WEBVTT

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Welcome to Season 3 of Love & Context. This season,

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we're exploring the life of Jesus step -by -step

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and uncovering what His story teaches us about

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loving God and others. Here on Love & Context,

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we're all about having real conversations about

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how to live out that love in practical, everyday

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ways, and understanding the Bible in its full

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context. We're so glad you're here. Let's dive

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into Season 3 of Love & Context. Welcome back

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to the Love and Context Podcast. Podcast. Podcast.

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All right. For those of you watching me, us,

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it is us because it's not just me. No, no, no.

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We're all here to see you. We're all here to

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see me. It is the Love and Conducts podcast,

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unscripted conversations with Ben and Spencer.

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Except today, it's not Ben and Spencer. It's

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Ben and Matthew Nunley. I am not Spencer. You

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are not Spencer. Trust me. This is very not scripted.

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They're probably just like, oh, you just found

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another bearded guy and subbed him in. That is

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probably accurate, actually. Matthew Nunley is

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a good friend of both. both Spencer and I, and

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Spencer is, this is going to publish at the same

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time, but he does some work with the schools,

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and school schedule was rough for recording this

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week, and so Matthew Nunley jumped in, and he's

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going to talk about some prayer stuff with us

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today. Apparently school has started again. School

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has started again. I don't think much about it.

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Well, of course, my kids go to school, but I

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don't actually think much about it because I

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don't go to school anymore. I love it when you

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start getting high school. kids and they're like

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oh school's gonna start i'm gonna have to do

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blah blah blah i was like i can't wait till i

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graduate i was like yeah then you never get to

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stop I have a really funny side comment. Yep.

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Let's hear it. So one of my best friends from

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college, that's been his life, his school, right?

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So he grew up in school, and then he went to

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college, and then he became a teacher. And so

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for years after we graduated, he would call me

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up or text me, hey, what are your summer plans?

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And I'm like, I'm working. I'm working. It's

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like my summer plans don't stop. Exactly. They

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just keep going. So real quick, I'm just going

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to introduce. So Matthew Nunley, you have a history

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in military, law enforcement, and Jesus. Oh,

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100 % Jesus. And so we got to know you over the

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last couple of years as you've been going to

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our church. You're on our speaking team now and

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just a good man of God. Is there anything from

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your history you just wanted to share? No. No,

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no. I'm just a dude. It'll come as we're going

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along. So he, hopefully we'll convince him to

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pop in periodically to have conversations because

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he's got some good insight on just living for

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Jesus and having conversations, real conversations.

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And so... He knows this, but reminding any listeners,

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in case you jumped into this episode, which would

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be super weird because this is season three in

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the middle of a conversation, but if you're here

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for the first time, we're going through the life

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of Jesus. We're like the bridge of the season.

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Yeah, the bridge of the season, right? They're

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like, you know what episode I should jump in

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on? 112, right? I was actually having this conversation

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with somebody. They watched Lord of the Rings,

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the trilogy. I think it might have actually been

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Spencer, but he did not start with, Fellowship

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of the Ring, he started on The Two Towers. And

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so he was like, who's that guy? Where are they

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going? What's that stuff? You know? And it was

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just funny to me. It is. Now you got me on a

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rabbit trail. I'm really good at going on these.

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But Star Wars, another one. Yeah. For those of

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us that grew up with it, you watched it in the

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order that it came out, right? Yep. And then

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now there's like generation of people that had

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the opportunity to actually watch it in chronological

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order. Correct. And they get a whole different

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perspective and introduction. Yeah. Yeah. I,

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what is it somebody said? That you should, they

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said the proper order that you watch it is you

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go, I can't remember what it is, but essentially

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you have to watch episode five in the middle

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of the first trilogy, or you have to go like

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one, two, four, five, because otherwise you spoil

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this story. Right. Right. Yeah. And I can't remember.

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They actually the order made sense to me the

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way that they did it. So that was not right.

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So somebody who do not get on your keyboard and

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be like that order wouldn't make sense. I was

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actually having a conversation with a person

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at our church last week and we were preaching

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and they said, oh, I thought you were going to

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sneak in like some Star Wars references into

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the sermon. And I said, I would never do that.

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I was like, well, I said, you know, facetiously.

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But then I did say I was like. because I was

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talking about the golden calf with Pastor Nick,

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and we were preaching on that. And I said, you

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know, it would have been really funny now that

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I thought about that. If I hadn't thought about

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it, I would have said, and Moses is at the top,

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and God is like, I find the lack of their faith

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disturbing. You know, just throwing that in there,

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just for the people who would have caught it.

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And then somebody would have been like, ah, you

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can't do that. And I'd be like, watch me. And

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so, but yeah, so we are in the life of Jesus.

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We've been talking about, we just finished the

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Sermon on the Mount. And in the middle of the

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Sermon on the Mount, Jesus talks to them about

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prayer. And we wanted to pause. We didn't really

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cover that in the Sermon on the Mount except

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to talk about ways that you pray, about the posture

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of prayer. But we want to come back and talk

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about prayer and about the way that Jesus interacts

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with prayer in the Bible and just have a conversation

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about what that actually looks like. So just

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as a precursor to that, I'm going to read the

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verse that we're actually looking at. So starting

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in chapter 6 of Matthew, starting verse 5. Do

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not be like the hypocrites, for they love to

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pray standing in the synagogues and on the street

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corners to be seen by others. Truly, I tell you,

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they have received their reward in full. But

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when you pray, go into your room, close the door,

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and pray to your Father who is unseen. Yep, that's

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it. I was looking at double vision. Then your

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father who sees what is done in secret will reward

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you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling

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like pagans, for they think they will be heard

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because of their many words. Do not be like them,

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for your father knows what you need before you

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ask him. This then is how you should pray. And

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this is going to be very familiar for most people.

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Our father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

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Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth

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as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread

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and forgive us our debts as we have forgiven

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our debtors. And lead us not into temptation,

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but deliver us from evil. from the evil one.

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For if you forgive other people when they've,

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sorry, for if you forgive other people when they

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sin against you, your heavenly father will also

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forgive you. But if you do not forgive others

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their sins, your father will not forgive you

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your sins. All right. So this is a companion

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piece to a piece that we have in the gospel of

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Luke, where the disciples come up to Jesus and

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they go, Hey, we've been watching your prayer

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life. This is Ben's Living Translation. Yes,

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the BLT. And they say, we've seen your prayer

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life, and we want to pray like you pray. Yep.

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Right? And so there has been a lot of sermons

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where people go through these. And I think that

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going through this on piece by piece by piece

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is really good. In fact, Brad Gray at Walking

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the Text, who's a friend of ours, not a friend

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of ours, well, I know him, but a friend of the

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podcast, we've recommended him multiple times,

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has a great series through the Lord's Prayer

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about what does it actually mean to break out

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these pieces. But one of the things we were talking

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about before we got on here is that this prayer

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is actually very similar to a Jewish prayer that

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is done in synagogue. the Amidah prayer. It's

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a very similar prayer that they do. Sometimes

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it's done individually. How are you going to

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pronounce it? Please tell us. Say it one more

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time. Amidah. There you go. So the Amidah prayer

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is individually. They do it individually. But

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when you break out and you're praying, you would

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get a group of 10 people and you would pray it.

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And then if there was a group of seven over here

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that didn't have 10 people and you're one, you

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might go and you pray it again with them. And

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then if somebody was like two people over there,

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didn't get to pray, eight people would go pray

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with them. And so it's a prayer you might say

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multiple times. And it's going to have a lot

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of these pieces talking about like asking God's

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kingdom to come, his will be done for daily bread,

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for talking about this familiar father relationship.

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There's going to be a lot of like similarities

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like that. The piece that is not there. in antiquity

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is forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

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This is a piece that Jesus brings out that is

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a really difficult piece for the Jewish people

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to deal with. It's not that they don't forgive,

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it's that Jesus says forgiveness is actually

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the point. I think as far as ancient cultures,

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Jewish culture is incredibly forgiving. They're

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incredibly forgiving, but I'm going to jump to

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a different story of Jesus, which we'll actually

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talk about in a future episode. It could be kind

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of a poor connection, not to interrupt, but you

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kind of see this because, you know, they've had

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a lot of people come into the people group of

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the, you know, the original Israelites. Like,

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for instance, when they left Egypt, you know,

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a lot of them left and joined. So if they were

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a people that was very exclusive. Don't worry

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about it. I'm just making an adjustment to where

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you actually stand. Don't worry. We joked about

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this later. You know, but if they were a people

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that was. like exceedingly exclusive, you know,

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well, then you wouldn't see that in the demonstration

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of the history. Yeah. Well, and it's hard. This

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is a difficult thing because people look at Jewish

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tradition and they say that they're incredibly

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exclusive. That's not actually technically true.

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The idea was that they would always welcome the

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foreigner to be part of their synagogue. But

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in order to be part of them, you had to go through

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a pretty rigorous conversion process, which at

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some point we'll cover the book of Galatians

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and talk. about what it actually means to be

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a child of Abraham, to be a proselyte, or be

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what they're called theosabes, which are God

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-fearing Gentiles. Which, in all fairness, too,

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as far as that whole assimilation conversion

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process, too, it's not really that different

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from any other nation. I mean, even look at today.

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It sounds extreme here, but not then. But even

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even in today, you know the process of becoming

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a citizen here like I'd almost argued Inventure

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to say that probably most people that have gone

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through that process and became citizens Know

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as much or more of what it is to be an American.

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Yeah than most Americans who are just born with

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the privilege. Well, and especially like, I think,

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do you think maybe like part of the issue that

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we might have thinking about that too is that

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when you stepped into becoming a Jew, you kind

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of also became part of their nation. Yeah, exactly.

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Like, cause those two things were intertwined

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for like so long. You left your people to be,

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to make your people, my people. Correct. And

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we see that. Whereas now, like there is a, of

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course there's Israel, that's a state, but there's

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also Jewish people all over the world. There's

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Americans. jews like all sorts of things so like

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they've kind of separated now and so that's why

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you have to talk about them in context correct

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right um in love and context the name of the

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podcast so he said it by the way this is national

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enthusiasm week so if you have that that's that's

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okay perfect um so jesus comes in and oh but

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the story that i was jumping to and talking about

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forgiveness um Peter comes to Jesus in one of

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his stories, and he says, Master, how many times

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should we forgive our brother when he sins against

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us? Up to seven times? This is one of my favorite

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stories where people are like, oh, Peter's sticking

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his foot in his mouth. Except if you know the

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tradition, what is Jewish tradition is that the

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most you would forgive somebody is three. And

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if you're really gracious, four times. And Peter's

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like, I see who Jesus is and I see his teachings

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on forgiveness. So should I forgive up to seven

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times like to perfection? Right, yeah. Right?

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And so it's not actually a bad question. He's

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actually going beyond their current teaching.

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Correct. Right? Numerology is important here.

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Yeah, numerology and also tradition is important.

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So if the normal is three and gracious is four

00:11:58.190 --> 00:12:01.009
and he says seven, Peter's actually going beyond

00:12:01.009 --> 00:12:03.090
what's gracious in their society, right? Very

00:12:03.090 --> 00:12:05.110
much so. He's like, okay, Jesus, I see what you're

00:12:05.110 --> 00:12:06.490
doing. So you're saying like up to seven times.

00:12:07.009 --> 00:12:09.870
And we'll get there, but essentially the answer

00:12:09.870 --> 00:12:12.970
to Jesus is not a number, but that forgiveness

00:12:12.970 --> 00:12:15.740
should match evil in the world. Yeah. Right.

00:12:16.620 --> 00:12:20.620
And so when Jesus is teaching his disciples to

00:12:20.620 --> 00:12:22.860
pray in Luke and here he's instructing them,

00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:24.799
he says, you know, don't stand on street corners.

00:12:24.840 --> 00:12:27.000
Don't bring attention to yourself. Rather, find

00:12:27.000 --> 00:12:29.940
time to be in relationship with God. Right. And

00:12:29.940 --> 00:12:32.399
so the first thing is that we I think that's

00:12:32.399 --> 00:12:33.879
important to recognize with the Amidah prayer

00:12:33.879 --> 00:12:37.360
is that what is he says, Master, how should we

00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:40.580
pray? And he says. Our Father in heaven, hallowed

00:12:40.580 --> 00:12:42.279
be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be

00:12:42.279 --> 00:12:44.360
done. And so essentially, what does that tell

00:12:44.360 --> 00:12:45.620
them? He says, the first thing you should do

00:12:45.620 --> 00:12:49.480
is pray. Right? Right, yeah. Because they know

00:12:49.480 --> 00:12:52.299
the Amidah prayer. They're doing these in synagogue.

