Welcome And Mother’s Day Joy

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

Well, hey, welcome back to the Midweek Podcast. Pastor Ryan joined not today with Pastor Tim, but by a very special guest, my beautiful wife Joy. Joy, thanks for being on the podcast.

SPEAKER_04 0:38

Yeah, hi, thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Yeah, so uh two weeks ago was Mother's Day, and we had a great Mother's Day celebration at the church. Um just got to to celebrate all the moms, all the things that uh not not even just moms, but all the things women's uh mentors and grandmas you know do in the life of our church and for the people in our church. Um and I think uh I think moms felt pretty special that day.

SPEAKER_04 1:07

I do, I agree. It was a good Sunday.

SPEAKER_00 1:09

Um so Joy and I got to do something kind of unique. Um, and I think I was telling a couple people afterwards, I was like, I think that's the first time in 17 years we've kind of tag team preached like that. It is. Um, so that was kind of a fun experience. And then even this past Sunday, as a lady was walking out of the church, she came up to me and just said, Man, last week was awesome. She's like, I loved you enjoy being up there. So that was kind of the the common uh theme that I was hearing for people as they really kind of enjoyed that tag team thing. So that was fun. We'll have to do that again.

SPEAKER_04 1:40

It was fun. I liked that.

Behind The Scenes Of Motherhood

SPEAKER_00 1:42

Well, um, as we jump into the Mother's Day sermon, so we're got a little bit of a double header for you uh this week, and uh just in a moment of transparency, we uh we did everything we could to get this Mother's Day podcast out to you last week. But um We tried. Yeah, parenting is hectic. Um so between life group and work schedules, and we had our kids' spring concerts and then um sports, all this different stuff going on. Uh, I think one time we sat down, we're like, this is the only time we got is like 10, 10:30 at night. Like, let's get it in. And then it was like, no. Um, so you're getting a doubleheader uh this week. You're getting uh a little bit of a recap of the Mother's Day sermon, and then also uh we're gonna jump jump in and talk about our brand new series on the Gospel of John that we started on on this past Sunday. But Joy, I thought um, since you're not on the Midweek podcast a whole lot, it'd be fun to kind of give people a little bit of behind the scenes uh about you. And so I I got some questions, and I'm gonna ask them. You ready?

SPEAKER_03 2:50

All right.

SPEAKER_00 2:51

She's looking a little nervous. First, uh, this this should be hopefully pretty easy. What is your favorite thing about being a mom?

SPEAKER_04 2:59

Oh man. Obviously, the four people that call me mom.

SPEAKER_00 3:05

See, and I thought you were gonna say being married to your kid's dad.

SPEAKER_04 3:08

No, well, watching you become a dad and grow as a father and watching you love our kids is very high up there.

SPEAKER_00 3:18

All right. Well, that's without them very sweet for me. But what do you love about being a mom?

SPEAKER_04 3:22

Without them, I wouldn't see you do that. So, um, you know, I I love, I know this is very generic, but I love everything about being a mom. Um obviously there's a lot of good and there's a lot of bad all thrown in there together, but at the end of the day, I'm just grateful to have a small part of raising them and watching them grow.

SPEAKER_00 3:46

It's going quick, I'll tell you that. Um Montina came up to me on Sunday, and I think Gavin walked by. She goes, That's your boy. I said, Yes. She goes, My goodness, he got big. Um, I said, I know Montina, and you should see Ty. He's taller than me now. Right, yeah, and so yeah, uh Ty's 16, Gavin's 14, Ellie's 10, Reese's eight, and it is yeah, going fast. I was actually uh joking with our our son Ty today. Um, he brought a whole load of laundry downstairs, goes, guys, here's all my laundry I need it washed for tomorrow. And I was like, you're 16, do your own laundry. Um, so yeah, they're uh they're getting big. We're trying to help them get ready to to launch here. But um, speaking of kind of the speed with which it's all gone, is there a season of parenting that maybe you could go back to if you could? And and if so, what made that season so special?

SPEAKER_04 4:42

You know, I mean there's seasons that seemed a little more calm, and so I loved when they were all I I love having all four of our kids, so it would definitely be a season of life where Reese was already here. Um and I wouldn't want to go back, but you know, I I maybe like a couple hours or a day, the day our kids were born, or when we were all home and didn't have sports and work and craziness, like I would maybe relive a day in one of those seasons, maybe. But you know, I I had someone say to always make the cur the present season the best, and I really try to live by that because if not, it's easy to just become discouraged as you you know it's good, it's fun to watch them grow and learn and turn into who God's calling them to be. Like that's amazing, but it can also be a little bit bittersweet and sad seeing them grow up so fast, like you said, and um lots of changes that come very quickly with parenting, and so maybe just a season where it was a little more calm for like maybe a day. But truly, I really love our current season. I do, I love everything about it.

SPEAKER_00 5:49

It's uh it's it's definitely fun. It's never dull. Uh they keep us busy. Um, you know, some of the reels, whatever you would call that, not memes, I think the reels you've sent me. Some of them are pretty sad and emotional. I think one of them was um about you know these people and they're old and their kids are gone, and I'm like, why do you even send me this stuff?

SPEAKER_04 6:11

And even in those moments, make those the best moments.

SPEAKER_00 6:14

Right.

SPEAKER_04 6:15

You know, and that's one day we're gonna be there, and there's people that are there now, and you know, I I think we just gotta look forward and and in the in the present and not dwell on what was.

