SPEAKER_01: 0:08

Welcome and thanks for joining us on this episode of the Midweek Podcast, brought to you by a Fresh Wind Church. Each week our team brings you new content to help you take steps towards Jesus and discover more in Christ. Today's episode is hosted by Pastor Ryan.

SPEAKER_02: 0:27

Hey everyone, welcome back to the Midweek Podcast. Pastor Ryan joined as always with Pastor Tim. And uh Tim on Sunday we kicked off a brand new series we're calling In the Shop. And uh man had some uh some cover guys pretty fired up over that uh series graphic.

SPEAKER_00: 0:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 0:44

I like it. I uh you did a good job on that. I was pointing it out, and I I told everybody to say, good job, Ryan.

SPEAKER_02: 0:51

That was uh Which I appreciate, thank you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 0:54

Well, you were a little bit more excited about this one than you were uh than you have been in a while. You must have really liked it.

SPEAKER_02: 1:00

I thought it came out pretty good, and uh had some guys, they were they were liking it. Uh one guy said, Man, I really appreciate the this this series graphic. Uh he goes, This is that's my view every day. And so uh it I guess felt familiar uh for him. But uh in the shop is the series, and uh we're we're kind of putting our our spiritual lives, I guess, in the shop as we head into Easter and saying, hey, what what are some of those things we need to to work on as we prepare uh for the Easter season?

SPEAKER_03: 1:30

And we're not looking uh for a broken axle, because you know that's wrong. We're not looking for um, you know, I got a I got a flat tire. We're going into the shop for a tune-up. We just want to look. Um so what if nothing is wrong in your life? It's just something's out of order. It's not working the way it should. And that's that's kind of what we're looking for. We all know when we're um we're wrapped up in something that's outside of God's will and he doesn't want for our life. We we kind of know that. That's like you know, there's a hole in your radiator, or your um your head is is cracked. I had to go through that when they stur first started making all these aluminum heads, and you get them hot, and the head would crack, and you'd have to put a whole new head on the top of your engine block, and you're looking at me like you have no idea what I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_02: 2:25

No idea what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_03: 2:28

Anyways, we're not talking about that uh broken axle or something like that. We're talking about everything's running fine, but we need to take it in and and um look at everything and and get a tune-up, maybe.

SPEAKER_02: 2:39

Yeah, and I think that's why starting on Sunday with this diagnostic um sermon that that you walked us through is is great. Is and it's the first thing they do, right? When you take your car in. We we gotta hook it up to this machine, we're gonna let it run its thing, figure out what's going on here, what what's off, what's what's not firing the way it's supposed to. And so that that was Sunday. Um to go in here and let's let's just start there. Let's let's take a look and see where things might be out of order. Um and you know, you were talking about that that passage where um Jesus, it's a parable that he gives where this guy finds a field and uh it's got this pearl in it, and he goes, or treasure, I think, is in the field. Um and he goes and he sells everything uh to buy the field. And it must have been the verse of the day uh on the Bible app recently. Um if it's late at night and we want to, you know, we try to do some sort of scripture reading with our kids every night. Um so we usually try to work through a book, but it was probably late. I opened the Bible app, said let's just read the verse of the day. And it was that verse about this parable Jesus tells guy goes and buys a field, uh found treasure, and buys the field, sells everything to buy this field. And so I just asked my kids when it was done. I was like, What what is your favorite thing that you own? Um, and you know, you started getting different answers. Uh I think Ellie was her electric scooter and Reese was um maybe his new uh loft bed thing that he got for Christmas. You know, they they all had this thing, and then I at the end of it I said, All right, would you be willing to give up your favorite thing for Jesus? And they're like um quickly, you know, all of a sudden it became real. I'm like, would would we give up our pool? Would we give up Benny, our dog? Would we give up our house, um, our car? What what would we be willing to give up for the kingdom? And this guy, when he found it, he sold everything for it. And so there's obviously, and this is you know the point I think you were driving home, is there's priorities um in the kingdom, and this guy he found the right thing, and he was willing to sell everything else for that thing. Um and man, I think a lot of us were like, yeah, I I want to add God to my life, I want to add church to my life, but it gets somewhere down here. And if you're if you were to ask me, well, would I give up this thing for that? I think it'd be for a lot of us, it's just like my kids. Uh I don't know if I'm ready to go all in like that yet.

SPEAKER_03: 5:30

Do I have to make that kind of decision to serve God or or to have my priorities correct? And I think that's where we get this wrong. We think it's about sacrifice, and it's really it's really not about sacrifice, it's about recognition on of what is most important.