00:12:52.779 --> 00:12:55.120
They're doing it morning, evening, or morning,

00:12:55.179 --> 00:12:57.940
afternoon, evening. There's regular prayer as

00:12:57.940 --> 00:13:00.679
a part of their life. So essentially, if you

00:13:00.679 --> 00:13:02.720
boil down Jesus' answer, even though he's giving

00:13:02.720 --> 00:13:05.799
them a specific thing, his first thing is pray.

00:13:06.500 --> 00:13:10.799
Right. And with that connection to having the

00:13:10.799 --> 00:13:14.080
morning, afternoon and night, it means it's essentially

00:13:14.080 --> 00:13:16.279
continual. It's a constant relationship. It's

00:13:16.279 --> 00:13:20.539
a constant interaction. It's not it's not, you

00:13:20.539 --> 00:13:22.860
know, you do it when this instance happens or

00:13:22.860 --> 00:13:25.779
when you do it, you know, ritually this way.

00:13:26.299 --> 00:13:28.960
It's supposed to be just like engaged. Well,

00:13:29.039 --> 00:13:32.679
the the prayers and the blessings. Blessed is

00:13:32.679 --> 00:13:34.700
the Lord of the fruit of the vine that brings

00:13:34.700 --> 00:13:36.039
forth the fruit of the vine whenever they drink

00:13:36.039 --> 00:13:39.019
wine. Right. Or blessed is the Lord who brings

00:13:39.019 --> 00:13:41.659
bread from the grain. And there's specific prayers.

00:13:41.759 --> 00:13:46.759
Right. And it became a religious symbol. But

00:13:46.759 --> 00:13:48.899
what is it actually supposed to do? Cause remembrance.

00:13:49.279 --> 00:13:53.899
Exactly. Right. Cause conversation. Cause you

00:13:53.899 --> 00:13:57.320
to stop and pause and talk with God. Right. Draw

00:13:57.320 --> 00:14:00.480
you near to him. Engage with him. The Shema,

00:14:00.480 --> 00:14:02.539
which we've talked about, the hero Israel, Lord

00:14:02.539 --> 00:14:04.539
Israel, the Lord alone, love Lord God with our

00:14:04.539 --> 00:14:06.440
heart, soul, mind, and strength, right? They

00:14:06.440 --> 00:14:08.299
would recite this in the morning and in the evening.

00:14:08.399 --> 00:14:09.820
Now, there's some other pieces that are attached

00:14:09.820 --> 00:14:11.639
in antiquity. I'm just going to go with what

00:14:11.639 --> 00:14:14.620
Jesus talks about in the Shema, right? He adds,

00:14:14.740 --> 00:14:17.919
love your neighbor as yourself. But they say

00:14:17.919 --> 00:14:19.639
this in the morning and the evening. Why? Because

00:14:19.639 --> 00:14:21.600
you're centering your life around, oh, this is

00:14:21.600 --> 00:14:24.879
who I am. reminding yourself who you are and

00:14:24.879 --> 00:14:27.000
uh because we're preaching through exodus and

00:14:27.000 --> 00:14:30.019
is uh they he talks about festivals and he talks

00:14:30.019 --> 00:14:31.940
about celebrations and he talks about remembrance

00:14:31.940 --> 00:14:35.419
because people are dumb and they forget right

00:14:35.419 --> 00:14:39.100
very much so like an understatement i mean how

00:14:39.100 --> 00:14:40.960
many like there is i had a conversation today

00:14:40.960 --> 00:14:44.100
we were talking about um because it's uh i think

00:14:44.100 --> 00:14:47.490
it's it's It's the anniversary today of Gettysburg,

00:14:47.590 --> 00:14:49.970
I think. I can't remember if it's today or if

00:14:49.970 --> 00:14:51.309
it's around this day. We were talking about it

00:14:51.309 --> 00:14:54.429
at Rotary this morning. And we were talking about

00:14:54.429 --> 00:14:55.710
Gettysburg and we were talking about the amount

00:14:55.710 --> 00:14:57.529
of people there and what they're fighting over

00:14:57.529 --> 00:15:00.529
and this conversation. And it is puzzling to

00:15:00.529 --> 00:15:02.730
me because people don't talk about the Civil

00:15:02.730 --> 00:15:05.950
War very much that people have forgotten. I mean,

00:15:06.009 --> 00:15:08.110
this is like 100 years ago. Oh, yeah. It's super,

00:15:08.129 --> 00:15:11.789
super... In fact, it's so recent in history to

00:15:11.789 --> 00:15:14.580
put it in perspective that it was just... uh

00:15:14.580 --> 00:15:17.340
probably i don't remember if it's like 10 years

00:15:17.340 --> 00:15:21.139
ago or whatever it was was the last living spouse

00:15:21.139 --> 00:15:25.240
of a civil war veteran died That was not long

00:15:25.240 --> 00:15:28.639
ago. It blew my mind when I heard it. She was

00:15:28.639 --> 00:15:30.679
young and he was older when they got married.

00:15:31.080 --> 00:15:35.120
In our lifetime, a living spouse of a Civil War

00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:40.480
veteran. This is the problem where we talk about

00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:41.679
if you don't teach history, you're doomed to

00:15:41.679 --> 00:15:45.340
repeat it, right? 100%. How much more true is

00:15:45.340 --> 00:15:47.620
that? The things that are true you celebrate

00:15:47.620 --> 00:15:50.759
and you talk about. You're a parent, right? Are

00:15:50.759 --> 00:15:52.179
there things that you talk about with your kids

00:15:52.179 --> 00:15:55.850
frequently? Most definitely. Because I don't

00:15:55.850 --> 00:15:57.370
remember how many times, and you've seen this

00:15:57.370 --> 00:15:58.649
because you've been over to my house, and I'll

00:15:58.649 --> 00:16:00.629
say, James, you need to get your shoes. And he

00:16:00.629 --> 00:16:02.110
says, okay, where are my shoes? I'm like, they're

00:16:02.110 --> 00:16:04.789
over there. Over there. Look at me. Look at me.

00:16:05.070 --> 00:16:07.990
Look at me. You're not looking at me. You're

00:16:07.990 --> 00:16:10.529
looking away from me. Look where I'm pointing.

00:16:11.529 --> 00:16:14.389
Not to throw my kids under the bus, but literally

00:16:14.389 --> 00:16:17.500
I just had this conversation. I think yesterday

00:16:17.500 --> 00:16:20.120
about something I've said many, many times over

00:16:20.120 --> 00:16:22.820
the years that now again, I had to say again

00:16:22.820 --> 00:16:26.659
and they're like, Oh, and I'm like, yeah. Oh,

00:16:26.720 --> 00:16:29.879
as in like the millionth time. Oh, you know,

00:16:29.879 --> 00:16:33.029
like, come on guys. Yeah, it is. Well, it's so

00:16:33.029 --> 00:16:36.090
difficult. And I actually think that the Lord's

00:16:36.090 --> 00:16:37.830
Prayer, what we're talking about now, has become

00:16:37.830 --> 00:16:39.889
more of a ritual than something that's actually

00:16:39.889 --> 00:16:41.950
meant to remind us. Very much. People kind of

00:16:41.950 --> 00:16:43.789
treat it like a ritual prayer. Very much so.

00:16:44.029 --> 00:16:46.090
And that's not to say that I don't think people

00:16:46.090 --> 00:16:47.610
should say it. I absolutely think they should

00:16:47.610 --> 00:16:49.929
say it, but they've lost the meaning of the thing.

00:16:50.070 --> 00:16:52.870
Like Jesus says, he's like, how are we supposed

00:16:52.870 --> 00:16:55.809
to pray? Well, you need to pray. You need to

00:16:55.809 --> 00:16:58.330
pray with your buddies. You need to remember

00:16:58.330 --> 00:17:00.110
specific things, which, by the way, I'm going

00:17:00.110 --> 00:17:01.909
to recommend going to Walking the Texan, going

00:17:01.909 --> 00:17:03.389
through their Lord's Prayer, because we're not

00:17:03.389 --> 00:17:04.549
going to go through everything in the Lord's

00:17:04.549 --> 00:17:07.589
Prayer today. It's great. I think that Brad Gray

00:17:07.589 --> 00:17:08.970
does a really good job of breaking that down.

00:17:09.230 --> 00:17:14.130
But you have our Father. Okay, so first of all,

00:17:14.150 --> 00:17:16.559
this is not some abstract quality. No. Like,

00:17:16.559 --> 00:17:19.660
Father is familiar language. Very much so. It's

00:17:19.660 --> 00:17:22.319
familiar language. So, like, the purpose is you

00:17:22.319 --> 00:17:24.700
need to pray, right? It's coming to God. It's

00:17:24.700 --> 00:17:26.220
having relationships. It's familiar language.

00:17:26.740 --> 00:17:29.180
One of the things, by the way, I'm going to mention

00:17:29.180 --> 00:17:31.279
here again, my book is out, Beautiful Chaos,

00:17:31.460 --> 00:17:33.910
Infinite Love. I recommend it. Thank you. I appreciate

00:17:33.910 --> 00:17:36.470
that. Um, but one of the things that I talk about

00:17:36.470 --> 00:17:39.269
in there in the book is I said, if you don't

00:17:39.269 --> 00:17:41.890
look at God as father and you look at him and

00:17:41.890 --> 00:17:44.430
maybe if your relationship with father is jacked

00:17:44.430 --> 00:17:47.490
up, right? You had a abusive father, a distant

00:17:47.490 --> 00:17:50.289
father, a emotion manipulative father, a father

00:17:50.289 --> 00:17:53.630
that wasn't worth looking up to, like calling

00:17:53.630 --> 00:17:55.349
God father is a problem. I said, the problem

00:17:55.349 --> 00:17:58.230
is fatherhood is defined by God, not the other

00:17:58.230 --> 00:18:02.109
way around. And, uh, and so, but if we, We assume

00:18:02.109 --> 00:18:04.430
that God is mad with us, that we're just there

00:18:04.430 --> 00:18:06.589
to appease him. Well, congratulations, you've

00:18:06.589 --> 00:18:08.269
now treated him like every pagan God out there.

00:18:08.369 --> 00:18:10.390
Right, right. No, this is a God who wants to

00:18:10.390 --> 00:18:13.359
dwell with you. It says in the book of Exodus,

00:18:13.480 --> 00:18:15.779
he says, I want to tabernacle with you. And then

00:18:15.779 --> 00:18:18.299
Jesus comes in John 1 .1 and it says that he

00:18:18.299 --> 00:18:22.319
tabernacled among us. God wants to dwell with

00:18:22.319 --> 00:18:23.880
his people. He wants to dwell within his people.

00:18:23.940 --> 00:18:26.339
We become the house of the Holy Spirit. God wants

00:18:26.339 --> 00:18:29.599
to be close. He is a father that loves his children.

00:18:29.720 --> 00:18:31.420
Now, does that mean that he's okay with us doing

00:18:31.420 --> 00:18:34.039
dumb things? No. And I'm also not okay with my

00:18:34.039 --> 00:18:36.740
kids doing dumb things. But when they do dumb

00:18:36.740 --> 00:18:40.750
things, I'm never looking to... punish them i'm

00:18:40.750 --> 00:18:43.130
looking to discipline them to make them more

00:18:43.130 --> 00:18:45.910
of who they're supposed to be exactly 100 right

00:18:45.910 --> 00:18:48.589
i like i was telling this to my son the other

00:18:48.589 --> 00:18:51.430
day and i said you don't you think that i'm doing

00:18:51.430 --> 00:18:54.869
this because i want to be hard on you i know

00:18:54.869 --> 00:18:58.089
who you are and i want more of that yeah yeah

00:18:58.089 --> 00:19:01.150
100 and i was like and who you are is awesome

00:19:01.150 --> 00:19:06.380
and i want more of that and he goes okay And

00:19:06.380 --> 00:19:07.220
I was like, all right, you can go back and play.

00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:09.980
He's six years old, so it's only so much he can

00:19:09.980 --> 00:19:12.460
absorb, right? Right, right, yeah. We've talked

00:19:12.460 --> 00:19:14.160
about Dallas Willow, The Divine Conspiracy, and

00:19:14.160 --> 00:19:17.339
he actually comments on this. So I want to read

00:19:17.339 --> 00:19:19.539
his quote because he rewrote The Lord's Prayer

00:19:19.539 --> 00:19:23.079
for the purpose of people engaging it in a different

00:19:23.079 --> 00:19:24.579
way or hearing it in a different way. So I'm

00:19:24.579 --> 00:19:25.839
going to read this to you. If this hits you wrong,

00:19:26.019 --> 00:19:33.160
that's okay. I'm fine with it. It's a person's

00:19:33.160 --> 00:19:35.440
interpretation and quote. Yeah, so this is how

00:19:35.440 --> 00:19:37.900
he interprets what's going. He says, Our Father

00:19:37.900 --> 00:19:41.819
always near us. May your name be kept holy. May

00:19:41.819 --> 00:19:44.099
your kingdom come. May your will be done as in

00:19:44.099 --> 00:19:47.180
heaven, so also on earth. Give us today the things

00:19:47.180 --> 00:19:50.519
we need for today. Right, yeah. And forgive us

00:19:50.519 --> 00:19:54.079
our sins and impositions on you, as we are forgiving

00:19:54.079 --> 00:19:58.049
all who in any way offend us. Right. Right? And

00:19:58.049 --> 00:20:00.109
please don't put us to the test, but deliver

00:20:00.109 --> 00:20:03.490
us from the evil one. And then he says, for yours

00:20:03.490 --> 00:20:05.289
is the glory and the honor forever and ever.

