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- [00:01]
A
Welcome to deepen with pastor Joby Martin. The Church of 1122 is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. And we're praying this message helps you deepen your relationship with him. Now let's dive in.
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B
Oh, man. You can't handle the truth.
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C
Yeah, he went there, didn't he?
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B
You went there, but you did say darn. I was like, is he going to go all the way?
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D
No.
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B
Makes me want to re. Watch that movie.
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D
I don't know.
- [00:32]
B
Be watchful. Pastor Joby, in your book, you tell the story about Russ taking the deer to Mufasa.
- [00:41]
D
Yep.
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B
And snapping his head like an M M. So why. So being watchful is like vigilant, being guarded. And the roaring lion metaphor is so powerful because, I mean, if you've ever been up close to a lion, it's. There's no question. It's. It's intimidating.
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D
Charles has been the closest. Tell that story.
- [01:09]
C
1997. After I grew up in a household with hunters, my dad. We grew up with animals all over the place. My grandfather was a big game hunter and. And had been hunted Africa 13 or 14 times. So he went back one last time and took my dad and. And me and. And we were going lion hunting. My dad wanted to shoot a. What he called an MGM lion. So when you see the MGM movie, that thing roaring, that's what. So that's kind of what we were. He and my grandfather were after. And mind you, this is just after the ghost in the darkness had come out. So that was what I watched before I went, okay. And the second day, we're there. We're in the Moyewosi Wilderness Area, 1997. I'm 27, 28 years old. My dad, he and I are in the truck together, and we're following a herd of buffalo because my dad was wanting to find a really big buffalo. And we're seeing this herd of about 2000 Buffalo. We can see him about a mile away. And we're in this real tall grass. It's about 8 or 9ft tall. Hemingway said that the lion is the color of Africa. And he's right, because when they're in there, you cannot see them. And you see this herd kind of running off, and there are all these cowbirds kind of floating above them, a lot of dust. And then in the back, you see the stragglers. You see the young, the weak, and then the old and infirmed. And I remember thinking to myself, man, those jokers are going to get taken out. They need to be up there with the herd, you know where the safety is because all the big strong bulls are up front. About the time I said that, we saw this pride of lions poke their noses out of the grass and there were 9, 10, 11 of them. It was a pride of them. And so we immediately turned our attention at that, to that pride of lions. There were two males, there was an alpha and a beta male. And about an hour later that alpha male charged us. Currently he's in the trophy room behind us, has been for a long time. We call him Aslan. But that's my, my dad was holding a rifle and I was carrying a, I was holding a video camera. That's how safe I felt.
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B
Have you seen those videos where, where it's like, it's like a joke, but it's some guy who's saying like, here's what you do when the animals charge and you just yell and then.
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C
No, they do it and then they.
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B
Walk away in the back of their pants. Is just like this is, this was.
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C
The fastest thing on planet Earth I had ever seen. And he, when he jumped, he was a move. Yeah, yeah, when he jumped, he was eight feet in the air. It was like, literally, it was like, it was like out of a movie. I, I, I, it was unlike anything. But when I read the scripture, now that he says he prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour, I, I, that image I see, I can see, I can still see the herd, I can still see the pride and then I can see that joker charging.
- [04:09]
D
And just for all the anti lion hunters out there, a couple of things that you've got to realize is the, this doesn't have anything to do with the Bible. Ne the best way to make sure something is extinct is to devalue it. And the greatest way to make sure something stays around forever is to value it. So what the folks in places like Kenya and South Africa and places like that, they have put a great value on being able to harvest one of the oldest animals that's, you know, it's lived the majority of its life. That money that hunters pay, I mean sometimes it's six figures to be able to shoot something like that then goes on to invest back into the land, fight against poaching. And that's why there are prides of lions today, although animals that you protect actually go extinct because nobody's willing to invest in something that's worthless.
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C
And the poachers take them out. Hunters. This is not podcast either, but I'll Say it because I believe it. Hunters have done more for conservation in Africa than all the other groups put together, 100%.
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D
So just if you don't like lime hunting, no problem. Don't do it. Yeah, but that, that's, you know, save your email.
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B
Well, you mentioned Hemingway, one of my favorite short stories of all time. It's called the Short Happy Life of Francis Maycomber.
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C
Only you would know that.
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D
Right.
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C
You're the most well read man in the room for sure.
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B
No, it's. But it's about this. It's fantastic, you know, story, right? No, well, we don't have.
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C
You've told me we don't have time to go.
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B
I know, but it's fantastic.
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D
So the reason I talk about Mufasa is we're talking about an enemy that wants to steal, kill and destroy. Peter uses the illustration that the devil is like a lion looking for someone to devour. And the reason I share that story is because I usually do it juxtaposed to me jacking around with some farm goats at a petting zoo with some fainting goats. And I felt no danger or fear because they're not dead dangerous. The problem with the modern day man is we treat sin and the devil like a fainting goat instead of a lion that can kill you. Nobody jumps the fence at the lion exhibit and jacks with the lion because you'll die. I had no problem, even though there were many signs warning me not to jack around with the goats because they're not going to do anything. If that's how you treat your sin, it's going to hand you your life on a plate.
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B
What does it take for a person to see? Because obviously that's a fact that many people are blind to. I'm sure the t. One of the tactics of the enemy would be to. To blind us to the danger of him. Right. Like so. So when he says it, you know, a roaring lion be like what you know. So what does it take for somebody to have eyes to see?
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C
That usually consequences or the spirit of God opening your eyes to it. One of the greatest things, the. One of the greatest tricks the devil, the enemy has committed upon us is to convince him that he is not real, that he does does not exist. And if he does, he's really not set against you.
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D
Yeah. Or the other extreme, that he's responsible for everything. And you, you're not in the fight. Either extreme, he wins.
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B
And you've been saying that a lot, Pastor Joby. Like, I mean, you have said it for years, but the, like you, you don't think we're in a war, right? If you don't think we're in a.
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D
War, how you're gonna lose.
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B
Exactly. You know, how do you explain all this stuff that's going on?
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C
You know, who is it that says. And you've said it a bunch. And I forgive me, I can't remember it. Life is war. That's not all it is. But it is always Dr. John Piper. Thank you.
- [07:56]
D
And he says where prayer has broken down in the church is we treat it like an intercom from the living room calling up to the kitchen for some more tea, when actuality it's a frontline walkie talkie to the resources of headquarters so that we can push back darkness and advance the kingdom of God.
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C
I love that.
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D
I mean, the way you pray will determine. It will. It is an indicator if you are lazy and have abdicated your Christian responsibility to the Great Commission and, and the. The greatest command.
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C
Derek Prince said prayer is God's intercontinental ballistic missile. And his request is where you want me to put it.
