SPEAKER_03 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_00 0:27

Hey, welcome back to the Midweek Podcast. Pastor Ryan joined as always with Pastor Tim, and we are in week three of our series You're Not the Boss of Me. And uh I still love that sermon title. I had a little little fun with that uh on on Sunday. Um feels good to say, doesn't it?

Keep The Old Nature Dead

SPEAKER_01 0:46

Yeah, it does. Uh in this situation, it's very, very important that we learn to say that instead of uh giving up. It's easy to give up on this, it's easy to get a little nihilistic and say, you know what, I just I just no can't. Uh that's just another thing. And now, you know, you want me to read the Bible, you want me to do a devotion, and now you want me to write my own sermon against my uh out of control anger or lust and um to to build these walls. I just I don't I don't want to do it. I just don't want to. It's too much. Uh in there feel that. Yeah. And this is this is important because uh a lot of times we enjoy that emotion, even if it's destructive. Teresa was uh talking to me about our uh old man, and uh Paul calls our uh Sin Sin Nature uh the old man, and that he likes resurrection too. And uh he wants to be resurrected, he wants to be the boss, and that's when he gets in control is when your emotions take you out of control, he steps in. And uh so uh we have to keep him dead, and uh building these walls around our emotions is very important to keep him where he belongs in the ground.

Use Scripture To Tame Anger

SPEAKER_00 2:20

That's right. I think uh another side to this is man, we've a lot of us we've dealt with these emotions for so long, it's just kind of become ingrained, you know, it's just who I am. Um I'm an angry person. That's right. Um, I'm a vengeful person. Um, and so we we we don't even really try to combat it anymore. It's just that's me. That's my natural state. And sometimes we even take pride in that. Yeah, yeah. Uh that's just the way I am. I just tell it like it is, right? Okay, well, you're a jerk, you know. That the truth is you're a jerk. Um a jerk who's supposed to be becoming more like Jesus every day. Right. And these are these are things we gotta we gotta build these walls around. Um, and so uh I I told you guys on the podcast last week, we're trying to build these walls, you know, during during the sermons, uh, kind of keep these emotions uh where they belong. And they gotta run up against. I didn't feel like I did a great job uh doing that. So we spent almost the whole podcast last week talking about building walls, how to build walls, um digging in that Lego box, pulling some things out. This past Sunday, I tried to be much more intentional about constructing walls, and so uh, you know, did some very specific wall building on Sunday.

