Hello and welcome to another episode of Upfront and Undivided with Luke and Dean'na.
Hi.
Hey babe.
How's it going?
It's good.
How are you?
I'm good.
Every now and then I feel like I just throw you off because it's like we're sitting here
we're having a normal conversation and all of a sudden like my game show Chuck Woolery
voice like throws in and...
Dude, pick one, two, or three?
Because he was Bachelor guy, right?
He was the dating game.
Yeah.
He was one of the dating game.
I know they went through like seasons and different hosts and stuff like that, but yeah.
Like he was our age when I should say he was when we were kids.
He was around when we were kids.
That's how I even know that.
Because apparently I watched the dating game somewhere along the way.
I don't know.
I remember our drive today where I turned and looked at you and I said, how much some
sketchy stuff when I was growing up and I'm thinking were my parents monitoring me?
Possibly not.
I didn't even tell you.
I didn't even get to what I was...
Some of the sketchy stuff I watched with my mom.
What did you watch?
I ended up watching Dallas and like Falcon the Crask.
No way.
Oh yeah.
But also like Quincy and Hunter and...
See Quincy and Hunter?
I was all about that.
I love that.
What is it?
The Bionic Man or something?
No, Six Million Dollar Man.
Something like that, yes.
And then it was like, what was it?
I went, what's his name?
Magnum.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Wow.
I like that you just pulled that right out of my head.
That's fantastic.
I was like, you know...
She wasn't even doing hand gestures or anything.
She was literally just looking off to the side.
The guy with the mustache.
And the fur, Ari.
He's kind of cute.
His shorts.
Jesus come back.
We're talking about Jesus today and the Holy Spirit.
We are.
That's right.
No, that's fun.
No, that was fun.
That was good.
I loved how you literally pulled that out of my brain.
You're welcome.
But we were talking about how I like the cheers.
That was it.
I watched Cheers when I was a kid with my mom and all these, I just, I don't know.
I got nothing to say.
Frasier, you know, just all of them.
All of this stuff.
And you just stand back and you...
We watch things now like Goonies.
We tried to introduce our kids to Goonies and said, we can't watch them.
There's other shows where it's like, I remember watching movies and stuff.
And it's like, yeah, no, can't do that.
Ghostbusters.
Nope.
Can't watch that.
Let's see.
Nope.
16 candles.
Not that we were intending for this to be like a...
I know.
You know, be careful of the movies and TV you're watching.
But yeah, that was just, that's how we started this.
I mean, that is kind of how we start things.
We usually drop a nugget and then we get into the meat of what we were going to do.
That's true.
That is not what we were going for today.
I don't even know.
How did we get started on this conversation?
Oh, I don't know.
How do we get on most of the conversations we get onto?
Welcome to our world.
This is what happens.
Everybody asks, what is it like when you guys talk?
Well, listen in.
I mean, I'm going to say in our defense and then we're going to talk about what we're
going to talk about.
In our defense, we did the gym, we got Chinese food, and now we're here.
And the gym is good.
Chinese food made us...
Burpee.
Burpee and kind of fog headed.
No burpees at the gym, but burpees after Chinese food.
Yeah.
And so now we're like, okay, let's focus.
Still a little hyped up on caffeine from pre-workout.
It's true.
So we're going to just...
Surprise.
Just apologize for any loud outburst all of a sudden that we start.
But even in our defense, we topic hop during our conversations.
We do.
Especially you.
I'll call you out.
Oh, I'll call myself out.
I talk about how I interrupt myself on a constant.
That's true.
Anybody that's...
I mean, how many are we in at this point?
This is 68.
Episode 68.
68.
Over 2000 downloads.
Okay.
Anybody that's...
Literally, if anybody's been listening this far, y'all already know.
I interrupt myself.
I don't need people to do it.
I do it for myself.
It's true.
And I've decided that it's just...
It's what I do.
And you guys are gracious enough to follow the rabbit trails with me.
They are.
So it's all good.
Yes.
So what rabbit trail are we going to go on today, babe?
Today's rabbit trail is brought to you by the Holy Spirit.
That's true.
I've decided to call it My Identity, My Purpose.
Oh, I like that.
Thank you.
Okay.
Yeah.
And this conversation started...
This conversation started between us this morning, earlier today.
Yeah.