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B
Yeah, I like that. So, Pastor Joby, you said you walked through these five things and I want to talk about each one of them just a little bit. And one of the things that I, I want to spend some time on about. So the first one's pride. Okay. And you say in the book and you said tonight, humility is not a feeling, you know, it's a. It's. It's acted out. So people think. People who are prideful might think, well, I'm not me, you know, and so that's a feeling. So they're not in touch with reality. And then if they think, well, if I feel humble, then I must be humble, you know, so what's the difference between trying to just feel humble or. I mean, some people might go to the extreme of this is false humility. But putting themselves down, that's not the right way either. But what's the posture? You're talking about the action.
- [09:31]
D
It's bending your knee to Jesus. Worship is the antidote because it's all about not you. And again, actually, the humble person is the person that if they left unchecked, their natural bent is to think too highly of themselves. And then they war against it by doing the things that lower themselves and lift up the name of Jesus and others. It's not the person that thinks too low of themselves. Either of those are a tactic of the enemy. First time I ever heard it. Rick Warren said, you know, humility is not thinking less of Yourself, it's just thinking of yourself less that really is it that you're just, you're you. This is a good example. First time I ever met Charles, he had met Britt first and the kind of word starts swirling around that, you know, multi time New York Times best selling author is attending our church and he's a believer and all these kind of things. And he'd hung out with Britt a bunch and Britt was a big fan. And the first time I meet him, I don't know if he's full of himself because he's, you know, famous or not. And the number of people that I have had to offer their services, but with this caveat that their services are somehow different, like that I have more to offer than the regular service opportunities at the church. I can't tell you the number of people. And so Charles comes to me and says, hey man, how can I serve? And I instinctually just said, we always need the trash taken out. And a part of it was a little bit of a test. I mean, again, now this dude has become one of my best friends, one of my Mac carriers. I mean he has been an incredible influence in my life as a dad, as a father, as a, as a brother in Christ. All right, But I don't know the guy. Two weeks later I'm leaving my office and I look over and there is award winning author Charles Martin with bags of trash. That's humility. I don't know what's in his heart. I know that when he was asked to take out the church, the trash at this church, there was zero pushback. That's just the way he served you. Fast forward now he preaches. I mean, I think you're the only unpaid staff member here that's ever preached and I don't have plans for anymore. Now he's been ordained as a pastor under the covering of this house. You know what I mean? Well, so that's what I'm saying.
- [12:06]
C
Which I love by the way. Thank you.
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D
That's it, dude. Well, I mean, he's got this incredible ministry. He ministers to so many people all over the place. So that's humility. And there are people whose wiring bends them towards. Look at me and don't look at me. But we're all commanded to humble ourselves. So it's like, I don't know what you think about you. I don't know how much control you have over the wiring, whether you're extrovert or introvert or you lean more towards a just positive mindset. Or a negative mindset. I do know that you can humble yourself. Now, I will say this. I can't find anywhere in the Bible where we are called to humble one another. We're called to encourage one another, speak life into one another, you know, And. And I do think so. The antidote to pride is not withholding encouragement because you're afraid of what somebody might do with that. Humility is between you and the Lord. So if I see something awesome in your life, I need to tell you and encourage you. And if I see something not awesome, I need to love you and warn you. That makes sense. Yeah.
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B
Yeah. And what's so interesting is that a person's pride could lead them to think I don't need God because I'm too good. And their pride could lead them to think I don't need. I can't. God can't save me because I'm too bad. That's also pride.
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D
Yeah. Because you think your sin is greater than God's grace demonstrated on the cross. Like, who do you think you are? Right.
- [13:42]
C
All right, here's part of the backstory behind that whole taking out the trash thing. When he said that, I was like, well, okay. And I. I thought, well, I can do that. And two things were kind of going through my head. One is Kelly Adcox is like a friend and a brother, and I love him. If you don't know Kelly, we call him big Kelly, and he's big old great, big old strong guy. And at the time, he was responsible for that area of ministry in the church. And I thought, well, I know Kelly, and I hang out with him. And honestly, it also meant I didn't have to do anything. I didn't have to prep something or teach something or. So I was like, well, I can do that. And I got to hang out with Kelly. I got to see kind of the back, you know, inside of the church and see kind of. I didn't meet folks and hear him, and it just. It turned out to be a gift to me. It wasn't. I didn't feel like I was doing the serving thing or humbling myself or any of that stuff. I didn't. I just. It just became something I could do somewhere, either somewhere in my teaching life. Derek Prince is one of my favorites. Okay. He's like my spiritual father in some ways. And he had. He talks about humility a lot. And he said Lucifer reached up, and he. And he fell. Jesus knelt or bowed down, and the Father raised him up. That is a law. It's as Natural as gravity. If you reach up, you're going to fall. If you humble yourself, God will raise you up. And he always came back to this verse right before where you started. Tonight he always comes back to first. Peter 5. 5, the verse where you started is verse 6. Says, humble yourselves therefore, under the mighty hand of God. But if you go to back to verse five, it says, likewise, you who are younger, be subject to your elders. That's number one. Well, that's a whole. That's a whole nother book. Then he says, clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another. For God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And then he unpacks this little phrase here that we kind of pass over. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility. And he said, in the day and a first century day and age of Jesus, there were two types of slave. There was the conquered slave. The slave sold under the spear or sold under sin, which means this person was conquered. They were brought back to a country that was not theirs, and they were placed and made slaves for the rest of their lives. They had no say over the matter. The sex, the sex. The second is a. Is a slave. Who is a. Is a. Is a slave by choice, a bond servant. And that person says, I. I need money or I need to get. Change my circumstances. And he goes to someone who's wealthy or something and says, I will sell me to you, usually for a period of about seven years. And they. They become that person's slave by choice. So it is a choice where I subject my will to you and I serve you as a slave. The term is slave. When that happens in this culture, in this century, those people, the bond servants, would wear an apron that denoted them as a bond servant in the culture. That phrase, clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility. I'm not a Hebrew scholar, but somehow Derek Prince says that because Hebrew is such a word picture language, that phrase paints a picture of a bond servant wrapping on the apron of humility. So as I've. Look tonight, when you got. You could have quit talking after the whole pride part, okay? Because that's me, you know, you were speaking to me. So when you said that to me, I thought, man, this is a great place for me to like. I don't have to be prideful. I can just do it. And it was one of the places where I didn't get all, you know, uppity and get, you know, my panties all in a wad or whatever. I don't know if I can Say it on the podcast, but I just did. So evidently, Allie's not here, so. But it was a. It was a way for me. Me to do that, and I loved it. It was not. It didn't become this thing where, like, wo is me. I got to go. I loved it, and I don't know. So all of this kind of became the soup for that. Pride is man. Pride was the first sin in this universe or any other, before the sin in the garden. Lucifer's pride. And he rebelled. And in most of the books that I've written, the Lord brings me to a place where he in his grace, and he really did this with it is finished and just wrecked me. He shows me, as only the Lord can do, a picture of me and little glimmers of my pride, and it makes me nauseous, and I hate it, but it's not. The Lord's not poking me in the chest, you know, in an ugly way. He's wrapped his arm around me like he did Peter. And anyway, the. The pride, man. If we. We could have. We could have preached six weeks on that tonight.