SPEAKER_00: 5:49

That's right.

SPEAKER_03: 5:50

So I was up in, we were up in Colorado and our we had this uh I think it was a Ford Escort. Trying to think what we were driving then. But when we were driving up in the mountains, it'd get all sputtery. You know, what's going on with our car and can't climb mountains? That's what I was thinking. It just can't climb mountains. So um we get back down and uh we're back in Ohio. I said, Yeah, I it had trouble going up on top of that mountain. And uh he said, Well, your your sensor's probably clogged or broken. I said, What sensor? He said, Your altitude sensor. I said, Cars don't have altitude sensors. You know, oh yes, they do. Uh because they they change the fuel mix. As you go up in altitude, you need uh you need more air and less fuel, and when you get down, you need more fuel and less air. What are you talking about? But I think sometimes in our life we have those sensors um that are that are not working for us. And God's like, hey, you gotta be a whole person here. We need to we need to look at it this all. And it's not like um that needs to become the number one. It just needs to work correctly. Uh so in the situation that you're in. And then and when we talk about priorities and values, that's what we're trying to do. What's first and then let's substitute what's first for what's on top and then get things in alignment so that uh we can function the way God is intending us to. I think um when we get the idea that the kingdom is the supreme value, that Jesus is a value, it is the watch you want to buy, it is the car that or truck that the thing. When the kingdom becomes a supreme value, it's no longer a religious obligation. Right? It's not uh I gotta check this box. No, it's it's the thing. And we've gotten away from that. Like you said, trying to add the Lord to our lives instead of letting him be our life.

SPEAKER_02: 8:08

It's not that all these things in our life are are bad, right? Um you know, I don't I don't know if following Jesus means I have to sell my dog. Um it's if if it was bad, you know, if you ran over something and it got stuck up in the wheel well of your car, you would know this has got to go, right? So that's not the things that we're we're necessarily talking about. Every everybody kind of gets that. Um, but it it's yeah, well, where are my priorities out of order here? Where where is Jesus not first? And what do I have over top of him? Um, you know, one of the things that I loved, and and you pointed this out in the the sermon is and it said that this man went in joy to sell everything he has. And I think so often we look at surrender as being painful, uh restrictive, like we're losing control. Um, I don't get to call the shots of my life anymore. And it feels difficult. Surrender feels like, you know, when you got caught not going your hardest on the play, and your coach said, start running. It feels like that, you know. Um, but man, this guy, he went in joy. It was a joy for him to sell all of his stuff. And I thought, man, what what has to happen in my life? What has to happen in your life, where putting Jesus at the top, if that meant selling everything else to get him there, would feel like a joy.

SPEAKER_03: 9:38

When Jesus talked about it though, there's a an aspect of a nuance uh of this uh parable with uh with the field, with the treasure, and and with the pearl, it's a discovery. He discovered the pearl of great price, he discovered the treasure. And and I think that's one of the things that um Christians have let it's all about sacrifice, you know. I gotta sacrifice what I want to do, I gotta sacrifice. But Jesus says, no, come follow me, discover me. You know, learn learn what the kingdom is really all about, and it's it's great, but you have to discover it. Yeah, you know, um what's that scripture verse? Um you search for me, uh you'll find me when you search for with all your heart. Yeah. That really applies here because I know at preaching Sunday, it's uh you gotta get your priority straight, Jesus needs to be number one, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Okay, that means something's gotta go number two, and we gotta work that down. And and we, you know, we Christianize it and and talk about um, you know, if you love Jesus the way you should love him, you'll love your wife more and and all these things. And and not to saying that's not true. That is true. And but it it's not a platitude, it's actually true. But you have to discover that, right? You know, and that's Jesus is always wanting you, well, come on, let's let's go see if this is real. And I think that's how he draws us on.