And it started because I saw a video that got my mind spinning.
And I shared it with you, and then it just grew from there.
And it was, hey, let's share this with the world.
Yeah.
We even felt bad because it was like you even said, and we should have recorded all
of that.
Yep.
It was good stuff.
So this is going to be secondhand, what we talked about earlier.
Yes.
Us doing our best to remember all the really good things we said to each other.
Truly.
Yes.
So it started with...
I know that...
To kind of preface, I know that there's always a question about how's the Bible been translated?
Yeah.
And what does...
Not only what does it mean to us, how can we apply it to our lives?
How can we take the Word of God and say, God, what did you mean when you inspired this to
get on paper?
But I also know that a lot of questions, I'll say questions, come up because the Bible wasn't
originally written in just one language.
Parts of it started off as oral history, and then it got written down later.
Some people talk about it was in ancient Hebrew, some of it was in Aramaic, some of it was...
Probably the New Testament, some Aramaic, some Greek.
And then it got washed through Latin and then through English, and then different scholars
will try to go back and...
The Latin, it said this, but it kind of also could mean this in English, or, hey, let's
really try to figure out ancient Hebrew to translate.
And so it's...
Yes, the Bible is the God-inspired, God-breathed Word of God.
That being said, over the years, it has been translated by men.
And I don't want any of what we're gonna say to take away from the fact that the Bible
is God-breathed and God-inspired.
That's right.
But again, it's one of those things that...
Wanting to bring some of the things that you're reading and the thing that you're wanting
to share with me, kind of bringing it more to light.
Let's actually uncover exactly what we have found in our studies and hopefully our prayer.
Because when you read it to me and you told me and then you read it to me, it brought
a freedom.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
It just, it brought a freedom.
Yes.
Because that ultimately is what the Word of God is to do.
It's to bring freedom, it's bring restoration, healing, hope, all of the things.
And so...
Well, and I was also gonna add, because sometimes, a lot of times when you're trying to translate
something from an original language to English, it can get really complicated because in English,
there might be one word to describe many things.
But in another language, I think one of my favorite is Eskimo, is there's, I wanna say,
somewhere between 10 to 15 different words for snow.
I love that.
Yes.
I love that.
Because there's different types of snow that can happen.
Correct.
It's like every one of them.
Right.
Yeah.
And in English, snow.
Snow, yeah.
Yeah.
So again, that's kind of my preface.
I love that.
Kind of caveat for this episode.
Okay.
So what I wanted to talk about was, how this started was Genesis 3, verse 16 especially,
and it's where it's after Adam and Eve have taken a bite of the apple, or the fruit, I
should say.
Some people get upset about apple.
And they're now, they've been found, they feel naked and ashamed, and God is casting
them out of the garden and says to the serpent, you're gonna crawl on your belly, you're gonna
strike at man's heel and they're gonna smash you on the head.
Yeah.
And then verse 16, it's, he says to the woman, you will have pain in childbirth.
Yeah.
And you will only, you will desire your husband, you will lust after your husband, however
translate.
So I heard something and it said, when it says you'll have pain in childbirth, that
is sometimes mistranslated because oftentimes childbirth is the same word, or that was originally
used, is also the same word for conception.
And the word pain isn't just physical pain, it's the same word as God says to the man,
how you will toil.
Yeah.
So it's like, you will toil in conception.
The woman will toil in conception.
And it hit me that, because toil is more than just physical, it's emotional, it's mental,
sometimes they're spiritual.
And it made me think of how many women out there, especially when they're trying to get
pregnant and they're trying to start a family, and this is the couple too, but the toil and
the struggle they go through to have that miracle of conception.
And so that's kind of where this started.
Yeah.
And then you were talking about the identity of what that even looks like, because I know
that when you were talking earlier that you said the reason why we see such heartache,
or we see such, we'll say just in married couples, a lot of times with a husband, you
see a striving, you see his identity is wrapped up in what it is that he can produce, what
he can do.
And hear God saying, listen, it's going to be hard for you.
It's going to be hard for you so much to the point where you're going to be toiling, you're
going to be not just trying to beat up this hollow ground, but more so just your identity
is going to be found in what it is that you can do.
And then the wife, here's Eve, her identity now officially is, I need to produce, I need
to produce babies.
