Resilience Through Life's Storms

[00:00:07] Speaker A: Hey everybody. Welcome back to the Nomad Pastor podcast. This is Robin Rick. We are glad to be back today. How you doing, man? [00:00:13] Speaker B: I'm good. How about you? [00:00:14] Speaker A: I'm good. I'm really good. I'm good at work. Things are good. The run card for the year is done. I have like one more out of town trip. [00:00:27] Speaker B: Okay. [00:00:27] Speaker A: For 2024. [00:00:29] Speaker B: I think I have one more two for the Gartner I IT and Operations Conference. [00:00:37] Speaker A: Oh, I'm not doing any conferences. No, I got, I gotta go. I gotta go out of state the first weekend in December. [00:00:47] Speaker B: Club business. [00:00:48] Speaker A: Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we'll be. [00:00:50] Speaker B: I think I'm done with. We're done without a state travel for. For BFC this year. [00:00:55] Speaker A: Yeah, this one will be the last one until the end of January, so. [00:01:00] Speaker B: Oh, that. I bet Rebecca loves it. [00:01:01] Speaker A: Oh, she does, she does. Yeah. [00:01:05] Speaker B: We are going to Indiana for Thanksgiving though. [00:01:07] Speaker A: Oh, you are? [00:01:08] Speaker B: So this will probably air after, after Thanksgiving. [00:01:11] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:01:11] Speaker B: But yeah, we are going up there and it's going to be awesome. You know, we go up, see, you know, Linda's friends and family and. [00:01:19] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:01:20] Speaker B: Be there with my mother in law. [00:01:21] Speaker A: You're going to be in the Kokomo area, right? [00:01:23] Speaker B: Wabash. [00:01:24] Speaker A: Wabash. Yeah. [00:01:25] Speaker B: So it's like 40 minutes west of Fort Wayne. Yeah. Just east of Kokomo. [00:01:30] Speaker A: East of Kokomo. Yeah. [00:01:31] Speaker B: But so where Brant's Harley Davidson is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'm sure you drove right through there when you went up to. Oh, yeah, last time. [00:01:39] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, we did. Did. I'm going to Missouri for, for Thanksgiving. [00:01:43] Speaker B: Yeah. Super excited that my mother in law sent a text with a picture to Linda this morning. I think maybe yesterday morning. No, it was this morning. [00:01:53] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:01:53] Speaker B: Of the snow outside. [00:01:55] Speaker A: Oh my gosh. [00:01:56] Speaker B: I was like, lord help me. [00:01:58] Speaker A: So dad called me the day before yesterday and he said, hey, what do you want to do when you get over here? I like, I don't know. He goes, well, we're going to, we're going to get the Cushman going. My Dad's got a 53 Cushman Husky. [00:02:10] Speaker B: Okay. [00:02:11] Speaker A: Scooter. It's got a 8 horsepower, original 8 horsepower motor. Right. It's a, it's a Cushman Husky motor that has been hopped up a little bit. [00:02:23] Speaker B: Okay. [00:02:24] Speaker A: And he wants. I'm gonna end up with this scooter at some point. It's been totally restored. Dad went down to Houston, Texas to buy this thing. And the reason that he went down, that he bought this particular one is because when he was a kid, my grandpa bought a Cushman Husky for my dad and his two brothers. Dad is the middle of three brothers. And so this thing is. It's sharp. I mean, sure. It's got a cowhide seat on it. [00:02:50] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:02:51] Speaker A: You know, it's got the windshield on it. It's got the original push button UGA horn. [00:02:56] Speaker B: Oh, Lord. [00:02:56] Speaker A: So it's really, really cool. It's got the Kickstarter in the. In the floorboard. It's really nice. And so we're going to get the. Get the scooter running again. The last time we had it running, he said, I wonder what this thing will run top end. This thing's got like 8 or 10 inch wheels on it. They're little bitty, little tiny ones. Little bitty, tiny things spinning fast, very fast. And at 53 miles an hour. That I. That was one of the few times that I've ever been running 53 miles an hour and nervous about it. [00:03:27] Speaker B: Yeah. Scared for your life. [00:03:29] Speaker A: Yeah. Because one little jerk of the handlebar on that little 8 inch tire and. Yeah, you're done. You're done. Right. So anyway, so that's what we're going to be working on. That. This. [00:03:39] Speaker B: That sounds amazing. [00:03:40] Speaker A: It's