How Envy Turns Into Fear

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Well, I'll tell you this when uh the first podcast uh when we talked about this um was that last week? Yep. Um I was trying to tell you that every time you open the word of God, you're throwing Lego blocks in the box. Every time you uh go to small group, you're throwing some more Lego blocks in the box. So it's it's not like you um just your standard Christian life listening to a sermon, uh, listen into uh good biblical uh worship songs. Help you put uh spiritual truth in the box. And uh so it's all getting there, and the Holy Spirit is gonna make sure that everything that's in the box comes to you when you need it. So when you sit down and you say, okay, I've got this anger problem, anger's have been our number one example here, um, and we didn't teach on it, which was kind of weird, but um every time I I have this anger, this uncontrollable rage or uh anger towards my kids when I'm mad at my boss, see, that's what emotions can do, is it just gets out. And uh, if you're mad at your boss, if your boss did something wrong or he offended you or whatever, then you deserve to be angry at him. But the scripture says, be angry, but do not sin. And a lot of times we take that anger home and say, uh, oh, there's my lovely wife. Let's just blow it all over her. And that's just a terrible way to live your life. And um not so much because of you, because you think, okay, I feel better. What happens is is your wife gets detached and says, I when he's mad, he he lets me have it and it's not my fault. And and pretty soon she's either gonna say, I'm done with you doing this, or she says, I'm done with you completely. I don't need to be afraid of you all every time someone cuts you off in traffic. It's not my fault. And so you want to live your life free, you want to be free. And uh, but the problem is that we are God has come along, and when he saved you and sanctified you, justified you, I mean, all those words are great, it's exciting, but he has unlocked your prison and swung up swung open the door. And a lot of us don't walk out, we just stay there. And what we're trying to teach in this um you're not the boss of me is to teach you that you can walk out. You gotta leave that stuff behind, and you can you can live a free life. And the way you do that is you use truth to shape you. Be not conformed to the image of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And we do that with truth, with scripture. So when you take that extra time to uh bring up uh scripture about anger, and put 'em on your mirror where you shave every morning, and uh or put them on your car dash or on the door on the way out uh of your house and try to memorize some and build you a little sermon about how God feels about anger and what he expects of you. And then when you're making that decision, uh you'll you'll you'll run up against that truth. And sometimes truth will win, sometimes it won't. But you'll always know always know it's there. And uh pretty soon it it it'll manhandle your anger and you'll you'll be free because of that. And so I love the way you put this together that you took um last week was fear and envy. And uh because it's something that don't go together, but they do go together. You know? Um and the week before that was um anxiety and guilt. Guilt. And now in our minds and our um pseudosciences, we we see, well, I can see how guilt can cause anxiety. Um I don't understand how envy can cause fear. But we've got something we put on the uh uh internet all the time where we're texting, right? Fear of missing out. A FOMO. We're always worried, I'm gonna miss out. Everybody else is gonna get that, and not me. And that kind of fear uh teaches you to be afraid. And if you're taught to be afraid, then other fears uh come into your life, and you you you don't have anything uh to push back against that either, uh, because fear begets fear. It doesn't matter uh what it's it's just like anxiety. You know, I'm anxious, I'm anxious about my job, uh, I'm anxious about the neighbor he keeps cutting on my side of the lawn. I'm anxious about um the uh mailman because he keeps dropping my mail. Uh and you know that anxiety builds, and anxiety is a good one because you know, when you go to a therapist, they're like, okay, we got this big bucket of anxiety. What can we get out of this bucket that um will release some of your anxiety? And so they look at for things in your past like bitterness and unforgiveness and and stuff that causes anxiety. And when you get rid of that, then your neighbor mowing on your um your side of the fence or your uh mailman not putting his getting the letters in your box or whatever becomes part of your normal everyday life. But when you let that anxiety builds up, it starts splashing over the top of the bucket, and then you got some issues. So a therapist will go in, try to knock a hole in the bottom of your bucket and get some things that you need to deal with dealt with, so you have a normal amount of anxiety. You can't live without anxiety, or you just will never get up. So you gotta have some. Um, but when when we talk about fear and envy, it's a whole different ball game. It's hard to connect them, and that's that's the problem um with all these emotions is they don't they run in packs. And uh there it's not always just one. There's um there's anger, but why are you angering? You know, and that's that's uh and that's another emotion in there. And they gang up and they run like a pack of wolves. And so you gotta be able to sort them out. And the last two weeks, uh, we spent some time sorting them out, and it's it's been good, I think, for people to understand that our are more complicated people.

unknown 11:08

Yeah.

Stop Chasing Stuff And Comparisons

SPEAKER_00 11:09

It's it is funny on a a series on emotions to not talk about anger, you know, because that's as we all deal with that, right? Um and could we have sure. But I think we we were pretty intentional about going after some of these that um are tricky, yeah, and and then to to find those connections to help people realize, yeah, we're we're complicated. This it's not always what you see on the surface, and so um, yeah, you're anxious, but man, do you see that it's guilt that's fueling that anxiety? Um, or man, you're you're so you're so afraid, but you don't realize it's it's envy burning in there, right? Um, and so it's finding those connections just to help you say, man, we we understand there's all kinds of other emotions we didn't get to talk about in the series. Right. Um, you know, we'd probably need a full year 52-week calendar to to really hammer it home. Um, but hopefully you're starting to see, man, there's some things here, and yeah, they're complicated. And these things run together. And man, I thought it was this, but if I'm honest, there's something deeper going on here. Right. Um and you know, fear and envy, but one of the things I said in the sermon is they both start to make the same accusation against God. Um I can't trust them. Right. What he did for them, man, they're I just I'm I'm envious of it. Like, should have been me. It does that mean I'm not gonna get what was due to me. Um, and what it comes down, I don't I I can't trust God. I can't trust him with what I what I can't see. What you know, is he gonna come through? Is he gonna provide for me like he provided for them? And it's really, man, do I trust the goodness and the faithfulness, the provision of God? Guilt or fear and envy are both really asking the same question. Um, and so yeah, super intentional to to pick some of these little bit more obscure ones and then try to find the connection between them. Does that mean there's always a connection? Not necessarily. Sometimes you're just an angry person, right?