SPEAKER_02: 11:20

This is why distractions in our life are uh are so dangerous, and I think it's one of the devil's greatest tactics, uh, at least here in America, is to just keep us distracted. It's hard to discover those things when I'm constantly distracted with all this other stuff going on. And man, we we have been sold by you know advertisers and marketers, all these things. This is what brings you joy. This is what brings you happiness, this is what brings you pleasure. And so those things quickly rise to the top for us. Um, because we've we've bought it. It it looks great. I remember Ellie, she I think I picked her up from my mom's house one day. My mom and dad um were watching her, and I pick her up, she gets in the car, and she starts telling me, Dad, we got to get this thing for the house, and it's going on and on and on about all this stuff that this thing's gonna do. And I was like, it worked. She said, What worked? I said, The marketing. You you bought it, you bought it all. Uh, you were ready to pull out the credit card and order that thing. Um, we we buy these things that this is gonna bring us pleasure. And this guy, he discovered something that was so valuable that he said, Man, I I'm gonna sell everything if I can get that. Um and you talked about it on Sunday, man. If we would if we would pursue Jesus in that way, it's not a a subtraction. It feels, and I think that's what a lot of especially people outside the church, it feels like a subtraction. You want me to give up my Friday nights with my with my boys to to follow Jesus, or you know, I'm I'm gonna miss the you know, kick off to the Browns game, especially when they're playing, you know, in London or where they're playing this year, France, wherever, so I can go to church, you know. It feels like subtraction. Um man, Jesus said, if you'll seek the kingdom first, all these other things, your your need for for pleasure and recognition, you talked about that on community. That's community.

SPEAKER_03: 13:25

That's what being with your boys is all about.

SPEAKER_02: 13:27

He'll he'll add to, he'll provide all of those things. You'll find it in him and and in life with him and in his church, and it'll be better than anything you've ever dreamed of. And it's why, you know, people who have who have been following Jesus a long time look at those things and they're like, man, I don't I don't have any desire for that because I found true community here in this way, and it comes without the guilt and without the shame and without the headache on Saturday morning. You know, it I'm free from those things.

SPEAKER_03: 14:02

And I don't think Christians are rejecting the kingdom when the kingdom is not the first priority in our life. That's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about you just haven't discovered how valuable it is. And and it's like we have to rediscover that every time there's a crisis, you know? And uh Jesus wants it, no, I want you to live in that discovery of how valuable I am. And and so uh it's gonna be a constant thing. That's why we're doing this checkup, because Easter prep preparation is not about guilt, it's about clarity. You know, where where do we stand? Where have I I I put him on my priorities list? And most Christians that say, well, I love Jesus first, then I love my family, and then I love my church. And it's like, yes, that's that's the way it should be. But there's nuance in there. How much do you love your church? How much do you give to your church? How much do you serve your church? How much, you know, and then we go back to our family and say, Well, how much do you serve your family? Well, I serve my family a lot. Do you serve them more than you serve Jesus? Well, I I can't give up on my family here, and we're not telling you to. We're telling you to be more to your family than you are right now. We're just saying put Jesus on top and let him guide you in that, and when he does, then everything else becomes more.

SPEAKER_02: 15:33

When when Jesus becomes our treasure, when we we uh we see his kingdom for what it truly is, then then obedience stops feeling like a loss to us. Um and that's the thing, we gotta see and recognize it for how valuable it truly is. You read this verse on Sunday, but scripture says, No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind can even conceive what God has prepared for those who love him. That's who he is, that's how valuable it is. Uh man, was it C.S. Lewis who talked about how humanity said we're humans are far too easily pleased. Um, you know, we go about making mud pies here when an offer of a holiday at the sea is what's being offered to us. And we're like, nah, just let me sit here in this puddle making mud pies. Um we we we settle for these momentary pleasures. We try to string together one high after another, and then we try to call it life and try to call it happiness. But man, if we could see, get get a glimpse a little bit of just how valuable Jesus is and how valuable his kingdom is and what he's preparing for us, then all these other things is like get out of my way. Right. You're you are standing between me and in my treasure, the most valuable thing on the planet, get out of my way.

SPEAKER_03: 16:54

Obedience stops feeling like loss, right?

unknown: 16:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 16:58

So when you're getting married and you fall in love with a girl, she's gonna have certain standards that she wants you, she don't want you to look like a slob all the time. And um, and so you're gonna have to not look like a slob all the time. And and she's saying, I don't want to be seen with you if you look like that. Now, this didn't happen to me, so don't go to Teresa and say. Um, but let's say this is the situation, then what do you do if you're in love? You clean yourself up. It's not a sacrifice. You you are in love and you want to be with her, and so you you take that, it's not a sacrifice at all. It this is my step towards her.

SPEAKER_02: 17:43

Right. And I'd be willing to give up anything that would get in the way of that.