going to be fun. It's going to be fun. [00:03:42] Speaker B: And whether you get it running or. [00:03:43] Speaker A: Not, turning my dad. [00:03:45] Speaker B: Time spent with your dad is just blessing. [00:03:48] Speaker A: It really is. It really is. So today we want to talk about a topic that we've touched on before. We've touched on this a couple of times, actually. I think we talked about kind of as a side note on this, but we're going to talk about resilience through life storms. And we're going to be looking at two different scriptures today. We're going to be in James chapter one and Isaiah, chapter 43. And I mentioned something to Rick about this before we started this podcast. This verse that I'm going to read here in a few minutes. Smokinjo. I hope you're listening, because this is the verse that one of your favorite songs come from. And you'll recognize it when I read the verse. But what we're going to talk about is kind of trials and hardships are going to be inevitable. [00:04:39] Speaker B: Absolutely. [00:04:39] Speaker A: Nobody's immune to them. [00:04:41] Speaker B: Never. [00:04:42] Speaker A: And what we want to. What we want to kind of bring out is what they produce and that perseverance and that spiritual maturity. And let's go ahead and jump into James chapter one so that we can talk about that just a little bit. [00:04:58] Speaker B: And this is going to be two through four. [00:04:59] Speaker A: Right, Right. [00:05:01] Speaker B: Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. [00:05:21] Speaker A: So consider it pure joy. That's kind of a. When you hear. Of course, everybody, let me back up a little bit. Christians recognize that immediately when you start reading that verse. James is such a popular book, number one. But number two, consider it pure joy when you suffer these things because it produces perseverance. [00:05:43] Speaker B: You know, it's crazy. I just realized this. [00:05:45] Speaker A: What's that? We talked about this this morning. No, kind of. [00:05:48] Speaker B: I mean, we did, but this is even. It's just a God moment because, you know, we sit down, we don't plan what we're gonna talk about. [00:05:56] Speaker A: Never planned anything. [00:05:56] Speaker B: Right. I mean, before I came up here today, before you got here, Linda's like, what are you guys talking about? I'm like, I don't know. [00:06:02] Speaker A: We never know. [00:06:03] Speaker B: We never know. And then you picked this. [00:06:05] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:06:07] Speaker B: This is what I preached on at the mission Sunday. [00:06:09] Speaker A: Are you serious? [00:06:10] Speaker B: I just realized it. [00:06:12] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness. I hate that I missed it. I did. [00:06:15] Speaker B: I really do. And so now I'm sitting here and I'm like, okay, God, I get it. Yeah, right. It's just one of those moments. [00:06:22] Speaker A: It's a banana split moment. [00:06:23] Speaker B: It's a banana split moment. [00:06:24] Speaker A: We'll have to talk about that on another podcast. [00:06:26] Speaker B: Yeah, inside, Inside, inside. Men's group joke. [00:06:29] Speaker A: Yeah, but here's. Here's the thing about it. Let's talk about perseverance for a minute. Okay. How do you. How do you define perseverance? [00:06:41] Speaker B: Well, I don't know. It's probably different for everybody, you know, but for me, perseverance is getting through it no matter what. So no matter how hard it gets. [00:06:56] Speaker A: Right, Right. So it's the stick to it, Ness. And the fortitude to continue to stick it out. Yeah, right in my mind. [00:07:06] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:07:09] Speaker A: And go ahead and read. Go ahead and read. What is it verse three again says? [00:07:17] Speaker B: Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. That's what it says. [00:07:24] Speaker A: Okay. So because the testing of your faith produces perseverance, so the testing of your faith produces the stick to it, Ness. To make it through. [00:07:35] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:07:36] Speaker A: And I think I was talking to somebody one time, and they said, I'm so far from God right now that you wouldn't even recognize me as somebody that I've known for a while. And somebody that I knew has a solid foundation of faith by the way that they were raised. [00:07:54] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:07:55] Speaker A: And I know the family