Discernment: Recognizing the Voice of God and the Holy Spirit

[00:00:08] Speaker A: Everybody's Rick and Rob. Welcome back to the Nomad Pasture podcast. [00:00:12] Speaker B: Have you been, man? [00:00:13] Speaker A: I've been pretty good, actually. Good. Lots going on with work. You know, I've told you about that. [00:00:18] Speaker B: Yeah, a little bit. Yeah. [00:00:19] Speaker A: It's a whole new year, let's say that. [00:00:21] Speaker B: Well, you know, and the cool thing about it is new year brings new stuff. Some of it we have to jump in both feet with. Some of it we're able to dip our toes in and see if it's warm enough for us to get in. [00:00:38] Speaker A: Yeah. It's all relative, right? [00:00:41] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:00:42] Speaker A: As long as I put God first, then everything will work out. [00:00:45] Speaker B: Exactly. And he's going to show you along the way, which is kind of what we want to talk about today. [00:00:53] Speaker A: I was just going to say that we're here. [00:00:56] Speaker B: Yeah. So we want to talk about discernment today. [00:01:01] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:01:01] Speaker B: Right. [00:01:01] Speaker A: I think it's an important topic. I think it gets overlooked drastically. Drastically. [00:01:08] Speaker B: I do. [00:01:08] Speaker A: I think I've overlooked it, yeah. [00:01:10] Speaker B: Oh, I definitely have. [00:01:14] Speaker A: How do I know? Because to me, that's what discernment is. Being able to discern the right from wrong. [00:01:20] Speaker B: Right. [00:01:20] Speaker A: Good from evil. [00:01:21] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:01:25] Speaker A: Am I listening? Right. How can I interpret? Like, discernment to me is almost like interpretation. Right. Am I interpreting? [00:01:33] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, I agree. [00:01:35] Speaker A: Is that coming from God? [00:01:37] Speaker B: So in that. Figuring out what discernment. [00:01:42] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:01:43] Speaker B: What questions do you ask yourself, do you think? What questions does Rick ask? [00:01:49] Speaker A: Rick? Well, yeah, I was absolutely thinking about it. Like, what does Rick ask? Think? Well, I know I get in my head, right. The first question I think I ask. Well, I don't think I know. Are you sure? [00:02:05] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:02:08] Speaker A: Are you certain? [00:02:09] Speaker B: Yeah. How many affirmations do you have to have? [00:02:11] Speaker A: I don't even know, to be honest with you. [00:02:13] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:02:16] Speaker A: A lot more than I should. [00:02:18] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:02:18] Speaker A: Way more than I should. Because now I recognize that part of that discernment is I feel something or I hear something from God. I get that nudge and then I pray about it again. Right. I want to validate what I'm hearing or feeling or experiencing. So I pray about it so that God can be like, look, it's real. [00:02:44] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:02:45] Speaker A: Right. [00:02:45] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:02:46] Speaker A: But then I should listen. [00:02:53] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:02:53] Speaker A: And I don't. [00:02:56] Speaker B: There are times I disregard. [00:02:59] Speaker A: Why do you. [00:03:00] Speaker B: Because it's not what I think I want to do. It's not what I think God wants me to do. But the difference is in knowing what God wants me to do and comparing that to what I think I want to do or what I do want to do. A lot of times the conflict within myself is because of myself. So goat, it's because of meism. [00:03:33] Speaker A: Sometimes it's fear for me. Sometimes I'm afraid. I don't know why, of what outcome, judgment. I don't know. Fear of being wrong. Fear of saying, like we talked about it this morning, right. I'm fear about. Am I misrepresenting God? [00:03:52] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:03:53] Speaker A: Right. Our last podcast, we talked about sinners and saints. I struggle with that conversation even though I think it was great, but I don't want to misrepresent God. [00:04:06] Speaker B: True. [00:04:07] Speaker A: Right. Right. That could be the worst thing for me. [00:04:14] Speaker B: Well, because of what we want, what our heart's desire is, I desire to be more christlike. I desire to follow him. Exactly. And in doing that, and in making sure that the things that I do, I had a conversation, and you've heard me say this before, if you don't know within the first five minutes of meeting me that I'm not a sold out follower for Jesus Christ, and I've done you a disservice. I've done