SPEAKER_03: 17:47

Right. So um I think the um this substitution. You know, we substitute things in front of Jesus in our life all the time. We don't do it in a way that it stops our life and we crash into a pole. You know, it's just a a few things that uh the Lord says, that's not incorrect alignment. That we need we need to fix that. Um there was a time when I was all into my 401k, I watched the business news every day, and um and the Lord finally said, You're gonna I need you to go on a fast. And I'm like, Oh gosh, I hate giving up food. He said, No, I want you to give up the business news. And it was tough on me.

SPEAKER_02: 18:36

What's like just let me give up food.

SPEAKER_03: 18:38

Yeah. What what this is what I'm into right now. It wasn't a major shift in my life. It didn't challenge my quiet time with Jesus, it didn't challenge, you know, my life with my family or anything like that. He says, You just let this get, you think more about this than you think about me. And he's I want you to be successful, I want you to be smart with your money. I never have been, but he wants me to be. And I want to put you, uh you put me on top, and then I'll add this to you. This is a substitution. It's not a I'm gonna jerk this out of your life and you're gonna be poor forever because you got out of you got out of alignment here. This is that that's not what we're talking about. It's um it's not adding these things to me, it's repositioning the things I already have. And they slip out of alignment, just like I said, that got really important to me, and I was watching trends and all this kind of stuff. And um, but the Lord says, This is this is not my purpose for you. That's good, you can do that, but you're gonna have to realize that uh I want number one. Right. And he did that, and I can say right now that I don't do that anymore at all. I I hardly ever check the market or anything like that anymore. Um, and that's it it's dropped off my radar, which is not good. That's not good either. But uh the point is that making that uh correction didn't didn't tell me that I have to I have to give up on um you know opportunities, money opportunities in this, that, and the other thing, it just means he needs to be first in that.

unknown: 20:20

Right, right.

SPEAKER_02: 20:22

One of the things that I think especially I I would say new new Christians, people new to church, but I I I feel like I've had these conversations with people who have been coming to church a long time too, is we feel like man, I I'm coming to church and I'm doing all the the churchy things, but my life doesn't feel really any different. Um and I and I think the problem is we're just trying to add on the church things to our already busy, overloaded lives, right? So we we add on church, we add on prayer, we add on uh discipleship and Bible reading, we add on going to the discovery class or joining a life group and getting on a volunteer team. We add all these things, but we've never taken the time to do what what we're talking about here is check our alignment, check our priorities. Jesus still isn't at the top, and so church and scripture reading and prayer and all these things really feel cumbersome. They feel um more like a duty, uh something that that I know. And and and then we start, well, I man, I know I'm supposed to be doing this. Now we add on guilt to the whole thing.

SPEAKER_03: 21:32

Right, obligations.

SPEAKER_02: 21:34

And it's because our alignment is out of whack. And I and I've had people that have told me, man, I we and this has happened, people leaving our church to go find a new church, or people who have left another church and have come here. The story's usually the same a lot of times is I just wasn't growing in that other church. Or I I don't feel like I'm you know really growing anymore, and I we we got to try something different. And a lot of times I'll ask. Be like, well, how much time have you been in God's Word? How how much time are you spending in prayer? Because you can go to whatever church you want. Or not go at all. Or not like in China.

SPEAKER_03: 22:12

And or Orion, which they're going to be able to go to church again. That'll be great. Praise the Lord for that. Um it's at least I hope so.

SPEAKER_02: 22:21

Church is is not the thing. And the problem is we've tried to add it thinking that was gonna fix it. Whatever itch you needed scratched, you know, well, I and a lot of people after Charlie Kirk died, started coming to church. And praise the Lord for that. Um man, if that's his legacy that all these people joined church, um I man, praise the Lord. But for some of us, for some of them, not all of them, but some of them, and hopefully a minority, um, but they they felt something. And so they tried to add on church, but they just tried to add it in to their life without putting Jesus at the top. And the problem is, and Jesus talked about this, you know, you were bringing up money. He says, You can't serve two masters. Scripture really says you can't serve both God and money, but you could put just about anything else at the top of that too. Right. He says, because you'll love one and you'll hate or despise the other because it's they're going to come into conflict. And so when Jesus isn't at the top, now I got a problem because this all feels like an obligation and it's getting in the way.

SPEAKER_03: 23:28

And everything feels like that. Um you need a different perspective. Uh, we were talking about it at the um forge. You just need to look and say, I choose to put him at the top. And and it's there's not anything more to this, okay? It's not difficult. It's needs he's not at the top, he needs to be at the top. I know in my mind he needs to be at the top, even though in my heart he's not at the top, but I choose to place him up there in faith that this is what he wants from me.