SPEAKER_01 13:20

Sometimes you you you know, you've been you've been hurt and you reacted to that in anger, and it's become an emotional habit.

SPEAKER_00 13:28

Yep.

Wall One Identity And Your Lane

SPEAKER_01 13:29

And so you just automatically go there, and when you think it through, you'll say, you know what, I'm not really angry. I don't I don't know what's going on with me, you know, and then you're like, okay, now things are getting weird. Why am I doing this? And and so uh we need to attack these things, think about them, and then uh slap it around with the Bible, use the the sword of the spirit, the word of God, and get these things wrangled down uh to where they go down the hallways uh that they can go down and we can experience life to the fullest. And that's that's what we want the most. Um fear and envy is interesting because you know the root of sin to a Protestant is pride, right? The first sin was pride, Satan uh was filled with pride, so he wanted to take God's place. But if you'll talk to an um ancient Jewish rabbi, he would say it's covetousness, envy. He envied God's position, and that's what caused him to go in the direction that he did. And uh so we got in the Ten Commandments, uh thou shalt not covet. And I mean it's flat out. And then when it comes to fear, we've got fear the Lord. Be strong and courageous. You don't have to fear. Remember who I am. You need to fear me. Because that's the fear that'll bring wisdom into your life. And uh, so it's you know, these are these are two really big emotions uh that we need to get right. Uh it it it'll affect all corners of our life. Just think about um envy and how it's connected to to anger, how it's connected to anxiety, how envy's connected to um your uh bad self-image, and how I mean it just that covetousness just reaches out and sticks its fingers in everything. And uh so we need to attack that straight up. I don't want to be that kind of guy. Uh when someone wins the lotto, I want to be grateful for them. When someone gets a promotion, I want to be grateful for them. And uh, if they get my promotion, I want to be able to say, God, I give you thanks, but I'm really ticked. But that's okay, because I can be angry and not sin because I've built a hallway for that.

unknown 16:13

Right.

SPEAKER_01 16:13

And that's that's how we want to live. Okay, here's a situation where you should be freaking out. Well, I am freaking out, but I've built truth around that. So it doesn't control me, I control it. And that's what this is all about. You're not gonna walk out of this and say, okay, now I'm just a kind of a moderate, easygoing guy. That's not what we're doing here, okay? You're gonna you're gonna be emotional and they're gonna be strong, but that's that's fine if you surround them in God's truth.

The Hidden Power Of Prayer

SPEAKER_00 16:46

We were created to be emotional, man. We talked about that on the podcast last week. It is, it's about making sure they're not the boss of you. They make great servants, terrible bosses. We say it over and over and over again in this series. Um, you know, you brought up covetousness, and um, you know, one of the commands, thou shalt not covet. Um, I I read a Jewish rabbi one time said that the tenth command isn't a command as much as it is a promise. Um, that if you'll do the first nine, you won't want anyone else's life. Um I thought, man, that's pretty interesting. Yeah, that is interesting. Um but it's uh Solomon 3,000 years ago looks out over humanity, and scripture says he was he was the wisest person to ever live. So we're talking about a guy with just incredible amount of wisdom looks out over humanity and says, Man, you know what I've determined? That uh most people, like just about all of them, are motivated to success because they envy their neighbor. And it's like, man, that that sounds like the guy you work with. That that sounds like you know, your brother or brother-in-law. That that sounds like this was 3,000 years ago before LinkedIn and social media, you know, they they weren't getting on Facebook and Instagram and looking at everybody's highlight reel. And yet, even there, he said, the reason most of us do the things that we do is because we envy our neighbor. That's right. We this whole keeping up with the Joneses thing has been going on for 3,000. I was trying to think of a you know Jewish last name, um, instead of Joneses. It's been going on a long time. Of Nazareth, keeping up with the of Nazareth's. Yes. Um they they've been humanity forever has been looking out saying, godly, look, my neighbor's out there on his new lawnmower. Oh, look at the stripes he's putting in his lawn. I'm gonna, I'm gonna have to go get a new mower, honey. I we can't put up with this. Um, we've been looking out saying, I I I gotta do better, I gotta do more. And it's because I'm my eyes are focused on the other people around me, and I'm constantly trying to measure myself up to them to see, man, am I doing okay? And that leads us right into fear because now all of a sudden we're man, I'm falling behind. I'm in my 30s, I'm in my forties, I'm in my 50s, I'm not ready for retirement. Oh my gosh, everybody else around me has got this much money saved up. I I I'm not ready. And now we're afraid. And it started with envy. We looked around and said, Man, I don't have what they have. What they have should be what I have. I should have those opportunities, I should have that. And now what's going on with me? How come how am I ever gonna catch up?