- [18:32]
D
I think you lose your humility card when you say, let me give you an example of my humility. But see what I'm saying? I. I could give you a thousand ways where I've screwed this up. The list of my questions. Do you have to be right? Do you feel entitled to gratitude or thank you? Do you look for credit? Okay, me, me, me, me, me. I do all those things. I'm so bad. The one area of the you're not gonna be lifted up till you bend your knee kind of thing is somehow God put in me, in regards to ministry, this incredible deep satisfaction with just discipling the people right in front of me. So when I was the youth pastor at Mount Olivet Baptist Church in Beaver Dam, Virginia, I thought, this is it. This is the Super Bowl. Like, why would anybody do anything else? It was 12 kids. And then through talking to some people, I had an opportunity to go to Vinton, Virginia, and be the youth pastor at Vinton Baptist Church. And I thought, well, this is it, you know? And then my pastor moved and invited me to go to Athens and do stuff at University of Georgia. And I thought, well, this is it. I'll never do anything else, you know? And then we end up here at beach, and I'm the youth pastor. I've never tried to be the lead pastor. I had no vocational aspirations in ministry. I just felt like I was called to be. Just really obedient, be faithful. In discipling the people that God trusted right in front of me. And then even to this, to where our church is right now. I've never tried to be the fastest growing church or anything like that. You know, we were just trying to be a movement for all people to discover and deepen relationship with Jesus. We were trying to just equip people to reach one more. We're trying to do the Great Commission and live out the Great Commandment. I mean, I mean straight up, dude. And to this day, I'm not trying to be a best selling author. I'm just trying to make disciples.
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C
Well, you are. You are one now.
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D
Well, it's great.
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B
I'm sitting with two New York Times people.
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D
It's great. But I honestly, I just don't, I don't think there's so many areas of my life that I, I need credit or I do all the wrong things, you know. But for whatever reason, the way God's discipled me as a shepherd is just a deep love for the sheep and a real, I mean I have a holy discontent with, with the world and lostness and sin, you know, that kind of thing. But an unbelievable commit contentment with just. I want to be able to be the pastor of this church. And I won't be the last lead pastor forever, man. There will be a time where I pass the baton, no problem. I mean, my prayer is. It'll be about 20 years or something, but still. But I just want to serve this people, serve the Lord by serving this people forever. And it's amazing. My travel schedule right now is a little bit ridiculous, but. And I've never once pushed out. Here's why you should invite me to come speak at your thing. I've just stayed. I just tried to do what I do, be faithful with what God's put right in front of me. And if God wants more, he'll make it happen. And if he don't, thank God I don't have to get on an airplane. That'd be great too. And it's a really freeing thing because you're not trying to manufacture anything.
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B
Yeah.
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D
You know, you just kind of do the thing you're doing. And even in light of that, at the end of the service tonight, I gather Reagan, JP Is sitting next to Gretchen, who's sitting next to me. And then Reagan's sitting with her buddies. They like to be front and center. They don't like to be over on the side with us. And I go get Reagan, bring her to me. And the four of us just Huddle up and pray. And even what God is doing in my family so far exceeds in my own. What means the most to me so far exceeds even what he's doing in this church. Even though all the measurables of the church are exponentially higher than they've ever been. It's such, it's so distant second, I can't even see it in the rearview. You know what I mean? And I just prayed over my family. A lot of confession, lot of repentance and a lot of thank you, thank you, thank you for your blessings. Mostly just my wife and these two kids, you know.
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C
We just to piggyback we, we find ourselves in a world that is vomiting itself on self promotion. Oh man, everybody, I mean from look, from social media to just the, the, the ethos of the age is if you don't, if you don't promote you, nobody will. So you do you and you go get yours. So there's this constant clamoring for how do I promote me above you? And I know a little bit of the story or a little more than a little bit of the story about him, Joby being launched from beach. And I know the people who were around him. And yeah, I've heard the back room conversations when those. Because the church blew up, the service blew up and everybody or many people were coming to him saying, you need to go launch a church. You need to go tell them or ask them to, to leave to whatever. And I love, I've, I've love and I've heard this from more than one person. Joby's response was, I'm not about to go do that. I'm not promoting me. I will not do that. I'm going to do what I'm doing. I'm, I'm called here. This is what I've been asked to do. I'm going to be faithful to do that. And if somebody else wants to launch me, they can launch me and all of us can pray about it. But I'm not going, I'm not walking in that door and asking them or telling them or doing anything of the sort. And it is as God's law is really clear, right? If you humble yourself, you will be exalted. If you exalt yourself, you will be humbled. That is as natural a law as gravity.
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D
And you can't play God.
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B
No.
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D
Like you can't. You ain't going to trick him. All of the guys act humble and he'll be like, ah, oh dang it. You got me. You know, he's not going to lift you up if you just act like you're humble. But you, you know, all of the.
- [25:04]
C
Guys right now reading this book, the young guys listening to us in their careers, early, starting out, whatever, middle of their career, whatever, they're thinking about their situations and they're saying, how do I get past this hurdle? Or how do I do that? Or out. Look, the Lord has plans for you, to prosper you and not to harm you. Humble yourself, serve him and let him lift you up, Period. Also, it takes the pressure off.
- [25:30]
D
It does. Dude, I worked at. I worked. I mean, I dedicated this thing to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5 men. One of those men was my pastor, Pastor Jerry. I worked for him. It was his church. God anointed and appointed Pastor Jerry Sweatt to be the leader under the authority of Christ of Beach Church. And I worked for him, and I was going to do what he told me to do because God always works in and through authority, you know, And I talk to church planters all the time and say, how in the world do you think God's going to ever trust you with authority if you don't learn to live under was not until Peter submitted himself to Jesus at the on the mountain, when Jesus says, who do people say that I am? And Peter's like, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. That's when finally Jesus is like, all right, I'm going to build my church upon that confession. Now, here are the keys of the kingdom of heaven. You don't get to take the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And the amount of ministries that have been started out of rebellion and want God's blessing. God doesn't bless rebellion against his authority. No, he cast it out like lightning. And if you take a spirit of rebellion into a ministry, it is a cancer in the bones of that house. It ain't gonna go good.
- [26:52]
C
It will always be that correct.
- [26:55]
D
But if you take a spirit of submission with blessing, something unlocks in the heavenlies. And then what can happen is you get some things around here, like Pastor Todd. And years ago, he says, I feel like God is stirring me to plant a church, but I'm going to keep my word and give you the five years you ask for. Because we ain't trying to jack around with sheep here either. We ain't going to move shepherds over and over and over. And then Pastor Todd then comes to me and says, well, actually, I stood in front of our campus at Fleming and said, we are going to do this 10, 10 life for two years. Even though my five years is up halfway through, I need to keep my commitment through the 10, 10 life. Do you know how easy it is then to. To put the full resources of this house behind him and say, bro, we're gonna. We're gonna launch you with all the support and covering and momentum that you've ever seen.
