Well, what's up, Pursuing Jesus homies? We need
a fan. We need a name. Like a Pursuing Jesus
people. Because one of the podcasts I listen
to, they call their audience the third chair.
The third chair. Because it's two guys talking,
and then the audience is in the third chair.
So it makes sense. Like the 11th man at Texas
A &M. Exactly. So, I mean, we can't do that.
They have it. They have it. They've trademarked
it. They have the chair. It's their chair. Yeah.
So we can't say that, but we need a name. Pursuers?
Fellow pursuers? Fellow pursuers. You know, I
don't hate it. Pursuers. Pursuers, because we're
pursuing Jesus. The purses? No, absolutely not.
Overruled. Vetoed. We are not purses. We're handbags.
Pursuers is not bad. I feel like I couldn't go
better than that. Is there a movie called The
Pursuers? All that's coming up in my mind is
scenes from The Rescuers Down Under, like the
animated little mouse movie. Dude, that's a throwback.
Of course it is. It probably came out when you
were a kid. Pursuers is on the Dark Souls wiki.
Isn't that a game? Yes. Maybe not a game I would
recommend for anybody. No, I have not played
it. Man, this is two podcasts in a row now. You
and I have reference. Parents are like, oh, kids,
let's figure out what that is. Somebody come
get Sean. So I want you guys to know. Okay, you
want us guys to know. Listen up, pursuers. I
was going to say that. All right, pursuers. So
I did mention Good Morning Vietnam on the last
podcast. I went and Googled it when we left.
Of course. And it is rated R. Oh, Sean. Now,
with that said, I went to the, oh, what's the
parent website? PluggedIn. I went to PluggedIn.
Yeah. And it said that compared to today's PG
-13 movies, it's tame. What? Is what it said.
Isn't it usually the opposite, though? So here's
the crazy thing. You are correct, because I've
watched PG movies from the 80s and 90s with my
kids, and I'm like, I would never have thought
that would be in a PG movie. No. So somehow,
this one did the opposite. Interesting. Because
it really got me weird. I thought I was asked
to come on here and apologize. Yeah. I really
did. Because Robin Williams, his comedy, because
he's the star of the movie, he's not known for
clean comedy. Yeah. Now, he became known as a
family actor later on. Jumanji. Yes. Although
that movie traumatized the living junk out of
me. Flubber? Flubber was a great movie. That's
an awesome movie. It's an awesome movie. Yeah.
Patch Adams. See, we could go down the family
movies of Robin Williams. Exactly. He did a great
job. So since we're already on this trail, I'm
going to keep on going. So I saw a documentary
a while ago that talked about how... So Robin
Williams was one of the very first big -named...
actors to do a character role in a cartoon oh
right because if you think about it before that
it was just it was voice actors that's true they
did not advertise the name of the actors because
it was about the movie yeah so in his contract
with disney he he specified like hey i don't
want you to use my name as a big thing for this
movie. Interesting. But they ended up doing it
anyways because it's Robin Williams. Classic
Disney. Yeah, yeah, of course. But yeah, so like
the trend now, I mean, because every movie, it's
no longer voice actors except for the tiny roles.
Right. Every main character now is an actual
actor that people know their voice. Right. Kind
of an interesting transition that we have, and
it's all because of Robin Williams. It's all
because of Robin Williams. I mean, that's why,
like with the live action Moana, that like Dwayne
Johnson is coming back as, what is his name?
Mata Nui. Maui. His name is Maui. Have you seen
the pictures of that? I saw just one of the posters.
It looks weird. That man should not have hair.
Especially the luscious hair of Maui. Because
Maui's got good hair. Maui's got phenomenal hair.
Great, long, curly, thick hair. It looks awkward
on The Rock. Now, do you think it looks awkward
on The Rock because we've known him as Dwayne
the Bald Rock Johnson for so long? I don't know,
man. I've looked at the photos and it's just
weird. So I don't know. We'll get used to it.