SPEAKER_00 6:27

Yeah, for sure. Each season has uh has been its own thing. Um, but it is fun, especially as they get older, you know, kind of building relationships with them in a different way. I mean they the conversations get deeper. Um, certainly some of the problems get more challenging, um, but you get a chance to kind of talk through those and work through those. And um, so I think just as much as uh they're growing as kids, I think you know, you and I were growing as as parents too. Right. Um I joke with people all the time, I'm not ready to write a parenting book or anything. Like, let me let all my kids get out of the house, get a job, and like then okay. Well I don't know if we did all right.

SPEAKER_04 7:06

Um, I tell Ty and Gavin all the time, especially Gav will be like, You're nicer to Ellie and Reese. I'm like, it's not that I'm nicer or that I like them more, but we we grow as parents too, you know. Yeah, we're definitely, I hope we're a better mom and dad today than we were yesterday.

What We Hope Kids Remember

SPEAKER_00 7:21

You certainly should be. Yeah, I don't know about me. I think you're doing good. Um, I just look at them and say, uh, I like the other one more than you. Um I don't know if that's working or not.

SPEAKER_02 7:31

Um work on you.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

Here's uh something a little bit more reflective for you. Uh, what do you hope your kids say about you someday? Not not just what you did for them, but who you were to them.

SPEAKER_04 7:45

I hope they would would say that I loved them well. More than anything, I want them to grow up and know the Lord and know that Jesus loves them and who they are in him. So I I really hope that they say, Mom pointed me towards Jesus. Um obviously, you know, we've already talked about how we're not pros and that you know I hope that they look back and saw that we tried and then when when we failed, we asked for forgiveness.

SPEAKER_00 8:11

Yeah. That's uh that's a hard thing to do to look at your kids and be like, hey, I messed up.

SPEAKER_01 8:19

Right.

SPEAKER_00 8:20

Um but definitely something that I feel like we've tried to do, and I think you model you model really well. Um if you could go back and tell yourself one thing before becoming a mom. So no kids yet. Ty, Gavin, Ellie Reese, they're not here. But if you could go back to to Joy before kids and tell her one thing before becoming a mom, what would it be?

SPEAKER_04 8:44

You know, probably not to stress the small things, you know. Some things can roll off and you don't have to make a big deal about it. Um, but also just have grace on yourself. Everything doesn't have to be perfect. You know, I think we live in a world where you see everyone's highlights and their good moments, um, and just realizing not to compare yourself to other people.

SPEAKER_02 9:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:07

You know.

Ruth And Naomi Courage To Stay

SPEAKER_00 9:08

Social media has definitely made that more and more challenging, you know. Um people love to post, like you said, the highlights, their vacation, their you know, Easter kids' photos, and you know, all this stuff, and it looks perfect. And that reminder, the well, those are curated events, you know? That's not a normal Tuesday or Thursday in someone's week. Um, and so yeah, that's uh that would be, I think, good advice for for anyone who's getting ready to be a mom for the first time, or even for someone who's you know, uh already got has some kids at home, just that reminder of give yourself some grace. Uh, I think that's that's good stuff. Um well on the the sermon that you and I got to kind of tag team on Mother's Day, we were talking about the story of both kind of Naomi and Ruth. And the way that we we kind of approached that sermon is I spent most of the sermon kind of talking about Naomi and her life and her story. You kind of stepped in with Ruth and her life and her side of the story. Um, and so we we kind of each took one of them and and then went after their story. Um but the theme for the message was the courage to stay. And I wonder what does staying look like for you on an ordinary Tuesday when nothing feels, you know, meaningful or heroic? Because and that's one of the things we talked about in the sermon is staying doesn't feel like some big heroic event, right? Like in the moment, it's just often feels like the next thing. So, what does that look like for you?

SPEAKER_04 10:42

Yeah, I think it's just being present to where I feel I should be present. I think every day is a little bit different, and essentially just saying yes to the things that I should be saying yes to and knowing when to say no and protect my time because there's things that I need to be giving it to and things that I don't need to be giving it to. Um, and in this current season is just like you we already talked about, very busy with four kids and sports and school and work and church and all the things. Um that's like just really protecting my time and where I spend it. Because you know, our kids are only little for so long, and I want to make sure that they remember us being here and being present with them. No matter where that is, whether that's at their school or home or in ministry, I want them to feel like they were with us and seen and heard. And so for me, just I'd say this season is saying yes where I need to say yes and no where I need to say no.

SPEAKER_00 11:43

That's definitely something I feel like you and I have tried, you know, especially in you know the past probably four or five years to get better at.

SPEAKER_02 11:52

Right.

SPEAKER_00 11:53

Um and especially when you're in ministry, it's you you want to be around people, you want to be there for people, help people. Um, and it's easy to say yes to a lot of those things, kind of to the detriment of your own family sometimes, and trying to find that balance. Um, obviously we still have a call to be there for people, to show up for people, um, but then to well, you know, we gotta we got our own family, we got our own kids to take care of, our own schedules to worry about, our own house to to worry about. Um, and so that we need some of that time, and and I think we've gotten uh hopefully better at that. And I know that you try to prioritize, you know, that time that we have with the kids of of making that meaningful for them. Um and you know, those constant reminders like, hey, we need to put our phones away. Um, you know, no phones at the dinner table, I think is something you've been big about. Um, you know, we we have all the kids, no matter if they're done eating or not, you know, you want them here at the dinner table with us. Those things that I think create those those moments where we're all together. Um and then I think it's something that Pastor Jared actually started uh with our older two, Ty and Gavin, the good, bad, and godly thing. Um, but then I think you liked it. So every night, just about that's one of the things that we do with our kids is good, bad, and godly.

