don't do it, then you'll be shunned, you'll be treated badly, you'll be treated as an outcast.

Seth: 26:25

If you read through one of the Gospels Gospel of John, Gospel of Luke you'll see several examples of Jesus having encounters with the Pharisees. But in this passage I'm going to go through and read it real quick so, pharisees, but in this passage I'm going to go through and read it real quick. So it starts off with verse 9. He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust adulterers or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get, but the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven but beat his breast saying God, be merciful to me, a sinner, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. Humbles himself will be exalted. And that is a common theme throughout several of the parables, throughout the gospels, is that for everyone who exalts himself, he will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. When the tax collector came in on this scene, he knows he's a sinner. He's not bragging, he's not coming in trying to say look at everything that I've done, oh, I'm so great.

Seth: 28:02

The Pharisee. When they come in, it's not in a posture of repentance, it's not in a posture of trying to deal with the sin in their lives. It's a comparison game. And I know that sometimes when we're dealing with sin it can feel like a comparison game. We can think oh well, at least you know I may have these couple things going on over here, but at least I'm not like that guy over there, like he's really got it just bad. You know, dealing with all these different things. He's constantly in trouble, constantly, you know, hurting his family. It's just not good. At least I'm not like him. And that is the worst posture to have when it comes to dealing with sin, because it's not a game of comparison, it's not a game of well. I'm just trying to make my sin less than somebody else's and so that makes me better.

Seth: 28:56

No, romans 3.23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Every single one of us have sinned. It's not our jobs to try to compare and contrast our sins with others. We bring those to Christ, every single one of us. He came into this world to save sinners and as Paul was saying in 1 Timothy 1.15, of whom I am the foremost, paul is coming in this saying that I am one of the worst sinners. And if you know anything about Paul's previous life, before he became Paul, absolutely I mean he was persecuting Christians, he was just all sorts of things.

Seth: 29:40

But that's the posture that we all need to approach it Not trying to justify, not trying to say look at all these good things I've done so that should count for something. No, we've all sinned, and it is only by God's grace that we are saved from that sin, by what Christ did on the cross for each of us, and that needs to be our reminder every time, every time we fall into it. Just remember for one thing if you are in Christ, you're not going to face condemnation. You have a Savior who's paid the price for your sins. Savior who's paid the price for your sins. But you also need to approach this in a way that you are confessing that sin. You are bringing it to Christ every time. You are constantly just approaching it out of humility and being humble, not trying to exalt yourself or come at it from a higher level. But I think that's pretty much all I got, guys.

Steffen: 30:42

You know what fellas, when I read this it popped in my head to when I was growing up, right, I grew up in Detroit and we had some challenges. I should say some economic challenges, financial challenges. Say some economic challenges, financial challenges. You know, my mother got arrested so she worked her heart out, working two jobs trying to take care of three boys, right, and so you know, we were always struggling. So you know, and you know that old expression kids are mean, that is so true. Old expression kids are mean. That is so true Because I remember, like in middle school, all the comments that were being made about man you know, look how he dress and you know, because we never had nothing, nothing which caused for me, you know, my heart was full of hatred.

Steffen: 31:38

I was always mad at the world you never knew it because I didn't go around cussing, screaming, yelling, none of that nonsense. You know, I didn't do any of that, but I was quick to blow up if you crossed me or if you did something to me. If I, you know, if you said something that offended me, I would just go in a whole other direction and it would surprise everybody because they said man, this quiet kid, he has another side to him, right? So my heart at that time as a kid was full of hatred. Full of hatred. I was just mad at the world because of the hand that we were dealt.

Steffen: 32:19

You know, because of where we were in life, you always have that thought like, man, how come? You know this family over here, they have this and I don't have that, and they're doing this. You know, that thought as a kid ran rampant through my head all the time. You know, it's like for Christmas, right? So as a kid, for Christmas we would get one box and inside that they came from Goodwill. Right, they have one pair of pants, a shirt, a toy and a piece of candy, right, like a candy bar. So I mean that's all we were able to afford, that's all we could get back then, right, like a candy bar. So I mean that's all we were able to afford, that's all we could get back then, right? So, as you can imagine, like I stated earlier, that just caused a lot of problems for me, which had my heart just full of all kind of hatred, all kind of hatred, right.

Steffen: 33:13

So the and that was a struggle that was, that was a definite struggle, so, but that was a struggle, that was a definite struggle, but that was back then. I've had God open up the eyes of my heart and you would never know, by talking to me today, the stuff that happened to me as a kid. By talking to me today, the stuff that happened to me as a kid, all right, because I mean all that stuff that happened caused a lot of altercations and trouble in school, all kind of stuff, right, but you know I can't go into any details, of course, but that had played a that shaped me and put me in the spot where I am today, in my heart I had no idea as a kid, of course.