SPEAKER_01 19:47

And around and around and around we go. Fear, anxiety, it just like I said, it's got its fingers in everything. And uh squashing that is is gonna be a a lifelong uh battle, and and you need to engage in it. You just can't let it sit there and and run you around. You need to engage in that uh in that battle. That's that's what we're trying to teach. You can you can fight all these things uh with the word of God. It's important that you use the word of God to conform yourself to the image of the sun. And that's that's what we're trying to do here. Um I think uh Solomon said it's chasing the wind. And because we're gonna chase that envy and chase it and chase it, and when we die, we die with nothing. And we we've gotta start being a little bit more heavenly minded than we are. Now, I don't expect you to um uh see Iran meet with Russia and then crawl up on your roof because you think the rapture is coming and quit your job and all that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_00 21:05

Remember your money out of the stock market.

SPEAKER_01 21:08

It's over. Remember uh uh what Paul said to the Thessalonians to the guys that were doing that. He said, uh, if they don't work, they don't eat. So uh I don't want you I don't want to see you do that, but you need to be heavenly minded. None of this stuff is gonna mean anything to you.

SPEAKER_02 21:25

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 21:26

In just a few years, less than a hundred years, none of this stuff will mean anything.

SPEAKER_00 21:31

That's what Jesus said, right? Store up treasures in heaven where moth and rust can't destroy. And we're so busy down here consuming um that I mean more than more than we'd care to admit, I'll say. I don't want to put a number on it. Uh we we haven't just filled up our house in our basement, in our garage, in our shed. We got storage units. Right. We're paying monthly. For just to store stuff. And Jesus, like, what are you gonna do with all that? You know, you're saying if you're lucky, a hundred years, I think the average lifespan's in the 70s right now. Right. So what do you what are we doing all this for? He says, Man, we need to store up treasures in heaven. This is what you're talking about. We need to be kingdom heavenly minded and focus on things above. Man, Lord, how do I build up treasure there? Um and we are, man, just one more thing. If I can get just that one more thing, then I'm finally gonna be happy, then I'll finally be content, then I'll finally be secure.

SPEAKER_01 22:40

And uh we take that one step further. And it's like, well, are you giving money to your kids now? No, they couldn't handle it if I gave them the kids right now. It's like, uh uh, okay, this is not computing. If you want to make money for your kids, make it now. Just give it to them now. I think you can give$19,000 away before you hit the gift tax for each person. So you can give about 40 grand a year to your to your kids while they're working. And uh if if you want to do that, start now. Could wait, well, when I die, I want to drop a big bomb on them and give them all this money. That's probably the worst thing you can do to a good, hardworking family is give them a bunch of money. Um, because most of them can't handle it. So give it to them now. Little chunks. And then when you die, you can write in your will and you have to read it to everybody. I gave it all to you. You you've got it all. Yeah, so quit crying.

Freedom In Christ And Heaven Hope

SPEAKER_00 23:46

Probably should make a note here. We are not financial advisors, please. Yes, C S C P A.

SPEAKER_01 23:52

That's the truth. So I I just want everybody to know that this you are chasing the wind. This stuff, stuff, your trips don't matter. I mean, after about a thousand years of on my face praising Jesus when I'm in heaven, um, then I'll say, all right, I want to canoe the Amazon. And, you know, I'll get to do whatever I want to do. I'll be able to uh watch history like a movie, which I probably won't. It's like, oh my gosh, it was worse than I thought. But I think uh I think it's important that us, you know, Paul tells us, and I'm gonna preach about it on Sunday, you know, you need to think on things that are above, yeah. Things that are lovely, things that are pure, and not think about, oh my gosh, look what they got. I mean, the Cavs are uh playing their first of their playoffs. Playoff playoff series, whatever it is. But all I can think about is Taco Bell and Hardee's and because it's just every commercial, it's just like food, food, food. And I know if I won't eat after ten o'clock or after um seven o'clock at night, I said ten o'clock because that's usually when I eat. When I wrap up. Right. And uh I know I can I can lose some weight if I'll do that. But every time I watch the finals, it's just one food commercial after the other. And uh Teresa will be looking up there. Boy, that looks good. Shut up, Teresa. Oh, that looks good. I bet they're open. Teresa, I'm gonna. It's tough. We are consumers um to the tenth degree. We just can't be satisfied with what we got. And it's uh that envy, uh, whether you know it or not, is controlling you, and it's gotta stop.