myself a disservice, but most importantly, I've done Jesus a. So when we look at what we know we're supposed to do and we hear that voice calling us the Holy Spirit, prompting us, and it could be something as, I don't want to say blase, but as simple as a podcast. [00:05:15] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:05:17] Speaker B: And not doing this alone. And, okay, I'm going to trudge along and get this started and I'm going to do this. Hear me say this, folks. I'm not trying to glorify anything that Rick and I are. [00:05:35] Speaker A: No, no. [00:05:35] Speaker B: Or anything that Rick started. [00:05:37] Speaker A: Right. [00:05:38] Speaker B: But how long was it that you heard from the Holy Spirit that we were supposed to do this together before you finally did it? [00:05:46] Speaker A: Well, I mean, we'll go back farther than that. Right. [00:05:50] Speaker B: Right. [00:05:50] Speaker A: There was probably for two years. I heard you should do a podcast. Yeah, for two years. [00:05:56] Speaker B: Right. [00:05:56] Speaker A: And I didn't do it. [00:05:57] Speaker B: Right. [00:05:58] Speaker A: I was afraid. I ain't going to do it. Right. I don't have the equipment, I don't have the cameras, I don't have the audio stuff or mics or like, I don't got lights. Whatever it is, I don't have it. Can't do it. The time, I don't got the time. I don't got nothing. Right. [00:06:15] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:06:15] Speaker A: And I've said it on this podcast before, my wife was like, what do you need? Yeah, well, I need this and this and this. Okay, go buy it. [00:06:23] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:06:24] Speaker A: What do you mean she's like, I'm taking away your excuse. Yeah, right. Thank you. Love you. Yeah, you know, but so there was two years, and then I did it by myself for like a year, and I'm praying, like, what am I supposed to do? Well, I called Batman. Now he ain't going to do it. He ain't got time. Yeah, he's building this whole new ministry, right? [00:06:50] Speaker B: So here's the funny. [00:06:51] Speaker A: Building a whole new ministry. You got your band, you've got worship leading, you've got family. Like, he ain't got time for all that crap, right? I don't mean to say crap. It's not crap. Well, yeah, but in my mind, I'm like, God, you're wrong. He ain't got time. [00:07:05] Speaker B: So let me tell you my side of the fence from this, all right? Okay. And we've talked about this on the podcast before, but I just want to remind people listening and you at the same time. So after we talked about it that initial time, right. And I went and sat down, talked to Rebecca, and I said, rick has prayed about this, and Rick is hearing from the Holy Spirit that we need to do this podcast together. [00:07:28] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:07:28] Speaker B: And she goes, and I guess you're. [00:07:32] Speaker A: Going to do it then? [00:07:33] Speaker B: And I said, well, I think we need to pray about it. She goes. [00:07:38] Speaker A: Yeah, because somebody already did. [00:07:39] Speaker B: If Rick's already prayed about it and this is what he's getting out of it, then this is a no brainer, right? You just need to go do the podcast. [00:07:46] Speaker A: Yeah. Here we are. [00:07:49] Speaker B: Here we are. You know what? Here's where. Here's where we look at listening to the voice of God, either through a person, with Linda, taking away the obstacles or what the Holy Spirit is prompting us in, and call Batman and Rebecca going, this has already been prayed about. [00:08:11] Speaker A: Right. [00:08:12] Speaker B: To what the scripture tells us as the way that we should live our life out. [00:08:18] Speaker A: That's right. [00:08:19] Speaker B: So when we get to obstacles in our lives, to where we're afraid or it's just not convenient for me, or I don't want to put somebody else out, or how do we get around that? [00:08:38] Speaker A: We go to God. [00:08:40] Speaker B: We go to God. But we look for him to guide us and show us the discernment that we need in our lives. [00:08:50] Speaker A: That's right. But we also got to ask him for it, too. Sure. Right. [00:08:54] Speaker B: Absolutely. [00:08:55] Speaker A: Like, God, what am I supposed to do with this? That's what I was doing for a year. God, what am I supposed to do with this? Yeah, call Batman. That's my technical term. [00:09:09] Speaker B: I'm going to use it. Can I use that? [00:09:11] Speaker A: Absolutely. [00:09:11] Speaker B: Okay, good. [00:09:14] Speaker A: So, when we think about discernment, there's tons of scripture that we could go back and forth on, but we talked about one specifically, which is in James. [00:09:23] Speaker B: Yes. [00:09:23] Speaker A: Do you want to read it? [00:09:24] Speaker B: Yeah. This comes from