Steffen: 34:02

I just knew that something had to change and I was just mad and, you know, lashing out whatever the situation calls for. But as I got older and God had revealed so much to me I mean just all the little things I'd never thought about how much of a how he had his hand over my life the entire time. I had to walk through that stage of life to be where I am right now. Right now, my heart now is full of love. Now do I say that? Of course I do. Of course I do, we all do. Now my challenges are a whole lot different now as an adult, and we all have different struggles, different challenges.

Steffen: 34:56

We all get attacked every day. If you're not getting attacked, if you're not having a spiritual attack, you may want to look at your life. Something's going on. So I mean the spiritual attacks are not always full blown. There could be the enemy just whispering in your ear, just causing that doubt, trying to make you fear something, a situation at work, or you know a situation in your house, or you know just little things slowly but surely creeping in your head, trying to take your eyes off of God, trying to take your heart from God. He can never do that, but he's trying, he is always trying. So, fellas, I'll tell you this.

Steffen: 35:46

I would love to close this with Mark 2.17. It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. That's us, that is me, that is all my brothers, my co-hosts, all of us. Lord, we need you, fellas. That's all I got. Oh, wait, wait, wait, hold on, sorry.

Steffen: 36:18

Let me go to the example of that parable that you made, the one that you talked about from Luke. So you know which is a great parable. Like you said, there's many of examples. And like Luke 16, the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Luke 16, 27-28. He answered Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them so that they would not also come to this place of torment. But Abraham replies that they already have Moses and the prophets, and if they won't listen to them, they wouldn't even be convinced if someone rose from the dead. Luke 16, 29 through 31. That's a powerful message. We have the Holy Spirit in us. God is here. All we have to do is listen. All we have to do is just obey. Talk to God man. Turn your heart towards God. I can't tell you how important that is. That will change your life. Now, that's all I got.

Mike: 37:46

I think, Stefan, I think you need a. I need your own, you need your own radio show man. You got that voice. You know what I'm saying he needs to.

Jonathan: 37:57

he needs to be like on the, a sports commentator, oh yeah.

Steffen: 38:02

It's a grandpa and the chicken wings. You know what I mean.

Mike: 38:06

WKJV radio Christian podcast radio Sponsored by chicken.

Steffen: 38:11

Wings, wings, wings, wings. Don't just eat more, eat a lot.

Seth: 38:16

Eat a lot more.

Steffen: 38:16

All right If anybody out there is looking for their next commercial announcer?

Seth: 38:18

Or eat a lot, eat a lot, you do All right.

Mike: 38:19

If anybody out?

Seth: 38:20

there is looking for their next commercial announcer. We are farming out, Mike, so you?

Steffen: 38:26

know if you want that. Yes, hey, I second that vote.

Jonathan: 38:30

Yeah, mike has just volunteered, all right.

Mike: 38:34

So, anyways, my response to that is I think you took my idea, man. Anyways, my response to that is I think you took my idea, man, but I got in my notes that Jesus came for the sick and not the healthy, and I think, like for me, I only speak for myself. So when I say we, I mean me, just flip over the W and you get me. But yeah, often, like I'll just check off the boxes of my day, it's like, oh okay, I pray, check, read the bible, check I'm good, you know. Or I put on a worship, worship music, you know I'm good. And then, like something bad will happen and I'll just, oh, I will tip over the table of my life. But yeah, man, my other notes. We have all fallen short of the glory of God and no one is better nor worse than the other.

Mike: 39:32

I want to share a story about one of my coworkers. We have this group at work that we meet every Wednesday night. I remember this one, this one guy was invited and I remember him saying that that if he walked in that room he would burst into flames. And and I was thinking like, if that's any truth, then all of us would. That is like so far from the truth, you know, not a good heart posture. Yeah, man, I mean, just like Stephan said, we need to turn our hearts to God and just receive this free gift that God has given us. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Just receive it, believe it. You know, that's it, man. That's all it takes.

Jonathan: 40:24

Man, there's so much that I really want to say, but I'm kind of holding back until my turn. But I will chime in and say that you know, as you guys have heard, every one of these gentlemen they're, we're all pointing you in the right direction. It's the Holy Spirit that has to convict your heart and draw you near, and that's all I got for that for right now.

Seth: 40:59

Yeah, absolutely Everything's pointing to that conviction and I just kind of want to close out by saying that there's a lot of people who, unfortunately, as they've grown up maybe around church or just around some very, very strict family members, maybe from the church who when they look at sin, they treat it it's almost treated like getting in trouble in school, kind of Like you do the bad thing, you get in trouble for it. You should go sit in the corner and feel bad about it for like two or three hours and time out, and then you come out and you write an essay about what you did. You write on the chalkboard 20 times I will not do this again. And then you go on and that's not what this is. It's not what this is. It's completely different and if that's kind of been your experience of sin to where you've felt like that, first off, some people feel like they're alone in it, they feel like they struggle with it and that they're the only one struggling with it. You're not. You're not at all. We all have different things that we struggle with all day long in different ways, different things that try to pull us left or right, and it is keeping our hearts and our minds focused on Christ. That is the only thing that keeps you grounded in that right direction of walking there. But it's not that you're being put in timeout, it's not that it's not being treated like that. That is not what's going on.

