Living Out Faith in a Secular World

[00:00:07] Speaker A: Hey, everybody, it's Rick and Rob. Welcome back to the Nomad Master podcast. [00:00:10] Speaker B: The intro music, always. It's one of those soothing things that you kind of think you're going to get on hold with a doctor's office or something. But I really love it. [00:00:19] Speaker A: It's like. It makes me think about being in an elevator. [00:00:21] Speaker B: It does. It's not quite Buzak. [00:00:23] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:00:24] Speaker B: You know, but it's pretty cool. I love it. I love it. I'm glad that you chose that one. [00:00:29] Speaker A: You know, you do what you gotta do. [00:00:30] Speaker B: Exactly, exactly. [00:00:32] Speaker A: All right. So it's been a while. We haven't been together since we sat down with little Wolf. [00:00:36] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. [00:00:37] Speaker A: What an amazing day that was. [00:00:39] Speaker B: That was tremendous. [00:00:40] Speaker A: Loved it. [00:00:41] Speaker B: You know what? I love that man. I love his ministry. I love what he does, you know, in the world. And actually, he is part of. Kind of the topic that we can talk about. [00:00:54] Speaker A: It absolutely. Is, you know what I think we should do one time, too? Like, the next time he's in town, we really should just put him on a mic and let him tell his story. [00:01:02] Speaker B: I agree. [00:01:03] Speaker A: Right. We haven't really done that. Every time he's coming through town. [00:01:06] Speaker B: We've always interviewed him. [00:01:07] Speaker A: You know, we've talked about Yeshua's army in the stuff that's going on. But, man, his story, his testimony is amazing. I've heard it a couple times. [00:01:17] Speaker B: Oh, yeah? Yeah. More than a couple, many times. And the cool thing about it, have you. You've heard, like, the abridged version or the long version? [00:01:26] Speaker A: I've heard the, like, hour and a half long version. [00:01:29] Speaker B: Yeah. So I was gonna say, if we. If we do that, we'll have to, like, do part one and part two. [00:01:32] Speaker A: Yeah. And I'm okay. [00:01:33] Speaker B: I'm fine with that. [00:01:35] Speaker A: It'd be amazing, because I think it goes, like you said, directly to, you know, what we're going to talk about today does. [00:01:41] Speaker B: It really does living out faith in. [00:01:43] Speaker A: A secular world, because, man, he. He was in that secular world. [00:01:47] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:01:48] Speaker A: And. And all of us have been right. Sure. [00:01:51] Speaker B: Absolutely. [00:01:52] Speaker A: And I think the unfortunate thing is we are today. [00:01:53] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. [00:01:55] Speaker A: You know. [00:01:56] Speaker B: Yeah. It's something that, you know, when you're. When you're especially, like, what we do in the ministry that we're involved in. [00:02:07] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:02:09] Speaker B: You know, it's comforting on Sunday mornings when you're surrounded with saints. [00:02:15] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:02:15] Speaker B: You know, knowing that the encouragement and the things that you're gonna get from them, especially if they understand the ministry itself, you know, what we're called? To do. [00:02:25] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:02:25] Speaker B: What we specifically are called to do in the audience that we're called to do it, too. [00:02:30] Speaker A: Yeah. I think for me, it's. Sometimes it's hard to. For people at church to understand. [00:02:39] Speaker B: Right and grasp. [00:02:42] Speaker A: Yeah. Grasp is a great word. [00:02:44] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:02:45] Speaker A: But the. I think grasp the magnitude. [00:02:48] Speaker B: Yes. [00:02:49] Speaker A: Where we are. [00:02:50] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. [00:02:51] Speaker A: Right. [00:02:52] Speaker B: Yes. [00:02:54] Speaker A: Right. [00:02:54] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:02:55] Speaker A: That's nice. [00:02:59] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:03:01] Speaker A: That's such a great ministry. [00:03:03] Speaker B: You guys are just keep doing what you do. [00:03:06] Speaker A: That's right, that's right, that's right, that's right. Now, luckily, the church I go to, you know, now, and we've been a member there for a long time, and our lead pastor has stepped down and he's now the family pastor, but he planted this church 20 something, you know, 25 years ago. [00:03:25] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:03:26] Speaker A: And, you know, he spent the last five years bringing in, and, you know, he had an exec, his executive pastor, who was younger, and now he's the lead pastor, and, man, I just. I love the message. He doesn't. He's not a, you know, unicorn and rainbow preacher. [00:03:41] Speaker B: Yeah. That's cool. That's really cool. So we're at a new church now. [00:03:45] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:03:46] Speaker B: And absolutely love it. [00:03:48] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:03:49] Speaker B: It's one that we have some friends that are there that I actually called them about this church, and they were like, dude, you got to check this out. You got to come check this out. So when we got there, we realized, the first time that we visited there, we realized, wait a minute. We know quite a few people. It's pretty cool. And so over the times that we have been there, it's been every time that we leave, you know, man, we can't wait to come back. [00:04:24] Speaker A: Right. [00:04:25] Speaker B: Can't wait to come back. So it's. We're excited about it, and so we. This Sunday, you know, same way. Can't wait to go back. And it's where we finally. The times that we'd been there before, of course, we'd go a couple of times, and then I'd be out on the road or something like that, you know, and way off in another state somewhere. [00:04:48] Speaker A: Right. [00:04:49] Speaker B: And, you know, so we finally meth the lead pastor and are looking forward to more conversations with him. [00:04:57] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:04:58] Speaker B: And I'm just excited. That's awesome. [00:05:03] Speaker A: This will tell you a lot, because you know me. [00:05:05] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, yeah. [00:05:06] Speaker A: You