I don't know if I'll go see that one. The live
action ones don't always tend to do what I want
them to do. So you're not on TikTok. I am not
on TikTok. TikTok is one of the only social media
platforms I am currently on. Wow. I've got rid
of the rest of them. But you've kept the most
potent. Because it's the least dangerous for
me. Really? Yeah, it really is. Okay. Instagram
is my worst. Instagram, to me, borderlines on
sinful. And it is for me. This is for me. I could
not. I was on it way too much. I got you. I could
not. I just was on it way too much. I used student
ministry and church as an excuse to keep it.
But it was way too much. And so that went away.
Snapchat, I just got bored with Snapchat. So
that was easy to get away. Instagram was tough,
though. When I deleted it, there was many times
I wanted to... Redownloaded it. Yeah. Redownloaded
it. More redownloaded it again. I wanted to do
that. Yes. But I've had it off my phone now for
over a year, maybe even over two years now. Look
at you. I can't remember. And now it's like once
you get away from social media, you just don't
care. Yeah. Going back to TikTok, the whole reason
we went on another rabbit trail. So there was
a woman that got famous for a very short, like
TikTok famous for a very short, like 10 second
video. Okay. And it's her. And she went to, it
looks like she's in a target or something like
that. Interesting. And the rock is being used
as an advertisement for shampoo. And so her whole
post, the entire post is her basically saying
kids follow your dreams. One day you can be bald
and advertise for shampoo too. That's serious.
What intern was like, oh, we need a celebrity
feature for old spice. So about the rock. So
the funny thing is he is bald in the, in the
picture. Oh yeah. Right. So evidently the rock
like commented back but not only that like sent
her crates of shampoo and is sending her family
out to now for the to hollywood you're kidding
for the premiere of uh moana like i saw a follow
-up to it i was like for a 10 second video that
you put up thinking that no one would watch it
right Because I don't think this woman had any
kind of following or anything. It was just a
mama posting what she thought was funny, and
it was funny. And then all of a sudden, all these
people see it, and now she gets a free trip to
Hollywood and all kinds of stuff. It's kind of
crazy. It's crazy how social media works. So
I'm going to put on my tinfoil hat for a second
here. Oh, I'm so ready for this. I bet that was
a psyop. I bet that was a plant. Not her, but
I bet they were fishing for it. Like, let's put
the rock on the shampoo thing and let's see who
responds to it. And then it allows us to do more
publicity. Publicity stunt. That's what I'm looking
for. It's a publicity stunt for the movie. That's
what I, you know, I'm not going to argue with
you on that one because I think you're making
valid points. That's the thing. The scary part
with conspiracy theories, publicity stunts, all
these things is that the more you open your eyes,
the more that you see. It's very true. Speaking
of seeing too much, um, next week. So actually
we're actually recording this episode a little
early, right? Pretty early, pretty early because
next week you are going to be somewhere special.
Yes. Um, some people in the church would call
it a vacation and I slapped those people. You
slap those people in the name of the Lord. I
rebuke you. This is some church members. Listen,
the one thing you don't want to do to your youth
pastor, the one I'm here to help you. I'm here
to guide you. I'm here to shepherd you. Yep.
When I get back from a mission trip where I have
been on call for 24 -7 for seven days, please
don't say, how was your vacation? It has happened
before. It has happened in this church. And it
is good -hearted people that I will not slap
because I love them so much. But it still stings.
It still stings to call what I just did a vacation
because it was very far from it. I did not sleep
much because I was worried about what the boys
were going to be doing. while I was sleeping.
Yeah, that's fair. That's fair, Sean. Yeah, yeah.
So what actually are you doing? So for those
of you who don't know, so we are taking our students
on a trip called Mission Serve. So we don't do
a typical summer camp that many student ministries
do. I think summer camp has a great place. I'm
not knocking summer camp. We just do something
different. And so Mission Serve is kind of like
taking a mission trip and a summer camp. and
they had a baby together and out popped Mission
Serve. Okay. I know I could have said that a
different way, but I thought that was funny.