and know how this person was raised, but they were saying, I've walked away from it because I can't handle it anymore. [00:08:06] Speaker B: Right. [00:08:07] Speaker A: My current situation and the things that I'm going. And they're going through a divorce. [00:08:12] Speaker B: Right. [00:08:12] Speaker A: But the current situation that they are facing right now made them turn away from what they know as a faith walk. And so one of the things that perseverance, Christian perseverance and spiritual perseverance produces is spiritual maturity. [00:08:35] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. [00:08:37] Speaker A: I was. Had a conversation the other day, and we talked about this a little bit this morning when the difference in ruling and leading. [00:08:45] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:08:45] Speaker A: And so when we. When we allow ourselves to be led by God, we understand the things that we've just gone through, the things that we've just walked through are a blueprint to be able to face that in the future and compound those things so that what we do face in the future doesn't trip us up. And that's what produces the spiritual maturity through faith. But there's no other way to do it. [00:09:17] Speaker B: That's right. That's right. [00:09:18] Speaker A: Right. [00:09:19] Speaker B: You know, and when I. When I was. When we were at the mission, we kind of put this around, you know, every. A lot of people in their lives when they're in a bad situation, they're just like, God help me right now. God give me the patience to get through this. God give me this. God help me. God give me the courage to stand up. [00:09:45] Speaker A: Right. [00:09:48] Speaker B: And in that moment, they're not making that prayer with joy. They're making it out of desperation. [00:09:57] Speaker A: So let me ask you something. [00:09:57] Speaker B: But they don't recognize that when you pray for patience, God's going to give you an opportunity to show patience. [00:10:08] Speaker A: Right. [00:10:09] Speaker B: So the trials coming. [00:10:10] Speaker A: Right. [00:10:11] Speaker B: You're not completely in it right now. [00:10:13] Speaker A: Right, Exactly. [00:10:15] Speaker B: You know, courage is not the absence of fear. [00:10:19] Speaker A: No, right. It absolutely isn't. [00:10:21] Speaker B: Courage is stepping out in spite of the fear. [00:10:24] Speaker A: In spite of the fear. [00:10:24] Speaker B: Right. If you said, God, make me. Give me courage right now to deal with this. [00:10:28] Speaker A: Right. [00:10:29] Speaker B: Well, it's just about to get on. [00:10:32] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:10:32] Speaker B: Right. [00:10:33] Speaker A: You said something. You said a crowd in desperation. [00:10:36] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:10:36] Speaker A: Right. And immediately Paul and Silas popped into my head because the guard was ready to take his own life and desperately. [00:10:45] Speaker B: Said desperately. [00:10:47] Speaker A: You know, I can hear that desperation in his voice in the text of what? What have I got to do? [00:10:54] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:10:55] Speaker A: You know, and I think even in those desperate times, even in those times where we don't know what the next step should be. [00:11:06] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:11:07] Speaker A: Except putting that one foot in front of the other, making sure that God's leading us through that. Even in those desperate times, that reliance on being led is what is going to. What is going to produce that spiritual maturity. [00:11:25] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, it made me think about. And I'm going to find it. You know, we. You and I have talked about this before. Right. But you know, in Matthew is the account of Jesus walking on water and Peter getting out of the boat. [00:11:39] Speaker A: Right, right. [00:11:40] Speaker B: But there's another account of it in Mark. [00:11:42] Speaker A: Mark 6. [00:11:43] Speaker B: Right. And in Mark 6, it says, you know, he's up on a hill and he's watching. [00:11:50] Speaker A: Right. And he sees them in their desperation. [00:11:52] Speaker B: In their desperation. [00:11:53] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. [00:11:54] Speaker B: And not only does he see them in his desperation, when he gets ready to go to them, he intends to walk past them. He intends to walk past