SPEAKER_02: 24:04

And as you It's really important what you just said.

SPEAKER_03: 24:07

Well, go ahead.

SPEAKER_02: 24:09

Well, I just the reason because we think this has got to have some emotion tied to this, right?

SPEAKER_03: 24:16

Emotion or some kind of new obligation.

SPEAKER_02: 24:18

I'm putting Jesus at the top, and so I this has gotta it's a decision. Right. It's a decision. And then the rest of my decision is just aligning my life with that decision I've already made. Right. And you don't need goosebumps to do this.

SPEAKER_03: 24:33

Nope. And that's good clarification. Clarity is is most important when we're talking about this. When we talk about a New Year's resolutions, I'm gonna lose some weight, what do we say? We say, I'm gonna go to the gym. You know, this is my I'm gonna go to the gym. But ninety percent of losing weight has nothing to do with the gym. It has to do with eating. Now, you take a perspective of I'm gonna, and we try to add that to, you know, I'm gonna, but the whole thing is if I don't show up at the gym, I fail. Well, your perspective's wrong. If you don't show up at the table, you win. Right? So um there's not uh overweight person out there. I've been overweight most of my life, I can tell you right now, if you don't eat, you lose weight. It's uh it's a no thing. It's not about getting to the gym. So when when we look at when we look at our priority list and and we're trying to figure out where we are, it's a decision to see it the way God does. And and it it's more simple than we feel because we always feel like, okay, there's an obligation here. I'm gonna have to do this thing, I'm gonna have to feel this way, I'm gonna No. It is a decision.

SPEAKER_02: 25:54

That's right. Um and so we I want to encourage you start there and and don't wait for the your emotions and heart to all get behind. It's gonna happen. Um but you just make this decision, Jesus, you're at the top. And then when something comes up, you gotta remind yourself now that Jesus is at the top, and you don't feel like it yet. You don't feel like putting him at the top, but here's what's gonna happen you you do that, you put them at the top, and then you start aligning your life and your decisions with that knowledge that nope, I've put Jesus at the top, and what's gonna happen is he's gonna prove to you that he's better.

SPEAKER_03: 26:37

Absolutely. He's better. That's the discovery we're talking about.

SPEAKER_02: 26:40

That's right.

SPEAKER_03: 26:41

We need to understand this in in a way that um that we can trust him. You don't feel like he's at the top in your heart. But he can change your want-tos. He can change the way um he can change the way you live. We're expecting him to do that when we get saved, you know, sanctified, made holy. We're expecting him to do those things, and when we place him at the top, then we're giving him free reign to do that. The problem is uh FOMO. Oh, I'm gonna I'm gonna miss out on something. You're just afraid of missing out on what um something in the world, and I you know, I'm I'm this close to making a bunch of money or I'm this close to whatever. And the Lord says, I'm not talking about taking that away. I'm talking about making me first and making that second. And I think a lot of times we um confuse control in our life with security. We're afraid where God might send us and ask us to do, and and um but he's telling you, no, I want to show you how much I'm the treasure in your life and uh you have more security in me than you ever have in the fact that you can um take care of all these things that happen in life. When a crisis happens, um we don't go to the bedroom and say, Okay, you know, uh my heart's ripped out, I'm dying here, I can't believe this happened. How can I fix it? No, we turn to God and we rediscover that He's He's number one in our life. So I I don't um I think the problem here is unbelief, is trust.

SPEAKER_02: 28:38

I was just gonna say that. It's it this is what everything you're saying, and I mean you already mentioned it, so this isn't me saying anything new, but it it comes down to the word trust. I I I don't trust that that he's good enough. I don't trust that he's pleasurable enough, um, that he's satisfying enough. You know, and that's why we we turn to those other things for that pleasure, for that recognition, um, for whatever. We think, I man, I gotta go look out in the world. I gotta I gotta look for this thing in you know, a person, um, in a drink or a drug or uh an internet site, whatever it is for you. You think I gotta go to those things to to find that. And he's like, No, no, no, seek first my kingdom, and I will add all those things to you. I'm not saying Jesus is gonna give you a drug addiction if you'd seek him first. What I'm saying is that thing that you're chasing in those drugs, he says, No, no, no. That pleasure, that that feeling of high euphoria, I I got it. I got it in amounts you can't even contain. Right. Just come to me. Come to me, and I'll give you these things. And it boils down to trust.