So Mission Serve is a combination of a summer
camp and a mission trip. And so the reason is
a whole bunch of churches come together. We usually
stay at a church. This year we're staying at
a brand new built middle school. So we should
have good AC and all that kind of stuff. Decent
showers? It'll still be shower trailers. I'm
assuming the new schools don't build showers
anymore. What? I would assume so. Under what
circumstances? Do kids not shower anymore? I
don't know. I mean, I just lather up an ax body
spray and move on. I don't think kids shower
at school anymore. I know when I was growing
up, my middle school had a shower room and it
was one big room with a whole bunch of shower
heads. Terrifying, honestly. Oh my gosh. Yeah,
I remember walking in there from elementary school
and walking to the locker room after PE, just
staring at that room like, does that, do I have
to use that? Maybe that's why they don't build
shower rooms. So anyways, we'll have shower trailers,
but usually they're pretty nice. But going back
to Mission Serve, and so it's an incredible time.
So we'll be there with about eight other churches.
And so I think there's over 200, maybe over 250
participants at the location we're going to.
We're going to be in Saluda, South Carolina.
So they're going to mix us all up. So they're
going to mix all the churches up. And I think
we've got about 12 that what they call squads
or teams. Okay. And so each team has its own
work site. And so like the squad that I'm on,
I'll have a couple people from our church, but
then a bunch of people from other churches too.
So I love that. So it gives our students the
opportunity where you're not just hanging out
with other kids. You're working alongside them
doing mission work. So the bonds that they create
next week or technically. We're going to be almost
at the end of it while y 'all are listening to
this. But the bonds they have created are going
to go with them for years. That's awesome. I
have students that still have Snapchat groups
or text groups from mission serve groups they
had years and years ago. And they all talk to
each other. Hey, where are y 'all going this
year? What did you do? And so it's really fun.
That's huge, dude. I love that. And so I'm very
excited. We're taking a great group. We've got
a little over 50 people going with us. Wow. And
it is going to be amazing. So church. Let's say
this is going to release on Friday. We are going
to be heading home on Saturday. And so really,
by the time you're listening to this, we could
possibly be done beyond the way back or, you
know, it's the last night. And so pray for safe
travels and Sean saying there you go and pray
for a good night's rest Saturday night. And you'll
know if I get it when you see me Sunday. That's
that's also fair. I can picture you coming up
on stage with a cup of coffee in your hand or
a Celsius. or something and it'll be father's
day so like i'm just i'm just gonna i'm gonna
act like i'm in character i'm like i'm like your
typical dad getting on stage with his coffee
everybody be like oh he's just doing a bit no
i just need my coffee do you have like a number
one dad bug that you could use dude i have a
dad i have a mug that says super dad on it and
i use it all the time so you're welcome so you're
welcome yeah yeah so i have to ask with mission
serve Yes. What? Like, do you have a funny story?
Scariest thing that's ever happened at Mission
Serve. Funniest thing that's ever happened to
Mission Serve. Now, scary. One year, this would
happen with the girls. So I can't comment fully
on this. Okay. But we stayed at a very old church
and the girls were like on the third floor, like
almost an attic. Maybe it was an attic at one
point, but now it's Sunday school classrooms.
And the adult leaders did like ghost stories
one night. And this was like 6 ,000 years ago.
This was a long time ago. And just scared. Ghost
stories on a mission trip is crazy. And evidently,
they planted a Bluetooth speaker somewhere. Oh,
come on. And it freaked out some girls. There
were some girls freaked out from that one. But
we'll have to get somebody that was there to
tell that story. Now, what I got to see. So pranks
is a part of mission serve. Okay. Right? And
we... Sometimes we have to reel it in. As teenagers
can do, it's always about one -upping. And so
if the pranks start really hard on Monday...
By Friday, it's more. So most of the time, it's
not bad. So this was four or five years ago.
So there was a young man named Ethan Smith. Okay.
