Welcome to Season 3 of Love & Context. This season,
we're exploring the life of Jesus step -by -step
and uncovering what His story teaches us about
loving God and others. Here on Love & Context,
we're all about having real conversations about
how to live out that love in practical, everyday
ways, and understanding the Bible in its full
context. We're so glad you're here. Let's dive
into Season 3 of Love & Context. Welcome back
to the Love and Context Podcast. Podcast. Podcast.
All right. For those of you watching me, us,
it is us because it's not just me. No, no, no.
We're all here to see you. We're all here to
see me. It is the Love and Conducts podcast,
unscripted conversations with Ben and Spencer.
Except today, it's not Ben and Spencer. It's
Ben and Matthew Nunley. I am not Spencer. You
are not Spencer. Trust me. This is very not scripted.
They're probably just like, oh, you just found
another bearded guy and subbed him in. That is
probably accurate, actually. Matthew Nunley is
a good friend of both. both Spencer and I, and
Spencer is, this is going to publish at the same
time, but he does some work with the schools,
and school schedule was rough for recording this
week, and so Matthew Nunley jumped in, and he's
going to talk about some prayer stuff with us
today. Apparently school has started again. School
has started again. I don't think much about it.
Well, of course, my kids go to school, but I
don't actually think much about it because I
don't go to school anymore. I love it when you
start getting high school. kids and they're like
oh school's gonna start i'm gonna have to do
blah blah blah i was like i can't wait till i
graduate i was like yeah then you never get to
stop I have a really funny side comment. Yep.
Let's hear it. So one of my best friends from
college, that's been his life, his school, right?
So he grew up in school, and then he went to
college, and then he became a teacher. And so
for years after we graduated, he would call me
up or text me, hey, what are your summer plans?
And I'm like, I'm working. I'm working. It's
like my summer plans don't stop. Exactly. They
just keep going. So real quick, I'm just going
to introduce. So Matthew Nunley, you have a history
in military, law enforcement, and Jesus. Oh,
100 % Jesus. And so we got to know you over the
last couple of years as you've been going to
our church. You're on our speaking team now and
just a good man of God. Is there anything from
your history you just wanted to share? No. No,
no. I'm just a dude. It'll come as we're going
along. So he, hopefully we'll convince him to
pop in periodically to have conversations because
he's got some good insight on just living for
Jesus and having conversations, real conversations.
And so... He knows this, but reminding any listeners,
in case you jumped into this episode, which would
be super weird because this is season three in
the middle of a conversation, but if you're here
for the first time, we're going through the life
of Jesus. We're like the bridge of the season.
Yeah, the bridge of the season, right? They're
like, you know what episode I should jump in
on? 112, right? I was actually having this conversation
with somebody. They watched Lord of the Rings,
the trilogy. I think it might have actually been
Spencer, but he did not start with, Fellowship
of the Ring, he started on The Two Towers. And
so he was like, who's that guy? Where are they
going? What's that stuff? You know? And it was
just funny to me. It is. Now you got me on a
rabbit trail. I'm really good at going on these.
But Star Wars, another one. Yeah. For those of
us that grew up with it, you watched it in the
order that it came out, right? Yep. And then
now there's like generation of people that had
the opportunity to actually watch it in chronological
order. Correct. And they get a whole different
perspective and introduction. Yeah. Yeah. I,
what is it somebody said? That you should, they
said the proper order that you watch it is you
go, I can't remember what it is, but essentially
you have to watch episode five in the middle
of the first trilogy, or you have to go like
one, two, four, five, because otherwise you spoil
this story. Right. Right. Yeah. And I can't remember.
They actually the order made sense to me the
way that they did it. So that was not right.
So somebody who do not get on your keyboard and
be like that order wouldn't make sense. I was
actually having a conversation with a person
at our church last week and we were preaching
and they said, oh, I thought you were going to
sneak in like some Star Wars references into
the sermon. And I said, I would never do that.
I was like, well, I said, you know, facetiously.
But then I did say I was like. because I was
talking about the golden calf with Pastor Nick,
and we were preaching on that. And I said, you
know, it would have been really funny now that
I thought about that. If I hadn't thought about
it, I would have said, and Moses is at the top,
and God is like, I find the lack of their faith
disturbing. You know, just throwing that in there,
just for the people who would have caught it.
And then somebody would have been like, ah, you
can't do that. And I'd be like, watch me. And
so, but yeah, so we are in the life of Jesus.
We've been talking about, we just finished the
Sermon on the Mount. And in the middle of the
Sermon on the Mount, Jesus talks to them about
prayer. And we wanted to pause. We didn't really
cover that in the Sermon on the Mount except
to talk about ways that you pray, about the posture
of prayer. But we want to come back and talk
about prayer and about the way that Jesus interacts
with prayer in the Bible and just have a conversation
about what that actually looks like. So just
as a precursor to that, I'm going to read the
verse that we're actually looking at. So starting
in chapter 6 of Matthew, starting verse 5. Do
not be like the hypocrites, for they love to
pray standing in the synagogues and on the street
corners to be seen by others. Truly, I tell you,
they have received their reward in full. But
when you pray, go into your room, close the door,
and pray to your Father who is unseen. Yep, that's
it. I was looking at double vision. Then your
father who sees what is done in secret will reward
you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling
like pagans, for they think they will be heard
because of their many words. Do not be like them,
for your father knows what you need before you
ask him. This then is how you should pray. And
this is going to be very familiar for most people.
Our father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth
as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread
and forgive us our debts as we have forgiven
our debtors. And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. from the evil one.
For if you forgive other people when they've,
sorry, for if you forgive other people when they
sin against you, your heavenly father will also
forgive you. But if you do not forgive others
their sins, your father will not forgive you
your sins. All right. So this is a companion
piece to a piece that we have in the gospel of
Luke, where the disciples come up to Jesus and
they go, Hey, we've been watching your prayer
life. This is Ben's Living Translation. Yes,
the BLT. And they say, we've seen your prayer
life, and we want to pray like you pray. Yep.
Right? And so there has been a lot of sermons
where people go through these. And I think that
going through this on piece by piece by piece
is really good. In fact, Brad Gray at Walking
the Text, who's a friend of ours, not a friend
of ours, well, I know him, but a friend of the
podcast, we've recommended him multiple times,
has a great series through the Lord's Prayer
about what does it actually mean to break out
these pieces. But one of the things we were talking
about before we got on here is that this prayer
is actually very similar to a Jewish prayer that
is done in synagogue. the Amidah prayer. It's
a very similar prayer that they do. Sometimes
it's done individually. How are you going to
pronounce it? Please tell us. Say it one more
time. Amidah. There you go. So the Amidah prayer
is individually. They do it individually. But
when you break out and you're praying, you would
get a group of 10 people and you would pray it.