Seth: 42:35

Of course, the end result is to get to the root of that sin, to where it no longer has that foothold in your life, and it may take a long time. It may take a long time as you're working through it, but you are working through it. But you have freedom. You have freedom from that sin. You have freedom. You have freedom from that sin. You are forgiven from that sin if you are in Christ, and that's the main thing that I want to be 100% clear on is that if you are in Christ, you are forgiven. His grace is beyond anything we could ever understand, and His love is beyond anything we could ever understand.

Seth: 43:18

So, as we're talking about this, I just don't want people who've potentially kind of grown up around a culture of they're just constantly being treated like they're in trouble and they got to go sit in timeout every time they do this Like, yes, you definitely want to deal with it, but there's a way to deal with it, and that's bringing it to Christ. You don't sit in the shame of it for days upon days, upon days upon days, holding yourself in contempt, holding yourself in condemnation. You bring that to Christ every single time, every time. But, mr Jonathan, you're up next sir.

Jonathan: 43:55

So I'm going to be reading out of Judges, and this is actually a story that some of you may know. And for those who don't know, this is a story about Samson and Delilah. And to give you kind of a background of who Samson was, samson was one of the strongest warriors per se right and he was born and he grew up and at a young age he was just extremely strong. So fast forward to chapter 16. This is when Samson meets a Philistine woman and her name was Delilah. And God told Samson do not marry any Philistine women. But Samson, in knowing this, went against God's will. So I'm going to read a little bit in 16. In verse 17, it says this so he told her everything. And in verse 17, it says this head were shaved, my strength would leave me and I would become as weak as any other man. When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines come back once more. He has told me everything. So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. Having put him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair and so began to subdue him and his strength left him. Then she called Samson the Philistines are upon you. He woke from his sleep and thought I'll go out before and shake myself free. But he did not know that the Lord had left him. Then the Philistines seized him.

Jonathan: 46:41

I can't read this part, it might be too graphic, so I'm going to skip past it. Binding him with bronze shekels, they sent him to a grinding in the prison, but the hair only on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved. So a little bit about him. So there was a woman named Delilah, and two times she tried to figure out what is this man's strength? Why is he so strong? Right? And Samson told Delilah I guess you could call them white lies and she didn't believe it. She said you're lying to me and all this other stuff. And the third time Samson's like he caves and he says okay, fine. And I'm paraphrasing he says fine, I'll tell you, if you shave my head, I become weak. And so that's what happens with Samson. But the story's not over. I'm going to read in 1628 through 30. So we skip down and then it says then okay.

Jonathan: 48:06

So a little bit about this part. Is Samson's now in prison? He's with the Philistines and so he's now become their prisoner. And so this is kind of the death of Samson. And so he says it says in verse 28,. Then Samson prayed to the Lord. O sovereign Lord, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more and love me with one blow. Get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes. Then Samson reached towards the two central pillars on which the temple stood, bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. Samson said Let me die with the Philistines. Then he pushed with all his might and down came the temple on the rulers of all the people in it. Thus he killed many when he died than while he lived. And so I want to end with that and, trust me, it's all going to tie in.

Jonathan: 49:25

I'm going to go to Luke, chapter 6, 47 and 49. It says I will show you what he is like. This is Jesus talking about the wise and the foolish builders. He says I will show you what he is like, who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house who dug deep and laid the foundation on rock house. Who dug deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete. So that's a lot of reading and I apologize, but it all makes sense.

Jonathan: 50:33

I asked the gentleman if I could share this. I chose Samson and Delilah because, while I may not have a Delilah, I have a spiritual Delilah and it's a thing that we all struggle with and that's for most of us. That's lust. Just like in the story of Samson and Delilah, it took Samson down and to the part where he became a prisoner because of it. Where I'm going with the lust part is lust will kill you Unless you turn it over to the Lord. And I'm only speaking for myself because I know this is something that I've had a stronghold in my life, and this is a safe place for me to tell people, because I know my guys, the co-hosts. They have my back.

Jonathan: 51:43

But I say that because if you let just a simple sin keep running your life. It will destroy you. It will take you to your death essentially and this is something that I've been struggling with the past a long time. But one of the things that the guys mentioned is you have to take that first step, and taking that first step is never easy. It's being vulnerable with each other, but I say that to say that you can't be vulnerable if God's not in the center of it. Right, everything has to be about God. I can't try and work on my problems because I'm not Mr Phil, but you know, when you do.

Jonathan: 52:37

One of the things that I've realized is when you confess to your brothers in Christ or sisters in Christ, they're not there to judge you because they know exactly what they're struggling with, something that you don't even know, and you mentioning that can help them.