00:20:05.410 --> 00:20:08.009
Amen. Except instead of amen, Dallas Willard

00:20:08.009 --> 00:20:10.710
says, at the end, you should just whoopee at

00:20:10.710 --> 00:20:14.170
the end, right? I like it. But no, it's great

00:20:14.170 --> 00:20:17.829
because, you know. Jesus, he gave us a template,

00:20:17.869 --> 00:20:20.609
essentially. And we can go a lot deeper into

00:20:20.609 --> 00:20:22.769
it. Like, there's some actual connections and

00:20:22.769 --> 00:20:25.230
references and things that within the cultural

00:20:25.230 --> 00:20:27.609
context that, you know, you'll understand deeper,

00:20:27.750 --> 00:20:29.789
right? Like what's been referenced here. But

00:20:29.789 --> 00:20:32.869
it's also, there's a practicality to it, too.

00:20:32.950 --> 00:20:35.130
And it's a template where literally all he did

00:20:35.130 --> 00:20:37.029
was he just put it in language that we use today.

00:20:37.369 --> 00:20:41.240
It is... So the first thing we want to talk about,

00:20:41.279 --> 00:20:42.940
what is prayer and what does the Bible talk about,

00:20:43.019 --> 00:20:46.140
is it is talking and communing with your Father.

00:20:46.319 --> 00:20:48.720
Exactly. Right? It's spending time with the God

00:20:48.720 --> 00:20:52.079
who created you. One of the main things that

00:20:52.079 --> 00:20:54.000
has come up when people want to engage me on

00:20:54.000 --> 00:20:56.119
prayer, being a church leader, being a pastor,

00:20:56.220 --> 00:20:57.579
like all those different things we've done, I've

00:20:57.579 --> 00:20:59.960
done over the past, they say, well, I just don't

00:20:59.960 --> 00:21:02.180
know how to pray. And I say, well, what do you

00:21:02.180 --> 00:21:05.039
do? They're like, well, I just go through my

00:21:05.039 --> 00:21:10.549
list and say amen. go on right and i was like

00:21:10.549 --> 00:21:12.829
okay where do you do that and they're like well

00:21:12.829 --> 00:21:15.430
you know if i'm driving or you know and by the

00:21:15.430 --> 00:21:17.390
way these are not bad things praying while you're

00:21:17.390 --> 00:21:19.349
driving uh they're like i get up in the morning

00:21:19.349 --> 00:21:21.250
and i sit and have devotion and read the bible

00:21:21.250 --> 00:21:23.829
and it's like great and i was like how much time

00:21:23.829 --> 00:21:28.549
do you spend listening right it gets real quiet

00:21:29.410 --> 00:21:32.910
100%. But that's so critical, too, because it's

00:21:32.910 --> 00:21:35.589
a relational thing. It's not just us throwing

00:21:35.589 --> 00:21:38.529
out darts at a dartboard and seeing what sticks.

00:21:39.390 --> 00:21:42.609
It's actually engaging with our loving Father

00:21:42.609 --> 00:21:45.349
who then engages with us in different ways. Which,

00:21:45.369 --> 00:21:46.849
by the way, is why it's really important to know

00:21:46.849 --> 00:21:48.650
this book. Very important. Because then when

00:21:48.650 --> 00:21:50.269
he speaks, it's going to be in line with his

00:21:50.269 --> 00:21:52.549
word. Exactly. Right? Because we are to test

00:21:52.549 --> 00:21:54.250
all spirits, right? How do you test spirits if

00:21:54.250 --> 00:21:56.230
you don't know what the criteria of testing is?

00:21:56.230 --> 00:21:57.869
I'm going to use some fancy Greek words. Okay.

00:21:58.599 --> 00:22:01.859
the, uh, there is the, the word of God and there

00:22:01.859 --> 00:22:05.960
is the, the Rhema word of God, right? The spoken

00:22:05.960 --> 00:22:08.359
versus literal word of God. So we know these

00:22:08.359 --> 00:22:10.539
are the words of God and people have a conversation.

00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:11.720
They're like, well, what about these other books?

00:22:11.779 --> 00:22:13.500
I was like, well, we know these ones. Okay. Exactly.

00:22:13.519 --> 00:22:16.839
We know these ones, but then God also speaks.

00:22:17.059 --> 00:22:19.920
And we know that throughout all of church history.

00:22:19.980 --> 00:22:21.380
We know that in the Bible, we know that in the

00:22:21.380 --> 00:22:23.539
old and new Testament, people like God spoke.

00:22:23.599 --> 00:22:26.480
And so it never stopped. And even in the, uh,

00:22:26.500 --> 00:22:29.960
you know, uh, the, you know, new Testament, uh,

00:22:30.039 --> 00:22:33.460
there's so many miracles and instances where

00:22:33.460 --> 00:22:35.779
the writers literally point out, like there was

00:22:35.779 --> 00:22:39.180
more here that was done, but we can't write it

00:22:39.180 --> 00:22:41.279
all out. Like we don't have space to, to write

00:22:41.279 --> 00:22:43.359
everything that he said and done. Correct. Yeah.

00:22:43.420 --> 00:22:45.220
That's, that's in the gospel of John. So again,

00:22:47.459 --> 00:22:50.980
God, just reinforce, he speaks to us. He's living,

00:22:51.059 --> 00:22:53.700
he's active. Not every word he's ever said is

00:22:53.700 --> 00:22:56.240
written within these pages. It is interesting.

00:22:56.339 --> 00:22:58.460
And so the other piece of it is I said, so what

00:22:58.460 --> 00:23:00.779
expectations do you, like if I come to talk to

00:23:00.779 --> 00:23:02.859
you, Matthew, my friend, right? And we're going

00:23:02.859 --> 00:23:04.819
to have a conversation. I expect when I talk,

00:23:04.900 --> 00:23:07.119
you're also going to talk back, right? I expect

00:23:07.119 --> 00:23:11.420
that. Now, if I ask you a question and you pause

00:23:11.420 --> 00:23:13.519
and you're looking at me and you wait to say

00:23:13.519 --> 00:23:16.720
something, I can wait. Right, right. Because

00:23:16.720 --> 00:23:18.299
you're formulating your answer. Right, right.

00:23:18.440 --> 00:23:21.420
Right? Or if you're speaking and I can't hear

00:23:21.420 --> 00:23:23.220
you, I mean, I'd be like, I can't hear you. Can

00:23:23.220 --> 00:23:24.880
you say that again? Push the mic closer to my

00:23:24.880 --> 00:23:26.299
face. Push the mic closer to your face. Yeah,

00:23:26.299 --> 00:23:29.940
exactly. And I was like, also, you know what

00:23:29.940 --> 00:23:31.019
I'm not going to do is I'm not going to have

00:23:31.019 --> 00:23:32.599
my, I'm not going to ask you questions while

00:23:32.599 --> 00:23:35.420
I'm on my cell phone going, ah. Right. You know,

00:23:35.500 --> 00:23:36.720
I was like, what I'm doing is I'm putting away

00:23:36.720 --> 00:23:38.440
the distractions. I'm focused on you, my friend.

00:23:38.660 --> 00:23:41.319
And there's always different scenarios. But when

00:23:41.319 --> 00:23:44.140
I want to foster relationship, I don't foster

00:23:44.140 --> 00:23:46.160
relationship between you, me, and my phone. Right.

00:23:46.319 --> 00:23:49.220
Right. Exactly. And, you know, just to build

00:23:49.220 --> 00:23:50.740
on that point, like when teaching my kids how

00:23:50.740 --> 00:23:53.720
to pray and whatnot, you know, I tell them it's

00:23:53.720 --> 00:23:56.559
just like talking to me or mom. Yeah. Right.

00:23:56.619 --> 00:23:58.019
You know, it's like you're having a conversation,

00:23:58.220 --> 00:24:01.279
you know, and in the same token, like when you're

00:24:01.279 --> 00:24:03.279
doing other things while we're trying to pray

00:24:03.279 --> 00:24:05.019
together as a family, we're trying to talk to

00:24:05.019 --> 00:24:07.339
God as a family. You're essentially interrupting.

00:24:07.559 --> 00:24:10.220
Yeah. You know, and so getting that concept figured

00:24:10.220 --> 00:24:13.960
out. Well, and going back to this passage here

00:24:13.960 --> 00:24:16.980
in Matthew, when you pray, don't pray like the

00:24:16.980 --> 00:24:19.279
hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in

00:24:19.279 --> 00:24:20.819
the synagogues and on the street corners to be

00:24:20.819 --> 00:24:23.819
seen by others. When you pray, go into your room,

00:24:23.880 --> 00:24:25.220
close the door, pray to your father who's on

00:24:25.220 --> 00:24:27.279
scene, who sees what's done in secret will reward

00:24:27.279 --> 00:24:29.650
you. When you pray, don't babble like pagans,

00:24:29.650 --> 00:24:31.029
for they think they'll be heard because of their

00:24:31.029 --> 00:24:32.950
many words. Don't be like them, for the Father

00:24:32.950 --> 00:24:35.910
knows what you need before you ask him. So the

00:24:35.910 --> 00:24:37.690
purpose in bringing things is to align my heart

00:24:37.690 --> 00:24:39.650
with the Father. In other words, to grow in communion

00:24:39.650 --> 00:24:42.430
with my Father. He knows what you need before

00:24:42.430 --> 00:24:44.309
you ask him. The biggest thing that can happen

00:24:44.309 --> 00:24:46.430
in a conversation is that you know him better.

00:24:46.670 --> 00:24:48.750
Right. And you allow, this is going to sound

00:24:48.750 --> 00:24:50.529
weird to people, you allow him to know you better.

00:24:51.410 --> 00:24:53.630
Now, on a very real level, God knows everything

00:24:53.630 --> 00:24:56.849
about you. Correct. But there is also this thing

00:24:56.849 --> 00:24:58.769
in relationship where you allow yourself to be

00:24:58.769 --> 00:25:01.190
known by somebody else. Exactly. Right? And that's

00:25:01.190 --> 00:25:02.910
what he wants. He wants us to engage with him

00:25:02.910 --> 00:25:05.609
on a very deep, intimate level. I was having

00:25:05.609 --> 00:25:06.549
a conversation. And he's not going to force it.

00:25:06.750 --> 00:25:09.009
100%. I was having that conversation when James

00:25:09.009 --> 00:25:10.910
asked me on the drive home yesterday. He says,

00:25:10.950 --> 00:25:13.210
what language does God speak? Yeah. And I was

00:25:13.210 --> 00:25:14.849
like, well, on a very real level, buddy, all

00:25:14.849 --> 00:25:17.660
of them. Yeah. Right? And I was like, on another

00:25:17.660 --> 00:25:19.960
level, like, none of them, because he's speaking

00:25:19.960 --> 00:25:21.900
to you in ways that aren't English. And I was

00:25:21.900 --> 00:25:24.460
like, are you asking, like, the people who wrote

00:25:24.460 --> 00:25:25.839
the Bible what language they spoke? Because they

00:25:25.839 --> 00:25:28.980
spoke Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, depending on the

00:25:28.980 --> 00:25:30.799
era. And I was like, because those were their

00:25:30.799 --> 00:25:32.359
languages, and that's how God spoke to them.

00:25:33.039 --> 00:25:35.640
I was like, but God talks to people in Chinese,

00:25:35.819 --> 00:25:40.519
Russian, Ukrainian, English, Spanish, all sorts

00:25:40.519 --> 00:25:42.619
of different languages, depending on the person.

00:25:42.740 --> 00:25:44.940
And so God speaks a multitude of languages. The

00:25:44.940 --> 00:25:47.000
thing that is specific is that he's speaking

00:25:47.000 --> 00:25:49.119
to you and that's, he's going to be talking to

00:25:49.119 --> 00:25:51.240
you and revealing things to you as you grow up.

00:25:51.440 --> 00:25:54.460
Right. And, and I was like, so learning to hear

00:25:54.460 --> 00:25:56.380
his voice is really important because you don't

00:25:56.380 --> 00:25:58.380
know his voice right now. And I was like, there's

00:25:58.380 --> 00:26:00.779
no other way to learn than just to start learning.