unknown 26:06

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 26:07

It's gotta stop.

Contentment And Trust Over Fear

SPEAKER_00 26:08

Some of the walls that uh I think I I laid out three walls in the sermon on Sunday. Uh, first is the wall of identity, and I said, we need to know who whose we are and what race we're running. Um man, God has called you to run a specific race, and author Hebrews said, run, lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily uh ensnares or entangles you and run with endurance the race that lies before you. Um, we have got to get our eyes off of other people's lanes, man. And it's especially, you know, I don't know about especially, but it happens all the time in the church. You know, you come here, we're trying to serve God. Uh, you know, God, what do you what'd you make me for? What's my calling? If you've listened to Pastor Tim and I, we've told you God's given you a gift, you're supposed to use it to serve the church. Um, and and then we look around and we see, oh man, look what they're doing. Oh, they get to be out in front. Oh, they get to do this. And and it's easy to get our eyes on other people's lanes. Um uh Joy and I we went out to dinner with Kylie and Ethan, and Ethan shared this at Life Group last night, so he has shared it publicly. I'm gonna share his story. What now?

SPEAKER_01 27:24

Life Group is supposed to be nobody tells any secrets. Are you sure you want to go here, Pastor?

SPEAKER_00 27:30

Yeah, I'll text him and let him know what's coming. He said that uh in his home, he he's like, Man, I I just love to worship. Um, they've been watching uh oh, what's that series, King David or something? He's like, Man, when David uh you know starts to sing, he gets out the harp and he sings. He's like, dude, I'll I just start weeping like I love it. And he goes, So I'll I'll get after it pretty good in the house. I'll be singing away. And Kylie comes up and tells him, Man, man, you sound pretty good and all this stuff. And um, he starts thinking, like, man, you know, I like to sing. Um, I I enjoy worshiping. Maybe maybe I should get on the the worship team tryout for that. And I guess he shares that with Kylie. Kylie goes, I mean, I I don't know about you've been gassing me up here for the newlywed answer.

SPEAKER_01 28:22

Oh no, honey, you sound fantastic. Yeah, unfortunately, we've seen all that happen on American Idol, right? You know, their whole family said, No, you're great.

Closing Prayer And Next Steps

SPEAKER_00 28:31

You're great. And then they, yeah, no, you someone should have loved you enough to say, just sit down. Okay. That's that's what we do. We look at other people's lanes and we're like, man, I want to do what they want to. And I don't think that's what Ethan was doing. Just a funny story. Um, but we we look at all these other people and go, man, I wish I could do what they did. I wish that I had the opportunities they had. Um, and what we need to realize is, man, you have a race that God has put before you, and God is not holding you accountable to someone else's race.