I'm the one that my identity is, I'm a mother, my identity is, I'm the wife, my identity
is this.
And one of the things that we said that's beautiful about this, because that sounds
really heavy, and it is heavy.
Oh, it is, yeah.
But ultimately, what the heartbreak was with Adam and Eve first and foremost before anything
else was the fact that their communing, their relationship, their identity with God had
been become almost severed in that moment.
And it's one of those where, because he sent his son literally to be the second Adam to
come to redeem, to save, to restore, the beautiful redemptive story in this is the toiling doesn't
have to happen anymore.
Doesn't mean that we're not having to still work, that we're not still needing to do whatever
we need to do to conceive, to bring forth life, whatever that looks like.
But the fact is that we have literally Jesus that came.
He said, I'm doing away with everything.
I'm doing away with all of this stuff, that the curse, the curse is now broken.
And I'm going to bring forth life.
And when we stand in that place with God, so for those couples out there that feel like,
man, what am I doing as a man?
What am I doing as a woman?
Maybe some of you guys are having a hard time conceiving when it comes to children.
Maybe some of the men are having a hard time finding a place for them to feel like they're
participating or they're doing whatever it is that they're doing as far as their job
or who they are as a man.
You have those moments.
I have those moments where we'll stand and it's a new season even and saying, okay, where's
my identity?
What am I supposed to be doing today?
And the whole time he's saying, I just want you to rest in me.
Rest in the identity of who I have created you to be and your mind.
You don't have to perform.
You don't have to be perfect.
You don't have to do anything.
Just come to me.
Let me be your God.
You be my people.
And we are going to go and we're going.
He makes the hard easier.
It doesn't mean that the hard's still not hard at times.
It just means that there's a hope at the end of that.
There's a peace that goes beyond the understanding of what's going on in that moment of, well,
God, we can't seem to be catching a break.
God, we can't seem to.
And it's like, just keep walking with me.
Keep walking with me.
Don't let up.
Keep walking with me.
I promise if you stick with the plan, if you stick with me, if you stick with my will in
my way, we're going to get to the other side and it's going to be better, stronger, greater
than what you could even ask, think or imagine.
Just follow my lead.
And I remember the line that I kind of said earlier that I think kind of helps sum up
a lot of what you were saying was for both Adam and Eve, the man and the woman, and this
passes down, God said that we will both toil to produce, or toil to produce fruit.
And again, it's one of those things that our identity, our purpose gets to be found in
him, not in what we produce.
Because like you said, we both deal with this.
We both have these struggles.
And I know recently I was at church and during worship and I was going through a struggle
and one of our pastors grabbed me and he could see something was not right with me.
And I super briefly kind of said that I was having questions of purpose and all.
And he said, just look up.
Just look up.
Your purpose is him.
Nothing else will figure itself out and just sort itself out.
Because I do.
I think that's what a lot of us forget.
Because with this question of identity, with this question of purpose, because there is
so much going on in our lives.
I mean, just you and I, we're married, we're parents, we both work, podcasting and woodworking
and crafting and keeping house and laundry and food and all the stuff that is stuff in
this world.
I know so often it's, we as humans want to ask the question, what should I be doing?
Or where should I be putting my energy?
Even our daughter is dealing with some of these questions in college and in work and
with friends.
It's where should I put my energy?
Where should my priorities be?
Who should I be at this moment?
And I think we got to remember whose we are.
It's more of the who am I in your kingdom, not what do you need me to be doing.
So I know a lot of people, it seems like recently there's been a lot of conversations about
Martha's versus Mary's.
Should we be the ones in the kitchen working away, making sure that the house is set and
everybody's getting served and taken care of?
Or should we be the ones at the feet of Jesus learning all that we can and pouring out our
love and pouring out our worship onto him?
And getting what we can, not really getting what we can, that seems a little selfish,
but getting filled from the throne so that we can pour it out onto others.
So it is, I know that is a big struggle for a lot of people on a lot of days.
And it was, and I think that's one thing that brought this about.
And then there was something that I had heard before, we had talked about before, the question
of how was Eve deceived by the serpent so easily?
And we've always heard because she was woman, she wasn't even Eve.
She didn't have a name yet.
She didn't have an identity yet.
And I know that I have shared that actually with some of my students.
It was like a revelation and you have it, where is it on there?
What's the scripture?