SPEAKER_03: 29:53

That's beautiful. I like that. It goes back to um that perspective. It's not looking for what's sinful in your life, right? It's looking for what's supreme. You know, we're not we're not talking about looking for um your addiction to drugs, alcohol, porn, whatever. We're not talking about that. We're talking about what reigns supreme. And um so you can ask yourself a couple of questions about that. What gets my first emotional response? What makes me emotional? And um, you know, I I've I struggled with this when Baker came to the Browns. I was excited. I thought, he's a winner. We could win. I was watching, listening, um, everything that was coming out, surfing the internet for things that are said, and it looked like we were gonna be good, and then, you know, it all come. But that that was my emotional response at that time. You know, I got a team that might win. That never became true. But we did go to the playoffs one time, and uh we beat beat Pittsburgh a few times, which is probably my Super Bowl, anyways. Probably the only one. That's probably all we get, man. But I had an emotional response there, and I'm you know, so that falls to pieces, and um, so I'm not getting that emotional response, and and the Lord convicted me. He says, You're too, you're way too into this. You respond more emotionally on some stupid news that's probably a lie, anyways, about the Browns, then you're then your emotions ever get generated when we talk about me.

SPEAKER_02: 31:39

You know, I watched this uh what do they call them a reel or whatever on uh YouTube or Facebook, wherever it was. Um and this it said putting uh worship music to my to my husband at a football game. And he's jumping up, hands raised, he's waving his. It was probably a Pittsburgh game. He probably had that terrible towel, he's waving that thing around. And honestly, it fit to the music however this video was created. It was hysterical. I mean, this guy's going all out, but it, you know, it's got a worship music in the background. You would have thought it was a Sunday morning. Um, and man, I think for a lot of us, we're right there, right? Uh sports, especially for men, we imagine men, how you watch a football game. If you took that same passion and energy and you brought it into a Sunday morning service. One, that's what I've been saying. Right. Every time I tell you people this is an interactive worship experience. No, you'll come in church, you're so subdued, you're so serious, right? And then you go home and you're screaming at your TV. Um, I don't want you screaming at me, but I'd like a little passion, you know. Yeah, let us know we're we're doing okay.

SPEAKER_03: 32:52

And that's so hard for pastors. You guys think it's hard for you to bring some emotion, but the Lord's asking, do I do I do anything with your emotions? And you're like, Well, we're supposed to live by faith. And yes, you are absolutely right. It's not about emotions, but the first passion in your life, the things that's on the top, should bring some emotions out. And listen, this is how tough it is to be a pastor, okay? Every now and then the Holy Spirit moves during worship, and and people start responding to the Lord. I don't know what he's telling them. I, you know, that's really difficult situation. Uh, we're singing a song um about whatever, and people come forward and they're crying and they're praying, and and we got people coming up and praying for them, and then more people come up and pray for them. And so as a pastor, I get up and say, Okay, God's moving. So what do I need to do? I need to open that up. So I say, hey, if you need someone to pray for, we'll pray for you. Come up, and we got this whole thing going on. You know what I'm doing? While all this is happening, I'm looking at my watch. I'm like, we got another service coming up here. Are you guys gonna pray this whole time? Uh, how long is this gonna take? Oh, here come some more people. Uh, you know, how are we gonna fit all this in? And the Lord is like, do I have to shake you physically? I'm doing something here. Get out of the way, Tim.

SPEAKER_02: 34:26

Shut up.

SPEAKER_03: 34:27

Right. And and and that's that that thing. Where's your emotion, Tim? These people are are coming forward. And you know, I get spanked like that several times. I'm getting better, you know. I'm getting better at that. Um, but you know, we got we got this thing, we got a program, and this program's got to work, and it this program, the next program is connected to this program. It don't work right, then and the Lord says, I don't need you to preach to to take care of my people. I don't need you at all. So just calm down.

SPEAKER_02: 35:05

Yep. If the only thing you get to do today is stand up and say, Amen until everybody go home. And I moved, it was a good day.

SPEAKER_03: 35:12

Yeah. But we, you know, we're we're serving the church. We want to lead them by still waters and and take them to the pasture uh where they can feed, and we got all these things that we we want to do for our church. And the Lord says, Today I'm the prior. That's good. Yeah, today I'm the priority. Listen up. And I can't get my emotions into that space because I'm worried about the program. Yeah. That's I'm telling you, man, that's that's what we're talking about here. If Jesus is number one and he decides to speak to someone, we should all shut up and let him speak.