And then if there was a group of seven over here
that didn't have 10 people and you're one, you
might go and you pray it again with them. And
then if somebody was like two people over there,
didn't get to pray, eight people would go pray
with them. And so it's a prayer you might say
multiple times. And it's going to have a lot
of these pieces talking about like asking God's
kingdom to come, his will be done for daily bread,
for talking about this familiar father relationship.
There's going to be a lot of like similarities
like that. The piece that is not there. in antiquity
is forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
This is a piece that Jesus brings out that is
a really difficult piece for the Jewish people
to deal with. It's not that they don't forgive,
it's that Jesus says forgiveness is actually
the point. I think as far as ancient cultures,
Jewish culture is incredibly forgiving. They're
incredibly forgiving, but I'm going to jump to
a different story of Jesus, which we'll actually
talk about in a future episode. It could be kind
of a poor connection, not to interrupt, but you
kind of see this because, you know, they've had
a lot of people come into the people group of
the, you know, the original Israelites. Like,
for instance, when they left Egypt, you know,
a lot of them left and joined. So if they were
a people that was very exclusive. Don't worry
about it. I'm just making an adjustment to where
you actually stand. Don't worry. We joked about
this later. You know, but if they were a people
that was. like exceedingly exclusive, you know,
well, then you wouldn't see that in the demonstration
of the history. Yeah. Well, and it's hard. This
is a difficult thing because people look at Jewish
tradition and they say that they're incredibly
exclusive. That's not actually technically true.
The idea was that they would always welcome the
foreigner to be part of their synagogue. But
in order to be part of them, you had to go through
a pretty rigorous conversion process, which at
some point we'll cover the book of Galatians
and talk. about what it actually means to be
a child of Abraham, to be a proselyte, or be
what they're called theosabes, which are God
-fearing Gentiles. Which, in all fairness, too,
as far as that whole assimilation conversion
process, too, it's not really that different
from any other nation. I mean, even look at today.
It sounds extreme here, but not then. But even
even in today, you know the process of becoming
a citizen here like I'd almost argued Inventure
to say that probably most people that have gone
through that process and became citizens Know
as much or more of what it is to be an American.
Yeah than most Americans who are just born with
the privilege. Well, and especially like, I think,
do you think maybe like part of the issue that
we might have thinking about that too is that
when you stepped into becoming a Jew, you kind
of also became part of their nation. Yeah, exactly.
Like, cause those two things were intertwined
for like so long. You left your people to be,
to make your people, my people. Correct. And
we see that. Whereas now, like there is a, of
course there's Israel, that's a state, but there's
also Jewish people all over the world. There's
Americans. jews like all sorts of things so like
they've kind of separated now and so that's why
you have to talk about them in context correct
right um in love and context the name of the
podcast so he said it by the way this is national
enthusiasm week so if you have that that's that's
okay perfect um so jesus comes in and oh but
the story that i was jumping to and talking about
forgiveness um Peter comes to Jesus in one of
his stories, and he says, Master, how many times
should we forgive our brother when he sins against
us? Up to seven times? This is one of my favorite
stories where people are like, oh, Peter's sticking
his foot in his mouth. Except if you know the
tradition, what is Jewish tradition is that the
most you would forgive somebody is three. And
if you're really gracious, four times. And Peter's
like, I see who Jesus is and I see his teachings
on forgiveness. So should I forgive up to seven
times like to perfection? Right, yeah. Right?
And so it's not actually a bad question. He's
actually going beyond their current teaching.
Correct. Right? Numerology is important here.
Yeah, numerology and also tradition is important.
So if the normal is three and gracious is four
and he says seven, Peter's actually going beyond
what's gracious in their society, right? Very
much so. He's like, okay, Jesus, I see what you're
doing. So you're saying like up to seven times.
And we'll get there, but essentially the answer
to Jesus is not a number, but that forgiveness
should match evil in the world. Yeah. Right.
And so when Jesus is teaching his disciples to
pray in Luke and here he's instructing them,
he says, you know, don't stand on street corners.
Don't bring attention to yourself. Rather, find
time to be in relationship with God. Right. And
so the first thing is that we I think that's
important to recognize with the Amidah prayer
is that what is he says, Master, how should we
pray? And he says. Our Father in heaven, hallowed
be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be
done. And so essentially, what does that tell
them? He says, the first thing you should do
is pray. Right? Right, yeah. Because they know
the Amidah prayer. They're doing these in synagogue.
They're doing it morning, evening, or morning,
afternoon, evening. There's regular prayer as
a part of their life. So essentially, if you
boil down Jesus' answer, even though he's giving
them a specific thing, his first thing is pray.
Right. And with that connection to having the
morning, afternoon and night, it means it's essentially
continual. It's a constant relationship. It's
a constant interaction. It's not it's not, you
know, you do it when this instance happens or
when you do it, you know, ritually this way.
It's supposed to be just like engaged. Well,
the the prayers and the blessings. Blessed is
the Lord of the fruit of the vine that brings
forth the fruit of the vine whenever they drink
wine. Right. Or blessed is the Lord who brings
bread from the grain. And there's specific prayers.
Right. And it became a religious symbol. But
what is it actually supposed to do? Cause remembrance.
Exactly. Right. Cause conversation. Cause you
to stop and pause and talk with God. Right. Draw
you near to him. Engage with him. The Shema,
which we've talked about, the hero Israel, Lord
Israel, the Lord alone, love Lord God with our
heart, soul, mind, and strength, right? They
would recite this in the morning and in the evening.
Now, there's some other pieces that are attached
in antiquity. I'm just going to go with what
Jesus talks about in the Shema, right? He adds,
love your neighbor as yourself. But they say
this in the morning and the evening. Why? Because
you're centering your life around, oh, this is
who I am. reminding yourself who you are and
uh because we're preaching through exodus and
is uh they he talks about festivals and he talks
about celebrations and he talks about remembrance
because people are dumb and they forget right
very much so like an understatement i mean how
many like there is i had a conversation today
we were talking about um because it's uh i think
it's it's It's the anniversary today of Gettysburg,
I think. I can't remember if it's today or if
it's around this day. We were talking about it
at Rotary this morning. And we were talking about
Gettysburg and we were talking about the amount
of people there and what they're fighting over
and this conversation. And it is puzzling to
me because people don't talk about the Civil
War very much that people have forgotten. I mean,
this is like 100 years ago. Oh, yeah. It's super,
super... In fact, it's so recent in history to
put it in perspective that it was just... uh
probably i don't remember if it's like 10 years
ago or whatever it was was the last living spouse
of a civil war veteran died That was not long
ago. It blew my mind when I heard it. She was
young and he was older when they got married.