- [27:48]
C
He's the real deal.
- [27:49]
D
It is a continuation, though, of Pastor Jerry. Like I'm telling you, Pastor Todd in the ministry that God is gonna use in him is fruit off the Pastor Jerry's tree. Does that make sense? We're just in that line. We're like, in the coaching tree of Pastor Jerry. Well, Pastor, I've seen it done well.
- [28:10]
B
Yeah.
- [28:10]
D
You know, I mean, bro, you want to talk about humility? The service starts blowing up, and never did Pastor Jerry come and be like, he never took over. He never took credit. You know, he just fanned the flame of what God was doing.
- [28:28]
B
Yeah. Praise God for that.
- [28:30]
D
Yeah, dude, that's a. That's the most humble guy I've ever met in my life.
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B
It's like Pastor Brit says, you know, he's outline that nobody can give you what God hasn't given you.
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D
Right.
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C
You know, and nobody can take it from you either.
- [28:41]
D
That's right.
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B
And it. If you. You know, I've had a chance to work with some young leaders who had that thing that's just like, how do I. How do I get there?
- [28:49]
C
You know?
- [28:49]
B
And I can oftentimes take them. This is God talking. Psalm 75. God is talking. I say to the boastful, do not boast. And to the wicked, do not lift up your horn. Do not lift your horn on high or speak with haughty neck. For not from the east or from the west, not from the wilderness, comes lifting up. But it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another.
- [29:12]
D
But you see it on the other end, too. It's. It's easy for us old heads to sit around and just pick on the young guys, right? Because they have. Ambition is not a bad thing as long as it is submitted and surrendered unto the Lord. You know, selfish ambition is what we shouldn't be about. Godly ambition is great. But then you see it on the other end, too. Old pastors hanging on too long. And it's a pride. It's either fear or pride. You know, I mean, listen, as far as the plans of man go, we have mapped out the future of 1122. If God tells me to do something differently, I'll do whatever he tells me to do. And the way, the way God laid this out to me is you don't. I don't think about me and I don't think about the next pastor and the next next pastor. I think about what's best to serve the people. And then if that is the lead foot under the glory of God, it's easy to make decisions as opposed to thinking about me and my future in the next up and coming guy. I don't think about it that way. Yeah, but, and I, and the elders have created such an environment around here for me that my trust level to these men is, I mean, through the roof. And so I, I hope and pray God continues to give me his grace when I'm whatever the age is going to be, 68, 70, whatever it is. Okay. And I can graciously take the, take the step off out of the seat that I'm in and just continue to serve this church because I love this church and I love the head of this church and his name is Jesus. Yeah.
- [31:02]
B
Yeah.
- [31:02]
D
But pride's not just a young man thing. It's an old man thing.
- [31:04]
B
That's true.
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D
I mean, listen, I had this 18 year old stand up 18 and under because it's pride. When all you ever do is talk about this crappy generation. Every old generation talks about the new generation like they suck. Socrates did it. You've heard me read that quote.
- [31:18]
B
Yeah.
- [31:19]
D
It's like kids these days don't have manners. They eat with their mouth open. They don't stand up when the old people walk in. All they do is play. They don't take responsibility. And I've read that like parent things before. And everybody's like, yeah. And I'm like Socrates, 300 A.D. you know, like all old people have looked down on young people. Our house, this church is going to speak into these kids, not down to them. They're going to look around and see all the gray heads like me and bald heads and be like, these people have our back. We're going to stand on that wall, we're going to protect, we're going to lift up because God's doing something in this generation. And we're going to be like the aircraft carrier that launches these kids into this war.
- [31:59]
C
Speaking of elders, I know I'm hijacking your questions, but tonight you told the story of Dr. Paul.
- [32:05]
D
Let's go.
- [32:06]
C
And for the folks who don't know him, Dr. Paul is one of our elders. He is the beloved. They're all beloved, but he is like the beloved elder. He's 91. Why don't you tell him where he is right now?
- [32:15]
D
Malawi. He's. Well, right now he's 35,000ft in the air doing an overnight flight to Malawi, not Maui. Most retired doctors go to Maui and just sit on a beach and get fat and increase their diabetes by drinking sugar drinks. This joker is going to Malawi to stand up a medical clinic from scratch. Right, bro? And then I mentioned in the sermon one of the biggest fights. I got in with the elders from a very good place. They were like, you got to get Dr. Paul to quit going on these mission trips. I was like, why? Because he's old. You afraid he's gonna die? He's gonna die somewhere. What do you want to do, make him die now? Take away his life now, bro. I mean, I don't want him to pass away on a mission trip, but I definitely don't want him to pass away sitting on the couch because he's got nothing to pour his life into, you know?
- [33:10]
C
And so I love the way you put it. Tonight you said, let him go out swinging, dude.
- [33:15]
D
Let's go.
- [33:16]
C
Which is what he would want, I.
- [33:17]
D
Think, at Rich Mullins, when I go, I want to go out like Elijah.
- [33:20]
C
Yeah, well, God put Moses and Aaron into service at 92 and 90.
- [33:26]
D
Yeah, I mean.
- [33:27]
C
I mean, so Paul's just right there.
- [33:30]
D
So he's a. He's a hero of mine. He's a. I mean, I'll tell you, I've told this before, but, you know, when we started the church, he was almost. You know, he was in his late 70s, and he has been the dean of the school of medicine at lsu. He started a couple medical schools. I mean, he's. He's had a long and illustrious career. And at one of my annual reviews, the church was five years old. So this was like 2017. And he goes, thank you for the best five years of my life. Can you imagine saying that? So, like, years 77 to 82 or whatever the math is, he goes, of all the things I've ever done, this is the most incredible thing I've ever been a part of. And he was the chairman of the board of elders until very, you know, multiple runs. And, dude, he's just living. He's not lazy, is not advocated responsibility. He has not bought into the American nightmare that you're. You are to pursue comfort no matter what. It's not what he's doing. He is living the kingdom life, and nobody's more fulfilled than that.
- [34:33]
B
Dude, I'm so glad you brought that up because we're gonna have to skip some. You handled anxiety so good. We're not going to talk about it. Laziness. So John Tyson at the men's conference said, what if your distraction is actually numbing you from the angst that you're supposed to feel from God to get you to go change the. I mean, that was incredible.
- [34:57]
C
That's good.
- [34:57]
D
Yeah. Netflix can be a tool in the hand of the enemy, man. To just. You know, I've heard Piper and Matt Chandler talk about it, that the last thing the enemy wants you to do is wake up and have Kingdom eyes.
- [35:14]
C
Right.
- [35:15]
D
So that promotion you get, you know, it could actually be a tool in the hand of the enemy to keep the pacifier lodged in your mouth so you can just stay asleep.
- [35:23]
C
That's good.