SPEAKER_01 29:02

Well, let's run through a couple of positions and uh I'll show you how much they mean. Pastor of church gets to teach the truth, uh, helps people build walls and hallways for their emotions. That's what we're doing. Uh, things that can really transform a life if you'll put the hard work in, you know, some of the things that we are saying can really train uh transform your life. And and we get to do that. That's great. We get to preach on Easter and and ask people to to uh come and step into faith. And we get to do that every week. Um and what a great assignment. We love it. I'm I'm the teacher here, and I love to teach, to get into the word of God and teach things that have been taught for the last 2,000 years that you need to know. And these are things that are deep and and uh they're God's not just God's promises, but they reveal who He is. So I love that, and that is just a great job to have. And uh, and then Teresa leading the worship, leading people to worship God and and just you know uh give it all up for him. Hopefully they all are. Um and um you see you see those positions, those ones that are up on stage, and you think, man, those things would be really great, you know. But we were talking before we started this podcast that about a third of the church, maybe will be fired up about this series of sermons to say, I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna add this to my life, and I'm not I'm not gonna be bossed around anymore. But just a third. We preached to people on Easter, we had six hundred here on Easter, and we had eighteen come to the Lord, but that's not all the lost people that were here. That's not all of them. Teresa, look around you when we're worshiping, you know, and uh Ryan's trying to take off, and I'm doing my uh I'm trying not to be self-conscious about that every Sunday. And I'm I'm doing my thing, and and there's about six, eight other people that are dis demonstratus demonst I can't say that word today. Demonstrative. Are demonstrative in their worship. Uh some got their head down and they're then and they're reverent. Maybe a third. And the rest are just like reading the words. So those three positions that look like they're something don't amount to much. But you know what does? Those five people who show up every Sunday, get in the office up here, and pray. Prayer always changes things. Your prayer engages God, and you can do more in prayer than all three of us put together, and people still won't pray. I just I want to be that guy. Do you want to be effective? Pray. Well, that's not my spiritual gift. Do you want to be effective? Pray. And I think we we lose sight of the important things. If this church would pray, all these problems that we have with helping the kids, uh our budget, all those things, they wouldn't be a problem. So when we look at envious, you know, I I want to be, I want this or I want that in my Christian life. Man, there's one thing that you can do every day that changes the entire world. And I know you don't believe it because that's why you don't do it. But if you would pray, it wouldn't just change our community here at A Fresh Wind, it can change the world. And um so some guy's playing football one night, I think he was on the was it the Bengals. He got speared in the chest with a helmet. And he died on the field right in front of all of us. But the people of God prayed, and he's alive playing football today. Now, you might say, well, that's just uh no. If people didn't pray, his teammates, the other team prayed, they canceled that football team. They didn't cancel that football team because cancel that football game because he got hurt, they canceled it because he died. But people prayed, and he's alive today. Man, you you don't have to be envious of some great preacher out there or some great singer out there who seems like they're they're bringing people to the Lord. You want to be better than them? Pray.

SPEAKER_00 34:48

I mean, you look at was it Charles Spurgeon and all those stuff he done? Was it him that had the prayer the power room? That's what it he's like, you think it's what I do up here? He goes, There's people down in, I think it was the boiler room is where they met. And he's like, that's all this is because of that. And man, we got a it's a small group, but they show up faithfully every Sunday. Most of you probably don't even know their names of who shows up to do it. Um, they show up to pray every week. Um, the reset team that comes in in between service, they're not just straightening chairs and stuffing envelopes in the back of seats. They pray over every chair as they straighten it. Um, that's happening every week. And you know, we can look at the people on stage and say, Man, I wish I had that. Those people don't show up, and we'll we'll close the doors. Like, we're not gonna do it without them. Um they're the movers and the shakers. Not the best speaker we can have. And you don't even know their names. You don't even know their names. Um, so get your eyes off someone else's lane and say, God, what do you what do you have for me? Run that race faithfully. And then when you stand before your God, he's gonna say, Well done, good and faithful servant. What a shame it would be to stand before God and him look at you and go, Man, I have so much for you. But you were looking at someone else's lane and you missed it.