Jonathan: 52:57

It's the community that you build, and all of that just ties into what we're trying to say is when you accept Christ as your Savior, you become part of the community. That doesn't mean your battles are over. That doesn't mean that everything is scotch-free per se, right. It just means that you have to find those godly people that will stick by your side even when all odds are stacked up against you that will say, hey, we're going to walk with you through this, no matter what, and we're going to pray. And again, the foundation if you have a firm foundation in Christ, then nothing's going to be able to shake you. You're still going to press forward. And, like the guys were saying, that doesn't mean you've got a scotch-free life and everything's going to be roses and rainbows and all that. No, it means that when you go through tough times, they're there to lift you up in prayer. So I know that was kind of long, but that's all I got. What about you guys? What?

Steffen: 54:16

about you guys. Brother, that was well said. I mean very, very well said, thank you. Thank you for sharing that. You know the thing.

Steffen: 54:39

For me, you know, when I read those verses and I'm not going to lie the first thing that popped in my head is Stanton. Why, right, I mean, we knew that's part of God's plan, of course. Be like dude, you didn't learn after the first time. You know what I mean. I'm like man, come on, brother, what's going on? But yeah, you know, just being honest, you know what I mean. First time is not good, right, you? You know what I mean. First time's not good, right, you know? And then it's like, when you said that, you know I was going against God's will Like man, like, come on, brother, you know how you like, when you're at the movies and you, you know what's going to happen, you'd be like dude, what are you doing? What's going on, you know? And the oration, that's the kind of stuff that popped in my head, to be honest. But no, and I tell you this, as far as Samson, let's go to Judges 14, 5 through 6, right, so it says.

Steffen: 55:36

Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward them. The spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands, as he might have torn a young goat, but he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done. He received that gift. Samson received that gift, a powerful gift, I mean, to be able to destroy an animal with your bare hands, man, wild, right. So he was blessed. He was incredibly, incredibly blessed. But the you know, as Brother Jay just mentioned, he was disobedient, right, he pretty much broke that trust with God, pretty much. But you know, as far as us, we are also blessed. We received our gift. Our gift from God is that Holy Spirit, right. But when we are, you know, when we abuse our gift, so to speak, when we don't treat our gift with the value that it so richly deserves, we are being disobedient. What I think about sin is that sin does blind us and enslave us. So we're blinded, we're spiritually blinded and we're kept down because of our sin. Right now, when you look at people out here in everyday life, you see a person sinning, a brother, a sister, a neighbor. You see them sinning and you say, man, why are they doing that? Those are the sins that you see. But there's also sins that are not seen. That you know. When we are by ourselves and we go through whatever we go through, whatever that sin may be, or the battles we have when we're at home, when we're at work and we don't share with nobody, that's you know we are also keeping ourselves down by doing that. Like my brother just said, it is a blessing to be able to have godly brothers, sisters that you can confide in, that you can talk to and say, hey, this is what I'm struggling with, that you can talk to and to hey, this is what I'm struggling with. You know my brothers, my family, has kept me on the right track. God put them in my life for that very reason and I'm so thankful and so grateful for that Right Now.

Steffen: 58:45

On the bottom line, as far as samson and you think about it, god still used samson at the end. So he used samson. You know he can use us right? He is so good that, no matter what you said is, he can still use you. So you look at 2 Corinthians, 12, 9 through 10. But he said to me my grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Whew, that's good stuff. So how do you want to end there? Yes, sir, let's flip to Luke 6, 47 through 48, right Now, to me, that just sums up how powerful God's Word is right.

Steffen: 59:45

Let's look at John 16, 33. In this world you will have tribulations, but take heart, I have overcome the world. So life is not easy. He never said that we will have an easy life, right. You look at your life and you think, man, why do I constantly go through this? You know. You may look at someone else's life and say, man, you know, I wish I had it together, like them. Or you may say, I wonder, why do bad things happen to good people? You know everybody. We live in a broken world, right? But since sin entered the world through Adam and Eve like it was mentioned earlier, genesis 3, creation itself has been corrupted. And fellas I'm going to close with this from Ecclesiastes 7.20. Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins? Not a righteous man, nobody. He didn't say half the people, he didn't say a third of it. There is nobody. Not a man, a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. Wow, that's powerful, thomas. That's all I got.

Seth: 1:01:23

Yeah, I think you guys touched on a lot of really, really good points and I keep hearing a lot of the same themes popping up here and that's good because it's different ways that it's being said and it's good to just reinforce those from different angles, from different examples, from different places in Scripture. Because this is something that a lot of people don't go too deep into is their heart posture when they're coming and dealing with sin. Sin gets talked about a whole lot, but what is the posture of the heart when you're dealing with sin? What is a way that you can lean in to those around you when you're dealing with sin? It's not just the negative side of sin, of like, where you're dealing with the consequences, it's what are some practical ways to just work through this? What are some ways to just deal with this biblically? And I think that's where sometimes people can can just get hung up because they get so hung up on the negative side, they get so hung up on the consequences, they get so hung up on on fear around sin. And that's not to diminish it and say that none of that is valid, because it can definitely lead to a lot of those things. There are certainly consequences that can come out of the sins that we choose to follow and choose to lean into. But once again, ultimately, if you are in Christ, you are forgiven and that's the thing that needs to be the constant reminder playing in the mind.