In our lifetime, a living spouse of a Civil War
veteran. This is the problem where we talk about
if you don't teach history, you're doomed to
repeat it, right? 100%. How much more true is
that? The things that are true you celebrate
and you talk about. You're a parent, right? Are
there things that you talk about with your kids
frequently? Most definitely. Because I don't
remember how many times, and you've seen this
because you've been over to my house, and I'll
say, James, you need to get your shoes. And he
says, okay, where are my shoes? I'm like, they're
over there. Over there. Look at me. Look at me.
Look at me. You're not looking at me. You're
looking away from me. Look where I'm pointing.
Not to throw my kids under the bus, but literally
I just had this conversation. I think yesterday
about something I've said many, many times over
the years that now again, I had to say again
and they're like, Oh, and I'm like, yeah. Oh,
as in like the millionth time. Oh, you know,
like, come on guys. Yeah, it is. Well, it's so
difficult. And I actually think that the Lord's
Prayer, what we're talking about now, has become
more of a ritual than something that's actually
meant to remind us. Very much. People kind of
treat it like a ritual prayer. Very much so.
And that's not to say that I don't think people
should say it. I absolutely think they should
say it, but they've lost the meaning of the thing.
Like Jesus says, he's like, how are we supposed
to pray? Well, you need to pray. You need to
pray with your buddies. You need to remember
specific things, which, by the way, I'm going
to recommend going to Walking the Texan, going
through their Lord's Prayer, because we're not
going to go through everything in the Lord's
Prayer today. It's great. I think that Brad Gray
does a really good job of breaking that down.
But you have our Father. Okay, so first of all,
this is not some abstract quality. No. Like,
Father is familiar language. Very much so. It's
familiar language. So, like, the purpose is you
need to pray, right? It's coming to God. It's
having relationships. It's familiar language.
One of the things, by the way, I'm going to mention
here again, my book is out, Beautiful Chaos,
Infinite Love. I recommend it. Thank you. I appreciate
that. Um, but one of the things that I talk about
in there in the book is I said, if you don't
look at God as father and you look at him and
maybe if your relationship with father is jacked
up, right? You had a abusive father, a distant
father, a emotion manipulative father, a father
that wasn't worth looking up to, like calling
God father is a problem. I said, the problem
is fatherhood is defined by God, not the other
way around. And, uh, and so, but if we, We assume
that God is mad with us, that we're just there
to appease him. Well, congratulations, you've
now treated him like every pagan God out there.
Right, right. No, this is a God who wants to
dwell with you. It says in the book of Exodus,
he says, I want to tabernacle with you. And then
Jesus comes in John 1 .1 and it says that he
tabernacled among us. God wants to dwell with
his people. He wants to dwell within his people.
We become the house of the Holy Spirit. God wants
to be close. He is a father that loves his children.
Now, does that mean that he's okay with us doing
dumb things? No. And I'm also not okay with my
kids doing dumb things. But when they do dumb
things, I'm never looking to... punish them i'm
looking to discipline them to make them more
of who they're supposed to be exactly 100 right
i like i was telling this to my son the other
day and i said you don't you think that i'm doing
this because i want to be hard on you i know
who you are and i want more of that yeah yeah
100 and i was like and who you are is awesome
and i want more of that and he goes okay And
I was like, all right, you can go back and play.
He's six years old, so it's only so much he can
absorb, right? Right, right, yeah. We've talked
about Dallas Willow, The Divine Conspiracy, and
he actually comments on this. So I want to read
his quote because he rewrote The Lord's Prayer
for the purpose of people engaging it in a different
way or hearing it in a different way. So I'm
going to read this to you. If this hits you wrong,
that's okay. I'm fine with it. It's a person's
interpretation and quote. Yeah, so this is how
he interprets what's going. He says, Our Father
always near us. May your name be kept holy. May
your kingdom come. May your will be done as in
heaven, so also on earth. Give us today the things
we need for today. Right, yeah. And forgive us
our sins and impositions on you, as we are forgiving
all who in any way offend us. Right. Right? And
please don't put us to the test, but deliver
us from the evil one. And then he says, for yours
is the glory and the honor forever and ever.
Amen. Except instead of amen, Dallas Willard
says, at the end, you should just whoopee at
the end, right? I like it. But no, it's great
because, you know. Jesus, he gave us a template,
essentially. And we can go a lot deeper into
it. Like, there's some actual connections and
references and things that within the cultural
context that, you know, you'll understand deeper,
right? Like what's been referenced here. But
it's also, there's a practicality to it, too.
And it's a template where literally all he did
was he just put it in language that we use today.
It is... So the first thing we want to talk about,
what is prayer and what does the Bible talk about,
is it is talking and communing with your Father.
Exactly. Right? It's spending time with the God
who created you. One of the main things that
has come up when people want to engage me on
prayer, being a church leader, being a pastor,
like all those different things we've done, I've
done over the past, they say, well, I just don't
know how to pray. And I say, well, what do you
do? They're like, well, I just go through my
list and say amen. go on right and i was like
okay where do you do that and they're like well
you know if i'm driving or you know and by the
way these are not bad things praying while you're
driving uh they're like i get up in the morning
and i sit and have devotion and read the bible
and it's like great and i was like how much time
do you spend listening right it gets real quiet
100%. But that's so critical, too, because it's
a relational thing. It's not just us throwing
out darts at a dartboard and seeing what sticks.
It's actually engaging with our loving Father
who then engages with us in different ways. Which,
by the way, is why it's really important to know
this book. Very important. Because then when
he speaks, it's going to be in line with his
word. Exactly. Right? Because we are to test
all spirits, right? How do you test spirits if
you don't know what the criteria of testing is?
I'm going to use some fancy Greek words. Okay.
the, uh, there is the, the word of God and there
is the, the Rhema word of God, right? The spoken
versus literal word of God. So we know these
are the words of God and people have a conversation.
They're like, well, what about these other books?
I was like, well, we know these ones. Okay. Exactly.
We know these ones, but then God also speaks.
And we know that throughout all of church history.
We know that in the Bible, we know that in the
old and new Testament, people like God spoke.