- [35:23]
D
So you just keep running on the hamster wheel. Those. Those sweet vacations that you go on can actually be a tool in the hand of the enemy so that you won't wake up to Kingdom endeavors. There. I've cut a bunch of things in my life out because they're distractions. You know, a part of the reason I hunt like I do is the amount of nothing to do, time sitting in the woods, the amount of prayers I pray, the amount of psalms I read. I don't know why the psalms are better in the woods than in my office. Fact, in the office, my favorite thing to read are epistles and Old Testament history. In the woods, I just read the Psalms over and over and over. Does that make sense? And so I find myself too easily distracted and numbed by the things of this world. The other thing that I can have a tendency to do is ingest tons of cable news about things I have no control or input in and get guilty. All kind of emotional.
- [36:35]
C
Oh, yeah, totally.
- [36:37]
D
You know, and feel righteous because I feel things while watching, you know, the news and then go down the podcast lane of just filling up my brain with things that affirm what I already thought and feel good about it. Okay, So I started cutting a bunch of that junk out, replacing it with Bible and prater.
- [37:09]
B
I've been hunting a spot, and I have no service there. I can't listen to this.
- [37:13]
D
That's good.
- [37:14]
C
Those are good. Those are good holes to get in.
- [37:15]
D
I was in Canada last week, and we had no. We could satellite text, which is really great. You can only send it to one person, and you have to stop. Have you done it? Have you ever been out of service in satellite text? If there's anything between you and the satellite, it won't connect like a ceiling or a tree branch. So you're out there in the middle of nowhere and it finds the signal and it. And you, you literally, you've got to like keep in line with the satellite or you lose it, you know, and you can take no group text work and it takes forever for one to maybe go through.
- [37:48]
B
Yeah.
- [37:49]
D
Then we finally hit this one mountain and we connected to like some old school 3G or something. Some different letters came up and dude, my phone just began to scream at me. Give me your attention.
- [38:04]
B
Right, right.
- [38:05]
D
And it was jarring because I'd been out of it for five days.
- [38:11]
C
And.
- [38:11]
D
It was not good. It was not a good jar. You know, it's like if you've been eating a healthy kind of farm to table diet and then you get something real processed and at first it hits your lips, you're like, oh my God, Big Macs or I mean, I get it. And then it gets on the inside of you and you're like, oh, God, that ain't this what's happening. Because your body is rejecting it because it's not actually food. That. That's what it was like.
- [38:39]
C
You, you mentioned Netflix and this is a total aside. They turned us down this week on one of our movie projects. So I'm. I'm canceling my Netflix.
- [38:48]
D
I've already. I don't boycott.
- [38:51]
B
Yeah.
- [38:52]
D
Angel Studios is rising up, bro. They're doing some good things.
- [38:56]
C
They are.
- [38:57]
D
And raising a lot of money and putting good things. House of David's good.
- [39:01]
C
It is. It's awesome.
- [39:04]
D
Praise God. I mean, I think there's a lot of, a lot of Christians that are putting out some good stuff.
- [39:11]
B
I may have told you about this, but there's this book I'm reading. It's about the scientific benefit of being outside in the woods.
- [39:18]
C
I did start this by saying you're the best, well read person.
- [39:21]
B
And what's.
- [39:22]
D
Because you don't have to preach the.
- [39:27]
B
The. So there's all this document like it lowers your cortisol.
- [39:31]
D
Yeah.
- [39:32]
B
And like this, the, the chemicals that come out of trees, like make you enjoy things more. Maybe that's why you like the psalms better in the, in the woods because the tree chemicals.
- [39:44]
D
Did God create Adam and then put him in the air conditioned to look at screens? It's not what it says. My Bible says he was, he was put in the garden to subdue and cultivate.
- [39:54]
C
I love the way you've said it. I think you said it last week. Adam was created in the wilderness.
- [39:58]
D
That's right.
- [39:58]
C
Placed in a garden. No doubt Eve was created in the garden. Just think, that explains a lot.
- [40:04]
D
Like, girls smell like a garden.
- [40:05]
C
Much better.
- [40:06]
D
Boys smell like a foot. Just true.
- [40:13]
B
That idea of embracing discomfort is incredibly countercultural. Craig Rochelle has this great quote. Comfort and growth can never coexist.
- [40:25]
D
Whoa. Say it again. For those in the back row.
- [40:28]
B
Comfort and growth cannot coexist. And so if you want to grow, discomfort has to be a part of it.
- [40:35]
D
Let me brag. Can I brag on Pastor Craig Rochelle for a few minutes? I. He's. He pastors the largest church in the country, or one of them, Life Church. And I had the opportunity to have breakfast with him in January, and, dude, I'm a nobody. And he said, yes. And we sit down for breakfast, and he was not hurried. Spent about 90 minutes together for about 10 or 12 minutes. He asked me all sort of pastoral and organizational questions about the church of 1122, and very specific about campuses and attendance and all the. All kinds of things. Then he gets the. Kind of. Gets the lay of the land on what we're doing here. And then he says, listen, God has anointed and appointed you as the lead pastor. You do whatever you want to do. Okay, If I went home and sat in your seat, here are some things I would consider doing over this next season of ministry. Since that meeting, our church has grown by about 10,000 people. Okay, so I'm in Canada at this little motel. Not hotel, motel. And I look at my phone and it says, call from Craig Groeschel. And I answer it, and he goes, did you know it was me, or did you blind answer a number? Because if you didn't know it was me, my first encouragement is, how dare you ever answer just blindly. I'm like, well, somebody from your team told me you might reach out. So they. I had your number for that reason. And he goes, I want to congratulate you on the book. I want to. And what has been going on. I've heard you guys have been blowing up. And I said, pastor Craig, I just did exactly what you told me to do at breakfast. I took all the credit for it, but I did it. I came home to my staff and I said, this is what we're going to do. I took your notes from the teaching that you did at the place where we had the breakfast. I went through them, and I told you, I'm just sharing this from Craig Rochelle. And it was about pain, and it was about discomfort. It was about the. The. The call of God to make disciples, okay? And he Goes, wow. And then a lot of encouragement, and I think there's going to be a future. I think we're hanging out a little bit, and I have so much to learn from him. But what he said is, there's three or four guys in the country that I need to learn from right now, and I want to get y' all together. And I'm like, hold on one second. Can you hear me?
- [43:03]
C
Right?
- [43:04]
D
This is Hank Aaron going, I heard you hit home run in the.
- [43:07]
C
Can you help me with my swing.