00:26:00.940 --> 00:26:05.259
Exactly. Right? 100%. And so, like, learning

00:26:05.259 --> 00:26:07.640
to hear the voice of God, it's, I think, the

00:26:07.640 --> 00:26:09.460
most important thing that happens in the Christian

00:26:09.460 --> 00:26:12.740
life. Because we respond to the voice of God,

00:26:12.839 --> 00:26:15.890
and that's what leads us to salvation. yeah right

00:26:15.890 --> 00:26:17.849
exactly we respond to the spirit of god moving

00:26:17.849 --> 00:26:21.269
in our life and drawing us to him and uh and

00:26:21.269 --> 00:26:22.990
so with that i'm like i'm like man prayer is

00:26:22.990 --> 00:26:25.230
really important and then also growing and you

00:26:25.230 --> 00:26:27.089
know we try to do all these things in in christian

00:26:27.089 --> 00:26:30.990
life and i was like we're trying to i could work

00:26:30.990 --> 00:26:33.529
for 40 000 years and not do more than god can

00:26:33.529 --> 00:26:38.720
do in 40 days yeah right yeah Right? You can

00:26:38.720 --> 00:26:43.400
exponentially increase your amount of time, effort,

00:26:43.519 --> 00:26:46.259
and everything else, and decrease the amount

00:26:46.259 --> 00:26:48.119
that God will have, and it'll be nothing in comparison.

00:26:48.220 --> 00:26:50.420
We don't even compare. I cannot remember who

00:26:50.420 --> 00:26:52.359
it was. It was Billy Graham, Oswald Chambers,

00:26:52.460 --> 00:26:55.140
D .L. Moody, one of the guys that made the statement.

00:26:55.140 --> 00:26:58.779
He says, we have so much to do today that we

00:26:58.779 --> 00:27:02.200
cannot go and do anything until we've prayed

00:27:02.200 --> 00:27:06.380
at least for an hour. Wow. We have so many things

00:27:06.380 --> 00:27:10.640
today that if we don't have God moving in our

00:27:10.640 --> 00:27:14.099
lives, these things won't happen. And it's such

00:27:14.099 --> 00:27:17.220
a shift in mentality. There's so much that goes

00:27:17.220 --> 00:27:20.839
into that because one, we don't want to go anywhere

00:27:20.839 --> 00:27:23.779
God's not. So where God is, that's where we go,

00:27:23.799 --> 00:27:26.460
right? So we want that relationship, much like

00:27:26.460 --> 00:27:30.039
the Israelites, right? They got that right. But

00:27:30.039 --> 00:27:37.130
two, you know, with that in mind, it's like We

00:27:37.130 --> 00:27:39.730
are so dependent on God in everything. We cannot

00:27:39.730 --> 00:27:42.029
do anything on our own. And everything that we

00:27:42.029 --> 00:27:44.190
have, we're just stewards from what God's given

00:27:44.190 --> 00:27:47.890
us. And so we need that engagement, especially

00:27:47.890 --> 00:27:49.849
when we're, you know, aware and we're trying

00:27:49.849 --> 00:27:53.589
to, you know, live out the, you know, the gospel

00:27:53.589 --> 00:27:56.150
and the ministry and, you know, lift others up

00:27:56.150 --> 00:27:58.269
and whatever, right? We can't do it on our own.

00:27:58.309 --> 00:28:00.430
Like, I can't even walk without the grace of

00:28:00.430 --> 00:28:03.089
God giving my body the ability to get myself

00:28:03.089 --> 00:28:06.029
up in the day. Well, and we were created to walk.

00:28:06.160 --> 00:28:09.619
in the Ruach, the cool of the day, with God.

00:28:09.960 --> 00:28:12.180
This is what's going on in Genesis. It says that

00:28:12.180 --> 00:28:14.599
God walked with them, and it says that he comes

00:28:14.599 --> 00:28:16.460
to them in the Ruach of the day, which we translate

00:28:16.460 --> 00:28:20.019
as cool of the day, the wind of the day. Ruach

00:28:20.019 --> 00:28:22.410
is spirit. Right. Right. We're actually supposed

00:28:22.410 --> 00:28:25.329
to walk the garden with God. That's that's his

00:28:25.329 --> 00:28:27.890
favorite part of the day where we just walk with

00:28:27.890 --> 00:28:30.849
him. And prayer is a way of getting back to that.

00:28:30.950 --> 00:28:33.329
Right. This this time of like we're intentionally

00:28:33.329 --> 00:28:37.130
slowing down and spending time. And and like

00:28:37.130 --> 00:28:38.849
these blessings they do in the morning and the

00:28:38.849 --> 00:28:41.150
evening. It's about centering yourself on who

00:28:41.150 --> 00:28:43.589
Jesus is, who God is and saying, I'm going to

00:28:43.589 --> 00:28:46.089
carry you every place that I go. Every place

00:28:46.089 --> 00:28:49.280
that I go, you're carried with me. Right. Um,

00:28:49.280 --> 00:28:51.180
so a couple of things I want to, I wanted to

00:28:51.180 --> 00:28:53.579
jump out here because I wanted to move from there

00:28:53.579 --> 00:28:55.920
and talk a little bit more about prayer is we

00:28:55.920 --> 00:28:58.519
talked about this a few weeks ago, um, in life

00:28:58.519 --> 00:29:02.980
of Jesus, desolate places. Yeah. Right. Yes.

00:29:03.220 --> 00:29:05.720
Um, so the desert in and shepherding and the

00:29:05.720 --> 00:29:07.940
voice of God are all connected words in Hebrew.

00:29:08.059 --> 00:29:09.839
Uh, they're part of the same family group. Okay.

00:29:09.859 --> 00:29:11.400
Why? Because you go to the desert to hear the

00:29:11.400 --> 00:29:14.180
voice of God. Right. So Jesus frequently, it

00:29:14.180 --> 00:29:16.180
says he goes to desolate places. So this is,

00:29:16.279 --> 00:29:19.180
uh, um, places of solitude. He goes off into

00:29:19.180 --> 00:29:21.680
the wilderness to pray, right? Like frequently

00:29:21.680 --> 00:29:23.380
it says that in Mark, it says that a bunch of

00:29:23.380 --> 00:29:25.319
places. And when he comes back, he typically

00:29:25.319 --> 00:29:26.779
comes back and he's like, all right, we got to

00:29:26.779 --> 00:29:29.839
keep going. Like he gets further direction on

00:29:29.839 --> 00:29:32.099
what God is having him do. Now, some of you have

00:29:32.099 --> 00:29:33.700
a different theological idea of like how Jesus

00:29:33.700 --> 00:29:36.079
walked on earth. Um, that's okay. We just disagree

00:29:36.079 --> 00:29:38.299
and that's fine. But what we're seeing is that

00:29:38.299 --> 00:29:41.559
Jesus, Jesus Christ, God made flesh thinks it's

00:29:41.559 --> 00:29:43.779
important to go off to desolate places to spend

00:29:43.779 --> 00:29:48.039
time with the father. If he thinks that, right?

00:29:49.240 --> 00:29:52.240
Oh, yeah, 100%. How much more? Yeah, we need

00:29:52.240 --> 00:29:55.059
to be able to take that space and go to wherever

00:29:55.059 --> 00:29:58.720
we can get rid of the distractions, you know,

00:29:58.720 --> 00:30:00.460
and we go in a place where we are fully dependent

00:30:00.460 --> 00:30:06.140
on him. And we dive deeper. We listen. We present

00:30:06.140 --> 00:30:09.680
ourselves and make ourselves available to receive

00:30:09.680 --> 00:30:13.839
any word from him. And we give our heart in that

00:30:13.839 --> 00:30:17.400
process. It's a very kind of dynamic and deliberate

00:30:17.400 --> 00:30:22.480
action. And I wonder, and you feel free to answer

00:30:22.480 --> 00:30:24.920
if you want to, but I wonder when's the last

00:30:24.920 --> 00:30:28.619
time, listener, for us or for you, you took an

00:30:28.619 --> 00:30:32.400
hour where you didn't have your phone. didn't

00:30:32.400 --> 00:30:35.559
have a book, didn't have the TV, didn't have

00:30:35.559 --> 00:30:38.200
somebody else talking to you, didn't have to

00:30:38.200 --> 00:30:41.740
focus on driving. You're there somewhere quiet

00:30:41.740 --> 00:30:45.779
that you can just stop, be still, breathe, listen,

00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:51.039
and talk. Right. like even just saying that I

00:30:51.039 --> 00:30:52.819
can feel like I want to take a deep breath and

00:30:52.819 --> 00:30:54.880
say, yeah, right. Yeah. A hundred percent. Because

00:30:54.880 --> 00:30:57.400
like there's times where I've deliberately tried

00:30:57.400 --> 00:30:59.940
to take extended periods of time and extended

00:30:59.940 --> 00:31:01.940
for me is different than someone else. You know,

00:31:01.940 --> 00:31:03.839
for me, it might be five minutes and you might

00:31:03.839 --> 00:31:05.799
be three hours. Right. Right. So the definitions

00:31:05.799 --> 00:31:08.119
are very, but I've deliberately tried to take

00:31:08.119 --> 00:31:12.819
that extended time, but there's. We just let

00:31:12.819 --> 00:31:14.799
our environments and our life and our responsibilities

00:31:14.799 --> 00:31:17.579
kind of constantly just be there, whether it

00:31:17.579 --> 00:31:20.099
be trying to balance, you know, home life, kids,

00:31:20.259 --> 00:31:24.400
whatever else. And so it can be quite difficult

00:31:24.400 --> 00:31:27.099
to truly just kind of escape for an hour and

00:31:27.099 --> 00:31:29.859
just the way that our our busy lives are are

00:31:29.859 --> 00:31:31.839
kind of organized right now. And so it's just,

00:31:31.859 --> 00:31:35.450
you know, real and raw there. But. I do think

00:31:35.450 --> 00:31:37.750
that whether you take an hour or whether you

00:31:37.750 --> 00:31:40.589
literally just have five minutes between running

00:31:40.589 --> 00:31:42.349
your kids around, if you have the deliberate

00:31:42.349 --> 00:31:46.730
heart to to try to, you know, like I can't remember

00:31:46.730 --> 00:31:48.690
her name, but she had a prayer closet. Right.

00:31:49.560 --> 00:31:53.319
That was Wesley's mom. Yeah. John and Charles

00:31:53.319 --> 00:31:56.440
Wesley. I forget her name. Yeah, she had a prayer

00:31:56.440 --> 00:31:58.819
closet. And so she would escape for whatever

00:31:58.819 --> 00:32:01.920
she could to go do that time where she was taking

00:32:01.920 --> 00:32:03.559
herself away from the distraction, just presenting

00:32:03.559 --> 00:32:06.059
herself just to the Lord and going and having

00:32:06.059 --> 00:32:08.480
an intimate time with him. And so whether you

00:32:08.480 --> 00:32:10.339
have five minutes to do that or whether you can,

00:32:10.359 --> 00:32:12.880
you know, take an hour, you know, I think God

00:32:12.880 --> 00:32:14.779
honors the heart of it and the intention and

00:32:14.779 --> 00:32:17.799
he meets you with. With the chaos. Yeah, I think

00:32:17.799 --> 00:32:20.460
so. A hundred percent. So there is, um, we've

00:32:20.460 --> 00:32:22.059
talked about this a number of times on the podcast.