And so it never stopped. And even in the, uh,
you know, uh, the, you know, new Testament, uh,
there's so many miracles and instances where
the writers literally point out, like there was
more here that was done, but we can't write it
all out. Like we don't have space to, to write
everything that he said and done. Correct. Yeah.
That's, that's in the gospel of John. So again,
God, just reinforce, he speaks to us. He's living,
he's active. Not every word he's ever said is
written within these pages. It is interesting.
And so the other piece of it is I said, so what
expectations do you, like if I come to talk to
you, Matthew, my friend, right? And we're going
to have a conversation. I expect when I talk,
you're also going to talk back, right? I expect
that. Now, if I ask you a question and you pause
and you're looking at me and you wait to say
something, I can wait. Right, right. Because
you're formulating your answer. Right, right.
Right? Or if you're speaking and I can't hear
you, I mean, I'd be like, I can't hear you. Can
you say that again? Push the mic closer to my
face. Push the mic closer to your face. Yeah,
exactly. And I was like, also, you know what
I'm not going to do is I'm not going to have
my, I'm not going to ask you questions while
I'm on my cell phone going, ah. Right. You know,
I was like, what I'm doing is I'm putting away
the distractions. I'm focused on you, my friend.
And there's always different scenarios. But when
I want to foster relationship, I don't foster
relationship between you, me, and my phone. Right.
Right. Exactly. And, you know, just to build
on that point, like when teaching my kids how
to pray and whatnot, you know, I tell them it's
just like talking to me or mom. Yeah. Right.
You know, it's like you're having a conversation,
you know, and in the same token, like when you're
doing other things while we're trying to pray
together as a family, we're trying to talk to
God as a family. You're essentially interrupting.
Yeah. You know, and so getting that concept figured
out. Well, and going back to this passage here
in Matthew, when you pray, don't pray like the
hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in
the synagogues and on the street corners to be
seen by others. When you pray, go into your room,
close the door, pray to your father who's on
scene, who sees what's done in secret will reward
you. When you pray, don't babble like pagans,
for they think they'll be heard because of their
many words. Don't be like them, for the Father
knows what you need before you ask him. So the
purpose in bringing things is to align my heart
with the Father. In other words, to grow in communion
with my Father. He knows what you need before
you ask him. The biggest thing that can happen
in a conversation is that you know him better.
Right. And you allow, this is going to sound
weird to people, you allow him to know you better.
Now, on a very real level, God knows everything
about you. Correct. But there is also this thing
in relationship where you allow yourself to be
known by somebody else. Exactly. Right? And that's
what he wants. He wants us to engage with him
on a very deep, intimate level. I was having
a conversation. And he's not going to force it.
100%. I was having that conversation when James
asked me on the drive home yesterday. He says,
what language does God speak? Yeah. And I was
like, well, on a very real level, buddy, all
of them. Yeah. Right? And I was like, on another
level, like, none of them, because he's speaking
to you in ways that aren't English. And I was
like, are you asking, like, the people who wrote
the Bible what language they spoke? Because they
spoke Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, depending on the
era. And I was like, because those were their
languages, and that's how God spoke to them.
I was like, but God talks to people in Chinese,
Russian, Ukrainian, English, Spanish, all sorts
of different languages, depending on the person.
And so God speaks a multitude of languages. The
thing that is specific is that he's speaking
to you and that's, he's going to be talking to
you and revealing things to you as you grow up.
Right. And, and I was like, so learning to hear
his voice is really important because you don't
know his voice right now. And I was like, there's
no other way to learn than just to start learning.
Exactly. Right? 100%. And so, like, learning
to hear the voice of God, it's, I think, the
most important thing that happens in the Christian
life. Because we respond to the voice of God,
and that's what leads us to salvation. yeah right
exactly we respond to the spirit of god moving
in our life and drawing us to him and uh and
so with that i'm like i'm like man prayer is
really important and then also growing and you
know we try to do all these things in in christian
life and i was like we're trying to i could work
for 40 000 years and not do more than god can
do in 40 days yeah right yeah Right? You can
exponentially increase your amount of time, effort,
and everything else, and decrease the amount
that God will have, and it'll be nothing in comparison.
We don't even compare. I cannot remember who
it was. It was Billy Graham, Oswald Chambers,
D .L. Moody, one of the guys that made the statement.
He says, we have so much to do today that we
cannot go and do anything until we've prayed
at least for an hour. Wow. We have so many things
today that if we don't have God moving in our
lives, these things won't happen. And it's such
a shift in mentality. There's so much that goes
into that because one, we don't want to go anywhere
God's not. So where God is, that's where we go,
right? So we want that relationship, much like
the Israelites, right? They got that right. But
two, you know, with that in mind, it's like We
are so dependent on God in everything. We cannot
do anything on our own. And everything that we
have, we're just stewards from what God's given
us. And so we need that engagement, especially
when we're, you know, aware and we're trying
to, you know, live out the, you know, the gospel
and the ministry and, you know, lift others up
and whatever, right? We can't do it on our own.
Like, I can't even walk without the grace of
God giving my body the ability to get myself
up in the day. Well, and we were created to walk.
in the Ruach, the cool of the day, with God.
This is what's going on in Genesis. It says that
God walked with them, and it says that he comes
to them in the Ruach of the day, which we translate
as cool of the day, the wind of the day. Ruach
is spirit. Right. Right. We're actually supposed
to walk the garden with God. That's that's his
favorite part of the day where we just walk with
him. And prayer is a way of getting back to that.
Right. This this time of like we're intentionally
slowing down and spending time. And and like
these blessings they do in the morning and the
evening. It's about centering yourself on who
Jesus is, who God is and saying, I'm going to
carry you every place that I go. Every place
that I go, you're carried with me. Right. Um,
so a couple of things I want to, I wanted to
jump out here because I wanted to move from there
and talk a little bit more about prayer is we
talked about this a few weeks ago, um, in life
of Jesus, desolate places. Yeah. Right. Yes.
Um, so the desert in and shepherding and the
voice of God are all connected words in Hebrew.
Uh, they're part of the same family group. Okay.
Why? Because you go to the desert to hear the
voice of God. Right. So Jesus frequently, it
says he goes to desolate places. So this is,
uh, um, places of solitude. He goes off into
the wilderness to pray, right? Like frequently
it says that in Mark, it says that a bunch of
places. And when he comes back, he typically
comes back and he's like, all right, we got to
keep going. Like he gets further direction on
what God is having him do. Now, some of you have
a different theological idea of like how Jesus
walked on earth. Um, that's okay. We just disagree
and that's fine. But what we're seeing is that
Jesus, Jesus Christ, God made flesh thinks it's
important to go off to desolate places to spend
time with the father. If he thinks that, right?