- [43:08]
D
The T ball game? What do you do? Okay, at the end of our breakfast, Vinci. So, I mean, he's just downloading gold, man. Not just about church, but how to not sacrifice your family on the altar of a growing church. I mean, okay, five kids. You know anything about him? He's. He's a family man. Okay? And then he goes, okay, so you say that you've seen my ministry, yada, yada, yada. I go, yes, sir, I have. He says, what are. What are some things you think I need to pay attention to? And I'm like, what? I go, because I have opinions, dude. You have asked the wrong person if you want to know my opinions, because I'm happy to share. And he goes, yeah. As I was coming up, the generation above me who are all famous people, pastors, when I would spend time with them, they never asked me what I thought I want to know from you. And I was like, all right, here's what I think. And I leaned in really hard on what I think, because I do think there's been a generational shift in the quote unquote seeker has changed tremendously since he started Life Church back in the day. And I leaned in hard. I was like, I think your most appealing sermons that are going to reach the most people are these and not those. And then it's funny, he. He pulls out a talk that he was working on, slides it across, and it's. It's. It's like Christian cool is over. Just kind of digging in the scriptures, that kind of thing. Spiritual intensity is the new cool. I was like, yeah, that's it. So anyway, what a humble dude. He does not have to call me. Wow. He's got plenty going on. He spent all that time, all that encouragement.
- [44:44]
B
He.
- [44:44]
D
He was not blowing smoke. But I mean, dude, that's this thing right here. I love that, you know, he could think, I'll, you know, I'm the biggest dude in this game. That guy wants to know what I think, he can buy my books. It's not what he did. He sought me out and was. And encouragement, humility, asked questions. He listened to understand, not just to reply. I could also tell he did not have, like, a bunch of guys. You know that game that the little kids have, like baby babies, and you put it on the cow and you pull the string. It's like the cow goes. I've talked to a bunch of church leaders. Oh, yeah, they got about eight or 10 tracks. And whatever you ask them, they pull the string and it's like, this is the thing I've said for the last 30 years, that's not what he was doing. He was. It was. He was very, very humble, very encouraging. And I'll tell you now, at this point in my life, if anybody was critical of Pastor Craig Rodell around me, we're gonna fight because I've met this guy. Does that make sense? It's good to surround yourself with people like that, that put on display. And he's been doing ministry all these years. There's no scandal. There's none of that. You know, it just. It's just character and integrity.
- [46:04]
B
I've never met him. I've listened to him for a long time, and he really seems to me like a guy who. Who practices what he preaches.
- [46:10]
D
Right.
- [46:11]
B
I mean, he talks about, like, when he's traveling, it's like, dude, this workout I just did for 20 minutes in my hotel, it's just messed me up. Yeah. But he's just in it, like, discomfort. He's like, I'm gonna stay. Stay at it.
- [46:23]
D
You know, he's the fittest. He's a robot.
- [46:26]
B
Yes. Very fit.
- [46:27]
C
Can we talk about comfort one second?
- [46:28]
B
Sure.
- [46:30]
C
You're never going to get to your questions, but I'm. I turn. I will turn 56 next month. I. I used to not chase comfort as much, like, you know, in what? I don't know, in my 20s or teens or whatever, I. I was. I was content. Like, I go on a mission trip and sleep in a metal tin roof, and it'd be 97 degrees inside, and I'm. I'm okay with that. Do you know how difficult that would be for me today if the air is not set on 68 degrees and if there is not a fan blowing, and if there's. If it's not quiet, I. You know, I'm grumpy. And so as I get older, I. I realize I. I am intensely seeking comfort in my. How I work, where I work, just my every. My environment. I'm trying to control my environment. So I'm Comfortable. So after my back surgery, I was able to kind of not. Not lift weights like Joby lifts weights. If you look at him, you can tell that he lifts weights.
- [47:32]
B
I'm.
- [47:33]
C
I'm not. That's not me. But I've gotten into this rucking thing. Have you?
- [47:38]
D
Have you.
- [47:38]
C
Have you. Have you been rucking?
- [47:40]
B
I've never done it.
- [47:41]
C
There's a company in Jacksonville I don't even know. I think it's you. You rock.
- [47:45]
D
Goruck.
- [47:45]
C
Go rock. Sorry, sorry. It is. I own one of their rocks.
- [47:48]
D
It's go 1122. Do they support them?
- [47:50]
C
Seriously? Goruck.com I'm not sponsored by these people, but me either. But they need sponsorships. They podcast, they create these rucks. And I got one. And the reason I got it is because I. I felt like, okay, it's not like high intensity stuff is not my thing anymore, but I can put this thing on and I can go for a walk. And the further I go, the more uncomfortable it becomes. I mean, there's a point at which I don't want to do it anymore, but it's a growing discomfort over a period of time. And I have noticed that the Lord uses that like he want, he needs. He wants. He doesn't need to. He. He wants to remind me, discomfort is good for you. You don't need to be so comfortable because when you're comfortable, I really don't have your attention. But there's a thing that happens as you do this long enough and everything in you starts. You know, your whole neck is hurting, your shoulders, all. Everything. And it's just a. I don't know. My conversations with the Lord are. Seem clearer and I don't.
- [48:55]
B
And.
- [48:55]
C
And he'll. I'm also like, he'll prompt me and I'll think I need to call that person and pray with them or, you know, I need to. Oh, yeah, I gotta remember. I don't know what it is about discomfort.
- [49:05]
D
Don't you think it's because we're not compartmentalized people, that we're a. We are a psychosomatic being? And so when the Shema says, the Lord our God, the Lord is. And you shall love the Lord your God with your one and only life, heart, soul, mind and strength. That when you can begin to beat your body, to train your body to be comfortable being uncomfortable, then you can train your mind to socially be uncomfortable or be comfortable being uncomfortable. And you can share your faith. You can have the conversation. You can confront sin. So while training is of some value, godliness Is of ultimate value. There is something to me about the person because I do you put on the goruck thing and it does not feel like a sweater.
- [50:00]
C
No.
- [50:00]
D
And because I got one and I was getting ready for this moose hunt and I started with £25 and went up to £35. And when Gretchen would walk the dogs, I would walk with her. Typically, a walk around our neighborhood is a very pleasant thing. It immediately just at first until you get used to the like just putting on the 35 pound vest. That in and of itself it's uncomfortable because you're such a. I'm a wuss, dude. The first thing when I was coaching football at Providence, the first week when we'd finally put helmets on, you know, because we. You live in Florida and the tooth fairy made up the rules for football right now. So you gotta like condition your body to be out there. I'm sure it's probably a good idea, but. And then eventually you've practiced enough days in the hot that you can put a helmet on. And the number of boys who have not played football before and they just can't handle a helmet. The phrase that coach Scott Hawk, who I love dearly, he's a member of our church, would say, boys, you got to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. That's half of football.
- [51:02]
C
It really is.
- [51:03]
D
Like you're gonna get hit in places you didn't know you had places by people you don't see coming. And all this equipment, it feels uncomfortable today. It's going to keep you alive in three weeks. So there's something combined, I think a part of the reason I, I just don't have a problem walking up to people in the gym and just sharing the gospel, having gospel conversations to the amount of people. I just, I. I'm just over. I'm too old to be cool. I just want to be helpful. So now at the gym, when people are like, hey, will you pray for me? I'm like, let's do it right now. And I don't care if anybody's looking. But I have had a lifetime of training my body, beating it physically, knowing what it feels like to be uncomfortable there. Does that make sense? These things go together.