00:32:22.140 --> 00:32:23.839
I'm going to just, it bears repeating again in,

00:32:23.859 --> 00:32:25.819
in the start of creation, God creates a space

00:32:25.819 --> 00:32:28.160
and he tells humanity to fill it. Right. Um,

00:32:28.240 --> 00:32:30.480
it doesn't go so well. Right. But in the book

00:32:30.480 --> 00:32:33.920
of Exodus, he then says, you create a space and

00:32:33.920 --> 00:32:37.339
I'll fill it. And throughout scripture, I think

00:32:37.339 --> 00:32:39.440
that there's this invitation that when we create

00:32:39.440 --> 00:32:42.799
space for God, he fills it. So, uh, you're like,

00:32:42.880 --> 00:32:45.019
I don't, I don't know if I have an hour. Do you

00:32:45.019 --> 00:32:48.089
have five minutes? Yeah. Like that is a perfectly

00:32:48.089 --> 00:32:50.490
acceptable place to start because one of the

00:32:50.490 --> 00:32:52.490
things that I know for sure that's going to happen

00:32:52.490 --> 00:32:55.470
is if you actually take that five minutes and

00:32:55.470 --> 00:32:58.829
you dedicate it to God to, to talk, to listen,

00:32:58.970 --> 00:33:02.410
to absorb, to be in the presence, right? It's

00:33:02.410 --> 00:33:04.250
going to stop being five minutes over time. And

00:33:04.250 --> 00:33:06.529
here's an example, like a practical, like if

00:33:06.529 --> 00:33:08.150
you got five minutes, leave for work five minutes

00:33:08.150 --> 00:33:10.549
early. So you get to wherever you're parking

00:33:10.549 --> 00:33:12.190
five minutes early and then you sit in that parking

00:33:12.190 --> 00:33:14.859
lot for that five minutes. Where you can try

00:33:14.859 --> 00:33:17.880
to be, you know, have that space where you're

00:33:17.880 --> 00:33:18.279
not likely to get interrupted. Put your phone

00:33:18.279 --> 00:33:21.539
down. Turn off the radio. Exactly. And now you've

00:33:21.539 --> 00:33:24.640
got your five minutes, right? And so, like, there's

00:33:24.640 --> 00:33:26.980
ways that we can create this space. And that's,

00:33:26.980 --> 00:33:30.460
I think, what God wants. So. There are a couple

00:33:30.460 --> 00:33:32.200
of things that I think are where I want to touch

00:33:32.200 --> 00:33:34.819
on a few parables that Jesus teaches about prayer

00:33:34.819 --> 00:33:36.839
too, because I think one of these things is like,

00:33:36.880 --> 00:33:38.900
people are like, oh, I need to, you know, I show

00:33:38.900 --> 00:33:40.220
up for five minutes and I didn't get my prayer

00:33:40.220 --> 00:33:42.839
answered. Well, that's not how relationship works

00:33:42.839 --> 00:33:44.339
either. It's about showing up. And so there's

00:33:44.339 --> 00:33:47.740
a parable in the gospel of Luke, Luke 18 says,

00:33:47.880 --> 00:33:50.579
then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show

00:33:50.579 --> 00:33:52.819
them that they should always pray and not give

00:33:52.819 --> 00:33:55.160
up. Okay. That's the purpose of the prayer. Luke

00:33:55.160 --> 00:33:57.299
says, hey, they told me this is the purpose of

00:33:57.299 --> 00:34:00.269
the prayer. Um, he said in a certain town, there

00:34:00.269 --> 00:34:02.789
was a judge who was neither feared God nor cared

00:34:02.789 --> 00:34:04.890
what people thought. And there was a widow in

00:34:04.890 --> 00:34:06.490
the town who kept coming to him with a plea,

00:34:06.569 --> 00:34:09.070
grant me justice against my adversary. For some

00:34:09.070 --> 00:34:11.190
time he refused, but he finally said to himself,

00:34:11.429 --> 00:34:13.590
even though I don't fear God or care what people

00:34:13.590 --> 00:34:15.690
think yet, because this widow keeps bothering

00:34:15.690 --> 00:34:18.349
me, I will see that she gets justice so that

00:34:18.349 --> 00:34:20.889
it won't eventually come and they won't. So,

00:34:20.989 --> 00:34:22.690
so that she won't eventually come and attack

00:34:22.690 --> 00:34:25.010
me. And the Lord said, listen to what the unjust

00:34:25.010 --> 00:34:27.289
judge says and will not God bring about justice.

00:34:36.860 --> 00:34:42.320
Right. Okay. Jesus says, I know you're coming

00:34:42.320 --> 00:34:43.699
to your prayer time, and you're trying to figure

00:34:43.699 --> 00:34:45.280
out why things aren't happening, and so I'm going

00:34:45.280 --> 00:34:46.639
to tell you a parable. Now, what I'm going to

00:34:46.639 --> 00:34:48.260
tell you that people take in this parable is

00:34:48.260 --> 00:34:50.159
they say, oh, God is the judge, and you're supposed

00:34:50.159 --> 00:34:51.860
to come and pester him until he gives you what

00:34:51.860 --> 00:34:53.179
you want, even if he doesn't want to give it

00:34:53.179 --> 00:34:55.900
to you. That's not what the parable is. Stop

00:34:55.900 --> 00:34:59.000
trying to, we keep trying to make it an allegory,

00:34:59.039 --> 00:35:02.820
and parables aren't necessarily allegories. You

00:35:02.820 --> 00:35:04.539
can make them into allegories, but they're not

00:35:04.539 --> 00:35:07.260
necessarily allegories, right? Those are different

00:35:07.260 --> 00:35:11.619
types of conversation. He says, let me tell you

00:35:11.619 --> 00:35:14.559
a parable. There is a judge that doesn't care

00:35:14.559 --> 00:35:16.840
about people and doesn't care about God. Yep.

00:35:16.940 --> 00:35:19.420
This is not a good person. Exactly. Right? He

00:35:19.420 --> 00:35:21.900
doesn't care about justice. He doesn't care about

00:35:21.900 --> 00:35:24.500
people liking him. He doesn't care about their

00:35:24.500 --> 00:35:27.539
concerns. This is who that judge is. But this

00:35:27.539 --> 00:35:30.320
widow comes persistently and he's like, man,

00:35:30.460 --> 00:35:33.099
I'm going to take care of her problem just because

00:35:33.099 --> 00:35:37.179
she's annoying me like crazy. Correct. If that

00:35:37.179 --> 00:35:41.199
guy... That guy who doesn't like people, doesn't

00:35:41.199 --> 00:35:44.440
fear God, doesn't care about your problems, will

00:35:44.440 --> 00:35:46.920
still listen to your plea if you're persistent.

00:35:47.500 --> 00:35:51.079
Don't you think your father who loves you, who

00:35:51.079 --> 00:35:54.039
cares about you, that wants to tabernacle with

00:35:54.039 --> 00:35:56.039
you. All the things that this judge is not. All

00:35:56.039 --> 00:35:57.980
the things that this judge is not. Like, do you

00:35:57.980 --> 00:36:01.300
think that he's holding out on you? God's not

00:36:01.300 --> 00:36:03.639
holding out on you. If you don't have it, it's

00:36:03.639 --> 00:36:05.380
because you're asking for ice cream before bedtime.

00:36:05.760 --> 00:36:07.559
Yeah. Just, I'm pulling it back to kids, right?

00:36:07.639 --> 00:36:09.780
No, but that's so accurate because then we find

00:36:09.780 --> 00:36:12.940
also, I can't split the specific verse off the

00:36:12.940 --> 00:36:14.739
top of my hand, but it's like, hey, you asked

00:36:14.739 --> 00:36:16.679
with the wrong heart, basically. You know, so

00:36:16.679 --> 00:36:19.900
it's like, and it might not be a no, it just

00:36:19.900 --> 00:36:22.539
might be a not yet kind of thing too. Yeah. Because

00:36:22.539 --> 00:36:25.019
God is, he's always, he's the perfect father.

00:36:25.199 --> 00:36:28.800
And he is, every situation that we go through

00:36:28.800 --> 00:36:32.039
in life, he is using, right, for our good, right,

00:36:32.079 --> 00:36:35.000
and his glory. Nothing is, no good or bad thing.

00:36:35.050 --> 00:36:37.469
is left unused you know and so he's he's working

00:36:37.469 --> 00:36:39.789
towards getting us to where we need to be so

00:36:39.789 --> 00:36:42.190
maybe it's just hey if i gave you this right

00:36:42.190 --> 00:36:44.409
now you would miss the point of what i'm doing

00:36:44.409 --> 00:36:46.909
and it would it would leave you ill prepared

00:36:46.909 --> 00:36:49.050
for what i'm moving you into and so right now

00:36:49.050 --> 00:36:51.610
i have this refining process that i have you

00:36:51.610 --> 00:36:55.190
in because you're going to move into this space

00:36:55.190 --> 00:36:58.699
over here and i need you well equipped for it,

00:36:58.739 --> 00:37:00.340
right? Or maybe it has nothing to do with you,

00:37:00.360 --> 00:37:01.460
but it has to do with this person over here.

00:37:01.619 --> 00:37:04.219
If you have this experience here, right, whatever

00:37:04.219 --> 00:37:07.820
it is, there's that person over there that in

00:37:07.820 --> 00:37:09.820
the same grace that God's going to give you through

00:37:09.820 --> 00:37:12.119
this situation in your life, then you're going

00:37:12.119 --> 00:37:14.219
to give to that person that's going to lift them

00:37:14.219 --> 00:37:15.900
up and get them through it and so on and so forth.

00:37:16.019 --> 00:37:18.860
So you just don't know all the ins and outs,

00:37:18.920 --> 00:37:20.699
but we do know that God is good. He is perfect.

00:37:20.800 --> 00:37:22.719
He's just, he wants good things for us. He's

00:37:22.719 --> 00:37:25.300
a father. Exactly. Right. So if you assume that

00:37:25.300 --> 00:37:27.099
he's mad with you, you're always going to assume

00:37:27.099 --> 00:37:28.739
he's holding out on you, which, by the way, is

00:37:28.739 --> 00:37:31.019
the problem in the garden. Yeah. God's holding

00:37:31.019 --> 00:37:32.940
out on me. No, he's not holding out on you. The

00:37:32.940 --> 00:37:35.420
ability to discern good and evil on your own

00:37:35.420 --> 00:37:37.679
is going to lead toward death and destruction

00:37:37.679 --> 00:37:40.639
and mayhem. He was not holding out on you. He

00:37:40.639 --> 00:37:43.000
says, no, this is not good for you. Yeah. It's

00:37:43.000 --> 00:37:45.679
not good for you today. Yep. Like you need to

00:37:45.679 --> 00:37:47.519
be in my presence. You need to walk with me from

00:37:47.519 --> 00:37:50.119
the tree of life. Right. And God knew and look

00:37:50.119 --> 00:37:52.860
what happened when we, um, so one of the, one

00:37:52.860 --> 00:37:54.519
of the, my, I'm gonna give a personal example.

00:37:54.820 --> 00:37:57.280
When I was 21, I wanted to be married. Okay.

00:37:57.760 --> 00:38:01.000
And, uh, I, you know, I thought like every single

00:38:01.000 --> 00:38:03.460
person that I met who had a inkling about God

00:38:03.460 --> 00:38:05.260
and a mild amount of attraction, I was like,

00:38:05.300 --> 00:38:08.159
this is the one. Shocking. Right. Right. At 21,

00:38:08.260 --> 00:38:11.000
who, who, this, this is the one, you know? And,

00:38:11.059 --> 00:38:13.630
uh, but God would be like, no, this is not what's

00:38:13.630 --> 00:38:15.809
going on. Right. And, and so over and over and

00:38:15.809 --> 00:38:17.230
I was getting really frustrated. I was like,

00:38:17.269 --> 00:38:20.150
but when I, I met my wife when I was 22, we got

00:38:20.150 --> 00:38:23.269
married at 23. Right. Uh, so like literally a

00:38:23.269 --> 00:38:25.590
year later, like a year and a half later, like

00:38:25.590 --> 00:38:27.889
I met my wife and then we, we, uh, started dating.

00:38:27.949 --> 00:38:31.190
We got married. And, uh, now looking 15 years

00:38:31.190 --> 00:38:35.809
back, right. I wasn't the man that I needed to

00:38:35.809 --> 00:38:39.809
be, to be a husband the year and a half before

00:38:39.809 --> 00:38:43.429
I met her. There were things that I needed to

00:38:43.429 --> 00:38:47.550
walk through and develop before I was ready to

00:38:47.550 --> 00:38:49.690
be the man that she needed. Right, yeah. Right?

00:38:49.849 --> 00:38:51.769
Yeah. Now, I can only speak for myself. I can't

00:38:51.769 --> 00:38:54.530
speak for her. Correct. But I was not that person

00:38:54.530 --> 00:38:57.750
at 21. I didn't say I was a bad person. I wasn't

00:38:57.750 --> 00:39:00.849
that person that she needed. I wasn't an etzer

00:39:00.849 --> 00:39:03.789
connecto at 21. Right. Right. This force that

00:39:03.789 --> 00:39:06.269
opposes. Like, I was not ready to be that at

00:39:06.269 --> 00:39:08.210
21. And that goes exactly kind of what I was

00:39:08.210 --> 00:39:10.610
alluding to, where maybe it's not you. Maybe

00:39:10.610 --> 00:39:13.150
it's someone else. Right. And so for her, maybe

00:39:13.150 --> 00:39:15.250
she was ready at that time, but you weren't.

00:39:15.250 --> 00:39:17.570
And so God was not saying no. He was saying,

00:39:17.690 --> 00:39:21.820
wait. sometimes like you think about people who

00:39:21.820 --> 00:39:23.380
have a dream for like a business and they're

00:39:23.380 --> 00:39:24.960
like, this is what I wanted to do my entire life.

00:39:25.039 --> 00:39:26.880
I mean, like you, you were dealing with something

00:39:26.880 --> 00:39:28.679
similar right now. Oh yeah. This is what I wanted

00:39:28.679 --> 00:39:30.960
to do my entire life. Right. Very much so. And

00:39:30.960 --> 00:39:32.840
you are, you are physically struggling because

00:39:32.840 --> 00:39:35.440
of an injury. Yep. Right. Sorry. No, you're good.

00:39:35.500 --> 00:39:37.300
In case you can't tell, I'm very kind of rigid

00:39:37.300 --> 00:39:39.320
and uncomfortable because I, I very much am.