James, chapter one. This is verses five and six. If any of you lack wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt. Because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea blown and tossed by the wind. [00:09:44] Speaker A: Yeah. So let's start with the first part. Right. [00:09:46] Speaker B: Verse five. [00:09:47] Speaker A: If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God. So that I think far too often in our culture, especially as men, we are ashamed to say we lack wisdom. [00:10:04] Speaker B: Because we don't read the directions well. [00:10:08] Speaker A: I mean, honestly, I know you're right. When you buy something new and you're taking it out of the box. Right? [00:10:15] Speaker B: I know how to do this. [00:10:16] Speaker A: I don't need all that. [00:10:17] Speaker B: I got this. Exactly right. [00:10:19] Speaker A: And then your wife says, hey, what are these extra pieces? [00:10:22] Speaker B: Yeah. Why is there 17 extra screws here? [00:10:24] Speaker A: What's that bounty commercial. Have you seen that one? They build this table. [00:10:29] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:10:29] Speaker A: Like a coffee table. They build a coffee table, and he's like, look at that. It's perfect. And she's like, what is this? Well, that ain't nothing. He sets his phone down or he's drinking it. Just the whole thing. [00:10:39] Speaker B: Yeah. Collapses. Yeah. So let me ask you this. Do we do that as men? Okay. Do we do that to show our machoism and pat ourselves on the back? [00:10:55] Speaker A: I don't know if it's machoism as much as we want people to think we're smart. [00:11:01] Speaker B: Yeah, I agree. [00:11:02] Speaker A: Right. I want my wife to think I'm smart. I want my wife to think I'm smarter than her. I know I'm not. Linda, if you're listening, just turn it off. [00:11:13] Speaker B: Rebecca, this is time to hit the mute button. [00:11:17] Speaker A: I know I'm not smarter. [00:11:19] Speaker B: I'll tell you how this works out at the end, babe. [00:11:21] Speaker A: I know I'm not smarter than her, but I wanted to think I am. [00:11:24] Speaker B: Well, I want her to know at least how smart I actually am. [00:11:29] Speaker A: Yeah, but if she sees the instructions, she's going to recognize that maybe I'm not. [00:11:33] Speaker B: I'm a box of rocks. But that's what I said. [00:11:36] Speaker A: We don't need those. [00:11:37] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:11:37] Speaker A: Right. So if any of you lacks wisdom. So he's saying, like, james is like, look, if you don't know, just ask God. [00:11:47] Speaker B: But here's the key. [00:11:48] Speaker A: There's no shame in it. [00:11:49] Speaker B: There's not. There's not. But here's the key, Rick. There's a difference in knowledge and. Right. [00:11:56] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:11:57] Speaker B: Knowledge is book smart. [00:11:59] Speaker A: Yes. [00:12:00] Speaker B: Knowing what the directions are going to say before you start reading them. Right. Wisdom is knowing how to put that thing together with the directions of knowing how to turn the screwdriver. [00:12:11] Speaker A: That's right. [00:12:11] Speaker B: Knowing righty tidy, lefty loosey. You know what I mean? That's wisdom. [00:12:18] Speaker A: But wisdom also gives you the ability to discern. [00:12:21] Speaker B: Exactly. [00:12:22] Speaker A: Right. [00:12:22] Speaker B: Exactly. [00:12:23] Speaker A: So we started talking this about discernment, and I'm not changing scripture, but you could almost substitute that word. Right. If anybody lacks discernment, yes. Go to God. [00:12:32] Speaker B: Right. [00:12:33] Speaker A: If anybody lacks wisdom, ask God. [00:12:35] Speaker B: Right. Yeah. And it goes on. You should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. There's no dumb questions. [00:12:48] Speaker A: That's right. Without finding fault. [00:12:50] Speaker B: There's no dumb questions. [00:12:53] Speaker A: When I was early in my walk, and I talked about this a little bit on our group, but when I was early in my walk, I had a lot of questions and I had men that I could ask. Right. Joe two plates, you. I had men I could. What's going. [00:13:13] Speaker B: Right. Right. [00:13:16] Speaker A: But I had the wisdom to ask. Right. [00:13:20] Speaker B: Right. [00:13:21] Speaker A: And I knew I wasn't going to be judged. [00:13:24] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:13:25] Speaker A: Right. Well, James is teaching us the same thing. [00:13:28] Speaker B: Exactly. [00:13:28] Speaker A: Right. [00:13:29] Speaker B: He's saying, ask God and he's not. [00:13:33] Speaker A: Going to find fault in anything you ask. [00:13:35] Speaker B: Right. He's not going to play whack a mole on you. No. Like, you, big dummy. [00:13:39] Speaker A: Right. I find