Ethan Smith is still part of our group and going
to be going to Mission Surf with us next week.
And Ethan Smith... Uh, the guys decided ahead
of time they were going to, and this was probably
a group of like eight. Ethan, I think was in
middle school at the time. Okay. And this was
like big football player, high school students
were like, we're going to duct tape him. What?
Yeah, like duct tape his legs together. Duct
tape his arms together. Like not his body, but
like basically like get him like trapped. Yeah.
Like his legs and then try it. And I think they
were even going to try to like get it where like
once they got his arms and once they got his
legs, like duct tape those together, his arms
and his legs. They're going to hog tie this poor
boy? Yes, yes. They're going to try. And so me
and a bunch of the other men, like they came
to us first and they're like, can we do this?
And we're like. Let's see how this goes. What?
Because we know the guys and we know their heart.
It was not out of meanness they were doing this.
So, the story. They get Ethan. Yeah. They start
trapping him. Yeah. They start putting duct tape
on him. Yeah. They cannot get him. The boy was...
He... was overpowering these eight high school
boys. You're kidding. No, they were never, they
were never able to get. And like, so it turned
into something where all of us adults and other
people in the room, like go, Ethan, go, go. Like
we're cheering him on. And like, you know, he's
starting to get a little, a little frustrated,
but it didn't get too far to control. So we were
just letting it go. And then finally the guys
were like, we're done. We can't do it. You're
kidding. And so like, we're high five and Ethan,
like, dude, that was amazing. I think I had a
video of it at one point. point and so it was
pretty fun little david and goliath it was it
exactly was and so that's what i'm saying you
you we know our guys yeah and if like some boys
would have come up to me asking me if they could
do that i've been like no under no circumstances
but because of the situation we're like let's
see how it plays out and i'm so glad i did because
like that is like That is a story that will live
infamously with Ethan forever. Yeah, he's going
to get to go to therapy for that, Sean. He won.
He won. Well, maybe those boys will get to go
to therapy because they were overpowered by a
middle school boy that they were trying to duct
tape. Yeah, that's their own fault. Fair enough.
Best of luck on Mission Serve. I guess in the
future, I hope Mission Serve has gone well? This
podcast operates outside of time. I don't know
what to do with that. Anyways, do you want to
dig into some scripture, pursuing Jesus this
week? I think we should now. I think we should
start looking at the devotional and some of the
passages, because there were some wild passages
this week. No doubt. No doubt. Do you mind if
I kick this thing off? I would like nothing else.
Nothing else? Well, you'll get more than that.
But here we go. So I want to talk about June
the 13th. Cause like this parable, like I spent
a lot of time here cause I felt like it was,
I had difficulty with my interpretation of this,
but once I felt, I'm assuming you're talking
about the very beginning. Uh, yes. Yeah. Cause
this one, it's all, it's a difficult one to understand.
Yeah, it is. You can wrestle with it. You can.
So let's, uh, let's, let's give the, the high
level summary of it. Cause it's, it's a pretty
big chunk of text. Yeah. Go ahead. Luke. starting
in verse 1, Jesus tells a parable where a rich
man has a manager who gets accused of wasting
his possessions. Rich man calls him in. It's
like, hey, you're done. Let me see your accounts.
In the process of settling the accounts, this
manager starts writing off the debts of the people
who owe the rich guy money, but shorting them.
Yeah, yeah. You owe 100, now you only owe 75.
Like that kind of thing. Correct. Yeah. The master
commended, and this is a direct quote from verse
8 now, the master commended the dishonest manager
for his shrewdness. Did you just say he commended?
Commended. Wow. And so Jesus is telling this
parable, and then he goes on to say, for the
sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing
with their own generation than the sons of light.
And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by
means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it
fails, they may receive you into the eternal
dwellings. Interesting. And I'm like, what? Yeah.