know, I'm not a big. I don't want to go on your retreat. I don't. Look. [00:05:10] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:05:11] Speaker A: I don't need all that. I want a good. Preach, a good message. [00:05:15] Speaker B: Right. [00:05:15] Speaker A: I want people who care, people who love and who. People who care about. Not just the people in the church. [00:05:21] Speaker B: Right, right. [00:05:22] Speaker A: They care about the community. [00:05:24] Speaker B: Right. Outreach. Yeah. [00:05:26] Speaker A: A month and a half ago, I went to the pastors retreat. [00:05:29] Speaker B: Really? [00:05:29] Speaker A: Three. [00:05:29] Speaker B: Oh, you told me about that. [00:05:31] Speaker A: You know, so, Pastor Gary and Pastor Ryan, if you hear this, Batman will tell you that I never do those things. Never, ever, ever. [00:05:40] Speaker B: I've been trying to get him to go on a retreat now for how many years? [00:05:44] Speaker A: A lot. [00:05:45] Speaker B: A lot of which we should talk. [00:05:46] Speaker A: About at some point, because what I have to tell you will be interesting, but I'm not gonna do it on the podcast. [00:05:51] Speaker B: Okay. We'll talk about it, because it will probably upset you. It will. [00:05:57] Speaker A: Yeah, it will. Just a little bit. [00:06:01] Speaker B: Okay. We'll work. [00:06:03] Speaker A: Not that that's a bad thing, but. So he's been trying to give me go to trace Diaz for a long time. [00:06:07] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:06:08] Speaker A: And that word has come up, like, 30 times in the last two weeks. [00:06:15] Speaker B: Really? [00:06:15] Speaker A: I mean, even, you know, one of the ladies that I work with, she's the senior vice president, chief commercial officer, amazing person, her and her husband. She pings me two days ago, and she was like, hey, have you ever heard of trace Diaz? [00:06:30] Speaker B: Wait, wait. [00:06:31] Speaker A: Not bad. She's going this weekend. [00:06:33] Speaker B: Okay. [00:06:34] Speaker A: I don't know if it's yours or the one chapter. [00:06:38] Speaker B: Right. Well, there's three right here. It's probably stones river, maybe. Yeah. Yeah. [00:06:43] Speaker A: But, uh, she's like, I just wondered. Mark. Mark went last weekend, and I'm going this weekend, so I just wondered if you heard of it. And I said, as a candidate, or. [00:06:53] Speaker B: She went as a team member candidate. [00:06:55] Speaker A: It'll be her first time. Oh, and he went as a candidate for his first time a week ago. [00:07:00] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. [00:07:01] Speaker A: I said, well, here's what I'll say. And I didn't say who, but I said, I've had people tell me that they thought they understood what Grace was until they went to trace Diaz. And they really understand what Grace is now. [00:07:16] Speaker B: Yes. [00:07:17] Speaker A: And she was like, that's powerful. [00:07:19] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:07:19] Speaker A: I said, so just buckle up. Buckle up. [00:07:23] Speaker B: That's what I tell people. Yeah. Yeah. So there's. It's. Anyway, I'm not gonna. We're not gonna go into that. Okay. [00:07:29] Speaker A: Living out faith in the secular world. [00:07:31] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:07:31] Speaker A: You got a scripture there? [00:07:32] Speaker B: I do. Romans twelve two. And this is an obvious one. This is. This is one of those softball pitches that you hit a grand slam with and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may prove. Prove that the will of God is, or prove what the will of God is. Excuse me. That which is good and acceptable and perfect. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may prove what the will of God is. That which is good and acceptable and perfect. [00:08:09] Speaker A: You know, when you mandezenhe that word conform, do not conform. [00:08:19] Speaker B: Do not be conformed. [00:08:21] Speaker A: It's so easy in today's society. I can't believe we talked about this this morning. [00:08:30] Speaker B: We did, right? [00:08:31] Speaker A: I'm sitting here thinking about it. I'm like, holy crap. [00:08:33] Speaker B: Yeah, we did. We talked about this. [00:08:35] Speaker A: It wasn't even this scripture. [00:08:36] Speaker B: It wasn't. It was a good. And that's what I said. This is the softball pitch. This is the. This is the, you know, this is the one that you hit a grand slam with. So, folks, none of this is scripted, okay? As long as Rick and I have been friends and as long as we've been doing this podcast, we've never called each other several days in advance, even, and said, hey, what do you want to talk about this week? What do you want? We've never done that. And every single time that we've had, I do not remember a podcast yet that we have done where we haven't been in conversation either this day or earlier in the week about what our topic ends up. And it's normally literally a minute and a half, 30 seconds most of the time before we hit the record button of what do you want to talk about today? [00:09:27] Speaker A: That's exactly what it was today, because we spent a bunch of time talking about personal stuff. [00:09:30] Speaker B: Yeah, we did. [00:09:31] Speaker A: And then it was like, oh, hey, what should we talk about? [00:09:32] Speaker B: Yeah. Okay, hit the record button. Let's go. [00:09:34] Speaker A: Right. [00:09:35] Speaker B: And so make sure the cameras are on, and let's do this. [00:09:38] Speaker A: It is recording. Done that before. [00:09:41] Speaker B: So we have redo. So. But the crazy thing is the way that the Holy Spirit works in us and the way that, like, Rick was saying when he started laughing about. We talked about this this morning, and we did. We. And we were in a completely different book. And actually, it was one of Paul's epistles that we were in this morning. I'm sorry, Peter. [00:10:07] Speaker A: Peter. [00:10:08] Speaker B: Peter. First Peter. Yeah. And this conversation dominated pretty much our entire, you know, our entire morning. Friday mornings from 637 30, we have an online Bible study. And this morning's conversation was about this very thing. [00:10:27] Speaker A: Yeah, I didn't realize it till just. [00:10:29] Speaker B: Like, just right now. I didn't either. [00:10:31] Speaker A: When you were talking about conforming. [00:10:33] Speaker B: Yeah. So let's talk about the definition of conforming and what that is. [00:10:39] Speaker A: Well, I don't know that I know the actual