SPEAKER_04 13:17

Um I think we um actually adopted that from some of our friends. Oh, some of our friends, okay. I think it was the Hicksons, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

All right, well, thank you to the Hicksons then. Um so it's something that they did that we've now picked up, and and our kids love it. Um, and so we get a chance to talk about those things um with our kids. We kind of go around and and it again, just an opportunity for them to feel seen and heard, and they get a chance to talk about their day more than just how's your day? Good. Uh no, no, no, that's not gonna work. You know, what was good about your day? What what was not great? Um, and so I think that's been uh an impactful thing for us every every night, just about. We get to hear from our kids in that way. Um, and I hopefully that makes them makes a difference for them and makes them feel like you know, mom and dad do actually care about what's going on, you know.

SPEAKER_04 14:07

Yeah, that's something I would recommend anyone with children. You know, it's a great way to communicate with your kids and hear about their day. And I yeah, like you said, it we learn a lot about our kids' day that I feel like you otherwise would not hear right. Yeah, I think that's been great.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

Okay, well, let's dive into uh the sermon a little bit. Would love to know, um, you know, as you were kind of studying, prepping for for the Mother's Day sermon, um what what stuck out to you maybe while you were studying?

SPEAKER_04 14:38

You know, I I love just all of the things that go into Ruth. Like if you read it from start to finish and really study it, you know, it's it opens up with this horrible tragedy of her husband and brother-in-law and father-in-law passing away, and then her, you know, her mother-in-law trying to send her off, and she chooses to to stay with her, and just that leading down into the lineage of Jesus, and like that is just mind-blowing when it seems like everything is falling apart, and then really it's like the lowest of lows. Like, God still had a plan. Um, and I love Ruth because it kind of like encourages me that no matter what is going on, like we can't see the end, but God knows what's going on and He's in control, and we don't have to worry about it.

SPEAKER_00 15:25

Yeah. And that's again another one of those moments that doesn't feel heroic.

SPEAKER_04 15:30

Right.

SPEAKER_00 15:31

You know, she's just in the middle of this moment looking at her mother-in-law, who, you know, one of the things I think I brought up in the sermon was Naomi's being honest here, she has nothing left to offer. She doesn't have any more kids for Ruth to marry. She doesn't have any money, any inheritance. Um, all of that died when her husband and sons died. So she's a woman with nothing left. And and so what she's doing to Ruth is actually, I mean, it's more than benevolent, like it's love. Like she's releasing her. Go back home to your people, find somebody else that you can fall in love with and start a family with. And and so what Ruth does in that moment doesn't feel like some heroic thing, it's gotta be like, what am I doing here? Um, but for whatever reason, she she chooses to stay. Um, and I mean that statement that she makes, I think you called it covenant love. Like this is covenant, yeah. This is more than just, yeah, I'll see how this goes. She's like, no, no, no. I I'm staying, and your people are gonna be my people. Your God is gonna be my God. Where you go, I go. Where you die, that's where I'm gonna die. Um, I mean, that's that's powerful language. Um and I thought, man, as you as you look at that, it just speaks to that every day showing up and kind of taking the next step, doing the the next right thing. You know, that's something that I've preached on a couple times over the years. Just do the next right thing. And and you don't always have the big picture like you're talking about. You don't always see how God's gonna work all this thing out, um, all these things out. But you just keep showing up, you keep being faithful, you keep doing the next right thing. And God took this horrific situation and through Naomi and Ruth's faithfulness to keep showing up, keep saying yes, doing the next right thing, we get King David and eventually all the way down to Jesus. How amazing is that.

SPEAKER_04 17:34

Yeah. And I think that's what a lot of staying the course and you know, following Christ is is just doing the next right thing. Like a lot of times we don't know what that is in the moment. Um but you know, your favorite verse, whether you turn to the right or the left, you'll hear a voice behind you saying this is a way, walk in it. I think it you know, sometimes we don't know, should we go right or left? What are you is it you know, if you look at scripture, you spend time in prayer, you're seeking God, if both of them line up with his word, then it doesn't matter sometimes, but just choosing to go in the direction that you feel called. And I think, you know, this is a great the story is a great example of that.

SPEAKER_00 18:13

You know, one of the things um that got brought up in our life group that we had, um we're studying this new book kind of on some of the basic just core doctrines of the Christian faith. Um, and and I'm I'm loving it, honestly, probably because I'm just a Bible nerd and I get it. The rest of the group might not love it.

SPEAKER_04 18:31

No, I think I think they're liking it.

SPEAKER_00 18:33

But uh one of the the people in our life group brought up that, you know, one of their kids had come up and they had asked them this question about something. I can't remember what the question was. Um and they're like, I didn't, you know, I don't know, I don't know the answer to that. And one of the things I encourage, not just them, but like our entire life group, is it's okay that you don't know. It's okay that you admit that you don't know, but the one thing you need to do is let your kids see you open up God's word to find the answer, right? And so now you're not just giving them mom's opinion or dad's opinion on something, you're going to God's word and you're showing them what does God's word have to say about this thing. Because there's going to be those situations in life where we don't know what to do. What's the right next step? I don't know. Um what do we need to do? You need to go to God's word and find that out. And same thing with your kids. Teach them to go to God's word in those moments. What does God's word have to say about this thing? You know, you've had a really tough situation with that kid at school, he's been, you know, picking on you or whatever the situation is. Um what what should you do in that moment? Well, let's let's open up God's word and and see what he has to say about how how we're supposed to treat those people who who might not be the greatest to us, you know. Um, and so I think uh that's that's important advice for sure.