SPEAKER_02: 35:52

Just read the Psalms, read about David. I mean, here's he was he was a warrior, man. Killed Goliath, um, went on to be king of Israel. And man, you read the Psalms and emotion just pours through the page. Um, you know, I I think I brought it up that sermon a couple weeks ago, but you know, when they were bringing the ark back and David's dancing before it and ends up dancing right out of his robe, you know, his wife's ticked. How could you expose yourself to all those people? He said, I'll become even more undignified than this. Um, I men, I don't know if that's the right answer. You know, David had some family dysfunction going on too. But here's a guy who his God was number one. And he's like, I yeah, my emotions get involved with that. We've talked about on the podcast before. Emotions are terrible masters, but they're great servants. Absolutely. And we should we should be excited about the things that God's excited about, and our hearts should break for the things that break his heart. Um, and I think that's why David's God said of David, it's that he's a man after my own heart, because that was true for David. Things that broke God's heart broke his heart. And so what gets us emotional, um, if God and your relationship with him never excites you, never fills you with passion, um makes you want to jump off the dang couch or you know, maybe wave that terrible towel around.

SPEAKER_03: 37:20

Man, we're falling reverence. Yeah, you know, I we see that more in churches than um terrible tiles. We just see people just uh let me fall on my face before you. And that's you know, there's gotta be some emotion there. And if he's not number one, then we need to we need to really check that. That's a good marker. Number two, the second marker is what consumes my mental space.

SPEAKER_02: 37:51

Well, ever since that cruise we went on for me, watches.

SPEAKER_03: 37:56

They sell a lot of watches on those cruise ships. Watch it when you go in there. Make sure you've you've bought a cheap watch off Amazon that you really like before you go on a cruise.

SPEAKER_02: 38:05

I told someone they were talking about, man, we've never really been on cruise, we're thinking about it, you know, they're all inclusive, right? Is all the food. And I was like, you need to understand one thing about a cruise. They exist to make money. Right. They're gonna sell you everything. And they're like, we'll feed you this food over here, but we're here to make money. We want you to walk past all this stuff, and we're gonna try to get you to buy everything.

SPEAKER_03: 38:28

Right.

SPEAKER_02: 38:28

That's why they're there. Um, but yeah, I found some found a really nice watch that I really wanted. And uh ever since I've got home, I'm like, oh man, is it on sale yet? Is it on sale yet? Is it on sale yet?

SPEAKER_03: 38:41

You know what? This is this is um uh we'll just say this about a cruise. They don't make any money on you buying the cruise and going on it and eating, you know, eating yourself sick or whatever. They make all their money on the extras. Yep. So just for you guys who are going on a cruise.

SPEAKER_02: 39:00

Um, we're talking to you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 39:02

So we're we're uh we're talking about this mental space, and it's so easy to get distracted like that with watches. I know you you were just following me. I was being a bad leader. I was going, I'm gonna buy this one and I'm gonna buy that one. And uh, and man, I wanted a watch so bad I had to buy my wife one so I could get it. I know, I know it's terrible, but that's what happens. Is our mental space consumed with Jesus? Not every second of every day, but some days. Maybe Sunday. Are you consumed with Jesus? Are you consumed with getting out on time? You know, um, you know, how long are the people gonna pray up there? Or is he gonna cut his sermon short? Everything that I'm thinking, you're thinking from the chair out there. I I just want you guys to understand that if he's number one, there are gonna be times when it consumes your mental space.

SPEAKER_02: 40:07

And if not, again, that's a good marker. Right. What's going on? What what has taken his place that I don't even think about him anymore? What are what are you thinking about? What do you find when you daydream? Is it ever about him or is it always about something different? Watches.

SPEAKER_03: 40:26

I want everybody to know out there that I I felt sorry for Ryan because um he made the logical and smart decision and didn't buy a watch on the cruise. So I bought him one uh because I felt bad for him and he won't wear it. He will not wear it.

SPEAKER_02: 40:42

And so maybe I'll wear it this Sunday for everyone to see.