Because in context here, the chapter before this,
you've got the parable of the lost sheep, you've
got the lady with the lost coin, and the parable
of the prodigal son, all of which the master
figure, the father, the judge, the shepherd,
is in the parable. Yes. And it's portrayed as
Jesus or the Father. Yeah, Jesus is that main
hierarchical character in each of those stories.
So initially I tripped on this passage because
it was like... So Jesus condones lying? So you're
saying at first reading, you could think that
Jesus is the rich man. Correct. At first reading,
you could think Jesus is the rich man. Yeah,
and I'm sure many people might have done that.
Yes, and so I really struggled with this one
initially because it's like, but this goes against
everything I've seen in Scripture up until this
point. What do I do with this? And usually that's
a good indication. Whenever something like that
is happening, I would say every time it's not
scripture that's wrong, it's our interpretation
of scripture. Correct. So that should cause us
to dig deep and not just be like, oh, that's
weird. Right. So you dug deep. So yes, more than
maybe I would have liked to for this passage.
So when Jesus says crazy stuff. usually I feel
like there's a deeper message that's really,
really good under there. Um, and man, I was digging
for it, but, uh, one of the passages. So one
of the things that I often do that I learned
this from my time at Cedarville, uh, the college
that I'm shout out mascot of Cedarville, um,
go yellow jackets. Really? Yes. You could have
given me 10 guesses and that would have not been
anywhere in there. At another point, I will tell
the story of where a language barrier made that
really, really funny. Okay. This is a big story.
I don't want to get a sidetrack, but yes. Wow.
I want to bring that back up. Go bees. Okay.
Anyways. Yes. So one of the things that I learned
at Cedarville, shout out to the Yellow Jackets,
is that when you have a passage you're struggling
to interpret, you want to always interpret scripture
with scripture. Absolutely. That's a principle
that's helpful when you're coming across a hard
path. Good job, prof. Exactly. Yeah. So two things
that helped me get a different lens for this
passage. One of them I landed was Micah 6 .8.
What does the Lord require of you but to seek
justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your
God? And so I feel like that sets up a framework
that feels prohibitive for the practice of selling
short somebody else's debts just to get yourself
out of trouble. The second piece of scripture
that I found that was helpful for my interpretation
of this passage is the latter portion of our
reading for this day, verses 10 through 11. The
one who is faithful in very little is also faithful
in much. And the one who is dishonest in very
little is also dishonest in much. If then you
have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth,
who will entrust you to the true riches? And
if you have not been faithful in that which is
another's, who will give you that which is your
own? And so like it reframed this whole passage
for me as a question of faithfulness. Yeah. So
you look at the dishonest manager and you see
that even before he's accused of dishonesty.
he was not being faithful with his master's assets.
Correct. Right? And so that's what leads to this
problem. That's why he's being fired. Yes. But
even in his removal, you see more of his character.
Think about it. He's never been faithful with
this guy's stuff. Why would he start now? Yeah,
my translation in verse 1 says he was squandering
his... They're squandering his possessions. Correct.
Yeah. And so you see a character thing of faithfulness
versus unfaithfulness. And that's the lens with
which I read this. And I can even hear Jesus
maybe tongue in cheek, sarcastically saying,
and I tell you, make friends for yourselves by
means of unrighteous wealth so that when it fails,
because it will fail, they may receive you into
the eternal dwellings. That sounds a little bit
to me like you better make friends with the people
that you're going to spend eternity with. I don't
know. One other thing that is super interesting
to me is the word that we see here. Jesus repeats
the phrase often, unrighteous wealth. Yeah. There's
a little footnote in my Bible. Okay. The direct
Greek here for wealth is called mammon. which
is a Greekification of a Jewish word that can
mean money or possessions, right? Yes. But it
most literally translates to that which is trusted
in. Interesting. So reframe that in verse 10.