It was, so it's Genesis 3 verse 20, after God kicked them out and after God said, you'll
be cursed and you'll, the serpent will crawl in its belly.
The woman will toil in conception.
The man will toil in the earth.
And then all of a sudden it's now Adam named his wife Eve because she was the mother of
all the living.
So it's like after the curse, after they've been kicked out, now you get a name.
You get a name and you heard where even with her name came the definition of her identity.
She became the mother of all creation.
Well good Lord.
So sincerely, in my brain I'm thinking, now if you give me that heavy of a title, I'm
probably not going to be talking to something that's going to be talking back to me of that
nature.
And I know that one of the other reasons why we even kind of got onto this conversation
is because we see in the culture of what's going on in our times, we're seeing where
children specifically are being targeted by the enemy and basically getting their identities
literally cut away, manipulated, cut away from them.
And the enemy is so cunning in it that he's, I mean literally these young people just changing
their identities based off of the fact that maybe it's some trauma or maybe something
that had happened or just the fact that the enemy has gone in there and he's just deceived
them because they did not know who they were.
That is who we as men and women of God, that's one of our roles as the people of God.
And as you were saying, you're talking about the different things that you and I do, I
would have to say the number one thing right now with you and I mostly, but I'll say me
specifically in the role that he's got me at, what did I tell you that one day?
It was like, I've decided I'm going to own that saying that says I will leave people
better than I found them.
And that is our absolute God given gift.
We have literally the key.
We have the answer.
Jesus.
Yeah.
Literally the creator of the universe, I'll fit for you to come and be here and I am going
to do everything I can and fight the enemy tooth and nail to gravel and dig and grow
after that identity that the enemy has tried to so bury with whatever it is, whether it's
you think you're a different gender or you think you're in a different space or you feel
like you need to numb yourself because you don't want to feel whatever it is the enemy
is trying to destroy.
He's trying to still kill and destroy out of you.
And it's like we, as the people of God need to stand up and say, I know who you are.
You're literally, you're created in the image of God.
And even with, even with the simple questions from the enemy of, you know, it's, it's how
he got, how he got Eve before she was Eve.
Did God really say, did God really say that?
Yeah.
And sometimes it's those simple questions that are enough to trip us up.
Yeah.
Cause I loved, you sent me, was it that real or something that you sent me that said, and
it was beautiful.
It was a pastor and he was talking about, oh, he's talking about guns and roses, right?
Yes.
So somebody's, he said, somebody's in the middle of guitar center, which was very fitting
because our sweet boy went and-
We've been going to guitar center a lot lately.
He did his recital for his bass.
He did a great job.
He did.
But it did not sound like-
It did not sound like the Beatles.
Nope.
As hard as he tried.
And if somebody was to go by how our little eight year old boy played the Beatles, they'd
be like, man, they suck.
It's not very good.
You know, I'm not saying my verse unsung.
I'm just saying it did not sound like the master copy.
And too many times us as Christians or people out in the world will say, well, I don't want
anything to do with God because look at the Christians.
And the whole time, us as the people of God should be saying, don't look at me, man.
Go to the source.
Go to the one that literally created the heavens and the earth.
Unfortunately, he uses very faulted, foolish, frail people in the midst of this.
But if you truly, if you truly knew God, like if you truly encountered the one true living
God, you will be changed.
You will be different.
Stuff will get better.
Things will start happening.
It may not look the way you think.
You yourself might trip up and you will.
But the beautiful thing is we have a gracious and a merciful and a forgiving God.
And all he wants is the best for you.
He wants the purest form of you, the original intent of you before the enemy came in and
started causing a muck.
And that's who we should be for each other and the people that we encounter on a daily.
And again, it's that patience and remembering who we are and who we belong to.
And similar to the guns and roses, you can't judge guns and roses by how somebody else
is playing it.
It reminds me of something else that I've heard.
When people are like, well, I don't want to go to church because there's hypocrites.
It's like, okay, where else are they going to get better?
It's like, I don't want to go to a gym because there's out of shape people there.
Or I don't want to go to a hospital because there are sick people there.
It's like, well, that's where they belong.
We belong in church to get better, to learn better.
Yes, there are some people that dig in their heels that don't want to change.
But that is not the reason to throw away or abandon church.