definition, but you know, conforming to me is changing to what is going on around me. [00:10:50] Speaker B: Yeah. It's, it's, it's the fluidity. Is that the right words that I say? [00:10:55] Speaker A: Maybe, maybe I'll look up what conforming. [00:10:57] Speaker B: Why don't you do that while I wax eloquently for a minute? It's, it's been fluid enough to blend in. [00:11:06] Speaker A: Yep. [00:11:07] Speaker B: Just kind of melding into the current situation. [00:11:12] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:11:14] Speaker B: Is that pretty much what says comply. [00:11:17] Speaker A: With rules, standards or laws, conform to, behave according to socially acceptable conventions or standards. [00:11:24] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:11:25] Speaker A: And the problem with that is in today's world, right, in the secular world, it's like the standards are anything but. [00:11:34] Speaker B: Christian in most cases. Yes. [00:11:37] Speaker A: Right. [00:11:37] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:11:37] Speaker A: And in fact we're sometimes demonized for being christian. Right. [00:11:42] Speaker B: Many times. [00:11:43] Speaker A: Many times. Many times. And you always hear things like, oh, there should be separation of church and state. Oh, you know, don't do this, don't do that. Right. [00:11:52] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:11:53] Speaker A: And all that is just conforming to a societal standard. [00:11:57] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, I, yeah, yeah, I agree, I agree. I think when we, when we look at, and we've talked about this before as well and especially in our roles of what we are in our respective clubs. [00:12:11] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:12:12] Speaker B: Right. You know, you as a state boss, me as a national boss. [00:12:15] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:12:15] Speaker B: One of the things that we, you know, the view that we have from a local level at 5000ft versus where we're at now and the view that we have at 30,000 or 40,000ft for what our respective clubs and perspective clubs, you know, what we do with those. So at the same time with societal norms that are going on right now as christians, we need to have that 5000 foot view of this is what we see and then we need to have that, that spiritual maturity to be able to pull up to 30 to 40,000ft to allow God to show us what, what is, what to be expecting on the other side of it. [00:13:00] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:13:01] Speaker B: You know, and I think a lot of times we end up, I don't, I want to say, throttling ourselves back because we let emotions rule what's happening at 5000ft and instead of allowing the Holy Spirit to lead us instead of soaking in God's word, instead of not conforming to what's going on, not engaging in that conversation, not, you know, not putting out posts on social media, blasting, you know, a particular political candidate. [00:13:36] Speaker A: Right, right. [00:13:37] Speaker B: Or something that, you know, some particular sect of society believes or doesn't believe. [00:13:44] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:13:45] Speaker B: You know, I'm a firm believer in, especially in a social media presence of. I'm not going to argue with you. I'm not going to. Now, if you want to sit down and have a conversation, then we can do that behind closed doors. [00:14:02] Speaker A: That's a different scenario. I think today in society, there's a lot of keyboard warriors that are willing to say anything that they want sitting behind a keyboard, but they don't actually want to have a conversation. [00:14:15] Speaker B: Sure. [00:14:15] Speaker A: They want to be able to say what they want to say and not be questionable about it. [00:14:19] Speaker B: Right. [00:14:19] Speaker A: Right. And I think, and I apologize if this offends people, but I think if you are replying to those posts, trying to convince somebody of why God is love and God is amazing, you're doing an injustice to God. [00:14:42] Speaker B: Mm hmm. [00:14:43] Speaker A: And I know that's probably hard for some people to hear the. [00:14:46] Speaker B: Mm hmm. [00:14:46] Speaker A: And they're not gonna, like me, say they're not. [00:14:48] Speaker B: They're not. But. But they need to. [00:14:50] Speaker A: You're not showing any love by having an argument. [00:14:52] Speaker B: Exactly. [00:14:53] Speaker A: Over Facebook or Twitter or tick tock or whatever the social media platform of the day is. [00:14:59] Speaker B: Right. And you know why? [00:15:01] Speaker A: Because they don't care. [00:15:02] Speaker B: Love is a verb. [00:15:03] Speaker A: Yeah. It's an action. [00:15:05] Speaker B: It is. It's a. It's an action. It's a verb. It's. So that's why I'm hardcore against getting into political debates, you know, societal debates, things like that. In a, you know, in a presence. In a Internet presence, no matter what the medium is. [00:15:29] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:15:29] Speaker B: You know, I. And I see people. I see people of faith. I see people of spiritual maturity. [00:15:39] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:15:40] Speaker B: At times getting drug into that kind of thing. [00:15:44] Speaker A: Yeah. Do you think they. This is my opinion, because, you know, there was. There was a point in my walk. Right. And I think somebody talked about it this morning where it was Donald talking about when you're kind of like a baby Christian. [00:15:57] Speaker B: Mm hmm. Yeah. [00:15:58] Speaker A: Just want to just, you want to tell the world. [00:15:59] Speaker B: Exactly. [00:16:00] Speaker A: You want everybody to hear this amazing, wonderful, just everything that has happened in your life because of God. [00:16:08] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:16:09] Speaker A: Right. Just want to scream it from the rafters. And sometimes what happens is that you're not. You're not really showing love. [00:16:23] Speaker B: True. [00:16:24] Speaker A: And sometimes it may come across as condemning not. And it's never your intention. [00:16:31] Speaker B: Right, right, right. [00:16:33] Speaker A: Let me just start there. You know, when I was early in my walk, I was that way. [00:16:40] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, right. [00:16:42] Speaker A: Let me. I'm gonna shake the spirit in you. [00:16:44] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:16:46] Speaker