- [51:45]
C
Yeah. Yeah, I, I agree. I believe there is a. Somehow there is a connection.
- [51:49]
D
There's no doubt about it.
- [51:50]
C
I don't know that that's what Paul was thinking about when he said, I beat my body and make it my slave. So that when I preach to others, I will not be disqualified. But there's something to that.
- [51:58]
D
There is Something to that.
- [51:59]
B
Let's go back to Groeschel. I mean, he says that discipline begets more discipline and that there are things called keystone habits. Like, there's certain habits in your life that. If you can get that right.
- [52:09]
C
I mean, he.
- [52:09]
B
I don't think he made this up. It's like to make your bed in the morning or do the 10 minutes of whatever. If you get that right, it's going to actually change the course of your whole day so that other things become easier.
- [52:19]
D
David Pollock, I just interviewed him for Bill for more. He says, I decided to be selfish in the morning so I can be selfless all day. I win the morning for me. This is David Pollock talking, the sack leader of the University of Georgia Bulldogs. He was a goat, bro. He's unbelievable. Anyway, loves the Lord, and he's like, I win the day. I get up early, I get my time in with the Lord, pray hard, work out before anybody else gets up. I make sure I'm right so that the rest of the day I can be selfless and give myself away. That's good stuff. Groeschel. I was talking to him because he's a freak dude. Like, physically, he's so fit, and he eats like a crazy person. And he's like, you know what I mean? I do all that. And then one day I thought, okay, maybe I'm going to eat bread. I mean, you know, So I had a piece of cake at this thing, and then I had some bread with some butter on it. And he's like, I gained two pounds. But. But here's what he said. He's like, but I didn't like the fact that I was giving in to what everybody does. I just like me better when I live the way I want to live. And I was like, let's go, buddy. You know what I mean? He willfully makes denies himself so that he can be ready to go. I talked about this for a second tonight. Paul talks about this because he says, we're. We're athletes with. And we're. We're soldiers. So soldiers don't get involved in civilian affairs. Not because civilian affairs are wrong. You just don't have time for that. I ain't got time to waste on all these shows. I got to be about this word so I can be ready to preach, you know, I can't be like, okay, that thing, that thing that. That somebody is into. It might not be a sin. It's just silly. And it encumbers me from the mission that God has me on. So I. I Just ain't got time for that. Like, I don't have time for four hobbies. And if I can't make my hobby subservient to my calling, I can't even do that. Does that make sense?
- [54:21]
B
Yeah.
- [54:21]
D
So ain't no waste of time in the woods for me. It's time with the Lord. Time writing sermons. Honestly, dude, I get way more work done when I go on a hunt trip. And when I'm around here and have to go to meetings, because, I mean, all these meetings, and I'm like, man, I get it. We gotta have some meetings every once in a while.
- [54:36]
B
But how do you get all the work done, all the meetings to go to? We're almost out of time. But I don't want to go past quick. I want to talk about lust for a minute. And I have two specific things I want to ask about.
- [54:48]
D
All right?
- [54:49]
B
First is, I think the women that I talk to, I don't think women are going to understand the way that men fight against lust. It's hard. It's hard for them to understand.
- [55:01]
D
The younger they are, the more they are. I mean, the. The highest. The fastest growing population consuming pornography are girls between, like, 15 and 20. Yeah, well, what I know it's changing. That's what's crazy. I mean, the enemy is moving into territory that historically has not necessarily been enemy, you know?
- [55:17]
B
Well, let's just say, like, you know, so we work around women or whatever. And they might hear the flea thing and think, I'm not trying to be dangerous. And so I think, yes, but I think that the thing. When I read Proverbs 7 or whatever, I think the danger is, is right here. You know what I mean?
- [55:38]
C
So.
- [55:39]
B
And I wanted. If you have thoughts on this, too, There is a. There is a thing that happens that intersects. It's a brokenness, a need for attention or whatever. That can happen. But a lot of times the danger is coming from within your heart. Right. As a man. Right. So if you're a woman listening to this and you're thinking, my intention is not to, like, take all these other brothers out, so how do I behave in such a way that's helpful? You know what I mean? Does that make sense? That's the first part.
- [56:04]
C
Are you asking me that?
- [56:05]
B
What are your thoughts on that?
- [56:06]
C
Like, I think it's above my pay grade to try and give you an answer about how a female might think about themselves in that environment or place or whatever. Yes, I understand what you're asking, but let me flip it a little bit. I don't have the bandwidth. In my own life, in my own struggle, the way the enemy wants to hit me, I'm not pointing a finger at any. And I know that's not your question, but I. Charles Martin. I'm not pointing a finger at ladies. I work with ladies. Nothing. The enemy, regardless of what she might be thinking, saying or doing, the enemy wants to capitalize on any aspect of that.
- [56:46]
B
That's it.
- [56:47]
C
So our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers and principalities of this dark world. And there are demons, lust, whatever you want to call them, whatever their names are. Adultery, lust, infidelity, fornication, whatever, all of that, it's all under the porneo sort of umbrella. They are. They are gonna attach themselves and attack that in our thought process and in our lives. The whole lust thing is like an arrow in the enemy's quiver and there are a bunch of arrows. There's anger, there's. I don't know, just pick your sin. And then you get to the lust arrow and he takes that one and he wraps it in gauze, dips it in gasoline, sets it on fire, and then he shoots that one. That's what makes that one different. You're, you're. You're talking, you're just. Your admonition tonight about fleeing. You're right. We could walk out. You said this tonight, but I'll steal it. We could walk out in the parking lot. The devil could be sitting in my truck. The Father has given me the weapons with which to fight him and remove him from my vehicle. Because the Holy Spirit is in me and greater is in me. Who's he than he's in the world.
- [58:00]
D
And you can come get us. We'll go to war with you.
- [58:02]
C
Fact. But if there's some. Whatever, lady sitting in my truck, she's probably not a lady, but whatever. Some female sitting in my truck. Do not engage, do not talk, don't have a conversation. Turn, walk around and go ask someone else to ask the woman to get out of your car or get her out of your car, whatever. Fleeing. I didn't answer your question. But that's my.
- [58:26]
B
I have a second part, but do you have anything you want to say about that?
- [58:30]
D
Proverbs would just say you're being a fool, right? You're simple. You're simple minded. So if Christian women aren't a part of the problem, who are all these pastors sleeping with? Right? Like I'm just telling you, put any two people.
- [58:45]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [58:45]
D
In the wrong situation long enough. Evil can happen.
- [58:48]
C
Fact.
- [58:49]
D
Period.
- [58:50]
C
And if you, if the pastor had fleed, we don't have the problem.
- [58:53]
D
Correct and intentions. Who. Okay, so what?
- [58:57]
B
Right.
- [58:58]
D
I get it.
- [59:00]
B
So let's, let's get really practical. When does a. When does a man know that it's time to flee? Right? Like because you're not saying like be a monk. So what. What happens inside of a person that says this is time for me to flee?