Because again, churches is where we as believers get to go and be reminded of the Word of God
and remembering the community and the lessons of all of the prophets and all the apostles
and everyone.
I heard it once that if Paul were to come back today, the church in America would be
getting a letter.
Oh, I believe that was everything in me.
But again, it's not because...
And it wouldn't be because Paul wants to condemn us.
Right.
He wants to set us free.
He wants to set us free and wants us to get better and to remember why we're in this.
And again, would things be better if Eve had never taken a bite of the apple and shared
it with Adam and we're all still in the garden and all still covered 24 seven in the glory
of God.
Yes, that would be awesome.
But like you said, Jesus came back as the second Adam to reverse that.
And we can grab onto that and we can run towards that promise and chase after all the really
awesome things that are in the Bible.
Yes, we might not be able to physically go back to Eden, but spiritually we can recreate
that in our own lives, in our own homes, in our own families, in our own communities.
We can do that because again, we find our identity and our purpose in God.
That's right.
In his kingdom.
And again, once we remember we're here to serve him, to give him loyalty, to push forward
his kingdom, to prepare this earth for his return.
Yeah.
I mean, everything else just lines up.
I mean, again, one of the great verses that I've heard and many people know, it's, you
know, seek first the kingdom and all these things will be added unto you or added to
you.
Yeah.
Seek first the kingdom of God in his righteousness and all these other things will be added.
That's right.
I mean, it's so many times I just want to say, yes, serving the kingdom of God is really
that easy.
Yeah.
It's really that easy.
It's when we talk about identity and I actually listened to a really quick excerpt today that
hit it right on the head and it was a guy getting very much in everybody's Kool-Aid
and I believe it was a pastor and he said, it's when we start trying to form the identity
of Christ into the identity of who we want him to be is where things start getting mucked
and start getting out of line because he said, if you put anything, I might have sent it
to you, if you put anything in front of Christian, you're supposed to be a Christian, a disciple
of Christ, period.
If you are to put, I'm a conservative Christian, I'm a white Christian, I'm a black Christian,
I'm a whatever Christian, if you put an adjective in the English language like you were talking
about, okay, so we're talking about different translations and the English language, if
you put an adjective in front of that noun, that takes precedence over the original thing.
Your belief system, so too many times we see political, we see cultural, we see, this is
the way I was raised, oh, this is how it's always been, oh, right, and it's like all
of these different things as opposed to saying, I'm just going to die to myself and I'm going
to take up the cross and I'm going to follow you, God.
I'm going to, I don't care about my political, there should not be a political agenda in
your life, there should not be anything that tops the kingdom of God.
One of my absolute best friends on the planet, she always says, what it boils down to is
this, regardless of your race, your sex, your culture, your upbringing, it does not matter
your socioeconomic status, whatever, it's the kingdom of God, the kingdom of this world.
You're in one of two camps.
It might look a little bit different, but for the most part, you're in one of two places
and they will know you by your fruit.
They will know us by our love for one another and if we're sitting here biting each other
and fighting each other and deciding who's better about whatever based off of whatever,
the love of God does not live inside of us and you're a hypocrite.
And so it's one of those things where our identity, back to the identity, our identity
is Christ and Christ alone.
When people see our lives, they should see children of God, the character of God.
We're in the image of God.
Well, what does that look like?
Well, what color is God?
I don't care what color God is.
I want to, it's the image of God.
When God is walking in front of me and there is a shadow that gets cast, I'm in the image,
I'm in the shadow of who he is.
I'm literally being created and I'm walking so close to him that I'm walking in the shadow.
I look like my father based off of the characteristics.
Wow, they act a whole lot like you.
Yeah, because I'm their kid.
These are the things that we need to be taking on as opposed to, is it good to say, what
is my purpose?
My purpose is to serve the King of Kings.
My purpose is to share to the world the greatest, have you met my dad?
Oh my gosh.
Have you met my dad?
Have you literally met the one that created me?
Have you ever met the one that literally has something greater than this thing that's trying
to overtake you?
Can I introduce you to literally the one that's all fit for you to walk this earth?
Have you met him yet?
Because it's like when we start being introduced to the father, when we start becoming loved
by our father, it's like that identity, I watch Sebastian with you.
He's eight.
In my mind, I'm thinking this boy, he wants to be a scientist, he wants to be a rock and
roll bass player, he wants to be all the... But ultimately, I'm Luke's son.