them. [00:12:03] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:12:03] Speaker B: Right. Where does it say later that night? So it's Mark 6, 47. Later that night, the boat was in the middle of the lake and he was alone on the land. He saw the disciples straining at the oars because the wind was against them. Shortly before dawn, he went out to them walking on the lake. He was about to pass them by. But when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought it was a ghost and they cried out. Right. And this when we talk about being resilient. Right. Being resilient during life's storms. I love the version in Mark, this story, because it's telling us you have to call out to him. Right. He's on his mission. He's going. [00:12:52] Speaker A: Right. [00:12:52] Speaker B: He's going to get to the other side of that lake with or without you. [00:12:56] Speaker A: Right. I camped out in that particular scripture for about four weeks in that time. And I've taught from that scripture recently. But in that time, I was realizing a couple of things, that even in my desperation, God's plan doesn't change. [00:13:18] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:13:19] Speaker A: And until I allow that leadership, I'm not going to get to the other side. [00:13:25] Speaker B: Right. [00:13:26] Speaker A: You know, now, further on down, Jesus sent them across the lake, the Sea of Galilee, basically, to go to Bethsaida. [00:13:38] Speaker B: That's right. [00:13:38] Speaker A: They ended up in Gennesaret. [00:13:40] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:13:40] Speaker A: Okay. And if you look at a map, it's. It's. It's back to the west a little bit instead of straight across from where they were at. Right, right. But here's the deal. Even though they ended up in a different place than where they were where he sent them to, if you look in verse, Let me. Let Me, if you go back to. I think it's verse 53. 53. Where is it? And they're not gained any insight for the incident. That's not what I'm looking for. [00:14:16] Speaker B: 53 says when they had crossed over. [00:14:18] Speaker A: They came to land and mortar shore. When they got out of the boat, immediately the people recognized them and they ran about the whole country and began to carry here and there on their palace those who were sick to place he they heard he was where, wherever he entered a village or cities or countryside, they were laying the sick in the marketplaces and imploring that they might just touch the fringe of his cloak. As many as touched it was being cured. Even though they were in the wrong spot. [00:14:42] Speaker B: That's right. [00:14:42] Speaker A: They still ministered. [00:14:43] Speaker B: That's right. [00:14:44] Speaker A: Even though they were in the wrong spot, they still served. Even though they were in the wrong spot, God's will still was done. [00:14:51] Speaker B: So even though the storm blew them. [00:14:55] Speaker A: Off course, even though it was off course, they were still able to accomplish God's task. [00:15:00] Speaker B: That's right. So when you're thinking about the storm that you're going through in life, whether it's addiction, divorce, whatever, pain, and I just said addiction. I didn't say alcohol or drug, because there's tons of addictions. [00:15:17] Speaker A: And we've talked about that a lot. [00:15:19] Speaker B: Lots, right? [00:15:19] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:15:20] Speaker B: No matter what's going on, that is a storm in your life. [00:15:24] Speaker A: Yep. [00:15:25] Speaker B: And it may blow you completely off course when you get to the other side. [00:15:32] Speaker A: Yep. [00:15:33] Speaker B: There's blessings. [00:15:33] Speaker A: There's blessings. And so I want to take that and kind of segue into our second scripture. [00:15:40] Speaker B: Okay. [00:15:41] Speaker A: Okay. And the reason is because I want people to understand that when that storm is there and when we're blown off course and being led by God through that storm so that we can persevere, the hope on the other side of that is so much greater than what it is at the beginning of it. And the spiritual maturity that comes with that is so much greater than what it was when we started. So I want to read Isaiah, chapter 43, verse 2. And when I read this, you're probably going to recognize this psalm. Okay. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel your Savior, even though I fall. And I think about. I think about how this verse, verse and a half, has the encouragement to remind me that Even in the times when it's nasty all around me, even in the times when it's just horrifying for me to think about, or even the times when I just can't see the other side, I will be with you. It won't overtake you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you. Even though I fall, you're there to pick me up. And no matter what I do, if I'm allowing myself to put down myself to be led by God and to follow in the steps of Jesus to get closer to God, it doesn't matter what that scenario is, what that circumstance is, doesn't matter what that issue is, that perseverance is going to produce, increase and multiply my spiritual maturity. [00:18:05] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. [00:18:07] Speaker A: And for me to be afraid of it is okay, but for me to neglect it because I'm afraid of it is not. [00:18:20] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. [00:18:22] Speaker A: And so when. When we come up upon those situations, when we come into those circumstances, allowing ourselves to let God be the resilience that pushes us through those circumstances. And it's hard sometimes to consider it, Joy, when we go through those trials. [00:18:44] Speaker B: Well, look, let's be honest. We're human. [00:18:46] Speaker A: We are. [00:18:47] Speaker B: We're all human. [00:18:48] Speaker A: We are. [00:18:48] Speaker B: And look, there's been plenty of times in my life going through storms. I wasn't thinking, Joy. [00:18:54] Speaker A: No. [00:18:55] Speaker B: I was like, why, God? [00:18:56] Speaker A: This sucks, right? Oh, yeah. [00:18:59] Speaker B: Why? [00:19:01] Speaker A: Yeah, I had. [00:19:03] Speaker B: And inevitably the why I understood later. [00:19:07] Speaker A: That's the thing. So I had a former friend of mine was going through a deal, and I just could not figure out why. This mic is sounding really hot today. Gains a little. That's better. Yeah, much so. I was going through something. I just couldn't figure out what. Why I was still in it. Right. And this guy said, maybe you should ask God what you need to learn through it instead of why you're in it. [00:19:39] Speaker B: Right. [00:19:40] Speaker A: And immediately it was like, I prayed about that, and then it was immediate release from it. Immediate because I figured out what he wanted me to learn. [00:19:51] Speaker B: But it's so hard when you're in it. [00:19:55] Speaker A: It is. [00:19:56] Speaker B: It is. [00:19:57] Speaker A: Just like the apostles that were in that boat. [00:19:59] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:20:00] Speaker A: They're scared to death. But here's the trick with that, Rick. They knew the Sea of Galilee. [00:20:06] Speaker B: Well, that was their life. [00:20:07] Speaker A: That was their life. [00:20:08] Speaker B: So many people don't recognize, like, they spent their lives on that sea. On the sea. Fishing. Yes. Right. They knew it. They knew what to look for when the storms were coming. [00:20:18] Speaker A: They knew the current and the weather. [00:20:19] Speaker B: Patterns, all of it. [00:20:21] Speaker A: They did, but they're still freaking out over it. [00:20:23] Speaker B: And, and it's. And we have to, you know, because this talks about, you know, resiliency through the storms and how you have to have faith. Right. They just saw Jesus feed 5,000 and. [00:20:36] Speaker A: They didn't get it. [00:20:37] Speaker B: And they didn't get it. [00:20:38] Speaker A: Right. But. And that's the thing. [00:20:40] Speaker B: And you know, how comforting, and I'm sorry to interrupt you, how comfortable that is to me. Tell me that when I don't get. [00:20:47] Speaker A: It, the 12 knuckleheads that right there didn't get it either. [00:20:50] Speaker B: The people who walked with him didn't get it either. [00:20:52] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, right. [00:20:55] Speaker B: They didn't get it when he said, you know, I'm gonna tear this temple down. [00:20:59] Speaker A: Right. [00:21:00] Speaker B: They didn't understand. [00:21:02] Speaker A: Right. [00:21:02] Speaker B: And they had to ask him, like, tell me what this parable means. [00:21:05] Speaker A: Well, think about this. If they had have gotten it, if they had have understood up until the point where he opened their minds to the scriptures in Luke 23. [00:21:19] Speaker B: Something like that. [00:21:20] Speaker A: Something like that. [00:21:21] Speaker B: Right. [00:21:21] Speaker A: So up