peace and comfort in that. [00:13:45] Speaker B: Exactly. Yeah. Why wouldn't you? [00:13:48] Speaker A: Well, I think so. Just for anybody, for those listening who have heard, you don't need to read your Bible. False. [00:13:58] Speaker B: False. Throw that one away. [00:14:00] Speaker A: Right. I've had christians tell me, well, you don't need to read it. [00:14:03] Speaker B: I have to. [00:14:04] Speaker A: Right. I'm just telling you right now, false. [00:14:08] Speaker B: There's no way. Yeah, absolutely. There's no way for you to come to know the father through Jesus without knowing him through the word. [00:14:20] Speaker A: That's right. [00:14:23] Speaker B: Being in the word of God gives you exactly what he says. [00:14:30] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:14:31] Speaker B: I mean, it's an exact verbiage of God. [00:14:36] Speaker A: Yeah. How do you know that God is going to help you without finding fault if you haven't read this? [00:14:50] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:14:53] Speaker A: By what somebody tells you. Well, who told you that and how. [00:14:57] Speaker B: Do you trust them? [00:14:58] Speaker A: That's where I was going. Right. Who tells you that? And do you trust what they're telling you? Because if you just trust what somebody's telling you without going to the word yourself, they could tell you anything. [00:15:07] Speaker B: Right. And James in first, second and third, John all talk about testing the, you know and knowing what's being presented to you. Paul even talks about that as know and knowing what's presented to. [00:15:24] Speaker A: Right. [00:15:24] Speaker B: And in the book of acts, there are scriptures where people actually read to find out. Read scripture to find out if the gospel they were preached was actually the gospel. [00:15:42] Speaker A: Yes, but that's part of discernment, too. [00:15:46] Speaker B: Exactly. [00:15:47] Speaker A: Right. That. That. I'm listening. Right. If you go to church on a Sunday and you listen to your pastor, like my pastor. Right. Pastor Gary and Pastor Ryan. Pastor Gary's the senior pastor. Pastor Ryan's the lead pastor, they will tell you, don't take my word for it. Open your bible. [00:16:07] Speaker B: Right. Find out. Read it out. [00:16:10] Speaker A: Pray about it, meditate on it. Here's my interpretation. But God may tell you something different. [00:16:17] Speaker B: Well. [00:16:18] Speaker A: Or now they will say, if you think something different, then come talk to me. Let's look at the theology. [00:16:24] Speaker B: Right, right. [00:16:25] Speaker A: But you got to be able to discern that. [00:16:27] Speaker B: True. So let me ask you this. So in discernment and you hear a message from a pastor and you, for some reason look at the scripture and interpret something different. [00:16:49] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:16:50] Speaker B: Okay. Does the interpretation of what you have in scripture and the pastor's difference or whoever's different or whoever. Right. It could be us. Right. It could be the two of us. Does that allow you. Because you have discernment and I say that with air quotes. Right. Does that allow you to call down or condemn that brother? [00:17:24] Speaker A: No, absolutely not. [00:17:26] Speaker B: Does that give you credence to be able to exclaim or expect your spiritual maturity to be so much higher than everybody else? [00:17:38] Speaker A: No. [00:17:39] Speaker B: Okay. [00:17:39] Speaker A: Not even close. Not even close. And I think the easiest way for me to say this is everybody and you know this, everybody's at a different point in their life. Right. This is the living word of God. [00:17:57] Speaker B: Exactly. Right. Right. [00:17:58] Speaker A: And God may show me something that I need to see in that moment that may not contradict with what I heard, but it just may be different than what I heard. [00:18:08] Speaker B: Right. [00:18:09] Speaker A: But that's what God wanted me to hear. [00:18:11] Speaker B: Right. [00:18:13] Speaker A: But what that also means is that God wanted them to hear that what they told me. [00:18:17] Speaker B: Sure. [00:18:18] Speaker A: Right. I mean, as long as they're discerning. But I'm going to make the assumption that they prayed about their message, too. [00:18:26] Speaker B: Yes. [00:18:27] Speaker A: Right. And that God said, I want you to present this message and talk about this. And then when I went back and read it, I may be going through something different in my life, and God wanted me to hear something different. So I think part of that discernment is also recognizing that this is the living word of God. [00:18:46] Speaker B: Right, exactly. [00:18:47] Speaker A: And that I may hear something different based on where I am in my life, in my walk, maybe the trials