SPEAKER_04 20:00

Um it's so good.

SPEAKER_00 20:02

What what do you hope maybe that the women who were were listening there uh to the sermon uh on Mother's Day or possibly you know tune into the live stream or have watched it on demand since then, uh, what do you hope women take take away from that sermon, walk away with or apply?

SPEAKER_04 20:24

I you know, my I pray that they would feel encouraged. You know, that even if it you're in a hard moment or a season where it's tough and um you you know maybe don't feel like anything good is coming your way, just to trust the Lord. He has a plan, he knows the end, he's got you. Um and I would just encourage them to to keep their eyes on him and stay grounded and steadfast and who he is. Um, you know, and I would also encourage you to to to be in the word, like you said, to know know what God says, open scripture with your children and with your family, um, and to spend time praying with your children and with your spouse. Because we definitely need that. That's how we grow and we learn, and I think that's important. I just hope that they would feel encouraged wherever they are in their journey.

SPEAKER_00 21:20

That's good. And uh something that I think uh all moms, really just all parents, we need that level of encouragement, um, and just that reminder. Keep showing up, keep being faithful, um, keep doing those things, even when they feel mundane or you know, like they're not moving you forward. Right. Um we don't we don't know how God's gonna use those things. And so um I thought I thought that was a great message. I thought it was timely for our church. Um and just uh I I I think it was a great encouragement to all the moms, moms that were there on mothers.

SPEAKER_04 22:00

And I think it's important to realize that our children belong to the Lord. Like when we are worrying about them and we're going through something with them, like God cares even more than we do, and sometimes we forget that. You know, I my friend just lost her sister. Um and another one of our friends was we're talking to her father about it, and and you know what he said was just so profound, like we think that our kids are ours, but we forget that they belong to the Lord. Um and so just He cares about them even more than we do, and there is nothing that we cannot bring to Him, you know, on their behalf in prayer and just asking Him to help us as we parent, whether they're dots and lost and wondering or they're newborn and we're worried about the future or anywhere in between, they belong to Him first and foremost, and we we just get the you know privilege of having them as a gift to kind of invest to for a little bit. Um but just don't forget that they are His.

SPEAKER_00 23:03

Yeah. I love that and you know we we talk when we talk about money we use the word stewardship, right? Yeah and the idea is all of this really belongs to God and I'm just supposed to be a faithful steward of it.

SPEAKER_01 23:19

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 23:19

Well, I think when it comes to our kids, it's a lot the same way. You know, that's the imagery we need to have is man, these are God's kids, and I need to steward the opportunity He's given me to raise them here, to teach them, to disciple them, to grow them, to nurture them, to protect them. All that is stewardship. At the end of the day, they belong to God.

SPEAKER_02 23:42

They do.

SPEAKER_00 23:44

And and as much as I care about them, as much as we love them, um, as much as we want to provide for them and give them good things, how much more does God want to do those things, you know? Um, if we have, if we truly believe that, I think it would take some of the pressure that we feel as parents sometimes off to just know, man, God's got them. And and he's gonna take those imperfect moments when we don't get it all right and and we say the wrong thing, or you know, we we explode in anger when we you know should have kept our cool, whatever. God's when we keep just showing up, we keep being faithful, we keep turning them over to the Lord. Um God's got them. Yeah, you know, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 24:28

Just have to trust trust that God is in control.

Why John Writes His Gospel

SPEAKER_00 24:31

Yeah, I love it. Well, moms, happy Mother's Day. I know this podcast came out a week late for that. Right, yes. Um but uh man, Joy and I, we had a lot of fun uh getting up there and getting to share that message, and uh, we do. We hope that was an encouragement to you. This Sunday, we launched a brand new series, it's our summer sermon series, and every summer we go uh through a book of the Bible, verse by verse, chapter by chapter. Um, I think we took two or three years to get through Genesis. We took, I think, two years to get through Exodus. Um, so I told Tim, I was like, listen, we need to get through John in one year. And he goes, Man, we're covering a lot of ground every week. Um, and even I was talking to Dave uh at church on Sunday in between services, and Dave's like, Man, I don't know how you're gonna do it. And he's like, John 1-1, in the beginning was the word you could so much, that could be a whole sermon series just there. That's one verse. Um, and I was like, I know. Tim said the same thing, so I don't know that Tim's real happy with me. Um, but I'm gonna try to get us through this all in all in one summer. We'll see how it goes. If the Lord takes over and he says, No, we're gonna be here a while, we'll camp out there as long as long as he wants. Um, but we started a brand new series on on the Gospel of John. And really, this past Sunday was the setup for the series and talked about the purpose of why John wrote this gospel. Why did he take the time to to write all this stuff down? And his purpose was clear. Uh he said, I I have written this all these things down so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. And so that's that's the point of the whole book. All 21 chapters. That you would believe, and that by believing you'd find life. That's what John wants. And and man, I can't think of a a better message for our church, um, really for our world right now, um, is here's the key. Believe and find life. So many people are searching for so many things uh in in life through their jobs, through possessions, through relationships, whatever it is. And and John boils it all down to this believe that Jesus is the Messiah and you can find life. And and not just the life that you know the culture talks about, but true life. Jesus said, I came that you would have a rich, satisfying, abundant life. And so um it's good.

SPEAKER_04 27:11

It makes me think of the book that we're studying in life group. What is that called?

SPEAKER_00 27:15

Some that's doctrines? Actually, I think it's called Do You Believe? Do you believe? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:20

Um by Paul David Tripp. And there's what, twelve doctrines that they go over, and so far we've only covered like God and I think did we do the Bible? The Bible and God.