A: I'm gonna shake the devil out and I'm gonna put the spirit. [00:16:48] Speaker B: Exactly. Exactly. [00:16:49] Speaker A: Right. You're gonna listen to me. [00:16:51] Speaker B: Right. [00:16:52] Speaker A: Especially with people who are like, I loved. [00:16:54] Speaker B: Yes. [00:16:55] Speaker A: I wasn't doing that to just Joe walking down the street. [00:16:58] Speaker B: Yeah. Somebody Walmart. [00:17:00] Speaker A: Right. [00:17:00] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:17:01] Speaker A: But if, like, you know, if you're my family, let's get it. I'm ready to talk. [00:17:07] Speaker B: Yeah. So I want to retrace something that you just said. [00:17:15] Speaker A: Okay. [00:17:15] Speaker B: You talked about condemning. [00:17:16] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:17:17] Speaker B: Right. I firmly believe that the world needs to understand that the condemnation of the world is in God's hands. [00:17:25] Speaker A: Oh, 100%. [00:17:27] Speaker B: Right. [00:17:27] Speaker A: And, yeah, 100%. [00:17:29] Speaker B: And I think it's important to note as well. [00:17:31] Speaker A: And it's coming. [00:17:33] Speaker B: Exactly. [00:17:33] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:17:34] Speaker B: I think they also need to understand that the world needs to understand what the pathway of sin is. Okay. [00:17:43] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:17:44] Speaker B: They also need to understand. We need to understand what that reward is for that pathway of sin. [00:17:53] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:17:54] Speaker B: Okay. If that is the only preface that we give to people as christians, why would anybody in their right mind want to put on Christ? [00:18:07] Speaker A: I agree. Now, but I don't think we do as christians in this secular world. I think we do a rather horrible job preparing new christians. [00:18:25] Speaker B: I agree. [00:18:27] Speaker A: I think horrible is a light word. [00:18:30] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:18:30] Speaker A: Right. When we, when I came to Christ and when I got baptized, like, I thought, like, there was going to be there people there walking with me. [00:18:42] Speaker B: Mm hmm. [00:18:42] Speaker A: Right. That now that I've done this, I've made this declaration of my faith. Right. I'd been going to church for a while. I had accepted Christ. You know, then I got baptized. And, you know, you go to this 1 hour thing before your baptism, and here's what you need to know about the baptism. [00:19:01] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:19:02] Speaker A: But that was it. Nothing after, really nothing after that. And, and I'm not saying every church is like that. Every organization is like that. But I had, I was left to my own devices. I was left to my own, like, figure this out type of thing. Now I know part of that is my fault. Well, I take accountability that I went to a bigger church, which the pastor is amazing. Right. I mean, he preaches an amazing message. They do a ton of things for the community, but they got like 3500 members. [00:19:37] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:19:38] Speaker A: Right. He ain't gonna ever know who I am. Yeah. [00:19:40] Speaker B: It's easy to get lost in those crap. [00:19:42] Speaker A: Right. [00:19:42] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:19:42] Speaker A: I wasn't going to groups. I wasn't doing these things that I should have been doing. [00:19:47] Speaker B: Right. And so therein lies the problem. [00:19:50] Speaker A: And part of it, part of my accountability part. Right. Because I feel like, maybe if I was in a small group and I had got baptized, then my small group would have been there to maybe help me grow, right? I don't know that for sure, though. [00:20:06] Speaker B: Well, and here's. [00:20:07] Speaker A: Because nobody even contacted me after. [00:20:10] Speaker B: And that's the problem. Yeah, that's the problem. So we, we end up throwing babies to the wolves, baby christians to the wolves. Because we're like, all right, you're a Christian. [00:20:23] Speaker A: Go. [00:20:23] Speaker B: Go. [00:20:24] Speaker A: You know, go make disciple. [00:20:25] Speaker B: Go do this now. You know, wait a minute. [00:20:27] Speaker A: I don't even know what that meant. Don't make disciple. [00:20:29] Speaker B: But here's the thing. After Paul's conversion to Christ, he sat at the apostles feet for ten years before his first missionary journey. Yeah, okay. He sat at the apostles and the elders feet. So he learned for ten years before he took his first missionary journey. Now, I'm not saying that Paul didn't preach in between that time. Okay, I'm not saying that. But what I'm saying is before he struck out on his own, it was a long time. We need to have that accountability, even in what we're talking about today, to living out faith in a secular world, to teach people once they have become a Christian, once they are a new believer. We need to have that accountability as a church. It doesn't matter if we're, if it's a baptist church, presbyterian church, a church of Christ, anything, we need to have that accountability to say, okay, Rick, now that you're a new believer, now that you're a new Christian, let me walk through with you some things so that you can understand what the armor of God actually is. You can understand what it means to make disciples. You can understand what it means to walk out your faith, to grow your faith, what the cornerstone of the church is. Let me show you these things. Let me take you underneath my wing here. And not only am I going to teach you, but I'm learning at the same time, or I'm refreshing at the same time. And we as a church united have failed in that, in a lot of aspects. Now, there are churches out there that, and the church that I'm a part of right now is recognizing that and understanding that and walking through steps and remedies to change that so that we are not faced with something like what you encountered, what you experienced once you first were baptized, once you first became a believer. The discipleship programs that we have in churches today are being modified. They're changing drastically. I was involved in a church a few years back to where we had what we called d groups. It was a discipleship group program. [00:22:40] Speaker A: Was Pastor Robbie Gallaty's church. [00:22:43] Speaker B: No, no. [00:22:44] Speaker A: Because I know he does d