Promise of Life Church Podcast: "Don't Be A Sleeping Chicken Pt. 2: Faith & Motives!"

Host: Promise of Life Church
Speaker: Pastor Craig Field
Date: August 17, 2025

Main Theme

Pastor Craig Field, drawing on vivid personal stories and practical scriptural insight, urges believers not to fall into spiritual slumber ("sleeping chickens") but instead to stay awake and alert in faith. Through humor, analogies, and teaching, he exhorts the church to resist the enemy by knowing God deeply, maintain right motives, guard against religious complacency, and live with a vibrant, active faith.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Importance of Watchfulness and Resistance (1 Pet. 5:8)

• Vigilance Explained: "Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil... walks about seeking whom he may devour." (00:11)
  • Sober = alert and focused, not simply avoiding alcohol but also distractions like social media.
  • Vigilant = “to not sleep, to be awake.” (01:32)
• Chicken Catching Analogy: Pastor Craig humorously recounts his brief career as a chicken catcher to illustrate the danger of spiritual sleepiness.
  • When chickens were picked up in their sleep, they didn’t resist, paralleling how believers can be "scooped up" by the devil if not awake. (02:30–05:36)
  • "Don't let [the devil] catch you sleeping because he's much better at me at the scoop." (07:10)

Memorable Quote

• “If somebody's going to move, it's going to be you. It's not going to be me.” (01:09)

2. Knowing God Brings Strength to Resist (Daniel 11:32)

• Scriptural Emphasis: Those who know their God will be strong and do exploits/resist. Multiple translations reinforce the focus on resisting evil (08:00–09:40).
• Awareness and Action: “Your alertness will cause you to resist.” (10:22)
• The Spirit of Faith: True spiritual strength rises from a personal knowledge of God, fueling a fighting spirit instead of passivity. (11:42)
  • “Those that know their God will be strong and resist.” (11:58)
• Relevant Reference: Compares this attitude to the viral Sweet Brown video – “Ain't nobody got time for that.” (12:01–13:28)

Notable Quotes

• “When you know God, something rises up inside of you. And it's like, I ain't putting up with that.” (12:01)
• “Spirit of faith doesn't lie back. Quiet. Spirit of faith doesn't sleep.” (11:35)

3. Resisting the Enemy Starts With Hunger for God, Not Religious Complacency

• Danger of Religious Spirit: The devil doesn’t just use calamity, but also makes people religious (a facade of spirituality without true spiritual life). (17:03–19:31)
• “Religious complacency robs you of a fire to know him.” (19:31)
• New Believers vs. Veterans: New believers have hunger; veterans risk becoming “religiously complacent.”
• Citing Jerry Savelle’s advice: “Don’t get complacent... the true mark of a spiritual man is one who presses when they've been blessed.” (20:53–21:12)

Memorable Quote

• “The true mark of a spiritual man is one who presses when they've been blessed. One that doesn't get tired, one that doesn't get complacent, one that doesn't become religious, one that is pressing for God even when God has blessed them.” (21:12)

4. First Love: The Lifeblood of True Spirituality

• Jesus' Warning in Revelation: Doing all the right outward things but losing “first love” – the passionate desire to know Him (24:23–25:13).
  • “You lost your first love. You can do all this stuff... But if you lost your first love, Jesus counts all of that for nothing.” (24:21)
• Practical Encouragement: If desire is lacking, start by confessing it by faith – “Lead with your mouth.” (21:45; 24:10)

Highlighted Segment

• [24:10] "Put a desire in me to know you... Give me a strength to resist."

5. True Spirituality is Balanced, Not “Super-Religious”

• Balance in Life: True spirituality doesn’t mean constant religiosity but combining natural and spiritual life in a healthy way. (35:03–37:02)
  • “Spiritual people have balance... they are primarily spiritual, but they are not only spiritual… we might as well just go to heaven [if we were].” (36:02)
  • Anecdotes about Dad Hagin enjoying football and spending time with people not always focused on spiritual talk.
• Warning: Too much focus on solely spiritual things leads to burnout or deception.