SPEAKER_00 27:30

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 27:30

And at first I was like, this is so simple. And we have really everyone in our life group knows the Lord and has been following him for a little bit, and so I was worried it would be just very like not things that they already are aware of, and a lot of it we are aware of it. Um but I think the same thing with with John, if we would actually grasp who Jesus is, like it changes the way that you live. Um, and so when we're learning about in this book, when you're learning about things like God or the Bible, it also then has a whole chapter dedicated just like this is how you apply this.

SPEAKER_02 28:06

Right.

SPEAKER_04 28:06

And just I think some of the meat of our conversation in life group has been wow, this is eye-opening when you dive into more than just reading it, and when you try to, how do I apply this to my daily life?

SPEAKER_02 28:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:18

Because if you believe that Jesus is who John is saying Jesus is, then it changes how you the way that you think about him and the way that you live your life, and so it's just a lot of us know more or have heard more scripture, more about God than we actually really apply to our life.

SPEAKER_00 28:38

I don't remember who said this quote, even though I quote it a lot, so I should look it up.

SPEAKER_04 28:43

I know what you're gonna say.

SPEAKER_00 28:45

The quote goes something along the lines of most Christians are already far more educated than their level of obedience. And I think that was kind of a lot of the heart behind while why Paul David Tripp wrote that book, is he said, I I can I've talked to some people. I mean, he's been a pastor a long time, he's a very well-known author. Um, he's like, and I've talked to some people and they can quote scripture front to back. They can talk to you about all these different doctrines and explain them to you, and yet I don't see their life lining up with what they're telling me that they believe. If we truly believed it, like you said, it it would change. And so that's why one of the reasons I was drawn to that book is one, I think it's important for all of us to have a good grasp of the foundation of our faith and why, as Christians, we believe certain things. Why does that matter? Is there only one God? Yeah, why does that matter? Who is Jesus and what has he done? That's important to know. He's not just one of many, he's the way, the truth, and the life. We're gonna talk about that in this John series. And then to say, okay, I I I can know all of that, and I can it can be head knowledge, but if it is not moving down into my heart and then affecting the way that I live, the way that I parent, the way that I that I work, then then there's a there's a disconnect here. And how do I get the the knowledge of it to then match up with my actions? John, I think one of the things I love about this book is is he's gonna try to do that for us. And so he's he is over and over again. On Sunday, we talked about laying out witness after witness. He's gonna give us seven different signs that Jesus performs. He's gonna give us seven I am statements that Jesus says, you know, I am the way, um, the truth and the life, I am the resurrection and the life, I am the gate. He's gonna give us seven of those statements. And the whole time he's driving at this one thing, will you believe? Will you believe? I'm showing you all of this. Will you believe? And and that's that's the question that that we need to wrestle with. And I said on Sunday, belief just belief isn't enough. And what I mean by that is the mental assent to say I know this information. It's we can say I believe in God, that there's a God out there, and give some mental assent to it. But is if I truly believe that, then it should affect and show up in my life.

SPEAKER_01 31:24

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 31:25

Um every part of my life. The words I use, how I, you know, handle my money, um how how I plan out my calendar, my schedule. It should show up in all those different areas. And I think for for too many Christians, our our relationship with Jesus just kind of becomes this surface-level thing where I I believe in Jesus and I show up at church, and I'm not saying you're not saved. If you confess with your mouth, Jesus the Lord, believe in your heart, God raised from the dead, you will be saved. That's what scripture says. But also, faith without works is dead. Live a life worthy of the gospel. These are things that we've talked about in the Marvel series, we talked about it in uh the Grow series. I mean, these are things that we keep bringing up over and over and over again.

SPEAKER_04 32:11

We talked about it last week, even studying Ruth, you know, how if if what we mean, we kind of define what we meant by staying. And so if you weren't there, go back and listen to it. Um, because we're not saying that staying or it means to just take whatever's thrown at you and get bubble. Exactly. Like that's not what we're referring to. But if you're saying what we mean is being faithful to God and the calling in your life, and if you're doing that and you're being faithful to your God, then that will determine the way that you father, or the way that you're uh husband, or the way that you work and the employer that you are, um, or the employee that you are, and so all that, everything in your life will be determined by you know whatever it is that you put the focus on. And so um what we are saying right now is if you believe in Christ and you believe in what his word says, then that'll roll out into your entire life.

SPEAKER_02 33:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:12

And that doesn't mean that you're gonna do everything right, like we are human, but we should be following Christ and we should be trying to do what he's calling us to do and and being faithful to him and just doing the next right thing, like we already talked about.