Seth: 1:03:15

But you know, I know that Jason, jason Morgan, just a little shout out to their podcast, unraveled and Remade. If you guys haven't heard it, go check it out. It's fantastic. He talks a lot about heart posture, a lot, and that's something that he just I remember in a Bible study with him that he said that that was something that the Lord put on his heart a while back. It's focusing on the heart posture when it comes to these things. And are you looking at it? You know some people, when they fall into sin their whole, the way that they deal with it is they just say, oh Lord, forgive me, and they just keep on. They're not dealing with it at a deeper level, they're not truly addressing it at that deeper level. They just keep on. It's a very quick Lord forgive me and they go on and they just don't. They don't keep digging into that and that's where it's a heart posture.

Seth: 1:04:13

Is your heart posture kind of like what Jonathan was alluding to with Samson, like if you allow this sin to just be present and you keep leaning into it without truly addressing it, it will consume you, it will eat you alive and it will ultimately just continuously drag you down, you will not experience the fullness of your life. You will not experience just the fullness that God wants you to experience when you are living in a sin that you are just complacent with I think complacent is a good way to put it that you've just kind of accepted. Well, that's just a sin. I guess I'm just going to just you know, see, I've tried to deal with it in the past. I prayed about it a couple of times. It hadn't really worked out, so I guess I'll just, you know, I'll focus on this other one over here. That one's fine. No, no, no, no. That's that's. That's going to allow it to just continuously eat at you, and that's not what God wants. He doesn't. He doesn't want to see you, day after day, living in complacency for a sin that is just pulling you down.

Seth: 1:05:29

It can be affecting those around you Sometimes when it comes to our sin. It's not just our sin, it's not my sin. Yes, it's from me, but that doesn't mean it only impacts me. It could impact my family, it could impact my friends. Depending on what's going on, it could go even wider than that For people who are in, maybe, like a more visible sphere of influence. Maybe they're a leader in the church, they're a volunteer, they're on staff, they're a pastor and they have a sin in their life that they've become complacent with and it's just slowly eating them up. Well, eventually that's going to come to a head, and when it does, that can have far-reaching impacts. I sound like a broken record, but for me, all of this is just so important that when you are dealing with sin, it's not something that you just kind of sweep under the rug.

Seth: 1:06:41

As Jonathan said, you have community, you have the body of Christ, you have people to lean into, you have your relationship with Christ, you have prayer, you have God's word. There are so many things you can turn to, and it's not an overnight fix. It may very well be. There might be an instance where God removes that from your life in a miraculous way, but for others it might be years of chipping away at that, it might be decades of chipping away at something. But are you coming back faithfully in obedience every single time? Are you coming back constantly to Christ with that sin, every time it rears its ugly head?

Seth: 1:07:31

Are you leaning into those brothers, those sisters around you saying, you know, like me, going to Jonathan hey, jonathan, I'm struggling with this, I really need your prayer, I really need your counsel. Let's talk through this. These are all of what God intended us like. This is the way that God intended us to deal with our sin is to bring it to Him. Lean into those around us, that community, that body of Christ that's there to just lift us up and carry us through. And if you're out there and maybe you don't have that community, maybe you don't have a church around you that you're super plugged into, or maybe you've experienced something really, really awful at a church before and so you kind of have some trust that's been broken around that we're here for you, all four of us. We have so many different ways that you can get in contact with us and we're here. Just if you want prayer, you can send us that prayer request. If you want just an ongoing dialogue of maybe there's something going on that you're trying to work through, we're here for that.

Seth: 1:08:41

Every single one of us has struggled with different things at different points in our life and there's been different ways that we've handled it, and we can tell you you know stories of where God has worked it through to completion and changed some things in us. Just, you know, set it to be done, just completely set us free from it, and there might be other things that we're still working through for years. Either one of those situations You're not alone in it and that's the main thing that I'm trying to just pull in is that we are here to try to help you in any way that we can. If that means helping you find somewhere, maybe local to you, that's a good program, that's a good church to attend, that's a good Bible-based church. That's the thing is.

Seth: 1:09:30

We want to make sure that you're getting in somewhere that's going to approach it biblically and we will walk with you through that. Anything we can do to help support you. Just know that we do pray for you guys. We pray for every person who listens every single time, and we might not know your name, but you're in that prayer and if there's anything ever specific that we can pray for you around this, we're here for you on that. But I think that's it for my son.

Mike: 1:09:59

Hey there, delilah. What's it like in New York City? I'm a thousand miles away, but, girl, tonight you look so pretty. Yes, you do hang on.

Seth: 1:10:08

If you go past I think it's seven seconds then we're copyright so we, I'm gonna have to double check that timer, yeah man, I'm not gonna.

Mike: 1:10:19

I'm not. If this was a buffet, I would never stand behind you guys, man, because you guys would take all the nuggets. All I get is scraps.