Those who are faithful with little are also faithful
with much. And one who is dishonest with very
little is also dishonest with much. If then you
who have not been faithful with... The thing
you trusted in, who will entrust you to true
riches? And so part of the, one of the other
things that I drew out of this is where has been
putting his trust. Lack of trust is what can
lead us to the unfaithfulness that we see in
the servant. And so if we don't, because we can
trust in many things. Money is the example that
Jesus uses in this podcast, mercy malarkey. Money
is one of the things that Jesus uses in this
piece of scripture, but there is much that we
can trust in that can't actually bear the weight
of the trust that we're putting on it. So this
was kind of a theme of my message last night
with our students. Hit me with it. And we were
talking a little bit about idolatry. because
we're going through Acts, which is kind of fun.
I mentioned it a little bit, but we're going
through Galatians, and we're currently at the
part of Acts on Wednesday night with our students
where we're going through the churches of Galatia.
Yeah. And one of them, they show up in Lystra,
and they call Paul Hermes, and they call Barnabas
Zeus. Right. And so I use that to talk about,
well, hey, no one's calling us gods, but what
are the gods that we might have, and we have
idolatry. And it's really, and we are talking
about, okay, what are the things you placed your
trust in is where we ended up getting through
this passage. Yeah. And it's kind of that same
idea of, okay, are you trusting in the praise
of others? Right? Because that's a big thing.
And I didn't even say teenage culture. I just
said our culture because so many of us, we are.
We, instead of pursuing Jesus, we're pursuing
the praise of other people. Absolutely. But the
thing that I was trying to get them to realize
was that whenever you take anything besides Jesus
as the thing that you're placing your trust in,
I use the example of how all of these things
are like salt water when you're lost at sea.
Oh, that's a phenomenal example. Because when
you're lost at sea, one of the things that you
hear all the time is not to drink the salt water.
Because if you drink the salt water, it's actually
going to make you more thirsty and desire more
water. So that's exactly what it means to trust
in something that's not Jesus. If you put anything
in that place, whatever it is in your life, because
like you said, there could be so many things.
It's not just money. But whatever that is that
you're placing your trust in, the more you desire
it, the more you're going to want. And it will
never satisfy. In fact, it's going to make you
more hungry or more thirsty and more thirsty
and more thirsty. Isn't that such an interesting
pattern? Yeah. I feel like as humans, we intentionally,
unintentionally, like elements of both, we intentionally,
unintentionally seek ultimate fulfillment. Yeah.
Right? Like in anything. One example of this
I'll give in my own life is a beloved video game
that I loved to play as a young kid, Lego Star
Wars, A Complete Saga. I put that bad boy on
my Nintendo. We play it often. Mom would say,
okay, dude, one more level and then it's time
for dinner or then it's time to do your homework
or then it's time to stop rotting your brain
with this video game, right? And I would finish
that level and the very next thing, one more,
come on, please, please, one more, one more,
one more. We never find the ultimate fulfillment
of any desire that we have in the stuff that
we have on earth. I firmly believe that is because
it is made to point us to the greater fulfillment
in Christ. Yeah, absolutely. And like we see
that in this text too, verse nine, so that when
mammon fails, they may receive you into the eternal
dwellings. Like, dude. It doesn't matter how
high you stack your cards. Eventually, that card
tower is going to fall. But I also think that
sometimes you have to have a couple of card towers
fall to recognize the genuine article. Absolutely.
I think you're right. And I think this is a good
time for our pursuers listening to really take
self -reflection and think, because I think there
is something in all of our lives that is... we
struggle with trying to take the place of God
in our life. And so for everyone listening, it's
really this is that time to reflect and be like,
okay, what is that thing in my life? What is
that thing that I am tempted to continue to go
after more than Jesus? Absolutely. And for you,
when you discover what that is, that's where
you know you've got to be careful. Yeah. Because
a lot of times, because here's the scary part,
that a lot of these things in and of themselves,
like money, It's not a bad thing. No. Not a bad
thing at all. Nowhere is Jesus condemning someone
for being wealthy just because they're wealthy.