SPEAKER_00 33:28

Even well, you pointed this out earlier, we're only two doctrines into the twelve. But I think trying to remember, was it the doctrine of the Bible or the doctrine of God? One of those, he talked about this same, again, the same sort of idea that if we believed it was true, then we would live like it's true. And how we truly live reveals what we trust. And so if I trust that God is good, then my life will line up with that. If I say that God is good, but I trust that money's gonna make me happy, then I'm gonna go pursue money. God, I I know that you're gonna take care of me, but I'm gonna go do this thing over here. And now, does God expect you to work? Yes. And so we're not saying you just get to not go to work and God provides. Uh, you have a responsibility to be the person God's called you to be. But where is your trust in? What are you truly trusting in? And John is he over and over again in this book is saying, you need to believe. You need to put your trust, your faith in Christ. He is the Messiah. He came not to condemn the world, but to save the world. That if that if you would believe, if you would call on him, you would not perish, but have everlasting life. These are the themes John's going to keep bringing up over and over and over again. And I think it's so important for this to move beyond just the head knowledge because a lot of us, you know, we get a lot of people in our church who are who are new Christians. We got a lot of people who are kind of seeking, or, you know, maybe they've been around church, but I'm so encouraged because a lot of the conversations I'm having, people are really like, they want to go deep, they want to take that next step, they want to discover more in Christ. But then there's also a good portion of our church that's gone to church for a long time, whether with us, you know, we've had some people been with us, I think all 17 years. Um, but then there's people who, you know, even if you weren't in our church, you grew up in a different church or whatever the case may be. And so you've heard these sermons on John, you've read the gospel of John. And and what I challenge people on the message on Sunday is don't turn this off. You know, don't don't just, you know, show up and put me on mute and start thinking about all your week and all the things you got to do, or put Tim on mute, what who's ever's preaching. We're gonna cover this and take a fresh look, take another opportunity to allow God to teach you these truths because I believe there is more in Christ. That's the whole purpose of our church to discover more in Christ. God wants to show you more, and I think John's gonna lay it out, and he's gonna he's gonna prove over and over and over again Jesus is who he said he is.

When Trust Feels Hard Today

SPEAKER_04 36:14

So good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:16

One of the things that I've been telling people anytime I try to, you know, reference or quote an article or something I've read online, is I preface it with, I saw this on the internet, I don't know if it's true. Because I don't trust anything I read on the internet anytime.

SPEAKER_04 36:34

I mean, I don't know what I trust other than the word of God. Period, in general.

SPEAKER_00 36:40

So well, honestly, you're not alone. Um 2024 Gallup poll showed that Americans' trust in mass media is at an all-time low. Uh only 31% they have a great deal or fair amount of trust in things like newspaper, TV, radio, whatever, to report fully and accurately. Only 31% say if I hear something on the news, I think they're telling me the truth. So the overwhelming majority of the population is like, someone's lying. Yeah, someone's someone's selling me something. Um in Edelman, Trust Barometer for 2025, found that 63% of business or people believe that businesses and government uh leaders deliberately mislead them. Honestly, I'm shocked that that's not higher. Buddy of mine says, How do you know a politician's lying? His mouth is moving, right? Someone's constantly lying to us. Um, and so there's we're all kind of here, and especially I think in this age of AI, it's getting even harder because people can just go on and make all kinds of content, but beyond that, like the images that can be made, the uh videos that could be made. I I I read this story and completely shocked me. But there was a a guy, this I think it was back in 2024, that these scammers in Hong Kong tricked a finance worker, um, he worked for some finance firm, tricked him into wiring 24 or 25 million dollars to a fraudulent account, and they didn't do it just through, you know, some Prince email from Saudi Arabia. This was a Zoom call. The guy got on a Zoom call with what looked like the CFO of his company, and other people in this company that he actually knew were on the Zoom call, and they looked like them, they talked like them, so they sounded, they had done voice match, uh, and so he had an entire Zoom call with AI bots that told him, wire$25 million to this account, and he did it, and it was all just hackers in Hong Kong.

SPEAKER_04 38:58

Yeah, that's crazy.

Can Scripture Stand Up To Scrutiny

SPEAKER_00 39:00

If that's going on, it's hard to know what to believe anymore. So, how do we know then that John is telling us the truth? You know how can we trust scripture in general? And I think John multiple times he he gives us these these statements that that say, I'm there, I was there, I saw it. In John chapter 1, verse 14, he says, We observed his glory. That little phrase we observed in the Greek, it's etiasumita, which means we took it in with our own eyes. It's a it's a literal sensory verb. I was there, I saw it. In John 19, uh 35, he's he's standing at the foot of the cross and he says, The one who saw this has testified of this so that you may believe. So over and over again through his book, John's saying, I was there. I saw, like I didn't hear this from somebody, someone didn't come and tell me about this event. I was there and I saw it. But then the question becomes well, so what? You could say that you saw anything. You know, how do I know that that's true? Um, well, this guy wrote a book back in 2006, I believe, Richard Bachman, I think is his name. It's called Jesus and the Eyewitnesses. And he lists of like how do we know that the scripture is true? Well, when it comes specifically to the book of John, there's this eyewitness testimony that's anchored to specific, named, traceable eyewitnesses and of events. That if you were just making this up or just trying to tell a story, getting all of these things right and accurate would be very, very difficult. Nearly impossible, probably impossible. And so one of the things that John does is he names people that the other gospels keep anonymous. So the disciple who cut off the high priest's ear is unnamed in the other gospels. John says, it was Peter. I love that he just throws Peter under the bus. There must have been a little bit of rivalry maybe going on between John and Peter because he's like, You want to know who cut his ear off? Peter. You want to know who beat Peter to the tomb? Me. This full Jesus left. Uh he tells us that the woman who anoints Jesus is Mary, the sister of Lazarus. Um over again, he's naming specific people.

SPEAKER_04 41:29

He's giving details that other people didn't.