SPEAKER_01 36:15

Yeah. You want we want to be like Moses, who looked at his lane and said, I'm not qualified. You know, and we always worry about our qualifications. And and God, He doesn't care about your qualifications, He cares about your availability. That's right. He said, I'm gonna use you to do this thing. And uh it's like picking up a baseball bat. I'm gonna hit a home run. I'm gonna use you, this baseball bat, to do it. Well, I don't know. You know, I'm kind of skinny. Those other baseball bats are fat at the end. If you don't want me to use you, I'll put you down and pick up another baseball bat. Your choice. What do you want to do? Now, he didn't let Moses do that. So I wouldn't, I wouldn't get in an argument with him about it because he told Moses, no, you're going. He's like, Well, I got to stutter and I don't speak. Well, I'll find someone to speak for you. I'll let your brother do it. How would that feel? I know you and your brothers. If if you said, I don't know, Lord, if I want to be this guy that you called me to be, I'll let your brother do it. No, no, no, no, no. I got it. I got it. So I think it's funny that uh we get so wrapped up in this when the Lord is uh has lived the life before us to teach us to pray, to teach us to do what God has called us to do. Uh I remember when Peter, he told Peter, he said, Look, uh one day you're gonna get led away, um, and you'll have to go to a place that you don't want to go, and you're gonna give your life for me. And the first thing Peter said was, Well, what about John? That's just that's just that old nature, guys. And uh we gotta we gotta we gotta build walls around it around him. He can't let we can't let him run rampid. And uh Jesus answered and said, What if I let him live um and never die? Or something like that. And uh and Peter was like, that is not the answer I was looking for. You know, we have a race to run, and when you're in it, it's gonna be tough, but it's gonna be filled with joy. That's right. And I think uh when we talk about these tough things, we always get this oh, I gotta carry my cross. I gotta, you know, I gotta I gotta No, Jesus said, Look, I'll carry it for you. You know, come to me. If you feel weak, heavy laden, I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, because I carry all the weight. Let's go. And we need to jump into that. He's not telling us, okay, you're gonna be ground up into pieces, but that's all the testimonies we hear, you know. It's oh, this was really rough. No, he's like, No, you need to transform. And I'm gonna show you how to do it. I'm gonna carry all the weight, and you think about all the promises that I've given you. Think about um what's waiting for you in heaven. One thing I'm gonna say, if you listen to this, it doesn't mean you can't show up on you don't have to show up on Sunday. Um this you can't be a better Christian than you are right now. You can't. And you're and I know you're thinking, I don't know, Timmy, you don't really know me. I'm not the greatest Christian at all. But I want to tell you something. You have been, if you've accepted Jesus and confessed him as your Lord and Savior, and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you've been justified. You've been sanctified. You uh Jesus was your atonement for your sin. He paid the price for you. There's nothing else to pay. You can't be more or a better Christian than you are right now. You're perfect in God's sight because you have Jesus' righteousness. God can't love you any more than he loves you right now. Be free. That's what Paul was trying to tell us when he said, I have set you free for freedom's sake. I I want you to live free. And the things we got waiting for us, uh on the way here, I was thinking about um all these things that are happening in space right now. I'm like, Lord, I don't want to give that up in heaven. I don't I don't want to give it up. I want to know. I heard one of the astronauts talking about how it's just black out there. There's nothing out there, no matter how close or how far. It's just the it's just empty. All of space is just completely empty, except for these little points of light. And uh I want to go see them. And I believe I will. One day I will. And I'm I'm excited about that. And I I know I'm a science fiction nerd and all that kind of stuff, but I don't think the Lord created the entire uh universe for us to sit here on our little dot. I think I think we're gonna expand. And I I I think heaven's gonna be so much more than anything that we can ever understand. And uh so when you're down deep in that envy and you feel like you're missing out, you're not missing out.

SPEAKER_00 42:30

No, who's you are, man. Um your God's the king, he's the creator. Um and man, to to think about all the things, you know, um that we'll get to see and experience in heaven. And you were talking earlier about, you know, after a thousand years of just being on my face, then I can get up maybe and go do some of this stuff. And and I think we're gonna have some stuff to do when we get to heaven. Uh if you think it's just sitting up on a cloud, wearing a diaper, playing a harp, I think you got a misconstrued uh vision of what heaven's gonna be about. But here's the truth of it. We can go and explore the Amazon, we can climb the highest mountain, we can go to the furthest point of the galaxy, and then we're gonna come back and fall on our face in front of Jesus and say, Man, you're still better in all of it. Absolutely. Um that's that's your God. And so remember who you are. Um We don't got time to jump too deep into these next two walls, but uh just want to hammer these home for you. The the second wall that's gonna um come up against envy and fear in your life is the wall of contentment. Uh, you need to learn to be satisfied with what God's provided. Um, and when you remember whose you are, then you you begin to trust his provision. Uh Paul says, I learned how to be content, and and you can learn that too. It's not uh not a character trait, it's not something you're born with. Um contentments, you know, when it comes against envy, it says what God's given me is exactly what I. Need to live the life to run the race that he set before me. Um, and against fear, it says what I have right now is enough because the God who provided it is gonna continue to provide all that I need. Um, and so we need to learn to be content, and and that'll keep fear and envy from from bossing us around.