00:39:39.659 --> 00:39:43.300
Yeah. Uh, Matthew is so cool. He tackled an alleged

00:39:43.300 --> 00:39:45.900
drug dealer. It's literally on camera and it's

00:39:45.900 --> 00:39:47.840
one of the coolest things I've ever seen. Alleged

00:39:47.840 --> 00:39:49.239
because, you know, we have some friends that

00:39:49.239 --> 00:39:51.380
are, defense attorneys yeah well and it's alleged

00:39:51.380 --> 00:39:53.079
until they get convicted and like that's the

00:39:53.079 --> 00:39:55.079
you know whole thing about justice system but

00:39:55.079 --> 00:39:57.860
um it's been it's been a long recovery process

00:39:57.860 --> 00:40:00.900
for you because like and more like a long lack

00:40:00.900 --> 00:40:04.079
of recovery process and it's hard but in the

00:40:04.079 --> 00:40:06.360
middle of this you know god is good exactly you

00:40:06.360 --> 00:40:08.460
don't question that no and he says so god what

00:40:08.460 --> 00:40:11.400
are you doing and like and like sometimes the

00:40:11.400 --> 00:40:13.139
dream that i want is not the dream that he wants

00:40:13.139 --> 00:40:16.369
for me And I think that it's the best thing that

00:40:16.369 --> 00:40:17.969
could possibly happen to me is the thing that

00:40:17.969 --> 00:40:20.389
I want. And the whole time he's like, if you

00:40:20.389 --> 00:40:22.570
do this, you'll lose what actually matters. And

00:40:22.570 --> 00:40:26.170
you're like, all right, that's why you got the

00:40:26.170 --> 00:40:29.570
top -down view. And because I'm super stubborn,

00:40:29.769 --> 00:40:32.730
God's just like, okay. Now, I think on the flip

00:40:32.730 --> 00:40:35.210
side of this, I think where some places we struggle

00:40:35.210 --> 00:40:37.369
as Christians, it's okay to say, God, I don't

00:40:37.369 --> 00:40:38.929
understand why you're doing this. Can you explain

00:40:38.929 --> 00:40:41.150
it to me? And you just have to be okay if the

00:40:41.150 --> 00:40:44.289
answer is no. You know what I mean? Yeah, I do.

00:40:44.309 --> 00:40:46.070
And I think it's also just appropriate. Like,

00:40:46.110 --> 00:40:48.610
you know, it's relevant, you know, because sometimes

00:40:48.610 --> 00:40:50.610
God does miraculously heal. He's miraculously

00:40:50.610 --> 00:40:53.349
healed me before. And I know he absolutely does

00:40:53.349 --> 00:40:55.110
that. But God's always deliberate. Like when

00:40:55.110 --> 00:40:59.260
I had a significant back injury, God. He completely,

00:40:59.519 --> 00:41:02.099
miraculously healed me when I was looking to

00:41:02.099 --> 00:41:03.840
have to get emergency surgery and all this stuff

00:41:03.840 --> 00:41:07.480
when he revealed to me through a word that a

00:41:07.480 --> 00:41:10.820
woman in our church, a different church I was

00:41:10.820 --> 00:41:13.340
going to, but, you know, capital C church, woman

00:41:13.340 --> 00:41:14.880
in our church. I'm with you. Because we're all

00:41:14.880 --> 00:41:17.079
here. Listen, they don't know you from Adam.

00:41:17.139 --> 00:41:19.699
No, no, but some people that may be listening

00:41:19.699 --> 00:41:22.400
might not know what we mean by a capital C church

00:41:22.400 --> 00:41:24.519
versus like a lower C church. We're talking about

00:41:24.519 --> 00:41:26.260
the fact that there's multiple denominations,

00:41:26.260 --> 00:41:28.500
but a lot of people who love Jesus. Yep. we all

00:41:28.500 --> 00:41:31.199
are citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Correct.

00:41:31.340 --> 00:41:34.679
That's what we're referring to. And anyway, so

00:41:34.679 --> 00:41:37.239
this woman, you know, this man was praying for

00:41:37.239 --> 00:41:38.760
healing over me, but this woman got a word from

00:41:38.760 --> 00:41:41.019
God saying that I need to deal with unforgiveness.

00:41:41.099 --> 00:41:42.599
And I was like, what are you talking about? I'm

00:41:42.599 --> 00:41:45.559
the most forgiving person I know. Right? Super

00:41:45.559 --> 00:41:48.619
humble here, guys. And then I was just like,

00:41:48.639 --> 00:41:51.460
all right, God, you know what? Whatever. If that's

00:41:51.460 --> 00:41:53.760
what it is, reveal it to my heart. And immediately

00:41:53.760 --> 00:41:57.300
God gave me a laundry list of names. Like I'm

00:41:57.300 --> 00:41:59.559
talking like a list of names. And so just in

00:41:59.559 --> 00:42:01.260
my heart, and I just. went through and I just

00:42:01.260 --> 00:42:03.219
named them all off one by one. And I said, I

00:42:03.219 --> 00:42:04.900
love them and I forgive them. And then instantly

00:42:04.900 --> 00:42:07.320
I was healed. Right. And so God used this back

00:42:07.320 --> 00:42:09.699
injury, this core injury, a core, right? Part

00:42:09.699 --> 00:42:13.480
of my core, my body's core, uh, to reveal a core

00:42:13.480 --> 00:42:15.539
issue that I had with myself that I was completely

00:42:15.539 --> 00:42:18.460
ignorant to. I didn't know that I was, you know,

00:42:18.460 --> 00:42:20.039
harboring unforgiveness. I didn't know that I

00:42:20.039 --> 00:42:22.639
was harboring bitterness. I thought I was good

00:42:22.639 --> 00:42:26.340
there and God's like, uh, and so he used a physical

00:42:26.340 --> 00:42:30.500
manifestation to reveal a spirit. spiritual injury

00:42:30.500 --> 00:42:33.780
that i i had and was able to heal me of both

00:42:33.780 --> 00:42:37.880
and uh and so god is deliberate and you know

00:42:37.880 --> 00:42:39.360
with my current injury it's been a long time

00:42:39.360 --> 00:42:42.900
uh i've been dealing with this i know for a fact

00:42:42.900 --> 00:42:45.059
i don't know what god's outcome is with this

00:42:45.059 --> 00:42:50.420
um but i do believe that he's using this um you

00:42:50.420 --> 00:42:55.860
know i i i i do believe he's using it to uh you

00:42:55.860 --> 00:43:00.929
know to basically, uh, you know, potentially

00:43:00.929 --> 00:43:03.510
change the trajectory of my life because I wouldn't,

00:43:03.510 --> 00:43:05.809
I wouldn't change otherwise, you know? And the,

00:43:05.809 --> 00:43:07.889
and the point is not, sorry about this is the

00:43:07.889 --> 00:43:09.929
point was not to put you on the spot, but to

00:43:09.929 --> 00:43:12.610
talk about that. Sometimes it's difficult when

00:43:12.610 --> 00:43:15.170
you're in the waiting. Yeah, very much so. Um,

00:43:15.170 --> 00:43:18.690
once again, I'm going to compare this to childhood

00:43:18.690 --> 00:43:21.769
and parents is like, you know, um, James will

00:43:21.769 --> 00:43:23.610
be like, come up and he'll say, can I have a

00:43:23.610 --> 00:43:26.929
popsicle? Yeah. And I said, after dinner. And

00:43:26.929 --> 00:43:28.369
he's like, well, what if I have one and then

00:43:28.369 --> 00:43:30.710
I eat dinner? I said, no, because it's going

00:43:30.710 --> 00:43:35.070
to actually spoil your appetite for what you

00:43:35.070 --> 00:43:38.250
need to eat. You need the good food. And he says,

00:43:38.389 --> 00:43:39.730
well, but I want a Popsicle now. I was like,

00:43:39.789 --> 00:43:43.440
I hear you, buddy. answer still no he's like

00:43:43.440 --> 00:43:45.579
but why I explained it to you and you didn't

00:43:45.579 --> 00:43:47.239
listen so you're just going to have to accept

00:43:47.239 --> 00:43:51.659
that I want the best for you and like sometimes

00:43:51.659 --> 00:43:53.719
I explain things to him sometimes they're beyond

00:43:53.719 --> 00:43:57.260
what he's capable of understanding right sometimes

00:43:57.260 --> 00:44:00.369
we have conversations about like They're just

00:44:00.369 --> 00:44:03.630
hard to understand. And I said, I'm going to

00:44:03.630 --> 00:44:05.150
give you a basic answer. I want you to understand

00:44:05.150 --> 00:44:07.829
it's not the full answer because you're not capable

00:44:07.829 --> 00:44:10.030
of understanding it yet. And I will explain to

00:44:10.030 --> 00:44:14.070
you more as you grow up. And I heard those words

00:44:14.070 --> 00:44:15.889
come out of my mouth and immediately the Spirit

00:44:15.889 --> 00:44:19.730
of God was like, hey, by the way, that's why

00:44:19.730 --> 00:44:22.469
sometimes... You get vague answers. Yeah. Yeah.

00:44:22.530 --> 00:44:24.829
You're not capable of understanding yet. Yeah.

00:44:24.949 --> 00:44:28.550
But you will. I've so learned through experience

00:44:28.550 --> 00:44:32.360
that. Just, you know, when we say that as Christians,

00:44:32.400 --> 00:44:34.179
you know, we're not religious, right? We're not

00:44:34.179 --> 00:44:36.500
following a religion, but we're just in relationship

00:44:36.500 --> 00:44:40.380
with God, right? Like it's, it's become the longer

00:44:40.380 --> 00:44:41.920
I've lived and the more experience I've had,

00:44:41.980 --> 00:44:44.539
the more tangible the word relationship and it

00:44:44.539 --> 00:44:47.460
becomes. And I liken it to like when you first,

00:44:47.559 --> 00:44:51.159
you know, you know, make the Lord, Lord over

00:44:51.159 --> 00:44:52.940
your life and you, you know, give him your heart

00:44:52.940 --> 00:44:55.909
and all this and accept him. you know to save

00:44:55.909 --> 00:44:58.130
you and whatnot and you know start living out

00:44:58.130 --> 00:45:01.389
his kingdom here on earth uh your things are

00:45:01.389 --> 00:45:04.809
very i don't want to say uh superficial but very

00:45:04.809 --> 00:45:08.070
uh kind of basic right you have a basic understanding

00:45:08.070 --> 00:45:10.650
you have a you know it's you know you have a

00:45:10.650 --> 00:45:12.869
lot to learn right just like any other relationship

00:45:12.869 --> 00:45:16.059
like when we first introduced to each other it's

00:45:16.059 --> 00:45:18.280
like i didn't know you hardly you didn't know

00:45:18.280 --> 00:45:19.980
me i didn't know how you your sense of humor

00:45:19.980 --> 00:45:22.519
was and vice versa but then the more time we

00:45:22.519 --> 00:45:24.960
spend together you know the more we start to

00:45:24.960 --> 00:45:27.559
be able to kind of banter back and forth and

00:45:27.559 --> 00:45:29.780
have deeper conversations and then you know experience

00:45:29.780 --> 00:45:31.440
real life well it's the same thing with god it's

00:45:31.440 --> 00:45:33.199
a relationship that's growing and developing

00:45:33.199 --> 00:45:35.219
the more we spend time with them and just like

00:45:35.219 --> 00:45:37.940
with you know our wives develop yeah if we don't

00:45:37.940 --> 00:45:40.800
spend time exactly just like with our wives um

00:45:40.800 --> 00:45:43.739
you know when we you know first are married it's

00:45:43.929 --> 00:45:45.860
you know it's whatever, but the more time you

00:45:45.860 --> 00:45:47.460
spend with them, you start talking the same,

00:45:47.539 --> 00:45:49.880
acting the same, you know, you start adopting

00:45:49.880 --> 00:45:51.920
more and more of the, you know, behaviors of

00:45:51.920 --> 00:45:54.800
your spouse, you know, because proximity and

00:45:54.800 --> 00:45:56.719
relationship and time that you've, and energy

00:45:56.719 --> 00:45:58.519
you've put into the relationship, right? Well,

00:45:58.539 --> 00:46:00.280
same thing with God, you know, the more time

00:46:00.280 --> 00:46:02.039
we spend with God, the more we start to reflect

00:46:02.039 --> 00:46:04.500
God, right? Which is what we're supposed to do.

00:46:04.539 --> 00:46:06.199
And, you know, so if you have someone that's

00:46:06.199 --> 00:46:09.079
been, you know, spending time with God for 30,

00:46:09.099 --> 00:46:11.539
40, 50 years, or just someone that spent time

00:46:11.539 --> 00:46:13.219
with God for five minutes, you know, there's

00:46:13.219 --> 00:46:15.760
going to be a, Yeah, there's going to be a disconnect.