that I'm going through. This whole section in James is about trial and temptation. [00:18:59] Speaker B: Yeah, right. [00:19:02] Speaker A: That's what it is. [00:19:03] Speaker B: That's what this first chapter. [00:19:05] Speaker A: And it's saying. Right. If any of you lacks wisdom, go to. [00:19:08] Speaker B: Yep. [00:19:09] Speaker A: So if you are having problems with the trials or the temptations that you're going through in your life. [00:19:16] Speaker B: Ask God. [00:19:17] Speaker A: Yeah, right. But if you didn't read it, you're not going to know that. [00:19:21] Speaker B: So when we were talking about this, there was a Facebook meme that popped up, and there's a guy who's in a group that I'm in on Facebook, and this guy, I don't know that I've lost respect for him, but I used to think, well, this guy's pretty sharp cat. And then I saw a Facebook meme right before Christmas where he was talking about how the earth is flat. [00:19:57] Speaker A: Oh, lord. A. [00:19:58] Speaker B: Wait, it gets better. And he talks about a pagan holiday, Christmas being a pagan holiday. And then there was a meme that he posted in this group that we're a part of. Now, let me say this. I've never met this man face to face. [00:20:16] Speaker A: Okay? [00:20:17] Speaker B: Never met him face to face. [00:20:18] Speaker A: So if you posted that flat earth thing and, you know, Batman face to face, he's not talking about. [00:20:24] Speaker B: No. Anyway, so he posted this meme of Simpson, Bart Simpson's dad. What's his name? [00:20:34] Speaker A: Homer. [00:20:34] Speaker B: Homer Simpson. I don't know why that escaped me. [00:20:36] Speaker A: My man. [00:20:37] Speaker B: My man, Homer Simpson sleeping in the bed. It's like how I sleep at night telling everybody that the earth is flat and Christmas is a pagan holiday. And I'm like, hold on just a minute. Are you claiming that your spiritual maturity is so much higher than everybody else's? Because first of all, what if. Who cares, right. Whether or not the earth is flat or not is not going to dictate my salvation. [00:21:15] Speaker A: Correct. [00:21:16] Speaker B: Right. And whether or not I choose to have joy with my kids at Christmas, to give them some gifts and to play games and have a big meal and all of that. [00:21:35] Speaker A: But I also think it's important. Like, you and I both. We've talked about holidays before. Right. But it's also important to talk about whether Christmas is a pagan holiday. Yeah, I don't think it's relevant. We know it's to celebrate the birth of Christ and how that started. Whatever. Right, right. But are you talking about, hey, this is why we're here, right? Are we having the conversation about, this isn't happy holidays, it's Christmas, the birth of Jesus. This is what occurred. Like, if you're my opinion. Let me just start there. [00:22:14] Speaker B: Right? [00:22:14] Speaker A: If the conversations you're having with your family, if Christ is at the center. [00:22:20] Speaker B: Of the holiday, what does it matter? [00:22:23] Speaker A: Is it really a pagan holiday? It's not a pagan holiday in my house. [00:22:27] Speaker B: Exactly. But here's my point. Because somebody thinks that this is how I'm sleeping, preaching all this to everybody, and my spiritual maturity is so much higher because I have this discernment to tell you about, that Christmas is a pagan holiday and the earth is flat. [00:22:47] Speaker A: Horrible. [00:22:51] Speaker B: So I don't understand, first of all, why somebody would say that their discernment is so strong in this, that their spiritual maturity is at this level. And because I don't believe that the earth is flat, that my spiritual maturity is here, or that because I have my family over and we celebrate Christ's birth at Christmas or at December 25. [00:23:18] Speaker A: Right. [00:23:21] Speaker B: That your spiritual maturity is so much more than mine because you have this discernment. Whatever, dude. [00:23:30] Speaker A: Well, here's what I'll say. I'm pretty close to just getting rid of social media. Well, my discernment is telling me that. [00:23:42] Speaker B: It'S evil, and I don't disagree. [00:23:44] Speaker A: Right. But it's because of things like that. Yeah. [00:23:49] Speaker B: Let me say this. If there are people out there, and I know there are, but if there are people out there who believe that the earth is flat and that Christmas is a pagan holiday, let's discuss it. Let's talk about it. [00:24:06] Speaker A: Or let's not. And you believe what you want to believe. [00:24:09] Speaker B: But at the same time, though, don't look down on me. [00:24:13] Speaker A: That's right. [00:24:14] Speaker B: Over something that's not salvadic. [00:24:16] Speaker A: That's right. [00:24:17] Speaker B: Over something that does not determine my salvation. [00:24:21] Speaker A: That's right. [00:24:22] Speaker B: Don't look down on me for that. Because that doesn't mean that you're so much more spiritually mature because you have studied these things. Guess what? I already know that the possibility of Jesus being born on December the 25th is pretty dead gum slim. [00:24:37] Speaker A: Correct. [00:24:37] Speaker B: If you look at timelines, it's in the middle of September. Right? So wouldn't it be cool if it was on my birthday, September the 13th. [00:24:45] Speaker A: Maybe if you do actual, the historical research. Right. If you look at it, it's sometime mid September. [00:24:55] Speaker B: Yeah, it is. [00:24:56] Speaker A: Now, we're probably going to get a lot of hate because of saying that. [00:25:00] Speaker B: I understand it. But hear us say this, folks, we're not saying not to celebrate his birth on December the 25th. [00:25:07] Speaker A: That's right. That's just the day. [00:25:08] Speaker B: That's the day we celebrate it. And it doesn't matter really what day he was born. [00:25:13] Speaker A: That's right. [00:25:14] Speaker B: It matters when you were reborn. [00:25:17] Speaker A: Yes. [00:25:18] Speaker B: It matters if you are reborn. It matters if you have discernment from the scripture to know what the difference in right and wrong is. And you know what the difference in what spiritual maturity and becoming more mature because of the discernment that you have in your life, because of the wisdom that you've asked God for. Just like James, chapter one, verses five and six, tells you to do. [00:25:44] Speaker A: Yeah, but I think the important part about this is you have to ask. [00:25:50] Speaker B: You've got to. [00:25:51] Speaker A: Right. But when you do, you must believe. [00:25:55] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:25:56] Speaker A: When you ask, you have to believe and not doubt that God's going to answer. Right. It says, but when you ask, you must believe and not doubt. Because the one who doubts is like the wave of the sea blown and tossed by the wind. Right. So if you have doubt, you're not going to listen. That's the wave of the sea. Right. It's like going back and forth. What were we talking about this morning? [00:26:23] Speaker B: Two opinions. [00:26:23] Speaker A: Two opinions. Right. Because if you doubt, right, if I said, God, what about, am I supposed to do this with Batman? And he said, yep. And I said, hey, billy Bob, am I supposed to do this? [00:26:41] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:26:42] Speaker A: Right. [00:26:42] Speaker B: Right. [00:26:43] Speaker A: Am I supposed to listen to God or I'm supposed to listen to somebody else? Right. And so that's why he's saying believe that he's going to answer and don't doubt it. Because if you doubt, you're going to be two opinions. [00:26:55] Speaker B: Right. You're going to try to figure out. [00:26:59] Speaker A: Try to figure it out by yourself. You're going to serve two masters, basically. [00:27:02] Speaker B: Basically. And that don't work. [00:27:04] Speaker A: No, it doesn't. [00:27:05] Speaker B: Matthew 625 says it. [00:27:06] Speaker A: That's right. It does. So at the end of the day, while as important as discernment is right, I personally believe that to have the ability to discern right from wrong or discern what God wants from you, you have to believe and you have to spend time in the word to understand not just this part of. [00:27:33] Speaker B: Right, right. [00:27:34] Speaker A: But you really got to understand who Christ is. [00:27:37] Speaker B: Right. [00:27:37] Speaker A: And to understand who Christ is, you. [00:27:39] Speaker B: Weren'T there, so how are you going to find out? [00:27:41] Speaker A: That's right. And I am not going to live through somebody else's faith. [00:27:50] Speaker B: I like that. [00:27:51] Speaker A: Right. As kids we lived through other people's faith. [00:27:56] Speaker B: Yes. [00:27:57] Speaker A: When you're five, six, seven, when you're a child, right. You live through your parents faith. [00:28:05] Speaker B: Right. [00:28:05] Speaker A: You have faith. Like if your parents had faith, you have faith. If they didn't have faith, you didn't have faith. My parents weren't religious. [00:28:12] Speaker B: Right. [00:28:13] Speaker A: I wasn't either. Right. But as an adult and where I am today, it would be easy for me to say, well, you know, Linda's a Christian. I believe that. [00:28:26] Speaker B: It would be. [00:28:26] Speaker A: It would be easy, but then I would be living through her faith. [00:28:31] Speaker B: There's no way to be a vicarious Christian, though. [00:28:33] Speaker A: And there's no way for me to have a relationship with Christ that allows me to discern. Right. From. [00:28:38] Speaker B: Exactly. Exactly. [00:28:40] Speaker A: There's no discernment in her faith. If