SPEAKER_00 41:31

And how would you know? How would you know if you weren't there, you didn't have these conversations, you didn't see that event take place, how could you say that? And then John's writing, so we're reading this 2,000 years later, right? We don't know those people. How do we know he wasn't making it up? But John was writing to people who would have known those people. John didn't necessarily have the guy 2,000 years later, the girl 2,000 years later, who's gonna pick up a copy of his book in mind when he sat down to write. Now maybe the Holy Spirit said, hey, this book's gonna be around for the next 2,000 years. Make sure you get it all right. But really, John was he was writing to people that were his contemporaries, people that he lived with and knew. And they could have been like, well, let me go ask Mary about that, see if she actually did it. And so they could have gone in and asked those people. The other thing that John does, that if you're trying to create a story to prove that Jesus is the Messiah, you would probably leave out some of the more embarrassing things or things that set Jesus up or the disciples up and make them look bad. You're like, we shouldn't talk about that because it would affect people who read the story, their credibility of it, right? They're gonna think, well, why on earth would that happen? Um But John he tells us all those things. He tells us that the disciples don't understand what Jesus says multiple times. Jesus would talk, and they're like, we don't know what he was talking about. Uh what did he mean when he said that? And he just goes ahead and tells us that that happened. Um Peter, when when he denies Jesus three times, John writes that down for us, records that event when when those two disciples run from Jesus and go off, and you know, after the he's arrested, they take off he's talking about it. And then he even makes that point to point out you know, two disciples ran to the empty tomb and the one Jesus loved outran Peter, which I love.

SPEAKER_04 43:29

It's hilarious.

SPEAKER_00 43:32

So again, these kind of more embarrassing events that if you're trying to prove that Jesus is the Messiah, you wouldn't tell everyone the disciples didn't know what he was talking about. If you're trying to say this guy's God, well then when he talks, everybody should know. And John's like, we didn't know, we didn't get it. We weren't sure at the moment. Looking back after the resurrection, he's like, now we understand all this stuff.

unknown 43:59

But he

SPEAKER_00 44:00

He goes ahead and puts that in there. The third thing he does is he records these geographical and archaeological details that only someone who is there would know. Pool of Bethesda with its five colonnades, for example. For centuries, people said that was a fictional invention that he just made up. Until 1888, when archaeologists uncovered a pool in Jerusalem with five colonnades, just as John said. Proved it. The pool of Salom, another pool that was verified by archaeologists in 2004. John points to these very specific things that it would be easy to go and point to that thing and be like, oh, that's not what John said, so he's lying. And yet, archaeologists for the past 2,000 years have been doing nothing but proving John to be true and accurate on every one of those things.

SPEAKER_04 44:57

Over and over.

SPEAKER_00 44:58

And one of the things that really I think show us that John was there, that he knew, is he knows the inner emotional life of Jesus. And he'll tell us things like, Jesus was troubled. How would you know that unless you spent time with him? That you were having conversations with him. You know, you and I, we can give each other a look and we know something's wrong, right? You don't we don't even gotta communicate on it, just that look. But that's because we've spent the past, I think it's gonna be 18 years. Is it 18 years in August?

SPEAKER_04 45:35

Yeah, we'll be married for 18 years, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:37

Look at that. Our our marriage is is turning in an adult. It's finally time to grow up. Gotta start paying the bills.

SPEAKER_04 45:44

Um, yeah, I think I mean when you walk with someone and you start to learn their characteristics, and when they're upset or if something they're happy, they're sad, like you learn that.

SPEAKER_00 45:54

Right.

SPEAKER_04 45:54

Like you said, it shows that he knew who Christ was.

SPEAKER_00 45:58

Yeah. To say Jesus was troubled or Jesus loved, like Jesus loved Lazarus and and Mary and Martha. He loved them. When when he shows up to raise Lazarus from the dead, and John says, He wept. Shortest verse in the entire Bible, but John was there. And why did he say Jesus wept? Because that's what he saw Jesus do. Jesus shows up to the tomb of his buddy and literally breaks down weeping. And John was like, I was there and I saw it. When Jesus encountered this, he wept. And so John wrote it down for us. Only someone who was there would know that. And again, probably, you know, at least in our, you know, American masculinity mindset, you would not put down that the savior of the world was crying. No, no, he's got to be strong and tough. And Macho and John's like, actually, I saw him cry. So, men, you're allowed to cry. Um, Pastor Tim specifically, cry away.

unknown 46:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 46:59

Um he even would include like these long prayers that Jesus has, and he just records the entire prayer, writes it down. All these things are just over and over and over again proving that John was there. He saw what he saw. So when he writes these things down, when he says, I testify to this thing, that I was there and observed this thing, you can trust it. And then to know, for the past 2,000 years, Bible scholars, theologians, archaeologists, historians have done nothing except proven that John was right in what he wrote, that his descriptions, the places he talks about, the buildings or the events, the people that he references, these were real people, real places, real events. And history's proving it over and over again. So in a world where we don't know what to trust anymore, and everything should be looked at with suspicion. You know, trust but verify everything. Everything. Even from reputable news sources, I'm like, I'm gonna go do my own research. Right. John is a book, you know, I and I said on Sunday, he's gonna lay out this, it's like a courtroom, and he's gonna make his case and then ask you if you believe. Well, the a case is only as good as the evidence being brought, right? Can you trust the evidence? And John's saying, I was there, I saw it.

SPEAKER_01 48:26

Right.

SPEAKER_00 48:27

History proves what he said was really there, it really happened. And so you can have faith, you can have confidence that what John writes is true.

SPEAKER_02 48:38

You can.

Signs That Belief Is Real

SPEAKER_00 48:38

And that by believing, you can have life in his name. I'm gonna wrap it up. I've done a lot of talking, building this whole evidence-based thing out for John. What stuck out to you from the sermon?

SPEAKER_04 48:50

I love how you broke it down into the what didn't you didn't call it miracles, did you? You called it Signs. Signs believe in life.