Oh, yeah, 100%. How much more? Yeah, we need
to be able to take that space and go to wherever
we can get rid of the distractions, you know,
and we go in a place where we are fully dependent
on him. And we dive deeper. We listen. We present
ourselves and make ourselves available to receive
any word from him. And we give our heart in that
process. It's a very kind of dynamic and deliberate
action. And I wonder, and you feel free to answer
if you want to, but I wonder when's the last
time, listener, for us or for you, you took an
hour where you didn't have your phone. didn't
have a book, didn't have the TV, didn't have
somebody else talking to you, didn't have to
focus on driving. You're there somewhere quiet
that you can just stop, be still, breathe, listen,
and talk. Right. like even just saying that I
can feel like I want to take a deep breath and
say, yeah, right. Yeah. A hundred percent. Because
like there's times where I've deliberately tried
to take extended periods of time and extended
for me is different than someone else. You know,
for me, it might be five minutes and you might
be three hours. Right. Right. So the definitions
are very, but I've deliberately tried to take
that extended time, but there's. We just let
our environments and our life and our responsibilities
kind of constantly just be there, whether it
be trying to balance, you know, home life, kids,
whatever else. And so it can be quite difficult
to truly just kind of escape for an hour and
just the way that our our busy lives are are
kind of organized right now. And so it's just,
you know, real and raw there. But. I do think
that whether you take an hour or whether you
literally just have five minutes between running
your kids around, if you have the deliberate
heart to to try to, you know, like I can't remember
her name, but she had a prayer closet. Right.
That was Wesley's mom. Yeah. John and Charles
Wesley. I forget her name. Yeah, she had a prayer
closet. And so she would escape for whatever
she could to go do that time where she was taking
herself away from the distraction, just presenting
herself just to the Lord and going and having
an intimate time with him. And so whether you
have five minutes to do that or whether you can,
you know, take an hour, you know, I think God
honors the heart of it and the intention and
he meets you with. With the chaos. Yeah, I think
so. A hundred percent. So there is, um, we've
talked about this a number of times on the podcast.
I'm going to just, it bears repeating again in,
in the start of creation, God creates a space
and he tells humanity to fill it. Right. Um,
it doesn't go so well. Right. But in the book
of Exodus, he then says, you create a space and
I'll fill it. And throughout scripture, I think
that there's this invitation that when we create
space for God, he fills it. So, uh, you're like,
I don't, I don't know if I have an hour. Do you
have five minutes? Yeah. Like that is a perfectly
acceptable place to start because one of the
things that I know for sure that's going to happen
is if you actually take that five minutes and
you dedicate it to God to, to talk, to listen,
to absorb, to be in the presence, right? It's
going to stop being five minutes over time. And
here's an example, like a practical, like if
you got five minutes, leave for work five minutes
early. So you get to wherever you're parking
five minutes early and then you sit in that parking
lot for that five minutes. Where you can try
to be, you know, have that space where you're
not likely to get interrupted. Put your phone
down. Turn off the radio. Exactly. And now you've
got your five minutes, right? And so, like, there's
ways that we can create this space. And that's,
I think, what God wants. So. There are a couple
of things that I think are where I want to touch
on a few parables that Jesus teaches about prayer
too, because I think one of these things is like,
people are like, oh, I need to, you know, I show
up for five minutes and I didn't get my prayer
answered. Well, that's not how relationship works
either. It's about showing up. And so there's
a parable in the gospel of Luke, Luke 18 says,
then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show
them that they should always pray and not give
up. Okay. That's the purpose of the prayer. Luke
says, hey, they told me this is the purpose of
the prayer. Um, he said in a certain town, there
was a judge who was neither feared God nor cared
what people thought. And there was a widow in
the town who kept coming to him with a plea,
grant me justice against my adversary. For some
time he refused, but he finally said to himself,
even though I don't fear God or care what people
think yet, because this widow keeps bothering
me, I will see that she gets justice so that
it won't eventually come and they won't. So,
so that she won't eventually come and attack
me. And the Lord said, listen to what the unjust
judge says and will not God bring about justice.
Right. Okay. Jesus says, I know you're coming
to your prayer time, and you're trying to figure
out why things aren't happening, and so I'm going
to tell you a parable. Now, what I'm going to
tell you that people take in this parable is
they say, oh, God is the judge, and you're supposed
to come and pester him until he gives you what
you want, even if he doesn't want to give it
to you. That's not what the parable is. Stop
trying to, we keep trying to make it an allegory,
and parables aren't necessarily allegories. You
can make them into allegories, but they're not
necessarily allegories, right? Those are different
types of conversation. He says, let me tell you
a parable. There is a judge that doesn't care
about people and doesn't care about God. Yep.
This is not a good person. Exactly. Right? He
doesn't care about justice. He doesn't care about
people liking him. He doesn't care about their
concerns. This is who that judge is. But this
widow comes persistently and he's like, man,
I'm going to take care of her problem just because
she's annoying me like crazy. Correct. If that
guy... That guy who doesn't like people, doesn't
fear God, doesn't care about your problems, will
still listen to your plea if you're persistent.
Don't you think your father who loves you, who
cares about you, that wants to tabernacle with
you. All the things that this judge is not. All
the things that this judge is not. Like, do you
think that he's holding out on you? God's not
holding out on you. If you don't have it, it's
because you're asking for ice cream before bedtime.
Yeah. Just, I'm pulling it back to kids, right?
No, but that's so accurate because then we find
also, I can't split the specific verse off the
top of my hand, but it's like, hey, you asked
with the wrong heart, basically. You know, so
it's like, and it might not be a no, it just
might be a not yet kind of thing too. Yeah. Because
God is, he's always, he's the perfect father.
And he is, every situation that we go through
in life, he is using, right, for our good, right,
and his glory. Nothing is, no good or bad thing.
is left unused you know and so he's he's working
towards getting us to where we need to be so
maybe it's just hey if i gave you this right
now you would miss the point of what i'm doing
and it would it would leave you ill prepared
for what i'm moving you into and so right now
i have this refining process that i have you
in because you're going to move into this space
over here and i need you well equipped for it,
right? Or maybe it has nothing to do with you,
but it has to do with this person over here.
If you have this experience here, right, whatever
it is, there's that person over there that in
the same grace that God's going to give you through
this situation in your life, then you're going
to give to that person that's going to lift them
up and get them through it and so on and so forth.
So you just don't know all the ins and outs,
but we do know that God is good. He is perfect.