I'm living through her faith, she has discernment. But I wouldn't. [00:28:47] Speaker B: Right. Because you're just being spoon fed. [00:28:50] Speaker A: Spoon fed and dictated. Right. That's what it is. [00:28:55] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:28:55] Speaker A: Right. So don't live through somebody else's faith. If somebody tells you you don't need. [00:29:00] Speaker B: To read the Bible, throw that junk away. [00:29:03] Speaker A: That's living through somebody else's. [00:29:04] Speaker B: Yeah. Get out of that situation quickly. Yeah. By the same token, people who. [00:29:15] Speaker A: Are. [00:29:16] Speaker B: Willing to have more discernment, willing to grow, willing to sanctify themselves will be willing, just like the flat earthers who are willing to have a conversation and not an argument. [00:29:39] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:29:44] Speaker B: I get a kick out of, especially presidential debates. [00:29:48] Speaker A: Oh, lord. [00:29:50] Speaker B: And it's not because I'm one sided or lopsided to the other or against the other or whatever. I get the kick out of how far apart the arguments can be and then pointing fingers about, well, you're wrong. Or you're wrong. No, you're wrong. Instead of this being a debate, it's an argument over a particular point. [00:30:21] Speaker A: Yeah, I know. We'll never see it. I don't believe we will. Maybe I'm wrong, but I would love to be watching the debate and I don't really watch them anymore. [00:30:34] Speaker B: I don't really either. I watch the aftermath of them. [00:30:38] Speaker A: I read the commentary usually. [00:30:40] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:30:40] Speaker A: But I would love for somebody to walk out and be like, this is my Bible. I'm going to put it right here. And every answer I have is going to come from it. [00:30:53] Speaker B: I'd love to see that. [00:30:55] Speaker A: I would love it. Because I do believe that a lot of politicians are like, well, I'm Christian or I'm Catholic or I'm Protestant, or I'm this or I'm. Right. Whatever. We'll show it. [00:31:08] Speaker B: Right. [00:31:09] Speaker A: Nobody shows it for me. The only one I thought came close to showing it was Mike Pence. [00:31:15] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:31:16] Speaker A: He never shied away from saying, this is how it is. [00:31:20] Speaker B: Right. [00:31:21] Speaker A: He wasn't well liked. [00:31:24] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, there was some things. That's another. [00:31:28] Speaker A: It's not even another topic. Yeah. [00:31:30] Speaker B: It's not. It doesn't need to be talked about. [00:31:34] Speaker A: But at least he stood by. This is where my morals come from. Right. [00:31:40] Speaker B: Right. [00:31:40] Speaker A: And he used discernment for that. [00:31:43] Speaker B: He did. [00:31:45] Speaker A: Right. He had the wisdom to go to God. [00:31:47] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:31:48] Speaker A: Right. And so I think if we wanted to land this plane the way I would land it, and I'll give you the same opportunity, would be, don't take our word for anything. [00:32:04] Speaker B: No. [00:32:06] Speaker A: Spend the time in the word to understand God's divine purpose for your life. [00:32:20] Speaker B: And we've talked about several times, even when closing out a podcast. [00:32:27] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:32:29] Speaker B: If you have questions about it or if you have comments, email us. This is not a plug for the podcast as much as it is a plug for the kingdom. [00:32:42] Speaker A: It is 100%. And I know this goes without saying. I don't have to say this, but I mean, just for the people listening, we make no money on this. [00:32:49] Speaker B: Nothing. This is not monetized in any way. [00:32:51] Speaker A: There is no advertising and there never will be. That's right. You go to our website, you will see nothing. You go to YouTube. The reason you're not allowed to comment on YouTube is because we lock it down so that there's no ads. [00:33:03] Speaker B: Right. [00:33:03] Speaker A: We're not looking for ad revenue. [00:33:05] Speaker B: No. [00:33:05] Speaker A: Right. This is 100%. We're doing this for God. This is what we believe we have been called to do. [00:33:13] Speaker B: Exactly. [00:33:14] Speaker A: And it's to glorify God and raise up warriors if we can. [00:33:18] Speaker B: That's why we always put out, if you have a question, if you have a comment about something, if there's something you don't understand and you want us to try to help you with. [00:33:29] Speaker A: That's right. [00:33:30] Speaker B: Send us the email. Yeah. We don't ever do it. To plug the show, the podcast, we don't ever do that for that reason. It is simply to allow