groups, too. [00:22:46] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. There's a. There's a. He may have been involved in some of the initial concepts. [00:22:52] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. [00:22:53] Speaker B: But it was like I had three guys. [00:22:56] Speaker A: Yeah. You know, you had to sign a contract for a year. [00:23:00] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then after that. After that year, we stayed together as a core. The four of us stayed together as a core, but those other three guys picked up another guy. [00:23:11] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:23:12] Speaker B: You know, and it sounds like a pyramid scheme, but the whole thing worked because. [00:23:16] Speaker A: Well, that's one pyramid scheme that I would be part of. [00:23:19] Speaker B: Exactly. Right, exactly. And the program for d groups, it worked. The guys that I had in my group, I knew, kind of. [00:23:33] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:23:34] Speaker B: But I got to know them. I got to love them. I got to walk through life with them. [00:23:38] Speaker A: But that is a perfect example of how we live out our faith. [00:23:44] Speaker B: Exactly. [00:23:45] Speaker A: In a secular world. [00:23:46] Speaker B: In a secular world, we don't do it alone. No. [00:23:51] Speaker A: Right. You can't just, like with BFC. Right. Bikers of Christ. We're not supposed to go someplace alone. [00:23:57] Speaker B: Right. Same thing with Forrest Brotherhood. [00:23:58] Speaker A: Right. And why don't we go alone so that we don't. So that we have accountability, so that we're a reproach. So that we don't conform. [00:24:06] Speaker B: Right. [00:24:07] Speaker A: To what's going on in the secular world that we're ministering to. [00:24:10] Speaker B: Exactly. And why do we have to do that? [00:24:13] Speaker A: To be above reproach? Because we're all sinners. [00:24:16] Speaker B: Exactly. Exactly. [00:24:18] Speaker A: Right. We're all sinners and fall short. [00:24:20] Speaker B: Every time I get ready to leave, to go either to a clubhouse or run or whatever, I get asked, who's going with you? Who's going with you? You know, I'm going out of town next. Next weekend. [00:24:33] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:24:33] Speaker B: Next Thursday night, I'm leaving. Right. I have brothers that have asked me, who's riding out with you? [00:24:39] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:24:40] Speaker B: You know, who's going? And it's not for a protection thing. [00:24:44] Speaker A: Oh, no. [00:24:45] Speaker B: Well, it kind of is, but at the same time, it's still that. It's still that. That brotherhood building thing, that accountability thing, that being above reproach. Right. So, folks, we ride motorcycles. We ride hard. [00:25:04] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:25:05] Speaker B: Okay, I'm gonna spill a secret. I came back from a run from a meeting a couple of weeks ago. Three of us were riding together. The average speed was astonishing. [00:25:22] Speaker A: Yeah. We'll just use that as we don't even know the number. [00:25:24] Speaker B: It was allegedly. [00:25:25] Speaker A: It was astonishing. That's let's just say that. [00:25:27] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:25:28] Speaker A: Okay. [00:25:28] Speaker B: So what I'm saying is when, because we ride this way, people look at us in a little bit different way, but also our reactions, because we're so focused on us riding and being safe, sometimes emotions flare. [00:25:49] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:25:50] Speaker B: If I'm by myself and emotions flaring, somebody might get the California number one sign. [00:25:56] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:25:57] Speaker B: But if I've got a brother with me. [00:25:59] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:26:00] Speaker B: Wait a minute. Hold up. Hold on. You see? [00:26:02] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:26:03] Speaker B: So that accountability, it's above reproach as being above reproach. That's how we live out faith in a secular world. [00:26:11] Speaker A: Yeah. And it's just like, you know what? You're leaving Thursday, we're leaving Wednesday. You're going to Oklahoma. We're going to Panama City beach. [00:26:18] Speaker B: I'm going to Atlanta. [00:26:19] Speaker A: Oh, you're going to Atlanta. Oh, that's right. Atlanta. Yeah. You know, we're going to Panama City beach. They'll probably be 60 of us there, you know, for our southeast regional. But it's enduring Thunder beach. Right, right. The reason to do this is so that we can show living out our faith in a very secular world. [00:26:41] Speaker B: Sure. Exactly. [00:26:42] Speaker A: We'll go everywhere. Everybody else is. Yeah. We're gonna have a devotion Saturday morning at the Harley dealership. [00:26:50] Speaker B: Right, right, exactly. [00:26:52] Speaker A: I'll be on my Indiana. Amazing. It is. [00:26:57] Speaker B: Worse thing than that would be showing up on a gold wing at a Harley dealership. [00:27:01] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:27:03] Speaker B: I have a brother that rides a gold wing. What's that for him automatically reversing it. Dude, it is. [00:27:09] Speaker A: It's like you just go to sleep and push it up. [00:27:11] Speaker B: The funny, the crazy thing about it was riding beside him, and he can't, like, rev it to tell you to switch lanes. Yeah. [00:27:18] Speaker A: Was he to kick now his own beep, beep, beep? I'm surprised you can hear that. Well, little Honda horn. [00:27:28] Speaker B: Actually, the golden horn horn is not. Not bad. It's not. Yeah, it's not a Harley horn. Anyway, back to. Back on track. [00:27:39] Speaker A: So, you know, now if we look at that scripture even more. Right. You know, do nothing. Conform to the. So this is the Niv. Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God. What God's will is. His good, pleasing and perfect will. So it starts with, don't conform. Don't conform to the social pressure, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. [00:28:18] Speaker B: So is renewing of your mind. I want to talk about this for a few minutes and not long. Just a few minutes. The renewing of our minds. Is that a one time deal? [00:28:31] Speaker A: No. For me, I think that renewing of your mind is every time I'm in the word, every time I'm in prayer, every time that I am consciously talking to God. [00:28:49] Speaker B: Okay. I'm with you on that, and I'm in agreement with that, but I think we need to take that a little bit further. [00:28:58] Speaker A: Okay. [00:28:58] Speaker B: And the reason I say that is because the renewing of our minds, it's obviously going to begin when we. When we accept Christ. [00:29:08] Speaker A: Yes. [00:29:09] Speaker B: Okay. There has to be that conviction that shows us that we're in a wrong relationship with Christ. [00:29:18] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:29:19] Speaker B: Correct. [00:29:19] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. [00:29:20] Speaker B: So the renewing of our mind has to begin at that point, up until our walk with Christ today. Okay. To renew my mind, in my mind, my little pea brain head. [00:29:38] Speaker A: In Batman's mind. [00:29:39] Speaker B: In Batman's mind, is to make sure that the things that I do always glorify him and don't glorify me. [00:29:49] Speaker A: That's a big one. [00:29:50] Speaker B: That's huge. [00:29:51] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:29:52] Speaker B: Huge. Because I was the guy that wanted the accolades, that wanted the applause, that wanted the awards. You know, I wanted those things. So to renew my mind, to change from that to that humble servant, was a huge gear shift. Huge gear shift. And in order. And I don't have a handle on it today. So I have to continue, even today, to renew my mind so that the things of Batman are gone and filled with the things of God. That John 333 scripture that'll preach less of me and more of you. I want to turn that around to more of you and less of me. I don't even want to be in front of that. [00:30:40] Speaker A: But in this world, it gets increasingly difficult with all of the immediate instant interaction we have. Sure. Right, yeah. Right. Back to social media. [00:30:56] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:30:57] Speaker A: Right. I can sit and scroll for days now. The funny thing is, I do spend too much time on, like, Facebook watching reels, but, like, 99% of them, as terrible as this is gonna sound, are. [00:31:13] Speaker B: Don't say Harley bashing. [00:31:14] Speaker A: No. Okay, good. Actually, you know, as I get older, I get a little more sentimental. 99. Because it's all an algorithm. Right. Watch one over and over. [00:31:24] Speaker B: Yeah. That's what's gonna keep them up. Yeah. [00:31:26] Speaker A: So minors today, they're all, like, military guys coming home. The homecoming surprises. Oh, man, I love them. [00:31:35] Speaker B: Yeah. Mine are the funny dogs right now. [00:31:37] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know? But I love the homecomings. Right? [00:31:42] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:31:43] Speaker A: The family didn't know. The daughter didn't know. [00:31:46] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:31:46] Speaker A: That's you know. [00:31:47] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:31:48] Speaker A: Love it. [00:31:49] Speaker B: Heartstrings. [00:31:50] Speaker A: Heartstrings. [00:31:50] Speaker B: Yeah. I. We get so wrapped up in things like that, and so I'm a big fan of series on tv, whether it be Netflix, Apple TV, prime video, whatever. I just finished slow horses on Apple TV. You're not an apple. [00:32:14] Speaker A: We don't have Apple TV. [00:32:15] Speaker B: Yeah. So slow horses is. It's a british spy thriller drama. Okay, okay. And. And it's. It's literally the. The junior varsity versus the varsity in mi five. Okay, okay. And so it has some really funny parts to it. [00:32:36] Speaker A: Right. [00:32:37] Speaker B: We just finished season four. Season five is coming out, like, September of 25. I'm like, man. Yeah, come on. [00:32:46] Speaker A: We're big, you know, series. People like that, too. [00:32:49] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:32:50] Speaker A: Go through Netflix and Prime and Discovery and, like, for the next thing to watch. [00:32:56] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:32:57] Speaker A: But we will never watch something that only has one season. [00:33:00] Speaker B: That's, uh. We just. [00:33:04] Speaker A: Once. [00:33:05] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:33:05] Speaker A: And then it was canceled. [00:33:07] Speaker B: Well, we. We just finished night agent on Netflix, which is pretty good. It's pretty good. It's an american spy thriller thing, but we're the same way. And it was like, okay, they've already greenlit season two. [00:33:24] Speaker A: Oh, if I see. I read like, okay, season two and three are under contract. Okay, we can. [00:33:29] Speaker B: We can watch this. Yeah. [00:33:31] Speaker A: But I watched the first season knowing that they didn't renew it. [00:33:33] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:33:34] Speaker A: Because it's gonna stop, and I'm gonna. [00:33:36] Speaker B: Be like, man, there's so much meat on the bone. Yeah, yeah. [00:33:40] Speaker A: So much left. [00:33:41] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, I. So I. This is going a little bit. [00:33:47] Speaker A: It's off topic. [00:33:47] Speaker B: It's a topic. But I watched Ted Lasso. Well, true. I watched Ted Lasso at lunch. [00:33:56] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:33:56] Speaker B: Over several weeks. [00:33:58] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:33:58] Speaker B: You know, I'd like. Okay, it's lunchtime. I'm gonna. You know, I got 35, 40 minutes. I'm gonna watch an episode. Ted Lasso. I loved it so much that I came home and watched it again. [00:34:07] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:34:08] Speaker B: You know what I mean? So. [00:34:09] Speaker A: And when you're at lunch, you're kind of watching it. [00:34:13] Speaker B: Yeah. I'm thinking about what I got finished in the afternoon. You know? But at the same time, there. There are things that are in that show that have a great. Have a great moral lesson to right a great, positive lesson. There's a lot of things in that show, though, from a christian perspective, and it's not a bad show. Show. Okay, hear me say this. Okay? It's an all around positive show. But there are some things in that show that Christianity doesn't agree with. You know, like calling God she. [00:34:53] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. [00:34:53] Speaker B: Okay. So. But my point is, I realize that. I recognize that, but that doesn't shape me. [00:35:03] Speaker A: Well, you're not. You're nothing. You're not