00:46:16.039 --> 00:46:20.659
And by the way, longevity of being a Christian

00:46:20.659 --> 00:46:25.159
does not equal intensity of relationship. Exactly.

00:46:25.320 --> 00:46:27.320
I was like, because there are people who are

00:46:27.320 --> 00:46:31.920
in the family, but they really struggle to come

00:46:31.920 --> 00:46:34.000
close to God. It's one of the things I talk about.

00:46:34.099 --> 00:46:35.679
It's in chapter one, but I was talking about

00:46:35.679 --> 00:46:38.500
there are people who, when they hear the voice

00:46:38.500 --> 00:46:40.019
of God, they recognize He's in the room, but

00:46:40.019 --> 00:46:43.079
never learn to talk to Him. Yeah, yeah. And Father

00:46:43.079 --> 00:46:45.280
still loves them. Correct. Father still wants

00:46:45.280 --> 00:46:46.880
him in his life. He still does whatever he can

00:46:46.880 --> 00:46:48.440
to communicate and to build him up to do all

00:46:48.440 --> 00:46:49.659
the things that he wants to see in their life.

00:46:49.980 --> 00:46:53.400
I was like, but can you imagine a child that

00:46:53.400 --> 00:46:57.019
never learns to speak to their father? Never

00:46:57.019 --> 00:46:59.400
gets beyond recognizing that his voice is just

00:46:59.400 --> 00:47:02.559
in the room. Yeah. Like they never know the father's

00:47:02.559 --> 00:47:04.679
heart and his mind and what his plans and his

00:47:04.679 --> 00:47:06.659
goals for your life. And they just know that

00:47:06.659 --> 00:47:08.860
he loves them, but that's it. Like, that's still

00:47:08.860 --> 00:47:10.699
great. Like, I don't want to pretend like that's

00:47:10.699 --> 00:47:13.989
not. but as like, it's so much shallower than

00:47:13.989 --> 00:47:16.250
what God invites us to. And it's much more shallow

00:47:16.250 --> 00:47:18.329
than what I see in the life of the disciples

00:47:18.329 --> 00:47:21.230
and the life of people like Moses and David and

00:47:21.230 --> 00:47:23.789
like these people who like hung clung to God.

00:47:23.869 --> 00:47:26.429
Right. And, and these disciples like, uh, Saul

00:47:26.429 --> 00:47:29.369
who, or Paul, who, um, was, you know, filled

00:47:29.369 --> 00:47:30.989
with the Holy spirit. And like, they were, they

00:47:30.989 --> 00:47:32.389
were going this way and the spirit's like, Nope,

00:47:32.429 --> 00:47:34.210
don't go that way. That's not where we want you

00:47:34.210 --> 00:47:35.969
to go yet. It's like, okay, let's go this way.

00:47:36.030 --> 00:47:38.730
Right. And you, you read about people like, uh,

00:47:38.809 --> 00:47:40.650
like the Wesley's mother. Uh, we, read about

00:47:40.650 --> 00:47:42.369
people like D .L. Moody. We'd read about people

00:47:42.369 --> 00:47:47.570
like... I'm trying to think of the... Like Ben

00:47:47.570 --> 00:47:50.030
Edwards. Yeah. You haven't read about people

00:47:50.030 --> 00:47:52.570
like Ben Edwards yet. But, you know, like Fannie

00:47:52.570 --> 00:47:54.190
Crosby and, you know, like all these people who,

00:47:54.250 --> 00:47:56.210
like, they foster relationship, right? They foster

00:47:56.210 --> 00:47:59.949
these connections. People throughout church history,

00:48:00.070 --> 00:48:02.070
that they just, they foster, like, connection

00:48:02.070 --> 00:48:04.829
with God. And when they did that, around them,

00:48:04.869 --> 00:48:07.949
things changed. So there is a pastor, he's a

00:48:07.949 --> 00:48:10.190
Pentecostal, I think he's an assembly guy, but

00:48:10.190 --> 00:48:12.289
I can't remember for sure. His name is Jim Cimbala.

00:48:13.339 --> 00:48:15.400
Oh, if you're familiar with him, he pastors a

00:48:15.400 --> 00:48:17.139
church called the Brooklyn Tabernacle Church.

00:48:17.920 --> 00:48:22.480
So a number of years ago, they became really

00:48:22.480 --> 00:48:25.840
convicted over this idea of relationship and

00:48:25.840 --> 00:48:29.239
prayer. And God was just speaking to Jim frequently

00:48:29.239 --> 00:48:32.480
about, he's like, what do we do about this? He

00:48:32.480 --> 00:48:34.099
says, pray. He's like, what do we do about that?

00:48:34.139 --> 00:48:36.900
Pray. What do we do about the brokenness in our

00:48:36.900 --> 00:48:40.179
community? Pray. And so he started to shift the

00:48:40.179 --> 00:48:43.489
focus from Sunday to prayer night. Like that

00:48:43.489 --> 00:48:46.610
they focused on prayer night. Now, easily, their

00:48:46.610 --> 00:48:48.269
prayer night is their biggest gathering of the

00:48:48.269 --> 00:48:50.429
week. And we're talking like thousands of people

00:48:50.429 --> 00:48:52.929
go to this church, right? But then like the stories

00:48:52.929 --> 00:48:54.329
that he tells, he has a book called Fresh Wind,

00:48:54.329 --> 00:48:56.889
Fresh Fire, Fresh Faith, Fresh Power. They're

00:48:56.889 --> 00:48:59.050
all great. They're going to use Pentecostal language

00:48:59.050 --> 00:49:01.630
to just be familiar with that, right? So if you're

00:49:01.630 --> 00:49:03.630
not Pentecostal, just translate that to Southern

00:49:03.630 --> 00:49:06.230
Baptist if that's where you are, right? But he

00:49:06.230 --> 00:49:08.150
talks about like God moving in power. He said,

00:49:08.250 --> 00:49:10.510
but it's always a direct impact of us connecting

00:49:10.510 --> 00:49:13.579
to God and God moving through us. Um, in my life,

00:49:13.579 --> 00:49:16.500
when the church I was in growing up, we had a

00:49:16.500 --> 00:49:19.239
time that we, we were also like really living

00:49:19.239 --> 00:49:21.340
into, into prayer. And we had this thing where

00:49:21.340 --> 00:49:22.840
we would take prayer requests and the people

00:49:22.840 --> 00:49:24.739
would write them. We had these ugly cards. They

00:49:24.739 --> 00:49:26.940
were like, they're, you know, like they're butcher

00:49:26.940 --> 00:49:28.880
paper, but we just ripped them into four pieces.

00:49:28.960 --> 00:49:30.860
Right. We didn't cut them. They just ripped them

00:49:30.860 --> 00:49:33.539
like they're jagged edges, weird looking, nothing's

00:49:33.539 --> 00:49:37.599
like uniformed. Um, And people were writing prayer

00:49:37.599 --> 00:49:41.420
requests and we would, we put them, we put them

00:49:41.420 --> 00:49:44.000
on the walls of the sanctuary. Yeah. Right. And

00:49:44.000 --> 00:49:48.079
you know what they looked like? Ugly. They stuck

00:49:48.079 --> 00:49:51.320
out like sore thumbs. Right. Um, but you have

00:49:51.320 --> 00:49:55.000
like, uh, but there was, you know, pray for my,

00:49:55.000 --> 00:49:57.559
my, my mom who was dealing with sickness, my

00:49:57.559 --> 00:50:00.420
sister, who is this, this person who doesn't

00:50:00.420 --> 00:50:04.190
know Jesus. And, um, A lot of prayer requests

00:50:04.190 --> 00:50:06.030
for like salvation and like all these different

00:50:06.030 --> 00:50:07.349
things. They're all over the wall, just like

00:50:07.349 --> 00:50:09.010
littered. So you imagine this like big wall.

00:50:09.090 --> 00:50:11.929
And so like, you know, probably three feet high

00:50:11.929 --> 00:50:14.150
by across the entire sanctuary on both sides.

00:50:14.469 --> 00:50:16.210
Right. And so you can't come to church and not

00:50:16.210 --> 00:50:20.090
see them. Yeah. But what we noticed is that people

00:50:20.090 --> 00:50:21.630
would walk around and they would pray. And before

00:50:21.630 --> 00:50:23.409
service, we'd ask people to walk around and we'd

00:50:23.409 --> 00:50:25.170
ask them to pray. And then afterwards, we'd pray.

00:50:25.269 --> 00:50:27.289
And on Wednesday night, we would pray. And we'd

00:50:27.289 --> 00:50:30.210
start taking these off the wall as they got answered.

00:50:30.269 --> 00:50:33.769
And we had this thick stack of answered prayers.

00:50:34.090 --> 00:50:36.210
And God was moving and God was doing things.

00:50:36.409 --> 00:50:38.489
And in a church where they don't even necessarily

00:50:38.489 --> 00:50:41.789
believe in the movements of the Spirit, like

00:50:41.789 --> 00:50:43.210
what we're talking about in Pentecostal churches,

00:50:43.289 --> 00:50:46.070
right? Like the Spirit is moving and people are

00:50:46.070 --> 00:50:47.820
coming to Christ. and the baptism waters are

00:50:47.820 --> 00:50:49.699
being stirred and people are being healed and

00:50:49.699 --> 00:50:51.760
people are finding salvation and people are finding

00:50:51.760 --> 00:50:55.460
healing in their lives, right? All these things

00:50:55.460 --> 00:51:00.980
are happening. And so then somebody at some point

00:51:00.980 --> 00:51:03.599
looked at the walls and they said, man, we just

00:51:03.599 --> 00:51:06.280
need to make this cleaner. And they're like,

00:51:06.320 --> 00:51:08.159
what if we just took all these down and we put

00:51:08.159 --> 00:51:10.699
them onto note cards that were all uniformed

00:51:10.699 --> 00:51:13.179
and then we put them up or we even have like

00:51:13.179 --> 00:51:15.030
a... bulletin board that we could put up that's

00:51:15.030 --> 00:51:16.909
like prayer requests and people can go and look

00:51:16.909 --> 00:51:20.090
there in a spot and you know what what what happened

00:51:20.090 --> 00:51:23.429
was it was no longer in our face forcing us to

00:51:23.429 --> 00:51:26.230
remember to pray it was no longer in our face

00:51:26.230 --> 00:51:28.090
um in fact there was i remember a story that

00:51:28.090 --> 00:51:29.889
there was a guy who was going to our church and

00:51:29.889 --> 00:51:33.210
he walked by saw that his name was on there for

00:51:33.210 --> 00:51:35.869
salvation he goes oh that's neat and a month

00:51:35.869 --> 00:51:38.869
later accepted christ right yeah like that's

00:51:38.869 --> 00:51:43.170
a cool story right um and uh i was like but uh

00:51:43.170 --> 00:51:45.070
and by the way this is not a knock on the person

00:51:45.070 --> 00:51:48.010
who wanted to be neat no um like so like please

00:51:48.010 --> 00:51:51.369
don't hear that but when you start to try to

00:51:51.369 --> 00:51:56.190
um pretty up the work of the gospel when you

00:51:56.190 --> 00:51:58.889
stop being raw and real and forcing yourself

00:51:58.889 --> 00:52:02.469
to remember and spending time and and doing things

00:52:02.469 --> 00:52:05.090
that upset your status quo Well, exactly. Cause

00:52:05.090 --> 00:52:07.309
it's like, you know, it's like we, we all have

00:52:07.309 --> 00:52:11.389
this idea of how, you know, we think things should

00:52:11.389 --> 00:52:14.889
go or what not. And then God moves and, and you

00:52:14.889 --> 00:52:16.690
know, it's our ways are not his, his are above

00:52:16.690 --> 00:52:18.550
us. Like he sees the whole picture. We see a

00:52:18.550 --> 00:52:21.110
very tiny sliver. Right. And so it's like, we

00:52:21.110 --> 00:52:25.309
try to like fit them and mold them to how. we

00:52:25.309 --> 00:52:28.650
want rather than hey god let me be the moldable

00:52:28.650 --> 00:52:31.170
one and you mold me how you want and then just

00:52:31.170 --> 00:52:33.750
allowing ourselves to live out what that looks

00:52:33.750 --> 00:52:36.210
like because and this is a great example you

00:52:36.210 --> 00:52:38.590
know god is moving okay there's some tacky paper

00:52:38.590 --> 00:52:41.050
on the wall but my goodness the spirit is moving

00:52:41.050 --> 00:52:43.030
people there's healings there's there's there's

00:52:43.030 --> 00:52:45.030
answered prayers there's miracles all this is

00:52:45.030 --> 00:52:47.030
happening and it's like well that's great god

00:52:47.030 --> 00:52:49.900
but let's make it look a little different Well,

00:52:49.940 --> 00:52:52.780
and can I actually apply that even like, so there

00:52:52.780 --> 00:52:55.480
are churches where a pastor will say something

00:52:55.480 --> 00:52:58.280
weird. Okay. A hundred percent. Pastors will

00:52:58.280 --> 00:53:00.380
say weird things. I'm not going to talk about

00:53:00.380 --> 00:53:01.960
any of those specifically, but like in their

00:53:01.960 --> 00:53:03.480
church, like people are being discipled. They're

00:53:03.480 --> 00:53:05.500
growing in fellowship. People are being saved.