until that point, they hadn't been figured it out yet until he opened their mind to the scripture. [00:21:26] Speaker B: Right, right. [00:21:27] Speaker A: Praise God. [00:21:28] Speaker B: Right. [00:21:28] Speaker A: Because all we have, all of that evidence of the way that we should walk and lead our lives and build community. We talked about that this morning. To build a community. Right. Of building the community. So that our perseverance, the things that we're going to come up against, can produce spiritual maturity. [00:21:51] Speaker B: Yeah. And look, these guys, the apostles had storms too. [00:21:54] Speaker A: Absolutely. [00:21:56] Speaker B: But you know what? Even when they didn't understand, they followed. [00:22:01] Speaker A: Yes. And that's where we fall short. [00:22:05] Speaker B: Absolutely it is. [00:22:06] Speaker A: That's where we fall short. [00:22:08] Speaker B: I think it's important to. In James chapter one, we read two through four. Right. But I want to read five and on a little bit. [00:22:20] Speaker A: Okay. [00:22:20] Speaker B: Because it says if any of you lacks 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. The person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double minded and unstable in all they do. When you ask, you must believe. And I think a lot of times. And I'll speak, you know, for me, before coming to Christ, I believe there was a God, but I didn't really know what I believed. [00:23:08] Speaker A: Mm. [00:23:09] Speaker B: And I would pray like God, I need help. [00:23:12] Speaker A: Well, let me ask you something. You believe there was a God didn't know really what you believed? [00:23:17] Speaker B: Well, I think part of that is that I believed in Jesus. I believed in God, but I didn't understand because I grew up in Utah. [00:23:27] Speaker A: Okay. [00:23:28] Speaker B: Right. And they believe Jesus was the physical son of God. And like. And so I grew up in this environment learning something that was contradicted by the Bible that I had read. [00:23:41] Speaker A: Okay, I get that. [00:23:42] Speaker B: Right. [00:23:42] Speaker A: I get that. [00:23:43] Speaker B: And so I didn't really understand what I believed for a very long time. And so even though I would pray, like I didn't believe what I had been taught, I didn't believe Jesus was. [00:23:58] Speaker A: So there was the controversy of what you've been taught and what you've been read and how to. How to intermingle that to where you could understand. [00:24:07] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:24:07] Speaker A: What, what you wanted to live through or live by. [00:24:10] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. [00:24:11] Speaker A: Okay. [00:24:12] Speaker B: But I wouldn't say that I was a. I wouldn't say that I was a believer. [00:24:15] Speaker A: I get it. [00:24:16] Speaker B: Right. [00:24:16] Speaker A: I understand. [00:24:17] Speaker B: And so when it says, when you ask, you must believe and not doubt. I had doubt. I had doubt. Not that there was a God, but I doubt it. Like, what's, what's real? [00:24:29] Speaker A: I see. [00:24:29] Speaker B: What's the real story? [00:24:30] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:24:32] Speaker B: And so I think for many years I would pray and be like, nothing happened. [00:24:37] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:24:38] Speaker B: But he's saying, you must believe without doubt. So if you're sitting here and you're like, well, I'm an atheist, but I'm going to pray. And if God fixes it, then I'll be. Then I'll believe. [00:24:50] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:24:51] Speaker B: That's not what scripture teaches us. [00:24:53] Speaker A: Right. [00:24:54] Speaker B: If you're in the middle of a storm and you're like, I don't need any of that Christianity, but you're like, God, please, I'm at the end of my rope, Help me. But you don't really believe it. [00:25:08] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:25:08] Speaker B: What's going to happen? [00:25:10] Speaker A: Well, nothing. [00:25:11] Speaker B: Right. That's what God's word tells us. [00:25:15] Speaker A: Right? Yeah. No, nothing's going to happen. [00:25:18] Speaker B: Right. You have to have faith that when you take it to God, he's going to answer it. Now, that doesn't mean he's going to answer it the way you want. [00:25:30] Speaker A: Well, my wants and desires are not usually what God needs me or wants me to have. [00:25:39] Speaker