That's my dad.
I get to hang out with my dad.
This is my dad.
There's nothing in this world.
It doesn't matter what... It's not a performance thing.
He's yours.
You're his and that's all there is, kind of thing.
It's like whether he looks like you or not or whatever the mannerisms, but it's the fact
that he's just... That's my kid.
He's mine.
It's like we need to just rest a lot of times, to just be still and know that he's God, to
just rest and knowing that, Father, you know what?
I'm going to start speaking to our listeners, our friends, okay?
If you're in that space where you're saying, I don't even know what I need to do, what's
the next step?
It's not even so much, what do I need to do next, God?
But it's like, you know what, Father, I just thank you.
I just want to be in your presence.
I just thank you.
I thank you that you're going to show me what I need to do when you want me to do it.
In the meantime, I'm just going to rest in you and I'm just going to trust you.
I'm going to believe that what you say is true and who you are is good and you have
nothing but good for me.
Start speaking out the scripture.
He has a hope and a future for us, right?
He wants nothing but the best for us.
He's a good, good Father and he's not going to leave you.
He's not going to forsake you.
He's not going to abandon you.
He's not going to forget you.
He's going to walk with you as long as you say, Father, I want to come near to you.
That's what his word says.
Draw close to God and he'll come close to you.
You get to make the first move.
He can pull on your heartstrings and say, hey, come be with me.
But ultimately, he's waiting on you to say, hey, I just want to sit with you.
I want to sit with you and I want to have a conversation and let's talk this out.
What would you like?
What would you like to do?
What would you like me to do?
My identity is in you.
What I do, ultimately, it's like let his Holy Spirit guide you.
But know that that's not what your identity rests in.
You have already been marked.
You're a child of God.
Just trust your Father that he has nothing but your best interest at heart.
That's good.
I like that.
After that, I don't even know if I need to add anything.
That's pretty much mic drop right there for me.
We just got to trust him.
We do.
We've just got to trust him in a way.
You and I walk through this seasonally, it seems.
Every day, it seems.
It does.
This is where we're being transparent and honest with you guys.
I'm coming up on 48.
A lot of people are like, oh my gosh, 50.
What do you do with 50?
If my identity was based off of my younger self or my identity is based off of whether
I can bear children or not.
Because we've got some of our listeners, some of our friends, they're either not married
or they're not able to produce children.
Then there's that heartbreak that comes with those things.
Then you stand back and you say, that's why our identity can't be in our production.
It can't be in what it is that we do.
I'm not saying that you just sit and eat bonbons and don't do anything and just let God be
God.
I'm not saying that.
What I'm saying is, Father, what do you want to do today?
Who would you like me to touch today?
Whose life needs to have just the goodness of God just injected into that moment?
I had one of my students today email me.
Miss Lance, are you in the building?
I'm not today.
You okay?
I just needed to talk.
Do you want to talk right now?
I'll see you tomorrow.
You will see me tomorrow.
It's taking the time to just allow our lives to be available.
When we see people's lives falling apart that we're not sitting here going, oh my gosh,
the world's going to hell in a ham basket.
No, it's not.
It's not.
I'm sorry.
Kingdom of God is advancing, ever increasing, constantly moving forward.
Why on earth are we going to let the enemy still one more life out from in front of us?
If we see something, what is it they say?
If you see something, say something.
In my mind, I'm thinking, okay, that should go with the kingdom of God.
If you see something, say something.
Love somebody enough to tell them the truth.
Tell them in love.
Rejoice with mercy, with compassion.
Seasoned with the love of God.
Then watch that life just start unfolding in front of you.
Start healing in front of you.
Give them hope.
They don't need condemnation.
They don't need somebody criticizing.
They don't need somebody sitting here and telling them how horrible they are.
Nope, they already know.
They genuinely already know.
If they don't, it's what deception is.
They're deceived.
Bring them the truth.
Extend the hand of grace to them.
Give them Jesus.
Show them what Jesus looks like.
Just be that.
That is our identity.
If you are a Christian, blood by it, that's your identity.
That's who you get to be.
Walk in it unashamed, knowing that God has got you.
That's good.
I like that.
I like it.
Anything else?
I think that's it.
All right, guys.
Have the best week.
Have a good journey.