Notable Exchange

• “[B:] He was not a substitute tight religious person that only wanted to talk about God and spiritual things. [A:] We love God. I love God more than most of you. But I don't only talk about spiritual things because I have a life...” (35:59–36:05)

6. Motives: The Acid Test of Blessing

• Personal Testimony: Pastor Craig shares his willingness to serve God even if there was no material reward, emphasizing pure motives. (39:20–44:30)
  • “If I give you nothing, will you preach?” – God asking Pastor Craig to test his heart (41:56)
• Motives vs. Faith & Obedience:
  • “Motives do not cause me to bless you. Only faith and obedience causes me to bless you. Motives keep you safe when I bless you.” (45:47)
  • If motives are wrong, even blessing can lead someone away from God’s plan.
• Faith and Obedience Get Blessing; Motives Protect in Blessing: (47:39)
  • “Motives keep you safe when I bless you, but they don’t cause you to be blessed.” (45:47)

Quote

• “What God wants is he wants this coming together. He wants you to have the right motive, but he wants you in faith and obedience so he can bless you, but the motive keeps you safe when he blesses you.” (47:39)

7. Faith: Its Operation, Evidence, and Inner Certainty

• How Faith Functions: Outlined the difference between building faith (by the Word), operating faith (by speaking), and the strength that comes via the Spirit. (58:25–1:00:00)
• Inner Vision vs. Outer Circumstances:
  • “If you truly believe, you see it in here more than you see it out here... Faith is the evidence of things not seen.” (58:23)
• Reference to Hebrews 4: “I have labored to enter into rest.” Real faith means peace, not stress or striving (1:00:43).

Insightful Quote

• “True faith is being undisturbed no matter what you see.” (59:00)

Notable Quotes and Moments (With Timestamps)

• On Alertness:
  • “Steadfast in the original language means to be stiff, like a board of wood. Unbendable... Devil, if somebody’s going to move, it’s going to be you.” (01:02)
• On Resisting Evil:
  • “Say, get your filthy claws off my ankles. You're not taking me.” (11:09)
• On Religious Complacency:
  • “Religious complacency robs you of a fire to know him.” (19:31)
• On Knowing God:
  • “This is life eternal: that they would know the one true God and his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ ... I have my whole eternity is going to be knowing Him. You might as well start now.” (16:10)
• On Motives:
  • “Motives do not cause me to bless you. Only faith and obedience cause me to bless you. Motives keep you safe when I bless you.” (45:47)
• On True Faith:
  • “True faith is being undisturbed no matter what you see.” (59:00)

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Timestamp | |------------------------------------------------------|-------------------| | Call to vigilant faith (1 Peter 5) | 00:00–05:36 | | Chicken story and spiritual application | 02:30–07:10 | | Daniel 11:32 – Knowing God = Strength to Resist | 08:00–09:40 | | Manifesting spirit of faith (Sweet Brown reference) | 12:01–13:28 | | On religious complacency and first love | 17:03–25:13 | | The importance of balanced, authentic spirituality | 35:03–37:02 | | Testing of motives (personal testimony) | 39:20–44:30 | | Motives vs. faith and obedience explained | 45:47–47:39 | | Mechanics of faith and being undisturbed | 58:23–1:01:00 |

Summary Takeaways

• Don't be found sleeping spiritually; stay alert, awake, and ready to resist the enemy by being anchored in faith.
• Spiritual vigilance is rooted in truly knowing God—intimacy with Him stirs alertness, resistance, and a fighting spirit.
• The greatest danger isn’t just obvious sin or hardship, but religious complacency that dulls hunger for God.
• Your motives matter: they don’t bring blessing, but they safeguard you when blessings come.
• Faith must be alive on the inside; true faith produces undisturbed peace regardless of external circumstances.
• Balance is essential: genuine spirituality not only pursues God but allows healthy natural living.
• Stay motivated by love for God, not duty. Cultivate your "first love" and let relationship, not religion, define your Christian walk.

Recommendation:
Listen to this episode for a blend of scriptural teaching, practical illustrations, humor, and heartfelt exhortation—especially if you sense the need to rekindle your spiritual passion, reexamine your motives, or deepen your walk of faith.