He's just, he wants good things for us. He's
a father. Exactly. Right. So if you assume that
he's mad with you, you're always going to assume
he's holding out on you, which, by the way, is
the problem in the garden. Yeah. God's holding
out on me. No, he's not holding out on you. The
ability to discern good and evil on your own
is going to lead toward death and destruction
and mayhem. He was not holding out on you. He
says, no, this is not good for you. Yeah. It's
not good for you today. Yep. Like you need to
be in my presence. You need to walk with me from
the tree of life. Right. And God knew and look
what happened when we, um, so one of the, one
of the, my, I'm gonna give a personal example.
When I was 21, I wanted to be married. Okay.
And, uh, I, you know, I thought like every single
person that I met who had a inkling about God
and a mild amount of attraction, I was like,
this is the one. Shocking. Right. Right. At 21,
who, who, this, this is the one, you know? And,
uh, but God would be like, no, this is not what's
going on. Right. And, and so over and over and
I was getting really frustrated. I was like,
but when I, I met my wife when I was 22, we got
married at 23. Right. Uh, so like literally a
year later, like a year and a half later, like
I met my wife and then we, we, uh, started dating.
We got married. And, uh, now looking 15 years
back, right. I wasn't the man that I needed to
be, to be a husband the year and a half before
I met her. There were things that I needed to
walk through and develop before I was ready to
be the man that she needed. Right, yeah. Right?
Yeah. Now, I can only speak for myself. I can't
speak for her. Correct. But I was not that person
at 21. I didn't say I was a bad person. I wasn't
that person that she needed. I wasn't an etzer
connecto at 21. Right. Right. This force that
opposes. Like, I was not ready to be that at
21. And that goes exactly kind of what I was
alluding to, where maybe it's not you. Maybe
it's someone else. Right. And so for her, maybe
she was ready at that time, but you weren't.
And so God was not saying no. He was saying,
wait. sometimes like you think about people who
have a dream for like a business and they're
like, this is what I wanted to do my entire life.
I mean, like you, you were dealing with something
similar right now. Oh yeah. This is what I wanted
to do my entire life. Right. Very much so. And
you are, you are physically struggling because
of an injury. Yep. Right. Sorry. No, you're good.
In case you can't tell, I'm very kind of rigid
and uncomfortable because I, I very much am.
Yeah. Uh, Matthew is so cool. He tackled an alleged
drug dealer. It's literally on camera and it's
one of the coolest things I've ever seen. Alleged
because, you know, we have some friends that
are, defense attorneys yeah well and it's alleged
until they get convicted and like that's the
you know whole thing about justice system but
um it's been it's been a long recovery process
for you because like and more like a long lack
of recovery process and it's hard but in the
middle of this you know god is good exactly you
don't question that no and he says so god what
are you doing and like and like sometimes the
dream that i want is not the dream that he wants
for me And I think that it's the best thing that
could possibly happen to me is the thing that
I want. And the whole time he's like, if you
do this, you'll lose what actually matters. And
you're like, all right, that's why you got the
top -down view. And because I'm super stubborn,
God's just like, okay. Now, I think on the flip
side of this, I think where some places we struggle
as Christians, it's okay to say, God, I don't
understand why you're doing this. Can you explain
it to me? And you just have to be okay if the
answer is no. You know what I mean? Yeah, I do.
And I think it's also just appropriate. Like,
you know, it's relevant, you know, because sometimes
God does miraculously heal. He's miraculously
healed me before. And I know he absolutely does
that. But God's always deliberate. Like when
I had a significant back injury, God. He completely,
miraculously healed me when I was looking to
have to get emergency surgery and all this stuff
when he revealed to me through a word that a
woman in our church, a different church I was
going to, but, you know, capital C church, woman
in our church. I'm with you. Because we're all
here. Listen, they don't know you from Adam.
No, no, but some people that may be listening
might not know what we mean by a capital C church
versus like a lower C church. We're talking about
the fact that there's multiple denominations,
but a lot of people who love Jesus. Yep. we all
are citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Correct.
That's what we're referring to. And anyway, so
this woman, you know, this man was praying for
healing over me, but this woman got a word from
God saying that I need to deal with unforgiveness.
And I was like, what are you talking about? I'm
the most forgiving person I know. Right? Super
humble here, guys. And then I was just like,
all right, God, you know what? Whatever. If that's
what it is, reveal it to my heart. And immediately
God gave me a laundry list of names. Like I'm
talking like a list of names. And so just in
my heart, and I just. went through and I just
named them all off one by one. And I said, I
love them and I forgive them. And then instantly
I was healed. Right. And so God used this back
injury, this core injury, a core, right? Part
of my core, my body's core, uh, to reveal a core
issue that I had with myself that I was completely
ignorant to. I didn't know that I was, you know,
harboring unforgiveness. I didn't know that I
was harboring bitterness. I thought I was good
there and God's like, uh, and so he used a physical
manifestation to reveal a spirit. spiritual injury
that i i had and was able to heal me of both
and uh and so god is deliberate and you know
with my current injury it's been a long time
uh i've been dealing with this i know for a fact
i don't know what god's outcome is with this
um but i do believe that he's using this um you
know i i i i do believe he's using it to uh you
know to basically, uh, you know, potentially
change the trajectory of my life because I wouldn't,
I wouldn't change otherwise, you know? And the,
and the point is not, sorry about this is the
point was not to put you on the spot, but to
talk about that. Sometimes it's difficult when
you're in the waiting. Yeah, very much so. Um,
once again, I'm going to compare this to childhood
and parents is like, you know, um, James will
be like, come up and he'll say, can I have a
popsicle? Yeah. And I said, after dinner. And
he's like, well, what if I have one and then
I eat dinner? I said, no, because it's going
to actually spoil your appetite for what you
need to eat. You need the good food. And he says,
well, but I want a Popsicle now. I was like,
I hear you, buddy. answer still no he's like
but why I explained it to you and you didn't
listen so you're just going to have to accept
that I want the best for you and like sometimes
I explain things to him sometimes they're beyond
what he's capable of understanding right sometimes
we have conversations about like They're just
hard to understand. And I said, I'm going to
give you a basic answer. I want you to understand
it's not the full answer because you're not capable
of understanding it yet. And I will explain to
you more as you grow up. And I heard those words
come out of my mouth and immediately the Spirit
of God was like, hey, by the way, that's why
sometimes... You get vague answers. Yeah. Yeah.
You're not capable of understanding yet. Yeah.