Seth: 1:10:31

We'll leave you some good wings we got you.

Mike: 1:10:33

Whatever you prefer, you prefer flats or drums.

Mike: 1:10:35

We got you, we'll leave you some All right, man, you guys are awesome man, I cannot come after you guys. Man, you guys are awesome man, I cannot come after you guys. Those verses, the passages from our brother Jonathan, what I got from that was don't be conformed to is from. But that's been kind of like a theme in my life over the past few years and well, I would say like all my life, and my Delilah is my mind, my thoughts, you know, especially when it comes to like this podcast, like I always think, like I'm not good enough. You know I'm not. Why would anybody want to listen to me? You know I do music. You know I've done music for since I was a teen, like half my life, and I honestly I haven't done anything with it other than like posting it online.

Mike: 1:11:44

And it's just when you and you know, like I said this is probably the third time I said it, I only speak for myself it's like when you are conformed to the world, it leads to procrastination. It's just like Groundhog's Day. If you ever seen that movie, it's like it. Just you're just going through, going in circles, you know, and if you're not trusting in god, you know you're not gonna get anywhere. Yeah, my second note believe you are forgiven. Believe you're forgiven and nothing can remove you from the love of god. Nothing can remove you from the love of God. Nothing can remove you from the love of God. Nothing you do think say is going to remove God's love. He loves you so much, so receive his forgiveness, then you'll start to be upright. Well, I mean, I still got a little slouch. You know what I mean. I got to work on that. I gotta work on the uh, the lateral. The lateral pulls. You know what I mean, spiritually speaking. But yeah, man, you guys are awesome. Man, I love you guys and uh, everybody listening, you're amazing too yeah.

Jonathan: 1:13:01

So one of the things that comes to mind is there's a movie that I I watched last night and it presents the gospel in a powerful and convicting way, and some of you may have seen it. Some of you may have not, but the movie I'm referring to is called the Shack, and if you haven't seen that movie, watch it. I tell you, every time I watch it, certain parts of the movie just make you want to cry because it's pulled from the gospel. But that presents the gospel in a way. So I want to thank, like everybody, all the listeners. I want to thank all of you guys, man, like you, guys have been my other. First and foremost, god's been my rock, but you guys have been the foundation too, to hold me up when I couldn't keep going sometimes. And it's like, man, stop beating yourself over something that happened in the past. Let the past be the past and keep pressing forward for the future. Forward for the future. That's what this comes down to is, when you've sinned, present that to the Lord. He's not going to throw a lightning bolt down there and be like no, get away from it. No, he's going to.

Jonathan: 1:14:38

I told a young man at my work. I said because he had this idea of well, god must really hate me right now. And I said what do you mean? He said because he had this idea of well, god must really hate me right now. And I said what do you mean? He said, with all the stuff that I'm doing? I said, no, god doesn't hate you, man. God loves you. And you could tell when I said that he started crying. It hits home to know that I've messed up so many times that I feel like I'm too far gone. But when you hear somebody say, no, you're not too far gone, god still can use you. Look at Samson. God still used him in a mighty way. So don't ever feel like, well, I'm too far gone or my sins have disqualified me from doing God's work. No, no, no, no. You present it to the Lord with a good heart and you give that to him and you keep pressing forward, because God's got big plans for all of us.

Seth: 1:15:51

And that's all I got All right, Mr Jonathan. Thank you, man. So it's a great way to close that out, and we're going to bring it over to Mr Stephan here. He's going to be our last one to present his verses.

Steffen: 1:16:03

Thank you, Thank you. First of all, I would like to say Brother Jay, I'm going to start saying preach, brother, preach, you have it, man. Man, I started putting some music on, I started jumping up and saying preach it, brother, Go ahead. What the verses I'm reading is 1 Samuel, 17, 38, and 49. Excuse me, 17, 38, 39, and 49. Now the ironic part. Well, not ironic, but we were. This came to mind actually about a month ago when we were discussing our next topics, right A month ago, when we were discussing our next topics, right. And then go to church that Sunday and Pastor Jason is preaching on his very same, exact same verse and something. Oh man, you talk about something.

Steffen: 1:16:58

So, but anyway. So let's get to it. Then Saul clothed David with his armor. He put on a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail. And David strapped his sword over his armor and he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them in vain to go, for he had not tested them. Then David said to Saul I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them. So David took them off. Then, when you go down to 49, he says reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead and he fell face down on the ground.

Steffen: 1:17:53

So when I first read this, it popped in my head that there's three voices actually in our head. Right, so one is the world, which is the enemy. Right, the other voice is our own. You know, here we are unknowingly playing like we're God. You know we say, oh no, I got that, this is what I need to do, you know. And then we do things on our own power, or at least attempt to. And the last voice, the only voice that matters, is the Holy Spirit, which is God's power. All right, so when I look at the verses that I just read, you know, I see Saul's armor, as the world, the world's voice, was telling Saul hey, he needs this, david needs this in order for him to go and fight that battle. Put this on him so he can take care of that, so he can go do it. But then, david, under his own power, he's like no, no, I don't need that. I got to take this stuff. I haven't tested it, so I'm good, I don't need it. But, of course, going down to 49, when Goliath was defeated, that was the power of God, right, god's power.