B: That's right. Now, if I'm asking for something that glorifies God and glorifies the kingdom and builds the kingdom. And builds the kingdom. [00:25:54] Speaker A: Right. [00:25:55] Speaker B: Yeah. God's going to answer that. Still might not be my way. [00:25:58] Speaker A: Right. But it's going to be something that Glorifies him, but it's going to be. [00:26:02] Speaker B: Something that glorifies him. [00:26:03] Speaker A: Right. [00:26:03] Speaker B: If I'm asking for something to glorify. [00:26:05] Speaker A: Me, that's the difference. [00:26:07] Speaker B: Right, that's the difference. There's not going to be any help there. [00:26:10] Speaker A: Right, Right. [00:26:11] Speaker B: Because the closer I get with God, my heart is going to want things that glorify God. Right, Right. And if I want things that glorify God, that storm that I'm in, it's not about me. Right. Getting out of it isn't about me. [00:26:29] Speaker A: Right. [00:26:30] Speaker B: It's about through this storm, how do I glorify God? Lord help me. [00:26:34] Speaker A: Right. Here's the thing. I go back to the scripture of God will give you the desires of your heart. Right. And that scripture gets cherry picked almost as much as. Almost as much as Philippians 4:13. You know, I can do all things through Christ's strength. Really? Because read the context about what's going. [00:26:53] Speaker B: On there or the don't judge me. [00:26:55] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. Right. And we've talked about that several times on a podcast. Different podcast, you know, those different things. So I look back at that scripture and the desires of my heart. But the desires of my heart need to be him. [00:27:09] Speaker B: That's right. [00:27:10] Speaker A: The desires of my heart need to be glorifying him. The desires of my heart need to be what in grows the kingdom. [00:27:19] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:27:20] Speaker A: That's what the desires of my heart should be. [00:27:24] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:27:24] Speaker A: And that's the difference in joy and happiness. We ask for things that half heartedly we don't believe. [00:27:33] Speaker B: Yeah, Right. [00:27:33] Speaker A: It's because that's what I want. [00:27:36] Speaker B: That's right. [00:27:36] Speaker A: It's something that would glorify me, not glorify God. [00:27:41] Speaker B: And how often do you think that that storm, if you are glorifying God, if the things of your heart are for God. Right. How significant is that storm? [00:27:57] Speaker A: It's minor. [00:27:58] Speaker B: That's right. [00:27:59] Speaker A: It's absolutely minor. [00:28:00] Speaker B: That's right. If we're far from God and we're not getting closer to him and not desiring the things of God. Right. [00:28:09] Speaker A: That storm, massive. [00:28:11] Speaker B: That storm overtakes you every day. [00:28:13] Speaker A: Exactly. [00:28:14] Speaker B: It swamps the boat and it pushes you down. [00:28:16] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:28:16] Speaker B: It's like a tidal wave. [00:28:17] Speaker A: It is. [00:28:18] Speaker B: It is just a tsunami coming into your life. [00:28:20] Speaker A: Edmund Fitzgerald went down. [00:28:22] Speaker B: That's right. That's right. But the closer we are to God, the more our hearts desire are of God's things. Right. To glorify Him. That storm is just an insignificant piece of time. [00:28:39] Speaker A: Exactly, exactly. [00:28:41] Speaker B: In the grand scheme of things. That's what it is. That doesn't mean I'm trying to minimize it. [00:28:45] Speaker A: Well, but at the same time, it's also realistic to see that view. It's also realistic to understand that. So not saying that either one of us are minimalizing it or making it out to a trivial thing, but in those instances, the why is not as important as what you're going to. What God wants you to learn out of it. So that the spiritual maturity comes in. So that the next time that a storm like that comes up, it's not near as big. [00:29:22] Speaker B: Right. [00:29:23] Speaker A: And then the next time a storm comes up, it's not near as big as the last time. [00:29:28] Speaker B: That's right. [00:29:29] Speaker A: Because you're continuing to grow, you're continuing to mature, you're continuing to learn how to produce the perseverance through God that he expects for you to be able to grow with. [00:29:42] Speaker B: Yeah. And I think that's where resilience comes