00:53:05.800 --> 00:53:07.699
Families are coming back together. Marriages

00:53:07.699 --> 00:53:09.320
are being restored. Children are returning to

00:53:09.320 --> 00:53:11.559
parents. Like these things are happening. People

00:53:11.559 --> 00:53:12.800
are loving each other. Well, they're reaching

00:53:12.800 --> 00:53:14.860
out to the community and somebody says something

00:53:14.860 --> 00:53:17.579
weird, which I won't even agree with. And we

00:53:17.579 --> 00:53:21.460
go, well that you need to fix that. And I'm not

00:53:21.460 --> 00:53:23.059
saying that you shouldn't talk about that, but

00:53:23.059 --> 00:53:27.219
we, there's things we pastor. Oh yeah. But our

00:53:27.219 --> 00:53:29.320
assumption is like, hey, this is the problem.

00:53:29.440 --> 00:53:31.900
I was like, no, the problem is the attitude that

00:53:31.900 --> 00:53:33.639
feels like you can only focus on the problem.

00:53:34.139 --> 00:53:36.480
So like, you know, like I was saying, like, you

00:53:36.480 --> 00:53:39.300
know, there are things in my own life that I

00:53:39.300 --> 00:53:42.699
got completely wrong. Like I had a sliver of

00:53:42.699 --> 00:53:45.019
scripture that I misinterpreted. I didn't understand

00:53:45.019 --> 00:53:47.980
it. And, you know, and I built a theology around

00:53:47.980 --> 00:53:50.300
it where I thought something, I had conviction

00:53:50.300 --> 00:53:52.639
about it because it made sense to me. Lo and

00:53:52.639 --> 00:53:54.980
behold, I'm completely missing the mark. And

00:53:54.980 --> 00:53:56.960
then as I grew in relationship with God and started

00:53:56.960 --> 00:53:59.860
studying his word more, it's like. And I've been

00:53:59.860 --> 00:54:01.619
wrong for all these years teaching the wrong

00:54:01.619 --> 00:54:03.699
thing. Yeah. Can we pause? And I want to say

00:54:03.699 --> 00:54:05.559
that if you've ever heard somebody who prayed

00:54:05.559 --> 00:54:07.739
or said something from a pulpit that you didn't

00:54:07.739 --> 00:54:09.619
agree with and your first reaction wasn't to

00:54:09.619 --> 00:54:12.739
pray for them. Yeah. It was the wrong reaction.

00:54:12.860 --> 00:54:16.179
Right. Yeah. Like the first thing reaction is

00:54:16.179 --> 00:54:18.119
when we see somebody who's trying to do something

00:54:18.119 --> 00:54:20.179
on behalf of God and whether or not they nail

00:54:20.179 --> 00:54:23.219
it or they don't. Our first reaction is to pray

00:54:23.219 --> 00:54:25.960
for them, to love them. to ask God to intervene,

00:54:26.159 --> 00:54:27.780
to ask the Holy Spirit to step into the situation.

00:54:27.940 --> 00:54:30.460
I have pastors that I don't agree with. And you

00:54:30.460 --> 00:54:32.619
know what I try to do? I said, God, I want you

00:54:32.619 --> 00:54:34.219
to bless their life. I want you to fill them

00:54:34.219 --> 00:54:36.539
with your presence. I want you to reveal your

00:54:36.539 --> 00:54:38.239
word to them. I want you to bless their kids

00:54:38.239 --> 00:54:40.420
and bless their wife and move in their community.

00:54:40.539 --> 00:54:42.639
Let their ministry flourish. Let them actually

00:54:42.639 --> 00:54:46.539
go and preach the word faithfully. Right? I pray

00:54:46.539 --> 00:54:50.519
into their life. I don't talk behind their back

00:54:50.519 --> 00:54:53.219
because I believe that the Spirit of God is capable

00:54:53.219 --> 00:54:56.280
of changing all things. 100%. And I'm not concerned

00:54:56.280 --> 00:54:58.280
about the fact that there's ratty paper on the

00:54:58.280 --> 00:55:01.679
wall because I'd rather have ratty paper and

00:55:01.679 --> 00:55:05.980
prayer happening than note cards and no power.

00:55:06.320 --> 00:55:08.260
Yeah, I was going to say note cards collecting

00:55:08.260 --> 00:55:11.639
dust. So what have we talked about today? What

00:55:11.639 --> 00:55:13.860
is prayer? What does Jesus say about prayer?

00:55:14.139 --> 00:55:17.619
Just show up. Exactly. Create space. He'll fill

00:55:17.619 --> 00:55:20.019
it. Be deliberate, you know, be relational. He

00:55:20.019 --> 00:55:23.420
will answer you. Cause like if the judge that

00:55:23.420 --> 00:55:25.119
doesn't want to answer you and doesn't like you

00:55:25.119 --> 00:55:27.719
is going to, if you're persistent, trust me,

00:55:27.739 --> 00:55:29.019
your father's going to answer you. He's going

00:55:29.019 --> 00:55:31.699
to be there for you. Who provides all our needs.

00:55:31.800 --> 00:55:35.639
And don't focus on appearances. Focus on connection.

00:55:35.760 --> 00:55:39.619
Yep. Right. And your default action and anybody

00:55:39.619 --> 00:55:40.960
you should disagree with should be like, man,

00:55:41.000 --> 00:55:43.760
I want to pray for them. I want to go to battle

00:55:43.760 --> 00:55:46.610
for them. My enemies, the people I don't like,

00:55:46.670 --> 00:55:48.329
I want to go to battle for them. Yeah, absolutely.

00:55:49.110 --> 00:55:51.769
It's funny. It's one of the, you know, because

00:55:51.769 --> 00:55:55.510
culture oftentimes says, you know, take your

00:55:55.510 --> 00:55:57.170
own justice, seek revenge, all this other stuff,

00:55:57.210 --> 00:55:59.730
right? And one of the things I've told people

00:55:59.730 --> 00:56:02.809
before in my life is, you know, like with difficult

00:56:02.809 --> 00:56:06.570
people that I've dealt with is, you know, I'm

00:56:06.570 --> 00:56:08.510
like the greatest revenge I could ever get is

00:56:08.510 --> 00:56:11.570
if God got their heart and they repented and

00:56:11.570 --> 00:56:14.690
they turned to him and just. go from the person

00:56:14.690 --> 00:56:18.150
that they were to the person in Christ, like

00:56:18.150 --> 00:56:20.570
what greater revenge is there than that? One,

00:56:20.710 --> 00:56:21.969
it's, you know, the battle is not against flesh

00:56:21.969 --> 00:56:26.469
and blood, but two, to have someone just miraculously

00:56:26.469 --> 00:56:30.309
turn their lives around in a way that is nothing

00:56:30.309 --> 00:56:32.409
like the person that hurt you and offended you.

00:56:32.929 --> 00:56:35.309
Like what greater revenge is there than that?

00:56:35.429 --> 00:56:37.710
I love it. Like, like the, I love would love

00:56:37.710 --> 00:56:40.230
as like, we believe that revenge looks best in

00:56:40.230 --> 00:56:43.469
redemption. Right. Right. Exactly. That's a hundred

00:56:43.469 --> 00:56:45.610
percent it. Like there's no better, there's no

00:56:45.610 --> 00:56:48.750
better way to make things right, to get justice

00:56:48.750 --> 00:56:54.429
than to redeem a life. Yeah, that's good. We're

00:56:54.429 --> 00:56:55.389
going to, we're going to pause or we're going

00:56:55.389 --> 00:56:58.289
to end, end here. There's a lot of things we

00:56:58.289 --> 00:56:59.909
could talk about with prayer. We could talk about

00:56:59.909 --> 00:57:01.429
different types of prayer, all sorts of things,

00:57:01.469 --> 00:57:03.090
but we're really just trying to touch on like,

00:57:03.090 --> 00:57:06.269
what does Jesus like teach us about prayer? And,

00:57:06.329 --> 00:57:08.730
and hopefully when, as you're listening today,

00:57:08.789 --> 00:57:10.469
you're encouraged and you're encouraged to go

00:57:10.469 --> 00:57:14.389
and pray. And to show up, find any space. Let

00:57:14.389 --> 00:57:17.150
God fill it. Don't worry about the appearances.

00:57:17.760 --> 00:57:19.460
Oh, one of the one things I was going to mention,

00:57:19.539 --> 00:57:21.280
and by the way, if you're watching the podcast

00:57:21.280 --> 00:57:23.380
on YouTube, it's going to be clipped in at the

00:57:23.380 --> 00:57:26.880
end. In the middle of our episode, Matthew Nunley's

00:57:26.880 --> 00:57:30.820
daughter called him to taunt him about football

00:57:30.820 --> 00:57:33.199
teams. And I'm going to clip that in at the end

00:57:33.199 --> 00:57:35.139
because it didn't fit necessarily like in the

00:57:35.139 --> 00:57:37.739
context of what we were doing. But sometimes

00:57:37.739 --> 00:57:41.340
we think interruptions are a problem. And the

00:57:41.340 --> 00:57:43.239
reality is most times that interruptions come

00:57:43.239 --> 00:57:44.719
and hit us, they're actually God bringing something

00:57:44.719 --> 00:57:46.960
for us to address. And 100%, I want to build

00:57:46.960 --> 00:57:49.050
on that. on that. Like as soon as I learned the

00:57:49.050 --> 00:57:51.570
concept of being interruptible, you know, for

00:57:51.570 --> 00:57:54.670
God and really goes to everything else. Cause

00:57:54.670 --> 00:57:57.590
everything we do, we do for him. Right. Uh, I've

00:57:57.590 --> 00:58:00.650
seen amazing things happen in my life personally.

00:58:00.789 --> 00:58:03.809
Uh, and it was giving me some really neat testimonies,

00:58:03.809 --> 00:58:06.570
experiences, and, you know, and, and honestly,

00:58:06.730 --> 00:58:08.309
there's so many things that who knows how it

00:58:08.309 --> 00:58:10.929
is benefited others. Cause I don't see that story,

00:58:10.989 --> 00:58:14.110
you know, but God does. And I know, you know,

00:58:14.110 --> 00:58:17.400
he keeps giving us opportunities. So, yeah. all

00:58:17.400 --> 00:58:19.340
right until next time matthew thanks for being

00:58:19.340 --> 00:58:24.280
here and we'll catch you soon perfect And that's

00:58:24.280 --> 00:58:26.739
a wrap for today's episode of Love and Context.

00:58:26.820 --> 00:58:28.980
We hope this conversation encouraged you and

00:58:28.980 --> 00:58:31.260
gave you fresh insights into how we can better

00:58:31.260 --> 00:58:33.420
love God and others through the powerful truths

00:58:33.420 --> 00:58:36.079
of the Bible. We'd love to hear from you. Send

00:58:36.079 --> 00:58:39.260
your questions, thoughts, or suggestions to loveandcontext

00:58:39.260 --> 00:58:42.019
at gmail .com. Your feedback means the world

00:58:42.019 --> 00:58:44.920
to us and helps shape future episodes. Stay connected

00:58:44.920 --> 00:58:47.280
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scenes content, and additional resources. You

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can find us on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and

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Facebook at LoveandContext. Love and Context.

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Be sure to hit that follow button and join our

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growing community. Thanks for being part of the

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Love and Context family. Remember, love is at

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the heart of it all. Until next time, keep seeking

00:59:02.760 --> 00:59:05.000
wisdom, embracing love, and living out your faith

00:59:05.000 --> 00:59:26.079
in today's world. I love you so much. You're

00:59:26.079 --> 00:59:33.099
such a loving daughter. Hey, you know what? You

00:59:33.099 --> 00:59:34.599
know what the nice thing about him being a Cowboys

00:59:34.599 --> 00:59:37.849
fan is? He is free every January and February.

00:59:39.250 --> 00:59:46.869
Oh, the bird. What's great is as a third generation

00:59:46.869 --> 00:59:49.309
cowboy fan here, I've got a loving daughter who

00:59:49.309 --> 00:59:53.210
just really supports me. And my son is a avid

00:59:53.210 --> 00:59:57.130
Eagles fan and has been since he. Yeah, Eagles

00:59:57.130 --> 00:59:59.769
are going to win without a shadow of a doubt.

01:00:00.070 --> 01:00:02.469
Oh, you know, I love you too, sweet pea. You

01:00:02.469 --> 01:00:04.150
have a blessed day. I'll talk to you soon.