- [59:16]
D
Just like flee sexual immorality. So you. When you put guardrails up, you don't put them in the ditch, put them in the road. There's still road on the other side of the guardrail. Right, right, right. So way before you get to sin, you better set up guardrails at the stupid. So for Billy Graham helped us all with the Billy Graham rules. And anybody that calls them toxic is dangerous. There's a spirit of Jezebel hovering around there because you're more concerned about your rights than the body of Christ. And so for me, there is nothing hidden on my phone. For my wife, there are no. The only private text that I ever have is. There are some. There's some sensitive like financial information with somebody here that doesn't get blasted in a group. You know what I mean? But if G wants to look at it, she can look at it whenever she wants. I never meet along with a girl. I don't do one on one text with a girl. I don't even control my dms. I have a whole team of people that have access to us. Actually, they're all girls. I'm just trying to invite transparency in any and every area of my life because bad things happen in privacy. If you're. If your defense is. You're just going to have to trust me. You're not doing it right. You're not doing it. You don't even have to trust me. I'm going to outlast your distrust. Just follow me around long enough. You talk to anybody that I've worked with. I work with a bunch of girls all the time. Now here's the thing. I. Either they're lying to me or they actually feel valued. And especially the married ones and the. And like April Cruz is on our staff and she's a single girl and she would say she feels like a part of my family. So we've just invited her into the family and then anything serious or sensitive. Gretchen takes the lead foot on ministering to April Cruz. And occasionally in public, I have given her a side hug and say we love. Actually even like in group texts and Stuff I always will use the plural when I'm talking to a girl on our team that we love you and those kinds of things. And I have. And now am I a legalist about it? Yep. And everybody should be a pharisee about something. If you were the enemy, how would you take you out? And you better war against that thing.
- [61:45]
C
I can't. I can't tell you the number of guys. I. I'm surprised at this that I ask him. Does your wife have access to your phone? Well, no.
- [61:54]
D
What?
- [61:55]
C
Why? This would be great for all the folks listening, right? All the guys listen right now. If you're married and your wife does not know your code and does not have complete, total, free and absolute access to your phone, number one, you need to ask yourself why. Number two, you need to go to her, you need to make her fit her face ID on your phone and give her your code. And you need to tell her you have access to my phone at any time, now and forever. You don't even have to ask. And if you're hiding, that'd be a good place. You need to start in some repentance, right? Because you can say you're going to find some stuff and I need to repent for it. Here it is. But if you don't have, you shouldn't have anything to hide from her. But if you want her to feel valued and you want her to feel respected and you want her to trust you, then this troublesome little device she needs to have complete and total period. That's a non negotiable, that's not even open for discussion. Why would you want to keep it secret? Because there's a part of your heart you're not sharing with her.
- [63:03]
D
So you need to flee not only evil, but the appearance of evil. You need to flee any environment that could lead to steps towards sin. You know, when you begin to seek the approval of some girl that you work with, you better run. Dude, the moment her compliment does something in you, the moment you think, man, my wife doesn't talk to me that way, bro, you better freaking run. Any girl that is not just pretty but attractive to you, you better keep a distance. For the sake of her, for the sake of her family, for the sake of you, for the sake of your family, for the name and renown of Jesus. And if and when you get criticism, Jesus said, this world's not going to understand you because we play by a different set of rules. And I'm just trying to communicate to the girls I work with and their families how much I love and value them, you know, that's it, dude.
- [64:15]
B
Yeah.
- [64:16]
C
If you have an emotional need that is being met by someone not your wife and you're inviting it, or you're not walking away from it, or your wife doesn't know about it, it's very much an emotional affair. You're sharing intimacy with someone not your wife. That's a betrayal. Now, it may not be physical intimacy, but it is intimacy and it is a betrayal if that, if anything sniffs.
- [64:40]
B
Of that.
- [64:42]
C
Turn go the other way. Now, I'm not telling folks to be unkind. I'm not, not, not. Don't hear that at all. But if an emotion, if something in you is being fed emotively or emotionally and it's not your wife, flee.
- [65:02]
D
And, and listen, man, I don't know what to tell the guys don't get to make the rules. They work for some company and you know these kind of things. Okay, you got to figure that out. But you better get your wife involved in this thing. Totally. And I would be screaming at my boss, I am a believer in Jesus Christ and I'm going to tell you what my ideal would be. And you work towards those things. And if it puts any stranger damage in your marriage and get you a new job, you can get a bunch of jobs, right? You married that girl. And so you love, honest honor, cherish and let what God has joined together. No man, no company, no work policy. Tear apart.
- [65:39]
C
Amen.
- [65:40]
B
Thank you for that. That's exactly what I was hoping to extrapolate a little bit more.
- [65:44]
D
And honestly, man, if you're out there and you're critical of us, I dare you to go ask the girls that we work with how they feel.
- [65:49]
B
Right?
- [65:50]
D
I mean, just do it. Just, you know, I mean, we're smoking what we're selling around here. So just go ask, ask Ally if she feels valued or devalued. You know what I mean? Ask April and Jamie and ask these girls, do they feel valued or devalued? Because we're trying to honor Jesus, honor and value these girls, honor our families, you know? Yeah.
- [66:10]
B
Well, the message clearly resonated. I mean, there's an incredible response and I love the way you ended up. Because, you know, as I was reading the chapter too, I was just like, this is not. I knew you're going to go there. It's not just a white knuckle thing. It's not just a, you know, be watchful and like stand up and you know, it's like, it's. It's got to start with surrender. And then. I love what you said about. I mean, I felt like that last phrase about the God of grace and all the things that could be the whole sermon. And I mean, just all the things.
- [66:39]
D
He'S doing because it could say, all right, boys, you got a lot online. So the God of all discipline.
- [66:44]
B
Yeah.
- [66:44]
D
Gonna. Caught. No, no, no, because that's the thing. I mean, that was the bumper video. So what if I've screwed up? Well, failure is not final. Not the kingdom of God.
- [66:54]
B
That word that stuck out to me that he will himself.
- [66:57]
D
He will himself. It's like a double. I don't know what that is in Greek, but they'll. They don't have. What is it? Adverbs.
- [67:03]
B
Yeah.
- [67:04]
D
So they would just double up things to say. This is very, very, very important.
- [67:08]
B
He didn't outsource it.
- [67:09]
D
Yeah, he's.
- [67:10]
B
He's a big boss, and he didn't say, I'll have somebody handle that for me. Yeah, I'm gonna do it myself. Well, that's all the time we have. Thank you both. Pastor, any final words? And then let's close in prayer.
- [67:22]
D
Well, let's just pray. Father in heaven, Lord, I just pray that last word to him be dominion forever and ever. And when it comes to pride and isolation and anxiety and lust and all of these things, may we resist the enemy. May we count on you to do in us what only you can do. And we say, amen. Thank you for listening to the podcast. The end.
- [67:59]
A
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