from. [00:29:44] Speaker A: I do. [00:29:45] Speaker B: Right. The more you're. I don't want to say practice, but the more you're capable in dealing with storms through the strength of God, through the power of God, every time a storm comes, it becomes smaller and smaller. [00:30:05] Speaker A: Exactly. [00:30:05] Speaker B: And that's how you develop that resilience. [00:30:08] Speaker A: Right. [00:30:08] Speaker B: Because you're not putting so much pressure on yourself about the storm or pressure on yourself to fix the storm. I think we do that as men a lot. [00:30:19] Speaker A: How do I fix it? Yeah. [00:30:22] Speaker B: I mean, I want to take everything away. Any pain, anything. I just want to take away and deal with it myself. [00:30:28] Speaker A: Right. [00:30:30] Speaker B: Especially when it comes to my family, my wife. [00:30:32] Speaker A: I don't want my family to. Yeah. [00:30:34] Speaker B: I'll take it on. [00:30:35] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:30:36] Speaker B: But what I need to be doing is saying, let's give that to God. [00:30:39] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:30:39] Speaker B: Because the more I give to God, the more resilient I can be. [00:30:42] Speaker A: Well, true. And at the same time, through that resilience, we see the growth and the things, but we also. That also gives us the opportunity to turn the knowledge into wisdom. [00:30:54] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. [00:30:56] Speaker A: You know, we have the knowledge of how to get through this. The wisdom is how we apply that and how we actually rely on God the next time. Instead of, like man, I should have relied on God on that one. The next time it comes around, it's like, I'm doing it this day. [00:31:12] Speaker B: No, that's right. [00:31:13] Speaker A: Right. That's the difference in knowledge and wisdom. [00:31:15] Speaker B: And that's how you persevere. [00:31:17] Speaker A: Exactly. [00:31:18] Speaker B: With joy. [00:31:19] Speaker A: Yeah. So that you can count it. Joy. [00:31:21] Speaker B: That's right. Look, I count a lot of things as joy. And I have not been happy man. [00:31:29] Speaker A: You ain't said nothing slick to an old. Can. [00:31:33] Speaker B: We miss anything? [00:31:35] Speaker A: I don't think we did. And I was trying to kind of go back and do a quick scan, and I think at this point, right here is where we need to bring this one to land. And I think at this point, because the things that we've said, if we go back and continue talking about it, we're going to be just being redundant and repeating things. So I think that we. I think we're in a good spot for people to understand that the resilience in life storm is going to build us up. [00:32:07] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:32:08] Speaker A: It's gonna. It's gonna bring us to a higher plane spiritually so that we can be closer to God and more intimate with him. [00:32:14] Speaker B: Amen to that. [00:32:15] Speaker A: And I've enjoyed it today. [00:32:17] Speaker B: It's been a good day, right? I mean, holidays are coming. [00:32:20] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:32:21] Speaker B: Weather's getting cold. [00:32:22] Speaker A: Yeah, it is getting cold. It is getting cold. So, folks, we appreciate you being with us today. We. It's been a couple of weeks since we've been able to put a podcast out to be able to be released, and it's good to. Hopefully through the next several months, we can continue to schedule things in our schedules. [00:32:48] Speaker B: I think what we'll try to do, because it's just been so busy, is we'll try to release every other week. [00:32:53] Speaker A: I think that's a great idea. [00:32:55] Speaker B: Right. Instead of trying to stick to, like, every week and then we miss a couple. [00:32:59] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:33:00] Speaker B: That way, as long as we get together once a month, we can do a couple episodes at a time and then we can do. [00:33:05] Speaker A: Yeah, that's. That's a good idea. Yeah, that's a good idea. [00:33:07] Speaker B: So look for them every other week. [00:33:09] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. And in the meantime, if you have some topics for us or a question or you need some help with something or even finding a local church, drop us an [email protected] and we look forward to getting those and hearing from you. And until then, we want to remind you to love God and love people.