conforming to that. [00:35:07] Speaker B: That's what I'm saying. [00:35:08] Speaker A: Right. And you're not. You're not transforming that belief. [00:35:14] Speaker B: Right. Just because I like the show doesn't mean I agree with all the precepts of the show. [00:35:18] Speaker A: Right. And. But I think you have the strength to watch those shows just like I have the strength to watch those shows because of the renewing of my mind. [00:35:31] Speaker B: Right, right, right. [00:35:33] Speaker A: Of what I do daily. [00:35:35] Speaker B: Yes. [00:35:35] Speaker A: To keep that armor of God on. [00:35:39] Speaker B: Right, right. [00:35:40] Speaker A: We've talked about this before. I don't know about. On the podcast, but. But you know, that armor, everything but the sword is defensive. [00:35:48] Speaker B: Well, we talked about the armor of God for two weeks in a row. [00:35:50] Speaker A: Yeah. On our group. [00:35:52] Speaker B: In our group. [00:35:52] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. But that. But the armor of God, everything but the sword is defensive. Right, right. And so it's okay to watch that show or, you know, do different thing. I'm not saying you should be going places that you shouldn't be. [00:36:07] Speaker B: Right, right. [00:36:08] Speaker A: I'm not saying you should be going out to the bar club and all night. Right. [00:36:12] Speaker B: Ain't happening. [00:36:13] Speaker A: But what I am saying is that when there's things that are so. So I'm not saying don't do it. I'm saying continue to be strong and renew your mind on a daily basis. Put on that armor of God. [00:36:30] Speaker B: Protect yourself defensively so that you're not conformed to that. [00:36:34] Speaker A: That's right. That's right. That's how when you're talking about living. Living out your faith, that living out your faith in a secular world has to start with your protection, I think a lot of times we overlook that. Right. Somebody will say, oh, you know, you got to live out your faith. Well, I think a lot of people will take that and say, okay, I got to go and do this and tell this person, and I got to live out, like, my life in Christ. Right, right. Sometimes that living it out doesn't have words. [00:37:05] Speaker B: It's a visual. [00:37:06] Speaker A: Right, right. In the world that we run around, in, a lot of times, people are just waiting for us to fail, so they go, I told you so. [00:37:17] Speaker B: Yeah, I. And it's a very quick tour. [00:37:20] Speaker A: Very quick. Like, I knew it. [00:37:22] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:37:22] Speaker A: I knew you weren't the Christian. You said you. [00:37:24] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. [00:37:25] Speaker A: Right. [00:37:25] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:37:26] Speaker A: But I honestly believe that it's. It's that way in everyday life. I don't think it's just the world we live in. People are looking at you as a Christian. [00:37:35] Speaker B: Mm hmm. [00:37:36] Speaker A: To make sure that you are what you say you are right. [00:37:41] Speaker B: Now, let me ask you this. [00:37:42] Speaker A: Okay? [00:37:43] Speaker B: So, and we've talked about this many times, you know, to make sure that what we say we are is what we're walking out. Right. And so that the world can see us that way. Do you think that the majority of people that are watching us, wondering whether or not we are what we say we are, are looking at it so that when we fail, or if we fail, they can come back with that quick retort, have I told you so? Or because they want some life changing. [00:38:18] Speaker A: I think I knew where you were going, and I almost interrupted you before you said it. [00:38:22] Speaker B: Well, I mean, we. [00:38:23] Speaker A: I think there is a small percentage that is looking at it so they can say, haha. [00:38:29] Speaker B: Right. [00:38:30] Speaker A: A small percentage. [00:38:32] Speaker B: I think so. [00:38:33] Speaker A: I think there is a much, much, much larger percentage that are looking at us and saying, I wish I had joy like that. [00:38:42] Speaker B: Right. [00:38:43] Speaker A: What do I got to do to fill the holes right. In my life. [00:38:47] Speaker B: Right. [00:38:48] Speaker A: Maybe there's something to what he's got going on. And what they're doing is they're not watching for us to fail. [00:38:54] Speaker B: No. [00:38:55] Speaker A: Right. They're watching for us to continue to be strong. [00:38:59] Speaker B: Right. And to build that strength long as we go. [00:39:01] Speaker A: That's right. [00:39:02] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:39:02] Speaker A: So that at some point, because you can't do it, I can't do it. No other. Nobody can say, it's time for you, you. [00:39:10] Speaker B: Right. [00:39:10] Speaker A: But when God says to them, it's time, it's time they have somebody they've watched for years and years and years not stumble. [00:39:19] Speaker B: Mm hmm. [00:39:20] Speaker A: Or. Or that are. Yeah. They're in the stubble. And when I say not stumble, I don't mean we don't sin. [00:39:28] Speaker B: Right. Where we don't live a perfected life. [00:39:31] Speaker A: Right. That's right. That's right. [00:39:32] Speaker B: God never called us to be perfect. He calls to be holy. [00:39:35] Speaker A: That's right. And that's a daily process. [00:39:37] Speaker B: It is. It is. [00:39:39] Speaker A: Sanctification doesn't happen by the flip of a switch. [00:39:42] Speaker B: It doesn't. It doesn't. It's an ongoing thing. Every day, every single. [00:39:46] Speaker A: Right. And so I think living out our faith one day, ten days, one year, ten years, recognizes recognizing the times that we do sin. Repenting of those sins, attempting to not do that sin again. [00:40:06] Speaker B: Right. [00:40:06] Speaker A: Right. Attempting not. I'm never gonna do it. Right. Look. [00:40:09] Speaker B: Right. [00:40:11] Speaker A: I'm sure I sinned today. Right? [00:40:14] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:40:14] Speaker A: Yeah. And if I haven't yet, I'm sure I will. Oh, sure, right. But acknowledging that and repenting of that and going to God with it. Right. That's what they want to see. [00:40:25] Speaker B: But the goal also. The goal not to. [00:40:28] Speaker A: The goal not to write 1% better every day. [00:40:30] Speaker B: Exactly. Right, right. [00:40:33] Speaker A: My goal is to be 1% better. [00:40:34] Speaker B: Tomorrow than I am, and today, that's growth. [00:40:38] Speaker