But you will. I've so learned through experience
that. Just, you know, when we say that as Christians,
you know, we're not religious, right? We're not
following a religion, but we're just in relationship
with God, right? Like it's, it's become the longer
I've lived and the more experience I've had,
the more tangible the word relationship and it
becomes. And I liken it to like when you first,
you know, you know, make the Lord, Lord over
your life and you, you know, give him your heart
and all this and accept him. you know to save
you and whatnot and you know start living out
his kingdom here on earth uh your things are
very i don't want to say uh superficial but very
uh kind of basic right you have a basic understanding
you have a you know it's you know you have a
lot to learn right just like any other relationship
like when we first introduced to each other it's
like i didn't know you hardly you didn't know
me i didn't know how you your sense of humor
was and vice versa but then the more time we
spend together you know the more we start to
be able to kind of banter back and forth and
have deeper conversations and then you know experience
real life well it's the same thing with god it's
a relationship that's growing and developing
the more we spend time with them and just like
with you know our wives develop yeah if we don't
spend time exactly just like with our wives um
you know when we you know first are married it's
you know it's whatever, but the more time you
spend with them, you start talking the same,
acting the same, you know, you start adopting
more and more of the, you know, behaviors of
your spouse, you know, because proximity and
relationship and time that you've, and energy
you've put into the relationship, right? Well,
same thing with God, you know, the more time
we spend with God, the more we start to reflect
God, right? Which is what we're supposed to do.
And, you know, so if you have someone that's
been, you know, spending time with God for 30,
40, 50 years, or just someone that spent time
with God for five minutes, you know, there's
going to be a, Yeah, there's going to be a disconnect.
And by the way, longevity of being a Christian
does not equal intensity of relationship. Exactly.
I was like, because there are people who are
in the family, but they really struggle to come
close to God. It's one of the things I talk about.
It's in chapter one, but I was talking about
there are people who, when they hear the voice
of God, they recognize He's in the room, but
never learn to talk to Him. Yeah, yeah. And Father
still loves them. Correct. Father still wants
him in his life. He still does whatever he can
to communicate and to build him up to do all
the things that he wants to see in their life.
I was like, but can you imagine a child that
never learns to speak to their father? Never
gets beyond recognizing that his voice is just
in the room. Yeah. Like they never know the father's
heart and his mind and what his plans and his
goals for your life. And they just know that
he loves them, but that's it. Like, that's still
great. Like, I don't want to pretend like that's
not. but as like, it's so much shallower than
what God invites us to. And it's much more shallow
than what I see in the life of the disciples
and the life of people like Moses and David and
like these people who like hung clung to God.
Right. And, and these disciples like, uh, Saul
who, or Paul, who, um, was, you know, filled
with the Holy spirit. And like, they were, they
were going this way and the spirit's like, Nope,
don't go that way. That's not where we want you
to go yet. It's like, okay, let's go this way.
Right. And you, you read about people like, uh,
like the Wesley's mother. Uh, we, read about
people like D .L. Moody. We'd read about people
like... I'm trying to think of the... Like Ben
Edwards. Yeah. You haven't read about people
like Ben Edwards yet. But, you know, like Fannie
Crosby and, you know, like all these people who,
like, they foster relationship, right? They foster
these connections. People throughout church history,
that they just, they foster, like, connection
with God. And when they did that, around them,
things changed. So there is a pastor, he's a
Pentecostal, I think he's an assembly guy, but
I can't remember for sure. His name is Jim Cimbala.
Oh, if you're familiar with him, he pastors a
church called the Brooklyn Tabernacle Church.
So a number of years ago, they became really
convicted over this idea of relationship and
prayer. And God was just speaking to Jim frequently
about, he's like, what do we do about this? He
says, pray. He's like, what do we do about that?
Pray. What do we do about the brokenness in our
community? Pray. And so he started to shift the
focus from Sunday to prayer night. Like that
they focused on prayer night. Now, easily, their
prayer night is their biggest gathering of the
week. And we're talking like thousands of people
go to this church, right? But then like the stories
that he tells, he has a book called Fresh Wind,
Fresh Fire, Fresh Faith, Fresh Power. They're
all great. They're going to use Pentecostal language
to just be familiar with that, right? So if you're
not Pentecostal, just translate that to Southern
Baptist if that's where you are, right? But he
talks about like God moving in power. He said,
but it's always a direct impact of us connecting
to God and God moving through us. Um, in my life,
when the church I was in growing up, we had a
time that we, we were also like really living
into, into prayer. And we had this thing where
we would take prayer requests and the people
would write them. We had these ugly cards. They
were like, they're, you know, like they're butcher
paper, but we just ripped them into four pieces.
Right. We didn't cut them. They just ripped them
like they're jagged edges, weird looking, nothing's
like uniformed. Um, And people were writing prayer
requests and we would, we put them, we put them
on the walls of the sanctuary. Yeah. Right. And
you know what they looked like? Ugly. They stuck
out like sore thumbs. Right. Um, but you have
like, uh, but there was, you know, pray for my,
my, my mom who was dealing with sickness, my
sister, who is this, this person who doesn't
know Jesus. And, um, A lot of prayer requests
for like salvation and like all these different
things. They're all over the wall, just like
littered. So you imagine this like big wall.
And so like, you know, probably three feet high
by across the entire sanctuary on both sides.
Right. And so you can't come to church and not
see them. Yeah. But what we noticed is that people
would walk around and they would pray. And before
service, we'd ask people to walk around and we'd
ask them to pray. And then afterwards, we'd pray.
And on Wednesday night, we would pray. And we'd
start taking these off the wall as they got answered.
And we had this thick stack of answered prayers.
And God was moving and God was doing things.