SPEAKER_00 49:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 49:00

And just how we can trust in the Lord as our Savior, and then we can you know believe that He is who He says he is, and He is who even if you just look at the book of John, which all of Scripture is alive and active, and then it just is so good and we can draw so much from it, but you can believe in it, and then it offers you this life. And I think you talked about it Sunday, um, just how so many of us, even if we're saved and we believe in Christ, don't live out the life that He has for us. I mean, I just feel like that is probably the main thing that stuck out to me. Just we have this life. We should be people who are filled with joy, people who are going around living a life of peace and chaos. Like this world is so chaotic. Um, and just when people look at us, they should see Christ in us.

SPEAKER_02 49:52

And I love that.

SPEAKER_04 49:54

I I know that sometimes I know that I don't feel like that's what I'm putting my my hope in. Even though I'm putting my hope in Christ, I believe in him and I love him. But sometimes this world just if we're honest, our eyes are not focused on him. Um and I love Proverbs 3 trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding, and all your ways submit to him, and he will make your path straight. You know, if we trust in him, our then we we would truly live a life of joy. That's right. Um and I, you know, even in life group and studying God and and scripture and now studying John, um I would just encourage you to evaluate does your life produce signs that you believe in him? You know, or am I a controlling mom who panics anytime anything goes wrong? Is my anxiety out of control? Is my worry I do I not know what I can believe even though I'm told that I can believe in Christ? Am I actively believing in him in every area of my life? So I just I think that's what stuck out to me. I love it. Is my life, even though I believe in him, producing what he wants it to produce.

SPEAKER_00 51:08

It's weird asking your wife what what was your favorite part of my sermon?

SPEAKER_04 51:11

It's not me, it's about Christ in me. Right. And so that's what I mean essentially.

SPEAKER_00 51:15

Yeah. Well, that's I think you're spot on. And I think it was Pastor Tim that I first heard uh use the phrase, all of us die, but few people truly live. And I think he was preaching a funeral, and so I was referencing you know, kind of as pastors, that's one of the greatest griefs that we have is standing next to a casket where we know this person, you know, they were alive for 70, 80, 90 years, whatever, but never truly lived. And I was like, church, I don't want that for you. I want you to truly live. Jesus said that he came. The his purpose in coming was that you would have life and have it to the full. And that's what we want for you. How does that happen? By discovering more in Christ, by doing exactly what you're talking about, turning to him over and over and over again. Lean not on your own understanding in all your ways, trust, acknowledge him, and he'll make your path straight. You want peace, trust and acknowledge him. The reason so many of our pasts look like a zigzag line, um, or you know, when your kid just draws circles on a piece of paper, is because we're trying to do this all on our own. And he's saying, I'm here, trust, acknowledge me in all of your ways.

SPEAKER_04 52:32

And a lot of times we wouldn't we don't even realize that we're trying to do it on our own or that what we're struggling with is a result of a lack of trust in God, that we believe that he is who he says he is, and that he can do what he says he he can do.

SPEAKER_02 52:44

Right.

SPEAKER_04 52:46

But there's power in trusting in him, truly trusting in him.

SPEAKER_00 52:52

Power, power, wonder working power. Going back to my childhood there. I think that song might even predate me. Um there is, there's truly there's there's power in his name, and it's it's available to all who believe. And so we're gonna lay it before you every Sunday. Ask the same question John did. Will you believe? And if if you'll take that faith, without faith, it's impossible to please God. You take the faith that you have, and sometimes it feels as small as a mustard seed. But Jesus said you can move a mountain with that kind of faith. And and you just say, God, I'm gonna trust you. I'm gonna believe. And you take that next step, you do the next right thing. In all of your ways, acknowledge him, submit to him. And I believe this summer you'll discover more in Christ than ever before. I believe you'll find more peace than you've ever felt, uh, more satisfaction, more joy than you've ever experienced. And it's all gonna come through us getting, walking through this book and getting to know Jesus more and more uh each and every week. So anything else uh you gotta say to wrap up?

SPEAKER_04 54:00

No, I'm excited. Week one of John. I love the book of John. So much awesome stuff packed into it, and you know, just encourage us to not feel like, oh, I've already read this book so many times or I already believe in God. But like just pray. God, what do you have for us?

SPEAKER_02 54:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 54:17

And just trust that He's gonna reveal Himself to us more. So I'm just I'm excited about it.

SPEAKER_00 54:23

I agree. I am I'm pumped. I think this is gonna be uh this is gonna be a great study.

SPEAKER_04 54:28

And we'll see how long it takes for you guys to get through it.

Prayer And Closing Connection

SPEAKER_00 54:31

17 weeks, Tim Holt. That's all we have. 17 weeks. Um, no, I'm this this is, I believe, truly gonna be a great study, and I and I'm looking forward to it. But um, Joy, will you uh will you pray to close us out here?

SPEAKER_04 54:45

Yeah. Well Lord, I thank you for who you are. I thank you for giving your son for us, that he died on the cross for us. Um, I thank you, Father, that you are so good. Um, even when we don't, well, we don't deserve you, but even in those moments where we don't know what we believe or what we can lean on, Lord, I thank you that we know that we can believe in you and lean on you and trust that you are who you say you are. And so, Lord, I just pray, Father, through the book of John, that you would speak to your people at Freshwind this summer, that you would make yourself so very known. Um, Lord, I just pray, Father, that people who are far from you that don't know if they can believe in you yet, that they would come to know you, come to know that you are um good and that they can trust in you. And God, I just thank you for who you are. And I just pray, Father, that you would just go before your people of Freshwind, bless them this week. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

SPEAKER_02 55:45

Amen.

SPEAKER_03 55:46

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.