SPEAKER_03: 40:47

He won't wear it. Enough time on that. But if Jesus, if there's not times that Jesus consumes your mental space, what are you doing in this situation, Lord? Or I just love you so much, Lord. Um, or give me more, Lord. I'm reading this verse. I I see something here, what's in there? Help me pull it out. If that's not happening to you, then maybe, maybe he's not at the top.

unknown: 41:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 41:15

I think if we do these things, man, it would start to reveal what our true treasure is, what we find to be most valuable, and and where we're out of alignment. Um, and then you know, you talked about, you know, this isn't how did you word it? It's not um subtraction, it's substitution. Um it's a time for us to say, okay, well, what what do I need to do to realign myself? Sometimes it's gonna be I need to get this thing out. And you probably already know that thing doesn't belong in my life. I'm following Jesus, I gotta get this thing out. Um but a lot of times it's it's what we're talking about. It's it's substitution. We gotta put him at the top. And yeah, I liked how you worded on Sunday. You said we're trading up. You know, this right. We're not we're not trading down. This is this is trading up. And so we need to find that thing, and those questions that we just asked are a way to to start to pinpoint that. Um, and we need to to confess uh that thing to the Lord. Um and and whatever promise you you believed, you know, this will satisfy me, this will secure me, this will define me. Um we we need to confess that to the Lord, and then we need to say, Jesus, I'm gonna trust that whatever I was after in this thing, I trust that you can provide, and I'm gonna put you at the top. You're gonna be number one. And then, like I said earlier, then it's just that process. Once I put him at the top, it's daily aligning myself or my decisions, my actions to that decision I've already made.

SPEAKER_03: 42:43

And I think once you do that, you're gonna end up just like Paul. You're gonna, you're gonna, you're gonna discover the treasure. You're gonna discover that pearl. Remember, uh, we talked about uh Philippians 3, 7 and 8. It says, but what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ. Yet doubtless uh and I count all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I had suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ. What what a That is exactly what we're talking about. It's we've come to this realization, Paul came to this realization that everything I thought was most important has become excrement dung compared to knowing Jesus. And that's what he wants you to know. But listen, guys, he's not just gonna give you that, he's gonna make you discover it. And it won't be one discovery, it'll be over and over again. But you gotta make that decision. I think Ryan lined that up perfectly for us. Just make The mental decision. I'm going to choose to believe that you'll give me everything I need and I'm going to place you first.

SPEAKER_02: 44:08

And he'll prove it. He'll prove that that's right where he belongs. And you'll live a life that's free, a life filled with joy, with uh uh excitement and anticipation for the future. Um you'll have peace with God and in your relationships. If you you'll just make that decision, put him first. Um this it's not this whole religious uh or tune-up that we're doing isn't about religious performance or or mod behavior modification, all those it let's get our alignment right. Easter is coming up, man. Uh, this is the day when Jesus walks out of the grave. Um, he is alive and it changed everything. And we we want you to experience all of that, to discover more in Christ. That's why we exist. We want you to discover all Jesus has for you. And so um, through this series, we're we're gonna start with this alignment this week, this our this diagnostic, and I think we're talking about alignment. Uh, is that this Sunday? Yeah. Um, coming up this week. And so uh we're getting our hearts, getting our lives prepared so that we can discover all that God has for us.

SPEAKER_03: 45:16

I think one of the the most important things um that Ryan Ryan has given us clarity on this, you don't have to. You you don't have to put him first. He saves you, loves you, and uh he's gonna change you. But if you cooperate, you can have treasure now. You can have that treasure now. You don't have to wait for eternity. You can have it now, or you can choose your own way and um live unsatisfied without joy. You know, what what do you want to do? Make that decision today. Will you pray for us, right?

SPEAKER_02: 45:56

Father, we thank you so much uh for your word. And Father, you are um you are our treasure. You are the thing that is most valuable. And Father, for anything in all those times where we've gotten that out of alignment, Father, we confess that to you now. And Father, I pray that you would give us all the courage and the faith that we need to realign our lives, to put you at the very top, that you would be our top priority, that we'd be willing to joyfully sell everything else for you. Because we trust that when we will seek first year kingdom, you will provide, you will add all these other things to us, that we can live a rich and satisfying, abundant life. That's what you came to provide, and we trust you with that. And Father, for where we're struggling with unbelief, I pray that you'd help our unbelief. Amen. Um, and that as we head into this Easter season, Lord, give us a hope and anticipation for all that you're gonna do. In Jesus' name.

unknown: 46:56

Amen.

SPEAKER_02: 46:56

Amen and amen.

SPEAKER_01: 46:58

Thanks again for joining us for this episode of the Midweek Podcast. We'd love to hear from you. Let us know how God is using this resource in your life or send any podcast questions or topic ideas to podcast at a freshwind.org. If you would like to support this ministry financially and help us continue offering new resources that equip you to discover more in Christ, simply text any amount to the number 84321. We're so grateful for your support. Make sure to tune in next week for a brand new episode of the Midweek Podcast. Be blessed and have a great week.