A: And it gets harder and harder and harder. The close, you know, the far. The longer you go. [00:40:42] Speaker B: Sure. Absolutely. [00:40:43] Speaker A: Right. [00:40:44] Speaker B: Absolutely. [00:40:44] Speaker A: Some days I may be 10% worse. [00:40:48] Speaker B: That's typical of me. I won't say you. I'll save me. [00:40:53] Speaker A: Right. But. But. So, I guess, yeah. To answer your question is I think the vast majority of them are looking at us as, why. Why are they so happy? Why do they seem so joyous? Why. Why does it seem like everything in their life goes well? [00:41:14] Speaker B: Right, right. And here's the reason that I doesn't. [00:41:18] Speaker A: Go well, let's start there. Right. [00:41:20] Speaker B: It goes to glorify God. [00:41:21] Speaker A: That's right. Even suffering. [00:41:23] Speaker B: Exactly. And here's the reason that I ask that, okay? Because so many, so many times in my personal experience, it's been work, work, work hard for something. Right. And then you get to where you're about to get the reward for what you're working for, and, oh, wait a minute. You got to come back here and start this again. Right. So I think there are people in life that look at my walk. Your walk, Joey bag of donuts walk or whatever compares those to what they are and go, wait a minute. I know that they have something that I don't, and I want it, but at the same time, they're not having any fun in it. [00:42:15] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:42:16] Speaker B: They're not having. No, wait, hold on, hold on. Yes, I am, because my joy is in glorifying God. [00:42:24] Speaker A: Yeah, well, there's a difference between joy and happiness. [00:42:26] Speaker B: There is. And we've talked about that. We've talked about this on this podcast before. But so what I'm saying is people are missing the point of the scripture that says the. The. The harvest is plenty. That's what the harvest is ready. [00:42:43] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:42:44] Speaker B: It's ready, and it's plentiful. [00:42:45] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:42:46] Speaker B: We just got to go out there and do it. [00:42:48] Speaker A: Yeah. Here's one thing I want to say, because what one thing that you just said just made me think. And you talked about how they say, well, they're not having any fun in it. [00:42:58] Speaker B: Mm hmm. [00:42:59] Speaker A: You know, and. And I would challenge people. If you're listening and you like to party and you like, to do all those things, and you're like, oh, that Christian ain't having any fun. But at the same time, you're saying, how do I get what they got? [00:43:12] Speaker B: Right. [00:43:13] Speaker A: How do I get what they got? But they're not having any fun. [00:43:15] Speaker B: But they're not having any fun. [00:43:16] Speaker A: How do I get what they got? Well, you know how you find joy in Christ, right? Because of the joy we have in Christ. Because we live at our faith in a world that is hostile towards us. [00:43:31] Speaker B: Yes. [00:43:31] Speaker A: Right. I still have joyous. Batman still has joy. Right? [00:43:36] Speaker B: Mm hmm. [00:43:37] Speaker A: We don't have to go out partying. [00:43:38] Speaker B: Don't. [00:43:40] Speaker A: And so if you're sitting here listening and you're like, well, they don't have fun. Yeah, but you're the one asking, like, what I want. What they want. [00:43:48] Speaker B: Right. Right. And so to think that we don't have fun. [00:43:57] Speaker A: Oh, I have tremendous amount. [00:44:00] Speaker B: Do you know if I want to poop? You know? So here's. That's not going to get edited out either. [00:44:07] Speaker A: No, it's absolutely will. [00:44:10] Speaker B: So here's what I'm saying. For a Christian, fun is self determined. [00:44:18] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:44:18] Speaker B: It's not fun for me to go out and party anymore. [00:44:22] Speaker A: No. [00:44:23] Speaker B: It's not fun for me to wake up sick and tired. It's not fun for me to worry about dodging the cops. It's not fun for me to worry about what I have to tell my family to cover up what I have done. It's not fun for me to be in a position to where I have to make some story up to my employer of why I didn't get something done. Because I'm hungover or drunk or high from the night before. It's not fun anymore. [00:44:54] Speaker A: No, it's not. [00:44:55] Speaker B: It's because I realized the other side of that. That my joy comes from the Lord. [00:45:02] Speaker A: That's right. [00:45:03] Speaker B: And realizing that my joy comes from the Lord means that I'm going to do the what, the will that he directs me in. And where do we find that? I'm digging into the scripture. How do we hear that from being open to the Holy Spirit. How do we know that we're doing the right thing? Because the joy we get from glorifying God in everything that we do. When I was partying, when I was out doing those things that. That shamed me or shamed my family in the name of fun, the only thing that I'm doing is glorifying myself. [00:45:37] Speaker A: That's right. And idolizing everything that you thought made it fun. [00:45:44] Speaker B: Exactly. Exactly. So, goat, what's our, what's our word for this right here? And when we replace that with God, when we replace that with Jesus, when we replace that with his word, when we replace that with the Holy Spirit, that's when our sanctification starts. That's when the renewing of our mind continues. And that's when other people want what we've got, whether you're out partying or whether you're a pew sitter on the back row. [00:46:14] Speaker A: Amen to that. I was going to ask how you wanted to land it, but I think that's what you just did. [00:46:21] Speaker B: I think so. I was looking at the time going, we've got to wrap this up. And then that just kind of came. [00:46:27] Speaker A: No, the Lord preach it. We don't have a time limit. [00:46:30] Speaker B: We don't. [00:46:31] Speaker A: We don't. [00:46:32] Speaker B: We do. We do. And I think, I think that is the way that we show others how we live out our faith in a secular world. [00:46:41] Speaker A: Amen. I agree. [00:46:44] Speaker B: Absolutely. So, folks, we appreciate you being with us today. Thank you so much for your time. If you have a question, if you have a topic you'd wish us to cover, reach out to [email protected]. dot Rick and I look forward to get those emails. And until next time, we want to remind you to love God and love people.