Steffen: 1:19:13

Now, guys, I tell you this it brought to mind a situation. Well, let me share a story. Here come my grandpa moment. But there was an individual that was causing problems, challenges, divisive, always doing things that this individual brought it. This individual was aggressive, I was aggressive, and this was a constant back and forth for a long time. Then I'm like, okay, that doesn't seem to be working. Constant back and forth for a long time, right. Then I'm like, okay, that doesn't seem to be working. I know what I'll do. I'll just try my best to you know, in my mind I'm thinking I'll support this individual, you know, trying to try a different way. You know what I mean. So here I am, providing you know, providing support on all levels from you know emotional, physical, financial right.

Steffen: 1:20:56

That didn't seem to change anything, cause I was still struggling with that. I said you know what, lord, I give it to you, I lay it. Struggling with that, I said you know what, lord, I give it to you, I lay it at your feet. I give it all to you because I cannot do it anymore. The way this situation is unfolding, this is going to cause me to do something that's going to take me away from who I am, and I'm sorry that I refuse. I refuse, I refuse to let anybody or anything take my peace and joy.

Steffen: 1:21:38

This individual was trying very hard to do that, but when I laid it at God's feet, gave it all to him. Very hard to do that, but when I laid it at God's feet, gave it all to him, it was like a weight was lifted, that I finally had my peace and joy, my solitude, everything was comfortable, when I say comfortable in my mind, that I didn't have to worry about that stress anymore, that I knew, no matter what, god had control, all right. So I look back at David, and you know, david was very bold. I mean bold when he did what he did, of course, him being the little guy. Just imagine, you know, somebody just barely cracking out of their teenage years trying to face somebody, confront somebody who is what? Four or five times their size? Ooh man, that is something to think about, right. So then we look at all right. So we knew what happened, we know the story and we know how bold David was. Let's go to James 1.6.

Steffen: 1:22:57

But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt. Must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. Talk to God, everybody. Talk to God. Don't take matters into your own hands, god. Don't take matters into your own hands. When somebody crosses you don't snap and go off and scream, yell, cuss. Somebody cuts you off in the parking lot. Don't honk the horn, throw up a bird and have all this kind of foul thoughts. No, Give everything to God. God will present those opportunities in front of you. All you have to do is to listen and do what he tells you to do. Now, do I do that all the time? No, I don't. I miss opportunities. A lot, a lot. But I pray, but I pray. I pray that God reveals more to me and that I'm able to see them what he does and react like he wants me to react.

Mike: 1:24:10

That's all I got for that, guys and every time, like every time, stefan says whoo, whoo, I can't do it, rewind it, because he just dropped a gym whoo, we're not leaving the scraps for you this time.

Mike: 1:24:27

Oh yeah, I just cut in line. So what I got from this verse was like don't put on the armor of man, but the armor of God. When I say the armor of men, for me I'm talking like doubt, stress, worry. You know pretty much the opposites of the fruit of the spirit. And when I'm not in the word, or if I don't fill my mind with God's word, those are the things that my mind is filled with. You know, I put on the armor of self, yeah, man.

Jonathan: 1:25:09

So that's all I got so one of the things that came to mind when steph was, uh, reading that verse is the giant man like as he he stated. You know, that giant was extremely tall, big right, and David man. Nobody knows exactly how tall he was, but the simple fact that he took one stone and, just with God's help, took that giant down, it reminds me that our giants are right in front of us, right? What I mean by that is our giants could be the sins that we're dealing with. So, with God's help, we can take that one stone and just sling it at the giant and that giant will come falling down, because we have our trust in God. That's what.

Seth: 1:26:16

I got out of that. Yeah, I mean, you hit the nail on the head and really, you know I don't know if you had a chance to see it, jonathan, but with the series that Pastor Jason at our church is doing, he's kind of used a graphic kind of displaying, you know, the size of David since he was basically like a teenage boy at the time when he went to go do this versus the size of someone like Goliath, and it's basically like double the size of David. And then you know, at the end, as he's going through all this, he ties in and kind of, you know, as the way this is going, it's kind of like here's David, here's a regular person, here's Goliath. Well then it takes this whole graphic and slides a little bit and then it just shows basically like the hand of God, which basically dwarfs Goliath, and just shows how, yes, we might be tiny, but it's not us, it's the hand of God and that is greater, bigger, stronger, more powerful than anything that we could ever face here.

Seth: 1:27:26

And that's including the sins in our life. That's not just a challenge we may face. That's not a hard day, you know, just a hard day or just a hard week, a hard season. It can be sins, it can be doubt, it can be fear. Whatever that giant is that could potentially be just in front of you, it seems impossible when you bring the hand of God into that. I mean it's, like you know, kind of like a finger coming down on an ant, like there's. Just it's so insignificant compared to what he can do and what his power is.