SPEAKER_01 44:19

Yeah, I think that trust, uh, that wall of trust that you were talking about building, I think that was the third one. And you you were you were talking about that is so important. And this is this this is actually how you build trust in God. You do the things that we're trying to teach you to hear, teach you here, and then suddenly your emotions are not the boss of you anymore, and you're like, well, that worked. If I can trust God, I can trust his word to handle my emotions, then what can't I trust his word for? You know? Let him prove himself faithful and true. Absolutely. I love that. I love that idea. You win, Christian. So I was at we were at some kind of dinner with uh Pastor uh Mike Payne over in Northridgeville, he's my brother-in-law, and uh he sat in the right chair and he won a door prize because he was sitting in that chair. And he got up and and took it and took the microphone. He says, I'm the winner. And ever since then, he always he always when he sees me and uh we're introducing people to to people around us, he'll say, I'm Mike, I'm the winner. I win. They're like, What are you talking about? It doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. I win. That's you, Christian. Yeah, you're the winner. You've won. He is he loves you so much. Um he did he did it all for you. And one day you're gonna fall into find out what that love is all about, and it's gonna be awesome. You win. Stop worrying about where you are in this life and what um echelon you're on. Um you want to be big in heaven, then drop on your knees and pray. Pray for this church, pray for our country, it needs it. Pray for wisdom. Um, pray for our Congress to actually work instead of hurting us all the time. Um we we need this country needs prayer more than it needs anything else. We don't need another better preacher, we don't need another better music director or even a kids teacher, excuse me, or youth person, or that's not what we need. We need people to pray. Be faithful in prayer. And it'll give all those other people, pastors and teachers and worshipers, something to do. Because if you're not praying, God's not moving. And if he's not moving, we're out of work.

unknown 47:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:09

So pray. Pray and trust them. Um, I wrapped up the sermon with this. I'll wrap up this podcast with it as well. Paul said this to the Romans, since he did not spare even his own son, but gave him up for us all, won't he also give us everything else? Man, envy and fear especially, but I think so much of the emotions that we wrestled through is man, this idea that the God isn't gonna come through, um, that God's up in heaven holding back on us. Um, and he already gave you his best. Yeah. He gave you Jesus. Um, and so if he'll give you that, what would he keep from you? Right. He's gonna give you everything you need to live the life that he's called you to live. You don't need to be afraid. No, you don't need to look at anybody else's life and be envious. Um steward the things that he's given you well, run the race he's laid before you, and one day you'll stand before him, and he'll say, Well done, good and faithful servant. Uh, you ran your race. And now here's the price. Here's everything I've prepared for you.

SPEAKER_01 48:17

Here's where people fall. Some say, I ruined my whole life. If that's true, I've been useless the whole time. And uh I'll never be what I could have been. Guess what? Jesus said before you were even created, before the creation of the world, he looked at your entire life and said, I'm gonna save you anyways. And it's it's it's not I gotta earn my good and faithful servant. When you said, Jesus, I give you my life, you won that title. We gotta get over this thinking about performance when it comes to Christianity. He wants you to be free for freedom's sake. Not free so you can sin, but free for freedom's sake, so you can have a life that's abundantly free and full of joy. Those Christians who died in the Colosseum were full of joy. They sang praises to the king. And uh I was watching a video of um I'm trying to remember the song they were singing. But all these Nigerian Christians were getting killed all through Easter and and all these people and and threats have been laid on them, and uh this whole church went to the mall and started singing praises. And all the people in the mall that were Christians stopped and stood with them and sang this worship song with them. And uh it broke my heart. And they're just they're looking at all those Muslims around them and said, Bring that you can't hurt me. I'm gonna live forever. Let's pray.

SPEAKER_00 50:14

Father, we thank you. Um that you are faithful, that you are good, that your provision is enough. And uh, Father, I pray that you would help us trust you more. Um, Lord, I know a lot of us were saying I do believe, but would help my unbelief. And uh, Father, I pray that you do it for each of us. Um, Father, for for too long, these we've allowed these emotions to boss us around and get the best of us. And Lord, just run rampant and destructive in our life. Um, but Father, we're uh we're putting our foot down. We're saying you're not the boss of me. Uh, I know who is, and he is good. He is faithful, he is more than enough. And so, Father, help us to trust you in all these things. In Jesus' name. Amen.

SPEAKER_03 50:58

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 you 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.