people to understand that the engagement that we look for is to help us in our discernment and to help you in your discernment. [00:33:57] Speaker A: That's right. [00:33:59] Speaker B: So reach out, ask those questions, but base everything that you have from the word of God, from the Bible. [00:34:08] Speaker A: Yeah, ask him. But believe when you ask. [00:34:12] Speaker B: Yes. [00:34:13] Speaker A: Right. Don't doubt. [00:34:15] Speaker B: Well, you have to believe, number one, that he's going to give you the answer. [00:34:20] Speaker A: Yes. And also acknowledge, like we should say, it may not be the answer you want. [00:34:25] Speaker B: Exactly. [00:34:27] Speaker A: Right. [00:34:27] Speaker B: And then when you find that answer, you have to believe that as the truth. If it's coming from the word of God. [00:34:32] Speaker A: That's right. [00:34:33] Speaker B: There's no other way around it. [00:34:36] Speaker A: I have said this before. I've heard you say it. [00:34:39] Speaker B: God answers every prayer, every single one. [00:34:41] Speaker A: He may not answer it the way you want. [00:34:43] Speaker B: Right. [00:34:44] Speaker A: In the time frame that you want it. [00:34:46] Speaker B: Right. But he answers it every single time. [00:34:48] Speaker A: Right. It may be like, God, I need you to take this thorn from me. [00:34:53] Speaker B: No, wait. [00:34:56] Speaker A: If I take that away, you don't have that testimony, right? [00:35:00] Speaker B: Yes. [00:35:01] Speaker A: I think it's hard for people to accept that. [00:35:06] Speaker B: I think so. And I think too many times we get on our own time schedule expecting God, expecting God, expecting God. There was a pastor one time that says when you pray, expect results from God. [00:35:25] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:35:26] Speaker B: You don't have to expect them. You already know they're going to be there. [00:35:29] Speaker A: Absolutely. You should expect results. It's going to happen. [00:35:32] Speaker B: Right. [00:35:34] Speaker A: You may have asked this before. I don't remember where I heard this, but somebody had asked a question. If God answered every prayer that you have asked, would anybody be benefited but you? [00:35:48] Speaker B: That wasn't me that asked that, but I like that question. [00:35:50] Speaker A: Yeah. I don't remember. I know I didn't come up with it, so maybe I heard it on another podcast or something, but reading a book or. I mean, I do a ton of reading, but that question hit me. Right. Like, if he answered every one of your prayers, would anybody be benefited but you? [00:36:05] Speaker B: Wow, that's massive. [00:36:09] Speaker A: Yeah. So when you talk about ask, right. Don't have a doubt. Just ask that it's going to be done. Well, you also have to ask for more than just superficial things for yourself. Yes. [00:36:29] Speaker B: In the future, in the near future, let's talk about prayer. [00:36:33] Speaker A: Okay. Absolutely. Maybe the next one. [00:36:35] Speaker B: Yeah, the next one. Let's talk about prayer. Yeah. [00:36:37] Speaker A: It's been good. [00:36:38] Speaker B: It's been great. [00:36:39] Speaker A: Love it. [00:36:39] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:36:40] Speaker A: I always miss when we go a couple of weeks and we don't get to sit down together. I do, too. There's so much going on in life, but this is just. I love doing it. [00:36:48] Speaker B: I do, too. And the benefits of us sitting across the table and talking and the growth that we experience through it is just amazing. And so it's always a pleasure. Fridays, of course, we have our Bible study call Friday morning. And after the Bible study call is over with because my wife is leaving for work while we're about halfway through the Bible study, know, after it's over with, she's like, all right, what time are you going to, you know, she knows. Yeah. [00:37:23] Speaker A: Linda will ask me, like, what time Batman going to be here? [00:37:25] Speaker B: Yeah, right. It's always cool. It's great. Folks, we want to thank you for being with us today. And don't forget, we're on every single podcast platform and even on YouTube. So if you want to see our ugly mugs now, there again, don't take a screenshot and use us as a dartboard cover or something. [00:37:51] Speaker A: But I mean, if you want, I can't stop you. [00:37:55] Speaker B: But we appreciate you being here. Remember, we want to hear from you. We want to hear how we can help you. If you're looking for a church, a local church, or if you have questions or if you have a topic for us, send us an email at [email protected] we'd love to get back with you, and it's always a pleasure to sit down and talk with my brother Rick and for you guys to hang out with us. And we just want to remind you to love God and love people.