Steffen: 1:28:11

And that's just where that ties in to a lot of this is just through his power. Guys, look, let me tell you, when you just said that, it reminded me of a dream I had many, many, many moons ago and I'm usually not a guy that remembers dreams, right, let's are specific. So, you know, I pull up in my dream. I pull up at this mall. I'm in a mall parking lot. There's no cars out there, right, I mean, I'm like at the crack of dawn, I don't know why I'm there this early, but it's a dream, right. So I said okay. So I'm looking around, get out the car to go, walk towards the door. But I get out the car and as I'm stepping on the concrete, the concrete is now all of a sudden like a black sea. Right, you know, the water's not really high, you know like ankle high. So I'm just trucking through it trying to make my way to the door. So as I'm walking towards the door, to look over my shoulder, I can see this ripple in the water coming towards me. Right, I'm like OK, so you know, you know, I know how horror movies end. So I start running, right, get trucking through the water and then this snake just comes up out of the sea, right, and I'm moving as fast as I can, but you know, snakes are fast, right? So, and the snake was getting bigger and bigger the closer I got to the door. Snake was getting bigger and bigger the closer I got to the door. So it's like, as I get right up to the door to reach my hand out for the handle, this gigantic ax came out of the sky and, let's just say it eliminated that problem, right? I mean, the ax was so big, it was the size of my car.

Steffen: 1:30:07

So I woke up, you know, in a panic. But then it hit me that God was telling me no matter what, I have your back, I have your back. He's going to try to get you, but I will always be there for you. All, right, so that as soon as you said that, that's the first thing that popped in my head. So, god, sorry, I didn't mean to go off topic there, but I had to share that. But now my final thoughts on this is when I look at 1 Samuel 17, verse 26,. Right, david asked the men standing near him what will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel. Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? Who man? Come on, man Can't tell me. That was powerful, that was powerful on man.

Steffen: 1:31:26

Can't tell me that wasn't powerful, that was powerful, that was deep, oh yeah. So, guys, listen, I encourage everyone to read God's Word, to learn God's Word and to pray, but I also encourage for everyone to be thankful and enjoy being in his presence. You know, you'll hear a lot of guys man, hey, you have to study, you have to study. I'm not knocking that. I totally agree. Studying God's word, learning God's word, is fantastic, but you also have to be thankful and just sit still and listen and enjoy just being able to be in his presence. So it's like for me, hard posture when dealing with sin Give it to God, constantly give it to God. Here's the thing when you give it to God, then you need to release it, let it go. Let it go and trust in God. Like my brother just said, trust in God, that's all I have, guys.

Jonathan: 1:32:46

thank you did you pick up a little bit of Frozen right there?

Seth: 1:32:53

let it go man, I was holding it back, but you know I don't want to yeah, they might be more forgiving about the hey there Delilah thing, but I don't know if Disney's so forgiving. It'd be kind of cool though we got to see some desist from Disney. That'd be neat. Frame it. Maybe we could send them back a gift card for the chicken wings. It'd be like you guys are on the contest.

Seth: 1:33:22

Yeah, but I mean that's just what everybody shared is just man. It's hard to follow any of that up, like mike's saying, like everybody just has such such a great way of just tying in these verses, of sharing examples, of of just calling attention to things, and that's why it's good to have different voices on one of these, because different people notice different things and you never know what the Holy Spirit is revealing to someone else. In the same conversation, in the same verse that you're reading, you might see part A of it and they might see part B and it just comes together and it makes a. It makes just like a beautiful picture and so just beyond thankful to be a part of this with you guys and just be able to, to just share this time and be able to share just all this knowledge, everything that's been revealed to us and everything that God is, just the way he's working, is just amazing.

Seth: 1:34:23

But you know, I know this has been a long episode, so if you guys made it through to the end, congratulations, you win. You heard the special word there, so let us know. If you don't know what I'm talking about, I'm going to plug our first episode. Go listen to it and then you'll know why that's important. That's right.

Mike: 1:34:43

That's right, you're getting all sorts of hints, but just go back first episode, yeah that's right.

Steffen: 1:34:50

Go back first episode you'll get it.

Seth: 1:34:52

But mr jonathan here, he's just gonna close us out all right, let's pray.

Jonathan: 1:34:59

Dear heavenly, we thank you so much for everything that you've done for us, lord. Lord, thank you so much for your son, who died on the cross for our sins, and thank you for the gospel, lord, thank you that he didn't stay in that tomb. He rose again on the third day, lord, we thank you for the conversations that we had on the third day, lord. We thank you for the conversations that we had, lord. We ask for our listeners that, if it resonates with them, just draw close to them, lord, and if they have any questions, just reach out to us. Lord, and thank you so much for everything, and we ask that you be with us, be with the listeners as we all travel, and just go about our days In your name. Amen, amen, amen.