Right. It's not about the money. And so the same
is true with anything in our lives that is not
a sinful thing. There could be sinful things,
but where it's more dangerous is where it's not
a sinful thing. Yeah. It is something that is
morally acceptable. However... When you place
that thing above Jesus with importance and you
pursue that more than Jesus, that's where it
gets dangerous. Absolutely. So the question becomes,
how do we find it? I find it a rule in my own
life that, dude, it's so easy sometimes to point
out other people's blind spots, right? And that
in and of itself can be like... maybe not even
real blind spots, but elevating my preferences
to biblical standard and then holding somebody
else to it. Right. But like, so what does it
look like to find the blind spots in our lives
that where we realize like, Oh junk, this, this
is actually something that I give worship to.
You ever looked at a where's Waldo book? Yes,
I have. Yeah. They're really fun. Right. And,
and a lot of times, man, Waldo can be difficult
to spot, right? He really can. But once you find
him, you know where he's at. You can't unsee
him. No, you see that, right? You see him from
now on. You're going to see where Waldo is every
single time because you found him. The same is
true with this as well. And so a lot of it is
just really like, if this is truly the desire
of your heart, ask the Lord to help you. He will
show you these things. And then once you see
it, you're going to start to see the different
things in your life that say, oh, I got to be
careful with this. You know, I mean, going back
to what I talked about at the beginning with
social media in my life, you know, I started
to realize how much I was looking at the likes
on my posts and how many followers I was gaining
and all the different stuff. And like, it was
going down. Like I was searching for validation.
Yeah. within those things. And I realized, and
once I saw the danger, I was like, nah, this
has got to go. It's got to go. I mean, so what
you're saying, that searching for validation,
that's a question of your affections. That's
a question of your loves. And I feel like the
next Devo, like the, what is this, the 14th?
The 14th speaks to that too, right? At the very
beginning, Jesus says, It's Luke 16, 13 through
18. No servant can serve two masters, for either
he will hate the one and love the other, or he
will be devoted to one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God. And there it is again,
mammon, the thing that is most trusted in. It's
a question of your loves. And so maybe one of
the ways that we find what that small G God is
in our lives is to look at what we're devoted
to. Like the thing that when... you've planned
on it in your day and it goes awry that your
heart goes, no, you know, the thing that when
somebody asks you, Hey, is this, is this good
for you? That internally you have that rise up
and of you, of course it is. And who are you
to tell me what to do? You know, you look at
where you feel threatened in that regard. And
that could be one of the ways that the spirit
shows you what those gods are in your life. and
I believe that kind of like with the Where's
Waldo thing, once you get the glimmer of whatever
this thing is, it's going to become more obvious.
But a lot of times we are blinded. by our own
downfalls until we start to see it. And then
once we start to see it, we realize, oh, this
is a big problem. It's just getting to that point.
And it's allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to
you and to listen to what the Holy Spirit is
telling you. And then when you do that, man,
it's going to be so much better to start to realize,
okay, this is an issue. this is not necessarily
a sinful thing, but it has become a sinful thing
in my life. Yes, it has outgrown its natural
boundaries. So again, if you guys get kind of
nothing else from today, in spite of the mission
serve and the revisiting R -rated movies, take
a second in your car, on your couch, in your
cubicle, any of the other places that you might
be listening to this podcast, and ask the Holy
Spirit. will you show me the areas that I have
elevated to your place? Will you show me who
my two masters are? Because Lord, I know you.
You promised that my sheep hear my voice and
they will not listen to another. And I am beginning
to turn my ears. And so that's a prayer that
we, that Sean and I need to offer the Lord. That's
a prayer that you need to offer the Lord. And
I think that that's part of a regular practice
of pursuing. A hundred percent. Yeah. Well, it's
been fun, dude. Man, that was good. That went
by quick. Yeah, time flies when you're talking
about mammon. It doesn't work. It doesn't have
a good ring to it. No, I think we should just
end it there. You think we should just end it
there? I think we're done. Pursuing Jesus is
a ministry of Memorial Baptist Church in Norwood,
North Carolina. To learn more about our church,
please visit memorial4norwood .com.