And in a church where they don't even necessarily
believe in the movements of the Spirit, like
what we're talking about in Pentecostal churches,
right? Like the Spirit is moving and people are
coming to Christ. and the baptism waters are
being stirred and people are being healed and
people are finding salvation and people are finding
healing in their lives, right? All these things
are happening. And so then somebody at some point
looked at the walls and they said, man, we just
need to make this cleaner. And they're like,
what if we just took all these down and we put
them onto note cards that were all uniformed
and then we put them up or we even have like
a... bulletin board that we could put up that's
like prayer requests and people can go and look
there in a spot and you know what what what happened
was it was no longer in our face forcing us to
remember to pray it was no longer in our face
um in fact there was i remember a story that
there was a guy who was going to our church and
he walked by saw that his name was on there for
salvation he goes oh that's neat and a month
later accepted christ right yeah like that's
a cool story right um and uh i was like but uh
and by the way this is not a knock on the person
who wanted to be neat no um like so like please
don't hear that but when you start to try to
um pretty up the work of the gospel when you
stop being raw and real and forcing yourself
to remember and spending time and and doing things
that upset your status quo Well, exactly. Cause
it's like, you know, it's like we, we all have
this idea of how, you know, we think things should
go or what not. And then God moves and, and you
know, it's our ways are not his, his are above
us. Like he sees the whole picture. We see a
very tiny sliver. Right. And so it's like, we
try to like fit them and mold them to how. we
want rather than hey god let me be the moldable
one and you mold me how you want and then just
allowing ourselves to live out what that looks
like because and this is a great example you
know god is moving okay there's some tacky paper
on the wall but my goodness the spirit is moving
people there's healings there's there's there's
answered prayers there's miracles all this is
happening and it's like well that's great god
but let's make it look a little different Well,
and can I actually apply that even like, so there
are churches where a pastor will say something
weird. Okay. A hundred percent. Pastors will
say weird things. I'm not going to talk about
any of those specifically, but like in their
church, like people are being discipled. They're
growing in fellowship. People are being saved.
Families are coming back together. Marriages
are being restored. Children are returning to
parents. Like these things are happening. People
are loving each other. Well, they're reaching
out to the community and somebody says something
weird, which I won't even agree with. And we
go, well that you need to fix that. And I'm not
saying that you shouldn't talk about that, but
we, there's things we pastor. Oh yeah. But our
assumption is like, hey, this is the problem.
I was like, no, the problem is the attitude that
feels like you can only focus on the problem.
So like, you know, like I was saying, like, you
know, there are things in my own life that I
got completely wrong. Like I had a sliver of
scripture that I misinterpreted. I didn't understand
it. And, you know, and I built a theology around
it where I thought something, I had conviction
about it because it made sense to me. Lo and
behold, I'm completely missing the mark. And
then as I grew in relationship with God and started
studying his word more, it's like. And I've been
wrong for all these years teaching the wrong
thing. Yeah. Can we pause? And I want to say
that if you've ever heard somebody who prayed
or said something from a pulpit that you didn't
agree with and your first reaction wasn't to
pray for them. Yeah. It was the wrong reaction.
Right. Yeah. Like the first thing reaction is
when we see somebody who's trying to do something
on behalf of God and whether or not they nail
it or they don't. Our first reaction is to pray
for them, to love them. to ask God to intervene,
to ask the Holy Spirit to step into the situation.
I have pastors that I don't agree with. And you
know what I try to do? I said, God, I want you
to bless their life. I want you to fill them
with your presence. I want you to reveal your
word to them. I want you to bless their kids
and bless their wife and move in their community.
Let their ministry flourish. Let them actually
go and preach the word faithfully. Right? I pray
into their life. I don't talk behind their back
because I believe that the Spirit of God is capable
of changing all things. 100%. And I'm not concerned
about the fact that there's ratty paper on the
wall because I'd rather have ratty paper and
prayer happening than note cards and no power.
Yeah, I was going to say note cards collecting
dust. So what have we talked about today? What
is prayer? What does Jesus say about prayer?
Just show up. Exactly. Create space. He'll fill
it. Be deliberate, you know, be relational. He
will answer you. Cause like if the judge that
doesn't want to answer you and doesn't like you
is going to, if you're persistent, trust me,
your father's going to answer you. He's going
to be there for you. Who provides all our needs.
And don't focus on appearances. Focus on connection.
Yep. Right. And your default action and anybody
you should disagree with should be like, man,
I want to pray for them. I want to go to battle
for them. My enemies, the people I don't like,
I want to go to battle for them. Yeah, absolutely.
It's funny. It's one of the, you know, because
culture oftentimes says, you know, take your
own justice, seek revenge, all this other stuff,
right? And one of the things I've told people
before in my life is, you know, like with difficult
people that I've dealt with is, you know, I'm
like the greatest revenge I could ever get is
if God got their heart and they repented and
they turned to him and just. go from the person
that they were to the person in Christ, like
what greater revenge is there than that? One,
it's, you know, the battle is not against flesh
and blood, but two, to have someone just miraculously
turn their lives around in a way that is nothing
like the person that hurt you and offended you.
Like what greater revenge is there than that?
I love it. Like, like the, I love would love
as like, we believe that revenge looks best in
redemption. Right. Right. Exactly. That's a hundred
percent it. Like there's no better, there's no
better way to make things right, to get justice
than to redeem a life. Yeah, that's good. We're
going to, we're going to pause or we're going
to end, end here. There's a lot of things we
could talk about with prayer. We could talk about
different types of prayer, all sorts of things,
but we're really just trying to touch on like,
what does Jesus like teach us about prayer? And,
and hopefully when, as you're listening today,
you're encouraged and you're encouraged to go
and pray. And to show up, find any space. Let
God fill it. Don't worry about the appearances.
Oh, one of the one things I was going to mention,
and by the way, if you're watching the podcast
on YouTube, it's going to be clipped in at the
end. In the middle of our episode, Matthew Nunley's
daughter called him to taunt him about football
teams. And I'm going to clip that in at the end
because it didn't fit necessarily like in the
context of what we were doing. But sometimes
we think interruptions are a problem. And the
reality is most times that interruptions come
and hit us, they're actually God bringing something
for us to address. And 100%, I want to build
on that. on that. Like as soon as I learned the
concept of being interruptible, you know, for
God and really goes to everything else. Cause
everything we do, we do for him. Right. Uh, I've
seen amazing things happen in my life personally.
Uh, and it was giving me some really neat testimonies,
experiences, and, you know, and, and honestly,
there's so many things that who knows how it
is benefited others. Cause I don't see that story,
you know, but God does. And I know, you know,
he keeps giving us opportunities. So, yeah. all
right until next time matthew thanks for being
here and we'll catch you soon perfect And that's
a wrap for today's episode of Love and Context.
We hope this conversation encouraged you and
gave you fresh insights into how we can better
love God and others through the powerful truths
of the Bible. We'd love to hear from you. Send
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Love and Context family. Remember, love is at
the heart of it all. Until next time, keep seeking
wisdom, embracing love, and living out your faith
in today's world. I love you so much. You're
such a loving daughter. Hey, you know what? You
know what the nice thing about him being a Cowboys
fan is? He is free every January and February.
Oh, the bird. What's great is as a third generation
cowboy fan here, I've got a loving daughter who
just really supports me. And my son is a avid
Eagles fan and has been since he. Yeah, Eagles
are going to win without a shadow of a doubt.
Oh, you know, I love you too, sweet pea. You
have a blessed day. I'll talk to you soon.